Review of our Jewel Baltic Cruise (May 10-22, 2009) --- any ?s, just ask!

[orchid72]

I have posted this on the member's review section on CC, but am also posting this here so I can answer any questions you may have.

 

Intro

Following is a rather long review of our recent cruise on the NCL Jewel from May 10-22, 2009. We sailed from Dover, UK and visited the following ports: Copenhagen, Warnemunde (Berlin), Tallinn, St. Petersburg, Helsinki, and Stockholm.

 

Background

We are a married couple in the 35-44 age group demographic. This is our 6th cruise. We have previously sailed twice with Princess, once with Celebrity, and this is our third with NCL in the last 12 months.

 

We sailed on the NCL Sun in May 2008 to Alaska, and on the NCL Gem in November 2008 around the Mediterranean. We were very happy with the relative flexibility freestyle cruising afforded us; therefore, we decided to book a Baltic cruise on the Jewel.

 

Our perspective on cruising: We view cruise ships as a mode of transportation and a floating hotel. As such, the “classic” cruise experiences like formal nights, set dining times, being pampered and catered to by staff, etc are not important to us. We book mainly for the itinerary because we see cruising as a means to get around relatively inexpensively. It is a good way to get a “taste” of various destinations, allowing us to see which ones would warrant further exploration in the future.

 

Embarkation

We stayed in London for 4 nights pre-cruise, and took the National Express coach from Victoria coach station to Dover.

 

Check in was relatively painless, and would have been a lot painless had we known we could have headed straight to the Latitudes counter for priority check in after we had cleared security.

 

We were on the ship by around 12:45 PM, but we were advised that we would not be able to access our cabin until 2 PM. We were told by the crew, therefore, to have lunch at the Garden Café buffet. We expected it to be busy, but we did not expect the chaotic mess we found. There were slow-moving queues everywhere primarily because passengers were not allowed to handle any of the utensils, food, and beverage dispensers. Furthermore, seating was scarce because passengers had nowhere to go while waiting for their rooms to be ready.

 

I realize that stringent measures were being taken due to a Norwalk virus outbreak from the previous sailing, so I commend NCL for taking the necessary precautions. However, I feel that management lacked the foresight in dealing with the possible repercussions from the very measures they implemented. I may be wrong, but I think they should have opened the other dining areas such as the Great Outdoors and Topsiders Grill and even the Blue Lagoon to help ease the congestion in the Garden Cafe.

 

Staterooms

We had a category BB balcony cabin. It was a good size for our needs, and we found it to be well-laid out. There was enough storage space for our clothes, and we enjoyed having a seating area, a mini-fridge, and a kettle (this was a welcome change as we thought the coffee maker we had on both the Sun and Gem were pretty useless).

 

There were, however, a few things that, in my opinion, needed improvement. The lighting is quite dim (I found this to also be the case on both the Sun and the Gem), and the mattress on one of the beds sagged too much, which resulted in a few sleepless nights for my husband. Also, I do not know what it was, but it seemed that the walls and floors in the room were pretty thin. We were woken up several times by neighbours on either side of us slamming their doors and neighbours above us doing what sounded like high impact aerobics exercises (the walls and ceiling literally shook). These, however, were minor inconveniences compared to the stench of sewer that emanated from our toilet, which prevailed all day throughout the 12-day cruise. (I do not think that this was a problem specific only to our room, as I had spoken to 3 other passengers who reported the same thing.)

 

Food/Dining

Since we have been on cruises before, we know not to expect too much from “cruise food”. We expected the food on the Jewel to be on par with that on the Gem and the Sun: middle-of-the-road offerings, much like what one would get from the likes of Sizzler and Country Buffet for the buffet area, and possibly Earls or Applebee’s from the main dining areas. Even with our realistic (or low) expectations, however, we found the food to be sub-standard. I do not know what happened to the quality of NCL’s food since November 2008, but it has gone downhill by a lot. The food was so awful that we could not wait to get off the ship on port days to eat. We went semi-hungry on sea days.

 

The food options in the Garden Café were very limited, very salty, very greasy and generally of poor quality. The only things I truly enjoyed were the salad bar and the pizza (sad, I know) because they were probably the only things that did not contain 1000 mg of sodium per serving.

 

We did not dine in the main dining room every night because the line-ups were either too long, or the menu did not appeal to us. We also found the quality of the food in the main dining rooms to be not much better than the buffet so we thought that eating in the Garden Café would better suit our needs since we could at least eat as much fresh fruits and vegetables as we wanted (the only salad/vegetable option in the main dining room was a Caesar salad).

 

We dined in the Blue Lagoon only once since we found the service to be too slow despite the fact that there were hardly any diners in the restaurant. The quality of the food, again, was poor. The Buffalo wings, oddly enough, did not have buffalo sauce, and the spinach and artichoke dip consisted mainly of spinach and melted cheese.

 

We tried the Sushi pay restaurant, and were sorely disappointed. The sashimi did not taste as fresh as it should, and the quality of the sushi we had was not any better than what was being served in the Garden Café, and our server had quite an attitude on him. I don’t think that the $15 cover charge was worth it. (We should have learned our lesson last year from dining in Le Bistro, which also proved to be very disappointing.)

