We just got back from our 7 night cruise on the Norwegian Jewel. There was a high level of anticipation from us to see this new ship. Since this is a new ship, the demand has been quite high, so accordingly, the prices of the staterooms is high as well.

Embarkation in Miami was pretty straight forward. We arrived at the Pier via the Cruise Connection bus at around 1:30pm. Since we are past NCL guests (known by NCL as Latitudes members), there was a separate line for check-in. Check-in was pretty easy, and we were only on line for about 15 minutes. Once we checked in at the desk, it was on to the luggage x-ray, and then on to the ship. All in all, from the curb to the ship took about 30 minutes total. Not bad at all.

When you board this ship in Miami, you board it on deck 6 between the Stardust lounge, and the casino. To us, this was very odd, as most ships bring you in through the Grand Atrium, something this ship really does not have. In fact, there are no glass elevators, no main staircase, and no large central point to the ship. Deck 7 and 8 have a scaled down atrium of sorts, but it is far what you would expect on a brand new ship. There is definitely no WOW factor here. Read more