Review NCL Jewel Repo Oct.30- Nov.13

[MrsLeo]

The adventure began early at 3:00 a.m. on Wed. October 29th when we woke up in our hotel room in Indianapolis. I, of course could not sleep, but then again what else is new. We gathered our bags, hopped on the shuttle, and enjoyed an uneventful flight to La Guardia.

 

Our hotel shuttle picked us up, we then dumped our suitcases and walked to the nearest subway station and took it down to the Bowling Green Station in the financial district and found the restaurant Delmonico where we had made lunch reservations. The food and service were great. The decor is very nice and I would not hesitate to return. We left, then walked down to Battery Park and enjoyed some of the performers there and looked at the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island in the distance. Unfortunately we didn't make it in time for the last ferry out. But it was fine.

 

We then hopped back on the subway and made our way to Times Square/42nd Street. We walked around there and found a bakery that had a canolli for d/s... we just didn't have enough time to go everywhere we wanted to go (like Ferrera) and do it all, but d/s was satisfied and enjoyed it never the less. After a while it was nearly time for dinner.

 

So we walked to 51st and Lexington Ave. D/S's feet did great with all of this walking, wish I could say as much for mine (He had recondtructive foot surgery on his right foot in July) to Mr. K's which was very nice. The interior decor was very posh, art deco style covered in mauve velvet tapestries and marble. Golden chafing dishes and golden table service made for an absolutely beautiful presentation. The food quality was average though and I am sure you would be able to find chinese food that tastes much better for a fraction of the price. However I cannot complain since I was able to get a package deal for $183.00 from SkyAuction which included the $100 dining certificate for Delmonico and $100 dining certificate for Mr. K's and the 4 tickets to the Broadway show "Burn the Floor" Produced by DWTS's judge Carrie Inaba. and starred performers from Dancing With the Stars and So You Think You Can Dance.

 

We took a cab to the Longacre Theatre and sat down and enjoyed an evening of the best dancing I have ever seen in my life. Keep in mind that we had been up since 3:00 a.m. and the show was so engaging none of us had a complaint or nodded off during the show that lasted until almost 11:00 p.m. The kids loved it and I am so glad we were able to swing it. We took a cab back to our hotel and everyone quickly fell asleep (except for me...the insomniac).

 

One thing though, I had a last minute pedicure before I left town on Wednesday. Evidently I got some sort of cootie from the pedicure equipment because my right foot started feeling strange, and began to swell very quickly and a lesion formed between my 4th and pinky toe. So I went to the CVS near the hotel and got some stuff to kill the cootie and went to bed. The next morning my toes looked like sausages and the infection was spreading into my foot. So I decided to see the ship's Doctor once on board.

 

We hired a nice town car to take us to the port and the Driver was wonderful, we enjoyed hearing about him and his children, how he immigrated to NYC from Colombia. We arrived at the port around 11:00 a.m. Dropped our bags on the conveyor as we walked in the door. We were directed to the priority check in for Balconies/Minisuites. We checked in very quickly, were given a card with the #60 on it and were directed to sit in a section of chairs, just as we walked toward the chairs, a gentleman came out and called our number and then we walked on board. It doesn't get any better than that. We found our Aft minisuite which was ready for us and dropped off our bags and rested for a bit.

 

Lots of highlights, very few lowlights. I typically avoid the buffets. On this cruise it was better than average and we often found ourselves there for lunch and breakfast. They had a few issues keeping certain items like the sausage gravy at proper temperatures on the buffet. But all in all, they did a pretty good job, better than previous experiences. One thing about the buffet, during peak times there was a shortage of seating. I thought it strange because there was at least 12 feet of empty booth space that was unused because the tables and chairs had been removed. They had an area called "kid's Cafe" that had kid food and small tables and chairs reserved for families to sit together. Unfortunately, it was often full of adults simply because they had no where else to sit.

