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We arrived a day early in London then took the train to Harwich from Liverpool St. Station. Very easy and processing was going on when we arrived about 1 p.m. It was fairly easy except for a 1/2 hour unexplained wait in the processing line for security. Once on the ship we went right away to our cabin, which we were very pleased with. (On the hump!!). We immediately began eating, which did not stop essentially for 12 days.
I thought the Jewel was a really lovely ship. I loved the colors, most of the art, the general layout and ease of use.
Food: We are pretty easy to please and we were very happy with the food in the main dining room. I thought there was a lot of variety, though I usually opted for the beef. The prime rib was out of this world. On one occasion, when I didn't chose the meat dish, the other two men at our table complained that the meat was tough. The waiter apoligized but that was about it. One man later sent back the lamb b/c it was raw. Again, it was replaced but not a big deal. We ate during the day at the Windjammer and had no complaints there. A good variety. Others have complained that you always had to search for a table, and that was true on some days. More annoying to me was the constant repetition of "when you're done, please relocate so other diners can have the privilege of eating". Yes, yes, I know, get the heck out of there.
Cabin: We were very pleased with our cabin and the way it was kept. Like others, only two towel animals in 12 days. :(
Entertainment: Having cruised on Norwegian, we automatically tend to not go to the entertainment. Our tablemates urged us to give it a try and we were pleasantly surprised. We didn't attend very night but we very much enjoyed the Broadways presentation, the magician and one of the one-man shows. The tango night was a little too much tango for me but other may disagree.
Activities: We aren't really joiners so can't rate this one. Our tablemates WERE joiners and they seemed to enjoy themselves a lot.
Staff: I found the staff generally pretty friendly and helpful.
In general, by the 12th day I was running out of steam. Maybe because we hadn't gotten involved in the trivia activities or art auctions etc, I was a little bored. We spent a lot of our time reading on sea days, which was a break from the frantic pace of port days. In future, I think I'll look more toward 10 day cruises, but that isn't the fault of the Jewel.
Oh, forgot to say that on the last night we had a WILD storm with winds gusting up to 119 mph. There is a handy channel on your television that tells you that. We finally had to turn it off because it was making both of us nervous and the ship was doing a lot of rolling around. I kept picturing the Posiedon Adventure and me Shelly Winters trying to climb a Christmas tree. Not a pretty picture.
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