Long review with lots of photos! Jewel Dec 6/14 and Adventure Dec 14/14!

[Clarea]

My DH and I will be on the Jewel in April. Do both of us have to buy the drink package? Thanks for the reviews and pics.

No, there is no longer a requirement that all guests in a stateroom purchase the package.

[toes_in_sand]

Are all the bars serving caesars? My drink of choice and always have to settle for something else while on a cruise. Bloody Mary's do not cut it.

 

Fish timbits....funny, thanks for the visual and a giggle on that.

 

My sister and I are sailing in April, coming in the day before, she is flying from Toronto, I'm flying from Buffalo, I'm an hour from either airport and Buffalo is coming in way cheaper than flying out of Toronto.

 

Thanks for the review, love your pics so far.

[BearsAhoy]

We'll be on Jewel for the Panama Canal in May, I'm loving your review!

 

As a fellow Canuck, I'm amused by the RBCs in the Caribbean. I couldn't believe how many there were in St Maarten!

[PCWalton1]

Thank you for the picture review of your cruise. We are going to be on Jewel 3 times this year for west coast cruises and it's exciting to see the ship.

[donovan52]

Thank you everyone :)

 

Are all the bars serving caesars? My drink of choice and always have to settle for something else while on a cruise. Bloody Mary's do not cut it.

 

Fish timbits....funny, thanks for the visual and a giggle on that.

 

My sister and I are sailing in April, coming in the day before, she is flying from Toronto, I'm flying from Buffalo, I'm an hour from either airport and Buffalo is coming in way cheaper than flying out of Toronto.

 

Thanks for the review, love your pics so far.

 

I'm not sure if they all are - they aren't listed on the new menus :( I only asked for one in the Schooner bar. Love that on the old menus they have a page with the Bloody Caesar, Bloody Maria (tequila), Bloody Mary...and Bloody Shame (non alcoholic).

 

Definitely a good idea to go in the day before. I wish we could fly out of Buffalo but we are a four hour drive even to the Halifax airport - not close enough to enjoy the convenience!

[donovan52]

Day 7: Cruising:

 

First, I don’t want to forget about this cute guy:

 

 

We slept in until 8am today and went to the Windjammer for breakfast. They had a tshirt sale on the pool deck – “$10 tshirt sale”, but it was really 2/$20 and if you only bought one they were between 12-17$, I believe. The crowds around the sale were insane! It was like watching vultures hovering, waiting for prey. The crowd started gathering about 20 minutes before the sale even opened. Needless to say we didn’t bother.

 

This was before the sale even started:

 

We headed to the rock wall but it wasn’t opened at the advertised 10:00am time because the wall was too hot. We went back to the pool deck where we listened to the Caribbean band (loved that there was a steel pan included in the band), then headed to read in the solarium. We were going to go to the dining room for lunch but the menu didn’t really appeal to us. We had some ribs from the Windjammer and then napped on the balcony for a while!

 

The band was wonderful (the Adventure band didn’t have a steel pan…my favourite part):

 

There were no loungers available in the solarium so we found a table (there were plenty of tables). I sat on the side of the pool for a bit too with my book. The Solarium Café opened earlier than usual today and we had a slice of pizza and a sandwich.

 

 

I know at some point I also finished off the delicious rum punch I bought in St. Martin. No one confiscated our liquor returning from any port. At one port (can’t remember which) they directed us to the table where they were supposed to take it, I unzipped my bag to take it out, and the guy turned around and wouldn’t awknowledge us. I didn’t bother sticking around to force the issue – I feel better packing everything right away. But the rum punch…well I wasn’t sure how secure the cover was so I figured I might as well drink it. For future reference if anyone buys it, the cover seemed secure enough. Wish I had more.

 

 

Around 3 we went back to the rock wall:

[donovan52]

Supper tonight was: shrimp cocktail, Spanish tapas plate (this was great), rigatoni in a bacon chardonnay sauce, turkey, and battered fish and shrimp. Dessert was key lime pie which was quite good. We finished packing and went up for a swim but both pools were closed 

 

Spanish Tapas Plate:

 

Pasta:

 

Key Lime Pie:

 

We watched this guy in the centrum for a little while after supper – he was tossing the bottles up in the air and making a cocktail. There’s no way I could ever do that!

