back from Jewel of the Seas April 8 - 18

[kycruiser72]

Ahh, what a great time we had. We being my DS, DD, DW, and me. We had never been on a 10 day cruise before. We were both nervous (too long) and excited about it. We booked this cruise back in February when the winter blahs were hitting me hard. We were originally looking for a 7 night in June/July but found the prices were higher than this 10 night. So we decided to go for it.

 

Pre-cruise: We flew out of CVG on 4/7 headed for FLL. We like to travel a day before (much less stress). Having two young children (DD=6 and DS=4) it makes for an interesting day trying to travel the day of. We stayed at the Renaissance on 17th. Not a bad place for a night. We were able to get a good price via Priceline (we think it was a good price). Well after we had eaten lunch and settled into the room I convinced DW to walk down the street to the 17th street bridge. Once there I showed her where the Jewel would be docked in the morning. After that we made our way to the Walgreens across the street from the hotel and picked up the last of our necessities (water for DW and Mt. Dew for me).

 

Day 1 coming right up!

[kycruiser72]

Cruise day 1

 

We woke up around 7am or so and slowly started getting things ready. Now I mentioned that we had never been on a 10 day cruise before. We had our luggage STUFFED for 10 days. We had to get everything into 4 main suitcases and our little rolling carry on. We also had little backpacks but they only had essentials in them (1 pair underwear, shocks, emergency clothes, DVD player, iPod...you get the idea). We wondered down the street to find breakfast. I was a little bummed that the hotel didn't offer free breakfast but I got over it. We found a place called Einsteins bagels. That was our spot. The place was hopping. We ate our breakfast and headed back to the hotel to get our stuff. By this time it was about 10:15am. We thought it might be a little early to head for the ship but we were excited about "getting our cruise on". We checked out and inquired about getting a taxi to the port. There just happened to be a gentleman with a van there already. What timing. If I remember his name was Carlos. He loaded our bags into the back of the van and we piled in. Off we go for the long 5 minute ride to the port (ok maybe 10 minutes with traffic lights and the security gate).

 

We arrived at the port and again Carlos pulled all of our bags out of the van. We were there early enough that there were still people leaving from the previous cruise. It was a little weird but again we were ready to be there. I tipped Carlos and he was off. He did give us his card and told us to call when we got back. There were plenty of porter waiting so it was easy to find someone to take our bags. Off we headed to check in.

 

We decided (well mostly me) to get a suite this time. We have tried Junior suites in the past and I start to feel cramped after a few days. We got lucky 3 years ago on the Mariner and had a family suite and that was fantastic. The only reason we got that room was it was a last minute booking. The price was right. Anyway, we started walking into the terminal and found a line of people having their IDs checked. We were in that line maybe 5 minutes, not bad. After that we were headed to the queues for the check ins. We were directed to a line and waited another few moments. It was now our turn. We stepped up to the window and a woman started helping us. Something happened and her computer wasn't working right so we moved to another computer. She started all over. A few moments past and again her computer wasn't working right. Again, we moved. This time, it worked ok. For some reason the other computers were still set for the LAST cruise. No problem. She apologized several times during the process. I remember saying "it's ok, I'm on vacation." While we were being processed I heard them start allowing people to board the ship. I could hear them calling sections from the waiting area the level above us. When we finished we walked around the corner and had to get the WELCOME ABOARD photo. That was quick and painless. Off to the security checkpoint to have our photo taken for our Seapass cards. After we had our photos we started toward the waiting area. There were already lots of people there. The lady at the entrance to the area asked to see our cards and we showed them. People that are in suites get a gold card. When we showed her she waved us through to a different location. No line. My thought, SWEET. We were on the gangway. We were almost there.

 

We boarded the ship and had to stop and get the kids their bracelet (muster station bracelet). We were there! The whole taxi ride, bags dropped off, check it, and wait was over. It was 11:15 or so and we were on the ship! That's the earliest we have ever been onboard. We headed straight to the Windjammer to have a bite. Having seen how the Windjammer can get on the first day we wanted to get there and find a seat. That was no problem. We ate and then wondered around the ship. A little after 1pm we headed to our room and it was ready. We dropped our stuff off and chilled out for a little while. The exciting 4:30 muster drill would be coming soon.

