Just off Jewel of the Seas, 1st time with RCI - Thoughts

[Folsom]

First off we are not picture takers so this quick review will not offer page after page of dinners or beaches. But I will offer a few thoughts from someone who has 4 cruises under his belt and got to experience Royal Caribbean for the 1st time.

 

Trip: 6 of us from Chicago sailed out of San Juan on 2/28 and returned on 3/7. we arrived a day early and stayed at the Marriott the night before embarkation.

 

San Juan: We had been to San Juan before and although Old San Juan is nice, I am not a big fan. Traffic graffiti and bars on windows had always left a negative impression of the city and this trip did not change that. The parts that the taxi drive through remind me of the roughest areas of Chicago and make me question our safety while in town. I did not think out taxi was going to even make it to the hotel as the driver stalled it whenever we came to as stop, which was often in the SJ traffic jams. The hotel was nice but for $275 night it was not great. At night a security guard would not let us on the beach because it is "Unsafe" we said we would not go into the water and he said he was not talking about the ocean. This just supports my earlier opinion of San Juan.

 

Embarkation: Our checkout time was 11:00 and even though we received an e-mail stating that we should arrive at 2:30, we decided to just take a cab to the pier and see what happens. I'm glad we did. we arrived around 11:20 and there were no more than 10 other passengers in the check-in area. With no wait we went to the counter, signed a few more papers and had out room key. Within 15 minutes of arriving, we were at the Sky Bar ordering drink. By far the best embarkation I have ever experienced. The room was ready at 1:00 and after we ate at the buffet we unpacked and started our vacation.

The muster drill was at 8:00 and because we had My Time Dining, we decided to skip the MDR and just eat on the Lido. The timing of the drill seemed to make dining plans a little difficult that first night.

 

The ship: So I had heard that she was a little worn down and ready for her dry dock, but I did not see anything that would make me call her "worn". She is beautiful vessel and has a great layout. Now are only 2 sets of stairs/elevators so if you are in the aft of the ship you do have to head midship, then go up, and then aft again for the buffet, but she is small enough it did not seem to matter. we had heard that she was a full ship, but I never felt cramped (except for the sea day). Sure the pool was busy but the adult pool always had space and the pool bars did not ever get too backed up. The rear of the ship on deck 6 is called the Safari Lounge and other than bingo, it seemed like a huge waste of space. It is a beautiful area, but did not seem to hardly ever get used. To date this is my favorite ship that we have been on.

 

Dining: As I stated we had My Time Dining, mostly because we do not care to care to be sat with others and feel that the early seating makes us rush back from the ports and the late seating means you are finishing around 10:00. So MTD works well for us. We did end up eating almost evey day at 7:30 so we kind of tried to establish our own seating. I did try and call several times and make a "reservation" but the phone was never answered and the mailbox was always full. That being said, our wait was never more than 5 minutes for them to find us a table.

 

Our first night in the MDR was fine, our waitress and assistant, did just fine, but were completely un-remarkable. Not to say the service was poor, but I can barely remember that she was a female. Our 2nd night we were seated (just the 6 of us) at another table, and our waiter and assistant were so much fun. They engaged us, were funny and really made our evening. each subsequent night we requested their table and were granted our request. The duo did not fail to deliver great service, a wonderful attitude and even some magic. They were by far the best servers we had ever encountered on a cruise.

 

I will not go into food detail as everyone has different tastes, but I will say the overall quality is a big step up from Carnival. Every meal was 1st class and plentiful. If you could not decide between entrees, you would usually end up with 2. Even the food at the buffet was better that any other cruise we had been on. The only downside, is on a smaller ship you don't have the choices in the buffet that you do on a large ship (deli, fish and chips, wok).

 

Cabin: We had a balcony stateroom (highest class) on deck 9 near the aft. The balcony was very spacious and the only one we have had that was bigger was an aft balcony on the Carnival Freedom. The room was typical, but seemed to have more storage than others. The shower was a bit on the small side but "rounded" shower doors did give enough space to do the job. The water pressure and temperature was quite sufficient so no complaints there.

 

Passengers: Seeing as Royal is a little more expensive than Carnival, it was no surprise that the type of cruiser seemed to be a little more affluent, respectful and overall more mature. We did not run into folks wearing robes in the buffet or overly intoxicated 20 somethings running around. We also did not have many older guests with walkers and oxygen tanks, like we had on Princess, so this was a good demographic for us. Plus do to this time of year, there were very few children on board, which we prefer.