 

The biggest winner of all the specialty restaurants for us was Chin Chin. All of the offerings there were huge hits with us. Sushi, Mongolian Hot Pot, Asian Fusion, Teppanyaki, all terrific. We absolutely fell in love with the sushi chef's Jeffery and Romeo. They just took such good care of us and we kept coming back night after night, and sometimes for lunch. Hari, the Maitre D there, was a bit annoying, as he would turn the ringer on his portable phone up full blast and stand in the doorway of Teppanyaki while you were dining at the grill and talk to whoever was on the other line. He simply lacked the people skills and finesse of the other Maitre D's we met on board.

 

Tango's was fantastic. Le Bistro was good too (though I do admit it is much more scaled back and lacks the presentation it once had)the food was good and we never left hungry.

 

The biggest loser for us was Cagney's, the prime rib was tough and full of gristle. The fries which used to be infused with truffle oil, with Parmesan sprinkled on them, and now coated in a powdery substance that sticks to the inside of your mouth like a paste.

 

The biggest surprise for us was Azura, one of the two main dining rooms. The food was good, the service excellent. The steak we had in Azura was better than the one my husband had in Cagneys. We sailed with Boris the MaitreD previously on the Spirit and he took good care of us, as did the servers.

Blue Lagoon was OK, service was OK, food was OK.

 

One thing that was very tacky was salespeople coming into the speciality restaurants trying to gin up business for the Jazz Brunch, Taste of India, and to try the other speciality restaurants. As I explained to the MaitreD at the time, I thought it was wrong for them to take advantage of a captive audience that was paying for a nice upscale meal, to interrupt our nice dinner to give us a sales pitch. I felt that should have been done somewhere else like the atrium, or the buffet entrance.

 

I know the specialty restaurants are hurting. There just weren't that many people paying extra for their meals. On previous cruises it has always been a challenge to get into many venues, especially Teppanyaki. On this cruise I never encountered a wait, I never had to make reservations. It was very easy to get into any restaurant at just about any time. I never saw a full crowd at Teppanyaki

 

I did eventually make to the Ship's Doctor and all I can say is wow! He fixed me up. He gave me an arsenal of medications to kill the staph infection I got from the pedicure. Within a day it was showing remarkable signs of improvement. I was so happy to get cared for so well. I was also impressed to find out that we had two Doctor's on board the ship.

 

Our room stewards were great. Our aft minisuite was very nice and I had to say aside from some chair scooting early in the morning after I had already awakened, I heard no noise back there. Sometime in the first few days of our cruise they replaced the patio furniture on our balcony with new. Which was appreciated.

 

Regarding ports. Honestly, I can't complain much about any of them. We had a great time, and I always look at this part of the cruise as an adventure, a learning experience and use the knowledge acquired on previous trips to fine tune our next trip plans to those port should we return in the future. The weather was beautiful every day. We were very fortunate to make every port and have days full of sunshine.

 

Samana: Went to Playa Rincon with a bunch of our CC pals which we enjoyed. It was a day of adventure, seas were a bit playful. Next time we'll likely do Cayo Levantado again or a day pass at a nice resort. This is our third trip to Samana in 13 years, and it still has a way to go before it is really tourist friendly, but it is beautiful country and still has plenty to offer if you have an adventurous soul and the ability to go with the flow.

 

Tortola:We planned to go out to Virgin Gorda and the Baths on our own but since the ship tours were cancelled due to rough seas, we also cancelled our own plans. and we just shopped a little along the waterfront, then headed down to Pusser's Outpost for a cocktail that knocked me on my butt. We met up with Mary (Hunkhunka)and her husband and another couple who were all delightful. We also met a another couple who had rented a sailboat and were sailing from Island to Island, which we thought sounded like a lot of fun. It was a great way to spend some time with some wonderful folks. Did a little shopping and checked email at the internet cafe.

 

St. Kitts, I loved it. Beautiful as you approach Frigate Bay where the Carribean is on one side of the mountains and the Atlantic on the other. Cockleshell Beach was nice. D/H and I would love to live there some day.

