Jewel first re-start sailing 2022.3.29 12d Panama Canal cruise going great; cancelled Nicaragua port

[Middleager]

3 hours ago, Middleager said:

2022.4.4 Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala; in port 6:30a-4:30p; 

..

They did not have US pricing and didn't speak English when I asked about the coffee beans.  A lady then took her phone with translation to tell me all those 400g coffee grounds or beans were $62 or the 900g bags were $112.  I bought a big bag (blend), and 3 small bags (2 Huehue and one Coban). 

 

I need to explain the 400g coffee at $62 Guatemalan dollar is about US$8.  Inexpensive, that's why I bought some.

 

Other good coffee I've bought were Kona coffee, a pound at >$20 from Smithfarms, or Costco at $20.  Bought Blue Mountain coffee from a plantation for US$20/lb (bought 12 lbs)   Hope this Guatemala coffee is good.

[YVRteacher]

Are you going to Cartagena?  Be sure to allow time to explore the port.  There are anteaters, monkeys, macaws, flamingos and peacocks as well as fabulous stores with coffee, chocolate and souvenirs.

[Middleager]

We've been enjoying the thermal spa every day.  In the change room, they put towels on the top shelves, and (folded) robes in bottom shelves.  My wife is 5' (she claims she is/was 5'1", but my son measured her at 4'11", she was mad, so I said she's 4' 11 and 1/2", she's still mad)   

 

She suggested to the spa frontdesk, to put towels in a column and robes in another column.  This allows her to get a towel and a robe from bottom shelve.  Today she saw the changes made and was so happy.  She thanked the frontdesk lady, and Fiona said she fully understands and told the spa manager, and they made the change.  So all the (short) ladies, rejoice.

[Middleager]

Just now, YVRteacher said:

Are you going to Cartagena?  Be sure to allow time to explore the port.  There are anteaters, monkeys, macaws, flamingos and peacocks as well as fabulous stores with coffee, chocolate and souvenirs.

We're not going to Cartagena.  That would've been the previous leg from Panama city (Port Fuerte Amador) to transit Panama canal to Colon, to Caribbean islands including ABC and Cartagena, and end up in Colon.  NCL cancelled that leg so we missed that.

[YVRteacher]

Then it’s a good thing you bought your coffee today!  Which port is next?

[lawnbowler48]

31 minutes ago, Middleager said:

We're not going to Cartagena.  That would've been the previous leg from Panama city (Port Fuerte Amador) to transit Panama canal to Colon, to Caribbean islands including ABC and Cartagena, and end up in Colon.  NCL cancelled that leg so we missed that.

1 hour ago, YVRteacher said:

Really enjoyed reading about your day in Antigua!  Thank you!

Really enjoying your reviews, making me wish we were going sooner than December.

[Middleager]

2022.4.5 Huatulco, Mexico; in port 12noon to 8pm.

 

Huatulco is a developing resort town.  A few years ago we took our son to stay at Huatulco Barcelo (4*) AI resort just before X-mas, did diving/snorkeling and river rafting.  This time the (good) Huatulco Dive Shop said the afternoon lighting won't provide good diving. 

 

Other ops were slow in responding or just provided standard list of activities/pricing most of which are in the morning time, and didn't answer question about tours in afternoon.  Claudia of huatulcoactivities.com had quick responses, so we book with her for zipliing ($29/p) and 3-hr horseback riding ($58/p; or could do 1hr for $40).

 

Claudia picked us up at the Chapel just outside the cruise terminal.  It turned out her office is just opposite the Barcelo resort, and we had actually bought from her internet package (when Barcelo's was expensive and unstable) and also a (very good) river rafting trip.  This time Claudia said the water is low (end of their dry season) and rafting is not good (but NCL still has rafting trips).  

 

The zipline here was only 2-lines and I wouldn't do with them again.  But it was inexpensive at $29/p including pickup/dropoff.  My wife was scared at first even though we ziplined before.  So at least she got used to it again and we got some good pics.  The owner/operator's wife took many pics, and sold to us for US$10 (emailed link to us, and we'll download later).

 

We were then driven out to Seahorse Ranch, for horseback riding with Maria.  This was a really good trip.  We started off in land, and path to a river, then rode into the river.  The water was not high and we were in water for a long time, then back to land, to a beach.  After a few minutes at beach, we took a rest for drinks and pics.  The horses were trying to eat everywhere.  As soon as they got to the river they were drinking.  Maria did tell us the horses love to eat and if they eat for too long, just pull the ropes (to left the head) so the horse would know to continue.  At times the horses wanted to continue eating.

 

When we were resting at the beach, a guy from the ranch brought a hacking sword to Maria, and she used it to hack off many tree branches on the way back.  At first we thought they haven't come this way often, but Maria said she comes here every day, and the wind can blow those branches around.

