Jewel of the seas, quick review

[gethin90]

So I just returned from a 9 night Jewel cruise across the Greek Isles. If anyone has any questions about the ship I'm happy to answer if I can.

 

Stateroom - (8066)

 

smaller than I remember from my last cruise on the Navigator but I have probably got slightly bigger. After unpacking and putting all clothes away it turned out just fine. First ever balcony and it was great. We had a number of breakfasts and sail aways out there. No problem with noise at all. Very hard to read your sea pass account on the TV as it was slightly blurred but I can't complain about that really as I didn't try to rectify it. No obstructions to view from the balcony either. Very pleased that the safe was free to use as I assumed there would be a surcharge. Very central and easy to get to all other areas on the ship. Would pick this room again.

 

Windjammer/MDR

 

Windjammer was great, ate all but three breakfasts here, the other three we ordered room service. Gets obviously busy at peak times. Liked the fact hand gel pumps were compulsory on entry. Liked the fresh egg station. Ate there three evenings and food was great. No complaints from the Windjammer at all.

MDR was a mixed bag. Ate there 6 evenings. Food mostly good. Two evenings we had to leave early. Once wife had bad motion sickness (first night and her first cruise) and fourth night I came down with a bug. Seemed to be a wider issue as they stepped up their hygiene protocols and had numerous letters through the door.

Julian our asst. waiter from St Lucia was superb our main waiter Romelo was okay, couldn't really warm to him.

MTD worked okay. I felt we couldn't always book the times we wanted as they wanted us to stick with the same waiters even though there were spare tables elsewhere. I wouldn't mind having different waiters every night if it meant eating the time I wanted. The wife preferred the windjammer.

 

Pool/Solarium

 

Pool area was great. Didn't really have a problem getting a sun lounger. Sea days they do move half the sun loungers to fit their BBQ area which makes it harder. The new big TV I feel is wasted. Same loop of quiz questions and pictures. I think I've watched Jewel of the seas dry dock pictures 100 times. They could utilise it so much better. They could advertise other ships, ports we are visiting, music videos, live videos of the ship or a map of where we are etc.

Solarium was good too. Hardly used it but the cafe in there was good. They served pizzas, rolls, pitta breads etc. Nice to get out of the sun at times too.

 

Other outdoor activities

 

Mini golf I was a bit let down, bit straight forward and boring really. Sports court I took part in dodgeball and was a great laugh. Didn't use the rock climbing wall and didn't see it being used much. The golf simulator thing must have been removed in dry dock.

 

Bars

 

Schooner bar was great, piano/singer made a relaxed atmosphere. I found the safari club very underused. I felt some of the bigger events should have been held in here. The "quest" was at 4pm and we were in the middle of an excursion so therefore missed it.

Pool bar was fine even through they charged my account $1600 for a corona.

Centrum bar was great, wish the centrum was bigger as when they hosted events such as the 70s party it was hard to see what was going on and getting a chair was impossible. I suppose moving events to other bars maybe wouldn't have the same effect as I suppose it attracts passers by.

The lady in the PIT stop bar from the Phillapenes (can't remember her name) was by far the best employee we came across. Remembered ours and others names and drinks from the start even if we didn't go there often. She was great. She has been with RCI 16 years and was previously on Rhapsody. The Jamaican lady in the casino bar was also great.

Nightclub was a bit of a let down.

 

Stateroom attendant

 

Kept the room clean, couldn't get much of a conversation with him. Can't even remember his name, he would mainly just grunt hello. If they kept the envelope tipping situation he probably wouldn't have had the full amount, however he didn't do anything to warrant taking it off at guest services.

 

Guest services

 

Absolutely useless. As mentioned they charged $1600 to my card for a corona(turned out they charged me for a drinks package) When I went to query the Lady from Argentina looked at me to ask weather or not I really did purchase it and wouldn't believe me. It wasn't until her manager overheard what turned into a slightly heated conversation and checked the receipt (corona) that he rectified it straight away.

Also no one seemed to be able to tell me I could walk off the ship on my own carrying my luggage at disembarkation until the second visit to guest services and about an hours queue on the last day.

 

Drink packages

 

We purchased the select package and was really glad we did. I felt the drinks prices were unreal from someone coming from the UK. If I didn't have the drinks package I think it may have ruined my experience slightly therefore I strongly strongly recommended. Great selection of beer. Slightly more limited with the wines.

