Norwegian Jewel Cruise Reviews - Reviews

The checking in experience inNew Orleans was great since we had done most of it on line. We had an inside cabinet and the music at night from lounges made it diffcult to sleep.  We took one excursion that was booked on line to Actun Ha in Belize.  Seeing the Mayan pryamids was the main reason for cruise and it was a good experience to the pryamids.  The entertainment on the ship was excellent.  We did not go to any of the speciality restaurants.  The food and service was good and clean.  The ship had a very casual environment which we liked. The 2 days at sea there were

lots of activities which you could be involved in.  There was a great program for kids, which we did not use, but saw lots of activities they were involved with.  We had beautiful weather for the entire cruise.  People we meet on the islands were very friendly and helpful and spoke English.

This is the second time we have done this cruise out of New Orleans.  Our first experience was on the Spirit in the summer of 2011.  Embarkation was fairly, well, chaotic.  Much worse than I remember our first cruise.  I don't remember the exact layout of the New Orleans cruise terminal, but I seem to remember a much more organized and professional embarkation the last time.  This time, it appears as though Carnival Cruise lines occupies the spot that Norwegian used to occupy.  While the process was quick - it just seemed overly chaotic.  Employees telling us to go somewhere (we were with a group of 7 people) and we ended up getting split up at check-in with other employees trying to shuttle us through like cattle as quickly as they could. Not the end of the world, of course - just not a good first impression.

We boarded the Jewel.  If you're used to a ship that has a grand entrance and a 3 or more level main atrium like area --- you might be a bit disappointed with this one.  Maybe it was the dock at New Orleans, but we boarded the ship and had to walk outside about a 1/3 of the way aft to the main entrance.  Upon entering - it's a more simple and plain 2 story atrium area.  Not a huge deal either, just not as initially impressive as the others.  Our daughters (who had also been on the Spirit previously) were looking forward to the glass elevators and this ship does not have that.

The ship left New Orleans right on time and after many cruises - I still like New Orleans departures best.  You get a bit of river cruising under your belt for several hours instead of immediatly departing into the ocean.  I like either standing on the pool or sun deck (or balcony) watching the river action as we leave.  You come very close to other vessels on your way out and it just amazes me that there is such granular control of such a huge vessel.

We used our first day at sea to check out and get used to the ship.  We found it pretty easy to get around - three main stair cases and only a couple of those 'dead-ends' where you can't get from one end of the ship to another - most of which were at the very lowest levels.  There are places to just sit all over this ship and we were very impressed with that.

Cozumel was our first port - and probably our least favorite.  I have to caveat that with the fact that we did not do any of the excursions here because we were planning on hanging out at Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville right at the end of the pier.  The weather didn't cooperate for us this time around.  However, we have done this on previous cruises into this port and it's a blast.  Free swimming (and Internet) and the drinks were reasonably priced.

Belize was our next port and, while the weather was not great, it held up long enough for us to get our Altun Ha Mayan Ruins tour in.  This tour gets an A+ from me.  Altun Ha was approximately 1 hour away by bus on what could best be described as a one-lane back road by our standards.  However, our guide was pointing out interesting things about Belize the entire way out there and we had a Mayan decendent deliver the last 10 minutes of the tour or so with facts about the ruins we were about to see.  We didn't do anything else in this port and headed back to the ship with our memories and lots and lots of pictures.

Roatan was the next port.  We chose the Maya Key excursion.  The weather had been poor earlier in the week - so poor that the dock where our 5 minute boat ride was to leave from the port to Maya Key was damaged.  This in itself was not too bad - but the communication to us was terrible.  We heard what the problem was from another cruiser also on the tour - not from Norwegian or the tour operator.  We ended up losing about an hour getting to Maya Key and, because they had to run busses through the city to pick us up instead of a constant 5 minute ferry operation from the island to the port, we lost 2 hours at the tail end of the excursion too.  Standing there in the rain, I was getting more and more frustrated --- HOWEVER, once we got to Maya Key I was thoroughly impressed!  Extremely clean, plenty of beaches, a pool, almost a mini-zoo (they had Puma's, Monkeys, Sea Lions, Crocidiles and many, many other animals), a replica Mayan Ruins, inexpensive drinks (compared to ship costs).  Overall - even with the problems we experienced, the tour was simply fantastic.  Don't miss this one as there is literally something for everyone here.  I also visited Diamonds International - and I know people have mixed feelings about this place.  For me, I was looking for a Breitling watch and I got what appears to be a real bargain here.  So - Chalk me up on the positive side for Diamonds International - and, if you ask they have a local beer that they will give you for free as you are browsing.