 

As for the “wherever, whenever, whatever” environment NCL touts freestyle to be, I do not think it existed on this cruise because dining times were very restrictive. For example, the dinner buffet closed every night at 9:30 PM, even on days when we were in port quite late. Similarly, hot breakfast sometimes was not being served until 7:30AM, even on days when there were tours starting at 8AM or shortly thereafter. Consequently, we found that we were planning our days around the dining times that have been set for us fearing that we may not be able to avail of the healthier alternatives that were only being offered in the buffet area. So much for the freestyle cruising experience!

 

Other facilities

Gym: I used the gym a few times during the cruise. If you get there in the morning around 8, be prepared to wait for any of the cardio machines. However, the machines free up after lunch and late afternoon. I did notice a couple of times when I went late in the evening that the treadmills were closed for maintenance until 8AM the following morning.

 

Laundry: Unlike the Gem, this ship did not have any laundry facilities, which proved a tad inconvenient on a 12-day cruise. There was not even a room where you could use an iron. However, NCL had a laundry promotion twice during the cruise – they will wash and fold anything you can stuff in their laundry bag for $25. We had to use this service twice as we had already travelled pre-cruise and were travelling some more post-cruise. It was not really that expensive in the whole scheme of things, but I would have preferred if they had laundry facilities instead.

 

Entertainment/activities

Shows: We did not watch all of the shows, but those that we did watch were generally good. Lenny Windsor, the comedian, was funny and the husband and wife magicians were entertaining enough. One show worth mentioning, though, was Cirque Bijou. It was REALLY good considering it was “free” entertainment. Of course, it probably does not hold a candle to the Cirque du Soleil productions, but I still think it was very good.

 

Bingo: Based on our previous experience on the Sun and the Gem, we found that compared to Princess, NCL Bingo is too expensive and not as entertaining so we did not partake in any of the bingo activities on the Jewel except for one. We only attended bingo on the 2nd to the last day of the cruise with our free bingo card. We found it to be just as dull as the games on the Sun and Gem, but with ruder staff (I think the rather loud and crass cruise director staff who yelled at my husband for enquiring as to whether our free bingo card was valid for the game that day is Amanda from Canada.)

 

Ports and shore excursions

As with most of the cruises we have taken, we tried to do most ports on our own as we like to try to go off the beaten path as much as possible. Also, we find that the excursions offered by NCL to be too restrictive and expensive for our liking.

 

Copenhagen, Denmark: We did this port on our own. We stopped by the tourist info centre – which is situated amongst the shops by the pier – and picked up a map. It was an easy walk to the town centre, and we passed by some major sites (little mermaid, Amelianborg Palace, etc) along the way. We walked all over the city, stopping by Tivoli, Stroget, etc. We hopped on a 1 hour Canal boat tour in Nyhavn, which cost DKK60 per person. In hindsight, we could have probably done without this. We saw sights we had already seen on foot and the commentary given by the guide, in my opinion, was lacking as we already knew most of the information he provided just from reading our guidebook.

 

Warnemunde (Berlin), Germany: We took the ship’s ½ day excursion to Schwerin thinking that it would be a lot like the tour we took to St. Paul de Vence last year, which we thought was good value for money. Were we ever mistaken! The excursion’s pace was too slow for us, and we were not given enough time to explore the city. Furthermore, at $117 USD/person, I do not think it offered good value for money. It took about 1 hr. 15 minutes each way to get to Schwerin, and the drive was not even scenic (NCL was marketing it as a drive along the Autobahn, which is technically true, but really, it’s nothing earth-shattering. Driving on that part of the Autobahn is just like driving on an A-road or a 2 lane highway). It took about ½ hr to do the boat cruise, and about 1.5 hrs touring the castle due to having to wait for slower people in the group. The castle was pretty enough, but I wish we were allowed to spend some time to explore the castle grounds rather than spending all our time shuffling from one room to another with a million other people. When we asked the castle tour guide a couple of questions, our NCL tour guide actually told us to refrain from asking questions saying that it was not a private tour. After the castle tour, we all walked slowly to the town centre where we were told we had 15 minutes to explore on our own before heading back to the ship. This only gave us enough time to run and get a bratwurst and wolf it down as my blood sugar was dropping quickly (we left at 8 am and were not scheduled to get back to the ship until about 2 PM, and meals were not provided on this particular tour).

 

After getting back from Schwerin, we explored Warnemunde, bought some chocolates, loaded up on bottled water, and had a couple of pints of beer. Then for dinner, we decided to try the sushi restaurant on board, which was a big mistake. After dinner, we walked back into town, and had more beer at yet another bar along the promenade, where we found out that we could have gotten a whole plate of food PLUS a 25 cl of beer for approx EUR 7.50. It was a bargain compared to the awful sushi dinner we had on the ship. Oh well, you live you learn.

 

If I were to go back to this port, I would do things differently. I would just do Schwerin on our own because it would enable us to do what we want to do, at our own pace, and at half the price of the tour. I would also spend some time Rostock, and then end the day in Warnemunde. This was a truly wonderful part of Germany with very nice, and friendly people.

 

Tip: The train station is a short walk from the terminal, and it only costs about EUR33.00 to get to Schwerin from Warnemunde. The entrance fee to Schwerin Castle is only about EUR4.00, and the lake boat cruise was EUR 3.00. (For more info on how to do this port on your own, check out Heinbloed’s blog: http://heinbloed-cruiseguides.blogspot.com/2009/01/warnemnde-berlin-train-schedule-2009.html)

 

As for going to Berlin on your own using one of the tour companies, I talked to one of the passengers who did the Berlin tour with SPB tours and she said it was fine, especially considering she only paid $130 for the coach tour. She did say, though, that they did not have much time to do anything else apart from drive around to the major sites for photo-ops.

