Norwegian Jewel Review 3/27/11 - long

[vowsatsea]

BACKGROUND: My husband and I sailed together. We're 25 and 27 years old. This was our 6th cruise, but first on NCL. We've sailed Princess, Carnival, and Royal Caribbean.

 

EMBARKATION: So smooth. We pulled up at around 10:30am. The porter took our luggage, and we went inside, showed our passports and tickets, went through the metal detector and straight up to an open agent at the desk. We were checked in within minutes, and went to the waiting area. I don't remember at exactly what time we started boarding, but we were only sitting in the waiting area for about an hour or so. They called our number, and getting on the ship was very smooth and very fast.

 

SHIP: This ship is beautiful. It is so well maintained that it looks brand new. I could hardly believe that it's almost 6 years old. Walking on deck 7 outside, the artwork looks freshly painted, and everything is just pristine. It was easy to navigate and once again, everything was beautiful and well kept. Another thing that was amazing was the availability of the elevators. We never waited more than a minute for an elevator, and with the exception of maybe 2-3 times, we were usually the only ones on the elevator. We also loved the gift shop. It was the biggest we've seen with a GREAT variety of items - from cigarettes to booze, to sourveniers, to essentials you may have forgotten at home. We spent many nights just wandering around in there browsing all the items. On a negative note, I wish someone thought out the placement of the ping pong tables a little better. They are right on the open, windy deck. While we were still docked in NY, my husband and I tried to play and quickly lost a ball to the Hudson River, so we never played again. Something minor to most, but my husband and I love playing ping pong.

 

CABIN: We were in a category BC cabin, number 9152. It was our first balcony, and we LOVED it. Our cabin steward was great. He introduced himself the first day and told us he would make this a great week for us. By the second day, he was already addressing us by our first names. We got towel animals, and he even lined up our shoes! We absolutely loved the bathroom, too! It was the most spacious shower of any other cruise line we've cruised on. Shower doors are so much better than short shower curtains. My husband loved the sliding door that created a "chamber" (as he called it) where the toilet is.

 

FOOD: Wow. NCL really outdid themselves in this area. We ate in Garden Cafe, Great Outdoors, Chin Chin and Blue Lagoon. After sailing Carnival, Princess and Royal Caribbean, I will say that I enjoyed NCL's food the most out of all the cruise lines. There was an amazing amount of variety - from Indian to Chinese, from hot to cold, there was something for everyone. It was almost impossible to not find something you like. They also had "staples" each night incase something did not strike your fancy. There was always salmon, hamburgers, hot dogs, grilled chicken, and other things available every night. Some of our favorites were the pizza, pretzel rolls, buffalo wings (Blue Lagoon), sweet and sour pork, chilled soups - as well as the ribs from the Poolside BBQ and the carmelized bananas from the breakfast buffet.

 

CHIN CHIN: We ate here the night we were in Great Stirrup Cay. It was well worth the $15 surcharge. I had Steamed Pork Buns for my appetizer, which ended up being so good that I ordered a second. My husband had the chicken in lettuce cups, and for an entree I had the Orange Beef, and he had the Shredded Sesame Chicken. For dessert I had the three mini Creme Brulees. Everything was absolutely delicious, and the service was perfect.

 

ROOM SERVICE: We ordered room service once, and was not thrilled. I ordered a Border Salad, which was supposed to have lettuce, corn, black beans, avocado, smoked turkey, pepper jack cheese, and tortilla strips. What I got was - lettuce, corn, black beans, NO avocado, cut up turkey slices, cut up american cheese, NO pepper jack cheese, and NO tortilla strips. I also ordered a fruit plate, and got two Strawberry Shortcakes instead. I didn't try the Strawberry Shortcakes, but my husband said it tasted like an old biscuit from breakfast with strawberry sauce. We were not fans of this...

 

SERVICE: I found service to be hit and miss. I can't say that it was good or bad. We ran into some grumpy staff members, and some really went out of their way to be friendly and give us a great experience. Dishes were always cleared very fast in the buffet, even at the busiest of times, and done so with a smile! I loved that the entire cruise line really enforced the washing of the hands, especially in the buffet. The "washy washy" ladies were a big hit, and getting sprayed with hand sanitizer ensured for a nice clean buffet. The officers were constantly walking around and making sure things were running correctly and smoothly. I overheard an officer say to a worker "you need to get over there right now, he is preparing food with his bare hands." It was a little off-putting to know that was taking place, but nice to know that they were on top of things.

