It has been a very long time since I took what I name a pointless trip, which suggests time away from dwelling with completely no agenda, plans or issues I need to see or do.

So when the timing labored out to take a four-night cruise with a good friend in January 2025 on the Norwegian Jewel out of the very close by Port of Tampa, I jumped on the likelihood.

The itinerary was to sail away from Tampa, have a sea day, then a day at Norwegian Cruise Line’s personal island of Nice Stirrup Cay, adopted by one other sea day after which again to Tampa. That appeared excellent for enjoyable and reconnecting with a good friend I had not seen in a very long time.

Reserving this cruise turned out to be a bit harder than it ought to have been.

I had a Norwegian Cruise Line future cruise credit score burning a gap in my pocket that I used to be planning to make use of for this cruise. The credit score was from a value drop that got here after closing cost on a earlier cruise.

On the time, I didn’t understand it got here with every kind of restrictions, like the brand new cruise should be longer than six nights for it to use, and this one was not. That data was not printed wherever, and no NCL reservation agent may make it work.

I made a decision to go anyway and booked a balcony cabin with NCL’s new Extra at Sea package deal, which incorporates Limitless Open Bar (a drink package deal), some specialty eating (primarily based on the variety of cruise nights), Wi-Fi minutes and a shore tour credit score.

With our reserving, every of us had a drink package deal, two nights of specialty eating and 75 Wi-Fi minutes. Solely the first visitor obtained the $50 shore tour credit score. As a result of I knew I needed greater than 75 minutes of Wi-Fi and didn’t need to fear about forgetting to log off, I selected to improve to the limitless Wi-Fi package deal for about $60.

I used to be a Gold member of the Latitudes Rewards loyalty program, which I assumed would get me some additional advantages like a liter of water in my room, however as soon as on board I discovered this cruise was too brief for Latitudes advantages like that. Nonetheless, this cruise certified me to maneuver as much as Platinum standing, so it was nonetheless value it.

Three weeks earlier than the sail away date, check-in for NCL cruises begins both on the NCL app or on-line. To examine in, I wanted private data, passport data, a bank card and a selfie of simply my face.

After everybody on the reservation is all checked in, it’s potential to print the boarding paperwork and baggage tags.

Norwegian Cruise Line additionally has a cell app, which you should use it to rapidly discover out what is going on on the ship and observe your onboard purchases. It was a bit buggy and sometimes I’d click on on one thing and get an error message.

On embarkation day, I loaded my suitcase into my automobile and drove a brief 45 minutes to the Port of Tampa. I had prebooked a parking house with the port’s parking zone, however I had a number of bother discovering one.

After about 20 minutes of driving across the storage, I discovered a spot. Then I unloaded my baggage and walked throughout the road to the cruise terminal.

After dropping off my baggage with a porter, my good friend and I went into the constructing to examine in. Because it was about 1 p.m., there was no line.

I choose checking in for a cruise at about this time as a result of the early birds are already on board and the late arrivals aren’t there but. It’s additionally lunchtime, so as soon as on board, you may drag your baggage and go straight to the buffet for some meals since cabins are usually not usually prepared but.

The Norwegian Jewel was inbuilt 2005 and refurbished in 2018 and as soon as once more in 2022. The Jewel is a part of the Jewel class of ships together with the Pearl, Jade and Gem.

The Jewel can maintain 2,330 passengers with 1,069 crew members and is 965 ft lengthy and 125 ft large at its widest place.

At present, the Jewel’s locations embrace the Caribbean, Mediterranean, Bermuda, northern Europe, Panama Canal, Bahamas, Canada and New England, and transatlantic cruises. In 2026, the Jewel will begin cruising out of Philadelphia to Bermuda, Canada and New England.

The ship has 12 passenger decks with many facilities.

One of many first belongings you discover if you get on board is the atrium on deck 7, which was a part of the 2018 updates.

It’s the place to socialize, purchase espresso, eat, store and get every kind of questions answered.

The atrium has two ranges with a giant display above the Atrium Cafe, which serves espresso drinks.

Comfortable seats and tables are arrange across the cafe, and there’s a piano. Off to the edges are the visitor relations desk, shore excursions space and a small store.

Simply off of the atrium space towards the again of the ship is the photograph gallery on one facet and the artwork gallery and web cafe on the opposite.

The retailers are all the best way within the aft, which is totally different from most different ships I’ve been on. Often, the retailers are situated midship and it’s important to stroll previous them to get from one finish of the ship to a different.

The higher stage surrounding the atrium on deck 8 is O’Sheehan’s Bar & Grill, a 24-hour eatery and pub. It’s additionally an awesome place to look at a sporting occasion on the massive display or on different televisions all through the realm.

