Jewel of the Seas Repositioning 10/31 Cruise Review

[lanabanana]

I will preface this by saying that this is our fourth Royal Caribbean cruise and we were on this same repositioning cruise on the Jewel in ’05, so I have some basis for comparison.

 

Precruise: We had a large roll call for this cruise who had been talking for more than a year. About 60 of us met at Durgin Park in Boston for dinner the night before the cruise and it was really nice to match faces with screen names for our pre-M&M. This group is the Rowdies and it promises to be a great group.

 

Embarkation: We arrived at the pier at 10:30am and immediately checked in. They grouped us by either Priority, #1 or #2 tickets and we were called to board in that order. We sat for about 25 minutes before they began boarding at 11am, which was exactly the same time that they had begun boarding the year before. It was all very fast and efficient. They did provide a check-in area for carry-on bags on deck 5, which is nice so that you don’t have to keep all of your things with you while you explore the ship.

 

Meet & Mingle: We had over a hundred in attendance and it was held in the Safari Lounge. For the first time, they had hot hors d’oeuvres and free alcohol. Karen Maybury was present and they raffled off the usual “Royal Caribbean Crap”, including the famous aqua mouse. It was definitely the classiest M&M that I’ve been to.

 

Cabin: We had an E1 cabin, right across from the hump, next to the elevators…8102. I have been anticipating this balcony for 15 months and it is not a disappointment. I was concerned from pictures that I had seen, that it would be long and dark, but that was not the case. It’s about 10x14 feet and has two loungers, three chairs and a table. To have a balcony this large, midship, is a dream come true and I would book this cabin in a heartbeat on any cruise I’m going to have on a Radiance class ship. The downside, and it was a very big downside, was that we had a heavy smoker next to us and his constant smoking on the balcony really limited our ability to enjoy ours. This is the luck of the draw I guess, as the only way I can control who my neighbors are is to book several cabins in a row and entice more friends into joining us!

 

Some people have expressed concern over the possibility of noise in this cabin location, and for us this was not a problem. The fact that you only have people on one side of you is a plus. There is never noise from the elevators. You can hear music from the Centrum, but not loud at all. For the first time, I brought a 9-inch fan with me to create white noise and this greatly enhanced my ability to sleep. I will never travel without it now. I would, in the future, bring my own extension cord for it. This time, the cabin steward provided one.

 

The next time I cruise, it will be on the new bedding and I look forward to that. However, for some reason, this was the best experience we’ve had with a bed. We had requested an eggcrate and it was on the bed when we boarded. Maybe it was an extra thick eggcrate? I don’t know, but it was a far more comfortable sleeping experience than I have previously had.

 

Condition of the ship: Beautiful, as it was last year. Always people cleaning and keeping things up. One note of interest…I was on the treadmill in the fitness center when the captain came in with a couple of other officers, obviously doing an inspection. The treadmill next to me was not working and the captain came over to it, leaned down and scooped up a cobweb and some dust that had collected on the base and showed it to one of the officers with a scowl on his face. The next day when I went in, that treadmill was working and clean!

 

Hand sanitizers were always available in the Windjammer, but only on one morning was there a person stationed there instructing you to use them. I never saw or heard anything about anyone on the cruise being sick.

 

Food: We ate all breakfasts and lunches in the Windjammer. We love their oatmeal for breakfast and there was always plenty of fresh fruit available to go with it. They have an omelet station where they will make your omelet or eggs fresh to order. They always had a carving station with meat, but I never tried it. It always looked good. We ate all dinners, except for the two nights we were at the specialty restaurants, in the dining room. These were consistently good, not great. Our favorite remains the warm chocolate cake that is served on the Italian night menu. If you are a lover of lava cake, don’t miss this. This was our waiter’s first time in this position, so he was only assigned our one table of ten. He did a wonderful job and took his responsibilities to recommend certain foods to us very seriously. He was also very good at telling us when the shows were and when to find the late night buffets. We had one chocolate buffet, one poolside buffet and one grand gala buffet on this cruise. My experience has been that the food always looks much better than it tastes. It’s worth going to take pictures, at the very least.