 

Maria had 20 horses, but during the pandemic she had to sell many, and now has 7 horses, but hopes to start buying to build back up. 

 

This is the first time we rode into water.  My hiking boots got wet.  My wife's didn't (she's shorter so her legs/boots were higher up).  We really liked it.  This is something we'd do again.

 

When we got back to Maria's office, there was till time to do a couples 30-min massage with the shop next to her.  It was only US$18/p, and it turned out to be a really nice soothing massage.  We at first gave US$40 and said the balance is tips, then added more tips.

 

Maria drove us back to the ship.  We ran in the terminal right at time limit of 7:30p.  There were small electric cars we can take for a tip, so we rode it right to the gangway.  Phew.  It was a very enjoyable day, especially the horseback riding in the river, and the inexpensive massage.

[lorif]

Thank you so much for sharing your experiences!  We are scheduled for Panama on the Jewel next Feb.

I have a question about the ship, very specific I guess for non-smokers who also like casinos, how much smoke is noticeable in the casino?  if noticeable there, does it spread outside the casino?

Thanks,

[Middleager]

10 hours ago, lorif said:

Thank you so much for sharing your experiences!  We are scheduled for Panama on the Jewel next Feb.

I have a question about the ship, very specific I guess for non-smokers who also like casinos, how much smoke is noticeable in the casino?  if noticeable there, does it spread outside the casino?

Thanks,

We don't walk into or by the casino much.  That's the good part of the design of this ship.  When we are there, there isn't as much smoking as in some other ships.  But we only have 833 guests on this sailing, not even 1/3 full, and maybe there are less smokers, so it's not as much noticeable smoke.

[lorif]

12 hours ago, Middleager said:

We don't walk into or by the casino much.  That's the good part of the design of this ship.  When we are there, there isn't as much smoking as in some other ships.  But we only have 833 guests on this sailing, not even 1/3 full, and maybe there are less smokers, so it's not as much noticeable smoke.

Thank you, good point on the number of passengers.  We aren't casino people either, but someone else who is was considering joining us on the Panama sailing.  Nice to know that passing through is not necessary.

[froglag]

On 4/8/2022 at 5:35 AM, lorif said:

Thank you so much for sharing your experiences!  We are scheduled for Panama on the Jewel next Feb.

I have a question about the ship, very specific I guess for non-smokers who also like casinos, how much smoke is noticeable in the casino?  if noticeable there, does it spread outside the casino?

Thanks,

We too are booked on next February on the Jewel.  

[Middleager]

2022.4.7 Puerto Vallarta, in port 8a-4p;  This is a big city.  From the ship we can see a Walmart (and the taxi driver says usually 1/2 of the ship goes to the Walmart)   Beside the Walmart is a Sam's club, and behind is a Costco.

 

We have a group of 5 divers and 2 snorkelers meeting up at 8am, to go out together to share taxi to a dive shop.  When we woke up, it was 7:43am !  My wife's cellphone alarm didn't ring, and then we found out the time changed to some place else.  Later on we found many others had their cellphone time changed to weird time zones (Paris, Dubai..) at different times.   So lesson learned, when on cruise shop, turn date/time to manual.

 

We rushed to fill up our water bottles and grabbed some bread and ran to meet our group.  We waited a while, before hearing the clearance announcement after 8am.  We took the elevator to deck 4, and found a line snaking up  deck 5.  We all walked up to deck 5 to join the line, but the line wasn't moving.  Then they had another gangway stairs set up from deck 5, for us to go down on.

 

We were able to get a big taxi bus ($5/p) to take us together to Twin Dolphin dive shop to meet Leslie of puertovallartadivers   Leslie told us the water is cold and 3mm long wetsuit is not good enough.  We all got fitted with something thicker.  I wore my own 3mm long, plus a 3mm shortie.  Besides Leslie, another DM Evan joined, so it was good with 2 DMs for 5 divers.  It was US$120/diver and $60/snorkeler.  After being fitted, Leslie had (hired) the taxi bus to take us to the nearby marina entrance, to their boat.  It was a medium size dive boat, just for us.

 

The water was cold.  Surprisingly cold, with at least 2 thermocline (change of water and temp).  It's more murky (more planktons) and warmer closer to surface.  More clear further below but colder.  The viz wasn't great, but still decent corals and marine life.  Nothing big.

 

After dive 1, Leslie had the captain take us closer to shore/rock, and took my wife down to snorkel.  My wife is non-swimmer, but with 3mm wetsuit and the captain gave her the lifesaving ring to hold in front of her, and Leslie guiding her.  She was ok then.  The other lady snorkeler was a good swimmer and wasn't sure, but she found herself doing well, and they saw a turtle (we didn't see in dives) and lots of fish.  So it was good they enjoyed their snorkeling.

