Jewel 2/25 thoughts

[gweeptrish]

First, a big thanks to all of you who post and especially who respond to questions here at Cruise Critic. There isn't anywhere else like this for getting information.

 

We got off the Jewel yesterday but I wanted to sleep on my review before posting it. I don't think we'll be returning, though I'm not sorry we went. How else to know if you like something new than by trying it? I think Freestyle must just be too casual for my taste, as it mostly came across as sloppy or uncaring.

 

First though, the things we liked:

 

-the bacon. Everyone laughs when I say this, but I don't generally care for bacon when we eat out. We buy our meat straight from the farmer at home and are used to thick, flavorful, meaty bacon. The Garden Cafe on the Jewel is the first place I've ever gotten really good bacon away from home. I ate far too much of it.

 

-the Kid's Crew counselors. I really think they were better than the ones on the Disney Magic. While the Splashdown club itself was mostly an empty room and not full of the marvels of the Oceaneer's Club, they more than made up for it by playing with the kids constantly. Every time I picked my kids up they were singing a new song they'd learned, were brandishing new crafts they'd made and usually had their faces painted as well. They *loved* the Kid's Crew.

 

-the shows. Band on the Run was fun. Duo Elegia was good. le Cirque Bijou was amazing.

 

-Our room. We had an inside cabin. Once we got over how small it was we were pleasantly surprised by how much storage there was and how relatively generously sized the bathroom was. Hats off to NCL here.

 

-Azura. Best service and food on the ship, at least of the places we tried.

 

-the Jewel herself. She's a very pretty ship and I liked the decor (except the atrium. The felt like I was in a bad 70s movie.)

 

Now for what we didn't like:

 

-The Garden Cafe, other than the bacon, was very uneven in food quality and uniformly bad in service. I can only assume it was understaffed. Tables weren't bussed and restocked promptly. The buffet itself wasn't kept stocked. Nearly every morning I had to go on a treasure hunt for a spoon for yogurt or cereal because the space where it should have been was empty. Food on the buffet was often not fresh, such as slices of cheese that were so dried out they were curling on the edges.

 

-Tsar's Palace. We ate here twice. Both times our food was poorly prepared (very overdone) and the service was very poor.

 

-Our room steward. He could not seem to grasp the idea that if there were four of us in the room, we needed four towels and I had to hunt him down and ask for them every day. Our shore excursion tickets didn't get delivered to our room. Our beds weren't combined into a queen as I requested until I hunted him down and stood in the hallway with a sleeping kid at 9pm while he reset the room. The room hadn't been properly cleaned before we arrived, we found someone else's shoes under the edge of the bed and the bathroom counter was dirty.

 

-The pool towel policy. It wouldn't be too much to say I detested it. On DCL, pool towels are freely available at poolside and you leave the wet ones there. I really didn't like having to haul towels up to the pool, worry about stashing them somewhere or someone taking them and then having to carry wet towels back to our room.

 

-the Kid's Crew policy on sleeping children. This is one that I missed completely before getting onboard. Nowhere on the NCL website does it say that the club will not allow sleeping kids. On DCL if your kid is asleep they put him on a mat and give him a blanket. On NCL you can't drop off a sleeping child and if your child falls asleep while at the club they will call you to come pick them up. It's clearly stated in the written sheet you get when you sign up on board but I can't find it anywhere on the website and it never occurred to me to ask here about it. Because of this policy we got to absolutely none of the evening activities. My two year old fell asleep by 8:30 every night so we had a choice of staying in our cabin with him or hauling his sleeping self around to the lounges. Since we don't bring a stroller on cruise ships (just takes up too much space moving around the ship) we mostly opted for "sit in our room and read."

 

-We felt like we were nickeled and dimed constantly. An upcharge for the character breakfast, $12 per class at the fitness center, etc. I guess that's part of the whole freestyle thing where you only pay for the parts of the cruise you're interested in but since the base fare for this cruise wasn't significantly cheaper than the DCL 7-night we just did back in November I found it annoying.

