Jewel Memories: April 21, 2012 Sailing!

[zlacruising]

Coka, we have a minisuite booked.....do you think it is possible to separate the beds to be on each side of curtain and move sofa elsewhere. I'm going with friend and I have snoring issues. Let me know if you think this is doable...thanks(:

[coka]

Must ask...might you be sailing Jewel on 2/3/2013? Missus and I would love to meet you both!

 

Hello Gentle Giant! That is sweet! I hope you have a great cruise as she is a great ship with great staff!

 

Coka, we have a minisuite booked.....do you think it is possible to separate the beds to be on each side of curtain and move sofa elsewhere. I'm going with friend and I have snoring issues. Let me know if you think this is doable...thanks(:

 

Hi zlacruising, I looked to see how the beds separated and they appeared to be on a track attached to wall. I know they separate...yet to switch the couch and a bed would be very difficult and I am not sure if possible. The curtain is thick and can block light yet it will not block sound. Your friend's best bet is to bring along some ear plugs...Or bring some for him/her? I bring them all the time as some stateroom cabins air vents are noisier than others (I find this on all ships on all lines). I hope you have a great trip!

 

coka

[Ghengis Klown]

Great review.. I only hope after my Jewel cruise I can write one half as good

[Tatka]

Nice review!

 

We were on the same sailing. Loved it, had everything - great weather, storm, best entertainment on the high seas.

 

Jewel is a absolutely beautiful ship. Great design.

 

Our favorite place on the ship, well, one of them anyway. Dawn, which we sailed last time doesn't have it.

 

 

[auntierobin]

Just thought that I would jump in and join the Jewel fan club. We are sailing on her for the 2nd time in weeks. The first time we went to Alaska we went on the Pearl, second the Star, and this June we were scheduled for the Pearl again (along with 6 of our friends who have never cruised before). When we heard the Jewel was moving to Alaska it took me about 2 minutes to call and switch us to her. I even gave up our military discount to swtich. I think so highly of Hugo and the entire staff of the Jewel I could think of no better way to convince our friends to cruise again after this one than to introduce them to cruising on the best ship with the best crew at sea IMHO.

 

P.S. Coka, love your reviews.

[zlacruising]

Thank you coka...and it is a great re iew.

[snorklinbarb]

Hi SnorklinBarb! I am glad you had a great Jade cruise. I have always wondered about flying over to Europe to take a cruise and always concluded that if I fly over to Europe I can get so much more out of being on land far longer than stopping in a port for a day. Perhaps I am wrong, but that is my thinking on it. I would like to try one of the European river cruises some day. A friend of mine (The New Yorker) has done some Viking ones and loved it.

 

OH...Fire and Ice was not onboard the Jewel this week. Not sure what ship assigned or if they were on break from Jewel.

 

coka

 

Hi Coka,

We've just started exploring Eur. really. We combined the 7 night Jade repo with three nights pre-cruise in Barcelona and another three post-cruise in Venice so we didn't feel like we were just visiting places for 1 day.

 

Also we're trying to pick ports where we wouldn't plan on a whole land vacation around it. For example, on this Jade cruise a day in Messina, Sicily (with a trip to the ruins in Taormina & the charming village of Castlemola) was just perfect (and enough).

 

Greek Isles seems like a good itin to do by cruise so we're looking at that.

 

Found out the answer to my question: Fire & Ice will be getting on Jewel for the next voyage (after LA) and will stay on until Dec.

[coka]

Tatka, I love the picture you posted of the great outdoors during the night. That is why a few evenings we skip the dining rooms and choose the buffet so we can eat out there under the stars. With little wind, no crowd, it is very peaceful! Can also be enjoyed at sunset...we saw some great photo opportunities passengers were taking advantage of here.

 

Auntierobin, your switching to the Jewel because of Hugo and staff are exactly what I meant in my review. So many sail the ship he is on and I find that a remarkable testament to him and to his work for Norwegian!

 

SnorklinBarb, your Barcelona and Venice bookends make it seem a little more doable! Have fun planning your next adventure and exploring Europe further.

 

Genghis, I hope you have a fantastic cruise! Great to ask questions and I have been reading yours along the way...only late...after they have been answered. Have fun planning and keep asking! Some say gettting there is 1/2 of the fun!

