Jewel TA Review - belated and very long!

Norwegian Jewel Cruise – 9/19/09-9/30/09

 

Bottom Line

 

This is a very long review, so for those who want to skip to the bottom line, here it is – I very much enjoyed my cruise on the Jewel. As noted below, there were a few minor negatives, but they were far outweighed by the positives. The ship is nice, the itinerary was excellent (other than missing a port), the staff was great, the entertainment was good (with Le Cirque Bijou being outstanding), and the food was good to excellent.

 

 

Also, for those who just want pictures, here are links to my photo albums:

 

Food and Menus

http://s636.photobucket.com/albums/uu87/johnql/Jewel%20Trans-Atlantic%202009/Jewel%20TA%202009%20Food%20and%20Menus/

 

Ports

http://s636.photobucket.com/albums/uu87/johnql/Jewel%20Trans-Atlantic%202009/Jewel%20TA%202009%20Ports/

 

Ship and Cabins

http://s636.photobucket.com/albums/uu87/johnql/Jewel%20Trans-Atlantic%202009/Jewel%20TA%202009%20Ship%20and%20Cabins/

 

People

http://s636.photobucket.com/albums/uu87/johnql/Jewel%20Trans-Atlantic%202009/Jewel%20TA%202009%20People/

 

Background

 

My friend Linda and I are in our 50s. This was my 9th NCL cruise (16th overall), Linda’s 9th NCL cruise (15th overall). We booked the Jewel primarily because we wanted to try a Trans-Atlantic sailing (lots of sea days) and the itinerary was very appealing.

 

Reservation, Pre-Cruise and Embarkation

 

I booked this cruise directly through my PCC at NCL about a year ago. He was very helpful and professional, answering all of my questions in a timely manner. I reserved a BA cabin with a $100 per cabin OBC. Soon after I booked, prices went down significantly and a new NCL promotion was in effect. A quick call to my PCC gave me the choice of a price reduction or a cabin upgrade from my original BA cabin to an AF for the same price. In addition, my OBC would increase from $100 to $300 if I opted for the AF. I did so. A couple months later, I received an email promotion from a cruise TA that I have booked through several times in the past. Their offer matched NCL’s pricing but doubled the OBC. Despite my positive dealings with my PCC, I couldn’t pass up this offer, so I cancelled my direct booking and rebooked through the TA, retaining my AF cabin but now with $600 OBC. Finally, another two months later, American Express was offering a $100 OBC if you paid for the cruise with an Amex card (which I normally do anyway). An email to the TA confirmed that I was qualified for this additional OBC, giving me a total of $700 OBC – wow!

 

We decided to fly to London on Thursday 9/17 (with the cruise embarking on Saturday 9/19). The overnight flight would get us to Heathrow on Friday. Through our CC roll call, we had arranged to share a transfer with three others (Len, Mike and Wendy). Our flight included a stopover in Dublin, where we encountered mechanical problems with our plane, delaying our arrival in London. When we arrived, we couldn’t find Jeff (our driver). Fortunately, I had purchased an unlocked cell phone with a UK SIM card, so I was able to call Jeff and figure out where he was waiting for us. Having the phone also allowed us to communicate with Mike and Wendy, who were waiting for us with Len at a local hotel. Once Jeff picked us all up, we headed over to Dover, where we were all staying at the Best Western Churchill.

 

Linda and I opted for the Best Western Churchill because of its location right on the water with a clear view of the White Cliffs of Dover and its proximity to the pier (a quick, inexpensive cab ride the next morning). There were a couple of bad reviews of the Best Western on Trip Advisor, but we chose to ignore them, figuring the price was right ($115 for the night) and it was only one night – how bad could it be? It turned out fine. The hotel is certainly not modern or luxurious but it was perfectly adequate, and it was centrally located for everything that we wanted to do (visit Dover Castle, walk around central Dover, walk along the waterfront, and view the Cliffs).

 

After quickly checking in and putting our bags in our rooms, we headed to Dover Castle (short cab ride from the hotel). We spent a couple hours there and enjoyed exploring the castle and getting great hilltop, panoramic views of Dover and the English Channel. It was a brisk, downhill walk back to the hotel (with a brief stop at a convenience store to pick up soda). After taking a breather at the hotel, we headed back out to explore Dover, looking for a good place to have a local meal. We ended up at the Park Inn where we had a nice, casual dinner in a pub atmosphere.

 

The next morning, we called for a cab to take us to the pier. With five of us sharing the ride (plus all of our bags), we ordered a mini-van, which was not a problem. It was a quick ride to the pier, where our bags were quickly taken by the porters. They were so fast that they ran off without waiting for a tip. We made our way through the check-in process, which didn’t take long at all (maybe 10-15 minutes). Then, we sat in the waiting room, waiting for our color to be called. That took all of 10-15 minutes. We were on the ship before noon. As we embarked, we were greeted by crew members (including a couple of officers) along with free glasses of champagne. Our cabins weren’t ready yet, so Linda sat in the atrium while I ran around the ship taking photos. Half an hour later, I rejoined Linda and we went to the Azura dining room for a nice sit-down lunch.

 

Our bags were delivered to our cabin very quickly (fastest that I can ever recall), probably around 2 or 2:30. I was completely unpacked before the muster drill at 3:30.

 

Sailaway was great since we got spectacular views from the ship of Dover, the White Cliffs and the English Channel.

