Review Jewel of the Seas Voyage 8: 05/28/04 - 06/09/04 12 Days Itinerary: Harwich - Oslo - Copenhagen - Stockholm - Helsinki - St.Petersburg - Tallin - Harwich

Embarkation: I arrived at the pier early as I took the ferry from Hoek van Holland. As I had edoc´s I didn´t have luggage tags. The porter was available immediately, like waiting just for me, and as I told him about not having luggage tags he had them available in less than a minute. Of course they had to be filled out, so it´s a good idea to have a pen ready. I just asked him for tags to see how it works. I had some ready, self-made at home on the computer from the example that came with my edocs ( I would recommend this, but no hassle if you use the ones that are provided). My luggage was on it´s way in less than two minutes. At this early time there were very few passengers at the port and the check-in procedure had not started yet. The check-in procedure was scheduled to be started at 11:00 am but they actually started a little earlier. They set up different lines depending on the deck your cabin was located. And one for the Suite guests, as well as for Platinum and Diamond C&A-Members. I stood in line first for check-in. With filling the boarding documentation online prior to the cruise and signing the cruise contract and the credit card information at home too, the check-in was a breeze too. It was about a 5 minute procedure and could have been faster if the lady would have been familiar with the computer. She had to ask her colleague for every step. They said we couldn´t board until 11:30am but they started this procedure early too. Before entering the ship we had to get our picture taken and connected to the seapass card for security reasons and the carry-on luggage was x-rayed. You had to pass a metal detector like on the airport too. I was on the ship around 11:10am. Although the weren't ready till 01:00pm I went to my room to drop off my carry-ons. Lunch was provided at the Windjammer from noon. I first took a look around the ship and then had lunch at the Windjammer. My first impression of the ship was great and I felt familiar with many of the areas because I saw so many pics already on the net.

Cabin: My cabin (GS #1552) was great. I had lots of room for my stuff. The closet had three doors with large mirrors. The real closet was just between two of the doors. Behind the third one was just something like a space for hanging your jackets. There was also a bar in the room. Under the bar there were ten drawers and another closet and of course the fridge. The fridge was stocked with some items. It was no problem to remove them to put your own things in it. No sensors in the fridge like on some ships. By the way the Safe was in the closet too. It was one of the type where you have to put a four-digit number in to operate. The "living room" had a three-seater sofa and two chairs. There was a DVD-Player and TV too. The sleeping area could be divided with a curtain from the rest of the cabin. In the sleeping area there were two beds that con connect to make a queen. The night stands have two drawers each. The vanity was also in this area. It had another eight drawers. The bathroom was very spacious with a double sink, bathtub and toilet. There were another two drawers in the bathroom and a medicine cabinet behind the mirrors and closets below the sinks too. The balcony was reachable through a sliding door from the seating area. The balcony was spacious too. It was equipped with two chairs, a large table and an additional chair with a leg rest. I don´t know why they put only one of them on the balcony as it´s a double room and a second one could easily fit. There is a climate control in the room too, but I didn´t touch it as the temperature was ok for me the whole time. The cabin was very well isolated against noise. I never heard anything in the room. Even if there was some loud music in the Centrum nothing could be heard as soon as the cabin door was closed. Read more