Jewel of Adventure, please help me choose our Puerto Rico cruise!

[voyager89]

Hi everybody,

 

I haven't been here since I came back from our first cruise in April, which was the Oasis, I had the best time ever! I still can't believe I was there. I wanted to do a review but most likely it would have been boring lol. I really didn't want to come back to the forum so I wouldn't get depressed for not having another cruise booked, and my partner and I were supposedly not cruising again until Quantum but that's a long way to go! So it's almost 200% sure we are doing another cruise in January out of Puerto Rico. Still unsure about which of the 2 ships and out of the 4 routes making 8 choices we narrowed it to this 2:

 

-Aventure of the seas

Bridgetown, Barbados;

Castries, St. Lucia;

St. Johns, Antigua;

Philipsburg, St. Maarten;

St. Croix, U.s.v.i.; i

 

-Jewel of the seas

Tortola, B.v.i.;

Philipsburg, St. Maarten;

Basseterre, St. Kitts;

Roseau, Dominica;

Bridgetown, Barbados;

 

I really want to go to Barbados and I'm glad it's on both options, we were going anyway when doing the Quantum but again that's a long wait hehe. We already went to St. Maarten and I'm super happy both options have it as well, since we spent most of our time shopping and on Maho beach, I really regret not going to Marigot and Orient, so I want to go there this second time. I don't know anything about the other islands. We don't really like doing guided tours or excursions, we rather explore the islands on our own, and what we mostly look for is beautiful beaches and good shopping.

 

As for the ships, I like what I've seen so far on both of them, but I still just can't make up my mind... I like the asian feeling on the Jewel, but Adventure has way more entertainment options. We are young (24 and 26 by then) so while we enjoy the peace of the solarium, we also like doing something else thats a little more exciting. I'm afraid we feel the "downgrade" from the Oasis to any other ship, so that's another factor.

 

That's us at the Oasis in case any of you saw us haha.

 

Any advice will be really really apprecitated!

[Max Density]

I don't know how much help I can provide, but we decided on Jewel mostly because of the itinerary being port-intensive (including Aruba and Curacao), but we also liked the open-air seating for the Windjammer and the views of the sea from pretty much anywhere in the ship.

[Mango Tango]

I'd go on the Jewel...I love going to Tortola...take the ferry to Virgin Gorda and go to the Baths. I love that place!!!

[Clarea]

Another vote for Jewel and Tortola. I can't remember Royal going to Tortola in recent years, so that might be a temporary port of call.

[voyager89]

Thanks a bunch! I guess Jewel it will be, I googled the baths and its AMAZING.

My best friend also voted for the Jewel since he knows pretty much every island out there.

 

My question is isn't the Jewel too small? I know after the Oasia every ship will feel small, I just want it not to rock so much while moving and have enough things to do on board. Thanks a lot again!

[bouhunter]

We've always gone on Voyager or Freedom class ships until last year - went on Brilliance (Jewels sister ship) out of PR. We thought we'd miss the royal promenade and other things, and did not!:) we've booked Jewel for next March from San Juan, it will be our fifth straight year sailing from San Juan. Aside from the ships, both cruises offer great ports, it's really hard to choose one over the other. You said you don't care for guided tours, but on Dominica we had a great one with Beno (you can find him with a google search). There was another couple with us that year and it was just the four of us. For a beach on your own, on Barbados we loved the Boatyard - great food and drinks, BEAUTIFUL beach. For 12.00/pp you get chairs/umbrella, a drink each, and taxi fare back to the ship. St. Lucia is truly beautiful, but to get to the beach at the Pitons or something like that you'll either have to do a tour or probably a long expensive taxi ride. We had a great tour of St. Croix last year with Thenford Grey. Only 6 people total for the day. There is a beach right at the ship on St. Kitts. Some people take a taxi or shuttle to the other side of the island, but from what we've heard here it's a long drive for a town with little shopping or anything to do. We went to the Baths on Virgin Gorda when on Tortola last year and it was great. Ahhhh, St. Martin - our favorite port to hang out, eat, drink and shop!!!:D Whichever you chose those are both AWESOME cruises and ships:)

 

Oh yeah, if you haven't been to San Juan, definitely try to stay a couple nights before or after the cruise so you can spend most of a day sight seeing, eating, shopping and drinking in Old San Juan.

[Clarea]

Thanks a bunch! I guess Jewel it will be, I googled the baths and its AMAZING.

My best friend also voted for the Jewel since he knows pretty much every island out there.

 

My question is isn't the Jewel too small? I know after the Oasia every ship will feel small, I just want it not to rock so much while moving and have enough things to do on board. Thanks a lot again!

Regarding things to do on board, this itinerary does not leave much time on board. I believe there's only one sea day. There will be some entertainment every night, just like Oasis.

[reallyitsmema]

Thanks a bunch! I guess Jewel it will be, I googled the baths and its AMAZING.

My best friend also voted for the Jewel since he knows pretty much every island out there.

