VERY LONG Trip Report: Just back from Jewel 13 Night Baltics/Russia Sailing

This is meant to be a full (good and bad!) trip report. I'm sure I'll get flamed for being too detailed on some points, but this was our honest impression of the cruise, as compared to other Royal and Celebrity sailings we've had.

Background:

We recently returned from the 27 June 2008 sailing of Jewel of the Seas departing from Harwich, England. This was my fourth cruise (having previously sailed Celebrity Summit—Alaska June 2003; Royal Caribbean Vision—Mexico April 2004; and, Celebrity Galaxy—Mediterranean June 2005) and my wife’s third.

Reservations & pre-cruise

We made our reservations through Continental Cruises (National Leisure Group) to take advantage of the 10,000 Continental OnePass bonus miles offer. We originally booked an E3 balcony; however do to multiple price drops and the offering of the balcony guarantee, we ultimately changed our reservation three times, finally settling with the balcony guarantee. I was very pleased with both National Leisure Group and Royal Caribbean for allowing us to take advantage of the price drops and the ease in which this was done.

The only negative situation with our pre-cruise reservations was when the cruise line began offering “immersion cruises.” As you can imagine, rumors of these cruises spread like wildfire throughout the internet sites (especially CruiseCritic) and were further fueled by the ignorance of your own customer service personnel (at one point I was told that “Scandanavian” would be spoken on-board and euros would be the currency used – which was funny since Scandanvian isn’t a language and euros were only accepted in one of the many ports). I recognize that you can’t read into everything you read on the internet, but simple questions were answered incorrectly by your own customer service personnel which caused the situation to only get worse and concerned many people unnecessarily.

Arrival

Our arrival went very smoothly. We utilized the transfer bus service from the Victoria Coach Station and were quickly on our way. Upon arrival at the pier, we were quickly through the check-in lines and onboard the ship. Compared to past cruises we have taken, this was probably the quickest check-in experience. Due to the timing of the transfers, we didn’t arrive until the late afternoon, so I was expecting much longer lines. As noted previously, I had purchased the Grand Romance Package as a surprise for my wife. I was very disappointed to find that when we entered the room only the flowers and robes had been delivered (keep in mind that it was already 4:00 PM at this point). The champagne was ultimately delivered in the evening after I complained to Guest Relations. While on the subject of the Grand Romance Package, it is also worth noting that while we did receive the pre-dinner canapés on the first formal night, they were not delivered in time on the second formal night so we were unable to enjoy them. If the cruise line is going to offer packages such as these, I think its very important for them to ensure that all of the items are delivered prior to the guests arrival, especially the bigger ticket items such as arrival champagne.

The Ship

Our first impressions of the Jewel of the Seas were very favorable. It appeared to be a very large ship with a lot of glass and open areas. The furnishings and trimmings were all in good condition. That being said, after 13 nights on board, I actually began to find that the ship was slightly cramped. Tables were pushed very close together in the lounges and the ship didn’t have the feel of some of the other ships I had been on. All things considered though, I did like the ship a lot and found it very manageable to get around.

Our Cabin

Our cabin was excellent. We reserved a “balcony guarantee” room and were assigned to the forward starboard side on the 9th floor. The room was slightly smaller than rooms I’ve had on other ships, but the spacious balcony made up for the rooms size. We particularly enjoyed the view directly into the extension of the bridge, seeing the activities going on as we departed many of the ports. This was the first balcony room we’ve ever had and we will not ever be able to go back to a standard ocean view room.

While on the subject of the cabin, I would be remiss if I did not personally compliment our cabin steward, Robert. Having now been on 4 cruises, I can say with certainty that he was the best cabin steward that I’ve experienced. I found Robert to be very friendly and personable and he performed his duties diligently, with a “yes” attitude no matter what. He assisted me with some significant dry cleaning and laundering, took care of our room requests and kept our cabin in great order throughout the cruise. We’re not the neatest of people and often ate breakfast in our room, which probably didn’t make for the easiest situation for him, but he clearly rose to the occasion and I feel he deserves our compliments. In addition to the standard/recommended gratuity amount, we included an extra amount to recognize his performance.

The Itinerary

I think the itinerary was excellent. As noted previously, my wife and I are American expatriates living in London for two years. During this time, we are trying to see as much of Europe as possible and this cruise was a perfect opportunity to continue on this quest. The time spent at the Scandanavian ports was perfect as one day was generally sufficient to see these cities. Disembarkation and embarkation at every port, including St. Petersburg were handled very well and despite having private/independent tours in St. Petersburg, we were able to be amongst the first people off the ship.

Our favorite port was Stockholm, while our least favorite port was Klaipeda.

Shore Excursions

We originally purchased three shore excursions (Klaipeda—Nuclear Missile Silo; Talinn—Country Biking; and Stockholm—Waterways); however do to our disappointment with the first two excursions, we elected to cancel the Stockholm one. For St. Petersburg and Oslo, we hired independent tour operators, and for Copenhagen, Stockholm and Helsinki we toured independently.

Nuclear Missile Silo

Overall, we enjoyed this tour but were very disappointed that the description of the tour did not match the actual tour. On the way we made a stop at a lake that was not included in the description of the tour. The lake can be summed up as just a lake—there was really no significance to it, other than to kill some time. We did enjoy the missile silo as this was well worth seeing, but I really think the cruise line should ensure the description of tours actually matches the tours themselves.

Country Biking

This was the tour that caused us to cancel our subsequent tours. The “country biking” took us through a residential neighborhood (hardly countryside as described), which was followed by a waste of three hours in an open-air museum. We then had a walking tour of Old Town that started with an hour break to “do your own thing.” We ultimately ditched the tour at this point as we felt we had wasted too much time already so I can’t comment further on the walking tour component.

After seeing the difference in quality of the independent tours (especially St. Petersburg, where we used Alla Tours), I would probably not recommend people use the cruise line excursions going forward as they are price prohibitive and the service received was simply sub-par.

Dining (see below)

Main Restaurant

On the first night of the cruise, we were assigned to second seating, table number 572, a table for 10, despite having booked early and requesting a table for 4-6. Immediately upon boarding, we put in a request with the dining room for a table change but were told it was unlikely. We proceeded to complain with Guest Relations, again being told that it was unlikely, so we attended our originally assigned table on the first night. We were 8 people at a table for 10 and while we did get along with the other guests, we were not thrilled with the situation. The main waitress was not very good (although we didn’t really have a chance to get to know her) but the assistant waiter was excellent and we wished we could have taken the assistant waiter with us to our new table.

During the 2nd day, we were notified that our table had been successfully moved to second seating, table number 481, a table for 4, along one of the port windows. We were very pleased with the location of this table. Unfortunately, this table was next to a very large (15+ people) table of guests who were extremely demanding of our waiter (Dragos) and assistant waiter (Royston). On the whole, I feel Dragos, who was clearly an experienced waiter, did a decent job with managing the table; however we were disappointed that it appeared to us the other table always came first to him. This disappointment was magnified when we realized how demanding (for example calling Dragos over while he was taking our order!) they were (we were rather easy going) and how much more wine we were drinking than them (they really weren’t having anything, except for small flasks they smuggled on which they mixed with lemondates!). Unfortunately, do to their demandings, Royston spent most of his time assisting them. Dragos compensated this by taking on both roles at times (the mark of an experienced waiter), but unfortunately the head waiter (Ronaldo) never really offered any assistance (even one time telling Royston to fill our wine when he was clearly busy!). Dragos was very friendly and with some reservation we did give him an extra tip at the end. To help the situation, he arranged for a shrimp cocktail and cheese plate to be delivered every night, which gave us some food while he was helping the other table. Royston was also very friendly and nice enough, but we never really got to spend much time with him due to the other table. We were disappointed with Ronaldo though as we felt he could have pitched in. Dragos requested an additional assistant waiter on a few occasions, which helped, but Ronaldo really did nothing. I would have loved to avoid tipping him, but using the prepaid gratuities, we couldn’t figure out how. We felt as if he was a used car salesman, always asking how things were but not really caring about our answer. He also just didn’t do anything to help us, which was frustrating as I observed him fill others wine, etc.

