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Norwegian Cruise Line
NCL Jewel Cruise Review
Western Caribbean

Bob Erickson
Age: 64
Occupation: Retired
Number of Cruises: 8 Sailing Date should be January 1, 2006
Sailing Date: January 1st, 2006

The Norwegian Jewel is a Jewel is a Jewel. She is big but not grotesque, beautiful but not gaudy and rides smooth as silk. We booked the cruise on Wednesday, December 28 and sailed on January 1. We hadn’t planned on a cruise because we are going on the Norwegian Star to Alaska in June, but Hobbit Travel in Minneapolis had the cruise and outside cabin (with airfare) for $499.00 and we couldn’t pass it up. Arrived in Miami and was bussed to the pier. Being Latitudes Members, we thought we would get right thru the Latitudes Member line, but found out it was faster to go thru the regular lines…..too many repeat Norwegian customers I guess.

The ship left out of Miami to the ports of San Juan, Puerto Rico, Antigua, St. Thomas and Great Stirrup Cay……The night before arriving at the Cay, the captain announced that because of rough seas, we would be going to Nassau instead….since we aren’t beach people, this was a very pleasant surprise……lots and lots of shopping…..

The wait staff, stewards, stewardesses, maintenance, bar people, entertainers, officers and office personal couldn’t have been more helpful in making this a great vacation. Since the tips are already built into the fare, you would expect the quality of service to drop…we’ve never found this to be true on any of our cruises with NCL.

Our room was on the 5th deck, which is what you get for a last minute cruise. We did get a big picture window though. The room was very nice with lots of storage, even under the bed. The bathroom was a very pleasant surprise. A REAL shower with a sliding glass door and a glass door to close off the toilet. Still not as nice as home, but a BIG improvement. Our room was under a hallway of deck 6, and there was noise overhead when the kids were running back and forth but sleeping wasn’t much of a problem.

This was our 8th cruise on Norwegian and turned out to be the best ever. I know Freestyle Cruising isn’t for everyone, but it is for us. We did dress up on Formal Night, but only because I had a new Sports Coat to wear. We ate most of our meals in the Tsar’s Palace which was decorated for the holidays and had a very festive atmosphere. Most of the meals there were outstanding. The only meal that fell below par was on Lobster Night…..it was small, mushy and no taste….but that was the only bad meal we had. We did eat in the Azura restaurant which had the same menu but was rather plain in it’s décor. The Garden Café was designed very well to move people from station to station. The food was always hot and there was a wide choice of good things to eat. Ice cream was available at anytime but with lots of kids on board, the machines were empty many times, but were refilled as soon as it was noticed.

The entertainment was some of the best we’ve enjoyed on any cruise. The Big Time Quartet was our favorite mostly because we could recognize what they were playing and singing. The Jean Ann Ryan Company put on Cirque Bijou, which we thought was one of the best shows we have ever seen on shipboard. It was mystical, acrobatic and full of high energy. It was a delight.

We have been to all of the ports before, so we only did a walk around (and of course more shopping) on most of the islands. I went on the Fabulous Fort tour in Antigua…..not so fabulous, but it was a great way to see the island and hear about some of it’s history.

Over all opinion of the Jewel is GREAT. The ship, the décor, the service and the people are what make it so. With two new ships coming out soon, the Opal and the Pearl, I can only hope they fall into the same category of service that the Jewel has. Thank You NCL for bringing in our New Year at such a high level. We will definitely be back.

 

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