 

This is the first time I have had a head waiter who did anything for me. His name is Liviu and he arranged for our table to have the warm chocolate cake again on the last night of the cruise. He was also attentive the whole cruise, without being smarmy. It was a refreshing change.

 

Chops: We had a group of 34 Rowdies who ate together one night. Because we were such a large group, we had a limited menu, which offered three choices of appetizer, entrée and two desserts. The 10 oz filet was one of the offerings and most people had that. They gave us all the side dishes that they have and the service was the usual top notch. It was a very fun evening.

 

Portofino: We hadn’t eaten here since our first cruise on the Explorer, two years ago. We really enjoyed it. We had the filet and the seafood skewer, which has a very beautiful presentation. The scallops were cooked perfectly and the filet was seasoned well. We had the Caesar salad that they make tableside and the tiramisu and flourless chocolate cake for dessert. My favorite though, was the olive and tomato “stuff” that they serve with the bread. I could have just had that and been happy.

 

Entertainment: For the first time ever, we didn’t make it to most of the shows. There was no headliner onboard that I was familiar with. Previously, we’ve had the Osmonds on two cruises and a Temptations tribute band who have all been phenomenal, so this was rather a letdown. We did go to both of the production shows, which I always think are very good. They were West End to Broadway and City of Dreams. There was an illusionist from the Freedom who performed on the final night and he was awesome!

 

Fitness Center and Spa: We spend lots of time here. I think they have a great assortment of gym equipment and machines. There was always a treadmill or elliptical open in the morning, which is the most popular time. They had the usual morning stretch classes and then we would “walk a mile” for our shipshape dollars. They offered different fitness class packages for the things like spinning, yoga and pilates. I believe 10 classes were $70 and they were $10 ea if purchased separately.

 

Last year my husband became a big fan of the thermal suite. This year, they offered a Romance Package that included a Couples Massage, Rasul Treatment and dinner in Chops or Portofino, along with unlimited use of the thermal suite for $365. It turns out that you pay the regular price for the treatments and dinner, then use of the thermal suite for the duration of the cruise is free. Since we were interested in those treatments anyway, we felt it was a good value.

 

 

Crew: Always had good service with a smile. We really thought the Loyalty Ambassador was the best we’ve ever had. Her name is Deborah and she was very visible on the ship and really interacted with the passengers. She actually seemed to be doing more than just booking future cruises. We did book a “ghost cruise” to use sometime in the fall of ’08 and here’s something we found out. The LA’s get a commission and it is based on what type cabin you book. We booked an OS so she would have a larger commission, even though I would never have an OS when I book my actual cruise. She said we have to keep the booking for 60 days in order for her to receive the commission. Very interesting.

 

Capt Thor announced at one of the parties that he has been invited to go to “wherever” and practice with the simulator for the Genesis. Must be a promotion for him!

 

Excursions: We booked all of our excursions with independent people; nothing through Royal Caribbean.

 

Bermuda: We took a walking tour with Jo Cook. She is a long time resident of Bermuda and will tailor your tour to what your interests are. She charged $15pp and met us at the pier, drove us to Somerset and walked with us for two hours, showing us the flora and fauna of that area. We also had some wonderful photo ops. She was very interesting and it was a personal way to see some of the island.

 

We had a Rowdy group reservation for a sunset sail on the “Rising Sun”. About a week before our cruise, we were advised that the Rising Sun had a broken mast and that our “sail” was instead, going to be a sunset motor tour. We didn’t mind, but as it turned out, the whole thing was cancelled due to rough seas. We heard that this is a common occurrence in Bermuda.

 

San Juan: The Rowdy group did a Duck Tour together. We had some difficulty reading the map correctly to get to the starting point, but once there everything went smoothly. Many in this group had done a Duck Tour in Boston precruise, and they said that the one in Boston was better. This one provided a tour of the downtown San Juan sites and then went out on the water for a harbor tour. The problem was that the harbor tour mirrored the route that the Jewel had just done coming in, so we saw the same things twice. Would I do this again? No. Would I recommend it? Sure. It was better than just shopping and got us around the city a bit.

