We flew into Ft. Lauderdale and NCL greeted us at baggage claim. We got our luggage and waited about 15 min. for the bus to arrive. Once it did there was lots of pushing, there were no lines, or organization. People were pushing to get on the bus. It was crazy! We got on and headed towards the pier. Bus trip took about 1 hour and 10 mins. We arrived at the pier at 2:50 pm, no lines, no waiting. Once on board we had our safety drill at 3:30 prior to sailing which was great because we could get this out of the way and enjoy the sail away time. Our muster station was in Le Bistro, it was very comfortable. Our luggage arrived by 6:00 when we arrived back in our cabin from exploring the ship. While we were exploring we stopped by Tappanyaki restaurant and were able to make reservations for that night.Last year on the Jewel we were unable to get into Tappenyaki so I do recommend inquiring as soon as you board for this restaurant. We found the food there to be excellent as was the "show".

All of our breakfasts we had at the Garden Cafe, super selections and be sure to find the specialty coffee machines right before the kids dining section, espresso, cappuccino etc... available.We had lunch there too everyday except on Friday when we got back from Tortola and decided to try Summers Palace. Lunch there was relaxing and elegant we were lucky enough to get a table near the windows in the back.

Dinners: We went to Cagneys twice, both times we took advantage of the 1/2 price dinner specials 5:30-6:30. Order the Cagney fries as an appetizer, incredible!!!I also tried the tomato and onion salad, filet mignon and mashed potato. I ordered a bottle of wine which we did not finish, they held the bottle for me and I finished it the next night at Summers Palace. We really enjoyed our time in Cagneys. The second time we went back we had the same waitstaff, they remembered our likes/dislikes and again we had another wonderful dinner. We ate in Summers Palace twice for dinner and Indigos once. we liked Summers better but the food and service was excellent in both.We ate at Mambos one night and had the Il Popo, it is hard to describe, grilled meat and veggies on a cast iron skewer device,sounds weird but tastes YUMMY!! During the day Mambos is the Blue lagoon cafe which serves comfort pub type food. We went there twice again good food, and good service. The second time we went there we were all starving and had late dinner reservations at La Cucina that night so we ate alot! Our waiter was very kind and served us with out judgement :) We got it all from chicken fingers to mac and cheese!Blue Lagoon is open 24 hours if for whatever reason you want to eat at midnight head to the Blue Lagoon.La cucina was the hardest restaurant for us to get a reservation at, we did manage to get one at 9:00pm. They offer wine specials, although we did not get it the price was very reasonable, about $17.00 a bottle I think. We had a lovely antipasto salad. I ordered the sausage and pepper parm. I ordered it with a side dish of spaghetti. Good think I did it was very small. With the spaghetti and the salad I felt very satisfied but without the spaghetti I think I would have been disappointed. My husband loved his seafood pizza,and my friend commented that her cabanara was far better than the dish she got in Indigos. The service seemed a bit slow, but it was relaxing. Read more