Jewel of the Seas Review

Great itinerary but wouldn't choose the Jewel again

Review for the Eastern Mediterranean Cruise on Jewel of the Seas
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ilovegoldens
10+ Cruises • Age 70s

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Sail Date: Sep 2016
Cabin: Junior Suite

We have taken 16 cruises, 5 of them previously with RCI. We chose this cruise because of the itinerary, which was very good. Embarkation was smooth in Rome and luggage was delivered within a couple of hours. Junior Suite stateroom 1598 was great, very large with tons of storage and a decent bathroom. Balcony was double length, it is described as obstructed, but this is NOT a problem, the shaded part was great in the blazing sunshine and meant we could have our room service breakfast on the balcony every morning. The window cleaning cage is located at the side of the balcony but does not obstruct the view at all. Cabin steward was excellent. Food in the restaurant was good BUT My Time dining is a bit of a joke. We have had this on other RCI ships with no problem - just book a table of choice time choice. However, on Jewel this did not happen. We might request 8.30 to be told we could have 7.30 or 9, this despite there always being ample space at any time. As a couple who prefer to eat alone in the evening, we did not wish to share a table, and this didn't go down well with the Dragon Lady at the bookings dest outside Tides restaurant. We were then, on the first night squeezed into a tiny table against a wall. After enduring this for 3 nights, we then asked for any table other than this one - again -Dragon Lady stare and a telling off. However we stood our ground and for the remainder of the cruise were seated in a better area. This lady really needs some customer service training! The Windjammer, where we ate only twice at lunchtime, had a very limited choice of dishes, and they were not replaced regularly - often the same (high risk food poisoning dishes) rice, pasta and shellfish were left for hours on end on only lukewarm heat.

Entertainment with the exception of the Motown group - who were excellent, was DIRE. Typical rubbish cruise ship cheese. I think RCI have diverted their better acts to their new large ships, but come on........ we who prefer smaller ships are paying customers too! Simona, the Cruise Director was dreadful, others we have met on RCI ships have always been very visible, mingling with the cruisers and very visible. This one was never seen out and about, and when she did make an appearance it was all about her!

Something else which has changed since our last Royal Caribbean cruise, is their beverage package. We had booked the Select Package which was wine and beer. However it soon became evident that the quality of wine available in this package ( up $8 a glass) was virtually undrinkable and the beers available were very few. We therefore visited Customer Services to try and uprade to the next level ( which used to include better wines, more selection of beers and spirits and cocktails). However, we were told that this middle tier had been scrapped and if we wanted to upgrade we had to go for the Deluxe Package which included everything - BUT was much more expensive.

Cabin Review

Junior Suite

Cabin JS

Great size cabin, more than enough storage space. Decent sized bathroom with bath. Balcony double width, described as "obstructed" but really isn't. Window cleaning cage is stored to the side of the balcony, but does not restrict views. Shaded area to one side of balcony was useful for getting out of the very hot sunshine. Cabin steward excellent. Only downside is that it is quite a walk to the lifts

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