Jewel July 2 Barcelona – What a Great Time

[redlef]

This is an exceptionally long review. To make it easier to digest, I have broken it up into 4 pieces that are included in the appropriate Message Boards:

Jewel July 2 Barcelona – Getting there. On the “Cruise Airfare” forum.

Jewel July 2 Barcelona – What a Great Time. On the “Norwegian Cruise Line” forum.

Jewel July 2 Barcelona – Ports of Call. On the “Ports of Call: Europe” forum.

Jewel July 2 Barcelona - Post Cruise Visit to Barcelona. On the “Ports of Call: Europe” forum.

Finally, I have placed this review, in its entirety, under “Member Reviews.”

WE DECIDE TO TAKE A MEDITERRANEAN CRUISE

Early May 2006.

So, we (my self, my wife and my son) have decided to book a cruise on the Norweigan Jewel for their itinerary beginning in Barcelona, Spain on July 2, 2006. After several phone calls to NCL and visits to a variety of web sites, it seems the best value we can get in a cabin is directly through NCL. Although I’ve never cruised on their line before, six weeks before departure we are given an early booking rate, with a repeat cruiser price for their AG mini-suite. But, they upgrade us to the AF. I don’t know exactly what all their hockus-pokus discounts really mean, but it’s a better rate than I got from any travel agent so we took it.

Based on our web research, we decide to get travel insurance through CSA travel, who offers a “pre-existing condition” clause. Basically, if any of our known health issues should flare up at the last minute, we would still be covered with trip cancellation insurance. (A tip from several travel agents was “don’t worry about pre-existing condition clauses. You wouldn’t be the first person to ask a doctor to write a note saying you had the flu.” Anyhow, that’s not my style.)

I didn’t care for the airfare through NCL. They told me I wouldn’t have my flight arrangements until three weeks prior to departure. I like to know when and where I’m going. Also, my research on cruisecritic.com found a few experiences I didn’t care to share, such as 14 hour lay-overs and triple connections. There’s just too many things that can go wrong. Also, I preferred an airline where the cabin crew spoke English.

British Airways was about $50 more per-person than NCL’s airfare, a worthwhile expenditure in my opinion.

We took a private taxi from the Barcelona airport to the ship's terminal. 15 Euros.

The taxi drove us right up to the terminal where an NCL porter took our bags from the trunk and put them on the ship. No hassles, and he seemed very happy with the 5 Euro tip I gave him. It was about 10:45 AM.

Walking into the terminal, we went through metal detectors, our hand luggage went through X-Ray and we passed into the check-in area. There were at least 50 check-in stations and we were immediately checked in. We walked through the terminal, which had perhaps a dozen stores selling soda, water, liquor, wine, sundries and souvenirs.

I bought a 6 pack of 2-litre water bottles for 6 Euros. I had brought some “Crystal Light” lemondade mix that I later used to make something to drink in the cabin. I prefer to get my calories from wine and food, not soda.

As we reached the stairway to the entry point, there was a large empty table with a sign saying alcoholic beverages had to be left there, and an NCL woman asked us if we had any liquor. I told her no and we went up the escalator. The gangway onto the ship was at the top, and after the obligatory photographs, we were on the ship.

WHAT A JEWEL

It was about 11AM.

We met the first “sanitation ****.” Sanitation ****’s are the unfortunate crewmembers that have to sit at the entrances to the buffet and the boarding points and nag the passengers to make sure that they wash their hands with a special sanitizing gel. The dispensers are pretty cool, though, you just wave your had under it and out comes the stuff. Most of the time. I guess with the recent rash of guests getting sick on ships, it’s a good thing. I’d just hate to have to stand there for three hours straight with a smile on my face telling people to wash themselves.

The steward was still making up our room, but he invited us to put our hand luggage in the room and enjoy the ship. I gave him 20 Euros and asked him to take his time getting the room ready and to please get us bath extra towels. For the rest of the cruise, the room stewards were attentive, the ice bucket was kept full, and we had no complaints at all.

A quick note – I like to tip in cash. I figure that the cruise line’s know who’s getting what if you add it to the bill, so when you tip a person in cash, they can put it in their pocket with nobody knowing anything about it. If they want to share it with the tip pool, that’s their business, but a lot of these servers are sending money back home to their spouses and children, and I bet they appreciate having a few extra bucks in their pocket.

