If youre familiar with Norwegian Cruise
Lines Norwegian Star and Norwegian Dawn, you have a pretty good
idea of what the Norwegian Jewel is about -- lots of restaurants, a
few bars, cabins and balconies, two really gigantic Garden Villa
penthouses, pools, a spa and a casino.
But as Colin
Veitch, NCLs CEO said, We dont like to do exact repeats. So Travel
Weekly inspected the Jewel during its maiden call in New York and
came away with a few impressions of NCLs tried-and-true as well as
its new onboard concepts. Heres a sample:
Fyzz
Lounge
The show is over.
All 1,000 theatergoers exit the Norwegian Jewels Stardust Theater
and head into the Fyzz Lounge just as an intrepid passenger gets up
on its main karaoke stage for a rendition of Summer Wind. He misses
his cue and is still snapping his fingers when he should be
singing. Not a problem, so long as you dont mind half of the Jewels
2,376 passengers stopping by to gawk and guffaw. If youre more
sensitive to these things, you and up to 15 of your friends can
slip into one of three private karaoke rooms alongside Fyzz, and
Fyzz will deliver the necessary confidence builders (i.e.,
cocktails). The room rents for $10 per person per hour, with
unlimited drinks (premium liquor extra). Pull the curtains, pull
out the songbook, set the TV to Bohemian Rhapsody and rock
on.
Bar
Central
Its like Grand
Central: Hang out here in Bar Central long enough and eventually
everyone you know onboard will pass by your bar stool. The concept:
Three bars with different themes are connected in one long row.
Each one has a diversion to match. Theres a flat-screen TV in
Maltings, the beer and whiskey bar at one end. At the other end,
chutes of bubbly water are built into the bar at Magnums champagne
and wine bar. In the middle is the Shakers martini bar, where the
TV screen shows an endless loop of a silhouetted dancing girl, kind
of like a never-ending iPod commercial, one person noted. (This is
actually the second dancing girl sequence shot by NCL; the first
was deemed too risque.)
If youre a savvy
traveler, you might recognize Maltings very modern decor. CEO
Veitch said it was inspired by the Mandarin Oriental in
London.
Atrium
NCL doesnt yet
have a giant TV screen on its sun deck, but it does have a big one
in the lobby that shows time-lapse videos of mountains and oceans.
The Java Cafe on the main floor of the atrium is a great place to
people-watch. The lobbys mezzanine holds a tapas restaurant on one
side. On the other is a hip version of the formerly super-casual,
super-crowded, 24-hour Blue Lagoon. Instead of taking your burger
and beer on a barrel table in a converted hallway, as on NCLs
previous builds, youre sitting on Eames-style chairs and
overlooking the ocean via floor-to-ceiling windows. Tomato soup
here gets an A-plus.
Chin Chin
Asian restaurant complex
Suffice it to say
there are lots of restaurants on the Norwegian Jewel. Theres the Le
Bistro French restaurant, which is more upscale than bistro; the
Mamas Kitchen Italian restaurant, which looks like it was imported
from a Tuscan farmhouse; and the two main restaurants -- and kudos
to NCL for making at least one of those main restaurants look more
like a restaurant than a gigantic dining room.
But the Chin Chin
Asian restaurant complex deserves to be singled out for two things.
One is the Teppanyaki room, which has been a huge hit on NCLs other
ships. This room has been expanded to
fit four teppanyaki tables (eight people per table), and the chefs
fry the rice, veggies, chicken and beef at the table and do things
like bang salt shakers around and flip them into their hats.
Meanwhile, if you want to cook your own meal, you can go to the
adjoining restaurant and cook Asian fusion on hot plates built into
the table.
TV
screens
Maybe people will
wait an hour to eat at Olive Garden at home. But cruise passengers
do not want to wait for a table at sea. And NCL doesnt want
passengers to linger at the entrance to the restaurant when they
could be buying a drink. So, voila! TV screens all around the ship
now tell passengers how full each restaurant is, if theres a wait,
and, if so, how long the wait is. If youre set on eating at Le
Bistro and theres a 30-minute wait, the maitre d will give you a
pager that works anywhere on the ship. One tip: Reserve way in
advance for Teppanyaki. It does two seatings per night and its
booked solid.
Courtyard
penthouses
NCL operates in
the contemporary big-ship category, but it goes all the way when it
comes to the very top suites (a concept it borrowed from sister
company Star Cruises, which gives its high rollers three-bedroom
garden villas). The Garden Villas on the Jewel have been redesigned
so the garden, with its outdoor whirlpool, bar and loungers, is in
the middle of the suite. An upstairs sun deck has more than enough
space to lie out.
The new concept
on the Jewel is the Courtyard Villas -- 10 penthouses that ring a
private courtyard done up Miami-style, with a giant canopied bed in
the center of the courtyard and big lounge chairs. Theres a
retractable roof for when the weather doesnt cooperate.
I checked out the
Courtyard during a one-time-only predinner cocktail party and found
the whole thing -- bed, plunge pool, loungers, bar, butlers,
concierge lounge, et al -- to be pretty decadent. Also, I dug the
penthouses themselves for the bathrooms with sea views and the
second room for the kids. But given a choice, Id go straight for a
Garden Villa.
Stardust
Theater
NCL bigwigs
persuaded me to go to the show Band on the Run by promising a big
finale featuring songs from the rock band Queen. It included all
kinds of 1970s shenanigans, mostly of the disco and rock variety,
plus the Queen finale, a stirring rendition of We Are the Champions
and audience participation on We Will Rock You (stamp, stamp,
clap). I was back the next day for a peek at the Second City improv
show. It had them rolling in the aisles.
To contact
Rebecca Tobin, managing editor of the print edition of Travel
Weekly, send e-mail to [email protected].