Just off Jewel of the Seas 3/5 - 3/11

[macnbc]

Just off the Jewel of the Seas 6 night western caribbean itinerary. I'll be making a full review but I wanted a day to let it all sink in first.

 

I'll be happy to answer any questions people may have about her right now though.

 

The captain was still James Macdonald, cruise director was Tim Seibert (was told by staff that he was only on for this past week though, filling in for the regular one). Hit all ports of call OK (Key West, Cozumel, Costa Maya, Grand Cayman)

 

No I didn't wear jeans to the dining room, yes I saw some who did on casual night. I think I got the most FAQs.. any others? ;)

[funinthesun82]

My wife, and my parents leave on the Jewel in 13 days for a 8 night east carib. How was the ship? This is our second cruise as we did a 10 night on the coral princess last year (ship seemed a little older).

 

We have heard a lot of talk of th Norwalk virus. Did you run into that?

 

Any other suggestions? Thanks

 

BB:)

[johnbob7]

Macnbc,

 

Also looking forward to your review, as we are on the Jewel on the 25th also.

 

Funinthesun, we've got a roll call going at:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=162158&page=7

 

Come on in! We're all getting excited now as we get closer.

 

bobj

[AFT_LOVER]

and then board Jewel for 2 weeks in Europe, Scandinavia & Baltics. All the glass makes for a truly beatiful ship. We are aft corner 9256 to maxmum balcony space & large stateroom.

[macnbc]

Funinthesun, the JOS is indeed just what the name would imply. It's a beautiful ship, and still feels brand new. The staff couldn't have been friendlier and the experience couldn't have been more enjoyable. I think you'll have a great time.

 

As far as Norwalk goes, I don't know of any incidents that occured on-board the JOS. However, we sailed out of Ft Lauderdale the same day as the Splendor of the Seas and we heard that they did have an outbreak on-board. We were in port with them at Costa Maya and all of the sanitation stuff on the JOS was stepped up that day as a precautionary measure.

[JWMom]

Hi-can't wait to read your full review-we leave on the Jewel next Sunday!!:) (our first cruise)-I was hoping for a little more info on your port visits-we have the same ones and I'm still a little unsure about what to do-did you do ship excursions or book your own? Any help will be appreciated-thanks so much!!

[macnbc]

Hi-can't wait to read your full review-we leave on the Jewel next Sunday!!:) (our first cruise)-I was hoping for a little more info on your port visits-we have the same ones and I'm still a little unsure about what to do-did you do ship excursions or book your own? Any help will be appreciated-thanks so much!!

 

JWMom- It was my first cruise too. We booked ship excursions in all ports with the exception of Key West.

 

In Key West we went on our own shopping around and also took a tour of the Hemmingway house. (Highly recommend) Everything's in walking distance so I don't really recommend a ship excursion here.

 

In Cozumel we went on the SeaTrek helmet dive/snorkeling excursion. I had a blast on it personally but my travelling partner was unable to participate for medical reasons (they're very strict about it.) They let him snorkel for $10 though so it was a great deal. I highly recommend them as all the people there were highly professional and we always felt we were in good hands.

 

In Costa Maya we went on the Chaccoben Mayan Ruin tour, again, highly recommended. The guide was EXTREMELY knowledgeable and informative, and everyone had a great time.

 

In Grand Cayman we went on the Land & Sea tour. I'll say this up front: DON'T TAKE IT. It's basically a combination of the land siteseeing tour and the nautillus semisub. The Nautillus is AWESOME (and available seperately) but the bus tour was the dumps. It was basically the guide pointing out the most mundane things about the island (This is the Wendys, here's a gas station, etc.) with a few stops at some thinly-veiled tourist traps. The one highlight of that tour we enjoyed was the tour of the turtle farm (which is also available seperately). In short, go on the Nautillus, DON'T go on the bus tour. If you want to go anywhere on land, check out the turtle farm.

 

Finally in Fort Lauderdale we went on the Everglades airboat excursion, which I also STRONGLY recommend. It makes the departure morning a lot more hectic than it could be, as instead of sitting around the ship with the other 2,100 people on board waiting around for your color tag to be called while everything is closed, you get to be one of the first groups off of the ship. The guide was extremely good and took care of everything. In addition to the airboat ride you get to check out a lot of indigenous animals they have on site. When its over, they take you your terminal at the airport. It made a nice, leisurely conclusion to the vacation instead of the stressful madhouse that others have portrayed disembarkation to be. If you have a flight leaving around 1:30 or later, I cannot give this excursion a higher recommendation.

[JudyOh]

:) JWMOM - we were on the Feb 19 sailing of the Jewel. She is certainly a JEWEL. In Costa Maya we went to the Chacchoben Ruins using Ivan and David (check out Costa Maya in the port section). They were outstanding and the tour was really wonderful. They are true Mayan decents who grew up at the ruins. Their website is chacchobenruins.com. I would highly recommend them.