 

Crew: Overall the crew seemed to do a good job. I mentioned our waiter and assistant were highlights, as were a few bartenders that shared a lot about themselves and while they will not remember me in a week, I will certainly remember them. Our stateroom Steward was nice and kept the room clean (which was all we ask), but did not stand out. We met the Cruise Director a few times and he was nice enough. We did run into the cranky bus boy on the lido deck, but nothing that would effect our trip.

 

Entertainment: we really enjoyed the traveling steel drum band and Bill the piano player at the Scooner Lounge. I went to 3 shows, two were the comedy shows and both were by the same comedian. We all enjoyed his two shows and wish there was more comedy. I really enjoy the comedy on cruises and this is one area that I think Carnival is better. They have the comedy clubs and have a comedian almost every night. The other show was a magic show / mind reader show. Some of his stuff was good, but he reminded me of an act on Americas Got Talent.

 

Overall: I certainly enjoyed this voyage and felt that Royal Caribbean did a great job. The ship was wonderful, the food was great and we really liked the ports of call. We will most likely be booking our next cruise (in 3 years) on a Radiance Class ship.

 

Please feel free to ask question and I will do my best to answer them as quickly as possible.

 

Cheers

-F-

[DonnaK]

Thanks for sharing your experience with us!

 

Which itinerary were you on, and what did you do in each port?

[Royal Caribbean International]

First off we are not picture takers so this quick review will not offer page after page of dinners or beaches. But I will offer a few thoughts from someone who has 4 cruises under his belt and got to experience Royal Caribbean for the 1st time.

 

Trip: 6 of us from Chicago sailed out of San Juan on 2/28 and returned on 3/7. we arrived a day early and stayed at the Marriott the night before embarkation.

 

San Juan: We had been to San Juan before and although Old San Juan is nice, I am not a big fan. Traffic graffiti and bars on windows had always left a negative impression of the city and this trip did not change that. The parts that the taxi drive through remind me of the roughest areas of Chicago and make me question our safety while in town. I did not think out taxi was going to even make it to the hotel as the driver stalled it whenever we came to as stop, which was often in the SJ traffic jams. The hotel was nice but for $275 night it was not great. At night a security guard would not let us on the beach because it is "Unsafe" we said we would not go into the water and he said he was not talking about the ocean. This just supports my earlier opinion of San Juan.

 

Embarkation: Our checkout time was 11:00 and even though we received an e-mail stating that we should arrive at 2:30, we decided to just take a cab to the pier and see what happens. I'm glad we did. we arrived around 11:20 and there were no more than 10 other passengers in the check-in area. With no wait we went to the counter, signed a few more papers and had out room key. Within 15 minutes of arriving, we were at the Sky Bar ordering drink. By far the best embarkation I have ever experienced. The room was ready at 1:00 and after we ate at the buffet we unpacked and started our vacation.

The muster drill was at 8:00 and because we had My Time Dining, we decided to skip the MDR and just eat on the Lido. The timing of the drill seemed to make dining plans a little difficult that first night.

 

The ship: So I had heard that she was a little worn down and ready for her dry dock, but I did not see anything that would make me call her "worn". She is beautiful vessel and has a great layout. Now are only 2 sets of stairs/elevators so if you are in the aft of the ship you do have to head midship, then go up, and then aft again for the buffet, but she is small enough it did not seem to matter. we had heard that she was a full ship, but I never felt cramped (except for the sea day). Sure the pool was busy but the adult pool always had space and the pool bars did not ever get too backed up. The rear of the ship on deck 6 is called the Safari Lounge and other than bingo, it seemed like a huge waste of space. It is a beautiful area, but did not seem to hardly ever get used. To date this is my favorite ship that we have been on.

 

Dining: As I stated we had My Time Dining, mostly because we do not care to care to be sat with others and feel that the early seating makes us rush back from the ports and the late seating means you are finishing around 10:00. So MTD works well for us. We did end up eating almost evey day at 7:30 so we kind of tried to establish our own seating. I did try and call several times and make a "reservation" but the phone was never answered and the mailbox was always full. That being said, our wait was never more than 5 minutes for them to find us a table.

