NCL Cruises, Norwegian Jewel, Baltic

We were on the NCL Norwegian Jewel Baltic Cruise 17th May, this was our second cruise with NCL overall it was very good. The ports of call were all interesting and with the exception of Russia we could do our own thing leaving the ship and walking to town hence saving on expensive excursions. (note NCL told us that Estonia did not take Euros this is false you can use Euros ) for information you can use Euros and Dollors in every port. The Ship... Overall impression was good the staff were all very helpful we were always met with a smile and a hello. The mini suite was spacious and catered well for our needs all be it the steward did not know how to use a duster, he let the side down a little. Food was good and plentyful no need for surcharge restaurants. We also found it a pain the everlasting pushing for people to spend money on bingo ect. We found the shows on board excellant the only problem was that the show started at eight and the doors were not closed so people kept coming in late interupting everyone veiw while finding seats in the dark. Some of the passagers had a stomach bug which seem to be quite bad although we escaped it, we felt the staff dealt with the situation very well, they made sure every one sanitized there hands all over the ship and the Garden Cafe went from self service to the staff serving guests, we even watched the staff sanitize all the excursion buses before anyone left the ship. Well Done NCL. We feel the service charge of 10$ a day per person is over the top but for anyones information you can go to reception on the last day at sea and reduce this although they do not like it, (we did and gave our own tips.)