My husband (38), daughter (7) and I (35) booked the Jewel out of NY for our first cruise. We went with my husband's aunt and cousin (20). Read various reviews leading up to the trip, if you go in with no expectations and a desire to have a good time, you'll have a great trip.

GETTING TO THE SHIP: We drove from NH to NY the morning of the trip. We left at 6am and got to the terminal by 1030am. Parked ($245 for the week) and they were already letting you through security. We went through, checked in, were called almost immediately. We were sitting in Tsar's by noon.

FOOD: I tried to avoid the buffet, but I know my husband went a few times with my daughter. He got sick on Sunday night, but we can't decide if it was from the buffet, the motion (rough seas that day), or a combination of the two. (He feels it was the food - he's a boat owner and we've done lots of event cruises and he's never been sick. But we'll never know.) They did have a big selection, though. I think I had one lunch and one breakfast there all week. No complaints. The ice cream toppings kind of skeeved me out, though. Watching a little girl in front of us take sprinkles with her hand, pat them on her ice cream and have them fall back into the public bowl .. needless to say, we skipped toppings. ROOM SERVICE desserts were great (the strawberry pound cake was my favorite!) Breakfast delivered in the morning (continental) was easy and we used it as a way of waking up 2 or 3 times. BLUE LAGOON was another favorite .. the wings, fish and chips, panini, all good. No complaints there. AZURA was beautifully modern and TSAR'S was bright and had a great aft view. The POOLSIDE BUFFET got a lot of our time. It was nice to have snacks and meal options right there when our daughter didn't want to leave the waterslide or kids' hot tub. Read more