Overall, the experience in the dining room was mixed. The food was decent and the service, when it was delivered, was excellent, but we always felt we were second to the other table. After ordering 2-4 bottles of wine per night (including some expensive varieties) we though we deserved better service, but we do not fault our waiter or assistant waiter—they were clearly busy enough. I think the fault on this rests with the head waiter.

Chops

We ate at Chops on the night before St. Petersburg to attempt to retire early for our arrival. The dinner was excellent and service most attentive. Our waiter was extremely friendly and personable and delivered a top notch service.

Portofino

Following our good experience at Chops, we decided to give Portofino a try. Similar to Chops, the food was excellent and the service was great. The service wasn’t as strong as the “parade of side orders” at Chops, but it was nonetheless really good. We would definitely dine at both of these specialty restaurants again in the future. At Portofino, we also really appreciated, after spending about $100 on wine for each couple, that the waiter provided us a free bottle of dessert wine to say thank you. This was our first (and only) buy-back on the cruise and it made us feel very appreciated.

Windjammer

We generally utilized the Windjammer for breakfast (when we didn’t get room service), lunch on occasion and a late afternoon snack. Overall, the food was actually very good for buffet food and the variety was good as well. The biggest issue we had with the Windjammer was the drinks station. It was organized poorly and the staff there didn’t have the best attitude. On some mornings, when my wife asked for lemonade, they would prepare her a glass, while other mornings when she asked, they would say it was for lunch only. This was such a simple (and inexpensive) request and it disappointed us that it was such a challenge on a daily basis.

Room Service

I think it’s very important to separate room service into three categories—breakfast, midday and late night as the service we received varied considerably between these times. We utilized room service breakfast about 50% of the days on board and were extremely pleased with the quality and punctuality of this service. Similarly, on a few occasions, we ordered a midday snack and the service was very quick and food very good. That being said, late night room service was simply unacceptable. On the first night of the cruise, from a friends cabin, we placed an order around 01:00AM. It did not arrive until nearly 03:00AM. Throughout multiple phone calls, we were told, “its on its way,” a blatant lie, and on one call were hung up on deliberately when we requested a supervisor. We filed a complaint with guest services and received an apology letter, but subsequent room service experiences were really no better. On the final day of the cruise, I had the distinct pleasure of speaking with the Hotel Director when room service refused to deliver to us if we were not in our room and she indicated to me that there were a lot of “Latino’s” on board who utilized the late night services. Frankly, I’m not sure how that’s even an appropriate excuse, but it shouldn’t have impacted my service either.

Solarium

We were very disappointed with the food service in the Solarium. While I do not recall the specific night of the cruise of this incident, I did file a formal complaint surrounding the opening hours of the Solarium café. Late one evening, while the ships clocks still read 12:50 AM, we arrived at the Solarium to be told it was closed and our only option was the pizza that was remaining (which consisted of a few nasty looking slices, including one that had green beans on it!). I asked why they were closed, given that the cruise compass indicated they were open until 01:00 AM, and was told they could close whenever they wanted to. A few other couples came up (still prior to 01:00 AM) and were turned away (as we had taken the last of the few remaining slices). This experience, combined with our room service late night experiences described above, were very disappointing to us.

Seaview Café

We were very pleased with the Seaview Café, often eating lunch, a late afternoon or nighttime snack there. The service was very quick and the staff members very friendly. We did have two minor negative experiences at the Seaview Café—the first was late in the cruise we were told that we could not take any of the food out for take away (not sure the logic behind this) and the second was that the Gumbo menu item was never available throughout the journey. Going forward, I would suggest that if you do not have something available that you clearly indicate this rather than saying every day “we’re sorry, we don’t have that today,” as it was clear it was just not available at all.

Activities Staff

Interestingly, we specifically chose to do this cruise on Royal Caribbean as our past experience had been that Royal Caribbean had better activities than Celebrity; however our experience on this cruise was that the activities and activities staff were simply poor. We acknowledge that the climate prohibited many of the outdoor activities that traditionally would be held, but there did not appear to be anything to compensate for this. Trivia, was held on a two to three times a day basis, but this gets old after a while, especially on a 13 night cruise when the best prize you can win is a key chain (or in our case, a bingo ticket that could only be used if we paid for bingo!). Rodrigo and Lisandro, who held trivia did a decent job with it, but there’s only so much you can do with the same activity over and over again. Karaoke was limited to a contest that caused many people to not participate, including my entire party. Michelle, who hosted Karaoke was very upbeat and did a decent job with the poorly designed activity she was given, but that only could go so far. It was so bad at times do to a lack of people willing to participate in the contest, that Michelle had to sing herself! What made that frustrating is many people said they’d be willing to sing outside of the contest. While the standard activities such as Quest and the Love & Marriage game show were good, this was about it. The Cruise Director was good in these shows, but we didn’t really see him hosting any other activities. We did not care for the activities manager as she often only hung around the cruise director, so it didn’t appear she was doing much of anything.

My biggest complaint is the abysmal prizes that get awarded in the activities. I don’t expect bottles of champagne, but after winning trivia multiple times and winning the Quest, a free drink (especially considering our bar tab!) or something more than a key chain, backpack or bingo coupon that required money to use would have been appreciated.

Entertainment

Overall, we were very disappointed with the onboard entertainment on this cruise. We only ended up attending three of the shows, being more and more disappointed each time. We felt that while the onboard dancers were actually pretty good, the singers, especially the main male vocalist was horrible. This caused many of the productions to look cheap and we ultimately decided to avoid attending them.

Other entertainment options were limited. Many of the acts were jazz, oldies or other aged non-traditional musical acts while the disco was overwhelmed with Latin music events. Additionally, most of the entertainers were not very strong, which we found in stark contrast to other cruises we’ve been on. There were many nights where a full bar (i.e. after a game show) would completely empty after a few minutes of the new entertainer.

One bright spot in the entertainment space was the pianist, Will Bailey. We found ourselves spending many nights in the Schooner Bar to listen to and participate in Will’s act. He was very personable and very good at getting the audience involved. Because of this many people stayed for his entire show and others joined night after night. Will knew how to play to the crowd and made for some very enjoyable evenings. I trust if you compare the bar receipts in the Schooner when Will was playing to the other entertainment venues, you will find that his receipts easily outperform the others (where most acts had the effect of emptying full rooms!).

BarStaff

The barstaff/service on this cruise seemed somewhat aggressive, but we did want to quickly call out two positive performers—Danielle (from Brazil), who often served us in the Schooner and Safari clubs and the main bartender in the Schooner bar (I didn’t get his name unfortunately). They were very attentive, friendly, non-aggressive and so wherever possible, we tried to give them as much of our business as we could.

Make a wish

We were very happy to see Royal Caribbean’s participation with the Make a Wish foundation on board and participated in the onboard auction, ultimately winning the Galley Tour with the Executive Chef, which we enjoyed very much. One major complaint I have regarding this auction and the tour was the number of freeloaders on the tour. When we won, we asked whether our friends could join us and were told we won the tour for one couple only, so our friends put up a donation as well and were invited to join the tour. However, on the tour, we overheard many people say how many of their friends, tablemates, etc. they invited which was very clear from the numbers attending the tour. Let me be very clear in saying I do not want any money back—I was very happy to make my donation as were our friends; however I do seriously think you should review the tapes and bill the freeloaders on this particular tour as their behaviour and your facilitation of this behaviour was despicable in light of the great charity you were trying to support.

I also would like to suggest you consider other auctionable items in the future that I think would have generated significant more interest than the items you had. For example, diamond or diamond plus status would have resulted in significant bids as would have dinner with the captain, etc.

The SPA

My wife & I have become very big fans of Spa treatments over the pass few years since our honeymoon and quickly signed up for treatments on board. I received a massage and my wife a facial. While the actual services were okay (I stress simply “okay”), we were really put off by the attempts at up-selling us. I was quickly pushed into a deep tissue massage (which I turned down) for extra money and they attempted to sell my wife over $400 in facial products that she “desperately needed,” according to her therapist. As a result of this, we elected not to return to the Spa on this cruise and will seriously reconsider whether we will ever use the onboard Spa services again. What should have been a relaxing environment was quickly changed into a high-pressure sales pitch.

