sgmn

So £630 in total = $900 , so guess $450 per person sounds about right

Is there a limit to how much OBC you can pre purchase? I called the UK number and asked to buy $600 with my debit card and I was told I could only put a maximum of $450 so I got around it by putting $300 on mine and $300 on my husbands.

Not sure what limit is but I have purchased three lots of £200 - £300 against my name and £300 against st hubby's . Hope that will cover drinks for 9 days plus one or two specialized restaurants :)

Drink of the Day yesterday was:

Sunshine - white rum, peach schnapps, pineapple and cranberry juice for $8:95

Yum sounds lovely - thanks Tracey for your replies . Just realised you are probably just at beginning of cruise, hope you enjoy the rest of it.

Hi Tracey - we're on Jewel in September so any info would be good.

Are the shows interesting? Presume no big production shows on Jewel?

Any lectures/enrichment? When we were on Jewel in Alaska last year there was some interesting lectures by an ex Canadian Mountie - wonder if there is anything like this?

Do you know if the dinning package includes 'Chefs table' - the planner indicates it does but I would think not

Any deals on drinks? How much are 'drinks of the day', any two for one offers?, has a drink card been offered (i.e. 10 drinks for set price) ?

Have you been to Santorini yet? heard that there are long delays in tendering and as we are not there long we wanted to get as much time as possible on shore.

Thanks for your help - hope you find something to do !! :D

Regards Sue

Just bought some more OBC as have decided to do 'pay as we go' for drinks instead of package. Still offering rate of 1.42 dollars to pound. Would rather have it all prepaid up front instead of a big bill at end of cruise, especially at this rate !

Notice that the 20% off premium package has gone up twice in planner to GBP30 per day (plus tips) over last few weeks, and with all the ports in our Jewel Med cruise don't think we will drink enough to make break even.

Money left over from purchased OBC is paid to you in cash .

prices on Jewel for September in my planner are the same as Merlins Mum quoted for Brilliance. So £28.86 per day for Premium package, up a couple of pounds since Brexit. Total in my cart with the tips added is £306.49 for nine days. A lot to spend just on booze especially as there are a lot of long port days. Think I will just 'pay as I go' and hope there may be a drinks card to bring down the price by a few dollars.

Hi , how do you buy onboard credit , think I would like to do this if I can . Booked direct with Royal carribean , thanks

Just phone their reservation number - check their ROE first though. BTW drink package has now gone up by around £20 for nine day cruise and excursions hAve also increased in my cruise planner :mad:

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!

I'm on Jewel in September and am pretty sure that the prepaid meal prices/package has gone up but doesn't look like the drink package or excursions have yet.

I have just purchased on board credit at rate of 1.42 - the same as my last cruise in Feb. But I know this can change so would also suggest buying sooner rather than later.

We are on the Jewel of the Seas right now and are very disappointed by the lack of effort put in by the pool attendants. They make no effort to collect towels from beds that have been empty for over 2 hours never mind 30 mins. One of them stated that there are simply not enough beds for everyone and they do not carry any in storage. So tough! I have never seen people lying on the deck on their towels before as on this ship. They are also turning a blind eye to the many children in the adults only pool and hot tub. Tried reporting it but was just shrugged off. It's not a big problem for us, we just sit on the balcony but for guests in inside or outside cabins, it's not good.

Is it worth speaking to guest services about the pool attendants not collecting towels or ask for something to be put in the daily cruise compass?

Think it's actually advertised in UK as 'all inclusive', not free. So defiantly an upsell even on the uk website

Hello - can you advise how quick and earliest you can disembark - we have an early flight out of FCO airport and need to get off quickly - would it be quickest to carry off our own bags?

Thanks

Looking forward to hearing more , we are on the same cruise in September

Hit that like button. :)

 

LMaxwell your my favorite poster on CC.

I agree - always a voice of sanity :)

The process described by GMoney is correct, as long as you have a through ticket you should be checked to final destination and will just go through security and transfer air side. If on seperate tickets your airline may just check you and your bags to London which means landing yourself and going through customs and rechecking on next flight.

Even if they don't through check you, you can still stay air side and go to the transfer desk air side as long as your bags are through checked

The minimum connection time between terminal 3 and terminal 5 is 1 and half hours but this only works if you are through checked and your inbound flight is on time !

In February it was around 1.44 down from 1.60 last year

Doesn't 18% automatically get added, so with a $1 a drink that brings the tip to almost 30% . Coming from a country where the norm is 15-% this seems pretty high and surely you shouldn't have to tip extra to get good service

Good tip... what currency is the cash payout? Us$?

The cash out on last day of any unused OBC is in USD. Great way to reduce the pain of high prices of drinks!!

And guess its a win win for RCI and us as OBC may encourage people to spend more - on my last cruise I spent money in the spa which I would normally not do

Sue

Hi - I was given this tip in our roll call on a previous cruise.

If you call UK number 01932834243 (think it takes you to foreign call centre) you can buy on board credit for a good rate of exchange. Today I got $500 for £300 - a rate of 1.66. The best rate I could get thru my high street was 1.54.

I got the same rate on my last cruise when the high street rate was 1.50 so it was an even better rate then. If you don't use all the on board credit you can cash it out and get the remaining money refunded in cash on board on your last night.

Regards Sue

Hi - I also come from a country where there is no custom of tipping EVERYONE. I work in service industry at the airport and we never get tipped nor would we expect it - the few times people have offered me something - I say 'no, thanks anyway but its ok its part of my job.'.... I

I get a decent wage and don't need to make it up with tips. In fact in the UK we have a reasonable decent minimum wage. Having said that we still rountinely tip in restaurants - 10-15%, taxi's, hair dressers and a few other professions. BUT I know it is a big deal in USA and therefore I would never remove my auto tips on a cruise ship, but I do think that everyone deserves a living wage from their employer. A fair days wage for a fair days work !!

Thanks Grady for great review and pictures. There isn't that much info on the boards about Jewel OTS so love reading about her as we are same ship in September. I guess the weather will be a lot colder then but looking forward to the views and hoping to see some wildlife. Thanks again

Sue

We did Allure in May. We purchased our tickets on line through the Vatican website and used RC transport to and from Rome. The guide on the bus was very informative and interesting and they dropped us as close as they could to Vatican city. Whatever you do make sure you get tickets for museums and chapel before you leave - the lines were really long to buy on the day.

Sue

Tell me on a Sunday was on in the West End in London a few years ago and did quite well. It's an old musical but was brought up to date.. Hopefully this is the version played. It's a shame people got up and walked out, it's only 50 mins long.. What's 20 more minutes??

I have to say I was very surprised RCL chose this show. It's very British.

Hi - we were on the 19th May sailing too and also felt bad for the singer on this show as so many people walked out . She had a great voice and we enjoyed the show. The headline act was a Queen tribute act and they were excellent - getting the audience rocking and rolling.

Hi - we are on Allure 19May and very happy to hear there are shops after check in to buy wine as we are flying in that day from London and travelling directly to the port. Does anyone know if the shops are accessible from both terminals ?

Thanks

Sue:)