NCL Jewel--3/7-3/14

[lawbird]

Just off of the Jewel out of Houston. Want to write a quick review and then answer any specific questions. I may have to pause a few times as I am still trying to catch up with work. I will do my best to respond timely. I will also post pictures if people have any requests.

 

We had 9 people in our group. Myself (40), wife (??), daughter (3), son (17), mom (??), dad (64), sister (??), brother (37) and niece (10).

 

Main group stayed in Garden Villa 14000. My brother and his daughter stayed in 2 bedroom family villa 14012, but hung out with us 99.9% of the time.

 

Embarkation: Extremely easy. Great drop off/parking/check in set up. Most of the group drove in from New Braunfels Saturday morning (easy drive). My brother drove in from McAllen. We all got to port at around noon, on board by 12:30, fed lunch and in room by 1:15. Awesome.

 

Ship: I thought she looked great. A little bit of wear and tear, but to be expected.

 

Room: Spectacular. Exceeded my (lofty) expectations. I had planned this for quite some time and done lots of research...but pictures just don't do it justice. The whole family was impressed. We have done the 2 bedroom family villas several times, and they work great for our typical group (awesome bathroom)...but this was just out of the park. Our master bedroom and bath were bigger than my brother's entire 2 bedroom villa. Outdoor space was great. Loved the hot tub and steam room. Only complaint is the dadgum piano...my sister kept trying to teach herself to play..unsuccessfully.

 

Staff: We had Teo (Butler), Alexander (room steward) and Hanno (Concierge). Teo was awesome...My daughter cried Saturday night when we got home and told her Teo couldn't tell her goodnight. Hanno took a little while to warm up to, but he is just a little shy and ended up being great. Alexander has the greatest smile and spirit. We loved them all.

 

Food: We mainly did breakfast in the room. From Cagney's/Moderno..always good. Did a variety of dinners. La Cucina, Cagney's, Moderno, Tsar's Palace and Azur. Enjoyed them all. Cagney's steak was very good. It actually impressed me. I also enjoyed the food at the main restaurants.

 

Kid's Club: I was a little worried about my 3 year old, but she LOVED the Kid's Club. Begged to go and "see her friends". I thought the staff was great and always welcomed her with a heartfelt smile.

 

Shows: Enjoyed the shows. Comedian was funny; Russian couple is amazing; Cirque Bijou was fun. Not a huge "show" guy, but enjoyed what I saw.

 

Casino: I play blackjack. I REALLY like to play blackjack. I didn't sit down at the tables once...that is because I didn't want to leave the room!! I actually only saw the casino once, and that was because I was walking my daughter around in her stroller to settle her down.

 

Ports: Not the highlight of the cruise. But, as my brother said, the ship could just cruise around the port of Houston and it wouldn't matter because the room was so nice. Cozumel is always fun...did Playa Mia through NCL. Had fun, kids had a blast. Recommend. Belize--Wife, daughter and I did private zoo tour through Belize Exotic Adventures (I will verify name of company). Had an amazing time...great zoo, awesome animals. Parents, son, brother and niece did cave tubing and zip lining. They had fun, but didn't like the long drive. Trujillo--Honduras was beautiful..glad I got to see it. We booked Banana Bay Resort. Had fun, nice facility, and the owner was wearing a Texas Longhorn shirt...what else can you ask for? Only downside was the dusty drive in old school bus. Kind of adventurous, but the dust had us all sneezing and coughing for the next few days. The people were very nice.

 

Sea days: I enjoyed the 3 total sea days. I would have liked it broken down a bit more though. 3 early port days in a row had us all pretty tired.

 

Disembarkation: Once again, this port has it down. Super easy. Got up, had breakfast, walked out, got our bags, through customs in 2 minutes tops, got car, loaded up, on highway 15 minutes after getting on the elevator.

 

We had a great time. A "Checklist" type trip.

 

That is all for now. Please ask any questions and will do my best to answer.

[Marion B]

Thanks for posting. Experienced cruisers whose first NCL cruise will be on this ship in two weeks. I'm encouraged by what I'm reading.

Welcome back,

Marion

[lawbird]

I hope you enjoy NCL as much as our family has.

[lexanna02]

Wow! It sounds GREAT! We leave on 3/28. We only live about 1 1/2 hours from the port, so your review helped us decide what time to leave home. We, too, love our sea days! Since we won't be visiting any new ports, we'll probably stay on the ship most of the time.

 

Thanks for the kudos for Cagney's. We were very impressed with Cagney's on the NCL Spirit, but pretty underwhelmed on the NCL Star, but it sounds like the Jewel just may tip the scales for us!

 

I'm looking forward to seeing what else you think of to share with us!

[lawbird]

Passengers: Obviously a bunch of families and kids on spring break. Fun atmosphere, no out of control spring breakers that we saw on the boat. (ran into some of those off of Carnival in Cozumel). Lot of people dancing by the pool...I didn't join, but it looked like they were having fun!

 

Deck chairs: Our room had a really great view. We could sit in the living room and watch right out onto the pool deck. The jockeying for pool chairs was very interesting and entertaining to watch. I would be having coffee at 7:00 am and, no lie, people were putting out towels, bags, etc on chairs. By 7:15, people were moving other people's stuff!! It was crazy and funny to watch. And people thought they were being really sneaky, but we were watching and laughing. My mother was just appalled!!

[Susie51]

Great review. We did the same itinerary in Dec. The 2 bed/bath suite was very nice. Awesome master bath.

[Marion B]

Lawbird,

I am chuckling over your description over the saving of chairs at the pool. Even though we have yet to board an NCL ship, that is exactly what I have noticed on other cruise lines on which we have sailed. I'm an early bird - usually grabbing a cup of java from the buffet at 6:00 or so, and walking by the pool, don't you know the early birds have already dropped off their things to mark their turf.

Marion

[LaCal]

I love those early morning pool chair hogs so much especially when they put thier items down and then stroll down 3 hours or more later 😡😡

 

I've started gathering up thier items and putting them in the crappiest places I can think of. Gotta teach them one way or another. 😆😆😂😂. JK but it's something I think about doing