Next Cruise

Throughout the cruise, we attempted to meet with the Loyalty Ambassador to plan our next Royal Caribbean vacation. Unfortunately she was generally always busy, so later in the cruise, we tried, on three occasions to make an appointment. Ironically, despite listening to Bobby Brown, the Cruise Director, make announcements saying appointments were available; we were turned away at every occasion. We finally were very vocal on the last evening with the Loyalty Ambassador and she replied by saying “I’ve been here all cruise” and that we should have seen her then. She finally gave us the form for the Next Cruise program and we signed up (although I sometimes wonder why). My wife and I are very brand loyal people. All of our cruises have been on Celebrity or Royal. We’re frequent travelers and very loyal there too—we both are elite members with Continental and Starwood. I have to say this exchange with the Loyalty Ambassador makes wonder why we would want to continue being loyal to Royal.

Complaints

As noted in the background, this was meant to be a “trip report” and as a result contains both good and bad experiences we encountered. That being said, there were certain negative situations that seriously impacted our enjoyment of the cruise and we felt should be called out separately.

1) Quality of late night dining

The quality of non-dining room late night dining was atrocious. I refer you to the Solarium and room service incidents I mentioned previously. Having the Second Seating for dining, we found that if we enjoyed the evening in the lounges, had a few drinks and wanted a snack, there was often no where to turn to after 1:00 AM (especially when you consider our room service experiences).

I would highly recommend you consider a better 24 hour food option, even if its simple food (we were thinking nachos and salsa or pretzel type snacks). Room service should also have KPI or other metrics to ensure that service is top notch. We were not of the opinion that a full buffet needs to be available, just something small would have made a world of difference.

2) “Yes Attitude”

As compared to my past Celebrity cruises, where “yes” was the most currently uttered phrase for weird requests, on this cruise, “no” seemed more appropriate. Whether it was the request for lemonade at breakfast or our request to have room service delivered to a lounge when no dining options were opened, we were told “no” in too many situations. What we found most annoying was this attitude went all the way to the top. When complaining on a public house phone and asking for a dining manager (which was refused), the Hotel Director passed by overhearing my conversation and offered to talk with me. Unfortunately, rather than getting solutions, I was met only with excuses of why they couldn’t do things.

3) Recognition & Guest Services

I felt recognition of people, whether it be for status in Crown & Anchor (I think they said there were only 800 returning guests), total spend on the cruise or simple complaints was poor or lacking. When we complained about the Solarium incident I previously mentioned, we received a letter apologizing for room service failures (not sure how they were related!). With the exception of Portofino, where we received a free dessert wine, we did not receive one buy-back the entire cruise (which when you consider our bar tab, that’s pretty sad). Finally, while we’re only Gold members in Crown & Anchor, we were only met with hostility when trying to book our next cruise.

I think that recognition on the whole needs to be revamped. I do not understand why Celebrity and Royal can’t merge their two programs (and Azamara for that matter). If you want to promote loyalty to your company this seems like a simple fix. Secondly, when guests spend a lot of money and are complaining about something, fix it—don’t send an apology that has nothing to do with the actual complaint and, rather than apologizing, fix the situation (for example, give us someone we can call when we want room service who will ensure its delivered on time).

4) Next Cruise

This one incident, described above, above all others lead me to seriously wonder why I am patronizing your company. Here we were trying to spend money and we were basically pushed aside and treated like garbage. Let me be very clear here—as loyal as I might be and as much as we’re trying to be loyal to your company and its affiliates, if I am ever treated like this again I will switch to Princess and her affiliates.

5) Dress Code

I personally really enjoy getting dressed up on a cruise; however the act of getting formally dressed will disappear if the dress codes aren’t enforced. On formal night we observed a family in t-shirts and jeans allowed into the dining room and other nights were no better. If you’re going to publish a dress code, you need to enforce it—no jacket, no entry. There are enough alternative arrangements for people that aren’t dressed properly. On a similar note, on one formal night a family that was not dressed appropriately had their son watching a cartoon on a portable DVD player without headphones (with the volume on). I asked the head waiter about it and was told there was nothing he could do.

6) Curfew

There was a disproportionate number of children (mainly teens) on this cruise and they seemed to run around the cruise all over the place. Events that were listed as 18+ or Adults only (such as Quest and Karaoke) were attended and participated in by teenagers. The curfew of 1:00 AM did not appear to be enforced and frankly I think it was too late anyway. We observed teenagers riding up and down the elevators, putting their feet on people’s seats in the sports bar late at night, throwing things overboard, etc. I realize you’re not responsible for their behavior but you certainly had the means to correct it.

Thank you for your review. I found it to be comprehensive and well written if not a little subjective which reviews are IMHO.

We will be on Jewel Baltics in 6 weeks and have taken note of your comments.

We have spoken to Will on-line and we are anxious to experience him in the Schooner.

We would appreciate your thoughts on your Alla Tour as we have a 2 day tour booked with them. Thanks, Sheila.

WOW! Thanks for such a comprehensive review. I'm sorry to hear of so many negative experiences and would like to offer my two-cents on just a couple of your points.

First - I completely agree with you about the issue of lack of room service and snack availability. I'm disappointed that the large table dining next to you was so demanding, the head waiter most certainly should have stepped up to assist the situation so that EVERY table got comparable service.

Second - I also agree with you about the Spa. I HATE having a good experience with my chosen service to only feel pressured to buy some over-priced products that I really don't need. I have also been made to feel that my skin will simply fall off if I don't get these products on right away! Silly, really. The one point I'd like to mention about the spa, in case you didn't already know this, is that they are a separate entity from the cruise line. I know this sounds odd, but the staff of the spa are under different types of contracts, unlike the other service staff. I think of it like the casinos, kind of a smaller business under the larger umbrella of the cruise line.

Third - I have never done this cruise, but I tend to agree with you about the entertainment options. I don't care one way or the other because I can always find something to do on the ships, but I do feel like the entertainment has been diminished in recent years by meteoricre (sp?) performers.

Fourth - I believe, as you do, about the dress code and curfews. They should most certainly be enforced. If you don't want to dress up on formal nights, fine go to the Windjammer. I don't believe everyone else's experience should be diminished by crudely dressed people who cannot appreciate the historical elegance of cruising. Also, kids running rough-shot around the ship without supervision is plainly unacceptable. I say this as a parent of a very outgoing teenage son who would like nothing more than to be left alone to do whatever he wants. But uh, no. I enforce not only the ships curfew on him but on evenings where we have an early port call insist that he's in the cabin no later than midnight. I also have no problem saying something to the other kids that are mis-behaving around me. Too many parents just let their kids do whatever they want while onboard because they figure, where could they possibly go? Teenagers will find a way to get into trouble if left to their own devices and without guidance and rules. The cruise line could easily kick them out of venues where they don't belong and IMHO should.

Last - With regards to your experience with the "No" attitude versus the "yes" one that you had exerienced on past cruises. This is simply unacceptable given the cost of cruising or any travel these days. We had similar experiences with poor service and poor attitudes a couple of years ago aboard the Norwegian Jewel and subsequently will NEVER again cruise with NCL. However, we have only had positive experences with Royal Caribbean, but I understand your feelings and appreciate that you are willing to continue cruising with RCI at least one more time. I firmly believe that customer service attitude is conveyed from the top down and if you were getting lackluster comments or solutions from the hotel director or other "higher-ups" then it only stands to reason that that attitude is conveyed down to their subordinates. It's a sad state when that happens.

So, sorry my response has been so long, but I wanted to say thanks and let you know that your work in posting such a comprehensive review was not in vain and that I whole-heartedly agree with many of your very valid points.

Hope you enjoy your future travels!

Make a wish

I also would like to suggest you consider other auctionable items in the future that I think would have generated significant more interest than the items you had. For example, diamond or diamond plus status would have resulted in significant bids as would have dinner with the captain, etc.

There would be lots of upset cruisers if someone could just fork over a check for a couple of grand to become a D/D+ Cruiser. I, for one, believe that this status should only be earned by ones loyalty.

What other auction items did they have??

