MITSUGIRLYS JEWEL OF A CRUISE review and pictorial

[mitsugirly]

That cushion is the rest of the sofa bed! We realized after a few days that we could remove it from the end and slide the bed in since our kids were small. I guess your room steward realized your kid was small enough to not need it. So normally it would go on the end and the bed based would slide out more. I am sure it made it much easier for you to get in and out of the balcony after turn down. For those that are curious, our 4 person balcony cabin had a bunk that came down from the ceiling in front of the sliding door. It was not very convenient for balcony access.

 

Our room steward said that the balcony connecting doors were not allowed to be unlocked. We had them unlocked when we were on MSC. There was no real place to store the door anyways as it would have blocked a sliding door. The interior connecting door was the one we had a problem with. There was no lock other than a key lock that we did not have a key for.

 

Okay maybe I read it wrong. The black cushion was only there when the room was made in the morning? It is part of the sofa bed. Honestly I am not sure where ours was stored, but it was never out for us other than when it was used for the bed.

 

Oh, ok. That makes sense. I wondered why the bed was so short and kept thinking to myself that it's a good thing that Sakari was so little and didn't need the bed to be the full length. I just didn't understand why the cushion was left out the entire cruise, in our way, in front of the glass door, and blocking the view. Is this cushion something that comes with the couch? Or is it something they bring in the room when they discover you need a longer bed? Because it was never put back in the couch during the day when the bed was put back into the couch position. That was the reason I thought maybe it didn't belong to it but wasn't sure. :confused:

 

I know if I ever book another balcony and have this issue, I will definitely be calling housekeeping to either put it back where it belongs during the day or take it away. :(

[gotksgirl]

I am not sure where it was stored, but I think it goes in or under the sofa somehow. It was never under our bed or anything during the day.

Edited December 26, 2013 by gotksgirl

[Rudyard]

Thanks for posting such a detailed review :)

 

I don't sail until October and have been looking at reviews hoping for one like this. It's nice to know the little details ahead of time.

[mitsugirly]

So here we are on the pool deck and we noticed that it was a little "cleared". Where is everyone dancing? Oh, it's Nick time! Here comes all the characters. Sakari was thrilled! She jumped up and down for joy and I was looking for my super glue at one point.

 

Spongebob, Dora, Diego and Patrick did the Nick dance for all of us. How they move in those things amazes me. That has to take some skill since they can barely see out of them.

 

 

Oh gosh, Patrick is coming for me. I guess I'll have to get my groove on now.

 

 

Sakari was ecstatic and couldn't wait to get out there and dance. Or maybe it had something to do with the Mt Dew (just kidding, daddy had her hold it while he went to the little boys room).

 

 

So here we are. She managed to talk me into going out to dance with her. Yep, I was kicking and screaming not wanting to......not.

 

 

 

We dances with SIN (next to me) and Sakari tried to learn the electric slide, cupid shuffle, wobble and everything else they did. She was that odd ball that was one beat behind everyone but she didn't care.

 

 

We started heading out of port

 

[bonvoyagie]

Loving every word and picture of your review/post. As for the cans of soda you found - they lock the fridges on the last night after taking inventory - this is done during the turn down service. On our last cruise our room steward forgot to stock the fridge and we also found the previous occupants leftovers. Since we were in a suite the steward and butler were both all over themselves to make up for the oversight.

 

As for the mislabeled invites - who knows. However I doubt if it was a last minute upgrade - after all you had this room for quite some time - right.

[mitsugirly]

Loving every word and picture of your review/post. As for the cans of soda you found - they lock the fridges on the last night after taking inventory - this is done during the turn down service. On our last cruise our room steward forgot to stock the fridge and we also found the previous occupants leftovers. Since we were in a suite the steward and butler were both all over themselves to make up for the oversight.

 

As for the mislabeled invites - who knows. However I doubt if it was a last minute upgrade - after all you had this room for quite some time - right.

 

 

Thanks so much for joining me.

 

Are they supposed to remove any "left overs" from previous cruisers? I was happy to find my goodies. :D

 

I booked our upgrade to the balcony on Nov 3rd. So a little over a month prior to sailing.

[mitsugirly]

Here's a few videos.

