The Jewel shined

Norwegian Jewel Cruise Review to Panama Canal, Central America

Cruises: 7+ cruises
Reviews: 29
Helpful Votes: 723

Overall rating:

4 out of 5
Norwegian Jewel

Sail date: February 28, 2016

Ship: Norwegian Jewel

Cabin type: Inside

Cabin number: 9619

Traveled as: Large Group

Reviewed: 8 years ago

Review summary

This was our first complete transit of the Panama Canal. It was a great experience and I would highly recommend it. Now on to the ship.

 

Embarkation in Los Angeles was confusing and completely disorganized. But we made it on board just fine.

 

We had an inside cabin on Deck 9, cabin 9619. The cabin was in good shape and in good working order. Our cabin attendant wasn't the fastest, but he was thorough and took good care of us. Deck 9 on this ship is a good location. Only three decks up to the gym and lido and two down to deck 7. We did not need to use the elevators the entire trip.

 

We found the food to be very good this trip. We ate in the Azure dining room. Food was good, service was top notch. 

 

Morning were here spent in the Great outdoors. It was pretty decent buffet food. The buffet coffee was pretty good on this ship.

 

Specialty dining:

Le Bistro: The food was good, service was ok.

 

Cagneys Steakhouse: Food was fantastic, service was different. if you orders soup and a salad, they brought them at the same time. Then there was a long gap until you got your entree. 

 

La Cucina: really good food and service.

 

Moderno Brazilian: This was our favorite. Excellent food and service was fantastic. My opinion is this is well worth the flat fee.

 

The ship was in very good shape over all and the staff were friendly and warm.

 

There was a nice variety of entertainment on board. The main theater had the regular magicians, jugglers and the like. The troop on board were very good. Oh what a night performed they were very good. There were some good and not so good acts in the lounges.

 

Debarkation in Miami was well organized and very easy.

 

 

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5
We tried most of the specialty restaurants. With that said I would have been happy just in the main dining room.

Onboard Activities

3 out of 5

Entertainment

3 out of 5
I found there to be a mix of great to not good. But I also understand this can be subjective.

Service and Staff

5 out of 5
Azure Dining room, Mr. Srdan was a fantastic waiter.

Ship Quality

5 out of 5
I enjoy the design of the jewel class ships, easy to navigate.

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5

Ship tip

The great outdoors is a buffet aft. Most people do not know it is there for a couple of days.

Ports of call

Miami, Florida

5 out of 5

Cartagena, Colombia

5 out of 5
We did the old fortress and walled city. It was cool to see. We hired a tour on the dock.

Panama Canal Transit

5 out of 5
Stay out in the open decks and move around. There are things to see on both sides of the ship.

Puntarenas, Costa Rica

5 out of 5
Nice place, we hired a tour on the dock.

Puerto Corinto, Nicaragua

3 out of 5

Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala

5 out of 5
We took the ships excursion to Antigua. Beautiful old town. If you have trouble getting around be careful. The streets are all cobblestones. The footing is pretty uneven.

Acapulco, Mexico Did not visit port

We hired a driver on the dock. Went and saw the cliff divers and then a city tour.

Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

3 out of 5

San Pedro (Los Angeles), California

3 out of 5

Traveler Photos

Was this review helpful? 41

1 Comment

noname111    8 years ago

Bubba - I can't agree with you more about the LA port authority and boarding process. What a cluster!  They can't even get in-transit processing right.  This is a port we are going to avoid as much as possible in the future.

Other reviews of this sailing