RCI Jewel Christmas cruise review

[shykitten]

Shout out to Ligia from Nicaragua at @ Jewel Guest Relations. That girl works 110% for guests. Sooooo helpful and willing to follow up. She can teach a class on customer service!

 

Overall review: Meh. I think RCI oversells because they know they cannot deliver on the older ships of the fleet. I knew this going in. We booked because of itinerary not ship. The newer WOW ships are billed as party barges that go nowhere therefore they must have mega onboard entertainment.

 

That being said, yes, I knew what to expect. I still was not wowed. The ship was lovely and well decorated for holidays. Rooms nice. Full divider on balcony for privacy. Noisy neighbors fighting didn't make for the nicest breakfast. Also, first time I booked a balcony. Will book starboard next time. Port overlooks dock, cranes, containers, blech. Ship is looking a bit long in the tooth - carpeting, bedding, tube TVs. Again, well aware before booking because of reviews on this site.

 

Food was unimpressive. I contracted food poisoning hours after having ceviche in Tides. I ate/drank all meals/beverages onboard. Medical took care of me with IV fluids and anti nausea medications but I remained in mandatory isolation for 2 days. They also forgot to remove notation after it expired so disembarkation was another fun reminder. :(

 

We knew WiFi was not shipwide and therefore did not purchase. We overheard numerous confused passengers at guests relations. Oversell? Language barrier? Miscommunication of technical limitations?

 

Entertainment was meh. Comedian was good. Magician was okay. No broadway shows on smaller ships. Centrum musicians were very good.

 

St. Thomas was good. We are not shoppers so snorkling for us. Water choppy in afternoon. St. Kitts more beautiful than 20 yrs ago. Different port? St. Maarten: Missed it because I was disqualified from scuba due to surgery from a decade earlier. Hmmm... Thanks for heads up RCI. Oversell? Sell now, details later? Family already ashore so no way to catch up. :(

Martinique beach off port rough and dirty compared to previous ports. Barbados CLOSED on Christmas Day. Not even worth disembarkation process. Yes, we knew but tempted otherwise. Still rampant panhandling in town.

 

When we cruise again we will probably reconsider our old cruise line or research different ones.

 

This was our second holiday cruise. Must remember these are booked to capacity. Lots of noise slamming doors on ship maybe because of so many young passengers.

[mlmbar]

Sorry you had such an unhappy experience. I was on the jewel Nov 8 after having been on oasis twice and Allure once. I found the jewel to be a very refreshing change, especially the ocean views and outdoor dining. I did not find the ship to be "long in tooth". In fact, I was amazed that a ship, not refurbished in quite some time, was in such good shape. The hallway carpets looked new, we had a flat screen in our suite and did not notice any worn areas. The ship is very pretty with a yacht like quality. After having forgone the WJ and MDR on Allure, we shocked ourselves at how much we enjoyed both. The outdoor dining was awesome in the WJ. Some of the food selection changed daily with theme lunches. We ate in Portofino twice and Chops once and they did not disappoint. The MDR was not crowded and our waiters were very attentive. If you want gourmet food and not mass marketing, maybe a more exclusive line like Oceana or Seabourne would be acceptible. Yes, there was not the kind of entertainment like on the bigger ships but there was a 1/3 of the number of passengers and it was a port intensive itinerary. We found embarkation and debarkation to be incredibly easy. maybe that is the difference between a holiday cruise and one that is not. Also , there were hardly any kids on the ship

[shykitten]

Agreed. Views were incredible. Overall, not wowed. Not horrible, just expected much more, especially on Christmas cruise.

 

Yes, we are foodies and one vegetarian. Main dining was good. WJ was meh. Desserts at both did not wow.

[clott]

We loved the jewel and thought the food was better on that ship than most of the other royal ships. Our room was great and the ship looked awesome to be an older ship. Sounds like you went in thinking it wasn't going to be good and it wasn't. I always go on vacation thinking it's going to be great and it is for us.

[indyslf]

We were on the Jewel of the Seas Christmas cruise and had a great time. We enjoyed all of the ports. With the exception of one misstep on our part (on our own to Pinel Island, which was too far and too expensive for the relatively short day), we had wonderful experiences on all islands.

 

Have to agree the Martinique pier/port wasn't great (was nonexistent, actually), but it did seem to be under extensive construction. So maybe in the future it will be nicer? (Can't be worse than the current souvenirs-under-a-tent setup; however, we did manage to find lovely beach wraps and trinkets, anyway. :D)

 

St. Thomas and Barbados were our favorite stops. I don't agree that Barbados was closed up. The beach we originally wanted to go to was closed, but we went to another beach and enjoyed it very much. Food, drinks, music, rentals, snorkeling, service, etc., all readily available.

 

We shopped quite a bit. Were only bothered by beach jewelry and wood-carving sellers a few times. As long as we were firm (but pleasant) with our "No, thanks," they quickly left. I didn't think the roaming vendors were any better/worse in Barbados than on other islands. (Pinel Island being the exception. Apparently even roaming vendors don't want to make that far of a hike.:cool:)

[morningtroll]

We were on that sailing as well and it was week 2 for us on that ship (we being extended family -- three of which are super picky Diamond members).

 

We found the food very good, even in the Windjammer. The Dining room staff were amazing all day long. Call me super impressed and I'm a foodie who ate the same menu twice. Portifino provided me with one of the best meals I've ever had (the veal was excellent).

 

Since I knew that the ship was going to dry dock soon, I was expecting it to be in rough shape and was pleasantly surprised at the great shape it was in. I liked the ship so much I booked it for Alaska in July and Pacific Northwest in Sept!

 

The staff on this ship were superb. Amazing really.

 

For Christmas I didn't expect much, and in my opinion they did quite well with it. I would even say they went a bit overboard on the decorations. We woke up on Saturday the 20th to Santa having thrown up everywhere, lol, Santa on Christmas morning, with the eggnog was nice. Christmas dinner was very good. Overall I was impressed, but then again we went on this cruise to avoid the holiday hubbub.

 

I won't comment much on the POC, we were tired after the first week of touring and didn't venture off the ports or towns, but we did do an excursion in St Kitt's which sucked (not enough time at any of the stops, and for the price wasn't worth it). I'd go with local tour companies and cabs, way more economical and you can customize your tour, which is what we had done the week before.