 

Try to go out on deck as you sail out of Warnemunde because you will hear music playing from the pier’s PA system and see a lot of the locals waving “auf wiedersehen” to you. The whole scene actually gave me a warm, fuzzy feeling inside.

 

Tallinn, Estonia: We did this port on our own. From the dock, we walked to the walled city, which took all of 15-20 minutes. We spent the day just walking around, and exploring the sites. It is a pretty town, but a little too touristy. Still, we enjoyed ourselves. The only mistake we made, which we usually do not make, is eating at one of the medieval-themed restaurants in the town centre (there were a few of them). The laminated menu displayed outside and the medieval costume of the servers screamed “tourist trap!”, but since we were hungry, and the old building intrigued us, we went in and had some lunch. We spent about 700 EEK (about $70CAD) on about 10 grams of elk jerky, a pint of beer (it was good, though), a small lunch plate consisting of spelt and about 2 ounces each of elk, bear, and boar (which all tasted like beef), and a small serving of VERY creamy mushroom soup. Not a very satisfying lunch as the quality of the food was less than mediocre, and I reacted very badly to the soup. Furthermore, the service was also very slow (1.50 hrs to get our food to us) and the server was constantly trying to get us to order more food and drinks, which became very irritating after a while.

 

Our dining experience was not all bad, though. We stumbled upon Josephine’s café, where we enjoyed a reasonably priced cup of coffee each and we shared a delightful piece of white chocolate covered tiramisu for about 100 EEK.

 

If you have time, maybe try out the conference bike tour, because it looked like a lot of fun. http://www.estravel.ee/index.php?lang=eng&main_id=3707,3718,3763,3934

 

St. Petersburg, Russia: We toured St. Petersburg on Denrus’ 2-day value excursion. We paid $295USD/person, and I found this to be of good value when compared to what NCL was offering. The highlights of the tour – the fountains at Peterhof Palace, St. Catherine’s Palace, The Hermitage, and Church of the Spilled Blood – were all very interesting and incredibly beautiful. Sadly, in spite of these impressive structures, I feel that St. Petersburg failed to “wow” us. We knew that it is a relatively young city by European standards, that we would not be able to explore it on our own, and that most places we would be visiting would be packed full of tourists, but these were not the deal breakers. We felt that our experience in St. Petersburg just lacked any kind of substance. What took a lot from the experience is the feeling that the locals looked at us – and at times treated us – with so much disdain. Although I can empathize with what they must feel about us – loud and obnoxious tourists invading their sanctity can be quite trying – I still did not like it. Loud and obnoxious some tourists may be, but let us not forget that we are also contributors to their economy.

 

Perhaps even more disappointing was how appallingly NCL treated those of us on independent tours. Having been warned that NCL would not be making public announcements as to when we can disembark the ship, we made our way down to the mid-ship gangway on deck 4 around 7:45AM. As we reached deck 5, we were met with a crowd of people – also on independent tours – who were waiting to get access to level 4 (access had been cordoned off and were being manned by security and cruise director staff). At about 8-8:15 AM, Rich, the cruise director, made a public announcement asking that passengers on independent tours NOT make their way down to the gangway as the ship had not been cleared. This public announcement was then followed by several warnings from the deck 5 “bouncers” that the officers on the bridge could see the crowd forming on level 5, and if we did not clear the area, Russian immigration would not clear the ship, which would then cause further delays. Of course any idiot would know that this 2nd statement was false so we did not move an inch. Even more classic, however, was the fact it turned out that Rich was telling lies as well. One of the passengers waiting with us on deck 5 told us that he went up to deck 7 as the first announcement was being made and saw that 2 queues of passengers on NCL tours were already being processed by immigration. My husband and I, upon hearing this, crossed the barriers and headed straight to the gangway on deck 4 and we demanded we be let off the ship. We cleared immigration by 8:45AM.

 

Later that day, we called reception to complain about the incident and were told NCL had no control over the situation, and they were just following Russian Immigration orders. We asked for a manager to call us, but we did not get a call back until we called a second time the following evening.

 

We spoke to Carolyn (a manager) who, although apologetic, gave us the same spiel as what had been written on an insert in the previous night’s Freestyle Daily: that Russian Immigration had told NCL to let passengers on NCL tours get off the ship first to expedite the process. Apparently, passengers on independent tours usually have problems with their visas, which have caused delays in the past. I did not accept this explanation, so I told her that if that were the case, there would have been no need for the cruise director, his staff, and security to lie to us. I told her that although they have repeatedly denied that passengers on NCL tours were being given preferential treatment, letting passengers on NCL tours off the ship first –and then lying to passengers on independent tours about why they were not being allowed to disembark – have made us feel that we were being treated like second class passengers. NCL has taken a big risk in lying to us because they have consequently alienated a good portion of their passengers. However, since the damage has already been done, and they will obviously not admit that they have told lies after lies, I suggested that perhaps in the future, they should instead have one queue for NCL tours and another for independent tours. Having 2 separate lines would at least provide the optics that they are not favouring one group of passengers over the other because, at the very least, both groups are being allowed off the ship at the same time.

