My husband and I were very much looking forward to our week long cruise. We wanted out of the cold weather to warm ourselves in the Caribbean. We purposely picked this cruise because its itinerary showed 3 ports we had not been to before - Tortola, Domenica, and St. Kitts. When trying to book an excursion in Tortola I had read on Cruise Critic that back in the spring the RC ships were not stopping in Tortola due to port construction. I was concerned but not overly so until we go on board and discovered our first port was St. Thomas, not Tortola. Apparently only those who booked excursions through RC in Tortola were told. Fortunately we've been to St. Thomas enough and we have our own snorkeling equipment that we just ferried over to St. John for the day.

The best part of the whole trip for us? Our table 475 at the 8:30pm dinner seating. The last 2 cruises we were on we were not so lucky. The last one our table mate was a single gentleman who lived in a nudist colony and the one before that we ate alone. Our waiter Johnny and his assistant Geraldine were fabulous and we made 8 new friends including another couple from our hometown. If you sail on Jewel of the Seas tell them you want to sit at Johnny's table.

We advance booked reservations at Portofino and Chops Grille. I was very surprised to find an additional charge for lobster at Chops. The food there was very good but the service was lackluster. A large party with a reservation came in and they were told to wait outside while their table was prepped. The restaurant was virtually empty, save for a table for RC officers, at the time. i don't think they were ever seated. A table next to ours was never cleared so we looked at dirty dishes glasses and linen while we ate. Someone had spilled wine on the window and the spill was still visible. Read more