 

Muster came and went (without lifejackets). After muster we headed to the helipad to watch us sail out. I had found a website (http://www.portevergladeswebcam.com) that would allow my mom and dad to watch the ship leave. While we were heading out I called them on my cell phone and had them watch. MOM ACTUALLY SAW US FOR A SECOND ON THE CAMERA! She was yelling "I SEE YOU! I SEE YOU!" It was neat. We stayed out on the helipad and started talking to a couple that were on their first cruise. Nice couple.

 

We could see several other cruise ships out in the water leaving while we were leaving. I'm guessing some of them came out of Miami because there were only two others in port where we were. We went to the WELCOME show later on. That was nice. The CD Simeon was pretty good (I thought so). That was pretty much it for day 1.

 

DAY 2 to come!

 

BTW, you can see my photos (WARNING There are alot) at http://jmconley72.smugmug.com .

[kycruiser72]

Waking up on a cruise ship, ya can't beat it. Granted the bed wasn't as comfortable as my bed but I'll take being in an uncomfortable bed on a cruise any day.

 

We headed to the Windjammer for breakfast. Since we have the kids we choose to eat in the WJ most of the time. We found that the MDR didn't work very well for our kids. After about 45 minutes they were done and started getting antsy. The last time we ate in the MDR (Marier 3 years ago) we got some dirty looks from the people around us when the kids got wild. Anyway, we really liked the outdoor seating area for the WJ on the Jewel. With the exception of two times that I can remember we sat somewhere outside every time we ate. I wish the other ships had something like that.

 

I did forget to mention that we checked out the Adventure Ocean area the evening before. My DD LOVED it the last time we cruised (Liberty 2 years ago) and this time my son was old enough and potty trained. They were both looking forward to spending time in "the kids club".

 

A bit later we headed for the kids pool area. I had done my research and knew they had one. There we met several new friends. The kids really liked playing there because the pool was just shy of 2 feet deep. They also had a big waterslide and a small water slide (a slide that ended in the water). We spent alot of time up there playing. We even brought a few water toys. Those went over well. The kids shared them with anyone that was there. It was great. I'm not a big sun person so I tended to sit in the shade under the big waterslide. We didn't do much else on this day. It was a lot of relaxing on the balcony listening to and watching the ocean. DW and I went to the show that night. It was one of the production shows. Again, we liked it. The kids enjoyed it too. That was the last show they saw. They were more interested in going to Adventure Ocean. That's fine.

 

I should say that our room steward, Joyce, did a great job keeping our room clean. We tried to make sure we picked up the toys and such to make things a little easier for her. That's just the way we are. Also, Nedere the Concierge did a great job. She always had a smile and called us by name each time.

 

One thing that was irritating by this time was the stupid little draw pull "handles". They were these tear drop shaped things that you could barely get a hold of. If you had any moisture or anything on your hands there was enough resistance on the drawer that made opening it MOST difficult. It was an annoyance but not nearly enough to ruin our vacation.

 

 

MORE TO COME - DAY 3, Labadee!

[kycruiser72]

I'll try not to be so long and drawn out. I'm just trying to get all of the good stuff into this blog.

 

We hadn't been to Labadee for two years. The last time we were there the pier was still under construction. Also, we don't remember all of the new buildings being there. It was great! The kids played in the water play area for a little and then we headed to the "private" beach. I didn't know there were so many cool perks for a suite guest. We had to show our Seapasses to enter but then we were there. The beach was very nice and the attendants pulled our chairs over under a couple trees for us. We (me and the kids) walked around in the water for a while looking for shells. Mom sat under the trees relaxing. She's not big into the ocean. SHe's worried a fish might be in there. We played and relaxed for a while and then it was time for lunch. The area attendant actually came over and told us when it was lunch time. We wondered over to the foot area. There was only a very short line. They had the standard hot dogs, hamburgers, and they were grilling steak. Not bad. They also had real plates. Very nice. After lunch DS and I had enough of the beach so we headed back to the ship. They actually had a guy in a golf cart take us to the pier. I wasn't expecting that. DS thought that was really cool. DW and DD played for a bit longer and then met us back on the ship.