I think your review is one of the best yet. Very detailed. I also think it is nice that you voiced your own opinion, which really adds to the review.

Make sure you put this under the review section for the Jewel of the Seas.

Hopefully you will cruise again with RCCL.

This is meant to be a full (good and bad!) trip report. I'm sure I'll get flamed for being too detailed on some points, but this was our honest impression of the cruise, as compared to other Royal and Celebrity sailings we've had.

 

Background:

We recently returned from the 27 June 2008 sailing of Jewel of the Seas departing from Harwich, England. This was my fourth cruise (having previously sailed Celebrity Summit—Alaska June 2003; Royal Caribbean Vision—Mexico April 2004; and, Celebrity Galaxy—Mediterranean June 2005) and my wife’s third.

 

Reservations & pre-cruise

We made our reservations through Continental Cruises (National Leisure Group) to take advantage of the 10,000 Continental OnePass bonus miles offer. We originally booked an E3 balcony; however do to multiple price drops and the offering of the balcony guarantee, we ultimately changed our reservation three times, finally settling with the balcony guarantee. I was very pleased with both National Leisure Group and Royal Caribbean for allowing us to take advantage of the price drops and the ease in which this was done.

 

The only negative situation with our pre-cruise reservations was when the cruise line began offering “immersion cruises.” As you can imagine, rumors of these cruises spread like wildfire throughout the internet sites (especially CruiseCritic) and were further fueled by the ignorance of your own customer service personnel (at one point I was told that “Scandanavian” would be spoken on-board and euros would be the currency used – which was funny since Scandanvian isn’t a language and euros were only accepted in one of the many ports). I recognize that you can’t read into everything you read on the internet, but simple questions were answered incorrectly by your own customer service personnel which caused the situation to only get worse and concerned many people unnecessarily.

 

Arrival

Our arrival went very smoothly. We utilized the transfer bus service from the Victoria Coach Station and were quickly on our way. Upon arrival at the pier, we were quickly through the check-in lines and onboard the ship. Compared to past cruises we have taken, this was probably the quickest check-in experience. Due to the timing of the transfers, we didn’t arrive until the late afternoon, so I was expecting much longer lines. As noted previously, I had purchased the Grand Romance Package as a surprise for my wife. I was very disappointed to find that when we entered the room only the flowers and robes had been delivered (keep in mind that it was already 4:00 PM at this point). The champagne was ultimately delivered in the evening after I complained to Guest Relations. While on the subject of the Grand Romance Package, it is also worth noting that while we did receive the pre-dinner canapés on the first formal night, they were not delivered in time on the second formal night so we were unable to enjoy them. If the cruise line is going to offer packages such as these, I think its very important for them to ensure that all of the items are delivered prior to the guests arrival, especially the bigger ticket items such as arrival champagne.

 

 

 

The Ship

Our first impressions of the Jewel of the Seas were very favorable. It appeared to be a very large ship with a lot of glass and open areas. The furnishings and trimmings were all in good condition. That being said, after 13 nights on board, I actually began to find that the ship was slightly cramped. Tables were pushed very close together in the lounges and the ship didn’t have the feel of some of the other ships I had been on. All things considered though, I did like the ship a lot and found it very manageable to get around.

 

Our Cabin

Our cabin was excellent. We reserved a “balcony guarantee” room and were assigned to the forward starboard side on the 9th floor. The room was slightly smaller than rooms I’ve had on other ships, but the spacious balcony made up for the rooms size. We particularly enjoyed the view directly into the extension of the bridge, seeing the activities going on as we departed many of the ports. This was the first balcony room we’ve ever had and we will not ever be able to go back to a standard ocean view room.

 

While on the subject of the cabin, I would be remiss if I did not personally compliment our cabin steward, Robert. Having now been on 4 cruises, I can say with certainty that he was the best cabin steward that I’ve experienced. I found Robert to be very friendly and personable and he performed his duties diligently, with a “yes” attitude no matter what. He assisted me with some significant dry cleaning and laundering, took care of our room requests and kept our cabin in great order throughout the cruise. We’re not the neatest of people and often ate breakfast in our room, which probably didn’t make for the easiest situation for him, but he clearly rose to the occasion and I feel he deserves our compliments. In addition to the standard/recommended gratuity amount, we included an extra amount to recognize his performance.

 

The Itinerary

I think the itinerary was excellent. As noted previously, my wife and I are American expatriates living in London for two years. During this time, we are trying to see as much of Europe as possible and this cruise was a perfect opportunity to continue on this quest. The time spent at the Scandanavian ports was perfect as one day was generally sufficient to see these cities. Disembarkation and embarkation at every port, including St. Petersburg were handled very well and despite having private/independent tours in St. Petersburg, we were able to be amongst the first people off the ship.

 

Our favorite port was Stockholm, while our least favorite port was Klaipeda.

 

Shore Excursions

We originally purchased three shore excursions (Klaipeda—Nuclear Missile Silo; Talinn—Country Biking; and Stockholm—Waterways); however do to our disappointment with the first two excursions, we elected to cancel the Stockholm one. For St. Petersburg and Oslo, we hired independent tour operators, and for Copenhagen, Stockholm and Helsinki we toured independently.

 

Nuclear Missile Silo

Overall, we enjoyed this tour but were very disappointed that the description of the tour did not match the actual tour. On the way we made a stop at a lake that was not included in the description of the tour. The lake can be summed up as just a lake—there was really no significance to it, other than to kill some time. We did enjoy the missile silo as this was well worth seeing, but I really think the cruise line should ensure the description of tours actually matches the tours themselves.

 

Country Biking

This was the tour that caused us to cancel our subsequent tours. The “country biking” took us through a residential neighborhood (hardly countryside as described), which was followed by a waste of three hours in an open-air museum. We then had a walking tour of Old Town that started with an hour break to “do your own thing.” We ultimately ditched the tour at this point as we felt we had wasted too much time already so I can’t comment further on the walking tour component.

 

After seeing the difference in quality of the independent tours (especially St. Petersburg, where we used Alla Tours), I would probably not recommend people use the cruise line excursions going forward as they are price prohibitive and the service received was simply sub-par.

 

Dining (see below)

 

Main Restaurant

On the first night of the cruise, we were assigned to second seating, table number 572, a table for 10, despite having booked early and requesting a table for 4-6. Immediately upon boarding, we put in a request with the dining room for a table change but were told it was unlikely. We proceeded to complain with Guest Relations, again being told that it was unlikely, so we attended our originally assigned table on the first night. We were 8 people at a table for 10 and while we did get along with the other guests, we were not thrilled with the situation. The main waitress was not very good (although we didn’t really have a chance to get to know her) but the assistant waiter was excellent and we wished we could have taken the assistant waiter with us to our new table.

 

During the 2nd day, we were notified that our table had been successfully moved to second seating, table number 481, a table for 4, along one of the port windows. We were very pleased with the location of this table. Unfortunately, this table was next to a very large (15+ people) table of guests who were extremely demanding of our waiter (Dragos) and assistant waiter (Royston). On the whole, I feel Dragos, who was clearly an experienced waiter, did a decent job with managing the table; however we were disappointed that it appeared to us the other table always came first to him. This disappointment was magnified when we realized how demanding (for example calling Dragos over while he was taking our order!) they were (we were rather easy going) and how much more wine we were drinking than them (they really weren’t having anything, except for small flasks they smuggled on which they mixed with lemondates!). Unfortunately, do to their demandings, Royston spent most of his time assisting them. Dragos compensated this by taking on both roles at times (the mark of an experienced waiter), but unfortunately the head waiter (Ronaldo) never really offered any assistance (even one time telling Royston to fill our wine when he was clearly busy!). Dragos was very friendly and with some reservation we did give him an extra tip at the end. To help the situation, he arranged for a shrimp cocktail and cheese plate to be delivered every night, which gave us some food while he was helping the other table. Royston was also very friendly and nice enough, but we never really got to spend much time with him due to the other table. We were disappointed with Ronaldo though as we felt he could have pitched in. Dragos requested an additional assistant waiter on a few occasions, which helped, but Ronaldo really did nothing. I would have loved to avoid tipping him, but using the prepaid gratuities, we couldn’t figure out how. We felt as if he was a used car salesman, always asking how things were but not really caring about our answer. He also just didn’t do anything to help us, which was frustrating as I observed him fill others wine, etc.

