Too long a review of the jewel

[fabby50]

Here is my review of our nine-day Southern Caribbean cruise on the beautiful Jewel. Sail date 3/20/09. We are a couple in our early 50s from the desert of California – about an hour and ½ drive to Death Valley. I jump around a bit –

We flew into Miami and took a taxi to the Marriott Biscayne Bay Hotel – pretty pricy because, unbeknownst to me, it was Spring Break time. Silly old me thinking Spring break was only at Easter time – not the two month staggered event it has become since I was college age! I’m glad we flew in two nights early, it gave us time to decompress and get in the vacation mode. Weather in Miami was great for us – partly cloudy and in the low 80s. This type of weather continued the whole time we were gone, with one day of sprinkle rain – it never did make it up to the 90s, even though we ported in the Dominican Republic, about 400 miles from the equator. We love this kind of weather being from a hot, dry place but many were disappointed because the sun wasn’t out the entire time. I was thrilled!

My first concern about spring break cruisers was “much ado about nothing”! I spoke to several people on the cruise who were doing the 5 day followed by the 9 day cruise and they said the 5 day was filled with spring breakers, but the breakers did not do the 9 day. The people I talked to the most about this said the two cruises definitely had a different feel to them – much more late night stuff on the 5 day and not as relaxing an experience. They also said the spring breakers were a great group of kids and it was fun – just a different feel.

We boarded the ship on Friday – embarkation was very easy and we were on board within 15 minutes. First off, I’d like to say I am a Norwegian-style cruise lover. Many of the things other people hate, I actually prefer. I’ll list a few:

Hull art – Many find this gaudy. I like it. There are hull paintings on all the walls of the outside decks – for example, murals of people taking photographs on the outside wall of the deck where they have the photograph area inside of the ship. There were murals of flowers, people, all kinds of things.

Dress Code – A free-for all. Some people dressed to the nines on “dress up or not night” – in fact, there were some people very dressed up every night. I stuck to my skorts mostly – I think I wore an a-line pool coverup dress one night and a pair of capris another. My husband wore jeans. This kind of dress code works really well for us, not having to pay extra for luggage to take formal wear is great. Other people complain about the “shabbiness” of the way people are dressed. I could care less. I will take nicer clothes on trips where no airfare is involved, like on our Mexican cruise in October.

Freestyle Dining – This is where there is the most controversy. I like it. I like being able to pick the dining time instead of being assigned early or late dining. I like the variety of the specialty restaurants. Many people see this as “nickel and dime-ing” since there is a charge for the specialty restaurants. I look at it this way – my trips on NCL have been at a lower cost than those on other lines, so the money I’m not spending on the more costly cruise, I use for alternate dining and other cost associated shipboard activities.

Another thing I love about Norwegian –

I LOVE THE SUITE LIFE. On our last cruise on the Pride of Hawaii, we got the upsell call and were offered an Owner’s suite. I fell in love with NCLs suite perks. From what I’ve read, no other line offers the benefits that NCL does for the price of their suite. SO – I will always (on NCL) sail in an AE or above since this is where the suite benefits kick in. I used $2,000 of NCL Compass rewards to offset the cost, and with our $250 deposit coupon, we paid about $2,500 for the 9 nights in an AE. We booked very early – almost a year and a half before sail time. I thought it was a great deal.

Suite Benefits We Enjoyed – Upon embarkation, we headed to Cagney’s for lunch. Very relaxing. I didn’t realize that many of the selections are the same as those in the main dining room. The lunch menu changes daily. Cagney’s was a great benefit for breakfast – one we enjoyed almost every day of the cruise. I loved the waffle with the pineapple rum sauce and the big bowl of fresh strawberries on the side table (none to be found on the main public buffet). The coffee is also great here (French press). Speaking of Cagney’s we also had two terrific dinners – the first and last night of our cruise. That will probably become a tradition! My only quibble with Cagney’s is that I’m a vegetarian and the lunch menu did not have a daily vegetarian lunch selection.

Room touches – Fresh flowers and a bottle of sparkling wine. We don’t drink wine, but it’s a nice touch for those who do. Also, the butler delivered a treat every afternoon about 4:00 p.m. Chocolate covered strawberries, key lime tarlets, mini sandwiches – just a nice little afternoon snack. There was also a catalog of fairly recent movies our butler brought for the DVD player (no extra charge). There were robes in the closet and mid-size bottles of Elemis products.

Our room stewards and butler were great. Not real chatty – they were very busy, but did their jobs efficiently. For example, I was just about out of the hair conditioner and was going to leave a note before dinner and turn down service for the steward. He noticed the almost empty bottle in the morning and left me another full one without me pointing it out. The ice bucket was filled 2 to 3 times a day. We got towel animals every night – my favorite this trip (probably because I hadn’t gotten this one before) was a little mouse he tucked up under my pillow, so it was peeking out at me. Very cute! I ordered room service lunch one day and the butler brought it, with our two sodas “on him”. We also had trouble figuring out the in room coffee maker (the grounds trap was full) and he came two times to straighten us out! Movies and treats were delivered in a very timely manner – we could set our watches by “4:00 snack time”.

