Our Jewel b2b cruise of the Southern Caribbean

We just returned from a b2b on the Jewel. Feel free to ask any questions that you may have. This is our 12th cruise, 2nd on RCCI. Most of our recent cruises have been on NCL. I choose cruises based on itineraries.

We were in a balcony stateroom on deck 9 midship. Plenty of storage. My only problem was the circular shower. Way too small (hard to shave my legs in a circle). Our cabin steward was Bruno and he was excellent.

We chose MTD and ate around 7 p.m. each night. We were given the same table with the same wait staff each night. After the first week our waiter's contract was up and we had a new waiter. Both were very good and personable. I had seen both the old and new menus here before we sailed. There was nothing wrong with the food but the choices were limited. Each night the first 2 or 3 items in each category were different with the rest remaining the same. The second week our menus were exactly the same as the first week. They did not rotate in some of the other menus I had seen that were being used on other 9 or longer day cruises. We didn't eat at any specialty restaurants.

Windjammer was a pleasant surprise. The decor and seating arrangement was much nicer than on NCL. Round tables and chairs with arm rests were a welcome situation. The islands were set up and well marked with plenty of room between them. Way better than the long cafeteria style. The food was more limited but overall was tasty and plentiful. We only ate there for either breakfast or lunch. I liked that the water was pre-poured. Milk was served in cartons but you had to ask for it at lunch and someone had to go get it.

Pizza was not very good. Only served cheese, pepperoni and veggie. The veggie I tried had only 2 onions, 2 pieces of tomato, and 3 pieces of bell pepper. Only 1 piece of pepperoni per slice.

Casino was very small and the slot machines were outdated. On the machines you could not choose the # of lines to play. You could see that the choices were 5 lines, 10 lines, 15 lines, 20 lines but the only choice was the max # of lines.

Pool Towels. I had read reports of people being charged for towels. It happened to us the last day. We checked out towels on Friday night for the sea day on Saturday. We sat by the pool until 2:30 when I turned in the towels and returned to our room. There was a note on our bed reminding us of the $25 charge for keeping them. Since I had just turned them in I ignored the notice. Our final bill the next morning had the $50 charge for towels. I went down to guest services and it was credited immediately.

We usually fly in the day before the cruise but this time we flew in 2 days early. I am so glad we did. Our flight from LAX was delayed 4+ hours and we missed our flight from Miami. Caught another one and arrived at 11 p.m. minus 1 piece of luggage. Stayed at the Best Western Condado Palm Hotel and Suites. Very nice. Luggage caught up with us late that night.

Entertainment was not very good. The production shows were below average. There were 4 comedians, one French entertainer and tango of Buenos Aires (both weeks the same show)

I will continue with reviews of our ports of call when I get time. Ask me any questions that you may have. I have learned so much from these boards and will help when I can.

Donna

A question - if you ate at the same time every night at the same table, why did you not choose traditional dining? How did the 7:00 dining time fit with the show times? Did you eat at a table on your own or with others?

We just returned from a b2b on the Jewel. Feel free to ask any questions that you may have. This is our 12th cruise, 2nd on RCCI. Most of our recent cruises have been on NCL. I choose cruises based on itineraries.

 

We were in a balcony stateroom on deck 9 midship. Plenty of storage. My only problem was the circular shower. Way too small (hard to shave my legs in a circle). Our cabin steward was Bruno and he was excellent.

 

We chose MTD and ate around 7 p.m. each night. We were given the same table with the same wait staff each night. After the first week our waiter's contract was up and we had a new waiter. Both were very good and personable. I had seen both the old and new menus here before we sailed. There was nothing wrong with the food but the choices were limited. Each night the first 2 or 3 items in each category were different with the rest remaining the same. The second week our menus were exactly the same as the first week. They did not rotate in some of the other menus I had seen that were being used on other 9 or longer day cruises. We didn't eat at any specialty restaurants.

 

Windjammer was a pleasant surprise. The decor and seating arrangement was much nicer than on NCL. Round tables and chairs with arm rests were a welcome situation. The islands were set up and well marked with plenty of room between them. Way better than the long cafeteria style. The food was more limited but overall was tasty and plentiful. We only ate there for either breakfast or lunch. I liked that the water was pre-poured. Milk was served in cartons but you had to ask for it at lunch and someone had to go get it.

 

Pizza was not very good. Only served cheese, pepperoni and veggie. The veggie I tried had only 2 onions, 2 pieces of tomato, and 3 pieces of bell pepper. Only 1 piece of pepperoni per slice.

 

Casino was very small and the slot machines were outdated. On the machines you could not choose the # of lines to play. You could see that the choices were 5 lines, 10 lines, 15 lines, 20 lines but the only choice was the max # of lines.

