Norwegian Jewel Cruise Reviews - Reviews

My favorite part of the cruise was the up close look at the glacier in the fjord. The ship moved slowly and got close enough to see all the beauty of the magnificent glacier and surrounding terrain. I also enjoyed the Sudoku challenge, which I won!

My wife and I had a lot of fun playing the Newly Wed/Not so Newly Wed game, after which, hundreds of people throughout the entire week (it seemed) recognized us and commented on our participation in that game. The video of it played many times on the TV in our cabin (and for everyone on the cruise to watch), but when we asked to buy a DVD copy of it to take home, we were told it was not available for purchase. This was discouraging, as it was one of the highlights of our cruise and we had hoped to take it home to share with family and friends

My least favorite parts of the cruise were:

When they announced the name/s of passengers who they wanted to call the front desk (perhaps to verify if they had not boarded the ship after a port of call), the announcer was not speaking clear English, and the passenger/s names were very hard to understand. This happened not once or twice, but many, many times throughout the cruise on several occasions. Each time the announcement was made for the same passenger/s name/s, the same announcer with a strong European accent, made the announcement. Obviously, if the passenger/s weren't responding, it could have been that their names were so distorted by the announcer's accent, that a different announcer without an accent might have made a successful attempt to alert the passenger/s in question. 

Additionally, the Karaoke system and process was very unprofessional. No song books were provided. The singers were expected to suggest a song they wanted to sing, and it was looked up in the computer to see if it was available. It is hard to pick a song out of the air, and this hindered many people from singing. We heard a lot of grumbling about it among many passengers that we were seated nearby in the Karaoke room. Plus the last night Karaoke "Challenge Championship" was a crock, people put in names for family and friends to sing who did not even desire to sing. They drew out 5 names to be the "champion singers" and 4 of them hadn't put their own names in. This resulted in the people who wanted to sing, not even having an opportunity to sing. The so called "Championship Contest" was a total joke, and left a lot of singers really frustrated. 

Also, the Karaoke (which was supposed to be the highlight of our family's cruise, because another friend told us that Norwegian Cruises are really great at Karaoke systems) segments were only one hour, sometimes one and a half hours long. Just when the singers were getting warmed up and a large crowd of audience settled in, they announced that the Karaoke segment was over then brought up a scheduled singing group, and most of the Karaoke crowd left. I would suggest that when passengers are having a great time singing Karaoke AND there is a large crowd enjoying it and buying drinks and having a great time, that the activity director make a judgement decision to cancel the scheduled music group, and keep the Karaoke event up and running for at least another hour. Karaoke is all about the passengers' opportunity to be the star on stage. Some of us rarely get that opportunity. My daughter cruised last year on Carnival and they offered Karaoke in one of their clubs from 8 pm to 0100 am, as long as there were at least 3 or 4 singers. Even when there was very little audience, it gave the singers a chance to gain confidence and get used to the sound system. Our daughter got us all excited for a great Karaoke experience on the cruise, then it turned out to be a big let down. I hope you will take this into consideration for your future cruises. We are looking at booking our Caribbean cruise this fall with Carnival Cruise line, because we know we can count on a very wonderful Karaoke experience. We do not gamble and we do not drink alcohol, so much of what the cruise offers, we don't participate in. But Karaoke was one thing we looked forward to, and Norwegian Cruise line really let us down. Thank you for your consideration. I would love to be alerted if Norwegian decides to make positive changes to your Karaoke events in the future. Everything else was wonderful. Our dining service and cabin service was superb. The food was excellent and all the staff were friendly except the Karaoke hosts and hostesses who were a bit rude about our struggle to "think of a song to sing" and when they cut us off after just a short time of singing. 

We really loved and appreciated the hand sanitizing staff in the buffet areas "Washy Washy makes you happy!" \

We have some great memories. Thank you.

This was our 7th cruise - 2nd on NCL - 1st to Alaska.  The ship was beautifully maintained - the staff was helpful and friendly.  The only negative I can say is that the bar staff has gone almost the other way.  It was refreshing to not be bombarded for drinks every time we sat down, but it many cases, we couldn't find anyone to order a drink from.  There has to be a happy medium.  It's not really a complaint, just a comment.  Embarkation was the best I've ever down.  Organization at the ports was fabulous!  We will sail NCL again if the itinerary we are looking for is available.  Being able to eat where and when we want was terrific!  Buffet area needs more seating....each time we were there we wandered for a significant amount of time looking for someplace to sit.

