NCL Jewel Alaska cruise May 2022

Norwegian Jewel Cruise Review

ValT

Contributor Level: Second Mate

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Reviews: 7

Helpful Votes: 182

Overall rating:

3.6 out of 5

7 Night Alaska Glacier Bay Northbound (Vancouver To Seward)

Sail date: May 02, 2022

Ship: Norwegian Jewel

Cabin type: Suite

Cabin number: 11560

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 2 years ago

Review summary

Hubby and I 1st Norwegian Jewel Alaska cruise compered to our prior cruises (carnival and princess): absolutely overall very disappointed with pretty much everything. Maybe I am just used to carnival’s too much fun💃🏻🕺but I believe to pay almost 4K for this cruise we should of at least have a great time and the entertainment we deserve😀 - The cruise was empty(900 pax) - there was activities what so ever for all ages - inside bars open after 3:00pm so if you want to drink before 3pm you have to go to the outside bar which is COLD and it will be only you and the bartender outthere - live musics after 6:30pm (no good musics) - buffet sucks - Ketchikan, Juneau and Skagway: we did not book no tours(very expensive tours)…Juneau is the only good city to tour around, the other two cities are very old towns and nothing to see. If you did not book excurssion u will have nothing to do, probably nothing exciting anyways lol. The only good thing on this cruise was: the glacier Hubbard, the amazing staff/crew and bartenders: Nicoly and Kumar. The crew always happy, greeting everybody and making sure everybody was welcome🫶🏻🫶🏻 😀This is my personal opnion, dont want to offend anyone, but definetely not cruising with NCL ever again. Cheers🍻🍹

Embarkation

5 out of 5

We had a late flight to Vancouver, arrived at 2:00pm and by 3:30 we were already in our room, it was pretty easy as this ship was empty, only 900 pax on board.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

3 out of 5

Garden Cafe buffet was not good at all, almost the same food everyday lol. The restaurants we ate at The Palce, Moderno and Teppanyaki. The Palace was good, I had shrimp linguine and husband Halibut. My opnion for Moderno, as I am Brasilian, it was okay, not great… the seasonning was not rocksalt which is the correct seasonning for Brasilian BBQ. Teppanyaki was amazing, our chef Eric was fantastic and made us laugh the whole time.9

Onboard Activities

1 out of 5

Very disappointed with onboard activities, nothing exciting, nothing fun to do at all, actually a very boerring cruise. I was disappointed with the lack of activities.

Entertainment

4 out of 5

Rockyou and Velvet are great show to watch, nothing amazing, just great cruise show

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

The staf are absolutely AMAZING, aways smiling and greeting everyone making sure we all were well an in need of anythjng or not, KUDIS to the staff

Ship Quality

2 out of 5

Jewel Is an old and small ship, nothing amazing as for design. Cleaning, yes absolutely very clean everywhere, KUDOS to the staff that works do hard making sure the ship is well cleaned

Ship tip

This is an old ship, nothing exciting, no fun activities, very laidback cruise most for seniors. If you like to enjoy your cruise and have fun(like my self) this is not the cruise for us.

Thumbs up

Ports of call

Cruise Hubbard Glacier

5 out of 5

Absolutely amazing, this is gorgeous and glacier is bigger, more to see for sure. We did not left our room and took tons of beautiful photos from our balcony. Absolutely breath taking.

Thumbs Up 0

Ketchikan, Alaska

2 out of 5

Very old town, nothing exciting for us here. We did not do tours in Ketchikan, just took the bus to downtown and walked around for a bit

Thumbs Up 0

Juneau, Alaska

5 out of 5

Beautiful city, the port is right by the city and the bus drop you off within 5mins you are in the city. We did the goldbelt tram ride and was pretty cool and scary at the same time to be 1800 high above sea level, lots of snow up there We also eat at Tracy’s Crabshack, it was awseome

Thumbs Up 0

Skagway, Alaska

2 out of 5

Another old town and nothing to see, unless you pay 200.00 p/person to do the train tour, no thank you lol. This port is easy to get off the ship and walk into town, but again there is nothing much to see lol, except take photos of the town an train.

Thumbs Up 0

Vancouver (Canada Place), British Columbia

5 out of 5

Beautiful port and easy to go around

Thumbs Up 0

Seward (Anchorage), Alaska

4 out of 5

Easy desembark, took coach bus to Anchorage/airport, paid 150.00 for both of us.

Thumbs Up 0

Cruise Glacier Bay

4 out of 5

Beautiful scenary, photos are awesome. We had a balcony so you will have a wonderful view from your own balcony

Thumbs Up 0

Cruise Inside Passage, Alaska

2 out of 5

Disembarkation

5 out of 5

Very easy and fast for only 900 pax, we desembarked in Sweard had to take a coach bus to Anchorage/airport. It was a nice ride From Sweard to Anchorage, 2hrs driving and cost us $75.00 p/person or u could choose train which is $129.00 p/person and it takes about 5hrs to Anchorage.

Traveler Photos

9 Comments

CruzeFan 2 years ago

Alaska is primarily about the scenery and excursions. The train in Skagway, whale watching / Mendenhall glacier in Juneau, Misty Fjord / Kayaking / Deadliest Catch Tours in Ketchikan, Kenai Fjord tours in Seward are all excellent and well worth the cost. The memories will last a lifetime and the cost will soon be forgotten.

Thumbs Up 2

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IzzyW 2 years ago

We loved our Alaska cruise on the ncl Jewel. We booked excursions in every port and these were amazing

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yk07us 2 years ago

Another case if complete lack of preparation for the cruise. If you need everything to be AMAZING you need to do some homework and learn about the location and the ship itself. Our cruise to Alaska was long ago and I still remember how wowed we were by everything we saw and visited.

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Dumfy75 2 years ago

Sorry you didn’t rate the cruise. I think if I’m ever lucky enough to do an Alaskan cruise it’ll be more about the views and the ports for me, but it’s a shame that you didn’t also get the ship experience you were looking for.

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KimInTime 2 years ago

I mean you chose to not do anything then blamed the cruise that you chose to not do anything. It’s not an island party booze cruise, it’s a nature and scenery appreciation cruise. There’s a reason no one else was boozing it up at 3pm. Your heaven is another’s hell.

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AuntPinkie 2 years ago

Appreciate your feedback. This is why I don’t say that someone else’s choice of cruise line is bad. Everyone has a different expectation and the variety of cruise gives us the opportunity to find what fits each of us best. Recently we were on the Carnival Spirit. I didn’t meet our expectations. However, we sailed on the same ship 10 years ago and we enjoyed it a great deal. We will sail Carnival again, just not right away. The current sailing season is not what was. Both the cruise lines and passengers are adapting. Sorry this cruise didn’t meet your expectations. Hope the next one does!

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DACruiser57 2 years ago

Sorry the cruise did not meet your expectations, but personally I do not cruise to Alaska to be entertained by the ship personnel, I go for the scenery . I love Skagway and Ketchican to socialize with the locals to see how they live life. Some of my best Alaskan has been chatting with locals over a good beer or 2. The Asylum in Ketchican is one of my favorite spots.

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tennisman1982 2 years ago

disagree ncl is the best and ive been on that ship and had a great time..sorry but your review is not accurate

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Gwbigdog 2 years ago

Thanks for the update

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