Cabin Type: Balcony Day two into our holiday cruise i received a rather rude letter in my stateroom, a courtesy phone call would have been nicer, stating that my credit card was stopped and i had my ship card cancelled,having checked and called my bank it had never been stopped..it was the the ships staff's fault..no apology and rude service at the service desk. Drink package extremely too high. My wife did not drink, but was forced to pay $1,700 for both if interested. The drinks were grossly overpriced and had another 20% added on top plus USD prices then converted to AUD...biggest rip off ever. The tender service was shocking at every port, waiting lines up to three hours in the hot sun. The food was terrible even in the restaurants, the buffet was cheap and sloppy. Just ok service at restaurants, even the specialty ones (3). The cabin beds were hard Had to take pain pills for a severe bad back pain .The whole 19 days were pretty dismal. Read Less

We are cruising for several years now with Norwegian and we are pleased with their service and free style cruise is what we liked most. My wife have never been to Australia, Indonesia and Singapore so I decided to take her to that cruise. We had a balcony a couple besides our stateroom is my wife's high school classmate from 1971 and 6 other new guest with NCL and first time cruisers. We had a great time and and had a lot of specialty dinners. Our group had received a lot of surprises from the Senior Officers that we have met on previous cruises with Norwegian and made our cruise more enjoyable not only for us previous cruisers but for our 6 other friends that we brought with us. They even sent fresh tropical fruits from Indonesia was sent to all our cabins. Shore excursions was great that we all got into the same bus every time we book. Read Less

The ship was just recently renovated and everything was beautiful and clean. The cabin was adequate in size (we had an inside). Dining at the buffet was outstanding. Dining in the restaurants was sometimes not good. Chicken was dry and fish overcooked. The desserts were superb.. The entertainment was varied and good, however the daytime activities such as the lectures were boring and badly presented. The speaker had most of us dozing. The best part was the itinerary. The itinerary was exactly what we wanted. Starting in Sydney provided us with an opportunity to visit this lovely city. Koalas, wallabys, kangaroo, Komodo dragons were all on our list and we saw plenty of them. Hunter Valley was a little disappointing as we did not actually visit the vineyard itself. The wines we also not to our liking. However the cheeses were great! We were also disappointed in the Kuranda ship excursion as we had to pay extra for the butterfly sanctuary as well as the koala sanctuary. Then it rained and the skyrail which was the whole reason for being there was closed. Our snorkeling experience in the Great Barrier Reef and in the Whitsundays and also at Pink Beach near Komodo was wonderful. We organized our own excursions as the ones on the ship were too expensive. Indonesia-Komodo, Bali, & Semarang were exceptional. Lush foliage, monkey forest, batik, gold, silver, temples & lewak coffee filed all of our senses.Our final destination was Singapore. What a city! This was indeed a fabulous itinerary. Read Less

No service Kaos when using tender Only care revenue with shore excursion otherwise they consider us as normal Cancel one day in darwin and not offer anything back Old Not well maintained No personnal service even 19 nights on Need to wait 15-20 min everynight with pager for go eat dinning room. Really basic. Night show always one signer with band almost everynight bored What else i can add it was the worst experience even after more than 70 cruise with othe cie and with norwegian cruise line too. I feel like the personnal do not care and just do regular job. No wow about this cruise at all. I was expecting much more about norwegian cruise line. And nothing happen. No sorry nothing. I will keep as experience and will never cruise with them again. They dont merit my business. If you need to choose choose other cruise line. Read Less

Excursions and Tendering left much to be desired. A cigar lounge was a wonderful treat but cigar prices were not in sync with retail prices. Animosity existed between cigaret smokers and cigar smokers because of limitations on smoking areas. Internet access was poor and far too over priced for the service provided (very poor value). Coordination between the pre-cruise online system and the on ship online system seemed overly lacking Or nonexistent. Excursions credits were issued thru two systems making it difficult to track without the costly internet packages. Vegetarian options were outstanding at the main cafeteria but dismal at the restaurants. The medical facility on board was extremely efficient and functional. The ship is beautiful but some facilities were under utilized at times. Room Attendants did an outstanding job of meeting passenger needs. Casual attire dining was greatly appreciated by most all passengers. It was difficult or impossible to understand the Captain’s announcements because of accents and limitations re audio to halls and public space where noise made understanding the Captain even more difficult. Most evening shows were entertaining but a little amateurish at times. Obvious to this passenger, was an extremely defensive attitude displayed by many Customer Service and Excursions employees. Almost a philosophy of “the customer is always wrong”. Read Less

