Jewel Haven Mexican Riviera Photo Review 1/3/16

[3kidsncats]

This has been a great review, really love all the photos and little details you've included. My mouth is watering from the food and drink photos! How I wish we were back there enjoying it all. Looking forward to your next posts.

 

It's been making me hungry too!

[3kidsncats]

Just a quick note to let you know that the Jewel had a great special dietary needs service. Our daughter was assigned a special server who met with her the first day to go over her needs. He then met with her each night and would take her menu order for the next day. He was available to her where ever she ate be it the main dinning rooms or specialty dining. She would tell the regular server to get him and he would show up and serve her. The ship has a seperat kitchen for the special diet needs so there is no cross contamination that might happen in the main kitchens. I can't say enough good things about NCL and the Jewel when it comes to this level of service.

 

Keep up the great review 3Kids it is bringing back great memories of new friends and a wonderful vacation.

 

I didn't realize she got such great attention for the dietary needs -- that is so wonderful, and really helps to enjoy the vacation if you don't have to worry about getting something inappropriate during a meal. Love that.

 

I was not focused enough yesterday when posting -- I forgot to post the pics from the second pub crawl, lol. But the gang has all seen them, so I guess it's ok.

[berkley123]

I would highly recommend if you are going on a cruise to join the meet and greet group. Our group did a meet and greet, 2 pub crawls and a cabin crawl. We met some fantastic people that quickly became friends. Even though most of our group was travelling with family we soon found compatible groups to hang with. It was also a great way to see the ship and enjoy some of the entertainment with friends.

[3kidsncats]

I would definitely say the roll call experience far exceeded my expectations -- I always figured if we met one couple we even half-way enjoyed doing something with, it would be good. I had no idea that I would come away with quite a few great new friends, that I'm looking forward to continuing a friendship with for years to come.

 

I wish some of us weren't already pretty well booked on upcoming cruises -- makes it harder to plan one together! :D

[MamaMia2]

I would highly recommend if you are going on a cruise to join the meet and greet group. Our group did a meet and greet, 2 pub crawls and a cabin crawl. We met some fantastic people that quickly became friends. Even though most of our group was travelling with family we soon found compatible groups to hang with. It was also a great way to see the ship and enjoy some of the entertainment with friends.

 

I agree completely! I'm not a super outgoing person but because we had started to form acquaintances before we ever left and then meeting people at the meet and greet was really beneficial. Highly recommend as well!

[mianmike]

I would highly recommend if you are going on a cruise to join the meet and greet group. Our group did a meet and greet, 2 pub crawls and a cabin crawl. We met some fantastic people that quickly became friends. Even though most of our group was travelling with family we soon found compatible groups to hang with. It was also a great way to see the ship and enjoy some of the entertainment with friends.

 

Completely agree Jeff. We met some great people and if not for our roll call, meet and greet and the "crawls" we would have most likely never met. It also takes people keeping the conversation going and stepping up and volunteering to set-up the events. A big thanks to you for helping keep the momentum going and especially 3kidsncats for all her posts, organization and enthusiasm.

 

I hope we all can get together for another cruise. :D

[3kidsncats]

Life just keeps getting in the way of getting this done!!

 

Trying to remember the rest of Saturday.....We spent some time hanging out in the Courtyard. I was chilly, and we used a few towels as blankets. Not as chilly as being out on the main pooldeck, I'm sure, but still a little chill. There were some other guests in the pool, so the water temp must have been nice. One of my big regrets on this trip is I didn't make it into the pool even once, and the hot tub only the one time. I'm not going to complain too much, because instead of doing that, I was off having fun with our roll call peeps.

 

 

 

I forgot -- on Friday this was delivered to our cabin:

 

 

A lovely bottle of wine, and two plates of chocolates. Really surprised, and delighted. We had the chance to thank Mario in person for the goodies -- which he assured us were for the kids -- but we ate some of the chocolate too. :D

 

I bumped into a couple of our roll call peeps when I went down to get our tips arranged at GS -- so invited them up to enjoy the wine with us. It was so nice to have guests in our suite -- wish it was big enough to have a real party for the whole group, but it was a super fun afternoon even with just a small gathering. Richard, our butler, had stocked us with some snacks, and one of our Haven neighbors came by and brought their cheese and cracker snacks. So we had wine, champagne I received in the M&G gift exchange, and an assortment of goodies. Life is good sometimes.

