Jewel Baltics 5/22 Review

[horsesrus]

DH and I just returned from the Baltic cruise on the beautiful Norwegian Jewel. To give a bit of background and perspective on our review we are an early 40’s couple who have sailed about a dozen times previously on RCCL, Carnival and Disney Cruise Line; this was our first cruise on NCL. We stayed in a Courtyard Villa so our review will reference our experience in that respect so those who don’t like to read reviews from suite guests may want to run in the other direction at this time… :D

Ok… now for those that are interested here’s a first timer overview of the NCL Jewel.

We had read many negative comments and reviews about NCL and the Jewel prior to our sailing which could have negatively influenced our experience. We were determined to not let that happen and went into this with an open mind. In short, we could not have been happier!

Our trip to London was uneventful, we had a non-stop flight to London Heathrow on Continental and arrived early May 21st; a day prior to our May 22nd sailing. We had pre-arranged a private car transfer from Heathrow to Central London with First Class London Chauffeurs and Deryck was waiting for us and promptly got us to our hotel, the Cavendish London, where we stayed the night prior to sailing out of Dover. This is a very nice hotel and we were upgraded to the Penthouse Suite (very nice!) for our one night stay. We were able to check in upon arrival (11:30 a.m.?) and took a long and much needed nap. I would highly suggest coming in the night before if taking this cruise and coming in from the states, we were refreshed, well rested, and ready to start our cruise by Friday morning.

Deryck picked us up on Friday morning around 9:30 a.m. and we were in Dover by 11:30 after a quick stop at a wonderful service area along the motorway (we should have those in the U.S.!) to purchase our Diet Cokes to get us through the first few days on the ship (hate Pepsi and the Jewel has switched to Pepsi).

The line at the pier for drop off was a bit long and our driver got “reprimanded” by a port official for cutting line which was not intentional as he was following a taxi that had gone through. We found out upon being reprimanded that the local taxi’s have an “agreement” with the Port officials that they can zoom in and out past everyone else; who knew?! Ehhh, no worries, we weren’t sent to jail or anything and we were at the terminal in a few minutes and checked our two bags (yes, I only had TWO large bags for a 14 day trip if you can believe it?!) with a porter and were on our way. We went through security pretty quickly and found the priority check-in area for the suite guests. It was not a separate room here as we had read from other reviews but rather just a separate roped off area off to one side. Carlos, the MOST EXCELLENT CONCIERGE IN THE WORLD (ok, I have no comparison but anyone that comes behind him for us has some very large shoes to fill!) was waiting for us. He immediately knew who we were, I don’t know how, and had everything in order for us that we had discussed with him prior to our sailing. He whisked us through the check-in, health form process and soon one of the butlers had taken us and another couple of ladies past the lines and onto the ship and we had our first of many adult beverages in our hand; the complimentary champagne. Ahhh, life is good!

We were shown to our beautiful cabin, 14014 where we checked it out for a few minutes then headed to Cagney’s for the first of many wonderful lunches.

We soon met Roy our butler and Richard our room steward. Both were wonderful and took very good care of us. I have to say that we didn’t use the services of our butler as much as I would have thought. We only had room service for breakfast a few times and found we didn’t need him for anything else. He was, never-the-less, wonderful friendly and attentive and always there for us if we needed him. Now Carlos on the other hand, OMG, I wish I could have brought him home with me! I can’t imagine how I can cruise again without a Carlos… the incredible service; priority seating, embarkation and disembarkation… worth the cost of the suite alone. I don’t mean to be snobby or anything by saying that but it was awesome and I would say, if you ever get the opportunity to sail in a suite like this be prepared, it would be hard to go back! I’ve sailed in inside rooms and on up over the years but I have found that the suite life is the life for me; that’s my thing and nothing more is meant by this.

I have to do a quick comparison between RCCL suites and NCL… Humm, well… there just is no comparison… never mind.

