The short (and long) of it: Jewel 1/5/14

Well, another cruise has (sadly) come and gone which means it’s time for another CruiseCritic review! I get ready for every cruise by perusing EVERY review for that ship and I like to return the favor…and relive the cruise!

After a few years as a member, I’ve learned that some people like the quick, to-the-point reviews while others (like myself) prefer the detailed ones with pictures. So, I’ve decided to do both! This post will be the “at a glance” review and I’ll follow that with a day-by-day review for those who are interested.

I’ll go ahead and spoil the main point: we all had a great time. Was it the best cruise yet? No, but that was mostly due to Mother Nature…more on that later. Still, we’ll definitely be back on NCL soon (we bought a future cruise credit so we have no choice :)).

Oh, and PLEASE let me know if you have any questions!!

BACKGROUND

The cruisers were: myself (23), sister (20), mom, and dad (from Western North Carolina). This was my 12th cruise and my parent’s 2nd. Of the main lines, I’ve sailed on Disney, Carnival, Princess, Royal, and Celebrity. My only previous NCL cruise was 10 years ago on the Majesty. I LOVED that ship (and sailing from Charleston!!!!) but it wasn’t truly a “Freestyle” ship, so I was excited to experience the new(er) NCL.

Bluntly, I’m a cruise nerd. I’ve been crazy about cruise ships since my first cruise in 1999 and I haven’t looked back. I’m studying in Finland right now and, after this semester, I’ll have one master’s degree in marine engineering and another in passenger ship design. So, a cruise was the only way to celebrate! I got my bachelor’s in New Orleans and wanted to return to visit my friends and that’s why I chose the Jewel. It definitely WASN’T for the 10+ hour drive ;). The ports didn't play a big role, as I'd been to all but Roatan.

THE SHIP

I think the Jewel is the perfect size. She’s big enough to be impressive but not overwhelming. Inside, there’s a balance between “pretty” and “fun”. The décor is definitely more vibrant than Royal/Celebrity/etc., with a lot of colors (especially carpets).

On the positive side, I thought it was extremely easy to find my way around, with most public spaces on deck 6,7, and 12. I really liked the design of most public rooms (theater, dining rooms, Spinnaker…) and I thought that the ship is in great shape overall. There were some signs of wear but nothing too noticeable (besides broken railings that were fixed by the end of the cruise). We spent a lot of time in both the Spinnaker and Great Outdoors and I would hesitate before booking the Star/Dawn due to their refurb changes.

On the other hand, I did miss the “wow” factor of a large atrium. I wish NCL had stuck with the Star/Dawn atrium design for the Jewel class. I (and mom/sister) didn’t like the shop design, either. We much prefer traditional, separate, smaller shops instead of one large one.

THE CABIN(S)

We booked one year out and got a great deal on a mini suite for the parents (11522) and an inside for the “kids” (11521). We LOVED the mini suite. It’s not much bigger than some regular balcony cabins on other ships, but the bathroom/tub was a huge plus. The balcony was also of a good size for a regular side cabin and there was a ton of storage (too much for 2 people!). This cabin was underneath the gym, but my parents were never bothered by noise (though they did hear some throughout the week).

The inside was (of course) not as impressive, but it suited our needs. There was plenty of space for two though the storage would be very tight for any more than that.

DINING

We really changed things up for this cruise. Before this, we had NEVER eaten in a specialty restaurant on any ship. Generally, we prefer traditional dining in order to get to know our waiters. Since that wasn’t an option, I decided it was best to break up MDR nights with specialty ones. Plus, since NCL uses so much space for its restaurants, it would feel like a waste to never go in any of them. So, as a Christmas present to the parents, we pre-booked Mama’s (now La Cucina), Cagney’s, Teppanyaki, and Moderno and we weren’t disappointed.

LA CUCINA: We weren’t exactly sure how to order and we ended up with too much food! We each got an appetizer, entrée, and desert plus a pizza to share (at the suggestion of our waiter). It was all very good but we would skip the pizza next time since there was plenty without it. I ordered the bruschetta (amazing), carbanara (good), and rhubarb panna cotta (fine). As reported by others, it was a common theme for the desert to be the lowlight of the dinner. The service was great and it was a good way to start the cruise (we aren’t lobster lovers and didn’t mind missing it in the MDR).

