Back from October 2 Jewel Cruise

[comfortcove]

We loved this ship. Very beautiful, incredible sea views everywhere, excellent staff, very good food, nice fellow passengers. We were in JS 1084. Both DH and I agreed our cabin was perfect for us. Just the right amount of space, adequate balcony (2 chairs, large-ish table, lounger), wlakin closet, nice BR, nicely decorated. Our cabin steward, Raymond, was excellent. Supplied our every need and desire, such as robes, extra towels, wine glasses, extra ice, yet was never obtrusive in anywy. We tipped him at the higher suite rate. He gave us many nights of amusing towel animals. Embarkation, even with priority status, took awhile in Boston. There was a computer glitch. We were on the ship early, as our flight arrived at Logan at 8:30 AM. Incompetent cabbie dropped us off at wrong place, and it was very difficult to get around the terminal with the crowds and all of our luggage. Once on, we were awed by the Beautiful Jewel. We loved her graceful decor and artwork. We had five sea days and five port days. For the most part we had excellent weather, a little cool and drizzly coming out of Boston. The staff was great. We only went to one show. We did go to one karaoke, one disco event, one trivia contest. Used the excellent gym three times. We ate at both Chops and Portofinos. They were both really good, and served massive portions of excellent food. I preferred Chops, but both were great. Mainly we ate dinners in the dining room, where we had a table for eight with 3 vry nice and compatible couples (How do they do that??). Our wait staff, Leo and Ernie, were top notch, professional yet friendly. I only had one dinner I didn't really care for, the veal shank, otherwise very good every night. One night, after St. Maarten, we dined in the Windjammer. I wouldn't recommend that if you like the dining kind of experience. We ate most lunches on Sea days at the Seaview cafe. We loved the soups, tuna melts, ruebens. Darn, never got to the wings!! We ate lunch in the windjammer only twice, embarkation day and once when the Seaview was closed. It was a fine buffet. We had breakfast on our balcony daily. Room service was very efficient. Occasionally we ordered fruit and cheese before our dinner(late, but for this cruise it was 7:45). We tipped liberally, also at the Seaview. Ports were good. Only complaints: really disliked Dawn Beach in Saint Maarten, peddlers were over bearing, and would not take no for an answer. I read about that beach here on cruise critic and wouldn't send anyone there. It has either changed or poster has a twisted sense of humor. Bought nine bottles of liquor in St. Maarten, good prices, delivery to ship included. Next time we go to Bermuda I would prefer to dock in Hamilton or SG. We spent too much time getting around, especially Sunday when we took the bus to Hamilton only to discover every thing was closed. We lunched there, then took cab to Horse Shoe Bay, started to rain within an hour, another cab back to ship. Spent about $100 on transportation that day with little enjoyment, but Bermuda has gorgeous scenery, and the people are so nice and polite. Right at the Wharf there is an awesome museum at the fort if you like history, and also a nice little snorkel park. The dolphins can be viewed as part of you $10 museum admission. Other notes: we enjoyed the piano bar, some dancing, the walk around the ship on deck 5. We never gambled, we just don't like it, and never went to a movie. You just can't do it all. DH and I thoroughly enjoyed each other's company, it was all very romantic and relaxing. Ten days passed much too quickly, we both want to go on the Jewel again, but next will be a family cruise with our three kids, either late in May, or Xmas 2006. Disembarking was a breeze. We were Gray, third off, stayed in room until around eight, upon advice of our wonderful steward and were off the ship with a porter who got us a cab immediately. We stayed one night at the Long Wharf Marriott, divine bed, upgrade to concierge level, and let us check in way early. The weather in Boston wasn't good, so we did a trolley tour, took a nap, walked to Quincy Market for appetizers and martinis, the ordered the biggest lobster to share at Legal Sefood. Called it an early night as we had to get up at 6 for our flight. Speaking of alcohol, no problem at all bringing on board in checked luggage, and if you like wine I would recommend the wine package. We got the 7 night package, and you can get it anywhere and take it back to your room with the cork in opened bottle. I am wondering about the October 12 Jewel cruise. The weather was very bad in Boston that day, and some of the ports, like San Juan have looked bad also. I wonder if they got off okay, and followed the regular itinerary. We had a wonderful time on this vacation. If anyone has questions regarding the Jewel or ports I will try to answer. Happy Sailing!