 

Pool Towels. I had read reports of people being charged for towels. It happened to us the last day. We checked out towels on Friday night for the sea day on Saturday. We sat by the pool until 2:30 when I turned in the towels and returned to our room. There was a note on our bed reminding us of the $25 charge for keeping them. Since I had just turned them in I ignored the notice. Our final bill the next morning had the $50 charge for towels. I went down to guest services and it was credited immediately.

 

We usually fly in the day before the cruise but this time we flew in 2 days early. I am so glad we did. Our flight from LAX was delayed 4+ hours and we missed our flight from Miami. Caught another one and arrived at 11 p.m. minus 1 piece of luggage. Stayed at the Best Western Condado Palm Hotel and Suites. Very nice. Luggage caught up with us late that night.

 

Entertainment was not very good. The production shows were below average. There were 4 comedians, one French entertainer and tango of Buenos Aires (both weeks the same show)

 

I will continue with reviews of our ports of call when I get time. Ask me any questions that you may have. I have learned so much from these boards and will help when I can.

 

Donna

Interesting review. Thanks for sharing.

A question - if you ate at the same time every night at the same table, why did you not choose traditional dining? How did the 7:00 dining time fit with the show times? Did you eat at a table on your own or with others?

Not the OP so just speculating that maybe early dining time was too early and the late dining time was too late.

Like i said I'm just speculating.

Bill

Not the OP so just speculating that maybe early dining time was too early and the late dining time was too late.

 

Like i said I'm just speculating.

 

Bill

Not the OP either, but that is exactly why I reserve a time with MTD - a time that is in between the two fixed times. Being gluten-free and allergic to peanuts, I feel more comfortable with the same servers every night, but I'd rather not eat at 5 something or 8 something.

A question - if you ate at the same time every night at the same table, why did you not choose traditional dining? How did the 7:00 dining time fit with the show times? Did you eat at a table on your own or with others?

In addition to the reason mentioned above, it could also be that someone wants the ability to be flexible one or two nights.

A question - if you ate at the same time every night at the same table, why did you not choose traditional dining? How did the 7:00 dining time fit with the show times? Did you eat at a table on your own or with others?

Bob is entirely correct. The early seating was at 6 and the late was at 8:30.

We reserved for the first nights so we could be done for sailaway and for the 2nd formal night. During dinner the first night a wonderful lady named Valina came by and asked how our dinner was going. She asked about whether we had reservations for the entire 2 weeks and we told her only a few. She gave us her card to call her in the morning and she set up the same table for us. We could come between 6:45 and 7 every night. If the show at 7:45 was something that was for 1 time only we arrived at 6:45 and made the show. We had a 4 top near other 4 tops and the same diners around us most nights.

I forgot to put this in the first comments about formal night but 60% of the men wore suits or a sports coat for formal night. 30% wore long sleeved shirts (some with ties) and 10% short sleeved shirts. Most of the women were dressed very nicely. I only saw 2 tuxes in 2 weeks.

First night 2 guys in basketball shorts and tank tops were in front of us in line and they were told that they would be allowed to eat that night only dressed as they were and to wear long pants and no tank tops for future nights. The final nights there were maybe 20% of the men and women in shorts.

Since we have been mostly sailing on NCL my dh really wasn't crazy about wearing a suit but he did. He wore a tie on only the first formal night and the other 3 formal nights he wore a dress shirt without the tie.

Hope this helps.

Would love to hear about what excursions you did in the ports, specifically St. Lucia and Antigua.

Would love to hear about what excursions you did in the ports, specifically St. Lucia and Antigua.

I will try to get to them soon, but I can tell you that we used Spencer Ambrose for his land and beach excursion in St. Lucia. It was the best excursion of the 2 weeks. We used Scenic Tours Antigua and it was great too. I will add details as I have time.

Donna

I will try to get to them soon, but I can tell you that we used Spencer Ambrose for his land and beach excursion in St. Lucia. It was the best excursion of the 2 weeks. We used Scenic Tours Antigua and it was great too. I will add details as I have time.

 

Donna

I think it would be more specific to people looking for excursions on certain islands to post my comments about those on the ports of call boards.

Here are a list of islands we visited

Week 1

Puerto Rico

St. Croix

St. Maarten

Martinique

Barbados

Grenada

Week 2

Puerto Rico

St. Thomas

St. Kitts

Antigua

St. Lucia

Barbados

We did one ship's excursion and 5 private tours. The other ports we just got off the ship and wandered. I will start on the information now. If any of you have questions, feel free to ask.

Donna