This was our second time cruising with NCL and we chose it because we had “cruise next” funds from before the pandemic and their ports fit our desired destinations but we will think twice about sailing again on this cruise line especially since they seem to not be very responsive when a passenger has an issue especially the noise over our heads from the kitchen and the length of time we waited in our cabin wrapped in our robes for someone to fix the heating system when it went out.
Embarkation
4 out of 5
The cruise port handled the embarkation well, but the cruise line didn’t allow us to enter our cabins till 4 in the afternoon, we’ve NEVER had this issue on any of the cruises we’ve taken.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
The fact that they ran out of food sometimes, especially during “sea days”, is very frustrating and at the end of our second cruise, they were even out of Drambuie. Also, we would have enjoyed more fish options in the main dining rooms but the variety in the buffets were nice and we enjoyed Cagney’s steak house and the Brazilian restaurant.
Onboard Activities
1 out of 5
The onboard activities were boring and consisted of things like trivia contests or alcohol/wine tasting for a charge, the pool looked nice but our weather consisted of most cool temperatures and rain which wasn’t conducive to swimming and there were no lectures about the places we were traveling around, very disappointing!
Plus, the in-cabin entertainment was boring and what was offered was very limited and never changed during the 3 weeks were onboard! We also never had a guide available to know what shows were on and what time. In addition, if you wanted to track the cruise, the navigation channel wasn’t working during the first cruise and sometimes during the second one.
Entertainment
3 out of 5
Enjoyed the evening shows for the most part but since we did a back-to-back cruise, we didn’t have any different variety on the second cruise from the first.
Service and Staff
3 out of 5
Probably one of the best part of the cruise was the NCL staff, who were friendly, efficient and seemed well trained. Our room steward, Mark, met all our needs but it seems that on NCL they only have enough employees to have your cabin cleaned once a day vs. other cruises lines that offer a turndown service at the end of the day. In addition, lack of staff might have been the reason that when our heating system went out, it took 4 hours for someone to fix the problem and that was after it 2 calls from our room steward, 2 calls from another maintenance worker who happened to be working on another issue, plus a call from me to the customer service desk.
Ship Quality
4 out of 5
Cabin / Stateroom
1 out of 5
First, this is a HORRIBLE LOCATION since it is located right below on of the kitchen areas on the 12th floor and the noise from the kitchen starts everyday between 5-6 am and then again in the evening sometimes as late as midnight! This is an “MA” level cabin, so we paid more to be in it than if we’d choose a lower level one and when I complained to the customer service desk, I was told that they would report the issue and maybe give us another cabin which didn’t happen because NCL will upgrade your cabin IF YOU are willing to “bid” to pay more. My suggestion is if you decide to cruise on the Jewel, don’t choose a cabin on the 11 deck!
As far as the cabin accommodation, it appears all the mini-suites are the same layout, so we felt it had very limited storage space and what there is in the closet area isn’t well lit, so you’ll need a flash light to see. Another drawback is that the sofa is a pullout for additional sleeping space, and if you don’t need that option, it not only takes space that could have been used for storage, it’s also uncomfortable to sit on and I ended up bringing in one of the chairs from the balcony everyday. The bathroom had a wonderful walk-in shower and a larger area for the toilet but both of those, and a stupidly large sink, took away from storage space in the bathroom.
We did a NCL excursion in this port, as well as others, and seemed to cover the major highlights but the main drawback in all the Japanese ports were that the guides knowledge of the English language was not very good plus none of them had “whispers” so we couldn’t always hear the information the guides were saying especially in crowded places.
The ship was unable to port here because of a “low tide” situation that was apparently caused when another cruise line, who apparently had more “clot” than NCL, requested our dock so we were not able to use the other dock because we had a larger draft.
The excursion was a disappointment because the tour guide rushed through the sites not even making sure we could hear her explanation given the amount of people visiting the same places.
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