 

We relaxed the rest of the day. We didn't make the show that night. The kids went to Adventure Ocean and we wondered around the ship.

 

DAY 4 coming up

[kycruiser72]

We didn't really have anything planned when we woke up. Reviewing the Compass I found a Wii Hoola Hoop contest that morning on Deck 4. My DD loves the Wii so I took her down. She did pretty well until about 1/2 through. At that point she was knocked out of the competition. She was crushed. We tried to explain to her that it's not about winning but she's 6. She just didn't get it. After the contest the girl that took 3rd place came over and gave DD her bronze medal. DD was once again happy. While the contest was on I did spy a gentleman fall asleep in one of the chairs off to the side. I was able to snap a few photos. That was the highlight of the day. We went to the pool some more and played with friends. We met some folks from Canada, New York, and London. We saw them lots of times as they also had kids.

 

We made the show this evening. It was Paul Boland, the man of 1000 voices. It was fun. I didn't think his voices were perfect but we still had fun.

 

 

DAY 5 - COLOMBIA!

[kycruiser72]

We were only in Colombia today for 5 hours. We couldn't figure out what to do so we just wondered around off of the pier. We were able to do a little shopping and see different animals (Iguanas, Parrots, Toucans, Flamingos, and a turtle). The kids had fun seeing the animals and so did we. The "exciting" part of this stop was buying the kids a Kola Roman. It was kind of like red creme soda, so said DW. I thought it tasted a little like cough syrup myself. Either way the kids liked it. After 5 hours we were off to sea again.

 

We did wonder through the shops on the ship several times. Lots of stuff (watches, jewelry, liquor, etc). We also checked out other places on the ship.

 

I forgot to mention that we did have the Meet and Mingle on Day 2. We met in the Hollywood Odyssey lounge on deck 13. We had a good turn out. Met a few people there. We met these two ladies that we kept seeing through out the cruise. They were very nice. We did meet the Hotel Director. Nice enough guy.

 

We caught the show this evening. It was another production show featuring the RC Singers and Dancers. Nice show. DW and I enjoyed it. Having a music background, I find I like these shows the most. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the others too.

 

DAY 6 coming up - PANAMA

[kycruiser72]

Panama was the only place that we booked an official excursion. I really wanted to see some part of the Panama canal. I doubt that we will be back this way anytime soon. We booked the Gatun locks tour. We exited the ship and boarded a bus. The bus was comfortable and our tour guide did a nice job. He did keep talking about the American guys getting all of the Panama girls but oh well. I thought it was funny. I wasn't one of the guys he was talking about so I wasn't too worried.

 

We drove through a few areas of town that used to be a US military base. We also stopped for a little while at a hotel that used to be a hospital when the area was the military base. The name of the hotel - Melia Panama. It was a little odd that it used to be a hospital but oh well. The hotel was on the edge of Gatun lake. It was a short drive from there to the locks. I really liked the locks. I enjoy educational things like that. I'm not sure if the kids got anything from it but I liked it. I can also say that I was down there WHILE they were digging the new locks. We drove right through where they are going to be. I feel historic.

 

After the tour the bus dropped us off in a little shopping area at the edge of the ship terminal. We looked around and bought a few souvenirs. I picked up a Panama type hat. It will help keep my ears and head from getting sunburnt. I like it. DS calls it my cowboy hat.

 

Before we got back on the ship I found a liquor store and wanted to see how much they charged for Appletons Rum. I was turned on to that a few years ago and really enjoy it. The prices in this store were WAY too high. They wanted $25 a bottle for Appletons. I could pay $22 back at home. Guess I won't be purchasing this today.

 

The day had another trip to the kids pool. We decided not to attend the show that night.

 

DAY 7 coming up

[kycruiser72]

We had been trying to figure out what we were going to do today for a few days. The excursions were either too long or the age requirements didn't match our kids. We ended up deciding to just check out the local area. We exiting the ship and went through the little tent market at the end of the pier. It was neat. No one was pushy. It was hot and crowded but that wasn't too bad. We ended up buying a few more goodies including two wooden frogs for the kids. They have the little stick thing that you drag on the bumps on the back of the frog to make it sound like they are making their sounds. The kids love them.