 

 

A few more photos from the Jewel that I didn’t have a chance to post:

Pool – I thought I’d find the pool area crowded since we are used to Voyager class and Freedom class where there are two, but it was fine:

 

 

[donovan52]

Library (we didn’t use the library other than to drop off a book I had brought that I wanted to leave behind):

 

They had games and tables by the library:

 

 

The Safari Club – The Captain’s Welcome Aboard Reception was held in here. We never did get a chance to try out the pool tables!

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Turnaround Day” and final thoughts on the Jewel:

Now, you may have noticed that instead of doing a back to back this time, we are doing what I’ve seen referred to as a “side to side”. We actually have a day between our Jewel cruise and Adventure cruise. Our last cruise out of San Juan was a back to back on the Adventure. This time, while we don’t have the benefit of staying in the same room and skipping packing all of our stuff, we get to spend some extra time in San Juan which I am thrilled about! We are staying at the Intercontinental in Isla Verde.

 

We left the ship around 8:00 (luggage tag #10) because our parents had an earlyish flight home (11:30am). We got a porter for our luggage because in the past this has made everything a bit faster but this time it was actually much slower - we should have just taken our bags ourselves. We were also very disappointed to see that our awesome luggage strap from Hong Kong Disneyland had been stolen at some point.

 

Before I continue with the rest of the day I want to wrap up some of my thoughts about the Jewel. I was a bit apprehensive about going on a smaller ship, but I think it may now be my favourite! We had fantastic service from Tatiana, our room steward - she was friendly and very efficient. She made sure I had wine glasses for the wine I brought onboard. Actually other than the one crewmember in the Seaview Cafe I don't think we met anyone who seemed rude or unhappy.

 

The public areas on the ship were great and we didn't see anything in need of repair. I love the glass elevators that look out towards the water.

 

We can't really judge the entertainment since we spent most of our time swimming and relaxing, but what we did see we were happy with. I'd really like to see ice sculptures come back!

 

The food on the Jewel was excellent, particularly the Windjammer, which far surpassed the quality on the Adventure week 2. If I had one suggestion it would be to add or move a Freestyle machine to an area that is open later. We couldn't refill our mugs past 9 (or 9:30, I can't remember). Since we usually used them for flavoured water or powerade we didn't have the option of just stopping by a bar.

 

Wifi: We only signed up for the hour long package we get for free as Diamond members. It was very slow (much slower than the Adventure). I was only using my minutes to check my email but the security setting on my hotmail and outlook accounts made it very frustrating! Since it was not a computer we normally use I had to send a code to a different email account to verify that it was me. Not Royal Caribbean's fault, but a heads up to anyone who uses that type of account. I eventually was able to log in using my phone.

 

I would absolutely recommend the Jewel and can't wait to sail on her again!

[donovan52]

We were able to share a taxi with our parents, dropped them off at the airport, then went to the Intercontinental to drop off our bags (taxi was $40 total for both stops). When we exited the taxi I was actually greeted by name, which was a pleasant but puzzling surprise. We dropped off our bags and then headed to Old San Juan (21$). We first went to Cuatro Sombras coffee shop. It was very nice inside and the woman who rang in our order was very friendly. We enjoyed our lattes enough to buy a bag of coffee beans ($16). I will say I enjoyed my coffee more at Don Ruiz but it was still better than any coffee I can get at home! I am normally a tea drinker but I would LOVE to head to either coffee shop in San Juan right now.

 

Outside Cuatro Sombras:

 

 

 

Inside:

 

 

 

[donovan52]

 

 

We went to the Puerto Rican Arts and Crafts store – I absolutely love it here. If you are looking for souvenirs that were actually made in Puerto Rico and not in China with Puerto Rico written on them, this is the store you are looking for. They have a great range of items, not only high budget ones (which was good for me!). We bought some adobo spice mix, passion fruit sauce, a magnet that looks like one of the brightly coloured Old San Juan buildings, and two beautiful pairs of coconut shell earrings.

 

I bought two paintings (prints) at a gallery shop. I can’t wait to get them framed. I have a print from Marigot in St. Martin and it is one of my favourite souvenirs.