 

The Ship

 

I liked the décor of the ship. However, if your preference is understated elegance, the Jewel might not be your cup of tea. The ship is also well maintained with very few signs of wear and tear. The worst that I encountered was one public bathroom that was not very clean.

 

Here’s a link to my photo album of the ship and some of the cabins (our AF mini-suite 11002; Barry and Rita’s AB suite 11012; and a handicapped inside cabin):

 

http://s636.photobucket.com/albums/uu87/johnql/Jewel%20Trans-Atlantic%202009/Jewel%20TA%202009%20Ship%20and%20Cabins/

 

Early in the cruise, Hotel Director John O’Hara invited us to join him on the bridge. Captain Hoydal graciously welcomed us and spent quite a bit of time talking to us, telling us about the ship’s operation and answering our questions.

 

We also took part in the “Behind the Scenes” ship tour, which was complimentary for Platinum Latitudes. The tour was supervised by Group Service Coordinator Rochelle Brown. I’m pretty sure the regular fee for the tour was $55. The tour lasted for almost 3 hours. We started in the Art Gallery with a welcome from the Hotel Director, John O’Hara. Then, we proceeded to the bridge, where the Captain gave us a very detailed tour and entertained questions. Next came the Stardust Theater and a tour of the backstage area, including the dressing rooms and the stage itself. Then, we were taken through the laundry room and the environmental systems area (waste management). Next came a tour of the provisions area, where all of the food is stored and processed (meat cutting, vegetable cleaning/cutting, etc.), followed by a walk-through of the actual galley where the meals are prepared. It was a fascinating tour but its length and physical demands (lots of walking and standing with no chance to sit down) should be kept in mind by anyone considering it. Also, the group size (approximately 20) occasionally made it difficult to hear the guide.

Stateroom

 

We were booked in 11002, a starboard AF mini-suite, pretty much identical to the AF that we had on the Gem a year earlier. We were very pleased with the location and accommodations – spacious, plenty of storage drawers, roomy closet with lots of hangers, spacious balcony, coffeemaker, a safe that was eye-level, a desk with two chairs (the hair dryer was stored in one of the desk drawers), a roomy sofa that could be made into another bed if needed, a small (old-style CRT) tv, a small coffee table, a curtain that could be drawn to separate the tv/sofa area from the beds, a bathroom with a full tub, and a mini-fridge that was stocked but still had enough room for the bottles of soda that we had carried on. We were originally intending to have the steward empty the fridge but we decided that it really wasn’t necessary.

 

We picked 11002 because it was the last AF on the starboard side and it was under the spa, which (to me) meant the likeliness of noise would be close to zero (this proved to be true). We also thought that 11002 would have only one neighbor, which also reduced the chance of noise. However, we didn’t know that there were several cabins forward of our cabin that were used for crew members. In fact, Darin Wyman (our Cruise Director) was right next door! As it turned out, noise was never a factor at all.

 

Since 11002 was all the way forward, it did lead to lots of walking when we wanted to do anything at the stern of the ship (mainly dining in Tsar’s Palace or the Great Outdoors, or going to the Galleria Shops). However, for our purposes, it was still a convenient location since it was below the Spinnaker Lounge and above the Stardust Theater and Jewel Club Casino (all places that we frequented).

 

The two beds had been prepared as a single bed. We asked the steward to separate the beds and it was done later in the afternoon. We also requested extra towels to be supplied throughout the cruise – no problem there either. Two bathrobes were hanging in the closet and two beach towels were laid out on the bed.

 

The bathroom was partitioned into three sections. On one side was the toilet, separated from the rest of the bathroom by a sliding door. In the middle was the sink area with several small shelves on the wall, probably adequate for most people’s toiletries. A liquid soap dispenser is mounted on the wall. There is also a shelf under the sink with a built-in trash bin. Also mounted on the side wall is a Kleenex dispenser. On the left side of the bathroom is the tub. The tub is very deep, so getting in and out of the tub may not be as easy as at home. There’s a clothesline above the tub and the tub has a 3-part sliding door, not a curtain. The tub’s water controls might be a little tricky to some: instead of a cold water knob and a hot water knob, there is just a single water knob (on the left) for water pressure. The temperature of the water is controlled by a knob on the right, with the temperature indicated in degrees Celsius.

 

Our steward was courteous and professional throughout the cruise, although he never did introduce himself to us – something that doesn’t bother us at all but I know is important to some. He also made quite a few towel animals for us – not something that makes or breaks a cruise for us but still fun. I think we ended up getting five towel animals. We also received chocolate mints on our pillows every night. We were so happy with our steward that we gave him an additional tip at the end of the cruise on top of the automatic gratuity.

 

Muster Drill

 

The muster drill was held at 3:30pm, right before sailaway. Our muster station was in the Stardust Theater. It was quick and easy and took only 15-20 minutes.

 

OBC

 

There’s always a little apprehension as to whether one’s OBC is going to be accurately credited. I had printed out email confirmations from my TA indicating the exact amount that I should be receiving. Fortunately, this proved unnecessary because in our cabin on embarkation day were NCL statements accurately detailing all of the OBC credits that I was expecting.

 

Latitudes

 

There were 1400 Latitudes members on this cruise! Because of the number of people involved, they split up the group and held two Latitudes parties in the Spinnaker Lounge on different days. Ours was held on Friday (almost a week after embarkation, much later than usual, which seemed odd but I assume there were scheduling conflicts). The officers were introduced and the Captain welcomed us aboard with a few brief remarks. Drinks and hors d’oeuvres were served and there was a raffle for several prizes.