Costa Maya - we love this port.  There is a great pool with swim-up bars and plenty upon plenty of beach chairs.  No need for an excursion here at all if you're looking to relax and soak up some sun.  Senor Frogs and Carlos and Charlies (which seem to be related somehow) are both right there.  There will be a guy going around selling open bar passes when you get there.  He starts trying to sell them to you for $45.  He will sell them for $25 if you bargain with him.

The Food on the ship was excellent - simply cannot say enough about it.  We ate in main dining about 3 of the 7 nights and the buffet a couple of other nights.  We had been grazing our way through the ship most of the week, so a few nights we ate at the Blue Lagoon (a comfort food 24x7) place to eat which is my absolute favorite.  Buffalo Chicken wings that are to die for.  The service in the main dining rooms was okay - seemed understaffed.  Don't get me wrong, the service people were excellent - I just couldn't tell if they were naturally slow or just had too many tables. I think it was too many tables.

The slow service also seemed to be in the bars on the ship.  Unless you could find a completely empty bar to go to, you were going to find yourself waiting.  Especially at the pool bars.  I mean, I actually felt bad getting in line to buy an overpriced drink because I knew the person behind the bar was working as quickly as they could.  When I say person - I mean one person.  Seemed crazy for a pool bar to have a single person working, but that was the theme for most of the bars on this ship.

Our state room was probably the largest we have had on any cruise we have been on.  We had a balcony with adjoining doors for the room our adult daughters were in.  The room was clean, modern and overall very, very nice.  No complaints about the stateroom.  Like most other Norwegian cruises I have been on - they run newly released movies on the TV.  We had "Jobs" and "Planes" among the titles -- which all were just released to DVD at this time.

Overall - this cruise isn't a 5 star, but a high 4 star.  Really enjoyed ourselves and would recommend to new cruisers and seasoned cruisers alike.

To start with, the personnel was terrific, The food was excellent. One of the booked tours , Fish hatchery, was disappointing. The fish weren't due for a few more weeks. You Should have known that, and advised us. I wouldn't have gone on that tour had I known. We fished at Ketchikan, Had a great time. the captain was great. The train ride at Skagway was the most Beautiful sight of Mountains we've seen, with waterfalls and snow, It was just beautiful . Butchart Gardens , again, marvelous. I hope the $12.00 per person per day , goes to the room Cleaner. Michael was very sure to take care of our needs.

We had a great time, as we have for all our Alaska cruises. We got to visit with our daughter before the cruise (she lives in Alaska).

OK, this is the tough one. After watching many cruise vlogs to Alaska, I think the expectation was that that you have to love it or there is something wrong with you. Don’t get me wrong. I really liked the cruise, but it was definitely not my favourite. The scenery is absolutely gorgeous but day after day becomes Groundhog Day. Mountains and trees. And the weather. I know, I know it’s Alaska, you have to expect rain! Yup, you’re correct, but I’ll tell you one thing, we definitely enjoyed the sunny days much more than the cold and drizzle. If you love Diamonds International, great, this is the cruse for you. Every port is full of jewelry stores and few are locally owned. Most of the people working the stores aren’t Alaskan but transient workers following the ships from Alaska to southern ports in the winter. Am I glad we went? Yes. We did have fun and we loved the ship but we won’t be rushing back any time soon.

We travelled to Vancouver from Kentucky on the NCL airline arrangements. Had to be at the airport at 4:00 am. Only one stop in San Francisco with a short layover than onto Vancouver. Sailed the next day. I think if I haven’t changed the same day arrangements I would have been a nervous wreck as we didn’t make through customs until 2:30! The trip. Back from Honolulu was of course the red eye. We arrived at the airport at 7:00pm for a 9:00 pm boarding. With layovers on the two flight home, we arrived at 4.30pm. Quite a long day! The cruise itself was awesome.

I loved Norwegian and the Jewel ship! I didn’t want cruise to end.

