Jewel of the Seas Pacific Northwest Review

[lovelife]

The following is just MY experience and My opinion. If you had a different experience and opinion, that's okay. We are a mature Diamond Plus couple on our 36th cruise -- 28 with RCCL.

 

We were excited to see some West Coast cruises back on the schedule. This one departed from San Diego on May 16 and visited Catalina Island, San Francisco (overnight), and Victoria, BC. It ended in Vancouver (my favorite city).

 

This was our first visit to San Diego so we flew out from Baltimore two days prior to sailing. We had a bay front room at Wyndham. The hotel was okay - nothing real fancy but the location was perfect. It was just across the street from the cruise terminal and along a walkway to many wonderful places of interest.

 

 

 

 

 

USS Midway from the street

 

 

[lovelife]

As far as "it never rains in Southern California," hogwash. It rained and it rained for two days and it was cold! I couldn't get too upset over the rain knowing how much they needed it. There were periods of clearing where we were able to enjoy some things.

 

Upon arrival, since we couldn't check in yet, we walked to Little Italy, stopping in a little cafe. It rained cats and dogs on the hike back to the hotel.

 

 

 

 

 

[gowensricks]

Wow, I can not wait to read the rest of your review. Thank you for taking the time to do this.

[lovelife]

We had lunch at Anthony's Fish Grotto and it was pretty good. I had read on these boards about Hazlewood's Bayside Deli next to the hotel. We had dinner there and breakfast the next morning and everything was delicious although it does get very crowded.

 

The second morning it was still raining and we hopped on the hotel shuttle and headed for a very nice shopping mall called Horton Plaza. We were able to buy an umbrella there which we put to good use.

 

 

 

We caught the return hotel shuttle a couple hours later. The zoo was out of the question due to the rain but when I mentioned to our shuttle driver how disappointed I was that we couldn't visit the zoo, he drove us there just to see it and insisted on taking photos of us.

 

 

He was so nice to do that. We gave him ten dollars and he was tickled.

 

The rain had let up slightly so we walked along the waterfront with our new umbrella.

 

[lovelife]

We were on a mission to find Kansas City Barbecue, the little restaurant where part of Top Gun was filmed. We found it without a hitch and took the last available table -- it is a tiny place. Here we were, where Tom Cruise and Goose sang "She's Lost That Loving Feeling." It was really cool with lots of memorabilia and the food was really good.

 

 

 

 

THE Jukebox

 

 

The piano where Goose et al. sang "Great Balls of Fire"

 

 

The bar

 

[lovelife]

During a dry period later that afternoon we visited the USS Midway which was really extraordinary.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[BGCruiser85]

Looking forward to hearing about the rest of the trip! We sail the Jewel in 13 days so I'm hoping to hear of a good experience although from your opening tone I'm not too optimistic...

[lovelife]

This is the lovely Jewel from our room on cruise morning.

 

 

We literally rolled our luggage out of the Wyndham about 11 a.m., turned left for half a block, crossed the street, and we were at the terminal. Easy Peasy - no taxi required.

 

Crossing over to ship

 

 

Check in was easy and we were on board fairly quickly. We headed for the Windjammer for a bite before checking out our two-top in the dining room. It was a great location by a window (or so we thought).

 

We had D1 Cabin 9554. It was just fine with the usual small balcony. It turned out to be too cold to use the balcony much on this sailing.

 

 

 

 

Our chosen D+ gift (pretty nasty stuff)

 

[lovelife]

Wow, I can not wait to read the rest of your review. Thank you for taking the time to do this.

 

You are welcome!

[lovelife]

Looking forward to hearing about the rest of the trip! We sail the Jewel in 13 days so I'm hoping to hear of a good experience although from your opening tone I'm not too optimistic...

 

I certainly did not mean to portray a negative tone. We loved this cruise and the Jewel. Maybe you are speaking of the rain?

 

And I forgot to mention, I LOVE San Diego and want to go back.

[BGCruiser85]

Your cabin is even close to ours. We're 9538!

[BGCruiser85]

I certainly did not mean to portray a negative tone. We loved this cruise and the Jewel. Maybe you are speaking of the rain?

 

And I forgot to mention, I LOVE San Diego and want to go back.

