First timer - Jewel 2016 dining advice

So we are booked for our first Norwegian cruise Jan 2016 on the Jewel to Mexican Riviera. We are going with 2 other couples and are booked in the forward penthouse suites and are SUPER excited!!

We have all been on other cruise lines but none of us have traveled on Norwegian before. Have seen a couple pics of similar rooms and looking forward to the nice sized balcony.

We are starting to look into the dining options and considering making reservations. Do you all recommend reservations in general? The freestyle dining is new to us. How do you know what time to have dinner and not miss out on shows?

We tend to like to do and see everything there is. Especially since our first time we are not going to want to miss out on anything. Any help or tips about making most of ship in general are appreciated :)

TIA

What is the date for your cruise? There is probably a Roll Call for your cruise.

I am cruising on The Jewel 24-31 January and I can not wait.

Reservations are not needed for the two main dining rooms. Since you are in Suites, your Concierge, will be able to advise you as to shows (no reservations required) and make dinner reservations for you.

The Jewel is a wonderful ship with a great staff. I was just on Her in early May for Her first cruise to Alaska and can not wait to get back.

Mandy

We will be on the Jewel for the first time in January as well (jan 3) and I've been reading a lot of reviews to get a feeling for how to approach the dining.

I've read numerous reports of slow service that interferes with seeing the shows. Now, I'm ok with a leisurely meal -- shows aren't a big deal to me -- but I decided to make reservations for later in the evening so we can catch the early show if we want. We will have appetizers early so we aren't too hungry. We live in LA, so no time difference to adjust to, which makes later dining easier.

If you have the dining option to eat in the specialty restaurants, you can make your reservations for dining after you have finished filling out your paperwork on line. Most of the shows start at 7:15 and 9:15. Give your self about an 90 minutes or so for meals. When you dock in Cabo the ship will be there until 7:00pm. So you might want to schedule for a late dinner that night.

What is the date for your cruise? There is probably a Roll Call for your cruise.

 

I am cruising on The Jewel 24-31 January and I can not wait.

 

Reservations are not needed for the two main dining rooms. Since you are in Suites, your Concierge, will be able to advise you as to shows (no reservations required) and make dinner reservations for you.

 

The Jewel is a wonderful ship with a great staff. I was just on Her in early May for Her first cruise to Alaska and can not wait to get back.

 

Mandy

We go the week before on the 17th. Have never joined a roll call. What does that do?

We did our first NCL cruise on the Star this past June and we are booked on the Jewel for a 1/30/2016 departure to the Mexican Riviera. We are booked in the Haven so this will be exciting for us (all 6 of us)

We had the Ultimate Dining Package for our trip on the Star and my advice is to book all your specialty dining meals before you get on the ship. We wanted to change one of our times when we got on the ship and the first thing we did was go to reservations to make that change and their were no open reservations for us. We kept checking back and were able to make a change later but I was surprised how quickly the reservations filled up. By the end of departure day all the reservations for Tepanyaki, Cagney's and Le Bistro were full.

If there was a show we wanted to see (7:15) we would plan to go eat early (5:00pm) for some appetizers and soup/salad and have a late 8:00 - 8:30 dinner reservation.

Previous suggestions on expecting 1.5 hours for dinner are realistic. Even in specialty dining service can be slow (our experience on the Star). I have also been reading that it looks like NCL has cut back service personnel fleetwide. Not sure if that is true but that may be why it tends to be a little slower than expected. We never had to make reservations for MDR. We did have to make reservations for the No-Fee oriental restaurant (chin chin on the Jewel).

I have been told that being suite guests we should be able to make reservations on line 100 days out (right after final payment). I have also been told that a land based concierge will contact us for suite requests including dining reservations.

As far as reservations for shows, they are not needed but have been told that the concierge can save seats for suite guests if you let them know ahead of time which show and how many will be in your party.

Enjoy your cruise! Save your Freestyle Daily schedules and report back and let us know what the entertainment will be!

Thanks!

-Sean

PS - A roll call is just a thread where everyone booked on your specific cruise can communicate with each other before leaving. You should be able to find your roll call in one of the links in the top of the web page.

We go the week before on the 17th. Have never joined a roll call. What does that do?

Roll Call is is an opportunity to talk with people who will also be on your cruise. Most times there are very experienced cruisers who gave give you very good advice. Often times there are other like you who either completely new to cruising or new to Norwegian.

Usually someone on the Roll Call makes arrangements for a Meet and Greet the morning of the first Sea Day. Norwegian provides a room, beverages and sweets. All those who wish from the Roll Call amy attend. It is a private function for Cruise Critic members (like yourself and your traveling companions). All of the Senior Hotel Management Staff attend and once in awhile the Captain. It only takes an hour or so and it interesting. I will be hosted the Meet and Greet for the week of the 24th.

There is no charge. Sign up on your Roll Call and enjoy.

