NCL Jewel - Dec 27 - Western Caribbean - 1st cruise and review

[mom_n_mi]

This is my first review and no where as detailed as everyone's. Based on all of the reviews I have read on the Jewel and the port boards, we made our decisions on where to go. Thank you to those that wrote reviews, posted comments and answered questions.

 

Who we are:

DH (turned 40 the day we left)

ME (39)

DS - N (11)

DS - E (4, turned 5 on cruise)

We live north of Austin, TX and drove in that morning. it took us about 3 1/2 hours with stops.

 

This started off as a surprise birthday gift for my husband for his 40th, but I ended up telling him back in Feb. I had booked it 18 months in advance to get a good price and a balcony. Since it was a few days after Christmas I knew the ship would be full.

 

We left Houston on a rainy Saturday morning, Dec 27th. The ship left on time and we spent most of the day exploring the ship, getting the kids checked into splash academy and had lunch at Tsar's (thanks for the recommendation!). As I mentioned, this was our first cruise, so we were excited and a bit nervous, not knowing what to expect. We did dinner at Teppanyaki for my DH's birthday. Everyone sang to him and he got his cake. The one thing I didn't like, and I did complain about, is we never got kids menu. When I ordered I said I wanted the "kids chicken" for DS - E. They ended up charging me for both boys, even though they were under 12. I did get a refund on the little one and since DS - N ate an adult portion, I didn't complain.

 

Day 2 - day at sea. We were up early and had breakfast at the Garden Cafe (buffet). We dropped the kids off at the splash academy and explored the ship some more. We had our meet and mingle scheduled for 11 am and had a great turnout. Probably around 50-60 people. I had been communicating with several of them and it was great to put a face to a name. We did lunch at Top Side grill and then played in the pool. We did the Rum and Rum Cake testing and DH did the Martini Tasting. The kids had a parade that night that ended at the Stardust Theater.

 

Day 3 - Cozumel. Based on a lot of recommendations, we went to Playa Mia. The cab fee is now $18 for 4. DS - E loved the water park. All of us swam out to the floats and DS - N managed to stay on the longest. It is VERY difficult to get onto these and I wish there was an easier way. From what we could tell, there is only 1 ladder and you have to swim under part of it to get to it. When DS - E fell off, DH didn't put him back up. The beach is great. We did pay for the buffet and unlimited drinks. The buffet was ok, everyone found something to eat. Since this was our first trip, DH was nervous about not getting back on time, so we left around 2 pm and walked around the mall area. That night on the ship was David Naster. He has some great jokes. The biggest thing - don't get there late, or he makes you dance! This was also our DS - E birthday. We went to dinner at Azura where they sang to him and he got his cake. The kids club also sang to him and gave him a present. He had opened presents earlier in the day and I think he told 90% of the ship it was his birthday.

 

Day 4 - Belize - We had made arrangements with people from our meet and mingle to do cavetubing with .bz. We booked a private party of 12. Because of this, we did get a lower rate than their website. The drive was interesting learning all about Belize. The cave tubing was AMAZING!! Even though my DS - E freaked at the beginning, he ended up doing great. The drive back was long. We were all tired by this point. I do have a few things that I didn't care for. We were supposed to just be a group of 12. At the last minute, they added 4 people to our group who also were also going zip lining. My complaint is we were promised a 15 passenger van, just for our group. I understand they are trying to make money, but when you are told one thing and then another happens, you wonder. We were also told they would have seat belts for the kids (3 kids total all 5 and under). Because we had these extra 4 people, one of the kids had to sit in the front seat. My other complaint is about the caves. i know we are on a time limit and there are a lot of people, but it would have been nice to float down the river. I know the guides do have to help move us, but i felt that if they let the rive move us for a bit, it would slow down the ride and not make us feel so rushed. We got back with 2 hours to spare. I wish they could have slowed down a bit so we could have enjoyed the scenery in the caves some more. That night we saw Duo Deja Vu...they are fabulous!

 

Day 5 - Banana Coast / Trujillo, Honduras. Originally we were scheduled to go to Roatan. I was very disappointed when they switched us. I did a lot of research when this happened and well, there is not a lot of information out there yet. Searching through the October boards, someone had posted about a resort they found. Tranquility Bay Resort. I contacted the owners, Linda and Larry and loved what I read and heard. After speaking to the people on my board, a group of us booked 2 cabana's there. Our family had one, their family had another (they had 11 in their group). The cabana was a small cabin with a queen bed, 2 double beds, bathroom, small couch, fridge, and front porch with chairs and hammock. Their resort has a beautiful beach, bar, restaurant, monkeys, birds and horses. The food was delicious! My DH and DS - N went snorkeling after a 15-20 min boat ride. They offer day passes as well. There was maybe 40 people there all day. We did pay extra for them to provide us with transportation. Linda stated that the cabs raised their rates after the cruise ship started arriving; so they came up with another option. Linda mentioned since they are new to the whole "cruising thing" they are still trying to figure everything out, including how many people they can have total there. It is worth going there! It is beautiful and well taken care of and you will enjoy swimming in the ocean and looking up at the mountains.