 

There is a shop on the corner of Calle Sol and Calle Cristo where I bought a bag of Alto Grande coffee to bring home for a friend. We found a few other things here last time but I think that is all I bought today.

 

We had lunch at Barrachinas. I ordered the combination mofongo (chicken, beef, shrimp) and Ry had a clubhouse. The mofongo was good but a little drier than I expected. The chicken and shrimp were delicious but I think I left most of the beef on the plate. Of course I had to order a pina colada too, since it is said to be the place where it was invented.

 

Heading in to the restaurant:

 

Pina Colada:

 

Inside the restaurant:

 

Mofongo:

[donovan52]

We went back to the Intercontinental a little after 1:00 and checked in. The person who checked in beside us had a room that was ready, but ours wasn’t yet. The person who checked us in made it sound like it wouldn’t be too long before ours was ready and said we could go wait in the bar – she even gave us each a drink coupon to get a beer while we waited. We were thinking it’d be 30-45minutes but it took right until 4:00 to get a room. I know 4:00 is the official check in time but so many people were checking in and heading upstairs (presumably, to their rooms) that it was disappointing to stare out the windows at the gorgeous pool.

 

Waiting:

 

By the time we were able to drop off our bags to our room we were a little grumpy (especially after being in a crowded elevator with a group of very drunk people on the way to our room – they reeked of alcohol). Our room was good, nothing special. The bed was comfy, the safe worked, the bathroom was a little dingy but functional (and actually didn’t seem too bad later after the light was on for a bit, they must take a while to get to their full brightness). We went back down to the pool and had a lovely swim. The pool really is fantastic. The beach looked nice too but we didn’t end up spending any time there. Oh, you need a wristband to use the pool and they change colours every day. The wristbands are plastic and I hated having it on my wrist (I slipped it off and on when I didn’t need it, thankfully it was loose enough). I hope they recycle those wristbands – seems like a waste of plastic to me. The pool was much warmer than the pool at the Marriott Stellaris, where we stayed after our last cruise.

 

Hotel pics:

 

 

 

 

[donovan52]

 

 

 

 

 

[donovan52]

 

After our swim we walked down the street to Chilis (yes, it’s a chain, but we have never been and it was an easy, close option). The service was excellent – super friendly! Our meal was very good too. After another swim and rearranging our bags we went to sleep.

 

Day 1: Embarkation Day on the Adventure of the Seas:

 

We woke up around 8am and walked a couple of blocks down the road to a small diner called Piu Bello for breakfast. It was even closer than I thought and there are no major streets to cross to get there. I ordered a Mallorca and Ryan ordered crepes with fruit and dulce de leche. If you are in the area I would definitely recommend stopping here! Prices are very reasonable and service was excellent. They also serve lunch and supper and they have a huge selection of gelato. We may have ordered gelato after breakfast...bad, but so good. I tried tamarind and guava and Ry had passionfruit. The texture wasn’t perfect, a little icy, but the taste was great.

 

 

 

Crepes:

 

Mallorca:

 

[donovan52]

 

Gelato flavours:

 

 

 

 

 

Back at the hotel we had a swim and showered before getting a taxi to the ship. I couldn’t believe how different the check in process was on the Adventure than it was on the Jewel! There was no luggage tag desk for Crown and Anchor members, a very unfriendly woman was inside directing people into the lines to check in (she directed us into the wrong line), they give you the health questionnaire before getting into line, they take your photo at the check in desk for your sea pass, and they gave you a wow card when you checked in. Nothing particularly bad or strange, we just found it odd that there was such a difference between Saturday and Sunday! Boarding started around 12ish (probably slightly before).

[donovan52]

We went to the Café Promenade for pizza and a sandwich instead of going to the Windjammer. We’d had breakfast so we didn’t need anything big and didn’t want to fight crowds. I had a chicken roti which I really enjoyed. We didn’t find anyone working at the Café Promenade to be particularly friendly; we felt like we were bothering them a bit to be honest. We eventually learned to recognize a couple of friendly bartenders there though and made a point of ordering when they were working.