For my first cruise I was highly impressed overall. The room service was amazing the entertainment was wonderful. The only thing that I didn't like was the waiters in the speciality dining rooms were very rude most of he time. If felt like we were putting them out by having dinner. 

All of the stops were great. Both because of the views and the excursions that were available. And the views from the ship (specially the glacier) were just as amazing. The cruise itself however, was good, but it wasn't great. The food got a little monotonous by day 3, and there weren't too many activities to do while on the ship. (A couple good shows, but that was about it.) We got lucky in the main dining room and we're able to be seated with a great server. He was the reason we went back more than once. If only the ship could up their game, then I'd definitely recommend this cruise with no hesitation.

The services ,food,beverage was good. All the staff were very helpful and friendly. 

The shows were awesome. We really enjoyed. Embarkation and disembark was very organized  and fast, 

The cruise was a great experience!  Most enjoyable and ports were very interesting  with beautiful sights and friendly, welcoming people.  Staff were excellent and friendly, food was delicious with a great variety!  Travelers should be warned that cashing Travelers Checks is a problem at Guest Services....but not in the Casino (but Casino was closed on the last night!!).  Also gratuities charges are confusing since we had a billing for gratuities prior to cruise! 

Our travel agent didn't always respond to requests for information!

Highly recommend Norwegian cruises!

First of all Alaska is STUNNING.  A must do cruise.

The check in for embarkation was a nightmare compared to our other cruises. Long Lines, Long Waits, Poor organization.  Hundreds of people crammed into small stuffy hot unorganized areas.

Debarkation was a mad frenzied crush of UN-organized lines and crowds waiting for too few buses.

We were disappointed in the size and amenities of our "mini-Suite".  It is comparable to a Balcony class on our other cruises.

Our stateroom steward was one of the best in our experience.  We Loved Cristian. 

Food and dining were excellent and all staff were exceptional and made us feel like we were family.

Probably would think twice before booking another NCL.

Enjoy the entertainments that include diversity comedy of Andrew Kennedy, Luminescence acrobats, magician, and the dancers!!! Housekeeping and waiters were very nice.  We like to be able to schedule our dinner plan.   Food is OK.    Need more seafood variety from Alaska (i.e. Halibut).  

We witnessed a passenger that had a hard attack at Spinnaker lounge (13th floor).  There were lots of passengers at this event.  The area did not have an AED in this lounge or on this floor.   They had to go to 4th floor to get an AED.  For Alaskan cruise with lots of seniors, NCL needs AED in every floor as well train waiters/workers on CPR/First AIDS and AED. 

   We did a little one day cruise from Vancouver BC to Seattle WA.  It was supposed to leave at 5 PM.  We were looking froward to viewing the beautiful scenery but for whatever reason we didn't leave until about 7:20 PM.  By then it was getting cold and soon it got dark.  We asked a waiter what was holding us up and he said he thought someone had jumped of the boat at the dock.  We heard no sirens and there was nothing about it on the local news.  I don't buy that explanation.

   Soon after we finally left the dock I tried to buy a round of drinks and was told my card would not work and I needed to go to deck 7 and see someone at the service desk.  There I was told that they needed my passport!?!?  I went to my room and retrieved my passport and returned to the desk.  A crew member took it and disappeared into a back room.  When he returned he handed back my passport and said, "Everything is Okay". No explanation was offered.  I demanded an answer and was told, "Sometimes the scan doesn't work". Well I watched the fellow at the check in desk scan it and give me my room number.  All in all a disappointing trip. 

Emer Drill info inconsistent between crusie card,cabin door,brochure-NOT ACCEPTABLE."Hot" foods in buffet and ChinChin was ALWAYS lukewarm at best. Replacements were the same.Safe deposit box was on top shelf-couldn't reach it or see in it.NextCruise staff was not informative-only read from screen-no addl perspective.This staff is not needed-just provided computer screen to guests.No disembark info in cabin-or on TV.When not rec'd,required to ask Guest Svcs on last day.Stmt ONLY avail thru Guest Svcs-another line to stand in.

From the start of boarding to the disembarking the experience we had words cannot describe; it was exciting, peaceful, hilarious, tearful, and most of all we were treated with the respect as if we were a King and Queen.  All tours were A++, and the events, classes, and entertainment aboard fall in that category.  We will be back for another adventure with Norwegian. 