In the room were two bottles of wine, two bottles of champagne, two fruit baskets, chocolate covered strawberries, a cake and “Happy Anniversary” banners. I bought an Anniversary package for my wife. She bought champagne and wine for me, and my mother had ordered us a bon-voyage present. The NCL order department must have had a real laugh if any one single person saw the amount of alcohol being delivered to our room.

Our Cabin was 11574 – a midship type AF “mini-suite” on the Port side. We were two steps from the elevator, although we tended to use the stairs a lot. Directly above our balcony were the ping-pong tables, and one night there was a lot of ping-pong playing going on. But, we were so tired nothing could have kept us awake.

Don’t let the word “mini-suite” fool you – it is nothing more than a cabin with a full sized bathtub. The toilet is in a separate compartment from the shower, but it’s got a frosted glass door, so I don’t think the wife would have appreciated me using it while she was bathing. I chose to go upstairs to the public rest room if the need arose.

This room was only slightly larger than a standard balcony cabin on the Carnival Victory we cruised on two years ago. With the couch opened into a bed for our son, there was little room to move, same as the Victory’s cabin. Of course, the Victory couch was a twin sized bed, while the Jewel’s was a double.

Now, that being said, you should note that NCL’s standard “Balcony Cabin” is smaller than their mini-suite, so you get what you pay for.

While wandering around the ship, we saw an outside cabin with a window, not a porthole, and it looked like a closet with two twin beds. That would not be my choice for a place to stay in, but everyone has their own set of values and must decide what’s important for them.

Our room was by no means bad – it just wasn’t a suite. When we booked it, the rate for the mini suite was actually lower than the rate for the balcony stateroom, so I grabbed it.

The garden buffet was one deck above us on the starboard, and it was convenient to pop upu for breakfast before our excursions. The wife would order coffee for three for the room, she would eat from the two fruit bowls we had received as gifts, and my son and I would go upstairs to the buffet. I typically ate the smoked salmon, some pickled herring, and some fresh or dried fruit. I had an omelet one day, but the lines were generally longer than my patience would stand for.

My son preferred the muffins.

Anyhow, back to embarkation: Since the steward needed to finish preparing the room, we hit the buffet for lunch.

Food quality was good but not exceptional. The hot food was hot - the cold food was cold. There was plenty of dried fruit and fresh fruit, and a large array of breads and rolls. Cold cuts, a Vegetarian hot food section, a carving station, chaffing dishes with hot meats, chicken dishes and fish selections, vegetables in cream sauces and plain steamed and a salad bar. I would get tired of eating off the buffet for an entire week, but with so many eating choices on NCL, it wasn’t going to be an issue.

The first official order of business was the muster drill. We have traveled on Carnival Cruise lines before, and they make everyone put on their lifejackets and line up by the tenders. After 20 minutes of being squished into tight rows, with some loudspeaker explanations, they let you go back to buying drinks.

NCL did it much better, I think. First of all, the muster meeting sections were much smaller. We were in the “Tangos” restaurant with about fifty other guests. They actually took attendance, which seems like a good idea. There were also ships’ personnel there to attempt answering your questions. Personally, if I was on a sinking ship, I don’t know if I’d want a barely English-speaking dishwasher to direct me in the proper way to save my family, but at least it was well organized, and in an emergency, that’s one of the most important things to be.

One important aspect about the NCL Jewel worth noting. On this itinerary, the Jewel is essentially an American ship with a majority of American passengers. We were a little concerned about not getting information or instructions in English. Nothing could be further from the truth.

I’d estimate that half the passengers were American and a good 20 – 25% were British. There were plenty of other nations represented, but if you spoke English you were part of the majority.

All ships announcements were made in English first, followed by German, Italian and I believe Spanish as well.

FOOD - FOOD - FOOD

Mid Afternoon, Embarkation day.

The next thing we did was make dinner reservations. Sunday, we planned to eat in Tsars - but because of traveling from New York, we had already gone 24 hours without sleep and we were tired. We saw in the newsletter that there was a barbeque on the pool deck, and we went there. It was hamburgers, hotdogs, chicken, sausage and all the trimmings. Pretty good, actually.