 

Helsinki, Finland: It was at least 11AM by the time my husband and I got off the ship in Helsinki because we woke up late. We walked to the city centre, which we should not have done. We should have taken the bus into the centre instead as it took us a good 40 minutes to get there, and there was nothing to see of interest between the pier and the city centre. At any rate, we made it to the Kauppatori market hall where we indulged in open-faced rye bread sandwiches of crayfish with mayo and fish roe with sour cream (EUR3.00 each), and a big serving of Caesar salad with crayfish. After lunch, we made our way to the tourist info centre on Esplanadi where we bought a tourist ticket for EUR6.80 each. We then took the 3T/3B tram, which is part of the public transport network that has stops close to most, if not all, the major sites. As we did not have much time to hop on and off, we only got off at probably 3 stops. After doing the loop, we made our way back to the market square where we saw a few food stands selling crepes and various types of seafood. We wanted to indulge, but we sadly could not eat any more after the lunch we had. Still, it did not stop us from buying some smoked reindeer meat from the market hall, which we enjoyed later that day in our cabin.

 

Tip: If you buy the tourist ticket, it is good on the tram and bus network. The #16 bus will take you to the centre and back to the pier (Hernesaari). It stops a couple of blocks away from the tourist info centre along Esplanadi, and just outside the pier.

 

Stockholm, Sweden: What a beautiful port! We woke up pretty early (about 4:30 AM) and watched the scenery as we cruised into Stockholm. The scenery reminded us of the inside passage between British Columbia and Alaska.

 

We docked in Frihamnen instead of Stadsgarden, where we were originally supposed to dock. This meant that we were docked farther away from the city centre, and that we had to take the bus because there were no shuttles available. We walked about 7 minutes to the bus stop and take a 15-20 minute bus ride to Gamla Stan. We had originally planned on going to the Vasa museum but decided to skip it due to the short time we had in this port (we needed to be back on board by 3:30, and we lost an hour of sightseeing time because of the change in docks). We instead focused on experiencing this city of islands on foot. Our first stop in the morning was Gamla Stan where we wandered the cobbled streets and narrow alleys and had a slice of cake and coffee to share (cost: 100SEK). We then walked over the bridge to a few of the neighbouring districts. We had a most delicious lunch at a food market in Ostermalm, which seems to be frequented by professionals working in the area. Lunch cost us about SEK350 for a plate of fried herring and mashed potatoes, another plate of pork knuckles and pureed parsnip, and a pint and a half of beer. We also purchased 2 beautiful and decadent pastries from another stall for another SEK 80, and took it back to our cabin to enjoy the next 2 sea days.

 

Yes, Stockholm is an expensive city – even more so than Copenhagen – but I wish we had a little bit more time in this port. I do not know if a lot of people will agree with me, but I would have much preferred to have spent more time in Stockholm and less time in St. Petersburg (possibly have a 10-12 hour day in Stockholm and just have a day and a half in St. Petersburg).

 

Tip: The #76 bus will take you from the dock to Gamla Stan. The Zone 1 fare is SEK 30 one way, which you can buy from the ticket machine (at the bus stop). The machine takes Visa or MasterCard or SEK coins only. Alternatively, you can buy an all day transport pass from the tourist info kiosk at the pier for about SEK100.

 

Disembarkation

We opted for the express disembarkation. We were off the ship at about 8AM, and encountered no problems. We purchased the NCL transfer tor $80USD/person, which got us to Heathrow by around 10:30 AM for a 3PM flight to Lisbon, Portugal. I believe that it was reasonably priced considering that it saved us the inconvenience of having to deal with all the transfers involved in taking the coach or train to Heathrow.

 

Conclusion

We enjoyed our cruise and seeing the places we visited. Would we go back on another cruise to Scandinavia/Russia? Perhaps not, but we would certainly love to explore more of Finland, Sweden, Germany, and maybe even Denmark on our own in the future. The locals we encountered in these countries’ ports were very nice and friendly. I think the peoples’ welcoming attitude coupled with the beautiful scenery and interesting sites in their respective countries all contributed to our wonderful experience and hence our decision to want to go back again some day. Our experience in St. Petersburg, on the other hand, has not convinced us to go back any time soon. Beautiful buildings and large museum collections are merely window dressings; it is the people that really make a place.

 

As for sailing with NCL again, well, I don’t think it will happen any time soon either. We still have a future cruise credit with them, but we may just let it expire. We would rather take a $250 loss than give them any more of our hard-earned cash. We do not feel that we could trust the way this company operates as they have shown us that the organization thrives on a culture of telling half-truths and outright lies. Bottom line: If you can get a balcony cabin for under $1,000 USD inclusive of fees and taxes, then I could say that it is priced fairly. Anything more than that, however, and I think you would be better off going with a different cruise line.

[Giantfan13]

I'm not sure I understand what you did to get off in St Pete. Were you still on the line for the private tours, or did you get on the line for NCL tour people??

What would prevent anyone from getting on the NCL line even if you had a private tour booked?? Would they make you leave that line and start over with the independent line??

[sottovoce]

Since we have been on cruises before, we know not to expect too much from “cruise food”. We expected the food on the Jewel to be on par with that on the Gem and the Sun: middle-of-the-road offerings, much like what one would get from the likes of Sizzler and Country Buffet for the buffet area, and possibly Earls or Applebee’s from the main dining areas. Even with our realistic (or low) expectations, however, we found the food to be sub-standard. I do not know what happened to the quality of NCL’s food since November 2008, but it has gone downhill by a lot. The food was so awful that we could not wait to get off the ship on port days to eat. We went semi-hungry on sea days.

