JEWEL LENGTHY REVIEW WITH KIDS Nov 14-23 Southern Caribbean

[apax]

So here it is, my lengthy review

 

We arrived into FLL airport 1 day prior to the cruise. I had arranged a minivan (Toyota Sienna) from Alamo and used a CAA discount to get it for $55 with a return to the miami Airport. As most people know, there is no additional drop off charge in the state of Florida. The total gas for me to go to Target, then Walmart and then to the Hotel by the port and then back to the Alamo at the Miami airport was $10 USD. I did go to Walmart and Target to pick up some last minute items (diapers, baby food, 2 x 12 cans of sprite and coke).

 

We stayed at the Intercontinental Hotel in Miami as I had booked it off EASY CLICK TRAVEL for $99 USD. It was a beautiful hotel and rooms were massive. We were able to fit a play pen in the bathroom with no problem for our daughter. Also had an amazing view of the port. We walked over to Bayside Market place to have dinner. I had my iphone and discovered that Mambo's restaurant and Hooters both have FREE WIFI. So this was great to send last minute emails and check hockey scores. The hotel will try and charge you like $18 for internet. Literally the walk is about 5 minutes at a normal pace. There is a great playground just infront of the hotel for the kids

 

We cabbed it in the morning from the hotel to the port and after loading the van and car seats, we arrived at the port at 11:50pm. We were told the earliest we were allowed to board was noon. The cab fare from the hotel was $12 and we gave $15.

 

At this time the line up was literally only 100 people. We gave our bags to these porters and tipped them accordingly. They ensured me our bags would get onto our boat. We did have our yellow NCL paper tags stuck to our suitcases. We then entered a building (literally stood outside in the sun for about 2 minutes) Then up a ramp into an air conditioned hallway. We had 2 kids so this was a big stressor for us prior to leaving. When we entered the building a lady will check your passports and e-documents and then hand you a questionairre WHICH MUST BE FILLED OUT FOR EACH ADULT TRAVELLING. They first tell you it is per family, but fill one out for each adult. It basically is a sheet which asks you what room you will be in and what are the names of people travelling with you (ie- kids, etc...) and if you have recently had diarrhea or norwalk.

 

Then there were 3 lines. Plus a fourth line that was guarded. I told them that with the new freestyle 2.0 Minisuites should have a separate line up. they promptly told me that this special line up was for AFTER security screening and only VIP's could jump this first line that gets you to the security scanners. So we waited in this quick line and then had all our stuff scanned. It is just like an airport, so had to take the kids out of the strollers and carriers. They scanned our pop and had no problem with me bringing it on. then after the security as we got our stuff all back in the stroller, there was a special line for minisuites. We went there and within a few minutes we met with a lady. this is when our kids got a bit bothered by all the people. The agent was quick and effective and had to take our pictures for our cards. We kept the kids in the strollers for this.

 

then we headed down a hallway and take an elevator up 2 floors. Here a man greeted us and mentioned we could go to the far right and by pass the long line up to get our room keys as we had kids. We were all excited, but when we got to the front everyone looked at us funny and the lady told me we would have to go back to the lilne. We told her that NCL man told us to come here. So eventually they gave us our keys.

 

Then another elevator ride up and down a moving escalator to a hallway where they take your first cruise family shot. Then onto another elevator up a floor to the ramp to get on board.

 

Once on board, they sanitize your hands and then you are escorted to the buffet. I did ask the man, if I could eat at the dinning room. He said sure, but I decided with the kids we would prefer the buffet. Immediately in the entrance to the buffet, there is a lady for restaurant bookings. We proceeded to book that night and the next night (as we were in a minisuite and could book 48 hours in advance). We weren't really sure if we would go, but knew that if we cancelled by 5pm on the day of the booking there was no charge. so really no harm in booking them an cancelling them later if we decided not to go. After eating we walked next door to the kid's club and signed in. All the sitter/care people were really nice and some were canadian (which I liked). I took pictures of the kids club, but all in all I was happy with it. the problem is that the first time you take your kids, you have to go down a hallway to Club underground. My daughter felt this hallway was gloomy and got scared. The first time she took to it really well, but the second time she still had fun with finger painting, songs, crafts, but was sad when we picked her up. so consequently we did not take her again. Our priority was to holiday with her, so did not want her to feel bad. But their programs were really good. On port days, the babysitters had like 3 kids, so they were always wandering the boat, exploring. Some lady left her kid there for 11 hours. Crazy. So we never used the pay babysitting. We met some 5 year olds all the way up to 13 year olds who LOVED the kids club and thought it was awesome. Our daughter was 2.5 years old and there were not alot of kids on our ship (92 total kids below age18). So was not busy at all.

