Jewel Nov 5th TA

[bill0021]

Hi,

I was booked to be on this trip but there was a family medical issue and we had to cancel at the last minute.

Just curious how the cruise is going.  I know the itinerary changed.

I hope the seas are calm with the revised route?

Best,

Bill

[Clarea]

There was moderate movement from Gibraltar to the Canaries.  We are in Tenerife today, with 5 days at sea coming before we reach St. Maarten.

[138east]

As Bob said, the seas have been very good so far. We also got to sail through the straits of Gibralter in the afternoon instead of in the middle of the night!

[bill0021]

5 hours ago, 138east said:

As Bob said, the seas have been very good so far. We also got to sail through the straits of Gibralter in the afternoon instead of in the middle of the night!

That is a plus!

Happy to hear the seas are not too bad.  

[kernow]

We are now on the second of our five sea days. Beautiful warm sunny weather today with fairly calm seas, the outside decks have been busy but still plenty of sun beds.

 

Julie

[fredflint]

two questions  since I will be on the Jewel heading back to Europe in March:

 

How is the internet speed, the last Royal Cruise we have VOOM and could watch netflix with no problems at all.  I have read that Jewel does not have the Full Voom treatment, just how fast/slow is it?

 

What do they have for guest speakers we really enjoyed the speakers on  both Celebrity and RCCL missed it on Norwegian? 

[Clarea]

6 hours ago, fredflint said:

two questions  since I will be on the Jewel heading back to Europe in March:

 

How is the internet speed, the last Royal Cruise we have VOOM and could watch netflix with no problems at all.  I have read that Jewel does not have the Full Voom treatment, just how fast/slow is it?

 

What do they have for guest speakers we really enjoyed the speakers on  both Celebrity and RCCL missed it on Norwegian? 

 

Internet speed has varied.  Two days ago it was unusable for email and web browsing.  Yesterday it was fine, this morning it's not bad too.  I cannot predict if video streaming performance will be acceptable to you.

 

There are usually some enrichment lectures on a transatlantic cruise.  We had several on the same cruise a year ago.  I've not noticed any this trip.  That could be that I've missed them, or possibly the change in itinerary we have had been a problem with the planned speakers.

 

 

[fredflint]

Thanks for the update please keep us updated, we would have been on the cruise but my wife found a great deal on a tour to China so she is off to Shanghai tomorrow and we are going to try our first  Eastbound TA in March.

[Clarea]

Another perfect day today, this will hard to beat. 

[kernow]

37 minutes ago, Host Clarea said:

Another perfect day today, this will hard to beat. 

We're not doing so well at the progressive trivia though.

[Clarea]

15 hours ago, kernow said:

We're not doing so well at the progressive trivia though.

 

It's still great fun!  Where else would we find that there's a place called Perth in Scotland?

[DragonOfTheSeas]

I have not found the internet to be very good.  As Bob says it varies.  In the early morning it seems OK.  Later in the day when others are on it is very slooooow. 

[Bobal]

18 hours ago, Host Clarea said:

Another perfect day today, this will hard to beat. 

 

Obviously much better weather than the same crossing last year. Enjoy 

[kernow]

Lovely weather again today, just going up to get a sun bed, plenty still available. Even though they say that the cruise is full there always seems to be plenty of room everywhere. 

 

Julie

[fredflint]

Glad it is working out, we were on the Epic last year and it was nice but not much for activities.  We still had a very relaxing time.

[kernow]

9 hours ago, fredflint said:

Glad it is working out, we were on the Epic last year and it was nice but not much for activities.  We still had a very relaxing time.

This is pretty much the same, not as much going on as on other TAs we've done. Luckily the weather has been nice so it doesn't matter too much during the day. For us the shows have been poor, we did have a Beatles tribute act last night that we enjoyed and a deck 80s/90s party at 10.30 after dinner. The cruise director is a bit lacklustre, she turned up at the party for about five minutes, didn't speak and then disappeared. Haven't seen her around the ship very much.

 

Julie

[Bobal]

11 minutes ago, kernow said:

This is pretty much the same, not as much going on as on other TAs we've done. Luckily the weather has been nice so it doesn't matter too much during the day. For us the shows have been poor, we did have a Beatles tribute act last night that we enjoyed and a deck 80s/90s party at 10.30 after dinner. The cruise director is a bit lacklustre, she turned up at the party for about five minutes, didn't speak and then disappeared. Haven't seen her around the ship very much.

