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The Jewel is a jewel

mlmbar

By mlmbar,
in Royal Caribbean International

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mlmbar

mlmbar

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Returned from the Jewel yesterday and it was a WONDERFUL cruise! As usual, RCI did not disappoint! Because previous cruises were on Oasis and Allure we were a bit concerned about a smaller/older ship. No need for concern! Jewel is now our favorite! Love the smaller ship, ocean views, and yacht feel. Embarkation /debarkation were so simple! Crew was very attentive and not a detail was missed. Dominica was the only disappointment as far as a port and many have said they would not get of the ship there again. Thanks RCI for an awesome vacation! Onward to plan next cruise especially after being greeted by 32 degree temperatures and "wintry mix"

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mlmbar

mlmbar

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Just out of curiosity, what kind of shape is she in? I know she doesn't have a dry dock scheduled until early 2016.

 

AWESOME shape. Sure a bit or wear and tear in some places but you really have to look hard to find it! Beautiful brass, wood, and lots of sea views. Spotless!

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impatientlywaiting

impatientlywaiting

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It's so nice to read great reports about the "smaller" RCI ships. We have no desire to cruise on the mega-ships just because we've had such good luck on the smaller ships and don't think we'd enjoy being on a ship with so many passengers. We will be on the Jewel in September and really looking forward to her. We were on Serenade last Christmas and had a great time. Really loved the Windjammer in the back of the ship! :D

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Ashland

Ashland

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Let me first say we have always enjoyed Jewel and have sailed on her before...however...my most recent cruise last month (southern caribbean) I didn't have to look far to know she is ready for some freshening up and is showing a bit of wear.

 

At least in my cabin #8114...balcony railing was rusted and had pealing paint...cabin furniture had many stitched up holes...old style box TV.

 

While the overall general appearance of the ship's public areas were fine a closer notice to small details did show some wear.

 

But I must say we enjoyed our cruise on her and am booked on her again (Sept 2015) when she makes a much welcomed visit to our west coast.

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tidygirl

tidygirl

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Dominica was the only disappointment as far as a port and many have said they would not get of the ship there again.

Not sure why you didn't like it, but it is interesting to read these post and get so many different opinions. We were just there in April and we LOVED it between there and Tortola my hubby said we have to bring the young adult kids back so scheduled on the Jewel again in April!

We enjoyed the ship especially the outdoor eating and ate at the Windjammer pretty much every meal and outside! The only thing my hubby was disappointed in they never had enough people to play volleyball or dodgeball and no flowrider. :(

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NemoCrownie

NemoCrownie

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Dominica was the only disappointment as far as a port and many have said they would not get of the ship there again. Thanks RCI for an awesome vacation!

 

Glad to hear you had an awesome vacation. We will be on her for the first time in Jan/Feb and are really starting to get excited. We've only been to Dominica once and had such an amazing day that we are really looking forward to going back but I have heard others say the same thing. Life wouldn't be very interesting if we all liked the same things. I really appreciate your taking the time to post about the ship, thank you!

 

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Tablet using Tapatalk

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novalab

novalab

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Thank you for your positive review of Jewel. We will be sailing on her next October when she visits us West Coasters. So nice to have a RCCL ship back in our neck of the woods, even if it will only be for a short time.

 

Thanks Again!

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tpadul

tpadul

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Just got off the Jewel as well on Saturday morning and we had a WONDERFUL time!! We loved the smaller ship, don't have much to compare it to as it was my first cruise in 25 years and I don't remember the Carnival cruise very much back then. My wife and I were on our honeymoon and hence we really wanted to be left to ourselves much of the time, we both are not ones that like to be around large crowds of people anyways, so it was always super easy to find a spot on the ship on the upper decks, 12 and 13 where there were limited amounts of people and we could just lounge on a chair in the evening after dinner and have some quiet time to enjoy the breeze.

 

We loved everything about the ship and the staff were exceptional!! We had My Time Dining in the MDR and always got a table for two every night we ate there which was 6 of the 7 nights. The manager Felicia was so nice, once she found out we love Indian food she had the chefs make us some Indian food twice during the cruise, Butter Chicken and another Veggie dish and they brought it out for us with our main courses, although it was so much food they could have forgone the main dishes and just brought out the Indian food, it was so good!!! We found out from her that all 19 of the Chefs on board are Indian and boy do they know how to make amazing Indian food.

 

We did a ship sponsored excursion in Dominica and I loved the Island. It is just beautiful with natural beauty, it is probably the poorest island on that call of ports, but I loved it. My wife isn't too interested in going back to Dominica again but I actually enjoyed it. We did the Emerald Pool and beach stop at Mero Beach and we had some great grilled BBQ chicken at the beach, very cheap and I got the chance to talk to many of the locals. I happen to speak Haitian Creole as I lived in Haiti for a year 23 years ago and have spent 8 years traveling back and forth to Haiti, so I knew that the creole spoken in Dominica is almost identical to Haitian creole so I felt as if I was back in Haiti while I was there.

 

The two islands that we really liked the most and will probably go back and do land vacations was St. Kitts and Barbados.

 

In all we had a wonderful experience on the Jewel and were very impressed with the service we received on board.

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BillOh Holiday Sharing Rare

BillOh

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Just out of curiosity, what kind of shape is she in? I know she doesn't have a dry dock scheduled until early 2016.

 

Last May she was in great shape. I'm not really looking forward to the changes they are making. I'm glad I sailed on her twice as is.

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tpadul

tpadul

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Great to hear on the Indian food, curry all week for me next week:D

Happy Days!

 

Make sure you talk to Felicia she is the Manager at the Main Dining Room she is the one that had the special Indian food prepared for us as it is not on the regular menu at all. The one night we ate in the Windjammer buffet they had some Indian food there but since we ate there only one night I don't know if the Indian dishes are a regular item in the Windjammer.

 

The food was amazing!!!

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PompeySailor

PompeySailor

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Make sure you talk to Felicia she is the Manager at the Main Dining Room she is the one that had the special Indian food prepared for us as it is not on the regular menu at all. The one night we ate in the Windjammer buffet they had some Indian food there but since we ate there only one night I don't know if the Indian dishes are a regular item in the Windjammer.

 

The food was amazing!!!

 

Thanks for the tip, appreciated:)

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