JEWEL b2b (Greece/W Med) semi-live Aug24 - Sept14 REVIEW w/lots of photos

[Hoopster95]

We decided to continue meandering back to the hotel, but before getting back there wanted to stop at Basilica Santa Maria Maggiore which is very close to Termini. There's a ton of history here that's too long to explain

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilica_di_Santa_Maria_Maggiore

Mainly, this is one of the four major basilicas and termed as a "Papal" basilicas of importance. While the basilica is free entry, they have "private area" tours which include the crypts and a Bramantine staircase like the one at the Vatican.

The mosaics found in Santa Maria Maggiore are one of the oldest representations of the Virgin Mary, they date back to the 5th century and are some of the oldest untouched original mosaics to be found, one of them being above the altar in the dome (top right of second picture below)

After this visit I mostly put my camera away. We cleaned up and met Beachcruzer & DH for dinner. This would be our worst dinner in Rome unfortunately as we did no homework of the restaurant we spontaneously stopped at as it was conveniently located close to the hotel at a very busy tourist area right beside Termini. Oh well... can't be perfect. After dinner we decided to walk off our meal by heading back to Trevi (30min there and another 30min back) and meandering the streets in the evening

Whew! Another busy day site-seeing and we were bagged! Tomorrow it's embarkation and we were really looking forward to it.

[Beachcruzer]

I'm so impressed you were able to get a picture without 1,000 people around you!

[Hoopster95]

We were to meet Beachcruzer & DH promptly at 9:30am for a transport with Cabs4Rome. Maurizio would be our driver and we had excellent communication with him by email to book the transfer. They do pre/post excursions, airport transfers, you name it.

http://www.cabs4rome.com/

 

After breakfast at 9am, we walked up the street to grab wine to bring aboard... the highest priced wines at the local super markets were 11-13euro... and they were top shelf quality at that "high" price!!! There were also cheaper 4 euro wines. Folks, grab some of the better wines as they are very inexpensive and makes great dinners at Giovanni's & Chop's that much better. Also note we grabbed 4 bottles both both cruises, expecting security to take 2 of the bottles away upon embarkation and give them back to us on the 2nd leg... that didn't happen, we walked right in with the 4 bottles no problems, no questions asked.

 

Maurizio picked us up at 9:29am sharp.... not 9:30am lol! In fact, as we were walking down the street from our annex building, Beachcruzer was walking our way to look for us as Maurizio was already there and wondering why we were late! Rather have someone on the ball instead of 10 minutes late wondering why they are, so I appreciated this.

 

I believe I mentioned in the semi-live portion of the review that our ride to Civitavecchia was super fast, we arrived just before 10:30am. What a piece of cake compared to talking the 19e per person train from Termini, dealing with luggage on/off the train, walking from Civitavecchia and grabbing the port shuttle. At 135e for a super comfy Mercedes van 4 people we paid 75e per couple incl tip), transfers drive right into the port directly in front of the ship terminal.... no fuss. Also here seemed to be a bus pulling up as well (I suspect RCL transfer from FCO) so we didn't hesitate going right on in as we assumed embarkation had started even this early. We gave our luggage to the porter and went in.

 

 

They must've just started the process as hardly anyone was there, no lines... there were already others at the desk checking in, so we were able to walk right on up to an available clerk. In approx 10 minutes with Seapas card in hand, we were walking out of the terminal to the gangway.... Home for the next 14 days!!:D

 

 

[Hoopster95]

First order of business... head up to Giovanni's/Chops to confirm our 2 night BOGO package purchased on-line.

TIP: Even though I'm D+, I booked the $30 BOGO on-line... thanks to little britain's review earlier this summer. The D+ benefit is useless with this promo to everyone, and actually works out minutely less expensive with the package vs. using my D+ BOGO. My motivation was to have something booked in case things were being booked up ahead of time.

 

As per my last two experiences with FNDR and/or BOGO, we did not have a reservation booked by RCL so we were open to book whatever we wanted. Very easy, Chops the 1st night, Giovanni's the 2nd... easy peasy. Done with dinner reservations, it was time to do my ritual embarkation ship tour!

 

Back of deck 6, what better place to start than at the Safari Club.

