Norwegian Jewel Revisited

Norwegian Jewel

Norwegian Cruise Line is in the spotlight this week. Its new ship, Norwegian Breakaway, is coming to New York to take up residence. This is an exciting prospect as Breakaway appears to combine the innovativeness of Norwegian Epic with the quality of a Meyer Werft ship.

 

Norwegian has had two ships based in New York for some time now. With Breakaway’s arrival, one of those ships, Norwegian Jewel, will be re-deployed to other itineraries.

 

However, as Jewel takes up her new life cruising to Alaska this summer and to the Caribbean from New Orleans and Houston this coming winter, we wanted to update and expand our coverage of the ship. http://beyondships.com/NCLJewel.html

 

To that end, we spoke with Hotel Director Hugo Vanosmael about the various dining options on Jewel. Freestyle dining is all about giving the guests options. So to help you make these choices, we have put together a dining guide to Norwegian Jewel. It is posted at http://www.beyondships2.com/norwegian-jewel-dining-guide.html

 

Along the same lines, we have updated our Norwegian Jewel menus page. This includes the new menu for Cagney’s steakhouse. http://www.beyondships2.com/norwegian-jewel-menus.html

 

Jewel is a photogenic modern ship. With better than average speed, she also manages to get around. As a result, we have accumulated a number of good pictures of her in various ports in the Caribbean and The Bahamas this winter. These have been put together into a new photo essay. It is at http://www.beyondships2.com/norwegian-jewel-photo-essay.html

Norwegian Jewel – Profile, Photo Tour and Talking with her Captain

Norwegian Jewel of Norwegian Cruise line.

 

Before sitting down to write this, I asked myself what is there to like about Norwegian Jewel?  After thinking it over, I decided there are several things that I like about this ship.

 

The Jewel, as she is known to her friends, was the lead ship in Norwegian Cruise Line’s Jewel class of cruise ships.  For the last few years, she has been based for all or a large part of the year inNew Yorkand since I am also based there, the ship has become a familiar sight.

 

Starting with the basics, Jewel was built by the Meyer Werft shipyard inPappenberg,Germany.  Over the years, I have developed a high regard for Meyer Werft, which has produced such impressive ships as Celebrity’s Solstice class and Royal Caribbean’s Radiance class ships.  Like fine sports cars, their ships are often fast and very maneuverable.  They always are good quality.  Norwegian Jewel is no exception.

 

Stepping inside, I like the fact that the ship is run with an eye towards innovation.  In the early years of this century, NCL inaugurated the Freestyle dining concept, which has now been adopted in various forms by most of the major cruise lines.  They also were a leader in basing their ships outside of the traditionalFloridacruise ports so that passengers did not have to travel so far to get to the cruise.  On Jewel, this spirit of innovation continues with various new programs that combine dining and entertainment.

 

I also like the service on the Jewel.  The crew seems happy and I found that they make a real effort to please.

 

In the final analysis, however, it does not really matter what I think of a ship.  Rather, what is important in deciding whether a particular ship is right for your cruise vacation is whether the ship offers a cruise experience that is consistent with your tastes, needs and preferences.  Accordingly, I have updated and expanded the Beyondships profile of Norwegian Jewel with more information.  http://www.beyondships.com/NCLJewel.html  

 

It includes more menus from the main dining rooms and from the major specialty restaurants http://www.beyondships2.com/norwegian-jewel-menus.html  as well as more daily programs (Freestyle Daily) http://www.beyondships2.com/norwegian-jewel-daily-programs-and-information.html

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There is also a new interview with Captain Lars Bergstrom and Hotel Director Hugo Vanosmael in which they share their views on why Norwegian Jewel has been successful sailing out of New York.  http://www.beyondships.com/NCLJewel-captain.html

 

There is our first-ever cruise ship slideshow. http://www.beyondships2.com/norwegian-jewel-slideshow.html

 

Finally, the photo tour and commentary has numerous new photos.  Indeed, so many that I had to expand it by a page.  The tour begins at http://www.beyondships.com/NCLJewel-Tour.html            

Captain Lars Bergstrom of Norwegian Jewel

Super Cruiser Mario; Dining With The Officers; Review Mama’s Kitchen on Norwegian Jewl and Canaletto on Zuiderdam

Super-cruiser Mario Salcedo has sailed on more than 500 cruises.

 

This week Beyondships features something different.  In the past, we have brought you interviews ship officers, cruise line executives and people whose work involves them with ships such as marine artists and ship designers.  This time, we bring you an interview with a passenger.  But what a passenger – – Mario Salcedo has done over 500 cruises with more than 400 of them on Royal Caribbean ships.

 

Mario is a man living his dream.   A successful businessman, Mario rose to hold a prominent position with a Fortune 500 company.   Rather than just continue on that path, he turned his back on the corporate life before he turned 50 and dedicated himself to living the life he had always dreamed of.  Now he essentially lives 52 weeks a year on cruise ships, mainly RCI’sLibertyof the Seas.

 

A friendly and outgoing person, Mario likes to chat with his fellow passengers.  His is a unique story and he is often asked about how he manages to live at sea.  People are also interested in tapping into his expertise and knowledge about cruising.

 

Beyond ships interview with Mr. Salcedo is at http://www.beyondships.com/Cruise-articles-Super-cruiser.html

In recent years, the tradition of having officer tables in the ship’s main dining room has all but vanished.  A few lines still have a captain’s table on formal nights but with the exception of Cunard Line, one rarely finds tables hosted by the staff captain, the chief engineer, the hotel director or one of the junior officers.

 

It is a shame that this tradition is fading away.  Dining at an officer’s table gives passengers a unique insight into the operations of the ship and personalizes the relationship between the cruise line and the passengers.    Also, I have often found that people who sit down at an officer’s table as strangers often arise as friends.  Indeed, I still hear from people who I dined with at an officer’s table years ago.

 

Somewhat surprisingly, Norwegian Cruise Line, which has a tradition of being non-traditional, is experimenting with reviving this tradition.  Of course, various modifications had to be made in order for this tradition to fit with the modern cruising environment.  However, the pilot program has been received very well on Norwegian Jewel with many more passengers signing up for it than can be accommodated.

 

I recently had the opportunity to participate in this program and was able to discuss it with Jewel’s Hotel Director Hugo Vanosmael.  The article is at http://www.beyondships.com/NCLJewel-officers.html

 

One of the dining venues on the Jewel is Mama’s Kitchen, a casual Italian restaurant.   It could perhaps better be described as an American-style Italian restaurant, serving dishes that one is more likely to find in the States than in Tuscany.  By this, I mean no slight.  There is a reason that this type of cooking is popular not only in Americabut worldwide – – it is good.  In any event, I have posted a review of Mama’s Kitchen that also looks at Canaletto, a similar concept on HollandAmerica’s Zuiderdam.    The review is posted at http://www.beyondships.com/Cruise-articles-Canaletto-Mamas-review.html