This was our third cruise with NCL and fourth cruise overall. Although this itinerary draws in passengers primarily from the Northeast, we flew from Colorado and spent a couple of days in New York City before boarding the Jewel. We stayed in Downtown Manhattan at the Embassy Suites. If you get a harbor view room you can see the Jewel sail by early in the morning. It had great service, provided a quiet location compared to some midtown hotels, and was just a 15-minute cab ride to the pier.

Embarkation: We arrived at the pier around 11:30am. The line for Latitudes members was as long as first time cruisers, so they both moved equally as slow. It took about 45 minutes to get through the line. Only suite and higher tier Latitudes members boarded quicker. Once on board we left the crowd behind and first on my list of things to do was to find a bar with champagne since it's no longer included on boarding. We went to Tsar's Palace for a relaxing lunch and by the time we were done, the cabins were ready.

Stateroom: This was our first time in an aft balcony (BA). The extra balcony space was nice as there was room for a reclining lounge chair in addition to the standard 2 chairs and small table. The only word of caution here is that all aft balconies on Deck 10 and a few on Deck 09 below get a lot of incinerator soot. They don't run the incinerator all the time, but on 4 of the 7 days it was quite evident. Deck 10 protrudes about 2-3 feet out from Deck 11 above, so expect to find soot on the railings, chairs and table. We also found occasional food pieces that fell from The Great Outdoors above. Other than that, the views are great and little to no wind. Our cabin was showing its age, mainly in the form of cigarette burns on the carpet. Our room steward James introduced himself on the first day and we saw him quite a lot throughout the cruise. He did a great job of cleaning the cabin and always greeted us with a smile. Read more