Jewel Review - Western Caribbean Dec 11-18

[WWLL]

We had a wonderful, wonderful Western Caribbean cruise (Dec 11-18, 2005) on the Norwegian Jewel.

 

The pictures are at http://www.pbase.com/wwll/cruise

 

This was the first cruise for T. I had previously cruised on Cunard, Holland-America, Celebrity and Princess, as well as Star cruises.

 

The Jewel was launched this summer. It is readily recognizable from a distance with its wildly painted hull. The bright colors everywhere gives the ship a vibrancy that is quite nice.

 

While we enjoyed just about everything abroad, it was the enthusiastic attitude of the ship's crew, their willingness to go out of their way to please passengers, that made it a memorable cruise for us.

 

EMBARKATION

 

We used the NCL transfer from Fort Lauderdale Airport to the dock in Miami. While we waited for quite a while in FLL, we got to the dock just after noon. The lines were minimal and we were in our cabin at around 12:45.

 

SAIL-AWAY

 

After lunch in the Garden Cafe buffet, we toured the ship. Everywhere the colors brightened our day. The sun set as we sailed by Miami Beach. There was barely light to see Joe's where we had dinner the previous night.

 

OUR CABIN

 

Our cabin was 8562, on portside with obstructed views. At 161 square feet, it was not big but there was plenty of storage. The bathroom was very well designed. The shower never clouded up the mirror. The Grohe fixtures are very nice. Hot water was hot and the pressure good. Our cabin attendants took good care of us, cleaning the room twice a day, giving us chocolates at bedtime and towel animals occasionally. They were unobtrusive.

 

FOOD

 

Food tends to be a highlight on a cruise for me. T worked in the banquet business so she was observant about every aspect of the dining service. While we really enjoyed the specialty restaurants, more on those later, we were very satisfied with the main dining rooms. We used Tsar's Palace mainly.

 

Here's what we had on lobster night: escargot, mushroom soup, clear oxtail broth, beef wellington, and lobster. We shared everything. While we were eating the main dish, a manager came by and asked how things were. I told him the lobster was soggy. We were immediately brought two new plates of lobster which were much better.

 

We brought six bottles of wine abroad. Corkage was US$15/bottle, collected when we boarded. Our wines ranged from 1987 to 1996 in vintage. Here is our big complaint: Of the six bottles, the waiters broke the corks on THREE of them. I believe when NCL charges $15 per bottle, the staff should be better trained. After the waiter broke the cork on the first bottle, we warned the waiter about the older corks every time afterwards, to no avail.

 

We dined in Le Bistro twice and Cagney's steak house once. I had learned on Cruise Critic that the cover charge is halved between 5:30 and 6:30 but the staff at the reservation desk knew nothing about this until we saw it in FreeStyle, the daily.

 

At Le Bistro we shared: escargot, Norwegian seafood timbale, forest mushroom soup, French onion soup, Nicoise salad with grilled tuna, filet mignon topped with foie gras, with Chateau d'Issan 1989. The manager Alina Pate came by. I told her, "I would think I died and went to heaven if you brought us more foie gras." She brought us three pieces!!! We thought the French onion soup and the escargot were quite ordinary.

 

At Cagney's we shared: shrimp cocktail, oyster Rockefeller, New England clam chowder, filet mignon with creamed spinach, mushrooms, asparagus, New York cut with onion rings. The portions were thankfully small but cooked to order perfectly. We had a bottle of 1987 Groth cabernet sauvignon.

 

We usually have breakfast at Tsar's Palace. T saw three kinds of fish on the menu and wanted to try all three but she was brought three complete orders of herring, broiled Scotch kippers and smoked salmon. I had eggs benedict even when it was not on the menu.

 

I thought the selections were quite meager in the buffet at Garden Cafe. One day T saw Caesar's salad but found there were no anchovies. She found one of the executive chefs and asked for anchovies. A few minutes later, she was brought a bowl with lots of anchovies. We sat there and ate three helpings of Caesar's salad.

 

NCL is known for its Chocoholics's Buffet. At 1:30 pm on our first sea day, the entire ship lined up to participate. The line ran half the ship. Everything was made of chocolate. There were chocolates for dipping, cakes, cookies, etc. There were some showpieces: pianos, chess sets, and the Big Ben. There are several pictures of this event in my photo collection. People ran wild in Tsar's Palace. Some people even packed whole plates full of goodies and took them back to their cabins.

 

The best feature I have found at the Garden Cafe and other self-service places is the WMF coffee machines. It dispenses coffee, cappuccino, espresso and latte, both regular and decaffeinated, at the push of a button. I need one at home!