 

Our first night in the MDR was fine, our waitress and assistant, did just fine, but were completely un-remarkable. Not to say the service was poor, but I can barely remember that she was a female. Our 2nd night we were seated (just the 6 of us) at another table, and our waiter and assistant were so much fun. They engaged us, were funny and really made our evening. each subsequent night we requested their table and were granted our request. The duo did not fail to deliver great service, a wonderful attitude and even some magic. They were by far the best servers we had ever encountered on a cruise.

 

I will not go into food detail as everyone has different tastes, but I will say the overall quality is a big step up from Carnival. Every meal was 1st class and plentiful. If you could not decide between entrees, you would usually end up with 2. Even the food at the buffet was better that any other cruise we had been on. The only downside, is on a smaller ship you don't have the choices in the buffet that you do on a large ship (deli, fish and chips, wok).

 

Cabin: We had a balcony stateroom (highest class) on deck 9 near the aft. The balcony was very spacious and the only one we have had that was bigger was an aft balcony on the Carnival Freedom. The room was typical, but seemed to have more storage than others. The shower was a bit on the small side but "rounded" shower doors did give enough space to do the job. The water pressure and temperature was quite sufficient so no complaints there.

 

Passengers: Seeing as Royal is a little more expensive than Carnival, it was no surprise that the type of cruiser seemed to be a little more affluent, respectful and overall more mature. We did not run into folks wearing robes in the buffet or overly intoxicated 20 somethings running around. We also did not have many older guests with walkers and oxygen tanks, like we had on Princess, so this was a good demographic for us. Plus do to this time of year, there were very few children on board, which we prefer.

 

Crew: Overall the crew seemed to do a good job. I mentioned our waiter and assistant were highlights, as were a few bartenders that shared a lot about themselves and while they will not remember me in a week, I will certainly remember them. Our stateroom Steward was nice and kept the room clean (which was all we ask), but did not stand out. We met the Cruise Director a few times and he was nice enough. We did run into the cranky bus boy on the lido deck, but nothing that would effect our trip.

 

Entertainment: we really enjoyed the traveling steel drum band and Bill the piano player at the Scooner Lounge. I went to 3 shows, two were the comedy shows and both were by the same comedian. We all enjoyed his two shows and wish there was more comedy. I really enjoy the comedy on cruises and this is one area that I think Carnival is better. They have the comedy clubs and have a comedian almost every night. The other show was a magic show / mind reader show. Some of his stuff was good, but he reminded me of an act on Americas Got Talent.

 

Overall: I certainly enjoyed this voyage and felt that Royal Caribbean did a great job. The ship was wonderful, the food was great and we really liked the ports of call. We will most likely be booking our next cruise (in 3 years) on a Radiance Class ship.

 

Please feel free to ask question and I will do my best to answer them as quickly as possible.

 

Cheers

-F-

 

Hello, F. Thank you for your feedback. We'll make sure to share it with the appropriate teams for review and improvements. We're pleased to hear that you enjoyed your first cruise with us, and look forward to welcoming you aboard again soon.

[chaching]

Thanks for sharing your comments on your RCI Jewel of the Seas experience.:)

[SECdawg]

Thanks for your review. We love the Jewel and look forward to sailing on her sister ship Brilliance this fall.

[waterbugohio]

Did you say muster wasn't till 8:00 pm???

 

We sail on the Adventure next week out of San Juan. the most current compass shows the muster at 5:45. 8:00 would really mess up dinner plans.

 

And glad to hear that you were able to board early.

 

Did you by any chance try to take on water or soda?? Any trouble??

I like to take on Caffeine free diet coke.

[Folsom]

Thanks for sharing your experience with us!

 

Which itinerary were you on, and what did you do in each port?

 

 

St. Thomas (Tortola) - Was booked to go to Jost Van Dyke, but just hang around the waterfront in St. Thomas with the port change. Also went to Magic Ice which as weirdly cool (pun intended).

 

St. Kitts - Cockshell beach

 

St. Maarten - Maho (Airport) beach

 

Dominica - Slept in, then walked around Rosau

 

Barbados - Lobster Alive (Beach)

[tamilyn]

You didn't, by chance, have Cabin 9254 did you? We are on next month and have this cabin. Just curious! Enjoyed your review. Love the Jewel and can't wait to be back!

