Just Returned - JEWEL REVIEW-Long!

[newhampshiregirl]

Just returned from the 8-day Jewel of the Sea (Eastern Carib itinerary). We arrived in Fort Lauderdale the night before the cruise and met our new cruise critic friends at the Embassy Suites. We truly enjoyed the chance to put names with faces and were all equally excited about the cruise! We met Judy and Tom from Rochester,NY and Debbie and Bryan from Ontario at the Embassy Suites for the managers cocktail party. We were really like little kids!

 

-AND YES THE MATTRESSES WERE BEING REPLACED AS WE DEPARTED THE SHIP YESTERDAY (March 04) and our cabin steward said they were being replaced on that day.

 

We met a larger group of Cruise critic folks from our roll call while waiting for the shuttle to the port.

 

While we weren't the very first people on the ship, we did depart from our hotel by 11:15 am and were onboard by noon with no problem. Check in was a breeze!!! Of course rooms weren't ready until 1 pm, but that gave us time to see where everthing was, find the pool, the Windjammer and of course the pool bars!

 

The Jewel is a magnificent ship! Lots and lots of glass, warm wood finishes and beautiful art and glass sculptures abound. It's very warm and inviting and elegant. I think the whole ambiance of this ship is defined by the decor and especially the live music in the centrum. The Centrum (a 10-story atrium) has a baby grand piano, live music during the evenings, special little events (cooking demo, art auction etc.) and a little bar, guest relations and the explorations desk. It's a great spot to meet before dinner, listen to music and have a drink. Not to mention, that people gather on the upper decks to look down into the atrium as well.

 

We were on the 8th deck-on the hump in cabin 8586-very big angled balcony with chaise, and chairs and a table. Loved that this ship's balconies are glass from floor up to about 4 1/2 foot or so. You can sit in chairs and still see the water from the balcony. Enjoyed wine and cheese out there (wine was a gift from someone from our roll call) on several nights.

 

So here are some definite opinions about our cruise:

-Bobby Brown -CD on this ship -very genuine, friendly and seemed to really enjoy his work. He came to our Meet n Mingle and we all appreciated his sharing highlights of the cruise. He (and his charming wife and also part of the entertainment staff - Becky) were very visible. Bobby was at nearly every event and very friendly with the guests. Kudos to RC for having such a talented and genuine CD!

 

-Food - ah yes....everyone wants to know about the food. It was good, but my chief complaint continues to be tepid entrees/potatoes etc. in the dining rooms. Hard to complain though when they are serving about 900 entrees simultaneously...but this happened frequently. Also, we understand recipes, menus and all food is organized corporately and then executed onboard. However, RC needs to review their culinary expertise a little, they frequently deliver items that are not correct---for instance, the RC chocolate fondue IS NOT fondue; their creme brulee is not a traditional egg custard with sugar fired atop it etc. Just little things but you read a menu and expect it to be the real deal...not something completely different (just a pet peeve of mine)

 

-Chops with cruise critic friends (9 of us) was beautiful, great service, excellent food, really nice menu...worth the $20 without question. Only complaint I had was piped in MUZAK--here we are having an elegant dinner and we here a MUZAK version of the Backstreet Boys., a little detail that shouldn't be missed at that level!

 

-Portofinos for dh birthday. We had such a wonderful experience at Portofinos on the Voyager last year...this year was a disappointment. The food was fabulous...the service was deplorable!!! We waited 25 minutes from the time we finished eating our entrees until the waiter came to our table to ask us if we wanted coffee or dessert. The dirty plates sat their the entire time. We had finished with our entrees at 8 pm and did not leave the restaurant until 9:10. Very poor service.

 

Otherwise, the dining experience in the main dining room was just fine. First time we had fantastic table mates...two couples, one from Mass. and one from Vermont traveling together---we were the New England table (we're from New Hampshire). We had a lot of fun with them.

 

The main dining rooms on deck 4 and 5 are gorgeous. We were seated fairly close to the door and away from the pretty waterfall and baby grand piano situated in the middle...but it did not matter to us, because we enjoyed our table mates and our server/asst and head waiter so much. Every night was fun!

