Just back from Jewel of the Seas!

Hi everyone! Just returned today from 6 night western carribbean sailing on Jewel of the Seas. We had a really great time and if i could answer any questions, please ask. We had 3 cabins( 2 balcony and 1 triple inside ) on deck 9 for our group of 7 which included 3 teenagers, 2 twenty somethings and us 40 somethings! The Jewel is a beautiful ship with a wonderful staff. The food and entertainment were excellent. Missing it already!

Please just tell me everything :) Where were your cabins & what type? What did you do on shore? How old were your teenagers (our DS's will be 15 & 20 when we cruise). Did they enjoy it?

We did the 6 night in November. The Jewel was an awesome ship, and the service was terrific. Did you meet a bartender named Jamie in the scooner bar or the safari lounge? He was the best, knew our names and preferences right away, made us feel at home.

Our cabins were D1's 9626 and 9636. Our younger 16 yr old daughter and 2 friends had the inside cabin 9619 just down the hall from us. On Cozumel, we did the Playa Mia beach break which everyone enjoyed. Very clean and well run. We rented jet skis, the kids swam, climbed the iceberg, used the water trampoline,etc. A great day all around. On Grand Cayman, we went on the Cockatoo catamaran excursion to swim with the sting rays and it was awesome! The crew was wonderful-they made us all feel very comfortable in the water so we could all experience the stingrays. Probably the most memorable excursion we have ever done. Key West and Costa Maya we just walked off the ship, shopped and took in the sights.

Erie Dave- Our favorite bar was the Schooner Bar! The two bartenders there made the best cocktails on board but I don't remember their names.

Say hello to Jolly Joseph from table 505!

We are leaving on the Jewel on March 6th. I am anxious to know about the water temperature. How was it when you went on the stringray excursion? Was it warm enough to forego a wetsuit? I get cold easily and want to be able to enjoy the experience without shivering! Thanks for sharing your experiences!

We were also on this cruise and agree that it was a great vacation. There were a number of children on board, (about 500) and from what I saw were certainly as well behaved as the adults. The ports were enjoyable and offered great choices for doing nothing or action packed adventure. We especially enjoyed seeing Costa Maya, realizing that the open and undeveloped area around it will certainly quickly change and appreciated the chane to see it before development sets in. The water is magnificant there. We found the food to be good in the dining room, never awful but not really great but we certainly all ate all of our dinners each evemning without comlpaint. Our last night we ate in Portofino's and the food was excellent. My only complaint/disappointment was the quality of our waiters in the dining room was not up to our previous experiences and it made each dinner somewhat disjointed and lacked an easy flow to the meal. We were on a 12 day Brilliance cruise in 2003 and the difference was quite notable but it certainly was not sufficient to make us not enjoy our week. My husband and son both wore tuxes both formal nights but I would say that at most only 25% of other men did. Most wore suits or sportscoats and I really didn't notice anyone inappropriately dressed.

Erie Dave- Our favorite bar was the Schooner Bar! The two bartenders there made the best cocktails on board but I don't remember their names.

One of the bartenders in the Schooners name was Rad. We called him Darko because he liked Darko Milicic of the Detroit Pistons. We had a great time in the Schooner.

Luiz at Schooner's was the best! He made the best cosmo on board by far. He even gave us a free round on our last night :)

Our dining room staff were excellent - Elvis and Michelle (assistant). We also had the most animated Head Waiter I've ever had though his name escapes me right now. They made a great team. They are onboard until May I believe.

We are just back from Rhapsody of the Seas, and saw Jewel in Grand Cayman - what a beautiful ship. We hope to sail on her someday (maybe she will come to Galveston - well at least we Texans can hope).

Hey , we were on the catamaran with you! It was the best! I just watched the dvd yesterday and smiled the whole time!!

It's nice to see all of these good reviews about the Jewel!

In response to the water temperature in Grand Cayman: it was very warm and comfortable and I also get cold easily. I can't imagine the need for a wet suit even on a cloudy day. I hope you enjoy the trip as much as we did. Another post mentioned some disappointment with their dining room waiters on our same cuise: our wait staff was excellent and very accommodating. We also found the food to be much better than on our previous cruises. I wish we were still onboard- it's snowing pretty heavily outside as I type!

Well, we were in GC on 2/10 on the JOS Western Caribbean sailing. We took the Stingray City Swim and Snorkel tour through RCI. The water was a little on the cool side which didn't bother me (I grew up swimming in Pittsburgh and the water was positively warm to me). But DW who is prone to being cold was chilly the whole time. She was shivering for most of the excursion, but she enjoyed herself.

We will probably get her a wet-suit top or a swim top (LL Bean has one that we will probably look at for her) that we can bring. So, YMMV.

Thanks for the info about water temp. I will probably bring a wet suit top, at least, so that I'm sure to be warm enough. Only 5 more days until we leave. It will be great to be out of the snow!

On our MOS sailing January 16, 2005 we followed a cold front through our western itinerary. In Grand Cayman the air/wind was cool, but, the water was wonderful on our Stingray excursion. I tend to get very cold quite easily around my upper arms and shoulders, but, as long as I kept them below water I was quite comfortable.

We also returned from being on the Jewel of the Seas sailing 2/20/05 and it was a very enjoyable trip. We ended up hanging in the Pit Stop which is the Sports bar. Mariano was our bartender and he was wonderful. I traveled with 2 other woman and I had the best time in my life. Many laughs! There were no complaints about the food but there were alot of children under 18 as well as just 18 year olds. We were told there were 450 children under 18. They did not bother us at all. We did the horseback riding in Costa Maya through http://www.costamayacruiseexcusions.com which was a great time and we also had booked the beach party there but decided not to go since it was very small beach, very crowded, and it did not seem to have too many lounge chairs. The actual island seemed to need a beach cleanup day. We used Nativeway for the sting ray excursion in grand Cayman and it was great. We were on a boat with another family and that was all. We went to Nachi Cocum in Cozumel and that was a great day. I brought my raft and ended up in the swimming pool with a book and a cocktail. In key West we did our own Bar Crawl and enjoyed ourselves immensely.

Leaving on 3/20, can't wait!! We are in 8580 balcony just ahead of the

hump, I have booked Capt MArvin in Grand Caymen to do the string ray/

snorkel adventure and we will probaly do Paradize Beach in Cozumel, any

other must do excursions?? How was the shopping?? I heard sterling silver

is a great buy there,

Coolpopp - We'll be there on 3/20, too. Can't wait.