My husband, 86 year old Dad and I embarked on the Jewel Sept. 3rd. My Dad hasn’t travelled for 17 years, other than short car trips. He desperately wanted to see Alaska, so invited us to go along with him! His mobility isn’t great and sometimes he requires the use of his cane. Vancouver is a beautiful city, and if you have not visited before, allow yourself at least three days here. We lived there for a number of years, so we just arrived the night before and sister-in-law drove us right to the Port. This was easy peasy as she just drove right into the terminal, employees are there to direct you where to park, we backed up in a spot, unloaded, and an employee was right there to whisk our luggage away. Easiest port ever! Embarkation from the Port of Vancouver went effortlessly. We embarked at 12:00 noon and only waited about 15 minutes before we were processed. Very streamlined and efficient with welcoming NCL representatives. Getting on the ship was a piece of cake, and that’s where we headed as soon as we were aboard!

The Garden Cafe buffet was very busy, and as it was my Dad’s first experience and being 86, he was completely overwhelmed. This is where the organization of the Jewel’s buffet is brilliant. Hot, cold, desserts, etc. all organized in neat little islands, with beverage stations around the edges. This was so much easier to navigate than other buffets we have experienced, and so great for my very confused Dad. Considering how busy it was, it didn’t take long to find a seat, in fact we didn’t have a problem any time we ate there. The food was delicious, and we all agreed on that, as we all ate something a bit different. The crew in the buffet was wonderful, very friendly and helpful. They were all appreciative of compliments we made regarding the food. Continuing with th dining, Tsar’s dining room is beautiful with lovely high ceilings and huge windows aft over the wake. Our only complaint here was breakfast one morning. We were seated right away at 8:15 a.m. and given menus ... and we waited and waited. They brought coffee and still didn’t take our order. I asked for tea twice with no response. Finally caught the attention of a crew member who clearly was not responsible for the section we were in, but he acted quickly to ensure our orders were taken - this was 20 minutes after we were seated. I believe they were short staffed at that time of the morning, even though they had opened 15 minutes earlier. About halfway through our breakfast, there were suddenly twice as many crew working around us. Fortunately this was the only negative comment about Tsar’s, the service and food were excellent otherwise (shout out to Manu!). Same can be said for Azura’s. Not as pleasant as far as ambience goes, but the service was exceptional (thank you Alejandro and Gerald!). Always had a good experience in O’Sheehan’s as well, but their menu is quite limited. Had one meal at Chin Chin, and it was just average - the shrimp and chicken noodle dish we shared was almost void of shrimp and chicken! Won’t eat there again on any future cruise.

As a common complaint, the cost of alcoholic beverages. They are expensive enough without adding 20% gratuity. We have always found this a bit ridiculous - 20%? Too steep. Read more