PrincessJen

I am thoroughly enjoying your review. I will be on the Jewel in approximately one week.

Did you get to do your handbag shopping or only enjoy the beach?

We did not book through a cruise line. I have only been on one cruise line excursion out of nine. I do not care for the big groups. We booked cacetubing.bz There were 12 in our group for the day. They picked us up at the port. We did not have to carry our tubes. They served lunch. It was a great excursion. I did not feel like I was in danger at all.

Great to hear! My group of 12 will be with them in less than two weeks!

Hi,

I'm not aware of a tour that offers that specifically however with Cave Tubing. Biz I have organized a tour of the Altun Ha Ruins and Cave Tubing. Perhaps you can reach out to them to see if they can arrange a tour of the Altun Ruins followed by the beach for you?

Thanks all! Will pack half as much clothing and plan to launder. <21 days to go!>

Hi,

On the Jewel do they offer a laundry special at one point during the cruise. I'm pretty sure they do but haven't found it posted yet. Trying to feel comfortable packing half as much clothing knowing I have a back up of laundry if needed.

:D

Thanks All for the feedback! It's started out as a 50th bday cruise for my brother (bachelor) with just mine and my sisters families which wouldn't be a big deal, but then some cousins decided to jump on the bandwagon! My husband is starting to call it 'My Big Fat Family Vacation'!

 

 

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LOL - Same thing with my family. Last year it started as a vision for my sister's 40th birthday to have her whole family on a cruise with her. After a bit of research and democratic voting we booked the NCL Jewel out of New Orleans and are leaving next month. (21 days to be exact)

As others posted recommended I had everyone book directly with a TA so they could manage their room, payments, etc. Also just send them reminder e-mails to make monthly payments. Since we are all flying from the east coast we did let each other know our flights mostly so we could fly together and share transportation where schedules allowed.

For the cruise itself there are four ports. I booked two ports as group tours (mainly because it worked out cheaper and we all wanted to do the same stuff) and for the other two ports each family member/unit is on their own. We agreed the days at sea and the days we do not have tours together we would eat dinner as a group. The days we do tours together or are all together (ex. embarkation) everyone is responsible for figuring out dinner. The only non-negotiable dinner is formal night out. Everyone has to get dressed up so we can have a picture together.

Because of the size of our group (15 of us) I am responsible for getting us dinner reservations at the MDR as soon as we board.

Finally I provided an overall summary with tips about the boat and cruising (ex. bring post-its so we can leave notes for each other on our doors) from researching on Cruise Critic and a packing list as for some of them it is their first time cruising.

Happy Cruising and Good Luck!

Thank you for the advice! We are most likely going to book a private excursion with Rony's Tours.

I booked a private tour with them too with ziplining at South Shore.

Thank you! Very excited about this.

Hi - Does the Jewel still offer the jazz brunch on the last day? I've read about to in earlier reviews but do not see it in the recent dallies.

Thank you

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Thank you so much for sharing your story. I was moved to tears. I'll be on the Jewel in 3 weeks and will have a drink for you. God Bless you and your son.

Very helpful thread. We are looking for somewhere to go in the afternoon. With five other boats docked with ours Nachi Cocum might be the way to go to avoid crowds.

Thanks everyone. Very helpful. I'm organizing a number of group tours for my family and want to give them a good ballpark.

Yes - sorry. I do mean shore excursions.

Hi,

On average do you tip tour operators 10%, 15% or 20% of the total cost of the tour? In the area I live 20% is customary but I'm wondering how others manage this.

Thanks for the info! We've never done this type of tour before so this will be an experience.

For ATV'ing is it possible for us to book it with a vendor once we get back the pier rather than in advance? I'm concerned we're not going to make the 12:30 start time and the vendor requires a deposit. So I'm wondering if there are enough vendors at the pier that I could book this with on a whim.

What my DD and I do is if we book our own excursions, I make an envelope for each port...in each envelope I put the reservation conformation and enough cash for the excursion plus any spending money I may want for that port...I write the port on the envelope and put all of them into the safe....then, at each port, I take out that envelope and leave the rest in the safe. I usually carry a cc with me at port too, just incase I find something I just cant live without..lol..But, the envelopes work really well to make sure you have the cash you need for each excursion and tip for the opperator.

Great idea. I'm recommending this to my family for our upcoming cruise.

I have a slight opposite problem.....having a very hard time focusing on work since my cruise is less than 30 DAYS AWAY!!!! <sigh> Can someone say drink of the day?

Hi All,

For Cozumel I'm looking at the 12 Metre Regatta in the morning (8:30 - 11:30) followed by ATV'ing for 2 hours at 12:30. Is this timing too tight allowing only one hour between? The alternative is to take the 2:30 ATV tour and ask the operator to cut it by 1/2 hour so we can make re-board by 4:00 since the boat leaves at 5:00.

Thank you

Excellent question. I ultimately went with a mix of both since I could use gift cards to pay for some of my shore excursions with NCL when booking online.

Let her go for it! When I did my NCL cruise out of Hawaii my friends and I were among the few dressed up on formal night....we received compliments all evening. :D It's not too often I get to pull out the formal wear.

Very helpful. Thanks everyone! Onto another plan

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Totally about the ports for me. I love going new places. I never find enough time to explore the boat anyway so that's always a fun experience.

I have to agree with the posts above. I received a massage on POA that was underwhelming enough for me never to get a massage on a cruise again. That being said I definitely would not trust them to stick needles in my body. I've had acupuncture as part of therapy after a car accident and would recommend seeing a professional.

Thank you!!!

Is it possible to do snorkeling from Nohoch Kay and spend the rest of the day at Almaplena? I know there is snorkeling at Almaplena but we don't have our own gear and I'm not a strong swimmer so a life vest is a must. I know Nohoch Kay has a beach (which is were the snorkel tour launches from) but the water is nicer and free of grass at Almaplena. Our boat is docked 8:00 AM - 4:00 PM

Thank you!