 

I told you I needed some super glue. :D

 

 

She was real excited when some of the staff dancers pulled her out and danced for a minute.

 

 

She tried her best to do the electric slide (and as the cruise went on, she got a little better). Here she is trying to follow Sin before I got out there.

 

[meatball_nyc]

Great review so far! Thanks so much for the beautiful photos also! Your DD is adorable and she looks so happy to be cruising. Good times.

 

Looking forward to seeing the rest of your journey.

 

By the way, where did you get your Cruise Like a Norwegian ringtone? (Sorry for such a random question).

 

Happy Holidays!

[mitsugirly]

Great review so far! Thanks so much for the beautiful photos also! Your DD is adorable and she looks so happy to be cruising. Good times.

 

Looking forward to seeing the rest of your journey.

 

By the way, where did you get your Cruise Like a Norwegian ringtone? (Sorry for such a random question).

 

Happy Holidays!

 

Thank you for joining. She LOVES cruising as much as we do. It's all she talks about. She's definitely hooked for sure. :eek:

 

Um, as for the ringtone, I believe it was on their site once (and still might be). Someone here on cc posted in over a year ago and I had downloaded back then. It has been my ringtone for quite some time. I also have a ship horn blowing as well that was posted on here.

 

Actually I just found the link.

 

http://www.ncl.com/downloads/media

[mitsugirly]

Somewhere between the muster drill and the sail away party we did grab a bite to eat at the bbq they were having. It was pretty darn good and hit the spot after not eating since breakfast in NOLA. Sakari loved her corn and kept going back for more.

 

So now we wanted to meet up with our cc friends and previous cruise friends.

 

We had registered Sakari for the kids club and checked it out earlier prior to sail away and she was eager to head there and meet her new friends. We decided that would be a great idea so that we could have some adult time with our old and new friends.

 

Off we headed to the Star Bar to see if we could hunt them down. We did get a wave from the ma'am's while I was dancing, but when I glanced back over, they were gone. :(

 

So up we went to the star bar and met up with our friends. This place is not too big so there wasn't too many chairs available and definitely not enough for all of us. We quickly decided it might be a better idea to move to the Spinnaker Lounge (which was a back up plan in case the Star Bar wasn't open). We all grabbed seats and gabbed for hours. It was a great day with great friends and we had a blast with both old friends and new ones. They are all so awesome and I feel blessed to have gotten to know each and every one of them. Cruising is not part of your every day life, but friends are and making new life long friends is even better. I love my cruising family and those that I continue to stay in touch with and still cruise with. I have to add that Sakari has made cruise friends as well. They cruised with us last Christmas on the Star and they were on this cruise too. She was so excited to see her old cruising buddy. Yep, like mother, like daughter.

 

We knew tonight was the "lobster" night in the MDR and didn't want to miss it. So we sadly said good-bye for the night to our friends and decided to pick up Sakari and head to the room to get ready for dinner.

 

Back to our balcony and I couldn't resist taking some new pictures of the darkness surrounded by the lights along the river.

 

 

 

Off to the MDR, we chose Azura this time around. Not because it's where we wanted to go, but where we ran into first. (Remember the up to the 7th floor, go around and back down to the 6th floor in order to get to the back of the ship to go to Tsar's?)

 

So those that want to do the Lobster dinner, it's only on the first night (sail away night) and it's not advertised as Lobster. It's called "Surf & Turf" just to confuse you. It comes with 1 lobster tail and a steak. I don't like or eat steak so I always ask for it to be replaced with just another lobster tail or chicken breast.

 

 

 

 

[gardiner41]

I think this is your best review yet! ...or maybe I have a more vested interest ;)

 

Less than 3 weeks before we head to the Big Easy. Our first time so we are flying in on Tuesday for a NLOA holiday before our cruise holiday. So excited I think we are going to love the Jewel!

 

Your itinerary is the one that is a little different than ours but I look forward to hearing all about your adventures..as always :-) I said to my husband today " it would be great to meet this lady sometime.

I told him we are doing or not doing several excursions based on your reviews and input as well as photos.

 

Thanks again for making CC a hobby...and keeping the true spirit of the site alive!