[Leafpeeper]

We sailed Jewel of the Seas from Boston to Bermuda and the Caribbean in October and loved this ship. We were fortunate to get a junior suite and really enjoyed the extra room. What is most unusual about Jewel is the Windjammer because it is so unique for a buffet. DH really enjoyed selecting his steak and watching them cook it the way he wanted and eating it nice and hot. What is fantastic about the buffet are the different food stations and all the choices. Best of all, was having dinner under the stars in the back of the ship all by ourselves. There are so many different areas to sit that everyone can select the ambiance they prefer. After just returning from sailing on Carnival Triumph, I was so disappointed because that ship had such a limited buffet with only one dessert for dinner. Guess Carnival wants everyone eating in the dining room.

 

We prefer variety in dining options on ten day cruises, and Jewel lived up to all our expectations. Chops and Portofinos are great, and the dining room is top notch. DH raves about the Windjammer to everyone because he really enjoyed the personal touch. We will only sail ships with one dining room and one buffet on short 3-4 day cruieses. Otherwise, it is Jewel of the Seas or NCL Dawn (10 different restaurants) on our 7-10 day cruises. Don't forget that Jewel has a room service menu on the tv. RCCL offers hot food on their room service menu. Loved dining on my balcony a couple nights on my collapsable table--thanks to a CC member's suggestion on these boards. It folds up and has an over-the-shoulder canvas bag with strap. Great invention!!!

[ColumbiaMDCanadian]

to macnbc, granmacruiser and anyone else who has been to the ruins...

 

I see you both enjoyed the ruins, so that already somewhat answers my question, but to be direct...

Was there a reasonable amount of authentic ruin to see and learn about or is it a small site and an excuse for a souvenir shop?

I'm trying to decide if I want to do the ruins or just take a beach day since we are diving at several other ports and wouldn't mind a quiet day.

 

Thanks.

[Magicat]

Hello everyone, we just were on the Jewel with Macnbc as well - did not meet up sorry Macnbc! The costa maya day I would go in to town, we went to Costa Maya and a beer cost 3.50 us in town it was 2.00 us and the beach was stunning!! What a great town, much better then the actually port!!

[macnbc]

I see you both enjoyed the ruins, so that already somewhat answers my question, but to be direct...

Was there a reasonable amount of authentic ruin to see and learn about or is it a small site and an excuse for a souvenir shop?

I'm trying to decide if I want to do the ruins or just take a beach day since we are diving at several other ports and wouldn't mind a quiet day.

 

Well it depends on what you define as big or small. The Chaccoben ruins are not as big as Tulum or Chichen Itza, but that's because they are an extremely recent excavation, they only started in 1999, so not everything has been uncovered yet.

 

However, there is still plenty to see there, well worth the time. I think its fascinating to see it as a sort of archeological work-in-progress, rather than the tourist trampled-over sites elsewhere. I wouldn't mind going back in 10-20 years and seeing what it looks like when everything else has been uncovered! Also, like I said, the guides are extremely knowledgeable. We spent probably about 90 minutes walking around the site and being told about the meanings behind the architecture, the construction methods, the layout of the city and the reasons behind much of it, compared to only about 10 minutes of looking around the souvenir area.

 

Also a note on the souvenir area, it is not a "gift shop" per se like you would find at many places, but is actually sort of a mini-bazaar where several local people have set up small shops. Most if not all of the products there are hand-made locally, sometimes by the merchants themselves. My travelling companion got a hand-carved Mayan mask, and I got a small rock carving replica of the main temple (the merchant said its onyx but I have my doubts.) Haggling/dickering over the price was very easy there, as my companion got the mask knocked down from $35 to $20 and I got the rock carving knocked down from $15 to $10 without difficulty.

 

Worth it, definitely. Go, you can rest on the sea days. ;)

[balanceok]

I enjoy using the steam rooms on ships we sail on. Is there a charge to use the steam on the Jewell? If so, how much? Do you have to schedule its use?

 

Thanks.

[macnbc]

I enjoy using the steam rooms on ships we sail on. Is there a charge to use the steam on the Jewell? If so, how much? Do you have to schedule its use?

 

Thanks.

 

I did not use the steam room personally, but I do not believe there is a charge for it. I don't believe you have to schedule it either.

[JWMom]

Thanks for the info so far!! Would love to hear more from anyone about this ship and ports if you get a chance-we can't wait! Thanks!!

[macnbc]

I submitted my review to CC so we'll see when it goes up (I gave it a 5+ overall)

 

I noticed on one of my earlier posts I said that the everglades excursion made disembarkation MORE hectic. I meant to say LESS hectic, oops.

