Jewel of the Seas - Forget the Naysayers!

[dennismc]

This review is about our Southern Caribbean cruise from July 12-19, 2014 and is for all the future Jewel of the Seas passengers who might be worried by the ever present naysayers found on this web site. To sum it all up, there is NOTHING to worry about.

 

The Jewel was a wonderful ship and we had an excellent time. I won’t be posting any pictures, but I’ll try to pass on some information and observations that I hope others might find helpful.

 

We arrived in San Juan a day early to offset any travel surprises and also to enjoy the city for the night. We stayed at the Casablanca Hotel in Old San Juan. I can’t say enough about this hotel. It was exactly as advertised on its web page and it exceeded our expectations. The staff was very friendly and professional. We ended up having dinner and breakfast there and both were delicious and fairly priced.

 

The cruise:

 

Embarkation was super-fast (less than 15 minutes).

 

For a ten year old ship, I thought the Jewel was in excellent condition! She was very clean and the crew were constantly housekeeping and maintaining the common spaces. All of the elevators worked and the pools were invitingly clean. The gym was really nice with a large number of treadmills and an excellent selection of weight machines with no wait required.

 

Of special note was the Captain (his name escapes me), he ran a tight ship and during the muster drill made the announcement that “underage drinking would not be tolerated and that parents were responsible for their children”, it was the first time I have heard a Captain say that, and it was beautiful! Even better, it worked.

 

We stayed in cabin 9588, on the hump, and really enjoyed it. Leif was our room attendant and he did a great job. We were right off the Centrum, but never heard the sounds from it in our room. You could hear “noise” in the hallway but only up to 11:00 pm (when the entertainment stopped).

 

The crew was great. That’s not to say I didn’t run into a couple that were less than friendly, but I attributed most of that to fatigue more than rudeness. Our MDR waiter Jeffery and his assistant Martin were really good and rarely missed a beat, which is quite a feat for seven straight nights. Speaking of food, we found each night to have a varied and delicious selection, especially when the amount of people to be fed is taken into consideration. I love the dinners on cruises because it’s one of the few times we spend 1 ½ hours sitting, eating, and talking as a family. We didn’t eat in the specialty restaurants because we never felt the need to.

 

There was plenty of nightly entertainment and some nights were better than others. Of special note were showman Kenny James and ventriloquist, Ronn Lucas. Both were very good shows.

 

Debarkation had several options: self-assist, where you carried off your bags yourself, early flight, and then the regular wait for your luggage number to get off. No problems here either.

 

Ports of Call:

 

St. Thomas: We have been there several times and didn’t get off the ship. Really enjoyed having the ship to ourselves.

 

St. Kitts: We took the ship sponsored zip lining tour and had a good time. It was a little expensive but it was the only zip lining tour on the cruise. I have no problem recommending it. Basseterre was a disappointment.

 

Curacao: IMO, the best island on the itinerary. We took a private, 5 hour tour with Natasja of Dushi taxi. There were several great stops along the way like Hato Caves, Boca Tabla, and Knip beach (the prettiest beach I’ve ever been to). The issue was with Natasja, our tour guide. Out of 5 ½ hours we were with her, she never once asked us where we were from or what we did for a living. The tour content consisted of 60% Curacao and 40% Natasja. Even my daughter blocked her out after two hours. Combine that with her reckless driving and half bald tires, I CAN NOT recommend her. Willemstad was your typical cruises shopping port but it was as pretty as a postcard and fun to walk around.

 

Aruba: Took the Sonny tours and it was like a 180 degree change from our last tour. This gentleman was professional, funny and courteous. His bus was clean, air conditioned and he drove safely. We made several stops during the 3 hour tour and then he dropped us off at Palm Beach. I highly recommend this tour. He has a web page, just Google Sonny and Aruba tour. The ship stayed late in Oranjestad, and we planned on walking around it after dinner but soon found that 90% of the stores were closed after 6:00 pm. Luckily, we found a very nice outdoor restaurant with a view of the ship, and had a couple of glasses of wine while soaking in the scenery.

 

The days at sea were typical ones, great steel drum music, energized and crowded pools, suntan lotion, and the ever present belly flopping contests. The kind of stuff we keep going back for!

 

Other notes: We purchased the premium drink package and found it worth the money. Go to the Champagne bar and have Mariya make you a Champagne Margarita, it’s an amazing combination of which my liver will take weeks to get over!

 

Also the spa has a Thermal package ($60 /pp) where you have the option of 3 different types of spas, along with tropical and ice showers and heated reclining tile chairs. It’s a great place to relax.

 

In closing, I hope I eased any worries about the Jewel. She is a great ship.

Have a great time!

 

Dennis

[PompeySailor]

Nice review, I have not seen any bad reviews on Jewel, look forward to sailing on her our next two cruises.

She is truly an amazing ship.

Might try out the thermal suite next one.

Edited July 20, 2014 by PompeySailor

[chickadee1]

Thanks for what you say - we are going on Jewel in November and looking forward to it! We are going to some different islands that you did but I am sure we will have a great time. I never listen to the naysayers as I have never had anything but a great cruise!! I only read the port comments as we look for opinions regarding excursions and activities at the port but do realize that some people complain about anything! I love being waited on for a week ( and tip accordingly!!)

