Jewel - 4/30/06 TransAtlantic Review

[BrooklynChick]

Just came back from a 14 day Transatlantic cruise. Some things were great and some things NCL REALLY needs to work on. Here goes:

 

Overall Ship- Colorful but not overwhelming. Since this is a new ship, I didn't see any signs of wear. Everything was very clean.

 

There was an outbreak of some type of virus and the crew was very insistent on disenfecting your hands at all of the restaurants. They also made announcements and put it in the daily planner the need to keep clean. They even asked for passengers not to greet each other by shaking hands.

 

Room - DH got an inside room. Fairly decent bathroom size and fine storage.

 

Food - Fair to middling in the free restaurants. Good food at Cagney's and Le Bistro. Tip - book early and if you reserve a pay restaurant before 6:30 you can get them for half-price. Poor food in the Garden Cafe. The food was invariably cool. Selections were very limited and the flavor was insipid.

 

Entertainment - I thought the Jean Ryann (sp?) show were great. The Cirque Bijou was the best show that we have seen. Some fairly funny comics, a hypnotist and some pretty decent singers were made it a thumbs up on the evening entertainment. Mornings were a professor that talked about the history of the various ports. He was OK, but I thought his slides were way too wordy. You ended up reading the slides instead of listening to the teacher. I REALLY liked the antique talks given by a couple who had owned an antiques store for several years. Their names were Kat and Jim. They were very informative and lively. We also went to the trivia games held by the Cruise Director Paul Banya (sp?). I thought Paul was VERY funny. Unforunately, I think Brooklyn was missing its village idiot because those questions were HARD!

 

Gym - nice number of elliptical machines, rowing machines, bicycles, and treadmills. Most of the treadmills and ellipticals has personal TVs so you can watch something while you are jogging away those calories.

 

Ports - we went to Azores, Portugal/Madeira, Portugal/Rome, Italy/Florence, Italy, and Nice, Monte Carlo, France. We did the NCL tours. Overall good tours but NCL could have organized it better. ALL the tours had to meet at the theater and when a popular tour such as the Vatican City tour was called everyone rushed to the stairs causing some delays. If you are going to the Vatican City tour be prepared for some major crowds and watch out for those pickpockets. Florence was breathtaking and was my favorite port.

 

Embarkation/Disembaration - REALLY, REALLY BAD!!! Miami was chaotic which I was expecting, but Barcelona was the worst. WHY would NCL book passengers at 9:30 AM , 9:40 AM and 9:55 AM flights? We left the pier late and got our luggage at 9:10 at the airport steps. NCL reps at the Barcelona pier didn't seem to have good relations with Iberia airlines. When I tried the self-check in, Iberia airlines woudn't accept international flights so we had to stand in line. I speak Spanish, so I ended up translating for my fellow passengers. I tried to help as many as I could, but I had to catch my flight too. After I grabbed an airline employee and begged, I was able to get some of my fellow passengers on a short line. DH and I ended up running down the airport up a flight a stairs and across the 2nd floor to catch our flight. I know that some NCL passengers missed their flights. What a way to end your vacation! I will be writing to NCL about the poor, disorganized disembarkation.

[curiouscat]

Thanks for the update. My DH and I are booked on the jewel transatlantic in OCt. Reverse... we end up in Miami and don't have to worry about flying back int'l... That is one of the reasons I booked it that way.:)

 

I would like to hear from others on service etc.

 

 

Lauren

[denims]

We sailed on the Jewel for the 4/30 transatalic also. (Review in a couple of days, but I wanted to warn everyone regarding NCL's Transferr packages.

 

THEY SUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Horrible comunnuications in Miami AND Barcelona! Even though portage was included, it cost me over $60 for tips in Maimi because NCL's personal couldn't make up their mind where to put the baggage for bus pickup! The bus transportation to our Miami pre-hotel was terrible. NCL and the bus people showed no organization putting the bags on for three hotel stops. At the first stop they were taking the wrong bags off. The passagers had to tell the bus driver which were there's.

Coming back from Barcelona, they took our bags and dumped then on huge trucks to go to the airport. There were no NCL people there to tell us or translate to Barcelona workers where to pick up our bags.

 

The good news, which you'll see in my review, is the Jewell and the cruise were great!!!!

[garycarla]

Amazing how often the prepaid EXPENSIVE transfers from the cruiseline turn in what some would call a "goat rodeo". (use your own imagination)

 

You would think that doing the package thing, even spending extra money would be a good thing. Nope. Rarely a smart move.