Very interesting. Things must have turned around dramatically on Jewel's May 22 cruise, based on this posting just made on another thread:

 

As for the food, I had lost 12 lbs prior to the cruise in preparation for the 12 day eating frenzy and even though I stuck to the eating light options in most cases and avoided deserts except for a few special occasions I still gained 6 lbs so yes, the food was great! We tried all the restaurants on board and enjoyed them all, we really liked Tango’s and ate there twice.

[njhorseman]

Some observations:

 

St. Petersburg is a difficult port for disembarkation due to Russian visa requirements and reported lack of sufficient immigration officers to handle a ship the size of the Jewel. While NCL shouldn't lie about what's going on, I'm always amazed when people complain about passengers on the ship's tours being allowed off first. Given the problems in that port, what would you expect the cruise line to do, give priority to passengers booked with outside tour operators?

 

I've never seen an NCL main dining room menu that only offered Caesar salad...hard to believe that was the sole offering for this entire cruise. Other than that, food is always a subjective matter. I may like what you don't.

 

 

No NCL cruise ship currently has a self service laundry. The last one open, on the Gem, was closed this past winter when the ship began it's New York cruising season...so the OP would not have been able to do laundry regardless of which ship she was on.

[orchid72]

I'm not sure I understand what you did to get off in St Pete. Were you still on the line for the private tours, or did you get on the line for NCL tour people??

There were no separate lines for NCL tours and for independent tours on our sailing. As far as I could tell, both lines were being used by people on NCL tours - there were only NCL tour people in front of us when we joined the line on deck 4 mid-ship.

 

People on independent tours were not being let off the ship at all with the people on the NCL tours. In fact, the one of the inserts in the Freestyle daily actually asked people on independent tours not to disembark until 9:30.

 

What would prevent anyone from getting on the NCL line even if you had a private tour booked?? Would they make you leave that line and start over with the independent line??

 

Access to the deck 4 mid-ship gangway was blocked for people on independent tours. (I do not know if this was also the case on the deck 4 forward gangway, but I do know that the people on NCL tours were waiting in the stardust theatre, which was on deck 7 forward. Therefore, it would probably be safe to assume that the access to the deck 4 forward gangway would probably not have been blocked or heavily manned.)

 

The stairwell on deck 5 were cordoned off - and manned - by security, who blocked our access to deck 4. When we found out that we were being lied to - it seemed like a mutiny was about to start - we jumped over the barrier, past security and made our way to the deck 4 mid-ship gangway and joined the line for the passengers on NCL tours. One of the cruise director staff tried to say something to us, but we told him they had no right to prevent us from leaving the ship so he just let us go. I have a feeling they knew they can not prevent people from disembarking; otherwise, they would not have had to be so underhanded in dealing with this.

[orchid72]

Very interesting. Things must have turned around dramatically on Jewel's May 22 cruise, based on this posting just made on another thread:

 

As for the food, I had lost 12 lbs prior to the cruise in preparation for the 12 day eating frenzy and even though I stuck to the eating light options in most cases and avoided deserts except for a few special occasions I still gained 6 lbs so yes, the food was great! We tried all the restaurants on board and enjoyed them all, we really liked Tango’s and ate there twice.

 

Well, that is good news then.

 

Like I said, the food on the Gem and the Sun on the previous cruises we have taken were fine, so perhaps the quality is inconsistent. Or perhaps it is safe to say that my opinion of the quality of food is just that: an opinion, which means it is very subjective.

[orchid72]

Some observations:

 

St. Petersburg is a difficult port for disembarkation due to Russian visa requirements and reported lack of sufficient immigration officers to handle a ship the size of the Jewel. While NCL shouldn't lie about what's going on, I'm always amazed when people complain about passengers on the ship's tours being allowed off first. Given the problems in that port, what would you expect the cruise line to do, give priority to passengers booked with outside tour operators?

No, actually, I don't expect that guests on independent tours be given preferential treatment. I just expect that everyone be treated equally. Perhaps I never made that clear on my review. I do not even care about long line ups because that is just a reality these days; I just do not like it when I see one group getting preferential treatment over another.

 

I've never seen an NCL main dining room menu that only offered Caesar salad...hard to believe that was the sole offering for this entire cruise. Other than that, food is always a subjective matter. I may like what you don't.

I did not say that only Caesar salad was the sole offering in the dining room. Of course there were other offerings. However, as far as finding a SALAD offering, the only thing I saw every night was Caesar salad. I would have liked at least the standard house salad. It was just a personal choice because I like to eat a lot of vegetables with every meal hence the decision to eat at the buffet most times.

 

No NCL cruise ship currently has a self service laundry. The last one open, on the Gem, was closed this past winter when the ship began it's New York cruising season...so the OP would not have been able to do laundry regardless of which ship she was on.

Too bad. Not complaining, not whining, but just saying it is too bad.

[njhorseman]

 

I did not say that only Caesar salad was the sole offering in the dining room. Of course there were other offerings. However, as far as finding a SALAD offering, the only thing I saw every night was Caesar salad. I would have liked at least the standard house salad. It was just a personal choice because I like to eat a lot of vegetables with every meal hence the decision to eat at the buffet most times.