[Folsom]

Did you say muster wasn't till 8:00 pm???

 

We sail on the Adventure next week out of San Juan. the most current compass shows the muster at 5:45. 8:00 would really mess up dinner plans.

 

And glad to hear that you were able to board early.

 

Did you by any chance try to take on water or soda?? Any trouble??

I like to take on Caffeine free diet coke.

 

Muster was at 8:00, set sail at 8:30. Yea dinner was an issue for some, we just went to the Lido deck so it was not a big deal for us.

 

As far as soda /water, we did not not take anything with us since we did the Ultimate Drink package. They have the Coke machine that has hundreds of combos but I would say half did not work (ie diet rootbeer). They had caffeine free diet sodas listed, but I can't say which ones worked. Sorry.

 

Cheers

-F-

[Folsom]

You didn't, by chance, have Cabin 9254 did you? We are on next month and have this cabin. Just curious! Enjoyed your review. Love the Jewel and can't wait to be back!

 

We did not have that cabin, but another in our group did. I did not see it, but they said it had a larger balcony which was partly obstructed by some rigging and it seemed to be a little shorter than our stateroom (2 seater couch vs our 3 seater).

 

Enjoy your trip.

-F-

[novalab]

Thank you for your review on Jewel! DH & I will be sailing on her in October when she visits the West Coast. This will be our first Radiance class ship. Our TA loves RC's Radiance class ships & says they are her favorite. That's a pretty strong thumbs up!

[Clarea]

Did you say muster wasn't till 8:00 pm???

 

We sail on the Adventure next week out of San Juan. the most current compass shows the muster at 5:45. 8:00 would really mess up dinner plans....

There is a difference in muster times between Jewel and Adventure. Adventure has the main muster at 5:45pm, and a later muster for those arrivals that did not make the main muster. It sounds like Jewel just has the one muster at 8pm.

[scurrycruise]

Muster was at 8:00, set sail at 8:30. Yea dinner was an issue for some, we just went to the Lido deck so it was not a big deal for us.

 

As far as soda /water, we did not not take anything with us since we did the Ultimate Drink package. They have the Coke machine that has hundreds of combos but I would say half did not work (ie diet rootbeer). They had caffeine free diet sodas listed, but I can't say which ones worked. Sorry.

 

Cheers

-F-

 

Folsom, did you think it was worthwhile getting the Ultimate Drink package? We're doing the Adventure of the Seas in a couple of months, and also hit 5 ports during the cruise. I've been going back and forth on whether or not to get it - I like the thought of drinking what I want when I want and trying new drinks without feeling like I should finish it even if I don't like it. I know everyone is different, but was just curious as to your thoughts on it! Thanks.

[usckatieh]

Thanks for your review!

[tamilyn]

We did not have that cabin, but another in our group did. I did not see it, but they said it had a larger balcony which was partly obstructed by some rigging and it seemed to be a little shorter than our stateroom (2 seater couch vs our 3 seater).

 

Enjoy your trip.

-F-

 

Thanks! I knew it had something obstructing the view but wasn't sure how much difference it made. I'm sure it will be just fine. After all, we will be on a cruise - how bad can it be!!!

[Folsom]

Folsom, did you think it was worthwhile getting the Ultimate Drink package? We're doing the Adventure of the Seas in a couple of months, and also hit 5 ports during the cruise. I've been going back and forth on whether or not to get it - I like the thought of drinking what I want when I want and trying new drinks without feeling like I should finish it even if I don't like it. I know everyone is different, but was just curious as to your thoughts on it! Thanks.

 

Hands down the best decision we made was the ultimate drink package. On past cruises I would either run down to the room to make a drink from the bottle service or buy Fosters to get more bang for my buck. With the ultimate drink package, it pays for itself pretty quickly even on port days. Here is an example...

1. Memosa or Bloody Mary with breakfast

2. D.O.D. when you get back on board

3. Beer or frozen drink at the pool.

4. Old Fashioned or Manhattan before dinner

5. 1 or 2 glasses of wine with dinner.

6. 1 or 2 cocktails while gambling / show or dancing.

Plus you add the soda package.

 

Not to mention that there were a few nights where we sat at the scooner bar and had at least 4 (well made) classic cocktails each of which is $12. Add a red bull hear and there or the pina colada that got warm or the D.O.D. that some kid splashed pool water in and it really is a no-brainer (for us).