 

Chicken Roti:

 

Mufaletta:

 

Sweets:

 

Pizza:

 

Sandwiches:

 

Free teas and hot chocolate:

[donovan52]

I love the decorations:

 

 

I had purchased the Premium package before the cruise. They had a table set up selling the packages onboard so I inquired about upgrading to the Ultimate (since I knew about the holiday promotion with the bottle of Domaine Chandon and glasses of Moet). It was no problem, but the person who sold me the package said she could give me the sticker but her supervisor had to process the payment, since it would only be the difference. I ended up being charged full price but a quick trip to guest services fixed that.

 

We went up to the pool deck to relax while we waited for rooms to be ready. I had a drink of the day from the pool bar. It was a Captain’s Bahama Mama. I had a pina colada a little while later. This was the first time I’ve ever had good service from the pool bar.

 

Pool – I love the new decking, it is so much better than the old green outdoor carpeting, which was always soggy!

 

The pool was crystal clear:

 

The drink of the day was always advertised in the compass:

 

Bahama Mama:

 

Pina Colada:

 

 

This is our fourth week onboard (ever – obviously not fourth in a row). We are in 8320 this time. Our first three weeks (a few years ago) we were able to get 8620, but it wasn’t available this time. Nothing particularly special about these balcony staterooms, but they are in a great location so we are happy to stick around the same spot! Our room looked more or less the same as last week, except for different material on the sofa and everything was facing the other direction. We headed down to wait in the library just before 2:00 and did the day 1 trivia and Sudoku. Rooms opened promptly at 2:00. Our room is basically right there – you don’t need to walk down the hallway. The wall panel was off just outside our stateroom and a maintenance worker was…drilling? Doing something very noisy. We went inside and I just had the feeling that we should probably ask him if everything is ok. He said our toilet was very broken but he was fixing it. Déjà vu? After a while we stopped hearing noises and looked outside. He was gone, so we checked the toilet. It was very dirty and full of little black floaty bits (charcoal? Teabag?) but it flushed fine (except the floaty bits stayed). Our room steward came to introduce himself (Sanjay – one of the best room stewards we’ve had in ages!) and we told him about the toilet and that we weren’t the ones who broke it! Haha (Spoiler - it was fixed for good, we had no issues with plumbing).

[donovan52]

Once we were all settled, we went for a walk down to the Royal Promenade. We stopped by the Duck and Dog (which was totally empty). I wish I had taken a photo of their drink menu. It had some different drinks. No prices on the menus. The first drink I tried to order the bartender said he couldn’t make, but he recommended another one called Spiced Apple Pie. It sounded…different, but the whole point was to try different things. When he brought the drink out he said he wanted to see the look on my face when I had the first sip: apparently most people don’t like it (gee, thanks for the recommendation…good thing I have a package!). It actually wasn’t too bad. I wouldn’t (and didn’t) order another one, but I did finish it! It tasted like…apple pie! Boozy apple pie.

 

Spiced apple pie:

 

We picked up our ice show tickets at 3:45. The ice show was going to be on Monday at 2:00 and 4:00 (sea day) and Wednesday (I think 7:00 and 9:00pm). We didn’t like the idea of wasting sunshine time indoors so we opted for Wednesday (St. Lucia) at 9:00. They continued to give out tickets Monday morning as well.

 

Ryan bought a Patron Perfect Margarita – it was $11 but we think the bartender used a cheaper tequila. When he mentioned it the bartender said it was patron but he wanted to make a new one anyway. He didn’t bother getting a new one but started ordering them from a different bar. I had a Passion Guava Lava.

 

Margarita:

 

Passion Guava Lava:

 

Muster was at 5:45. It was hot. Lots of people were late (a couple missed most of the drill!). It was so much nicer in the Schooner bar on the Jewel.

 

I stopped by the champagne bar for a glass of Moet to sip in the cabin while getting ready for dinner.