 

SHOWS: We loved the onboard entertainment! The Welcome Aboard show was great, as was Jean-Pierre, Crazeehorse, Band on the Run, and the Variety Show. We were not a fan of Steven Scott, the comedian - a lot of people got up and left during his part of the Variety Show. The standout show for me was Le Cirque Bijou. I don't want to spoil it for anyone, but if there is just one show you see on this cruise, this needs to be it. It was truly amazing, and breaktaking. The International Crew Show was entertaining. The finale of "Fountains" was hilarious, and not to be missed. One of the "shows" we went to was a MAJOR turnoff for my husband and I. We went to "Dancing with the Jewel Stars" in the Spinnaker Lounge. We were seated towards the back, and there were about 20 staff members out of uniform, but with name tags on. Throughout the entire show, they were rowdy, using foul language, touching eachother inappropriately, and drinking like fish. We couldn't hear the majority of the talking during the show, because they were being loud, rude and just plain unprofessional. I know crew members need to have fun too, but not like this. What a way to represent NCL. On the same note, we went to Bingo (only once because it was entirely too expensive). What costs $69 on NCL for Bingo you can get for half the price on RCCL, and other cruise lines. The amount of complaining that the entertainment staff did during Bingo was again very off-putting. One staff member continuously complained that Bingo was taking too long and he was hungry. It would've been a funny joke, if I didn't see him down in the buffet directly following Bingo.

 

EXCURSIONS:

 

-PORT CANAVERAL: We were supposed to dock at Noon, but instead we docked at 11am. We had an 11am meeting time in the Stardust Theater for our Universal Studios excursion. Kennedy Space Center excursions, Disney excursions, and SeaWorld excursions were also meeting here. As soon as the ship cleared, they called individual excursions. We went out to the coach buses, boarded, and were at the park in a little less than an hour. We got there about 12:30. We had a full 7 hours in the park and didn't have to be back to the bus until 7:15pm, or 8:00pm at the latest (they had several buses leaving as they filled, with the last bus leaving at 8). We had plenty of time in the park. There was no more than a 15 minute wait for each ride, and we did each ride, ate, and looked in all the shops with time to spare.

 

-GREAT STIRRUP CAY: I heard some horror stories about the tendering process here and I'm happy to say that we did not have the same experience. We had excursion tickets for the Hippo Slide. We anchored an hour earlier than shown on the itinerary. They announced that they would begin tendering. We made our way downstairs, there were a bunch of people on the 5th floor waiting for their tender number to be called. Since we had excursion tickets, we went right on the first tender, and got over to the island very early. There's a lot of construction going on, but it's not in the way, and it's going to be beautiful when it's all done. Of course it was easy to find a lounge chair because we were the first tender over. The beachside bbq was big and under a shelter. There's also a LOT of tables available under shelter to eat. This was great compared to RCCL's private island where we were forced to eat in the hot sun with seagulls all around. This was really a pleasure.

 

-NASSAU: We booked the Beach Day at Blue Lagoon. We had a 9:45am meet time on the pier. As soon as everyone got there, we walked the long walk through the stores to where the ferries are. We boarded the ferry and went straight to Blue Lagoon Island. The water was chilly, but it was great, and absolutely what I pictured paradise to look like. There are water sports available, hammocks, and lounge chairs, etc. We had a meal voucher which was good for a burger, hot dog, or chicken sandwich with french fries, an apple and either lemonade, iced tea or fruit punch. It was very good, and just enough. We had the option to take either the 2:00pm or 4:00pm ferry back over, but the ferries were leaving late, and stopping at Paradise Island to let off some passengers so we didn't want to take our chances with the 4:00pm ferry. It also gave us some extra time to look around Nassau before heading back to the ship.

 

MY MAIN COMPLAINT: Kids. Unattended kids. I don't dislike kids at all. I work with them for a living, but this ship was FULL of kids whose parents did not watch them and they were left to wander the ship and do what they want. They picked up food at the buffet with their bare hands, they put food back in the buffet from their plates, they ran, they played with the elevators, they left food places - it was truly ridiculous. At night they would be running up and down the hallways and switching people's signs from "Do not disturb" to "Welcome" so room stewards were trying to get into rooms while people did not want to be disturbed. Or we ended up with a room that didn't get made up because they would switch our sign to "Do not disturb". Kids are not supposed to sit in the first two rows of the theater, but they were there anyway, as well as in the handicapped seats. NCL staff saw this and NO ONE enforced the rules or said anything. Yes, the parents are at fault for not watching their kids, but NCL also allowed it to happen.

