food not nearly as good as past NCL, but still recommend the cruise overall

Norwegian Jewel Cruise Review to Coastal - West Coast

Cruises: 7+ cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 9

Overall rating:

4 out of 5
Verified Review
Norwegian Jewel

5 Night Pacific Coastal Southbound (Vancouver To Los Angeles)

Sail date: September 27, 2016

Ship: Norwegian Jewel

Cabin type: Inside

Cabin number: 9565

Traveled as: Family (older children)

Reviewed: 8 years ago

Review summary

We loved the free unlimited beverage package!  We only had to give them our card, nothing to sign when they returned the card with our order.  When I sailed in 2015, they brought a check to sign and passengers were mistakenly adding tips when those are all prepaid with the package.  A great solution in practice now!  Out of curiosity, I would have liked to see the drinks listed on our final cruise bill (with no charge).  

Some of the food was disappointing.  But the crab cakes in Azura, Indian food (Garden Cafe), chocolate croissants (everywhere), bacon, mai tais, red Sangria, tiramisu (Tsar's Palace) and Fish & Chips (O'Sheehan's) were fantastic!  Grandson ordered pizza for every lunch and dinner, so I guess it was great, too.

My husband always rates the hot tubs NOT hot.  Grandkids (9 & 13) really loved the waterslide, even when it was really too cold to be out there.  Several fathers with toddlers were having a lot of fun on it, too.

The drinks were free flowing at the 2 receptions we went to, but the food (invitation was for appetizers) was very hard to get!  Definitely need a full lunch afterwards.

Son's cabin for 4 (5553) had a rollaway rather than 2nd bunk, which was ridiculous (wall to wall beds); we were told NO cabins had 2 bunks.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

3 out of 5

Onboard Activities

3 out of 5

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5
Square table really does not fit with the queen bed option, and could not be removed through the cabin door! Slid under the triangular table, it was okay but not great. Had a bad diesel smell one night, but advice to keep bathroom door ajar solved the problem.

Ship tip

If you are looking for the daily tea & scones, they are all the way aft behind the Garden Cafe. But pass on the "Devonshire Cream" which is actually Dream Whip, if you are old enough to remember what that is...

Ports of call

Vancouver (Canada Place), British Columbia

3 out of 5

Victoria, British Columbia

5 out of 5

Astoria, Oregon

5 out of 5

San Pedro (Los Angeles), California

3 out of 5
Was this review helpful? 9

2 Comments

bking51    8 years ago

We have cruised NCL for 37 years and have seen them grow New things. To enjoy we always get the specialty dinner. The food at the standard non specialty. restaurants are some our favorite. On our cruise to Alaska in May they had a the specialty beers from the Alaskan Brewery. Every ship in the fleet has something special food and drink. We see crew moving vessels and they are really touched when you remember them. It helps for them to have name badges

chelseaday2003    8 years ago

When you are in specialty restaurants they bring you a bill with a zero balance but all other bars just swipe your card.

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