Review of Jewel of the Seas March 11 - the good, the bad, and the oh-so-ugly

Good:

1) The staff. They are super nice. I don't think I saw one person that wasn't smiling.

2) Room. We were in hump room 8102. The balcony is amazing! Our room attendant was pleasant. The location is superb. However, the noise was ridiculous. The bass from the center area/lobby bar was so loud the pictures shook on the walls. They had music going until midnight most nights.

3) Embarkation. We left the Segway Tour stand in OSJ at 12:35. We hailed a cab, went around to Pan Am 4, checked in (had sea pass page and luggage tags prebooked), ate a quick snack in the Windjammer and were IN OUR ROOMS at 1:30. So so fast!!

4) Activities. There were plenty of activities to do. Typically, we aren't ones to do a lot of on board things, but we had a lot of fun this go.

5) Medical. The medical team was very pleasant, fast, and did a great job. More on that in a bit.

6) Fellow passengers. I'd say 99% of the people were decent and well behaved. I saw a few people throwing temper tantrums ("I've been on FIVE Royal cruises, and I'm never coming back...how dare you treat us like this!" after being told she can't jump the guest services line), a few people that rushed passed the people in wheelchairs to get into the elevators, and the older man that would wear jean shorts and flip flops to dinner every night (including formal nights) that would loudly complain he couldn't get a seat....even though he was told every night he should try to do reservations to avoid the wait. Quite please to say the kids and even the spring breakers were non-issues.

Bad:

1) MDR Food. Ok...I will fully admit, I didn't believe the reviews on this. How could the MDR be that bad? It's "free food" after all. Well, it was.... They do a great job at appetizers (crab cakes!! Caesar Salad was shockingly good too) and desserts (I think I ate my weight in cheese cake). But the main courses had a ton to be desired. Very lackluster assortment, and very little flavor. My son order NY Strip every night. Every night it varied from bleeding to very very well done.

2) Special Needs Food. My daughter has celiac disease so she cannot eat gluten. We filled out the paperwork. We met with the dining managers. We did everything we were asked to do. In prior cruises, there was a separate menu of options for her. Not on the Jewel. She had to pick from the selections that were on the normal nightly menu....which resulted in steak (see above) or chicken. She's not a big meat eater, so she literally had two scoops of mashed potatoes w/o gravy every night of the week. They offered her gluten free bread, but by the end of the day 2, it seems they were pulling this out of the freezer. It was rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrreally dry and bad flavor.

3) Guest Services. They were extremely slow. One time while at port, I waited in line for 25 minutes. I was the 2nd one in line and there were 4 people at the counter working. Another, significantly scarier event involved calling about smoke. We could smell burning rubber on our balcony. I called down...twice. After 30 minutes, someone finally came to our room. By then the smell had dissipated, but that could have been really bad. They were also supposed to call me regarding an issue....still waiting on that call.

4) Entertainment. I hate to admit this, but the reviews are right. The entertainment was bad. The illusionist was funny, but the rest were dreadful. We went to Tango Buenos Aires. The lead dancer looked liked she would rather be anywhere else in the world than on that stage. The comic was downright painful. The funniest part of his show was when he was heckled by a nine year old. Even the kids saw how bad he was. The orchestra was really good though. The drummer was very very good.

Oh-so-ugly

1) Food. As mentioned, my daughter has celiac disease. I had also mentioned she ate MDR mashed potatoes every meal for the week. Why you may ask? The quick snack we had on embarkation day at the WJ gave her food poisoning. They special made her a pizza. She ate two slices. She was sick two hours later. Not a little case of an upset stomach, but so bad she ended up in medical getting a shot in her backside and spending Day 2 in bed and Day 3 in quarantine. They confirmed it was food poisoning.

2) St Thomas. We booked the Skyride to Paradise Point excursion. It was canceled a few months ago due to Maria. We booked the KonTiki Beach day. It was canceled on embarkation day due to boat failure. We booked the Underwater Adventure Boss tour. It was canceled after the Boss captain crashed the boat into the dock before they left. I suppose if it had to happen at any port, at least it was the one my daughter and I stayed behind due to the aformentioned food poisoning and quarantine.