 

There is a room you can sign out in the FYZZ lounge which has Wii and karaoke. this was really fun for us and the kids, we would just sing dumb songs and play tennis. You get it for an hour. so if you go buy and see occupied (3 rooms) then talk to the bar tender about getting signed up. The room is great cause the kids can be loud and you can drink and sing songs and not feel so lame.

 

The buffet the entire cruise was GREAT. I consider myself a non-picky eater and I always found something to eat. The only issues I had with it were as follows: There is only JUICE (Apple, Cranberry, Orange) at breakfast, then for other meals anywhere on the boat you only can have ICED tea. This is of course the unsweetened kind and so tastes nasty in my opinion. The good thing is that kids can order juice whenever they want. This worked out good for us. At dinner the juices for kids are setup in the kids buffet for us to self serve, but at lunch you have to ORDER the juice. this can be a bit tricky in the buffet as there is not always someone around. But we always got it. The funny thing is we have a 2 year old and they would literally bring a massive wine glass of juice over even if we asked for a little juice. We would transfer her share into her sippy cup and then have some for ourselves. Lets call this a little treat for us. I did honestly ask them to simply fill the sippy cup, but for sanitary reasons they would not. I did notice on the kids menu at the dining rooms it said juice and offered lemonade as well. We never tried it. I also tried adding sugar to the ICED tea and it still tasted gross. I WOULD definitely bring little juice crystals for adults if I cruise NCL again. The other thing in the buffet was the kids area. It is right at the entrance and great little blue stools for kids to sit on and not worry about them falling. Lots of high chairs along the walls. Sometimes only a bit of an issue getting a tray for the high chair, but often I would simply pull them upside the table and worked great. They are Grey, plastic and really secure. Not the wooden kind that are in restaurants. They have wheels as well, so you can wheel your kid in it around the buffet if you so desire. Every time I got one, the buckles worked well. The problem with this area is that the buffet seating is quite busy, so the seniors and other individuals would sit here from time to time. It made it really annoying when I would lug in 2 kids wanting to eat badly and look for a seat and they would look at me and simply drink their coffee and enjoy the view. Eventually later in the cruise I would just sit beside them and soon enough they would want to be as far as possible from my kids. hehe

 

Another problem with the buffet was the pasta station was EXTREMELY slow. The food was worth the wait, but If I wanted a pasta and had to deal with feeding the kids, it was a nightmare. NCL would do good to have a check sheet, that you can write down what you want and come back. Pizza, hotdogs, hamburgers always were good, also had turkey burgers and all the fixin's. Always had soft ice cream around. Most often vanilla, chocolate and strawberry, but sometimes no strawberry and instead had chocolate vanilla swirl. You can grab a cone or as I saw someone else do, fill it in a coffee mug (mmmm!). Lots of Tea's, coffee and Latte machine is excellent. the dessert was often quite good, and they always had a sugar free option at dinner time. there is a liquor/drink set up in the buffet which I never used. Funny, though they sell a BENZINGER Merlot per glass for like $6, but at Walmart I found a Benzinger Pinot Grigio for $4.67. So I brought this on board and even with the corkage, it is cheaper. I had brought my own pop/soda which I would bring with me for lunch or dinner. This would only save me $2 (as that is the charge on the boat) but it was worth it.

 

One note, for breakfast and lunch you can take your buffet food and sit in MAMA's restaurant. It is much more quiet and less busy. But the con is you are a bit far from the buffet for refills.