 

We wondered into the little terminal area to use the facilities and for me to see what was in there. I saw some liquor through the window and thought it might be something. It wasn't. It was just someone selling drinks. While we were in the terminal we were approached by a gentleman named Joseph. He was offering a tour of the area for $25 per person and would not charge us for the kids. Normally I would say no and walk away, but for some reason I turned to DW and said "let's do it." We were joined on the tour with a very nice couple from Georgia, US. They were on the cruise too. For the next 3 hours we got to see TONS of stuff. We drove through town and out into the country side. We were able to see (and hold if we wanted) a sloth and a lizard. After that we stopped and sampled some fresh fruit at a roadside stand. I had a GREAT slice pineapple. I also had a fresh banana. The kids loved it. Continuing on we got to see Howler monkeys in the trees. We also stopped at a Del Monte banana plantation to see how they processed the bananas. Did you know the "reject" bananas are sent to Gerber to be turned into baby food? Our last official stop on the tour was at playa bonita (yes I know it means beautiful beach). We snapped a few photos and then headed back to the city. Just before we ended the trip our guide stopped at a local grocery store for me to purchase some rum. Well, I thought it was rum. Joseph recommended Casique. He said it was rum. I found out later it wasn't rum. But not to worry, I also found out that it was pretty good. The shopping excursion wasn't too bad after all. The bottle cost me about 4400 Colon. That's equal to about $10 USD.

 

The trip over we were exhausted and decided to relax at the kids pool. This was the one and only time on the cruise that we thought it was going to rain. It looked like it but never did. We left Costa Rica with a heck of a tour and no rain. The show on this night was Kyle Knight. He was a magician. Good show. DW kept asking me "How did he do that?" "I have no idea."

 

All in all a good day.

 

Next up, Day 8 - at sea

[kycruiser72]

Another relaxing day at sea. AHhhh. This morning there was the Captain's Corner. That's where the Captain comes to the theatre and speaks to the guests. It was neat. I like to hear what the Captain has to say. I found out that the Jewel (and a few other ships) have a different type of engine than most ships. It's basically a DC10 jet engine. They only made a few of the ships with these engines because it uses a more expensive fuel than the standard diesel fuel. It's more expensive but is considered a GREEN engine. I also found out that the OASIS and ALLURE only go to ports where they don't tender. I don't remember why though.

 

After that I wondered the ship and took pictures. I like to take pictures. Sometimes I get a good one, sometimes I don't. We had another visit to the kids pool today. We decided not to attend the show on this evening. Neither DW or I were interested in seeing a dancing show. Although I did hear that it was great.

 

Side note, by this time we were getting a little tired of the WJ food. It was good and all but just a little tired. We checked out the Seaview cafe on deck 12 and we surprised at how good their food was. Their burgers were GREAT! Plus it was something different. For the Seaview you go in and place your order. Then when it's ready they bring it to you. We actually saw the Captain, Hotel Director, and the interim Hotel Director. The normal HD was going on vacation so he was getting his replacement up to speed. I have heard since then that the HD might be moving to the Navigator at some point.

 

 

DAY 9 coming up

[kycruiser72]

This is the port I was looking forward to. The last time DW and I were here it was almost 8 years ago for our honeymoon. It was my all time favorite port. I'm not sure why but I just fell in love with it.

 

We had our VIP tender tickets (again, suite perk) and headed for the tender. The VIP tickets really didn't do much other than we didn't have to wait for our ticket number to be called.

 

At the dock we had our picture taken and then started out wondering around. I was on a mission to find my rum. We stopped at the store right at the dock and again the price was WAY too hight. They wanted $27 a bottle. THAT'S MORE THAN PANAMA! I started to get a little nervous. I wondered if the price had shot up for some weird reason. Worse case scenario, buy some Bacardi back on the ship. They had 4 bottles for $39. Keep wondering.

 

While looking around we found one of the Tortuga stores (there are only 5 or so within a 10 block area). We walked in and I started looking around. (insert ah ha music) THERE IT IS! Appletons Rum for $9. That was the basic bottle. I was interested in the Reserve. That was $13 a bottle. MUCH BETTER. I asked the lady at the counter if the prices were the same at all of the stores and she said yes. I thought to myself, did they get the memo at the dock store. Anyway we left to look around some more but would be back later. Again we did some shopping and I took photos. About an hour later I returned to the Tortuga store and made my purchase. $52 dollars later we were done.