 

We had late seating--fabulous server - Ethel from the Phillipines and Sergio from Argentina and Head waiter -Christina from Budapest(the only female head waiter).

 

Our cabin steward was wonderful and very friendly every day---including our departure day! Our room was always neat, clean and organized and his timing was impeccable.

 

Loved the Seaview Cafe (don't miss it) it's behind the kids water slide...just keep walking and you'll find it. Go early in the cruise before everyone figures out where it is!

 

We saw most of the shows and the RC singers and dancers were very good and enjoyed their performances. The other theater entertainment was ok...not great. Missed the gaucho show, but our ds said it was very good. They also had a juggler and a girl with hoops...fun and entertaining. A comedien (Corso?) that was ok and an older guy who did impressions, singing etc. and he was great --really, really good singer and great impressionist and made us laugh a lot!

 

Missed the love and marriage show, saw it on RCTV while getting ready for dinner one night...looked pretty funny. Did Quest for the first time with cruise critic roll call friends and had a BLAST! So sorry we didn't do it or watch it last year. We really laughed so hard.

 

Played pool (self leveling tables are hysterical to watch --balls don't move but table undulates!!!) Our ds (16) met one of our cruise critic pals who let he and another teen play pool with him(CRAIG!!!) and came back and said"this guy was hilarious" and he didn't even know that we had already met him. Craig and CherylAnn from Florida were great people and we loved talking with them. Craig made us laugh a lot...one sweet and funny guy--would love to cruise with them again!

 

I got to help the chef out in the demo in the centrum and made Paella. He arranged a tour of the kitchen for me (since we own a restaurant) and he spent about 30 minutes showing me around...that and my visit to St Maarten were cruise highlights for me!!!

 

Ports:

San Juan- could have skipped it, we arrived late in the day, and there wasn't alot to do. Old San Juan is pretty dirty and if we had more time I would have liked to have gone to Condado to the beach...but not enough day time.

 

Antigua-pretty, small less built up. We went on a RC shore excursion called Mini Boats and Hidden Beaches. Long story--but the boats were basically little Zodiacs and there were 3 of us and technically ds was not supposed to drive boat...so they put all 3 of us in the boat and said "we on;y have 2 lifejackets, who's the strongest swimming?". Then we got a boat that wouldn't steer and finally just quit, then they sent a big boat to switch to a boat that would work and nearly crashed into dh's head they came so close. They took us to an island. We parked the boats...hiked up a small mountain (not strenous-but bring tennis shoes) and we had a spectacular view. Took pictures and back to the little boats for the trip back. It was one beach. Not the best excursion for $92 each! Great views though.

 

St Maarten-Went to Orient Beach. LOVED IT! Calm quiet, white sand, umbrellas, little beach bars etc. EXPENSIVE. $48 for 3 burgers with fries and 3 soft drinks! But worth it. A half moon beach (maybe 2 miles long)--I would go back there in a minute.

Also walked around Phillipsburg on the way back. Charming, less expensive, lots of shopping and restaurants...wished we had more time there.

 

St Thomas- We did a private day charter on Rumbaba (a 37 ft sailboat)for the day with lunch and drinks and snorkeling. It was beautiful and we really enjoyed the day. They took us to St John's where we snorkeled, had a beautiful lunch on the boat with drinks and great sailing. We highly recommend it. Captain Bobby and Karen are the owners.

 

Nassau-We went to Cabbage Beach (near Atlantis)...not ideal...lots of people selling stuff on the beach and not nearly as nice as the beaches closer to Atlantis. Should have gone to Atlantis but I wanted the beach and I don't think the tour of Atlantis included the beach. Last year we went to Blackbeards Cay and enjoyed it--we were too late to sign up for that this year.

 

There were only 80 kids on this cruise and not many teens., but our son had a great time with the kids he met..including one in his class here in New Hampshire!! I think the Voyager class ship would have had more kids...also because this was an 8 day trip and more expensive than the 7 days, I think more families probably did the 7 day trips.