 

Curacao, rented a car and spent the day at the Sea Aquarium and the nearby beach. Very educational for the kids, good time was had by all.

 

Aruba, hopped on the bus and ended up at Boca Catalina Beach. Nice beach with some trees for shade. The water was clear.

 

Roatan, Went to Maya Key (formerly Fins & Flippers) all I can say is WOW! This place knocked my socks off. Great snorkelling on a coral reef, beach, pool, meticulously manicured grounds, animal rescue/preserve, good food, excellent! This is a place I highly recommend!

 

Belize, we took a water taxi out to Caye Caulker. Evidently there is a new water taxi competing with the old Caye Caulker water taxi association. It is closer to the port and less expensive. It also leaves at 9:15, which is 15 min. later than the other one. So we used it and it worked well for our schedule. We used Tsunami Adventures on this trip to take us out to the Marine Preserve. It was nice, but not as good as our previous experiences with them. Next time I think I will spend a bit extra and take a flight to San Pedro and visit Ambergris Caye. It takes about an hour and a half to get out there via water taxi. So a flight is much more practical.

 

The Captain was a soft spoken, gracious man. He was very generous to our group. Since we had many people in our roll call he offered bridge tours to our group over the course of several days so everyone could attend, and spent a great deal of time with each group explaining the workings of the ship and answered everyone's questions in great detail. I thought it was so nice of him to do this for us. He was always ready with a big smile for anyone who asked to have a picture taken with him.

 

Hotel Director was Steven Jacobson, he was always out and about, very approachable. I wrote him a letter regarding our experiences and to really let him know the things that impressed us the most about our time on the Jewel. Within minutes of reading it, he phoned me to thank me for sharing the information with him.

 

Rochelle and Carolyn who coordinated our group functions on the ship really worked hard for our group, any request I threw their way they did their very best to make it happen and they were lovely ladies to deal with.

 

One great thing one of our group members proposed that was great fun, we did a poker/cabin crawl. Since we had such a large group of over 200 people on board. We went from cabin to cabin and at each stop and picked up a card and then we all met at the end of the crawl and the people with the best poker hands split the pot. That alone was a hoot, but it allowed us to tour a huge variety of cabin categories as well. Everything from an inside cabin all the way up to Owner's and Penthouse Suites and Courtyard Villa's. Our friends Viv & Bo's Owner's Suite was to die for. OMG it was so beautiful. If anyone wants to try this I think it is a great icebreaker and just good clean fun. The staff organized a luncheon and awards banquet following the crawl and it was a very nice way to spend part of an afternoon.

 

The Entertainment on this ship was second to none. I felt like every act was headline material. Many had performed on Jay Leno, Oprah, etc... and the sheer volume of talent onboard was mind boggling. Cirque Bijou was fantastic too. This is one of the few cruises that I made a point to get to as many shows as possible. I generally find it hard to get too excited about the entertainment on Cruise Ships. I also am not one to go gaga over Cruise Directors, but I really enjoyed Que Hundermark. He was just a nice guy who was working about 16+ hours a day trying to offer as much entertainment to the passengers as he could pack into one day.

 

The kid's club was fantastic. I love the new hours they are offering. Basically on sea days they are open from 9:00 a.m. - 10:30 p.m. and you decide when the kids will attend or not. It offers a lot more flexibility, the kid's loved it! We would let the kids go as early as they wanted in the morning, generally pick them up around 1 or 2 and take them to lunch and go play at the pool or go read for a while in the library, then they could return anytime they liked and then have dinner early at the Kid's Cafe which they loved as well. We had the honor of sailing with several of the counselors on previous cruises and once more they impressed us tremendously. I wish I could just bring them all home with us, what a great, talented group of young people, who took great care of the kids and helped provide them with a special holiday to remember.

