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Brilliance of the Seas

Navigator of the Seas

Serenade of the Seas

Jewel of the Seas

Independence of the Seas

Rhapsody of the Seas

Vision of the Seas

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Ovation of the Seas

Transatlantic that was exactly what I hoped for

Wellington

I have been on two other transatlantic crossings, both of them on the Brilliance.  I expected a similar experience on the Jewel, as it is also a Radiance class ship, like the Brilliance.  However there was no comparison.

On the Brilliance you knew you were in for a special cruise right from the time you boarded and were greeted and served champagne.  Not so on this ship.

On the Brilliance each evening at the special reception for Diamond and up guests the crew dressed in themed costumes and the lounge was decorated in a similar theme.  Not so on this ship.

On the Brilliance the Centrum was decorated for departure and upon reaching the final destination it was re-decorated to reflect the place of arrival.  Not so on this ship.

Cabin service was exceptional.  Food in the Windjammer buffet and the main dining room was good also, but the buffet deserts were only good sometimes, other times poor. Entertainment was generally good.  The volume level for the pool deck movies was ear splitting and there were only a few people watching each night as a result.  The rest of the deck was deserted.  There was constant work going on with much noise and noxious odors.  Sea conditions were mostly very smooth except around the Azores and the last sea day from Valencia to Rome.  Temperatures were much warmer than expected and only in Valencia was there any appreciable rain, so the weather was far better than expected for a crossing this early in the spring.

The airport transfer in Florida was terrible, but the one in Rome was very good, although very expensive at $75 if booked with your cruise.  Inexplicably it was only $71.99 if booked on board!  Never experienced that one before!

Guest services staff were generally excellent.  

Overall the lack of the ship having that special atmosphere of an Atlantic crossing was a disappointment.  The ship staff obviously approached this has just another cruise, ho-hum.

Jewel Not a Diamond.

Great ship, Andrea, the cruise director is a gem. Afternoon concerts across the pond were great. Food ok but very boring; it is unfortunate that Adrea’s Enthusiasm does not rub off on balance of crew. Luggage handling, and shore excursion desk beyond poor. Expansion of diamond lounge was a great move. Luggage confiscated without notification or cause. Incorrect and conflicting information on shore excursions. No one at desk would double check with vendor for correct information.

I completed a cruise questioner on day 6, all above comments mentioned and ignored. 

Sometimes simple things can be best: egg drop, master chef contest, free speciality coffee, all great ideas. By what appeared to be a concerned crew, but lack of follow up in many other areas disappointing. 

Made my time dining reservations six months out, but had to change time due to another person. 

Entertainment was the cruise highlight, as was my mate

Still a jewel, but with tarnished facets

Chose this cruise because of dates and thought we would try something new. Reviews were good.  We travel Celebrity as a rule.  Use TAs as transportation 

Extremely disappointed in this ship.  

Food was absolutely inedible.  First night in Giovanni’s ordered filet medium well.. was medium rare and took 25 minutes for another.  Too late. Tho the shrimp was good

Chops Ok

MDR service poor except for one evening.  One night we sat for 20 minutes and finally asked for a server.  Food poor.  Buffet the same.  Fresh Vegetables looking worse for wear within days of sailing.  Jello for dessert!  

Public areas not clean.  Restrooms dirty.  Paper on floor.  Men’s restroom not clean around toilets. We spoke with housekeeping but to no avail. The “canned” air in cabins debilitating in spite of our balcony. Too much smoking...can’t believe people allowed to smoke INSIDE the casino 

On a positive note...liked layout of the ship.  The crew was fabulous!  They truly cared about their passengers.  They did a nice happy hour for diamond etc every night.   Nice to have decent coffee in diamond club.

Our cabin steward was terrific.  Our cabin was nice. 

Officers were disengaged.  When I saw an officer and spoke to him or her I usually got little or no response 

I’m sorry to say it was a terrible experience.  We shall never use RCL again.  We are back

To Celebrity.