[Gracie115]

New here-

 

We are booked on Jewel in January in JS also, does the curtain pull all the way across the room the way it does on the Sovereign? Thanks.:)

[larkwind]

Gracie115--if you're on the Jan 2 sail, check out our meet&mingle thread. We're still convinced we're the only 4 groups on the ship :)

[comfortcove]

We never "unleashed" the curtain, as it was just the two of us. I seem to remember the rod in the ceiling extending about 2/3s of the way acroos the width of the cabin. We loved the JS, it was perfect for us. Nancy

[TheBeachBears]

I loved reading this; we cannot wait till we go, Thanks again glad you had such a wonderful time.

[Catseyes]

Comfortcove - Glad you had a great cruise, thanks for your review, enjoyed reading it. Agree with you the Junior Suites are pretty good, we had a wonderful time in ours, we were given an upgrade at embarkation from D1 to JS, a lovely surprise.

 

Wish you lots of more sailings.

 

Tessa:)

[rrmanlht]

Thanks ComfortCove .... for a great review...

My DW and I are going on Jewel Dec.3 for an Eastern Caribbean cruise and we are very excited to be going on this beautiful ship. We have been on RCCL's Rhapsody of the Seas and she is such a fabulous ship. Our cruising buddy's talked us into this cruise and we can't wait. We have JS room 1040 and have had JS rooms on all our crusies so far. It would be hard to downgrade at this point.....LOL. Can't imgine why...???? LOL. We are from Texas ... as is our cruising buddys and this will be our first cruise from the East coast. Anything else you can add to make our trip better would be appreciated.

Thanks Again ... for your POST.....:D

[comfortcove]

Thanks all for your kind wishes. You are going to love the Jewel, wish we were booked again on her really soon, this has been a tough week, so back to reality and so not into it! Some of our awesome tablemates, thanks Pat and Bob, sent us pics this week. I already wrote them a thank you on really neat handmade notecards from Labadee. Each one is a work of art. Hard for me to answer the general questions, but specicfic to our itinerary, here goes: Labadee was really a paradise. Climb up Dragon Point, and experience why it is called that. Bring cash to shop in the craft mart. They will take No for an answer, but have some really cool things, like painting, carved wooden art and the aforementioned handcut bamboo notecards. Nobody touched me, my husband couldn't take the hard sell, and waited outside. Bargain, but not too hard, these people are really impoverished, give them a break. Also, San Juan immigration is a real pain. It took a couple of hours for our # to be called, and you are s'posed to wait in public areas, cannot hear calls in your cabin. I would not book private tours there for this reason. We had been there before, and just walked around a bit, made a few purchases. We love the fort there. Lastly, if Barry from Boston is playing in the Schooner, go see him. He is so talented, and takes requests. Tell him Nancy and Gary from Virginia send their best, please. Have a great time all! We almost booked the Grandeur with the kids for December 22-26 this year, but decided no way could we be happy with 4 days. We usually do 7, the JOS was our first 10 day, and it was so great. Hope we live a long time, so someday when we have time we can enjoy many long cruises together. It is so great to get to day five or six, feel you are finally relaxed, and you still have days left. Enjoy the Jewel, can't wait to go again on her someday!

[nomie]

Thanks so much for the positive review. We are sailing on Nov 1 for the 12 day repo cruise. Just read a negitive review so this makes me feel so much better.

[Pumbaamd]

Great to hear about your Jewel cruise. We were on her older sister, the Brilliance, last January and loved her sooo much that will be on her again this coming January for 11 days to Panama. All the Radiance class ships are fabulous. . . if you've been on one, try the others. Whether it's the Jewel, Brilliance, Radiance or Serenade, you won't be dissapointed!

[BarryFromBoston]

Thanks for your compliments. Cheers from San Juan!

 

Barry from Boston.

http://www.barryfromboston.com

[BarryFromBoston]

Thanks for your compliments. Cheers from San Juan!

 

Barry from Boston.

http://www.barryfromboston.com