 

Shore excursions

 

On day 6 they told us that our trip for day 8 was cancelled and refunded "operational problems" we were gutted and had to book another trip which cost us $70 each extra $230 each total. The trip was over priced but we really enjoyed the tour and the guide was great.

The other tour on day 4 was rubbish really, guide was hard to understand and took us to a lone gift shop to purchase overpriced gifts.

 

Theatre

 

Dennis Charles was the CD. Nice enough bloke. The theatre screen etc was broke for the first four days so they put singers on instead. They had to fly out a part apprently. One act "Celtic tenors" who were great, but performed twice on day two and four.

 

Pre/post cruise

 

Numerous issues on the run up to the cruise such as cancelled flights and no transfer tickets getting sent to us. I found their call centre to be an absolute shambles. Waited about 30 minutes for 2/3 of our private transfers booked through RCI and outsourced to holiday taxi. Even though we booked through RCI I felt they took no responsibility and were less than helpful in the situation.

 

Internet

 

Didn't use the WIFI I found it really overpriced. I just bought a data add on through my mobile phone company on port days.

 

Overall

 

I found the ship clean, overall the staff were good. Entertainment was a bit hit and miss. Food overall was good. I would recommend Jewel as a ship. I do feel the wow factor was missing from my last cruise back in 2009. I felt the itinerary 7/9 days at port helped my overall experience though. I would return for a good deal/itinerary but feel I want to try different ships/lines. Maybe one of the mega ships. Overall had a great holiday. If you have any questions then feel free to ask.

 

I hope the review doesn't seem to negative as I did have a great time. Unfortunately we probably do tend to remember the things that went wrong I suppose.

 

The itinery was Rome - Messina - at sea - Mykonos - kusadasi - Santorini - Athens - at sea - Naples - Rome

 

Cheers

 

 

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[Clarea]

Appreciate the feedback.

[shopping is fun]

Could you elaborate on your port experiences? Did you go to Taormina from Messina, and if so, how did you get there? How was the tendering in Mykonos and Santorini?

 

Also, did any food serving protocols change once some illnesses were noted--i.e. did they stop allowing self-service in the Windjammer?

 

Finally, were the seas rough when motion sickness occurred?

 

We are on the same trip in less than a week!

 

Thanks!

[gethin90]

Hi there.

Ofcourse. Just rushing out so apologise if it is brief.

 

We didn't go to Taormina. We done the hoho around Messina. If I was to go again I would go to Taormina or mount Etna.

We didn't tender in Mykonos in the end even though we were supposed to. Pulled into the old port. There was a water taxi to the main part for 2€. We decided to walk back as we had time to kill. Wouldn't recommend. No path.

 

Santorini we tendered off and got up early and was on second tender off. We caught the water taxi to OIA for 20€. I responded in the Santorini thread regarding this. Defiantly recommend.

 

They didn't provide bar menus and there were more people cleaning after the notices issued. My illness lasted about 24 hours. Wasn't too bad. Self sErving didn't stop. They were always sanitising hands before the "outbreak" too.

 

The seas were slightly rough leaving Rome. She doesn't do well with any motion so a normal cruiser would be fine :) fine all after.

 

Hope this helps

 

 

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[Lane1344]

Hi,

Can you explain in a bit more detail about your pre and post transfer issues and what happened please.

We are on the Harmony in August going from Rome and have booked transfers to and from airport, hotel and ship all through RC.

It is my biggest fear that the transfers don't turn up as I wouldn't know what to do.

Thanks

Elaine

[IsanTom]

Thanks for the info!

[little britain]

What specialty restaurants are on her now and do you know the costs please?

[Julescroose]

Thanks for this info. Am on Jewel 24th July, already excited.

 

Currently working out if we'd use a drinks package, given four out of the six full days are port visits.On a sea day we may have a beer at lunch and a bottle of wine at dinner, plus a couple of g & t in the evening. From UK too so really notice the price hike (P&O looked steep til we booked this!!).

 

Am I correct we can get water, tea and coffee free? Anything else eg juice?

[little britain]

Thanks for this info. Am on Jewel 24th July, already excited.