 

As I was walking on the beach, I came up to another family. She said they paid $200 for 9 of them to be in a cab "through the jungle and to come here" round trip. At the time I didn't know it was Campo Del Sal (??). I am not sure how they got in since I thought you could only go through the cruise line.

 

That night we saw comedian Jean Pierre Parent - loved him. My DS - N later went to one of his sessions and loved learning more about magic.

 

One more thing - no tender ticket needed before 8:15 am. If you go after, you need a ticket.

 

Day 6 & 7 - sea days - relaxed. Read books. Saw shows - Le Cirque Bijou, David Naster, Fountains (funny!!) and the Farewell Concert. Ate. Took naps. Kids in the splash academy. The kids do the circus on day 7. So cute!!

 

We ate most of our meals in the Garden Cafe, Top Side Grill or the Great Outdoors. It was the easiest for us with the kids and trying to get them back to the kids club. Both boys loved the kids club. DS - E was a tiger in the circus. DS - N did the chinese yo-yo. They were begging us each day to go.

 

We met great people at the meet and mingle. It was great to run into them throughout the cruise and to see what they were doing or where they had gone. I wish there was a meet and mingle at the end of the cruise so you could reconnect with everyone.

 

We loved it and purchased the future cruise deposit. They did tell my DH on the behind the scenes tour that they are planning on adding another ship to Houston. They just weren't sure when. Hopefully soon!

 

I have pictures, but it may take a while for me to put them up. Let me know if you have any questions. We really appreciated all of the reviews that others have done. It really made our decisions easy on where to go based on those.

[jjdshoe]

Thanks for the review

[3DBeach]

Great review!! Thanks for sharing!

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[lyttleone1977]

I'm so glad you had a great trip, and the review was perfect length. Too much gets to be, well too much.

And FYI, this is your sister :) (In case the picture of my crazy family doesn't show up).

[deladypilot]

Thank you for taking the time to write a review. It is very much appreciated

[AF-1]

Very good review for your first time out. I had heard rumors that Jade would be moving to Texas next winter. I will be on Jade in May; so will ask the crew if this is true.

[albertamom]

Thank you so much for your review! 6 weeks from today, we'll be on the beautiful Jewel and heading to Playa Mia in Cozumel! So glad to hear that you had a good time there! :)

 

Did you and/or the kids try out the slide? I've heard lots of people say they got stuck halfway down. I'm wondering if there's a trick to it, or it's just unavoidable.

 

I can't wait to see some pictures! :D

[mom_n_mi]

Very good review for your first time out. I had heard rumors that Jade would be moving to Texas next winter. I will be on Jade in May; so will ask the crew if this is true.

 

Please let me know if you do find out. I am curious what ports they would have.

[mom_n_mi]

Did you and/or the kids try out the slide? I've heard lots of people say they got stuck halfway down. I'm wondering if there's a trick to it, or it's just unavoidable.

 

I can't wait to see some pictures! :D

 

My DS - N (11) did get stuck; my DS - E (5) didn't. I didn't go down it, but I did see a lot of adults that did. I didn't hear a lot of people mentioning it. Probably the more alcohol you have makes it a bit easier to go down ;-)

 

Have a great trip!

[Clay Clayton]

Please let me know if you do find out. I am curious what ports they would have.

 

It is not a rumor, cruises are posted on Norwegian website, Jade takes over for Jewel next Fall (Nov 14th to be exact) and cruise from Houston until April 16 2016 when she cruises back to Venice.

 

Ports for the seven day cruises are Cozumel, Harvest Caye (Belize), Bay Islands (Honduras). The Nov 14, 2015 is a five day cruise to Cozumel and Progreso.

[ajsdad]

Great to hear of your review of TB. We are leaving in two weeks and have a cabana booked as well. We have prepaid for transportation as well with them. Can you talk about how you got from the ship to TB. Did you walk down to her son's place to get on a boat? How long did it take, etc. What time did you get there? What time did they bring you back, etc.