We had no trouble making diner reservations and ate three dinners at the buffet and the rest at specialty restaurants. We used the reservation desk in the main lobby, so the ease of getting reservations didn’t have anything to do with the suite. We ate at 6:30 pm. .We never did go to either of the main dining rooms. The food on the buffet was great – mainly because being a vegetarian, I really enjoyed the Indian selections and all the different alternatives for me (lots of bean dishes, veg. sushi at lunch, etc.). Thanks to the person on this board that pointed out the “Cinnabun-style” rolls on the breakfast buffet. They had both fresh, hot pecan rolls and cinnamon rolls. The two mornings we missed Cagney’s, I had these with some delicious cheese selections from the buffet. I love muesli and although I still think Holland has them beat on the recipe, NCLs was good and there were bowls of walnuts and dried fruits to add. The best desserts on board (in our opinion) are the cookies. White chocolate chip, chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin, - but the ultimate favorite for my husband was the oatmeal, dried cranberry and white chocolate chip. I found the other types of desserts consistently better in the restaurants than on the buffet (my husband calls the buffet desserts “flavored foams”). I loved the margarita tart in the Mexican restaurant – it was the best version of key lime pie I had during our whole vacation. As far as other food choices, I can only speak to vegetarian entrees. My husband had mostly fish entrees and really liked the sea bass in Cagney’s, though he missed the tuna they took off the menu. I could have made meals out of the appetizers or side dishes and was often too stuffed to finish my entrees. I loved the steamed veggie dumplings and eggrolls in the Oriental restaurant, the cheese quesadilla appetizer was plenty in Tango’s. At Cagney’s one night, I ordered a seafood entrée so my husband could have a “surf and turf” and I got a baked potato which I topped with the creamed spinach and had a double side order of the asparagus. Very yummy and plenty. OK – ENOUGH ABOUT THE FOOD ALREADY!

What did we DO on our cruise? I decided to divide this up into sea days and port days. My husband and I aren’t really fans of sea days – after 15 plus cruises, we find them a little boring. We don’t gamble and aren’t big on the production shows. We were looking forward to checking out the 2.0 classes, like the martini clinics and lectures. There were three sea days on this cruise – the first day and the final two. We found enough to do, but anymore, especially if the days were in a row like the last two would have driven us nuts. Another of the reasons we sail on NCL is they seem to have less sea days than other cruise lines. The sea day program sort of went like this:

Sleep in (the first day till almost 11 a.m.) and head to Cagney’s for a late breakfast. Wander around the ship a bit, look around the shops, check out the bridge from the deck 11 viewing area – just mainly mess around until noon for a light lunch. At one, we went to the guest speaker lecture (can’t remember the man’s name – sorry). One was given on each sea day – the first, on the ports we were visiting (history, economy, etc.), the second on pirates and piracy, and the third on Frieda Kalo. The lectures were 45 minutes and interesting, lots of factoides, but the guy could have used some help with some visual aides. He didn’t use slides, he just spoke from notes, so he had trouble keeping on track and sort of wandered. The lectures were sparsely attended and I hope this is an area that NCL keeps up and improves. I would love to see a “Learning at Sea” type program like I understand Princess has. There was another lecture series, but they had it at the same time as this one – something that bugged me – spread them out so people can attend both. After the lecture, more wandering or back to the cabin to read for a little while and then to the martini clinic. There were two, on the first sea day and the second and we really enjoyed these. The bar tender made 4 different martinis at the first one and 5 different ones at the second, so we got to try nine different types of martinis. He was very entertaining. My husband wanted to attend the beer one too, but it was directly after the martini clinic and couldn’t handle both. So, that’s my suggestion there – spread them out! Maybe have the beer one at lunch time – accompanied by beer type snacks or lunch – how about beer and brats, and then have the martini one around 5 or 6 with appetizers before dinner. After the clinic, more wandering or reading, until dinner time. Pretty low key stuff –

Port days were another matter however! The main reason we went on this cruise is my husband worked really hard last year to get his Master Scuba Diver’s certificate and we wanted a holiday where he could go on organized dives and I could go on supervised shore excursions with a group and feel comfortable and safe. He went on dives in four of the five ports and I hiked, kayaked, biked, and had one beach day. On the shore excursions in general, the one thing I didn’t like was the misinformation about the timing. When I signed up for them on line, they all were listed as leaving about 8:30 a.m. and being from between 4 to 5 hours, so we would be back early enough to grab some lunch and do a little looking around the port area. In the end, only one shore excursion started at 8:30 a.m., the rest were changed to start from between 9:30 and 11 a.m. None of them lasted the listed time, they were all at least an hour to an hour and a half over. The one in Samana that I went on (hike, bike and kayak) was the most off track – advertised as about 4 hours and we were gone well over 6. Even for the one beach day, the tour guide called the ship and asked if we could stay at the beach for an extra hour. He didn’t ask anyone if they wanted to, he just did it. I’m not saying I didn’t love what I did – I did, I just wish they could have been more accurate in their information. There was no food included in any of the excursion we took, so we’d have breakfast before we left, never had lunch, and came back to the ship very hungry. And, at between 3 and 4:30 in the afternoon, dining options are limited on the ship. This is why we ended up at the buffet for diner three nights – we’d eat our in room snack and hit the buffet when they opened at 5:30 p.m. Also, since we left most of the ports around 5:30 to 6, no time to do anything else. My husband came away feeling like he didn’t see but one island (the one with no diving). It was on to a boat, dive, come back, shower, eat a snack and sail away. Again, I’m not saying we both didn’t have a great time, it just wasn’t what was expected.