 

And right away I explained to my gf the back of the safari club is probably the least utilized high-priced real estate on any RCL ship... almost always empty during the day when no event reserved, yet one of the best floor-to-ceiling aft window views you can have.

 

This area did in fact hold events on both cruises both day and night... art auctions and so forth during the day, The Quest/game shows/nightly dancing in the evening

 

 

Just to the right of the stage is the entrance to Chef's Table... I did not book it this cruise vacation, although the room was super nice and spacious (The RCL website deck plans show this as the "Serengeti Card Club)

 

And heading out of the Safari Club you can see the "games" area with the self-leveling pool tables

[Hoopster95]

Moving ahead we walk through the games room, looking back at the pool tables... the left one was not functioning on occasion and I believe had to be fixed. On both sailings (especially the first one with many more teens and kids), the pool tables were always full with others waiting each time we wanted to check them out.

 

Turning away from the pool tables looking forward through the lobby doors is the Schooner Bar, with access also to both Giovanni's and Chop's

 

Giovanni's (cruise planner $20... on board $29)

 

Chops (cruise planner $29... on board $35)

 

Schooner Bar was extremely busy both cruises, the busiest I've seen in a long while. Most all seating was filled at the bar as well as around the piano

 

Surprisingly enough as you walk away from the Schooner Bar towards the centrum, the couches here which a normally empty(er) were also filled the times we walked by.

[Hoopster95]

Gf has never been on a Radiance Class ship, and walking out through the Schooner Bar entry and around the corner into the Centrum, we had some time to soak in the atmosphere and the differences from the Royal Promenades of the Voyager Class as well as Harmony which we had sailed previously. Sticking with deck 6 and making our way through, we passed by the Martini Bar, a beautiful space with great furniture, and view at at sea as well as the Centrum.

 

 

Here was also the entrance into the Casino... it didn't smell like smoke now on embarkation, but it sure was smelly all other days. We avoided it like the plague! Thank goodness we did not ever get any smoke smell at any time when we walked danced on deck 4, walked through on deck 5, or headed up to deck 8 to our cabin. I did not play any games or tournaments the entire 14 days on board.... much better things to do (like site see amazing cities!).

 

 

Unlike Serenade & Radiance, the area right after the Casino is not a well-served British Pub. Here on Jewel it's still the old Pit Stop sports Bar which I obviously incorrectly assumed RCL was removing on the refurb. Unfortunately a waste of space in my humble opinion. The few times we walked through there at night during prime evening hours it was totally empty, not a soul... compared to the bustling casino right next door. There are way too many other options on Jewel than to sit in a closed in room with no view just drinking and watching sports on TV.

 

[Hoopster95]

We continued through to the front of the ship towards the theatre to get our first look there... again a first look at a Radiance Class theatre compared to Voyager/Harmony style (and size) theatres

 

 

Walking around from the starboard to port sides of the ship, we walked away from the theatre back towards the casino, and you immediately come to the Cinema. I do not have a list of all the movies they currently had running (you can see them in the Compass I'll be posting each day)

 

 

 

As you can see in the 1st photo above, walking forward from the cinema you go through the "Pit Stop" bar once again, and also the Casino, in order to get to the Centrum. From here we went down to deck 5.

[Hoopster95]

Deck 5 from the centrum froward to the theatre is very simple... it's simply a long corridor leading to and from the on board shops, a small central lobby area separating leading to the photo gallery from the shops, and then the photo (and art) gallery. At the lobby area below, there is an exit out to the deck 5 promenade, and this area also serves as the entrance into the conference rooms ... this is also where b2b cruisers met on debark/embark day

 

 

We went back into the theatre on deck 5 to look at the lower seating. Truth be told I really don't enjoy the upper balcony seating and always wondered why the D+/PN/suites reserved seating is up there, unlike Harmony where the jeanies saved the first two front rows for example. I've tried up/down/side on various ships for various acts and imho the lower level is where to be for the best views and to enjoy the performances the best.

