There were four of us in two Balcony Staterooms on the 9th Deck. Three of us had sailed with RCI before; two of us had been on Brilliance, which is the same class ship as Jewel. So, how did this cruise and ship compare to our previous outings with RCI?

First, embarkation. We shipped out of Harwich. The two of us living in England did not have to fly to our embarkation point - turned out to be a good thing because the Icelandic volcano was threatening flight interruptions. We were met at the dock and our bags were taken immediately. The line to get into the ship was huge, but my cabin-mate, Pam, who was on a mobility scooter, and I were at the disabled check-in counter; the other two in our party were at a regular check-in desk. All went fairly smoothly, and my friend and I went up to entry deck level in the lift (aka elevator). When we arrived at the terminal, we had hoped to find refreshments after our long ride from the West Midlands area. But no, nothing. When we embarked from Venice in 2009 we had been provided with lemonade or iced tea and cookies - BIG thumbs up for that. A "could do better" for Harwich.

The ship itself was as expected - clean and attractive. Our cabin was fine, and our steward was just lovely. Since we had less space because of keeping Pam's scooter and wheeled walker in the cabin, our steward kindly kept our luggage in his storeroom for us. Shortly after arrival we had the usual fireboat drill, but for the first time we did NOT have to don our life jackets. Read more