Cruise Critic's Jewel of the Seas Ship Review -- Five Stars!

[LauraS]

Having traveled on Jewel of the Seas this January -- some nine months after its launch -- Carolyn Spencer Brown, our editor, reports back that the experience was so exceptional that it merited a rating that puts it on a level with higher-priced (and smaller-sized) luxury ships. Her five-star rating (which aside from a five-plus is the best any ship can get) is fairly unprecedented for a big-ship, value-priced cruise. To find out the whys and wherefores, read her review. Jewel of the Seas

 

 

Laura

[emmy]

Great news Laura especially since we are sailing on her April 23 :) I read the review and am so glad to have chosen this ship as my first Radiance class.

 

Emmy :)

[Hooked on cruisin']

Just cruised on the Jewel last week. On our final night we were talking to our head waiter and he told us that they were given a five star rating by the group of people called cruise critic. I guess they really do pay attention to these boards.

[mtchg]

..will do the repo cruise Nov 1. Thanks to CC for another great read and getting me even MORE excited to sail her!

 

Mitch

[Lanco]

Please let me know what you thought of Jewel. I will be traveling on her with my family next February on her six night cruise. Let me know what to expect.:)

[FinelyCruising]

Will be on her in April...waiting for the doc dance!

[cdm2000]

We'll be sailing on her starting this Sunday! It's a 6 night cruise! I can't wait. From everything I've read, it sounds like it should be a great trip! I'll post a review when I get back.

 

Cheryl

[number1cruise]

We were on the Jewel Feb. 20-26th. It was our first cruise ever. I was just the perfect vacation. The service was great, the food was excellent. The ship is just beautiful>:)

[napsterisback]

small and the food is luke warm. I am currently on the Jewel right now as i am typing this and it's not all that. When we sailed on Adventure it was a much nicer ship. I guess everyone is entitled to their own opinion but as far as I am concerned this ship is NOT all that.

[Seaside2358]

Sailed Jewel on November 6. It is an incredibly beautiful ship. You can't compare a Radiance class ship to a Voyager class ship. Of course it's smaller but not small at all. I don't think I could list one complaint...

[JodiBB]

I can't wait to spend 12 days on this luxurious ship in August while in the Baltics!! It'll be my home away from home!!

[cruiselovers]

Thanks for the great review...Who was your Cruise Director?

[FinelyCruising]

Napster is not on the ship and never has been. Napster is troublesome.

[gr8tfulscott]

it was a great trip. my family says best family vacation ever.

15old daughter and 10yr old son.

currently my wife has the "after cruise blues" being treated really well by all staff.

all dinners were to our delight. all food was hot when needed and cold when it should.

plenty of room in windjamer never waited for a table.

jill was cruise director. she was great.

all shows were to our delight as well.

i'll try to answer any direct questions if i know the answer

thanks for all input before we went.

best item takin was the over door shoe bag.

[dcdiva]

We were married on the Jewel on Feb 7th. I found the ship to extraorinarily beautiful -- and it's just the right size for me. Big enough to have all the amenities, but not too big that you feel lost.

 

Loved the large number of balcony staterooms which all seemed very spacious to me. We were in a Junior Suite -- and it was easily twice the size of the mini-suite on NCL's Dream.

 

 

The spa is heavenly and the hot tub in the solarium was a wonderful late night treat. Even though there was not an empty cabin on our sailing, we always found a deck chair in the sun. We even tried out the pool tables. Windjammer was great for a quick bite, but we loved the Seaview Cafe (tucked away in the back of the ship).

 

Our service in the dining room was excellent. We sailed with a group of 54, so we had quite a few waiters dealing with our eight tables. But no one had a complaint. We found the food to be very good -- and those who tried Portofino's are still talking about it.

 

We just got back and we already trying to figure out a way to sail on the Jewel again.

[mmcruise]

We were lucky enough to be at DCDiva's wedding cruise, and thought the ship was beautiful. Facilities were terrific, from the balancing pool tables (DH) to the arcade (DS, 2 1/2) to the spa (me, taking advantage of a last-day sea-day facial sale - it was on sale, how could I resist?). We liked the food, and we're kind of food aficionados, and have eaten at some of the most famous restaurants in the country. We were fat 'n happy every night; not a single complaint. Our E3 balcony cabin was small but efficient for a family of 3; we were amazed how much storage space they'd cleverly planned into the room. And it was CLEAN CLEAN CLEAN. Everything shined, from top to bottom. (stem to stern? Whatever.)