Roll Call is is an opportunity to talk with people who will also be on your cruise. Most times there are very experienced cruisers who gave give you very good advice. Often times there are other like you who either completely new to cruising or new to Norwegian.

 

Usually someone on the Roll Call makes arrangements for a Meet and Greet the morning of the first Sea Day. Norwegian provides a room, beverages and sweets. All those who wish from the Roll Call amy attend. It is a private function for Cruise Critic members (like yourself and your traveling companions). All of the Senior Hotel Management Staff attend and once in awhile the Captain. It only takes an hour or so and it interesting. I will be hosted the Meet and Greet for the week of the 24th.

 

There is no charge. Sign up on your Roll Call and enjoy.

Hmmm, sounds interesting. I will definitely check it out!! Thanks :)

We did our first NCL cruise on the Star this past June and we are booked on the Jewel for a 1/30/2016 departure to the Mexican Riviera. We are booked in the Haven so this will be exciting for us (all 6 of us)

 

We had the Ultimate Dining Package for our trip on the Star and my advice is to book all your specialty dining meals before you get on the ship. We wanted to change one of our times when we got on the ship and the first thing we did was go to reservations to make that change and their were no open reservations for us. We kept checking back and were able to make a change later but I was surprised how quickly the reservations filled up. By the end of departure day all the reservations for Tepanyaki, Cagney's and Le Bistro were full.

 

If there was a show we wanted to see (7:15) we would plan to go eat early (5:00pm) for some appetizers and soup/salad and have a late 8:00 - 8:30 dinner reservation.

 

Previous suggestions on expecting 1.5 hours for dinner are realistic. Even in specialty dining service can be slow (our experience on the Star). I have also been reading that it looks like NCL has cut back service personnel fleetwide. Not sure if that is true but that may be why it tends to be a little slower than expected. We never had to make reservations for MDR. We did have to make reservations for the No-Fee oriental restaurant (chin chin on the Jewel).

 

I have been told that being suite guests we should be able to make reservations on line 100 days out (right after final payment). I have also been told that a land based concierge will contact us for suite requests including dining reservations.

 

As far as reservations for shows, they are not needed but have been told that the concierge can save seats for suite guests if you let them know ahead of time which show and how many will be in your party.

 

Enjoy your cruise! Save your Freestyle Daily schedules and report back and let us know what the entertainment will be!

 

Thanks!

 

-Sean

 

PS - A roll call is just a thread where everyone booked on your specific cruise can communicate with each other before leaving. You should be able to find your roll call in one of the links in the top of the web page.

Thanks for all the info. You guys are so fast!!

We have had similar experiences on Royal with staff being cut back in general and dinners, including specialty as you stated, running slower. We also noticed on Royal that making reservations for specialty dining as soon as possible was better if you wanted certain times.

I know the other couples we are going with are very interested in trying several of the specialty restaurants so all of this info is very helpful.

This is making me want to leave now!!

Hmmm, sounds interesting. I will definitely check it out!! Thanks :)

I looked a little while ago and there is an established Roll Call for your cruise.

Go to Roll Calls

Norwegian

Jewel

Scroll down the list until you find it.

It was toward the bottom of the page when I checked.

Enjoy

Welcome to Norwegian Cruise Line, The Jewel and Cruise Critic.

Mandy

I just got back from an Alaskan Cruise on the Jewel and had a wonderful experience. Do sign up for the meet and greet. We had a small group of 12 or so to show up but it gives you a heads up on who the Management Staff is and you will see them throughout your cruise. We did only dining that was complimentary. We ate at the Irish pub once, Chin Chin once and Tsars once and took all of our other meals in the Garden Cafe or the outdoor area at the back of the ship. We found the variety at the Garden Cafe to be exactly what we wanted. We could try a little of anything we wanted and let me tell you, there was a lot to pick from. There were themed nights like Mexican, Asian, Grill, German, and one night was fish. There was always a stir fry section, pizza, pasta bar, salad of the day, grill with burgers, chicken, hot dogs,etc. as well as the normal hot bar, salad bar, fruit bar, and bread bar options. Desserts were impressive but to my taste looked better sometime that they actually were. There was a crepe making section most nights and 2 ice cream machines open most all the time. Breakfast was awesome too and there usually was 2 places you could get special omelets made. The garden cafe might have been busy but we could always get food without waiting. If the dining room was full there was a section they would open for the extra people.

We always got a seat for the shows and usually arrived 15 minutes early. Don't miss the one on the last full day of the cruise. There are some staff members who perform talent show fashion and I enjoyed it very much. The young man know as "Washy, Washy" even performed to everyone's delight. But if you don't eat at the garden cafe, you will never meet this cheerful employee.

The swimming pool was only usable a few times on my cruise because of the cooler climate but the area around the pool is welcoming. There is an eating area that had some delicious looking food and they did have a couple of BBQ's in this area.

Freestyle cruising for me is the way to go. You can dress up if you want or be casual if you want, up to you. I guess if you do eat at some of the fancier restaurants you will need to dress accordingly.