The ports of call were a great deciding factor for us to take this cruise, embarking was smooth . The ship had undergone a recent refit and found it easy to navigate all areas. The average age for cruise was approx 55- 65 there were minimal children There was a good mix of travellers from around the world Tzars palace (ain restaurant was more formal than Azures, Chin Chin &O’Sheeghans was a great drop in for a quick sack if needed we didn’t dine in speciality restaurants as all complimentary restaurants provided great service with a variety of menus. Entertainment was particularly good on the Australian leg, however on the Indonesian leg entertainment seemed to be of lower quality, but still entertaining. Activities on board All the usual trivia, bingo etc. however it was noticed that on sea days minimal activities were provided & on port days more activities were scheduled We chose independent tours off the ship due to the high cost os ship shore excursions.we found that when we tendered on Queensland Cairns (Yorkys Knob overnight at 10.00am most shore tours started at 7.00-8.00am it was also difficult to book a full day tour due to time constraints on return t ship times We were able to find a private half day charter , some people stayed in overnight accommodation . Unfortunately there was a medical emergency. On our way to Darwin and the ship returned to Cairns loosing our first day in Darwin where we had a full day tour booked - fortunately guest services were helpful in providing assistance by calling. Where I was able to reschedule my tour. Komodo island was good saw the dragons they were not lively and appeared to be drugged for viewing , we also visited Pink Beach. The coral there was outstanding better the the GBR- again an independent tour - ship tours only provided Komodo island Bali. Overnighted - many stayed in overnight accommodation - the tendering process was a a nightmare taking over two hours and taking over 35 min to get to shore causing many tours to be severely shortened- ship tours were late in returning Overall the cruise was enjoyable we would recommend taking this cruise and the ports were good the weather was hot & humid but it was not extreme Read Less

We chose this cruise to coincide with school holidays as we took two of our 4 children with us aged 10 & 14. This was a bad idea as they were bored the whole trip. The kids club was mainly playing video games and this didn’t interest them. So I had to entertain my kids. It was not much of a holiday for me tbh. If you were over 50 then this trip is perfect from the music to the classes for origami and vegetables carving. Even the shows were ABBA and Elton John . The shows were good but my kids were not impressed. Johnny Balance was onboard doing magic and is fantastic as well as funny and cute to boot. Being an American ship the gratuities were about $15 per person per room per day which was about $900. Beware of gratuities when booking a cruise. The good coffee was about $5 US but was worth it. The food was amazing too and there was plenty of variety. My girls had to sleep on a fold out lounge that was as hard as a rock. I don’t know how they got any sleep at all. The tours are an absolute ripoff. It is better to wait till you get to each port and do your own thing. Every port has a free shuttle bus to take you into town where you can hire a taxi to take you to the places you would like to see and it would still work out cheaper that the price they charge onboard. Remembering that it is in US dollars and the cheapest tour was $65 each to the aquarium. When we got there they have a big sign saying a family of four is $60. It cost us $260 US onboard, what a joke. Be very careful when booking tours onboard as you don’t get anything for the money you pay. We went on a tour of one of the islands and the information being given to us by the bus driver was no different to the information written on the brochure onboard. Read Less

