Norwegian Jewel Review

4.0 / 5.0
2,357 reviews

Jewel June 11-18th, 2011

Review for the Bahamas Cruise on Norwegian Jewel
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Eskimo
2-5 Cruises • Age 50s

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Sail Date: Jun 2011
Cabin: Balcony
Traveled with children

Background:Myself(the Planner) & DH(aka Mr. Procrastinator) (mid forties), DD21 and DD13. This is our second cruise, but our first with NCL.2 Weeks prior to our cruise, I asked DH if he wanted to bring soda & water onboard. Response: "Our cruise is 2 weeks away, why would I need to decide that right this instant???" (Oh, I know you know where this is going....)Saturday:Woke up at 4am to start our day. Got on the road (from the Cape) at 5am (wasn't sure we would fit all the suitcases in the trunk) to the train station in Providence. Stopped for coffee and gas (DH-see above). Got to the station ~6:30, get our tickets and DH decides he wants to move the car closer to the elevator (we were only a couple of rows away to start)...he goes off on his mission and we all roll our eyes and laugh at the irony of what he is doing.Our train left PVD @ 7:20am and we got to NYC @ 11:00. We get in the cab line and quickly get an SUV cab which the driver had to put one of our bags in the back with us. He then asks where we're going and we tell him the Manhattan Cruise Terminal. He says, "Where's that?" WHAT???!! He asks the cab next to him and we get there okay. We get out of the cab and get rid of the bags and walk into the terminal (~11:30) with no big lines. DH then turns to me and says (to me), "Where do I find a store to get soda & water?" After all the bad thoughts race through my mind, I tell him he should probably ask someone who is familiar with the area. He just looks at me, so I then suggest a porter. He comes back to tell me there is a store 2 blocks away and he takes DD13 with him. DD21 and I are now sitting in the terminal over on the side with blasting cold AC on us for 45 minutes while we wait...we are both hungry and want to get on the ship. I finally walk outside just to get away from the AC and I see them coming towards us. I see a case of water and 2 cases of soda. I tell DH I have to get baggage stickers for them and run in to grab 3 stickers. DD13 brings them back out to him. DH comes in and says, I had 4 cases total, so I just put one case next to the other stickered ones. I told him, "Good Luck with that"! Now we have the entire ship ready to get on (thanks soda addiction!) and we go through the painful cattle lines. I expected that when we got on the ship, we would be shuffled over to the buffet, however, we came out by guest services and there were a bunch of guests around, but no one telling us where to go to get lunch or anything. I wanted to have lunch at Tsar's (thanks to CC) and asked a young man how to get there. He told me he didn't know. He had me follow him to someone else and asked him to give me directions (my Day 1 recurring theme, I guess). We had a great lunch at Tsar's. DH had corn chowder and turkey club, I had the chix breast sandwich, DD21 had a mushroom omelette and DD13 had the shrimp salad...all DELICIOUS! While we were eating (with only a few other tables) they announced the rooms would be ready soon. After we ate, we walked around a bit and then we went up to our room to unpack. We didn't see our room steward, so I left him a note to please empty the refrigerators (we had adjoining balconies 10652 & 10654), asked for a new remote for one of the t.v.s and asked for the divider to be removed on the balconies. We went to the lifeboat drill (if you could call it that...found it odd we didn't even go out to the lifeboats) and then walked around the ship some more. We went up to Decks 12-14 for the sailaway party. Due to the wet/mist/rain on the decks, I was having a lot of trouble staying on my feet. My flip flops have zero traction. At one point, I was walking past the grill area by the pool and both feet came up from underneath me. Luckily, I was walking near a post and hooked my arm around it so I didn't come crashing down on my butt. Both DDs found this to be hysterical. Most people went inside after we got past the bridge due to the weather. Went back to the room, saw our steward who told me the divider for the balconies can't be opened while at sea for safety reasons. It can only be opened while in port. Would not have bothered with the second balcony if I knew this prior to booking..live and learn, I guess. We had a quick dinner at the buffet and went back to the room to crash for the night.Sunday:Woke up to beautiful skies. Went up to the cafe to get coffee and found someone to give me a pot (which are very small) while I waited for my family to wake up. Had breakfast at the Garden Cafe/Great Outdoors. DH and DDs went to the gym. I went to the Chapel to pray the Rosary @ 