CAGNEY’S: By far the best meal of the cruise (and any cruise so far for that matter). I understand the gripes about the menu changes, but we all thought everything was amazing. The beef sliders and filet minon were terrific and the raspberry crème brulee was good. The only disappointment? The Cagney fries!! I honestly don’t understand the hype! Maybe they were under-seasoned that night, but they tasted no different than any other fry from any other restaurant :(. The service was good (not great).

TEPPANYAKI: This was a close second. I wasn’t a fan of the soup or seaweed salad (at all) but I LOVED the edamame, rice, and every meat that I tried (which was a lot). Like any hibachi restaurant, it’s more about the experience than the food (which was still great). Again, the desert (green tea cake) was a downer, though.

MODERNO: This was the only disappointment as far as specialties go. We saved this for last since we’ve never been to a Brazilian restaurant and, as a whole, were underwhelmed, especially in comparison to the other three. The salad bar and meats were good, just not great. Of all 10 options, I would only describe the filet minon as very good. The rest were just “good” to “bleh” (only the garlic beef fell into that category – none of us liked it at all). The desert menu was extremely limited and neither the flan or mango cream were impressive. Maybe it’s because it followed the other three GREAT restaurants, but this one didn’t come close. I’ve read rave reviews…am I crazy or was it just an “off” night???

Also, I'm glad to hear that they're moving these restaurants on the Jewel class. I think the current location works for a casual place like Blue Lagoon but not for one with a $20 upcharge per person.

MDRs: We enjoyed all of our dinners in the MDRs though they weren’t on the same level as the specialties. Surprisingly, most enjoyed Azura more and we ate there two nights. Tsars Palace is more impressive, but it’s also louder and feels busier. Service was pretty slow one night, average another, and VERY fast on the third. All of our waiters were polite but more distant than we’re used to on other lines with traditional dining. We thought the food was, on the whole, very good (which means nothing on this board, I know!). It would be nice to have more options, though, especially on the “tonight’s specials” side.

BLUE LAGOON: We ate here on the first sea day. The food was good but we stuck to the buffet for the rest of the cruise. The wings, as reported, were great! I also liked the tomato soup a lot and all of the deserts were very good. The service was VERY impersonal, though, and for some reason our waiter brought ALL of our appetizers and entrees at exactly the same time. Is that normal?? The tables aren’t very big, so that was a bit of a pain (and just weird).

GARDEN CAFÉ AND GREAT OUTDOORS: We ate here for every breakfast and most lunches. I liked the layout a lot and the lines never felt overly crowded (for a cruise ship buffet, anyway)…the chocoholic buffet was an exception. The food was as expected and always warm. Oh, and the syrup tasted fine to me. No complaints here!

ENTERTAINMENT

This one’s tough. There was plenty to do on the ship and we were never bored, but we weren’t “wowed” with the entertainment, especially the nightly shows. My sister and I thought the first production show (“Band on the Run”), comedian, ventriloquist, and magician were all just “okay” and not up to the standards of our previous two cruises on RCCL and Celebrity (which is strange, I know). The one exception was the second production show (“Cirque Bijou”), which was terrific.

WEATHER

This affected the enjoyment of the ports, so I’ll put it here. In one word, the weather was HORRIBLE! By far this was the worst I’ve ever seen. We’ve cruised in the winter before and have never experienced such crummy luck! I would love to know if it’s normal for a January cruise in the Western Caribbean since we’re planning one again next year!!!

After leaving New Orleans, we literally didn’t see the sun until day 5! Yep, not even a peek through the clouds. Even when it wasn’t raining, the wind kept us from really enjoying our time outdoors. Even on the fifth day, the sun only shone through the clouds for a few minutes before hiding again. So, when all was said and done, we ended up with 1.5 sunny days on our Caribbean vacation. Not. Cool.