 

As Platinum Latitudes members (neither of us actually qualifies but several years ago, we both purchased Freestyle Cruise Rewards onboard a Dawn cruise and, at the time, the purchase included an upgrade in Latitudes status), we were also invited to a Latitudes party for Silver, Gold & Platinum members. This party was held on Sunday (9/27) but we had a scheduling conflict and couldn’t attend.

 

Linda and I both purchased $250 Cruise Rewards for future bookings. As long as you know you will cruise within four years, it’s a deal that’s hard to pass up since you get $100 immediate OBC for your current sailing and the $250 will serve as your total deposit for a new cruise (for most cabin categories). We also asked for and received Jewel Latitudes pins from the onboard cruise consultant in addition to an unsolicited badge holder/lanyard.

 

Other benefits that we received as Platinum Latitudes members included: complimentary dinner in Le Bistro with a bottle of wine, a complimentary “Behind the Scenes” tour, early tendering in Lerwick, early disembarkation in Reykjavik and Halifax, complimentary “fill the bag” laundry service (offered twice, which we used once, normally a $25 service), and VIP disembarkation in NYC.

 

Cruise Critic Activities

 

We had a very active CC roll call and kudos to Len, Margie, Kit and Tony (among others) for putting in all the time, effort and cost (mainly Len’s wonderful lanyards and CC member id badges) in organizing our CC activities, including the Meet & Greet, a gift exchange, Murder Mystery Dinner, Cabin Poker Crawl, and Farewell Dinner. Group Service Coordinator Rochelle Brown was instrumental in many of these events, serving as the ship’s main contact for group events.

 

On our first sea day, we held the CC M&G in the Spinnaker Lounge (bumping a session of Bingo). We had a tremendous turnout – probably between 90 and 100 attendees. It was fun to meet many of those who attended, finally getting a chance to put a face to the screen name. Quite a few staff members and officers attended the M&G. Refreshments were provided. Following the M&G, we held the gift exchange, which was a lot of fun. It served to really loosen up the crowd and gave us our first chance to interact with one another.

 

Len coordinated the Murder Mystery Dinner, which ended up being held in Tsar’s Palace. The name of this murder mystery was the Eternal Cruise (for those who had participated in the past and didn’t want to repeat it). The ship’s staff set this up specifically for CC because the regular MMD on this cruise was held in Cagney’s and a fee was charged for it, whereas the CC MMD was held without a surcharge.

 

The Cabin Poker Crawl was held on our second sea day (Tuesday). The CC members who were interested in participating met in Bar City, where we divided into two groups. We toured an inside cabin, an oceanview, a balcony, an AF mini-suite, and an AB suite (all cabins belonging to participating CC members). At each cabin, a card was dealt (each time from a new deck) to each attendee, so at the end of the crawl, each attendee had a 5-card poker hand. At the beginning of the crawl, each attendee who wanted to play the poker aspect of the tour anted up $10 to the pot, which would be split between the high and low poker hands at the end of the crawl. We had 12 players for a $120 pot. Following the crawl, we all reconvened in Bar City, where we revealed our poker hands. The high and low hands then split the pot. This was a great, fun activity since it allowed us to see five different categories of cabins, CC members got to have fun together, and there was money to be won.

 

The CC farewell dinner was held following our port stop in Halifax (Monday, 9/28) in Tsar’s Palace. Again, we had a good turnout (probably 50-60 people).

 

TV

 

Here’s the channel guide for the ship’s tv:

 

21 – Onboard Information

22 – Navigational Information

23 – Bow Cam & Announcements

24 – Safety

25 – Shore Excursions & Cruise Rewards

26 – Destination & Shopping

27 – Onboard Activities

28 – Fox News

29 – BBC Entertainment

30 – ESPN

31 – BBC Knowledge

32 – TVE

33 – BBC World News

34 – New Release Movies

35 – Feature Movies

36 – French & Spanish Movies

37 – German & Subtitled Movies

38 – Spa Information

 

Some of the stations faded in and out depending on the ship’s reception (weak signal, poor signal, no signal).

 

Channel 34 showed recent movies, not what I would call “new releases” but fairly recent (within the past 3 to 6 months). Channel 35 showed older movies but some still worth seeing, especially if you failed to see them in their initial release.

 

Here are the recent releases that were showing on Channel 34:

The Proposal, Star Trek, State of Play, Angels and Demons, Earth, Fast and Furious 4, My Life in Ruins, and Ghosts of Girlfriends Past

The channel cycled through these eight movies (in the same order) throughout the day and throughout the cruise.

 

Here are the featured movies that were showing on Channel 35:

21, August Rush, Bella, Chaos Theory, Charlie Wilson’s War, Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, Definitely Maybe, Enchanted, Fool’s Gold, The Best of Hannah Montana, I Am Legend, Iron Man, Kung Fu Panda, Leatherheads, Mad Money, Made of Honor, Michael Clayton, Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, National Treasure: Book of Secrets, P.S. I Love You, Run Fatboy Run, The Bucket List, The Forbidden Kingdom, The Great Debaters, The Holiday, The Other Boleyn Girl, The Spiderwick Chronicles, The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep, Vantage Point, and Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins

As with Channel 34, Channel 35 cycled through these movies in order 4-1/2 times during the cruise.

