Just back from Jewel - Mini review

[Tracy67]

We are going on this cruise on 17th July.

Thanks for such an excellent review, I'm really enjoying reading your posts.:D

[CFIGuy]

Onto the last port - Katakolon

We docked a little early due to skipping Mykonos. The port town itself is very small, maybe 5 blocks by 2 blocks if that. Typical souvenir shops, rental car shops, and excursion shops. There is also a small beach to the left of the dock, but it didn't look too appealing from a far. We went directly to the taxi queue. Taxi prices seemed to be set and non negotiable. There were three different beaches to go to, and depending on distance the prices were 30, 50/60 or 80. Couldn't remember if the 2nd tier was 50 or 60. These prices were for round trip transfer and payment was due upon return. We went to Kourouta Beach, which was the furthest away but seemed to be the largest and the nicest. Multiple restaurants provided free chairs and umbrellas, with drink/food service provided but not mandatory. We ate lunch at one of these restaurants afterwards, and 4 appetizers, 1 large bottle of water, and 1 soda was between 20-25 Euros, can't remember exact amount. Beach was mostly sandy with some rocks, water current was fairly tame, and the water depth remained the same for a long way out. As mentioned earlier, this was the same beach used by the ship for their shore excursion, but we arrived 1 hour prior, and stayed 1 hour later.

 

Getting back to the ship was easy. Our taxi driver showed up as promised at the assigned time, and got us back to the ship at the proper time. The fare was what was agreed upon. The driver was very friendly, told us a lot of the area, drove well, and had a clean taxi.

[GMCL]

Thanks for the great review. Will be on the 17th July sailing also. Thanks for all the detailed info.

[CFIGuy]

Couple of loose ends to add:

 

Kids Club aka Adventure Ocean

My son absolutely loved it. He averaged 1 session per day, and only did kids club dinner one night. He would have gone more if he could of, but of course I want to spend time with him on vacation as well. All of the staff seemed very engaged and all of the kids seemed to be having a blast. One semi-strange thing was that the 6-8 & 9-11 groups were combined. I had no issue with it, but was surprised given the number of children sailing. The average session seemed to have around 30 kids in the two groups. I did not use the paid lunch option or the late night party zone.

 

Chair Hogs, Guest Services and other tidbits

As mentioned in other posts, chair hogs were horrible, even compared to other ships, with people resorting to putting a towel on the ground, taking regular cafe chairs, etc. There did not seem to be any pool attendant monitoring chairs, and the cruise lines as a collective do need to come up with a solution. On this class of ship, only having one general pool also hurt, as it was also the activity pool, so not usable during contests.

 

Guest Services lines did seem to be longer than average on this ship compared to other. I know it is a thankless job, but having one more person staffed would have really helped with lines.

 

Lastly, with the non alcoholic drink package, getting Red Bull (I had one per day) had mixed results. Most bars served without issue, but a couple did not. Stated energy drinks were extra, but the virgin mixed drinks with the energy drink were included?

 

Any other questions?

[starrcards]

Did your son use the kids water area/slide? And the all important question, roast beef sandwiches available during your cruise?

[CFIGuy]

My son did use the water slide. It is quite tame, and open for about 3 hours per day. The rest of the water area was nice, but my son was approaching the upper age for it (about 8/9). Of note, the main pool was quite deep, even the shallow end was over 6 feet. They did have life jackets available for children's use.

 

Solarium Cafe did have roast beef sandwiches. The roast beef and horseradish was quite good, but the rolls seemed to be missing the seasoning (rock salt and carroway seed?) that I have noticed on other cruises.

[starrcards]

Thanks.

[Miryam1234]

Did you try the voom wifi? Was it any good?

[gagirl7143]

Did you try the voom wifi? Was it any good?

 

 

We thought the Voom in May and April were hands down faster and more reliable that before zoom. Still not like home but much better.

[MadamG2U]

Thanks for the review we are on the July 17th cruise

MadamG2U

[abbflex]

Couple of loose ends to add:

 

Kids Club aka Adventure Ocean

My son absolutely loved it. He averaged 1 session per day, and only did kids club dinner one night. He would have gone more if he could of, but of course I want to spend time with him on vacation as well. All of the staff seemed very engaged and all of the kids seemed to be having a blast. One semi-strange thing was that the 6-8 & 9-11 groups were combined. I had no issue with it, but was surprised given the number of children sailing. The average session seemed to have around 30 kids in the two groups. I did not use the paid lunch option or the late night party zone.

 

Chair Hogs, Guest Services and other tidbits

As mentioned in other posts, chair hogs were horrible, even compared to other ships, with people resorting to putting a towel on the ground, taking regular cafe chairs, etc. There did not seem to be any pool attendant monitoring chairs, and the cruise lines as a collective do need to come up with a solution. On this class of ship, only having one general pool also hurt, as it was also the activity pool, so not usable during contests.

 

Guest Services lines did seem to be longer than average on this ship compared to other. I know it is a thankless job, but having one more person staffed would have really helped with lines.

 

Lastly, with the non alcoholic drink package, getting Red Bull (I had one per day) had mixed results. Most bars served without issue, but a couple did not. Stated energy drinks were extra, but the virgin mixed drinks with the energy drink were included?

 

Any other questions?

 

Spamming you with questions:)

 

With the royal replenish, we`ve bought that aswell, did you get to choose what you like from the cafe lattè tude (still seattle`s best?)

Also were there any mini-disco event with or without the kids club where the kids under 11 could dance?

 

re the chair hogging issue, was it any free sunbeds/chairs on the the upper deck away from the pool area, or maybe the Radience class does have that kinda space around the running track like Freedom class does?

[CFIGuy]

Used Voom Wifi on the last day - surf only. Speed was pretty slow, about 0.3 both up and down. Because this cruise stayed close to shore or on shore most days I just used my cell data plan which has no intl roaming.

 

Royal Replenish covered all of the non alcoholic coffee drinks at the cafe. I only got a coffee drink once, but my mom purchased them daily there.

 

Chairs on the pool deck and sky deck were completely full, regardless of how close or far away from the pool they were. Also of note, on the promenade deck there were very few chairs on either side. Another strange thing was that the luggage carts used for embarkation & debarkation were stored in the public area of the promenade deck. Most other ships store this near I95.