Angela

(AKA realtorlady)

Edited December 27, 2013 by gardiner41

[jmele999]

I think this is your best review yet! ...or maybe I have a more vested interest ;)

 

Less than 3 weeks before we head to the Big Easy. Our first time so we are flying in on Tuesday for a NLOA holiday before our cruise holiday. So excited I think we are going to love the Jewel!

 

Your itinerary is the one that is a little different than ours but I look forward to hearing all about your adventures..as always :-) I said to my husband today " it would be great to meet this lady sometime.

I told him we are doing or not doing several excursions based on your reviews and input as well as photos.

 

Thanks again for making CC a hobby...and keeping the true spirit of the site alive!

Angela

(AKA realtorlady)

 

Angela - please take a number. I have to meet her before you do. LoL. She is great at telling us a story. So excited we have three weeks to go.

 

Mistugirlys - Thanks again for the review. Like you, I am a full-time student (PhD - Chemistry) and love cruising - we have to meet sometime. Love your pictures.

[mitsugirly]

Now I have to say we don't eat at the MDR's but maybe 2 or 3 times during the cruise, but when we do, I have noticed the service (or I should say quickness) of the service seems to go downhill with each cruise.

 

We were seated promptly and off to a good start. We were given the above menu's. However we waited and waited to for the server to come back to take our order. Since we purchase the soda package, we had ask for drinks. When he came back he acted as if it was going to be a "drop and run" type of situation, so I quickly spoke up to let him know we were ready to order. We wanted to catch the show of what's to come in the theater and didn't want to waste time. You understand right?

 

Well he took our order and off he went...to??? Who knows because it took forever before he came back with our starters. I had the mushroom quesadilla to start with and it was yummy as always. Then we waited and waited and waited. I knew at this point we were not going to make it to the show. Insert the saddest smiley face here because I was really looking forward to seeing this show because I have never been before. Our last NCL cruise with my daughter, she went and loved it.

 

So here I am trying to occupy my time and snapping pictures here and there while I occupy my 5 year old that is just sitting.

 

Trees on the table and the "fake" lights that Sakari was convinced you shouldn't touch because they would burn you. Good girl. Without flash.

 

 

With flash. Yea I was this bored. I took single pictures of trees, pictures of them both together. Pictures with the light. Pictures without the light. You wouldn't believe how many tree pictures I ended up with.

 

 

Pictures of the family trying to entertain ourselves.

 

 

 

 

 

Then finally our long awaited meal arrived. By this point only my growling stomach was talking to me because I was a bear on the search for our waiter as if he was hunted prey.

 

 

Now is this the most awesome lobster tail you will ever eat? No of course not. But it's not bad and I had 2 of them to myself. It came with a couple of brocholli stems, which I might add were not really cooked and "maybe" dipped in hot water for a second and 2 potato wedges. Really? 2 potato wedges.

 

We spent a total of 2 hours dining that night from start to finish. It was probably the longest dining experience I have ever had on an NCL ship waiting and not eating. It's kind of different if it's a large party and there are a lot of orders to prepare to bring out to the table at the same time plus you have time for conversation and enjoying each others company. But it was just the 3 of us and I'm not in any way saying that I didn't enjoy the conversation or company of my spouse and daughter, it was just a long wait and I had missed my show.

 

On a better note, Sakari was happy that they had brought her some ice cream to top off the night.

 

[mitsugirly]

I think this is your best review yet! ...or maybe I have a more vested interest ;)

 

Less than 3 weeks before we head to the Big Easy. Our first time so we are flying in on Tuesday for a NLOA holiday before our cruise holiday. So excited I think we are going to love the Jewel!

 

Your itinerary is the one that is a little different than ours but I look forward to hearing all about your adventures..as always :-) I said to my husband today " it would be great to meet this lady sometime.

I told him we are doing or not doing several excursions based on your reviews and input as well as photos.

 

Thanks again for making CC a hobby...and keeping the true spirit of the site alive!

Angela

(AKA realtorlady)

 

Aww, thanks for the compliment. I enjoy doing the reviews, although it seems to put my life on hold for awhile and I can't seem to focus on much more than getting the pictures ready and writing my review. (I have yet to make it out of my pj's today or taken a shower...shhh, don't tell anyone, that's so not me). :o

 

I have completely decided that next time I ever cruise out of NOLA, it won't be during the winter and it will definitely include a few extra days there prior to the cruise. There's just so much to see and do there (which I experienced the first time there, but haven't been able to do since then). :(

 

Ok, you have put such pressure on me now knowing that you told your husband what you are and are not doing based on my reviews and pictures. Yikes. :eek: :D Do you mind me asking which you decided to do?

