***Live from the Jewel 10/26***

[dzboss1]

thank you so much!!!! You answered my big question re sofa, chair, etc. I really appreciate your getting them for me.

 

Your pix are great - you did a super job!!!

 

You're very welcome...so glad I could help!!!!

[ChrissyM_Cruiser]

I have to agree, the best staff ever! My mom and I just got off the 5-day New England cruise and had a blast. The current staff on the Jewel is excellent! Raj and Tamas in the dining room get our ultimate kudos!

 

The Jewel is a beautiful ship, and I'm envious of anyone else getting to sail her before I do again!

[ChrissyM_Cruiser]

duplicate, sorry

[chris2597]

Hey Chrissy

I am glad to hear you had a good time.....Terry and I leave on The Grand in a few more weeks. How is everything....?? Write when you can. Chris

[ChrissyM_Cruiser]

Hi Chris!! (and Terry)

 

Oh my gosh, good to hear from you! Will write tomorrow. Looove Cruise Critic.

 

-Chrissy

[alexkrn46]

It was great meeting you and your hubby also!!

 

Sorry about your cabin steward. We saw ours at least 4-5 times a day. He was wonderful. And i never saw one VO person the whole cruise. Where were they hiding??? Glad you enjoyed and didn't get bothered too much by the weather.

 

My husband says I am too crtical since the room was done and always clean and that is his job and he performed it well.

 

VO were at the C&A lounge, every time we tried to talk to the Loyality Ambassodor they told us we couldn't talk to her. We explained we have an existing relationshop with her.....finally we had to meet late at night to avoid them.

 

But the we had a good cruise and the ship we beautiful.

This was our first cruise where the Captain didn't take pics with the passengers, but he was very busy.

 

The Haunted House ??? I don't know if I mentioned it was great....we loved it.

[kazwaz]

Hi,

Love hearing about the Jewel. I'll be on it with DH in April for a 4 night trip from Amsterdam to Oslo. Can't wait!

 

I was wondering if any of the bars serve Mojitos. It's our favourite cocktail (at the moment). When we were on Voyager this past August, only one bar actually served them!

 

Thanks

Karen

[AFT_LOVER]

was LA on Jewel last May & was a great friend the entire cruise. We even were ph0mned when the member cruises for 2007 were announced & booked 9/14 on Radiance. We also booked Rd #2 to the cruise we were on Scandavina/Baltic with Norwegian Fjords.

 

The LA Jayne on Freedom was invisible & the C&A boss named Lori was the rudest person working there. She had 5 others helping her with onboard booking for 4000 people? Should hae been 14. We sat for over 2 hours waiting to be taken care of & the 4pm appointments were now 6PM when my husband came up stating DINNER TIME. No one got certificates when all computers went down & even C&A at RCCL state that didn't happen & no OBC without a certificate. So my TA is on it. We were told they couldn't find them. They had stateroom numbers to send them to us. But no!

 

 

My husband says I am too crtical since the room was done and always clean and that is his job and he performed it well.

 

VO were at the C&A lounge, every time we tried to talk to the Loyality Ambassodor they told us we couldn't talk to her. We explained we have an existing relationshop with her.....finally we had to meet late at night to avoid them.

 

But the we had a good cruise and the ship we beautiful.

This was our first cruise where the Captain didn't take pics with the passengers, but he was very busy.

 

The Haunted House ??? I don't know if I mentioned it was great....we loved it.

[dzboss1]

 

Better picture of the Solarium. It was beautiful

 

 

It was never "packed" with people but always people there, some just using the room to read and chill. Very relaxing place (since I don't relax I was never there..lol) to look at and hang at.

[dzboss1]

The Safari Club...this was not a brightly light place and didn't have a bar, but you could get a drink at the Schooner next door. This was a cool room...one of my favorites. They had a lot of activities like trivia and dance lessons in here.

 

 

 

There were 2 pool tables and tvs at the entrance to the Safari Club.

[dzboss1]

Better picture of the Chamapage Bar. Always people there...but the Schooner Bar seemed to be "the" place to hang.

 

pool

[dzboss1]

Windjammer

 

 

4th floor dining room

 

 

our table on 5th floor. Great staff up there!!