 

I was getting kid of sick, and in dive 2 did vomit.  It could be due not eating too much the night before, and nervousness for having to rush in the morning.  Maybe not used to the cold water.  But at least the other divers enjoyed their dives.  Leslie had sandwiches for us at the end of dive 2, but few takers.  We all squeezed into a small van (bags on top) to get back to the ship for lunch.  We thanked Leslie for running a good dive/snorkel trip for us.

 

They told us in PV the water is the coldest in April.  Last time I dove here was in Aug., and it was warm, my 3mm long wetsuit was good.  So there's quite a change in water temp.  We had thought of taking kids to AI resorts in PV during the winter and for diving.  We'll re-think that.

 

--

Last onboard time was 3:30pm.  But after 3:30pm, from our balcony we still see people slowing walking in, and even at 4pm, people were still walking in, then NCL packed up to be ready to leave.  Later we heard some guy on an NCL tour was late, made people wait, and didn't care.

 

Also heard from someone, that in the morning some guy came down the elevator to deck 4 (like we initially did), and when he was told the end of the line goes up to deck 5, he wouldn't move.  When he was told by NCL staff to move to end of the line, he just said "make me".  When the line started to move, he just cut into the line to go out.  Fortunately most cruisers are not like that.

[Middleager]

We've actually disembarked in San Diego, but I'll add some more comments of our days in the cruise.

 

2022.4.8 tender to Cabo San Lucas, 7a-2p;

 

We have a group 5 of divers plus my wife for today.  Several of us are Platinum or higher, and the Concierge said we can meet at mid deck 13 by Moderno, for priority tendering.  So we got together at 7:15am.

 

I think we got on the 2nd tender.  This was a Cabo (not NCL) operated tender.  As we started moving, a guy started to come by with a big cup to ask for tips (like some people posted in other threads).  Some gave tips to him until someone told him later.  It was a short tender ride and we saw the NCL Bliss also anchored at sea.

 

After getting off, many local venders tried to get you to go on their activities.  We got to the Tesoro Hotel, to the Deep Blue Dive Shop.  We were told the water is cold (just like PV) and I opted for a 5mm long wetsuit plus a hooded vest.  The DM Charlos said June is actually the coldest month (for diving) in Cabo, that was a surprise.  Interesting that the owner Oscar speaks Japanese to his Japanese wife Sachico.

 

We went out on a small boat but good of us.  Water condition not good for snorkeling so my wife just come on as bubblewatcher (no charge).  The water is indeed cold, with thermocline.  But more marine life than PV.  Today I took two Bonine, and fortunately didn't feel sick (vomit) like yesterday in PV.

 

Everyone enjoyed the dives.  On dive 2, I saw my tank psi was around 2300 at the beginning of the dive (should be near 3000), don't know if it started out lower or somehow I used up that much right after descend.  So I had to ascend first, and fortunately the boat was very near.

 

Oscar charged $110/diver for our 2-tank guided dives, including gear.  That was good price.  Some other dive shops start at $120 and then add gear rentals.

 

After dives, we went separate ways, walked around to take pics, then back on ship for lunch.   That ends all the port visits.

[Middleager]

In this cruise, the CruiseNext director Terry said when we buy CN certs, the OBC can be applied to the purchase price.  So I did buy 2 CN certs, and the US$250 OBC did go toward the cost, and I only had to pay US$250 to get the 2 certs that are valued 2 x $250 = $500.

 

Some people had reported in their recent cruises they are no longer able to apply those OBCs toward the CN purchase price, but at least in our sailing, we were able to.

[mamarose44]

Just got back from Panama cruise on the Jewel. Just a few tips for those heading out later this year. Bus ride from Panama to Colon’ where ships is. Will take 1.5 hours if you go to Panama city. Cosata Rica, Nicaragua(canceled had a day at sea), El Salvador and Guatemala are more commercial ports. Any excursions you do will be 1.5 hours or more. Huatulco, Puerto Vallarta, and Cabo were much better. All in all the cruise was fantastic 857 passengers 1100 crew. There were a few issues with communication on transfers when returned but it was the first time back for 2 years. Also the huge issue with every one we talked to on the ship was you HAVE to register online to go into Panama. Not sure how it will work for cruise ending in Panama. We missed our original flight because we could not figure out how to do fill out the form. Thank goodness united helped us find a flight and got a non stop into Panama. Hopefully NCL will help with it.  You need to get a QR code. From it. Please do your research before you go. Happy Sailing. 

[The Traveling Man]

On 4/3/2022 at 6:30 PM, Middleager said:

We talked to the captain and he said it costs half a million (US$) for the Jewel to cross the Panama Canal.  That's a lot of money.   Imagine in the past people used to have to pay in cash.

 

 

With just 833 pax on board, that works out to about $600 per passenger.  That's a big chunk of your cruise fare.