 

Lastly, debarkation morning was a mess. I suspect it was more the fault of the port of NY than NCL but there were very long, slow lines getting off the ship. We finally gave up and decided to wait upstairs in Spinnaker as we were clearly invited to do in the written debarkation guide. We had a pleasant time chatting with a couple who had decided the same thing. At 10:15am, a full fifteen minutes before final call, a crew member wearing a ventilator mask came in, hooked up a machine and started spraying a fine mist around the room. He couldn't possibly have missed us. Even if he hadn't seen us before he started he certainly did see us as we scrambled to grab our bags and our children and get away from whatever he was spraying. He never said a word to us before he began, did not stop when he saw us and obviously didn't apologize. I didn't get close enough to get his name. I was so angry and upset at being chased out and having both my toddler and the pregnant woman I was talking to exposed to chemicals requiring a ventilator that I just wanted to get off the ship. I will be contacting NCL about it tomorrow.

 

We're pretty good at making our own fun, so we had a perfectly adequate vacation overall. I just don't think we'll be doing it again. A number of factors aligned to make this particular line and itinerary our choice this time (itinerary that included canaveral, departure port we could drive to, kids crew for 2 year olds) but the negatives outweighed the positives for us and we will try another line next time.

[marelind]

Thanks for your balanced review. Not every cruise line is going to work for every person.

[PowMacP]

Yawn....:mad:

 

Some people are just hard to please. That is all I will say on this matter. :rolleyes:

[gweeptrish]

Yawn....:mad:

 

Some people are just hard to please. That is all I will say on this matter. :rolleyes:

 

Clearly. It took *bacon* to make me happy. How unreasonable of me.

[soaringfalcon]

Yawn....:mad:

 

Some people are just hard to please. That is all I will say on this matter. :rolleyes:

 

I think it was a fair review. I will say that I'm very surprised though. We had the exact opposite experience last June on the Jewel.

 

I'm really sorry you were disappointed OP. Did you address your concerns with Hugo, the hotel director? He is phenomenal and really aims to please. He had a drop off box next to the service desk.

 

I have to agree with NCL on the Kid's Club policy. I can't imagine dropping off a sleeping toddler at a Kid's Club. They're there to interact with your children not babysit.

[gweeptrish]

I'm really sorry you were disappointed OP. Did you address your concerns with Hugo, the hotel director? He is phenomenal and really aims to please. He had a drop off box next to the service desk.

 

I have to agree with NCL on the Kid's Club policy. I can't imagine dropping off a sleeping toddler at a Kid's Club. They're there to interact with your children not babysit.

 

I did not try to contact the hotel director. I probably should have. The food service issues were so widespread that I didn't think it was worth fussing over. I did make sure to fill out positive comment cards on every server we did have that was good. The first time we ate at Azura we stopped a manager to compliment our server (Elvis Simpson) and went straight from Azura to reception to submit a written compliment as well. He was that good.

 

It's pretty clear from how NCL runs the Kid's Crew that they are of your mind. That simply isn't how every cruise line does it and it took me by surprise. As I said in my original post there simply wasn't any way for me to know in advance about their policy on sleeping kids. Since it was clearly printed in the materials aboard ship it's obviously been in place for a long time. I just wish it had been in the FAQs on the website.

[biker@sea]

Thanks for the review. It's always good to hear others opinions .

[DMH15]

Clearly. It took *bacon* to make me happy. How unreasonable of me.

 

I too am very particular about my bacon. I have a favorite restaurant that has it to a T.

 

I am sorry NCL didn't do it for you. Different strokes. I love the ala carte aspect of NCL, so I must like what others find nickle and diming. Hope your next cruise is a better fit.

[Highboy90]

Thank you for taking the time to write a review. I personally value each and every one I read as I am new to cruising and try to read as much as possible to help insure I know what to expect and perhaps some tips as to what I should avoid. I will be on the Jewel in a few weeks with a AFT balcony, won't say the cruise is cheap so I perhaps will be more critical then I should be though money doesn't grow on trees. Not for any of us.

 

One should be greated with a clean cabin. NO excuses though I can see how things go undone or skipped given the time these ships turn around and head to the next destination.

 

As for food, I guess it is hit and miss sometimes. It also seems to vary greatly from week to week on the same ship. Is it personal tastes, expectations or staff, schedules, timing, etc?

 

Will say while not a fair comparison, I was at McDonalds last weekend for a quick bite. Not a fan of the place but usually, it does the job. Must say this time, this particular location, the place was a mess! Mid afternoon, about every table had not been cleaned. Food was luke warm. Would I not go to McDonalds again? No. But I don't have a problem going elsewhere either. And from the sounds of it, you will too.