I had high hopes for my first Royal cruise and this fell drastically short. I did book another one on the Allure for next summer. fingers crossed that one is better :-)

Oh gosh - sorry to hear that - your next one will be better! Allure has SO many food options and better dining venues. Be sure to save room in the budget for the specialty restaurants - although the MDR was very good. My daughter is vegan and they ran circles around her being sure she had good stuff to eat.

As far as entertainment is concerned, I've been on a handful of cruises and always found the entertainment to be terrible. (Doesn't help I was raised near NYC so I have high expectations.) Most cruises I don't bother to go to the shows, or if I do...I walk out. On Allure, the entertainment was very good. I'm not saying excellent, but we went to just about every show and even the jaded teenagers enjoyed them! The key is going to be book reservations for shows ahead of time...you can't just drop in like on smaller ships.

Here is my review from Allure last year if you care to read our take on the food and entertainment: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2486073

Thank you for your review/report.

Keith

 

Here is my review from Allure last year if you care to read our take on the food and entertainment: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2486073

thanks!!

We were on Jewel B2B in January.

It always surprises me when people post here that Centrum noise isn't bad on Radiance class ships - it IS loud at night if close to the centrum and you've confirmed that. We weren't near the centrum this time but I'm sure it was loud. They were keeping the doors closed in an effort to contain it.

If the steak was so bad why did your son order it every night.........?

Entertainment was pretty good overall in January. A couple great headliner singers and comedians. And one awful comedian who was not funny at all;p

 

If the steak was so bad why did your son order it every night.........?

 

He tried spaghetti the 1st night and wasn't a fan. He doesn't like chicken and isn't adventurous on much else. Plus he was turning 13 that week, so I think he thought it was the grown up thing to do ;-)

Thank-you for your report/review.

food in mdr is average but I'm not a foodie. I always find something and move on

Thank you for posting your review/report. I'm sorry to hear some things were a disappointment but glad to hear other things were good. Also glad to hear you are giving RCI another chance next year. RCI does so many things right. It's unfortunate your first experience with them was somewhat of a disappointment. I'm sure your cruise next year will be much better.

Did you try the Windjammer for dinner? I find there is a better selection there usually.

Thank you for the report.

To clarify, are you saying your daughter asked for things not on the menu or asked for modifications and was told no?

I've been on RCCL, DCL, and fathom (kitchen operated as P&O and they were the worst of the ones to deal with) since I was diagnosed with a wheat allergy (not celiac, but an allergy that shows up in my lungs restricting my air flow) and going gluten-free and none of them had a separate allergy menu - rather there were things that were marked as gluten-free.

BUT I have always been able to ask if other things can be modified (sometimes it's as simple as leaving off a sauce or subbing a different side) or if I could have something else (on Brilliance of the Seas a couple of years ago there were several nights on the 12-night cruise that I had a grilled chicken caesar minus the croutons - it wasn't on the menu, but I asked my server if I could get them separately and would combine them and he asked "Do you want them together? Not a problem at all.")

If she asked for things not on menu or asked for modifications and was told no, that is disturbing. But if she didn't even ask...well...I'm sorry, but you don't ask you don't get.

(It is also kind of disturbing that you did the "paperwork" (where is that located?) since I followed the instructions on the RCCL site and emailed them...though that is now almost 2 weeks ago and I have yet to hear back beyond the automated response that it will be answered in the order it was received. I don't remember it taking 2 weeks for Brilliance...)

Thank you for the report.

 

To clarify, are you saying your daughter asked for things not on the menu or asked for modifications and was told no?

Correct. We'd ask if there was a way to get the chicken dish (as an example) made gluten free and we were told no. The one exception here was they threw gluten free bread on the french onion soup instead of the regular toast/crouton thing.

 

(It is also kind of disturbing that you did the "paperwork" (where is that located?) since I followed the instructions on the RCCL site and emailed them

It was a form I had to fill out from the Special Needs department. I did it about a year beforehand so the rules may have changed.

Did you try the Windjammer for dinner? I find there is a better selection there usually.