 

Also, some people took Freestyle to the extreme. We saw people dining in bath robes, pajamas, and no shoes. Use common sense people. I don't let this effect my cruise, but I hate not seeing rules enforced and the staff not speaking up, especially when my husband got approached for using a bowl for ice cream by a crew member.

 

MISC: I purchased an internet plan. It was either 100 minutes (with 10 extra) for $55 or 250 minutes (with 20 extra) for $100. What I liked that make NCL stand out from other cruiselines is that on the last day they offered mini time plans of 15 minutes, 30 minutes, etc for a small fee. This was great for getting to the end of the cruise, needing more minutes and not wanting to spend a small fortune.

 

Nothing to do with NCL, but coming home we hit REALLY rough seas. We had 12ft waves and Force 11 winds. The ship was rocking severely. Most people stayed in their rooms all day, so most of the public areas were empty. Saw a few people take a tumble during the day and make use of the barf bags near the elevators. It was truly a miserable day.

[MMMD]

Thanks for your review. We were on the Jewel in January and loved it.

 

We couldn't play ping pong at all! Even docked in the ports, the wind whipped around the table so hard that the balls flew everywhere! Oh well, that was our only disappointment.

 

We thought the food was great also and absolutely loved Chin-Chin and Mama's Italian and Cagney's, and, and, and.:D

 

Glad you had a good time. We did too.

[Journey11]

Thanks for taking the time to write your detailed review. It was so interesting that it did not seem "long." I am glad that your cruise had many more positive experiences than negative and that you had a good time overall.

 

P.S. I think you will also enjoy the Oasis. We did.

[peg013]

Thanks for the detailed review. We'll be on the Jewel In October.

 

Are you sure the "NCL emolyees" you saw drinking and carrying on were actually NCL employees? There are many "groups" that cruise together and wear name tags. I don't think NCL crew are even allowed to drink at a "guest" bar. I think they have there own bar for off duty time hidden somewhere in the crew area.

[vowsatsea]

They were definitely part of the crew. I was able to read some of the name tags, they were NCL name tags, AND I saw them working throughout the ship. The point that they aren't supposed to be drinking at a guest bar is exactly what turned me off from the entire situation.

 

The cruise director was also sipping wine throughout the show, and many of the crew were eating in the specialty restaurants and drinking in there. One night, the cruise director, Jean-Pierre, and some of the dancers took up an entire table at Teppanyaki while guests were being turned away due to no seating.

[Anthony&David]

I am not sure about the cruise director, but my understanding from talking with some of the entertainment staff during our May 2010 cruise is that although the entertainment staff must adhere to a set of rules, they are given more latitude than other staff, in part because they are not NCL employees, but instead are employees of their respective entertainment companies.

[Pooh&OurHunny]

Thanks for sharing, we are going on our first family cruise.

I'm still going back and forth with Blue Lagoon. I read that you said a long walk (do you think its too much walking to get to Blue Lagoon for a 6 yrs old). Do you think its worth the day trip? This cruise vacation is all for him (he is the one who has been asking to go on a cruise boat). My husband and I have been to Atlantis many times so we really don't need to go there this vacation.

Thanks for any help

[spacewoman]

Nice review, you gave your opinions of what were hits and misses.

 

We sailed the Jewel last September. One of your complaints (as well as the poster before me) is the reason why we sail in September. I did, however, miscalculate as NYC schools were only back in session for one day that week and a lot of people were on board with kids. I have to honestly say that either we were very lucky or had a batch of well-behaved kids on board. I don't hang around the pools but any time I was in the vicinity the kids were just having fun in the pools and in their designated areas.

 

The one thing you that blows my mind is the stuffing of the plates at the buffets. Like they are going to run out of food???? Then I'm furious when I see plates and plates of food left on the tables. Not to mention food all over the floor. Reminds me of the Ponderosa Steakhouses with their all you could eat. Same thing. If someone is a pig at home it most certainly isn't going to change because they're on a cruise ship.

 

Food tastes are objective. I cook for a living and had little to no complaints. My worst complaint is that they're a little heavy handed on the salt. I enjoyed the sushi but was losing my tastebuds by the night I had it because I was developing a sinus infection (oh the glory days of allergies).