 

This ship is nice because they have a kid's only hot tub, and an adults only pool. However, most of the adults weren't in the adults only pool, and it made things quite congested in the only pool the kid's were able to enjoy. Then the adults would get frustrated with some children for being boisterous and splashing. I really think a ship this size needs more than two small pools. Of course then there is the swim diaper issue. It was not enforced at all. At one time I counted as many as four children in the pool and water slide area in swim diapers at once and the pool attendant was present and aware of their presence and said nothing. I do feel this is a health and sanitation matter and I don't want anyone's cruise ruined due to ecoli or other bacterial infection, they could have done a better job in this area.

 

I really enjoyed this cruise, I would rank it as our best one yet. Embarkation and disembarkation (we carried our luggage off at 8:00 a.m. because of an early flight from FLL) was seamless, and speedy. Very well organized.

So really I have to give this cruise two thumbs up. It was a wonderful experience!

[CruisinMaterial]

Thank you for the great review! :) Sounds like the Jewel is doing very well since I sailed on her and I can't wait for my next opportunity to sail on her again!

 

Did they still have the Wii in the atrium on the big screen? :D Did you happen to notice the time of the Wii tournaments?

 

Sounds like the Jean Ann Ryan company is still onboard this ship doing productions because Cirque Bijou was theirs from before and I missed it in 2007 because I fell ill and confined myself to the cabin for the night. I hope to catch it this time around! :)

[DMH15]

Your review brought back fond memories of the Jewel. I liked Azura too. The Maitre D, Mr. Glaspole was wonderful - he helped us with a bad situation.

 

Nothing but craise for the lovely Jewel from me!

[NJLVW]

Thank you for sharing your experience. We'll be on the Jewel in a little over 2 months and can't wait.

[Madisonsmom]

We too were on this cruise and agree completely with Mrs. Leo. The only thing I found offensive was that there was so much cigarette smoking going on at the pool. I really think they should have had smoking on one side of the pool only.

 

Otherwise the cruise was a blast, the weather was great and we had a wonderful time.

[CruisinMaterial]

Your review brought back fond memories of the Jewel. I liked Azura too. The Maitre D, Mr. Glaspole was wonderful - he helped us with a bad situation.

 

I only ate in Azura once but it was a lovely dining room. We picked up our passports there after the customs official did the inspection so we could get off the ship with our visas for entry into Egypt. We ended up dining there because we were too lazy to walk all the way aft to go to Tsars Palace after spending two days running ragged around Egypt. It's a very nice restaurant and the service was great. Met some nice people too who were on a different bus but shared the same tired expressions. Ahhh the memories! :)

[Heytoots]

Hubby and I were also on this cruise, and had a fantastic time....we found the buffet to be awful, so food really is a very personal thing!!! :)

Breakfast was good, but lunch and dinners were VERY repetitive...in fact...so much so, that we were counting how many different ways they could serve catfish!! We enjoyed Azura, very good food and service, and unlike MrsLeo....we thought Cagneys was great...but....we had the lobstertails and not the beef...

I also agree with the poster that commented on the smoking by the pool.....WOW!! It was awful! And, getting chairs by the pool on sea days was a real challenge!! One morning, my husband got up at 5am to get deck chairs, and most of them were already gone......I personally find this amusing, you can't take anything too seriously! ;)

All in all though.....the crew was great, the passengers were awesome, and we met some wonderful people...I would definitely do this cruise again!!

[STARFISH*4]

THANKS for the review...we are very much LOOKING FORWARD to sailing on another JEWEL in the NCL fleet:)

[MrsLeo]

Hubby and I were also on this cruise, and had a fantastic time....we found the buffet to be awful, so food really is a very personal thing!!! :)

Breakfast was good, but lunch and dinners were VERY repetitive...in fact...so much so, that we were counting how many different ways they could serve catfish!! We enjoyed Azura, very good food and service, and unlike MrsLeo....we thought Cagneys was great...but....we had the lobstertails and not the beef...