 

Overall, the experience in the dining room was mixed. The food was decent and the service, when it was delivered, was excellent, but we always felt we were second to the other table. After ordering 2-4 bottles of wine per night (including some expensive varieties) we though we deserved better service, but we do not fault our waiter or assistant waiter—they were clearly busy enough. I think the fault on this rests with the head waiter.

 

Chops

We ate at Chops on the night before St. Petersburg to attempt to retire early for our arrival. The dinner was excellent and service most attentive. Our waiter was extremely friendly and personable and delivered a top notch service.

 

Portofino

Following our good experience at Chops, we decided to give Portofino a try. Similar to Chops, the food was excellent and the service was great. The service wasn’t as strong as the “parade of side orders” at Chops, but it was nonetheless really good. We would definitely dine at both of these specialty restaurants again in the future. At Portofino, we also really appreciated, after spending about $100 on wine for each couple, that the waiter provided us a free bottle of dessert wine to say thank you. This was our first (and only) buy-back on the cruise and it made us feel very appreciated.

 

Windjammer

We generally utilized the Windjammer for breakfast (when we didn’t get room service), lunch on occasion and a late afternoon snack. Overall, the food was actually very good for buffet food and the variety was good as well. The biggest issue we had with the Windjammer was the drinks station. It was organized poorly and the staff there didn’t have the best attitude. On some mornings, when my wife asked for lemonade, they would prepare her a glass, while other mornings when she asked, they would say it was for lunch only. This was such a simple (and inexpensive) request and it disappointed us that it was such a challenge on a daily basis.

 

Room Service

I think it’s very important to separate room service into three categories—breakfast, midday and late night as the service we received varied considerably between these times. We utilized room service breakfast about 50% of the days on board and were extremely pleased with the quality and punctuality of this service. Similarly, on a few occasions, we ordered a midday snack and the service was very quick and food very good. That being said, late night room service was simply unacceptable. On the first night of the cruise, from a friends cabin, we placed an order around 01:00AM. It did not arrive until nearly 03:00AM. Throughout multiple phone calls, we were told, “its on its way,” a blatant lie, and on one call were hung up on deliberately when we requested a supervisor. We filed a complaint with guest services and received an apology letter, but subsequent room service experiences were really no better. On the final day of the cruise, I had the distinct pleasure of speaking with the Hotel Director when room service refused to deliver to us if we were not in our room and she indicated to me that there were a lot of “Latino’s” on board who utilized the late night services. Frankly, I’m not sure how that’s even an appropriate excuse, but it shouldn’t have impacted my service either.

 

Solarium

We were very disappointed with the food service in the Solarium. While I do not recall the specific night of the cruise of this incident, I did file a formal complaint surrounding the opening hours of the Solarium café. Late one evening, while the ships clocks still read 12:50 AM, we arrived at the Solarium to be told it was closed and our only option was the pizza that was remaining (which consisted of a few nasty looking slices, including one that had green beans on it!). I asked why they were closed, given that the cruise compass indicated they were open until 01:00 AM, and was told they could close whenever they wanted to. A few other couples came up (still prior to 01:00 AM) and were turned away (as we had taken the last of the few remaining slices). This experience, combined with our room service late night experiences described above, were very disappointing to us.

 

Seaview Café

We were very pleased with the Seaview Café, often eating lunch, a late afternoon or nighttime snack there. The service was very quick and the staff members very friendly. We did have two minor negative experiences at the Seaview Café—the first was late in the cruise we were told that we could not take any of the food out for take away (not sure the logic behind this) and the second was that the Gumbo menu item was never available throughout the journey. Going forward, I would suggest that if you do not have something available that you clearly indicate this rather than saying every day “we’re sorry, we don’t have that today,” as it was clear it was just not available at all.

 

 

 

Activities Staff

Interestingly, we specifically chose to do this cruise on Royal Caribbean as our past experience had been that Royal Caribbean had better activities than Celebrity; however our experience on this cruise was that the activities and activities staff were simply poor. We acknowledge that the climate prohibited many of the outdoor activities that traditionally would be held, but there did not appear to be anything to compensate for this. Trivia, was held on a two to three times a day basis, but this gets old after a while, especially on a 13 night cruise when the best prize you can win is a key chain (or in our case, a bingo ticket that could only be used if we paid for bingo!). Rodrigo and Lisandro, who held trivia did a decent job with it, but there’s only so much you can do with the same activity over and over again. Karaoke was limited to a contest that caused many people to not participate, including my entire party. Michelle, who hosted Karaoke was very upbeat and did a decent job with the poorly designed activity she was given, but that only could go so far. It was so bad at times do to a lack of people willing to participate in the contest, that Michelle had to sing herself! What made that frustrating is many people said they’d be willing to sing outside of the contest. While the standard activities such as Quest and the Love & Marriage game show were good, this was about it. The Cruise Director was good in these shows, but we didn’t really see him hosting any other activities. We did not care for the activities manager as she often only hung around the cruise director, so it didn’t appear she was doing much of anything.

 

My biggest complaint is the abysmal prizes that get awarded in the activities. I don’t expect bottles of champagne, but after winning trivia multiple times and winning the Quest, a free drink (especially considering our bar tab!) or something more than a key chain, backpack or bingo coupon that required money to use would have been appreciated.

 

Entertainment

Overall, we were very disappointed with the onboard entertainment on this cruise. We only ended up attending three of the shows, being more and more disappointed each time. We felt that while the onboard dancers were actually pretty good, the singers, especially the main male vocalist was horrible. This caused many of the productions to look cheap and we ultimately decided to avoid attending them.

 

Other entertainment options were limited. Many of the acts were jazz, oldies or other aged non-traditional musical acts while the disco was overwhelmed with Latin music events. Additionally, most of the entertainers were not very strong, which we found in stark contrast to other cruises we’ve been on. There were many nights where a full bar (i.e. after a game show) would completely empty after a few minutes of the new entertainer.

 

One bright spot in the entertainment space was the pianist, Will Bailey. We found ourselves spending many nights in the Schooner Bar to listen to and participate in Will’s act. He was very personable and very good at getting the audience involved. Because of this many people stayed for his entire show and others joined night after night. Will knew how to play to the crowd and made for some very enjoyable evenings. I trust if you compare the bar receipts in the Schooner when Will was playing to the other entertainment venues, you will find that his receipts easily outperform the others (where most acts had the effect of emptying full rooms!).

 

BarStaff

The barstaff/service on this cruise seemed somewhat aggressive, but we did want to quickly call out two positive performers—Danielle (from Brazil), who often served us in the Schooner and Safari clubs and the main bartender in the Schooner bar (I didn’t get his name unfortunately). They were very attentive, friendly, non-aggressive and so wherever possible, we tried to give them as much of our business as we could.

 

Make a wish

We were very happy to see Royal Caribbean’s participation with the Make a Wish foundation on board and participated in the onboard auction, ultimately winning the Galley Tour with the Executive Chef, which we enjoyed very much. One major complaint I have regarding this auction and the tour was the number of freeloaders on the tour. When we won, we asked whether our friends could join us and were told we won the tour for one couple only, so our friends put up a donation as well and were invited to join the tour. However, on the tour, we overheard many people say how many of their friends, tablemates, etc. they invited which was very clear from the numbers attending the tour. Let me be very clear in saying I do not want any money back—I was very happy to make my donation as were our friends; however I do seriously think you should review the tapes and bill the freeloaders on this particular tour as their behaviour and your facilitation of this behaviour was despicable in light of the great charity you were trying to support.

 

I also would like to suggest you consider other auctionable items in the future that I think would have generated significant more interest than the items you had. For example, diamond or diamond plus status would have resulted in significant bids as would have dinner with the captain, etc.

