Just back from Jewel - Mini review

[CFIGuy]

Here is some basic info from our 7 night Greek Isle cruise on Jewel of the Seas. No pics. Please let me know if you have any questions.

 

Booked the cruise about 1 month out. Got a very good last minute rate. Booked the cruise for myself, my mother, and my son. We booked 2 inside guarantee rooms. We were assigned two rooms on deck 3.

 

Pre cruise, we arrived in Rome on Friday. Our flight to Rome was impacted by the Air France labor strike, so we had to fly into Zurich and take the train to Rome instead. We stayed 2 nights at the Hotel Emona Aquaductus. Booked last minute on Priceline. It was 4* per Italy's regulations, would rate it a 3-3.5* in the states. The room itself was very clean and quiet, with blackout curtains, as well as indoor and separate outdoor shutters. Reception was helpful with recommendations, and the hotel provided a nice expanded continental breakfast. Multiple public transportation options available as well.

 

In Rome, we did most of the main things on the tourist circuit. With the coliseum, my recommendation would be to arrive early. Trevi Fountain was packed and the Vatican tourist spots were very busy.

 

Leaving Rome to get to the ship, we decided to take the train. The taxi cost and transfer costs were a little too much cost-wise in my opinion. The train fare was 5 Euro for adults and 2.50 Euro for children. The train ride was about 1 hour and was on a train similar to a commuter rail train in the US. I would not recommend this if you travel with a lot of luggage. We had 1 carry-on sized bag each.

 

Upon arriving at our destination train station, there is a free shuttle bus apparently, but instead of looking for it, we paid a few Euros for a cab that dropped us directly at the ship.

 

Check in was fairly standard, and one of the quicker ones in recent history, although our arrival time (after 1230) might have had something to do with this. The check in facility is in a semi permanent tent. After check in there were two tables, one taking restaurant reservations and one for drink packages. After the obligatory boarding photo, we walked up the gangway on deck number 2.

 

To be continued...

[CFIGuy]

Our cabins: As mentioned previously, we received two inside staterooms via a guarantee on deck 3. One room was aft starboard, the other mid port. No major issues with either. The aft starboard room did have some kind of door or frequently used utility closet nearby, but other than that, no noticeable noise. Temperature in the room was good, and no major issues in the bathroom. Some minor hot water temperature fluctuations were the only concern. Our stateroom attendant Jo did a great job of keeping our room in great condition, especially considering we were listed as having early dining, but did not attend that (more on that later).

 

Drinks & drink packages:

Shouldn't be a surprise to most that the majority of people ordering drinks at the bar had purchased drink packages. I signed up for the Royal Replenish (premium non alcoholic) package at $19 per day. I am torn on if I would purchase it again. I most likely purchased $19 in drinks on a daily basis, but I am sure $10+ daily was purchased only because I had a package. The bartenders for the most part were very good. I primarily used the services of the bartenders at the pool bar and the casino bar. The only bar where I received poor service was at the Schooner Bar, and I had spoke with the bar manager separately as it seemed to be a training issue. One other minor thing, while Royal Replenish said it includes fresh juices, when I tried using it in the Solarium for fresh squeezed juices, was told it was only for fresh squeezed OJ in the Windjammer. Seemed a bit petty....

[CFIGuy]

Overall feel of the ship - Was very surprised to see that the majority of passengers on the ship were from the US. With that said, this sailing had a very different feeling compared to a Caribbean sailing. More subdued would be the best description. Bars, shows, and the casino were much quieter that what I have been used to in the past.

 

In terms of the ship itself, this was my first time sailing this class of ship in almost 10 years. While I did miss the Promenade, what was really missed on this ship was an extra pool. As mentioned in other threads, saying seats on one of the two pool decks were at a premium is an understatement. If you were not to the pool by 900-930, you weren't getting a seat. The shops were fairly quiet and were of the normal variety. Note that the cigarette & liquor store was closed down on this sailing, as it did not exit the EU.

 

I mentioned the silence in the casino earlier. They tried drumming up more participation in a variety of ways. There was a wipeout promotion where anyone with 25 or more casino points had their sea pass bill - up to $2000 wiped out. Also tried $3 blackjack, CD as a dealer, etc. I did participate in my first slot tournament and enjoyed it. The first one I tried for canceled for no one signing up, the second one had 12 people sign up. Based on what I have seen in the Caribbean, I was surprised how quiet these tournaments were. The good news though is that the casino was not that smoky.

 

Dining - My largest gripe with the cruise had to do with dining times. With later port times, as well as a European itinerary, was surprised to see 6pm & 830pm dining times. Shouldn't be a surprise that MTD and late dining were full. We did wait list for both, and I thought especially with priority wait list that we would be able to get moved to one of other choices. Unfortunately we were informed that we were unable to be moved.

 

Because of our early dining choice, we used the Windjammer our first few nights. I did enjoy the Indian offerings and the minute steak that was cooked to order. It was also nice getting done with the meal relatively quickly.

