Jewel

[Island dream]

Has anyone recently been on the Jewel to the Bahamas & Florida? How was it? Thinking about going in June 2011.

[*Luv2Cruz*]

We're headin out on the Jewel in May for the first time!:) Here's the link to the reviews for some insight!;) Enjoy!:D http://www.cruisecritic.com/reviews/review.cfm?ShipID=350

[Turtles06]

If you do a search on this board, you'll find some very recent threads from the sailngs this fall, mostly positive.

 

We did this cruise last month, just to get away and relax for a week. The Jewel is a very nice ship with wonderful crew and staff, and it was a nice week away. It's hardly a cruise you do for the itinerary.

 

(The only major negatives as far as we were concerned were a truly awful dinner in Cagney's [the food in the MDRs was prettty good], and a really poor self-disembarkation process when we returned to NY, the fault of NCL having no real system in place.)

[candycorn2010]

Has anyone recently been on the Jewel to the Bahamas & Florida? How was it? Thinking about going in June 2011.

 

 

Hello,

 

I went on the Jewel last June. It was great, but alot of people. Sponge Bob is on the ship, so there were a lot of children. And the ship was maxed out. It was so much fun, but you have to prepare yourself for crowds. Hard to find seating at the buffet, lunch or dinner. But if you just wait, than it is not a big deal.

 

But we had a great time. Good food, nice ship, loved it!

[candycorn2010]

Hello,

 

I went on the Jewel last June. It was great, but alot of people. Sponge Bob is on the ship, so there were a lot of children. And the ship was maxed out. It was so much fun, but you have to prepare yourself for crowds. Hard to find seating at the buffet, lunch or dinner. But if you just wait, than it is not a big deal.

 

But we had a great time. Good food, nice ship, loved it!

 

 

PS: Loved it so much, going again November 27th. On the Gem. :p

[cje19]

We were on the Jewel in October. Loved every minute of it and wish we were there now.

 

You will read a lot of reviews of the Jewel, Many people love her, but there are also those that wrote bad reviews. Please remember your trip is what you make of it and please don't form an opinion until you experience the ship.

 

Honestly the only thing I found negative about my cruise was the attitudes of some of the other people cruising with me. But then again i can say the same thing about people I cross paths with running errands today.

 

Enjoy the planning leading up to your cruise, It's part of the fun. Also Join your roll call and get involved, it's nice to have familiar faces to say hi to during the day.

 

Have Fun!

C.

[spacewoman]

look for my Sept 4 jewel thread on this board. Lengthy review.

 

 

 

Kathy

[HKittee]

Just got back today. The Jewel is an awesome ship. My husband and I really have zero complaints. We truly enjoyed every minute.

 

We did not get off the boat at GSC, but we did the Universal Studios Islands of Adventure Shore excursion in PC and the Blue Lagoon beach day in Nassau. Universal was perfect. Blue Lagoon was ok... Not NCL's fault. The weather was overcast and Blue Lagoon was doing some construction. We didn't sweat it... It was still a really nice, relaxing day. Overall, the excursions were wonderful.

 

The ship was ultra clean, food and entertainment were both fantastic (LOVED Second City!) and the staff was amazing... They work so hard. We put a deposit down for another cruise while on board. I think we will do the Gem to Bermuda next time, but I would love to sail the Jewel again soon. Enjoy whatever you decide!

[Lipz]

Universal Studios Islands of Adventure Shore excursion in PC and the Blue Lagoon beach day in Nassau. Universal was perfect. Blue Lagoon was ok... Not NCL's fault. The weather was overcast and Blue Lagoon was doing some construction. We didn't sweat it... It was still a really nice, relaxing day. Overall, the excursions were wonderful.

 

We are actually looking at both of these excursions. My only concern about Universal is the time we dock. I like to get to places early but I see we are not docking in PC until 12:00pm. How much travel time was needed to get there & back? Do you feel you needed more time there to see everything?

Our trip isn't until next July so perhaps construction will be finished by the time we get to the Blue Lagoon. How's the food there? Is it included in the price?

I'm a little leery about booking with outside agencies and will most likely book everything through the cruise line. How did you guys plan yours?

[Terrafreaky]

We did Blue Lagoon in May. The food was ok, nothing great, but I liked it fine. We had burgers, fries, & fruit I think? It was included in the price. It is quite a lengthy boat ride to get to the beach. It was a nice place, not a favorite, but it made for a relaxing trip.

[HKittee]

We are actually looking at both of these excursions. My only concern about Universal is the time we dock. I like to get to places early but I see we are not docking in PC until 12:00pm. How much travel time was needed to get there & back? Do you feel you needed more time there to see everything?

 

We got in PC just before 12:00 and we were on the shuttle to the park at 12:30. We were in the park by 1:15. They say its usually about an hour drive. Keep in mind, this was a Tuesday in November. No traffic and the park was relatively empty. We bought fast passes for $25 each (check the prices on the website bc they change per the season).

 

Even though there was only a 5-20 minute wait for the rides, we got on every single thing we wanted to without any wait at all thanks to the fast passes (except for Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey which doesn't accept fast passes. We waited 10-15 minutes to get on and it was completely worth it)

 

The park closed at 6pm and we had time to spare. We ate lunch, did some shopping and we got back on the shuttle at 7:00. We didn't feel rushed at all and really enjoyed our day. :)

 

Our trip isn't until next July so perhaps construction will be finished by the time we get to the Blue Lagoon. How's the food there? Is it included in the price?

 

Blue Lagoon was not our first choice. We actually had an snorkeling excursion booked... The Athol Island snorkeling. It was canceled, so we had to pick something else and we didn't want to spend a fortune. Since we didn't do GSC, we decided to do a beach day.

 

They seem to be expanding the pavillion where you eat lunch and doing some renovating on the existing structures and other parts of the beach. I can't say how close to done it looked... It was kind of a mess. The immediate beach area was nice, but you could definitely hear the construction. It was still relaxing. Lots of chairs and umbrellas (you could rent clam shells for $20)

 

They have an inflatable aquapark (think "Wipeout") that I believe is extra. You can rent floats or water bikes. There is plenty to do. They have another beach area that doesn't have any lifeguards and no chairs. I would consider it more of the area couples would go to get away from the kids. Plenty of hammocks and tables.

 

Honestly, it just seemed a little run down... Could have been the construction paired with the cloudy weather, but I wasn't super impressed. I think I would probably do Atlantis next time even though it's more than double the cost per person.

 

They include lunch in with the price of the excursion and it's all right. Nothing to really write home about. They have all kinds of burgers - beef burgers, chicken burger, veggie burgers and you get a bag of chips, a piece of fruit (we had oranges) and your choice of pink lemonade, lemonade or fruit punch. You can also purchase ice cream or water in the gift shop and alcohol at the bar.

 

I'm a little leery about booking with outside agencies and will most likely book everything through the cruise line. How did you guys plan yours?

 

We booked everything through NCL. I priced Islands of Adventure and it worked out to be the same, if not less than doing it ourselves. I didn't want to mess around with transportation considering it haven't been to that area since I was a kid. It went really smoothly and I'm glad we did it that way.

 

Hope this info helps :) Let me know if you have anymore questions and HAVE FUN ON YOUR TRIP!

[PorkChopKid]

We booked an inside cabin for Jewel's Dec 12th, 2010 cruise. Just couldn't pass up the LOW cost of this get away and relax cruise. Will be our 1st time on Jewel so thanks to all who responded to share previous experience.

Only excursion we are planning is the $79 KSC excuraion. Planning a hike to check out the Queen's Staircase and Fort Fincastle in Nassau and take some pictures.