Norwegian Jewel Cruise Review by CTCruisers

Day 1 - Embarkation

We live in south central Connecticut, so we decided to drive to the New York cruise terminal. After an hour and a half drive, we arrived at the terminal at 12:30 pm. We had expected a madhouse of traffic as there were three cruise ships at the terminal (Saga Ruby, Carnival Triumph, and the Jewel). To our pleasant surprise, there was very little traffic and people at the curbside of the terminals. By 1:00 pm, we had parked our car at the terminal ($300 for the 10 days) and were in the terminal for the embarkation process.

When we walked into the terminal, there was a short line for security before lining up for the sign-in process. We just walked up to a clerk in the gold and platinum Latitudes line, received our docs and keycards, and walked onto the ship in less than 20 minutes. We tried to head up to our cabin on deck ten to drop off our carry-ons (which always includes a change of clothes in case our other bags arrive late). It was an inside cabin (room 10105) which was midship. But, as we got to our deck, the doors to the hallways leading to the cabins were closed and we heard announcements that all cabins would not be available until 2:00 pm. We just headed up top-side to get a quick lunch before coming back to our room after it was cleared by 1:45 pm. We then went to the muster drill at our assigned station in the Tango’s restaurant. After the drill, we went back to our room to find that our luggage had arrived, so we quickly un-packed before the sailaway.

Sailaway in NYC is always special as we sail past the Statue of Liberty. They had a band playing great tunes for the sailaway by the pools topside. They stopped playing so they could blast “Proud to be an American” as we sailed by Lady Liberty. Then, to officially start the cruise, the ship passed under the Verranzano Bridge (I ran across this bridge in the two NY Marathons I have run there) and let out a big blast of her horn.

The show for the evening was the “Kick-Off Showtime” show in the Stardust Theater. The Stardust Theater has a variety of seating and most have good views. The show was hosted by the Cruise director, Darin Wyman who did a good job of welcoming us and introducing a comedian, Tim Kaminski whose show was very funny.

After the show, we went to the Spinnaker Lounge for the Super 70’s disco party.

Day 2 – Boston Massachusetts

Living in New England, we have been to Boston several times. The weather was a brisk 60F and mostly sunny. We took our time getting up and having breakfast before heading off the ship at the Black Falcon ship terminal. The Crown Princess and the carnival Triumph were in port as well that day. We decided to use the shuttles provided by NCL to get to the Faneuil Hall area of Boston for a short walk. They charged $16 per person for a round trip although we talked to some passengers later on who said that cabs were about $10 each way to the same area. We did a short walk about the Quincy market area stopping by the old burying grounds to see the graves of Paul Revere and John Hancock before we took the shuttle back to the ship. Once back on the ship we took advantage of the heated pools and hot tubs topside before going to dinner. We had looked into buying spa passes to use the indoor hot tubs, but they are segregated for men and women, so we could not hang out together. At least with the cool weather, there weren’t any chair hogs around the pools. The evening’s entertainment in the Stardust was a ventriloquist named Kenny Byrd. He was a very talented ventriloquist, although his act tended to drag on. After the show, we went up to the Spinnaker Lounge to see the “Newlywed, not so newlywed” game show which is always funny. The participants were very good.

Day 3 – Day at Sea

The seas were relatively calm for day at sea on the way to Halifax. There were spotty showers and temps in the 40’sF, but windy. The main show in the Stardust was a Jean Ann Ryan production called “Band on the Run”. The show was a tribute to the music and dancing of the 1970’s (although I do not remember Styx being such a strong force back then. lol). The singers and dancers did a great job with the show. Later on, Kenny Byrd did a show in the Spinnaker lounge and they had Monte Carlo night in the casino. Day 4 – Halifax, Nova Scotia

It was a cloudy day in the low 40’s when arrived in Halifax early in the morning. There was the Crystal Symphony cruise ship at the same terminal. We had a late breakfast before heading off the ship. We had decided to stay in the city and explore the Citadel at the top of the hill overlooking the city and port. There is a free city bus called “FRED” that stops by the cruise terminal every 40 minutes and circles the main parts of the city. When we went to catch FRED, there was a long line so we could not get on. We then just walked up to the Citadel from the ship. It took a half hour to get there and the FRED bus just beat us there. I had wanted to get to the fort before noon to see the firing of the noon cannon which we were able to see in action. The fort has volunteers dressed as soldiers from the 1800’s manning the sentry posts and cannon. There were tours provided for anyone interested. We did visit the Army museum at the Citadel. As we left the Citadel, it started to rain lightly. We walked down the hill to visit St. Mary’s Cathedral. Once we left there, it started to rain much harder so we decided to go back to the ship. We did pass by Alexander Keith’s brewery, but we just walked by it to get back to the ship and dry clothes. They had several vendors inside the cruise terminal.