PORTS

With that in mind, here’s my take on the ports:

COZUMEL: It was my 5th time here and by far the worst. The high was 71 degrees (!) with rain and wind (I’ll post pictures later but they don’t do any justice to the awfulness ;)). The plan WAS to shop and head to Paradise Beach, but we only managed to walk through the downtown shops and head to Margaritaville.

BELIZE CITY: This was my 3rd stop here and again (sadly) not the best. We had booked a cave tubing excursion which was cancelled the night before due to the weather (which was marginally better than the day before but still very rainy/overcast). Instead of tubing through caves and hiking through the forest, we hiked around the cruise port, plopped down at a bar with free wifi, and tried to stay dry.

ROATAN: I pre-booked the beach/snorkel package online through Bananarama, so we had no choice but to head to the beach, no matter the weather. Luckily, it was again slightly better than the day before but still overcast with showers. Even with the weather, we did enjoy our time on the beach and I would definitely recommend Bananarama. I'll post more details later.

COSTA MAYA: On our final port day, the weather was…GORGEOUS! Finally, it was sunny and in the 80’s! I had reserved 4 chairs at Tropicante after reading reviews on these boards. Again, I’ll get into details later, but I’ll just say that it was GREAT and I’ll be doing the same next time. This was definitely the best port day (kinda by default, I know).

SERVICE

Here’s where NCL really shined for us. This easily could have been a dismal vacation but, thanks to the crew, we can’t wait to head back! Besides some “meh” service in some of the dining rooms (as mentioned), we found everyone to be helpful AND cheerful. I LOVED the “welcome back” dancing, washy washy songs (of course) and pretty much everything else. It really separated the Jewel from some of my past cruises. I will say that the cruise director (Jamie) wasn’t our favorite…she was too dry for our tastes. She did her job well, though.

OVERALL

We all had a great week on the Jewel. The weather was horrible and none of our plans really worked out, but the crew saved the trip. The ship is great and I look forward to sailing on others of the same size. Next up is, ironically, Jewel of the Seas, but I’m sure I’ll be back to NCL in the near future!

Clearly, I'm not "loyal" to any one cruise line and I've enjoyed every single one. Sure, there are differences between them but the overall "feel" is basically the same to me (if that makes any sense). It's hard to compare, but I'd say that the general hierarchy is accurate as far as what you get: Carnival < Royal, NCL < Princess, Celebrity. Still, I look forward to cruising on all of these (and more!).

I hope I didn't forget anything important, but I'll cover a lot more (with pictures!!) later on.

Again, I'd love to answer any questions out there!

Thanks so much for your honest review can't wait for your next one. Sorry you had such awful weather but a vacation is a vacation and seems as though you made the best of it.

Loving your review, and now waiting for the day by day continuation.

Thanks for sharing.

Thanks! I'm heading back to Europe today, but hopefully I'll be able to start the picture review tomorrow!

Thanks for your review. I can't wait to read the day by day. We're on the Jewel in March with the same itinerary.

Thanks for the review

Cagney fries are hit or miss but when they are a hit it is a home run

Teppanyaki was the worst for me and my friends. Food was too salty, the "show" boring and others in the restaurant were loud and drunk in their party of 30

Moderno was one of my favorites the first time I went and still is but you are correct. They need to ramp up the desserts

back to cagneys, they totally have redeemed themselves from two previously bad meals there

Their desserts were huge and too big to even make a dent.

La cucina was great and a pleasant surprise to my friends who said EWWW when I agreed to treat the 5 of us. They changed their tune after and said it was a great meal

I only sailed on the jewel once-or twice I am not sure but totally enjoyed it each time

BTW the weather was horrible on our cruise to. We left nyc 1/1 and rocked and rolled until we got to san juan and then leaving samana I think we hit a bad storm because were were rockin, rolling, and shakin and grooving lol

Cheers!!