We heard something about a Concierge who would make reservations for us, but since I couldn’t find his/her desk, I just wandered up to Tangos where there were three people on line in front of me.

Monday, or first day at sea, which was also our 20th Anniversary, we chose to eat in Tsars. It was Lobster night, why pay to go anywhere else?

Tuesday we planned to eat in LeBistro. Wednesday in Cagney’s. Thursday we would be touring Rome and getting back to the ship late, so we figured we’d grab from the Garden Caffe (aka “The buffet.) Friday would be a late day in Florence, so we planned to do the buffet again. We reserved a spot in Tepanyaki, the Japanese steakhouse, for Saturday.

On Wednesday, we decided we wanted to try Tangos and I went up to make a reservation for Thursday. It was no problem getting a 7:00 table on a day’s notice.

From talking to other guests, I found a wide variety of opinions on the restaurants. Sometimes you get a good server, sometimes he or she may be a bit crabby. Sometimes you get the good center cut of the steak, sometimes you get the end cut. If they cook all the lobster tails for fifteen minutes and you happen to get a 3-1/2 ounce tail while your spouse gets a 4 ounce tail, you’ll swear that your lobster tail is chewy and dried out while they say theirs is the best lobster they ever had. That’s food, my friends.

One comment I read on many NCL reviews was that portions were too small. I don’t know how much some people normally eat – but I found the portions were perfect. I don’t need a 16 ounce steak. The portion sizes allowed me to try lots of different things I’ve never had before. I wonder how many people really loose weight on these cruises because the portions are too small?

Here’s my quick rundown on the restaurants:

Tsars – breakfast was great. Everything was hot. I tried their “Cooking light selections” both times we ate breakfast there. The first day it consisted of two PERFECTLY poached eggs with some spinach and a low fat hollandaise sauce. The other breakfast was a similar poached egg with asparagus and some more “low fat” cream sauce. I think their idea of low fat is only putting six ounces on instead of twelve. Anyhow, it was delicious.

For dinner on formal night, we had lobster. The broiled lobster tails were unspectacular, but I’ve never met a lobster I didn’t like. When I asked for a second tail, our server had one waiting on the waiter’s station for just that purpose. I tried the escargot appetizers. They tasted pretty good if you like lots of butter. First time I ever ate them, so I have nothing to compare to.

For desert, we ordered a variety of sweets from the menu. Then they brought us an Anniversary cake and sang, “Let me call you Sweetheart.”

Overall, the service in Tsars was excellent, and we gave them a nice tip.

Now, we had two cakes in the cabin.

Tuesday at Le Bistro was definitely my favorite meal on the ship. I had mahi-mahi, which was moist, tender and cooked perfectly. My son had the Beef Wellington, which was cooked exactly as he asked. The wife had the salmon, which she loved.

The chocolate fondue, so often discussed on this board, was great. They didn’t ask if we wanted a second helping, they just brought it out.

We had a bottle of California Merlot, which was included in our “Anniversary Package.” I asked if I could just have the value of the Merlot towards ordering a different bottle of wine, but I guess that’s not their way of doing things. Actually, the value of the wine was probably about two dollars. The wife said, “Just take the wine,” so we did. It was your standard jug wine in a 750 ml bottle.

One more thing – the service at Le Bistro was great. They were worth the extra Euros we left for the wait staff.

Wednesday at Cagney’s was my wife and son’s favorite dinner. I asked if they had filet mignon. They said they were out of it. (The menu had “Surf and Turf” which included a lobster tail and a filet mignon, but I wasn’t in the mood to make an issue. Obviously – that’s just the way they do things.)

My son had the NY Cut Strip steak and my wife had the rib eye. I had a regular cut Strip Steak and choose to fill up on appetizers instead. Once again, the service was great.

Then we had some delicious deserts. I wish I remembered what it was specifically, because I’m going to be starving myself the next month to lose that weight off of my stomach.

Finally, the staff came over with an anniversary cake and sang, “Let me call you Sweetheart.”

I didn’t think Tango’s was so good. We brought the bottle of champagne from our Anniversary package and the waiter challenged us (but not too determinedly) and wanted to know if we bought it on land. I guess he didn’t recognize their own cheap wine?

