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Norwegian Cruise Line

MS Norwegian Jewel

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Reviewed by: Phil Harrison
# previous cruises: 21 to 30
Date of Trip: August 13, 2006
Itinerary: Europe

This was my first cruise on NCL. Cruising is something I love and have been on 20 odd with Cunard, RCCL, P&O,Princes. I can honestly say it's one of the best I've been on.

Public areas very clean and well appointed pool with slide excellent for kids (and big kids!).Decor very bright but not too gaudy. Spinnaker lounge very nice well decorated and excellent views.

I love the freestyle concept and would have tried more of the speciality restaurants if the kids hadn't been with us. The food may not have been quite as good in the main restaurants as Princess but it wasn't far off.

Food was good too buffet was very impressed by choice and quality. In main restaurants we only had a couple of average meals most were excellent especially Mama's and 2 nights at Azura. The crepe souffle is a must. The best meals were definitely good restaurant standard.

We were in KK grade inside staterooms,deck 10,small but adequate apart from drawer space. Shower excellent. Nice teak effect on all finishings and well sound proofed. Elevator music in corridors though thank god you couldn't hear that!

Entertainment was excellent I would say the Jean Ann Ryan Company are the best troupe I've ever seen on a cruise ship. Cirque Bijou is spellbinding.

We started at Barcelona, Messina, Civitavecchia, Livorno, Naples, Villefranche. Messina, lovely town square with Clock with figures that come out at 12 noon. Also great views if you climb the tower. Civ-main port for Rome. Livorno we went to Viareggio lovely beach resort and Lucca a "mini Florence"beautiful. Naples we went to Sorrento which was nice but long journey traffic queues. Villefranche we just went to the beach having been to Monte carlo before. Night entertainment good less to do in day but this cruise was port-intensive. Children's club was the only real disappointment. My daughter is 4 and goes 4 days a week to nursery so she is used to a similar experience. However,when we went to register she saw all the play equipment but was told no you can't use it except at special times. We then took her for our first visit and wanted to stay a little while but were told under no circumstances was this possible as it unsettled the other kids. Yes I can understand this to a point, but the net effect was that my daughter got very upset as we didn't even get to say goodbye properly and she refused to go back. That was poorly handled for me.

Lots of families it being school holidays but sprinkling of couples old and young. Lot of Spanish people on this cruise as well as Americans,some Germans and British too.