Thanksgiving cruise Jewel review

[Rafaella]

Ok, here is my short version of the Thanksgiving cruise on Jewel.

It would be nice to start this thread and see how YOU spent your vacation on Jewel ;)

 

Well, lets say that this was my first time with NCL.

I am going to rate my cruise on the level of 5 start with 5/5 is the highest one.

 

Overall apearance of Jewel: nice, bright, most of the areas clean, missing more "live " plants. 4/5.

 

Embarkation in Miami: Hate Miami, yet, it was not too bad - Quick security check, card and photo made, and a little waiting to get abord. Overall rating 4/5.

 

Food - well, here comes the "painful moment" - cannot say anything good about food on Jewel - the main dining room Tsar's Palace is gorgeous, that's about all. The food is less than tasteless, no presenation or apearance at all. The menue has very few choices and they are "uneatable" as well....

Soup choices are " blueberry soup", " rasberry soup", and bunch of others "cold" soup selections that I did not care for...

What ever happened to creamy soups, potatoes, lobster or some other choices of ministroni or others?

Most ot the "main " dishes are looking bad - most of choices are " noodles, spagetti, beets,pasta" - and the dish is called "pasta and shripms" , you would have 3 shrimps on your plate with a mountain full of tastless pasta..

No meet choices at all. Beef tough, you cannot chew or swallow it... Fish was a few times, most of choices were " snapper, snapper, and more snapper.."

I did not see any lamb, ribs, stakes, or other fish at all. I did not see any delicacies, not to speak that I just wanted a plain fried chicken, and I did not see chicken but 2 times for the whole cruise!!!!

The deserts are limites to 2-3 ice creams choices and some bread- puding. Still hungry?

None of the meals have any taste - I have spoke to Paul, the main director of the Tsar's and adviced him to put some garlic in some main dishes - may be than you will be able to swallow them!

Salt and pepper shakers did not work -3 tables were using the same salt shaker for the evening.

Mama's restaurant - nothing special, no meal to "remember " and to die for... No need to reservation, people, there is always planty of space and only 2 table are busy at one time...

Tango - rude personnel.. When I asked to "advice on less specier meal" I was told " ALL Mexican food is spicy " with lots of "meaning to it, wink, wink." ( It was sound like eat it or hit the door...). After 5-10 minutes of the decision making, the waiter finally told me " now, are you READY to order"? Well, I had planty responses for her, but did not wanted to spoil my evening. The food at Tango is VERY HOT but the quality is not TOO bad. If you don't mind the service, check it out :)

Garden cafe - was my savior! What would I do without it?

Since I did not go to any $ specialty restaurants, this was my "regular place to eat." The food is simple, but the place is clean and nice.

Again, the choices are almost always the same, still, better than Tsar's Palace menu..

 

Overall food experience: 2/5 .

 

Services:

Housekeeping - 4/5.

Telephone/operator/asssistance: 4/5.

Front office - 4/5 ( I ment ONLY services, you want to much if you are asking for a smile or a pleasant presonality , ok)

Excursions: 4/5. The stirrup Kay Bahamas was excellent, well organised by NCL !!!

 

Entertainment: I only can tell about 2 of them: the Illusionist, Charles Bach and the Le Circe Bijoe ( Perdon my French, I misspelled this one alright). The last show you MUST see - the air ballet is just great! 5/5 here!!!

 

What else did I miss? - The swimming pool - 3/5 - it is open to air, no top cover when rains, ( and yes, we had one rainy day ..)

 

Freestyle cruising is ok with me, again, it would be better if the food could be eatable..

 

Disembarkation: 4/5, a little time consuming, but is it different?

 

Overall cruise rating: 3/5 ( the food took it down to 3 ).

 

I will , probably, give another try to NCL and take the cruise on the other ship. Perphaps, on the new Pearl ? Although, the Jewel has lots of potential, unless they change the cook, I would not go back there again ;) Overall, vacation was good and I had some good times with my mother ( I believe that vacation is what YOU make out of it most of the times..);)

[ute_fan]

Sorry you didn't enjoy the food. I've been one of the vocal ones here on the board encouraging NCL to bring BACK the cold soups. We LOVE them!

I'm a little surprised by your comments about the main dishes, however. This was the first week for the new NCL menus on board the Jewel, and according to Coka's review -- also for Thanksgiving week, her listing of the entrees is significantly different -- including lamb on the menu in the main dining room two different nights and different steak choices two or three nights.

 

I can understand people having different tastes in food, with one person thinking it's good and another not liking it. I can also understand if there were problems with the food preparation, given the fact that it was the first week for the new menus. My main question comes in believing the choices were as limited as you indicate when she's listed the entrees available every night, and they coincide with the new menus that were published two or three weeks ago:confused: .