 

 

so the first day we got our rooms at around 1:30pm. The bags for my friends arrived at 3pm but mine not until 6pm. Kind of annoying, as we had already sailed off and I was stressed my bags would not come. But eventually they did. they also had not given us the crib we had requested. So I asked our room steward as my kids nap at 2pm. He rushed and got one for me. I can send a picture if anyone would like. It is basically a metal crib on wheels with a mattress. It folds and can fit under the bed if needed. It does not fit in the washroom of the mini suite. We were also given a pack'n play for our newborn and again this did not fit in the bathroom with the door closed. But fit in there well enough with the door ajar that he slept well. I was concerned about the ventilation in the washroom so it is good to have the door open anyways. Just so you know, they both could have fit in the living area of the mini suite, but we simply wanted them separate as our newborn would sometimes get up at midnight. the bed was amazingly comfortable. Under the bed there is ample room, for both of our suitcases, an umbrella stroller and even the crib if needed. I emptied the wetbar and put everything in the upper cabinets and filled it with my pop. there is a ton of cabinets and each of us got our own drawer. The bathroom has enough shelving and LOTS of nice smelling soap and shampoo. You definitely should bring some conditioner as there is none. A nice trick we discovered was to ask the hotel you stay in at Miami for some amenities, or simply snag the ones at that hotel and use it on the cruise. will save some packing. The intercontinental gives you a full kids amenity pack with lotion, soap, etc... so we did not need to have packed that stuff. Oh well, next time. There are 2 plugs at the living room side/desk, near the TV. this was fine. There was also a plug in the bathroom up by the ceiling which says 'razor only'. But my friend used a hair straightener and said it worked fine. I did bring a power bar and extension cord which worked great when I wanted to watch DVD's on the balcony and my battery would run low. My friend was very impressed with hair dryer on board and she is picky. But did say her hair straightener was not heating up as much, thus would take longer. (even when using the plug at the desk). the key is if you have kids and put them to bed in the living room area, you have no access to plugs, so that is why the extension cord came in handy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The room has a coffee maker, a mirror on the table with a light, a TUBE tv, not an LCD. It had inputs component and Svideo on the back, but when I plugged my portable philips DVD player to it, it did not work. I tried everything. I was wondering if the TV's were PAL not NTSC as my image would sometimes show up but in black and white. So keep this in mind. No DVD player. No clock, but the time is displayed on the phone. the Patio door has a TURN lock up at adult height which made us feel secure. I was thinking of buying a sliding door alarm before I left, but the door is super heavy and hard to open. I dont think even a 3 year old could open it. The balcony was quite spacious and had 2 chairs and a table. The partitions offer privacy, but there is a 6 inch gap at the bottom that you can get down on your knees and see next door. Also when leaning on the glass, you can see both sides and if you go right to the corner you can look into the neighbours balcony with ease. Also there is an overhang, so rarely direct sun, but definitely sunny on days at port or sea. Can definitely get really windy. Keep this in mind when leaving the balcony door open and then opening your room door. The wind is so strong it shot my daughter out the main door into the hallway. So be careful when carrying food back to the room if someone is on the balcony. We had our partition opened between our friends room, so basically it is like 2 french doors between the baclonies of which one opens. We also had a connecting minisuite, so the doors in the room could be opened. Again, careful with kids and slamming their fingers in these doors as depending on the movement of the boat they could close without notice. We often stuck towels in between them. A door bumper thing for the connecting doors would have made us alot less worried.

 

The laundry was literally down the hall. I had planned on bringing my own laundry detergent, but ended up buying some there. $1 for a box of tide. That does 1 large load or 2 smaller loads. NOWHERE on the box does it mention HIGH efficiency soap. So feel free to bring any kind. The washers take about 40 minutes. The dryers are free. So keep this in mind when you come back from the pool or port. You might as well simply stick the wet clothes in the dryer versus hanging them up all over your balcony or room hoping they dry. We did not really think about this until later in the trip. If you chose to use the low temp dry, keep in mind your clothes will need like 4 cycles to not feel so damp. We used setting number 2 or 3 and would be dry in like 10 minutes. I put my linen pants in and no worries about shrinkage. Would have been nice to have some bounce sheets however, to make our clothes smell nice. You will need quarters for the laundry detergant dispenser, but you can also go to the front desk and charge it to your room and get a box there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

My wife and friends went to the opening "one night only" show for the magician. The only thing to be aware of is the first 45 minutes is all cruise information and Rich the cruise guy talking. So don't rush there if you really want to see it. I heard the show is not great.