Did this cruise for our 15th wedding anniversary. We were joined by my brother and his wife. We had a lot of great family time. It was very relaxing. We all had a great time.

Reading the blogs in regards to the Norwegian Jewel were spot on.  Ranking:

1) Entertainment (the entertainment staff really does a great job on the Jewel) 2) Activities (there is something to do every hour of every day on the Jewel.  You will never get bored.)  3) Room (Penthouse room at the front of the boat had a huge deck with amazing views)  4) Service (everyone was very friendly and helpful. We had a Butler, Rex and a private Concierge, Bruno.  Both were very helpful and attentive.) 5) Food (This was the biggest disappointment.  The food was beyond horrible.  We were looking forward to our ports of call just to get decent food.  The Teppanyaki specialty restaurant had the best food.)         .       

We had a wonderful time on the Jewel this spring. Our 2-Bedroom Family Suite (11030) was awesome, albeit a little noisy at times, as we could hear people running on the pool deck above. The bathtub may have been the best part, right next to the window, although the side window looking out to the balcony was a little disconcerting, as anyone could see in if it was light inside and dark outside. Overall, a great cruise, though. We can't wait to go back!

From start to finish, this was the coolest thing either of us has ever done. We were pampered and taken care of so well! The food was good, entertainment was very good! The room was bigger than we thought and the shower was very hot. All of the towns we stopped in were fantastic and we just can't wait to go on another cruise with NCL. Freestyle is the way to go!!

Really enjoyed the cruise as a whole. The itinerary was fantastic and our excursions were wonderful. The food was good and the open dining was good for breakfast and lunch, but preferred a more quiet setting for dinner in the included specialty restaurants.  Thought the prices in the specialty dining areas and drinks were higher than on other cruise lines. The Jewel did not have some of the more modern in-room features for checking onboard account or making reservations.  The staff were fairly new in the dining areas.  We encountered daily challenges with the toilet in our rooms not functioning because someone kept depositing things not intended for use in them.  Getting onboard and off went very well. 

We have cruised Mexico 4 times, 2 on Princess 1 on Royal Carribian and now NCL. I did not think the service was nearly as good on NCL as it was on the other two. The staff was not as friendly and the enertainment was not even close. Our room steward was below par but yet they add a 27.00 a day tip ( not worthy of the service we  recieved )

We had a problem in the casino and the casino help was THE WORST! The customer service was just awful.

On the positive side, the food was really really good, except for the coffee, we could not find a good cup on the boat. We purchased the drink package and that was great for us. 

Overall we had a good time but i do not think we will sail with NCL again.

Our family group of 14 just returned from a week on the Jewel cruising Alaska.  Because of the vast differences in ages (grandkids ranging from age 11 months to 20 years through 81 year old grandparents), the cruise was an excellent way for us to be together while also offering the flexibility needed for such diverse interests, ages and abilities.

My parents had arranged for wheelchair assistance for embarkation at Seattle.  Unfortunately, we were told the ship only had 3 wheelchairs to be used for this purpose, so there was a long wait for two chairs to become available.  During this extended wait time, the rest of our group checked everyone's luggage, including the luggage of those people waiting for wheelchairs.  Once the chair arrived, the crew couldn't have been nicer or more patient as we went through the check-in process to board.

Because one in our group was in a Haven suite, they allowed our entire group to go through Priority Boarding.  This was a nice benefit as it allowed us to wait in a side room, with cold drinks and cookies, while each of us was photographed and checked in, however, this process took much longer than I thought it should have.  Once finished, we were escorted aboard by our concierge, Bruno, who kindly told us he would help us out with dinner reservations for our group, and would do what he could to make sure our entire group had a good shipboard experience.

I've cruised four times on four different cruise lines, and the first impression when boarding a ship is always the worst.  You are bombarded by crew welcoming you aboard, and you are encouraged to enjoy lunch at the buffet (which is an overcrowded nightmare).  It was no exception aboard the Jewel. 