 

Oh well, in any case, they've changed the menus since our cruise 3 weeks ago. Time to book another NCL cruise and form my own opinion.

[Planer's Edge]

According to Coka (who was on the same cruise) the new menus were rolled out this week and met with favorable reviiews.

 

As they say everybody sees the same thing differently!:eek:

 

Let's see...Tango's is too spicy and you want garlic added to the food in Tsar's?? There is nothing spicy about Tango's, unless of course your preference is bland food.

 

PE

[dwrist]

I am waiting for the response to ute_fan's post before commenting.;)

[seahorse]

According to Coka (who was on the same cruise) the new menus were rolled out this week and met with favorable reviiews.

 

As they say everybody sees the same thing differently!:eek:

 

Let's see...Tango's is too spicy and you want garlic added to the food in Tsar's?? There is nothing spicy about Tango's' date=' unless of course your preference is bland food.

 

PE[/quote']

 

I am dumbfounded also:eek: I can see if she didn`t like the food but to say certain foods were not there:confused: One restaurant is tasteless and one is too spicy:rolleyes: This review just blows my mind:confused:

[Markandrews]

The new menu's actually rolled out on my 11-12-06 Jewel cruise. My comments about the food are in my review on this site but we thought it was much much better then our previous cruise on the Jewel. The Beef Wellington was great and I am missing the chilled soups right now. With the variety in the new menus it was a tough choice between the pay restaurants and the free ones.

[dgund]

Thanks so much for your review.

[seahorse]

She was on Coca`s roll call:eek: This should be interesting.

[Zeno]

I am astonished too (but then I LOVE chilled soups) - actually I am astonished because Coka mentioned some quite nice sounding menus that included Lamb and Turkey and Beef - to menion a few things.

[uneamie]

No meet choices at all. Beef tough, you cannot chew or swallow it... Fish was a few times, most of choices were " snapper, snapper, and more snapper.."

I did not see any lamb, ribs, stakes, or other fish at all. I did not see any delicacies, not to speak that I just wanted a plain fried chicken, and I did not see chicken but 2 times for the whole cruise!!!!

;)

 

While I am sure your meant to write "meat" not "meet", in any event, you state: "No meet choices at all, Beef tough, you cannot chew or swalllow it."

Just wondering if there was "no meat" how did you manage to get your hands on some "beef". LOL! :D

I think there are some valid points in your review hidden some where if one reads between the lines....but, it's just too exagerated for me to take real seriously. I know you did not like the food....but I just can't believe there was no "meat, fish or chicken" . :eek: That is impossible. :rolleyes:

[Rafaella]

I don' t know who are you refering to "she" , but I guess, you were making comments on my posting. As I said before, this was my first time on NCL and I am not sure what lamb and beef it was posted on, I did ordered some beef, and I am sure, some medi-okra restaurtants in any states could do better job than that ( you needed strong dentures - upper and lower to bite through this beef)

And, YES, Tango is "bastante" spicy food for the average taste, and YES, for the food at main dining place, Tsar's Palace is tasteless , coloreless, and , basically, saying, " blend " and "hospital" looking like. No meat or decent fish were present with a little selection and choices.

Yes, I would add more garlic and nice creamy sauses to many dishes in restaurants. Or better saying, I would change the cheif cook in the main dining room. Adding garlic does not mean adding spices and hot - that simple means - adding some flavor to it. Again, everyone is different, and I am glad SOME people loved the food - to me it was nasty.

The Garden cafe I could use every day - it reminded me a nice, buffet style place.Again, nothing special in my eyes.

To me the cruise is to enjoy everything - meaning enjoy the meals as well. And I mean not the regular "hot dogs" or ocasional beef or " three bean" salad, I mean to eat nice, elegantly prepared food with appealing look and great taste.

I believe that travellers that enjoyed Jewel's food did not try any better meals - I did, and that's why I posted my comments on the cruise and meals.

Take a ticket to post response to this one .

[Retired not Expired]

To the OP, I'm a little confused. You said the Garden Cafe became your usual place to eat. Does this mean you only ate in the main dining room once, twice, or ????? Just trying to figure it out. Coka listed some great stuff and you said there was no meat, etc. Doesn't make sense unless you only ate there once and there was nothing you liked and you figure every night was the same.

[Rafaella]

She was on Coca`s roll call:eek: This should be interesting.

 

Yes, dear,

Me and Coka personally met in the bar for a drink on "cruisecritic" private meeting, and we had some enjoyable time talking and laughing.I have enjoyed meeting other "cruisecritics" and their families.

The fact that I did not enjoy the food does not have ANYTING do to with me on the same roll call with someone.