After half an hour I had to ask for our champagne – the waiter had forgotten. Along with my son’s soda. And our appetizers. The service -- at least our server, was very inattentive. I suppose that they figure that since it’s the “free” restaurant, they won’t get any tips, so what’s the use?

My wife and son both had the chicken fajitas. The chicken was the worst I’ve ever been served in a restaurant. It was chopped into small enough nuggets to wrap in your fajita, but it was at least half fat and skin. It wasn’t chicken thigh. It was the part of the thigh you throw away when you clean it. You could barely chew it – it was gross. The chicken on the buffet upstairs was a hundred times cleaner.

At least the Caesar’s salad was good.

I ordered the blackened grouper and it was very good, no complaints from me.

I don’t remember exactly what we had for desert. The wife had the Sapodillas. Sort of like a zeppoli with chocolate. I don’t remember what myself or my son had, they were Mexican themed desserts, sugary and chocolately - A diabetics nightmare, but very tasty.

Even though the service was somewhat lacking, we still tipped the waiter and finally saw him smile. But we gave him a little less than we had been dispensing at the other restaurants. The service was really bad.

Tepanyaki was a fun meal. I don’t think we had the most experienced cook show-wise, but everything was cooked perfectly.

I really enjoyed the coconut ice cream desert. The service was very disorganized, they kept forgetting to get us drinks, which is really surprising because drinks is a major money maker for NCL.

Our Tepanyaki dinner finally concluded as the entire wait staff came over with an Anniversary cake and sang, “Let me call you Sweetheart.” At least, by the third time, I knew I was supposed to kiss my wife at the end of the song. The entire room applauded us.

Man, once NCL gets an Anniversary in the computer, it doesn’t forget.

That was four anniversary cakes NCL gave us. I tried the first one, the one my mother ordered for us. It was very very sweet. However, after a few martini’s and no sleep, it got fairly well attacked the first night. I was scraping the icing out from between the layers and licking it off the knife.

The three cakes from the restaurants were terrible. Imagine making an emulsion of sugar, sugar water, sugar syrup, and – more sugar! Maybe a little lard thrown in for color. The wife wanted me to give it to the cabin steward so it wouldn’t be wasted. I pointed out he probably got four cakes a day and he probably threw them all out. We just gave him some more Euros and asked him to remove the cakes when he had a chance.

The Chocoholic buffet was a little disappointing. I was expecting a wide array of chocolate candies, pastries, unusual stiff. It was pretty much the same cakes they had at the buffet the rest of the cruise, only all at once. As you walk up to the buffet, there are waiters shoving glasses of champagne with strawberries into your hands, which was really neat. Then they demand your sign and sail card. Oh well, I guess nothings free.

My favorite was the chocolate dipped fruit, but they only had one dipping station and the crew had to dip it for you, so the waits were a bit long, but it was delicious.

They had an ice cream bar, but once again, a crewmember scooped it into your dish. Since the toppings were in front of the ice cream bar, you had to wait while a bunch of little kids choose if they wanted twelve jellybeans and six marshmallows, or eight marshmallows, two M&M’s and four jellybeans, etc. They could have had a much shorter line by putting the toppings to the side.

Not that ice cream could ever be bad, IMHO.

Finally, two nights we just wandered over to the Sushi Bar, where there was never a bad wait. My wife and I have a local Japanese Sushi restaurants that we frequent, so we love the stuff. The California rolls were very tasty. The tuna was pretty fatty - I prefer the very lean type. Sorry, but I confuse the Japanese names unless I have the place mat with the pretty pictures. The "White Tuna" was awful - it was very cold and had no taste at all. I enjoyed the Octopus and my wife liked the shrimp. However, for my complaints, I did go back two times - it wasn't THAT bad.

Drinks:

Here’s a quick rundown on drink costs, as best as I can remember them. Remember that NCL adds 15% to your drink bill:

Tanquerey martini - $8.75 Except sometimes it was $9.75. It depended upon who served you and which button they pressed on the computer terminal.

Glass of Chardonnay: $5.75. Or $7.50. Or $11.50. It depends what the bartender feels like pouring, unless you hang over him or her and request a particular wine. Don’t order “Chardonnay,” and don’t order “House Chardonnay.” Look at the menu or ask the price first.