After dumpiing our carry on bags in our staterooms, we headed to the Garden Cafe and had to fight our way through the crowds to get to the food and to find a place to sit.  It probably took us 20 minutes to find seats that could accomodate us.  My biggest problem with the Jewel was the Garden Cafe.  Low ceilings, lattice panels on the ceiling with fake flowers (really??), dividers separating the seating area from the buffet areas.  It felt closed in and claustrophobic, especially when packed with people who seemingly hadn't eaten in a week.  HOT TIP: Later in the week we discovered we could sit in the La Cucina restaurant for breakfast and lunch - much quieter and easier to find a seat than the crowded and noisy Garden Cafe.  Normally we would have sat on the Aft outdoor seating area, but the cool weather made this unappealing to the grandparents.

While the Garden Cafe offered a wide variety of food, there was nothing special, interesting, or creative about their offerings.  It was adequate, but fairly standard American food (with the exception being the daily Indian and Asian stations - the curries were a bit too spicy for my tastebuds).  Standard salad bar items, standard sandwiches, pizza, burgers, hot dogs, and hot entrees that you would expect.  Omelet station in the morning had egg whites available, but limited vegetables to toss in (and they were using frozen spinach instead of fresh!).

Unfortunately, it seemed the crew was not very knowledgable about the ingredients in some of the dishes, and the small signs identifying the food didn't help.  I wanted to know which dishes were vegetarian as I don't eat meat.  A strict vegan or someone who required gluten-free (nobody in our group) would have had a hard time eating much beyond the raw vegetables and cut fruit.  Additionally, the signs tended to get moved around or would disappear.  NCL should do a better job of identifying the ingredients of their offerings.  Every day there were sugar-free desserts available at the buffet.  The kids overindulged in the

On the second or third day we discovered the meals being grilled outdoors near the pool - outstanding salmon, chicken, grilled vegetables and a few salads.  It was a fresher and more delicous option than the Garden Cafe.

We had all but one of our dinners in Tsar's, the most 'formal' dining room aboard the Jewel.  While they offered the same menu as Azura, we liked the spaciousness of the room and the stricter dress code (still casual, but no flip flops or shorts for men).  Because of the Freestyle Dining, our choices were to make a dinner reservation or show up and wait for a table.  On the first night, we had a fantastic server, Claudeth.  She was attentive, sweet, and so patient with our large group.  The challenge was getting seated in her section each night - we would make a reservation and request her section -  sometimes our request was met, other times it was not.  We found the front reception staff at Tsar's to be cold and impersonal.  One in our group went to Tsar's for breakfast and asked to be seated in Claudeth's section - he was told she was not working (turns out she was).  On another occasion, he asked to be seated in her section for lunch and was told she was on break (she wasn't). 

Tsar's menu worked well for our group - plenty of choices with one side of daily specials and the other side available every day.  I had salmon for dinner three times and appreciated the smaller (but very adequate) portions.  Again, the Tsar's menu did not identify any of the menu items as vegetarian, vegan or gluten-free.  We sailed on the Celebrity Reflection last summer, and as I recall the menu in their main dining room did a very good job of identifying the items on their menu for those who had special dietary needs.  I'd rate the food at Tsar's as 4 out of 5 - very good, but not extraordianary or super-imaginitive.   We appreciated the calm of the restaurant and the slow pace which we could enjoy our meal.  Even on the occasions when we ate early (around 6:00), we never felt rushed to clear our table.  Most nights we ate closer to 9:00 p.m.

Traveling with an elderly parent in a wheelchair, I was very conscious of the helpfullness of the crew.  They were always offering to help push up or down ramps, and a Garden Cafe employee saw two of us accompanying my father in his wheelchair and offered to carry our buffet items on a tray.  She followed us through the buffet and beverage lines and to our seats.  Very kind and we appreciated her pro-activeness - I'm sure she would have helped had we asked, but she offered up the help. A nice touch.

Entertainment in the Stardust Theater was OK.  The 'Bijoux' show on one of the last nights was by far the best of those we saw.  Magician/Comedian was OK - too much goofy joking around, not enough magic.  Stand up comedian was funny, but in a "I've heard that joke many times before" kind of way.