 

Some of the movies were also shown in the Fyzz Lounge.

 

Dining

 

Here’s a link to scans of all of the dinner menus from our sailing in addition to photos of all of the specialty dining menus. There are a few shots of MDR lunch menus but I didn’t get a chance to take photos of them all.

 

http://s636.photobucket.com/albums/uu87/johnql/Jewel%20Trans-Atlantic%202009/Jewel%20TA%202009%20Food%20and%20Menus/

 

There are numerous places to eat onboard. Here’s how the dining venues break down on the Jewel.

 

Included, no reservations recommended

Azura (Main Dining Room)

Tsar’s Palace (Main Dining Room)

Blue Lagoon (almost 24/7 comfort food)

Garden Café (buffet)

Great Outdoors (buffet)

Room Service

 

Surcharge, reservations recommended

Le Bistro (French/Continental) - $15

Cagney’s (Steakhouse) - $25

Sushi and Sake Bar - $15

Chin-Chin (Asian) - $15

Mongolian Hot Pot - $15

Tango’s (Tex/Mex) - $10

Mama’s Kitchen (Italian) - $10

Teppanyaki (Japanese hibachi) - $25

 

Miscellaneous

Tapas Bar (free tapas with the purchase of a drink)

Java Café (free dessert with the purchase of a specialty coffee)

 

We dined in most of the venues. Azura is the smaller of the two main dining rooms. Tsar’s is quite large. We had three dinners and one lunch in the main dining rooms. All of the meals were good but not exceptional. Linda specifically enjoyed the chilled soups.

 

The buffet was quite good (for a buffet) in that there was a large selection of items, including salads, soups, breads, meats, poultry, pizza, pasta, hot dogs, burgers, carvery station, wok station, Indian food station, sandwich station, desserts, self-serve ice cream, and self-serve espresso/cappuccino machine. At breakfast, there was also an omelet station. We had most of our lunches in the buffet and enjoyed the food we had. We never had dinner there. There does tend to be a problem finding an open table in the buffet but it never took us longer than a few minutes to find an unoccupied table. Also, they seem to run out of glasses too quickly. Tables were cleared and cleaned promptly.

 

The Blue Lagoon has three different menus – breakfast, main menu (served for lunch and dinner), and a late night menu (a shortened version of the main menu). We ate there several times and enjoyed the potato skins, wings, Chefs salad, fish and chips, and cheeseburger. They offer mild and hot wings. I ordered the hot and enjoyed them but still think they should be hotter. I seem to recall that they were hotter on previous NCL cruises. Breakfast was good. I had the “Full House” breakfast (2 eggs any style, bacon, sausage, baked beans, sautéed mushrooms, and hash browns), substituting a ham and cheese omelet for the 2 eggs. Both the service and the breakfast were good.

 

We ordered room service several times, usually as a wake-up meal on port days. They were always punctual, calling 5-10 minutes before delivery. The menu is a little more extensive than it used to be (noted additions include an angus burger and eggs all day) but I do miss the chocolate mousse.

 

We had meals in almost all of the specialty restaurants – Le Bistro, Cagney’s Steakhouse (twice), Chin-Chin, Tango’s, Mama’s Kitchen, and Teppanyaki (twice). All of our meals in the surcharge restaurants were good to excellent. The service was excellent, too. Food and Beverage Manager Michael Harris often stopped by our table in the dining rooms to ask how we were enjoying our meals.

 

We were fortunate enough to have a meal in Teppanyaki with some of the staff, including Hotel Director John O’Hara and Cruise Director Darin Wyman, among others. It was great to get to know Darin just a bit on a personal level. He struck us as thoughtful, engaging and very passionate about his job.

 

They offered 50% off the surcharge at Chin Chin and Mama’s for reservations between 5:30 and 6:30 on port days. They also offered $5 off at Cagney’s, also on port days for early seatings. We took advantage of all three deals since it fit our schedule. A minor note: since the discounts being offered are 50% off and $5 off and no longer just 2-for-1, single diners will have no problem qualifying for the discounts. In the past, 2-for-1 didn’t offer any benefit to single diners since they really couldn’t eat two meals and the ship wouldn’t recompute it as 50% off.

 

We had absolutely no problem getting reservations to any of the restaurants. We booked most of them over the telephone. They allow reservations for same day and next day. As Platinum Latitudes members, we were allowed to book an extra day in advance. I know that many people don’t like the idea of paying a surcharge for dining on a cruise ship and I can understand that viewpoint. Also, no one is happy that the surcharges have gone up over the years (with the Italian and Tex-Mex restaurants imposing surcharges after initially being included). But my approach is that I price the cruise and then budget extra for dining surcharges. If I still feel that the total price is a good deal, I book the cruise. To me, even with the higher surcharges, the specialty restaurants are worth it. In addition, our sizeable OBC more than covered all of our surcharge dining.

 

We were disappointed that we weren’t able to obtain copies of the entire cruise’s dinner menus for the main dining rooms in order to strategize our dining plans for the week. We asked at the main reception desk in the atrium but they weren’t available (as they have been on some of my previous NCL cruises). Later on in the cruise, I asked the Restaurant Manager Mihaela Mocan, who had greeted us several times during the cruise in the restaurants, for a copy of all the menus. She was gracious enough to do so, sending a full copy of all the dinner menus to my cabin. I do think, however, that having them available at reception for anyone’s perusal should be routine. Mihaela was also kind enough to obtain and give Linda the recipe for the mushroom soup that is served in Le Bistro.