As far as the diving excursions, I can’t speak too much about them. My husband may write his own review for his fellow divers. He did enjoy the dives and saw many different things – seahorses, giant clams, the wreck of the Rhone, did some drift diving by some coral reefs, etc. Two of the dives were PADI dives and two were not. He was more comfortable on the PADI dives, partly because that where he got his training. He took a light weight wet suit, his own snorkel, mask and booties. He said he would recommend that people take their own depth gauge because on the two non-PADI dives, one did not provide one and on the other, it didn’t work. On his first dive, his assigned dive buddy got into trouble and my husband had to haul him up. The dive master was no where to be found. Then the dive master berated my husband because “he was suppose to look out for his buddy”. He was really unhappy about that. It did make him a little nervous to go diving the next day, but that was a PADI dive and done much better with smaller groups and a dive master assigned to each little group. I think overall, he would recommend dives if they say “PADI approved” but be a little wary next time about signing up for non-PADI dives.

My excursions –

Samana – Bike, Hike, and Kayak – This was referred to by one of the participants as “the never ending shore excursion”. I think we saw the entire Dominican Republic. Started out about 9:30 a.m. and just made it back to the boat by 5:00 p.m., when it was suppose to be 4 hours. It was a lot of fun, but most of the people were upset about the length as they had things scheduled for the afternoon, plus, as I said before, no food and one small bottle of water for the entire day (also, no bathroom). I have absolutely no idea where they took us to do the biking – we drove to the other side of the island – about an hour in an open backed bus with benches facing the center of the bus. The bikes were old and broken down, no helmets, no gears, and braked by pushing back on the pedals, no hand controls. The trail was easy though – very pleasant ride, but since you didn’t know the terrain, it was a little un-nerving. We rode for about 45 minutes until the road ran out (passed a few guys with machetes!) and then took off on foot to the shore to look at their version of a blowhole which wasn’t blowing. Then, it was back in the bus for an hour or so of bumping along to the North East corner of the island (know this because someone asked) to a beautiful bay and the kayaks. I didn’t get to kayak because they were two man kayaks and the guides didn’t seem concerned and did not offer to kayak with me. So, I contented myself with a nice walk (to sit in a beach lounger was $15 – not worth it to me for the hour we were there). Then, back in the bus to ride, ride, ride, back to the ship. It was an adventure, but I was really glad that the folks on this tour were all in pretty good shape and could take care of themselves (more on this on the other bike ride I took). I guess the guide did talk about the island while we were driving around, but he was on the back of the bus on the jump seat and no one more than two seats away from him could hear him speak. Everyone was good humored about the whole thing and it was a good day overall.

Tortola – Sage Mountain Hike and Beach – Took another bus to a wonderful nature park – Sage Mountain. An interesting hour to hour and a half hike with lots of discussion on flora and fauna. Saw some enormous termite mounds. The guide was a man with a degree in economics who found out he enjoyed and made more money leading tours than being an economist. One to a nice beach for about another hour.

Antiqua – No diving here, so my husband joined me for the Kayak, Hike and Snorkel Tour. Very well organized tour. Took a speed boat to the kayaks which were located in a mangrove bay in fairly shallow water. Kayaked for quite awhile and my husband burned the heck out of the tops of his feet (don’t forget to sunscreen those puppies!). Saw my best site – a pelican rookery. They nest in the tops of the mangroves (who knew?) and had some cute, fuzzy white baby pelicans in the mix. Back in the speed boat for a fun ride to an island where we took a hike up to the top for a beautiful view of most of the other nearby island. Then, back out on the boats to the middle of the bay for snorkeling.

