Norwegian Jewel

[cruzperson]

Has anyone sailed on the Jewel before? How was the food? How was the ship in general? I've been on the Pearl and the Gem, but they were new then. The Jewel is now 9 years old and hasn't been renovated yet. I'm wondering how it is. Thanks!

[CruiserBruce]

For all the NCL info you will ever need, the best place is the NCL board. Hopefully someone will give you the link shortly.

 

Food is totally subjective. 10 people will say it great, others will say mediocre or bad.

[Nebr.cruiser]

We did a Transatlantic on the Jewel several years ago. I was worried because there is often a lot of negative feedback about NCL cruises, but we thought the cruise was very good.

 

Food seemed fine to us; we only ate in the MDR or buffet, no specialty restaurants and were perfectly satisfied, but this is so subjective it's hard to really critique. I liked the spacious lay-out of the buffet area compared to some ships.

 

I expected an extremely casual atmosphere and it seemed little different than any other cruise; the long TA might have something to do with that.

 

For the first and only time on any cruise I saw a man turned away from the dining room for wearing jeans! Also saw the biggest and most stunning ball gown I have ever seen, with the man in dress kilt, the most formally dressed couple I have seen anywhere.

 

We had a mini-suite and I was glad as it was still small; the balcony cabin we saw on a cabin crawl seemed much smaller than we were used to. The bathrooms were very spacious though, and wow, the Garden Villa was something spectacular.

 

I thought the entertainment on this cruise was the best we have ever seen, production shows and guest entertainers. The pools on this April crossing were kept very nice and warm--88 or 90 degreees.

 

About the only negative was that our cabin seemed to creak and groan a lot with the swells in the Atlantic and we didn't have very bad seas.

Edited August 27, 2014 by Nebr.cruiser

[DGE29]

Don't set your standards very high or you will disappointed.

[shealea]

I was just on the Jewel two weeks ago on an Alaskan cruise.

 

The ship was in very nice condition. Carpet seemed good -- not showing a lot of wear or fading. Woodwork on railings etc. still looked nice and fresh to me. Paint on the promenade and bright artwork still looked bold and bright.

 

I didn't really notice it looking rundown at all.

 

I saw many workers always hard at work cleaning and polishing and using the vacume etc.

[shealea]

Also, on the food...... I'm not very picky when it comes to food and enjoy most anything.

 

The MDR food was good to very good to me. O-Sheehans has a bit of a limited menu, but dh and I ate there often. Dh especially enjoyed the chicken sandwich. I especially like the chicken pot pie, the wings and the cabbage soup. Yum! Oh and the cheesecake.

 

I think the buffet has a very good variety. There's a sandwich station, many hot offerings. Stir-fry offerings, as well as a few Indian dishes to choose from. Pizza station, baked goods station, grill station, soft serve ice cream, nice salad bar, many yummy desserts to choose from. At breakfast you can get omelettes made to order. Starting at 5 pm you can get crepes made to order at the crepe station.

 

Dh and I enjoyed the buffet very much.

[blindrid]

FWIW, the Jewel is one of our favorite ships.

[rvsullivan]

Has anyone sailed on the Jewel before? How was the food? How was the ship in general? I've been on the Pearl and the Gem, but they were new then. The Jewel is now 9 years old and hasn't been renovated yet. I'm wondering how it is. Thanks!

 

Cruise deck plans indicates Jewel was refurbed in 2014.

[jamessemaj]

The Jewel is a nice ship. The decor is interesting in being Russian, as the ship originally sailed the Baltic and St. Petersburg.

[chloemonkey]

Has anyone sailed on the Jewel before? How was the food? How was the ship in general? I've been on the Pearl and the Gem, but they were new then. The Jewel is now 9 years old and hasn't been renovated yet. I'm wondering how it is. Thanks!

 

We were on the Jewel in a Haven Suite in September of last year and loved it. We ALSO were on the Pearl in April of 2014 and thought that the Jewel was much better in terms of food, service, etc. As most will state....food is SO subjective.....and we did eat in specialty restaurants as well as the main dining rooms. Just found the Jewel to be a bit "above" the Pearl....again....VERY subjective as your "first" time doing anything usually is attached to better recollections.....as we did the Panama Canal trip on both of these ships...the Jewel being our first.

 

Bottom line is that I would do EITHER of them again in a heartbeat!

[lah66]

We have sailed the Jewel twice, the last time being in Feb 14 out of New Orleans. NO is a great port to discover pre or post cruise if that is where You are leaving from!

 

I agree with all the positive comments. The ship is beautiful and in really great shape. We had an inside room and we were as happy as could be. The Centrum area is a little garish in decoration, but that did not negatively impact our vacation at all!

 

We thoroughly enjoyed guitarist/singer Randon in various areas around the ship and made a point to see him nightly. We are not "ship production" people but did enjoy the comedian immensely. There were Elvis tribute artists onboard who were fantastic!

 

The food was like any other ship offerings. Some good, some not so good! Plenty of choices so you never go hungry! We went to the buffet one night for dinner and were pleasantly surprised with the stir fry area. You chose your own ingredients and they made it up while you waited. It was fantastic! We had a two top table in the MDR which was fine, but it would have been more fun to be at a larger table. We could have asked to be moved but did not!

 

Don't fret! Your cruise will be as wonderful as you allow it to be! You could nitpick little details here and there, but why? Life is too short! Enjoy!

 

Lauri