 

Loved (almost) every member of the crew we ran across, from our cabin steward to the waiters to the head waiter who tailed my shrimp and de-shelled my lobster (now that's decadent) to the lovely babysitter who watched our son every night, and even our favorite bartender at the swell-egant Champagne Bar, our favorite alcohol establishment. I did run afoul of one rather cranky casino employee, but it only served to remind me how great the rest of the crew was.

 

At Playa Mia beach in Cozumel, we ran into a guy who was on another, older ship of another cruise line and he'd just proposed to his girlfriend the night before (awwww...) but he commented that his ship smelled like, um, excrement. Literally. We went back to our beautiful new squeaky clean ship feeling even luckier.

 

Sign us up for the anniversary cruise, DCDiva, I think we're wrecked for any other ship... Jewel was too beautiful. (Although now I am curious about the new Freedom of the Seas...another new ship, hmm...).

[Seaside2358]

Thanks for the great review...Who was your Cruise Director?

 

Karen Mayberry was the CD on our sailing and I thought she was just awful!!!JMO!

[mtchg]

..last year. While I can't say whe was awful, she is not one of their best..a bit of a cold fish. Hope it's someone else by November.

As for the previous poster that called the Jewel "small". I don't care how big they continue to build ships, 90,000 tons by any stretch of the imagination is not small. It is pretty large.

 

MItch

[ruby13]

:p leaving in two weeks and can't wait.. been on all sizes of the RCCL ships and the Jewel will be a first time Radiance class ship for us ..

looking forward and thanks for posting all reviews .. I never had a bad sailing with this cruise line ...

this sailing is 8 nights and Eastern Caribbean, so looking forward to stopping at my best jewelry store Crown Jewelers on St Thomas ..

thanks all for being so helpful

 

Ruby13

from NY

[kitkat4622]

Mitch,you must be gettin on as we are getting off...10 nights on the Jewel from Boston starting October 22 and returning November 1....It cannot get here fast enough..:)

[ruby13]

Please let me know the info and price for the outside cabin.. sounds like a nice cruise..

will be on the Jewel next week

Thanks

Ruby13

[mtchg]

..Yep..you'll be taking the last regular cruise before we take her to her

winter home in Ft Lauderdale, with alot of phenomenal stops in between on this 12 day adventure!!

 

Mitch

[agreene]

I had a cruise director on an RCCL ship tell me that their CEO reads this forum daily. They take these reviews and comments seriously.

[ruby13]

Just returned from the Jewel of the Seas 8 day cruise. The ships is beautiful ... the food was JUST OK. Chops Grille and Portofino were magnificent and worth the $20.

The pool is a bit small and you have to get up real early to get a seat ... and you cannot save or they remove the towels when no one shows within a half hour period, which was good.

The food in the solarium, healthy foods (humus salads and wraps) and wonderful crepes .. to die for.

Service was excellent as usual and our cabin attendant was great. Our room was kept neat and clean at all times .. he was a Jewel for sure.

Our waiter and assistant were very accommodating .. we had our 9 month old grandson (whom I had to pay full fare for) and they were very attentive to his needs, even though he is easy to travel with.

The ports were nice, but disembarking was horrible. We are diamond members and get preferential treatment, but everyone decided to get off at the same time, so getting out of the building at the end of the cruise was the pits ...

but overall AAAAA

excellent cruise

ruby 13

[emmy]

Ruby ~ that you for posting your thoughts about Jewel...we will be doing the 8 day itinerary in 19 days.

 

When you said the disembarking was horrible in Fort Lauderdale. I have an 11 am early flight to catch and will be requesting the earliest luggage tags.

 

Curious did you have a flight to catch? What time was that flight?

 

Do you remember the appoximate time they started to call for disembarkation?

 

We plan on doing Portofino....what evening did you dine there? We were maybe planning on going there the evening we are in San Juan.

 

Once again another person raves about the food in the solarium ie crepes and humas...will be trying that out for sure.

 

Thanks again

 

Emmy