Jewel Canada/NE - 9/18/05 reviews please

[emac]

Anyone just returned from the 9/18 Canada/New England cruise, we'd welcome some reviews please?

We're going on the 10/21 and would like some questions answered.

 

When are the formal evenings and latitude members party? What time were the shows in the evening?

Has the tendering improved - we want to book a trolley tour of Acadia in Bar Harbor for 10.00 but unsure whether we'll make it?

What tours would you recommend? Anyone used Freedom Tours in St Johns?

Any other advice?

 

Thanks.

 

Elaine

[movinout]

We're sadly back from our NCL Canada Jewel cruise and a great cruise it was! Beautiful colorful ship, friendly hardworking crew and the best entertainment we've experienced yet. All of it, from singers dancers, to juggler and comedians. Paul Byah was cruise director and his sidekick Mike were very entertaining.

 

The shows were at 7:45 and 9:45 on the evenings when there were two shows. First and last nights were different. The optional formal nights were on the first sea day, and the third sea day. Not a lot of real formal wear that I saw, but some.

 

As for tendering, the ship arrives in Bar Harbor by 9:00AM and we were probably in town by 10:00AM and tendering was quick and no problem. Planning a tour at 10 might be cutting it close. We went with one that was a van touring company called At Your Service Cab Co. and it was great. The driver was very knowledgeable and the rate was I believe $50 an hour per carload. (Someone else arranged it in our group so I can't give more info than that)

 

One of the highlights for us was the sea day cruising of the Saguenay River. I'd advise getting forward on an upper deck for that early. Spectacular. They bring a naturalist on board to commentate the trip for 2 hours. The captain did interesting things with the ship there also, but I won't elaborate so I don't spoil it. I'm soooooo ready to go that itinerary again. Also the pier arrivals in the Canadian cities, a nice welcome for the ship in each one, especially Halifax.

 

Quebec City is beautiful. As for Saint John, we went with a ship tour of St. Marten and Bay of Fundy. It was nice. The stop at the City Market on that tour is kind of useless, it is a fruit, vegetable, meat market with a few trinket type stuff. Very crowded and who needs food when you're on ship???

 

As for food, it was our first experience freestyle and we probably will do it again. Le Bistro was excellent, Cagney's also. Mamma's okay. All the soups ship wide were very good and hot. On our cruise we had "happy hour" in the specialty restaurants between 5:30 and 6:30 that was 50% off the cover charge for those that charged. A good deal. Basically we have no complaints at all about the food. Check out the Coffee/cappucino/latte machines in the Garden cafe. I wanted to throw my suitcase overboard and just carry one of those home!

One day they even opened the bars for free drinks for an hour for some unknown reason. Probably because people complained that the drink prices are rather high. But, NCL didn't have to do that so it was a good PR gesture on their part. Maybe it was because ours was the first cruise in the US.

 

Anyone going on the Jewel has to be pleased. We surely were and are now suffering from PCLD, post cruise lethargy and depression.:(

 

Happy sailing to you all. We were in balcony room # 9134, take care of it for us.

[MaryE77]

Hi Elaine,

 

We just returned from the 9/18 Jewel Cruise, and it was wonderful.

 

To answer some of your questions:

 

As you know, we left NY on Sep 18th, and the formal nights were on Wed. Sept 21st and Mon. Sept 26th.

 

The shows were usually at 7:45 pm and 9:45 pm.

 

An invitation letter to the Latitudes Party was delivered to our stateroom on the day we boarded in NY. I believe there were a few Latitude parties that week as half of the passengers were Latitude members, and they had to split up the group. Our letter indicated that our party was on Sept 21st in the Spinnaker Lounge. A Latitudes pin was enclosed with the invitation.

 

There were no problems tendering in Bar Harbor. Besides the Jewel's tenders, there were several ships that the city of Bar Harbor provided to bring passengers ashore and back. They were constantly traveling back and forth the whole time, and there were no lines when we were there.

 

We didn't take any tours in Boston or Bar Harbor as we have been there before. Some people took the "Bar Harbor & Cadillac Mtn Tour", but couldn't see anything due to dense fog. I was there 3 years ago, and it's a great view on a clear day. We took the tender to town, and we did a lot of shopping and had a great lunch at the West Street Cafe which is near the pier.

 

In Halifax we did the "Hop On, Hop Off Double Decker" tour. It gives you a tour of the city of Halifax - then you can get on and off at the different stops all day. We ended up taking the entire tour (about 1 hour), and then we walked around the city. You can get to a lot of the sites by walking. We enjoyed the Maritime Museum which had a lot of info about the Titanic. As a matter of fact, you can purchase tickets for the "hop on, hop off double decker" tour outside the Maritime Museum for less than the ship charges (and it is within walking distance from the pier).