 

coka

[cruitenn]

Hi Coka,

 

Another great read! I was waiting for your review of your Jewel cruise with Mr. Coka. Glad you both had fun and congratulations on your win at the slots in Atlantis and your dinner with Hugo.

 

Thanks for sharing,

Cruitenn

[Tatka]

Tatka, I love the picture you posted of the great outdoors during the night. That is why a few evenings we skip the dining rooms and choose the buffet so we can eat out there under the stars. With little wind, no crowd, it is very peaceful! Can also be enjoyed at sunset...we saw some great photo opportunities passengers were taking advantage of here.

 

Thank you coka for allowing to intrude here. If you are not opposed, I have more pictures...

 

This is our sailaway. Very energetic and fun...

 

 

And some Nickelodeon

[Tatka]

Sailing away from Manhattan is very special

 

 

 

 

 

Going...

 

[Tatka]

Going..

 

Last Staten island ferry to NYC

 

Gone.. Verrazano bridge over our heads

 

[Tatka]

Our captain is in the middle.

 

 

to the right is a hotel director Hugo, great guy.

[coka]

More more more Tatka! I love the pictures (as long as I am not in them, tee hee)! I see some of the Nickleodean cruise staff. They were always so pumped and so energetic. I also like how you can make the pictures larger than I can.

 

coka

[Tatka]

Thanks Coka!

 

Next day was an ideal day for seaworthy sailors.

 

I need to say that till this (#18) cruise we experienced only one storm, coming out of SF, but it was short.. even though we did see many green faces.

 

Everything started relatively well. We had a nice swim in the heated pool. Huge kuddos to the NCL!

 

Then I attended nice Cruise critics meet up. Thank you to the organizers!

 

We had a pleasure to meet our Hotel Director Hugo and our great CD Dan the Man

 

 

as well as our restaurant director

 

 

They explained to us our options about ship tours and dinner with a crew.

[Tatka]

And what has happened next? 20+m hours of rock and roll!

 

 

 

Chairs were literally flying!

 

 

i don't remember a size of the waves, but they were impressive!

 

 

 

Many people felt uncomfortable, even I ... experienced cruiser had to spend 2 hours laying on my back...

[Debbie1029]

Very amusing trip report! Thanks for giving me a smile! :)

[Ghengis Klown]

I think my father would have a heart attach.. He is one of those guys who watch and read about disasters then worrying about it.. Take my cruise coming up.. I was told "Rouge waves hit a NCL ship recently".. I'm not a "I'm scared" kind of guy.. so it doesn't matter to me.. but I can imagine my father freaking out half the ship with tales of things that "could" happen

[jimswims]

Finally, I found this review! I was waiting patiently to hear all about your adventure. Happy, Happy Birthday to Mr. Coka! I am looking forward to reminding him that he said "home" when talking about the Jewel, lol!

Boston Chris was on the Spirit when we went on an 8 day out of NYC in 2006. My daughter took his hip hop classes!

Sounds like you both enjoyed the Jewel. We hope to see you both soon :)

[Tatka]

Sometimes, to avoid a crowd in the buffet area we had a breakfast in the nice "italian" area Mama's Italian Kitchen

 

 

Азиатский ресторан, тоже расположен очень удобно над Бар Сити, что позволяет слушать музыку

 

Asian restaurant is situated very conveniently above Bar City, which allows to listen to a piano play and music .. In our case this was great performance of Fabrizzzio.

[Tatka]

Chocoholics buffet!!!

 

 

 

 

And some ice figures

 

[Tatka]

We thought we were sailing to the Bahamas. Yes.. it was true, but

 

Our main restaurant was a destination of its own - Tsar's Palace.

We are Russians.. originally from USSR and never expected to spend our dinners surrounded by Russian tasrs...

 

 

Main restaurant is decorated with the portrets of all Russian Tsars Romanov Dynasty.

 

[Tatka]

Chairs with tsar's symbolics

 

Oh yes.. Replicas of Faberge eggs

 

Entrance:

 

 

 

Russian guitarist entertaining guests.. We have met him last year on NCL Dawn too.

 

 

 

Music was a nice complement to our dinners every evening.

 

[Tatka]

Coka, are you still ok with my postings? I can create a separate thread.

[xenagurl]

Thank you for that enjoyable review!

 

I agree it would be cool if they made some of the kid's activities for kids at heart as well.