 

We will continue to handle things on our own and avoid them.

[Dorothy]

Too bad about the way things were handled. I plan to bering most of my belongings in my carry on and so does my husband. We pack light.

 

Next year, however, we wll be on RCCL's Splendour, which means formal clothes. I plan to use the service for cruiselines that you send off your bags ahead of you via Fed Ex and the bags are waiting for you in your cabin when you arrive. They are guaranteed to be delivered on time and you also get a tracking number to keep a watch on it yourself. They ship all over the world and the cost is minimal. Then all I need will be my carry on with a few days of clothes in it.

[garycarla]

Have you actually PRICED this service and how much is it? When I checked, even going to Fedex directly, it looked like a few hundred $$ per case.

 

Meanwhile, did the Jewel offer self disembark? Or better yet, do they offer it in Miami? We did this recently on a cruise and will really try to do it again. Forces us to pack a bit lighter and we avoid the night before packing, and the waiting in the morning for our color.

[jessinat]

Background Information

 

Husband and I are in late 40's and have cruised several times before on NCL, Royal Carribean and

Carnival

 

Travel To Port of Embarkation

 

We booked our own transportation to Miami and had a one night stay pre-cruise

 

Stateroom

 

We love inside cabins for many reasons, darkness, price, amount of time spent in room

 

Ship Info

 

Ship was clean and well maintained. Concerns about the sudden requirement of disinfecting hands when entering public areas but with 2300+ people being together for 14 days would have thought that policy would have been in effect from beginning of cruise rather than being implemented on day 3.

 

Dining

 

Like the concept of freestyle dining but this time the food in Dining rooms was really not up to previous NCL cruise food, buffet got old with 14 days of cruising so we did quite a bit of dinners in the pay venues (Cagneys was great - ate there 3 times, LeBistro was good, ChinChin was not good, and then the 2 specialty non pay restaurants Tango's and Mama's were ok, better than buffet and much better than dining room.

 

Activities

 

Cruise Director, Paul Baya did a great job. Being a 14 day cruise lots of "OLDER" cruisers so NCL had prepared appropriately. History/Geography lecturer had good info however he used old technology, overhead projector with transparencies containing too much information, would have been much better if PowerPoint had been used. Handwriting "expert" was interesting but contradicted herself on later days. Crafts (not NCL staff) were above normal but NCL needs to update the crafts that they offer, same craft classes offered for past 5 years. Don't believe that Spa should charge usage fee but paid the $60 usage fee.

 

Service

 

Room steward evidently worked a later shift since many sea days room was not cleaned until early afternoon. Waiters were great in Specialty restaurants, buffet service people were slow in clearing tables

 

Entertainment

 

3 Jean Ann Ryan shows, Cirque Bijou was wonderful, 1st show was above average but Country Gold show had too many gaps. Comedians were lame, Magician had seen better days - assistant was worse, Crew Talent Show was great, Second City was really good but Chris Riggins (singer) was the best

 

Shore Excursions

 

We did all the shore excursions on our own, took trains into Rome, Florence, Pisa, Monaco and hired a taxi in Madeira. Everything worked as planned and based on feedback from people who utilized NCL shore excursions we actually saw much, much more than they did for a small percentage of the price that they paid (example in Rome we paid 9.60 Euro (less than 11 dollars for 2 people) for train tickets to Rome whereas Rome on Your Own provided by NCL (they only provide transportation into Rome) cost around *90 dollars. Plus with all the "older" cruisers a lot of time was spent waiting for them to get back to buses with their walkers, canes, wheelchairs. Took quite a bit of planning to get train schedules and tickets/reservations for venues such as Vatican, Ufizi, etc.

 

Disembarkation

 

Oh no do I really need to re-live this, we had a 10:30 flight to Paris (CDG) booked by NCL with a 40 minute layover before our flight to Newark, well we got to the airport in Barcelona at 9:00 am at terminal 1 (luggage was taken to Terminal 2 so needed to walk there to get luggage only to find out that only 1 person was unloading truck). After recovering luggage walked back to Terminal 1 to find 300+ people in line for AirFrance and only 3 people working to check everyone in. At 10:10 we were still number 100(more or less) in line so went over to 1st class window and convinced the agent to check us in. Got on plane but upon arrival in Paris no gate was available so instead of 40 minutes only had 21 minutes, thankfully AirFrance had sent Michel to meet our flight and take the 6 of us directly from terminal 2F to terminal 2C, the flight was held for us but if we had arrived on time and been expected to get from 2F to 2C we would never have made it in 40 minutes

 

Summary

 

Overall it was a good cruise, just wish that attention would be placed on improving dining room food.