O’Sheehan’s is complimentary and has consolation meals like burgers, Rueben sandwiches, wings, and spinach and artichoke dip.

The midship elevators are behind O’Sheehan’s. There are two different elevator banks, one ahead and one aft.

The Norwegian Jewel has 1,188 cabins in six major classes: The Haven, suite, membership balcony suite, balcony, oceanview and inside. They had been a part of the ship’s 2018 renovation and up to date once more in 2022.

The most important cabins are The Haven three-bedroom Backyard Villa at 4,891 sq. ft with 2,314-square-foot balconies. The smallest are the within cabins at 138-278 sq. ft.

My good friend and I had been consuming at O’Sheehan’s after we heard an announcement that cabins had been prepared. This was about 90 minutes or so after we boarded.

The primary issues we seen as we walked to our cabin had been the brilliant aqua blue doorways and the carpet within the hallways. Gone is the carpeting with the fish swimming ahead, which was a signature merchandise on NCL ships for a very long time.

It was a helpful technique to know which method you had been strolling down the lengthy hallways. Different folks I talked with additionally lamented its loss.

We selected a balcony cabin on deck 10 for our four-night cruise. The balcony cabins vary in dimension from 200 to 289 sq. ft with 38- to 54-square-foot balconies.

Our cabin had a contemporary look and was arrange with two beds with a nightstand within the center, like we had requested. For {couples}, the 2 beds could possibly be collectively.

All sides had a sconce above it that additionally had a USB charging port for telephones.

A small couch, which may turn into a mattress for a 3rd particular person, was close to the sliding door to the balcony.

Throughout from the couch was a desk-like space with a tv, the cellphone, a few cabinets and drawers. There was additionally a plug right here. It was good to have the cellphone on the wall and out of the best way as an alternative of taking on house on the desktop.

Off to the facet and throughout from one of many beds was a conceit space with a fridge within the cupboard together with a number of open cabinets. There was not a lot clearance between the self-importance prime and the tip of the mattress.

The mirror had a lightweight, which turned on and off with a button. The button was actually vibrant at evening, which was helpful for locating the best way to the lavatory however not so nice in case you prefer it darkish to sleep.

General, the cabin was a bit darkish since that mirror mild was the one one in that space.

Throughout from the self-importance was the lavatory, which had a reasonably roomy bathe and a rest room space. There have been two cabinets on the facet of the mirror and a giant shelf under the sink.

Due to the big sink, there was nearly no counter house within the rest room, which my good friend and I discovered to be very annoying.

The closet had two storage areas, one which was full size and the opposite, which had two drawers on the underside and a small secure. The secure was not large enough to carry a pc, which is a pet peeve of mine, particularly when cabins have been lately upgraded.

The balcony was lovely and had room for 2 chairs and a small desk. A full sliding glass door separated the balcony from the cabin.

We requested our cabin steward for a private espresso maker. It was good to have a number of sips of espresso when waking up every morning.

The Norwegian Jewel has greater than a dozen locations to eat and 13 bars and lounges, so mainly wherever you might be, you’ll find meals or drink.

A number of the eating choices are complimentary, like O’Sheehan’s. Others are specialty eating and have a surcharge.

We had been by no means hungry or thirsty, and there was loads of selection.

As a part of the Extra at Sea package deal, this four-night cruise included two meals at a specialty eating restaurant.

We selected to eat at Cagney’s Steakhouse the French restaurant Le Bistro.

The meals was actually good at each and so was the service. Be certain to save lots of room for dessert as they had been nice.

I heard from different passengers that the opposite specialty eating places had been good, however in addition they had been a bit aggravated that the Chinese language restaurant, Chin Chin, is now thought of specialty. On earlier cruises, it was a complimentary eating venue so I usually ate the dumplings as an early night snack if I had late dinner plans, however that wasn’t an choice on this cruise.

There’s a sushi bar is close to Chin Chin and it has a canopy cost. There may be additionally a Teppanyaki space the place a chef prepares meals on a big metal grill with the diners sitting round it.

The Jewel additionally has Moderno Churrascaria, a Brazilian steakhouse with a salad bar and somebody who comes round to serve you totally different sorts of meat at your desk.

For lovers of Italian meals, there’s La Cucina.

Should you don’t have a specialty eating package deal otherwise you need extra meals, the duvet cost varies from $40 at La Cucina to $50 at Chin Chin, Moderno Churrascaria and the sushi bar, and $60 at Cagney’s, Le Bistro and Teppanyaki.

Beforehand, you could possibly buy extra meals at a reduced price as a package deal, however that’s now not an choice.

It’s a must to make reservations for the specialty eating venues, which you are able to do on-line earlier than cruising. However only some openings can be found pre-cruise, with the remaining ones opening up on embarkation day, so in case you can’t guide what you need on-line, beeline to the restaurant reservations desk if you first get on board to guide what you need.

