My family went on our very first cruise for spring break. I chose the Norwegian Jewel because they were the cheapest at the time I booked the cruise and my husband refused to go on a Carnival, which also ruled out Princess since they are owned by Carnival. Check in was not a problem and was faster than what I expected from reading older reviews, we left from Houston. The parking was little high at $75 prepaid. We brought 2 cases of water and 2 cases of diet Dr Pepper (we don't like Pepsi products). Anyway, our cabins (we booked 2 because it was cheaper than booking one with all four of us in it) were very clean and the staff was wonderful. The rooms were very quite and we slept better on the ship than at home. We really enjoyed the freestyle cruising because with 2 kids we didn't have to plan around eating. I didn't see that many drunk people except on the first day and everyone seemed very friendly. My 8 year old loved the kids program and my 12 year old thought she was too cool for it (she thinks she is too cool for everything). It didn't take long to navigate around the ship. The workout facilities were ok and I went onto one of the sunning decks to do some exercises (squats, situps etc it was one of the less used ones and no one was there in the mornings). The jogging track was ok and not too crowed. They said the ship was full, however there were many times it didn't fill full at all and certain places on the ship during depending on the time of day were empty.

Destinations:

We enjoyed Cozumel, we went on the 3 reef snorkeling. However, it was a bit too much for my 8 year old. Read more