 

 

Besides we prefer premium spirits (Knobb Creek, Belvidere, Hendricks). If you drink well cocktails or just budwiser, you may not get the value that we did.

 

I would say that our bar tab would have either been double what we paid or I would have passed on many of the drinks we had.

 

Cheers

-F-

[Folsom]

There is a difference in muster times between Jewel and Adventure. Adventure has the main muster at 5:45pm, and a later muster for those arrivals that did not make the main muster. It sounds like Jewel just has the one muster at 8pm.

 

On Jewel of the Seas, there was something for late arriving passengers, but there we just a few and they did it in one of the lounges.

 

-F-

[Folsom]

Thanks! I knew it had something obstructing the view but wasn't sure how much difference it made. I'm sure it will be just fine. After all, we will be on a cruise - how bad can it be!!!

 

I asked our friends about the stateroom that you mentioned and they said they were more concerned that the room seemed to be smaller than ours, but the balcony was just fine even with the window washer parked by them.

 

Cheers

-F-

[Maere]

We will be on the Jewel in April for 2 weeks.....thanks for this recent peek into the ship! Our last RCCL cruise was in 1998 for our 20th anniversary.....have done Disney/NCL/Carnival --never again/Princess/Viking since then.....am looking forward to this B2B and you have added to our anticipation!! Interesting about the size....sounds like it will be equivalent to the Island Princess we took to Alaska in 2013.....sounds great!!

 

 

Thanks again!

Marianne

[cruiseapril]

How did you like the beach experience in Barbados?

[Puddles]

How many formal nights did you have? I'm reading conflicting reports--some say one others say two. Thanks!

[Aviator of the Seas]

San Juan: We had been to San Juan before and although Old San Juan is nice, I am not a big fan. Traffic graffiti and bars on windows had always left a negative impression of the city and this trip did not change that. The parts that the taxi drive through remind me of the roughest areas of Chicago and make me question our safety while in town. I did not think out taxi was going to even make it to the hotel as the driver stalled it whenever we came to as stop, which was often in the SJ traffic jams. The hotel was nice but for $275 night it was not great. At night a security guard would not let us on the beach because it is "Unsafe" we said we would not go into the water and he said he was not talking about the ocean. This just supports my earlier opinion of San Juan.

 

Sorry to hear about your poor impression of San Juan. San Juan is a large city with large city problems, as in most urban settings. But I wouldn't categorize it as unsafe. At least not less safe than any other major port city like Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Galveston, New Orleans, Bayonne, Los Angeles, etc. I know that different people have different comfort levels, and that things like window bars might seem unsettling, but we have a long tradition of window bars in the tropics not just as a deterrent for thieves, but also as hurricane protection - I hope this explains it. I also know that graffiti here is a problem, as it is in, say, Copenhagen which I recently visited. I personally hate it but many local governments of left-leaning persuasion view it as "urban art" and don't do much about it. But hey, Rudolph Giuliani is talking about moving to San Juan so he might have all that cleaned up! On the beaches at night, well, these are unlit urban beaches and unlit places in urban settings are best avoided. One particular problem in the beach behind the San Juan Marriott is not much muggings as it is wild people doing drugs and other unmentionable things. Better to do the beach during the day. In resort areas outside of San Juan beaches are perfectly safe.

 

At any rate, I'm not making excuses. Things could be better. I mention all this coming from a person who went to Barcelona with many preconceived negative notions about safety, and that prevented me from enjoying that beautiful city. I never gave it a chance but I should do so in the future and hope that others like you give san Juan the same opportunity to shine some day.

 

Thank you for your honest review.

[finz2u]

Thanks for your review. My husband and I loved the Jewel and would sail on her again in a heartbeat.

 

Love the Safari lounge and it is beautiful, all that teak, but apparently that space might be reconfigured during the next dry dock. At the past cruiser event, I discovered a card room located to the side of the Safari lounge. Now there was a really unused space. A true throwback to classic cruising.

 

Glad you enjoyed your vacation.

[impatientlywaiting]

Thanks for your review of the Jewel. We will be on her for the first time in September (Vancouver, B.C. to Los Angeles). We love the smaller ships. Will be trying MTD for the first time and with 5 of us were wondering how that would work. From your review, it sounds like it will work out just fine however we choose to do it. :)