 

For dinner that night we had our reservation at Modernos. I did not take any pics of that, because it's just not a photo kind of presentation. We enjoyed it. Wasn't our favorite dinner, but it was fun. The salad bar is wonderful, and I tried a bunch of cool things. Particularly loved the Portobello Mushrooms, and a feta salad. The meat selections were good. Some were very good. My favorite, and I think the family is in agreement, was the filet. There were a few different filet options, and all were wonderful. Not dry, not too salty. Just really good. The fish wrapped in a leaf was bland. No flavor. DD2 concurred. The shrimp was just ok. I ate only one of the 3-4 they brought. Sausages were good -- one of the girls really loved them. Chicken was ok. Prime rib was WAY too rare. But they brought us some on request that was more to our preference. (The servers were great, btw. Friendly, and no problems getting anything we needed). The waiter insisted we all get a dessert -- we wanted to just share two. We got the Mango Rice Pudding, and the Papaya Cream. The Mango Rice Pudding was awful. Seriously. It made the Green Tea Cake look not so bad. The Papaya Cream was good, not amazing. I might have liked it more if I hadn't been so full.

 

After dinner, I went back to the cabin with some of the kids, and finished packing and put out my suitcase. DH and DD3 went of to the show room for something. No idea what, but they enjoyed it. After I was done with my bag, I went down to Magnums, where I happily found MamaMia2 and Mianmike. I flagged Stan, and got my final Lavender Patches of the cruise. :-( I really need to get some lavender buds or extract, so that I can make my own at home. Apparently I just missed saying goodbye to Berkley123 and LW, as they left just before I got there. DH came down soon, and we had a really lovely final night hanging out. And downing two martinis in a very short time. Drinking away my final night sorrows is a perfectly fine way to spend an evening

 

In the morning we woke up to a gorgeous sunrise in the port of San Pedro. Beautiful, but very sad.

 

 

 

Our last breakfast -- at Modernos.

[3kidsncats]

We met up with our wonderful Len and Alex and got some photos before regretfully saying goodbye.

 

with Len

 

DH is photo bombing us from the other side of the door, lol

 

 

And with Alex

 

They had a little set up of refreshments while you wait to disembark. We had just had breakfast, so weren't hungry, but if there was a customs delay, or something, this would be very nice.

 

We met up with Oldnursie and her DH while waiting to go down with Joaquin. Basically, he just comes every few minutes, and anyone that is ready to leave can join the escort. He took us out on deck, and past the line of people waiting to disembark. This was a little uncomfortable, as people made comments as we went past. Basically, the line started inside, just a little before we could get to the suite waiting area. My DH went ahead of us, and as he did, the woman at the end of the line says "I don't know where he is going, this is the line" in a snarky way -- to which I pointed out the sign that said "suite waiting area", and proceeded to join him. And this was just to get to the waiting area BEFORE we were escorted off by Joaquin. Once the escort started, we had to walk the full length of the line, and people were not happy. There were a lot more snide comments as we went past.

 

We were taken to the point at which they scan your keycard, and then Joaquin disappeared without a word. We kind of stood there for a minute, not sure if that was the end of the escort or what. Then joined the line, got off the ship and went on down to customs. There is a big winding line (think waiting for a ride at an amusement park) and some tables with customs people to check your card and passport. Pretty easy. The suitcases are all laid out, and there was a section right next to customs for the suite luggage. Found a porter, and were on our way. Took an hour from arrival at the suite waiting area, to be in our car exiting the parking. Most of that spent in the customs part of the line.

 

And that was the end of our fabulous, Mexican adventure on the Jewel. I have a few more posts to do -- I need double check, but I think I forgot to post the photos of some of the suite snacks we received. And also, some general comments on the suite experience over all

[cincicruisers]

What a great review! Thanks for sharing.

