I took my 15 year old son on this cruise to experience the beautiful islands of the Southern Caribbean. Overall we had a fabulous time and I would recommend it to others. We found the Jewel of the Seas to be in great shape and clean. The dining room staff was excellent as was the food quality and choices. Our stateroom attendant took good care of us and we rarely saw him. He was unobtrusive, which was nice. The ports we visited were my driving force in booking this itinerary. It was very port intensive with only one sea day. We flew into San Juan to board the ship and the ports we went to were: St Thomas, St Kitts, Dominica, Barbados, and St Maarten.

In St Thomas we took an excursion to Tortola to swim with the dolphins. I booked this prior to sailing via Royal Caribbean. It was an enjoyable and educational time. I felt there was plenty of interaction with the dolphins and the dolphin trainer we worked with was very knowledgeable. The dolphin discovery place has photographers who take beautiful pictures for you to view and purchase afterward if you so choose-no pressure whatsoever. We did purchase the CD because we like to remember our vacation memories. The place also had clean facilities for showering/changing, a food service area, and a gift shop. It is set in a picturesque location and enjoyable to spend a day in such a park. The ferry ride over to Tortola from St Thomas is about an hour and you do have to pass through customs on each end. The tour guide gave us the appropriate paperwork to fill out in advance so everyone was well prepared, which sped up the process. There was a 15 minute ride from the ferry terminal to the dolphin discovery place each way.

On St Kitts we had booked a city highlights tour with Beaulah Mills from Welcome Tours prior to sailing. We got to meet Beaulah as soon as we walked out of the cruise ship terminal building and she walked us to our driver and made introductions so we could start off. We saw some beautiful gardens at both Palm Court and Romney Manor with opportunities to get out and walk around. Our driver pointed out many monuments, schools, hospitals, and businesses along the tour. We stopped at Timothy Hill and got to take pictures of a beautiful overlook where the Caribbean and Atlantic meet separated by a mountain. At the end of the tour you are left at a beach with unlimited beach time and at the agreed time the driver comes back to drive you back to town. We had lunch at a beach shack called Jam Rock and walked around to see all the wild monkeys and a mongoose or two. It was a fun and educational way to see St Kitts. Read more