For the main show, Jane Powell gave a terrific performance in the Stardust. She is a very good singer covering a lot of musical styles and is very funny too.

In the Spinnaker later that night, they had a “Dancing with the Jewel Stars” contest which was very entertaining. The assistant CD, Que won the contest with her guest. It was amazing no one got hurt with all the bodies being lifted and twirled.

Day 5 – Day at Sea

It was a cloudy day with temps in the low 40’s F and very windy. The seas were still calm though.

They had a Jazz brunch in Le Bistro from 10:00 am to noon that day for a fee of $15 per person.

We went on a guided tour of the ship’s kitchen, bridge, and the back stage of the theater. It was very interesting to see the food being prepared and where it is stored. Captain Idar Hoydal, himself gave the bridge tour after which we posed with him for a picture. (Captain Idar could be a body double for Mick Fleetwood, the drummer of Fleetwood Mac.)

Using the pools top side was a challenge with the wind. When you were in the waters, it was comfortable except for the parts exposed to the wind.

The main show for the evening was another Jean Ann Ryan production. This one was called “Country Gold” and was a tribute to country music artists. We have seen this show before on another cruise and it was the same show. It was okay, just not our cup of tea.

Up in the Spinnaker, they had the CD staff giving country line dancing lessons. It was amazing to see how the dance floor was full with everyone trying to dance. But, once the CD staff left at the end of the hour, so did everyone else.

Day 6 – Quebec City, Quebec

It was a sunny day with temps in the mid 30’s F. As we had breakfast, we could see everyone walking off the ship with coats, hats, and gloves. At the terminal was another cruise ship called the AIDA Auda (I think). The cruise terminal is situated right across from the old city of Quebec. There are quite a few blocks of narrow cobblestone lanes with small shops, cafes, and churches. It reminded me of old European towns. We visited the Place Royale and the church called Notre Dame des Victoires in the old city. We also found two huge murals that were painted on the ends of two buildings located at opposite ends of Rue Notre Dame. They were fascinating to view as they showed the history of Quebec City. We found the entrance to the funicular which is located right next to the grave of Louis Jolliet.

We then took the funicular up to the high part of the old city. At the top, we were facing the Hotel Frontenac. It is a huge hotel overlooking the whole city. We also found a large statue of Champlain at the start of the Dufferin terrace which overlooks the city and river below. We walked along the terrace and then onto the Promenade of Governors which went around the edge of the Citadel and had fantastic vistas of the river below. We walked around the Citadel and then re-entered the old city at the gate for Rue St. Louis. We found the Ursuline nun’s monastery, but the chapel and museum were closed. We then walked on to visit the Basilica of Notre Dame which had wonderful gold statues over looking the altar area.

We finished up our walk following the ramparts of the upper city before we walked back down to the lower city and visited the narrow streets one last time before going back to the ship. The hot tubs really felt great after all the walking we did. Even though it was ten degrees colder than the previous day, it was comfortable as there was no wind to speak of topside.

The ship did not leave until 9:00, so we think quite a few people stayed in the old city for dinner before returning. We decided to have dinner in Le Bistro (which was empty except for 3 other tables) and had a window seating to view the city as we sailed away from Quebec.

In the Stardust Theater they had a hypnotist show with Dr. Scott Lewis where he had about 15 or so people on stage doing silly things. Nothing was embarrassing and everyone seemed to have a good time.

They had the “White Hot Party” in the Spinnaker lounge at 10:30 pm.

Day 7 – Day at Sea

It was another calm sea day with partly cloudy skies and temps in the mid 40’s.

The main show was a guitarist named George Sakellariou. We decided to spend the evening in the Spinnaker so we did not see him.