9 am...had a very hard time finding my way up there. You can't get there from here as the saying goes. We found this to be a problem throughout the week...a bit frustrating. Also, noticed other people with the same frustration. Got in an elevator once and pushed deck 6 or 7, but it wouldn't go there. Anyway, we had a very large group for the Rosary. We were going to meet up at the pool after. I had warned my family about the chair hogger issue while we were on the train. DH was looking forward to meeting one...he loves to argue. Up on deck 13, I spotted an empty chair next to a chair with a hand towel on it, next to another chair with a hand towel, next to a chair with a book and a bath towel, next to a chair with the blue/red foot cover from someone's bed (really, people???? What a great way to dry off (ha-ha)!) Anyway, knowing that I was in chair hogger territory, I sat down in the empty chair while I waited for my family and checked my watch (9:40). My family showed up at 10:20. I told them to sit down, DH moved all the towels to one chair at the end and they sat down. At exactly 10:40 guess who shows up? She starts ranting about how she saved the chairs and SOMEONE has moved all of her stuff and she can't even just go and eat breakfast without someone stealing her chair and clearly it's the people not SPEAKING to her...well, that's all DH had to hear out of her mouth...he then proceeded to TELL her in his extremely loud voice that saving chairs is not allowed and who does she think she is to put a facecloth on a chair and then go eat breakfast for an hour when there is a whole boatful of people looking to sit down while she's eating? During DH's tirade, 2 of her kids show up and now all of them are completely quiet. They then start dragging over empty chairs...yes, that's right, there were empty chairs by this time. DH made sure he sat right next to Chair Hogger woman the whole time...he loves to taunt these people!We went to play bingo @ 11:30 and DD13 won the second game ($ 267). We then had lunch at Blue Lagoon...had to try the Wings everyone raves about and they were excellent! Back to the pool(no problem finding chairs), went to Bingo again and back to the cabin....the ocean color was turning a nice shade of blue. Had reservations at Teppanyaki (6:30)....food was very good, show was okay...we have seen better, although there were some very good parts to it. I think our chef was new. After dinner, went to Deal or No Deal. We won a photo, and I think 2 free drawings. After, we stayed there and saw Band on the Run. DD13 and I were dancing (in our seats) and singing along...we loved it! DH and DD21 thought it was very good, too, they were just too embarrassed to sing along with us. After the show, DH and DD21 went to the casino. DD13 went to go get a snack and ran into one of the lead guys in the Band on the Run show. He said he recognized her from the audience and that the cast were all talking about her and her mother in the audience when they were back stage (I am soooo glad I wasn't there to hear this in person)!!! Must remember to keep mouth shut and sit on hands during the shows! DH came back to the room early...said too much smoke in the casino...I'm sure if he was winning, he wouldn't have noticed...Monday:Port CanaveralBefore getting off the ship, DD13 and DH went to play Basketball but people were playing tennis so they couldn't...too bad there are not 2 different courts for the 2 very different sports. DH also tried to use the golf cage on a few different occasions and days and could never get in....one day, a couple were using it with their son as a play area. DH tried using the jogging track and got fed up with the large group of ~10 people who were completely oblivious to the people using it as a jogging track. The group was using it as an area to stand and look out at the ocean which they could easily do if they just moved 10 feet down. We went down to get off the ship ~11:50 to go to Kennedy Space Center. I feel bad for the people whose cabins were on deck 4 as they had all these people marching past their room who were getting off the ship. We got through customs due to not having any meat, fruit or livestock with us and got onto the bus to go. We absolutely loved our time there...too short, but very good. We decided to take the bus driver's advice and skip the IMAX movies. We got back to the ship and the customs people were an angry bunch. It didn't dawn on me who I was walking past (just another person standing outside) and he starts screaming at me to show ID. I had my room card in my hand and showed that to him, still not thinking it is a customs agent and he starts screaming he wants to see my passport. I find DH who was carrying everything and get out my passport, we get back up to the guy and he's joking around with this woman about her license and the fact that he can't see what state it's