Margarita: $9.75. Except when it was $8.75. The free souvenir glass seemed to get the price lower. You could order a small Margarita for $6.00, but get less ice, but I think the same amount of drink. Who knows?

Glass of Sangria, oh yeah. Up in Tangos, the bartender told me “Sorry sir, we only sell this by the bottle.” That is, unless you ask Florentina, the bartender in the Atrium lobby who ran up to Tangos and got it for me for $5.50 a glass. (She had originally sent me to Tangos for it, and was greatly distressed when I came back to her and ordered a glass of Pinot Grigio. When I told her they wouldn’t sell it by the glass, she said “that’s no way to treat a guest” and she took care of it personally. If you see her or her partner Reginald, in the Atrium lounge, make sure you take good care of them. We did and they returned the favor.)

Gin and tonic – finally a bargain for $5.50.

Louis Jadot Beaujolais Villages – a nice, fruity dry red wine you can get for $8.00 in the USA. Or for $30 on the Jewel.

Bottle of Dom Perignon: $170. But served with a smile. Don’t forget the 15% gratuity. Cheers!

THINGS TO DO ON THE JEWEL

I won $175 playing bingo the first day, not a bad start. Since I figured there’s no way I’d wind twice, I didn’t play any more bingo and didn’t try the casino. I came out ahead, unless you count all the rest of the money I spent.

The shows weren’t my favorite thing. Maybe I was just too tired after all the touring we did during the day. The eight o’clock presentation of Cirque Bijou was standing room only. I was too tired (and jetlagged) to stand through the whole thing, and it really wasn’t my “cup of tea.” I fought to stay awake for the Magic show the following night, but once he started teasing the audience members in the front rows about falling asleep, I decided to sleep on my balcony instead.

The Second City Improv show was okay –the little kids in the front row were having a grand time. I guess I was just too tired after nine hours of walking around Italy and a bottle of wine for dinner to really appreciate the entertainment.

We did enjoy sitting in the Atrium and listening to the band. They were an Asian group that played a lot of American Country music. The lead singer had a very deep Johnny Cash type voice, and they played Elvis, John Denver and Willie Nelson to name a few. It was funny watching a bunch of Asians sing about America, but they were talented and we made it a point to get down there every evening for a drink. Too bad they only played until 10:15pm.

We tried visiting the Spinaker Lounge to watch the soccer matches, but there wasn’t even standing room. Strange that most of the lounges had the world cup, but they didn’t pump it up to the individual cabins. I guess NCL figured they wouldn’t sell any drinks if we watch in our cabins.

We enjoyed the games on the ship, such as Movie Trivia. No prizes, just a fun half hour activity.

Please don’t think I’m criticizing the entertainment. I went on this cruise to visit Europe, not to watch shows. We were tired every night from all the running around we did all day, and as I said, the wine didn’t help either.

Our first day at sea, my son and I did a one mile jog around the sports deck, followed by a good workout in the fitness center. It didn’t have all the equipment as the gym we attend at home, but we did okay and were able to get a vigorous workout.

 

 

>>>>> SNIP SNIP SNIP --- MORE STUFF ABOUT PORTS, BARCELONA & BRITISH AIRWAYS ON OTHER FORUMS --- SNIP SNIP SNIP <<<<<

 

BYE BYE EUROPE

 

The return flight from Barcelona to Heathrow was uneventful. Heathrow is weird in that we had to go through security leaving Terminal 1, but not entering Terminal 4. I realize it has something to do with the layout and passenger flow, but it just seemed bass akwards.

 

The flight from Heathrow to New York left about an hour late and they were having air conditioning problems on the jet. They couldn’t get any cold air moving as we sat in the afternoon sun, but the flight attendants began to come around with plastic cups and pitchers of ice water, even for us poor sweaty slobs crushed into coach.

 

They pushed the plane away from the gate, but then there was a delay because, according to the captain, “flight control has informed us that there is a bit of debris on the runway and it will be ten minutes whilst they straighten it up.” I just love the way they talk. In New York, they’d say “shut up and sit down, we’re scraping some crap off the runway.”

 

When we finally took off, the lady in front of me reclined her seat in my face, making for a totally horrible 7-hour flying experience. I corrected her once when she started fluffing out her long black hair and let it fall back over the seat, covering my video screen.

