[ Cruise Reviews ]  [ Port Reviews ] [ Cruise Chat ]  [ Cruise Links ]  [ News ]

NCL
Jewel
Canada/New England

Jerry

Age: 60
Occupation: Retired
Number of Cruises: 29
Sailing Date: September 29th, 2005

The Jewel is the newest ship in NCL’s fleet. The ship is beautiful and well run with an experienced friendly crew. For anyone who has sailed on the Dawn the layout of the Jewel is very similar.

We sailed the Canada/New England itinerary for the past 4 autumns on different cruise lines but enjoyed sailing on the Jewel and the 11 day cruise even more than the standard 7 day cruise that does a NYC roundtrip.

EMBARKATION
Since the Jewel was the only ship in on September 29 (Thursday) embarkation was easy and quick. A pleasant surprise for us was that our room had been upgraded to Penthouse status. We soon found out the advantages of being in a penthouse; butler, plasma screen television and concierge service, chocolate dipped strawberries, doorbell, I think you get the picture.

ITINERARY

Boston
The Canada/New England itinerary is fairly standard for most of the cruise lines. By departing on Thursday we docked in Boston on Friday when everything is open. The last several times we did this itinerary we docked in Boston on Sunday when most stores etc. are closed. There is a lot to do in Boston but you do need to take some form of transport from the pier, it is too far to walk into town. Cabs and transport buses are available at the pier.

Bar Harbor
You need to tender in from the ship at Bar Harbor. The town is an easy walk with many shops, stores and restaurants to visit. There are beautiful areas to just sit and people watch or visit the park up the hill from where the tender leaves you off to view the ocean, ships and New England scenery.

Halifax
This Canadian city is a port of call for all cruise ships. You can easily walk into town along the boardwalk for sightseeing or shopping. There is even a casino downtown for anyone who has not lost enough in the ship’s casino.

If you are interested in renting a taxi for some sight seeing there are plenty on the pier. One word of warning, be sure you negotiate price in Canadian or US $, how long you wish to engage the service and is the price for the cab or per person. One group we knew had a bad experience with one driver who rents a stretch white limo (the only one at the pier). He scammed them into paying several hundred dollars more than agreed to for an afternoon’s rental because of what he said was their misunderstanding of his price quote.

Quebec City
Depending where you dock you may have to use the bus shuttle to drop you off in Old Quebec and bring you back to the ship. Quebec is a beautiful city with many interesting sights and lots of history. There are many cafés and stores to visit. Read up on the sites before leaving the ship so that you see the things you may want to see, but didn’t know were there.

Cruising the Saguenay River
This is part of the trip which I found quite interesting and beautiful. The ship had a person tell us about the river’s history, the native peoples and the geology of the area as we sailed up then back down the Saguenay.

Sydney
This is a port where you can easily walk into the town. On days when the ships are in there are local vendors at the pier and near town who offer their crafts for sail. The town is not large with limited things to see and do, but charming nevertheless.

Saint John
Saint John is another small Canadian town that is within easy walking distance from the pier. It is bigger than Sydney with more to see and do. There is an interesting cemetery at the top of the hill that also doubles as a beautiful park.

THE SHIP
We experienced excellent food in all the restaurants we ate in, and we ate in them all! I’m amazed that the quality of the food, as well as the variety, is so well maintained and with such consistency. Mama’s Italian Kitchen and Teppanyki (Japanese) were VERY popular so plan to make your reservations well in advanced. The sushi bar was a personal favorite of mine. Who can beat all you eat sushi lunch for $5? There are monitors near the restaurants that show how busy the restaurants are around the ship—great idea. You can be at one and see that others are less crowded.

There are not buffet lines on the Jewel. The set up is to place large oval stations that provide for such things as a salad station, entrée station, dessert station etc. It works very well and there is never a long line to contend with when going to dine at the Garden Café.

There are launderettes for the passengers (which strangely were not shown or advertised in the original maps). This is an important feature, especially for passengers on longer cruises.

The casino is large and full of the newest slot machines.

The entertainment was excellent throughout the cruise with one criticism about the singing and music at the shows; louder does not make it better, it makes it louder.

FreeStyle Cruising is an NCL trademark and I enjoy it a great deal. You eat when you want in resort casual attire.

The crew was absolutely wonderful. Everyone we dealt with was pleasant and helpful. We recognized crew members (and they recognized us) from other NCL ships we sailed on this year.

This was a great cruise experience for us on so many levels.
 

Ask a Question About NCL, Norwegian Cruise Lines