The Jewel of the Seas is our favourite class of ship on RCCL, big enough to offer all the amenities but not so big as to be like a holiday camp. We chose the itinerary out of Tampa for a short cruise prior to a longer cruise in the eastern Caribbean. The 5 night itinerary went to Key West and Cozumel, with two sea days.

We drove to Tampa airport from Orlando, dropped the car and transferred to a cab at 11:30, and were on the ship by 12:00 - not much wrong with that. As usual you can't access your stateroom until 1:00 but, as we were in a suite, we could sit in the concierge lounge until it was ready. Our Grand Suite had plenty of room, a full size bathroom and loads of storage. My wife and I disagreed about the decor, I thought there was too much brown on the carpet and the chairs, but I suppose it's a matter of opinion.

The room attendant was excellent, particularly at trying to resolve some of the issues we had with the room. These included problems with the television, which were only partially resolved after three days, and warm water coming out of the cold taps (basin and bath/shower), which was not. Read more