Comparison Jewel of the Seas & The Caribbean Princess

[WelshieLover]

I have posted this on the Royal Caribbean threads too

 

RCCI Jewel of the Seas December 01 – December 09 2007 number of passengers around 2200

Princess Caribbean Princess June 25 – July 01 2007 approximately 3100 passengers

As you can see these two ships were quite different in size. The Princess always seemed crowded and the Jewel never seemed crowded. I cannot pinpoint if it was because of the time of year and the different crowd on each ship. The Princess had a really large mix of people – lots of families with young children through teenagers, people in their 20’s straight up to retirees. The Jewel being that school was still in session had a lot less families (only those with preschoolers) and very few people in their 20s or 30s. There was also a group of over 700 on the Jewel associated with a Nutritional Supplement company. They had meeting on sea days. Still the pool and common areas on the Jewel never seemed as crowded as it was on the Princess.

In June we traveled with 18 family members. In December it was just the two of us. I think traveling with others is the way to go. Even though there were a lot of us, we still had our private time and we still met other cruisers. Being just the two of us we met people to socialize with, but I think it is more fun to travel with other family or friends you care about.

We loved both ships and would cruise either line in the future. There were definitely some pluses and minuses to each.

Remember this is subjective and just my observations. Everyone’s likes and dislikes are different.

Stateroom

The size of both rooms was about the same. Princess had a much better closet set up than the Jewel. When you entered the room on Princess you had off to your left or right a very wide closet almost the width of the cabin with lots of hangers that can accommodate easily 4 empty suitcases and 4 carry-on bags as well as clothes for 4. The closet creates a nice “changing area” hallway with the bathroom and also in this area is a floor to ceiling cabinet with shelves and the safe. The closet on the Jewel was along the wall as you enter the room with doors on it. Inside the closet were some shelves. It had less than half the hanging space than that on the Caribbean Princess and we could not fit all our suitcases and carry-on bags in the closet and we only had 2 people on the Jewel where we had 4 on the Princess. Thumbs up to the Princess for the closet and changing area set up. As far as the bathroom goes, they were very similar. Thumbs up to the Jewel on the mirrored door for the bathroom shelves. A very big thumbs up for the shower door versus the curtain on the Princess. The curtain would often cling to you while you were showering also water would often spill out of the shower onto the bathroom floor. Princess Cruiselines provide individual sized shampoo; conditioner and body lotion form their Lotus Spa line. RCLL only provides shampoo in a wall dispenser in the shower stall. It is good that I knew this and brought my own as I would have been upset. The blow dryer that the Jewel had was what appeared to be a full size one. I did not use it as I brought my own from home because the one on the Princess was a travel one that did not work well at all. Both cabins had a nice desk area and a mini-fridge. The Jewel had a loveseat in it the Princess did not. We really did not use the loveseat we had our empty suitcases on top of it quite a bit of the time. We found the beds on both ships comfortable enough. We did not ask for “egg crates”. On the Jewel we had some really fantastic towel animals in our room most night often wearing sunglasses sometimes holding the TV remote and watching TV. There were no towel animals on Princess, but while it is a nice touch it would not stop me from going on Princess again just because they don’t have towel animals.

Staff and Crew

The Staff and Crew seemed a little friendlier on the Jewel. I don’t know why they just did. More personal greetings.

Décor and Public Rooms

The Décor on each ship was very different. The Caribbean Princess was much understated and the Jewel was more themed. Both were very beautiful ships. I lean a little towards liking the Jewel better. The Jewel’s buffet area called the Windjammer was done it up very nicely dark mahogany toned woods with a nautical theme but not over the top. The outdoor eating areas that spilled out from the Windjammer had nice wicker style furniture. The Princess’ buffet area was understated it looked like a nice restaurant but nothing popped out at you as special. The outdoor eating areas that were adjacent to its buffet were the plastic resin furniture. The Main Dining rooms on both were too similar to compare. The lounges on both were both very nice. Club Fusion on Princess was similar to the Safari Club on the Jewel. Club Fusion was larger but the ship held a lot more people. The theater was very large and had more than enough seats. We often found that the theater on the Princess did not have enough seats. The Jewel had a small stadium seating Movie Theater that may have sat 40 or so people, but was never full. The Princess would show movies in its big theater and also on its MUTS (Movies Under The Stars) screen by the main pool. This was really nice at night. If you are into gambling the Casino on the Jewel is much larger than the one on the Princess.

Pools

Both ships had 3 pools each. I think the ones on the Jewel were smaller but never crowded. One was mainly a kid’s pool with a water slide. One called the Solarium was for adults only (over 16) and was inside and air-conditioned. It had an Asian theme with lots of plants and privacy. It was beautiful and peaceful.

