Perhaps it was because it was July 4th week but that still is no excuse for the overcrowding, inefficient staff, poor quality of food and the general feeling of "cattle herding" during this cruise. Having cruised a dozen times in the past, twice with NCL many years ago on the grand Norway, I was appalled at the service and amenities on this ship. We chose this cruise because we were a large family celebrating our anniversary and we had seven children ranging in ages from 10-1 year. We thought the Nickelodeon theme would be entertaining and to some degree it was. However, the character appearances were few and rushed; they were more interested in having the ship photographer get the photo op with the child rather than the parent. After one such appearance, none of our grandkids were interested in the character sightings.Embarkation took much too long (close to an hour) with inept staff who didn't seem to know what they were doing. Unfortunately, this set a bad tone for what was to follow.The Garden Cafe was a huge disappointment! Often at breakfast, the stations ran out of glasses, cream, plates, you name it. The staff were very slow to respond and were not attentive to the needs of the guests. Many times we had to clear the tables of dishes from previous guests in order to find a seat. The only cheerful staff we encountered were the "washy washy" ladies who sprayed your hands when you entered the cafe. The menus in the cafe were mostly the same thing every day, even at dinner. And, the lunch menu in Tsars Restaurant never changed for the entire week. The food was overly seasoned & salty but plentiful. However there are no trays to carry your food, thus discouraging guests from taking more than they can carry in two hands. And, most of the seating is away from the food stations so people were not willing to make the trip back to get more. On every other cruise line, there are two identical stations at the Garden Buffet so that when one is closed, the other side is open. On the Jewel, they only have one set up and they close down to restock several times during the day so you have to wait if you want something to eat at those times. The cabins were small but adequate. Our room stewards were excellent and did a good job of dealing with children who accidentally wet their bed or vomited. Guests on this cruise were particulary rude and rowdy. One night I was awakened at 4AM by bands of people running and yelling in the hallway. I actually got out of bed and yelled at them which did no good. Many nights people were talking loudly and laughing in the hallway well past midnight. Perhaps we were more sensitive because we had young children trying to sleep. On July 4th the daily newsletter stated that at night there would be a BBQ, dancing & fireworks on deck . Our entire group waited until 10PM for the fireworks; when we finally asked a crew member, we were told, "Oh, the fireworks are the ones you can see on land, coming from other celebrations!" Another disappointment!The swimming pool situation was horrible but it seems to have been addressed in some other reviews (see WishICould & Tam Tam2000.When we went to the reception desk to change the amount of the daily automatic gratuity (which is our right) we were given a very hard time. The staff was discourteous and kept us waiting forever. The final thing I will say is that we were given 3 bottles of wine by our TA and after opening and tasting one bottle, we left the other two in the cabin! I am surprised at NCL and frankly very disappointed. We have done family cruises on two other cruise lines and have never had an experience like this. What could have been a wonderful cruise, was just mediocre! The best part was being with our entire family but we could have done that anywhere!