My wife and I sailed on the Jewel the week of Feb. 7th. This was my first NCL outing and I'm not sure there will be a second. It was Superbowl Sunday when we boarded so the night before we planned to stay in Miami. Hotel prices were very high so we stayed in a smaller hotel near Homestead AFB. We rented a car but didn't sight-see much due to heavy traffic from Superbowl crowds.
Soft drinks: Our complaint began before we even boarded as we were forced to smuggle our own Coke aboard. $50 for a mug and unlimited Pepsi is no bargain if you don't like Pepsi so if you prefer Coke I'd suggest bringing your own supply. We had to replenish ours in Roatan, but they didn't give us any trouble about bringing it back on the ship with us.
Embarkation: This took longer than I'm used to but it wasn't a long delay, about an hour to get aboard and it seemed to be streamlined so maybe we just arrived during a rush. Then again it's not a small ship so there are lots of people to get aboard. The cabins weren't ready so we had to wait on deck (with our carry-on luggage) until we were given word we could go to our cabin.