Drinks alcoholic and non alcoholic

For a cold lemonade, ice water, or Ice Tea, the Jewel was the winner. In the Windjammer the staff always had plenty of already poured drinks for the taking. On the Princess you would have wait in line and serve yourself. As far as alcoholic beverages the Princess wins hands down. I am not a huge drinker, but on the cruise I would like to get a cocktail each day. I found the cocktails on the Jewel “stale”. I don’t know if that is the right way to describe them, but on the Princess tasted much fresher.

Food

The food was quite a bit similar on both ships. The Windjammer set-up was much better than the Princess buffet area. There was a lot more space between the food stations and was easier to maneuver. Princess has anytime dining in one of its restaurants and the traditional early and late seatings in its others. The anytime dining would have been nice, so we could have been on deck for more of the sail aways. My travel agent said she had set us up for the late seating but we ended up with the 6 PM seating. I think the meal portions were larger on Princess (although do you really need that much?). I also think the presentation was better on Princess. But overall taste and quality was very similar.

We did not eat in any specialty restaurants on the Princess. We did eat in Chops – the steakhouse on the Jewel. It was an additional $20 per person for the meal. We chose it over Portofino’s – the Italian restaurant because I do not enjoy seafood and its menu was seafood intense. I think my expectations were too high. I was expecting a much better quality of meat than was server. I have eaten at some really good steakhouses in NYC, Baltimore, Philly and Boston and this steak did not even compare to them. The side dishes were really good, the atmosphere was wonderful and the service superb, but it was not worth the extra charge. The steak I had the last evening of the cruise was the same quality I was served at Chops.

The Princess had a burger and pizza place right by the pool. This was better than the Jewel as you could get pizza and “hot” burgers and fries almost around the clock. The Windjammer had these things did not carry them all the time. On the very top deck there was a Seaview Café but again it was not open as long as the one by the pool on the Princess. This is really important to teenage boys.

Activities

Each ship had plenty of activities. Both ships had trivia daily. The Jewel had better prizes for the winners. The Jewel had shuffleboard, a rack climbing wall, mini golf which we did not find on the Princess. Both had basketball courts and virtual golf. I think both ships had plenty of activities for all age groups, although I think my son’s would favor the Jewel.

Shows

Entertainment on both ships was good. The Princess had more comedians who performed in both the theaters and the lounges. My family really enjoyed the comedians. The singers and dancers on the Jewel were really good. Sometimes I felt that the song choices were rather eclectic and there was not a seamless transition from one musical number to the next. On the Jewel we would often go to the shows with low expectations. One night they had Marty Allen (we didn’t know he was still around – he is 86). We were pleasantly surprised he was not bad. His wife had a really decent singing voice. One night they had El Gaucho from Paraguay. He was actually very funny and entertaining.

Sports Fans

I really can’ speak for the Princess as I did not notice any location dedicated to sports TV watching, but on the Jewel there is a lounge called The Pit Stop. It had a NASCAR feel and the TV always had sports on. NFL football was televised on Sunday, Monday night and Thursday night. The rest of the time it was soccer. My husband watched Monday night football in our stateroom.

Smell

This is a little odd but I had to mention because I overheard another person who thought the same thing as me. The public restrooms began to smell as I overheard “like a latrine”. They seemed clean, the floors were dry, but there was an unpleasant odor. This was only on the Jewel. I would have remembered it if I had smelled it on the Caribbean Princess. It was noticeable.

Embarking and Disembarking

Both ships embarking process were similar. For disembarking in both cases you were giving a color tag that they would call when it was your turn to disembark. On the Princess we waited in the buffet area, which was very crowded. On the Jewel we waited in the Schooner Lounge. When we were called to disembark the Princess we walked right off into the terminal to pick up our luggage. When we called on the Jewel we went down to deck 6 to wait in line that spanned under the lifeboats into a tunnel down into the terminal. They should have let us sit longer so we did not have to wait in a line. We saw people having to get out of wheelchairs to stand in this line. It did not make a lot of sense.

Overall these were both great ships which we would not hesitate to sail on again!

[Kerry&LuAnn]

Great job of comparing your experiences with these two ships. Thanks for taking the time to provide this helpful information!

[Nymue]

Well, Looking at the dates I think it's easy to see why one was crowded, and one was not. You sailed one during Summer vacation time, while most schools are out...hence LOTS of families ;)

The other was off season....kids in school. Difficult for people with children to sail.

 

I have posted this on the Royal Caribbean threads too

 

RCCI Jewel of the Seas December 01 – December 09 2007[font=MS Reference

Sans Serif] number of passengers around 2200[/font]

Princess Caribbean Princess June 25 – July 01 2007 approximately 3100 passengers

As you can see these two ships were quite different in size. The Princess always seemed crowded and the Jewel never seemed crowded. I cannot pinpoint if it was because of the time of year and the different crowd on each ship. The Princess had a really large mix of people – lots of families with young children through teenagers, people in their 20’s straight up to retirees. The Jewel being that school was still in session had a lot less families (only those with preschoolers) and very few people in their 20s or 30s.