 

St. Thomas: We repeated our daysail aboard the Rumbaba that we had done in ’05. Again, it was an unforgettable day. Capt. Bobby and his wife, Karen are wonderful hosts and really provide a great day in St. Thomas. There were only 4 of us on the boat and we wanted to sail more and snorkel less, so we sailed to St. John and moored near the Caneel Bay Resort. They provide mats to float on for those of us who don’t snorkel, as well as noodles to swim with. The men snorkeled and the women floated! While we were doing that, Bobby and Karen are grilling our lunch. Filet Mignon and Mahi Mahi, served with greek salad, pasta salad and wonderful garlic bread. Oh, and let us not forget the beautiful appetizer plate that Karen serves up before the meal. A Cajun boiled shimp bowl with homemade dip and bruschetta, veggies and homemade chips. Yummy! Not your run-of-the-mill lunch. That’s for sure. This is $115 cash pp and was more than worth it.

 

Curacao: I hired Leo (Rent-A-Guide) from the ports of call board to be our private guide. We had 9 people and he provided three vehicles and 3 guides. He will also tailor his tour to whatever your interests are. He picked us up at the pier at 9am and we returned at 4pm. He charged $60pp. We toured three different caves and six of us had lunch in a local restaurant and then did a beach stop, while the other three did two beaches. I wanted to buy Gouda cheese, so our driver stopped at a supermarket and went in with me to choose the cheese. One group did a tour of the city, while the last group did some shopping. I can’t speak highly enough of this day spent with Leo. What a terrific value! For those looking for a private tour in Curacao, look no further. Leo is your man.

 

Aruba: Five of us did the Mi Dushi sail/snorkel in the morning. This was from 9:30-1:30, though I think we got in later than that. This is a first class operation. There were 17 passengers on our sail and the crew was very focused on everyone’s safety and enjoyment. They gave very specific snorkel instructions and one of them got in the water with a young lady who had not snorkeled before. We did three stops, one of them being the famous German shipwreck. The snorkeling was fabulous, but the water was rough near the shipwreck and took some strong swimming to get to the area where the fish were. Lunch is catered by La Dome restaurant. It was a chicken and a beef dish, served with rice, corn on the cob and pasta salad. Delicious. The Mi Dushi bartender was very attentive to your drink needs, whether you were drinking alcoholic drinks or water or juice.

 

My husband had two favorite parts of this schooner….the hammock in the front of the ship and the rope swing. After lunch, they break out the swing and start having fun. One of the crew even put a lady (and she wasn’t little!) on his back and did a backflip from the rope. That was something to see! She didn’t volunteer to go again, but looked happy after she did! We had done a 4x4 trip on Aruba last year and enjoyed getting on the beautiful water this year even more.

 

As you can see, we had a wonderful cruise. We met lots of wonderful people who will be our friends for life and had some unforgettable experiences, both on the ship and in port. I hope this has been helpful to you and I’m happy to answer any questions anyone might have about our cruise on the beautiful Jewel of the Seas.

 

Alanna

[negc]

Hi Alanna - great review that mirrors our experiences on this wonderful ship and fantastic cruise. We did some different excursions than you but were very happy with each and every island that we visited. Thanks again for delivering the syrup from Susan and Les. Hope we get an opportunity to sail with you or the other Rowdies again some time. The two lunches in the dining room with the group were great as was the Kukoo Kunuku in Aruba. We took the one without dinner but spent much of our time in the same bars with the dinner group. We had a great headwaiter as well, Susannah. She was our headwaiter two years ago, but was much more outgoing, friendly and attentive this time. I now know for certain that 12 nights is not too long.:)

[gambler]

Thanks for the great review. You mentioned "booking a ghost cruise" Is this where you do not actually pick the ship and date right now? I did not know RCCL did this.

