Just off JoS April 8th! Long Review....

[Cruise Crazy Gal]

Well we just got home from a 6 night western Caribbean cruise on the beautiful Jewel of the Seas! Overall it was a wonderful vacation and would recommend the ship and itinerary to anyone. With that being said, early April is not the best time to go. The weather was wonderful, not too hot, not too chilly..... but about half of the ship was Spring breakers! Now I myself am only 21, but these kids were out of control. I think mainly high school seniors. They were absolutely obnoxious! Aside from that, the service was wonderful. We were in an inside cabin 3639 and it was set up a little different from a regular inside, almost like it was rotated 90 degrees. It was larger than a regular inside stateroom and very comfortable.

Service was great. We were main seating and Hugo was our waiter and Gabor our assistant waiter. They were great and the food was fantastic. The Windjammer was regular buffet food, good, but nothing fantastic. We got a snack in the Seaview Cafe which was nice for grab and go type food as was the Solarium cafe.

We used the gym one morning and it was very crowded. There are signs asking that guests use machines for no more than 20 minutes, but most people using treadmills and elipticals were on them when we came in, and still when when lef....50 minutes later. We had active shore excursions the other days, so we skipped the gym. Speaking of excursions, the ones we took were the clear kayak and beach break in Costa Maya. This place is really something. Out past the cruise port, life is still pretty primative. Most people live in small shacks with little to no infrastructure, although most seemed to have satellite TV, odd. It was charming, but I am afraid with tourism here increasing, life will change drastically. The excursion itself was great, the kayaking was just difficult enough that you felt you got your workout for the day, but not so much that you could not enjoy yourself. The water here is beautifully clear and warm. We stopped at a beach where beer, soda, water and some delicious fruit was waiting. Our other excursion was in Georgetown, Grand Cayman. We took the reef and wreck snorkel tour. This was amazing. The water is warm and clear, perfect for snorkeling. The best part was that both the wreck and reef were so close to the surface, you could just swim down to get a very close look. We even touched the wreck! In Key West, we went to the Pirate Soul Museum which is brand new and worth checking out. Other than that in Key West and Cozumel we just looked through shops and walked around soaking up the atmosphere since we visited both ports last year.

In closing the cruise was wonderful overall and I highly recommend it. Some tips I would give others are express walk off is not worth all the hassle :mad: , the shows are great so dont miss them, take the backstage tour of the Coral Theater, dont eat the eggs on the buffet :eek: , talk to other cruisers, you can meet the most interesting people! My biggest tip of all is, without killing yourself, try to get as much out of your vacation as possible. Royal Caribbean does such a great job of entertainment and activities that it is a shame to miss out on them!;)

[AFT_LOVER]

and we have 35 days til we sail her 12 nts Scandanavia/Baltic. Have a friend who board in FLL & meets us in Harwich UK. Great group of folks for our M&M with gift exchange too.

 

Who was CD?

[Cruise Crazy Gal]

Karen Mayberry was CD. She was funny and cheeky, but not in all places at once like our last CD, Matt Baker was. Hope you have a great time!!

[Kathie44]

Thanks for your review. Glad to hear you liked the food. So many posters like everything else, but say the food is so-so. When you say "don't eat the eggs", do you mean the already cooked eggs? Don't they have an omelet station? I know all about steam table eggs--dry barely warm, but made-to-order omelets are usually to die for.

Do they have a Belgian waffle station?

As you can see on my list below, we are sailing Jewel in June and are really getting excited. When we booked last May, it seemed sooooo far away and now it is less than ten weeks till we leave for our pre-stay in London.

 

1/02 Explorer E. Carib.

1/03 Explorer W. Carib.

8/03 Summit Alaska cruise/tour

2/04 Adventure S. Carib.

2/05 Galaxy Panama Canal

6/06 Jewel Brit. Isles/Nor. Fjords + 3 days in London

[Cruise Crazy Gal]

Sorry, I was referring to already cooked eggs. I got over medium eggs from the made to order station and my friend got an omlet that were both good. I dont remember seeing a Belgian waffle station, but it is possible I missed it. You will all love the ship, it is just beautiful. Have a great time!

[felixdacat]

we traveled with my parents, and my brother and his 3 1/2 year old twins, plus my family with my 5 and 7 year old.

 

The jewel has something for everyone. I did not really do any of the shows or clubs, but they all seemed crowded at night. I did enjoy the pool tables one night though. What I really enjoyed was the solarium. It was pure heaven. She was a very easy ship to get around. Did like all the little bars everywhere. views from everywhere as well. Our D1 cabin was fine.

THe amazing thing was that 1/2 the time I did not feel like I saw at sea. The weather and calm water was a big help, but I have been on other shipped and gotten "sea legs" afterwards anyway. I did not use the casino, but my father and brother did.

 

The food, for our group, was hit or miss. sometimes it was great and other times not so great. WE ate one night at chops (and yes, one family, had their teenage son wearing shorts in chops :) , and that was really good.

Our waiter, assistant waiter, and most importantly our head water "darius"

were great. They ensured that dinner went smoothly every night with our party of 10. The seaview cafe, and the little solarium cafe were very good.

 

For us, adventure ocean, and the kids pool was the best. One of my kids never wanted to leave AO . My other one, the 7 year old, said it was better than disney 2 years ago. I found that there was a lot of teenagers on boards, but not as many of the under 10 set, so the kids clubs were not that crowded. THe kiddie pool is 1 or 2 feet deep and has a small slide, plus the larger water slide that the kids just loved! You have to be 6 or 46 inches to go down without an adult.

 

As for the ports, in key west we rented bikes and I took my DD to hemingways house. In cozumel we rented a car and DH dropped me and the kids off at the san francisco beach while he went to the quieter east side of the island. The rest of my family shopped. In costa maya we went to town without the kids, but then tried to take the kids to the port pool. Both the port pool and main pools are salt water, and my kids had a few healing cuts that bothered them in those pools. It was too hot and crowded. In grand cayman we did our own snorkel and stingray city with Soto's. That was the best decision. It had less people than the other boats there, and more personalized attention.

 

Overall it was one of our best cruises. Something for everyone. previous big cruise was disney wonder 2 years ago, and carnival fascination last year. Also did NCL many years ago.

 

Things that I think RCCL could offer.

 

1. self serve laundry. We did run out of very casual things. It would be nice to have the option to do a wash if you want.

 

2. I know I will get flamed for this, but network TV. Carnival had it last time. There are a few shows here and there that I love. I know I can record/TIVO, but since I am more of a homebody to begin with, it would just be nice to have. I did not cruise to watch TV, but its nice to have.

 

3. They need to offer an unlimited internet rate. The internet is not that fast, and at 38 cents a minute, it gets frustrating. I would have paid to have an unlimited package.

 

If I did a cruise again, I would probably stick to RCCL. they did a great job.

 

sandy