Great Jewel experience

[Mcobean]

Just off yesterday and I have to say our first RCL trip was great, we had GS 1036 and really enjoyed the suite perks. Bar harbor was our favorite port by far.

 

Fernando, our concierge was amazing. Ship and service were amazing.

 

But, for as good as it was I think I will continue looking for our favorite cruise line, food was just ok, even though I was told it was the new menu. Still too much smoking for my taste.

 

If you have any questions please ask

[Scoobydobe7]

Glad you had a good time -- I am on this cruise on the 21st -- do you happen to remember what time the "Welcome Aboard Show" was on the first night?? Thanks

[starlake]

Glad you had a great time.

 

We will be on there on the 28th for the repo.

 

Can you tell us more about the menu??? I have looked at the menus here and I was not all that impressed, anything you really liked or didn't?

 

Did you go to the SchoonerBar??? If you did, how was the entertainment??

[reney313]

You might also try one of the Voyager, Freedom or Oasis class ships before determining the favorite line. It is my personal opinion these ships show a much different side of RCI.

 

The MDR food may be similar, but there are so many other eating choices that it might make up the lack of great MDR food for you.

 

Also, the smoke issue seems to be much less on ships with a Promenade to me..but that is really based off one cruise in this class (my second coming up next month!). I am sure it can change from cruise to cruise depending upon the make up of the passengers.

 

I have not sailed on Radiance class prior so I can't directly compare, but I have been on many other ships without a promenade (12 to be exact) and it seems this layout is so different that it is worth to try before making a decision. I LOVED Freedom class and that may be the best to try first (not as big as Oasis, but with a few more options than Voyager).

[Karma5]

It is nice to try out a different ship. However, for me I'll take the Radiance class any day...............

[Rolltide#1]

Hi! I will be on the 10/21 New England cruise. Any suggestions regarding excursions or things to do or not to do while in port. Thanks!

[Mcobean]

Hey all, answers are inline here but first I wanted to say the the Jewel is a beautiful ship, I love the size and the views of the sea. We spent more time on the ship than in the ports and really enjoyed the solarium. The policy not allowing the reservation of deck chairs seemed to work well. The cruise was very good, just not great.

 

As for the show time the Welcome Aboard Show was at 7:15, we did not go to any shows

 

Being our first time on RCL I really can't compare the menu to anything, we only ate in the MDR twice and I can't even remember what I had the first day and my DW had Salmon that she could not finish as it was dry and tasteless. The second time we ate there I had the Arancini, garlic soup and the escargot and they were all good, BBB Creme Brûlée for dessert that was also good. Talking to others they were happy with the new menu, especially the size of the lobster. I did not think about grabbing menus for Tides, sorry.

 

We also ate at the windjammer and really enjoyed the Indian and Chinese options, We ate at Portofinos twice and both times were impressed, we did not eat in Chops except for breakfast which was very quiet but good and fresh. For lunch we liked the sea view cafe fish and chips

 

We did go to the schooner bar a couple times, good piano players, sometimes just easy listening and sometimes sing-along, really nice, good deals on beers here at times. Also trivia here, but we did not play.

 

Lots of entertainment in the centrum, we liked sitting up a couple levels and listening to the music

 

As for the ports, we rented bikes in Bar Harbor and went out to the carriage trails in the Acadia park, that was the highlight of the entire trip, absolutely wonderful experience, if you don't want to ride bikes, there are other tours that sounded very nice

 

We did not do any other excursions, just walked around town, we liked Portland, good oysters and chowder at J's on the waterfront. in St John there is not much, we walked to the reversing falls, pretty. I suspect the jet boat ride there would be fun. We ate at one of the waterfront restaurants and it was good, but expensive. Halifax is a pretty city, the pubic gardens were very nice. Talking to others it sounds like the Peggy's Cove excursion is nice.

 

I did keep the compasses for the cruise if there are more questions I can refer to them

[Mcobean]

Couple pics

 

[LBumb]

nice pics

[starlake]

Thanks for your reply

 

Great pictures also.

[wrp96]

Thanks for the report Can't wait to board her on Sunday.

[GranysT]

Hey Wrona,

Haven't seen a posting from you in forever. How are you doing? See you're getting ready to cruise. Have a wonderful one. I'm sailing Jewel on Jan 14th, but first I'm going on Oasis on Nov 24th. I am so excited to see that ship. Cheryl

[wrp96]

Hey Wrona,

Haven't seen a posting from you in forever. How are you doing? See you're getting ready to cruise. Have a wonderful one. I'm sailing Jewel on Jan 14th, but first I'm going on Oasis on Nov 24th. I am so excited to see that ship. Cheryl

 

I've been making friends with the local ER the past several months - so I'm ready to cruise. Will take care of Jewel for you.

[vaeyedoc]

We too disembarked from the Jewel this past Sunday (10/7). The ship was wonderfully maintained and we thoroughly enjoyed her. The staff and crew were fantastic.

 

Portland has a city bus (Route 8A) that makes a continual loop of the downtown area. You can ride all day, hop on and off, for $5. It was a great way to see all of downtown. You can also transfer to other buses for free. We did this to get to the Observatory. Bar Harbor was beautiful. We walked around and enjoyed the shops. Enjoyed doing a zip line over by the reversing falls in St. John and enjoyed the Citadel and Titanic experience in Halifax. By the way, we walked through a neighborhood in St. John and it was great. The residents actually talked with us and wanted to be friendly and helpful.

 

As for the food: we ate in the dining room every evening. The food was well prepared and enjoyable. However, they make more out of the new menus then they should. There were nice choices and it was nice that there were some items available every night if you wanted them. But they tried to make the menu out to be an "experience" and it wasn't.

[Cheryl H]

So they served breakfast in Chops? Was that only for suite guests?

[Mcobean]

Yes, chops was just for Suite guests, they asked for our room number is all.

[UNV-IT!!!]

I can't wait to sail her. I have less then a year. Yay

[printingchick]

It is nice to try out a different ship. However, for me I'll take the Radiance class any day...............

 

You and me both!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!