Jewel OTS ...is she well maintained?

Hello all,

I am interested in the Jewel OTS southern carribbean for Jan 2018. I most often only sale on newer boats but am tired of the same old places and want to try something new. For those of you who have sailed on Jewel, did you think it was well maintained and did you miss the bells and whistles of a larger ship? Truthfully all I really need is a fridge and a TV for down time, the rest I can do without.

Thanks in advance

We've sailed on a sister ship, Brilliance, a few times lately, and find we don't miss the bells & whistles of the larger ships at all. Also, the Southern Carib itinerary is very port intensive, so you may have only one or two sea days.

Hello all,

 

I am interested in the Jewel OTS southern carribbean for Jan 2018. I most often only sale on newer boats but am tired of the same old places and want to try something new. For those of you who have sailed on Jewel, did you think it was well maintained and did you miss the bells and whistles of a larger ship? Truthfully all I really need is a fridge and a TV for down time, the rest I can do without.

 

Thanks in advance

We have sailed Jewel twice and yes, it is well maintained. This class of ship is not our favorite but we do not hesitate to book it if there is an itinerary we want to do. We just go into it knowing it is different. We do miss some of the food venues that the larger ships offer, but we just adapt to what is on the current ship we are sailing.

ALL of RCI's ships are "well maintained"! I have one "pro" and one "con" for this class of ship. The outdoor WJ seating is lovely...wish more ships had that! The enclosed solarium...I HATE! They never retract the "retractable roof", and that means no quiet place to tan.

I prefer Voyager and Freedom class to Radiance class.

Just got off the Jewel OTS this March 2017. Was well maintained. It was recently refurbished last year. Only downside is after 9PM when the Windjammer closes, very limited food options at Solarium (pizza, hot dogs, cold sandwiches and roast beef sandwiches - good).

Just got off the Jewel OTS this March 2017. Was well maintained. It was recently refurbished last year. Only downside is after 9PM when the Windjammer closes, very limited food options at Solarium (pizza, hot dogs, cold sandwiches and roast beef sandwiches - good).

Anything during breakfast time at the Solarium Cafe?

Nothing for breakfast at the Solarium Cafe.

We just did a B2B on the Jewel. She was well maintained. In Dec. we did the Harmony & the Independence. We did not miss the bells & whistles. The Jewel is our favorite ship.

Nothing for breakfast at the Solarium Cafe.

 

We just did a B2B on the Jewel. She was well maintained. In Dec. we did the Harmony & the Independence. We did not miss the bells & whistles. The Jewel is our favorite ship.

I have a TA coming on Jewel this fall. Having last year's TA on Brilliance, I came to enjoy that quiet time in the morning at Park Cafe. I'll miss that.

I really like the Jewel. Wouldn't hesitate to sail on her again 👍

The Jewel is our favorite of all the RC ships we've sailed on. Doing another B2B cruise on her this April. We don't miss the promenade deck or the ice skating rink. We really like the Schooner bar (in our opinion best Schooner bar of any of the RC ships we've sailed on) area all the way back to the Congo Bar. We enjoy sitting in the back by the Congo Bar and have a drink by the huge windows to look out and watch where you just sailed from. She has all the whistles and bells we need. The Jewel is the perfect size for us.(y)(y)

All sounds good :)

We are on Jewel on the 2nd April sailing. Looking forward to it. Will be interested to see how the kids find it compared to biggies.

Long time since done a small ship and never with Royal Caribbean.

The Jewel is our favorite of all the RC ships we've sailed on. Doing another B2B cruise on her this April. We don't miss the promenade deck or the ice skating rink. We really like the Schooner bar (in our opinion best Schooner bar of any of the RC ships we've sailed on) area all the way back to the Congo Bar. We enjoy sitting in the back by the Congo Bar and have a drink by the huge windows to look out and watch where you just sailed from. She has all the whistles and bells we need. The Jewel is the perfect size for us.(y)(y)

Interesting how people have different perspective. I absolutely hate Schooner bar in Radiance ships. The long length is disjointed and the path between the bar and the piano just ruins the venue.

Traffic messes with the piano player and any trivia games

I love Freedom Schooner

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Interesting how people have different perspective. I absolutely hate Schooner bar in Radiance ships. The long length is disjointed and the path between the bar and the piano just ruins the venue.

 

Traffic messes with the piano player and any trivia games

 

I love Freedom Schooner

 

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It is interesting. We hate the Schooner Bar layout on the Freedom class ships because it's to close to the casino. Hated the cigarette smoke smell coming out of the casino.

It is interesting. We hate the Schooner Bar layout on the Freedom class ships because it's to close to the casino. Hated the cigarette smoke smell coming out of the casino.

I agree. Schooner on Vision and Radiance class ships is our preference too. Seems larger, away from the smoke, and large views to the outside.