Barbados – Bike Ride and Swim – This was the best and the worst excursion. The best because it was very well organized with great bikes, helmets, water with holder – very professionally done. There were two lead bike riders who took two groups of six riders apiece. There was a follow-on van behind us. It was a pretty much down hill ride with a couple of uphill areas, past some beautiful sugar cane fields, beach area, the resort where Tiger Woods got married (lots of beautiful plants and foliage), a cemetery – just a beautiful place to ride a bike. The roads were fairly well maintained with a little moisture because it had rained the two days previous to our stop there. It was the worst because of the participants on the ride. Let me say now that if you haven’t been on a bicycle in 30 years, the time to renew your interest in not on a primarily downhill bike ride in unfamiliar territory. We started off at the Highland Center with a lady who was way too large to ride. They were very patient with her and we all spent about 10 minutes sitting on our bikes while they tried to find one to fit her – but her legs were so large, there was not enough of a gap for her to be able to pedal (her legs overlapped). Mortifying for her and embarrassing for the staff and the rest of us because we just sat there and stared through the whole process (we couldn’t leave or move out of the way without the leaders). She decided to ride in the van and we took off. After about 10 minutes, we had our first crash. A man hit a small puddle and jammed on his back break, which will take you over the handlebars. We all stopped and the leaders were excellent. The van pulled up, they took a report, bandaged and sprayed him down with disinfectant. After that, the leaders proceeded VERY SLOWLY – frustrating for a frequent bike rider. It’s the only bike ride I’ve ever been on where I braked going uphill. My hands were actually sore at the end from holding down both brakes the whole trip and I still almost ran someone over that was in front of me. About ½ way through, we looked back and the second group had disappeared back behind a bend or two. We waited – they finally appeared a few minutes later, with no explanation, just “we had a little trouble back there”. Slowed down even more until the finish of the ride. These folks would have never survived the Samana day! We then went to Malibu beach for about an hour beach time.

St. Lucia – This port is being replaced by St. Kitts, so I don’t know if this is helpful. I went on the Beach Express to Marigot Bay. We are thinking of booking a dive resort type vacation and I wanted to check out Marigot Bay. It was a little different than I expected – much smaller. We took a bus, then a water taxi across to the resort and beach. Very nice white sand beach and we got some rum punch and loungers included. The guide we had spoke seven languages and conversed in English, Spanish, and German to our group. I went to the dive shop to ask about diving and to the resort to get literature about staying there. A definite possibility for next year. One thing bothered me here – again passenger stuff. They warned us on the ship not to bring back any palm products because of disease. On the beach, there was a guy weaving hummingbirds from palm fronds – two of the ladies of our group were discussing how to smuggle them back on board as remembrances of their trip. ERRRG!

GOSH DARN – this thing got long. As far as disembarkation, loved, loved, loved the suite disembarkation. Very quick and it was off to Hertz to pick up our rental car for a drive down Highway 1 to Key West for three more days of holidaying.

Overall, a wonderful trip and I look forward to our next NCL cruise. Maybe the Gem out of Venice – that’s the one I’m eyeing for our 25th wedding anniversary.

ANY QUESTIONS????

[VonChap]

Thanks for your great review...

[Cruisin' Ron VA]

Hi!

 

Thanks for your review. I didnt actually read it because you said it was too long.

 

I hope you had a good time though.

 

Thanks anyway!

 

:)

[watchdiva]

Loved your review - thanks for posting!

[Mooder]

Thanks for the detailed review. I have made the same complaint about the martini and similar clinics - they should be spread out better. It sounds like the same is true for lectures - it seems common sense that the same people would want to attend. Glad you had a good time!

[fieldmom35215]

Thx for the excellent review. Very detailed which I LOVE!

Did you say those cookies were in the buffet or MDR?

[Carnac767]

Is this available on Cliff's Notes?

 

Just kidding. Great review. I appreciate the detailed information. Thanks for taking the time to write and post. Glad you had a great time.

[fabby50]

Fieldmom - the cookies are on the buffet, at lunch and dinner and I wish they were there at breakfast! If I wasn't a adamant rule follower, I would have bagged some up to take on shore excursions!

 

Carnac - I know, I know, I just received so much good information here over the last year and anticipated this cruise for so long, I wanted to spew! I could write more - lots of things I didn't hit!

[Mother Bear]

Hi!! I am going on the Jewel this Sunday and was wondering if you could tell me what dinning room is open for lunch? I don't want to go to the buffet as I always find it too crowded.

Thanks

Teresa

[boaterette]

Really enjoyed your review. One question? Barstow or Baker?

[Carnac767]

Carnac - I know, I know, I just received so much good information here over the last year and anticipated this cruise for so long, I wanted to spew! I could write more - lots of things I didn't hit!

 

No need to apologize. I like all the info.

[fabby50]

Teresa - Tsars was open for lunch. Also, on sea days the Sushi bar and I think Tango's. We weren't able to take advantage of these options most days because they all closed at 2:30 and we didn't back in time from our shore excursions. There is also the Blue Lagoon and room service which are 24 hours. The Blue Lagoon had really good cheesecake with blueberry sauce, but skip the spinach dip (like cream of mushroom soup with spinach in it, served with some too salty tortilla strips). My husband had a burger that he liked and I had a grilled cheese sandwich off the kids menu. I thought the room service menu was pretty good - had the greek salad and my husband had some type of hoagie.

 

Boaterette - Neither - an even smaller, more isolated spot. Ridgecrest - GO NAVY!

[Mother Bear]

Thanks for the info!! I am all packed and ready to go.