 

 

[Hoopster95]

From the theatre, we took the elevators up to deck 11 to explore the top two decks. We turned the corner to the Vitality Spa and noticed a difference right away... the lobby area there was much smaller, and trying to look into their small hallway I couldn't see the stairway up to the gym I really didn't want the hard sell "tour" of the spa, so we did an about face. I suspect the restructure of the entry was due to the other side of deck 11 being smaller due to the new cabins. Didn't matter... I never entered the spa the entire 14 days. We headed out the other way into the Solarium for our first look and to get a feel of the Solarium cafe as well

 

Here on the port side there are the many tables to support the Solarium cafe whereas there are loungers lined up against the window on the starboard side. This is a great place to slow down and have a snack or lunch vs. the chaotic WJ

I'll have pics of the Solarium cafe in a later segment

 

I am very happy to report that not once... yes, not a typo... not once were we approached or solicited by a spa staff, specialty dining rep, or anyone else. However, the sales booths were clearly out to sell various packages.

 

We were interested to head up and check out the lounges so we headed up the stains at the Centrum and came across the Loyalty desk on deck 12. I needed to check out the vie down into the center of the centrum 8 decks below from the center glass.

 

[Hoopster95]

The CL & DL still in mind, we made it to deck 13 and I wanted to have a look at the Vortex Lounge (aka Viking Crown), the great dance floor set up and the rotating bar. This is the nightclub spot for after hours, yet quiet during the day for those wanting a view as well. No need for DL overflow on these cruises, however I'm sure these seats will be totally packed on the TA with D and up C&A members when overflow is needed

 

 

Besides the CL, our favorite bar on the ship.... and guess who the bartender was?? Yes, Ravi! He worked the Vortex until closing. Not only that, I was able to start a "Ravi Ravi Ravi" chant one night as the bar had not rotated. I had asked whether it was broken or not, he simply said they don;t use it much anymore. He pressed the secret button and off we went for a couple of rotations, so I can confirm the bar does in fact rotate. I guess there were about 12-14 people around the bar and by comments/reactions not a single person knew the bar could rotate.

 

[Hoopster95]

It was time to check out the Concierge/Suite Lounge. Besides our cabins, this turned out to be our second home from night 1 onward, from the moment we met Diego and Ravi, we pretty much knew even if the view was better in the DL we would likely spend the majority of our time here....

 

and here, the new outdoor area of the CL. Very nice and very comfortable. We had breakfast out there a couple of times as well as evening drinks.

 

 

Ravi's home... The CL was barren for the 1st cruise, however I estimate doubled in patrons during the second. This bat seating well well used during the 2nd leg.

 

The Diamond Lounge is nice too. Although smaller than the CL with tighter seating, it has the better view overlooking the pool and looking forward. We sat there 2-3 times duiring the cruise specifically for the view either at sail-in or sail-away.

The food offerings were exactly the same as the CL (I checked).

 

[Hoopster95]

Time for food! We took the few flights of stairs down and headed to the Windjammer

 

I understand this cake was served at dinner in the WJ, however they had it on display here at lunch

 

The only other Windjammer set up I liked better than Radiance Class was Quantum (and incredibly the newly designed WJ on Harmony is outstanding... but I digress), with Q being set up kind of in the same way with angular serving areas and excellent flow from one section to another. Pretty easy to find anything you needed

 

And they had an delicious Rosemary ham to boot!

 

We took a table with my name on it (usually on the railing at the very back with a view) and had our lunch with a nice view over at the Oceania Riviera and one of the MSC ships

[Hoopster95]

Close to finishing lunch, rooms were announced open to cruisers at 12:55pm, so off we went to check out our cabins.

Hoopster: "Say Beachcruzer, where's your cabin"

Beachcruzer: "I don't know, my TA booked it as the best room in the category and I said go for it"

Hoopster: "so, you don't know where your room is and you didn't look it up???"

Beachcruzer: "Nope, all I know it's a balcony on deck 8"

 

Alrighty... so off we went down the Centrum stairs to deck 8. I knew I had a hump cabin so we turned into the hallway and said to Beachcruzer we'll catch up to you later as she's checking her paperwork... she's turns down the hall with us. I told her we're right here on the hump, only 3 doors in from the opening of the Centrum and they stop as well.... look up at the door.... look at me.... and start laughing. No joke, with no planning/calling/emailing whatsoever her TA booked the next door a\cabin to us! What are the odds? Hilarious.