Moving on, the first night we had dinner in Tsar’s which is one of the main dining rooms. We had a nice table for two at the window and a very nice meal. I don’t remember what I ate but it was the cooking light option (hope that’s the right name for it) and it was very good! The servers were friendly and prompt to clear our plates and bring our next course at appropriate intervals. We had no complaints about any of our dining rooms servers on this cruise they were all friendly and prompt and I never felt like they were lacking in any way as many have alluded to due to the automatic gratuities. As for the food, I had lost 12 lbs prior to the cruise in preparation for the 12 day eating frenzy and even though I stuck to the eating light options in most cases and avoided deserts except for a few special occasions I still gained 6 lbs so yes, the food was great! We tried all the restaurants on board and enjoyed them all, we really liked Tango’s and ate there twice.

We missed the show the first night, we were worn out and ready to hit that very comfortable looking bed and boy was it ever comfortable! The next day was a sea day and we slept in a little bit, but not too late to try Cagney’s for breakfast. I had been dying to try the Crabcakes Benedict after hearing so much about them; very yummy indeed!

Did I mention Carlos yet? Oh yeah, I did, but did I also mention that this man is EVERYWHERE! I think there were like 3 of him on this cruise. He checked in on us every night and if he didn’t catch us in our room he would find us at dinner and then boom, there he was again when we went to the show to escort us to the reserved seating area. He was just a little energizer bunny!

The first sea day we took it easy for the most part but we did attend a beer tasting and we did go to the show. I can’t remember which one it was but all the shows we saw were good, we especially liked Tim and Tom the magicians, the juggler and Cirque Bijou (sp?).

Ok, this is getting long and I don’t want to do one of those marathon reviews (plus I’m still a little bit tired after the flight home last night).

I’ll finish by saying we did NCL excursions in all ports except Tallin and St. Petersburg. We enjoyed all our excursions and feel they were worth the cost to see the highlights yet they still allowed us some time on our own to explore a little bit. We did our own thing in Tallin (very easy!) and we did a private tour with Anastasia in St. Petersburg. Our tour guide Christina was wonderful as was our diver Roma (apparently one of very few English speaking drivers!), I would highly recommend them!

Anyway, we loved NCL and are hooked; we’re sailing on the Spirit in January 2010 and are looking very forward to it. I just wish Carlos was on that ship… <<pout>>.

The only thing I can complain about is the way that NCL handled debarkation in Russia for those with private tours or visa vs. those with NCL tours. They made those with privates or those with visa’s get off mid-ship and those with NCL tours got off forward. There were 4 custom’s windows when you got off, 1 was allocated for privates/visas and 3 for NCL tours so needless to say the line for NCL tours went 3 times as fast as our line. At the meet and mingle the hotel director addressed this and tried to imply that Russia customs dictates this procedure but as far as I can tell that’s a bunch of bologna and I don’t appreciate being told a fallacy and that lowered my opinion of Julian who I otherwise would have thought quite highly of. NCL was the one that routed those lines and they were the ones controlling the crowds; I’m certain the Russian customs officals could have cared less who went through what line as long as you had the appropriate documents. My guess is that NCL has bus loads of tour guests that they need to get moved through the lines so they can send their busses out and that’s why they do things this way. I understand that things “are what they are” but I appreciate honesty and don’t feel that Julian was being honest or straight forward about this at all.

Now, I will give them credit that on day two, which moves much faster since you now have “the stamp” in your passport, the NCL staff were preventing the NCL tour guests from jumping their much longer line and trying to cut into the private tour line (which still had just one window vs. NCL’s three) so kudos to that staff member. Additionally, NCL learned their lesson after the sailing prior to ours with the new landing card requirement and they did pre-fill them for all guests to expedite clearing customs. Apparently much of the delay through customs on the sailing prior to ours was due to the new landing card requirement and guests either not completing them or completing them incorrectly which caused huge delays. We probably waited in the private tour line for about 1 hour but that was with the concierge taking us directly down to the gang way on deck 4 rather then having to get in line up on deck 7 and wait so I’m sure others waited much longer.