 

You are very welcome for the review and my "hobby"...it's a hobby I wish I had more time to do (and money for of course).

 

Angela - please take a number. I have to meet her before you do. LoL. She is great at telling us a story. So excited we have three weeks to go.

 

Mistugirlys - Thanks again for the review. Like you, I am a full-time student (PhD - Chemistry) and love cruising - we have to meet sometime. Love your pictures.

 

Oh my gosh, you guys are making me blush. :o I would be honored to meet both of you. I love making new cruising friends.

 

Good luck with your schooling. It's such a hard role to have (especially at my age). I would have to say that it's the hardest thing I have ever done in my entire life. I just hope it pays off soon. I have those moments that I just want to throw in the towel and give up, but I just keep telling myself the end is near.

[mickev99]

We were getting off the ship the same day you were getting on. I loved your previous reviews and did the cave tubing with bz and the dolphin excursion with discovery based on your reviews. Both were AWESOME!!! Thanks so much! I am enjoying reliving the cruise through these amazing pictures!!

[jmele999]

Aww, thanks for the compliment. I enjoy doing the reviews, although it seems to put my life on hold for awhile and I can't seem to focus on much more than getting the pictures ready and writing my review. (I have yet to make it out of my pj's today or taken a shower...shhh, don't tell anyone, that's so not me). :o

 

I have completely decided that next time I ever cruise out of NOLA, it won't be during the winter and it will definitely include a few extra days there prior to the cruise. There's just so much to see and do there (which I experienced the first time there, but haven't been able to do since then). :(

 

Ok, you have put such pressure on me now knowing that you told your husband what you are and are not doing based on my reviews and pictures. Yikes. :eek: :D Do you mind me asking which you decided to do?

 

You are very welcome for the review and my "hobby"...it's a hobby I wish I had more time to do (and money for of course).

 

 

 

Oh my gosh, you guys are making me blush. :o I would be honored to meet both of you. I love making new cruising friends.

 

Good luck with your schooling. It's such a hard role to have (especially at my age). I would have to say that it's the hardest thing I have ever done in my entire life. I just hope it pays off soon. I have those moments that I just want to throw in the towel and give up, but I just keep telling myself the end is near.

 

Hang in there - it will pay off at the end. My partner is 100% behind me but he reminds everyday that he will be able to retire soon and that I can pay for all our upcoming cruises - something to look forward to. I started grad school very late (in my late 30's) and will not be able to graduate until I turn 40, but life is good. I get to cruise once a year and do another family summer vacation every year.

[mitsugirly]

We were getting off the ship the same day you were getting on. I loved your previous reviews and did the cave tubing with bz and the dolphin excursion with discovery based on your reviews. Both were AWESOME!!! Thanks so much! I am enjoying reliving the cruise through these amazing pictures!!

 

 

I'm so glad you had an awesome time. Did the twins like the cave tubing? Who did you end up getting for a guide?

 

Just wondering what you ended up doing in Roatan since you said some wanted to snorkel and others zip line.

[mickev99]

I'm so glad you had an awesome time. Did the twins like the cave tubing? Who did you end up getting for a guide?

 

Just wondering what you ended up doing in Roatan since you said some wanted to snorkel and others zip line.

 

We loved everything! The cave tubing was a little sketchy only because it was raining the entire time, but our guide was awesome....talked the whole way up telling us about Belize and all kinds of great information..can't remember his name...tall and thin with a goatee. Would have been nicer if we weren't cold from hiking in the rain and then getting into a cool river, but it was really great anyway. And the food was amazing, I think I had 3 helpings!! We ended up doing zip lining with South Shore in Roatan...we had booked Bodden ahead of time (a private car and then zip lining and we were going to do snorkeling), but it was raining when we got into port, so we decided that we didn't want to zip line in the rain after the cave tubing raininess the day before. We started walking around town and by 11am it was beautiful, so found a shop owner from Canada that we had run into earlier, and she hooked us up with a cab driver who took us to the zip lining place. Really fun, and all my girls (10, 9, and 9) as well as my 16 year old niece and her friend did upside down and superman...much braver than I was for sure. However, I had the same issues with them as you did with Bodden about not being hooked onto the rope the whole time....I definitely wouldn't have taken young kids that would have run around on it, they could have run off the platform. But my kids LOVED it...I, however, am a chicken and it was all they could do to get me to lift my legs up so I would go. The guides were wonderful. Unfortunately we didn't get to snorkel since we got such a late start, I really regret that. But all in all, it was awesome.