 

The flight attendants came through with the drink cart and gave everyone two drinks saying, “After that dreadful wait, you must need a double.” They also dispensed bottles of wine to anyone who wanted it so they wouldn’t have to wait when the meal came around.

 

The in-flight meal was actually edible. Salmon, a salad and a piece of cheesecake. There was a late flight snack, which consisted of a ham sandwich. Three days later, my stomach is still reminding me about.

 

Does anyone else always seem to get stuck behind the person who must recline their seat? I wouldn’t recline mine unless the person in front of me did – I find it uncomfortable to sit that way. Or am I just an anomaly in that respect?

 

We had been thinking of our trip as the “trip of a lifetime” but now we want more. We can’t wait to go back to Rome and Florence and have some more time to enjoy the cities. We love cruising, but that’s not the way to visit Italy, at least not a 7 day cruise with only one day in each Port.

 

One postscript to our trip.

 

When the plane touched the runway in New York City, I turned to my wife and said “isn’t it nice to be home?”

 

Then the cabin crew announced “Welcome to the United States” and I had a touch of pride, thinking that many of those foreign voices and accents I had heard on the plane for the past seven hours belonged to people who were coming to visit my country, and I wondered if they were going to be as excited as I had been the past ten days visiting Europe. I thought of the excitement I have when I take someone from “out of town” into New York to visit our sites.

 

Remember in the old days of airline travel? Your family would come down to the arrival gate and as you stepped off the plane into the terminal, there was the old fashioned ritual of being welcomed home by the people you love and care about.

 

These days, you need a boarding pass to get into the terminal. It’s unfortunate in that some of the old ways die as the world changes. We’ve lost that special feeling of having your family come to meet you on your return home.

 

When we arrived at JFK airport in New York, there area two separate lines for Passport control. One line for US Citizens and one for non-citizens. When our plane got in, there was a long line for non-US citizens but we Americans got through with no wait.

 

The officer at passport control took our passports and ran them through his scanner. Then he stamped them. He asked us how our trip was and we told him it was wonderful, we loved it, Italy was fantastic, but it still felt great to be back in the states.

 

He handed us back our passports and said “Welcome Home.”

 

It was a “Kodak moment” for me.

[Mstaczek97]

Walking into the terminal, we went through metal detectors, our hand luggage went through X-Ray and we passed into the check-in area. There were at least 50 check-in stations and we were immediately checked in. We walked through the terminal, which had perhaps a dozen stores selling soda, water, liquor, wine, sundries and souvenirs.

 

 

 

Wow! Thanks for the great review!:D Can't wait to read the rest of your review!!! Just one question....you were able to buy soda/water after you checked in but before you got on the ship??

 

I'll be leaving on the 30th! Thanks again!

 

Michele

[redlef]

 

Wow! Thanks for the great review!:D Can't wait to read the rest of your review!!! Just one question....you were able to buy soda/water after you checked in but before you got on the ship??

 

I'll be leaving on the 30th! Thanks again!

 

Michele

 

Yes.

You check in. They give you your Sail & sign card.

You walk throuogh the pier's "shopping mall," where you can buy soda, water, booze (which they will confiscate), candy, toothpaste, etc.

Then you board the ship.

 

Another thing - at the port in Messina, there was a vendor with a cart ten feet from the gangway selling 6 packs of water for 6 Euros. (once again, the 2 litre bottles). I don't remember if he was selling soda or beer.

[garycarla]

I have included links to the posters other reviews.

 

Thanks again Redlef!

 

This is an exceptionally long review. To make it easier to digest, I have broken it up into 4 pieces that are included in the appropriate Message Boards:

 

Jewel July 2 Barcelona – Getting there. On the “Cruise Airfare” forum.

Jewel July 2 Barcelona – What a Great Time. On the “Norwegian Cruise Line” forum.

Jewel July 2 Barcelona – Ports of Call. On the “Ports of Call: Europe” forum.

Jewel July 2 Barcelona - Post Cruise Visit to Barcelona. On the “Ports of Call: Europe” forum. ....

[Mstaczek97]

Thanks for getting back to me. Great info!!! :D I read the rest of your reviews! Again thanks for taking the time!!!

 

Michele