Thanks for the review

Cagney fries are hit or miss but when they are a hit it is a home run

Teppanyaki was the worst for me and my friends. Food was too salty, the "show" boring and others in the restaurant were loud and drunk in their party of 30

Moderno was one of my favorites the first time I went and still is but you are correct. They need to ramp up the desserts

back to cagneys, they totally have redeemed themselves from two previously bad meals there

Their desserts were huge and too big to even make a dent.

La cucina was great and a pleasant surprise to my friends who said EWWW when I agreed to treat the 5 of us. They changed their tune after and said it was a great meal

I only sailed on the jewel once-or twice I am not sure but totally enjoyed it each time

BTW the weather was horrible on our cruise to. We left nyc 1/1 and rocked and rolled until we got to san juan and then leaving samana I think we hit a bad storm because were were rockin, rolling, and shakin and grooving lol

Cheers!!

So it sounds like it wasn't just the Western Caribbean, then. Hopefully we'll have better luck next time!

And we were lucky to have good company in Teppanyaki - I can imagine the experience being much worse with a rowdy crowd.

Maybe I'll try the Cagney fries again next time, though I doubt we'll give Moderno another chance. Maybe Le Bistro next time?

Alright, I finally made it back after 18 hours in planes and airports! I’m not quite ready to crash yet, so I’ll go ahead with the picture review. I hope that some future Jewel cruisers will find it helpful (and Dawn cruisers too since she’ll be in New Orleans next year). I will say that I don’t have a great camera and some pictures were taken with my iPhone, but hopefully the pictures will get the point across :).

Before starting the review, I’ll post a few pictures of the ship. Usually, I make it a point to take a picture of every single space on board (literally), but for some reason that didn’t happen this time around. I did snap a few pictures here and there, though.

Since it's been a while since I've posted pictures, I'll start with a test run...

It worked! And I'm off...

AROUND THE SHIP

CRYSTAL ATRIUM

I think my flash destroyed this picture, because the atrium is much prettier in person. This is the first space you see when you board (besides the promenade deck) and is basically the center of the ship, with the reception and shore excursion desks, future cruise office, a bar, and perfume shop on the lower level and two restaurants (Moderno and Blue Lagoon) overlooking.

It’s a nice space, but I much prefer the larger atriums/centrums/piazzas of Carnival, Royal, Princess, etc.

STARDUST THEATER

The main theater, on the other hand, was possibly my favorite of any ship so far. The sight lines were perfect even from the “cheap seats”.

SPINNAKER LOUNGE

This is the observation lounge, which also hosts a lot of activities (White Hot Party, game shows, Mardi Gras parade, etc.). It’s not as “funky” as the newer Jewel-class ships but is a great place to look out, especially when the weather is less than perfect ;). It’s a shame they replaced it with cabins on the Star/Dawn and I really hope they won’t do the same to the Jewel class…

FYZZ LOUNGE

Fyzz is another bar/lounge that is used for a ton of activities. All trivia and karaoke events are held here, as are a few game shows. We spent more time here than in the Spinnaker since we went to most trivia challenges. It’s not my favorite space as far as design goes…but maybe it’s a love it or hate it type of room.

POOLS

There are two pools (not including the Haven private one): one for adults and one for families. The adult pool is heated (kinda – it’s still pretty cold if the weather doesn’t cooperate!) and each has two hot tubs. I didn’t spend as much time here as I’d have liked, but from what I saw the kids pretty much stuck to their side. It’s nice to have a separate adults pool, but it’s nothing like the Solarium on Royal/Celebrity ships, as you can’t escape the noise.

I didn’t go down the waterslide, but I agree with past reviews that it’s basically a waste of space. I’m sure some kids enjoyed it, but it seemed like almost all of them got stuck and had to “scoot” down most of it.

Adult pool:

Family pool:

I liked the layout of the pool deck, but my mom thought it seemed too crowded and preferred the more traditional, open layout of Monarch of the Seas.

AZURA

I didn’t get a picture of the Tsars Palace dining room (which is beautiful), but I did snap shots of the smaller and informal dining room, Azura, which was our favorite of the two. It was much quieter and the service seemed better to us.

CABIN CORRIDOR

Here’s a random shot, but I really liked the passenger cabin corridors! The carpet and doors are both fun.

