A little background on us - we are a married couple in our mid 50's. We fell in love with cruising on RCCL's Voyager of the Seas 5 years ago. We had an inside cabin and it was cozy...we were hooked on cruising. The next 3 cruises - 2 on the Explorer of the Seas - 1 on Carnival's Miracle - we had balconies. We have always done the "guaranteed" cabin as we found this to be much cheaper than selecting a cabin and it always worked out just fine. We got back from our late September cruise on the EOS and started to look for something to do for our next vacation week in November when I saw a great deal for the NCL Jewel - $429 for a guarantee inside cabin. Wanting to try NCL we booked it just 10 days before and were very excited to go. So, without further ado, here is our review of the 7 night, NCL Jewel cruise to Florida and the Bahamas on Nov. 7, 2010...please remember it is just our opinion!

Embarkation: Pretty smooth. We drove down from Western Mass with no problems, leaving our home around 8:30 am, arriving in NYC by 11:00. $210 to park for the 7 days is a LOT, but it's cheaper than flying south! Once inside there was a long line but within an hour we were on board. Can't really complain.

The buffet area was mobbed and I had read on Cruise Critic that the dining room, Tsars was open so we went there. Service was slow and the food was ok, nothing exciting and a little on the cold side...(a sign of things to come) Read more