Jewel of the Seas Review
3.5 / 5.0
Amazing Panama Canal sailing
Review for the Panama Canal & Central America Cruise on Jewel of the Seas
newmercies
6-10 Cruises • Age 60s
Rating by category
Cabin
Value for Money
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Dining
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Additional details
Sail Date: Mar 2019
Cabin: Spacious Ocean View Balcony
We love Royal and especially Royal sailing in our backyard in San Diego California!
You should know about embarkation - Royal doesn't have their own terminal in California, so they were using another cruise company's facility. This meant a little more chaos then we had seen at Galveston or Miami. The process for platinum up to diamond category was no faster than a first cruiser would have taken, as the only short lines were for key program or pinnacle. No benefits for loyalty points, unless the top tier or paid.
Once on board, we explored this smaller ship in a short time. Finding a comfortable bar, and staying put until the cabin is ready. We booked this cruise late, meaning we were able to book an ocean view, not a typical balcony.
Cabin Review
Spacious Ocean View Balcony
Cabin 4B
Frequent cruisers will know that the cabins on 10 on a Radiance Class ship will sometimes be located aft beneath the Windjammer. Yes, that's where we were, every morning at 3:00 am wakened by staff vacuuming the floors above us. In addition, in the midst of a sea day, maintenance decided to replace the tile floor in a beverage station on 11, necessitating the use of a jackhammer. For hours on a perfect sea day afternoon enjoying the cabin balcony, we heard jackhammers above our heads. This inconvenience did annoy us, however, we still were happy to have the balcony instead of the ocean view cabin.
Port Reviews
San Diego
We stayed at the Wyndham across the street. We walked across the street to the port. It's literally 100 yards away. Since California is home, we were able to take the train down to San Diego and walked to the Hotel from the station. It's less than .5 miles away.
Puerto Vallarta
Our third trip to Puerto Vallarta. We did some light shopping and returned to the ship.
Puerto Quetzal (Antigua)
Guatemala, the land of volcanoes. We were surprised to take a small bus. Really small. Of course, that's because the streets in Antigua are tiny tiny tiny. Our cruise tour was very knowledgeable and shared some of the challenges faced in living there. The small co-op we toured before the city, had some of the most beautiful weaving I have ever seen. All by hand, as did the coffee roasting. Would love to return to Guatemala. Don't miss seeing the chicken buses - every district or route has a different paint scheme.
Colon (Cristobal)
We weren't enthusiastic about the excursions in Panama. The crossing of the canal was the highlight of the entire cruise. Nothing else was needed.
We were enticed by the color roofed shopping area just off the ship. Venturing there we found a very small also disappointing shopping center. Although, there was a Panama Hat store. For fun, we went through the grocery store/market which we found more interesting. Maybe we're boring, or just foodies, it was fun to see the local produce and brands carried in the market. Spending less than $20, we picked up a bottle of sparkling. Being semi-novice cruisers, we were surprised to find ship security confiscate our wine and return it late on the last day of the cruise. No cheap drinks for cruisers!
Miami
We carried our luggage off the ship and were surprised to see half the ship did the same thing. The wait was almost an hour for customs.
We had just gone through customs in Miami in December and breezed off within 15 minutes, so surprised to see such an issue. Be prepared.
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