[dzboss1]

I wanted to stress again how wonderful Chops and Portofinos are are for service and food. The dining room staff is wonderful, and the food was very very good. But.........the specialty restaurants are just a step up and really shouldn't be missed. The food is extraordinary and the staff there outstanding. I am not kidding that you are made to feel like royalty in both places. I especially have to point out Richard, the waiter in Portofinos, and Candice the manager. Just loved them both. We were laughing through the whole meal!!!

 

The service at out table in the dining room was the perfect speed, and the attention was great. Our waiter would bring us extra things we didn't order, just to have us try them.

[dzboss1]

Pit Stop ~~~ sports bar and lots of TVs. Lots of action here.

 

 

[dzboss1]

 

AHHHHHHHHH!!!!

 

 

Schooner Bar

[M&M CRUZERS]

Denice, again I just want to say thanks for posting all of the pictures and letting us share your trip with you. My DH has decided he might find a corner in the solarium and just hide for awhile for some "quiet time" and "meditation".:D

 

We're all really looking forward to Chops and Portofino's.

 

Once quick question--how was the concierge lounge service and who was the concierge? and what about the seaview cafe? did you ever have a burger and fries there?

 

thanks again,

[dzboss1]

Denice, again I just want to say thanks for posting all of the pictures and letting us share your trip with you. My DH has decided he might find a corner in the solarium and just hide for awhile for some "quiet time" and "meditation".:D

 

We're all really looking forward to Chops and Portofino's.

 

Once quick question--how was the concierge lounge service and who was the concierge? and what about the seaview cafe? did you ever have a burger and fries there?

 

thanks again,

 

You are so welcome. It has been my pleasure to share, and to get to make some new friends here. The concierge lounge is small, but it was where we went to use the computers and laptop. It was very busy during the free drinks and appetizers. There is a nice sitting area outside the room also. The consierge was Andrea (I think that was her name). She was ok. She seems always to be very busy with paperwork and not as warm and fuzzy as we are used to. But nice all the same.

 

We visited the Seaview many times. We had the fries...very good...and the tuna melts....delicious. The onion rings were excellent and the nachos were too. Oh ya, I loved their tuna salad everywhere. The Windjammer had great tuna sandwiches everyday for lunch.

[dfa1]

Denice,

 

I just wanted to take this opportunity express my gratitude for having us along for the journey. I know that you have to take out time from your vacation to share with us, but if you only knew how much I've enjoyed cruising vicariously through you.

 

I followed Radio earlier this year, Somebeach's TA sailing recently, as well as your's, and I have found myself more and more excited (if that's possible).

 

Your posts have been so entertaining. You provide a positive, but honest perspective. I know some people who would have complained about every aspect of the cruise just because of the rough seas, but I love someone who chooses to make the best out of a situation.

 

The pics are fantastic. Although I've seen tons of pics of the Jewel, I think your photo in the Windjammer provides one of the best perspectives for someone who hasn't been on a Radiance class vessel yet.

 

Glad you had a great trip. I hope our's will go as well later this month, (preferably with less "ocean motion") :D

[rsscaptain]

I concur! It was fun to have fun along with you!

[dzboss1]

dfa and rss ~~~ OMG!! I swear you guys are going to make me cry!!!!Thank you so much for the kind words. I am so touched by them, honestly! I am so glad that I could have shared it all with you. Geesh...I am at a loss for words....thats a first!!

[PhoenixCruiser]

:D :D You would think that this being cruise #10, that I wouldn't be this excited to be here...but all I can say is Whoooohoooo!!!

 

 

Hi Denice :D

 

Sorry we missed you at the mini- meet & mingle, the 10 of us arrived at three different times, the last 6 getting on the ship about 3. Since we live 3,000 miles from the 8 of them I really couldn't force myself to leave, we were all catching up!

 

I will post my brief review below :)

 

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[PhoenixCruiser]

We had a great time, lots of laughs, great conversation, and good food! Our party consisted of 10 - my parents, three sisters and their husbands and us.

 

Since we were with 8 other family members we actually ate in the main dining room every night except for the last when we ate at chops. Our table for 10 was in the back of the room (4th deck) and up two stairs – it was the perfect spot for us. It was somewhat separated from the other tables in the room (I'm sure they are thanking RCL for that) so we could all join in on our conversation. Our waiter Olga, her assistant, Zee (for short), the Head Waiter (forget his name), and our bar server, Juri were all fantastic. They all had a good sense of humor which is good because we were, at times, a handful. My stomach still hurts from laughing so much.