 

Julie

 

It's interesting you say that. We did the same crossing last year and thought the entertainment/activities were poor, except the weather was also poor too. We vowed never to do a crossing again unless it was on one of the big ships with lots to do in the event of bad weather. 

The cruise director was a man (can't remember who), so it wasn't the same one

Edited November 15, 2018 by Bobal

[kernow]

4 minutes ago, Bobal said:

 

It's interesting you say that. We did the same crossing last year and thought the entertainment/activities were poor, except the weather was also poor too. We vowed never to do a crossing again unless it was on one of the big ships with lots to do in the event of bad weather. 

The cruise director was a man (can't remember who), so it wasn't the same one

I think we were spoiled two years ago on a Brilliace TA when we had Clo as cruise director, she was fantastic. This time it is an Italian lady called Simona, she seems very low key.

 

Julie

 

 

 

[sellwingri]

The biggest positive is that the weather has been very nice.  The food, in our opinion, has been absolutely horrible.  I usually don’t complain about the food but on the majority of days, it’s almost been inedible.  In comparison, on our last cruise on Explorer in August, the food was wonderful.  Not sure if this is because it’s a transatlantic or because we’ve heard there’s a lot of newbies in the kitchen.  We’re on Jewel again in February so I hope it improves by then.

 

Cruise Director has almost been invisible and entertainment hit or miss.  The passenger talent show was really fun as was the Beatles tribute band.  Other shows ranged from ok to bad.  

 

They did allow us to order free diamond drinks in the dining room and dress on several nights was casual so jeans were ok.  

Edited November 15, 2018 by sellwingri

[kernow]

Food for us has on the whole been OK, in fact we were just saying at breakfast that we think it has improved compared to the last Brilliance TA. Service in the dining room has not been so good though, they seem overworked and not sure what they should be doing at times. We too have put that down to perhaps a lot of new staff. 

We were talking to a couple who were on the previous cruise and they said things were noticeably better.

 

Julie

[mishelly76]

Was on Serenade last year and really enjoyed the crepes in the buffet.  Was disappointed to not see them on Navigator this past winter.  Have they made an appearance on Jewel?  I think I read this was a radiance class thing.

[sellwingri]

7 minutes ago, mishelly76 said:

Was on Serenade last year and really enjoyed the crepes in the buffet.  Was disappointed to not see them on Navigator this past winter.  Have they made an appearance on Jewel?  I think I read this was a radiance class thing.

Yes, they were available in the Windjammer at least once.

 

[mishelly76]

2 minutes ago, sellwingri said:

Yes, they were available in the Windjammer at least once.

 

 

This makes me so happy!  LOL

[jean87510]

Internet with the streaming has been ok. There were no real discount packages that I've seen so if you plan to get it, do it pre cruise. Voom alone has been offered at $15,99 for one device and with stream $19.99 I believe. I got 2 devices with stream for 18.99 pre cruise. I've watched Netflix and YouTube every day and Amazon prime. Gym pass for unlimited classes is pretty good. I did mostly the yoga since I am running/elliptical for cardio. Specialty restaurants- izumi very good. Was there 2x. Chops very good. Giovanni's not good and poor service. Never ate in mdr since I hate the cramped table set up for 2 people. Windjammer was ok. Entertainment is not good at night in theater. I haven't seen one comedian listed? I'm not big on the production shows or Jersey redux, Motown, Beatles. It just isnt for me. I like real rock shows. The shows on 4 were actually more interesting. The indoor movie theater the 2 days I tried to get in had a line waiting before show started. Movies have been good ones but the same 7-8. Inside TV channels are terrible. Staff is really nice on this ship.  Regarding the pool, right now it's around 11am and I still see chairs around pool. It's a beautiful day. There was a woman doing laps earlier for a 1/2 hour but shes out of pool.

[texmex.ferr]

On ‎11‎/‎14‎/‎2018 at 10:33 AM, Host Clarea said:

 

It's still great fun!  Where else would we find that there's a place called Perth in Scotland?

That was an easy question!!!   All  the other Perth's would be named after our Scottish one!!   lol

 

Hope you're still winning the Trivia's and having a good trip.

 

Margaret