I’m sure I’m leaving out many things and if anyone has questions please ask and I’ll be happy to share.

Oh yeah, the cruise director’s staff were great! The cruise director was Rich and he was one of the most visible and interactive cruise directors on any cruise we have ever been on, he was everywhere. And don’t miss the cruise staff show on the last night; in particular “fountains”, you HAVE to see that!!!

[Hunding]

horsesrus

 

Thanks. We are in 14012 on the 27th, so - needless to say - I'm hoping The Amazing Carlos is still aboard then. I'm dreading the sturm und drang of debarking in St. Petersburg, but NCL seems to have decided to institutionalize the hassle. Too bad - there really are so many other routes they could choose to take. Ah, well.

[Giantfan13]

Very nice review. We are on the Jewel in August and just cannot wait.

 

Were there any non NCL tour guests on the line for NCL only?? Say we wanted to get into that line, were they doing anything about it??

 

At about what time was debarkation?? We are looking to catch a 10:00 bus back to London, would that be a problem???

[horsesrus]

horsesrus

 

Thanks. We are in 14012 on the 27th, so - needless to say - I'm hoping The Amazing Carlos is still aboard then. I'm dreading the sturm und drang of debarking in St. Petersburg, but NCL seems to have decided to institutionalize the hassle. Too bad - there really are so many other routes they could choose to take. Ah, well.

 

You will have a wonderful time and I hope Carlos is still on board, he didn't mention anything about moving on any time soon.

 

The St. Petersburg thing is no fun but once past that mess the city is beautiful and it's well worth the hasstle in the end. We did a private tour, just the two of us, and even though the line getting off was miserable I would not have traded that for being herded through the city like cattle in a bus load sized tour group.

 

Enjoy your cruise and if you have any questions feel free to ask.

[horsesrus]

Very nice review. We are on the Jewel in August and just cannot wait.

 

Were there any non NCL tour guests on the line for NCL only?? Say we wanted to get into that line, were they doing anything about it??

 

At about what time was debarkation?? We are looking to catch a 10:00 bus back to London, would that be a problem???

 

 

I really don't know if any self or private tour folks tried to get into that line. I don't know if they were checking for yellow NCL tour tickets as you disembarked or not. I didn't chance it as I would have been sick if they had stopped me and sent me packing to the back of the private tour line. There were a lot of staff members out walking the lines asking if you had your tickets (and in our case our private tour documents).

 

Debarkation for those doing self debarkation (carry your own luggage off) was pretty early, seems like 6:30 or something close to that. We weren't in a hurry so waited until 9:00 and there was absolutely no line at that time and no customs like when sailing from / returning to the US made it go quite quick. Catching a 10:00 a.m. bus should be no problem at all provided there are no issues with docking that morning.

[Almagetty]

Thanks for posting your review, horsesrus!

 

We leave on Thursday to London and will be boarding the Jewel next Monday. We simply cannot wait!

 

It's a shame that the debarkation process in St. Petersburg has become such a chore. It irritates me as well that NCL is lying about who can use which line. Didn't anyone at the meet and greet challenge Julian's claim of who was dictating which line could be used? My hope is that, with each cruise that passes by, the situation in St. Pete will become more smooth. Maybe our wait to get through immigration will be that much shorter in a couple of weeks.

[horsesrus]

Thanks for posting your review, horsesrus!

 

We leave on Thursday to London and will be boarding the Jewel next Monday. We simply cannot wait!

 

It's a shame that the debarkation process in St. Petersburg has become such a chore. It irritates me as well that NCL is lying about who can use which line. Didn't anyone at the meet and greet challenge Julian's claim of who was dictating which line could be used? My hope is that, with each cruise that passes by, the situation in St. Pete will become more smooth. Maybe our wait to get through immigration will be that much shorter in a couple of weeks.

 

Have fun, the Jewel and the Baltics are beautiful!