Disappointing Crossing

Saint-Tropez

Instead of flying from Rome to Canada, chose to do a TA with some interesting places and some heat, we then switched to the Celebrity Summit to do a one week southern Caribbean.  Despite disappointment with the Jewel itinerary changes,we had a great time.

Embarkation and disembarkation were easy.

Ship was old, mid-size, but had more offerings and character than some larger ships.   Inside cabin was spacious enough.  Dining options in the main dining room and buffet were better than Celebrity, especially the lunches!

Entertainment and activities were standard for this class.  The live entertainment was very good with lots of dance music available.  Some of the games were fun too, even if we'd seen them before.  Service was excellent throughout.  Dining room staff including head waiter and maitre'd were exceptional.  

We never felt harassed to buy drink or dinner packages.  This was a major annoyance on Celebrity.

Diamond benefits are excellent.

Would definitely do another Royal Caribbean.

Very impressed!!

Royal Caribbean Jewel of the Seas Nov 5-17 2018 Rome to San Juan.

This was our first time on RC and was not disappointed at the ship and staff.  This is the best room we have had on any ship and the crew was above average.  This reminded me of my first cruise many years ago when the crew was happy and new your name.  The Captain was a hoot, and would come on each day announcements with a cheerful and positive attitude. This was a very long trip so we spent 3 days in Rome before leaving, and was in our eyes the highlight of the trip (all the rest was extra cake).  Two day before leaving we had gotten contacted by KLM that our flight had been canceled due to Air2sea booking a year ago on a Bump flight?  We had to call Air2Sea and tell them about the cancelation.  They did not have any idea that it had happened.  I insisted that KLM had canceled the flight and I had called them and confirmed that it was, and that I should contact RC for any information.  First observation of RC is the disconnect between the travel and the customer.  They should have this information first before me.  They then told me that it was a good thing that I had Air2Sea and they could fix this.  They rebooked on Delta and my 2 stops turned into 3.  The Delta Flight was very good and we had and additional hour with a very uncomfortable flight on Italy Airlines (not recommended no leg room).  While in Rome they then sent another email that said all the Jewels itinerary stops had been changed due to weather (changed to Canary Islands and St. Martin).  This is probably a good call but other ships had been reported going to the places that we had just been changed from.   Most of the ship was looking forward to Lisbon as we had, and for this was disappointed.  Getting on the ship was a very quick event and waited for our rooms to get prepared.  Luggage delivery was very good.  I felt sorry for the couple that we met that lived in the Canary Islands (and just had flown out of) and joked that they could maybe do some laundry while off the ship at island (they lived at) they had just left.  

We had been spoiled a bit on Princess Cruises so the rest is observations of what could be improved for the RC Brand.  

We loved the food and lots of it, but not much variety.  Having theme food nights lets us have a taste of other countries.  We did not eat in the dining room at all but ended up in the windjammer when open.

The Café (latte tudes?) was very limited on food selection and while the windjammer has such limited hour 7am till 11 something could be expanded to a light snack early in the morning.  We had been gaining hours each night coming back from Italy and we would wake up at 4 am and feeling hungry.   All the restaurants had been closed, and the only one that opens at 6:30 is the Solarium Café that again is very limited to light snacks.

Internet was puffed up as fastest at sea.  Nobody I talked with thought much of it.  It’s took about 5 to 10 min to load the RC page.  They should have a backup system that when not by land can use satellite feeds from deep space to fill the low altitude satellite system currently used.

We loved the Movie Theater and would love to see this added to other ships.  The movies generally run one a day and then repeated on the big screen on deck.  We had to leave early on one of our favorite movies, and expected to finish it later but this was not replayed on the in room TV.  Suggestion is to run your played movies on the TV in the room as the kids shows currently are (in room TV is pay preview if you want a another movie).

What is up with the “cooler” in the room???  No Hotel room uses a cooler.  They use small refrigerators.

Coffee Lava azza! One word Nasty (you need to switch out to instant or McCaffee brand!