 

 

Do you really believe that I thought you meant Caesar salad was the sole offering on the entire dining menu, as opposed to the sole salad? I don't seem that dumb do I? :D

 

Caesar salad is in the "Always Available" section of the menu. The daily selections include at least one other salad selection...or maybe there is at most one night where Caesar salad is also the daily selection...but nothing else for the entire cruise? I'm still not buying into that based on my experience.

[surroundedbyboys]

Orchid- Thank you for taking the time to put together your review! I think those of us who are waiting for our trip are getting a bit discouraged by the many negative reviews being posted about this cruise. (especially the St. Petersburg disembarkation problem) That's why you may get some jabs on some of your comments.

I think it's good to get every view point and it's always interesting to see different opinions from people who are on the same cruise. I would rather go in forewarned than be blindsided. And even knowing there are some "issues" we can go in with a positive attitude.

Thanks again.

[orchid72]

Do you really believe that I thought you meant Caesar salad was the sole offering on the entire dining menu, as opposed to the sole salad? I don't seem that dumb do I? :D

 

Caesar salad is in the "Always Available" section of the menu. The daily selections include at least one other salad selection...or maybe there is at most one night where Caesar salad is also the daily selection...but nothing else for the entire cruise? I'm still not buying into that based on my experience.

 

That is fine if you are not buying it, but I don't stand to gain from making things up, or stretching the truth. I am pretty sure that there were no other fresh salad offerings -as in salad that had lettuce, tomato, cucumber, peppers, with a nice light vinaigrette. There were other appetizers and some other type of "salad" (like a noodle salad, or a tiny bit of frisee with scallop) in the daily selection, but nothing in the way of a nice fresh vegetable house salad. I am pretty particular about eating my fresh vegetables and cooked vegetables so if there had been another fresh salad offering, I am pretty sure I would have noticed. That is why we chose to go to the buffet most nights.

[orchid72]

Orchid- Thank you for taking the time to put together your review! I think those of us who are waiting for our trip are getting a bit discouraged by the many negative reviews being posted about this cruise. (especially the St. Petersburg disembarkation problem) That's why you may get some jabs on some of your comments.

I think it's good to get every view point and it's always interesting to see different opinions from people who are on the same cruise. I would rather go in forewarned than be blindsided. And even knowing there are some "issues" we can go in with a positive attitude.

Thanks again.

 

Thank you very much for your comment; I really appreciate it. I was starting to get discouraged there because all I wanted to do was just provide some info on what we experienced. It was never my intention to flame NCL at all; I just wanted to report on what we thought about our cruise. I know from reading various reviews that there will always be differing opinions on the same cruise (reviews are always subjective), that is why I tried to give a bit of a background about us so that people could see where we are coming from.

[dinoman]

Thank you very much for your comment; I really appreciate it. I was starting to get discouraged there because all I wanted to do was just provide some info on what we experienced. It was never my intention to flame NCL at all; I just wanted to report on what we thought about our cruise. I know from reading various reviews that there will always be differing opinions on the same cruise (reviews are always subjective), that is why I tried to give a bit of a background about us so that people could see where we are coming from.

 

Don't feel discouraged, Orchid. We all are grown-ups with mature minds. I think you did a good job in laying out your comments and reviews of the cruise and it indeed is a valuable piece of information to those of us who are going on the same cruise in the coming months. The main point here is to know what's to expect and be prepared, not to judge or validate someone's personal experience. Bear in mind that is no such thing as 'objective comments'.

Enough said, I am really frustrated in the disembarkation arrangement at St.P, but to be fair, NCL is not the only cruiseline doing this sort of things. There are reviews on other cruiselines in this forum that also complaining on the same issue. I don't know why it has to be done in this way and I really, really hope that the situation will be improved by the time of my visit (which is next month).

[Griller]

Orchid72, you posted:

 

"I just expect that everyone be treated equally. Perhaps I never made that clear on my review. I do not even care about long line ups because that is just a reality these days; I just do not like it when I see one group getting preferential treatment over another."

 

But NCL is perhaps now even more 1st class oriented than say Cunard.

 

If you have Concierge service then you get referential treatment on everything from embarkation to disembarkation, theatre seating, restaurant reservations, all sorts of stuff.

 

If you live on Deck 14 then you have another swimming pool to use which the other passsengers are not allowed to use.

 

Its just a fact of life, they pay NCL more so they get preferential treatment. Just like in 1st class on a plane. Or does that worry you too?

 

Just like the NCL tour folk have paid NCL for the tour, so get preferential treatment over those who have not. Is it so wrong?

 

Don't most businesses look after their own customers first?

 

Maybe I don't understand your point?

[markincanada]

But we are a customer on their ship. I am scheduled to go on this cruise in one month and am very concerned about the treatment of passengers that has been described by virtually every review about this cruise. All the items you described are clearly stated in their website our materials. Having arranged our tour independently - because ship tours are generally poor in content and expensive - and to find out now this is how they are treating passengers is very troubling. Being dishonest is wrong.

[njhorseman]

That is fine if you are not buying it, but I don't stand to gain from making things up, or stretching the truth. I am pretty sure that there were no other fresh salad offerings -as in salad that had lettuce, tomato, cucumber, peppers, with a nice light vinaigrette. There were other appetizers and some other type of "salad" (like a noodle salad, or a tiny bit of frisee with scallop) in the daily selection, but nothing in the way of a nice fresh vegetable house salad. I am pretty particular about eating my fresh vegetables and cooked vegetables so if there had been another fresh salad offering, I am pretty sure I would have noticed. That is why we chose to go to the buffet most nights.