 

The next morning we went to Tsar's for breakfast. The good thing about Tsar's (eventhough I find the decoration tacky) is that there is no hustle and bustle and you can get served. They always had high chairs and we could order all breakfast foods and feel like we were in a nice restaurant. It was never busy. It opened at 7:30. Azura's opened later like 9AM so never worked for us for breakfast. Actually Azura's never worked for us as it was always SUPER busy. I am not sure why. Remember this is the contemporary dining room with the same menu as Tsar's.

 

Things we did with the kids:

 

1) basketball court was usually quiet, so we go the balls and they ran around and kicked soccer balls and threw basketballs. Was good to kill about 1 hour

2) golf driving range net. The clubs are there during the day, so killed about 30 minutes with the kids.

3) we played checkers and chess (literally kids moved around the pieces and had no idea what they were doing) and this killed like 30 minutes

4) Wii/karaoke room was fun for a while

5) In the Gym, there is a back room for aerobics, etc... and during the day they would set up a ping pong table in there. I never used it but another passenger with a 2 year old said he would let his kid run around in there while him and his wife played ping pong. Was never told by gym people to leave.

6) Kids pool was a blast for 2-3 year olds. A fun slide and between me and my wife, one of us would sit in the adjoining hot tub. So was kind of relaxing.

7) Adult pool was also fun. remember it is ocean water, so very salty. The slide my 2.5 year old loved, but was very slow, so we would always gets stuck. But she would go up and down for hours.

8) The library during down time was great as had kids books, so we would go and chill out at times.

9).Board game rooms have Pictionary, yahtzee, scrabble, trivial pursuit, Rumikub?? not sure what this was, backgammon, monopoly.

 

Lastly, there is an UNDER 2 ZOO. this is for only kids under 2. On sea days this is set up in a dungy conference room, where they have not covered the plug outlets and there are no mats on the floor. So kind of crappy. BUT, on port days, it was set up in the Club underground. This was attached to the kid's club, so lots of matts, toys, books, crawl throughs. My 2.5 year old loved it and it was totally child proof. so we would go there with my 7 month old, put him on the floor and my 2.5 year old would run around and blow off steam. It was great. The only thing was the toys were cleaned daily and would drip some liquid. I assumed it was water, but thought it was kind of gross, so would have to shake everything off and then give it to my kid to gnaw on. Sometimes you would see a puddle of the cleaning solution on the matts and think a kid took a leak on the floor. Also in the Club underground there is a TV so it would be on CNN so kind of felt like you were at your own house in the family room. Just note, no food allowed in that area, but I brought a coffee and no one said anything.

 

My video monitor did not work very far from my room. I brought it to test it out. It is a 900Mhz type. It would work down the hall though, but since we had connecting rooms, i rarely needed it. One couple would leave their room and kid sleeping in it and go up to the buffet to eat. They had a baby monitor that would work, but I still think that was not a good idea.

 

The Casino had a texas hold'em tournament on sea days at 11AM. It would normally last 3 hours as the blinds go up really quickly. there are muiltiple re-buys, so kind of sucks as the rich people play aggressively and keep rebuying. Buy in is $60. Rebuys are $60. Remember in the casino and pool side bars, even drinks like coffee/tea/hot chocolate cost $2. So better to get your coffee free at the buffett and then go down to the pool.

 

The bucket of beers are a good deal:

 

$22 - coors light or Miller Lite

$25 - corona, Bud, Bud lite and Heineken

$29 - for other beers ( i never bought it so don't know which beers)

 

you get 6 beers for the price of 5 and can hoard them in your room, so save them for later. As they do not open them. also you often get nice gifts with the buckets. We got a bottle opener and some cooling sleeves which I thought were really cool.

 

NOTE TO SELF: my wife bought a smoothie in a souvenir glass for $10.29 all in. then when we went to get a refill thinking it would be cheaper as we already had the cup, they told me that there is no REFILL pricing on smoothies. So she would have to pay the same price. BUT, if you don't put it in a souvenir glass you save $1. So don't bother getting the glass to begin with if you only plan to drink smoothies. you can however refill it with a mixed drink for a bit of a discount.

 

My thoughts, go to the buffet and get the CHILLED soups (strawberry, etc..) and they taste sooo good and are like smoothies, then go get some soft ice cream and voila you are set. Save your money.