You can bring two bottles of wine but no Water or Soda onto the ship?  We don’t drink so water is important to me.  I spent over 50 dollars on the 12 liter bottles of water provided by the cruise line with 18% added on.  Other cruise lines do this for about 7 us dollars a case.

Smoking all over the ship.  Deck 5 had ashtrays all down the walking deck.  What about the kids that walk on that deck.  What about me that does not smoke, but is exposed by trying to get some exercise.   The smoking room is next to the Windjammer??.  The smoke drifts down the pool deck while trying to watch a movie.

Improve the daily activity that happens around the ship.  We felt a port expert would have been nice along with other information like education lectures (Paying passenger did volunteer for lectures giving in Geology that was appreciate).  This may have been slow because of the change of ports but thought that we should do more than just read, watch movies, cards, and shop in a very limited shopping area.  Long itineraries require the Brand to make extra personnel for this lull in long days.

We appreciated the extra personnel that were provided for future cruise desk.  Princess only supplies one, and is never at the desk.

Cruise excursions should be explained better.  One paragraph of the excursion should be expanded, and explained about mode of transportation and amount of stops for toilet breaks, and how much time spent at stops.  This was not explained until on the tour.

Overall the cruise was very nice, but have decided that this cruise line in present state is not for us.  We did have a great mix of people our own age, but just think it should be better.  Overall price of the trip was Great value.  We thank the excellent crew for success of our second crossing of the big pond.

First cruise on RC and pleased, but could be impoved.

Always wanted to take Transatlantic cruise.  I am glad we did it and with Royal Caribbean.

We can't think of any bad experience all the way. All the crew, food and entertainment was excellent.  We are already thinking about next cruise with RCI.

Starting from check-in and right up to disembarking at Civitivecchia the whole experience was very positive.  Had similar experience with every stop on the way.

Lot of choice with onboard dinning and again the food was very good.

We can't say enough for the great service provided by every member of the crew.  I believe the Captain sets the example of meeting and greeting all the passengers.

We managed our own shore excursions and enjoyed every bit of it. 

The cabin was very spacious and well laid out and our cabin attendant was excellent.

Thank you Royal Caribbean and keep up with your great service.  We will be back soon.

Great cruise!!!

Nadi

This was our second cruise with RCL. We chose the Jewel of the Seas because of the ports of call and it fitted best in our holiday planning. The embarkation and and disembarkation went very smoothly! It was impressive. We landed in San Juan at 10:30 and were on board eating lunch at 12. In Cicitavecchia/Rome our meeting time for disembarkation was 7:15 and we were at the airport at 08:50. 

I would go again on this cruise. The jewel is a very nice ship. Not to big and not too small  were so many activities on board and it really seemed like the crew and staff genuinely wanted everyone to have a good time. The food was excellent and a lot of variety and options. The service - especially in the dining room - was outstanding. Everyone made a point of knowing our names and calling us by name! We are already planning our next cruise.

Wonderful transatlantic cruise

As a New Diamond Member with Royal Caribbean and have done more then 42 Cruises with various companies. We are proud and pleased with the Enterainment on the Jewel of the seas. The " Fly On" acts i think were a lot more presentable and distinguished then the Ships production shows themselves. The Singers and dancers were probably the weakest then most ships.

However the ship was BUSY! with tons of variety and lots of entertainment options around the Vessel. This 14 night repositioning cruise had continuously brought out great bands in all lounges and great parties.

Andrea who is the current cruise Director from Italy ( coming from MSC and Norwegian Cruise line was out and about making sure all guests were having a great time. He was a very nice, organized Cruise Director. 

Disappointed to see the Cold Soups go.. from Royal. We did the Vision of the seas last year through Scotland, Ireland and they offered a different chilled soup each night.  Banana, Strawberry, EXTC.

Ports through the Canary Islands were extremely beautiful with fair port hours from the ship

we are very pleased and grateful for this cruise experience.