[The Traveling Man]

14 hours ago, Middleager said:

In this cruise, the CruiseNext director Terry said when we buy CN certs, the OBC can be applied to the purchase price.  So I did buy 2 CN certs, and the US$250 OBC did go toward the cost, and I only had to pay US$250 to get the 2 certs that are valued 2 x $250 = $500.

 

Some people had reported in their recent cruises they are no longer able to apply those OBCs toward the CN purchase price, but at least in our sailing, we were able to.

It's a question of refundable vs. non-refundable OBC.  It has been reported that you can use one but not the other.

[Middleager]

2 hours ago, The Traveling Man said:

With just 833 pax on board, that works out to about $600 per passenger.  That's a big chunk of your cruise fare.

The captain said it's $1 million for the Bliss (to transit Panama canal).

[The Traveling Man]

20 minutes ago, Middleager said:

The captain said it's $1 million for the Bliss (to transit Panama canal).

For a full ship, that would work out to about $250 pp.

[novamomma]

On 4/4/2022 at 5:51 AM, Tatertotslady said:

Thank you for posting this! We will be on the Jewel in about two months from now. It’s one of our favorite NCL ships.  
 

Are you able to post any dailies? Sometimes it works well to get screenshots from the NCL apps.  
 

We are most interested in the bands, duos or piano player/singer on the ship. 
 

Thank you! Enjoy your cruise! 

The one person you MUST see perform is Melvin Harold!!!!!  He usually plays on deck six near Le Bistro. His voice is like velvet and his guitar skills are so sweet.  He tends to play to the crowd with soft love songs from the 70's and 80's.  We ended up planning our meals around his playing!!! We even bought his music CD..  Melvin is so very talented, shy and a very kind young man. He'll be on the Jewel until June 27th.  I'm trying to convince my hubby to book another cruise just to watch him again!! Enjoy your cruise!

[SRHall64]

12 hours ago, mamarose44 said:

Also the huge issue with every one we talked to on the ship was you HAVE to register online to go into Panama. Not sure how it will work for cruise ending in Panama. We missed our original flight because we could not figure out how to do fill out the form.

We were the last to board our flight to Panama because of the form.  I had our QR code all printed only to be told at the counter that it was only good for 3 days and I had completed it 7 days ahead. I never saw that documented anywhere but I could have missed it.  Considering the form includes your date of arrival someone in their IT failed to include that simple check and notification for the online form.  We flew Copa Airlines and one of their supervisors let us proceed to the gate and met us there to help me complete the forms for my dad and I.

[SRHall64]

We did NCL shore excursions in each port.  We were a little disappointed with the one in El Salvador but the rest were pretty much what we expected. However, only once, after showing up at the specified meet time, did we proceed with our tour within 15 minutes.  The clearances from the local authorities took a while in most ports.  I was somewhat surprised that on the early port call days the restaurants didn't seem to open any earlier for breakfast.  We had to have breakfast at O'Sheehan's a few times because nowhere else was open early enough to eat and still make our meet time.  The staff at O'Sheehan's didn't seem prepared for the rush the first time it happened but did well later in the cruise.

[YVRteacher]

Who is the concierge on the Jewel, please?

[Middleager]

On 4/12/2022 at 9:20 PM, YVRteacher said:

Who is the concierge on the Jewel, please?

He's name is Armando de Gusman.  I was pleasantly surprised when he arranged somethings for us, among that was priority disembarkation for our dive/snorkel group in PV, and tendering in Cabo.

 

We finally got to unpacking, after tiring red-eye connection flight to get back to Toronto on 4/13.  It felt especially cramped on the UA 2150 red-eye flight (SAN-EWR) on a Boeing 737 Max8.  The next flight UA4461 (EWR-YYZ) on a Bombardier CRJ7 was a smaller plane but much more comfortable seats.

[Middleager]

Food on the Jewel was good, better than the 2020.2 AU/NZ cruise, or the 2018.7 Alaska cruise.

 

We tried all the specialty restaurants (La Cucina, Le Bistro, Cagneys, Moderno, Teppanyaki)  All good.  Teppanyaki was slow, supposed to be 7pm but didn't start till 7:30, and by the time it finished, we rushed to the theater to see just the last few minutes of the very good "Duo extended, aerial show"

 

At La Cucina, the portions are huge.  They should cut down because we were really stuffed. At other restaurants we learned and tried not to eat too much, especially at Moderno.

 

The Garden Cafe, and the MDR food were also good.  There were theme nights at the Garden Cafe (Prime Rib, Seafood, Asian, etc.)

 

We didn't try the Asian restaurant Chin Chin as it was only open at night.  In previous cruises were also open for lunches (same menu), we found the food too salty.  Don't know what it is now.  Also didn't try the sushi bar. 

 

We felt the food quality is a step up from previous Jewel cruises.