 

Specialty restaurants:

 

Loved Le Bistro. The food was great, so was the atmosphere and The chocolate fondue was worth every penny, we even ordered 2 more. Worth the $15.

 

Really did not like Mama's and Tangoes. Not great for the $10 so save your money. The pizza was good, but pizza and pasta you can get as good in the buffet for free.

 

Had mongolian hot pot and friends ate Chin Chin's. both of us felt the atmosphere was the best and really enjoyed our night out, but food was simply OK. I think it had nothing to do with the food quality, it had more to do with the fact that I would've wanted it spicier and more flavorful.

 

did not eat at Cagney's but heard it was great.

 

Blue Lagoon after hours was the only place to eat and it had a very small menu. Do not eat the artichoke dip, it sucks. Burgers, etc.. are fine.

 

Great outdoors is free and literally buffet food but on the back of the boat, so great place to eat and soak up some sun.

 

Never tried room service. But I Was in an AF mini suite room 10086 and was soo close to the buffet that could get whatever I wanted, whenever.

 

there are 2 pool tables by the pool and there is also a blackjack table by the pool for you gamblers.

 

The kids would sleep from 2-4 so I would go sun tan, and never had a problem finding a place to chill out. Always a seat. Definitely some were being 'saved' with towels, but that did not bother me. I found it quite windy on deck, so found that near the basketball court there is a protected area from wind and it was awesome to tan and chill out. Also at the front of the boat there is deck 13 and 14 for those who want to go topless or just get a tan. the hot tubs were never really hot, which was a bit disappointing. I like hot tubs like 105 degrees though.

 

I would often love going to the front of the boat and watch us sail away from the port and watch the sunset. This was very peacefull and I would bring some buffet snacks and chill out with the kids for an hour or so. There is a huge outdoor shower on the front 13th floor which my daughter found amusing. the only thing is up on the 13th floor at the front the glass has spaces between them, that I am sure a normal 2 year old could fall through, so you have to be vigilant in watching them.

 

I saw Cirque Bijoux and was not really impressed. There is one couple who is amazing as she can really contort her body, the remainder was mere dancing. Don't expect it to be like a real cirque show, but again you are on a cruise and it is free and in a small stage, so it was good for what they had to deal with. The hypnotist is lacking in humor and often was stumbling on what to make people do, but The people who got hypnotized were quite funny. Also the not so newly wed game was HILARIOUS. The liar's club show was lame and is like balderdash, but not funny.

 

We never played the Bingo.

 

I would recommend a first time cruiser to go to the 7 th floor every day and get their portraits taken from day 1. I thought at first I had to pay for this, but realized they will take multiple shots of your family and then you can decide if you want them. We only did this 2 days and did not get a great shot as our kids wer being fussy. As any parent knows, it is hard to get 2 young kids to sit still so any chance you get, try it. the issue is cost. It costs $25 for an 8 x10. Crazy.

 

 

 

The duty free on board is actually quite cheap. the first day the liquour is 10% off. An example is Bombay sapphire 1Litre is $15 USD and then take 10% off that. If you buy it on board, they hold it for you upon disembarkation, so you can't then drink it in your room. At all the ports the Bombay was $16. So the boat is reasonable. I don't think the boat had Domestic Rums though, so if you are looking for local rum, just buy it at the port for like $7-8 USD for a 1 L. I went to the rum factory in St. Lucia and they charged me $8. But at the port it was $7. So don't expect better liquor deals off the beaten path. Also in the Duty free there was reasonabl pricing on cruise essentials. A coffee thermal mug was like $7 and a nice one was $13. Candy was all really cheap. Shampoos, women's hygiene items, etc.. all cheap. They had water wings for kids priced at $1.99. So all was quite cheap. Don't sweat the small stuff if you can't grab it in Miami, as the boat will likely have it.

 

One note, we had kids and strollers and they never scan the stroller. So, unintentionally on the first port, I bought some rum for a friend and left it in the bottom of the stroller and got it on board. Now i would feel great if I actually planned on drinking it in room, but alas it was a gift. The next port, just for convenience of packing it in my suitcase I brought it on my stroller again. No worries.

