Day 6, 7 and disembarkation on day 8

Day 6 – Second Day at Sea

I left the door to the balcony slightly open in order to take in a bit of sea breeze while sleeping buy the time I woke up in the morning the wind had kicked up quite a bit, signaling of course that we were actually on our way up North.

I slowly washed up and got dressed and by 11:00 we walked over to the Java cafe where I had an Cappuccino Aroma and started to catch up on writing about this trip.

Noon meant that it was time to have lunch at our favorite spot, Tsars. Vietnamese Summer Rolls and Portobello mushrooms for me again along with Shrimp Caesar salad.

Next up was an interview with Captain Lars Bergstrom. I’ll be posting that soon. Captain Lars is a very pleasant welcoming personality and the kind of person one looks forward to meeting again. So it was nice to have the chance to get to know a little more about him.

We had a table near the window that evening in Tsars and we could see that the waves were quite high! It was fascinating to watch and was indicative of what we would see the next day as we continued sailing along the Atlantic coast.

Food rave: And as much as I love, love, love creme brulee, there is a Pecan Pie adorned with chocolate Ice Cream in Tsars Dining Room that will make you smile for days. It’s delicious times 2 and worth trying when it’s on the menu.

Day 7 – Third Day at Sea

Another late morning, ah how I love those. The ship was moving quite a bit now, thankfully neither of us are really effected by sea sickness, here and there I’ll feel a little off, albeit nothing major. JP the Magician shared a tip and that’s to put some sugar under your tongue and suck on it. Sure enough it seems to work for motion sickness.

We went to the buffet for lunch and said hello to Felix Esprit the Restaurant manager on the Jewel and Angelito Santos the Executive Chef. Both of them have done a great job because the food style and flavor of the meals that we had on board was very good and simply delicious. There’s a Tilapia meal that I’m looking forward to tasting again the next time I’m on board when Chef Santos is there. One of the reasons his style of food prep ranks high with me is that I feel fish and seafood in general should be well done. I don’t want to have to send it back and ask to have it cooked further. If it’s juicy on the inside I’m not going to touch it. The fish dishes on the ship always had the right touch of moisture and were easy to eat and flavorful just as I like it. If only all places made seafood in this fashion.

Felix was very kind and treated my sweetie and I to dinner wherever we chose that evening. Since Le Bistro is my husband’s favorite I went with that one. We had a chance to have some of our favorite dishes twice as a treat from NCL, first from my Platinum Latitudes status and the second from Felix. What a nice happening on vacation! Thank you Felix!

After we dined we went to the question and answer session with Brenda Kaye the Hypnotist, Jean-Pierre Parent the Magician and Comedian and the acrobatic couple Celia & Julien.

Right after the Q&A I sat down with JP to do an interview with him for my travel blog. It was interesting, insightful and of course funny! If you haven’t already looked at it, you can check it out here.

About an hour after that we went to Stardust theater for the Officer Profile, it was then moved to Spinnaker Lounge before starting so we went upstairs 6 flights (yes we walked, staircase climbing was out major exercise for the week.) and made our way to the front with cameras ready. Captain Lars Bergstrom, Hotel Director Hugo Vanosmael, and newly appointed Chief Engineer Tihomer Hirdalo. The Chief Engineer for our sailing was Terje Bjerkan from Norway but he was not at the profile.

Afterward Captain Lars was nice enough to take photos with the crowd that swarmed him for photos after. It was pretty cute, there were a lot of young kids that were thrilled with the chance to have a picture with the man that runs the ship.

It was my chance to grab a photo with Hotel Director Hugo Vanosmael. I’d heard a lot of good things about him on the Cruise Critic board and they are true. He’s a very approachable HD.

After the officer Q&A in Spinnaker lounge we decided to stay so that I could take photos with Cosmo and Wanda from the Fairly Odd Parents. Yes I was the only big person standing there for a photo that didn’t have a little person with me. :p

That evening we said our goodbyes to Rocelle our lovely room steward from the Philippines. A kind personality and a friendly disposition we really enjoyed meeting and getting to know her. Hopefully we’ll see each other again on a future voyage.

Day 8 – Disembarkation Morning

After a week of fun, sun, food, and people it was time to go. Never easy to leave a place of comfort and entertainment we nevertheless woke up finished packing and left stateroom 10520. It was a nice comfortable room that we’ll miss having. We’d originally booked a room in a different category grade, but were very nicely upgraded into the balcony room. Thanks Norwegian Cruise Line!

Since Hurricane Sandy still effects Pier 88, the immigration process getting off the ship was basically taken care of on the ship. We waited about 35 minutes on this line before being able to see one of the 3 immigration officers on board. Probably a bit shorter than what the wait would have been outside, and thankfully in the warmth. I would recommend that different color tags are called spaced apart a bit more to prevent the congestion, but in the end there would be a long line anyway either on or off the ship, and I can only imagine how much tougher it must be for the crew to prep for the next wave of passengers when hundreds of us are still on the ship, so kudos to them for all of their hard work.

We’ve nothing but good things to say and great memories of our end of the year cruise on the Jewel and are happy to have had a chance to cruise on her again after a year and a half. We’re Looking forward to cruise number for on her…perhaps this year.

 All photos and written material copyright @TravelXena.com 2012