 

We looked a bit more and then headed back to the ship. The tender ride was uneventful, although my DD kept bumping into one of the security guys from the ship. He kept checking to make sure she wasn't trying to take one of his pouches off of his belt. It was kind of funny. Back on the ship and we headed to...you guessed it, the kids pool.

 

Side note, when we got back on the ship from Costa Rica we saw these two gentlemen with alot of luggage coming on to the ship. The one had a VERY deep voice and they looked a little familiar. I heard them talking to some people from Michigan. It turned out they were part of the Temptations. They were on the ship to do a show. Their show was on day 9. We were tired so we missed the show but we did see one of the guys walking around all dressed up the night of the show.

 

We did get to see another type of show. I was sitting in the Yacht Club area (deck 10 just outside of the concierge lounge) sending emails/photos. After I was done DW and I looked over the banister to deck 4 and watched the show going on down there. Simeon the CD was singing/dancing along with his staff so we watched for a while. The concierge lounge door opened and out of the corner of my eye I spotted this gentleman walk into the door frame of the lounge. I turned to my DW and asked "Did I just see what I thought I did?" She replied "Yep." They offer free drinks in the lounge. This guy must have been drinking since the lounge opened. He could barely walk. He stumbled over to the banister and was standing there. The person he was with came over and was talking to him. At this point the guy was still having trouble standing up. I was worried this guy was going to lose his balance and fall from deck 10 to deck 4 and hurt some one. We left shortly afterwards and headed back to our room. A little bit later we decided to go see what was happening on deck 4. To our surprise the guy wasn't there. However, we did see him being escorted out of the MDR. They put him on the elevator and he went back up to deck 10. I don't remember where but there was something either on the elevator or in between the elevators that had a mirror on it. We could see the guy get off the elevator and then we saw him fall down on the floor. We didn't see him again until the last day. He seemed fine then.

 

 

DAY 10 coming up - last day at sea

[LBumb]

great job.

[kycruiser72]

Day 10 started with us packing. We had to get everything ready for later that night for when the porters come take our luggage again. After that we headed, once again, for the WJ. Breakfast is my favorite meal. I loved being able to get eggs, bacon, and whatever else I was in the mood for. I have to say that I was not thrilled with the sausage gravy they served. DW and I joked that they took whatever meat was left over and tossed it into the gravy. It was mostly bacon and ham with a little sausage. I found it was much better if I picked up a few pieces of sausage and broke them up myself. Not a cruise ruiner.

 

DW participated in the Walks for Wishes this morning that took place on deck 11.

 

Another perk that we received was an invitation to take a bridge tour. OH YEAH! I have seen enough videos to know what it looks like but I always wanted to actually see it in person. Our group gathered in the forward lift lobby and waited. Security showed up and checked to make sure that everyone that was on the list was actually there. They also did a security screening right there. They had the hand metal detector and checked everyone. If you had a bag they checked it. We were allowed to take photos but NO video. After the previous group left it was our turn. We walked down the port hallway on deck 10 to a door that said something like AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY. Just past the door was a room. Not sure if it was the Captain's room or not. Just past that was another door. Beyond that was the bridge. Very cool. I took several photos and listened to the bridge officer tell us about the different pieces of equipment. After 30 minutes we were done. It was really neat.

 

After the tour I headed for Adventure Ocean. The kids were having a talent show this morning and both DD and DS were involved. DD did a hoola hooping thing. She did great. DS did an animal dance thing. He did great too. All of the kids did great. They all received a medal for participating. The kids really loved all of the councilors. They have said several times since we returned that they miss them. It would be neat if they could keep in contact somehow.

 

After the show we went back up to the kids pool. Again we played with the friends we had met. DW and I spent the time talking with our new friends from London. They were great. We talked about all kinds of stuff. We event told them about the Seaview Cafe. They tried it out. As we were leaving the pool area I walked over toward the Seaview Cafe and could see them eating. I held up a THUMBS UP/DOWN to see what they thought. They gave us a THUMBS UP. We would later go up to the Seaview Cafe too. I wanted a good burger. We didn't do much the rest of the day. We caught the show later that evening. The show was a juggler/comedian named Adam Kario. I didn't know it until he came out but we had seen this guy 2 years ago on the Liberty. I liked his show. It was funny. We tried to get the kids to go but again they wanted to go to Adventure Ocean.