 

Overall, we had a great time. It's a beautiful ship with outstanding service and it seemed as if everyone we came in contact with smiled, seemed genuinly happy to be there and even took an interest in addressing you by name every time they saw you or used your sea pass card to bill you for something. There was a real effort to connect with every guest!!! Other than our poor service in Portofinos that one night and one sort of 'sourpuss' person on the entertainment staff everyone else was outstanding.

 

If you have questions, please ask and I will try my best to answer them!!!

[isujim]

Thank you so much for your review........we take the same cruise 2 weeks from Friday and your review has been very helpful...........this will be our 12th cruise and we are just as excited as the first one.

 

Thanks again for taking the time to post................:)

[wxguy]

Thanks for the great review! I'm sailing on the Jewel in just a few days!! This upcoming Saturday. Its my first cruise and this board has been very helpfull. Is there anything on the Jewel that you would absolutly say I must not miss? I'd love to hear as much as I can.

[YaMamma]

Newhampshiregirl: LOVED reading your review....caught my eye that you own a restaurant in NH....which one? Where? We're in Derry. :D

 

We cruise in just over 4 weeks on the Serenade......our first time on RCCL

[newhampshiregirl]

Newhampshiregirl: LOVED reading your review....caught my eye that you own a restaurant in NH....which one? Where? We're in Derry. :D

 

We cruise in just over 4 weeks on the Serenade......our first time on RCCL

 

We own the Colby Hill Inn in Henniker. We have a 14-room country inn with a 50-seat fine dining restaurant. Come see us some time!!!

 

WXGUY- You asked what NOT to miss on the Jewel. So many things but here are a couple:

-The Champagne bar--go about 40 minutes or so before dinner. Have a drink (they have other things beside Champagne) and they serve little hors d'oeuvres with your drinks. It's on deck 5 -right in the center overlooking the centrum. It's a nice spot and you hear the music before dinner. One of my favorite spots.

 

-Go ALL the way to the back of the ship on the deck where the Seaview cafe is (Deck 12 I think) . There is usually no one back there and you can bring some chairs from nearby and have the deck nearly to yourself!!!

 

-Solarium - lovely, quiet, tropical feeling. Go in there for a snack -crepes (chocolate, banana, strawberry, ham and cheese, butterscotch),humus and flatbread, wraps etc.--they are open till about 1 am and there are little tables and chairs right by the windows. Nice spot for a snack.

 

Gee, I think I'm a little food focused...everything includes food here!!! well almost. Let me know if you have more questions---you will have a great time!!!

[isujim]

One quick question.........did you notice was the Jewel one of the ships now "set up" for cell phones? I have a 91 year old Mom that I need to check in on just every once in awhile.

[hhiguy]

Yes Cell Phones work while you are at Sea, but you can only use them in San Juan and St Thomas while you are in port on the Jewel.

[KAJOKG]

Thanks for your review. And I am happy to hear they have started the bedding upgrades. We were on the Jewel in January for 6 nights and liked it so much thus, we have booked the 8 day itinerary for this coming April 7 sailing. I agree with you wholeheartedly about the crew. The best I have ever sailed with in all of our 15 cruises. However, we found the food in the dining room to be excellent. We always lauded HAL's food, but the Jewel met that criteria with flying colors. And we loved the Windjammer Cafe. Food is plentiful and quite good, and lots of tables -- a very comfortable buffet area.

[isujim]

Yes Cell Phones work while you are at Sea, but you can only use them in San Juan and St Thomas while you are in port on the Jewel.

 

 

Thanks!!

[gypsylady]

Thanks for posting this review. We too were on the Jewel at the same time but had the pleasure of doing it back to back from Feb 18 (western)-24 and from 24 (eastern) to Mar 4. What a wonderful cruise experience. I did not want to come home. Special thanks to the Jewel for hosting the Meet and Mingle with beverages, appetizers, gifts and prizes. It was nice to put faces to names.

 

I had only one disappointment and that was the cold room service food. We ordered it prior to an early excursion in port and when it arrived, the food was very cold. I understand that there are hundreds of people who order room service food trays, but there must be a way to hold in the heat.

 

This was my first Royal Caribbean cruise experience (5 with another highly ranked line) and I must say that I am now a believer. It would be hard to go back to any other ship after the Jewel.