 

 

We often ask for things that aren't on the menu and usually NCL will do its best to satisfy the request if it can. If you're in that situation again, ask for a plain sald with lettuce, tomato, etc. and I'm pretty sure you'll get it.

[Griller]

But we are a customer on their ship. I am scheduled to go on this cruise in one month and am very concerned about the treatment of passengers that has been described by virtually every review about this cruise. All the items you described are clearly stated in their website our materials. Having arranged our tour independently - because ship tours are generally poor in content and expensive - and to find out now this is how they are treating passengers is very troubling. Being dishonest is wrong.

 

look - I was on that cruise - there was an immigration problem one morning -new rules were in force - no problems on the second morning.

 

Russian immigration is always a problem, you have to accept it.Now NCL fill in these new forms for the passengers,thats what caused the holdup that one day, dumb passengers not filling the forms in correctly.

 

I doubt you will have a problem on your cruise, so just look forward to a great time.

[orchid72]

Orchid72, you posted:

 

"I just expect that everyone be treated equally. Perhaps I never made that clear on my review. I do not even care about long line ups because that is just a reality these days; I just do not like it when I see one group getting preferential treatment over another."

 

But NCL is perhaps now even more 1st class oriented than say Cunard.

 

If you have Concierge service then you get referential treatment on everything from embarkation to disembarkation, theatre seating, restaurant reservations, all sorts of stuff.

 

If you live on Deck 14 then you have another swimming pool to use which the other passsengers are not allowed to use.

 

Its just a fact of life, they pay NCL more so they get preferential treatment. Just like in 1st class on a plane. Or does that worry you too?

 

Just like the NCL tour folk have paid NCL for the tour, so get preferential treatment over those who have not. Is it so wrong?

 

Don't most businesses look after their own customers first?

 

Maybe I don't understand your point?

 

I don't know if you read my whole review or not, but let's just assume you did not, therefore this response was taken out of context. I was not just concerned about the way people on independent tours were held back from disembarking the ship; I was upset at how we were told outright lies. I understand that, sadly, some businesses now operate on a culture of half-truths, but I do not accept, and will not accept, being treated like a moron. Did they honestly think that we won't find out that what they were saying was not true? On the other hand, had they been honest and told people on independent tours that they will not allow them off the ship until those on NCL tours have been cleared, do you think that they would have received a favourable response? Perhaps not because people do not want to feel like they are being discriminated against when they all paid to be on the same cruise.

 

Yes, I do understand that when someone pays a premium, then they should get extra service - not preferential treatment, but extra service. Therefore - and I will use your example about the airline - I don't think, that just because someone paid an economy fare on a plane that he/she should be told lies by airline staff and that someone who paid for business/first class should be told the truth. Following this line of thinking, therefore, then I will say this: perhaps NCL should think about marketing their tours as providing an extra service --- "be on our tour and you can be off the ship first". At least then, they are being transparent. Just like the airlines.

[orchid72]

But we are a customer on their ship. I am scheduled to go on this cruise in one month and am very concerned about the treatment of passengers that has been described by virtually every review about this cruise. All the items you described are clearly stated in their website our materials. Having arranged our tour independently - because ship tours are generally poor in content and expensive - and to find out now this is how they are treating passengers is very troubling. Being dishonest is wrong.

 

I am sorry that this is concerning you, and it was never my intention to alarm people. My intention was to just provide info to people and they can do what they want with it.

 

I do hope what I am about to say will at least give you some peace of mind. I knew about issues concerning disembarkation in Russia before going on the cruise. I read the board here on CC, and consulted various other resources and knew what our rights were, that NCL was probably not going to making any announcements about disembarkation, and that disembarkation in Russia would be, let's just say, "controversial" (what I did not know, though, was that we were going to be lied to). That is why we made our way down to the gangway as early as possible, and demanded to be let off the ship. To be forewarned, is to be forearmed, as they say, and it paid off for us.

 

And if it is any consolation, and if what I understood what I read on some of the reviews of the May 22 sailing, I think NCL has changed their disembarkation procedures and are now letting passengers on independent tours off at the same time as those on NCL tours (there are now 2 separate lines - I guess they do listen to their passengers' suggestions so that is comforting). There is a caveat, though. I think even though there are now 2 separate lines, the NCL line will eventually fork out to 3 immigration booths, but the independent line will only go to one. Maybe I'm wrong, but that is what I understood it to be.

 

Now that you have been armed with information, I do hope that you can use it to plan your "strategy" accordingly. And I sincerely wish that you have a good cruise.

[orchid72]

We often ask for things that aren't on the menu and usually NCL will do its best to satisfy the request if it can. If you're in that situation again, ask for a plain sald with lettuce, tomato, etc. and I'm pretty sure you'll get it.

 

 

Thanks for the tip. I will remember that for next time. I just didn't think that was something we could do because we would feel bad about getting someone to get me something that I could get myself (one night, we actually went to the buffet first to have some salad then went to the dining room to eat our dinner). Again, thanks for the tip.

[Almagetty]

Thanks, Orchid, for your review. As you said, forewarned is forearmed. I am encouraged by Guide Diva's (she's an official tour guide in St. Petersburg that posts in the Baltic ports of call area) most recent posts indicating that the debarkation situation in St. Petersburg has gotten significantly better in the past week. It looks like Russia's immigration officials are opening up more lines at debarkation. From reviews posted of the May 22 sailing of the Jewel, it also looks like NCL has done some things on their end to try and improve the situation. Because of this latest information, I'm now cautiously optimistic about what we'll find when leaving the ship in Russia.

