Jewel of the Seas Review 1/2/06

[danyelle]

We sailed on the Jewel of the Seas on Jan 2 to Jan 8 2006. Thor Thorelson was our captain and Simeon ___ was our cruise director.

This was my second RCI cruise and my boyfriend’s first. We are 24 and 28 respectively and travel often on land vacations and do the whole resort thing as well. We flew in to Palm beach for new year’s eve and visited with family. We rented our car through Alamo with no hassles or long waits. On Jan 1 we stayed at the Rennaissance Ft. Lauderdale hotel. Great property. Definitely 4 stars. The service was fantastic, I was shocked that valet was $18, but was told that’s the norm in Ft. Lauderdale. The hotel’s in a great location where you can walk to shopping and restaurants if you have no car. Oh yeah, and the bed was the most comfortable I've ever slept on. On Jan 2, we returned our car at 11am and Alamo’s free shuttle had us at the pier at 11:30. We were on the ship eating lunch in the windjammer by 1 or so.

 

Embarkation:

On Jan 2, we returned our car at 11am and Alamo’s free shuttle had us at the pier at 11:30. The embarkation could have been smoother if there were more signage leading people in the right direction or more service personnel available to help. It was pretty chaotic when we arrived but once on the correct line we didn’t have to wait long. We were on the ship eating lunch in the windjammer by 1.

 

Room

We had a D1 balcony cabin 9078. It’s on the hump. The balcony is massive. A long lounge beach chair, 2 regular chairs, and a small table were out there and we still had plenty of room to maneuver and dance for joy. I read on all these reviews how well appointed the staterooms are, and it’s definitely true. There are lots of places to store all your belongings. The bed was rock hard so we requested the foam pad from our stateroom attendant…it helped a tiny bit. I slept out in the lounger on the balcony one night…more comfortable than the bed. Our room was at the end of the hall just by the elevators and the library. There were no noise problems at all. We only heard our neighbors if they were out on their balcony while our balcony doors were open.

 

Service

The entire staff seemed truly genuine and friendly. Our stateroom attendant, Franky Andrade was phenomenal. Before I could hang up the phone with a request he was knocking on the door with it. We only saw him a few times during the week but our room was always in tip top shape. I left request notes and he attended to every one of them.

We had minor seapass issues and the guest relations staff was great about handling it quickly and efficiently. The photography team was not too pushy and weren’t as in your face as they were on the Voyager.

Our waitstaff was decent. They were a bit slow and forgetful at times but not so much that it ruined anything for us.

Our waiter in the Portofinos restaurant was phenomenal. Alexsander from Bulgaria. He was stellar. I was surprised at how on the ball the windjammer staff was, I can only compare it to the Voyager’s and they blew it away. Very attentive and upbeat.

 

Food

I’m not a picky eater and I love good food. The food on the Jewel was just okay. Very bland, very mediocre. But I'll tell ya what, I didn't go hungry.

For breakfast we ordered room service on the balcony every day which was just fruit and cereal so you cant really go wrong. The coffee was atrocious but, it grew on me by day 4! Lobster night was good, the first lobster was great and the second round our waiters brought were overcooked and a bit rubbery. The escargot was fantastic, there was a mushroom puff pastry that was also delicious. Nothing much else really stood out, it was all very bland.

Portofinos however was excellent. I had a fillet there that was truly fantastic, well seasoned and well prepared. My boyfriend enjoyed his tuna dish also. From the appetizers to desert, the entire meal was perfect, and the service helped. Wine and water never less than ½ full.

Windjammer was just okay as well. It was well mapped out with the stations and make to order pasta was nice. There's always something to eat. Solarium cafe had yummy crepes and everyone loved the Seaview Cafe.

 

Ship / Activities

I loved the Jewel. She is a beautiful ship, rich colors, not gaudy looking and very clean and well maintained. It was easy to find your way around and there were many areas to be alone and just enjoy your cruisemate’s company. There were a lot of things to do but significantly less than on the Voyager. I didn’t expect such a big difference in the amount of activities as there was. There was the mini golf and rock wall and the dance club and tons of bars. The main pool was tiny. The solarium pool was small as well but very nice. The solarium area was well decorated and had a mini café, and a bar. The art was interesting and the gym was a good size and never too crowded. (Although the gym staff knew absolutely nothing, I wonder how they got their positions) We only watched the magic show and a few of the dancer’s performances. The magician was cute n fun. The dancers were really laughable, they seemed to try hard though.

 

Ports

Our original itinerary was Key West, Coz, Costa Maya, Cayman, Sea Day. A few weeks before sailing it was changed to Sea Day, Cayman, Costa, Coz, Keys. At embarkation as we’re receiving our seapasses we’re notified that the keys have been dropped from the itinerary altogether and replaced with a sea day. Bummer.

After Costa Maya Thor announces that we will be skipping Cozumel altogether and hightailing it to the Keys where we’ll stay overnight. So, we got about 24 hours in the Keys. That was a pleasant surprise.

Cayman: We did a snorkeling/stingray tour through captain marvin. It was an incredible experience. It was my first time snorkeling in waters that deep. I’d recommend Cap Marvin to anyone.

Costa: We had a beach day and bargained a lil for some Cuban cigars and headed back to the ship

Keys: We explored the first day and the second day we went to the butterfly farm, ate, shopped and toured around.

 

Fellow Cruisers

There was a large range. I think most folks were 35-45 that we met. We saw a lot of young couples, a lot of families and a few older couples/families. Our tablemates were great, they were cruisecritic folk. Only niggle is the lack of manners displayed by a lot of the cruisers. Lots of pushing, cutting in line and not many ‘excuse mes”

 

Debarkation

Although wholly depressing, this was not as much of a pain in the neck as on the Voyager. We left our room at about 8:45 and went to eat in Windjammer. After our meal we had only enough time to get down to the 4th floor when our color was called, and we were the 4th or 5th color so that wasn’t so bad. We found our bags pretty quickly and were off to the Alamo shuttle again very soon. Customs was a breeze. I’m not sure how long everything took but we were picking out our car at Alamo at 10am.

 

All in all it was a fantastic cruise. We had a lot of fun, many new experiences and most importantly got to spend a lot of quality time with each other.

[sailor moon]

Great review! We will be on her in October. This is my favorite ship class!

[danyelle]

Sailor you're going to love her!!

[WineLovers]

sounds fun, I will be on her at the end of the month. Did the Mariner last year, will see how this one fairs. was the solarium pool heated?

[TonyFred]

Headed out on February 5th on the same itinerary. Thanks for the review!

Cant wait!

TonyFred

Carnival Fantasy - Bahamas 1992 :(

Norwegian Sky - Alaska 2002 :)

Caribbean Princess - Eastern Caribbean 2005 :p

Jewel of the Seas - Western Caribbean 2006 ??

[danyelle]

sounds fun, I will be on her at the end of the month. Did the Mariner last year, will see how this one fairs. was the solarium pool heated?

 

I am not sure if it was heated but the whole solarium area was heated I think. It was much warmer in there than anywhere else in the ship.

(i'm always cold so i'm the wrong person to ask)

[bfallen1]

I've noticed many posts recommending Captain Morgans for snorkeling excursions. I would like to do the full day snorkeling excursion, but they need 10 people in order to schedule a full day bla bla bla……Did you do the half day or full day?

[bfallen1]

That's Captain Marvins not "Captain Morgans ".....:rolleyes:

[weary traveler]

yes it is heated and very comfortable.. especially in October

 

your pal