Jewel

[Glen&Kathy]

Has anyone been on the Jewel lately? How was your experience? There doesn't seem to be many threads about this ship.

 

We are cruising NCL for the first time on Jewel to the Western Caribbean. My wife and I are experienced cruisers but we are also going with some "crewbies"

 

Also, we are booking a BA category but are unsure where to park ourselves. Several decks have BA categories in the aft. Has anyone been on those vs deck 10? We are interested in the deck 10 cabins because rumor has it the balcony is a bit bigger.

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Glen

[floridacruiser63]

Has anyone been on the Jewel lately? How was your experience? There doesn't seem to be many threads about this ship.

 

We are cruising NCL for the first time on Jewel to the Western Caribbean. My wife and I are experienced cruisers but we are also going with some "crewbies"

 

Also, we are booking a BA category but are unsure where to park ourselves. Several decks have BA categories in the aft. Has anyone been on those vs deck 10? We are interested in the deck 10 cabins because rumor has it the balcony is a bit bigger.

 

Thanks in advance!

 

 

 

We were on a BA category, Balcony #10096 on the 4/3 9 day Southern Caribbean earlier this year. The balconies are the same size as far as I know. The cruise was ok. The shows were excellent, the food was good. The paid restaurants were excellent. Bingo is pretty expensive, as is the Spa if you pay per day ($20.00 per day), there is a weekly spa pass you can buy instead, and it is a bit cheaper.:)

[asylum575]

We went last month for Easter week. Had a really nice time. Buffet was better than some. Main dining rooms were OK. Le Bistro was very good. Mama's was good. We cruise with out two little one, so cruising is a little different now. We did catch three shows, very good.

Here is my review thread

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=971757&highlight=

 

Just remember, you're on vacation, have a great time

[jsnun]

Hi Glen:

 

My sister, my kids (16 & 13) and I went on a 5 day Western Caribbean cruise on the Jewel in March 08 - we had a great time, in fact we are planning another trip for February! This was our first cruise so I am not an expert, but I will share our experience!

 

I know food is subjective, but we didn't have a problem - we mainly ate in the Garden Cafe - there seemed to be enough variety for each of us.

 

We all enjoyed the shows.

 

The pool area was full on sea days, but in my opinion that is to be expected since we were traveling during spring break and the boat was full!

[stanmoto98]

We were on the TA last month in one of the stern suites on deck 9. The balconies for all BA's are pretty much the same size. We love the stern of the ship because you can use the balcony under just about any weather conditions and you don't get the wind that you do on either port or starboard balconies.

 

The ship itself is much more beautiful than I had imagined from the pictures. The bright pinks and purple is offset nicely by a lot of mahoganey toned wood and chrome/stainless metals.

 

We only ate in the main dining room twice and it was as good as any other. The buffet was one of the better ones. Cagney's disappointed us for the one surcharge meal we ate there. Le Bristo was a different story... totally awesome!

 

As noted above, the spa is pricey... and I'm not even talking about the charge to use the steam/sauna rooms and jaquzzis!

 

All in all we had a great time though NCL really does try to make up for the lower cruise pricing with onboard charges. But if you watch yourself you can minimize that impact.

[garycarla]

If you scroll down through the past week or so, you will find a handful of Jewel reviews from recent cruisers.

 

Not sure what a "crewbie" is?

 

There is also a review section with longer reviews see REVIEWS at top right of this page.

 

Most all BA's are all the same. Actually BA, BB, BC and BD are almost identical, except location. Aft is actually the back third of the ship. Some confuse or mix this with STERN which are those few cabins that look off the back end of the ship only. Some people swear by these cabins - not us - but most do.

[Glen&Kathy]

"crewbie" is my term for a cruiese-newbie :rolleyes: I know, pretty lame.

 

Thanks for all the info. We always make the most of any trip and completely agree a vacation is what you make of it.

 

Thanks again everyone!

[wibeachbum]

The BA balconies on the two deck 10 stern cabins are definitely much deeper than the other BAs. We were in 10168 on our March 09 cruise.

 

We love the Jewel and will be cruising the Western Caribbean on the Jewel next March. We pick the itinerary and it happens to be the Jewel again. That's fine with us.

 

The entertainment on our most recent cruise was great.

 

We enjoy the food in the main dining room and the buffet.

 

The ship was clean and the crew was helpful.

 

DH did not think the casino staff was as friendly as they were on the Sun in 2008. Staff rotates though and next year could be different.

 

We like the Western Caribbean itinerary, especially Roatan.

[BikerAl]

We were on the Jewel this past December and had an awesome time. Ate almost exclusively in surcharge restaurants, so I can't report on the main dining rooms. Enjoyed the shows, loved the crew. We had booked a different line for this December, but loved the cruise so much, we booked for November 29th this year.

 

Al