Miss Vickie

How do you compare the two ships since you've sailed both. From pictures only, the Jewel doesn't look as elegant as the Summit. It does have some different southern ports so that's why we are considering it.

 

We only sail aft on Summit but unfortunately the jewels aft cabins are not triples. We have a child so have to rule those out.

Please understand that we sailed on Summit before her refurb, and at the time Serenade was the Radiance class ship sailing out of San Juan. We love Serenade, have sailed her 8 times. We chose Summit for that particular cruise for the itinerary. At the time Royal wasn't going to either Dominica or Bonaire, and we really wanted to go to those ports. We are active, and were mid-50's when we sailed Summit. Interestingly, we felt like we were among the younger people on board. The ships are the same size, they are actually the same hull, built out differently, and it's a ship size we really like.

At the time we found that Summit was not any more elegant than either Serenade, or Jewel, and was not as well maintained (again, that was before the refurb). We didn't find the food or service spectacular. We actually prefer the service on any Royal ship we've sailed. We get aft cabins. We found that on Summit they divided the square footage, which is overall the same on both Summit and Radiance class ships, differently, with less space in the cabin and more on the balcony. The aft balconies are huge - plenty of room for 2 chairs, 2 loungers and a table, with space for more chairs and room to walk around, and that's on Serenade or Jewel. It doesn't need the additional square footage we found on Summit. Celebrity had just gone non-smoking on the balconies, but our deck 9 cabin was directly beneath the open air cigar/smoking area, and we found trash and ashes out there all the time, and it always smelled of cigars. My husband was a smoker at the time and it even bothered him. We didn't find much to do in the evening on Summit, and we aren't partiers. We didn't sit through a single show - walked out of every one. My husband said the casino was empty quite early every night. The capper was our final day aboard. Like many of Jewel's itineraries, the final day was a sea day. We had a concierge class cabin. The cabin steward started clearing out our amenities early afternoon on the sea day. The glass bowl the fruit was in disappeared. The flowers disappeared, but the vase with the dirty water remained. Th umbrella, land leather notepad and pen disappeared. The binoculars disappeared. It felt like they were afraid we'd pack it all and take it with us, like they were saying "we're done with you, time to get ready for the next people." We've never felt like that on Royal. Overall, the service was more formal, the shows and activities felt like they didn't have much energy.

We loved the itinerary. We had elite captain's club status, and although the perks have been upgrade since then, we enjoyed them. It is the one cruise where we've been invited to dine at the Captain's table (dined with the Hotel Manager). We loved the itinerary.

We do prefer Royal, but will probably look at Celebrity after our already-booked 2016 cruise, to see what itineraries they are offering.

Has the Jewel been updated with the flat screen tv's yet?

 

Is there an outdoor bar area with music or a guitar player? The Summit has an aft sunset bar if anyone's familiar with that ship.

 

Cabin 7094. A centrum elevator cabin with large balcony. Will there be lounge chairs out there? What about a full sized table?

 

Thanks.

There's a pool band near the pool, but thankfully no music on the aft at the Windjammer. We had an aft cabin on Summit, deck 9, directly below the guy with the Band in a Box machine and it drove us a little nuts. We get aft cabins on Jewel, and not having the soundtrack suits us just fine!

Our aft cabin always has 2 lounge chairs. We had the comparable cabin to yours on Serenade once, but on deck 10, and had 2 lounge chairs, as well. The balcony tables on Serenade and Jewel have not been full-size. On Summit, yes, on Jewel, no.

That us probably an IT issue where they have had system issues

Should be right now

 

 

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Most definitely. I am an administrator for a large Cisco VoIP phone system. We had the same issue once or twice. Gotta love modern technology.

Sounds like you'll be fine and have a great time.

I agree about the elevators. I've been in hotels in Jerusalem that have "Shabbos elevators." They're programmed to open at every floor so no buttons have to be pushed.

I had another interesting thought, don't know the answer. If power goes out, the vacuum system for the toilets doesn't work. So, if there's electricity involved, can they flush the toilet on Shabbat?

Are they booking an outside or balcony stateroom to ensure light on Shabbat?

Printingchick, are you Jewish? If so, your friend can't ask you to carry their sea pass, trigger the doors to the outside areas,or open their stateroom door. On Shabbat.

Any of the excursions offered by adventureantigua.com!

The snorkeling from Dragon Bay is a fairly new thing Mandoo is offering (essentially subcontracting) and so can not comment on the boat, the equipment, whether they guide you or leave you to it, the standard of what they offer etc. It would be great to get a review once you have been :o

 

Please do be sure to ask if they are including the US$1 Marine Protected Area wrist band in the price as you need to wear one when snorkeling( US$2 - diving the park). Any operators not giving you a band is working against the current regulations and last thing we would want is the wardens swooping down on you.

I'll definitely report back. We know it's a subcontract situation, and we're okay with that. We carry our own gear, so provided equipment isn't a concern, nor is having a guide. If one is offered, fine, but not necessary. We're expecting to have a good experience. Thanks for the heads up on the wristband - I'll make sure we get them.

We always use Mandoo (4 times in the past), and this coming January he's arranging a snorkeling trip to the underwater sculpture garden for us.

We've done tours with Bumpiing 4 times, and have a fifth booked for this coming January. Needless to say, we always have a great time!