 

Olga let us order whatever we wanted and nothing was wasted because 1 out of our 10 would finish it. She also brought us extra entrées that we didn't order just so we all could try everything. My family wanted to eat there every night because of the service and quality of food we received. I was actually surprised at how good some of the items really were, especially the soups, salads, beef, and lobster.

 

The only complaint about the main dining room was the shrimp cocktail, it was small, chewy, and watery. The shrimp in Chops was 3 times the size and wonderful.

 

I forced them to eat in Chops the last evening and they were happy that I did. Since we were a party of 10, they served *all* of the sides family style, we only had to order the baked potato if we wanted it. The creamed spinach and asparagus were wonderful. Everyone’s meal was fantastic and we were all stuffed. We decided that the best choice that night was the T-bone, second was the filet, third was the lamb chop.

 

Our only complaint in Chops was that three couples knew they would not be able to finish a whole dessert so they asked to split it, the server said he could not do this and brought out six. We didn’t like the fact they we ended up wasting food and really wish they would have served it as requested.

 

We had 5 balcony cabins on deck 8 all were clean and actually the showers were bigger than I remember from back in 97 (perhaps due to the fact that they had actual doors instead of curtains). Since 97 we have only booked JS's’s. We all had the same Steward (Henry, Hank, or Honray depending on who you asked ;)). He was very good, but not as good as Dio from the Navigator, we are spoiled for life because of him, lol!

 

The beds/bedding were bad - hard and lumpy, good thing they are being replaced soon!

 

Each family won something in the Casino, the biggest jackpot was $2,100, and the smallest was $400 (me), good thing my husband won two different times, one for $500, the second for $600. We all gave back some of our winning - of course! I won $248 in Bingo as well as two spa certificates which my sisters enjoyed. I enjoyed the mix and match spa treatment for $99 where you were able to select 3 treatments, 20 minutes each, it was very wonderful. My other sister and her husband had the couples massage on the first evening and they enjoyed that as well. Four of our party tried out the Thermal Suite and were pleased, it would have been better I’m sure if the seas weren't’t so rough.

 

We were all a bit challenged by the weather, you know it’s bad when they put out barf bags ;) . At times the variable wind speeds reached the high 60’s, it was rough!

 

In summary, a great time was had by all. Two of our party were first time cruisers and because of the rough seas I don’t think they will be booking again any time soon.

 

My husband and I agreed that the Radiance Class ship is perfect for us! The Navigator a bit too big, the Monarch way too small/short. The Vision class is okay, but none of them are on the newer side anymore. I’m not sure what we are going to do when RCL decides to only build bigger ships :confused:

 

I have to be honest - I was a bit apprehensive about going on a chartered ship! All of my worries were for nothing! It was, however a standing joke for us when someone said they were from Massachusetts ;) Everyone we met was friendly and you rarely heard any complaints. And all of our complaints were very minor!

 

Thanks Denice for starting the live thread!

 

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[Cruising89143]

Thanks for the sharing your thoughts on the cruise. I wish that the Jewel had the new bedding but I can make do for a week. :)

[dzboss1]

Phonenix ~~~ I was disappointed we didn't get to meet...but maybe another time. Yes, I noticed those barf bags in MANY places. They did make me chuckle when I saw them.

 

Congrats on all the Casino winnings. Glad you had a great time!!! I think it was a wonderful experience for everyone!!!

[PhoenixCruiser]

G - I'm sure you will survive your week, the service all around really outweighed the poor beds :D None of us had any complaints about the entire crew. Even with the poor weather, everyone was pleasant and more than willing to serve and help when needed!

 

I forgot to mention that most of the outside doors on deck five were blocked off Monday - day 5 because of the high waves, it was a sight to see the amount of water on the outside lower decks. I *heard* that the pools were also closed off that day.

 

Denice, yes I hope we can meet someday! I'm very selfish when it comes to spending time with my family since we rarely see them ;)

 

I also forgot to mention that getting on and off the ship was amazingly quick! We left our hotel around 10:50 (Hilton Airport) Thursday morning and were on board, having a frosted beverage by 11:30, WOW!! One thing that really surprised me was disembarking - all we had to do was hand our customs form to the agent - no questions were asked and all 10 of us just had to put our seapass in the machine and grab our luggage which was waiting for us. We all had red tags and it was probably about 35 minutes from leaving our waiting area on deck 8 and arriving at the airport.

 

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