 

Good luck on your next cruise. Look forward to that review also! :)

[jints07]

Thanks for the review. It's always good to hear others opinions .

 

Fully agreed. It is important that both positive and negative reviews are given equal respect, which I've noticed as a new member here, can sometimes be spotty. There is actually a strong case that the negative reviews have the most long term benefit, provided the critiques are factual.

[RalphWiggum]

I was on the Jewel last month. Had a GREAT cruise and wrote a review about it last week. Nevertheless, I do NOT have a hard time believing that your review reflects your experience on the exact same ship that I had a great cruise on. Thank you for posting your review. It was detailed and enjoyed reading it. I'm sorry NCL did not work out for you. I overlook a lot when I sail on NCL - dishes not always being restocked in the buffet, just ok in my opinion food in the MDR - because of the great things NCL offers and because NCL is really the only cruise line sailing out of NYC. But I understand that the things I dont like but ignore about NCL might be things that are important to others and that the things I like about NCL might be things that others don't care about. Hence, two very different experiences of a similar cruise.

 

Please let's not crucify the OP for giving his opinions. He's provided a lot of info for future cruisers.

[mjkacmom]

Please keep in mind that this was a major vacation week for most of the schools in the surrounding area, and there were probably tons of kids onboard, and the ship sailed VERY full. I've done school vacation week (with my kids) and off-peak (without kids), both on NCL, and totally different experiences!

 

It's also not really fare to compare a school vacation week cruise out of NYC vs. off peak out of Florida with regards to pricing. I strongly suspect that when the Breakaway starts sailing next to DCL's new ship out of NYC, there will be a significant price difference.

[RalphWiggum]

The OP traveled the week after Presidents Day Week (2/16 to 2/25). Most kids in the tri state area had that week off, not the last week in February.

[gweeptrish]

The OP traveled the week after Presidents Day Week (2/16 to 2/25). Most kids in the tri state area had that week off, not the last week in February.

 

Correct. At the Family party on embarkation day they told there were only 300 children on board for our sailing, compared to 950 the previous week.

[NewEnglandNANA]

Correct. At the Family party on embarkation day they told there were only 300 children on board for our sailing, compared to 950 the previous week.

 

Hello Neighbor!

Thank you for your review, We will be cruising on the Jewel in April(ugh yes Massachusetts and Northern NH vacation week, but that is when the rest of family can go) for the first time and I think these reviews help.

 

LOL I use to love when we lived in the southern part of the state and we could vacation the week after the BIG Vacation week :)!

[dznymom]

Thanks for your review. Although my experience on NCL has been different, I think we always tend to compare to our most recent cruise. IMO, Disney does some things exceptionally well, and can be a hard act to follow. Now that my kids are grown, I have stopped sailing on DCL but I have very fond memories.

 

I would have been surprised by the sleeping kid rule, and that could definitely be a deal breaker for someone with young kids. As far as the kid's clubs not being baby sitters as a previous poster said, I disagree. That is exactly what they are, with the added advantage of fun group activities. My kids took naps on DCL, Carnival, Royal Caribbean and (way back when) on the Big Red Boat. The only times I was called to pick them up was if they had a boo boo. I didn't discover NCL until they were older, so I didn't have to deal with the sleeping kid rule, but I would not have liked it one bit.

 

The pool towel policy is a bit of a pain, but I think it was brought about by passengers leaving towels on the beaches because they didn't want to deal with bringing them back. Several times I left a beach late in the day and saw abandoned towels by the dozens. I am pretty sure Carnival has a similar policy now, and wouldn't be surprised if more lines do as well.

 

Having a lousy steward, not having the buffet area cleaned promptly and having mediocre food and service in the MDR all suck. I have had those experiences on different lines (particularly Carnival & Royal Caribbean) and they should not happen but they sometimes do. The nickel and diming is a fact of life these days, and I don't like it either, but I just pay for what I want and ignore the rest. I don't find NCL to be worse than the others, although I do miss the big beautful spacious atriums on some of the other lines! All of these things are part of cruising the main stream lines, and being pretty laid back and casual I have no desire to move to the upscale lines, so I just accept it as part of the deal.