 

Patt

[jluc123]

Thanks for the greatv review. We will be on the Jewel in less than three weeks. I have to agree with you about Orient Beach. DW and I have been there three times and are doing it again.

[critterchick]

Thanks for the great review! I'm glad you had the same wonderful experience with Bobby Brown and Captain Bobby that we did in December! Hmm, I wonder if it's the name?:D

 

One almost can't miss for us was the late night jazz/jam sessions in the Hollywood Odyssey. I say "almost" because HO is the cigar lounge late at night & the smoke was at times overwhelming enough to drive us out.

[SPARKLE10]

Hi:

 

I'll be on the Jewell for New Years Eve this year. It will be a great time. We were on the Freedom last New Years Eve, and even though we had a good time, I think it will be even better on the JOS. We're going on the Radiance of the Seas for the fourth time in October to Hawaii and we just love the Radiance, so I know we're going to love the Jewell.

 

;) Happy Cruising.....Sparkle 10

 

PS We've been to Orient Beach four times now and will go again with this cruise. We always have the best time there.

[abusabus]

Thanks for the great review of the Jewel. My DH and I will be going on our first cruise on the 18th - Jewel - Western....We cannot wait :) ....

 

Thanks again!

[gr82cruz]

Thank you so much for the detailed review. I will be leaving this sat. for the same cruise. Maybe I'll see you on board WXGUY!

[Inshape]

Got a question: We have done Mariner twice and Explorer once and our upcoming 2007 cruise is in Nov on Liberty. I want to try another class of ship too but we travel with our kids, being 10 and 12 now. At the time of the 2008 cruise we will book while on board in 2007 they will be 12 and 13( almost 14). There are never tons of kids aboard when we go. We have done Jan, Oct and we are trying Nov ( the sat cruise after thanksgiving). Will going down to the radiance class leave the kids with not enough to do? They love the inline, ice skating...but that is not what we go on a cruise to do...it is just a extra. Is there enough to do on this ship for them?

[lanabanana]

I'm interested where the tablemates you had from Vermont live? We're always looking to connect with fellow cruise addicts in the area!

 

I absolutely share you view of the white chocolate fondue. By now, I know not to order it, but I fell for it the first time!

 

The Jewel's Thermal Suite is our favorite part of the ship. Those warm tile loungers are just the place to watch the world go by.

 

Nice to meet you!

 

Alanna

[RobNC2001]

Thanks for the review. We leave this Saturday. Can't wait!!!

[alexeliz]

by any chance did the captain to a quick tour past montserrat after leaving Antigua?

[nanarena]

Thanks for posting the review. We leave on the 24th and have been devouring every word.

 

It looks like we will have comfortable beds and plenty to eat! We plan on doing Chops for DH birthday.

 

Can anyone tell me who the concierge is?

 

Thanks,

 

Rena

[gr82cruz]

The concierge is Andrea Levitt. I have heard great things about her.

[newhampshiregirl]

I'm interested where the tablemates you had from Vermont live? We're always looking to connect with fellow cruise addicts in the area!

 

I absolutely share you view of the white chocolate fondue. By now, I know not to order it, but I fell for it the first time!

 

The Jewel's Thermal Suite is our favorite part of the ship. Those warm tile loungers are just the place to watch the world go by.

 

Nice to meet you!

 

Alanna

 

Nice to meet you as well! The tablemates from Vermont were from above Burlington but I can't remember the name of the town. It seems they were less than 40 minutes or so from the Canadian border.

 

I missed the thermal suite. I was trying to manage our 'extras' budget so steered clear of the spa this cruise. I will try it next time!

 

I read about that late night jazz session in the compass and would have loved to go---but the smell of the cigars even just passing the place on the way to the Vortex was too much for me! Sorry I missed the music though.

 

I believe we did sail by Monseratt on our way from Antigua to the next port. We were looking at it from afar and got out a map and it had to be it although no announcements were made about it.

 

All of you that have upcoming cruises on the Jewel--have a ball, enjoy every minute of: board early, stay up late, meet the cd, eat like crazy and soak up the sun. The real world will be back soon enough with diets, and normal bed times!! Have a great time. Any other questions, just post.