My sister and I have just returned from a very enjoyable 12 night cruise on the Norwegian Jewel sailing to New Zealand. We stayed at the Holiday Inn in Sydney, with lovely views of the harbour from the rooftop pool area, the night before sailing. The hotel was clean and comfortable and a 5 minute walk to the cruise terminal. Embarkation was quick and painless. Although the ship was full it never felt crowded, there were always seats available and quiet areas to relax in. The service from the stewards, waiters, bar staff and guest services was generally pleasant and attentive. I was very impressed by the lifeguards at the pool who were always diligent in supervising the pool area. There was a high standard of cleanliness throughout the ship and a large emphasis on hygiene (washy washy). For the MDR we preferred Tsars over Azura as the decor was much brighter. The food was generally good, obviously we found some dishes better than others but that could have been our taste. Everything was well cooked and the meals always came out hot. One of our favourite appetisers was the Mozzarella Ravioli. O'Sheehans was okay for a quick breakfast or a snack. We used the dining package to go to the speciality restaurants with Le Bistro coming out on top with their beef fillet which melted in your mouth. Cagney's and Teppanyaki were good too. We were disappointed in Moderno as some of the meat was a bit tough and the service not up to the standard we expected. It might have been an off night as other people on the same cruise said Moderno's food and service was great when they went. We preferred not to eat at the buffet but it was well populated at meal times. Entertainment on board was excellent from the bands playing at the pool to the guitarist in the bar areas. The theatre shows that we went to were of an extremely high standard. The three production shows are not to be missed and the comedian Simon had us laughing continuously. Our favourite ports were Tauranga where we walked around the base of Mt Maunganui, Napier where we did a wine and food tour with Frankly Tours (highly recommended) and Akaroa where we strolled around the bay and browsed through all the stores. The scenery of the Sounds was amazing, lots of photo opportunities. Disembarkation was easy and well organised with no long queues when we disembarked. Overall I would definitely sail with NCL again with a preference for the smaller NCL ships. Read Less

Review of Norwegian Cruise Lines ship Jewel 1/5/19 thru 1/30/19 The Norwegian Jewel can be a good value depending on your priorities. I’ll touch on what I felt were the major items to help you make that decision. Price: When you compare prices, the NCL ships appear to be a good value. Remember to add mandatory port charges and $15 per person per day gratuities. These might be included in other competing prices. Also, most added amenities costs extra. Some things you expect (shore excursions, casino play, spa treatments, and liquor). Some things are surprises (fountain soft drinks, coffee (anything but regular), Wi-Fi (only 2G), bottled water (you cannot take off or bring on any water, but theirs), and any room food service (except continental breakfast). Staterooms: The staterooms are a good size compared to other similar priced ships. The mini-suite level and above have bathtubs with retractable clothes lines. The water was always hot and had good pressure. The room stewards and stewardesses are polite and attentive. I would not recommend anything smaller than a mini-suite for more than two people for more than a week. A balcony room (next level down) might be acceptable for three people for only a week. Ship: The ship has been refurbished, but is still showing its age. Everything was kept clean and there were no funky smells (like on some other older ships). There is no grand entrance with chandeliers, curving staircases, glass elevators, or a shopping gallery. There were a few burnt out light bulbs in the common areas, and the common bathroom towel dispensers don’t work. The twin pools are small, but there are four hot tubs. There are no newer extras such as water slides, climbing walls, target shooting, or similar activities. There are shuffleboards, ping pong tables, gym, basketball hoops, casino, spa, theater, card room, library, and several bars. The ship doctor is only available for a few hours a day, charges $150 to see you, and does not have a pharmacy (your need to take his prescription ashore at the next port to have it filled). All of the personnel were helpful and courteous whenever we met in the hallways, in the dining areas, or on the ship decks. Partway through the cruise, the sole of my shoe came loose. The hotel staff had someone repair it within a few days. Our cabin tv was not working properly and would only get about half of the channels. It took them ten days of working in our cabin (a few hours each day) to get all of the channels all of the time. Dining: There are buffets and dining rooms included in your price. There are six specialty restaurants which are $30 (or more) per person per meal. The included food options are fine for breakfast and lunch, but plan on buying dinner (the food is much better). In the included food places, the meat (beef, pork, chicken, turkey, or seafood) was consistently over cooked. Wine runs about $9 per glass, but you can buy four mix and match bottles starting at $105 ($88 plus 20% duty charge) to drink anywhere on the ship. Entertainment: Most of the singers on our cruise are non-American born performers singing American songs. So, the songs might not sound exactly as you think they should. But they all were pleasant and did try their best. The musicians from the various bands were generally good, and some were very good. The other types of performers were average to good. The productions were not as lavish as on other ships we have been on. Shore Excursion Department: This was the biggest disappointment. The shore tour descriptions don’t match reality, and they are double the price of booking them on your own. The personnel in the department have not been on the excursions, so they cannot answer any questions. Their standard response was “The descriptions are written by our head office in Miami. It is unknown where they get their information. We only know what is in the description.” It would have been nice if the Excursion Department put a talk on the night before in one of the lounges regarding the following day’s port. The talk would include: 1) Why the ship chose this particular port, 2) How to get around, 3) What is special to see, to eat, and to buy in this port, and 4) Approximately how much money do these activities cost (so you bring enough money ashore). Alas, this is not the case. You are completely on your own, so make sure that you do a lot of research before you go (including reading reviews of the things you are thinking of doing). We saved for years and traveled to the other side of the world and booked ship tours, only to learn these lessons the hard way. There is nothing worse than to have your dinner companions say “Did you see that special ______? It only happens in this one place in the world.” And to realize that the ship never mentioned it because they didn’t have a tour doing it that they could make money off you. On the ship tours that we did book, they never left the ship on time (some over an hour later) which cut into the excursion time. Rather than leave the port a little bit later to compensate, the excursion was cut short (i.e. you may have paid for a five hour tour, but you only got four hours). However, if you book tours on your own, you need to remember that you won’t be allowed to get off the ship for an hour or two after its port arrival time. Ship tours have priority in disembarking. Due to amount of time needed to get off and on the ship, most ports only had six hours ashore. Our cruise went to the South Pacific and Australia. We had well over a hundred snorkelers and scuba divers (some like us even brought our own equipment). Water sports are what this part of the world is known for. And there was not a single talk put on by the Excursion Department (or anyone else) regarding the places to go while in port. It was only later that we learned that if we had taken the local bus to the other side of the islands, that the water, fish, and coral were so much more superior. It was easy to tell that the Department was geared towards how to make the most money off the passengers, and not how to ensure that the passengers have their best time possible. Conclusion: If you can get a great price, are not looking for a fancy ship or food, and are willing to tackle ports on your own (or pay high prices), then the Norwegian Jewel cruise may be a good vacation for you. While we have done several Norwegian cruises in the past, I'm not sure we would cruise on the Jewel again. Read Less