Teresa

[dtracker]

Here is my review of our nine-day Southern Caribbean cruise on the beautiful Jewel. Sail date 3/20/09. We are a couple in our early 50s from the desert of California – about an hour and ½ drive to Death Valley. I jump around a bit –

We flew into Miami and took a taxi to the Marriott Biscayne Bay Hotel – pretty pricy because, unbeknownst to me, it was Spring Break time. Silly old me thinking Spring break was only at Easter time – not the two month staggered event it has become since I was college age! I’m glad we flew in two nights early, it gave us time to decompress and get in the vacation mode. Weather in Miami was great for us – partly cloudy and in the low 80s. This type of weather continued the whole time we were gone, with one day of sprinkle rain – it never did make it up to the 90s, even though we ported in the Dominican Republic, about 400 miles from the equator. We love this kind of weather being from a hot, dry place but many were disappointed because the sun wasn’t out the entire time. I was thrilled!

My first concern about spring break cruisers was “much ado about nothing”! I spoke to several people on the cruise who were doing the 5 day followed by the 9 day cruise and they said the 5 day was filled with spring breakers, but the breakers did not do the 9 day. The people I talked to the most about this said the two cruises definitely had a different feel to them – much more late night stuff on the 5 day and not as relaxing an experience. They also said the spring breakers were a great group of kids and it was fun – just a different feel.

We boarded the ship on Friday – embarkation was very easy and we were on board within 15 minutes. First off, I’d like to say I am a Norwegian-style cruise lover. Many of the things other people hate, I actually prefer. I’ll list a few:

Hull art – Many find this gaudy. I like it. There are hull paintings on all the walls of the outside decks – for example, murals of people taking photographs on the outside wall of the deck where they have the photograph area inside of the ship. There were murals of flowers, people, all kinds of things.

Dress Code – A free-for all. Some people dressed to the nines on “dress up or not night” – in fact, there were some people very dressed up every night. I stuck to my skorts mostly – I think I wore an a-line pool coverup dress one night and a pair of capris another. My husband wore jeans. This kind of dress code works really well for us, not having to pay extra for luggage to take formal wear is great. Other people complain about the “shabbiness” of the way people are dressed. I could care less. I will take nicer clothes on trips where no airfare is involved, like on our Mexican cruise in October.

Freestyle Dining – This is where there is the most controversy. I like it. I like being able to pick the dining time instead of being assigned early or late dining. I like the variety of the specialty restaurants. Many people see this as “nickel and dime-ing” since there is a charge for the specialty restaurants. I look at it this way – my trips on NCL have been at a lower cost than those on other lines, so the money I’m not spending on the more costly cruise, I use for alternate dining and other cost associated shipboard activities.

Another thing I love about Norwegian –

I LOVE THE SUITE LIFE. On our last cruise on the Pride of Hawaii, we got the upsell call and were offered an Owner’s suite. I fell in love with NCLs suite perks. From what I’ve read, no other line offers the benefits that NCL does for the price of their suite. SO – I will always (on NCL) sail in an AE or above since this is where the suite benefits kick in. I used $2,000 of NCL Compass rewards to offset the cost, and with our $250 deposit coupon, we paid about $2,500 for the 9 nights in an AE. We booked very early – almost a year and a half before sail time. I thought it was a great deal.

Suite Benefits We Enjoyed – Upon embarkation, we headed to Cagney’s for lunch. Very relaxing. I didn’t realize that many of the selections are the same as those in the main dining room. The lunch menu changes daily. Cagney’s was a great benefit for breakfast – one we enjoyed almost every day of the cruise. I loved the waffle with the pineapple rum sauce and the big bowl of fresh strawberries on the side table (none to be found on the main public buffet). The coffee is also great here (French press). Speaking of Cagney’s we also had two terrific dinners – the first and last night of our cruise. That will probably become a tradition! My only quibble with Cagney’s is that I’m a vegetarian and the lunch menu did not have a daily vegetarian lunch selection.

Room touches – Fresh flowers and a bottle of sparkling wine. We don’t drink wine, but it’s a nice touch for those who do. Also, the butler delivered a treat every afternoon about 4:00 p.m. Chocolate covered strawberries, key lime tarlets, mini sandwiches – just a nice little afternoon snack. There was also a catalog of fairly recent movies our butler brought for the DVD player (no extra charge). There were robes in the closet and mid-size bottles of Elemis products.

Our room stewards and butler were great. Not real chatty – they were very busy, but did their jobs efficiently. For example, I was just about out of the hair conditioner and was going to leave a note before dinner and turn down service for the steward. He noticed the almost empty bottle in the morning and left me another full one without me pointing it out. The ice bucket was filled 2 to 3 times a day. We got towel animals every night – my favorite this trip (probably because I hadn’t gotten this one before) was a little mouse he tucked up under my pillow, so it was peeking out at me. Very cute! I ordered room service lunch one day and the butler brought it, with our two sodas “on him”. We also had trouble figuring out the in room coffee maker (the grounds trap was full) and he came two times to straighten us out! Movies and treats were delivered in a very timely manner – we could set our watches by “4:00 snack time”.