 

The unruly drunks with NCL tags could not have been contracted NCL employees. The supervisors are on the employees like white on rice. The crew have their own area to be in and they are not "allowed" in passenger areas. It's a shame that these idiots put themselves out there as representatives of the cruise line.

 

And as far as fellow passengers being morons I hate to say that this is everywhere not just on cruise ships. We just took a day trip to Atlantic City where I got to witness 3 - 27-29 year olds at a deli making complete jackasses of themselves. They were all obviously impaired by some substance and loud beyond belief. The one idiot was complaining he had been thrown out of his comped hotel room because he was loud. Then the f bomb started in.

 

This scenario has pleased me very much that a 20 something came on this board and said she enjoyed a vacation and can actually remember it:D Tells me there is hope for the next generation

 

Thanks for your review. We're looking forward to sailing her in September again.

 

Kathy

[Carnac767]

Nice review. Thanks for taking the time to write it. We've cruised twice on Jewel and really enjoyed it.

[yoyocruiser]

Vowsatsea, Excellent review with some very helpful information. From reading a lot of reviews over the past couple of years I have to say that people ending up on cruises with a lot of children is one of the biggest complaints. If people learn from reading others' reviews, a big point is to be aware of your sailing date and what that might mean. But it sounds like you rolled with the punches with the obnoxious folks etc.--and didn't let it bring your cruise down.

We sailed on the Jewel and felt the same about the food. Not everything was great--but you could always find really good food and the variety was fantastic. The wings at Blue Lagoon are great!! Our entire group (there were 7 of us) were all pleased with the food.

Thanks so much for your well thought out and objective review. I come here to learn from others and this type of review is very helpful.

[emdobl03]

Vowsatsea, thanks so much for your detailed review! My boyfriend and I (he's 31, I'm 26) were also on this voyage and our experience was very similar to yours. I agree wholeheartedly on your opinions regarding the number of kids on this cruise. I heard that there were 2800 guests for our voyage and of that number, 600 were kids. We knew that this was a cruise that would attract families when we signed up for it and so it would attract a larger number of kids than, say, our previous cruise from Boston to Bermuda, but were not fully prepared for the onslaught of children. It was not a school vacation week anywhere in New England (I work in education) so I thought we'd be in the clear. My logic was flawed, however- kids under 5 were everywhere! As you mentioned, for the number of times that they made announcements that no children should sit in the first two rows of the Stardust, it would be easy and expected for that rule to be enforced. You know it is bad when Jean-Pierre, the magician, was making wisecracks about the number of kids in those seats.

 

That being said, my boyfriend and I also had a wonderful time on this cruise and will not hesitate to sail with NCL again. We mainly ate in the MDRs, Tsars and Azura, and also discovered that the Blue Lagoon has a pretty decent breakfast so we didn't have to deal with the mayhem of the buffet in the morning.

 

This was also the first time that we had done excursions arranged on our own, not through NCL, and had a fantastic time at Kennedy Space Center and the aquarium at Atlantis, and would not hesitate to visit either of these places again.

 

The seas were ROUGH on Friday, for sure, but I was fortunate not to see anyone too green around the gills or taking advantage of the barf bags. I was very glad that the seas had calmed down considerably by the time Saturday came around.

 

We really enjoyed the entertainment on this cruise- especially Crazeeyhorse and Le Cirque Bijou- and feel the same way about Steven Scott. Just not our cup of tea. We ended up being regulars at the trivia sessions and got a lot of enjoyment out of those- and also ended up with a ton of signatures for our Organized Staff Activity cards. Getting some NCL swag at the end was just a bonus.

 

All in all, it was a great cruise and I am looking forward to our next one with NCL!

[vowsatsea]

Thanks for sharing, we are going on our first family cruise.

I'm still going back and forth with Blue Lagoon. I read that you said a long walk (do you think its too much walking to get to Blue Lagoon for a 6 yrs old). Do you think its worth the day trip? This cruise vacation is all for him (he is the one who has been asking to go on a cruise boat). My husband and I have been to Atlantis many times so we really don't need to go there this vacation.

Thanks for any help

 

I would say it's about a 5 minute walk. I saw many kids younger and older than 6 that did it, so I don't think it should be a problem. It's a very nice day trip especially for a kid. The water is not deep, so they can go far out into the water to play, and they have tons of water toys. I will try to post some pictures to show you later.