The Jewel additionally affords room service 24 hours a day, however there’s a charge.

Should you don’t need to pay additional, there are a number of complimentary locations to eat. Two major eating places, Azura and Tsar’s Palace, serve the identical menu, which modifications nightly.

A number of staples are known as traditional entrees and don’t change. They’re out there every evening and embrace steak, fish, hen and pasta choices.

We each thought the meals was good in the principle eating rooms, with my good friend even saying her meal in Azura was higher than both of the 2 specialty eating places we went to.

For individuals who need to serve themselves, the Backyard Cafe is the buffet choice and is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Most of it’s indoors, however there’s a separate buffet and seating space exterior known as The Nice Outside, which has a phenomenal view of the ship’s wake.

The meals on the buffet is similar for breakfast every day, however the theme and choices change each day for lunch and dinner.

Exterior, an extra venue serves meals to hungry cruisers. Topsiders Bar & Grill is on the pool deck and is open when the climate is nice. There you may get a sizzling canine or hamburger in addition to crispy fries.

As you may think about, there are numerous choices to get a libation. Not too long ago, NCL modified its drink packages to what it calls Extra at Sea, which incorporates many manufacturers of spirits, beers, seltzers, sodas, wines, cocktails and extra.

Something below $15 is included, and if you need one thing that prices extra, you simply pay the distinction.

What isn’t included within the drink package deal is water (both nonetheless or fizzy) or espresso drinks. Separate packages for these are available for purchase.

My good friend was completely happy that Tito’s was on the included record so she may order it with soda and a splash of cranberry, and I used to be at all times capable of finding one thing I needed to drink, together with my conventional sailaway piña colada and my go-to Aperol spritz.

It was a bit annoying to have to consider costs of drinks once more. I had gotten used to simply upgrading the older packages so I may have something I needed, even high-end water or espresso drinks. There is no such thing as a longer an choice to improve to incorporate all the things.

Bliss Extremely Lounge on deck 7 is the membership on board and was a part of the 2018 overhaul. Along with being a reside music venue, it’s additionally the situation for actions like trivia contests.

Only a brief distance from Bliss, there’s a balcony of types with three bars under, on deck 6. They’re really one linked bar with Magnum’s Champagne & Wine Bar, Maltings Beer & Whiskey Bar and Shakers Martini & Cocktail Bar. A small humidor room is tucked away within the nook.

Spinnaker Lounge is on deck 13 and is the place to bounce. Deck 13 additionally has the Sugarcane Mojito Bar, which, you guessed it, focuses on every kind of mojitos.

Each evening, the cabin steward delivers the Freestyle Day by day flyer to your stateroom. It’s the go-to useful resource when searching for issues to do and locations to do it.

On this cruise, it appeared totally different than it had previously. As a substitute of being full sheets of paper, it was a big trifold. Whereas nicer to hold round with me, its design was not at all times useful.

As a substitute of a each day schedule divided by the hour, the each day schedule is ready up by exercise like “Games and Trivia” or “Music and Dance,” so that you needed to cross-reference the actions you had been concerned about to ensure they did not battle timing-wise.

Additionally, actions listed as highlights weren’t at all times listed once more below their correct class. For instance, trivia in regards to the present “Friends” was listed within the highlights part as taking place at 11:15 a.m. within the Bliss Lounge, nevertheless it was not listed within the “Games and Trivia” part.

I discovered it tough to know what was taking place at any given time, and I actually hope NCL goes again to a chronological schedule.

The app wasn’t any extra useful so far as the schedule was involved, and it wasn’t potential to make the Freestyle Day by day large enough for my growing old eyes to learn clearly.

As soon as I lastly discovered methods to discover out what was happening, I noticed there was lots to do.

Since this was solely a four-night cruise, I had low expectations for the leisure choices.

Every evening the Stardust Theater featured a present, and so they had been entertaining. The acrobats and aerialists had been phenomenal, and most seats within the theater had been full.

A number of bars and lounges additionally had reside music most evenings, which was very good.

For some calm and leisure, deck 12 had a card room and a library, the place many individuals sat and performed video games or simply learn.

One factor that was actually cool was a viewing room of the bridge the place you could possibly see what was taking place with navigation. It had every kind of plaques and mementos from the Jewel’s ports of name through the years.

Exterior, there’s a pool deck with loads of seats surrounding two swimming pools, with one only for adults. There are sunny and shady spots.

Additionally exterior, there’s a basketball court docket, which is also a volleyball or pickleball court docket, a golf driving vary, a jogging observe, a strolling promenade, in addition to video games like shuffleboard and checkers.