I also agree with the poster that commented on the smoking by the pool.....WOW!! It was awful! And, getting chairs by the pool on sea days was a real challenge!! One morning, my husband got up at 5am to get deck chairs, and most of them were already gone......I personally find this amusing, you can't take anything too seriously! ;)

All in all though.....the crew was great, the passengers were awesome, and we met some wonderful people...I would definitely do this cruise again!!

 

I don't think I ever ate dinner in the buffet...which might be why I never noticed any catfish, which is one thing that would have caught my attention, because I don't like it at all. When the kids would go to kid's cafe for dinner though I would sneak over and get a plateful of celery sticks and boursin cheese for a snack, I loved it and am now addicted to boursin LOL

 

Lunch was fine for us, looking back though we did enjoy quite a few lunches at the sushi bar too, which may be why the buffet didn't seem repetitive to us, but I do feel the buffet was greatly improved than our previous NCL cruises.

[melly003]

Wow..thanks for the review. Im sailing this coming March and you made me even more excited. Our first time on the Jewel. Have sailed on the Star and that was great as well.

I cant wait...counting the days.

[7leagueboots]

Great review. Thank you.

[coka]

I enjoyed reading your review MrsLeo. I look forward to the day when I can go on a longer than seven day cruise. Having sailed the Jewel over three years ago, I am glad to know she still delivers a great vacation experience. Thanks for telling us about your trip.

 

coka

[BikerAl]

Thanks Mrs L. and others who were on the same cruise. A little over a week till we board. Just wish it was longer than 7 days, but next year, 12 on the Dawn;) Hey Coka, more than 7, less than 14.

 

Al

[Willthethrill]

Thanks for the great review. We will be on the Jewel next month for the Western Carrib. cruise that will make a stop in Belize. Do you recall at what time you were able to reach the pier in Belize? I know that our "scheduled" arrival time is 8am and that the tender takes about 20 minutes but I'm wondering if the Jewel arrived early they would let people tender earlier than the "scheduled" time. Is arriving at the pier at 9am wishful thinking?

 

I'm thinking about booking a flight to San Pedro out of the municipal airport, which I understand is a 10 minute taxi ride from the pier, and there is a 9:30 flight I will be trying to catch.

 

Thanks!

[slotaddict]

Thank you for the great review - I am counting the days til our Jewel cruise.

 

The trip that you took in Roatan, was that a ship excursion??

[MrsLeo]

Thank you for the great review - I am counting the days til our Jewel cruise.

 

The trip that you took in Roatan, was that a ship excursion??

 

No, I would advise you to contact them directly and find out what the scoop is at the moment. They were able to drop us off right next to the ship when we returned because they had just been cleared to do so earlier that afternoon. It was my understanding they would be able to pick you up right next to the ship going forward as well. Otherwise it is still a short walk and they will escort you to their dock.

 

If this is true, it would be a huge bonus, because it would spare you the walk down the street and the offers of different items, hairbraiding etc... also it would be much better for people with limited mobility.

 

http://www.mayakeyroatan.com/

 

I loved it!

[amsp]

ok, i haven't been on a cruise in years that allows smoking anywhere inside and only on some deck areas. so this review scares me a bit....how bad is the smoke on the ship, where is and isn't smoking allowed...what bars, decks, etc. would be safe for someone extremely sensitive. (when on ships that allow smoking in the casino, i have to go up or down a deck to go around it.) thanks!

[MrsLeo]

I did not notice that much smoke, except in the casino, and also it was a bit intense in the morning, when I walked down the hallway towards our AFT facing cabin in the very back of the ship. and I think because of the direction of the air that is where the smoke was carried. I did not find that it to be any smokier than any other ship I have been on.

Actually it might have been less. I don't recall mentioning smoke in my review, so I am a bit confused when you say my review scares you a bit.

 

"ok, i haven't been on a cruise in years that allows smoking anywhere inside and only on some deck areas. so this review scares me a bit...."