[Rafaella]

To the OP, I'm a little confused. You said the Garden Cafe became your usual place to eat. Does this mean you only ate in the main dining room once, twice, or ????? Just trying to figure it out. Coka listed some great stuff and you said there was no meat, etc. Doesn't make sense unless you only ate there once and there was nothing you liked and you figure every night was the same.

 

"The Garden cafe became my usual place to eat..." - very true.

After MULTIPLE trips, I repeat it "multiple " trips to Tsar's Palace ( I was there at least 5-6 times for lunches and dinners), I have always ended up going to Garden cafe afterwords. The only one time our meal was good at Tsar's Palace - when I ordered lobster ravioli (guess what, they were imported from Italy, smile).

Again, that's why it calls "cruisecritic" - say how it was for YOU.

[Rafaella]

While I am sure your meant to write "meat" not "meet", in any event, you state: "No meet choices at all, Beef tough, you cannot chew or swalllow it."

Just wondering if there was "no meat" how did you manage to get your hands on some "beef". LOL! :D

 

I think there are some valid points in your review hidden some where if one reads between the lines....but, it's just too exagerated for me to take real seriously. I know you did not like the food....but I just can't believe there was no "meat, fish or chicken" . :eek: That is impossible. :rolleyes:

 

Barbara,

Some beef? Ok, to be a little grafic I could do that.

The meal called "BBQ" pork , what comes to your mind? - Well, may be a small pieces of BBQ pork meat or a pork chop with BBQ sause, right?

Well, the plate was compeleted with the mountan of spiral pasta ( boiled) and ocasional ( no more than 3 ) wires, I repeat wires/ strings or tough reminings of pork. Well, there was literally NO meat in the plate. Than, the meal should be called something like " BBQ pork-flavored" pasta. Don't call it meat if it is not there.

 

Well, enough if that. I said planty, too bad you think I exagerated my description. Again, I am NOT used to food like that on the CRUISE. Glad someone liked it.You should try for yourself - it is always nice to compare - that's why I went on NCL. ( May be the last time, who knows smile).

[DavidO]

My wife and I were on the same cruise. We had a great time and here are some of our observations.

 

Food :

Main dining room - We were also disappointed in the new menus. The choices seemed to be not as appealing to us. The choices for all items (appetizers, entrees, desserts) seemed to be not as varied overall and not as interesting (replaced with more cheap dishes like pasta with sauce). Definitely not as good menus as we had last year on the NCL Sun. Formal night dinner was excellent though (I had lobster and my wife had beef wellington). Notice I say "to us", this was our opinion and may not be others although I did speak with several other passengers on board who thought the same thing.

 

Cagney' steak house - My steak was good but my wife's was a bit dry.

 

Le Bistro - Meal was good. The atmosphere is nice.

 

Mama's kitchen - Food was good but nothing special

 

Buffet - The buffet offered good variety and the food was good to very good for a buffet meal.

 

Having said all that, we ate plenty still and enjoyed meals.

 

Entertainment - Excellent! We saw all the shows and they were great. The production shows were very good. The two magicians were very good. The Second City comedy show was excellent. We thought the quality of entertainment was high on this cruise.

 

The ship - The ship was in good shape and nice. No complaints.

 

Service - Overall the service was very good. Our room steward was great.

 

Grand Stirrup Cay - We thought that the NCL private island was way too small for the size of the ship. Specifically, the beach area was pretty small and was packed because of that. We have been to the Princess private island before and thought it was a much better size to handle a ship load of people.

 

We had a great trip and a very enjoyable time. It was a very nice week.

 

David

[seahorse]

Yes, dear,

Me and Coka personally met in the bar for a drink on "cruisecritic" private meeting, and we had some enjoyable time talking and laughing.I have enjoyed meeting other "cruisecritics" and their families.

The fact that I did not enjoy the food does not have ANYTING do to with me on the same roll call with someone.

 

My comment was based on the fact that Coka had a very different opinion as yours and that she was on with you.:)

[hotspur]

Most ot the "main " dishes are looking bad - most of choices are " noodles, spagetti, beets,pasta" - and the dish is called "pasta and shripms" , you would have 3 shrimps on your plate with a mountain full of tastless pasta..

No meet choices at all. Beef tough, you cannot chew or swallow it... Fish was a few times, most of choices were " snapper, snapper, and more snapper.."

I did not see any lamb, ribs, stakes, or other fish at all. I did not see any delicacies, not to speak that I just wanted a plain fried chicken, and I did not see chicken but 2 times for the whole cruise!!!!

Sorry. The menus have been posted here for all to see, and what was written above bears no resemblance whatsoever to the reality of the menus. Why people have to exaggerate and emote about stuff like this is really puzzling.