 

The St. Petersburg thing is ugly but it does appear to have improved greatly even since the sailing prior to ours. I don't want to go so far as to say that NCL is lying or to say that Julian is lying but I will say I think they are "spinning" things in a manner to make it appear that the inconvenience and delay for those with private tours are out of their control which a reasonable person can conclude is not the case.

 

Julian is a very nice man and I really liked him so I don't mean to defame him here just stating my observations and how they clearly conflict with what was communicated. He was not challenge by myself or anyone else at the meet and greet. There really seemed no point as they clearly have their system laid out and he was completely prepared to explain and line it all out for us unprompted. They do indeed read these boards and had seen the negative comments after the prior sailing.

 

I do think they are trying to find a reasonable compromise and I appreciate that, I just didn't appreciate the "spin" we were given. St. Petersburg was the only port where we booked a private excursion and you really do feel a bit like you are being penalized for that. I understand the whole issue with having bus loads of NCL excusion passengers they need to herd through so the busses can fill and leave but we had a tour operator waiting on us as well and to me that should be just as important.

 

I don't mean to go on and on about it, just wanted to explain myself a bit more. I hope things contiue to improve in this regard and that your experience will go much better. :)

 

Have a wonderful trip and don't let this worry you too much, just plan on getting down to the line early if need be and go with the flow.

[firefly4423]

thanks for sharing all of your experiences!

[lhall85917]

Thanks for sharing your experience, we loved the Jewel and the Baltics too. One thing that was different for us was the experience in St Petersburg last year. Our concierge was Karan, we met him up by Cagneys and he took us down the elevator and right off the ship. I wonder if procedures have changed and they don't allow that anymore? We felt that was one of the great benefits to having a suite last year!!

[horsesrus]

Thanks for sharing your experience, we loved the Jewel and the Baltics too. One thing that was different for us was the experience in St Petersburg last year. Our concierge was Karan, we met him up by Cagneys and he took us down the elevator and right off the ship. I wonder if procedures have changed and they don't allow that anymore? We felt that was one of the great benefits to having a suite last year!!

 

The concierge did take us down to the gangway on deck 4 (the elevators were not going to any decks below 7 otherwise) where we immediately stepped right off the ship but then there was the huge line between the ship and the customs building so they didn't take you all the way through to the customs window unfortunately. I fear there would have been mutiny by the other pax that were standing in that long line if they had done so. :) The escourt down to deck 4 no doubt saved us a very long wait down 3 flights of stairs; I can only imagine how long some others waited in line that morning.

[Almagetty]

Thanks for the further clarification, horsesrus. I've met Julian twice before on the Pearl and I've always liked him quite a lot. He's very personable.

 

It does seem a bit counter-intuitive for NCL to try to limit access to the immigration lines to just 1 line for the independent tours. Logically speaking, there would probably be less of a load on all the lines if they would allow people to be distributed evenly between all four. As you pointed out, on the second morning the system ended up biting the NCL shore tour people in the behind with no line at the independent tour kiosk and backups in the other three lines.

 

I only wish that the cruise line would be up front and "spin free" as to the debarkation procedure in St. Petersburg. The vast majority of the passengers book NCL's shore excursion here, as well as in all the other ports. Those of us (the minority) who have booked independent tours with local companies have already made the arrangements that we've made. It's not like if once we've seen the back-ups at debarkation we're going to run aboard and switch our plans. At that point, it is all water underneath the bridge, so it does all seem a bit punitive. Plus, those of us who are booked with local operators have done quite a bit of research and know that the ones dictating which lines are for NCL shore tours are none other than NCL themselves, so to say otherwise breeds only ill will.

 

Oh, well ... as you said, we will make sure to get in line very early and just go with the flow. (How early do you recommend that we line up?)

[horsesrus]

Oh, well ... as you said, we will make sure to get in line very early and just go with the flow. (How early do you recommend that we line up?)