 

 

I posted a few pics of our cabin 8596 upon boarding in the semi-live portion of the review here

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=53903233&highlight=8596#post53903233

 

Here's a couple more... plate of cookies (why?). Note the corkscrew (in the glass). Note the blue sticker on the neck of the wine bottle indicating to staff that this should bot be charged the corkage fee as an amenity gift. Note that we had 5 bottles of wine brought on board (4 on embarkation and another in Olympia) and not one of them was charged a corkage

 

I want to point out another in room upgrade for the refurb... a larger/wider safe. This was nice actually, easier to fit stuff.

[Yorkvillain]

Incredible review Hoop. I'm loving this.

[Hoopster95]

Well, no luggage to put away yet, so let's talk a walk top deck shall we?

 

Vacation was already underway for many as the pool deck, Pool Bar and Sky Bar areas were already starting to fill up

 

Walking around to the front of the ship, there's plenty of loungers here away from the noise of the Pool deck area if desired. The times I was in the gym or walking up front, this area was well used.

 

Many memories at this exact spot on Serenade... right beside the water fountain, the best starboard/forward vantage point for photos and video when entering ports.

 

There's two sets of stairs leading down to this "dead end" deck overtop the helipad. On Serenade it was labelled "reserved for gold card holders only" as a private suite guest lounge area, however here on Jewel there was no signage at all, open to everyone.

 

Deck 12 also has exit/entry doors into the gym on both sides. Here on port side also has the start/finish line for the jogging track.... 6 laps = 1 mile

[Hoopster95]

Incredible review Hoop. I'm loving this.

 

Thx York... my life in now complete ;p

Feels like I'm plowing through this a bit as so many CC'ers know and love Radiance Class already.

I think the ports of call segments are going to be awesome so hang in there :D

[Hoopster95]

We headed inside to check out the gym

 

Yep, as usual we used the gym on sea days and the turn-around day. Other than Quantum, this is my favorite gym in the fleet with the best views out from the cardio equipment and just the nicest overall layout (other than the free-weight area)

 

Lots of various equipment, including spinning classes and pilates equipment available. For the record, the pilates is very basic, so if you know your stuff expecting to have a great workout, don't waste your money and do your own workout. The class is very toned down.

 

 

Various classes are offered daily

 

And if you're not an inside gym person, there's always the outdoor half-court for basketball and volleyball, however due to it's limited space only a few poeple get any use out of this at any one time, and on the first leg of the cruise with many teens/kids it was always rather full.

[Hoopster95]

Btw I didn't teleport from the gym on deck 12 forward to the sports court deck 11 aft... we walked from the gym past the Solarium and pool deck to the aft area to check things out that we haven;t seen yet. Besides the sports court, there's entry into the Adventure Ocean areas for the kids/teens programs and most of the doors were locked at this time, so no photos sorry. I've got some decent photos of Adventure Ocean on Serenade here:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=44309745&highlight=adventure#post44309745

 

Just past the Sport court is the "Colony Club". I really don't know what they do in this area... to me it seems to be a throwback area of yesteryear that is no longer useful.... you know, sign out your rifle for skeet shooting, or join the shuffle board competition for example. I found out in Santorini and Cagliari RCL used this area for staging a sail-in event for D+ and up.... more on that in those segments.

 

 

Looking out over the aft end of the ship and the canopy covering the Windjammer seating area.

Btw, there is no Rita's on Jewel, so both sides of Jewel is nice outdoor style couch seating lfor WJ leading out to the back deck

 

Turning the corner to the starboard side is Izumi, where the Seaview Cafe used to be. There's also some outdoor seating here which is really nice overflow for WJ if cruisers know it's actually there. There are stairs leading directly up to this exact location from the WJ rear seating area.

 

 

On every RCL sailing I have a picture taken with a liferaft at some point during the sailing showinfg the name of the ship.... here was my chance! Geek... I know

[Hoopster95]

All that's left to see out aft is deck 13 Rock climbing wall and mini-golf

 

 

From here you also get a good perspective of the updated CL outdoor patio which is partitioned from the rcok climbing area.