 

The SPA

My wife & I have become very big fans of Spa treatments over the pass few years since our honeymoon and quickly signed up for treatments on board. I received a massage and my wife a facial. While the actual services were okay (I stress simply “okay”), we were really put off by the attempts at up-selling us. I was quickly pushed into a deep tissue massage (which I turned down) for extra money and they attempted to sell my wife over $400 in facial products that she “desperately needed,” according to her therapist. As a result of this, we elected not to return to the Spa on this cruise and will seriously reconsider whether we will ever use the onboard Spa services again. What should have been a relaxing environment was quickly changed into a high-pressure sales pitch.

 

Next Cruise

Throughout the cruise, we attempted to meet with the Loyalty Ambassador to plan our next Royal Caribbean vacation. Unfortunately she was generally always busy, so later in the cruise, we tried, on three occasions to make an appointment. Ironically, despite listening to Bobby Brown, the Cruise Director, make announcements saying appointments were available; we were turned away at every occasion. We finally were very vocal on the last evening with the Loyalty Ambassador and she replied by saying “I’ve been here all cruise” and that we should have seen her then. She finally gave us the form for the Next Cruise program and we signed up (although I sometimes wonder why). My wife and I are very brand loyal people. All of our cruises have been on Celebrity or Royal. We’re frequent travelers and very loyal there too—we both are elite members with Continental and Starwood. I have to say this exchange with the Loyalty Ambassador makes wonder why we would want to continue being loyal to Royal.

 

Complaints

As noted in the background, this was meant to be a “trip report” and as a result contains both good and bad experiences we encountered. That being said, there were certain negative situations that seriously impacted our enjoyment of the cruise and we felt should be called out separately.

 

1) Quality of late night dining

 

The quality of non-dining room late night dining was atrocious. I refer you to the Solarium and room service incidents I mentioned previously. Having the Second Seating for dining, we found that if we enjoyed the evening in the lounges, had a few drinks and wanted a snack, there was often no where to turn to after 1:00 AM (especially when you consider our room service experiences).

 

I would highly recommend you consider a better 24 hour food option, even if its simple food (we were thinking nachos and salsa or pretzel type snacks). Room service should also have KPI or other metrics to ensure that service is top notch. We were not of the opinion that a full buffet needs to be available, just something small would have made a world of difference.

 

2) “Yes Attitude”

 

As compared to my past Celebrity cruises, where “yes” was the most currently uttered phrase for weird requests, on this cruise, “no” seemed more appropriate. Whether it was the request for lemonade at breakfast or our request to have room service delivered to a lounge when no dining options were opened, we were told “no” in too many situations. What we found most annoying was this attitude went all the way to the top. When complaining on a public house phone and asking for a dining manager (which was refused), the Hotel Director passed by overhearing my conversation and offered to talk with me. Unfortunately, rather than getting solutions, I was met only with excuses of why they couldn’t do things.

 

 

 

 

 

3) Recognition & Guest Services

 

I felt recognition of people, whether it be for status in Crown & Anchor (I think they said there were only 800 returning guests), total spend on the cruise or simple complaints was poor or lacking. When we complained about the Solarium incident I previously mentioned, we received a letter apologizing for room service failures (not sure how they were related!). With the exception of Portofino, where we received a free dessert wine, we did not receive one buy-back the entire cruise (which when you consider our bar tab, that’s pretty sad). Finally, while we’re only Gold members in Crown & Anchor, we were only met with hostility when trying to book our next cruise.

 

I think that recognition on the whole needs to be revamped. I do not understand why Celebrity and Royal can’t merge their two programs (and Azamara for that matter). If you want to promote loyalty to your company this seems like a simple fix. Secondly, when guests spend a lot of money and are complaining about something, fix it—don’t send an apology that has nothing to do with the actual complaint and, rather than apologizing, fix the situation (for example, give us someone we can call when we want room service who will ensure its delivered on time).

 

4) Next Cruise

 

This one incident, described above, above all others lead me to seriously wonder why I am patronizing your company. Here we were trying to spend money and we were basically pushed aside and treated like garbage. Let me be very clear here—as loyal as I might be and as much as we’re trying to be loyal to your company and its affiliates, if I am ever treated like this again I will switch to Princess and her affiliates.

 

5) Dress Code

 

I personally really enjoy getting dressed up on a cruise; however the act of getting formally dressed will disappear if the dress codes aren’t enforced. On formal night we observed a family in t-shirts and jeans allowed into the dining room and other nights were no better. If you’re going to publish a dress code, you need to enforce it—no jacket, no entry. There are enough alternative arrangements for people that aren’t dressed properly. On a similar note, on one formal night a family that was not dressed appropriately had their son watching a cartoon on a portable DVD player without headphones (with the volume on). I asked the head waiter about it and was told there was nothing he could do.

 

6) Curfew

 

There was a disproportionate number of children (mainly teens) on this cruise and they seemed to run around the cruise all over the place. Events that were listed as 18+ or Adults only (such as Quest and Karaoke) were attended and participated in by teenagers. The curfew of 1:00 AM did not appear to be enforced and frankly I think it was too late anyway. We observed teenagers riding up and down the elevators, putting their feet on people’s seats in the sports bar late at night, throwing things overboard, etc. I realize you’re not responsible for their behavior but you certainly had the means to correct it.

May i ask who the activities directer was and the CD? We were on for the Trans A and wonder if many of the staff were the same?

Very detailed report, thanks.

Can I ask one question? Are you intending to send a copy of this to RCCL as in a couple of places you write as if you are addressing the company? Hope you cruise RCCL again and it goes well next time.

Thank you for your review. I found it to be comprehensive and well written if not a little subjective which reviews are IMHO.

We will be on Jewel Baltics in 6 weeks and have taken note of your comments.

We have spoken to Will on-line and we are anxious to experience him in the Schooner.

We would appreciate your thoughts on your Alla Tour as we have a 2 day tour booked with them. Thanks, Sheila.

We thought Alla was great. Our guide was Elena. Her english was excellent and she was very informative. Not sure if you'll have the same experience, but we found that she had *connections* of some type because we literally cut every line (i.e. the long line at the Hermitage, the lines for the Hydrofoil, etc.) and people seemed to get out of her way! She does try to keep you to the timetable you commit to (as they arrange early entrances to museums and stuff so its important to stay on track).

I hope this helps!

There would be lots of upset cruisers if someone could just fork over a check for a couple of grand to become a D/D+ Cruiser. I, for one, believe that this status should only be earned by ones loyalty.

 

What other auction items did they have??

 

I think your review is one of the best yet. Very detailed. I also think it is nice that you voiced your own opinion, which really adds to the review.

Make sure you put this under the review section for the Jewel of the Seas.

 

Hopefully you will cruise again with RCCL.

Thanks. We'll still give them another shot--even on this cruise, we still had a pretty good time, just found a few more disappointments than in the past.

For the auction, they had a variety of items--dinner with the engineer, bridge tour, massages, other onboard items, being able to sit in the captain's chair, blowing the horn as the ship departs, throwing the CD in the pool. There were ten items in total. Most of the items went for $500-$1,000, and a few in the $150-250 range. For the tours, they generally took the top 5 bidders and had everyone pay the same amount (i.e. I was the highest bidder on the galley tour around $200, but they sold it to about 5 people for $150 each).

On the diamond/diamond plus, I sort of agree with you, but if they gave one couple status, it really wouldn't harm anyone. I mean if they cruise a lot, they'll get the benefits early, but will eventually earn them anyway and if they don't cruise a lot, it wouldn't impact anyone at all. That being said, I do also understand where you're coming from.

May i ask who the activities directer was and the CD? We were on for the Trans A and wonder if many of the staff were the same?

Becky was the activities director and Bobby Brown was the CD. Becky was the CD's wife.

Did you have the same? What did you think? Bobby noted this was his second to last cruise at the meet & mingle.

We were with you on this Cruise and concur with most of your comments, where we shared experiences. We are D+ and so have some experience of RCCL, in my opinion you suffered from the general "Dumbing Down" which is taking place across the RCCL fleet and possibly across other Lines as well.

The Dining room menu and food is not a patch on what it was, all the "alternative" choices have gone, as have the attractive coloured menu cards. Our # 1 waiter was awful. willing but untrained, his helper was excellent !!!

