A repo cruise gives you great value, but always means you have a lot of sea days. It took us 3 days to get from NY to dominican republic which was our 1st port.It was great to touch land even thought their was not much to see in the port, any good sites are hour and a half away. A 3 hour bus and boat ride did not seem worth it for 2 hours at the beach. This was a tender port,and the best ports we went to we docked at so thing twice about getting off at tender ports if your just going for shopping. HERES A FEW TIPS I LEARNED ON THE JEWEL, OR FOR ANY NCL SHIPS. 1-Always ask your steward for real soap as the soap dispenser makes no lather. 2-Always bring water and soda with you if you can.The water in the cabin is always warm at best.Ask your steward too remove the overpriced items in your refrigerator and put your items in.If you have to buy a $4 bottle of water save the bottle and fill it in your cabin and put it in the refrigerator to get cold 3-Use your empty fridge too store snacks you can take too your room from the buffet and have with your coffee in the morning.So no need for room service. 4-Their is an automated wake up call button on your phone use o first-07:00am 5-The food in the speciality restaurants is not worth $20 to $50 per couple more, but when they offer a discount it is worth trying them. 6-Everything for sale on the ship on the first day is reduced as you get close to the end of the cruise. MEALS ON THE JEWEL.The food has improved since we were on this ship 3yrs ago.The one thing you should know is a sit down full course dinner will take 90 minutes to serve. If you have only a hour to make the show tell them and they will bring the food out faster. Many people complain about the slow service but never tell their waiters their needs.If you do not want to wait to long for a table try azura instead of tsars for dinner. The blue lagoon is a great place for lunch or breakfast and desert and coffee after the show.We have ate at every restaurant on the jewel our previous cruise.LE BISTRO AND CAGNEYS are the best. OUR ONLY COMPLAINS ARE- they now make smoking optional in all cabins. We did smell smoke in the hallways and by complained they said they would remove the odors from the hallways.Also they played the same movies on the tv for both weeks we were on board,they should change it each week.Theirs a little sign outside your door that says welcome, underneath that is a wheel you can turn that says make up room. We put make up room every morning but are room was not cleaned till 1/2pm every day. NCL will try to sell you something every moment your on board because their fares are so low they have to make it up someway so they keep pounding away at you. On the whole we had a great cruise and any ncl jewel class ships would make a great ship to cruise on.