 

I've also jotted down some of your tips for the other ports. Thanks for those!

 

We leave tomorrow to London and are very much looking forward to our trip aboard the Norwegian Jewel.

[petesweet]

Several comments about this review.

 

1. We took this same cruise in May 2008. We also had a problem with norovirus. Does the Jewel seem to experience this more than other ships? I hope not, since we are going on her to New England this fall. I've read several comments about noro on the Jewel, but I'll have to qualify this perception by stating that I don't usually read reviews unless I am scheduled to go on that particular ship.

 

2. The St. Petersburg tours offered by NCL are VERY POOR compared to what you can get with Denrus, Red October, or Alla (and I think there is another operator I can't think of). The cost is very high for what you get. When you have only two days to see so much history, it seems a shame to take the NCL tour that takes you to perhaps two sights.

 

When we were there, we were able to get off the ship before most other people just by being first in line. Apparently NCL is making it very difficult for those on private excursions. That's a shame.

 

Kathy

[Deckhandoug]

We were on this cruise and I also noted the lack of salads being offered in the MDR. I happen to like a "regular" garden salad to start my meal, and the salad choices were very limited if at all.

 

I also feel the food was hit or miss, at one time in Le Bistro the chicken breast stuffed with foie gras was one of the best entrees I've ever had and my wife's cardinal of the seas delicious, the other time we ate there her salmon dry and overcooked and my beef unpalatable to me. Mamas kitchen was very good. I'm beginning to think they are making the MDR food bad to encourage everyone to eat in the specialty restaurants. We also felt the buffet offerings were poor, except for fruits, cheeses, breads and desserts.

 

The good thing is the cruise price is so cheap and you usually get enough OBC you can afford to eat in the specialty restaurants.

 

We didn't care for the spacing of the ports and sea days, we had two ports on Sundays and then two sea days back to back on the return to Dover, and yes, NCL could do it differently, just check out some other cruise lines itineraries for examples. We were originally booked on carnival for this cruise, but when they pulled out of the Baltic we ended up on NCL.

 

St. Pete disembark was a challenge, we had a independent tour, but because of our staterooms location we ended up in the NCL tour line, we were right at the beginning of disembarkation, as we approached customs there was indeed 3 lines for NCL and 1 line for independent tours and some NCL people tried to jump to the independent line but were stopped by NCL.

We of course announced we were independent and jumped line, putting us first in the independent line. I wouldn't have gotten out of the NCL line if they had asked me to however, the Russians don't care and it's their show.

NCL is trying to make the best of the situation for everyone, keep in mind that there are 3 times as many people taking NCL excursions as there are independents at least, we had to wait a little while for one couple to join our tour and when we did leave the lines for NCL and independents were just about even, so everyone just keep your cool, realize there is nothing that can be done and wait your turn, it's all good!:)

 

We found all the ports to be great, we toured Berlin with SPB and St. Pete with Alla and they were both terrific, our tour mates were great and as usual we had a great cruise!

 

Personally, NCL is not our favorite line, but we will certainly consider them again if the price and itinerary is right.

 

Sorry if I hijacked your thread

[AllAboard]

Do you really believe that I thought you meant Caesar salad was the sole offering on the entire dining menu, as opposed to the sole salad? I don't seem that dumb do I? :D

 

Caesar salad is in the "Always Available" section of the menu. The daily selections include at least one other salad selection...or maybe there is at most one night where Caesar salad is also the daily selection...but nothing else for the entire cruise? I'm still not buying into that based on my experience.

 

Actually, I feel I must backup what Orchid is saying. I was on this cruise, and we at in Tsar probably 8 or 9 times for dinner during our recent cruise. I am a big salad fan, and would have loved to have a "regular salad" of some sort. I looked for it every evening. But, in the 8 or 9 times we ate dinner there, one was never offered. Of course, they had other salad offerings such as mozzarella and tomato, or zuccini in vinagrette, or other various "salads." But if someone (such as myself) wanted something like a lettuce salad, or mixed salad greens, or anything remotely close to that, the caesar salad was the only thing offered. (Unfortunately, I don't like anchovies, so I had to pass on the caesar.) I agree, it sounds odd and perhaps unbelievable. But, it's the truth. No standard salad of any type on any of the 8 or 9 nights we ate in the MDR.

 

Lauren

[ralphedel]

My wife and I had a very nice time on the Jewel's May 22 Baltic cruise. We both found the food and service to be fine and thought the service was above average as well. This is our 4th cruise so we can't compare this cruise with many others as some have done but we were satisfied overall.

 

We took the less-strenuous NCL tours in each port and found them very informative although some required more walking than we expected and stressed our problematic knees.

 

As stated by another, our balcony cabin's bathroom also had a sewer odor once in a while which I mentioned to the front desk a few times but it was never rectified. Might be a design problem and not fixable.

 

Both boarding and disembarking went smoothly because we weren't in a big rush.

 

The weather was fantastic which made everything much nicer. Lots of interesting sights and people. Worth the $$ and effort IOHO.

[cruise4usnow]

Orchid 72 - if you really do not desire to use your reward cert - my daughter who has been diagnosed with a serious condition has a wish to go on a cruise in Oct from Los Angeles. thanks cruiseplan10@gmail.com