"Panama Canal Tour" (from Colon, Panama, $150), one of many canal-themed excursions involves a bus ride to Gamboa to board a small 200-passenger ferry which then heads south through the canal, through the Pedro Miguel and Miraflores locks and ends at Isla Naos near Panama City in the Pacific. A 90 minute transcontinental bus ride then returns you to your ship in the Caribbean. The ferry felt crowded, but overall a unique way to experience the canal and locks. Initially, we had wanted a cruise itinerary which actually transited the locks, but in the end, the ferry gave a much much more interesting, up-close and intimate view of the locks; you could simply reach out and touch the sides when drained. Our ferry was so small it shared our "lockage" with another, plus some millionaire's sailing catamaran with lots of room to spare. Recommended, and consider this option over a classic ship transit itinerary if the Panama Canal is on your bucket-list. 


Colon (Cristobal)

“Rainforest Lagoon Kayaking” (from Puerto Limon, Costa Rica, $74). A short bus ride to a tired locals' resort hotel bordering a canal to a river where you board 2-person modern kayaks for about 90 minutes of paddling through the rainforest lagoon. Fine as far as it goes, but: The rainforest lagoon is really an open, “uncanopied”, canal-like river bordering a highway behind the trees. Saw one sloth, some birds, some small bats. Not at all the tropical rainforest you might expect. Overall, not awful, but not worth the money. Other more genuine rainforest tours probably better. Oh, and it poured, but that was actually part of the fun! After all, it's a “rainforest”... 


Puerto Limon

(Copied from main review body)
Booked Deluxe Ocean View balcony Stateroom 8042 for us, and Interior 8025 for the daughters.
Our balcony was unusual in that it was tucked into the indent where the superstructure narrows on Radiance-class ships, and was therefore triangular, facing 45 degrees between port and aft.  This is also the case with the similar 8542, 9032/9532 & 7048/7548 on Jewel.  Drawback is that those balconies are half the expected area, while still very usable. You can see the balconies to your aft, and they can see you on the balcony, but never into the room.  Plus is that you get plenty of sunlight and a great sky & ocean view from the bed as there's no partition facing aft giving a much more "open" feeling.  Overall we liked the arrangement, but it may not be for those who chase every square inch of balcony real estate and crave total balcony privacy.

Two shore excursions we took merit comment:

"Panama Canal Tour" (from Colon, Panama, $150), one of many canal-themed excursions involves a bus ride to Gamboa to board a small 200-passenger ferry which then heads south through the canal, through the Pedro Miguel and Miraflores locks and ends at Isla Naos near Panama City in the Pacific.Three formal nights on this 10-night trip, which included Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve with very nice events for both.

Jewel of the Seas Review

Christmas+NewYears on Jewel of the Seas

Rating by category

Additional details

Cabin Review

Deluxe Ocean View Stateroom with Balcony

Find a Jewel of the Seas Cruise from $289