 

Kiddie pool area and mini-slides

 

And finally mini-golf

 

[Hoopster95]

While my gf decided to head back to the cabin to check if luggage arrived and maybe take a nap, I wished to head out onto the helipad to give her some space prior to muster and a restful nap. Down to deck 5 I went and out onto the promenade

 

This sign is on the swing gate the staff can close blocking access into the forward hallway leading to the helipad... obviously not entirely correct

 

 

Don't know why, but the helipad was closed this embarkation day

 

[Hoopster95]

Heading back to the room myself prior to muster, I took a few random pictures of areas I hadn't taken any yet, including Tides Main Dining Room

 

Centrum looking up from deck 4

 

The hanging artwork in the Centurm from deck 8

 

Muster was upon us. It was rather long as we found out for both cruises that English, Italian and Spanish announcements were all done in full. we headed back to our room to chill out and clean-up a bit, and instead of getting out of the room in time to head up to pool deck for sail away, Capt Dustin was pulling out almost right away after muster was over, so we simply enjoyed sail-away from our cabin and then got ready for some time in the CL & dinner

 

 

This evening we met Diego and Ravi for the first time. we also had Chops booked for 6:30pm. Just an fyi, at all specialty dining we had window seating.. couldn't ask for anything better. There were only 2 other tables there at 6:30 but by the time we left Chops was half full, not bad for day 1. I have no food porn for you this evening, but I can tell you dinner was excellent...we shared dinner with Beachcruzer & DH, and I believe all of us had the fillet.

 

We did not make it to the all-aboard show, the only one of the evening, so instead we quickly headed upstairs for a final drink in the CL before Ravi closed it down. The rest of the evening was relatively busy as tomorrow is a sea day, and the Europeans normally stay up later anyways. 10pm hosted the 60 seconds or less game show, and the various bands were playing throughout the ship. The Centrum was busy as was the Vortex somewhat. We were getting tired though, so as it was starting to bring in the night-owl crowd, we opted for bed to recharge. Restful sea day ahead!

Edited September 20, 2017 by Hoopster95

[Hoopster95]

 

 

 

 

[Jennywren113]

Awesome! Is it bad that I got up early to read this before work?

Thanks once again for such a detailed review, it's making me excited for next September. Can't wait to be back on radiance class and so glad we opted for Jewel and not Symphony. Looking forward to the rest.....keep it coming :)

[Hoopster95]

Awesome! Is it bad that I got up early to read this before work?

Lol!! Cruise Critic obsession ;p.

 

Thanks once again for such a detailed review, it's making me excited for next September. Can't wait to be back on radiance class and so glad we opted for Jewel and not Symphony. Looking forward to the rest.....keep it coming :)

 

re Jewel vs. Symphony... if you're sailing in order to explore the ports all day long and enjoy the history/site-see/beaches/etc like myself, then Symphony would have to be the absolute worse choice. Even on Jewel, I never once sat in the Martini Bar for example, never once did I climb the rock wall... remember this is 14 days and there many things I did only once or never did at all on Jewel, let alone Symphony! Many CC'ers can't even do everything on Oasis Class in one week staying aboard the entire 7 days let alone getting off to enjoy the ports.

 

In my humble opinion, for Europeans who have been to Rome/Barcelona/etc ... like Americans who have been to Nassau, Cozumel, etc many times.... they may wish to stay on board the entire 7 days of a Symphony cruise to experience the ship. Then Symphony would be a perfect choice if they simply want to experience the newest ship before she sails to Fort Lauderdale for good. It comes down to the perspective of what the cruiser wants.

 

Personally for my needs, comparing my Jewel Southern Carib sailing to my most recent Harmony, I would personally go back on Jewel vs. Harmony, and I just don't see myself looking at Symphony or any Oasis Class very seriously for quite sometime.

[Jennywren113]

I see on an earlier post you mentioned taking the wine to Chops or Giovanni's, I did not realise you could do this. Do you just rock up with your bottle and they charge (or not in your case) corkage? What about the MDR?

 

As far as Symphony vs Jewel goes, you are so right. For us it was the itinerary of Jewel which won hands down over the curiousity of trying Oasis class. :)