[Pooh&OurHunny]

I would say it's about a 5 minute walk. I saw many kids younger and older than 6 that did it, so I don't think it should be a problem. It's a very nice day trip especially for a kid. The water is not deep, so they can go far out into the water to play, and they have tons of water toys. I will try to post some pictures to show you later.

 

Thank you, I think we will book Blue Lagoon b/c I think our son would love it.

[mkad1109]

Obviously you did not read my post, as I did not even address your opinions on the food. Believe me, I know food taste varies more than ANYTHING on cruise ships. What's great to one person could be horrible to another, so I'm not running down your taste in food.

 

In addition, it was not what you said, but now you chose to express yourself. If you stated your opinion without some of your judgemental and name-calling words (i.e. fat, slobs, people with cheap tattoos, etc), maybe more people around here would respect your review and your opinion. Plus, if you let people with "t-shirts, sweatpants, du-rags" and the such bring down your vacation than you must be pretty miserable from day to day life as well.

 

I'm glad you have such a robust immune system, but hand sanitizer is not just so YOU don't get sick, it's so that you don't spread germs as well. It's people like you that refuse to take hand sanitizer that get other people who could possibly be immuno-comprised sick on their cruise.

Thank you so much for a great realistic review. Untamed children can really ruin people's experience, but I am glad to see you enjoyed your cruise anyway!

 

And thanks for pointing out what I would think is obvious to most-the hand sanitizer is to protect EVERYONE!!!! I was going to post the same thing but you said it beautifully!

[zerooveride]

I was also on this sailing and here are my thoughts:

 

• I sailed the Jewel in October and the service for the most part has gone down hill
  
• First let me tell you the people who were great on the ship: Andrian the Concierge, the Food and Beverage Director and the Executive Chef (more on that in a minute)
  
• We dined mostly in Azura as it was the casual dining area. In this dining room, service was poor. One example was there was a single waiter, no assistant, for 6+ tables but there was enough people to have 3 people clean a single table. Service was slow. The maitre'd Ramon was a word I can't put on here. On lobster night me and another person wanted extra lobster to which the waitress said her "supervisor" would not allow. I asked to speak to the supervisor who in turn continually interupted me while I was asking why. I asked to see his name tag (Ramon) and after I said his name he stormed away from the table. I have to say the Assistant maitre'd (female one) saw what happened and came over right away and appologized and she took care of us the next couple of nights.
  
• Guest Services made EVERYTHING difficult. From giving us a hard time about a missing mug and saying we had to repurchase the soda package to almost refusing to refund my cash deposit I did not use on the morning of disembarkation. It took 30 minutes of arguing to get my unused cash deposit back.
  
• My Butler, Ravi, did not get a tip from me. Everytime I ordered room service it would take him 30+ minutes to bring it. Then every night after 10pm he would forward his calls to room service who did not care I was in a Suite and it took 45 minutes for me to get some chocolate ice cream. Then one morning at 10:18am (I looked at the clock), he said he could not bring me breakfast, but I could go get it myself from the Buffet. Finally on the last morning he came looking for his tip which he did not get.
  
• I was lucky enough to meet Chef Andreas on my cruise in October and when I saw him this time I asked him if he would be doing a galley tour like he did for the Cruise Critic members on my October sailing. I asked because one of the people I was sailing with was a recently graduated culinary student and thought he would enjoy it. Chef Andreas said the new Hotel Director did not do that but he gave me his private number to call him and he would take us on a private tour, which he did on the final sea day for us and about 5 other people. Chef Andreas stopped at our table one night during dinner and chatted with us for 15 minutes as well. He is very personable, funny and all around nice guy.
  
• Shore excursion staff on Great Stirrup Cay were a bit annoying. I arrive at the time for my Jet Ski excursion to find out it is delayed 2 hours because all of the prior excursions were delayed 2 hours due to low tide. First that is annoying because it is hard to believe they didn't know what the tide was going to be when they scheduled the excursion times or before we all left the ship. The tide is something that is predictable in most cases. Then when I arrived for my rescheduled excursion, they cancelled all the rest due to "high wind". To be honest I was really looking forward to the Jet Ski as I've never done it before and it didn't seem like there was much empathy for either situation from the Shore Excursion staff.
  

 

Some people may see these as small problems, but to be honest in a customer service oriented business, it isn't okay. Plus with this being my 5th cruise my prior 3 Carnival cruises and my one NCL had my expectations much higher than what we received. Personally I will probably be going back to Carnival for my future sailings and as for if I ever do sail NCL, the price would have to be an amazing one.