Good cruise with lots of extras. Handicapped room was very comfortable and in general ship was quite accessible. Ship did not blast you with loud music, public areas had comfortable music levels. Good food, good service BUT they managed to steal our $100 bonus. Our room charges showed the $100 ship credit, but on the last day they took it off again! I assumed that it was being deducted from the daily gratuity payments like Princess cruise lines does, so I was shocked when they took it off. When I tried to use it on the dis embarkment day by taking  the liquor from our Minibar, they advised since the account was already closed on the last day they would charge me extra for it!

Took our father on this cruise for his 90th b-day.

He had a blast.... We ate at the upscale restaurants and the food was delicious.

Cobo was so much fun. So was Puerto Vallarta... El Dorado is a must. Its a  bar on the beach to stop at. Service was outstanding.

We would do it again.

The Cohen / Sands Clan

Overall, we had an excellent cruise sailing to the Mexican Rivera.  We selected the camel ride excursion in Cabo San Lucas, which we had a blast, and would highly recommend that excursion (5 stars).  We selected the topless bus to travel around Mazatlan, which we really enjoyed.  We just wished that the tour was longer than 2 hours, and that they spent more time in the Golden Zone.  We walked around Puerto Vallarta on our own, and really enjoyed the shopping and excitement of the town.  One tip, the vendors will continue to approach you to buy some of their wares, and you just have to ignore them.

As far as the room, we had a mini suite, and I really thought it was going to be a lot larger than the balcony, but it was not.  There was a little space before the balcony door with a sofa, and the bathroom had a tub and shower - those were the only differences.

As far as the food, it was mediocre.  We have definitely tasted better food on other cruise lines.  Also, the entertainment on the ship was mediocre.  I found better entertainment on Royal Caribbean and Princess.  There was a band called, "Twice as Nice", which the male singer use to sing with the Stylistics and Commodores, and they were really good, otherwise, the other entertainment was so so.

Regardless of the few items that I have listed above, we had a great time, and I would definitely recommend this cruise to anyone wanting to go to Mexico.

The staff on ship were very friendly, courteous, and helpful.  The itinerary was good with a nice ratio of land and sea days.  The food was good.  The disappointment came with the on ship activities.  The majority of the scheduled activities required additional fees (lots of pricey bingo and "deal or no deal" games) or were looking to get additional fees after booking sessions for acupuncture demonstrations, feet/standing analysis seminars, various spa services to make you look younger seminars, art auctions, art raffles, poker and blackjack tournaments, etc.  There were very few activities that did not require additional fees, so it felt like the cruise line was constantly trying to get in your wallet while on board and it was kind of boring if you weren't shelling out more money on top of what you paid for the cruise and shore excursion, which was very disappointing.

Incredible cruise, the entertainment was non-stop the staff was more than helpful the off shore excursions were better than I ever could have hoped for

hemos viajado anteriormente en esta linea pero fue la primera vez con Jewel fue un maravilloso tiempo  todo fue de primera y nos sentimos como en casa, toda la tripulasion  nos atendio de una manera muy coordial  desde el primero hasta el ultimo dia que regrerasamos!!!!!!recomiendo esta linea de Cruceros..

the ship was great, nice and clean. The crew was very professional. We enjoyed dining at the speciality restaurant. If you like steak try the tommyhawk, my husband said it was the best steak he ever had. Love. The free style dining. 

We had a balcony stateroom and loved it.

Did not like that no ESPN on the tv, would have enjoyed to at least see the scores of US sports. 

The last time I sailed with NCL was about 10 years ago on a trip to Alaska.  I don't remember being in love with the line, but figured I would give it another chance due to the convenience of leaving out of a local port.  I found most of the crew to be unfriendly, the food to be fairly terrible, and the drinks to be watered down.

The crew was at the end of their run before heading to Alaska for the summer,  and it was very obvious that they were tired and ready to go home. 

The ship felt very run down and compared to Disney or Celebrity cleanliness standards, it didn't feel very sterile. 

While there is an "adults only" pool, they will still allow children to use it so long as they are with a parent, which really defeats the purpose of having it.

They also offer a spa pass for $149 that allows only 100 people use of the facilities for a quite serene area.  Unfortunately, many people who don't understand spa etiquette purchased these passes and it ended up being a very busy and hectic area with no control from the NCL spa team.

DID NOT GET WHAT WAS ADVERTISED  could not get in touch with travel agents got a poor deal ....... AND WAS BORING AND EXPENSIVE  ALSO DIDNT GET ENOUGH TIME OFF SHIP The Spirits and gatuity are rediculous  VERY DISAPPOINTED