MITSUGIRLY has a JEWEL of a time on my 1st RC cruise in years!

[Arzeena]

Oh wow! Thank goodness you made that flight! I can't believe it. LOL!:D:D

The review was fantastic. I really enjoyed reading it. Sad its over:(.

When do you cruise next?

[E@syPe@zy]

Glad to hear you made your flight!?!

I think at SJU it wasn't customs that you had to go through, but was the Agricultural Check (USDA). You shouldn't have had to go through customs since you were already in a US territory.

The airport was heavily damaged during the hurricane, so yes that pile of rubble was debris from the damage.

Thanks so much for a wonderful ride on another great cruise review!

[mitsugirly]

Wow! What a way to end your trip. I'm glad you made your flight, but you had to have been freaking out big time.

Heather

 

I know right? It was definitely not a good morning that day.

 

 

Oh my gosh...good thing you happened to check on your flight when you did! What a stress! So glad it all worked out. What an amazing report...and trip. Thanks for sharing.

 

Would love to hear final thoughts on how you enjoyed Royal's Jewel, compared with NCL and Carnival ships you've been on.

 

You would have thought that the front desk would have said something about us leaving that day when I went down that morning.

 

 

Thanks for the comments.

 

 

I will do a final comparison.

 

So, is the Decanter worth it for one night? It's obviously better than Da House, but maybe something like Casa Blanca would be better?

 

 

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Decanter is definitely worth staying at. Excellent place and location. Of course that depends on the price compared to Casa Blanca I suppose.

 

just got back! Enjoyed your review, it helped us get ready for ours. I would have taken this flight. Our flight left at 630pm and we got home to Columbus about 1am and home in Northland about 2 Monday morning.

 

Did you do the same trip and ship Bill?

 

Oh wow! Thank goodness you made that flight! I can't believe it. LOL!

The review was fantastic. I really enjoyed reading it. Sad its over.

When do you cruise next?

 

Now I would expect this to happen with Kendra around...but just us? I'm slipping!

 

Thanks for reading and glad you enjoyed it.

 

Not sure what's up next for me. I would really like to do another land vacation in Aruba or someplace. Maybe this summer. If I can't pull anything together for a land vacation, I'll be checking out what they have to offer for a cruise.

 

 

Glad to hear you made your flight!?!

I think at SJU it wasn't customs that you had to go through, but was the Agricultural Check (USDA). You shouldn't have had to go through customs since you were already in a US territory.

The airport was heavily damaged during the hurricane, so yes that pile of rubble was debris from the damage.

Thanks so much for a wonderful ride on another great cruise review!

 

Yea that's probably it. I was so frazzled that day that I have no idea what they said. LOL

 

Thanks for joining and sticking with me for the entire review. I appreciate it.

[BillOh]

I will do a final comparison.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Did you do the same trip and ship Bill?

 

 

 

.

 

I believe so, you were on 2 weeks before me I believe, same intinerary - St Croix, St Martin, Martinique, Barbados, Grenada on Jewel right?

[mitsugirly]

FINAL THOUGHTS:

 

I guess I'll do a final thoughts on the ship, since I didn't really do one at the end of the cruise.

 

I'm sure most of you could tell from my review that I absolutely LOVED RC! I'm so glad that we were able to cruise with them again after all these years. I will definitely be cruising with them again (provided I find another cruise that 1) goes where I want to go and 2) is the right price.)

 

THE GOOD:

*The food was amazing! Only a few things I didn't care for but most was amazing.

*The service was amazing in both the dining room and our room steward. I have never been in and out of a MDR as fast as this ship. Bringing me pop x2 at the same time and meal after meal right away. Excellent.

*The ship was easy to navigate and I liked the location of everything

*Having the day of the week on the elevators each day was actually pretty nice and I'm still amazed that they actually change every one of them daily.

*The public restrooms!!! You seen the pictures...what more can I say. I have never seen another bathroom this nice with the exception of one of NCL's bigger ships.

*Never ever did this ship feel crowded. Even in the buffet (except for 2 days) and the layout of the buffet and all the seating made it wonderful.

*Checking in and getting on was so quick! The same for getting off. Probably one of the fastest ever.

*Super nice place for the adults to swim in, only the water was just too cold and the hot tub with chlorine smell that burned your eyes.

