Jewel repo to Miami

[BikerAl]

Welcome home folks. We are waiting to hear all about your trip. Did Ida interfere? Who are the senior staff? How were the western caribbean ports?

Al

[BikerAl]

Nobody home yet?

[rickysmom]

We had a huge meet&greet. The cruise was outstanding. Post more when I unpack.

[fivestringer]

Got back to Miami on Friday, Nov 13.

Ida was not a problem at all. We trailed it by about 5 days.

Went snorkeling in Roatan and the water was a little cloudy, but was spectacular nonetheless.

In Belize we went to the ruins on an NCL-sponsored tour. I wish we had not gone through NCL - the a/c on our bus was just barely functional. Friends of ours hired a local cab at the tender pier (no docking in Belize) got the exact same tour except in a 15-passenger van (with very good a/c) for half the price we paid.

Belize City is depressing!! I understand that it has improved in the past few years, but it is still depressing to drive through - not much better than Samana, Dominican Republic.

British VI were great - went snorkeling there, too, but it wasn't as good as Roatan.

Aruba and Curacao - not bad. We'd been there before and not much had changed. A lot nicer than Samana and Belize City, that's for sure.

Regarding the Jewel - my wife and I (and a lot of other passengers) expressed disappointment with the food. Sure, there were some good things (like the cold soups - very good), but in general the entree's were lackluster.

Also, something that irks me about NCL is that their buffet dining rooms don't have trays. You have to either balance a couple plates (not recommended) or make several trips to the food/drink lines. I wish NCL would provide trays!!

All in all it was a good trip. The weather was perfect. A few passengers were mildly seasick the last night due to heavy seas off the Cuba/South Florida coast.

[jp2001]

It was a GREAT cruise. The meet & greet was HUGE so I didn't get to talk to many people since it was so noisy.

The senior staff was the best I have ever experienced. They mingled with the passenger after their speech at the meet and greet and I even had the chance to talk to the Captain, Cruise Director and Hotel Director at other times since they would stop by for a little chat sometimes.

I will write a review in the following week but if you have specific questions, don't hesitate to ask.

[foursum]

Captain-Constantinos Faflios (sp)
HD- Steve Jacobson
CD -Que Hundermark
Chief Eng- Jerker Aakerman- now off to the EPIC
Group Coord-Rochelle Brown
Casino Host- Che Alapa Ap

[MrsLeo]

I really enjoyed this cruise, I would rank it as our best one yet. Embarcation and disembarcation (we carried our luggage off at 8:00 a.m. because of an early flight from FLL) was seamless, and speedy. Very well organized.
Lots of highlights, very few lowlights. I typically avoid the buffets. On this cruise it was probably better than average and we often found ourself there for lunch and breakfast. They had a few issues keeping certain items like the sausage gravy at proper temperatures on the buffet, but all in all, they did a pretty good job, better than previous experiences.

The biggest winner of all the speciality restaurants for us was Chin Chin. All of the offerings there were huge hits with us. Sushi, Mongolian Hot Pot, Asian Fusion, Teppanyaki, all terrific. We absolutely fell in love with the sushi chef's Jeffery and Romeo. They just took such good care of us and we kept coming back night after night. Hari, the Maitre D there, was a bit annoying, as he would turn the ringer on his portable phone up full blast and stand in the doorway of Teppanyaki while you were dining at the grill and talk to whoever was on the other line.

Tango's was fantastic. Le Bistro was good too (though I do admit it is much more scaled back and lacks the presentation it once had)the food was good and we never left hungry.

The biggest loser for us was Cagney's, the prime rib was tough and full of gristle. The fries which used to be infused with truffle oil, with parmesan sprinkled on them, and now coated in a powdery substance that sticks to the inside of your mouth like a paste.

The biggest surprise for us was Azura. The food was good, the service excellent. The steak we had in Azura was better than the one my husband had in Cagneys. We sailed with Boris the MaitreD previously on the Spirit and he took good care of us, as did the servers.
Blue Lagoon was OK, service was OK, food was OK.

One thing that was very tacky was salespeople coming into the speciality restaurants trying to gin up business for the Jazz Brunch, Taste of India, and to try the other speciality restaurants. As I explained to the MaitreD at the time, I thought it was wrong for them to take advantage of a captive audience that was paying for a nice upscale meal, to interrupt our nice dinner to give us a sales pitch. I felt that should have been done somewhere else like the atrium, or the buffet entrance.

I know the speciality restaurants are hurting. There just weren't that many people paying extra for their meals. On previous cruises it has always been a challenge to get into every venue, especially Teppanyaki. On this cruise I never encountered a wait, I never had to make reservations. It was very easy to get into any restaurant at just about any time.

Our room stewards were great. Our aft minisuite was very nice and I had to say aside from some chair scooting early in the morning after I had already awakened, I heard no noise back there.

Regarding ports. Honestly, I can't complain much about any of them. We had a great time, and I always look at this part of the cruise as an adventure, a learning experience and use the knowledge acquired on previous trips to fine tune our next trip plans to those port should we return in the future.

Samana: Went to Playa Rincon with a bunch of our CC pals which we enjoyed. It was a day of adventure, seas were a bit playful. Next time we'll likely do Cayo Levantado again or a day pass at a nice resort. This is our third trip to Samana in 13 years, and it still has a way to go before it is really tourist friendly, but it is beautiful country and still has plenty to offer if you have an adventurous soul and the ability to go with the flow.