 

In Quebec we took the "Visions of the Past" tour. We enjoyed this tour the most. We highly recommend it. It was a bus tour of the city with many stops showing you the main attractions (Chateau Frontenac, important public buildings,shopping areas, etc.) -- as well as giving some history of Quebec (with character actors). After the tour we were able to walk back to the Old City to do some shopping. It was a wonderful day.

 

In Sydney, Nova Scotia, we took the "Fortress of Louisbourg" tour. It was a 40 minute bus ride to the Fortress. It was very interesting with many character actors who told what life was like during that time period. They explained how the British were able to capture the fort from the French. It was much more interesting then when I learned about these wars in school!

 

In St John we took the "St John Highlights" tour which was a very nice bus tour of the city making three stops. One of the stops was at the Old City Market which was an indoor marketplace with food and gift shops. We really enjoyed it, and it is in walking distance from the ship. We also stopped at the reversing falls which was a disappointment as we stopped at a time of day where there was not much movement in the waters - so there was nothing to see there. When we returned to the ship after the tour, we were able to walk back into town and visit a lot of the shops we saw during the bus tour.

 

As far as the rest of the ship goes (restaurants, staterooms, etc), Shoreguy gives a lot of great information in his reviews. His comments were a big help to us in many instances.

 

The Specialty restaurants gave the Latitude members 50% off cover charge the first night of the cruise. The rest of the cruise they all offered 50% off the cover charge if you made a reservation between 5:30 and 6:30 pm. There is a 20% discount off drinks for Latitude members in the Spinnaker lounge.

 

Hope this helps a little.:)

[Haze]

We have also just reutrned from Norwgian Jewel Canada New England Cruise. it was wonderful. We are repeat cruisers to this area having done it with Cunard in 2001, NCl 2002, Hal 2004.

We loved every minute of this cruise. The ship is beautiful! We had an inside cabin and found it met every need that we had. Beacuase we have repeated this itinery so many times we do not take an outside cabin. I did get a glimpse of the cabins with balconies that were right across from us. They looked very nice and quite ample. The weather on this cruise can turn cold and if it does than you can't really sit out on the balcony.

We had wonderful weather with only one day of problematic weather. That was in Bar harbour. Every where else was great.

We only took two tours. We did St. John Highlights and Sudney Historic drive. We enjoyed both of them. There really is not much in Sydney and we had been to Fort Louisbourg before. I agree with the previous writer that it is a must see location.

We met friends in Boston so did not need a tour there.

WE love Quebec city and did our own walking tour following the wall around the city.

The weather up the Saguenay Fjord was spectacular. We have been up there twice before when it was foggy and raining.the commentator on bouard was excellent. we saw whales near the mouth of the Stl Lawrence where it joins the Saguenay river near Tadousac.

The ship's crew were all very helpful and always smiling.

I used the hot tubs and pool. Loved both. I even used the water slide!

As far as the food was concerned, we did not use any of the surcharge restaurants. We ate in Tsar's palace three times but found it very nosiy. The sound seemed to bounce off the walls. We found Azura much quieter and although the decor is more spectacular in Tsar's palace, it was quieter in Azura.

We also ate at The Blue lagoon. The food was good but same menu every day. It was things like hot dog, fish and chips , hamburger.

One evening we tried Mama's Italian Kitchen. We really enjoyed it.

As far as getting reservations for the restauarnts, one of the assistant Matre d's told us to walk up to the entrance way and tell the hostess that we would like to share a table. We did this and were seated immediatly each time and met some great people doing thigs this way. If you just show up. you can wait up to an hour for a table.

 

One last hing, ther is a laundrette on each floor but you really have to hunt for it It is buried in the wall.The sign is in the upper left hand corner.

 

I have not written a review bewfore so I may not have said enough. If you have any questions, iIwould be glad to answer them.

[Dolphins]

Really appreciate your sharing your Jewel experience with us. How were the musicians and dancing in the various lounges? Is singer/pianist Pamala Stanley still performing in the Deck 6 Bar Central? Did anyone do the fitness classes? Thanks again for your feedback.

[smj]

I am considering the Jewel in Nov. Everytihing sounds wonderful. I was wondering if there is a extra charge for cappucino and if the Tsar's Palace and the Azura have the same menu.