 

My mother and I did go to Izumi one night and the food and service were both very good. We decided against going to Chops due to the cost increase, plus their sub menu of additional cost steaks. We skipped Giovani's just due to not enough time.

 

We did go to the MDR for the 6pm dining on a sea day where we missed a port. Our service was very well as always, and we noticed an increased presence of bar servers in the dining room. When the head waiter asked why he had not seen us, we mentioned it was due to the early dining time. Our head waiter mentioned to us as long as we didn't care what table we were placed, he would take care of us for late seating. We used the MDR for late dining for 2 additional nights and liked it. The head waiter did mention that meal times were changing to 630pm & 900pm due to trying to balance the late dining popularity on the European sailings.

 

MDR for lunch was fairly standard, as was Windjammer breakfast. I will mention that for breakfast we primarily used the Diamond lounge for continental breakfast. My mom used room service once, and the food arrived 45 mins after the scheduled time. The Solarium cafe had the typical pizza, sandwiches, & cookies, and kept busy. Note that for anyone who wants a late dinner, the Windjammer closes at 9PM.

[sgmn]

Thanks for the review, we're on Jewel in September and there's not that much on these boards about her. Was the entertainment ok? - no big Broadway style shows I guess. And was there any drink cards offered - we are probably one of the few without a package!

[debs2028]

We leave 24th July sailing

Definitely altering the meal times I'm down for 9pm , which actually I'm worried might be a bit late as have teenager with me .

Which port did you miss ? Or have, I misread

Any tips would be gratefully received :)

[CFIGuy]

Sgmn- I am sorry to say that I did not see one show. I spent the majority of the time with my son, and he wasn't particularly interested, and honestly the shows aren't my cup of tea either. I seem to recall a signer from one of the British American Idol type of shows. Couldn't tell you the others though.

 

I did see drink cards offered, maybe at the casino bar? I believe it was 10 drinks for $75.

 

debs2028 - We missed Mykonos due to high winds and seas. It was not announced as canceled until it was tender time, as the captain and the port really did try to make it work. The captain did seem to sail slower and with the wind to make it a great sea day. The crew printed out a new compass @ 8AM with all day activities and really made the best of it.

 

For those of you that are C&A, this was a very lightly booked C&A cruise, and according to the loyalty ambassador, at least for the short term, the numbers are going down even further. Our cruise had 29 diamond, 14 diamond plus, 2 pinnacle, and about 100 platinum & emerald (combined number). The Diamond Lounge was very nice at the top of the ship, and with only 29 diamonds on board, it remained pretty empty, even with plenty of seats open during cocktail hour. The coincierge Efran was okay. Sometimes he was very friendly and very engaged with the crowd, but more often than not I thought it seemed he was just checking e-mails behind his desk. I know that this most likely comes off as sounding like I was expecting something from him. I am just comparing to our coincierge on Grandeur who was a 10+. Maybe he was having an off week. Both of the waiters in the lounge were top notch. I should mention that at night I didn't spend a ton of time in the lounge because of my son, and also because my mom is not yet diamond status.

 

My #1 tip for those of you who want to go to the beaches in ports is to arrange your own transport. For our last port, which I will get to shortly, we took a taxi to the beach, driver arranged a pick up time and gave us his cell phone #. Payment was due upon return to the ship, so you didn't have to worry about not getting picked up at the beach, because the driver wanted his money. Our beach ended up being the shore excursion beach. We arrived an hour earlier, stayed an hour later, and our taxi fare was about the price of 1 adult for the shore excursion.

[gadaboutgal]

Can you tell us who were the Hotel Director and the Loyalty Ambassador? I believe Captain Liz is on board as Master of the Vessel?

Edited June 29, 2016 by gadaboutgal

[CFIGuy]

Can't remember the hotel director's name. Can't remember the Loyalty Ambassador's name, but can tell you that he just transferred from the Grandeur (he kept on referring to Grandeur instead of Jewel) and he was from Chile.

[riclop]

Thanks for the mini review.

[gagirl7143]

Tony Curtis is Hotel director.

[Miryam1234]

Thank you for the review! We are on July 24 cruise as well, so I'm preparing myself for the battle of sun loungers!

How was the quality of food in general?

[debs2028]

Thank you for the review! We are on July 24 cruise as well, so I'm preparing myself for the battle of sun loungers!

How was the quality of food in general?

 

Ha .. I'll fight you for them ...

 

Guess it's a choice of get up early or lose out ... At least I know that and can make a choice .. Bit annoying though !!!!

[little britain]

Is there teppanyaki in Izumi as well?

 

 

Sent from my iPad mini 4 using Tapatalk

[abbflex]

Was it easy to get taxi in the different ports or lots of waiting?

[CFIGuy]

Quick answers before I run to work -

 

There was not teppanyaki at Izumi, but hot rocks were offered.