The Conciege and her waiter Theodore were a credit to RCCL but the Loyalty/Future Cruises Ambasador, "Inge" was NOT. If you weren't booking another cruise she seemed not to want to help in any way.

Hopefully Independance will be a little better in November.

Luv

Cy:)

Very detailed report, thanks.

 

Can I ask one question? Are you intending to send a copy of this to RCCL as in a couple of places you write as if you are addressing the company? Hope you cruise RCCL again and it goes well next time.

Thanks. Yes, this was actually excerpted from the letter we're sending. I tried to edit it so it would read more like a review, but got lazy!

Thanks Tara for replying. We had Elena with Alla Tours last year. We had a wonderful tour too.

Hope you get a reply to your letter.

Thanks. Yes, this was actually excerpted from the letter we're sending. I tried to edit it so it would read more like a review, but got lazy!

Wonderful review. Very fair, IMO.

Get used to the sloppy dress in the MDR. It is slowly turning into a floating diner as the specialty restaurants gain popularity and the dumbing down of the food surely reflects that. Don't look for RCI to actually enforce their own dress rules.:( It appears as if they don't care who sails as long as they pay their bills.

Thanks so much for your comprehensive review.

We were on the same cruise and it was our first time with RC. I am in total agreement with a lot of your complaints.

Shore excursions: We did 3 of the RC excursions and 2 were not really what had been advertised. The stress seemed to be on making sure there was a lot of shopping time but not necessarily enough time to see the sight that you had booked to see.

We opted for the My Time dining and although the tables were really crammed in, the staff was great.

I agree with the comments about entertainment and activities. The shows on the whole were awful (especially the RC singers) and activities were dull or non existent. The duo groups were no better than lounge lizards.

My biggest disappointment however was with Inga the future cruise rep. We also had trouble seeing her . We had waited until onboard to specifically book a 14 N Celebrity cruise for our 20th anniversary and get the onboard credits. She was very chatty and kept trying to show us a view of the Royal Suite we were booking.Ok fine, . We asked for the deposit to be put on our onboard account CC. No problem she said. We thought all was booked and done. On arrival home there is an email from a Celebrity rep saying our booking is cancelled because we did not pay the down payment buy the due date. Inga only booked the cruise but did not charge the down payment as we had asked. So now we are out the $300 onboard credit and have decided that we will do something else for our anniversary.

I doubt we will try RCCL again.

Although we loved the itinerary and the ports, and mostly enjoyed the cruise,we will try other lines and go back to our old standby Disney Cruise Line.

 

The only negative situation with our pre-cruise reservations was when the cruise line began offering “immersion cruises.” As you can imagine, rumors of these cruises spread like wildfire throughout the internet sites (especially CruiseCritic) and were further fueled by the ignorance of your own customer service personnel (at one point I was told that “Scandanavian” would be spoken on-board and euros would be the currency used – which was funny since Scandanvian isn’t a language and euros were only accepted in one of the many ports).

This is hilarious.

Thanks for your great review; I'd like to sail this cruise one day.

So, you complained twice to guest relations (about your table assignment and the delivery of the romance package), filed two "formal" complaints about the room service and the solarium cafe hours, and became "very vocal" with the loyalty ambassador? There really aren't that many people in management on the ship, and they must talk to each other. Did it occur to you that very shortly into your cruise you became "that guy" with the cruise staff, and they stopped taking you seriously? And when you say "very vocal" it sounds to me like you yelled at the loyalty ambassador - certainly not the way to make her (or him) want to help you out.

Also, I'm not sure why you think your wine consumption should have guaranteed you better dining room service. Sure, it stinks when your waiter is distracted by another table (I've experienced this myself), but perhaps your ordering two to four bottles of wine for dinner every night just caused the waiter more work - he doesn't get a tip calculated on how much wine you drink.

As for "buy backs", you will most likely find these at your regular local bar if you tip well, and not on a short vacation where the bar is owned by a huge corporation that most certainly monitors the sales of alcohol closely enough to get a bartender in trouble if they try to comp you. I have never, ever been comped a drink on RC, and I can't imagine that I ever will be.

So' date=' you complained twice to guest relations (about your table assignment and the delivery of the romance package), filed two "formal" complaints about the room service and the solarium cafe hours, and became "very vocal" with the loyalty ambassador? There really aren't that many people in management on the ship, and they must talk to each other. Did it occur to you that very shortly into your cruise you became "that guy" with the cruise staff, and they stopped taking you seriously? And when you say "very vocal" it sounds to me like you yelled at the loyalty ambassador - certainly not the way to make her (or him) want to help you out.

 

Also, I'm not sure why you think your wine consumption should have guaranteed you better dining room service. Sure, it stinks when your waiter is distracted by another table (I've experienced this myself), but perhaps your ordering two to four bottles of wine for dinner every night just caused the waiter more work - he doesn't get a tip calculated on how much wine you drink.

 

As for "buy backs", you will most likely find these at your regular local bar if you tip well, and not on a short vacation where the bar is owned by a huge corporation that most certainly monitors the sales of alcohol closely enough to get a bartender in trouble if they try to comp you. I have never, ever been comped a drink on RC, and I can't imagine that I ever will be.[/quote']

 

15 replies; including multiple people who were on this cruise who agreed with me and then there's you. I suppose you're entitled to your opinion as I am mine. My review was honest and explained my perception of the cruise. I complained to Guest Relations 4 times because frankly they screwed up 4 times . . . not for anything, the only way you get something fixed is to let them know its broken.

 

As for not getting buy backs, I've received buy backs on EVERY cruise I've taken, both RCCL and Celebrity. And the Waiter does make more money on wine (he actually came out and said that's where he makes the most of his money) because he gets a gratuity on every single one.

 

Anyhow, I suppose you're entitled to your opinion . . . thanks for sharing it.

15 replies; including multiple people who were on this cruise who agreed with me and then there's you. I suppose you're entitled to your opinion as I am mine. My review was honest and explained my perception of the cruise. I complained to Guest Relations 4 times because frankly they screwed up 4 times . . . not for anything, the only way you get something fixed is to let them know its broken.

 

As for not getting buy backs, I've received buy backs on EVERY cruise I've taken, both RCCL and Celebrity. And the Waiter does make more money on wine (he actually came out and said that's where he makes the most of his money) because he gets a gratuity on every single one.

 

Anyhow, I suppose you're entitled to your opinion . . . thanks for sharing it.

Well actually....... I tend to agree with the poster about believing the amount of wine you consumed should mean better service. Sorry, but that did come across as arrogant. I drink very little, and I would be really annoyed if our server was more attentive to a "drinking" table. However the rest of the review was, I am sure, vey fair and informative.

15 replies; including multiple people who were on this cruise who agreed with me and then there's you. I suppose you're entitled to your opinion as I am mine. My review was honest and explained my perception of the cruise. I complained to Guest Relations 4 times because frankly they screwed up 4 times . . . not for anything, the only way you get something fixed is to let them know its broken.

 

As for not getting buy backs, I've received buy backs on EVERY cruise I've taken, both RCCL and Celebrity. And the Waiter does make more money on wine (he actually came out and said that's where he makes the most of his money) because he gets a gratuity on every single one.

 

Anyhow, I suppose you're entitled to your opinion . . . thanks for sharing it.

But it doesn't sound like all that complaining resolved anything to your satisfaction, now does it.

But it doesn't sound like all that complaining resolved anything to your satisfaction' date=' now does it.[/quote']

 

Wow, nice tone. I don't understand people like you--I put up a trip report that is detailed and backed up with examples of my experiences, yet someone will come along and tell me why I am wrong or rush to defend the cruise line. Personally, I don't care . . . its a trip report of . . . its meant to be my experiences and opinions, not yours. Reading some of the other responses, they're shared by many others.

 

And, for the record, two of the four complaints were resolved to my satisfaction and they're both documented in there.

Well actually....... I tend to agree with the poster about believing the amount of wine you consumed should mean better service. Sorry, but that did come across as arrogant. I drink very little, and I would be really annoyed if our server was more attentive to a "drinking" table. However the rest of the review was, I am sure, vey fair and informative.