I know that doesn’t cover nearly all of the public rooms, but it should give an idea of what to expect. The Jewel is going into dry dock later this year (I believe?) but she’s still in great shape overall.

The exception was some outdoor spaces, especially at the aft. I’m not sure how this happened, but the Great Outdoors railing looked like this until the last day. There were also some missing stadium seats at the basketball course and rusty spots.

Still, the interior is maintained beautifully and it seemed like the crew were cleaning around the clock. She really is a beautiful ship.

Hopefully this isn't too boring! I'll be back with the actual recap next.

Thank you so much for taking the time to review your Jewel vacation. We wont be on her for quite some time yet, but I am like you, in that I love to start researching as soon as I know

Thanks for your review. Looking forward to read your picture review.

 

LA CUCINA: We weren’t exactly sure how to order and we ended up with too much food! We each got an appetizer, entrée, and desert plus a pizza to share (at the suggestion of our waiter). It was all very good but we would skip the pizza next time since there was plenty without it. I ordered the bruschetta (amazing), carbanara (good), and rhubarb panna cotta (fine). As reported by others, it was a common theme for the desert to be the lowlight of the dinner. The service was great and it was a good way to start the cruise (we aren’t lobster lovers and didn’t mind missing it in the MDR).

 

CAGNEY’S: By far the best meal of the cruise (and any cruise so far for that matter). I understand the gripes about the menu changes, but we all thought everything was amazing. The beef sliders and filet minon were terrific and the raspberry crème brulee was good. The only disappointment? The Cagney fries!! I honestly don’t understand the hype! Maybe they were under-seasoned that night, but they tasted no different than any other fry from any other restaurant :(. The service was good (not great).

 

TEPPANYAKI: This was a close second. I wasn’t a fan of the soup or seaweed salad (at all) but I LOVED the edamame, rice, and every meat that I tried (which was a lot). Like any hibachi restaurant, it’s more about the experience than the food (which was still great). Again, the desert (green tea cake) was a downer, though.

 

MODERNO: This was the only disappointment as far as specialties go. We saved this for last since we’ve never been to a Brazilian restaurant and, as a whole, were underwhelmed, especially in comparison to the other three. The salad bar and meats were good, just not great. Of all 10 options, I would only describe the filet minon as very good. The rest were just “good” to “bleh” (only the garlic beef fell into that category – none of us liked it at all). The desert menu was extremely limited and neither the flan or mango cream were impressive. Maybe it’s because it followed the other three GREAT restaurants, but this one didn’t come close. I’ve read rave reviews…am I crazy or was it just an “off” night???

 

 

 

Thank you for these reviews of the specialty dining rooms. Our first time on NCL and have looked at the menus but this really helps.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WEATHER

 

This affected the enjoyment of the ports, so I’ll put it here. In one word, the weather was HORRIBLE! By far this was the worst I’ve ever seen. We’ve cruised in the winter before and have never experienced such crummy luck! I would love to know if it’s normal for a January cruise in the Western Caribbean since we’re planning one again next year!!!

 

After leaving New Orleans, we literally didn’t see the sun until day 5! Yep, not even a peek through the clouds. Even when it wasn’t raining, the wind kept us from really enjoying our time outdoors. Even on the fifth day, the sun only shone through the clouds for a few minutes before hiding again. So, when all was said and done, we ended up with 1.5 sunny days on our Caribbean vacation. Not. Cool.

 

PORTS

 

With that in mind, here’s my take on the ports:

 

COZUMEL: It was my 5th time here and by far the worst. The high was 71 degrees (!) with rain and wind (I’ll post pictures later but they don’t do any justice to the awfulness ;)). The plan WAS to shop and head to Paradise Beach, but we only managed to walk through the downtown shops and head to Margaritaville.

 

BELIZE CITY: This was my 3rd stop here and again (sadly) not the best. We had booked a cave tubing excursion which was cancelled the night before due to the weather (which was marginally better than the day before but still very rainy/overcast). Instead of tubing through caves and hiking through the forest, we hiked around the cruise port, plopped down at a bar with free wifi, and tried to stay dry.