In the Spinnaker that day, they had the comedian Tim Kaminski give an hour long show which was very funny. He has spent many years doing shows on cruises and had a lot of funny stories (he also got married on this cruise). After Tim’s show, they had a Rock music hour with music provided by the house band in the Spinnaker called Kenosis along with the CD Darin. Darin is a very good rock guitarist. We had seen him on a previous cruise and we wanted to be sure to see him as we figured this would be the only opportunity to hear rock music on the cruise. It was a great time, but by the time they finished there was about 20 people left in the Spinnaker. So much for any more rock music to be heard later on in the cruise.

Day 8 – Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island

It was another day like it was in Halifax, cloudy with passing showers and temps in the mid 40’s.

We spent our afternoon walking about the very small city visiting St. Dunstan’s Cathedral and several shops in town before heading back to the ship and the warmth of the pools.

For dinner, we ate at LeBistro again and, sitting by the window, we watched the sailaway. The red rocky shores of PEI were very visible on the coastline.

The main show in the Stardust was a juggling act named “Brothers from Different Mothers”. We did not go, back several people told us there were funny and very good jugglers.

We spent the evening at the Spinnaker. Jane Powell gave an hour show singing and making jokes and was terrific. Then Dr. Scott did another hypnotist show which was funny, but had adult humor that was not racy, so no one seemed to get offended.

Day 9 – Sydney, Nova Scotia

It was a cloudy, showery day in Sydney with temps in the high 40’s. Sydney is more like a large village than a small city. There is not too much to see and do in town. We took a walk around and passed by several house museums and a few churches which were closed (on a Sunday?). At the pier, they have a large cruise terminal with vendors and outside there is the world’s largest fiddle. It is over 40 feet tall and it is quite a sight even with a large cruise ship next to it.

The main show in the Stardust was the final Jean Ann Ryan production of the cruise. It was called “Cirque Bijou” and featured Cirque du Soleil type dancing and acrobatics. It was a terrific show, the best by far of the three shows on this cruise.

In the Spinnaker, they had a Glenn Miller Tribute hour with big band music for listening and dancing. That was followed later on with the “Liar’s Club” which was hilarious. They had Tim, the comedian joined by Darin, Dr. Scott, and a singer from the production show cast. They were all very funny trying to come up with the definitions of obscure words.

Day 10 – Day at Sea

This day, we had the roughest seas which were slightly rough with waves of 7-10 feet with temps in the low 50’s and very windy.

For the last day at sea, they had limited shows to see. In the Stardust they had a very brief Crew Talent Show which ended with “Fountains” which is always amusing. In the Spinnaker, they had a pianist playing music of all types.

Disembarkation Day – New York City

We were scheduled to arrive in New York by 8:00 am. But, when we went upstairs for breakfast at 7:00 am, the ship was already docked.

They made the initial announcements that people with their own carry off luggage could proceed to the gangways starting shortly after 8:00am. They made the first call of luggage colors starting shortly after 9:00 am with yellow (our color). We took our time leaving our room but were still off the ship and driving off in our car by 9:45 am. As we walked to our car, one of our cabin stewards (Vitash) was waving to us from a balcony room on our deck.

It was a beautiful sunny fall day. The drive back home to Connecticut was very pretty with the almost peak foliage.

Dining –

The Jewel was built for “freestyle” dining. The ship has several restaurants which include two main dining rooms that are free of charge along with the buffet area. Most of the other restaurants had a fee, which we normally choose not to go to. We are not too picky about food, so we never felt the need to go to any one restaurant over another. We did go to Tsar’s one evening and to Le bistro (the French restaurant) on two nights. DW said the filet mignon in Le Bistro was very good. The other nights, we just went to the buffet because it was quicker and you could see what food you picked. All in all, the food was good and there was a wide variety to choose from.

We did notice that the specialty restaurants were very empty with only Cagney’s being busy every night.

At peak times for breakfast and lunch, the Garden Café buffet area was very crowded. We did use the Mama’s Kitchen restaurant to find an empty seat even though a lot of people thought of the same thing. The buffet area seemed more open and easier to find a seat than the similar buffets on the Norwegian Gem, a sister ship of the Jewel.

Bar Service –

We are beer drinkers and we took advantage of the beer bucket specials where you would get 6 beers for the price of 5 that was offered throughout the cruise. For the first time, they allowed us to mix the beers we ordered. The free beer would be the cheaper of the two you selected. I prefer German beers to most of the selections offered on the ship. There was one I really liked called Franziskaner Weissbier that was only available in the Maltings Beer Pub. We found two different bar waitresses who would go down to the Maltings to get this beer for me. I appreciated how they went out of their way to serve me. I wrote style reports for them to give them recognition.