I'm sorry if that came across as arrogant. Frankly, whether we were drinking or not at dinner, our service was not up to par. Other than my buy-back comment, nothing in my trip report was meant to indicate that we felt we deserved better service than the table next to us . . . when I used better service I meant it to mean an "increase" in service to at least bring us to the proper service levels (or something at least equal to the table next to us). I through in the fact that we were drinking because it did baffle us a little how we had been pushed aside given the amount of extra revenue we were bringing the cruise line. That being said, I don't disagree with your comment that you would (and should!) be annoyed if your server was more attentive to the "drinking" table.

GREAT REVIEW!

Thanks for taking the time to post it!

Mike, great review. We were on the same sailing. Like you, we really had issues with Inga - she was hardly ever there and we found her to be rude and very condescending to the point we complained about her on the survey we filled in the last night and are considering writing RCCL.

We tried My Time Dining and although the service was excellent, especially from Head Waiter Suzannnah we will not be using it again.

Canusa, so sorry you missed out on that cruise you told us about. Because of our issues with Inga we emailed our TA from the ship and she was able to get us on the Feb 14th one.

Gail

We just got back from England yesterday after the 13 day Jewel and we had similar experiences.

Food, Main Dining Room, My Time Dining:

This was very disappointing. By 'my time' dining, they really mean 'their time' dining. We showed up the first day and asked for 7:30 and was told that was out of the question. After negotiation, we were told to come at 7. We did. We had to wait until 7:30!??!. We were seated with a good waiter in a terrible aisle table. Everyone kept bumping in to my chair. I felt as if I were dining in Grand Central Station. The second night we decided to give it one more try. They sat us by the window. That was better, but the waiter was terrible. We got the feeling they wanted to turn the table and paid us no attention and just moved us along as fast as possible.

We were disgusted, but decided to try once more. We asked for a 7:30 seating (by this time they asked us to come at 7:30, go figure), and a table by the railing of the balcony. This was the right choice. It is quiet, you have a view below, and nobody comes near you. You can also push the very small table up against the rail, giving you the ability to balance things on the edge. The tables are way too small and crowded together.

We had two waiters: one from Croatia who was very friendly and one from South Africa, who was less so, but the better waiter. We had a choice of one or another two top right on the border between them so we got served by the one who was free that night depending on which side of the 'border' they sat us.

We try every course. I get 2 soups and my wife has a starter. Then a salad and they always topped it with anchovies after the first request. Then pasta split between us, then mains, then dessert. After the second time, the South African had everything ready and split. We appreciated that and gave him an extra tip.

One trouble with 'my time' is you pre-pay all your tips. We found that lessened most of their desires to do a good job. We never ever saw our cabin steward. The place was clean, but never anything special.

The same with many of the waiters we observed.

The Dining Room Captain was difficult at first, but warmed. When we got a bad bottle of wine, I mentioned it and she came to taste it. She almost spit it out; great face. Immediately replaced it. No questions.

The food was mediocre at best. They have the same selections every night with only 1 or 2 changes of 8. Ironically, my wife does not eat fruit and almost every item in every course was fruit laced, garnished, etc.

Portofinos: This was TERRIBLE. The service was AWFUL. All they wanted to do was keep refilling wine glasses to sell more wine. 5 people tried to refill my wife's glass within 2 minutes. I finally asked them to stop and said when we wanted more wine, we would let them know. That was the end of our waiter. Never saw him again. It took 2 hours and 20 minutes to eat and we never got dessert until the end. We picked up the dessert and left for the show and the young female maitre d' came running down the hall and insisted we didn't pay and had to return the dessert and the plates. She grabbed them out of our hands. I told her with the poor service I shouldn't have to pay. Fat chance there. They billed my room anyway. The next day I spoke with Guest Relations and they told me to go to hell. They said the waiter claimed we had eaten too much food. BTW, the food is IDENTICAL to the stuff in the main dining room. Possibly worse. It lacked flavor.

Cruise Director Staff: Much better than usual. Rob Sugar was excellent. Bobby and Becky are tired and retiring and could use the rest. They were nice, but they fight an uphill battle with guests who didn't want to participate. The Marriage game show was terrible. Nobody wanted to talk. The Trivia was fun. My team won almost every one. We brought home 8 hats, a photo album, backpacks, keychains, etc. It wasn't about the prizes; it was about winning. Michelle was upbeat as was Lisandro. She ain't the brightest bulb in the shed, but she tries. Sugar deserves a promotion to Director. I even won a dance contest and got a free massage, which was excellent. Also won a free bottle of wine at the wine tasting.

Casino Staff: Nice at first, but hostile when I pointed out a bad call at craps of a number. They also incorrectly paid bets and swept your winning bet often. You had to watch them very carefully. After a while, people stopped playing craps because it was too much work to keep them 'honest'.

The Ship: The most boring decorations I have seen. The art work truly sucked on this ship. I collect and love art and could find nothing but crap.

Sea Shack: Best food we found on the ship and great service.

Guest Relations: In addition to the 'go to hell' over Portofino, I was surprised by the following. We are Platinum cruisers. When we booked there was no fuel surcharge. It was then added. I contacted RCL and was told I would receive a shipboard credit refund in my room. It wasn't there. I contacted Guest Relations and talked to Mpho who found a reference to it in my account and was told it should be processed as a credit card refund. The next day, the head of Guest Relations called me and told me that since I had booked before November 16, I was not entitled to any credit. I said this exactly contradicted what Florida had advised me and Mpho had confirmed. She said they were both wrong and I could forget about any credit. This was the same one as Portofino. It's only $130, but I will get to the bottom of this when the offices open Monday.

Ship Tours: Didn't take any. Did private tour with SPB in St Pete. Viktoria Rother. $300 for 2 days including admissions and we saw everything. I really mean everything. She even bought us presents, gave us champagne, etc. It was spectacular. 10 people and we covered at least 9 major sites, plus additional requests. Special access to various sites, too, so no lines.

Formal Night: We know about relaxed policies, so I only brought a suit. I conduct an orchestra, so wear a tux regularly and it was nice not to be in one. But we did see people in polo shirts.

Shows: WOW. They were mostly awful. Da Vinci was 3 tenors who couldn't sing 4 notes. They were worse than most students I see. The pianist was awful. (That includes to a lesser degree the one in the lounge, who really couldn't sing at all despite being very courageous about it. His repertoire was very outdated. All his playing sounded the same. But I am very picky.) The opening and closing night juggler (Reid B.) was pathetic. He kept dropping things and just wasn't funny. The magician from America was just terrible. His magic was elementary--any 4th grader could do the tricks. His humor was flat and delivery was bad. It was embarrassing to watch him to such a poor job. When he said he was going to do an underwater escape, people around me commented they hoped he would fail and just drown.

However, there were two very good shows. Tango Buenos Aires was excellent. And, the juggler/comedian named Pete was fantastic. He juggled well (not great), but he was very funny. And spontaneous. That was the best show.

The RCL dancers were a bit better than normal. The singers were so/so, but one looked like Shatner and that was funny.

Ports: In order of enjoyment: St Pete; Stockholm; Tallinn; Helsinki; Copenhagen; Oslo; Klapeida. Oslo is a waste and nobody should be forced to go to Klapeida unless they have committed a serious crime. It didn't help that it was a Monday and most things are closed.

Great finds: Ateneum in Helsinki--wonderful art museum. Frederik's church tower climb in Copenhagen--only open at 1 pm and nobody else allowed up for the great views; Kompressor restaurant in Tallinn--huge pancakes for very little money, overall best value of food in trip.

All I can say is wow. After reading two reports of this same cruise it makes me think that the entire staff of the Jewel needs quite a bit more training. It's truly ashame that the customer service seems to be so lacking on a sailing that is longer and more pricey than some of the other sailings. I hope this is not indicative of the entire line as we have always been impressed with the service we've received on Royal ships.

One question about the "my time" dining option...is this being offered on all sailings? Because this is the first time I've heard of it being done on Royal ships. We are booked for the Serenade in November (S. Caribbean out of San Juan) and have a group of 20 friends and family sailing. Since about half of our group are first time cruisers, I can only hope and pray that the Royal Caribbean staff lives up to the reviews I've given my friends and family new to cruising.