 

ROATAN: I pre-booked the beach/snorkel package online through Bananarama, so we had no choice but to head to the beach, no matter the weather. Luckily, it was again slightly better than the day before but still overcast with showers. Even with the weather, we did enjoy our time on the beach and I would definitely recommend Bananarama. I'll post more details later.

 

COSTA MAYA: On our final port day, the weather was…GORGEOUS! Finally, it was sunny and in the 80’s! I had reserved 4 chairs at Tropicante after reading reviews on these boards. Again, I’ll get into details later, but I’ll just say that it was GREAT and I’ll be doing the same next time. This was definitely the best port day (kinda by default, I know).

 

 

 

We sailed to these ports in Nov. 2013 and had basically the same kind of weather. Cozumel was sunny and the rest...it rained. Not constantly but enough to spoil. In Costa Maya we went to Tropicana too and I highly recommend it although it kept pouring. During one hour barrage of rain we saw that a couple of women had set up their massage beds inside an empty building front so we had a one hour massage while we waited. Great deal. $25 I believe.

 

 

 

Clearly, I'm not "loyal" to any one cruise line and I've enjoyed every single one. Sure, there are differences between them but the overall "feel" is basically the same to me (if that makes any sense). It's hard to compare, but I'd say that the general hierarchy is accurate as far as what you get: Carnival < Royal, NCL < Princess, Celebrity. Still, I look forward to cruising on all of these (and more!).

 

 

We have not been very loyal to any line either. Have sailed with Royal, Carnival, Costa and MSC and now NCL. I agree with your assessment. When people ask me how to compare them it is very difficult because it depends on what you like.

The post before this, by me. Doesn't seem to have worked out too well. I was trying to put comments inbetween some of what was said and instead it looks like it all came from the same person. Sorry.

Thank you so much for taking the time to review your Jewel vacation. We wont be on her for quite some time yet, but I am like you, in that I love to start researching as soon as I know

We usually book ours over a year in advance, too. Even though it feels like f-o-r-e-v-e-r, we like to have something to look forward to :).

The post before this, by me. Doesn't seem to have worked out too well. I was trying to put comments inbetween some of what was said and instead it looks like it all came from the same person. Sorry.

No problem! And I totally agree re: different lines. I'd try them all if I could...how else do you know which is the best ;)

PRE-CRUISE

New Orleans is a GREAT departure city! Having studied there for 4 years, it almost feels like a second hometown to me. It was also the first port I cruised from, aboard the TINY, 1958-built Enchanted Isle. It’s crazy how that ship got me (and everyone else) hooked on cruising!

Anyway, it took 16 years to cruise out of New Orleans again, but I was excited to do so!

I flew from GSP a few days early in order to meet up with friends who I haven’t seen in 2 years. The city definitely isn’t “new” to me anymore, so I didn’t go to any of the tourist spots, but I did have a great three days! My sister and parents drove from North Carolina and met me on Saturday in time for lunch at one of my favorite restaurants (Juan’s Flying Burrito!) before heading to our hotel.

Pre-cruise hotels are a hot topic on the New Orleans boards and I had a hard time deciding as well. There’s at least one hotel that includes parking for the week and a shuttle to the port, but it’s across the river and I wanted to be as close as possible to the port. So, I sucked it up and paid for a night at the Springhill Suites downtown, which is only a couple of blocks from the Riverwalk and cruise terminals. It was pricey, but the Sugar Bowl was held in the Superdome that Thursday, which probably didn’t help.

For parking, I pre-booked a space at the Fulton parking garage online. It was $10 per day for a covered space (there are two websites to book from – one charges $12 per day). We arrived an hour early and there was no attendant. We called the reservation number and were told to get a ticket anyway and to put it on the dash along with our printed receipt. That made us a little nervous, but it still beat the $16 per day (uncovered) parking at the port!

The garage is literally right around the corner from the hotel so walking between them was no problem at all. The hotel was nice and the room was of a very good size (but still overpriced imho). It’s proximity to the port was great and the walk to the Quarter is very doable (15-20 minutes). So, besides the price, we had no complaints!

