Grabbed a late cabin on Friday for the Sat/Sun mini cruise to Amsterdam.

Headed off early Sat and clear run down 2hr dead 130miles arrived 10:30.(motorway most of the way)

First issue DOVER parking has gone up a lot since the last time £31 on the day so this need further research for future cruises out of Dover, late deals don't normaly come with the free parking.

Checkin they have moved security to the front which is good since this means no security queue at boarding, a small(40ish) queue was forming on the regular line but moving quickly plenty of desks, at the Latitudes/VIP/Suites/Special needs desks on ly one deep so we were checked in fairly quickly and proceeded to the lounge to wait

Boarding started around 11:30 and the latitudes/etc got to go first, there were about 250 total waiting by this time.

Bubbly on boarding, we then headed to the cabin to drop the bags(carry on only) and then head to the Azura to check the menu for that night, not that special, so off to the dinning reservations to book cagnies for dinner 6:00pm, planned to eat in the regular dinning room Sun night.

Next down to the main dinning room for lunch now 12:00 6 people in so far. Had the BBQ ribs main as a starter and the Tilapia both very nice.

After lunch we went for a walk around, food samples at the Asian,Bisto,Cagnies, Buffet was getting a bit crazy, they still don't tell people about the dinning room but it is on the freestle daily for those that look.

Popped into cagnies to meet up with some friends that had been upgraded to a courtyard villa, it was packed.

3:30 was muster drill sailaway 4.00, miserable weather so the BBQ was cancelled and the music moved upto Spinnakers but there were still plenty in the Tubs and pool. By now it was clear this was a party cruise loads of young people at least one stag and a couple of hen parties.

Early dinner in cagnies very quiet at 6:00 but by 8:00 when we finished it was packed, definately eat early on these short trips.

Evening entertainment in the theatre
8:00 magician
10:00 a tenor and a soprano
11:30 Lenny Winsor(comedian)

We skipped the first two, Went to Lenny, seen him a few times now and he went down well good audience interaction keeping it fresh.

After the show upto Spinnakers and it was very busy, good atmosphere, on the regular trips this tend to be a bit dead.

Late night, so up at 10:30 B,fast in the Blue lagoon and got us ready for our walk into Amsterdam.

There is a tram stop(25) at the PTA(cruise terminal) so you can get that right through the center and up to the rijks museum (1,60eur) we walked and spent a couple of hours then got the tram back.

Ship was quiet early afternoon caught a snack in the buffet, looks like they had a flood carpet and benches all apart in one section, Martin Robers from "homes under the hammer " was doing a presso so we went to that, mainly promoting his book and property advice company.

The evening meal was the "Surf more Surf"(seafood over linguni) and lamb, hoping for the Lobster tail/Beef wellington, thought about eating somewhere else but decided to go to Azura(smaller main room). Turned up at 6:50 straight in and a great seat right round the side, within another half hour this place was full. Had the lamb which was very good and a plate of the seafood(without the pasta) also very good.

The show that night was Cirque Bijou, one of the best we have seen for a long time.

Followed up with another night in Spinnakers packed again and we had to get to bed around 1:00 work in the morning, but plenty looked like they were there for the night.

They were serving Bfast from 5:30, we got up around 8:00 but had a problem with the bill so needed to get that sorted around 8:50 we went to the main dinning room for B'fast and there was a queue so gave up and came home.

I think they will have been late clearing the ship for the next cruise will be interesting to here the reports.

The Jewel definately had a better feel to it than the Jade(June), I think the transistion of the Jade to the NCL fleet with a lot of new crew is taking longer that one would hope, I did have a chat to one of the senior guys(transfered from the jade) about this and we think the Jade will improve one the crew settle in a bit more.

Great little break although the weather was not good. would not want to be paying full price for these but at £120 for the both of us, in an inside, fantastic value. I see some cabins came up for the Jade 2n barcelona but flights are a bit high for that one.

Next year I think they are mainly doing 3n short cruises so something to look out for but before then we need to sort out our winter cruise.

(ok not such a mini review)