The Freedom and Voyager class also have a big walkway thru the one side which cuts off some of the seating area. Nighttime trivia always has a few drunks yelling out answers.

shdixon...another positive is the Jewel went through a minor (compared to major) refurbishment (facelift) in 2016.

The Freedom and Voyager class also have a big walkway thru the one side which cuts off some of the seating area. Nighttime trivia always has a few drunks yelling out answers.

How about the rising tide passengers on Oasis. 😉

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Hello all,

 

I am interested in the Jewel OTS southern carribbean for Jan 2018. I most often only sale on newer boats but am tired of the same old places and want to try something new. For those of you who have sailed on Jewel, did you think it was well maintained and did you miss the bells and whistles of a larger ship? Truthfully all I really need is a fridge and a TV for down time, the rest I can do without.

 

Thanks in advance

My preference is the options of things to do and entertainment and food options on RCs larger ships. However, when you are looking for ports you want to visit not all of RC ships can fit into all of the ports.. We'll be on the Jewel in the Med in May and the cruise is very port intensive. (2 cruise days out of a 9 night cruise.) So in this case we were not doing the cruise for the amenities on board.

Hello all,

 

Truthfully all I really need is a fridge and a TV for down time, the rest I can do without.

 

Thanks in advance

Nice ship, the TV viewing selections are not anything to write home about.

Anything during breakfast time at the Solarium Cafe?

On the November TA, there was limited breakfast choices. Breakfast sandwiches (think egg mcmuffin), yogurt, OJ, etc. It was fine for me and not busy at all.

Dena

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On the November TA, there was limited breakfast choices. Breakfast sandwiches (think egg mcmuffin), yogurt, OJ, etc. It was fine for me and not busy at all.

 

Dena

Thanks Dena, that's encouraging. First I've heard there might be something for breakfast there.:)

I did Jewel in November and am back on her on June ( same cabin too). Nice ship, nice ambience. And I like the Schooner Bar!

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Nice ship, the TV viewing selections are not anything to write home about.

There's a TV in the stateroom. :D

Glad to see this thread! Radiance was my 4th cruise, but my first RC cruise- and the inaugural Alaska sailing at that. That class of ship is my favorite. I loved that layout. I've been wanting to go on the Jewel for a long time. Nothing has quite captured my attention as much as that class has. I did love the Schooner Bar too. Still hoping to book a cruise on her one day. Maybe after this other cruise I have booked... :cool:

Well...We will be able to tell you after our June/July back-to-backs in the Med...

The OP seemed to be looking for answers as to the condition of the ship, but it seems to have taken off from there...so, I'll add my two cents...

Everyone cruises for different reasons...For us, it is usually for the itinerary. Occasionally, we will cruise for the ship--to check out what's new and experience those "bells and whistles"--why we cruised the Liberty of the Seas when it first came out...and the Allure twice--including one of its first voyages...But, to be truthful, we are getting a bit too old for Rock Climbing, Surfing, Ice Skating, etc. If we were cruising with kids, sure....but, now, when we are on the ship, all we really want is good food, good service, a show every night and some comfortable bars to sit around and have a drink.

And a problem with those bigger newer full of bells and whistles ships is that the itineraries are, generally, poor...They can't dock them at many ports...and they really look at them as destinations in and of themselves--so, more at sea days, fewer ports...and, usually, one of those is Labadee--and a pure beach stop just doesn't interest us all that much.

So, here's why we are cruising on the Jewel this summer: Most summers, when my wife gets off work from her school district job, we are looking for our "big" cruise vacation of the year--usually Europe (which I love). In the past, we've done one Princess cruise to Europe, three Oceania cruises in Europe and seven with Celebrity. This ship is secondary, the itinerary far more important. We like to find longer cruises (usually around 14 nights) because we don't want to fly all the way to Europe for just a short cruise (and we usually extend it on either end with hotel stays and land travel). The bells and whistles are really worthless to us in such cases as we look for itineraries rich in port stops with just a few at sea days sprinkled in...and, on those at sea days, we are usually resting and recovering from long port tours). And we especially look for itineraries that visit ports we haven't been to before.

So, for this year, I did my usual thing...When the schedules came out, I first looked at Celebrity--but, having done seven with them, the itineraries were pretty much "been there, done that". Nothing on Oceania fit our bill either. So, I looked at Royal Caribbean, but saw no really good 12-16 night itineraries...But, then I noticed the Jewel doing a cruise that included Corsica, Sardinia and Mallorca...and we haven't been to any of those yet...But 7-nights were short...Then I realized that RCCL was doing us all a favor by alternating that itinerary with a 7 night Greek Islands cruise...and though we'd done the Greek Islands a few times in the past, this at least turned it into a 14 night cruise (for all intent and purpose) which included some ports we hadn't yet seen...

And the Jewel, to me, is perfectly acceptable. So what if it lacks the surfing and zip-lining...We are not going to do that anyway. It does include the Diamond Lounge--and we expect to get a LOT of use out of that!