Review Jewel 6/25 - 7/2 (Long review)

[thistimeplease]

Well here goes:

 

Embarkment couldn't have been easier. My DH and I arrived at 11:00am and couldn't believe how easy it was to check in. I had brought wine with me and when going through x-ray was told to bring it to a table to get a sticker. I did this but noticed that several people just walked straight on as there was no one watching to make sure they paid their corkage fee. Oh well what can you do. We were on the ship within minutes and then our vacation began.

 

We followed a lot of the suggestions of CC members to have lunch at Tsars Palace instead of the buffet and found it to be a great idea. We had a window table and a wonderful waitress. We enjoyed our lunch there and then preceded to explore the ship. After getting a drink and sitting at a table by the pool we were informed that all cabins were ready. It was only 1:30pm so this was a very pleasant surprise.

 

We had a balcony and were very happy with it. As this was our first cruise we didn't know what to expect. There was plenty of storage and found that I didn't need the over the door shoe holder or the power strip at all. We didn't meet our stewards until the next morning but we ice and a clean room so we were very happy.

 

We ate dinner at Cagneys as they were offering a 20 % discount on the service charge. It was well worth the expense. I had the Filet (10 oz) and couldn't believe how good it was. DH had a steak and enjoyed that as well. I wore a skirt and DH wore dress pants and buttoned up shirt but we noticed that several diners had on shorts, capris and polo shirts.

 

We went to the 9:30 show and thought it was OK. Wasn't very impressed with the comedian but figured it might be difficult since he had to make sure his routine was G rated as there were about 1000 children on board. Our cruise was completely sold out with a lot of children because of Dora and Spongebob. I was a little concerned about this since we were child free this week but never found it to be a problem except for our dinner at Azura (more on that later).

 

Well I have laundry to do but will return later to write more.

[collectingcoke]

Enjoying you review, thanks we all can learn so much from the experiences of others.

[Lipz]

Can't wait to read more....especially about dinner with the kiddies @ Azura! lol

[thistimeplease]

Let me go back a little and give you some background info. We are a couple in our 50's and this was our first cruise. We celebrated our 30th anniversary by taking this cruise without our children.

 

Our 2nd day was a sea day and the weather was wonderful. We had breakfast at the buffet and although the food was good it was on the crazy side for us. We didn't realize that Tsars Palace served breakfast and that would have been a better choice for us. We had trouble finding a table at first but eventually found one at the quiet end of the dining room. The buffet has everything you can imagine and more but I felt overwhelmed by all the people. This is not NCL's fault it was a full cruise and families wanted to get to the pool. We only did the buffet once for breakfast after that we ate at Tsars and really enjoyed it there. It was very relaxing and calm and the service was wonderful.

 

After breakfast we decided it was time to find lounge chairs and enjoy the sun. It was only 8:30am and there were no available chairs by the pool or 2nd floor. I was worried that we didn't get out early enough but upon going to the sundeck found that there were more than enough available chairs. Had my children been with me this probably would have been a problem but we were childfree and really enjoyed the quiet and sun there. There was a waiter to get our drinks so there were no worries. I ended up reading for several hours while my DH relaxed his eyes. After a few hours we decided it was time for lunch and went to the Blue Lagoon. It was perfect not too much food but enough to hold us over for our dinner at Teppanyaki. We decided to go to the early show which was Band on the Run. What a great show, I sang along (although DH said he would have preferred to hear the band) and enjoyed this show very much. After the show it was time for dinner. The food was excellent and unfortunately I ate too much. I loved the rice almost as much as the filet and shrimp. I couldn't fit dessert so I can't comment on them.

 

After dinner we were off to Spinnaker's for the 70's party. What a great job by the Jewel staff. We laughed and enjoyed all who made it so much fun especially the guest "Village People". Once the nightclub started we decided it was time to head to our balcony and relax.

 

More tocome

[maurick]

We are going on this ship for the first time in Oct. But have done NCL many times before.

I am so glad to hear there is a Blue Lagoon. I always loved the tomato soup and hope

they still have it. Enjoying your review.