 

Side note: Another thing that bothered me but didn't ruin the trip was the Jewel doesn't have Wi-Fi everywhere. You have to go to certain areas to get Wi-Fi. Again, no big deal. Another thing I noticed was that there were several occasions that our cell phone didn't work. There was a time or two that I wanted to make a call and couldn't. It seemed to work a little better the farther along in the cruise we went.

 

We went back to the room and finished up packing. We placed the luggage outside the room and went to sleep. I woke up about 5:45am. I like watching the ship pull into the dock for the final time. Plus, it made me feel like we were home again even though we don't live in Florida. We all took showers and went to have breakfast. We took advantage of another perk called luggage valet. This perk took our luggage and checked it through all the way to our flight at FLL. It was great. We didn't have to drag our luggage around with us at all. Yet another perk we used was the concierge departure lounge. After we had breakfast and made sure we didn't leave anything behind we went to the lounge. There we waited for maybe 10 minutes. Nedere the concierge returned and asked if we were ready to leave. We said yes and she walked us off the ship using a back way. NO WAITING FOR ELEVATORS! Once off the ship we waited for maybe 20 minutes to go through customs. We did notice that the NON US line was MUCH longer than the US line. We had only spend around $200 for souvenirs and liquor. When we presented our declaration list to the customs agent he said "Is this all?" in a confused manner. We said yes and we were on our way. A quick phone call to Carlos the taxi driver and we were on our way to FLL airport. No fuss, no muss.

 

We had to wait longer at the airport than we did to get on/off the ship.

 

Oh, one thing I forgot to mention. DW and I had dinner at Portofino's one evening. We called it our "date night". We took the kids to dinner early and then had our dinner about 8pm. My DW is Italian so she was really looking forward to eating there. I was more interested in Chops but whatever mamma wants mamma gets. Dinner was really good! We even met some very nice people from Florida who were dining next to us. The filet they served for the main course was FANTASTIC! I'm glad we tried it but I'm not sure if we will do it again. Who knows, again if mamma wants it.....

 

Our flight was 2 hours long. We arrived home in time for me to pull up the Port Everglades cam and watch the Jewel sail out again.

 

 

Our thoughts on the Jewel: We liked it. It was not the largest ship we had been on, nor was it the smallest. It had enough things to do that interested us. We were never interested in the Flowrider or rockwall on the other ships. I do have to say that the layout of the ship is a little different than other ships. We were used to the elevators being in the center of the ship. On the Jewel they are in the center but shifted to the port side. The reason is for the guests to see the ocean instead of a wall. Also there were no AFT elevators. I think that has to do with the size of the ship. We have found that no matter what ship you are on you can usually get the same type of food that is being served in the MDR in the WJ. You get the presentation in the MDR.

 

One other thought and then I'll end my review. We were very lucky to have several crew that were great. The WJ supervisor, Sandesh, found us every time we were there and talked to us. The kids loved him. He seemed to really like the kids too. Sometimes you meet some of the management staff and they give you an air of "I'm too important to talk to you". That wasn't Sandesh. Also, super kudos to the Adventure Ocean staff. Chili Pepper, Meatball, Awesome Adi, Nemo, Dan the Man, and Tinkerbell. They made the kids cruise that much more special. And finally a big THANKS to Joyce our room steward. She always had a smile and was more than willing to do anything to help. We hope to see you all again in the future.

 

If there are any other questions please let me know. I'm sure people have fallen asleep reading all of my ramblings.

 

Stay safe, and fun cruising!

 

JMC

[firefly333]

Hi, Im on Jewel, twice next spring (not even B2B, duh), but ok .

 

You say you went to your cabin. How were the cabins and the ship. I have heard this ship is extra pretty being a radiance class ship. Did you love the ship or think it was a little small? I think one of my friends is concerned when I said its a smaller ship.

[kycruiser72]

Hi, Im on Jewel, twice next spring (not even B2B, duh), but ok .