 

THE NOT SO GOOD:

*I think I might have forgot to mention there was a sewage smell every morning outside our room. It only lasted for a few hours and then it was gone. No idea what it was from.

*All the commercials were in Spanish...I thought this was weird that you didn't have a choice to control it.

*POP MACHINE IN BUFFET-What a disaster for those of us to need pop in our IV's all day long. I felt like if I don't have access to it when I wanted it, I shouldn't be charged full price for it. Move the darn thing!

*Cool that they had a cinema but not cool that the movies were the same movies over and over all week (both in the cinema and big screen) and a lot of them were very old movies.

*The entertainment...ugh. I just couldn't get over just how bad this was and no variety. I definitely expected more out of RC.

 

 

I don't know...I think the review shows for itself my thoughts on RC. I loved it and any ship is going to have it's good and bad things about it.

 

I find the best of things in all ships and I would sail NCL, Carnival or RC any day.

 

I can't really say this has been one of my favorite ships...the ship itself, but the service, food and ports have been one of my favorites.

 

This ship has probably been right up there with NCL's food. But NCL is still my favorite when it comes to offerings after hours. You just can't beat O'Sheehans with the food and the selection.

 

The service, I would say it's right up there with NCL as well. NCL might be just a little friendlier over all with the staff you encounter all over the ship.

 

Cleanliness-all the ships I have been on have been pretty awesome with cleaning but NCL is usually double hard at the constant clean up. RC must have a fairy to do their work because it was always clean but I never seen anyone doing it.

 

Hands down NCL with the shows and variety. They have just been awesome most of the time. I would even say that Carnival has RC beat. At least Carnival has the Comedy club and a few extra shows.

 

My favorite for the casino and slots: Carnival hands down by using your ship card and not having to carry around money or slips for winnings.

 

I honestly can't think of much more at this point. I like them all. I still think that NCL is my favorite cruise line, but I don't really have a good grasp on RC at this time with the ship that we sailed. I know there are much better ships out there with RC as far as things to do, entertainment, pool and water areas. I just need to experience them now. :D

 

If you have any particular things you are interested in knowing or my thoughts on comparing it...I'd be happy to answer. Just remember, everyone is different on their expectations and what they do and don't like. So my thoughts may not be the same as yours. :)

 

[Megan_Strick]

Kim-

 

When is your next cruise? I need something to read!

[TimeToGetNauti]

Thank you so much for the awesome review. I enjoyed all your pictures and perspectives.

[mitsugirly]

Kim-

 

When is your next cruise? I need something to read!

 

I'm not really sure yet. I don't have anything planned at the moment. I would like to take another land vacation, like we did last summer, to Aruba or some place. We had a really good time being on "island time". So, I'm going to look into it soon. If I can't find anything, I'll look into a cruise again.

 

 

Thank you so much for the awesome review. I enjoyed all your pictures and perspectives.

 

Thank you and glad you enjoyed it.

[canadianbear]

I'm very impressed at how you found the time to do such a detailed report of your adventure! Loved it all including all the photos.

 

This may be silly but it just reminds me of when our kids were young how we traveled with them-we have such wonderful memories. (They grow up too fast!)

 

Thanks for doing this and allowing me to reminisce.

[pghsteelerfan]

Thank you again for taking the time to do another review and I really enjoyed this one just as I have the others. As always, I love your writing style so that it feels like we're with you and also love that you include so many of your pictures. Like you, I am a visual person. I'm always looking for what ports I may like to try (definitely Grenada and I also want to get back to Martinique) and also love reliving ports we've been to or getting new ideas, so pictures definitely have a big influence.

 

I'm actually glad you sailed RCI this time and appreciate your thoughts on Jewel of the Seas. We have friends who were on her several years ago and when we asked, not much in the way of details, only that their kids liked Carnival's teen clubs better since they were better broken down by age groups. I love the southern itinerary Carnival does out of San Juan, but it's the same itinerary and there are other islands in that area that we'd like to see and I don't see Carnival putting another ship down there (San Juan) to do a different itinerary or even alternate the one they currently do with another that went to some of the different islands. So, we will definitely consider RCI to hopefully get to some other islands, IF the price is right. We were on an RCI ship a LONG TIME ago on the Mexican Riviera cruise with my husband's family. It was only our 2nd cruise (Carnival was our first), but there have been so many changes since those first two, and I honestly just looked at ships as floating hotels. From my memory, RCI seemed to be an older passenger base and definitely more formal than Carnival but from what I'm seeing/hearing lately is that they now have more similarities than differences, so which ever one will get us to where we want to go/pricing will be our deciding factors.