 

We were very surprised to see how empty all of the surcharge restaurants were. Despite the fees, they have always been somewhat busy on our previous NCL cruises. Teppanyaki, in particular, struck me because it has always been one of the toughest restaurants to book, but not on this cruise. I’m willing to bet that you could have gotten a reservation at any of the surcharge restaurants for almost any time of your choosing or simply showed up without a reservation.

 

For those who are interested, they offered two special meals during the cruise – a Jazz Brunch in Le Bistro for $15 and a Taste of India lunch in Chin Chin for $15.

 

Late-night snacks are served in the casino around 11:30 pm.

 

The Chocoholic Buffet was held at 10:30pm in the Garden Café on Monday, 9/28.

 

Activities

 

Chances are you won’t be bored on the Jewel. The ship offers most of what you would expect on a cruise ship and probably much more – bingo, port and shopping talks, art auctions, excursion briefings, portrait sittings, spa treatments, casino gambling (in addition to slot, blackjack and Texas Hold ‘Em tournaments), internet café, Latitudes party for repeat cruisers, VIP Latitudes party for Silver, Gold and Platinum members, onboard shopping, yoga, tennis, trivia sessions, shuffleboard, lectures, fitness classes, wine/martini/margarita tastings, card room, video arcade games, Wii in the Fyzz Lounge, karaoke, golf putting competition, ping pong, basketball, country line dancing, White Hot party, disco dancing, towel folding demo, aerobics, singles get-togethers, etc. There were also meetings for Friends of Bill W. and Friends of Dorothy. I’m sure I missed some other activities, so be sure to peruse your Freestyle Daily thoroughly.

 

NCL “U” sessions included: “Shetlands to Empire” lecture by Jim Forrester; New World Wine/Cheese Tasting ($15); European Beer Tasting & Food Pairing ($18); The Art of Making Sushi & Sake Tasting ($15); “Iceland Emerges” lecture by Jim Forrester; The Art of Infused Vodka and Martini Tasting ($15); “Great Conveyor Belt” lecture by Jim Forrester; Old World Wine Tasting ($15); “Canada’s Rock” lecture by Jim Forrester; Global Beer Tasting ($15); “The Blueness Province” lecture by Jim Forrester; and “Drifting Continents” lecture by Jim Forrester.

 

For those who are interested in more active participation or simply enjoy watching your fellow passengers have fun, you can sign up for the Murder Mystery Dinner (this time offered in Cagney’s for a fee, limited to 64 participants); or check out any of the audience-participation games: the Newlywed Not So Newlywed Game; Liar’s Club; Majority Rules; The Perfect Couple; Dancing with the Stars; or Where in the World Am I? No Qwest on this sailing – I’m guessing it was omitted because of the older demographic.

 

The game room was very active on this sailing. In fact, at times there was a need for more tables and chairs. This is when the Latitudes Room next door would have come in handy but the Latitudes Room has been converted into the Lifestyles Room and was being used as a satellite sales location for the Galleria Shops. The game room was well stocked with games and the staff sponsored bridge games (held in Tango’s) and Scrabble (no room that day in the Game Room so we relocated to Tsar’s Palace). I met several people playing Scrabble and got together with them to teach them how to play mah-jongg, a great way to spend a couple spare hours on a sea day. The Game Room had several mah-jongg sets but we had to go through a couple of them to put together a complete set.

 

The Library was also quite busy with lots of readers. In fact, reading could be seen throughout the ship, in the lounges and in the windowsill sitting areas. CD Darin Wyman, in response to the clear need for reading spaces, even designated certain areas of the ship as DMZ (Designated Malacophonous Zones), such as Le Bistro from 7am-4pm or Tsar’s Palace from 7am-2pm.

 

The Library also supplied daily written trivia quizzes, crosswords and sudoku puzzles.

 

Bora Bora Spa

 

According to the spa’s promotional flyer, the spa offers: heated mosaic lounge chairs, a thalasso therapy pool, steam rooms, sauna, Japanese plunge pools, Jacuzzi tubs, tropical showers, and relaxation areas. Various passes for the spa were available – 11-day pass for $99 (individual) or $165 (couple); 1-day pass for $20; port day cruise pass (8am-2pm on all port days) for $50.

 

For those interested in spa treatments, here’s their main menu:

 

Teeth whitening - $149; ionithermie - $159 (one 50-min session) or $399 (three 50-min sessions); oxydermy facial - $169; La Therapie hydra-lift facial - $119; aroma spa seaweed massage - $195 (half-body) or $259 (full body); absolute spa ritual - $265; Mandara hot stone heaven - $145 (50 min) or $195 (75 min); acupuncture - $150 (first treatment) and $125 (follow-up treatments); aroma-flex - $119; couples float massage - $179; deep tissue massage - $129; Swedish massage - $119

 

They ran $99 specials during the cruise ($99 for any one of the following): hot stone massage; La Therapie hydra-lift facial; Swedish massage; Ionithermie inch loss treatment; lime and ginger exfoliation with massage; milk wrap with massage; back massage with reflexology on the feet; and fire and ice manicure and pedicure combo.

 

They also ran a special for combining certain treatments (you mix and match) - 3 for $99; 4 for $119; or all for $129. The services included: European mini facial; pro collagen eye treatment; conditioning hair treatment; scalp, neck and shoulder massage; moisturing hand spa; and foot and ankle massage.