Staterooms: We had several types among those in our group.  My parents Deck 10 midship ADA balcony stateroom was quite spacious - they were very happy with the extra room which allowed them to easily maneuver around with the wheelchair (NOTE: wheelchairs do not fit through a standard cabin door).  The ADA shower and toilet area had grab bars and a seat.  My sister's Deck 10 adjoining balcony staterooms were comfortable and spacious enough.  The 'family suite' on Deck 11 was probably the most disappointing - we were told it would sleep four, but with the Pack & Play (supplied by NCL) open (as it was the entire trip for an 11 month old who took frequent naps), it was close to impossible to access the balcony.  I was also told the tub (one of the reasons they booked a family suite) was quite deep and too hard to reach over to bathe an infant.  My kids were happy with their Deck 8 balcony stateroom.  I didn't hear any complaints about excessive noise or rocking other than one night when the seas were quite stormy and everyone aboard the Jewel had to be aware of the motion.

On the other hand, my husband and I hit the jackpot and were upgraded to one of the Owner's Haven Suites, #9004.  Two balconies (the forward balcony just under the bridge was large enough to accomodate all 14 of us viewing Sawyer Glacier - although it did get a bit windy there at times), a living room and dining area, separate guest bathroom (toilet and sink only), spacious bathroom with tub and shower (with wall mounted side water jets), dressing table in the closet, TV's in the main bathroom, bedroom and living room (DVD player in the living room and a list of DVDs available to borrow), Lavazza espresso maker (kept stocked by our butler), champagne on ice when we arrived, afternoon snacks and fruit delivered to our room daily, beautiful large fresh flower arrangement, three complementary bottles of wine or spirits (in addition to the champagne), umbrella and binoculars in the room, sodas and sparkling water also kept stocked by our kind butler, Henry.  Our family all tended to hang out in the stateroom and I'm convinced Henry was even more generous with the cookies and snacks knowing we had a large group enjoying the room.  It was an amazing experience to luxuriate in that much space, lovely furnishings, and multiple balconies.  And the delicious espressos and lattes whenever we wanted kept us fueled with caffeine to explore Alaska!

My parents booked a Victoria, BC excursion through the excursions desk and were happy with the tour.  All other excursions our group booked were done independent of NCL. 

Overall, it was a great experience.  The cruise was filled with families and kids of all ages, and other large groups like ours.  Between the Alaska itinerary, cooler weather, and Freestyle philosophy of NCL, people were dressed VERY casually, even at night.  College sweatshirts, fleece jackets and jeans were the uniform of the passangers.  This is not a cruise where everyone gets glammed up at night. Very down to earth atmosphere.

Similarly, the food and entertainment were a notch below our experience on the Reflection last summer.  Adequate, plentiful but not unique gastronomic experiences.  We did NOT eat at any of the specialty restaurants, so I can't speak to the dining experience in those venues.

Others have commented about the incessant push to spend and I didn't find it bothersome, I just ignored it.  Typical glittery costume jewelry for sale every day in the Atrium.  Photographers were all over the ship and while we took a lot of photos, we weren't pushed to purchase (only bought two). 

O'Sheehan's was a good place to watch World Cup soccer on sea days but it was packed and there could be long waits for a table.

A FEW RANDOM THOUGHTS:

White Hot Party: Fun!  My husband and I (50 somethings) had a blast dancing away to to the pounding music, video screen, black lights, foam sprays, glow necklaces, and crew dancers but we were definitely among the older passengers enjoying the fun.  It seemed to us all the 20 somethings came out of hiding and showed up at the White Hot Party.  Hot sweaty fun which harkened back to a college dance party.

Bingo: NICE that everyone got one free bingo card for the second game.  We bought some too...nobody in our group won.  I guess we had already gotten lucky with the stateroom upgrade!!!

Karaoke:  Need I say more?

Washy Washy:  Incessant singing of the "Washy Washy" song as passengers entered the Garden Cafe and were spritzed with hand sanitizer.  I guess it is good to remind everyone so we could all stay healthy.

No toilet seat covers in public bathrooms:  With all the emphasis on hand sanitizer, it kind of surprised me that they didn't think the toilets could be a place where germs hang out.

Basketball Court: My basketball playing sons were looking forward to this but with fairly strong winds, a net above the court which prevented arcing shots, and a flat basketball (the only one aboard ship - they ended up playing with a soccer ball - no excuse for not having a stock of basketballs) it was close to impossible to play.

Ping Pong: Another activity my kids enjoy aboard ship.  Unfortunately, the tables were outdoors in windy areas.  Impossible to play, lots of balls overboard.  When we sailed last summer, ping pong tables were set up indoors in meeting rooms and they were a POPULAR activity for both adults and kids with competitive games!