 

And to add about the kids. It was an okay situation. It is a necessary evil of cruising. Families cruise and there will always be kids. Last March I sailed the Carnival Dream and there was about 1100 kids on board. I think I saw and heard the kids twice the whole cruise. The one thing I will say is it seems like NCL's kids programs are lacking a bit as they seemed to be ALL over the ship and it didn't appear that there were many organized activities for them and they were on their own most of the time. Carnival is much better at keeping the kids busy. But to be honest, it doesn't bother me too much. For the most part they weren't too bad. I actually will say most were quite well behaved and a few, the minority, acting crazy. But to be honest you will experience this anywhere you go so it didn't bother me.

[sea witch]

My husband and I have sailed on NCL several times in the past but not since 2007. We were not expecting 600 kids to be on board but did manage to avoid them for the most part. We had a romance suite and still have not figured out why it was 200.00 more then the Penthouse suites- the room was exactly the same as well as the amenities. We found our suite VERY dusty and not well maintained. Cleaning was not a priority. Dust was always flying around, on baseboards, on every surface and when the bathroom mirror fogged up, you could see writing on the mirror. The room was also smaller than we expected although NCL's rooms do tend to be small. We loved Adrian, Amita and Ravi. We did not have a problem with them. Cagney's was a God send! We loved it for lunch. The italian rest. was also a pleasant surprise. Out of the 2 main dining rooms we enjoyed Azura and never had a problem with our waiters. The food tended to be at least warm when it came out. We had a problem in the other dining room getting cold food. We went to specialty rests. 3 times because the reg. menu did not appeal to us. We thought the entertainment was some of the best we have seen- (we have been on 26 cruises). Steven Scott we thought was great! It's the 1st cruise I can remember going to the shows every night. We did get the spa relaxation package- use of the relaxation area for the week. We were very glad we did between the weather and the kids. We thought it was excellent. We felt the ship itself was aged for being only 6 yrs. old and due to the kitchen being in the middle of the ship, it makes it difficult to navigate because on several floors you can not get to the otherside of the ship. We enjoyed the casino each evening. they had a nice variety of slot machines. This was the first time we had to pick up our liqour purchases ourselves. Every other ship delivers them to your room. The system definitely needed improvement. Staff for the most part were pleasant- no major problems. The Garden Cafe looked good when we went through, but we did not eat there other than grabbing ice cream and ribs. Blue lagoon was good but had to send back wings and fries a couple times because they were stone cold. Never had a problem getting them replaced. Overall we enjoyed our cruise but will not be doing another NCL unless it is a new ship. I have found RCCL, Carnival, and Celebrity to be more out style.

[spacewoman]

"Every other ship delivers liquor to your cabin"

 

I'm hearing no so anymore on Carnival. A lot of Miracle cruisers complaining they had to pick up their liquor morning of debarkation. With the ability to get 5 liters per person from St. Thomas that could be a major headache for cruisers. I pack ours in our luggage so I don't have to carry it.

 

I can say for the Jewel they do it in an organized manner. We were on the Spirit in 2006 and they had the stuff spread all over the floor in a room that you had to stand in a forever line to get your stuff and they had nothing organized numerically so all you saw was wandering employees trying their best to find your stuff.

 

I would suggest waiting until last night to buy liquor - you pay for it, you take it. So you miss out on a couple of bucks discount so what, no wait.

[zerooveride]

"Every other ship delivers liquor to your cabin"

 

I'm hearing no so anymore on Carnival. A lot of Miracle cruisers complaining they had to pick up their liquor morning of debarkation.

 

On Carnival, Liquor purchased in the gift Shop is delivered to your stateroom on the evening before debarkation and liquor confiscated on the gangway in port you must pick up in the morning.

 

Here on NCL, they have instituted the same policy now for confiscated liquor, or at least on this sailing they did. As for gift shop purchased liquor, you have to go wait in line in the gift shop the night before debarkation. On this cruise, I waited until about 7pm (an hour after they started) and I was the 15th person in line and waited in it for 30 minutes until I was all done. Then the bottles were in bags that would have ripped and I asked for boxes to put them in and they initially refused to give me boxes to put them in. Not a very easy or customer friendly process.

 

Seawitch, glad you had a better experience with Ravi. He was not very good in my opinion for my cabin. But I will agree that Adrian was great, as was his assistant.