[3kidsncats]

Here are some photos of the types of goodies that were delivered to our cabin --often we got the canapes I posted earlier in the review, but on port days, and the last sea days, we would get a plate that looked a bit like this:

 

 

The sandwich selection wasn't always the same, and sometimes there were potato chips instead of fruit in the middle, but they were always yummy, and sometimes exactly what we needed to tide us over until a late dinner.

 

We also got plates full of cookies. Not always the same variety, but always yummy!

 

 

And sometimes delicious chocolates -- forgot to take a photo before I ate one, lol.

 

 

On Monday, we had some little desserts as our treat, but it was during the cabin crawl, and I didn't get a photo. I heard they were yummy. And another day I bumped into Richard in the hall as he was bringing some freshly popped popcorn. Surprising how much you enjoy that, even on a cruise full of gourmet food. And gummy bears or trail mix would appear too.

 

So, to the general comments, which hopefully I will remember everything I forgot to say earlier.

 

Pre-Concierge --- she was great, very responsive to my emails and handled the dinner reservation changes I needed -- wanted two nights later, so that we could catch the early shows those nights. Also handled the fridge requests we made, and when we arrived on embarkation day, it was exactly as we had requested.

 

Butler -- Richard was wonderful. We didn't get a chance to meet with him the first day (very possibly because we arrived in our cabin before the all clear) but he made a real effort to try to arrange to come "show" us the cabin and coffee maker. I let DH handle that, because I love getting coffee made for me in the morning. Seriously, don't give me flowers or jewelry, but I think it's the most romantic thing to bring me coffee. I'm not a morning person. Richard was helpful, responsive to anything we asked for -- wasn't a lot, but really appreciated how graciously he handled everything. He noticed the coffee and teas we used, and gave extra of those. We also had a pad of paper at the coffee station, and we used it to write notes if we needed something from him, or Alex. We also used it to thank them for making our trip better. Alex would write little notes back --love that.

 

Steward -- Alex was amazing. We tried to keep the room tidy, because with six of us, it could easily get overwhelming. But Alex always managed to make it just a bit nicer, and the beds were always turned down or made up in an unobtrusive and timely manner. If we needed anything with the cabin, he handled it with a smile. We never needed to ask for toiletries -- everything was always stocked and available. His towel animals were adorable, and we had our dailies for the next day without fail. He tended to sing while working, so if we happened in while he was there, it always put a smile on our face.

 

Concierge -- I've pretty much covered our limited interaction with Joaquin. I must reiterate that I do think he seemed like a really nice guy, but I was disappointed with the one time we asked for something. We did not get any info from him about the theater seating -- if not for CC, I would not have known there was reserved seating for us in the theater. No idea what is the norm in the Haven for what info Concierge's convey to guests. We got pretty much nothing. He did thank me at check in for doing my dinner reservations in advance.

 

Priority Embarkation: I went over the experience at the beginning of the review, but wanted mention that there was no single escort to Modernos and review of the Haven offerings that I've read about in other reviews. I'm fine with the escort we got, but it was more like being handed off to the next person at various points. Check-in, then Joaquin with welcome packet, then someone else for the escort aboard and wait for the missing card. That guy passed us off to the guy in the elevator (*) who took us to Modernos and passed us off to the hostess. Once we were done eating, we were on our own. Again, fine for me because I learned most of what I needed to learn, here on CC.

 

*They had one elevator exclusively for Haven/Suite guests on embarkation day. During the cruise itself, there is no special Haven elevator. I mention that because I heard two comments. One was someone who mentioned they weren't allowed to use the elevator on embarkation day, because they weren't in the Haven, and another who thought there was an elevator for the whole cruise that was dedicated to the Haven. So no, it's just during embarkation that they have a staff member manning one elevator to take suite guests up to Modernos. The rest of the time, you use your keycard in the slot, to get the elevator to go to deck 14. And yes, people will comment on it. Sometimes nicely, or confused as to why you did that -- and sometimes a bit snidely, as if we think we are special to be in the Haven. No, we just have to do that to get to the cabin. Or, get off on deck 13 and take the stairs the last floor. We did that often. Elevators don't like to go to deck 14. Usually it was faster to go down to 13 and catch one there.