Also, in Le Bistro we were entitled to a free bottle of wine (see Latitudes). When we explained that we do not drink wine, they allowed us to order as much beer of any variety we preferred.

Latitudes –

We are rated as Platinum Latitudes members and were invited to the two Latitudes parties. We also received a welcome aboard package with fruit. But, we did not get any snacks delivered to our cabin as on previous cruises.

There were over 1,300 Latitude passengers on our cruise. Due to this, they had two separate Latitudes parties for everyone held on the first two sea days. The party you were invited to was based on your cabin number. They gave away a small variety of gifts for the Latitudes guests, we remember when they gave away a free cruise or at least a free dinner in a specialty restaurant.

We were also invited to a separate party for Silver, Gold, and Platinum Latitudes members in the Spinnaker Lounge and it was full. It was held the evening we sailed from Sydney and was for a half hour with all the drinks we wanted (any type) and a variety of hors d’oeuvres. I wanted to see if we could get a Jewel Latitudes pin as they are discontinuing them. I went to visit the Latitudes office and spoke with Shaun who not only gave me a Jewel pin but also another pin that was discontinued awhile ago but he had a few remaining. It was a gold NCL pin that Shaun said was given to members who have sailed 10 times on NCL.

As platinum members, we received some additional perks for the first time which we took advantage of. The guided tour of the ship was free. Twice we had laundry service that was free of charge. We also were invited to Le Bistro for a free meal and bottle of wine. When we had our dinner in Le Bistro, the Maitre De presented us with another invitation for a free dinner which we took advantage of. DW and I thought this was offered due to the slow business they were having. I will admit it worked, we will not hesitate going to Le Bistro on future cruises.

We did not see any room designated as a Latitudes room while on board this particular cruise.

Activities –

There were plenty of other things to do on aboard for all interests. They had the usual plethora of bingo games and art auctions.

We took advantage of the several trivia games (which we enjoy) they offered during the cruise. We met up with several friendly people that helped us to win a few matches. We enjoyed their company and conversations.

They had dance lessons in the Spinnaker lounges on sea days that people took advantage of.

They had health seminars for acupuncture and hypnosis in the Fyzz lounge on sea days as well.

If you attended Organized Staff Activities, you could get points that you could accumulate during the cruise and redeem for small NCL items like coffee cups, water bottles, and other types.

Music –

They had plenty of talented musicians on board to entertain people at various locations and times. But, it seemed that almost everyone played easy listening music. The Jewel Show band, Rama 111 (which we have seen on another ship) were great playing big band jazz.

In the bar city area they had a trio and/or a single guitarist playing easy listening music. The Spinnaker lounge band called Kenosis played a wide variety of music to listen and dance to. Their female singer was tremendous.

Crew –

For the majority of times, we were always met by a smile and a “How is your day” when we walked by any of the crew members.

Darin, the cruise director was always at the production shows and Latitudes parties. But, other than scheduled events, you never saw him. The rest of the cruise staff were very friendly, especially Que, Marissa, and Elwyn. Que was announced as the next CD for the cruise after ours. We have seen him on a previous cruise and were happy for him.

The ship –

The fitness center had a wide variety of treadmills and other pieces of equipment available at all times. They even had a punching bag.

We constantly saw crew members cleaning and polishing.

One trick we learned was that the carpeting on the decks with cabins had dolphins in the print. The dolphins face forward in all of the hallways, so you can use that to help navigate around the ship.

There is a bridge viewing room on deck 11 forward on the port side.

Our inside cabin was than big enough for us. We stored all four of our empty pieces of luggage under the two beds. There were two outlets in the main cabin having both American 110 volts and British 220 volts available. There is a small fridge filled with assorted drinks. We just emptied the fridge and put the items on a shelf above it so that we could use it to store sodas we had brought on board with us. The bathroom has a sliding door for the shower area which had plenty of room for either of us.

Overall –

We enjoyed our cruise on the Jewel. The foliage was pretty to see up north. We do not think we would seek out another 10 day cruise, though, unless they offer a cruise around the British Isles.

Here is a link to photos we took on our cruise:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/20004312@N04/sets/72157622627327024/

We have already booked a 7-day cruise from Barcelona to Italy in April on the Jade and are already looking forward to it.