Norwegian Jewel Cruise Reviews - Reviews

 Freestyle IT'S JUST ABOUT MONEY FOOD AT MAIN DINNING ROOM POOR SO YOU HAVE TO GO & PAY EXTRA TO ORDER FREESTYLE RESTAURANTS ,TIPS  18 %  & 13.50 PER DAY GRATUITY  VERY HIGH 

Having been on over 45 cruises, but not on Norwegian for many years I wasn't expecting a great ship.  This cruise was MAGNIFICENT.  The food was great with many choices of where to eat and whenever you wanted. The staff was great in every department, the ship was clean, the ports were good.  Not being a shopper in ports I can't say how the shopping was, but I did pick up a few souviners at shops close to pier.  If you ever go to Cabo San Lucas, pre-book a private tour SKYCABOTOURS for the flight of a lifetime.  It is a 5 minute cab ride to get there and back.  I have done this flight once, my husband 5 times.

What was excellent.....staff and crew could not have been nicer or more accommodating.

What was good....food and entertainment. The main dining room got a bit tedious near the end of cruise. Specialty restaurants (Steak and French) were excellent, others were ok. Tried to stay away from buffet but the few times we ate there it was very good.

Not so good... the ports in Central America are pretty non-descript. The Cliff Divers in Acapulco were a highlight and Cabo is beautiful. Panama Canal was interesting and worth going through.

I have explained everything in the comments about the excursions we took. There were 3 rough days at sea that were rough.

This is not right that you make me write 150 characters for a review. This part should be optional. 

I gave this just a 3-star rating because the ship shows a lot of wear, and I was not impressed with any of the shore excursions.  However, if your primary interest is to transit the entire canal, enjoy warm humid weather and perhaps be with family or friends then it is worth it.  For me, the PC is truly a wonderful example of human ingenuity.  I thoroughly enjoyed the transit and especially the documentary film onboard on television.  It gave me a real appreciation of what was accomplished over 100 years ago, without a computer!  (and many other inventions of today)

Overall, this was an excellent cruise.

There was a nice variety of excursions from which to choose, and wonderful entertainment onboard, daily and nightly.  Service was very good, as well as meals, and the condition of the ship, overall was good - very clean. 

The crossing of the Panama Canal was a wonderful experience, and though we found rather crowded conditions on the decks for viewing during the crossing of the first two locks that let us into the Canal from the Pacific side, we had a first-rate view from our own cabin balcony of the crossing of the third set of locks, that let us back out into the Atlantic.  Total time of the canal crossing for us was about 9 hours.  The portion of the crossing that we got to view from our cabin balcony lasted about 2 1/2 hours.  We would recommend the "meet the captain" session that was near the end of the cruise, which actually included three of the officers, as they relayed some very interesting information about the ship and the trip in general.  (For instance, we learned that the fee to cross the canal came to $485,000 for our ship alone!)

The cruise is a long one, but makes you relax!

I am not a big NCL fan, but on this cruise I have very little to complain about. The ship, room, and food were very good. The entertainment was great. I did not like the three stops at Guatemala, Nicaragua and Costa Rica. They were all industrial ports with no shopping and the tours were lacking. Passing through the canal was great as we had a local narrator to tell us all the highlights. The drinks were way overpriced. I am not a big drinker, but paying over twelve dollars for a plain Margarita is a little steep.  I do recommend this cruise for everyone.

In the Tsars Palace restaurant Surag and Jo Ann the head and assistant waiters  Rosie the secretary and Mae from the buffet were all amazing Not all the food was all that great but what was good made up for the other

Not my first NCL cruise but my last with this itinerary. Not impressed with the port activities and the food on the ship was either; no flavor, over salty, bland, over cooked, dry, chewy or bad tasting.

Food service was very poor on one sitting I did have the best service of the cruise but could not find that server for the remainder od the cruise.

Comic entertainment was worse than poor. The highlight was Twice as Nice, I have seen them on other NCL cruises. They are not headliners but much better than the headliners on this cruise. Could be the cruise director choices.

My cabin was so loud at night from entertainment I kept the tv on louder to drown out the noise.

I chose this cruise for the ports.  They were very nice and picturesque.  Typical of Mexico, much of the land was poor.  Great views just from the ship.  Enjoyed many a sunrise from my balcony.  The tours offered by the ship were great and offered many affordable options.  I don't typically enjoy 4 days at sea, but I allowed myself to relax.  They offered A LOT! of movie options on their movie channels.  I loved that.  The entertainment was comme ci, comme ça (so-so).  They boat is very clean and the service VERY good.  Food was also comme ci, comme ça.  Lol  Some was too salty, too spicy or too bland.  I just chose multiple options and was never hungry.    The service was VERY friendly, half of the crew is from the Philippines.  About 10% from India.  I am familiar with Norwegian, so I wasn't expecting a "Fun Ship".  It's a very mature crowd.

We had a lovely time on the NCL Jewel.

The shop is very attractive.

The people that work on the ship could not have been more pleasant and

accommodating.

The entertainment was excellent!!

The food was beautifully prepared and presented.

The only complaint that we had was that the food looked better than it tasted.

Many of the desserts were dry. Sadly, bottled dressing instead of fresh.

All in all, a wonderful vacation!!!

