Jewel of the Seas

[Susie51]

Currently:

• I was highly unimpressed with Portofino's. All of my Giovanni's experiences on various ships were much much better than Portifino's (twice). Chops was fantastic! Giovanni's is being placed on Jewel on her refurb.
  
• There was very very little space in the Centrum with the XMas tree, the curved stairs coming down from deck 5, and the old bar. The "new" Jewel will have the RBar, the stairs probably removed, and a much better space for events. I really like the RBar concept on both Vision & Radiance Class ships.
  
• Seaview Café will be gone. I was again unimpressed. It was extremely empty (and I mean absolutely zero people) every night I walked by. It is being replaced with Izumi's Asian, a great restaurant if you haven't tried it yet.
  
• Jewel will get new a new Concierge and Diamond Lounge.
  
• You will see the library and some other public spaces change as well if you compare the current Jewel pictures to Serenade for example... didn't affect me, the 1st 4 changes I mentioned above are prob the biggest visually. Did I miss any??
  

 

:D

 

Thank you for the review. I sail on Jewel in 8 days.

[OfTheSeasCruiser]

I love Radiance class ships.

 

We are scheduled for a B2B on Jewel December 2016. Thinking about canceling! No Park Cafe would be a major disappointment. Come on RCI get your act together!

 

I've been holding out hope for some type of second announcement, including some new (maybe completely new to RCI) features/venues, but I doubt that will happen.

Edited January 2, 2016 by OfTheSeasCruiser

[davekathy]

Currently:

• I was highly unimpressed with Portofino's. All of my Giovanni's experiences on various ships were much much better than Portifino's (twice). Chops was fantastic! Giovanni's is being placed on Jewel on her refurb.
  
• There was very very little space in the Centrum with the XMas tree, the curved stairs coming down from deck 5, and the old bar. The "new" Jewel will have the RBar, the stairs probably removed, and a much better space for events. I really like the RBar concept on both Vision & Radiance Class ships.
  
• Seaview Café will be gone. I was again unimpressed. It was extremely empty (and I mean absolutely zero people) every night I walked by. It is being replaced with Izumi's Asian, a great restaurant if you haven't tried it yet.
  
• Jewel will get new a new Concierge and Diamond Lounge.
  
• You will see the library and some other public spaces change as well if you compare the current Jewel pictures to Serenade for example... didn't affect me, the 1st 4 changes I mentioned above are prob the biggest visually. Did I miss any??
  

 

:D

 

Thank you for the review. I sail on Jewel in 8 days.

 

Enjoy your Cruise and the Jewel as may of us have. Bon Voyage.

[beshears]

It was good to read ALL your opinions of the Jewel, since I am more of a Carnival person. One reason why, several years ago RCCL LOST our luggage for almost 4 days. :(

 

Susie 51, I believe you said you were doing this ship in about 8 days? If so, would you let me know, if you do a "review" so I can read a "current" opinion of this ship. :)

[akcruz]

We also were on one of the pacific coast sailings of Jewel in October. We were reluctant to book the smaller ship since we have been on Voyager, Freedom and Oasis class for most of our cruises and love the promenade, but the itinerary swayed us. Shortly before sailing we got a good price for a 2017 sailing on Jewel and booked it knowing we could cancel after our October sailing.

 

We found Jewel to be a wonderful ship and are very much looking forward to our 2017 sailing. Yes, it is different than the larger ships but we enjoy changing it up once in a while. We will still sail on the larger ships, we now just have more options. I wouldn't hesitate to book a cruise on Jewel.

[PCWalton1]

As mentioned earlier we did two separate cruises on Jewel this past year and had a great time. The second time around they had added shipwide wifi which was a plus for me. :D

 

Here are links to the reports with pictures.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2209054

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2262886

[printingchick]

We loved Jewel, prettiest ship we have sailed on to date. The pros are: WJ outside seating, magnificent glass elevators overlooking the ocean, easy to navigate, very low pax to crew ration and felt very uncrowded the entire cruise, in great shape, and one of the friendliest crews of all times. Cons: no main promenade like the larger ships (but we didn't miss that at all).....nothing else, it was a great ship and we'd go back on her any time.

 

Ditto!!

 

I was on Jewel a couple years ago and will be sailing her again in less than a WEEK!!! :eek:

[PCWalton1]

So really not a disadvantage you get an opportunity to have some fresh air or do some window shopping!!(Unless there is a crazy t-shirt sale going on....)

 

Any idea Bob if Royal has any plans on going smoke free in casinos?

 

On Jewel, half of the casino was smoke-free and it did make a difference.

 

[Cabin8538]

Con: enclosed adult Solarium...not able to tan in there

Pro: outdoor WJ seating...more ships should offer that!

 

We were on the Jewel New Year's Eve cruise and each day while we were in port, the roof of the Solarium was opened. You could get plenty of sun in there if you were in the right spot. It was a nice combination of sun and shade.

 

And agree - the outdoor seating at WJ was a huge plus!!

[Beachammo]

Love Jewel!

 

I'll see her in a few weeks with a large group of friends. Got my favorite Radiance class cabin #9256 for my B2B.

 

May try Adventure next year if she's still in San Juan.

 

Chow