 

I just have to say that last morning when you realized your flight was THAT morning instead of the next...holy crap!!! :eek::eek::eek: I've always seen 3 hours because of the agricultural inspection at the entrance, so potential line for that, line at the airline counter, lines at security. The two times we cruised out of San Juan (recently), the lines have been quick but we did self debark and took a cab from the ship, so were probably some of the earliest arrivals from the ship (only ship in San Juan, both times). The trip in 2013 was a Sunday, we were the only ship, and arrived at the airport before our airline's counters were open, even though we got there when they said we should be there. We got seats in a seating area but saw others who arrived starting to line up and we joined them. Good thing, the lines behind us were LONG and even the lines at the agricultural inspection area were long.

[packerpegster]

Thank you for the wonderful review! Your pics of your trip were amazing! What talent you have!! Really appreciated your St, Maarten pics...so sad to see what the hurricane left behind...in San Juan as well...your photos tell a travelers story in a real way!

 

 

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[broberts]

I was actually a little put out that we won't get to read about another day in OSJ. Wonderful review. Thanks.

 

BTW, I found the first few underwater statues very creepy.

[tvlworm]

Thanks for another great review! I appreciated your insights on RCL. I’ve always wanted to sail with them as well, but its never priced out in my favor compared to what we’d ended up booking.

I really enjoy all your photos, especially the underwater! I’ve had so many questions for you lately that I wish you had your own CC board lol!

This was a new fish sighting for me, and I apparently can’t describe it well enough for google to return a match. Hoping you can help. Not the greatest quality but it was my first time with an underwater camera and I clearly have some settings lessons to take! Thanks!

 

 

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[broberts]

tvlworm, those are squid.

[LuCruise]

Great review (which I think I've mentioned ump-teen times...ha ha), and thanks for the comparison. As for shows...I think if you went on Oasis class you would be amazed. The ships in this class are huge and not for everyone. But in terms of entertainment, they are top notch (well I can only speak for Allure but same style). There is an aqua show that is so impressive, a Broadway show (on other classes too), parades, cirque du soleil type show, skating show, etc etc.

[tvlworm]

tvlworm, those are squid.

 

 

 

Thanks!! I never, ever would have thought that’s what those were!!

 

 

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[mitsugirly]

I'm very impressed at how you found the time to do such a detailed report of your adventure! Loved it all including all the photos.

 

This may be silly but it just reminds me of when our kids were young how we traveled with them-we have such wonderful memories. (They grow up too fast!)

 

Thanks for doing this and allowing me to reminisce.

 

Thank you so much. It definitely is a lot of work to do these reviews. But, I love doing them. Glad you enjoyed.

 

 

Thank you again for taking the time to do another review and I really enjoyed this one just as I have the others. As always, I love your writing style so that it feels like we're with you and also love that you include so many of your pictures. Like you, I am a visual person. I'm always looking for what ports I may like to try (definitely Grenada and I also want to get back to Martinique) and also love reliving ports we've been to or getting new ideas, so pictures definitely have a big influence.

 

I'm actually glad you sailed RCI this time and appreciate your thoughts on Jewel of the Seas. We have friends who were on her several years ago and when we asked, not much in the way of details, only that their kids liked Carnival's teen clubs better since they were better broken down by age groups. I love the southern itinerary Carnival does out of San Juan, but it's the same itinerary and there are other islands in that area that we'd like to see and I don't see Carnival putting another ship down there (San Juan) to do a different itinerary or even alternate the one they currently do with another that went to some of the different islands. So, we will definitely consider RCI to hopefully get to some other islands, IF the price is right. We were on an RCI ship a LONG TIME ago on the Mexican Riviera cruise with my husband's family. It was only our 2nd cruise (Carnival was our first), but there have been so many changes since those first two, and I honestly just looked at ships as floating hotels. From my memory, RCI seemed to be an older passenger base and definitely more formal than Carnival but from what I'm seeing/hearing lately is that they now have more similarities than differences, so which ever one will get us to where we want to go/pricing will be our deciding factors.