 

My question is isn't the Jewel too small? I know after the Oasia every ship will feel small, I just want it not to rock so much while moving and have enough things to do on board. Thanks a lot again!

The Jewel is a beautiful ship but we felt it was too small and we missed the Royal Promenade. We have been on the Mariner which is the same class as Adventure and we prefer a ship at least that size.

 

If you go with the Adventure and book a balcony, make sure you book a a higher deck since the balcony fronts are all steel on the lower decks and part steel with a glass section on higher decks.

[cw2go]

Jewel and Baths won us over as well...

[debshomespun]

The jewel is a great ship! The dining outdoors is really nice. There won't be much time with having all the port days and only one day at sea. I'm sure you'll enjoy it try it out and you'll see for yourself. The Baths are Amazing and yoyou will really enjoy going there. Be sure to take the "walk" through the boulders and go to the far beach. The views are also amazing.

[Ocean Boy]

The Jewel is a beautiful ship but we felt it was too small and we missed the Royal Promenade. We have been on the Mariner which is the same class as Adventure and we prefer a ship at least that size.

 

If you go with the Adventure and book a balcony, make sure you book a a higher deck since the balcony fronts are all steel on the lower decks and part steel with a glass section on higher decks.

 

We felt the same way when we sailed on Serenade. It was a great cruise but we have done the rest of our southern Caribbean cruises on Adventure.

[Miss Vickie]

We've done many Radiance-class sailings out of San Juan, and did Adventure last January. We did enjoy that cruise, and Adventure is a beautiful ship, but we found we prefer Radiance class ships. We missed the open feeling - once we on board on Adventure, we didn't see much of the outside unless we were on our balcony. We didn't use the promenade except as a way to get from one area of the ship to another. We enjoyed seeing the ice show, and it was nice seeing new production shows, but all in all, we're looking forward to Jewel in January. We've got 4 upcoming sailings booked on her - 1/11/14, 1/18/14, 1/24/15 and 1/31/15. Our 1/11 sailing has the same itinerary you're looking it - hope you'll join us!

[bouhunter]

As I stated above, we really thought we'd miss the Royal Promenade on Brilliance after all 7 of our cruises had been on larger RCCL ships with a royal promenade. To our surprise we didn't miss it at all. There were still places to get pizza/sandwiches (Solarium), pastries/cookies (Deck 6 I think it was). And the Seaview Cafe on 12 was a nice change. For our March 14' cruise we could have chosen either Adventure or Jewel and went with Jewel for the port choices. Yes the promenade is nice, but in the future it won't be a deal breaker like we thought it might have been:)

[Miss Vickie]

Another vote for Jewel and Tortola. I can't remember Royal going to Tortola in recent years, so that might be a temporary port of call.

 

We've actually been to Tortola twice in recent years, both times on Serenade of the Seas. I think they added it back onto the itineraries in 2011.

[golfer1966]

Hi everybody,

 

I haven't been here since I came back from our first cruise in April, which was the Oasis, I had the best time ever! I still can't believe I was there. I wanted to do a review but most likely it would have been boring lol. I really didn't want to come back to the forum so I wouldn't get depressed for not having another cruise booked, and my partner and I were supposedly not cruising again until Quantum but that's a long way to go! So it's almost 200% sure we are doing another cruise in January out of Puerto Rico. Still unsure about which of the 2 ships and out of the 4 routes making 8 choices we narrowed it to this 2:

 

-Aventure of the seas

Bridgetown, Barbados;

Castries, St. Lucia;

St. Johns, Antigua;

Philipsburg, St. Maarten;

St. Croix, U.s.v.i.; i

 

-Jewel of the seas

Tortola, B.v.i.;

Philipsburg, St. Maarten;

Basseterre, St. Kitts;

Roseau, Dominica;

Bridgetown, Barbados;

 

I really want to go to Barbados and I'm glad it's on both options, we were going anyway when doing the Quantum but again that's a long wait hehe. We already went to St. Maarten and I'm super happy both options have it as well, since we spent most of our time shopping and on Maho beach, I really regret not going to Marigot and Orient, so I want to go there this second time. I don't know anything about the other islands. We don't really like doing guided tours or excursions, we rather explore the islands on our own, and what we mostly look for is beautiful beaches and good shopping.

 

As for the ships, I like what I've seen so far on both of them, but I still just can't make up my mind... I like the asian feeling on the Jewel, but Adventure has way more entertainment options. We are young (24 and 26 by then) so while we enjoy the peace of the solarium, we also like doing something else thats a little more exciting. I'm afraid we feel the "downgrade" from the Oasis to any other ship, so that's another factor. [ATTACH]279034[/ATTACH]

 

That's us at the Oasis in case any of you saw us haha.

 

Any advice will be really really apprecitated!

 

If you do a tour with Bernards, you get to go to both...Orient and Maho and they will stop in Marigot for a little too if ya want. We did and stopped in to a bakery to some goodies :) As far as the ships... I love them both, but Id lean towards Adventure cuz we like the Promenade.

[alfaeric]

Thanks a bunch! I guess Jewel it will be, I googled the baths and its AMAZING.