 

Lastly, they offered a special combo deal of mini-treatments (20-min versions of the more expensive, longer treatments) – 3 for $99 (you mix and match). The mini-treatments included: scalp massage; hand and arm massage; foot and ankle massage; back massage; mini-facial; hot stones back massage; and milk wrap.

 

Please note that an 18% (not 15%, as with bar tabs) service charge is automatically added to all of the above fees.

 

Shows

 

There was a show every night in the Stardust. On embarkation night, there was a Welcome Aboard Show, hosted by the Cruise Director, Darin Wyman. It wasn’t really your typical Welcome Aboard Show since it wasn’t used to preview some of the acts that would occur later in the cruise. The show was a quick welcome from Darin, followed by a stand-up comedy act by Tucker, who was pretty funny. Tucker offered a second show on the following night in the Spinnaker Lounge.

 

There were three production shows in the Stardust Theater – Band on the Run, Country Gold, and Le Cirque Bijou. All were presented by the Jean Ann Ryan Company. I enjoyed them all for the most part. I thought the singers and dancers were enthusiastic and talented. Le Cirque Bijou was by far the most impressive, with the acrobats displaying eye-popping stunts of strength, timing, flexibility, agility and balance. This is a show not to be missed.

 

Other shows presented in the Stardust Theater included: Buddy Wachter on banjo (okay); Los Locos Ole (comedic duo, eccentric humor, not exactly mainstream, not well received); Hypnotist Dr. Scott Lewis (fairly traditional, Vegas-style hypnosis act, generally funny); Chantz Powell (young pheenom, extremely talented singer-dancer-trumpeter); Comedian Jeff Harms (long-time actor/comedian, still pretty funny, especially with his interaction with the audience); Dorothy Bishop (singer, who had to catch up to the ship in Halifax when we missed docking in St. John’s, Newfoundland; good voice but stylistically may not appeal to everyone).

 

Most of the individual Stardust acts put on second shows later on in the cruise in the Spinnaker Lounge.

 

Two other shows were presented in the Stardust – the International Crew Show and the Passenger Talent Show. The crew members were quite good, especially considering they are amateurs. The passengers were also pretty entertaining. Kudos to CC members Rita and Barry, who performed in the show (Rita sang and Barry did a stand-up routine). Following the International Crew Show, the officers and many of the crew staged their Norwegian Way finale. Following the Passenger Talent Show, Fountains was presented as a finale. Word was that Fountains was not going to be presented on this sailing, but numerous requests by CC members convinced them to perform it. It was greeted with uproarious laughter and much applause.

 

Music in the Lounges

 

There were numerous musical acts performing throughout the ship – 4 Strings Quartet in the Atrium, pianist Constantine Dragulyov, the Alambre Trio, Kenosis and Carrie Stone. These groups offered a very diverse selection of music, with a little something for almost everyone’s taste. It was clear, however, that the music chosen by the groups was done so with this sailing’s demographic in mind, i.e., skewing towards an older audience.

 

Casino/Gambling

The casino offers what you would expect: table games (blackjack, craps, roulette, three-card poker, Let It Ride, and Texas Hold ‘Em) and slots (pennies on up), including video poker. There’s also that game that seems to be incredibly popular for a reason that eludes me – The Tumbler – you drop your quarters/tokens in, trying to cause the machine to push a prize into the prize chute.

 

There are a couple of blackjack tables at poolside. However, they were never put to use during our sailing since the weather was chilly throughout.

 

There is also a blackjack machine up in Spinnaker Lounge. The advantages of the blackjack machine is that it still pays 3-to-2 for blackjack (whereas the $5 table in the casino pays only 6-to-5), it stands on all 17s (whereas the dealer hits a soft 17 in the casino), it uses a 6-deck shoe without a continuous shuffler (unlike the casino), and there’s no smoking allowed in the Spinnaker.

 

The casino also runs tournaments for blackjack, slots and Texas Hold ‘Em.

 

The casino was not very busy at all, even on sea days. Many of the tables were empty. Occasionally, the $5 blackjack table was full but that was it. The Tumbler, however, still attracted a decent crowd.

 

Signing up for the Casinos at Sea card qualifies you for accumulating points as you gamble, points that equate to dollars off your shipboard account. You need a minimum of 25 points to get $25 credited to your account, but the points are also allowed to carry over to your next cruise if it’s within a year. There is no fee to obtain the CAS card, so it’s worth signing up for. When you do so, you also receive a coupon book for specific casino promotions. For instance, for $10, you can obtain $20 in slot play. Linda used that coupon and parlayed the $10 into $75 or so. Another coupon serves as a first-card ace at the blackjack table. A third coupon serves as a $10 match play coupon at a table game. There are several other coupons in the coupon book. If you’re planning to gamble anyway, sign up for the CAS card and get the coupon book. Some of the coupons are actually worthwhile.

 

Executive Casino Host Che Alapa Ap was kind enough to comp us drinks one night and, later on in the cruise, comped us a meal in Cagney’s.

 

Ports and Shore Excursions

 

In Lerwick (a tender port), we booked an NCL excursion – Scalloway Castle and Shetland Ponies. It was a good excursion, showing us much of Lerwick and the countryside. We got to spend enough time at the castle and plenty of time checking out the ponies. Following the excursion, we walked around the town of Lerwick, right near where the tenders docked. We walked around Fort Charlotte and up and down the 2 or 3 main streets of Lerwick, in and out of many of the shops.