 

I just have to say that last morning when you realized your flight was THAT morning instead of the next...holy crap!!! :eek::eek::eek: I've always seen 3 hours because of the agricultural inspection at the entrance, so potential line for that, line at the airline counter, lines at security. The two times we cruised out of San Juan (recently), the lines have been quick but we did self debark and took a cab from the ship, so were probably some of the earliest arrivals from the ship (only ship in San Juan, both times). The trip in 2013 was a Sunday, we were the only ship, and arrived at the airport before our airline's counters were open, even though we got there when they said we should be there. We got seats in a seating area but saw others who arrived starting to line up and we joined them. Good thing, the lines behind us were LONG and even the lines at the agricultural inspection area were long.

 

Thanks so much for joining me on this review and glad you enjoyed it. There's definitely some ports that I would love to go back to.

 

 

I do have to say that Sakari didn't really enjoy the kids club this time. I don't know if it was lack of activity or what they did, or if it's just that she's getting to that age where she's growing up and just don't enjoy being in there. There were several times that she ask me how many more years before she gets to the next age group. She said she can't wait to be in the teen group. Oh boy!

 

I would definitely agree that they are more similar than not. All 3 lines are very similar to me. There were people of all ages and families, both young and old. Sailing out of PR seems to always be cheap for some reason (at least every cruise that I've looked at during our time frame has been).

 

 

Maybe we were just at the airport at the right time and right day since there wasn't a cruise ship leaving from there that day. Or I just got extremely lucky.

 

 

Thank you for the wonderful review! Your pics of your trip were amazing! What talent you have!! Really appreciated your St, Maarten pics...so sad to see what the hurricane left behind...in San Juan as well...your photos tell a travelers story in a real way!

 

 

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Aww, thanks so much for the kind words. I appreciate it.

 

 

St Maarten was so devastated. I can't even imagine how it looked 7 months prior when it hit.

 

 

I was actually a little put out that we won't get to read about another day in OSJ. Wonderful review. Thanks.

 

BTW, I found the first few underwater statues very creepy.

 

Thank you so much. I'm glad you enjoyed the review.

 

 

Yea, some of the statues looked a little creepy but they were definitely neat to see the coral taking shape on them.

 

 

Thanks for another great review! I appreciated your insights on RCL. I’ve always wanted to sail with them as well, but its never priced out in my favor compared to what we’d ended up booking.

I really enjoy all your photos, especially the underwater! I’ve had so many questions for you lately that I wish you had your own CC board lol!

This was a new fish sighting for me, and I apparently can’t describe it well enough for google to return a match. Hoping you can help. Not the greatest quality but it was my first time with an underwater camera and I clearly have some settings lessons to take! Thanks!

 

 

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The pricing going out of PR always seems to be a good price for both RC and Carnival. I'm not sure why. Maybe it's because air fare is a lot higher?

 

 

Thanks for the kind words. If there's any questions, please feel free to ask and I'll answer the best I can.

 

 

Those are definitely squid. We see them all the time and you'll usually see them in groups. They are so cool and very fast too!

 

 

Great review (which I think I've mentioned ump-teen times...ha ha), and thanks for the comparison. As for shows...I think if you went on Oasis class you would be amazed. The ships in this class are huge and not for everyone. But in terms of entertainment, they are top notch (well I can only speak for Allure but same style). There is an aqua show that is so impressive, a Broadway show (on other classes too), parades, cirque du soleil type show, skating show, etc etc.

 

Thanks so much. Glad you enjoyed. Yea, I'm pretty sure that the larger class ships would be excellent for entertainment and activities. I've heard all about them. Some day I'll get on one.

[#55worktoplay]

 

 

 

Now I would expect this to happen with Kendra around...but just us? I'm slipping!

 

 

Well for sure you never would have made it unless you left them all behind! :)

 

Well I was waiting and waiting for the end as you alluded to something right at the beginning of the review and boy was that an ending, very good on you! I was on the edge of my seat reading I can only imagine what you felt like. I am so happy that you made it home that day. It is funny how your hubby and Sakari just go with the flow and follow your lead.

 

I agree with you about the touring and seeing old buildings and stuff, I guess you really have to be a history buff to really enjoy those types of things. Beautiful views though.

 

Great review as usual. Thanks for sharing.

[accio_7]

Kim,

 

Thank you so much for your fantastic review and photos, I especially loved your snorkeling, scuba excursions and add-on travel in San Juan [emoji7]

 

I’m glad to hear that you all loved Jewel and Royal Caribbean :)

 

 

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[TONYnDEB]

Thanks again, Kim, for another fantastic review and stunning pictures! [emoji4]

 

 

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[Sarah1974]

Thank you for such a fabulous review. I felt like I was right there experiencing it too!