We had no trouble making diner reservations and ate three dinners at the buffet and the rest at specialty restaurants. We used the reservation desk in the main lobby, so the ease of getting reservations didn’t have anything to do with the suite. We ate at 6:30 pm. .We never did go to either of the main dining rooms. The food on the buffet was great – mainly because being a vegetarian, I really enjoyed the Indian selections and all the different alternatives for me (lots of bean dishes, veg. sushi at lunch, etc.). Thanks to the person on this board that pointed out the “Cinnabun-style” rolls on the breakfast buffet. They had both fresh, hot pecan rolls and cinnamon rolls. The two mornings we missed Cagney’s, I had these with some delicious cheese selections from the buffet. I love muesli and although I still think Holland has them beat on the recipe, NCLs was good and there were bowls of walnuts and dried fruits to add. The best desserts on board (in our opinion) are the cookies. White chocolate chip, chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin, - but the ultimate favorite for my husband was the oatmeal, dried cranberry and white chocolate chip. I found the other types of desserts consistently better in the restaurants than on the buffet (my husband calls the buffet desserts “flavored foams”). I loved the margarita tart in the Mexican restaurant – it was the best version of key lime pie I had during our whole vacation. As far as other food choices, I can only speak to vegetarian entrees. My husband had mostly fish entrees and really liked the sea bass in Cagney’s, though he missed the tuna they took off the menu. I could have made meals out of the appetizers or side dishes and was often too stuffed to finish my entrees. I loved the steamed veggie dumplings and eggrolls in the Oriental restaurant, the cheese quesadilla appetizer was plenty in Tango’s. At Cagney’s one night, I ordered a seafood entrée so my husband could have a “surf and turf” and I got a baked potato which I topped with the creamed spinach and had a double side order of the asparagus. Very yummy and plenty. OK – ENOUGH ABOUT THE FOOD ALREADY!

What did we DO on our cruise? I decided to divide this up into sea days and port days. My husband and I aren’t really fans of sea days – after 15 plus cruises, we find them a little boring. We don’t gamble and aren’t big on the production shows. We were looking forward to checking out the 2.0 classes, like the martini clinics and lectures. There were three sea days on this cruise – the first day and the final two. We found enough to do, but anymore, especially if the days were in a row like the last two would have driven us nuts. Another of the reasons we sail on NCL is they seem to have less sea days than other cruise lines. The sea day program sort of went like this:

Sleep in (the first day till almost 11 a.m.) and head to Cagney’s for a late breakfast. Wander around the ship a bit, look around the shops, check out the bridge from the deck 11 viewing area – just mainly mess around until noon for a light lunch. At one, we went to the guest speaker lecture (can’t remember the man’s name – sorry). One was given on each sea day – the first, on the ports we were visiting (history, economy, etc.), the second on pirates and piracy, and the third on Frieda Kalo. The lectures were 45 minutes and interesting, lots of factoides, but the guy could have used some help with some visual aides. He didn’t use slides, he just spoke from notes, so he had trouble keeping on track and sort of wandered. The lectures were sparsely attended and I hope this is an area that NCL keeps up and improves. I would love to see a “Learning at Sea” type program like I understand Princess has. There was another lecture series, but they had it at the same time as this one – something that bugged me – spread them out so people can attend both. After the lecture, more wandering or back to the cabin to read for a little while and then to the martini clinic. There were two, on the first sea day and the second and we really enjoyed these. The bar tender made 4 different martinis at the first one and 5 different ones at the second, so we got to try nine different types of martinis. He was very entertaining. My husband wanted to attend the beer one too, but it was directly after the martini clinic and couldn’t handle both. So, that’s my suggestion there – spread them out! Maybe have the beer one at lunch time – accompanied by beer type snacks or lunch – how about beer and brats, and then have the martini one around 5 or 6 with appetizers before dinner. After the clinic, more wandering or reading, until dinner time. Pretty low key stuff –

Port days were another matter however! The main reason we went on this cruise is my husband worked really hard last year to get his Master Scuba Diver’s certificate and we wanted a holiday where he could go on organized dives and I could go on supervised shore excursions with a group and feel comfortable and safe. He went on dives in four of the five ports and I hiked, kayaked, biked, and had one beach day. On the shore excursions in general, the one thing I didn’t like was the misinformation about the timing. When I signed up for them on line, they all were listed as leaving about 8:30 a.m. and being from between 4 to 5 hours, so we would be back early enough to grab some lunch and do a little looking around the port area. In the end, only one shore excursion started at 8:30 a.m., the rest were changed to start from between 9:30 and 11 a.m. None of them lasted the listed time, they were all at least an hour to an hour and a half over. The one in Samana that I went on (hike, bike and kayak) was the most off track – advertised as about 4 hours and we were gone well over 6. Even for the one beach day, the tour guide called the ship and asked if we could stay at the beach for an extra hour. He didn’t ask anyone if they wanted to, he just did it. I’m not saying I didn’t love what I did – I did, I just wish they could have been more accurate in their information. There was no food included in any of the excursion we took, so we’d have breakfast before we left, never had lunch, and came back to the ship very hungry. And, at between 3 and 4:30 in the afternoon, dining options are limited on the ship. This is why we ended up at the buffet for diner three nights – we’d eat our in room snack and hit the buffet when they opened at 5:30 p.m. Also, since we left most of the ports around 5:30 to 6, no time to do anything else. My husband came away feeling like he didn’t see but one island (the one with no diving). It was on to a boat, dive, come back, shower, eat a snack and sail away. Again, I’m not saying we both didn’t have a great time, it just wasn’t what was expected.