 

Would I do the Haven again? In a heartbeat. It's not something that is normally in my budget, but it is something I would save for, and book again. It was without a doubt the most amazing cruise experience I've ever had. Really, the only problem with it is 7 days is not enough to enjoy the Haven accommodations and the rest of the ship.

 

The Jewel -- have to say, DH and I didn't love the ship deckplan so much. We haven't sailed in a while, and find that the specialty dining takes up a lot of the lounge/open space we are used to. The spaces seemed convoluted. You had to go up to Modernos, to go out the door, past the pool, back inside at the other end to get to Spinnakers. La Cucina was totally hidden. To get to the Great Outdoors, you had to go thru the buffet - but if that was closed, you had to back track, go upstairs, outside and then past the basketball court and back down. The flow just wasn't there for us.

 

But - I loved the staff, and would go back on the Jewel just to have that great staff. So friendly and great service. Really, the number of people that were not so good were very minimal. I know as Haven, we may have gotten better service, but lots of staff didn't know at first that we were Haven, so I think they are just a good team. Another review commented that they couldn't get their water glasses refilled. We had the opposite issue -- they filled them too often when I didn't need more. She is in wonderful condition -- clean, well maintained and attractively furnished.

 

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask -- I'm sure I missed something

[3kidsncats]

What a great review! Thanks for sharing.

 

Thanks! I hope it helps you plan your cruise, or just tides you over until it arrives ;-)

[rainy4stu]

Thankyou so much for taking so much time and trouble to post your review. We are sailing on 7th February, first time with NCL and are really looking forward to experiencing Haven.:)

[janpo]

Great review!! Brought me back.

[NurseDave]

I didn't get a photo that specifically shows the public side, but there is a deck (15) above the Haven, that has been partitioned into two sides. I only ever went up to it from the Haven, so can't give you specific directions how to get to the public side, other than there is a staircase somewhere on the starboard side deck that goes there. There is a gate separating the public side from the Haven side up on the actual deck. We did see the occasional person on the public side, and we went over there once to take some photos of the shoreline.

 

Awesome to learn. I've been wondering if we would find a quiet spot just to relax and watch the ocean. Sounds like we just learned the best kept secret.

[berkley123]

It brought back so many memories. I would recommend the Jewel to anyone looking to cruise. If you can get 3kidsncats for a tour director even better. Great job with the M and G and all that entailed. Miss you guys.

[3kidsncats]

Thankyou so much for taking so much time and trouble to post your review. We are sailing on 7th February, first time with NCL and are really looking forward to experiencing Haven.:)

 

You are going to love it -- I'm sorry you won't have Alex as cabin steward, but both butlers were great -- I only met Jennifer, who handled the starboard cabins, but got a good vibe from her. And Len, the courtyard valet -- you will love him!! Be sure to have lunch or breakfast in the courtyard -- it's just divine, and I know Len was disappointed that not that many guests opted to eat there besides us -- but worked in our favor as the service was then extra fast and attentive ;-)

 

I'm sad my turn is over, lol. Oh -- and definitely sign up for the dinner with an officer -- lots of fun. Looking forward to hearing about your trip when you return

[3kidsncats]

Great review!! Brought me back.

 

Me too -- it's so sad when it's over. Doing such a detailed review helped me hang on to it just a little longer

[3kidsncats]

Awesome to learn. I've been wondering if we would find a quiet spot just to relax and watch the ocean. Sounds like we just learned the best kept secret.

 

 

It is very quiet -- they didn't seem to have a lot in the way of loungers on that side, but maybe that was just because it was windy and a lot of movement when we were there.

[3kidsncats]

It brought back so many memories. I would recommend the Jewel to anyone looking to cruise. If you can get 3kidsncats for a tour director even better. Great job with the M and G and all that entailed. Miss you guys.