 

I have read my review and can't find anywhere I even mentioned smoking. But regardless, I am somewhat sensitive to smoke so if had been horrid, it would have made it into the review, but the vast majority of the venues we frequented on the ship were not smoky at all , and the ones that were, like the casino were best visited early in the day before they were full with smokers.

 

What ships have you been cruising on? I am not aware of any ship that is currently sailing that has completely banned smoking inside, aside from the one short lived Carnival ship several years ago that eventually lost it's non-smoking status. Most allow it in the casino's, most have cigar bar's, most designate one side of the ship's outer decks as a smoking area, and with a few exceptions, most still allow smoking in your stateroom. I know on the Jewel the open air Sky High Bar was also designated a smoking area.

[Phlames]

Thanks for the review, we'll be sailing this cruise on Sunday. :eek:

[amsp]

I did not notice that much smoke, except in the casino, and also it was a bit intense in the morning, when I walked down the hallway towards our AFT facing cabin in the very back of the ship. and I think because of the direction of the air that is where the smoke was carried. I did not find that it to be any smokier than any other ship I have been on.

Actually it might have been less. I don't recall mentioning smoke in my review, so I am a bit confused when you say my review scares you a bit.

 

"ok, i haven't been on a cruise in years that allows smoking anywhere inside and only on some deck areas. so this review scares me a bit...."

 

I have read my review and can't find anywhere I even mentioned smoking. But regardless, I am somewhat sensitive to smoke so if had been horrid, it would have made it into the review, but the vast majority of the venues we frequented on the ship were not smoky at all , and the ones that were, like the casino were best visited early in the day before they were full with smokers.

 

What ships have you been cruising on? I am not aware of any ship that is currently sailing that has completely banned smoking inside, aside from the one short lived Carnival ship several years ago that eventually lost it's non-smoking status. Most allow it in the casino's, most have cigar bar's, most designate one side of the ship's outer decks as a smoking area, and with a few exceptions, most still allow smoking in your stateroom. I know on the Jewel the open air Sky High Bar was also designated a smoking area.

 

sorry, i should have said "thread" not "review." i saw madisonsmom's reply "We too were on this cruise and agree completely with Mrs. Leo. The only thing I found offensive was that there was so much cigarette smoking going on at the pool. I really think they should have had smoking on one side of the pool only."

 

i have been sailing celebrity for the past few years. it has just one smoking bar (usually a small one i think, and very easily avoided), no smoking in cabins, balconies, casino and one side of the deck is non-smoking outside. i have seen very few people break the side rule - few enough to mark it up to some not knowing the policy. it makes it very easy to avoid. rcl has nearly the same policy (same parent company). i love not having to make a request for special in depth cleaning! :)

[MrsLeo]

sorry, i should have said "thread" not "review." i saw madisonsmom's reply "We too were on this cruise and agree completely with Mrs. Leo. The only thing I found offensive was that there was so much cigarette smoking going on at the pool. I really think they should have had smoking on one side of the pool only."

 

i have been sailing celebrity for the past few years. it has just one smoking bar (usually a small one i think, and very easily avoided), no smoking in cabins, balconies, casino and one side of the deck is non-smoking outside. i have seen very few people break the side rule - few enough to mark it up to some not knowing the policy. it makes it very easy to avoid. rcl has nearly the same policy (same parent company). i love not having to make a request for special in depth cleaning! :)

 

Oops sorry about the misunderstanding... Nice to know that there is something out there for those of us who can't always hang with the smokers. I guess I didn't notice the smoke at the pool just because we were in the actual pool, more than we were out of it and sitting in the loungers and around the tables. I do know, I never ever saw anyone smoking in the pool :D.

[amsp]

Oops sorry about the misunderstanding... Nice to know that there is something out there for those of us who can't always hang with the smokers. I guess I didn't notice the smoke at the pool just because we were in the actual pool, more than we were out of it and sitting in the loungers and around the tables. I do know, I never ever saw anyone smoking in the pool :D.

 

i'm glad about that...an ashtray pool is almost as bad as a potty pool. :D