 

We were scheduled to meet our tour guide at 9:00 a.m. We were cleared at 8:30 and taken down to the gangway at that time. We were in line from that point for 1 hour but there were folks lined up the stairs to deck 7 so if you are in a suite and can get that little extra assistance I'd say at least an hour ahead; otherwise earlier. Of course it's always going to depend on how many on the ship booked private tours but that should give you an idea anyway. You may want to get lined up prior to them announcing all clear. Although they ask you not to do that everyone else does so if you follow the request you have kind or shot yourself in the foot.

 

Have a great trip, it was an amazing cruise and the ship and staff are all wonderful.

[Almagetty]

Thank you, horsesrus, for all your advice!!

 

We are more than ready to embark on this trip! :D :D

[Lanalei]

Please let us know how you make out in St. Petersburg. I am reading all the logs to know what to expect as we will be touring privately, probably with Denrus. Thanks.

 

Lynda

[Almagetty]

Please let us know how you make out in St. Petersburg. I am reading all the logs to know what to expect as we will be touring privately, probably with Denrus. Thanks.

 

Lynda

 

Will do!

[Thucydides]

Thanks for the great review, horsesrus. We are headed on the Baltic cruise in August. I am interested in your impressions of the NCL excursions. Did you feel like you were really packed in on the tour buses or did things seem pretty roomy? I've never been on a cruise excursion and I am curious on what to expect.

[horsesrus]

Thanks for the great review, horsesrus. We are headed on the Baltic cruise in August. I am interested in your impressions of the NCL excursions. Did you feel like you were really packed in on the tour buses or did things seem pretty roomy? I've never been on a cruise excursion and I am curious on what to expect.

 

Well, most of them were good, we tend to pick things that are less intersting to the masses so they aren't that crowded. We did do one in Germany that was a full bus load and that one got to me a little bit, I just tried to stay to the back of the "herd" and I was ok but then you don't really hear the tour guide. I'll have to look at home and I can tell you exactly which one's we did, they were all very good though as far as quality and what we got to see and all that. We did not use NCL in Russia but did a private tour with just the two of us and, although pricey, I was so happy we did it that way. I think we really learned a lot with that one-on-one type tour and we were able to slip in to a lot of areas without standing in the big lines since we were not a large group.

[Aries 65]

Took a look at your review, horesrus, and I have to chip in with another word of praise for Carlos. He really goes out of his way to make cruising a pleasure.

[horsesrus]

Here are the NCL excursions we did and a little bit of a review on each.

 

Copenhagen - Carlsberg Brewery and Canal Cruise

 

The Canal Cruise part departs just a short way from where the ship is docked so you walk to it. The boat was pretty full but not bad.

We toured the canals and then met the 3 busses for the trip to the brewery. The brewery tour is self guided which we enjoyed as you aren't in a mob trying to hear a tour guide. The canal tour was a good way to see a few of the sights by water and you get a good close up view of the Little Mermaid. The brewery tour was ok and you get two beers or sodas included with the tour.

 

Helsinki - Porvoo Town and Country

 

This one we boarded a bus at the pier, it was a full coach. We stopped in Porvoo which is a cute little town and we were free to look around/shop for about an hour. There is a pretty church up on a hill you can go see, not too far of a walk but the street up to the church is pretty steep so could be too much of a walk for someone with any physical limitations. Then we traveled to the estate/horse farm which was my favorite part of the trip. We enjoyed a nice cake and tea or coffee and learned the history of the farm then got to see some of the horses and see the barn area. I was in heaven!

 

Warnemunde - Countryside & The Molli Train

 

We boarded a coach at the pier and taveled to a former monastary in Bad Doberan. This was the one tour where this portion was guided and a mob; I just lagged back and it was fine. We viewed everything and got pictures as we straggled along behind but didn't get to hear the tour guides description of everything.

 

We then reboarded the coach and went to the Molli train, this was neat and we really enjoyed. We then reboarded the coach and stopped at a little sea-side resort area; had a wonderful cake and tea and had some time to wander on our own and shop.