As far as the diving excursions, I can’t speak too much about them. My husband may write his own review for his fellow divers. He did enjoy the dives and saw many different things – seahorses, giant clams, the wreck of the Rhone, did some drift diving by some coral reefs, etc. Two of the dives were PADI dives and two were not. He was more comfortable on the PADI dives, partly because that where he got his training. He took a light weight wet suit, his own snorkel, mask and booties. He said he would recommend that people take their own depth gauge because on the two non-PADI dives, one did not provide one and on the other, it didn’t work. On his first dive, his assigned dive buddy got into trouble and my husband had to haul him up. The dive master was no where to be found. Then the dive master berated my husband because “he was suppose to look out for his buddy”. He was really unhappy about that. It did make him a little nervous to go diving the next day, but that was a PADI dive and done much better with smaller groups and a dive master assigned to each little group. I think overall, he would recommend dives if they say “PADI approved” but be a little wary next time about signing up for non-PADI dives.

My excursions –

Samana – Bike, Hike, and Kayak – This was referred to by one of the participants as “the never ending shore excursion”. I think we saw the entire Dominican Republic. Started out about 9:30 a.m. and just made it back to the boat by 5:00 p.m., when it was suppose to be 4 hours. It was a lot of fun, but most of the people were upset about the length as they had things scheduled for the afternoon, plus, as I said before, no food and one small bottle of water for the entire day (also, no bathroom). I have absolutely no idea where they took us to do the biking – we drove to the other side of the island – about an hour in an open backed bus with benches facing the center of the bus. The bikes were old and broken down, no helmets, no gears, and braked by pushing back on the pedals, no hand controls. The trail was easy though – very pleasant ride, but since you didn’t know the terrain, it was a little un-nerving. We rode for about 45 minutes until the road ran out (passed a few guys with machetes!) and then took off on foot to the shore to look at their version of a blowhole which wasn’t blowing. Then, it was back in the bus for an hour or so of bumping along to the North East corner of the island (know this because someone asked) to a beautiful bay and the kayaks. I didn’t get to kayak because they were two man kayaks and the guides didn’t seem concerned and did not offer to kayak with me. So, I contented myself with a nice walk (to sit in a beach lounger was $15 – not worth it to me for the hour we were there). Then, back in the bus to ride, ride, ride, back to the ship. It was an adventure, but I was really glad that the folks on this tour were all in pretty good shape and could take care of themselves (more on this on the other bike ride I took). I guess the guide did talk about the island while we were driving around, but he was on the back of the bus on the jump seat and no one more than two seats away from him could hear him speak. Everyone was good humored about the whole thing and it was a good day overall.

Tortola – Sage Mountain Hike and Beach – Took another bus to a wonderful nature park – Sage Mountain. An interesting hour to hour and a half hike with lots of discussion on flora and fauna. Saw some enormous termite mounds. The guide was a man with a degree in economics who found out he enjoyed and made more money leading tours than being an economist. One to a nice beach for about another hour.

Antiqua – No diving here, so my husband joined me for the Kayak, Hike and Snorkel Tour. Very well organized tour. Took a speed boat to the kayaks which were located in a mangrove bay in fairly shallow water. Kayaked for quite awhile and my husband burned the heck out of the tops of his feet (don’t forget to sunscreen those puppies!). Saw my best site – a pelican rookery. They nest in the tops of the mangroves (who knew?) and had some cute, fuzzy white baby pelicans in the mix. Back in the speed boat for a fun ride to an island where we took a hike up to the top for a beautiful view of most of the other nearby island. Then, back out on the boats to the middle of the bay for snorkeling.

Barbados – Bike Ride and Swim – This was the best and the worst excursion. The best because it was very well organized with great bikes, helmets, water with holder – very professionally done. There were two lead bike riders who took two groups of six riders apiece. There was a follow-on van behind us. It was a pretty much down hill ride with a couple of uphill areas, past some beautiful sugar cane fields, beach area, the resort where Tiger Woods got married (lots of beautiful plants and foliage), a cemetery – just a beautiful place to ride a bike. The roads were fairly well maintained with a little moisture because it had rained the two days previous to our stop there. It was the worst because of the participants on the ride. Let me say now that if you haven’t been on a bicycle in 30 years, the time to renew your interest in not on a primarily downhill bike ride in unfamiliar territory. We started off at the Highland Center with a lady who was way too large to ride. They were very patient with her and we all spent about 10 minutes sitting on our bikes while they tried to find one to fit her – but her legs were so large, there was not enough of a gap for her to be able to pedal (her legs overlapped). Mortifying for her and embarrassing for the staff and the rest of us because we just sat there and stared through the whole process (we couldn’t leave or move out of the way without the leaders). She decided to ride in the van and we took off. After about 10 minutes, we had our first crash. A man hit a small puddle and jammed on his back break, which will take you over the handlebars. We all stopped and the leaders were excellent. The van pulled up, they took a report, bandaged and sprayed him down with disinfectant. After that, the leaders proceeded VERY SLOWLY – frustrating for a frequent bike rider. It’s the only bike ride I’ve ever been on where I braked going uphill. My hands were actually sore at the end from holding down both brakes the whole trip and I still almost ran someone over that was in front of me. About ½ way through, we looked back and the second group had disappeared back behind a bend or two. We waited – they finally appeared a few minutes later, with no explanation, just “we had a little trouble back there”. Slowed down even more until the finish of the ride. These folks would have never survived the Samana day! We then went to Malibu beach for about an hour beach time.