 

From Coka's thread:

 

Sunday...roast leg of lamb, argentinean grilled skirt steak, jerk style chicken, grilled mahi-mahi, parpadell pasta, and madras vegetable curry

Monday...beef wellington, glazed duck, caribbean lobster, orzo pasta, moroccan sweet potato rice cake

Tuesday...roasted pork loin, NY strip steak, chicken and garlic sauce, grilled salmon, spaghetti carbonara, vegetabe/tofu studel

Wednesday...prime rib, beal scaloppini, coq au vin, broiled tilapia, sage and potato gnocchi, vebetable tajine

Thursday...roast turkey, beef stroganoff, grilled pork chop, baked flounder, farfalle pasta, baked vegetable cutlets

Friday...roast rack of lamb, peppered sirloin steak, checken creole, tiger shrimp and lobster ravioli, mushroom risotto, and spinach/onion quiche

Saturday...English cut strip loin, turkey scalloppini, braised pork roast, pecan crusted snapper, cheese tortellini, vegetable tempura

 

No meat? Give me a break.

[Rafaella]

My comment was based on the fact that Coka had a very different opinion as yours and that she was on with you.:)

 

People cannot have the same opinions, as you can see by this TD.

Lots of people were on roll call AND on the Thanksgiving trip on Jewel, some of them - positive, some of them negative, no metter if it is a "new menu" or not. The only one common opinion , I believe, people have is to have a great time on the cruise.

[Rafaella]

Sorry. The menus have been posted here for all to see, and what was written above bears no resemblance whatsoever to the reality of the menus. Why people have to exaggerate and emote about stuff like this is really puzzling.

 

From Coka's thread:

 

 

 

No meat? Give me a break.

 

Just go and try this "new" menu. Good luck.

[shoreguy]

Just go and try this "new" menu. Good luck.

 

You should have tried the last "new" menus. Most of what NCL cruisers wanted back is there including the cold soups that many love. It is all a matter of personnel taste - one person's poison is another persons pleasure.

[Zeno]

So I guess Coka hallucinated all the folowing on the menus:

 

Sunday...roast leg of lamb, argentinean grilled skirt steak, jerk style chicken, grilled mahi-mahi, parpadell pasta, and madras vegetable curry

Monday...beef wellington, glazed duck, caribbean lobster, orzo pasta, moroccan sweet potato rice cake

Tuesday...roasted pork loin, NY strip steak, chicken and garlic sauce, grilled salmon, spaghetti carbonara, vegetabe/tofu studel

Wednesday...prime rib, beal scaloppini, coq au vin, broiled tilapia, sage and potato gnocchi, vebetable tajine

Thursday...roast turkey, beef stroganoff, grilled pork chop, baked flounder, farfalle pasta, baked vegetable cutlets

Friday...roast rack of lamb, peppered sirloin steak, checken creole, tiger shrimp and lobster ravioli, mushroom risotto, and spinach/onion quiche

Saturday...English cut strip loin, turkey scalloppini, braised pork roast, pecan crusted snapper, cheese tortellini, vegetable tempura

 

I count lamb twice, steak 4 times, other beef 4 times, chicken 3 times, 5 different types of fish, turkey twice, pork 3 times, duck and lobster

So that's "no meat" and only one type of fish and no lamb.

[LaJollaCruiser]

The meal called "BBQ" pork , what comes to your mind? - Well, may be a small pieces of BBQ pork meat or a pork chop with BBQ sause, right?

Well, the plate was compeleted with the mountan of spiral pasta ( boiled) and ocasional ( no more than 3 ) wires, I repeat wires/ strings or tough reminings of pork. Well, there was literally NO meat in the plate. Than, the meal should be called something like " BBQ pork-flavored" pasta. Don't call it meat if it is not there.

 

I was on the Star two weeks ago and the item described above was an appetizer. I think the poster may have a slight problem with translating the menu into her native language. Perhaps if she ordered only appetizers, thinking them entrees, on her visits to the dining room, her disappointment would thus be explained.

[dwrist]

Maybe too many mimosas with coka:D

[hotspur]

Just go and try this "new" menu. Good luck.

I don't have to "go and try" it. I cruised Jewel in October/November and very much enjoyed prime rib, beef Wellington, mahi mahi, rack of lamb, skirt steak, sirloin steak, lobster, and more. And these were with the "old" menus. The new ones look even better, adding duck, flounder, and several interesing chicken dishes.

 

Your wisecracks about the chilled soups are deceiving. Under the new menus, there are two soups every night, and--at most--only one is chilled. So if you--unlike many of us who think they're simply terrific--don't care for them, you had another choice, if not two, every night. Sorry. Exaggeration destroys credibility.