 

Another random note that I put in my review: I had some bad experiences with room service on-board. The food was good but getting it was scattershot. They managed to lose our order TWICE (once through RCTV, once through the breakfast card you hang on your door the night before.) We had to skip breakfast one day because they were almost an HOUR late and we had an excursion to get to. I discovered later on that the only seemingly SURE way to get them to properly remember an order was to submit it over the phone. The room service and the land part of the land & sea tour at Grand Cayman are the only bad marks I'd give the whole trip.

[Max Circus]

I enjoy using the steam rooms on ships we sail on. Is there a charge to use the steam on the Jewell? If so, how much? Do you have to schedule its use?

 

Thanks.

 

Depends which steam room you mean. I was on Jewel 1/14/06. They have a smallish steam room in the men's locker room - fits about 5 or so. I assume the same is on the women's side. These are free to use. There is also a sauna.

 

The Jewel spa itself has a separate Thermal Suite which is very nice. We got a special deal which was two passes for the week for about $80/couple. This area has a few different things. The main steam room has an outside facing window and is large - you could probably seat 10. They also have 3 or 4 stone-tiled chaises which are heated. There are also two separate rooms - one is a "cooler" steam room and the other an aromatherapy suite. In addition that have a machine that spits out shaved ice to cool off your skin and two rainfall-type showers where you can get a "ice-drench".

 

They supposedly limit the number of passes they give out for the Thermal Suite to avoid crowds. We never saw it crowded. Towards the end of the cruise we seemed to be the only ones using it.

 

I used this every day except one. Really made the cruise for me.

[windjamming]

Leafpeeper, we'll be on the JOS this summer and just got very excited reading your posting. Do you know if the Windjammer dining options you mentioned (steaks..etc.) is something they do for every sailing?

 

K.

[Leafpeeper]

Leafpeeper, we'll be on the JOS this summer and just got very excited reading your posting. Do you know if the Windjammer dining options you mentioned (steaks..etc.) is something they do for every sailing?

 

K.

 

Yes, I am sure because of the way the Windjammer is designed. You have your choice of steak, fish, or chicken. It is so fantastic. I love this ship. Wait until you see the solarium too. Makes me sad that I won't be on her again this year. As soon as 2007 Fall schedules come out, I will be looking for Jewel sailings out of Boston. I would give anything for Jewel to offer a one week cruise to Bermuda from Boston. For now, I will settle for 5 nights on Explorer of the Seas out of NY in October.

[windjamming]

Thanks Leafpeeper! Looking forward to the JOS, but I'm jealous you'll be on the EOS in October! I won't be going on any Voyager class ships this year. We'll have to cruise vicariously through one another :)

[macnbc]

Yes, I am sure because of the way the Windjammer is designed. You have your choice of steak, fish, or chicken. It is so fantastic. I love this ship. Wait until you see the solarium too. Makes me sad that I won't be on her again this year. As soon as 2007 Fall schedules come out, I will be looking for Jewel sailings out of Boston. I would give anything for Jewel to offer a one week cruise to Bermuda from Boston. For now, I will settle for 5 nights on Explorer of the Seas out of NY in October.

 

I'll second what he said. Try the crepes in the Solarium, you won't regret it. Well.. you might after you look at a scale.

[windjamming]

Crepes? Did you really just say *crepes*?! I'm on my way to the treadmill NOW.

[Max Circus]

Yes - freshly-made crepes. Served in the Solarium Cafe - late night also.

 

I had ham and cheese which was very tasty. They also had butterscotch, chocolate and I think strawberry.

[johnbob7]

Thanks for the info on the thermal suite, between your comments and others I think I am convinced that we need to try and get a similar deal on our Jewel cruise end of the month.

 

Slightly off topic, but I remember you had gotten an email and call from the Concierge. We're in a GS also, and I was wondering just when did you get contacted? One week out, two weeks? And was it the weekend while they were at FLL? or middle of the week. Want to keep an eye out, don't want to miss that!

 

Thanks again,

 

bobj

[Max Circus]

Thanks for the info on the thermal suite, between your comments and others I think I am convinced that we need to try and get a similar deal on our Jewel cruise end of the month.

 

Slightly off topic, but I remember you had gotten an email and call from the Concierge. We're in a GS also, and I was wondering just when did you get contacted? One week out, two weeks? And was it the weekend while they were at FLL? or middle of the week. Want to keep an eye out, don't want to miss that!

 

Thanks again,

 

bobj

 

You're welcome.

 

We got a phone call midweek of the prior cruise around 6PMish - so only a few days from our departure date. It was the concierge from the ship (Mphto at the time - I think it is someone else now). He was calling from the lounge - lots of background noise. We didn't get an email until after my wife spoke to him. He first sent us the spa menu and then later sent us confirmation for the reservations we had made.