Just back from a nine day cruise to the Southern Caribbean on the Jewel. It was our second cruise with Norwegian and our first on the Jewel. I am writing not only for those who are new to the Jewel, but may also be new to NCL or cruising.

Embarkation: Got to the pier around 12-12:30. Waited approx. 5 minutes and was admitted into processing. We presented our e-ticket (completed online and printed). Note: you only need the one ticket summary that lists all those in your cabin. No need to take the whole printout. Completed the form asking if anyone was ill (novo virus fear), then lead to registration. No real lines this early in the day, but if you get to the port later in the day and are a Latitude Members (previous NCL cruiser) you may go through a shorter line. We again presented our e-ticket, passports, credit card, and had our photos taken for our "cruise cards." You will use your cruise card to get on and off the ship, make purchases on board, dinner reservations, etc. Once through registration, we were lead to another room where our new cruise cards were waiting. We were invited to sit with all the other early birds waiting to board - about 10-15 minutes. We have arrived later for a cruise and earlier for a cruise - earlier is much better.

Once onboard, we are offered champagne or juice (we took the champagne, not bad) and were greeted by a crew member. After ascertaining that we had never sailed on the Jewel we were offered lunch in the Garden cafe (the buffet line) or to browse the ship and get our bearings. We opt for the browsing. I have heard that you can ignore the buffet and go into the dining rooms for lunch, but we never bother, too much to see and do to sit around and "dine." Read more