My best friend also voted for the Jewel since he knows pretty much every island out there.

 

My question is isn't the Jewel too small? I know after the Oasia every ship will feel small, I just want it not to rock so much while moving and have enough things to do on board. Thanks a lot again!

 

 

We also did that cruise itinerary on the Brilliance- and really enjoyed it.

 

Totola is very "quiet" for a cruise ship port- while there are a handful of the standard shops- it's not nearly what most ports are. Very refreshing, IMHO. St. Croix was quite like that too, so either way you would have been happy.

 

The one substitution- we went to Guadaloupe instead of Dominica. I've seen people rave about Dominica, and others hate where we stopped- and since we really enjoyed Guadaloupe, I suspect Dominica will be very enjoyable as well. (Note- French Rum is very different than Spanish or English Rum, instead of using molassas, they use cane syrup- it's very interesting if you like run)

 

But to this post- the big question is how much you put on the Royal Promenade and the ice rink. IMHO, it's a good time to experiment since it seems as if the two of you are willing to. For us, it's quite interesting- we RAVE over the week we just spent on the Oasis, but really treasure the cruises we've done on the Serenade, Jewel, and Brilliance. So instead of comparing the two ships, and expecting some kind of sameness, enjoy and seek the differences.

 

In paricular, on the Radience class, do note how many places you can hang out with a very clear view of the sea- including the back deck dining on the Windjammer. Having an elevator (which you should use at least once) that faces out to the sea is pretty cool. The feel of this ship is totally different than Oasis ships.

 

Both classes are great, but the differences should be celebrated. If you like it, then you just opened up a whole new set of interaries you can do. If not, well, you are still spending a week cruising. That's pretty awesome in my book.

[Uri1961]

We decided to do the AOS first, I really like the ports. The next cruise we take out of San Juan will be on the Jewel. Either way, you will have a great time!! I have only heard good things about leaving from San Juan.

[DragonOfTheSeas]

We also did that cruise itinerary on the Brilliance- and really enjoyed it.

 

Totola is very "quiet" for a cruise ship port- while there are a handful of the standard shops- it's not nearly what most ports are. I agree there are several good beaches but shopping is very limited. Very refreshing, IMHO. St. Croix was quite like that too, so either way you would have been happy. . . .

 

In paricular, on the Radience class, do note how many places you can hang out with a very clear view of the sea- including the back deck dining on the Windjammer. Having an elevator (which you should use at least once) that faces out to the sea is pretty cool. We sailed the Radiance and really enjoyed the views of the sea.

 

.

 

We sailed on the Grandeur to several of these places. I know the ships do not compare at all--but, I did a picture review of our ports. I have provided a link that starts with St. Kitts. Our tour there was excellent and dropped us off at a beautiful beach. I would recommend this tour to visitors.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1838382&highlight=rosevelt&page=4

 

Although we did not visit the Baths at Tortola this cruise--we have in the past. They are unique.

 

I have only visited St Croix one time. The beach we went to was full of coral. you need water shoes. The port was on the opposite side of the island from the shopping. The shopping was only so--so.

[Tapi]

Jewel of the seas

Tortola, B.v.i.;

Philipsburg, St. Maarten;

Basseterre, St. Kitts;

Roseau, Dominica;

Bridgetown, Barbados;

 

This one!

[crisndeefromde]

Oh my...my vote is Adventure....love love the adventure

 

been b2b past two years and back on board last week of jan and first week of feb 2014 and same two weeks same cabin again in 2015.....

[voyager89]

Thank you so much all of you! I still can't decide haha but your opinions have certainly helped a lot. I did some research and they say you can also go to Virgin Gorda on a ferry from St. John? Also, is the time in port 8:00 - 17:00 enough to go and come back without rushing? Because I would also like to see a little at least from either Tortola or St Johns.

 

I need to make up my mind soon, it looks like flight tickets are going up, and being in Mexico City, we don't have a lot of choices when it comes to airlines. However I'm really excited since we are C&A now, and I just discovered that the MGM's M Life program can get us some perks too. I need to see how this works as well.

 

One more question, I see Jewel has outdoor windjammer seatings, is this on Adventure as well?

[Miss Vickie]

Thank you so much all of you! I still can't decide haha but your opinions have certainly helped a lot. I did some research and they say you can also go to Virgin Gorda on a ferry from St. John? Also, is the time in port 8:00 - 17:00 enough to go and come back without rushing? Because I would also like to see a little at least from either Tortola or St Johns.

 

I need to make up my mind soon, it looks like flight tickets are going up, and being in Mexico City, we don't have a lot of choices when it comes to airlines. However I'm really excited since we are C&A now, and I just discovered that the MGM's M Life program can get us some perks too. I need to see how this works as well.

 

One more question, I see Jewel has outdoor windjammer seatings, is this on Adventure as well?

 

The St. John on Adventure's itinerary is in Antigua, not USVI, and you can't take a ferry to Virgin Gorda from there. You can from Tortola, however. Also, Adventure does not have outdoor Windjammer seating.