from and they're having a great laugh over it...clearly, I wasn't old enough to be joked around with. We got back to the cabin and dumped our stuff and then ran down to Azura for dinner. DH had chix skewers and steak, I had tomato bisque and prime rib, DD21 had vietnamese spring rolls and pumpkin gnocchi, DD13 just had chix ceasar salad. We all had (xcept DD13) the cappuccino mouse in a chocolate cup...very good if you're a chocoholic. DD13 had orange sherbert and the cheese platter (to go). Back to the room. DD13 to lie down, DH went to watch the Bruins. DD21 and I went to see Steve Scott. We thought he was very good at all the sounds he makes...very dead on. Tuesday:Great Stirrup CayAfter breakfast, DD13 and I went to the pool. DH and DD21 went to the gym. At 11:30 they called the open tenders, so we went back to the cabin grabbed a bag and headed down. I felt very bad for the people with cabins on deck 4 as we were snaking by their rooms, they couldn't come out or go in. We got over to the island ~noon. We just walked right down to the water, dropping our stuff in the sand on the way and jumped in as we were very hot! DD21 and I went over to the BBQ. I think it had just opened because it was a bit crowded. Most people stayed in line and kept it moving, other people would hop in here and there, but it didn't take long to get our food. We found a place at the picnic tables out of the sun. DD21 tried to get some pictures with her underwater camera of some fish, but there were too many people around scaring them away. DD13 rented what DH called the "coffee roll", which is a round inflatable raft. The 4 of us fit on it fine. There are some major rocks that I stepped on and stubbed my toes on. They should definitely get rid of those. Being only 5'2", I also noticed some large "drop-offs" while walking horizontally. I wasn't expecting that at all! We took a tender back ~4pm. I had a woman sitting next to me holding her child who kept kicking my leg until he fell asleep (glad I could help) and a woman behind me who couldn't keep her hands still. She kept touching her back, which would make her touch my back. She then leans into me and says I'm so sorry...Really people? I wanted to scream out "Stop touching me!!" to everyone. Getting off the tender, this woman comes running up behind me and everyone else in front of me and tries to get past us all. I looked at her and said, "We're all going to the same place." She said, "You're right." and turned around and left....don't know what that was about. Going through customs, one line was completely stopped because they couldn't read the woman's card and couldn't figure out what to do. In my line the woman in front of me starts throwing all her stuff into the xray machine and her water bottle falls to the ground and splatters everyone (no biggie, it was water). Then she starts pulling stuff out of her bag and sending stuff into the machine individually. Finally I put my bag on and go through. The woman in front of me is collecting her stuff on the other side of the x-ray and then my bag comes out. She grabs my bag, takes a good long look at DH's watch attached to the handle (lucky for him, just a waterproof Casio), then starts pulling my water bottle out of MY bag...I yelled at her, "Get your hands off my bag"! she responds by saying "I'm not touching your bag". Seriously????!!! I was so mad! I grab my bag and yell back, "Yes you were!" I can only imagine what else she planned on taking out of my bag. Needless to say, I couldn't wait to go take a shower and have dinner.We went to Deal or No Deal. I was only one number away from being called up...bummer! We won a couple of free chances and DD21 won $50. DH went to the casino and DDs and I went to the arcade and then the card room. I went to the casino for a little while after that.Wednesday:NassauWent to breakfast early and got off the ship to go to Atlantis. Once at Atlantis, they drag you through the hotel (kind of like a timeshare tour) and then you are dumped in the middle of the water park. There isn't really a map that tells you where in the water park certain slides are or where the 2nd lazy river is. You have to figure that out on your own. DH waited in a very long line for a locker (~30 minutes). We did the Rapids first which is very fun and then DH and DD21 did the Challenger slide together. The 3 of them then did the tube ride through the sharks. They said you really couldn't see anything while inside. I pretty much just did the Rapids the whole time. We finally met up and decided to have lunch. We got our food and started looking around for tables. They don't have any tables that you can eat your food at. You can sit in a lounge chair and eat, but there were no tables. We ended up sitting on a very small patch of grass under a tree that we found. I do not like to eat hunched over my food, but there was no choice. It