 

Disembarkation has ranged from excellent to poor on my cruises, and it doesn't seem to matter which line. My absolute worst experience was on DCL, FWIW. There is absolutely no excuse for the crew member spraying something in your vicinity without warning you first. I am glad you are writing to NCL about it, and I hope they take action to avoid that in the future.

 

Now for the important question - Where do you get your meat? We have cut way back on our meat consumption but we are moving towards trying to get more of our food locally, and I would love a recommendatio for meat!

 

Happy sailing!

[johnmpcny]

Thank you. I had some things on the jewel I thought could be better, the food for one but we had great trip and would do so again. I am glad you like the bacon so did I, the sausage was not a good choice.

 

I can say our Stewart made a lot this turn out well, he knew our names our wants and we had only 2 insides.

 

My son is a teen so sleeping is only an issue in how little and getting him going in am. <G>

 

We did the self walk off in the early time frame no lines at all. Little add up and effect the over all trip so much that one person can have the time of their life as others feel it was ok and still others hate it.

[2Cruise4Ever]

Thank you for your honest review. We've taken our kids on numerous NCL cruises. Both of them have fallen asleep in the kids crew and were simply covered up with a blanket... no issues. This must be a new policy.

 

Food is subjective... different people have different tastes. We've never had a bad meal on NCL... but that's us..

 

Perhaps Freestyle isn't for you... it isn't for everyone. But, I appreciate you taking time to try it out. We have always loved Freestyle because it's difficult to get 2 kids and 2 adults ready for dinner all at the same pre-specified time.... we prefer to eat when and where we want... but, again... that's just us.

 

Too bad about your room steward... that was a one-off... all the cabin stewards we've had have been excellent!

 

Thank you again... appreciate a different opinion.

[hateswaterloves2cruise]

We did the GEM in February and are doing the Jewel next Feb. I agree with the disorganized disembarkation. On our cruise the line to self disembark was the length of the ship and then some. Total chaos and people getting "mad" cause they thought someone might get ahead of them. I don't know why it was so bad, it just seemed like 75% of the ship did the self luggage thing. The room steard issues should have been handled on the ship. They are very good about dealing with these types of things right away. I am a grandparent and I must say I wonder about families who bring young children on a cruise. I'm sure I'll upset someone by saying this, but it seems like an awful lot of work for the parents and not much fun for the kids (really young ones). I have read about "no babysitting" and thought about how much fun the parents miss out on by having young children who need to go to bed early. Unless they bring a sitter with them, at least one of them needs to stay in the room. We were on a cruise a few years ago where a woman had a 6 week old baby with her. I'm sorry, but I'd rather be home. JMHO.:)

[2Cruise4Ever]

I am a grandparent and I must say I wonder about families who bring young children on a cruise. I'm sure I'll upset someone by saying this, but it seems like an awful lot of work for the parents and not much fun for the kids (really young ones). I have read about "no babysitting" and thought about how much fun the parents miss out on by having young children who need to go to bed early. Unless they bring a sitter with them, at least one of them needs to stay in the room. We were on a cruise a few years ago where a woman had a 6 week old baby with her. I'm sorry, but I'd rather be home. JMHO.:)

 

No offense taken here, as a mother of 2. However, the idea of not needing to cook and do dishes for an entire week, for me, was very enticing. I agree that taking care of a new-born can be tough. But, being waited on and doted over by the staff and crew.... priceless.:D

[portagyplaya12]

Great review and I enjoyed reading both the pros and cons. Sorry to hear about your cabin. I personally would have been a bit disgusted and annoyed by this so my hat goes off for you for being calm about it. Also a shame about the sleeping child but very glad that you got to see the Cirque Bijou show, it was amazing!

 

I personally enjoyed all of the dining services very much and never had any issues with long waits or dirty tables. Unfortunately some days and times are busier than others and maybe between this and employees changing shifts it may have affected the quality of service in this area.

 

Props to you for making the best out of your trip and thanks again for the review. Best of luck to you in the future!

[teacher_md]

Thanks for the great review. Very balanced!

 

- I too happen to love the bacon on NCL.

- Sorry about the many misses on your cruise. I have been on NCL twice (Pearl and Epic) and haven't found too many disappointments.