[mitsugirly]

Ok now to finish up day 1 of our cruise.

 

After eating, Sakari decided she wanted more play time with her friends in the kids club so we dropped her off and decided to spend a little time at the casino. I LOVE me some casino! No I do not have an addiction but thanks for asking. I'm only addicted when I'm on a cruise or vacation. Last year we had a Hollywood casino built just down the street from us and I went opening night and haven't been back. :D

 

Honestly I usually do pretty well at the casino and I always walk away with more than I came with to play. Tonight we both came with $40. I cashed out a $11, $15 & $34 ticket. So I was up more than what I came with. Go me.

 

I was excited to see they had my favorite games: Cave King and Gold Fish (and every once in awhile I like the Penguin game as well). Cave King is usually my "go to" game on each cruise. I swear that game can keep me playing for hours on $20 and I have usually always hit pretty nicely on it. This cruise would play out a little different. It would keep me playing, but I never hit anything big. :(

 

The hubby, well let's just say he's not the lucky one. He hit pretty good on our Star cruise and ONLY on our Star cruise.

 

At 10:25 pm it was time to pick up the munchkin and hear about her adventures tonight. She was super excited after leaving the kids club and said she couldn't wait to go back tomorrow. It always makes me happy to know she enjoys it so much.

 

When we returned to our room, the beds were turned down and our daily was on the bed. Do you guys seeing anything missing from this picture? Actually 2 things are missing.

 

 

First of all there's no towel animal. I have never not had a towel animal the first night of the cruise that I can remember...especially if they know we have a little one. I did talk to others that stated they didn't get a towel animal either. Darn.

 

Also, where are the mints on the pillow? With the latitudes, you are supposed to have mints. (Not that I eat them, but Sakari enjoys them and swears they are treats left from Santa each night).

 

Ok, yes we do the Elf on the Shelf. Her name is Trixie. When we were packing, we woke up the day we were leaving for the airport and found Trixie peeking out of the luggage. I took that as a sign that she wanted to cruise with us.

 

So tonight when we came back to the room, we found that she had climbed up on the shelf above the tv and decided that she would sit there the rest of the night watching over Sakari when she slept. This was a "first" for Trixie (the cruise) and I think she was a little afraid of the unknown and what goes on during a cruise. Her surroundings were not familiar and she felt safe up high where she couldn't be reached and she could keep an eye on everything.

 

 

 

Overview of Trixie watching out after Sakari

 

 

 

One thing I have to mention is that even though our beds were turned down, our room was not cleaned. There was still trash in the trash cans and dirty glasses in the room. There had not been any clean glasses left either. We also noticed that there was still an empty can of soda on the balcony left.

 

Also if you take a close look at the balcony door, you will see the white handle sticking out horizontally. This indicates the balcony sliding glass door was actually now unlocked, but why? It wasn't to clean it obviously.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

At the front of the ship, we are now at the Spinnaker Lounge. I think I was here more this cruise than ever before. This is where they have the White Hot party, all of the Nick Jr events with the meet & greet and dance party, then they also had bingo in here among other events (not that I played bingo, I was suckered into that once, never again) and events like the latitudes lush party.

 

I have to say that I love the atmosphere in the Spinnaker-especially the ones that still remain original and wrap around the front of the ship with a beautiful view of the ocean. Some ships have been transformed into suites and they no longer have this place.

 

The chairs in here are always cool and funky as well. I like cool and funky.