Tortola:We planned to go out to Virgin Gorda and the Baths on our own but since the ship tours were cancelled due to rough seas, we also cancelled our own plans. and we just shopped a little along the waterfront, then headed down to Pusser's Outpost for a cocktail that knocked me on my butt. We met up with Mary (HunkaHunka) and her husband and another couple who were all delightful. We also met a another couple who had rented a sailboat and were sailing from Island to Island, which we thought sounded like a lot of fun. It was a great way to spend some time with some wonderful folks.

St. Kitts, I loved it. Beautiful as you approach Frigate Bay where the Carribean is on one side of the mountains and the Atlantic on the other. Cockleshell Beach was nice. D/H and I would love to live there some day.

Curacao, rented a car and spent the day at the Sea Aquarium and the nearby beach. Very educational for the kids, good time was had by all.

Aruba, hopped on the bus and ended up at Boca Catalina Beach. Nice beach with some trees for shade. The water was clear.

Roatan, Went to Maya Key (formerly Fins & Flippers) all I can say is WOW! This place knocked my socks off. Great snorkelling on a coral reef, beach, pool, meticulously manicured grounds, animal rescue/preserve, good food, excellent!

Belize, we took a water taxi out to Caye Caulker. Evidently there is a new water taxi competing with the old Caye Caulker water taxi association. It is closer to the port and less expensive. It also leaves at 9:15, which is 15 min. later than the other one. So we used it and it worked well for our schedule. We used Tsunami Adventures on this trip to take us out to the Marine Preserve. It was nice, but not as good as our previous experiences with them. Next time I think I will spend a bit extra and take a flight to San Pedro and visit Ambergris Caye. It takes about an hour and a half to get out there via water taxi. So a flight is much more practical.

The Captain was a soft spoken, gracious man. He was very generous to our group.
Hotel Director was Steven Jacobson, he was always out and about, very approachable. I wrote him a letter regarding our experiences and to really let him know the things that impressed us the most about our experiences on the Jewel. Within minutes of reading it, he phoned me to thank me for sharing the information with him.

Rochelle and Carolyn really worked hard for our group, any request I threw their way they did their very best to make it happen.

One last thing, the Entertainment on this ship was second to none. I felt like every act was headline material. Many had performed on Jay Leno, Oprah, etc... and the sheer volume of talent onboard was mind boggling. Cirque Bijou was fantastic too. This is one of the few cruises that I made a point to get to as many shows as possible. I generally find it hard to get too excited about the entertainment on Cruise Ships. I also am not one to go gaga over Cruise Directors, but I really enjoyed Que Hundermark. He was just a nice guy who was working about 16 hours a day trying to offer as much entertainment to the passengers as he could pack into one day.

So really I have to give this cruise two thumbs up. It was a wonderful experience!

[BikerAl]

Thanks everyone, looking forward to your reviews.

Looking forward to boarding her in two weeks

Al

[detwings]

Cant wait. We'll be on her in a couple of weeks. I have a question though. With all the boards about the new menu (On Dawn), was there any Cooking Light items in the Main Dining Room? I know the contract wasnt renewed, but reading the boards, it sounds like some ships still had Cooking Light, or did they change to South Beach for their light fare?

Also, I was curious about the Hotel Director. I thought John O,Hara was now on board the Jewel? Or will he be boarding now the the Jewel is in Miami? I read on the board he was on the Jewel or is this a new one?

Thanks

[MrsLeo]

I don't recall seeing any special diet selections aside from vegetarian. However, there was plenty of healthy choices. Steven Jacobson was still working as HD when I left the ship in Miami at 8:00 a.m. He was one of the last people I saw when I walked off the ship Friday and he was overseeing disembarcation at that time. Not sure about Mr. O'Hara.

[BikerAl]

Hey Brian, it was my understanding that John O'Hara, was a two month substitute for Juliane Brackenbury's vacation, so it seems natural that he has left the Jewel. I would guess, that Steven Jacobson, will be the HD for the next two years, with some vacations during that time. Just supposition, we shall see soon enough.

Anybody know if Anca was still aboard, and if so, for how long?

Al

[detwings]

BikeAl,

Too bad, we really like John O,Hara but read good things about Steven. Either way, we,ll have a good time. Its getting closer and closer

[pddispatcher]

Anca will be on the Jewel until Dec 12th. She is getting married in April so she won't be back onboard anytime soon.

[jrs101]

MrsLeo, what is this reference to the Taste of India? Do they have a East Indian specialty restaurant?

Thanks for the great info about the cruise.

Take care,
Jrs101

[NJLVW]

Thanx everyone for all the great information. I will patiently wait for all the reviews. I enjoy reading everyones experiences on board. We travel the end of January. Now I really can't wait.
BikerAl you are so lucky. Anca will still be on board when you arrive. I wish she would still be on the Jewel in January. She is such a wonderful person. We've traveled with her several times. Makes all the difference in the world with the right people.
Norma

[MrsLeo]

Originally Posted by jrs101

MrsLeo, what is this reference to the Taste of India? Do they have a East Indian specialty restaurant?

Thanks for the great info about the cruise.

Take care,
Jrs101

The taste of India was a mid-day, one time event for a surcharge that was held in Chin Chin. I did not attend, so cannot comment with regard to food quality, taste etc...

I think they are having these one of a kind surcharge events to supplement the revenues lacking in the specialty restaurants. I couldn't believe how quiet the venues were. It was rarely, if ever busy in most of the specialty restaurants.

Hope you have a great time.

[CruisinMaterial]

Thanks for the information... especially on who the HD and CD are. Neither of them I recognize but hey, it's all about making new friends whilst at the CC meetings. Thanks for the feedback on the goings on and getting the Jewel safely to Miami!