Since the Jewel hasn't yet gone into its major drydock, sounds like there's a good/bad tradeoff - still have the Seaview, but don't have wifi in cabins. Has anyone cruised in one of the Deck 10 aft cabins directly below the Windjammer and had any luck getting wifi on their balconies? We'll hope for the best, but make do if it doesn't work out that way!

We cruise in aft cabins, deck 10, could not get any wifi on our balcony. I din't think the windjammer has any wifi antennas.

We did get it at some ports, but not while on the ship - had to go to nearby bars for wifi.

Our favorite ship congrats, have a great trip!

Our favorite ship congrats, have a great trip!

Check out Javin's Myislandtours.com. It's active, I've had a great time last time we did it and will be touring with Javin again this January.

1) Highest room available on our sail date is a junior suite. (everything else sold out) Any feedback on size & location?

 

Traveling with wife, a 6 year old and infant.

 

 

2) Kids Pool, is it open to all kids at all times with the parents, or just for use while in Ocean Adventure, based on ship layout it seems connected to AO area.

 

3) How's motion? I know it's a very personal question. But in general I found Nordic Empress, Monarch, etc to rock much more than Freedom & Oasis. I know people say the wind can wreak havoc on the bigger ships, but minus one rocky eastern route on Allure, I've found the bigger ships to be better.

 

4) Solarium open? I'll be sailing in the caribbean from new orleans for spring break... heat and humidity city! Does the Solarium roof open, or is it fixed closed?

 

 

5) Any feedback from families with young kids who have done Radiance class... we've only taken our kids on the big ships.

If you can get the JS that is deck 10 aft, you'll have a huge balcony, plenty of room for your family. And room for a blow up infant pool (don't empty it over the edge of your balcony, though, the people below you on deck 9 probably

Won't appreciate it ;) ).

The kids pool is available all the time, but swim diapers aren't allowed, children have to be toilet trained. There is no splash zone that allows diapers.

We've done 12 Radiance class sailings, no issues with too much motion. We've sailed Empress, Monarch and Rhapsody on similar itineraries. Empress bobbed like a cork, the others were more stable, not surprisingly.

Although the solarium roof is allegedly retractable, we've never seen it open.

I found my answer - Chef Trevino has 3 Condado restaurants, Budatai, El Barril and Bar Girano, all within walking distance of La Concha.

If you're looking for something upscale, I can recommend Pikayo in the Condado Plaza Hilton. The chef is local, and well known outside of PR. They have (or at least had) two different chef tasting menus - one standard and one PR focused. My wife and I each picked one, then shared each course. Fabulous.

 

Another good one is Budatai. It's a great restaurant for Asian fusion, but if you're looking for PR style cuisine, this is not the place. There are some hints to PR cuisine, but it's more of a PR twist to Asian cuisine.

 

Finally, our go-to restaurant when we're in SJ is Ropa Vieja. Not as upscale as Pikayo or Budatai, but the food is excellent and they have a good, and reasonable, wine list. While it's lower key than the other two places, it's still a very nice place, and you would not feel uncomfortable there dressed up if you were so inclined. And it's definitely PR focused.

 

All of these places are just down Ashford from La Concha.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Tom

Isn't Pikayo the same chef as Budatai? We've eaten at both Budatai and Ropa Vieja, and enjoy both. Budatai is right across the street from La Concha. We need to try Pikayo.

No shots are necessary for a Caribbean cruise.

This sounds like a store my husband and I would love to go to. We try and buy local things that we can us for Christmas decorations on our "travel" tree, or a hand-made Christmas ornament will do also. Is this in the old town? Also can we get a taxi from the pier just to take us to the old town and drop us off so we can wander around on our own and not have to do a tour? Thanks so much for everyone's help.

It would definitely have stuff you'll love. It is in Old San Juan, and it should be easy to find a taxi at the pier to take you into OSJ. It's a wonderful city to wander around in and there are some good published walking tours - check Frommer or Fodors. You can likely arrange to meet the taxi driver who drops you off at a specific time to take you back to the pier. However, if you're docked at the Old San Juan pier, you won't need a taxi. Everything is in walking distance. If you're at the Pan Am Pier you will need the taxi.

We've stayed at both the Condado Plaza (once, won on Priceline) and the Doubletree (twice). The Condado Plaza was fine, especially for the price we paid ($95 plus resort fee). We really like the Doubletree. If you book far enough in advance they have a very good pre-pay rate. The only reason we are not staying there again this coming January is that they've changed their policy to require a two-night stay over the weekend during the time period we'll be there.

We sailed with Capt Kathleen on Highpockets this past January and had a wonderful day. We had sailed with her several years ago and this second time was every bit as good as the first.

I forget the name of the beach, but it's past Darkwood. Cab ride takes about 30-40 minutes, and again, I don't remember how much it was. The restaurant and beach are beautiful and relaxing, the food is delicious, well worth it.

Last time I was in Old San Juan, a friend took me to a store that sold only merchandise that was made in Puerto Rico. I would love to find that store again, but do not remember the name or location. It had art, Christmas ornaments and miscellaneous hand-made items. Is anyone familiar with it?

Puerto Rican Arts on Forteleza. I love that shop!

We're booked on JW for 1/24 and 1/31/15. If you book for that timeframe jump over to our roll call and say hi!

We book ours starting a year out, but virtually always go with private excursions, never Rccl's.