 

 

 

 

I totally agree and much prefer Spinnakers being forward and not down where the shops use to be like on the Star and the Dawn. Just another reason I am looking forward to going to the Jewell in March :D

[mitsugirly]

We loved everything! The cave tubing was a little sketchy only because it was raining the entire time, but our guide was awesome....talked the whole way up telling us about Belize and all kinds of great information..can't remember his name...tall and thin with a goatee. Would have been nicer if we weren't cold from hiking in the rain and then getting into a cool river, but it was really great anyway. And the food was amazing, I think I had 3 helpings!! We ended up doing zip lining with South Shore in Roatan...we had booked Bodden ahead of time (a private car and then zip lining and we were going to do snorkeling), but it was raining when we got into port, so we decided that we didn't want to zip line in the rain after the cave tubing raininess the day before. We started walking around town and by 11am it was beautiful, so found a shop owner from Canada that we had run into earlier, and she hooked us up with a cab driver who took us to the zip lining place. Really fun, and all my girls (10, 9, and 9) as well as my 16 year old niece and her friend did upside down and superman...much braver than I was for sure. However, I had the same issues with them as you did with Bodden about not being hooked onto the rope the whole time....I definitely wouldn't have taken young kids that would have run around on it, they could have run off the platform. But my kids LOVED it...I, however, am a chicken and it was all they could do to get me to lift my legs up so I would go. The guides were wonderful. Unfortunately we didn't get to snorkel since we got such a late start, I really regret that. But all in all, it was awesome.

 

So sorry it rained both days, but I'm glad you had a lot of fun.

 

I agree, we love the home cooked meal they provide after the cave tubing experience. I think for the price they charge versus other vendors, it can't be beat with the meal included. It just hits the spot. I usually have at least 2 plates myself. :D

 

Zip lining is so much fun. We had a blast (other than the incident of them slamming into me and knocking the breath out of me, Sakari getting bitten by the monkey and the "safety" issue with the hooks) and would love to zip line again. I just probably won't use Bodden for that again after that experience. I wouldn't hesitate to book with him on an island tour or other services though. He does come highly recommended on here. I did do the upside down zipping and had a blast. I was really adventurous that day. :D

[mitsugirly]

 

I totally agree and much prefer Spinnakers being forward and not down where the shops use to be like on the Star and the Dawn. Just another reason I am looking forward to going to the Jewell in March :D

 

Just be aware that at the drop of a hat, they close the blinds so that you can't see out for no apparent reason. :confused: There were several times we were in there along with others, sitting and daydreaming while we look out to sea, and they just hit the button and closed the blinds. When they close the blinds, they aren't like a sun visor and you can see out of them...they are actual blinds and there's no viewing out when they are closed. :eek: You just never knew when it was going to happen and there never was any reason to it when they did it. I'm still trying to figure it out. :(

 

I found a picture to share with the blinds. We were sitting here looking out and they started going down. I caught a picture of them mid way down.

 

Edited December 27, 2013 by mitsugirly

[mickev99]

So sorry it rained both days, but I'm glad you had a lot of fun.

 

I agree, we love the home cooked meal they provide after the cave tubing experience. I think for the price they charge versus other vendors, it can't be beat with the meal included. It just hits the spot. I usually have at least 2 plates myself. :D

 

Zip lining is so much fun. We had a blast (other than the incident of them slamming into me and knocking the breath out of me, Sakari getting bitten by the monkey and the "safety" issue with the hooks) and would love to zip line again. I just probably won't use Bodden for that again after that experience. I wouldn't hesitate to book with him on an island tour or other services though. He does come highly recommended on here. I did do the upside down zipping and had a blast. I was really adventurous that day. :D

 

I had forgotten about Sakari being bitten by the monkey! South Shore Zip Lining had a monkey that crawled on the kids and was very sweet, but another one in a cage that grabbed both of my twin's hair and would not let go...he held onto Kylie's with his hand and Cassidy's with his mouth!! I was yanking to get the hair released!! Those moneys are crazy, I guess!! The zip lining was great, though....I think there were a total of 12 lines with amazing views out to the ocean.

 

My parents and their friends ended up using the car that we reserved with Bodden and took a tour around the island and enjoyed it very much.

[medicalma'am]

The blinds in Spinnaker are closed so that the bridge is not affected by the light. It happens at about dusk. The forward penthouse cabins must have their lights off or their blinds fully closed and their balcony lights off at night for the same reason.

[sdmike]

great stuff, Kim! Brings back memories of our trip on the Jewel