[DroopySails]

jessinat,

 

Thanks for the feedback. Could you tell us specifically what you didn't like about the dining room food?

 

Also, was the $60 spa usage fee for the whole two-week cruise, or per week? I ask because NCL charges that much for one-week itineraries on the Jewel.

 

Thanks.

[jessinat]

Regarding the dining room food:

 

Breakfast was ok

 

Lunch was too much the same day after day, a vegetable soup (too salty), a cold soup (too sweet), sandwich (Ruben, Cuban, Roast Beef - all tasted the same) salad (my preferred choice but nothing too exciting) or a Vegetarian item.

 

Dinner seemed like there was too much pork offered, lobster only once(even though there were 2 formal nights, soups were still salty, not really a dessert person but tried a couple and they were not good - no real flavor (although the tiramisu at Mama's, chocolate cake and cheesecake at Cagneys were excellent), so would go to buffet and get fruit (wonderful watermelon, pineapple and cantaloupe every day (both lunch and dinner), fish consistenly had bones in it and beef entrees were all cooked to well or well done even if medium rare requested

 

 

Regarding the Spa:

 

60 for the 2 weeks if sign up on 1st day, but Jewel does not have a lap pool like the Star. Spa consists of steam, sauna, Tropical shower, Ice Shower, Japanese Plunge pool (3 feet deep X 4 feet long) and a hot tub in the women's locker rooms and 4 chairs with separate ottomans. The therapy pool and heated lounge chairs (6) are in the Co-Ed portion

[bonnieg]

As a future Jewel cruiser, I have been waiting for reviews on the first Med. cruises.

 

Jessinat: I also plan on doing Rome and Florence independently by train. Did you have any trouble getting a taxi to and back from the train station in Liverno?

 

Did anyone do the St. Paul de Vence tour in Villefranche? If so, how long were you actually in St. Paul de Vence? Can you go off on your own? Also, are there taxis lined up at the Villefranche port? Does anyone know how much a taxi would cost to St. Paul de Vence?

 

Thank you for any help. I'm on the July 30th sailing and trying to decide how to do the ports.

[jessinat]

Taxis at the port did not want to take fares only to train station, a shuttle was provided by the port (free but we tipped upon leaving) that took you downtown to Piazza Grande where you go into the Tobacco (Tabacchi) shop and buy a bus ticket (1 Euro - go ahead and buy the one for the afternoon also) then you just get on bus 1 and in about 5 minutes you are at the train station. In the afternoon you get on bus 2

 

As for Villefranche, I did not see any taxis but maybe they were parked on the other side, we walked the short distance to train station and went to Monaco.

[sjbdtz]

As a future Jewel cruiser, I have been waiting for reviews on the first Med. cruises.

 

Jessinat: I also plan on doing Rome and Florence independently by train. Did you have any trouble getting a taxi to and back from the train station in Liverno?

 

Did anyone do the St. Paul de Vence tour in Villefranche? If so, how long were you actually in St. Paul de Vence? Can you go off on your own? Also, are there taxis lined up at the Villefranche port? Does anyone know how much a taxi would cost to St. Paul de Vence?

 

Thank you for any help. I'm on the July 30th sailing and trying to decide how to do the ports.

 

Bonnie, if you go to the BOARDS link in the CruiseCritic banner above (top of the page), and scroll down you'll see a section of boards called Ports of Call.

 

Select Europe & there are pages & pages & pages of discussion on doing the various ports.

 

Stephen

[bonnieg]

Jessinat, Thanks for the info. This is the 1st time I heard about a bus that takes you to the train station. Do you know if the buses run frequently?

 

Stephen, I am aware of the Ports of Call Boards. I have been addicted to them for the past 4 months. They have been an amazing help to me in planning these ports independently. Thanks for the tip though.

[Dorothy]

Okay, if you look at cruiseshippers.com it is only $4-$6 per pound to ship from the US to Europe. That is pretty darn cheap and I can have my clothes waiting for me in my cabin when I arrive. You can also ship souvenirs home this way.