 

Currently working out if we'd use a drinks package, given four out of the six full days are port visits.On a sea day we may have a beer at lunch and a bottle of wine at dinner, plus a couple of g & t in the evening. From UK too so really notice the price hike (P&O looked steep til we booked this!!).

 

Am I correct we can get water, tea and coffee free? Anything else eg juice?

On a drinks package you need about 6 a day to break even.

So a few sodas in the morning, a beer with lunch, a few G&Ts before dinner, a few glasses of wine with dinner and perhaps a 'sticky' afterwards.

Every day....

Prices are the same as any decent hotel (cheaper than in London hotels) and the measures are stronger. ;)

 

Yes, tea coffee water free, and in the windjammer they do a great cloudy lemonade, perhaps some flavoured waters or some iced tea too. Juice is made from concentrate and the quality varies greatly.

[Amtrac]

Looking for disembarkation time of Jewel return to Civitiveccia. I have a 10:40 am flight!! Will I make it?? Help

 

 

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[shopping is fun]

To Amtrac,

In June, we left Jewel 4 hours before our flight out of Rome(12:30 pm flight), and had absolutely no extra time. The drive to the airport is an hour or so, and the Rome airport is a series of long lines, as well as 2 different bus shuttles--to the gate and then to our plane. I would be very concerned about a 10:40 flight...

 

 

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[Amtrac]

Thanks, I have since learned flight is now 11:20, fell a little better!![emoji12][emoji7]

 

 

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[mj]

Thanks for the review. Hope to be on the Jewel doing a similar itinerary next year.

[gagirl7143]

Thanks, I have since learned flight is now 11:20, fell a little better!![emoji12][emoji7]

 

 

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You should walk off with your luggage to make this time. We always book a private car which is cheaper for two people and never book flights before noon. Good luck with the advanced security and the shuttles you must take to board your plane.

[starrcards]

Just reading in another thread about Tutti salads in the MDR on sea days. Was this available on your cruise?

[BillOh]

Very hard to read your sea pass account on the TV as it was slightly blurred

 

Does Jewel still have the small CRT style TVs?

[davekathy]

Just reading in another thread about Tutti salads in the MDR on sea days. Was this available on your cruise?

 

We sailed on the Jewel September 2015 and the Tutti Salad was offered in the MDR on sea days. It's been offered on every RCCL ship we sailed on.

[davekathy]

Does Jewel still have the small CRT style TVs?

 

We sailed on the Jewel September 2015 in an Ocean View cabin on deck 8. The TV was a small LED TV.

Edited August 10, 2016 by davekathy

[easyboy]

Thanks for the review

[Sunny AZ Girl]

Good review. Thanks!

 

We consider the Jewel to be our "home away from home". We have spent more time on her than any other ship, but not since the refurb. We plan to be on her October '17 again for the same Italy-Greece itinerary.:)

Edited August 11, 2016 by Sunny AZ Girl

[cincicruisers]

Thanks for sharing

[greek princess]

I just boarded Jewel and she is absolutely gorgeous !! Only took one hour from hotel near Vatican we arrived at the port at 11 and were onboard by 1115 , windjammer open at 1130 and rooms ready at 1. Sitting by pool drinking a Miami vice and feel like I'm in paradise 😀

[little britain]

Please can you post the current costs of the specialty restaurants ( I think they are Chops, Giovannis and Izumi - which is ALC); and whether they are offering any special deals on board because they are not busy?!;)

 

Enjoy that Miami Vice!

[ICruiseDoU]

I just boarded Jewel and she is absolutely gorgeous !! Only took one hour from hotel near Vatican we arrived at the port at 11 and were onboard by 1115 , windjammer open at 1130 and rooms ready at 1. Sitting by pool drinking a Miami vice and feel like I'm in paradise

What form of transportation did you use from hotel to port in Rome? Are you going to Ephesis? Any other details would be helpful. Thanks!

Edited August 15, 2016 by ICruiseDoU

[greek princess]

Please can you post the current costs of the specialty restaurants ( I think they are Chops, Giovannis and Izumi - which is ALC); and whether they are offering any special deals on board because they are not busy?!;)

 

Enjoy that Miami Vice!

 

They were offering 40 percent off the regular price of any specialty restaurant if you booked the first night . But limited availability for reservations . We had already booked chops and Giovanni's so we could not get the savings .