Before you go, study the ship layout some. But basically, you have activities or food on 6, 7, 8 or 12 and 13. The rest of the floors are where the cabins are located. There are 3 sets of stairs/elevators. Each floor is marked with a number and under the number tell you which staircase you are at, like forward, aft, or mid. There are also signs everywhere. I did not realize for a few days that part of them are touch screens and will go on to tell you about each item. On the room floors, remember that the fish always swim forward. We did spend the first hour or so on the trip getting familiar by just walking around.

Have fun, we sure did.

We were on the Jewel in March for our first cruise. We ate at Teppanyaki and didn't make reservations until the day before and had no trouble. We also ate a la carte sushi and were literally the only ones at the sushi bar and it was phenomenal! The other nights we ate in the MDR and never had reservations for either....we used the freestyle dailies to plan our day and meal times and it worked really well. The Jewel is a beautiful ship and we found the crew to be top notch! We sailed to Cozumel, Belize, and Honduras and had an amazing time. Don't plan too much and enjoy your week!

I thought I would add that since March, a lot of people have gotten the UDP as one of the offered promos, so I've been reading that reservations are getting harder to get, and are best secured early. Even for suite guests.

So we are booked for our first Norwegian cruise Jan 2016 on the Jewel to Mexican Riviera. We are going with 2 other couples and are booked in the forward penthouse suites and are SUPER excited!!

 

We have all been on other cruise lines but none of us have traveled on Norwegian before. Have seen a couple pics of similar rooms and looking forward to the nice sized balcony.

 

We are starting to look into the dining options and considering making reservations. Do you all recommend reservations in general? The freestyle dining is new to us. How do you know what time to have dinner and not miss out on shows?

 

We tend to like to do and see everything there is. Especially since our first time we are not going to want to miss out on anything. Any help or tips about making most of ship in general are appreciated :)

 

TIA

Hey Tia,

We sailed on the Jewel to Alaska in June/July and were in forward-facing penthouse 9500. It was an absolutely great room and we had a great time. On the Alaska cruises, the Jewel had nightly shows in the main theater at 7:30 and 9:30. We normally planned for the 9:30 shows allowing 2 hours for dinner. The entertainment was some of the best we've seen on this size cruise ships (vs. the mega ships).

You can check our our [not so well written] review at http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=510360&et_cid=2232003&et_rid=158003398&et_referrer=Boards

I am assuming that as Suites guests, you got the Ultimate Dining Package allowing you to eat at specialty restaurants nightly. Try them all. You can book them prior to departure. Since you are a suites guest, if you find that your dining reservation is not compatible with the daily activities, call your concierge and they will change the time to whatever you want (don't try to use the onboard reservations line - concierges have magic powers to get you a table even when the restaurant is fully booked).

Watch for invitations in your room to the suites cocktail party with the ship's officers. Go up and mingle in the Haven with the Captain and his crew. (This was one of the nights that we had the concierge shift our dinner reservations so we could attend the party, eat dinner, and see the nightly show in the theater).

The balconies on Deck 9 are super large (ours was over 300 sq ft). The balcony had a couple of loungers which always seem to collect water. So we had our butler bring up a couple of deck chairs. On the Alaska cruise, we would spend a hour or two each evening sitting on the balcony whale and dolphin watching.

Hey Tia,

 

We sailed on the Jewel to Alaska in June/July and were in forward-facing penthouse 9500. It was an absolutely great room and we had a great time. On the Alaska cruises, the Jewel had nightly shows in the main theater at 7:30 and 9:30. We normally planned for the 9:30 shows allowing 2 hours for dinner. The entertainment was some of the best we've seen on this size cruise ships (vs. the mega ships).

 

You can check our our [not so well written] review at http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=510360&et_cid=2232003&et_rid=158003398&et_referrer=Boards

 

I am assuming that as Suites guests, you got the Ultimate Dining Package allowing you to eat at specialty restaurants nightly. Try them all. You can book them prior to departure. Since you are a suites guest, if you find that your dining reservation is not compatible with the daily activities, call your concierge and they will change the time to whatever you want (don't try to use the onboard reservations line - concierges have magic powers to get you a table even when the restaurant is fully booked).

 

Watch for invitations in your room to the suites cocktail party with the ship's officers. Go up and mingle in the Haven with the Captain and his crew. (This was one of the nights that we had the concierge shift our dinner reservations so we could attend the party, eat dinner, and see the nightly show in the theater).

 

The balconies on Deck 9 are super large (ours was over 300 sq ft). The balcony had a couple of loungers which always seem to collect water. So we had our butler bring up a couple of deck chairs. On the Alaska cruise, we would spend a hour or two each evening sitting on the balcony whale and dolphin watching.

That's funny!! That is the room we are in :D . Yes, we got the dining package so of course everyone was to try all the other restaurants. Thank you for the tip on the concierge. That is good to know. This will be our first time with this kind of service. I'm afraid I'm going to be spoiled after this trip.