Onboard shopping: Nothing special and lots of tacky souvenir type junk in the main store.  One nice touch I haven't seen on other cruises: they sold travel guide books to Alaska (one of which I'd already bought at my local Barnes & Noble).

Excursions: Through Shore Excursions Group, we booked the Skagway train ride with a return ride on bicycle.  It was a challenging and exciting experience and we even had an up close encounter with a bear at the side of the road.  My family who took the train round trip said the ride was way too long...probably should have taken a bus tour back via a different route.

Gratuities: On the last night, we had a very hard time tracking down our server to hand deliver a gratuity to her.  We went to find her in the dining room to be told she was already off duty and leaving the ship the next morning to go home for three months.  If we had left an envelope for her at Guest Services Desk, who knows when (or if) she would have received it.  We really had to push the dining room staff to try to track her down so that we could hand her an envelope personally.  The entire process took about 45 minutes: the dining room staff saying they couldn't do anything, sending us to Guest Services, who sent us back to the dining room. 

Overall, a great experience which met the varying needs of our group on an Alaska itinerary which matched the casualnes aboard ship.  However, if I were just planning a trip for my family of four (and there wasn't a vast difference in cost), I probably would choose Celebrity again for the slightly higher quality of food and service, and slightly less casual dress code.

Beautiful and clean cabin. Plenty of room for our stuff (2 of us). Room under the bed for suitcases. Balcony was great!

I loved visiting Alaska and was blessed with a fantastic week of sunny clear skies on port days. The Norwegian Jewel itself has such poor value proposition that I would never take it again, and I will also skip Norwegian going forward. It doesn’t make sense that I’m paying $20/day (I paid only $16 for my balcony on Princess) for service fees to have my room cleaned so late, with subpar service, and got sick on their buffet breakfast twice! Not that the main dining room was a lot better. I’d go to Alaska again but with a different cruise line.

Good value cruise, loved the ports visited.. the sounds are stunning.

All was good for our yearly winter getaway, only complaint was the service at Asura resturant the night we ate there. We were seated in the very back, served the wrong food and the head waitress was rude to the helper waiter in front of the guests. Other than that we had a great cruise.

NOW THAT we’ve spent a few days on our ship, the Norwegian Jewel, let me say a little about our experience. By way of background: this is just my third cruise and Paul’s second. My first was of some of the Greek Islands, continuing to Venice. Since it was paid for by Lee Iacoca as a reward to Chrysler dealers (I'd been dating one for a few years at the time), and Mr. Iacoca’s daughter was along for the ride (she and I shared an evacuation drill), you can imagine that it was first-class with no expense spared.

My second cruise was with Paul to the Bahamas out of Miami. We wouldn’t have gone except that it was free, a perk paid for by one of our vendors for selling their products. 

The Keys, we liked; the cruise, not so much. In fact we pretty much hated it from start to finish. It was on Carnival, and I would categorically advise anyone to never take a Carnival cruise. It was loud (there was party music playing literally 24 hours a day everywhere on the ship — even in our room — that we could not shut off), it was adolescent, it was insufferable. And we had an interior room, meaning not even a window. It was a lot like hitting yourself in the head with a hammer: it feels so good when you stop.

Apparently it made an overwhelming negative impression because we’ve not cruised since. In the following years, however, we kept hearing what a lovely time various friends have had on cruises, so we decided to give it another try. When I say we, I mean me, because I was the one who hatched up this trip. 

Here’s my review (so far) of the ship, this cruise and Norwegian Cruise Line in general: We like it — which is a bit of a wonderment given that this ship, the Norwegian Jewel, is ginormous, something that normally would be an anathema (we avoid big hotels and densely populated everything), but strangely enough, we’ve been perfectly happy here.

Part of the secret is that we booked a balcony stateroom. I learned from our Bahama “cruise” — always, always get a room with a balcony. In fact I’d say, if you don’t get a balcony, don’t go. Even though there are theoretically plenty of places to hang out on board where you can sit and watch the sea and land go by unmolested, it’s just not as pleasant, at least by our reckoning, having others around while you do. 

Paul has practically lived on our balcony as I was certain he would. Some of you may know that we own a small sailboat, and I knew he would absolutely love watching as much of the maneuvering and goings on as he could.One extra cool thing for Paul: there’s a ship TV channel that broadcasts map details pinpointing exactly where we are en route and well as our headings, wind speed, relative wind speed, wave height, ship speed, temperature, humidity, barometric pressure, latitude and longitude. He’s been geeking out the whole way.We booked a midship room because the helpful people at  said we’d experience less rocking and rolling if the seas got rough because we’d be the axis point, and it's proved to be good advice. The third night out we were in what the captain called a moderate gale, and we were fine. There is a swimming pool, four hot tubs, a library, a fitness center with a full retinue of weight machines, free weights and tred mills, a casino, various shops, nine restaurants, a theater, bunches of bars and lounges of course, a spa and salon where you can get facials, massage, acupuncture, manicures, pedicures, hair cuts, coloring and styling, Botox, Dysport, Restylane and Perlane injections and teeth whitening procedures (I know; it’s a wonder I haven’t taken up residece there), a child care center, ping pong, shuffle board, a basketball court, a large theater, a photography studio and an art gallery where prints by Picasso and Chagall for sale.There are six additional-fee restaurants (French, Italian and so on), but passengers can eat in the buffet and the two main dining restaurants at no cost because it's included in the price of the cruise. This might lead one to surmise that the part-of-the-package food and meals might be mediocre — Paul had in fact read some reviews of the food where passengers had rated the food as just “okay” — but we beg to differ. Every meal has been quite good from the morning breakfast buffet to the lunch and dinner buffets, and our from-the-menu dinners in the main dining room have been truly superb; honestly they would be $100 meals at home. Kudos to the chefs!!And if you’d like room service, a menu of salads, soups and sandwiches is available 24 hours a day at no charge except from midnight to 5:00 AM when there is a $3.95 service fee, or you can get a pizza for $5.00, and the pizza is surprisingly awesome. The twice-nightly shows, also at no additional cost, have been such a surprise because they're first-rate. Since Paul is a musician and I have logged by now thousands of hours of listening to small group and big band jazz, symphonic orchestra performances and Broadway shows, we were prepared to find the on-board productions lame. Not the case. The shows we’ve attended have all been as good as anything we’ve seen at the Des Moines Civic Center and better than some we've seen in Las Vegas. Last night for example, we were entertained by a Russian husband and wife acrobat duo and a troupe of singers and dancers who are every bit as professional as the ones we were just awed by at the Des Moines Symphony New Years Eve Pops concert. There are also two great house bands, but the lounge singers, I must say however, are universally bad.One last item of significance: the staff is phenomenal. We have been looked after attentively, cheerfully, respectfully, thoroughly and thoughtfully. They must have one heck of a screening and training program.So color us happy — very happy.

*** Edited 1/20/15 by Community Manager to remove links comply with our Community Guidelines ***

   Our cruise aboard the Norwegian Jewel to Alaska was a fabulous experience! Everything went according to the itinerary in a smooth and organized manner.  I'm quite a structured person so I like to have scheduled dinner and show times with assigned seating, etc., however, I was impressed with Norwegian's freestyle cruising concept - overall it worked well for our family of 32 people.  The ship was wonderful and very well maintained, but the staff made the experience.  This was our 6th cruise and we've cruised on many of the competing cruise lines, but I think Norwegian's staff was the most genuinely polite and caring staff I've experienced.  I'm aware that is the expectation for all cruise companies, apparently Norwegian must treat and value their staff above their other competitors as these employees were very genuine.  The only issues our family had are: 1) a lack of seating in the show room if it is the time others also desire (no assigned time) and, 2) the seating in the Garden Cafe (buffet) was limited and was only on one side of the ship rather than have available seating accross the entire deck.  One other item that was amazing to me was that the ship's construction has a water ballast system that made the ship amazingly smooth, even on the open sea.  When I got off the boat I have not had any continuing motion - like I've had with all other cruises I've been on.  

   Although the destinations were beautiful and the experience can't be contained in photos or recitation I can't say enough great things about the wonderful Norwegian Jewel staff.  I completed six "hero" cards prior to disembarking from the ship, but there were so many of the staff who were outstanding - but I did not get their names, I would love to mention all of them.