Loved your pics and great descriptions

[chipis]

You see the date? IT'S TODAY!!!! Oh my gosh!!!! Our flight is TODAY! We are about to miss our flight!

 

 

OMG, Kim... my heart literally stopped a couple of seconds when I read this :eek:

 

I'm glad everything turned out OK in the end (like a good Hollywood movie)... and this review has now become another amazing document here in CC for generations to come. Thanks again for taking the time and the effort of putting this novel together... you are the best! ;) We all love your reviews are 100% honest, funny, full of beautiful pictures and informative (let's leave the sugar-coating for the donuts only ;p)

 

Have a great summer along with your family... and hoping to read more of your adventures in the future!...

[mitsugirly]

Well for sure you never would have made it unless you left them all behind! :)

 

Well I was waiting and waiting for the end as you alluded to something right at the beginning of the review and boy was that an ending, very good on you! I was on the edge of my seat reading I can only imagine what you felt like. I am so happy that you made it home that day. It is funny how your hubby and Sakari just go with the flow and follow your lead.

 

I agree with you about the touring and seeing old buildings and stuff, I guess you really have to be a history buff to really enjoy those types of things. Beautiful views though.

 

Great review as usual. Thanks for sharing.

 

Exactly. I shudder at the thought had the entire family been with us that time.

 

 

Yea, the hubs and Sakari always just go with the flow and never really have much of an idea what we are doing on any given day. LOL The element of surprise. hehe

 

Yea the forts are not really my thing...even after seeing them. But at least we can say we did it and got some neat pictures.

 

 

Thanks for coming along with me on this review. I appreciate it.

 

 

Kim,

 

Thank you so much for your fantastic review and photos, I especially loved your snorkeling, scuba excursions and add-on travel in San Juan [emoji7]

 

I’m glad to hear that you all loved Jewel and Royal Caribbean :)

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Thanks and glad you enjoyed the review.

 

 

Thanks again, Kim, for another fantastic review and stunning pictures! [emoji4]

 

 

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You're welcome and thanks for being here.

 

 

Thank you for such a fabulous review. I felt like I was right there experiencing it too!

Loved your pics and great descriptions

 

 

Aww, thanks so much. I appreciate it.

 

 

 

 

OMG, Kim... my heart literally stopped a couple of seconds when I read this

 

I'm glad everything turned out OK in the end (like a good Hollywood movie)... and this review has now become another amazing document here in CC for generations to come. Thanks again for taking the time and the effort of putting this novel together... you are the best! We all love your reviews are 100% honest, funny, full of beautiful pictures and informative (let's leave the sugar-coating for the donuts only )

 

Have a great summer along with your family... and hoping to read more of your adventures in the future!...

 

Imagine how I felt when I seen that date. LOL

 

Thanks for joining me on this review. I appreciate it and glad you enjoyed it.

 

 

You have a wonderful summer as well.

[dltvermont]

Im by no means an expert and dont want to contradict those that said squid but are you sure they arent cuttlefish? That was my first thought with the picture and then I googled and looked at their pics and they look like it to me. Dont squid have tentacles?

 

 

 

 

Thanks for another great review! I appreciated your insights on RCL. I’ve always wanted to sail with them as well, but its never priced out in my favor compared to what we’d ended up booking.

I really enjoy all your photos, especially the underwater! I’ve had so many questions for you lately that I wish you had your own CC board lol!

This was a new fish sighting for me, and I apparently can’t describe it well enough for google to return a match. Hoping you can help. Not the greatest quality but it was my first time with an underwater camera and I clearly have some settings lessons to take! Thanks!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[mitsugirly]

Im by no means an expert and dont want to contradict those that said squid but are you sure they arent cuttlefish? That was my first thought with the picture and then I googled and looked at their pics and they look like it to me. Dont squid have tentacles?

 

They are squid. I’ll show the difference when I get near a computer but meanwhile, to help you out when googling for the picture, google Caribbean squid. That will show you these types of squid that was posted in the picture. Cuttlefish look different and I have snorkeled with both many times. You are more likely to see the Caribbean squid more than the cuttlefish...at least in my snorkeling adventures :)