Went on this cruise with two friends. Generally saying the ship spent far to much time navigating from one port to the other and spent ample time when it was at a location, making it not possible to make a longer trip ashore. Also, one could not call it a Pacific cruise, as it only went to New Caledonia in the pacific. If you really want to do something you had to take NCL's expensive shore excursions. In my opinion it was no coincidence, in this regard, that for example the tendering at Airlie Beach started well after 08.00 am and ended about 04.30pm. This meant one could not take any excursion that could be booked ashore, these all started around 08.00 am and ended around 05.00 pm. Timewise, there was no single problem of anchoring far before 08.00 am and leaving far after 05.00 pm. The really expensive shore excursions (around US$ 290,--) were really disappointing, what I heard from participants, including a visit to the Barrier Reef, with snorkeling around dead coral. There was a lot of tendering, which gave a headache, as shore excursions went first, often taking ½-1 hour, than you had to get tender tickets at 07.00 in the morning, really nice when you had a late evening. When tendering started at for example 08.00 it would mean if you did not have tickets you might get a tender at 10.00 am or later. Also, in some of the ports you had to pay (heavily) for the bus transfer to the main town, which I find appalling, when it says in the brochure and trip description that the cruise goes to that harbour. Typical example: visit of Airlie Beach, we arrived in Yorkeys Knob and had to pay for the transfer to Airlie beach. Food was normal. Service was great of all personnel. Shows were (far) above average. Outside sport facilities were above average. No quiet pool area for adults only, just a pool for adults. Only really quiet area on board was the library, which was small. Other areas might be quiet for some time, but then always some activity was started, that was inevitably noisy. In the evening in the main dance/disco area, the spinnaker lounge, our dj Ricii did a, most of the time, horrible job with his music choice, chasing people away (so less bar sales), so generally after 11.30 pm it got pretty empty most of the time. Several people complainted about this with the cruise director, that literally said he could not do anything about it. Drinks cost (beer to cocktails) incl. the 20% mandatory tip was very high, generally from about US$ 9.-- to 15.--. Soda's sowhat cheaper. I had an all in package. A large yellowish/blue smoke cloud was visible coming from the ships chimneys, that did not disappear rightaway as water vapor does. As a engine technician I can say this smoke is not belonging to a ship of which the captain claimed during the QA on the ship that she is a clean ship in regard of exhaust emissions. See the other review visiting Milford sound. Basically I would say the cruise is ok for families with children that want to cruise for a reasonable amount of money and don't expect to go a lot ashore. Read Less