After the food poisoning there the first night which resulted in her quarantine, we stayed far away from the WJ. It would have been nice to try, but we weren't willing to risk it. Bad tasting food was safer than another round of visiting the medical facilities.

Correct. We'd ask if there was a way to get the chicken dish (as an example) made gluten free and we were told no. The one exception here was they threw gluten free bread on the french onion soup instead of the regular toast/crouton thing.

 

 

 

 

It was a form I had to fill out from the Special Needs department. I did it about a year beforehand so the rules may have changed.

Wow. That is surprising. Unless there really was no way for it to be made gluten-free.

I can't find any kind of form. :( I just called the C&A line and had the notation added to my reservation.

I guess I'll hope for the best but pack luna bars just in case.

Thank you for honest report. I love that included the positives and the negatives (not just negatives). I will on Jewel next week for my first Royal Caribbean cruise. Did your kids go to the kids club at all? Any feedback on that? I'm so sorry that your daughter got sick. What an awful way to spend a vacation :(

Very surprised at your issues! I'm gluten free and actually never eat in the MDR -- 100% specialty dining and WJ. WJ on over 20 cruises now has been stunning for gluten free. The chefs have made everything for me on request including desserts not typically made. Pizzas on request have always been fresh and prompt. Pastas and meats/sauces always made up quickly on request.

Wonder if the Jewel is just a problem child ship?

Thank you for honest report. I love that included the positives and the negatives (not just negatives). I will on Jewel next week for my first Royal Caribbean cruise. Did your kids go to the kids club at all? Any feedback on that? I'm so sorry that your daughter got sick. What an awful way to spend a vacation :(

They did not go to the kids club.

Very surprised at your issues! I'm gluten free and actually never eat in the MDR -- 100% specialty dining and WJ. WJ on over 20 cruises now has been stunning for gluten free. The chefs have made everything for me on request including desserts not typically made. Pizzas on request have always been fresh and prompt. Pastas and meats/sauces always made up quickly on request.

 

Wonder if the Jewel is just a problem child ship?

hopefully it was just a fluke. We're on the Allure next summer. Fingers crossed it's a better experience. Glad you've had great luck so far!!

Just curious who was the comedian that was awful? We are on Jewel end of April. The only shows we usually do is the comedy shows.

Just curious who was the comedian that was awful? We are on Jewel end of April. The only shows we usually do is the comedy shows.

I don't remember his name. sorry. He was probably better in the Adult Only show.

Sorry to hear the Jewel didn't live up to your expectations as it was the first RCI ship we sailed on and loved it. DW and I don't get excited with the larger ships with all the bells and whistles. We really enjoyed the views on the ship with all the glass and liked having the open area in the aft in the WJ. We look back and feel the best food we had in the MDR was the Jewel. Less than average MDR food for us was on the Adventure and Navigator. Jewel also had very good service in the MDR, WJ and our room steward. Wishing you the best and hope your next RCI cruise is much, much better.

Sorry to hear the Jewel didn't live up to your expectations as it was the first RCI ship we sailed on and loved it. DW and I don't get excited with the larger ships with all the bells and whistles. We really enjoyed the views on the ship with all the glass and liked having the open area in the aft in the WJ. We look back and feel the best food we had in the MDR was the Jewel. Less than average MDR food for us was on the Adventure and Navigator. Jewel also had very good service in the MDR, WJ and our room steward. Wishing you the best and hope your next RCI cruise is much, much better.

Hi,

We are on the Jewel as of April 8 for 5 B2B cruises. We specifically chose Jewel as we had been on her previously (eg. Oct./Nov.) cruises & we found that she is a very well run ship. The hotel director, Peter Dimitrov, is one of the best H.D. we found on an RC ship. He's very accessible & gets things taken care of.

Just spent two weeks on Adventure in Feb/Mar. & were not that impressed. The food was a big disappointment. Hotel Director was hardly seen. We had been on her seven times before & had always enjoyed the food/service but not this time.

We agree, food on the Jewel was superior. Much better salads, choices for lunch in WJ too. Looking forward to the Jewel.

Cheers,

NJ