 

The hardest reservation to get is Mama's Kitchen. We called at 5:20 and they were able to take us at 8 pm. We had calamari fritti, antipasti, minestrone, caesar's salad, salmon, bifsteak de Mango with a bottle of '96 Davis Bynum Pinot Noir. The steak had been marinated and tasted wonderful. The menu said the Caesar's salad would be prepared tableside and we witnessed one waitress prepare some according to the individual wishes of diners. But we were served a plate without asking us what we wanted. This prompted a note to the Food and Beverage Manager.

 

The only disappointment in food was the won ton soup in Blue Lagoon. Advertized as an authentic taste of Hong Kong, it was awful. It tasted nothing like won ton in Hong Kong. T lives in Hong Kong and knows!

 

GYM

 

I worked out in the gym every day. The gym is portside on deck 12. There are many threadmills and ellipticals. Each has a TV screen inches from your nose with remote control and headphones. However, three of the nine threadmills were not working. There is a comprehensive collection of weight machines. Some of the weight markings are in pounds and others in kilograms. This is a fantastic facility.

 

DESTINATIONS

 

I got my passport stamped in Honduras, the Cayman Islands and Jamaica.

 

In Roatan, Honduras we walked to Coxen Hill and walked around. We stopped at a seaside bar and tried two kinds of beer for US$2 each. Internet was US$2 for 30 minutes.

 

Grand Cayman is a wealthy outpost. We went to Hell in a bus. Hell is an outcrop of basaltic rock. Here is a link to a keyed aerial photograph of George Town

 

http://www.ecayonline.com/cayman-maps.html

 

In Ocho Rios, Jamaica we were docked at the bauxite mine pier. We walked towards town and did a bit of shopping. It was pouring rain so we got back to the Jewel.

 

Great Stirrup Cay, NCL's private island in the Bahamas, was more fun than we anticipated. We got onshore late, eat some barbeque and enjoyed the sun. We could see that everyone enjoyed themselves.

 

ENTERTAINMENT

 

The production shows, we caught only one, were fabulous. The theater is well designed and the sightlines are wonderful. The crew talent show featured Pilipino staff members exclusively although we were told 62 countries are represented. The guest talent show had some pros. Half the singers were better than the onboard singers. A couple of the groups were plainly terrible. I did not enjoy the comedians and magicians.

 

DISEMBARKATION

 

The end of the cruise came way too soon. We were in one of the last groups to disembark but we were in our rental cars by 10:45 am.

[mbisson]

We dined in Le Bistro twice and Cagney's steak house once. I had learned on Cruise Critic that the cover charge is halved between 5:30 and 6:30 but the staff at the reservation desk knew nothing about this until we saw it in FreeStyle, the daily.

.

 

We were on this sailing as well. Interesting that in the Freestyle they called it a "Daily Happy Hour" but it was only in the Daily on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday (the wife & I both went through them again just now). Did they honor the discount for you on the other days or were these 3 the 3 that you ate in the "premium" dining rooms?

 

-Monte

[Lovely Cruise]

WWLL,

Thank you for the great information! You made my day! We looking forward to our cruise in April on the Jewel.

[Alexa_K]

Did your stateroom have a coffeemaker in it?

[WWLL]

Mbisson

 

We paid the full cover charge the first time we dined in le Bistro. The thing that bugged me was that the staff at the Reservations Desk did not know about the Happy Hour Discount.

 

Alexa_K

 

There was no coffeemaker in Cabin 8562 when we sailed.

[wibeachbum]

Thank you for your review!:)

[Stillfloatin']

Thank you for your informative review and your photos. Those chocolates sure got my mouth watering. Lol. :D

[mbisson]

Mbisson

 

We paid the full cover charge the first time we dined in le Bistro. The thing that bugged me was that the staff at the Reservations Desk did not know about the Happy Hour Discount.

 

Alexa_K

 

/QUOTE]

 

I get the feeling that the Happy Hour Discount is done on a day by day basis, dependent on how many reservations they have for each particular day. It's possible that the reservations desk wouldn't know anything until the night before (since that's when the Freestyle Daily is printed)

 

-Monte

[Dorothy]

I loved the way you put your review together. You discussed everything I would be interested in and you put the good and the bad. It was very informative and I enjoyed the pictures.

 

Thank you for taking the time to write your review.

[cjcjohio]

Thank you for the review.

I appreicate the info on the ports, especially the internet access.

I know the ship will have internet access, but I'm sure it's more expensive.

Thanks for your help.

Colleen