 

Excellent. No worries. I just mistook the tone about it being your opinions only. Glad to hear it was good and looking forward to seeing the pics!

[lovelife]

Excellent. No worries. I just mistook the tone about it being your opinions only. Glad to hear it was good and looking forward to seeing the pics!

 

Oh, I always begin my review with that statement since being blasted once for daring to mention something I didn't care for. That'll learn me, durn me.

[lovelife]

And we're off!

 

 

The Jewel is still lovely. I wanted to sail her once more before refurbishment takes away Portofino and Sea View Cafe.

 

 

 

 

 

[lovelife]

 

 

 

 

From our balcony

 

[lovelife]

Entertainment:

 

Bowzer of Sha Na Na put on a good show in the theater one night. Nothing else was memorable. I don't think we went to any production shows.

 

 

I did not care for CD John Blair at all.

 

Food:

 

I have never been on a cruise where I could not find good food. This was no exception. It was good and there was plenty to choose from.

 

Dinner was at 5:30 instead of the usual 6:00. Boy did the sun shine in that window next to our table. We began closing the curtains and a waiter came over and assisted us. But that was the least of our worries. In our section was a 10-top and a 12-top and our waiters served all of them wine before even looking our way. The head waiter finally made his way to our table on day four so we spoke with him about not even being offered bread until all the other 22 folks had their wine poured. He said that's the way it is done. We never returned to the dining room after that. Certainly we had plenty to eat at the Windjammer though we should have been able to enjoy the dining room experience.

 

Shrimp was scarce on this sailing.

 

My favorite first night dish - horseradish crusted salmon (sorry about the bite out of it)

 

 

I love the chilled soups

 

 

Love the cod

 

 

DH's beef

 

 

My Grand Marnier/his ice cream

 

[lovelife]

Can't remember what this was but I'm betting it was delicious

 

 

Tutti salad - no shrimp on salad bar - but this was still really good with chicken

 

 

Fisherman's Plate - lobster, no shrimp - but I taught them by eating two lobster tails!

 

 

Oh my - I think I could eat 50 of these cheesecake pops!

 

 

Goodies sent to our cabin

 

 

[lovelife]

I made reservations on line for one of us at Portofino's for day two as I have in the past. Then, as usual, we planned to use our Diamond Plus "buy one free specialty meal-get one free" applicable on day one or two.

 

At the end of the meal our server did not understand the buy one - get one free deal. The head guy came over and made an absolute jerk of himself saying loudly we could not do that and the reservation had to be made after boarding. I asked when that had changed but he just got louder and more annoying. It was very embarrassing. He finally agreed to charge us for the second person that night and then take it off our Sea Pass account. What an ordeal.

 

The food was all absolutely delicious.

 

Caesar salad

 

 

Shrimp risotto

 

 

My seafood skewer

 

 

DH's steak

 

 

Shared dessert

 

[cincicruisers]

Looking forward to the rest of your review. Fantastic photos!

[lovelife]

Looking forward to the rest of your review. Fantastic photos!

 

Thanks. Back to it.

[lovelife]

Ports:

 

Catalina Island was simply charming. I could have spent days there. We strolled around town and did some shopping and then went out to the tiny pier. Then we took a trolley ride up to Wrigley Gardens and back. The sights were interesting.

 

 

 

 

Interesting pergola

 

 

Major mode of transport

 

 

 

[lovelife]

Ports continued:

 

San Francisco is always a great City to visit.

 

Approaching the Golden Gate Bridge

 

 

 

 

 

 

Everyone is anxious to see San Francisco

 

[lovelife]

We have arrived! Alcatraz in the background.

 

 

San Francisco is always a great City to visit. It was so cold I bought a heavy sweatshirt when we walked to Pier 39 the first day.

 

A model of Alcatraz. Tickets were sold out for the next week so we didn't get to visit this trip.

 

 

 

 

[lovelife]

The pier was bustling and the sea lions were lazing around.

 

 

 

Back to the ship in time for dinner

 

 

Alcatraz from our balcony that evening

 

 

And later

 

 

[JoyMouse]

Following along. We were on the cruise with you and really enjoyed it. Your photos are gorgeous. I can't wait to hear your take on the 2nd day in San Francisco.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk