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Cruise Reviews » NCL Reviews
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AVERAGE RATING 
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Jewel in the Crown 
Reviewed by Teddy on 18-6-2008 (Barnet) |
| Just arrived home today from an excellent 8 day cruise to the Caribbean on the Nowegian Jewel. This was my 4th cruise, but my first with NCL. The ship is beautiful. Spotlessly clean with excellent food. We did find however that to take advantage of the alternative dining speciality restaurants for our evening meal we would have needed to book at the outset of the cruise. The majority of the guests were American or Canadian and they seemed to have cornered the market in alternative dining. We would have been able to get a booking in most of the restaurants for 10pm but having our 86 year old Mother with us meant that it was far too late for her to dine. However, now that we know the score we would make sure that next time we will book at the start of the cruise. There will definitely be a next time! The food in Tsars Palace restaurant, Azura restaurant and the Garden Cafe was always varied and beautifully cooked. We never had to wait for a table and were served quickly and efficiently. We enjoyed the entertainment that we went to. The Stardust Theatre is fabulous.One show really stood out for excellence, and that was the Cirque Bijou.A wonderful aerial show. Almost on a par, albeit in a smaller way, with the famous aerial show that was such a hit at the Millenium Dome in London. We had an outside, restricted view cabin on level 8. It was more spacious than any other cabin of the same category on the other cruise ships we had travelled on. Well thought out, comfortable and with a larger than the average cabin shower.With all toiletry needs provided for, there is really no need to pack any. It certainly acommodated my Mother's wheelchair without a problem. The staff were fantastic. Professional, friendly and caring. We were impressed with the help we received at all times for our Mother. Right from boarding through to disembarkation there was always a member of staff on hand to help us. They were so helpful. We never had problems disembarking at the various ports of call and found that staff both on ship and also on the coaches that were used on the trips, were always ready with practical assistance. Nothing was too much trouble. Our party of five were myself and my husband, my sister & brother-in-law and of course my Mother. We all had a thoroughly enjoyable cruise and are already talking about our next trip on the wonderful Norwegian Jewel. |
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Norwegian Jewel Baltic Cruise 
Reviewed by Roger on 18-7-2008 (Edinburgh) |
| We were on the Baltic cruise that left on 4th July. Most of the other reviews are pretty accurate - the cruise itself was OK, but NCLs incessant attempts to get money from us was really irritating. We were on a Thomson cruise to the Red Sea earlier this year, and it whetted our appetite - it was excellent except for a vibration on the ship, so we were really looking forward to this NCL trip, as the boat is "pod" powered, and to be fair there was virtually no vibration at all on the Jewel. The Jewel was also rated as a 4 - 4.5 star cruise, as opposed to the Thomson 3 star one. Like many other people, this hasn't put us off cruising, but we won't cruise again with NCL. Food We ate nearly all the time in Tsars - staff very good, food excellent quality. We also ate in Chin Chin which was very good ($10 supplement). Garden Cafe was, as others have said, like a disorganised canteen. Only place worse than Garden Cafe was Blue Lagoon, the only restaurant open 24 hours, which was too small for the size of the ship, and had a limited menu, which never changed. Tango (Tex Mex place), was supposed to have a tapas bar, but the tapas were, to be generous, incorrectly named, or served cold when they should have been hot. The "freestyle" dining of eat what you want, when you want, didn't really apply, as there were times during the day (not overnight) when only the Blue Lagoon was open. Entertainment We found the entertainment to be OK, nothing great, nothing awful (unless you include some of the acts in the show by the passengers, and the ship staff singing the NCL song about "This is your home" followed by "We are the World") - the Cirque Bijou dance acrobatic show was very good though - go early for the show as the theatre was completely full for this. Seminars Could have been better focused on the places that we were going to, and better timed - how about a talk on Russian religious architecture before we get to St Petersburg? Excursions Vastly overpriced, poor quality, disorganised. Only use the NCL excursions for St Petersburg itself, and even then don't expect too much. We went on one to Copenhagen to try them out. We were expected in the theatre at 0930, at which time they were still trying to get everyone away for an 0845 tour. We finally left at 0955. When we arrived early for our first St Petersburg tour (St Petersburg through the eyes of the Russion people), the safety announcements re pickpockets were made 15 minutes early (so we heard them), but only partially repeated at the departure time. When we mentioned this to NCL we got a blank expression. First stop on the tour was to a small mall, which only took rubles (no one on the coach had any) or credit cards. Then into the underground to see the metro which was the best bit, then all packed in to a large room to be sold some flavoured vodka by a woman with no microphone, so we couldn't hear her commentary. The tour the following day to Catherine's palace was better, with the tour guide informative - but unwilling to help with the ATM machine in Russian, at the "obligatory" stop at a market. St Petersburg itself was fantastic - absolutely loads to see, impossible to see it all in 2 days, which galled us even more when we were shoehorned into an overpriced tourist shop, when round the corner was a fabulous square, (which we then drove though, with no comments from the guide.) We were told by a member of the ships crew that the Americans want all the shopping trips, hence all the shopping stops. Use the city tour buses at all stops apart from St Petersburg, and don't bother with v expensive Berlin trip - Warnemunde itself is quite nice. Housekeeping We had a few problems with the cabin cleaning (bathmats not replaced, bathroom flooded, errors with billing) - Thomson were excellent. Gratuities Again, like most other commenters, we were irritated by the $10 per adult per day service charge - so on the last evening we told reception that we were unhappy with the quality of service we had recieved, and we didn't pay it. Be aware that you can refuse to pay all or part of the service charge if you are unhappy with the service. The 15% autogratuity on drinks and 18% on spa treatments is excessive in our opinion, especially as you have no choice in the matter. |
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