[jaxon41]

Taxis at the port did not want to take fares only to train station, a shuttle was provided by the port (free but we tipped upon leaving) that took you downtown to Piazza Grande where you go into the Tobacco (Tabacchi) shop and buy a bus ticket (1 Euro - go ahead and buy the one for the afternoon also) then you just get on bus 1 and in about 5 minutes you are at the train station. In the afternoon you get on bus 2

 

As for Villefranche, I did not see any taxis but maybe they were parked on the other side, we walked the short distance to train station and went to Monaco.

 

Thanks so much for the info -- we are on the May 21st sailing.

[jessinat]

Only waited about 5 minutes max on travel from Piazza Grande to Train Station and also for return so think that the buses run frequently. Was impressed with the fact that so many locals use public transportation but with their gas prices even higher than ours at least they have that option.

[GeorgiaPeach]

As for Villefranche, I did not see any taxis but maybe they were parked on the other side, we walked the short distance to train station and went to Monaco.

 

 

Jessinat:

 

Can you give us more info on taking the train to Monaco and what you saw there. How close was the train station to sites like the Palace, gardens, casino, etc. Many thanks for sharing this! I'll be on the 5/28 sailing and will be leaving in just a few days to start my trip.

[garycarla]

Here is a link to another review from that same cruise.

 

Would be nice to have all of them in one place.

 

Here is a link to another discussion thread about the same cruise.

[jessinat]

The train station in Villefranche is manned (but be careful with getting appropriate change - some people talked about being shortchanged) and you are able to buy the ticket and then go out the door (be sure and validate ticket in machine outside door) and the train departs from the track closest to the door. After arriving in Monaco take the elevator upstairs go over the bridge (to your left) and go to the elevators on left side down a level then follow passageways until you get to an escalator, go up and you will be at street level, cross the street and go to your left and there is a bus stop (30 feet maybe) where you will catch bus 2 (you can buy a ticket that has 8 transfers on it for 5.70 Euro from bus driver - individual tickets are 1.5 Euros and the 8 transfers can be used by 2 people - just insert magnetic strip down into validation machine, we rode for approximately 15 minutes and arrived at Chocolatier where we exited bus and then walked down cobblestone street to Palais to see changing of guard at 11:50 and to take pictures of the harbor as well as where they have the Grand Prix stands set up then walked back to bus stop and waited for bus 2 again and rode to Casino (I think it was second stop) where we exited bus and walked the short distance to casino (took pictures outside) and looked around then walked back to bus stop and waited for bus 2 again and upon entering just told bus driver train station (wasn't sure that we would recognize it) and when we arrived at train station bus driver said "Train, Train" and we exited and re-entered and took the escalator/elevators back down to the tracks (return is from tracks on far side).

[GeorgiaPeach]

That was great, detailed info! Most helpful!!

[Poconolady]

Be sure to have Euros in hand in small denominations if you are going by train to Monaco in the late afternoon, the ticket window closes and you must purchase by machine.

We walked from the station to the Casino (it is downhill), but took a cab back , I think it was about 8 Euro for 4 people. There are a lot of things to see around the casino, shops, restrauants, etc (very expensive) We were going to have dinnner to celebrate our 30th anniversary, but opted to eat a late dinner when we returned to the ship, we didn't want to spend th next 30 years paying for one meal!!

We did go into the Casino and played for a short while, very beautiful, but very quiet. a much differant atmosphere than any other casino that I have every been too, yes they have slot machines, but they are silenced. The entry fee is 10 Euro per person, a lot,but at least I can say that I have been to the Casino in Monte Carlo. Be sue to check out the ladies room, very nice!

[abroad at sea]

Did they have a dress code for the casino? Did you have to show your passport?

 

Thanks

[autumn wind]

I just wanted to say that like others we will post a review, but first I sent a letter to NCL, and I wanted to give them a chance to respond.

I can say that the tours in Rome and Florence were very nice, but watch out were you stop to eat, in Rome it cost 5 of us $300 Euros to eat a quick lunch, but the next day it was only $25..for the 2 of us...The tours were set up by people on the cruise critic board and were wonderful, I would do that again vs. ship tours, much closer to the sites because buses could not go that close.

We also had a great tour in Nice, that was also setup by a CC member, and I would say that was great too..He took us all over, and even brought soda, water, and gave us each a folder with maps of the towns we were going to see, with a history. He was very nice, and funny, another great day off the ship...

[garycarla]

Autumn Wind:

If you could send some information on who you did the NICE tour with, that would be great. We are cruising the other way in October. Email me at gary @ jeweloct.com (without the spaces)

 

Thanks

[denims]

Gary, Check your email