We choose to sail sail on the Jewel for the itinerary and the fact that we were on the ship in 2016 and enjoyed ourselves. Our last cruise was on the Freedom of the seas and the food was terrible. We then decided to switch our already planned cruise from the Navigator to Jewel for the reliability.
The food: Here is the trick to Royal Caribbean ships. The my time dining is on the same level as the room service level. The food is not going to be as good as the set time dining because they are overwhelmed and overworked. Unfortunately since it was planned last minute, we were stuck on the my time level. There was only one main dining dinner I thought was good. It was when they moved us to the main level because there was cancellations. Otherwise the food this time around was just for survival.
The Service: “There is nothing we can do.” was the theme of this ship. There was never enough staff. We were always waiting in huge long lines. We talked with other couples that were on the Jewel before and they also noticed the change.