We did walk along the river and sightsee before calling it a day and ordering dinner. Like EVERY day before a cruise, we all had problems sleeping, even though the beds were very comfortable!

Next up: Day 1!

Do you know what hotel across the river provides a shuttle? I know there are a few that have park and cruise but was not aware of a shuttle?

Thanks...look forward to reading the rest of your review.

Do you know what hotel across the river provides a shuttle? I know there are a few that have park and cruise but was not aware of a shuttle?

 

Thanks...look forward to reading the rest of your review.

The one I'm aware of is the Quality Inn in Gretna. From their website:

Park and Cruise Package

Enjoy the convenience of parking your vehicle at the hotel during your cruise

Includes free parking for up to seven nights and transportation to and from cruise terminal for the registered guest per stay.

http://www.qualityinn.com/hotel-gretna-louisiana-LA036

(Rates--> packages)

Thank you very much. Just called and got their cruise and stay package.

There is a Festival in New Orleans the weekend we leave (April 13th) so there are very few hotels with availability. I had reservations at the Holiday Inn in Gretna but there is no transportation.

The Quality Inn was a few $$ less and they provide shuttle to and from.

Thanks again! :)

Thank you very much. Just called and got their cruise and stay package.

 

There is a Festival in New Orleans the weekend we leave (April 13th) so there are very few hotels with availability. I had reservations at the Holiday Inn in Gretna but there is no transportation.

 

The Quality Inn was a few $$ less and they provide shuttle to and from.

 

Thanks again! :)

You're welcome! In retrospect, I should have gone with that as well. More on that in a sec ;)

DAY 1 – NEW ORLEANS

It’s the morning of the cruise! AKA, the best morning ever.

It’s tradition for us to get to the terminal as early as possible, even if it means sitting for a little while. So, we shot for 10:30 like always. The hotel offered a free continental breakfast, which was good (all the basics plus eggs, waffles, and sausage). It was still a bit too early after breakfast, so we walked to the official parking lot (whale lot) to get our first glimpse of the ship.

Yep, the vacation had officially started!

After walking back, grabbing our stuff, and checking out, we grabbed a taxi right in front of the hotel, which was our first mistake of the week.

As I said before, the hotel is basically right across from the ships. Unfortunately, the Convention Center is between them. That doesn’t sound so bad, but it is since it’s an abnormally huge and LONG building. So, a taxi ride that should take less than a minute takes around 5 after going around the thing. Even more unfortunate is when said taxi ride costs about $40 for four :rolleyes:. I learned my lesson the hard way.

The lesson? Next time I cruise out of New Orleans, I probably WON’T stay as close to the port as possible. If I do, I’ll park at the Fulton Garage and take their shuttle to the ship (which was free). We decided not to go for the garage shuttle since I was told over the phone that they would only shuttle 2 people per group. Does anybody know if that’s enforced? If not, I’d definitely park there again. If so, I’d take the deal across the river.

Of course, walking SHOULD have been the easiest option, but (from what I understand) it's really difficult on embarkation morning, even though it's so close. Again, I'd love to hear if anyone has done it since that would be even better than a shuttle! After disembarkation, we easily walked back to the garage so I'm not sure if it would be any different...

Aside from the taxi ride, the rest of the morning was a breeze. We arrived at the terminal at 10:30 on the dot, went through security, and got in the Lattitudes line to check in. I’m not sure if that helped at all, since both lines were about the same length. As expected, we had to wait to embark, but not for long. We were given the group 4 boarding number and boarding started around 11:15 if I remember correctly. I do know that we were on board well before noon since we had to wait a while for the MDR to open ;).

This is the point where you REALLY get excited, especially after planning for a year! Carnival Sunshine was docked in front.

I LOVED the welcome aboard banner, balloons, and dancing crew! Boarding directly to the promenade deck was different (I like the atrium to be the first sight...) but this made it awesome!

It also didn't hurt that the Saints had won the night before ;). Let's not talk about what happened at the next game...