 

You say you stayed on the ship in St. Thomas and we are thinking of that or just going to a beach. Have never stayed on ship in port - what do you do all day?! Sounds restful!

[bouhunter]

We were on Jewel in March and loved it, no complaints whatsoever.:)

[cruising_chow]

Been on her twice. Both times were wonderful. DW had concerns about being on such a small ship, as she had only been on Oasis and Liberty. She was pleasantly surprised how much different the classes are.

I had previously cruised on her with my mom and was able to have the best waiter ever on both my trips, his name is Neptali.

Back to what we enjoyed about The Jewel, first time doing the Quest!! So much fun. Our CD was Carly B, and Elvis the activities director.

I believe the captain we had was Captain Gustav. It was undoubtedly one of the best cruises we have ever done.

 

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[impatientlywaiting]

I always ignore the naysayers. I've learned that there are people who are just complainers and can't ever say anything good or complimentary. In all the cruises/ships I've been on over the years, I've never had a bad experience even when other people on the same cruises/ships complain endlessly. :D

[neeko]

Thanks for the great review and all of the other positive comments. We are sailing on the Jewel September 2015 and it will be our first with RCCL. We are devoted Celebrity cruisers having completed 15 cruises with them. Many people have told us that we will be disappointed and that RCCL is a downgrade to what we are used to. We ignore naysayers also and always have a good time on cruises.

[chickadee1]

Chickadee, my wife and I stayed on board in Barbados, as we had been there before..It felt to us like that big ship was all ours..especially on a port intensive cruise, it was very restful...

 

Our only thought is that it is the first day of the cruise - but thanks for your comments! We have been to St. Thomas twice, it is a Sunday that we will be there, our wedding anniversary, and we are NOT interested in shopping!! So maybe staying on the ship will be a good idea!! I know DH will enjoy an afternoon nap!

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the report!

[PathfinderEss]

Thanks for your nice review of the Jewel. Glad you enjoyed your cruise.

[wavewatcher47]

Thanks for the outstanding review! We will be sailing in August. This will be our 2nd RC cruise. Really looking forward to this vacation:)

[novalab]

Thank you for your report on the Jewel! We will be sailing on her In October, 2015. We are really looking foreword to our first sailing on a Radiance Class ship (our TA's favorite RCCL class of ship & she has been on them all!)

[mefinephotoman]

Thanks for the great review. We are on the same itinerary in 55 days.:D It is good to hear a little bit about what to look forward to.:)

[monkeyinhat]

Did you have lounge chairs on your hump balcony

 

Thanks for your report

[Keith1010]

Enjoyed your review/report.

 

Keith

[BillOh]

we did the jewel in june..what a great trip.. ship is spotless . never seemed crowded until last day at sea..staff was wonderful...its nice to see another good review instead of all the negative posts..being a critic doesnt always have to be negative..but for your viewing pleasure here is the definition by merriam webster

 

One who forms and expresses judgments of the merits, faults, value, or truth of a matter.

 

You and the OP need to give us a link to these Jewel reviews that are all negative, I haven't seen them.

[BillOh]

Did you have lounge chairs on your hump balcony

 

Thanks for your report

 

Mine did.

 

[dennismc]

Nice review, I have not seen any bad reviews on Jewel, look forward to sailing on her our next two cruises.

She is truly an amazing ship.

Might try out the thermal suite next one.

 

Hi Pompey,

 

Your right about bad reviews here on this forum, I posted here and on this one where they were more frequent:

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/getreviews.cfm?action=ship&ShipID=307

 

Thanks,

Dennis

[dennismc]

You say you stayed on the ship in St. Thomas and we are thinking of that or just going to a beach. Have never stayed on ship in port - what do you do all day?! Sounds restful!

 

We slept in, had the gym to ourselves and the pool was wide open! There was also a big World Cup Finale gathering in the sports bar (which is why I really stayed on board!).

 

Thanks,

Dennis

[dennismc]

Did you have lounge chairs on your hump balcony

 

Thanks for your report

 

No we didn't, there wasn't enough room. We had two regular chairs and a small round table. The floors had a sound proof coating so we never heard anyone move their furniture around.

 

Thanks,

Dennis

[dennismc]

You and the OP need to give us a link to these Jewel reviews that are all negative, I haven't seen them.

 

BillOh,

 

Here you go ....

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/getreviews.cfm?action=ship&ShipID=307

 

Not all are negative but a large enough percentage to make you wonder why???

 

Dennis

[Lazz]

We did a B2B on the Jewel (June 21-July5) and it was outstanding! The ship is beautiful for its age. I only noticed a couple of wind swept outside railings and some faded (but very clean) carpeting in a few areas. The crew is wonderful and work very well together. They will go out of their way to make sure you have a good time. Being on a smaller ship, the staff recognized us as B2B passengers and treated us somewhat as loved family. Sam of the activity staff was exceptional. Our waitress, Sophia, was fantastic. We found out that we had the same table for the second week, but Sophia was being rotated. When we expressed our disappointment to the head waiter, he made it happen and she stayed with us! During the second week, she overheard our table talking about how wonderful it would be to have warm apple pie and ice cream for dessert in celebration of US Independence Day . Low and behold, she made it happen for our table (this is why I love traditional dinning)! In short, the Jewel of the Seas was a great ship to cruise on.

Edited July 21, 2014 by Lazz