Jewel of the Seas Review

Not the usual

Review for the Eastern Mediterranean Cruise on Jewel of the Seas
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m.morrow
6-10 Cruises • Age 50s

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Sail Date: May 2017
Cabin: Interior Stateroom

We have always have enjoyed Royals exceptional cruises, traveling mostly out of Florida and Puerta Rico to the all of the Caribbean, Mexico, and Central America so it was exciting to find this one while planning our trip to Italy. The expectation based on our previous experiences was very sad, we were not impressed. Being optimistic and gracious we will look at Royal in the future however will be more discriminating about our choices. The ports were not as exciting as we anticipated. Excursions were overpriced and not the best choices. We only used Royal for one excursion during this trip, enjoyed our outside excursion choices. The ship was very clean and tidy. Staff was very friendly but unprepared to give information relative to our locations or even happenings on the ship. Entertainment was far less than we've ever encountered on any previous cruising experience, big miss for this cruise.

Cabin Review

Interior Stateroom

Cabin K

Just right, we enjoy the quiet and rest of the interior rooms low in the ship. Outside of our first night when I had to go investigate the loud party noise that was going on for three hours at 1:00am; turns out we were next to a crew corridor where I found a dozen crew members sitting around (mostly on the floor), a table spilling over with glasses and bottles of alcohol, having a grand time. I politely told them they were being too loud; they did quickly disburse thankfully.

Port Reviews

Rome (Civitavecchia)

We came to the cruise after 16 days in Italy. Driving into the port to drop off the car was not easy. We drove around for an hour trying to find Avis, asked several people at and around the port where to go without any luck. Google map was not helpful either. We happened to see the tiny sign after much effort and was directed by the Avis personal to leave the car in the street (very uncomfortable for Americans). Dragging our luggage to the port shuttle not fun and directions at the port check in not helpful. Needs more signs and some friendly faces for direction.

Taormina (Messina)

Enjoyed walking the streets ourselves. The church in the main square was beautiful and the moving clock in its tower was a must see. Easy to grab a Cappicino and visit the market.

Mykonos

Again we chose after reviews to walk around on our own. Enjoyed the beautiful views, wondering through the neighborhoods of the island and checking out the Wind Mills. Food was lovely. Appeared to be a good spot for shopping, if that were your thing (it is not ours)

Santorini

Disappointed at first. The postcard view was no where to be found, yes white coastal buildings, a handful of blue roofs, and the water was beautiful to look at with no apparent way to access it. We failed to do our homework on this one although after talking to others who took excursions of all sorts they too expressed feeling disappointed. In the end we had a very memorable experience, near death you might say. Relying on local maps and locals we walked "hiked" unexpectedly the whole way from the chair lift at Fira to Oia, 7.2 miles... Oh! had we known... At the end we enjoyed a quick local meal and lots of water (we didn't have any with us for the journey), waited 1hr 20 min for the local bus that comes every 20mins ha, no taxis available, after being dropped at the wrong stop ran back to the lift and down to catch the last tender back to the ship. In the end I guess we conquered Santorini after she pushed us on.

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