[lanabanana]

It's kind of a catch-all term that means you book a cruise that you never intend to take. So, yes, you do have to pick a ship and time. It's just that you know at the time you book it that you will never be on that particular cruise and you will transfer that booking to what you really want when that becomes available.

 

Hope that's at least as clear as mud!

[critterchick]

Terrific review, Alanna! We're doing the Rumbaba charter in a few weeks, and now I'm really excited about it!

 

Is Deborah (the LA) a blonde Canadian? She sounds a lot like the woman who was pulled off Vision a year or so ago to go to the Jewel. We met her on Vision, and she was terrific!

[lanabanana]

Yes, Jean...Deborah is a short haired blonde from Canada. She really was on the ball. We had such a bad LA on this cruise last year that I thought they were all like that! Glad you are going to use Rumbaba. I promise you will LOVE it!

[Cruising89143]

Great review. Two weeks from Saturday I will get to experience this great ship and am looking forward to it.

[emilygrace]

I was on board with Alanna and all the Rowdies and I agree that it was a fantastic cruise. This was my first time to the Caribbean, so everything was new to me. I had been on the Jewel 2 years ago and it was just as beautiful this time. We were able to switch cabins at the last minute and had 8580, only 3 cabins forward of the hump. Excellent location for all the coming and going.

 

We also had Liviu as our headwaiter and I agree with Alanna. He arranged for us to have an olive spread (for the bread) that we had in the dining room at lunch, and we greatly appreciated his efforts. When we would see him in the Windjammer in the mornings (he is one of the morning managers there) he always remembered us and was very attentive (without being smarmy, as Alanna mentioned).

 

We went to the shows every night and although some of them were not "my cup of tea" I still enjoyed them. Lenny Welch was the headliner and he was very good. Everyone's taste in entertainment is different, but I'm easy to please, so I sat through everything. I even went to the Guest Talent Show on the last day and that was fun. And although I normally HATE karaoke, one of my tablemates was entered into the contest so we "had" to go, and it was fun. Especially the finals.....there were some awesome singers on this cruise! I guess my image of karaoke being bad singers is wrong!

 

I thought the CD did a good job with scheduling the activities on the sea days, except for the first one. When I mentioned this to her at the Welcome Back party she told me that the schedule for the first sea day is made up before she gets a chance to size up the demographics of the passengers, but after that she can gear things to the type of people on board. I did more activities on this cruise than I ever have before.

 

Carol H.

[rubrrick]

Great review!! My DW and I have two favorite ships in the RCCL fleet and this is one of them. The officers and crew are very friendly, and we think that the food onboard rates better than most RCCL ships.

 

Rick

[RVfromAZ]

Thanks for the excellent review! We will be onboard the Jewel Jan. 27, 2007- Eastern Caribbean. We have cabin 7108 right below where you were, I am so excited:)

[wrp96]

Thanks for the great review. It makes me look forward to being on her in less than 90 days even more (if that was even possible).

[SUZCRUZ]

Great review!

Any Sprakling Jewels onboard?

Sounds like it was another great repo!

Our B2B on the Navigator was very nice but we miss the Jewel. So what did we do, booked her for Feb in cabin 8102!

If you have any pics, would love to see them!;)

[lanabanana]

Hey, Girlfriend! How's it going? You'll be happy to know I didn't need any patches this year, thanks to relatively calm seas.

 

I can't believe you are going to be in OUR cabin! That's funny. E-mail me at bfarnsworth@adelphia.net and I'll send you some pics.

 

Hi to Sal!

 

Alanna

[Ottawa_cruise_man]

Thanks for the great review! This will be our first cruise, and the Jewel seems to be a great ship!

[smw0621]

Thanks for the great review...we'll be on her January 27, 2007 and I can't wait!!

[M&M CRUZERS]

Thanks for your great review -- we have a b2b coming up in December on her and after watching the website dligently we were able to change to 8086 - really looking forward to the 2 weeks. I know the ship is as great as everybody says she is. Can't wait:eek: but then I guess I have to.:D :D