 

 

We had booked Giovanni’s Table online before we left. It was better than we’d even hoped. We aren’t sad anymore that they are converting all of the Portofino restaurants to Giovanni’s. The almond crusted scallops were incredible, the mozzarella wrapped in prosciutto was very good, the filet excellent. We tried both the Gorgonzola butter and the red wine sauce, both were fantastic. We tried the gnocchi with lamb and root vegetable sauce but I didn’t care for it. It was very lamb-y. Ryan enjoyed it but you couldn’t even tell we touched it – there was just so much food. Neither of us made a dent in our fries or the gnocchi. He had tiramisu for dessert and I tried a cannoli and some tiramisu. We could barely walk when we left, we were so full! I’ve heard that it is a good place to go with a big group because it is easier to try different things without having too much, but we were only two people this cruise! Our server was Mildred and she was wonderful. We were very, very pleased with our meal. It made Portofino last week on the Jewel look like a cheap chain restaurant with poor service.

 

Giovanni’s:

 

[donovan52]

I thought they did a wonderful job with the renovations inside:

 

 

I thought the table settings looked nice as well:

 

Bread with balsamic, olive oil, and parmesan:

 

Scallops:

 

Mozzarella wrapped in prosciutto:

 

Our filets and gnocchi:

[donovan52]

Tray of desserts:

 

Tiramisu and cannoli:

 

 

Ryan tried to get a drink after dinner at the Café Promenade (it was still within the time for the diamond drink coupons), but he was told that he couldn’t only get exactly what was listed – no mixers. So he could get a shot of vodka, but not a vodka and cranberry? So different from last week. So we decided to go find the Diamond lounge (where they confirmed that we should have been able to get a mixer). It looks beautiful! The views are incredible. The concierge was very friendly and welcoming. We went 3 or 4 nights, but didn’t feel super comfortable (we are much younger than everyone else who was in there). Ryan was able to get his whisky sours there while I usually had a ginger ale (this helped to make sure I didn’t drink too much with the ultimate plan). The snacks were nice – over the week there were wings, shrimp, bacon wrapped scallops, chocolate covered strawberries, cheese, etc.

 

We decided to go to our balcony for sail away – we were on the starboard side this time so we had a view of Old San Juan. The ship left about an hour late, due to an accident or medical emergency in Old San Juan near the Carnival pier I believe (they made an announcement but we didn’t catch all of it). It rained for a while so we were happy to be on the covered balcony.

 

I had a chocolate martini from the Champagne bar (delicious!). The bartenders in the champagne bar were very friendly; it became our favourite bar on the ship.

 

 

We went to the welcome aboard show at 10:30 and thought it was excellent. It featured acrobats with those huge ribbons/sheets hanging from the ceiling. We really liked Mercedes, the cruise director, as well.

 

Welcome Aboard Show:

 

 

 

Up next: Day 2 (At Sea)

[LoveThoseSeaDays]

Loving your review -- so very helpful on all fronts!

 

We sail the Jewel later this year. Please advise:

- favourite bar

- favourite place to relax and chill onboard

- favourite entree

 

We are still puzzling over the different drink plans. Menus with no prices make it very difficult to determine which of the wines is included in which plan. But thanks for showing the menus with the selection!

 

Thanks!

[cew2]

I am just loving your review! We are going on AOS on February 8 and staying at the intercontenital 2 days before. Thank you for all the tips and pictures!

[rzyjzq]

Great review! Thanks so much for sharing and looking forward to the rest. I do have one question: do you recall where the Arts & Crafts store was located that you mentioned? Sounds like a good place to check out when I am in San Juan in a few months.

 

Susan

[bigairboarder44]

Loving your review -- so very helpful on all fronts!

 

We sail the Jewel later this year. Please advise:

- favourite bar

- favourite place to relax and chill onboard

- favourite entree

 

We are still puzzling over the different drink plans. Menus with no prices make it very difficult to determine which of the wines is included in which plan. But thanks for showing the menus with the selection!

 

Thanks!

 

Our favorite bar on our Jewel cruise was the Centrum bar! Julien, Michael (the flare bartender), and Alexandra are awesome bartenders and Julien (the mixologist) is incredibly passionate about his work. Michael is fun and Alexandra is absolutely adorable.

[Wilson]

Thx for the continued great review.

 

Thank u BigAir for providing info on the Centrum bartenders. That will be my first stop in 12 more days.

[rose102798]

Thank you for taking the time to share with us . . . really enjoying it.