NCL - Norwegian Cruise Line
Norwegian Jewel Cruise Review
 Eastern Caribbean

Don McFarlane

I'm not one to do this sort of thing, but I was reading some of the negative reviews regarding the Jewel and the poor customer service people claimed to have encountered and felt I needed to put my two cents worth in. We have travel with NCL on 5 previous occasions and have always felt that the service has been outstanding. Our most recent trip on the Jewel was no exception. The ship itself is stunning. The public areas are well decorated, the variety of restaurants is unrivalled, the food was excellent, and the customer service was fantastic. We were travelling with my brother, his wife and their two year old son and the staff always made a point of fussing over him and giving him lots of attention. My wife went to the spa for an afternoon on one of our sea days and told me she absolutely loved.

We liked each of the ports of call, but would suggest that if you were planning to go on any of beach outings that you simply grab a cab and save yourself some money.

The Garden Café, which is the buffet meal area, has a number of different stations for a variety of foods. Keep in mind that it is a buffet and as such, bulk food. The hot food wasn’t that hot but that is fairly normal for a buffet. This was not a big concern for us because we were generally getting fruit and either muffins or Danishes with juice and coffee at breakfast. At lunch we often would just go to the sandwich station and have a fresh sandwich made to go with a salad or fruit.

The prices from the bar are fair. The drink of the day does cost more, but it is bigger than your standard drink and you keep the glass. If I remember correctly a beer was about $3.50-$3.75 and a sofa drink was $1.50. I would suggest getting the weeklong pop card if you think you would be having a few soft drinks. The prices for the mini-bar are the same as elsewhere on the ship. We pre-ordered a couple of bottles of wine for our room and that worked out very well and would suggest to others.

For whatever reason when you drink the bottled water or pop that is part of the mini-bar the cabin stewards do not restock the item, you need to call to have more delivered.

All in all we thoroughly enjoyed the cruise, the ship, and all of the crew. We are looking forward to being with NCL and on the Jewel again in September when we cruise the Eastern Mediterranean.