 

For Reykjavik, 8 of us from the CC roll call booked an independent tour of the Golden Circle, which included a visit to Thingvellir National Park, the Geysirs, Gullfoss Waterfall, the Hellishaedi Geothermal Power Plant, and a quick tour of downtown Reykjavik. This was an all-day tour, lasting from 8:15 to about 5pm. Thingvellir was geologically fascinating since we were walking around the area where Iceland is slowly splitting apart (but growing since the rift gets filled in), where the North American and Euro-Asian tectonic plates meet. The Geysirs and hot springs were also fun to view. Gullfoss Waterfall was beautiful and the power plant reinforced one of the more interesting facts about Iceland – i.e., how it generates much of its electricity at very low cost by harnessing the geo-thermal power that it sits on top of.

 

One major disappointment was missing the port stop of St. John’s, Newfoundland. The harbormaster in St. John’s closed the port to traffic because of high winds.

 

In Halifax, we didn’t book an excursion. Linda, Len and I walked along the waterfront until we reached the Halifax Casino, which we checked out briefly. We then turned around and returned to the ship, with a detour at a local supermarket to pick up soda.

 

Here’s a link to my photo album of our port stops:

 

http://s636.photobucket.com/albums/uu87/johnql/Jewel%20Trans-Atlantic%202009/Jewel%20TA%202009%20Ports/

 

At the end of the cruise, we were again fortunate enough to be invited to the bridge to view our sunrise entry into New York Harbor. Despite having to get out of bed before 5am, we were thrilled to take advantage of this opportunity. A huge thank you to Hotel Director John O’Hara and Captain Hoydal for allowing us this privilege.

 

Service

Our steward was excellent. The staff at main reception was courteous and attentive. The wait staff throughout the ship was eager to please. Smiles were commonplace.

 

I cannot say enough about the officers and staff members who went out of their way to cater to our CC group. Captain Hoydal was very gracious and made time for us despite his extremely busy schedule; Hotel Director John O’Hara was incredibly accommodating; Cruise Director Darin Wyman always had a welcoming smile; Food and Beverage Manager Michael Harris made sure that we were cared for; Executive Casino Host Che Alapa Ap was a pleasure to deal with; Group Service Coordinator Rochelle Brown provided excellent service; this is all in addition to the aforementioned Restaurant Manager Mihaela Mocan, who supplied me with the dinner menus and Linda with the soup recipe.

 

Conclusion

 

I would absolutely sail on the Jewel again and would recommend her to friends and family. Of course, there’s always the caveat – if you’re someone who loves traditional cruising with fixed dining times, assigned tables, and assigned tablemates, it might not be for you. But, for me, Freestyle is still the way to go.

 

If there are any questions, feel free to ask away. I hope I can answer them. Also, check out my photos in the links below.

 

Food and Menus

http://s636.photobucket.com/albums/uu87/johnql/Jewel%20Trans-Atlantic%202009/Jewel%20TA%202009%20Food%20and%20Menus/

 

Ports

http://s636.photobucket.com/albums/uu87/johnql/Jewel%20Trans-Atlantic%202009/Jewel%20TA%202009%20Ports/

 

Ship and Cabins

http://s636.photobucket.com/albums/uu87/johnql/Jewel%20Trans-Atlantic%202009/Jewel%20TA%202009%20Ship%20and%20Cabins/

 

People

http://s636.photobucket.com/albums/uu87/johnql/Jewel%20Trans-Atlantic%202009/Jewel%20TA%202009%20People/

John nice job...you made us feel like we were there...OOPS... we were there.....:rolleyes:

 

 

Great review, Great people, Great time....thanks

ENJOYED your review....GLAD you had a WONDERFUL time....cruising on the JEWEL in january...very much am LOOKING foward to this "new" ship

for us!!

Lecture: "The Blueness Province." Perhaps "The Bluenose Province" (i.e., Nova Scotia)?

Lecture: "The Blueness Province." Perhaps "The Bluenose Province" (i.e., Nova Scotia)?

Yes, sorry for the typo. It should be "Bluenose".

John nice job...you made us feel like we were there...OOPS... we were there.....:rolleyes:

 

 

Great review, Great people, Great time....thanks

Thanks. It was great meeting so many people from our roll call. Hope to sail with you again sometime.

Thanks John...awesome review.

 

I'm still working on mine (could I just copy yours ;) ?) LOL

Outstanding review==the most complete I have read--touches on all aspects

of the cruise.

 

 

Big Green

Thank you so much for this wonderful and comprehensive review, as well as for the pictures. This helps me so much to plan well for our cruise in January. I truly thank you for taking the time to provide the detail and descriptions. It is greatly appreciated--I realize that many people have different opinions--but between the pictures and the descriptions it is easy to get a wonderful sense of what the experience is and then to be able to plan appropriately. Frankly, opinions are not that helpful. This tyoe of detail is. I especially appreciate the menus.

 

My best to you,

yoyocruiser

Thanks John...awesome review.

 

I'm still working on mine (could I just copy yours ;) ?) LOL

Hi, Len - sure, just change the names to protect the innocent. Thanks again for being a part of this cruise. Linda and I really enjoyed hanging out with you.

 

Outstanding review==the most complete I have read--touches on all aspects

of the cruise.

 

 

Big Green

Thanks. I know I probably got carried away here and there, but I wanted to be the opposite of those "one and done" hit-and-runners who give myopic views of a cruise where absolutely nothing was acceptable.

