We chose this particular cruise because it was a ship that we had never sailed on.....the itinerary had all of the places that we had visited before, at least once, and wanted to visit again.....we received a great promotional offer for the booking and the drink package we purchased (which was even upgraded for both of us, which we were not aware of until we arrived at check in and were told so by the staff person who got us checked in).

It was the quickest embarkation process that we have ever encountered. This time around, there was an option for completing an online form for billing the credit card being used for on board purchases and use of the SeaPass account cards. That was one less bit of paperwork to have to fill out at check in. Once past the check in desk and heading up to the actual entrance onto the ship, we encountered a long line of people trying to get on board because the hand held scanner and equipment used for one of the two security lines was not working properly when the staff member tried to scan the bar code on the back of the SeaPass cards, so two lines merged into one long line.

The overall appearance of the ship was very good, for the most part. We noticed a large glass pane on deck 5 that had been shattered, but being that it was safety glass, it was all intact. There were strips of duct tape to keep it in place until the removal and replacement could be made. I can't recall any instances of coming upon items such as non-functioning public toilets or broken furniture, etc... There did seem to be a noticeable amount of burned out light bulbs, scattered all over the ship, in various public areas....Schooner bar, Windjammer Grille, Safari Club, Coral Theatre. The Jewel was a very clean ship inside and up on the public decks. Read more