This was our second cruise in 4 months , stayed in cabin 9502 penthouse suite. AT first I would say that it was spotless and very spacious with lots of storage . The mattress was as good as the one we had on the Getaway Haven forward facing penthouse. Our balcony was so big that the two lounge chairs and the two tables seemed lost  on it. The only con to having a forward balcony is that you have to close the very heavy door at night when it is windy and close the curtains at night, so the lights do not interfere with the night vision from the bridge above The ship itself is beautiful and large enough to have all you need onboard . The food is from good to excellent, we have experienced four specialty restaurants and were very impressed with Le Bistro (twice) and Teppanyaki. We have also been to O'Sheehan twice and the Garden Cafe once for lunch. The buffet is quite large with a huge selection but it is a zoo as everybody runs in all kind of directions and bump into each other and it is very hard or nearly impossible to find a table. We had breakfasts at Moderno where only Haven and full suite résidents are allowed, the service was exceptional and the food very good. There is bars everywhere on the ship with music at night. The only negative aspect is that the pool area is quite small for 2000 plus passengers and lounge chairs near the pool reserved by people as early as 7:OO in the morning, they put towels on those chairs and disappear , and not anyone from the staff seem to do anything to avoid that. The only other negative was the excursion called the  Beach Resort Getaway in Mazatlán where we were notified while on the bus that they had an incident involving a stingray the week before, so swimming in the ocean was risky. If we would have been told before we would have done something else. We really enjoyed our cruise and look forward to do it again later on this year.

First thing wrong,  Our luggage tags were mailed to the wrong address, and the wrong person.  

2nd thing the cards issued were wrong and it took them 9 tries to get it right, causing all kinds of embarassment in bars and restaurants.  Not being able to get on your floor or in your room.  I thought the butler did a great job but the consier was worthless.  Messed up dinner reservations and the did not book getting off the ship, had to do it ourselves.  

Did not get a tour of the boat he was nowhere to be found.

Each time we got new cards they were wrong still  and had to issue all four cards to the room instead of just fixing the card that was wrong.   This is just bad.  

Good for Family cruise.   Freestyle was not something that appeals to us.  The food was very good.  The service was good to poor depending on the dining area you were able to get.  The floor in the buffet and elevators were always sticky.   Areas to sit and read were very limited unless you were on the pool deck.   

I would say that the trip was average at best. This was my second cruise with Norwegian I took this same trip 10 years ago and I remembered it being better. 

My biggest complaint would be the general attitude of most of the bar tenders and restaurant staff.I never got the warm, fun, friendly, feeling from the majority of the crew on this ship.  

I remember the food being much better my first time on Norwegian.  That was 10 years ago though. 

My wife and I still made the best of our honeymoon but our next cruise will most likely be with a different cruise line 

The ship is clearly in need of updating. There was nothing spectacular about it.  The slide didn't work for the whole cruise.  The food was bland, there were no frills what so ever.  Our mini-suite was basic.  The smoking areas are way to few!  will not choose this company again.

We were not happy with our cruise at all. The prices on the ship were terrible. The food was the same everyday and night. Our cabin was very very noisy it was below the cafe and all we heard was carts rolling around and dropping dishes all the time. We took a bottle of wine with us they took it from us than if we wanted it we had to pay them $15.00 to open it. We didn't buy the beverage plan because we don't drink much we bought 1 glass of wine it cost us $14.95 for a half glass. We also took a small coffee pot they also took it from us?????? 

My wife and I have been on 8 cruises but this was our first Norwegian cruise though and we weren't sure what to expect.

Highlights: Service and food were very comparable to other experiences we've had.  The food in the specialty restaurants was excellent! We did those on 4 different nights and found the included dining package to be a great inclusion.  The a la' carte venues were barely limited by using the dining package.  We were impressed at the quality of the items available in Cagney's steakhouse and teppanyaki was every bit as good as a high end hibachi restaurant on land.

The bar service for the most part was spectacular and the included selections in the beverage package were very good.  Only a handful of very high end liquors were not included.  Wines by the glass were somewhat limited but still sufficient.  We have sailed with included beverage packages before and found the bar serice a little slower and drinks a little harder to come by.    It was never hard to get a drink when you wanted one on this ship.

The not so good:  the seas on this voyage were the roughest we ever experienced.  This wasn't in the control of the cruise line but it felt pretty extreme at times with outside decks being closed due to high winds and really rough seas. 

The entertainment was generally good but not as good as we have seen on other lines.  The cruise director was probably my least favorite of all cruises I've been on.  Both my wife and I couldn't stand the sound of his voice by the time the muster drill was over.  He seemed to think screaming in the microphone was necessary for any and all announcements. 

The ships general appearance and maintenance seemed to be a little below normal standards.  We saw railings missing, paint chipping and areas that needed deep cleaning or repainting frequently.  Cetrain things were closed or being repaired. .. an ice machine, the water slide and casino slot machines.    The ship was fun and enjoyable but it really felt worn and tired in a lot of ways.

Overall we really enjoyed our cruise and would sail with Norwegian again especially given the price we paid for our stateroom.

Great variety in food. Nice ship. Felt like it was more difficult to know what was going on on the ship, compared to other cruiselines. No descriptions or very little explaining what the activity was. Took my 4 kids on the trip. They refused to go to the kids camps because they didn't have descriptions of what was going on and didn't want to be trapped if they didn't want to do it. That was a real bummer. Staff could be a little happier. I have been on other cruises where the staff is amazing because they are so upbeat and cheerful. 

I'm not giving the ship a 3 star rating. If I could, I'd give the ship a 4 star rating, but for the overall experience, it was only a 3. The ship and experiences on board were all good, although we found that there was very little on board activities that appealed to us, and because the weather turned bad the last 2 days at sea, we were fairly bored by the time we docked in San Pedro. The shore excursion at Cabo was lame and then I had a horrible experience after eating at Cabo Wabo! Mazatlan was fun and Puerto Vallarta was pretty, clean and we probably had our nicest shore day at that location. Overall, though, I can honestly say we will most likely never travel to the Mexican Riviera again. :(