 

You say you went to your cabin. How were the cabins and the ship. I have heard this ship is extra pretty being a radiance class ship. Did you love the ship or think it was a little small? I think one of my friends is concerned when I said its a smaller ship.

 

We had cabin 1530. It was a Grand Suite. Very nice. We thought the ship was in great shape. The only thing that caught my eye as needing work was the kids pool. It needed to be repainted and some basic repair work. The ship did not seem small to us. We loved that there were not TONS of people like on the Liberty. We noticed that we rarely passed people in the hallways. I can tell you that the Jewel is a good sized ship and that I think people would enjoy it. I did meet a lady on the Jewel that had been on the ship 9 times. The crew knew her by name. She even told me that she was a Pentacle level in the Crown & Anchor Society.

 

I hope that helps. Feel free to check out my photos to get a better idea of the ship. :)

[firefly333]

thanks for the photos. My friend is a first time cruiser, so its hard to explain over the phone. So Jewel has a chops right? I was thinking of treating her.

[kycruiser72]

thanks for the photos. My friend is a first time cruiser, so its hard to explain over the phone. So Jewel has a chops right? I was thinking of treating her.

 

Yes, they have a Chops. It's right next to the Portofino's that we ate in. We looked at the menu for Chops and it looked pretty good. Maybe on our next cruise I can talk DW in to eating there. :D

[kycruiser72]

I thought of something else that was annoying while on the cruise. The room we had was a bathtub/shower. To get into the tub/show you had to step over the extremly tall side wall of the tub. Stepping into the tub/show didn't usually bother me but getting out of the tub when the ship is shaking a little was a little weird.

 

Again, not a cruise breaker just something that was annoying.

[firefly333]

I thought of something else that was annoying while on the cruise. The room we had was a bathtub/shower. To get into the tub/show you had to step over the extremly tall side wall of the tub. Stepping into the tub/show didn't usually bother me but getting out of the tub when the ship is shaking a little was a little weird.

 

Again, not a cruise breaker just something that was annoying.

 

We had a JS on Liberty with extra tall walls to get into the bathtub that were tiled. Was yours a tiled wall?

 

Everyone tells me its prettier than other RCL ships. Iv done Rhapsody, SOV, Majesty, Liberty and Voyager (twice), Oasis up next, so Radiance is the class Im missing only I think.

[kycruiser72]

We had a JS on Liberty with extra tall walls to get into the bathtub that were tiled. Was yours a tiled wall?

 

Everyone tells me its prettier than other RCL ships. Iv done Rhapsody, SOV, Majesty, Liberty and Voyager (twice), Oasis up next, so Radiance is the class Im missing only I think.

 

Yes, our wall was tiled.

 

Hmmm, I'm not sure about the prettier part. I'm partial to the Mariner for some reason, and also the Majesty. The more I think about it maybe the Jewel was prettier. It's definately laid out so you can see the ocean in more places. And I really REALLY liked the outside WJ seating area.

[cinnamon]

Thanks for letting us 'cruise' with you, a very enjoyable read.

[Sharon Sails]

we're going Transatlantic on the Jewel in a couple weeks - we have a balcony cabin... were you bothered by smoke out on your balcony at all?

[LuckiStac13*Majesty*]

Thanks so much for the review, enjoyed reading it very much!!

[Sharon Sails]

Sorry if you get this twice, but I didn't see my question posted.

 

We are going transatlantic on the Jewel in a couple weeks, and I'm wondering if you were bothered by cigarette smoke on your balcony. This is our first time with a balcony room, and we're hoping we'll be able to use it without having to put up with too much smoke!

Thanks for sharing...

[kycruiser72]

we're going Transatlantic on the Jewel in a couple weeks - we have a balcony cabin... were you bothered by smoke out on your balcony at all?

 

For the most part no we weren't. We did have a neighbor in the cabin next to us that would occasionally come out and smoke. That was when it was the worst. If we were in port and there wasn't much air moving we could smell the smoke from some other cabins but it wasn't as strong as the smell in/around the casino. DW liked to take an afternoon nap out on the balcony just about everyday and she is less tolerant of smoke smell than I am.

[pattle66]

We will be on the Jewel in June with our 6 year old twins. I showed them your pool/slide photos and they are very excited. Thanks for osting your review.