We chose this cruise because a Royal Caribbean cruise we’d booked due to leave Singapore was cancelled three days before departure due to COVID-19. I had already travelled to Sydney ready to fly to Singapore and felt fortunate to find this cruise to Burnie, Tasmania, Melbourne and the South Island of New Zealand. Why anyone would include Burnie on any itinerary is beyond belief. We were ...
Incredible weather. Between riding buses and a rental car for six weeks from Cape Reinga to Wanaka in New Zealand, the only rain I had was for about an hour driving between Greymouth and Arthur's Pass. How lucky is that ?! I saw Queenstown on a previous visit, and highly recommend it and the bus tour to Milford Sound. The road into the Sound is great.
It has been a few years since I took ...
Overall:
Average Cruise and the highlight was the day cruising the Sounds. The Sounds are spectacular and cruising was a great way to see a small portion of them.
Dining:
We never do up charge dining, we paid for an all inclusive why would you pay even more? The main dining rooms were average to below average. There was not one shrimp dish, appetizer or entree, on the menu for the entire ...
Sydney (Pre-Cruise)
We landed early in the morning and were in the arrival hall in under an hour. We collected a pocket WiFi that was reserved through Klook and purchased Opal cards from the WH Smith store for the public transportation. We looked for a Wespac Bank ATM (Bank of America’s partner), but were unable to locate one. That was an exception. Wespac branches and/or ATMs were all over ...
This was our second NCL cruise. The other was six years ago and since then we have cruised exclusively on Celebrity. The embarkation was quick and efficient.
We chose a penthouse suite at the back of the ship. This was not part of the Haven but did gain us access to the breakfast and dinner in Moderno as well as other suite perks. I'm glad we did not stay in the Haven. The courtyard and ...
We paid top dollar for this average cruise. Had previously been on a Celebrity Cruise and thought the food was bad but nothing could compare to the slop on this ship. Poorly cooked and presented, mostly stone cold and very little supervision from staff. Children digging their hands in the food and not being deterred by staff.
Had to send food back in one of the paid restaurants ( food overall ...
My wife and I have just returned from a 12-day cruise (Sydney/New Zealand/Sydney) on the Norwegian Jewel.
We have previously been on 12 cruises from 7 to 48 nights with 5 different cruise lines ranging from 3 to 5 stars and rate our Norwegian Jewel cruise at a barely 3-star level for the following reasons:
MISSING LUGGAGE:
We arrived at our cabin to find one large suitcase missing. We ...
Itinerary of the cruise was great. Going into two different countries Australia and Indonesia made it feel as though we were on two different cruises. If you are looking at a longer cruise such as this 19 day one, please realize that the majority of the clients will be older. Younger people with families don't have the time. That being said, the entertainment and activities director made a grave ...
Excursions and Tendering left much to be desired. A cigar lounge was a wonderful treat but cigar prices were not in sync with retail prices. Animosity existed between cigaret smokers and cigar smokers because of limitations on smoking areas. Internet access was poor and far too over priced for the service provided (very poor value). Coordination between the pre-cruise online system and the on ...
Let me begin by saying that we always choose Norwegian for our cruising. By now, we've been to nearly every Caribbean island. We've cruised the North Sea, we've cruised the Baltic. It was time to visit Australia and the last Asian country we have yet to visit, Indonesia. Besides, sick of snow and freezing temperatures, it was a great time to chase the summer heat.
One thing we really didn't ...