There were three of us that traveled together on this cruise. We call ourselves "The Three Amigos." This was my 8th NCL cruise, my husband's 7th, and our friend's 2nd. We had planned to take a Western Caribbean cruise last year, but she suddenly lost her husband on a Bahamas cruise two years ago so we decided to try something completely different and travel across the country to the Mexican Riviera. We flew into LAX and used Super Shuttle to get from the airport to the Best Western Plus in San Pedro. This was easy and quick. Best Western was clean, offered a free breakfast and a free shuttle to the cruise port.

We boarded the NCL Jewel on March 27, 2016 at the Port of Los Angeles. Check-in was a breeze as they had a special line for gold, platinum latitudes members and suites. The lounge wasn’t quite ready once we checked in, so we waited about 30 minutes to be called to the VIP lounge. There, we had snacks and coffee, tea, and juice while we waited to board the ship. NCL really does a fine job taking care of suite guests. Since this was our first experience with a suite, I now know why people don’t want to go back to regular cabins! We met Joaquin, our concierge, and were soon escorted to the ship. It was as beautiful as I remembered from the last time I was on her back in 2009.

We were able to get into our suite to leave our carry-on bags before we headed to Moderno for lunch. It was a nice relaxing lunch, and the food was delicious. Moderno is used for breakfast and lunch for suite guests if they choose to eat there. We did every morning and several times for lunch. Because we had the UBP, we had a beverage with our lunch. Our cabin cards were imprinted with the information about the UBP and UDP promos that we had. As others have mentioned, you do not have to sign anything for drinks so I always kept a lot of ones on me for tips for bartenders, waiters, and waitresses. We generally gave them something every time they brought us a drink. Read more