St. Lucia – This port is being replaced by St. Kitts, so I don’t know if this is helpful. I went on the Beach Express to Marigot Bay. We are thinking of booking a dive resort type vacation and I wanted to check out Marigot Bay. It was a little different than I expected – much smaller. We took a bus, then a water taxi across to the resort and beach. Very nice white sand beach and we got some rum punch and loungers included. The guide we had spoke seven languages and conversed in English, Spanish, and German to our group. I went to the dive shop to ask about diving and to the resort to get literature about staying there. A definite possibility for next year. One thing bothered me here – again passenger stuff. They warned us on the ship not to bring back any palm products because of disease. On the beach, there was a guy weaving hummingbirds from palm fronds – two of the ladies of our group were discussing how to smuggle them back on board as remembrances of their trip. ERRRG!

GOSH DARN – this thing got long. As far as disembarkation, loved, loved, loved the suite disembarkation. Very quick and it was off to Hertz to pick up our rental car for a drive down Highway 1 to Key West for three more days of holidaying.

Overall, a wonderful trip and I look forward to our next NCL cruise. Maybe the Gem out of Venice – that’s the one I’m eyeing for our 25th wedding anniversary.

ANY QUESTIONS????

 

Thanks, Fabby50. I loved the review and read every word. :) The detailed reviews are the best because I usually get lots of ideas on excursions from them.

 

DT

[arlee]

My husband and I would like to try the Jewel winter 2010. we recently sailed on the Dawn (march 21-28). Thanks for your review. We'd like to take a 9 day southern caribbean, but I think the Jewel is only sailing 7 days next year. I know the Dawn is having a 9 day cruise, but we'd like to try a different ship.Also, I was told that the eastern caribbean trip has rougher water. We had a few rolling sea days - I was walking sideways!

[mamasue]

Thanks for a great review!!

DH and I are going on the Jewel this Friday, on the 11 day transatlantic,

It's our first NCL cruise..we got a great upgrade today, from inside cabin to balcony, so excited!!!

The cruise is the first part of a 10 week trip, to UK, Egypt, and Germany... so we're double-excited!!

I hope we love the Jewel as much as you did!!

[dtracker]

Thanks for a great review!!

DH and I are going on the Jewel this Friday, on the 11 day transatlantic,

It's our first NCL cruise..we got a great upgrade today, from inside cabin to balcony, so excited!!!

The cruise is the first part of a 10 week trip, to UK, Egypt, and Germany... so we're double-excited!!

I hope we love the Jewel as much as you did!!

 

From inside to balcony for a little over $400...great deal, Mamasue. :eek:

Happy Sailing.

 

DT

[mamasue]

From inside to balcony for a little over $400...great deal, Mamasue. :eek:

Happy Sailing.

 

DT

 

Thanks DT... only 5 days to go.... getting really excited!!!:D

[mississauga]

fabby50 - great review. No review can be too long. We took the same itinerary 1 1/2 ago and have since been on the Jewel again on another itinerary ( 12 days around the Caribbean ) and loved it both times. What did you mean about being a rule follower? There's no rules that you can't take extra cookies to enjoy later. We often took the cookies and enjoyed them on our balcony. Go for it next time! LOL. I like my fruits cold so I also take extra fruits and put them in my fridge so I can enjoy them later.

 

 

mamasue - You will love the Jewel! Our favorite NCL ship to date. Haven't tried the Gem yet but it sounds just as good as the Jewel.

[jjb415]

Thanks fabby50 for taking the time to write such an informative review !!

[fabby50]

Mississauga - I meant take cookies to save for my shore excursions. Didn't want to take food off the ship.

 

I'm glad everyone enjoyed the review - I had trouble finding out shore excursion information, so I wanted to post details about those.

[NancyJewel92]

Fabby50 - Great review - love the details! As someone else wrote - there's no such thing as too much detail for cruise junkies. :p

 

We have not had a chance to cruise NCL in a while (not since the change to Freestyle). The last several years we've cruised with a large group, so traditional dining works for us as it's usually the only time of the day we're all together.

 

You made a point, though, that hit home about being able to pack less if opting out of dressing up. Something to keep in mind when flying! I'd like to sail on the Gem out of NYC, since we can drive to the port. You've given me a good idea, also, about booking way far in advance. I'll have to check it out.

 

Thanks, again, for the detailed write-up. See you on the Losin' to Cruise thread of our "other" board. :D