[mom_n_mi]

Great to hear of your review of TB. We are leaving in two weeks and have a cabana booked as well. We have prepaid for transportation as well with them. Can you talk about how you got from the ship to TB. Did you walk down to her son's place to get on a boat? How long did it take, etc. What time did you get there? What time did they bring you back, etc.

 

Once you get off the ship, you will walk through the port area. There are only a couple of shops there. Follow the dirt path, pass the buses and outside the gate area. There were several vendors asking us to go on tours, cabs, etc. Just walk past them. Keep the ocean on your right hand side. It is just pass the gated area. Not even a 5 minute walk. The restaurant is under construction. After we met with someone, we walked to the beach and got on the boat. They did have a stair for us since 2 of us have disability issues and were concerned with getting in. They didn't have this at the resort, so if you think someone will have an issue getting in or out, let Linda/Larry know.

 

The boat ride was roughly 15 minutes. We got off the boat around 8 am and were there before 8:30. They started taking people back around 2 pm. They had 2 boats to take people back and were planning on running each boat twice. The last lifeboat back to the Jewel was at 3:30.

[ve3ell]

We enjoyed most of the cruise also. The night before the cruise ended an announcement was made that we may not reach Houston until 11AM Saturday due to fog. Luckily we did reach port about 8am. The port of Trujillo Honduras still needs a lot of work as there is not much there yet. If your thirsty beer was $4.00 at the terminal or only $1.00 just down the dirt road outside of the gates.The only bad part was the end getting off the ship. The line for the easy off system was very long and ran on the outside deck. As a result of this I got a chill and missed my first day back to work. The bus #606 back to the Houston airport was driven by an untrained employee that had to call her office to see what the right spot was to drop us off at terminal A. All she had to do was read the signs. The heat in that bus was too high also. Our next cruise will be with another cruise line that offers more good ports per day and has better organized deboarding.

[Rudyard]

It was recently announced that Jade will also be doing the 2016-17 Winter/Spring season out of Houston. After that it's up in the air as the original contract was for two years with an option for a third. It's encouraging that they picked up the optional year already.

[AF-1]

Looks like someone already found the answer for where Jade will be this fall.

[mom_n_mi]

We enjoyed most of the cruise also. The night before the cruise ended an announcement was made that we may not reach Houston until 11AM Saturday due to fog. Luckily we did reach port about 8am.

 

The line for the easy off system was very long and ran on the outside deck. As a result of this I got a chill and missed my first day back to work.

 

The bus #606 back to the Houston airport was driven by an untrained employee that had to call her office to see what the right spot was to drop us off at terminal A. All she had to do was read the signs. The heat in that bus was too high also. Our next cruise will be with another cruise line that offers more good ports per day and has better organized deboarding.

 

I was glad we were able to get into port a bit earlier than predicted with the fog. It took us an hour from when they called our color to when we were in our truck. We drove ourselves, so I am not sure how the buses were with transportation back to the airport.

 

We were in line for the easy off at 8 am and it was fast for us. I know if you were going to be in line after 8:15 am, you needed a tender ticket.

[TwoBy2]

Very good review for your first time out. I had heard rumors that Jade would be moving to Texas next winter. I will be on Jade in May; so will ask the crew if this is true.

 

We were on the Jade in June and they said that they were moving to Houston in 2015...so yippee!!

[efinand]

Do you (or anyone else reading this) know if that "early off" the tender option is always the case? If you are there before 8am you don't need a tender ticket?

 

I had heard something about NCL giving tender priority to those who had booked excursions through NCL, so we were hesitant to use cavetubing.bz for fear we would be delayed by tenders and then not guaranteed to get back to the ship in time.

 

Thanks!

[mom_n_mi]

Do you (or anyone else reading this) know if that "early off" the tender option is always the case? If you are there before 8am you don't need a tender ticket?

 

I had heard something about NCL giving tender priority to those who had booked excursions through NCL, so we were hesitant to use cavetubing.bz for fear we would be delayed by tenders and then not guaranteed to get back to the ship in time.

 

Thanks!

 

In Belize, yes, you need a tender ticket. I *think* they started giving them out around 8 am. I was in line 30-45 minutes before that and got group 2 tickets. You can request them for your whole party and only 1 person needs to show up. We were off the ship quick. I think the 2nd boat. Our friends had received a letter stating they could be escorted off and we beat them to port.

 

In Trujillo, if you are getting off the ship before 8:15, you don't need a tender ticket. You just go down to the 4 floor and get on a boat. After 8:15, you need a ticket.

 

Enjoy your trip!

Edited January 9, 2015 by mom_n_mi