was 100 degrees and the humidity was about as much...pretty miserable to be sitting in the hot sun. When we finished eating, we were going to do the Rapids again, but no one was allowed in the water due to thunder. We waited ~45 minutes to go back in. They actually opened the slides up before the Rapids. People were coming down the slides and the people working there were yelling at them....great coordination there. After doing the rapids a few times, we went into a pool to cool off. Around 4 pm we tried to find our way back to the bus, ended up touring through the hotel property again. I went with DD21 to buy some booze for the friends back home (very cheap!!!) We ate at Tsar's for dinner. I told the family we couldn't wear shorts or flip-flops. We were appropriately attired and walked into Tsar's. The family in front of us were all in shorts and flip-flops. The people behind us, the same. As I looked around, I noticed a lot of people dressed the same. For appetizers we had tortellini, spring rolls, crab pumpkin bisque and shrimp cocktail. For dinner DH and I both had beef wellington, DD21 had salmon and DD13, the steak. Desserts, DH and DD21: apple pie, me: creme something and DD13 icecream and the cheeze platter to go. We all crashed after dinner. DH went to go watch game 7 of the Bruins but came back early due to some guy talking non-stop right behind him about fishing during the whole game.Thursday:After breakfast, went to Guest Services to do the Scavenger Hunt with the DDs. Got all of the clues and then realized we had to go to the Murder Mystery Lunch Wine Tasting to finish it. Clearly, not the thing for DD13, so that was the end of that. Went with DD13 to the napkin folding...we learned a bunch of new ways to do napkins! Went to Bingo, lunch, TV Trivia, Nickelodeon Trivia and Regular Trivia followed by another Bingo. Ate dinner at Blue Lagoon. Went to Sing It to Win It...a bit different than the show. The girl running it was very energetic...very good for this. It ended up being a bunch of people running up on the stage screaming the title of a song followed by someone trying to remember all the words and everyone else dancing around to win points.Friday:Woke up to the ship rocking a little bit. Overcast skies and rain. The whole family slept in but me. After breakfast, we went to Bingo where they pulled the 7 day cruise...we didn't win. Had lunch at Tsar's (apps were chix noodle soup and calamari), lunches were Philly cheese steak, club sandwich and shrimp ceasar salad. Went to the pool for a bit and then to the afternoon Bingo. Had dinner at Azura (apps tortellini, shrimp cocktail) Dinners were the sirloin, chix breast, tortellini and salmon. Went to the raffle in the duty free shop for DD21...one woman won twice! Went to get tickets for Deal or No Deal, watched the end of the "Fountain" Show. DD21 got picked for Deal or No Deal and won $511!! Very exciting way to end our cruise!Saturday:Decided to do the Easy Disembarkation (Walk-off). When they called people to start, we were still eating breakfast. We then went back to get our suitcases and grabbed the elevator. We were the only one's on it, surprisingly. When we got to deck 7, the door opened and DH gets out DD21 and I start moving forward and this woman jumps in front of us! Her and I start doing the dance (I move to my right, she moves to her left) and I say to her, "You could have at least waited until we got off the elevator before you jumped on". She replies with a "sorry" and continues to stand inside the elevator. DD21 says, "No you're not. If you were you wouldn't have jumped in here and let us get out!" DH (standing outside the elevator with the walk-off line snaking by) says (in his very loud voice), "There are morons wherever you go". She just pushed herself against the wall of the elevator waiting for the 3 of us to get off and then someone must have pushed the button, because the door didn't close. It was pretty funny. After the door shut, both DDs say, "That was the chair hogger from the pool!" Well, doesn't that figure??!! Walk-off was very quick. The line snaked through the photo place, but it kept moving right along. We got a cab right away and back to the train station well before 9am. I wished I had booked the 10am train, but everyone said how long it takes to get off the boat, so I booked the 1pm train. Changing the tix just to move up 4 hours, cost me an additional $198. I would take my chances missing my train and then eating the difference next time.

Cabin Review

Balcony

Cabin BB

Balcony is nice. It would have been nicer if we could have used the adjoining balcony as we had the adjoining room. The bathroom sink was too big for the bathroom. The faucet is too big as well. If the basin was smaller you would be able to fit in better. The drain in the shower is very, very slow.

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