 

Taxis in Santorini came with a wait, but public buses and a bus/taxi hybrid (picking up passengers on the Main Street and taking them to the next town were readily available. I have heard that Mykonos is similar. Athens (Piraeus) and Katakolon both had a ton of cabs, as did Civitivechia.

[R & T]

What were the production shows? Thanks

[Clarea]

Nice report, thanks.

 

Did you notice any drink cards being sold?

[CFIGuy]

Unfortunately, can't tell you the production shows as I did not attend them.

 

Drink cards were available at the casino bar at least for $75 for 10 drinks.

 

For the question about food quality, the best subjective way to answer was that it was the standard menu offerings. I noticed that Prime Rib is no longer offered on the first night. Also noticed that some of the salad bar offerings for the MDR lunch ran out early and were not replenished. They did do a pool bbq on sea days that seemed well attended.

 

Onto the ports. First, I will mention that the tendering process that we only used once seemed to work much better than my experiences in the Caribbean with tendering. With that said, I believe all of my other tendering experiences have been on the larger class ships, which I am sure also impact the lines. The line for tender tickets was fairly short, maybe 10 minutes, and received tender #9, with a high number of 15 I believe. Our wait for tendering once numbers were called was maybe 30 minutes, and numbers were called within 30 minutes of being distributed. On other ships, it has taken over an hour just for the first number to be called, and at least an hour wait after that for our number.

 

So, our first port was Santorini. It is a tendering port, and the process is mostly mentioned above. There are two docks in Santorini, one is exclusively used by shore excursions, the other for everyone else. If you are on an excursion, you will dock near a road accessible to vehicles. If you are not on an excursion, the dock you arrive at does not have a road to town. The three options to get to Fira (the town at the top of the hill) were a long walk up stairs, a 5 Euro Donkey ride or a 5 Euro cable car ride. I would recommend the cable car ride, at least for going up. At the top of the hill is a rather large town with many restaurants, shops, and bars. On the Main Street, there are multiple ATV rental & car rental options. It is also relatively easy to find a bus or taxi. We went to Kamari Beach on recommendation from others. Chairs and umbrellas on the beach are loosely attached to restaurants. With this I mean that if you choose to order food or drink, you order from the restaurant behind your seating section, but ordering is not required. The water is nice, but given this is a volcanic beach, I would recommend aqua socks. Getting a taxi/bus back to Fira was relatively easy. Definitely do a meal or drink at one of the cliff top restaurants before going back to the ship. The line for the cable car down was much much longer, and for those in good physical condition, I would recommend walking.

 

Other ports to be continued.

[CFIGuy]

Our first of two docked ports was Piraeus (Athens). We chose to go independent here as well. We tried taking the X80 to the Parthenon, and after waiting 30 mins at the correct bus stop, we went via a local bus and train instead. While a taxi would be more, I would recommend a taxi in the future. The public transport was extremely slow, hot, and crowded. Not really worth the money saved. There were also some unsavory subjects on the subway. At least one attempted pick pocketing as well.

 

If you are going to the Parthenon, I would recommend taking a taxi as early as possible, to get there before it gets warm, and more importantly before the crowds, and boy were there crowds. The entry fee for the Parthenon was 20 Euro, and the walk up is about 45 minutes. As soon as you enter the gate, look for the water bottle vending machines, a steal at 35 Euro Cents. The large crowding area is in the area of the wood steps.

 

After visiting the Parthenon, we visited the Parthenon museum for 5 Euros each. The museum was perfect sized and showed many artifacts. There was also a cafeteria attached. Please note no photos were allowed in the museum.

 

We then decided to grab lunch at a 5* hotel that had great views of the Parthenon. The lunch was obviously a little more than average in cost, but the service and view made it worthwhile. It was also directly across from the square where the changing of the guard takes place. After this we made our way back to the ship.

 

To be continued.

[Clarea]

Production shows on Jewel: West End to Broadway, City of Dreams

[Iron-Maiden's-No1-Fan]

Great review thanks.

We sail nwxt yr from Rome ..

Can you recall how much a taxi is from the airport to your hotel?

 

Sure I read they are now set to avoid being over charged 😊

[abbflex]

Is the pizza in Solarium Cafè same quality as Sorrento or better/worse? Also the sandwiches/rolls compeared to park cafè?

[welshrich]

Can you tell us who were the Hotel Director and the Loyalty Ambassador? I believe Captain Liz is on board as Master of the Vessel?

 

Captain Liz was on our Vision cruise last week for a Transatlantic, she was fantastic, very visible around the ships and at the various events, her midday announcements were also very good.

[gagirl7143]

Taxi from FCO to town is approx 50E

[CFIGuy]

Taxis from FCO were a flat rate, and I believe what Gagirl7143 said is correct at 50 Euro. We took a train to Rome, so I am not aware of the fare from the airport to downtown. From the cruise port to the airport, we were charged 100 Euro in a shared taxi. I believe the meter fare is somewhere in the 110-150 range?

 

Pizza and sandwiches seemed to be similar in quality to Sorrento's & Park Cafe, but obviously without as much selection.