We are in our 60's and this was our 6th NCL cruise and 1st time on Jewel. We drove to NOLA from Louisville on the 13th, which is 11 hours, but good roads and stayed at the Clarion Inn on Canal for $80./night. It was excellent for the price with a helpful porter and free breakfast. Our room on the 15th fl. faced Canal looking towards the river and was clean and bigger than expected, although the sink in the bathroom was the smallest ever. It had a small kitchenette with microwave and refrigerator. Had dinner at Felix's and my 1st char-grilled oysters, which I really loved. Crawfish etoufee was good and seafood gumbo was excellent. Waitress Adrianna was excellent and we got in after a 5 minute wait with no reserv. Sat. a.m. took the free Fr. Qtr. walking tour with Melissa which was 2 hrs. of interesting info and about 1 mile, ending at the French Mkt. Walked down to Crescent City Brewhouse for lunch and used the BOGO coupon for shrimp & grits, redfish and Red Stallion beer. All were as good as we remembered from last yr. Then it was streetcar to hotel for nap and some college basketball. Used the 10% off coupon at Oceana for dinner(no reserv. and about a 10 min. wait). Had my first Sazerac, some wonderful crab cakes, tuna and red fish. It was" wacky Santa bar hop night" and some folks went all out with costumes. The cold front was moving in on the walk back to the hotel.

We used the Fulton St. roof top garage parking for $8./night which worked out great, as I got a spot next to the stair. (One short flight down to elevator. Had a good, chatty shuttle driver to the port about 11:00 and were on board at 11:40. Had a quiet lunch at Tsar's and a 5 min. boat drill in the theatre. After all the negative comments about the MDR surf and turf I've read in the past, I still had to try it after seeing one recent good review and it was very good.

We skipped the Welcome Aboard show and enjoyed our first "mini-suite". Cabin and balcony are about 1 1/2 times the size of balcony cabins. We had a good bed, but there was a slight sewage smell in the bath that came and went a few times thru the wk.. Met our steward, Tirso, who took good care of us all wk. I love doing my early morning stretch routine in the Spinnaker watching the sea and sun rise, but a few times I had to ask the cleaning guy to raise the shades which had been down overnight. They always had mellow tunes on the PA. We had Blue Lagoon omelets for breakfast, were in the slot tourn. (losers) and an excellent buffet lunch after the Meet and Greet in LeBistro. The Band on the Run show was excellent and there was a 10 min. wait at Tsar's for dinner. The lemon chicken was excellent and the shrimp/chicken was very good. I think somebody screwed up and we got 2 coupons for a free anniversary cake, so used 1 Mon. night and it was creamy-dreamy. We had calm seas all wk. Read more