Review -- Norwegian Jewel, Western Caribbean January 10-17, 2009 with husband and teenage daughter. This was a first for us in several ways -- first time on NCL, first time doing a cruise with only carry-on luggage, and first time cruising out of Miami. we've cruised 6 times before with HAL, Princess, and Royal Caribbean -- Eastern Caribbean, Alaskan, New England, Western Mexico, and the Greek Islands.

Pre-Cruise: We flew into Palm Beach International, about 1 hour and 10 minutes north of the Miami cruise port. For some reason, air fares were quite a bit lower for PBI than for Miami or Fort Lauderdale. Palm Beach is a lovely area, and when we arrived on Friday the good weather was still there, so we had a chance to walk along the sidewalk overlooking the beach, and eat outdoors at a cafe in the shopping district with surprisingly good Italian food. Unfortunately, by Saturday morning the gripping cold and wet weather plaguing the eastern US had moved in, and both Saturday and Sunday were very cold, and intermittently wet. We took a drive out to see Lake Okeechobee (second largest freshwater lake in the US) and along the way got to see some of old Florida, including a former guest house near the lake that looked like it had been a perfect setting for horror movies. Really, really creepy. Cool to see sugar cane in all stages of growth, and way more different species of birds than we could have ever imagined.

Sunday morning we drove to Miami, and dropped our rental car at the Hertz office in downtown Miami. The office promises shuttle service to the pier, but just a warning -- Sunday is very, very busy for them, and even with two shuttle vans it took about thirty minutes of waiting outside in the cold before we got on for the short trip to the port. A taxi might have been a better alternative. (Though in better weather the wait outside might have been much nicer. There isn't room in the office for anyone who's waiting -- there's barely enough room for the people actually trying to get cars.) Read more