Thanks,

Steve

[Host Kewlguy]

Thanks for all the reviews. Three weeks to go until we sail. :)

[Dolphins]

There seems to be some confusion regarding the formal nights? movinout states they were on the first and third sea days. MaryE77 states they were on Wed. 9/21 when I believe the ship was in Halifax and the second formal night was on Mon. 9/26 which is the 2nd not the last sea day? Could we get a clarification please?

[Host Kewlguy]

In Boston, are there shuttles from the ship into town? Is there a charge? When cruising the Seguanay river is it best to be out on deck or can we view the scenery from our balcony. Our balcony is on the port side. As stated earlier, not many people were dressed for formal night. What would be the percentage of those who dressed up. We are debating on leaving formal wear at home this time. Are all ten restaurants open for breakfast and lunch or just certain ones. This is our first experience with freestyle. This will be an interesting cruise.

[emac]

Thanks to everyone who answered my questions. It sounds a great cruise, just 19 days to go!

 

Don't think we will pre-book a trolley tour in Bar Harbor but will try to get on Ollies Trolley, on arrival, in case we don't make it by 10.00am.

 

Anyone do the ship's tour 'Lunenburg & Mahone Bay with Halifax Highlights' and 'Heart of the Island' in Sydney? Would welcome feedback on these.

 

Elaine

[slw00]

We were on the Jewel also and loved it. In Bar Harbor we took an outstanding tour of Acadia Park from Acadia Tours. The website is http://www.acadiatours.com. Our tour guide was Dick Fox, the tour was outstanding! It was a short walk from the pier and we got there easily before 10 a.m and booked the tour at that time. It is hard to imagine ever getting a better tour from Ollie''s Trolley.

 

We also took a Freedom Tour in Saint John. We had a private car with a driver and a guide for the 4 in our group. Although our guide was good, I don't think it was worth it since nothing was happening at the falls when we got there. The market was nice but you could walk there on your own. I would recommend just walking and looking at the sites on your own.

 

In Halifax we had a very informative and worthwhile tour with Jonathan Duru which we booked in advance. To book we sent him an e-mail at ino@yourcab.ca. We saw Peggy's Cove when it was not crowded, the Titanic graveyard, the Swissair Memorial. and many other interesting areas. We had a great lunch at a local place too. Highly recommended.

 

I also want to add that we did the Duck Tour in Boston which was great fun. We booked it on the internet 5 days in advance at 8:45 in the morning. We took cabs to and from the tour.

[djmike]

The two formal nights are Halifax night and the second to last sea day right before St. John N.B.

 

Hope this helps

[newmexicoNita]

I am considering the Jewel in Nov. Everytihing sounds wonderful. I was wondering if there is a extra charge for cappucino and if the Tsar's Palace and the Azura have the same menu.

Thanks,

Steve

No extra charge when we cruised her last month. NMNita

[shoreguy]

One other thing that is new is a cappucino and expresso machines in the Garden Cafe and Great Outdoors. Like the dining rooms it was free.

[Dolphins]

The two formal nights are Halifax night and the second to last sea day right before St. John N.B.

 

Hope this helps

 

Appreciate the clarification. We assumed the second formal night could not be the last sea day as it was the night before arriving in New York.

[mortysmama]

Thank you so much for those reviews. We've been anxously awaiting these reviews with all the wonderful details. Our cruise is 19 days away. I notice some of our 'roll call' members are here...(Hi guys) looking for any and all information. One of the greatest additions for me is the espresso coffee machine at the buffet. I always missed that when we ate there.

 

I'm getting more excited each day and these reviews just made it all the more real to me. Thank you so much...everyone!

 

Happy cruising!

[emac]

Slw00..

 

Thanks for the info on Acadia tours. I was worried that if we booked ahead we might not make it in time. How did you get your tender tickets early because ship tours normally get tender priority?

[slw00]

Tenders went very fast. You can go to the Shore Excursion desk in the morning to ask for a priority number for the tenders. We got one, but everyone who wanted to get off early got off so fast that we didn't need to use it. Got our tour tickets about 45 minutes before the park tour.

[SPORTSTER]

I got hooked (6-10 cups per day) on pushing the button and having a cup of free hot cappucino and now finding it hard to drink coffee plain. I NEED ONE OF THOSE MACHINES!

Guess I will need to book a cruise.

[jlondon]

Movin out....we are staying in your Balcony Room on the Jewel (#9134) this summer as we cruise from NYC to the Bahamas. Anything we should know about the room. Did you love it. Do you wish anything had been different? Were you happy with the location? I hope this get's to you. Thanks.