 

PORT DAYS:

 

 

Samana - tendering so you get loaded on boats, so with kids definitely would not go first, wait atleast an hour to go down. We did not get off at this port

 

tortola - simply walk off. A breeze, no problems and relaxing, we walked through the stalls and then paid a taxi $5/pp to take us to Nanny Cay beach. It was awesome, kind of rocky in the water, but free sun shades and chairs and a secluded beach. NOT antigua or Maui like beach, but preferred the not having to pay for chairs, shades and drinks as well as the peace and quiet

 

Barbados - you HAVE to take local buses to the port. So again, the lines got big. So if just simply going to the port and back, don't bring all the kids stuff and just go later after the rush. The bus is free, but then it is $3/pp to bridgetown.

 

St. Lucia. Just walk off as well, but paid a taxi to take us around the island. Negotiated from $170 for a van for the day, to $32.50/pp (don't let them charge you for kids) so worked out to $130 total. went to see the Pitons, but our friend got sick and hard to turn back.

 

 

Generally at the ports there is claimed duty free shopping.

 

If I could do anything again, I would research Diamonds as well as specialty watches as that is the main selling item at the ports. Antigua and Barbados are the main places. There is a specialty sales person on the NCL boat (Martin) who claims Barbados is the best place and he gets VIP pricing so he can negotiate for you at Diamonds International. But, my friends with us claimed prices in Jamaica were cheaper. The main watches are all there, Rolex, Tag, Movado, Cartier, etc....

 

Ex: I asked about a Hearts on Fire diamond and they claimed it was anywhere from $4000 and up. So not really sure what pricing is like, but would have been good to know. They have some diamond rings on board as well which are reasonably priced, but again I was not sure whether the pricing was good or not.

 

The disembarkation was EASY. You grab colored tags depending on when you want to leave the boat on the Sunday. you can grab these tags as early as friday. They range from 8:30-10:30. then you pack your bags on saturday night and leave them in the hallway by midnight with these colored tags on them. Then the next morning they will call you by luggage color tag and you can make your way off the boat. We chose the 10:30 and woke up ate breakfast at Tsar's and just relaxed. Other people can chose to get off on their own. This means you carry your bags and just get off. If you plan to do this and be first off the boat, might as well take the earliest colored baggage tags and let them take your bags off, then you can simply walk down at that time and get off early. Save's you lugging all your gear. I had to do it, given I had 2 kids.

 

Then we had trouble finding a cab that would be willing to take us to the Intercontinental. seemed like they all wanted to go to the airport. One guy took us, packed the car and when we got in, he said which airport. When we said intercontinental he was mad and did not even help with our bags at the drop off. This cab fare was $12. Later that day we went to the airport and it worked out to $27.

 

All in all a great cruise, and I would do it again in a heartbeat.

 

Send me a post if you would like pictures of the cribs/pack n plays, kids area, and room layout. I took pictures of our AF minisuite on the Jewel as well as a nearby Penthouse suite.

 

Have a great cruise.

 

 

[mafig]

Thank you. Enjoyed reading your review.

 

So, both dining rooms are open for breakfast?

 

Is Azure just for balcony and above? Was this advertised in the daily program?

[apax]

no azura's was for everyone. But opened later. With kids we often ate at 9pm. Tsars opened at 7 and closed at 9:30. Azura's I think was simply open later for breakfast. Was open to all customers

 

My wife felt the service was unbearably slow at Azura's.

[jenn_m]

Wow, what a great review! I'm going on the Gem, but I have a 3 year old an 18 month old and you gave me so much great info. Great ideas of ways to keep the kids busy.

 

I would love some pics of the minisuite, crib, pack and play, and kid's area, if you wouldn't mind emailing them to me. I assume that they are similar on the Gem. My email address is pc_dude_75 at yahoo dot com (with the @ and . of course).

 

One question...did you ask for both a crib and a pack and play? I'm wondering how the decide which one to give you. Which would you recommend for an 18 month old?

 

Thanks so much!

[jenn_m]

One more question...how did you go to the bathroom with the crib in there? Would it fit in the hallway at all? Our 18 mo old likes to sleep in his own room with his door shut so we were trying to think of an option for this. Thanks!

[apax]

yes either would totally fit in the hallway. you could probably put 2 back to back. We actually would use our friends adjoining mini suite washroom or run up to the buffet to go to the washroom if he was sleeping.

