We traveled with our 3 children, age 21, 16, and 11. Also, traveling with us were two other couples. We flew into Fort Lauderdale the day before our ship left and stayed at the Comfort Inn. They were very busy and had a hard time understanding the people that worked the front desk. Also, in the middle of the night the other couple that was staying there with us had security knowing on their door demanding to know who was in there. For some reason they did not have them registered as guests. I would not recommend this hotel after our experience.

One of the biggest disappointments on the Jewel was the entertainment. It simply was not very good. We went to the Coral Theater 3 nights of the cruise. They never had anything happening on the pool deck. The pool closed between 7:00pm and 8:00pm every night along with the bars on the pool deck so you couldn't sit out by the pool and have a drink. Sometimes at night it seamed like a ghost town. Most of the people on the ship were much older then myself and my husband. There were very few people my oldest sons age and my daughters age. Thank goodness for Adventure Ocean for my 11 year. It was our saving grace for him and he really enjoyed that program. We had early seating for dinner and later in the evening it was almost impossible to find a snack or something to eat unless you ordered room service. The food was very good if you could find any. One evening after picking my son up from Adventure Ocean about 10:00pm I decided to try and go to the Seaview Cafe and get him something to take back to the room and I was told we couldn't take any food out of there. So we ended up going back and ordering him room service. Our last cruise was on the Carnival Miracle and they had food around the clock. There was pizza 24 hours and ice cream. The Windjammer cafe on the Jewel was locked tight as a drum and you couldn't get in for anything.

We did one excursion through the ship and it was to the Mayan Ruins, Chichen Itza. It was very good and our guide know a lot about the ruins. Read more