Thankyou so much for this indepth review and all the great pics and menus! I am going on my first NCL cruise next year (only second cruise) and you made everything about NCL so clear and exciting....

 

Wonderful review:D

Thanks for a great review!!

we sailed on the Jewel on the outward transatlantic in April.

This was our first transatlantic, and we loved every minute of it!!

We had an aft balcony... and spent many happy hours just relaxing and staring at the wake..... even saw 2 whales.... awesome!!

We loved the Jewel.... a lovely ship!! We were slightly disappointed at the MDR food though.... even though the Tsars palace was a beautiful DR!

Out of all the shipe we've cruised on.... this food was the worst.

It was still edible.... and we love the MDR experience.... so we ate there almost every meal!

 

We loved the Jewel.... she's a lovely ship!!

Thanks so much for the great review... and the great idea... I hope you won't mind, but I'm going to suggest the poker cabin crawl on my roll call for the Epic. It sounds like a great way to socialize and have a bit of fun!!

Thank you for a incredible review! We will be sailing the Gem TA from Barcelona to NY in Nov-Dec. Do you feel it will be a very similar sailing concerning activities, food, entertainment?

Thanks so much for the great review... and the great idea... I hope you won't mind, but I'm going to suggest the poker cabin crawl on my roll call for the Epic. It sounds like a great way to socialize and have a bit of fun!!

Be my guest. For the record, it wasn't my idea. Someone on our roll call suggested it and ran with it. It was definitely fun - gave us a chance to see five different categories of cabins, got to interact with other CCers in a fun activity, and we got to gamble. Can't beat that.

 

Thank you for a incredible review! We will be sailing the Gem TA from Barcelona to NY in Nov-Dec. Do you feel it will be a very similar sailing concerning activities, food, entertainment?

I sailed on the Gem in 2008 and enjoyed myself then, too. Yes, I would imagine your TA should be fairly similar to the Jewel TA that I was just on (except for the itinerary). Activities do vary depending on the CD but, again, I'm guessing it will be similar.

Wow, thanks so much for the review! Great details!

Thanks for the interesting and well written review, John!

 

Our friends RichNY and his DW were on that cruise, too. Maybe you met them at the M & G or Martini tasting?:cool:

Thanks for the interesting and well written review' date=' John!

 

Our friends RichNY and his DW were on that cruise, too. Maybe you met them at the M & G or Martini tasting?:cool:[/quote']

Yes, I met Rich and Loretta and saw them quite a few times during the cruise - funny how, on a ship with 2400 passengers, you end up bumping into the same people over and over.

Yes, I met Rich and Loretta and saw them quite a few times during the cruise - funny how, on a ship with 2400 passengers, you end up bumping into the same people over and over.

 

 

And no one got hurt........:D:D

Your review was absolutely amazing..Best I've ever read no matter what ship or cruise line. Great attitude as well. Thanks for taking the time to do such a long, detailed review.

 

We're sailing on the Jewel 10-30, 14 nite repo from NY returning to Miami and can't wait to board and experience some of the wonderful things.

 

Do you know if they do the Cirque Show and/or Ann Rand? Shows more than one time? Thanks for your hard work :-)

Your review was absolutely amazing..Best I've ever read no matter what ship or cruise line. Great attitude as well. Thanks for taking the time to do such a long, detailed review.

 

We're sailing on the Jewel 10-30, 14 nite repo from NY returning to Miami and can't wait to board and experience some of the wonderful things.

 

Do you know if they do the Cirque Show and/or Ann Rand? Shows more than one time? Thanks for your hard work :-)

Thanks for the kind words. I am almost certain that you will have the same three Jean Ann Ryan production shows that we had - Band on the Run, Country Gold, and Le Cirque Bijou. They spend a fortune preparing and producing each show and don't change the shows very often. Each production show is presented twice on the night that it's performed - 7:30 and 9:30. Have a great cruise!

Thanks for the very thorough review. We also were on deck 11 and liked the cabin. Too bad the weather was so cold and rainy. I love to be out on the open decks.

Hi. Great review! We sail on the Jewel December 20th and can't wait!

 

You mentioned bringing soda on board. I am just curious how much you brought on, and whether you just carried it on or put it in your luggage. We would like to bring both soda and water on board, but when I called NCL they stated the official policy was that no beverages, execpt wine which would be charged a corkage fee, could be brought on.

 

As you have sailed many times I was hoping you could clarify what can/can't be brought on-board.

 

Thanks!

Hi. Great review! We sail on the Jewel December 20th and can't wait!

 

You mentioned bringing soda on board. I am just curious how much you brought on, and whether you just carried it on or put it in your luggage. We would like to bring both soda and water on board, but when I called NCL they stated the official policy was that no beverages, execpt wine which would be charged a corkage fee, could be brought on.

 

As you have sailed many times I was hoping you could clarify what can/can't be brought on-board.

 

Thanks!

You can take soda and bottled water onboard without any problem whatsoever. Do NOT listen to NCL reps concerning this matter. As you said, it is their official policy to say that soda isn't allowed, but in actual practice it isn't a problem.

 

I usually bring soda onboard in my carry-on because I don't take all that much (1 or 2 six-packs). You can usually replenish in port stops.

 

Have a great cruise!

Loved your review, thanks! I'm going to post that idea about the Poker Cabin Crawl on my Roll Call!:)