Review Jewel 18-25th

[puchie]

Hi Dorothy,

Thanks for the advice. i will certainly read your reviews on the Europe boards and look into private touring....thank you!

 

~Puchie

[DES972]

Where do I find the Europe Boards you mentioned?

[Manxcruiser]

Please correct me if I am wrong, I am assuming most everyone posting on here is American? By birth I am American and did live in Oklahoma most of my life uptil 9 yrs ago when I moved to the UK.

 

I do apologise before starting anything controversial here...I guess maybe I have been away to long to understand, but I found nothing wrong with the food on the Jewel..I agree the food went from pleasing to amazing for us..but not everyone is going to cook amazing food are they all the time.

 

I have read on this forum about the quantity or portion size of food on the Jewel not being enuf. I can't understand where ANYONE would go hungry on this cruise. The abundance was.. well over the top.

 

We ate in Cagneys and it was nice. I had the surf and turf and my steak was good. We ate 2 nights in Tango's, my daughter is a connoisseur

of salsa and she loved theirs, their quacamole wasn't to bad either. Had the enchilades, I make better, but that is all part of the experience tho isn't it. I had the quesadillas the next night and loved them. I don't expect to have all my meals perfect. Chin Chin's for us was the best meal.

 

We never made it to Tzar's or Azura's restaurants, so I can't comment on them. But we ate every breakfast and lunch in the Garden Court. What was there not to like? They catered for everyone and everyone's taste.

 

I expect American's demand more out of everything, from everybody?

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As far as the Freestyle dining wear...you make it what you want. I saw a few ppl dressed up..by to be honest American's are flying so far across, why would you want to lug a evening dress and a tux that far?

 

If you want to dress up go on a different cruise line...P&O they have lots of formel nights..I did one of them several years ago...from Southampton to Barbados..it was a pain to have to pack evening wear for that...but I enjoyed it.

 

 

and btw I am a travel agent..I paid for this cruise like anyone else and I will recommend and send ppl on this ship..thoughly enjoyed it.

[7SeasLover]

I doubt you'll ever see anyone in formal attire at the buffet. It's where we eat when we opt out of formal evenings. I like the casual atmosphere of crusing, but I try to be prepared for anyting, so I pack my basic black and pearls. I have a long blach sheath-type dress with a flowing chiffon-like overlay. I pack a gold lame wrap to jazz up the simple black dress. Voila! good enought to mingle with the formals. Both pieces take up hardly any room.

 

The problem, however, is my husband's packing. You can't pack a suit or tux compactly. We will opt out of any formal evenings simply because I don't want him to feel compelled to pack for a formal dinner. When I travel with my girlfriend, we can both pack formal attire in a minimal amout of space so we do partake in formal nights.

 

Formal nights are fun, but sometimes a bother. No formal nights for us on the Med, but we will do formal nights on the Crown in South America.

[Dorothy]

Des-click on "Boards" above in the tool bar, scroll down to "Europe".

 

Manx-Most probably are American's. I am, but in regards to portions onboard. I found the food to be plentiful. We ordered our breakfast in. We tried to order minimal, so as not to gain weight, and I think our butler thought we were afraid to order and he would bring extra food. After I explained to him, we were watching our weight, he brought just what were ordered.

 

Everyone has their own opinions on food. I didn't dislike anything. I just didn't think anything was worth bragging about, except for our dinner at Le Bistro. Everything we had there was excellent. All of our other meals were no better than an ordinary restaurant here in town.

 

On other cruise ships, especially RCCL, the food was like dining in a 5 star restaurant every night. Princesses breakfast and lunches were only okay, but their dinners were 5 star quality.

 

If I had to rate the food on Jewel, I'd rate it a 3 1/2 star.

[jabrown40]

Hey Dorothy, we were on the same cruise! It's funny, I think we were in different places of the ship, because I didn't dress up too much either, but didn't feel underdressed. I will say that my black pants got used quite a bit though. I didn't take a cocktail dress, and the most dressed up my husband got was a dress shirt and slacks on formal night. But capris are a little to chilly for me at night time, because we liked to sit outside at the Great Outdoors bar at night along the rail, and it's a little cool. So I ususally had a little jacket with pants. No dresses for me though! I am sure you're right about saving some of the tables in the restaurants for suite guests. We never had a problem because we made our reservations the first night, but saw many other couples being turned away, or told the soonest would be around nine. It's interesting that you never had any difficulty. We thought the food was great at Le Bistro as well. My husband thought his ribeye at Cagneys was okay, and my filet was cooked the way I like it. The lobster at Tangos was good, and we also thought Teppanyaki was more about the circuses than the food quality. In fact, I had to ask the chef for more soy sauce for my fried rice, because it seemed pretty bland to me. But overall, we were happy with our meals. We ate breakfast every morning in the Garden Cafe, because we were up so early to catch those excursions! Some vacation! But we always had eggs to order, or omelots made to order, so it was good. They had plenty of good pineapple! I think the bar areas are fairly empty at night because everyone turns in pretty early. I know on past cruises, we enjoyed the nightlife, but since we were getting up around 5 or 6, we were usually back in our room after the show. I agree that Cirque was good, but I also liked the 70's music show at the beginning of the cruise. Those kids were truly talented! My husband and I probably won't cruise again for awhile, but I would like to try RCCl at some point.

[Dorothy]

I agree with you on the food. We had our breakfast brought in every morning. We were trying not to gain weight, so we order just minimal like oatmeal and fruit. I failed. I gained 5 pounds. But, I think I gained it with all the great food we ate while in port.

 

We didn't hardly explore the ship and we didn't see any shows. We wanted to be fresh for each port we came to. We were so busy seeing all the sights.

 

I wish I had seen you. I would have felt better seeing someone else in pants.

 

Teppanyaki was a let down. I didn't think the fried rice was very good either. The tricks they performed were really simple. I've seen much better and had much better Teppanyaki at other restaurants. There is a fabulous one in Maui in Lahaina. We go to Maui every year and I make it a point to go there. I was hoping for the same on Jewel, but not as good unfortunately.

 

I have already booked Splendour of the Seas for next October. Venice to Greece. I really like RCCL, but I tend to book because of itinerary rather than food quality. Although, the food was not so great, the cruise itself was. Food quality is not as important to me, so I will continue to book cruises based on where they are going.

[Manxcruiser]

Dorothy, you aren't the only one to gain weight...my teenage daughter is still moaning about what she gained. :D

 

The other daughter is moaning about not being able to see Dave play in the Great Outdoors.....she thought he was great!!! I think it was bordering on stalking.......at the end of the week he was calling her his dearest fan and she was almost swooning.......LOL

 

 

We are doing the Dream out of Houston with my sister and her husband the Sunday after Thanksgiving. There will be 8 of us then. Bit worried about how that is going to compare to the Jewel. I am trying to lower my expectations. I know it isn't anywhere as big as the Jewel.

 

I am still tired from having to get up so early for the excursions..I need a holiday from the holiday we just took.

 

But we did all see some amazing sights.

[cruiser620]

We were on the 6/25 sailing, and I saw very few people dressed up on formal night. Most of the people wore what I would call "business casual". The people who wore suits and gowns were the ones who looked out of place.

[amingo]

i know there is a beauty saloon for the ladies but is there a barber for the guys on the ncl jewel.

[topekacruiser]

My husband and I don't plan to dress up on "formal" night...he'll be in dockers and a button down shirt. Are some of the restaurants more casual than the others? We definitely won't eat dinner at a buffet...can we eat at the main restaurants without feeling out of place?