Jewel of the Seas scoop?

[Cruise Kay]

Hi all,

Long time RCCL cruiser, but I’ve only done big ships for the last ten years.

 

sailing Jewel of the Seas next fall. Looking forward to a small ship and an amazing itinerary. But I’ve heard some mixed reviews about the condition of the rooms and general areas.

 

Has anyone been on Jewel lately? If so, could you share any thoughts or things I might need to know? Thanks!

 

 

[ONECRUISER]

Nope, was great when I was on Jewel in March-April on a B4B. Cleanest Ship I'd been on in Decades! Food was good, Service Great. Older, Smaller yes but I have 250+ nites on this Class and another 60+ in next 14 Months

[Ashland]

Was just on Jewel (July 26th-Aug 7th) out of Amsterdam for 12 nights. The only complaint we had about our OS was the smell of sewage on/off and needing better (brighter) lighting in the bathroom.

 

The ship as a whole was well maintained/clean and the crew was great.

[Cruise Kay]

Great. Thank you both!

Edited August 18, 2022 by Cruise Kay

[RobInMN]

Jewel is definitely doing some amazing itineraries the next couple years.

We just did a 24 night B2B, Artic Circle and then Iceland & Ireland 20-Jun to 14-Jul.

Overall, I thought Jewel appeared to be in pretty good condition. Very few minor maintenance and wear issues. For instance, the cabinet with the fridge, one of the doors was a little wonky, and the fridge was not screwed down properly.

She was clean and still a beautiful ship. Did a bunch of trivia, and I'd say, the Schooner bar was probably one of my favorites on any ship we've been on.

After doing Symphony and Odyssey in the last couple years, I can't say that I felt that Jewel was dated in any way.

over 20 years ago, we did a weekend Monarch, and I could not imagine being on that ship for even a week. Since then, we had never done a Radiance class, just Voyager & Oasis classes, and recently Freedom (stretched Voyager) and a couple months ago Odyssey. Oasis is our favorite by far. I say that, because we were really concerned about being on such a "small" ship for 24 nights. But our fears were never realized. We could have kept going and still been having a great time.

Obviously there will be turnover by the time you sail, but the staff was awesome. Hello Cloe was a great CD, the CD's entertainment staff was some of the best we've had. The dining manager was great, and I liked the captain, however his daily announcements could ramble a bit.

Probably the only complaints we have are:

1. They still operate with the old giant photo walls. Even the photo staff sounded like they hated it. I really don't think it would take much to convert to those digital photo kiosks. Seriously.
2. The only Coke machines (the only place you can get Dr. Pepper) on the entire ship are in the back of the Windjammer. It would be nice if there was one near the coffee place or something.
3. Smoking in the casino. The casino could really use doors. There were times that the whole atrium reeked of cigarette smoke (it's basically a chimney), and when that would happen, it would leach down the cabin halls some. This is a known issue with this class ship.

The only other thing I think we really missed (just missed, not a complaint) was El Loco Fresh But honestly, we never went hungry, and I gained 10 pounds. And my wife didn't like the pizza as much as what you can get at Sorrentos. But some of that might have been supply chain issues. We had a very informative discussion with the dining manager on what they've gone through trying to source products in Europe since the supply chain issues are preventing them from getting their normal shipping crates of stuff. Oh! cookies. Cookies were in very short supply, they were having a hell of a time trying to get the same quality results with locally sourced ingredients.

 

 

[Cruise Kay]

Thank you! Sounds great!

 

I am looking at that Arctic Circle cruise pretty hard. So tempted! Would you recommend?

[Chicky2181]

Following.  I have only done oasis class sailings for the past 11y and we just booked Jewel for this fall on a whim.  I found a deal I couldn’t refuse. 

[RobInMN]

12 minutes ago, Cruise Kay said:

Thank you! Sounds great!

 

I am looking at that Arctic Circle cruise pretty hard. So tempted! Would you recommend?

Absolutely!  Norway was one of the most stunning places we've visited. And in our opinion, the Arctic Circle, which aptly goes north of the Arctic Circle and up to Honningsvåg is better than just hitting the lower fjords only. Plus you can take the excursion to Nordkapp.

I almost wish the cruises were reversed, with Iceland first, then Norway, because while Iceland was very cool, we felt it really sort of lost that "WOW!" factor after having just seen Norway.🤣