 

A tour director who barely could find her way around the ship......oh wait, that may have been from all the mojitos and martinis :-D

[rainy4stu]

Hi, would you know if they had diet tonic water on the ship. Hubby loves his gin and tonic but is diabetic so needs diet, emailed pre concierge to ask for some in our H2 suite and was told nine is available. We are flying in from Las Vegas on morning of cruise so not really an option to bring any with us. Are there any stores near the port? Thanks for your help

[3kidsncats]

Hi, would you know if they had diet tonic water on the ship. Hubby loves his gin and tonic but is diabetic so needs diet, emailed pre concierge to ask for some in our H2 suite and was told nine is available. We are flying in from Las Vegas on morning of cruise so not really an option to bring any with us. Are there any stores near the port? Thanks for your help

 

I don't know whether they have that onboard or not, and there really aren't any convenient markets right near the port. If you're taking a cab to the port, they might know of some place to stop enroute. Or, if you are involved in your rollcall, maybe someone local could bring some for you? You can check sealed non-alcoholic beverages with the porters

[njmomof2]

Really enjoyed your review. I've never done the Mexican Riviera itinerary, being an East Coaster, but my sister and BIL have done it numerous times and always enjoy it.

 

Your photos are amazing. Can really see your commitment to studying the light and effect it has on the photos and your wonderful composition. Your daughters (and the BF) are lovely and so good for going along with you.

 

My 2 comments...I loved the whale photos posted by another member of your roll call. I've always wanted to do a whale watching tour and here on the EC I'd have to either go up north or I think down to the lower Jersey shore. I think after seeing these, I'm going to do some research and try to find one.

 

My second...I have really long hair like yours and I have to say Kudos to you for leaving it down. I don't think I saw a single photo of you with your hair pulled up or back. I just don't know how you do it. Mine is always tied back or clipped, since I simply cannot see a thing if I leave it down with the wind on the cruise. It's probably the reason my mother always says I should just cut it off if I'm not going to let it loose.

 

Thanks again.

[rainy4stu]

I don't know whether they have that onboard or not, and there really aren't any convenient markets right near the port. If you're taking a cab to the port, they might know of some place to stop enroute. Or, if you are involved in your rollcall, maybe someone local could bring some for you? You can check sealed non-alcoholic beverages with the porters

 

Thanks for replying so soon. Will try to stop enroute to port.:)

[3kidsncats]

Really enjoyed your review. I've never done the Mexican Riviera itinerary, being an East Coaster, but my sister and BIL have done it numerous times and always enjoy it.

 

Your photos are amazing. Can really see your commitment to studying the light and effect it has on the photos and your wonderful composition. Your daughters (and the BF) are lovely and so good for going along with you.

 

My 2 comments...I loved the whale photos posted by another member of your roll call. I've always wanted to do a whale watching tour and here on the EC I'd have to either go up north or I think down to the lower Jersey shore. I think after seeing these, I'm going to do some research and try to find one.

 

My second...I have really long hair like yours and I have to say Kudos to you for leaving it down. I don't think I saw a single photo of you with your hair pulled up or back. I just don't know how you do it. Mine is always tied back or clipped, since I simply cannot see a thing if I leave it down with the wind on the cruise. It's probably the reason my mother always says I should just cut it off if I'm not going to let it loose.

 

Thanks again.

 

The whales travel south down to Mexico starting in December, so Jan-March is a good whale watching window for the West Coast. The next time we do a MR trip, we plan on following Mianmike and MamaMia2's lead, and do a whale watching excursion. I didn't expect to like the ports as much as I did, which is great because we will now be more likely to snap up a last minute deal on a MR itinerary in the future. :-)

 

It's so funny that you mention my hair -- I didn't ever realize how long it as gotten until I saw the video in Mazatlan. I never tie it back or put it up unless I'm cooking. It gives me a headache. Most times, it doesn't really bother me, or get in the way. You should go for it, and let yours down once in a while.

 

I'm so happy with our family portraits -- my kids know me well enough to know they aren't going to go on a cruise with me, and not pose for some photos. I think they are used to it, lol. And when they get a great photo of themselves, they don't complain ;-)

[3kidsncats]

Thanks for replying so soon. Will try to stop enroute to port.:)

 

I'm sure there is somewhere between the airport and the port. Have a blast!