- One thing that drives me crazy is the pool towel deposit thing. I hate having to worry about somebody stealing my towel poolside and then have to pay for it. Just feels nickel and dime.

 

BUT, about to go on the NCL Pearl again... so the positives outweigh the negatives by far. Great value! Also nice to hear your experience with young children as one day we plan on adopting... and probably cruising with a little one or two. -aj

[gweeptrish]

Now for the important question - Where do you get your meat? We have cut way back on our meat consumption but we are moving towards trying to get more of our food locally, and I would love a recommendatio for meat!

 

I don't know where you are in NH so I don't know how helpful my sources will be for you. I used to buy from Chestnut Farms in Hardwick MA but currently I get beef and pork from Barrett Hill Farm in Mason NH and poultry from Blue Y Farm also in Mason. I raise my own chickens and ducks for eggs. I tell ya, it's hard to go back to eating factory-farmed eggs when we travel after eating free-range eggs for so long!

 

We did have to cut back on the amount of meat we eat in order to afford locally pasture-raised meat but the taste is so worth it.

[gweeptrish]

No offense taken here, as a mother of 2. However, the idea of not needing to cook and do dishes for an entire week, for me, was very enticing. I agree that taking care of a new-born can be tough. But, being waited on and doted over by the staff and crew.... priceless.:D

 

Oh yes! This this this! We are really only cruising while our kids are little because it's the simplest vacation to take with little ones. Once they're grade-school age we want to start doing national parks and museums and active vacations but now while they're still needing naps and constant attention the cruise ships are perfect for us. The room is only minutes away if clothes need to be changed, or a kid in having a meltdown, or just needs to rest. Food is available nearly all the time, and the kids' programs usually allow for me and my husband to spend a good amount of quality time together without the offspring.

 

My all-time favorite "being doted on by staff" moment was on a cruise when my youngest was 4 months old. We were traveling with another family who had a baby about the same age, and both babies were exclusively breastfed on demand. Shortly after ordering our entrees at dinner one night, both babies decided they were hungry so my friend and I were nursing (discretely!) when the older kids decided they had to go potty. Their fathers took them off to the bathrooms, leaving us with the babies. Our entrees arrived to a mostly empty table with two nursing mothers. Our server didn't even blink. He put my steak down in front of me, picked up a knife and fork, cut it into bite-size pieces, speared one and handed me the fork. Then he turned and did the same for my friend.

 

I really couldn't tell which pleased me more, the chance to eat while my food was fresh and hot (as a nursing mom I was always hungry) or not being treated like a freak. Either way it really stands out in my mind as an example of why cruising with a young child is a great vacation.

[gweeptrish]

I am a grandparent and I must say I wonder about families who bring young children on a cruise. I'm sure I'll upset someone by saying this, but it seems like an awful lot of work for the parents and not much fun for the kids (really young ones). I have read about "no babysitting" and thought about how much fun the parents miss out on by having young children who need to go to bed early. Unless they bring a sitter with them, at least one of them needs to stay in the room. We were on a cruise a few years ago where a woman had a 6 week old baby with her. I'm sorry, but I'd rather be home. JMHO.:)

 

I'm not upset by your opinion, I just don't share it. I don't find it any more work to take care of my kids away from home than I do at home, probably because they're still at the age when they need constant supervision even at home so the need for supervision on vacation isn't any different. My kids are pretty adaptable travelers who aren't terribly attached to particular routines though. I imagine it would be considerably more challenging for a family whose children who depend heavily on daily routines.

 

As for the sleeping, it was never a problem for us before. At home my kids have a 7pm bedtime, but the older one doesn't nap and the younger only naps for 30 minutes around 1pm. On a cruise, I have them both take a 2 or 3 hour nap around 3 pm instead. My husband and I take turns staying in the room for that nap - one day he'll go work out at the fitness center while I read in the room, then next day I'll go to the spa while he naps with the kids or something. Then we feed the kids early and go to the first show. After the show the kids go to the kids' programs while we go to dinner by ourselves (bliss!). When we're ready to go to bed we go pick up the kids, asleep or awake, bring them back to the room and we all go to sleep.

 

It was even simpler with babes-in-arms. I just wore the baby in a sling all the time and did whatever I wanted and the kid slept or nursed or just looked around at the world. I just had to avoid the really loud nightclubs so the music didn't damage the baby's hearing.