My wife and I took this cruise for our anniversary. This was our sixth cruise and the fifth one with NCL. We drove to Miami so our embarkation and debarkation was based on driving to the port.

Once we dropped off our luggage, found a parking spot, and made our way to the processing stations everything went fine. Traffic at the Port of Miami is a nightmare on Sundays so be prepared for quick tempers, blaring horns, and cars fighting to get in and out of the pickup/drop-off areas. They had special lines for the Latitudes members (previous passengers) and sent us to a reserved area after the processing and before embarkation. We were through and on the ship within 45 minutes.

The ship looks and feels new. Although the cruise had 2400 passengers you never felt part of a large crowd and the Jewel is laid out extremely well. We had a balcony cabin and are now spoiled from our usual outside cabins. The cabin steward and his assistant were efficient and we rarely saw them. Read more