 

Stockholm - Roof-top Walk

 

This was one of our favorites and there were only 8 of us on this tour which is a good sized group. We traveled to town and went up on top of a building (sorry, can't recall which one it was, possibly the old parliment building) and went up to the attic where we put on our safety harness and helmet, got instruction, and proceeded to the roof. The views were amazing and even though my DH is not fond of heights he did fine and really enjoyed it. We stopped at different points along the way and the guide provided some information about the buildings and history of the city.

 

At each of these ports we had enough time to do a little bit of sight seeing on our own as well so it was a nice mix.

[lhall85917]

Here are the NCL excursions we did and a little bit of a review on each.

 

Copenhagen - Carlsberg Brewery and Canal Cruise

 

The Canal Cruise part departs just a short way from where the ship is docked so you walk to it. The boat was pretty full but not bad.

We toured the canals and then met the 3 busses for the trip to the brewery. The brewery tour is self guided which we enjoyed as you aren't in a mob trying to hear a tour guide. The canal tour was a good way to see a few of the sights by water and you get a good close up view of the Little Mermaid. The brewery tour was ok and you get two beers or sodas included with the tour.

 

Helsinki - Porvoo Town and Country

 

This one we boarded a bus at the pier, it was a full coach. We stopped in Porvoo which is a cute little town and we were free to look around/shop for about an hour. There is a pretty church up on a hill you can go see, not too far of a walk but the street up to the church is pretty steep so could be too much of a walk for someone with any physical limitations. Then we traveled to the estate/horse farm which was my favorite part of the trip. We enjoyed a nice cake and tea or coffee and learned the history of the farm then got to see some of the horses and see the barn area. I was in heaven!

 

Warnemunde - Countryside & The Molli Train

 

We boarded a coach at the pier and taveled to a former monastary in Bad Doberan. This was the one tour where this portion was guided and a mob; I just lagged back and it was fine. We viewed everything and got pictures as we straggled along behind but didn't get to hear the tour guides description of everything.

 

We then reboarded the coach and went to the Molli train, this was neat and we really enjoyed. We then reboarded the coach and stopped at a little sea-side resort area; had a wonderful cake and tea and had some time to wander on our own and shop.

 

Stockholm - Roof-top Walk

 

This was one of our favorites and there were only 8 of us on this tour which is a good sized group. We traveled to town and went up on top of a building (sorry, can't recall which one it was, possibly the old parliment building) and went up to the attic where we put on our safety harness and helmet, got instruction, and proceeded to the roof. The views were amazing and even though my DH is not fond of heights he did fine and really enjoyed it. We stopped at different points along the way and the guide provided some information about the buildings and history of the city.

 

At each of these ports we had enough time to do a little bit of sight seeing on our own as well so it was a nice mix.

 

We also did the Porvoo Town & Country last year and it was one of our favorite excursions ever!! My dh and I kept looking at each other and saying we were so glad that we chose to do that!! In Copenhagen we did the canal tour on our own and really enjoyed it too. Thanks for sharing your experience with the rooftop walk - we had discussed it but didn't end up doing it. Yours is the first review I've seen of it.

[Thucydides]

This is really helpful stuff, horsesrus. Thanks for posting it.

[cruisemonte]

I was on the May Jewel to the Baltic cruise and Carlos was amazing. I am taking the repositoning cruise in a few weeks and would like to write to Carlos to warn him. LOL.

 

Does anyone have his email address or last name? I had his card, but misplaced it.

[horsesrus]

I was on the May Jewel to the Baltic cruise and Carlos was amazing. I am taking the repositoning cruise in a few weeks and would like to write to Carlos to warn him. LOL.

 

Does anyone have his email address or last name? I had his card, but misplaced it.

 

I did have the email address at one time but can't find it, I believe his last name is Zarate.

 

Enjoy the repo, I'm so jealous!