One of the Best Royal Ships we experienced being new Diamond Members

Transatlantic cruises are our favorite!  We choose this cruise because date worked.  Turns out it was one of our best cruises (30+ cruises).

We flew to San Juan late on Saturday & stayed at airport hotel (very convenient), took taxi ($19 plus tip) and arrived at port around 11am.  The port was chaos and porters rude.  Demanded tip before they would take bag (this was only negative of our cruise).  Once in terminal check in was very smooth.  Was on ship quickly and went up to Solarium to relax. 

Jewel of the Seas was showing her age slightly but it was immaculately clean and staff and crew extremely friendly, personable and informative.  

We had balcony stateroom (8026) which was nicely appointed, plenty of storage and very quiet.  Our cabin was also close to forward elevators.  Excellent cabin steward, Kevis.  He remembered little things and alway had smile.  Mattress very firm (translate hard).  Kevis went above & beyond to remedy that.  

Had excellent table with great table mates.  Our waiter and assistant were both new to their jobs so service was slow but they worked hard.  Fantastic head waiter Gianni.  He was very present.  He fixed issues immediately.  He also took special care of my husband who has special dietary needs due to health.  

Don't like changes to menu, especially only 1 new dessert each night but food was always delicious.  Loved the savory bite rolls.

Headliner shows were excellent this cruise though the production shows not as good as usually.  I would cruise just to see some of those entertainers again. 

The enrichment lectures were a disappointment.  Only 1 lecturer was scheduled and she was not a good speaker.   A real let down for my husband.

Being smaller ship, many activities were in Centrum.  It was just too small for some of the Activites held there.  There were only 25 seats.

The staff & crew were one of the best, if not the best we ever encountered.  The tone was set Captain Dustin and his officers.  The were present, always smiling and made us feel valued and welcomed.  There were a few crew who made our cruise so special by their warmth and friendliness.  They were not assigned to us but just went out of their way to greet you.  And once they knew you, they took the time to talk with you each time they saw you. (Maileen- dining room, Jennifer-bar staff, Loupesh-disembarkation Coral theater.

The ports were all beautiful.  We did 4 ship excursions-2 excellent, 2 not good.  The shore excursions manager Claudio was very helpful.  He listened and seemed to truly value our input.  He also made up for poor excursions.

Disembarkation was amazing.  It was relaxed, calm and peaceful.  Not the usual experience.  When we got off the ship, we were greeted by Captain Dustin and some officers with handshakes and a heartfelt thank you for cruising with them.  Like I said, amazing.

The seas were calm and weather good the whole trip.  Though it was breezy! 

The shuttle to Rome's City Center went so smoothly.  

A great cruise, tremendous memories, new friends and only 1 lb gained.  Hope we will sail on Jewel again.  She is a beautiful ship with even more beautiful staff & crew

Excellent start to finish

RCCL offered a very attractive price for this cruise, and we were looking for a smaller ship (i.e., less than 3,000). The Jewel is not new, but it has been kept up well and the public rooms are all very nice and comfortable. The service was outstanding, starting with a very visible and friendly captain from Canada. Everything operated very efficiently and, if something was to our dissatisfaction, the staff attended to it very quickly and in caring fashion.

The itinerary was terrific, making 6 stops (3 Canary Islands, Gibraltar, Alicante and Valencia, Spain with disembarkation in Rome). All the stops were very nice, particularly Alicante and Valencia. We had plenty of time to tour, and could walk easily to virtually all ports.

Entertainment/music was generally very good. A weak point was the so-called "enrichment program" with amateurs. Bartenders were incredibly efficient and service-conscious, and always with a smile (e.g., Javier from Columbia and Girish from Mauritius).

Embarking in San Juan and disembarking in Rome were extremely smooth. Captain and his officers met us either going off or coming back on ship at many ports--a nice touch. This is something you can hope to enjoy with a small ship, and the Jewel delivered. We've done a lot of transatlantic cruises--some on newer or bigger ships--but this was the best.

Best transatlantic ever

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