 

The packnplay is more soft on the sides and has mesh like we are used to. The crib is metal and my newborn when he slept in it, his arms were out of the slots and seemed funny. So i would prefer the packnplay if my child rolls around alot.

 

If you have a 3 year old, you can have her on the couch and the 18 month old in a packnplay in the hallway.

 

I will send pics when my kids go to sleep

[apax]

here are some shots, hope this works. here is an image of the crib set up by the couch in a mini suite AF category on the jewel

 

Apax

[apax]

Here is the crib folded up. This can then be slid under the bed. I know it seems big, but that just shows you how much room is under the bed.

 

Apax

[apax]

Here is how the playpen would fit in the washroom. kind of tight and cannot access washroom or bathtub.

[apax]

Here is an image of the minisuite AF jewel 11084. View is from the front door in line with the washroom door

[apax]

This is how much the bathroom door can close with a playpen in it. It is about the same if you try and put the metal crib in the bathroom, but given that the playpen is softer, this worked better. The towel bar is what gets in the way.

 

This view is of the halway, the bathroom door is on the left and the adjoining minisuite access door is on the right, with the main room door ahead.

[apax]

image of the kids club play area on the jewel

[apax]

image of the kids pool

[rubytue]

Can I get some clarification on something you said in your other thread. You were talking about swim diapers in the pool, and it sounded like you were saying no one from NCL enforced any diaper policies, so the parents were making sure all the kids had on swim diapers. Did I understand that correctly?

[ddakrt]

Thanks for that really detailed review! Really appreciate that you took your time to write that up.

[Bocadude85]

Great review, I can't wait for my trip now!

[apax]

YES, no one enforced the diaper rule. thus, as most parents put their kids in swim diapers all kids that were young were wearing some sort of swim diapers. Covered with a bathing suit.

 

The only part I found kind of gross, was when a less than 2 year old was in the kids pool with no diaper.

 

I felt like most parents were concerned with pool hygiene and put their kids in swim diapers.

 

apax

[Wavesprite]

Apax, great review, I'm concerned about the diapers in the pool thing too. It's well known that they aren't allowed, but you are saying a lot of people disregarded that and let their children in the pools with them on? Why would people so blatantly disregard a rule regarding personal hygiene? I have a 3 year old (well potty trained, and has been since she was 2 1/2) and a year old, and now I'm kind of grossed out by other people's disregard of the rules.

[CruisenGoddess]

Great review! We're going on the 7th with our 32 month GS, so your review was just what I was looking for - any chance you have a 2-5 yr schedule?

[jenn_m]

Awesome pics...thank you so much. This definitely helps us in our planning!

[rubytue]

Thanks for the review :) And the clarification. Its too bad the rule on diapers was so blatenly ignores. :( I may just avoid the pools now.

[Philly Steve]

Thanks for the review! :)

[thewolffs]

Thanks for the review. I was wondering if you used carseats at the ports in the cabs or not. I'm so stressed about being able to use them or not use them. We plan on bringing a carrier in case we can't use a car seat.

[annie m]

Apax, great review, I'm concerned about the diapers in the pool thing too. It's well known that they aren't allowed, but you are saying a lot of people disregarded that and let their children in the pools with them on? Why would people so blatantly disregard a rule regarding personal hygiene? I have a 3 year old (well potty trained, and has been since she was 2 1/2) and a year old, and now I'm kind of grossed out by other people's disregard of the rules.

 

 

If you bring this to the staff's attention then they will address the situation. We noticed this back in 2003 when we first sailed. People will try to get away wiith it even if it is making others ill.

[bluesea777]

Great review and I'm gald to hear that you loved the buffet !! :D

 

We loved the buffet for breakfast and lunch while on Pearl - we thought the selection was plentiful - there was always several things that we liked.

 

We also ate a lot in speciality restaurants.

 

OP, noting that your older kid is 2.5 yo, may I make a suggestion for your next cruise on NCL - try to pick a jewel class ship (Jewel, Pearl, Gem or Jade) and book a B category (BA, BB, BC, BD) cabin that sleeps 4 (four)people. This cabin has a pullman bed that comes down from the ceiling (it has guard rail) as well as the pull out sofa bed. You can put the older one in the pullman bed and you'll have the space (where the fold out sofa bed would have been) to put the travelling cot for your younger 'un.

 

The AF cabins do not have pullman bed.