The focus for this review (and our primary criteria for a cruise in general) is on food, excursions, accommodations, amenities, and the children's center (for our three-year-old). Overall we did not enjoy our Norwegian Jewel cruise as much as we enjoyed our Carnival Valor cruise in January 2005. We had a good time in general but our next cruise will be with Princess or Carnival.
Kid's Center The kid's center room was a good bit smaller than the one on the Carnival Valor. The 3-5 year-olds were confined to the smaller cinema room for much of the 3-hour play periods, with only 30 minutes in the main room where the jungle gym is. During each day there were three 3-hour periods for the kids, with all age groups using the same time block (which didn't make sense to me.) Unlike the Carnival Valor, there were no toys. The children's staff seemed fine. One of the caregivers was Jazzy Jeff who was an interesting fellow. He was very energetic with the children, but I think much of this was a bit staged; his behavior changed when parents approached. He also was extremely rude to us for some reason, even ignoring my wife standing next to him for several minutes. Overall he and the other caregiver did a good job, taking the kids on parade on the Promenade Deck, having photos made of the class, and taking them to see the Cirque du Soleil-type show in the theatre. I would not dare to do that with two preschoolers without leashes and sedatives, let alone 12 children. We don't have an older child but each time we went past their area they looked mighty bored. One of their supervisors was a middle-aged man who reminded me of a high school counselor. Don't think I'd enjoy that either. And why the older kids occupied the room with the jungle gym, thus preventing its use for the 3-5 year olds, is beyond me.
Accommodations We stayed midship on deck 11. This was key since the seas were mighty rough for the first few days. One cruiser said the only rougher night they had was near a hurricane. Fortunately, those who are midship feel less motion so my motion-sick-prone wife didn't have any issues at all (although she wore those wrist things). Apparently it was an issue for others, as noted by the sickbags placed in every elevator bay. I guess elevators weren't the only things coming up. Our room stewards were better than the ones we had on Carnival, and they did a really nice job, especially bearing with us being confined to quarters the second half of the cruise tending to a sick 3-year-old.