Norwegian Jewel Review

4.0 / 5.0
2,355 reviews

SERVICE IS LACKING- ESPECIALLY WITH THE BAR SERVICE

Review for the Caribbean Cruise on Norwegian Jewel
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jeo2
10+ Cruises • Age 70s

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Additional details

Sail Date: Apr 2015
Cabin: Mini-Suite with Balcony
Traveled with children

This is probably our 20th cruise. This is our first Norwegian Cruise Line trip. We bought the all inclusive package with tips included. Our room was nice and the room steward was nice- but average. Our waiters at dinner where pretty good but we ate at the fine dining restaurants every night. My big concern was the archaic system for paying (which ironically, we did not have to pay because we bought the all in or all inclusive package). We were told it was for record keeping. There seemed to be limited staff to get you drinks and then there system for paying took close to another ten minutes. One time at a pool bar, it took over 20 minutes to order a drink and another significant period of time for the payment process to occur. They took your cruise card, used it through an old time card reader. Printed a receipt, then brought you the receipt and had you sign it. Yet getting on and off the ship was quick and they keep pretty good records just electronically. The casino had card readers that the bar staff carried around. One night at the Spinnaker Bar where I was the only one at the bar, the bartender was taking a pictures of what looked like an officer (at least he had that type of uniform). So I waited. When he finally got to me, he told me the bar service staff would bring me the drink. I looked over at the only staff member present, and now he was taking pictures of his officer friend. I had always though the customer comes first. This obviously is not the case with the bar staff. I felt that whoever is in charge is at fault. The staff seems to be poorly trained, yet often there were working as fast as they could, there system created a good part of the back log, and this detracted from our experience. I have sailed with Carnival, Princess, RCL, Windstar, Regent and Uniworld prior to NCL. We even sailed with Renaissance which is not longer in business. I doubt we will cruise again with NCL again. Most the service was average except for the bar service which was poor.

Cabin Review

Mini-Suite with Balcony

Cabin MX

The cabin was actually a strong point.

Port Reviews

Houston

I did not explore or do any excursion in Houston. We landed, went to a Hotel. Got up the next morning and went to the cruise ship. When we returned we went directly to the airport.

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