REVIEW: Jewel of the Seas, April 16-26

[abhb]

Nice review. We were on the Jewel Dec 2008. Your posts brought back some great memeories.

[TPCRUISER2]

Thanks for your review! Great ship and cruise. Brought back alot of fond memories! Did the 11 day last jan and would love to do it again this january.

Had shamine also. It was good to have a room steward that was by the book.ie sheet changes.

[tracysue]

:pwe are scheduled for this exact cruise next Feb. - and I have been wondering what to do at the ports..... do you have e-mail addresses for scheduling/planning your excursions? Would love to have them.... you could e-mail me at

markpfuehler@aol.com

would greatly appreciate it!!!! thanks so much! loved the review!!!!

[wolfcathorse]

Forgot to mention a few points.

 

Who was your captain? Capt Stig Nilsen or Capt James MacDonald?

[enester]

Thanks mehitabel - - - It was a great cruise. We appreciated your your efforts on the Catagena tour (we were the group that spanned the ages - 70's down to early 20's). I caught a glimpse of my son (and half of me!) when your partner was holding the sloth. Looks like you're efficient in all things - even your reviews! (sheesh, I haven't even unpacked my camera yet...) :)

 

What a great ship ~

[mehitabel]

Who was your captain? Capt Stig Nilsen or Capt James MacDonald?

 

Stig Nilsen, who seemed extremely punctual. We were never late to a port, and we even left early once or twice! We didn't get the chance to meet him, though.

[ArkieCruisin]

Thanks for sharing your trip with us. The Jewel looks beautiful.

[wolfcathorse]

Stig Nilsen, who seemed extremely punctual. We were never late to a port, and we even left early once or twice! We didn't get the chance to meet him, though.

 

ty mehitabel

[wgoood2]

Had a blast. The southern carribbean is absolutley stunning. My only complaint is, that i wish there were more people my groups age onboard. I felt like in a scooter convention and the night club was never packed. The next cruise, im definitly going around spring break time.

[klscaz]

Forgot to mention a few points.

 

Stuff I did bring that came in handy:

 

--travelers' checks. I don't know why more people don't use them. We cashed them at Guest Relations with no problems, and felt safe knowing they could be replaced if stolen.

 

Great review Susanna. I love the pic of you in your cabin window--very cute! We bought traveler's checks too. Since we did all independent excursions this time, we needed a lot of cash and didn't want to take the risk.

 

We had Mario Sr. on our Panama Canal excursion and he was great too!

 

Had to extend our vacation by a day as our flight was canceled.

 

Happy travels, Kathy (& Larry)

[mehitabel]

If you'll put up with just a few more pictures, I got my water camera developed today:

 

Map on Labadee:

 

 

View of the docks for jetskis and smaller craft from the Labadee pier:

 

 

The Jewel docked at Labadee:

 

[nancronin]

Fantastic review and pics - thanks so much - have you still got those compasses or have you posted them somewhere else? We're taking the 11 day on Jewel next March! Thanks!:)

[branmea]

Just off a lovely Caribbean cruise on RCL's Jewel--10 days leaving out of Miami and traveling to Labadee, Cartagena (Colombia), Colon (Panama), Puerto Limon (Costa Rica), and Georgetown (Grand Cayman). We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and hope that this review is helpful to those of you considering this itinerary. I do have all of the Compasses and will scan them later this week.

 

Pre-cruise and Day 1:

 

We flew out on April 15th into Miami International, arriving a little after 8 in the evening. I'd booked us a room at the Marriott Biscayne Bay via Priceline for a pretty good rate, and we upgraded to a port view for $30 more when we checked in. And I'm glad we did, because this is what we saw when we woke up:

 

 

The Jewel is on the left in this picture; Majesty is on the right. We ate breakfast at the Marriott and got a taxi to the ship at about 11. Check-in was quick, though there was already a small crowd. The Miami terminal is very easy to navigate:

 

 

And we were onboard well before 11:30:

 

 

We went to the Windjammer, as our stateroom wasn't ready yet, and got some lunch (well, my husband got a full lunch--I was still kind of full from breakfast). I excitedly grabbed some honey-stung chicken from the buffet line, cut myself a nice big bite, and ... meh. It's true--the best part about eating it is knowing that you're finally on the ship. As for actual flavor, it's pretty bland. But don't get me wrong. I'd love to be eating some again right about now.

 

We were given access to our staterooms just a few minutes after 1 pm, and rushed immediately to #3550, an oceanview on Deck 3. We were anxious to see it, as we'd had a balcony on our last cruise and didn't want to feel deprived. We can happily say that we'll likely book oceanviews in the future. Much less expensive than a balcony but with a feeling of spaciousness, and to whoever suggested using the window as a lounge, I thank you:

 

 

Lined with pillows, it was divinely comfortable and had a great view!

 

The lifeboat muster drill was pretty quick, but our station was a little hampered by an overzealous ship employee named Mikkel. Boy, was he a stickler! If anyone moved so much as a millimeter in the wrong direction, he was there on the spot to harass them back into place. It was actually pretty funny, as even the other cruise employees were rolling their eyes at him and cracking jokes with the passengers.

 

Once that was over, we continued to explore the ship and her facilities. The Jewel is just beautiful; not garish or overdone in any way, windows everywhere, and plenty of room (especially if you stick to the stairs and not the elevators). We had signed up for My Time Dining, and though the first night was a little hectic, we were seated at our time of 6:45 and happily perusing the menu. Forgive me for not taking pictures of the menu, but I can tell you that one of the biggest surprises of the whole vacation was my husband's reaction to the Truffled Mushroom Pasta. He's one of the staunchest carnivores I know, but he ordered it on a whim and LOVED it. I thought he was going to lick the plate to get every last smear of the sauce off of it. And we had the first of many, many Savory Bites:

 

 

We're not nightlife people, so we went to bed pretty early. Our stateroom attendant, Shamine, had introduced himself already, and by the time we got back to the room, he'd cleared out the mini-bar in the fridge as requested, filled the ice bucket, and turned down the bed. He was fantastic throughout the whole cruise and seemed to have our schedule down immediately.

 

We fell asleep quickly, lulled to sleep by the sound of the water rushing by and the gentle rocking of the ship. Day 2 coming up!

 

 

I was in that EXACT same room on a TA! I loved it!!!!!

[AkSusan]

Great review and loved the pictures. Was on Jewel for the first time in 2005 and am returning this October to do the repositioning cruise Boston to Fort Lauderdale via the Southern Caribbean. Can't wait and your pictures just added to the growing excitement of being on her again.

 

Susan :)