The promenade strolling observe was completely coated and considerably shielded from the weather. It went the overall size of the ship, so 1 mile was 2⅔ laps.

For the youngsters, there may be Entourage, a membership only for them with the video arcade proper subsequent to it. There may be an arcade package deal out there for buy.

The Splash Academy is subsequent door with actions for youths ages 3-12.

For the grownup gamblers, there may be the Jewel On line casino on deck 6 with every kind of sights, sounds and smoke. It’s one of many few locations on board the place smoking is allowed.

Considered one of my favourite locations on a ship is the spa. Considered one of my least favourite locations is the fitness center. The Jewel has each.

The Pulse Health Heart is on deck 12, and the cardio tools faces ahead, providing an awesome view to the exercisers. My good friend beloved this whereas operating on the treadmill.

There may be additionally power tools and quite a lot of lessons and workshops.

The health space is near the Mandara Spa & Salon.

Along with the salon, which affords haircuts and extra, the spa affords quite a lot of remedies in addition to a thermal suite, which requires a go. The price varies primarily based on the size of the cruise.

The thermal suite has saunas, steam rooms, thalassotherapy swimming pools and heated benches that face out towards the ocean.

I took benefit of a particular sale I noticed on-line earlier than the cruise and booked a 75-minute Aroma Stone Remedy therapeutic massage at a properly discounted value. I used to be a bit upset I couldn’t use any of the spa facilities just like the locker room despite the fact that I had a therapy booked.

The spa employees was additionally a bit pissed off that its pc system doesn’t interface with the app, so no appointments present up in your each day plan within the app. I knew I had booked and paid for an appointment, however for the reason that app didn’t present it in my plan, I needed to comply with up with the spa.

One grievance is the gross sales pitch for every kind of dear merchandise type of ruined my zen after a pleasant and enjoyable therapy.

Since this cruise concerned just one port cease and that was on NCL’s personal island of Nice Stirrup Cay, I didn’t do any shore excursions.

There have been a number of provided, like swimming with the pigs, zip lining and kayaking.

I admit, I used to be planning to not just like the personal island expertise as a result of in my view, it actually isn’t genuine and doesn’t rely as visiting a rustic.

Seems, I actually loved a calming few hours of placing my toes within the sand and consuming and consuming a bit.

Nice Stirrup Cay is a 270-acre personal island with 1,500 ft of shoreline. There is no such thing as a pier, however there can be one quickly. Plans are to have a pier that may deal with two ships out there by the tip of 2025.

Till there’s a pier, tender boats are the one technique to attain the island. Passengers had been telling me they’ve been on cruises earlier than once they have anchored off the island, nevertheless it was too tough to get off the ship, in order that they canceled the port name and needed to look longingly on the island all day.

Fortunately, that was not the case for us, nevertheless it was a bit rocky getting off the ship and on to the tenders. We anchored at 7 a.m., however my good friend and I had no need to get off the ship that early, so we slept in, had a leisurely breakfast after which acquired off the ship.

After a couple of 10-minute journey, we acquired off the tender and the enjoyable started on the island. There have been indicators displaying us we had arrived in addition to others telling us a bit about what was out there for us to do.

A map, both as an indication or a handout, would have been good to point out us precisely the place issues had been and what choices had been out there.

The very first thing we seen was that the water was a number of attractive shades of blue.

Being on Nice Stirrup Cay was a bit like being on the ship however with water and sand. Drink packages carry over to the island to make use of on the bars, and there are numerous complimentary meals choices, like a taco bar and a buffet.

We loved a number of drinks and a few tacos.

We didn’t do it, nevertheless it’s potential to hire a seashore chair, a clam shell or perhaps a cabana.

For many who actually need to splurge, the unique Silver Cove space has personal villas and its personal facilities. Costs begin at $659 and go as much as $1,429 for a two-bedroom household suite.

By the point we acquired again on the ship, we had been sandy, sun-kissed and relaxed.

Since this was only a four-night cruise, it was over a lot too quickly. After yet one more sea day with nasty climate, we docked again in Tampa.

Perhaps as a result of I used to be simply getting off the ship and getting in my automobile to drive dwelling, I wasn’t too anxious about disembarkation.

I grabbed a baggage tag at visitor companies, however ultimately, I walked off the ship with my suitcase and backpack.

The disembarkation process in Tampa was one of many best I’ve ever skilled.

We would have liked to be out of our cabins by 8 a.m. so we went to have a pleasant breakfast on the Backyard Cafe. Afterward, we scanned our key playing cards one final time and acquired off the ship.

The border management course of within the terminal was all by biometrics, so it went actually quick. Just some minutes after getting off the ship, I used to be strolling throughout the road to the parking storage and my automobile after an awesome and awesomely pointless trip.