Jewel of the Seas

[ck53]

We are booked for an 11

 

day cruise in February and not having been on the JOS before I was reading all of the member reviews and I have a few questions...

 

No one seems to like the food very much, the responses went from "horrid" to a lukewarm "good" Can anyone tell me what is on the menu?

 

Someone mentioned thsat there are no hairdryers or shampoo in the cabins, is that correct?

 

Is there a laundry on board for the paxs?

 

Thanks!

[TBSCruiser]

We are booked for an 11

 

day cruise in February and not having been on the JOS before I was reading all of the member reviews and I have a few questions...

 

No one seems to like the food very much, the responses went from "horrid" to a lukewarm "good" Can anyone tell me what is on the menu?

 

Someone mentioned thsat there are no hairdryers or shampoo in the cabins, is that correct?

 

Is there a laundry on board for the paxs?

 

Thanks!

 

 

Jewel was one of my favorite cruises and when we were on last year the food was excellent. The menu is the same fleetwide so no big surprises for the Jewel. She does have both Chops and Portofino and both are well worth it.

 

Yes there are hairdryers, they are located in the desk drawer/vanity area and yes there is a combo dispenser of shampoo/body wash, but I bring my own conditioner.

 

No self serve laundry but there is a service that is reasonable and they do a great job.

[39august]

There are hair dryers in the cabins and a shampoo dispenser in the shower. Lots of folks do prefer to bring their own, however. Food is subjective. I have not experienced really bad food in the main dining room or buffet on any RCI ship, but the quality is not as good as it was 3 or 4 years ago. No RCI ship has self serve laundry facilities. I love the Jewel with all her glass and views of the ocean! Here's a few tips on sailing JOS. The SeaView Cafe food is very good and at no extra charge. Likewise I have enjoyed the snack type foods offered inside the Solarium. The hours for these venues will be posted in your daily cruise newsletter and they do vary. Take the elevator all the way up to deck 14 (only the bank of elevators on the port side go that far) and see what's up there. I promise it is cute! Do not miss the self-leveling pool tables just past the Schooner bar toward the aft. And that whole area is a lovely club. Darn. Now I want to book another Jewel cruise!

[boba]

:cool: I was on JOS last month. The food is pretty good, service is great. Yes, there are hair dryers in the cabins. :cool:

[ck53]

Thanks all!

 

I thought they had hair dryers but I wasn't sure and I had no clue about the laundry as we never needed it before.

 

We have eaten in both Chops and Portofinos and can't wait to do them again!

 

Will go up to Deck 14, I promise!

 

I understand that food is subjective but I am glad to hear some people say they really enjoyed it. We are bringing 2 other couples, & if it was only so-so I wanted to prepare them, but in the end, I think I will say nothing and let them decide. This is our six cruise on RCL and I can't say we have had a bad meal but we haven't been on RCL in 2 years, did Princess and Carnival in between.

 

Now I will go and search the to find the menus.

 

Any other tips about JOS?

 

Thanks!!

[NorbertsNiece]

Level 14.... really cute!

Seaview Cafe.... best kept secret.... great for a mid-morning snack...

Solarium....for some peace and quiet.... just wonderful.

The jogging track at sunrise......

Portofino's well worth the supplement......

On embarkation day outside Portofinos and Chops they have trays of samples out mid afternoon!!!

[billscruiser]

Seems like forever now. Had a GREAT time. Although food is subjective, we felt the food was great. On sea days they serve a wonderful salad bar in the main dining room with chicken, cold boiled shrimp, ham, etc. Just the salad alone will be a meal. We had the very best waiter and asst waiter in all the cruises we have been on. (Haven't written them down to put on here, but I would guess at least 25). The Schooner bar was great (we love piano bars). The Quest was fun.:D The shows also were very good. We were pleasantly surprised at the calaber of entertainment. Some very high end names and impressive appearances from some of the entertainers. Hope you will be as lucky as we were. Have a drink in the disco bar one evening and watch the scenery as it revolves. The adult salt water pool and hot tub were also very relaxing.

 

I think you will all have a great time. The Jewel is a beautiful ship with a friendly staff. The photographers a little bossy in the dining room, but the results were much better than most "just lean together" shots. Have a great cruise. Kathryn

[negc]

We are booked for an 11

 

day cruise in February and not having been on the JOS before I was reading all of the member reviews and I have a few questions...

 

No one seems to like the food very much, the responses went from "horrid" to a lukewarm "good" Can anyone tell me what is on the menu?

 

Someone mentioned thsat there are no hairdryers or shampoo in the cabins, is that correct?

 

Is there a laundry on board for the paxs?

 

Thanks!

 

I think that all of your questions have been answered but I just want to reinforce them. Jewel is our favorite ship and we sailed on her three times in this past year alone. Food in the main dining room was quite good, and my wife is a big fan of the salad bar available at lunch in the MDR. I prefer the Windjammer and its carved roasts etc. at lunchtime or a good cheeseburger in the Seaview Cafe. I am not sure where the issue of hairdryers in the rooms arose, but there are hairdryers in all of the staterooms. On the Transatlantic cruise, they had to replace some of the hairdryers because of some reported problem, but the replacements worked well. There is usually a $25 all you can fit in a bag laundry special (wash and fold only) during the cruise and we have had excellent experiences with the laundry service provided by RCI. Don't really want to spend our vacation doing laundry and have witnessed some less than pleasant encounters between passengers in the self-service laundries of other lines when someone didn't return quickly enough to satisfy someone else wanting to use the washer or dryer.

Jewel staff is extraordinarily outgoing and friendly and we were pleasantly surprised to see our waiter from the Jewel on Oasis when we sailed on her at the end of November. Clearly they chose the Oasis staff from among the best on the rest of their fleet.:)

I haven't read all the reviews of the Jewel but whenever Jewel is mentioned on this board, it seems to garner high praise for food, service and general ambience. I am not alone in claiming Jewel is our favorite ship in the fleet. Perhaps you focused on the negatives and failed to notice the extensive positive comments about this ship. I urge you to disregard the reviews and decide for yourself when you cruise on the Jewel. I suspect that you will find that your worries were unfounded.:)