Jewel of the Seas Review
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This was my first cruise on RCL and only my second cruise overall so I'm fairly new to cruising. As previous reviewers stated, the embarkation situation was a bit of a nightmare. I booked transfers through RCL from the airport to the port and waited 3 hours at the airport before a bus arrived. Then it was another 2 hour wait inside the tents to check-in. My friend and I decided to just wait it out until the line shortened so we sat in a shady, breezy spot. We were one of the last ones on the ship and boarded during the muster drill. We were told to go straight to our muster station. We were hot and hungry but just glad to be on the ship. At least our stateroom was ready! I've worked in airline operations so I understand that sometimes things go wrong so we weren't too critical of the situation but we heard plenty of complaints from the other passengers the whole week.
Inside Stateroom: My first cruise was on HAL which all bathrooms have a bathtub so this smaller sized one on Jewel made me laugh out loud when I first opened the door but it was definitely adequate and always clean. Plenty of space for my friend and I and the beds are soooo comfortable with nice linens. Cruising in a balcony cabin my first time, I was wary about booking an inside but found no problems with it whatsoever as I was only in there to sleep and shower. Being mid-ship on the 3rd deck, I found the location very convenient.
Dining: My friend and I did MTD and the first night we showed up right at 5:30 as we hadn't eaten much of anything all day. We had the best wait staff (Elmer and Carolina) so we made reservations the rest of the week so we could be in their station. My friend is gluten-free and they were very accommodating to her needs with always having a plate of GF bread for her and allowing her to see the menu for the next evening so she could make her order beforehand. We looked forward to our dinners every night so we could chat with them. Food overall was very good with most entrees being very tasty and filling and never cold. The chilled soups were excellent and my upgraded order of a filet mignon was cooked perfectly. Great experience at Tides.