From the time we boarded to the time we departed, my vacation experience was characterized by waiting on lines with inconsiderate fellow passengers and inept staff. Here's a very telling observation I made on our second day at sea: I commented to my husband at 10:00am that every machine in the gym was occupied, every table in the Garden Cafe was occupied, and every lounge chair by the pool was occupied. How could the Jewel not have enough space to accommodate all the passengers they booked?! This overcrowding detracted from everyone's experience and really ruined the vacation for me.

We were part of a large group so we ate most meals in the Garden Cafe. It was like eating in a cafeteria -- the food was plentiful but nothing special. I liked that they had Indian food every day but the food signage at the buffet stations didn't match what was offered. For example, they kept an 'Omelet Station' sign up all day but when I asked for an omelet at lunch, they said they're only available at breakfast. And on more than one occasion I was unhappy to find ham in what was labeled 'Eggs & cheese'.

They could do a better job with the lines if they organized the layout better. For example, syrup and toppings were placed before the pancakes and waffles in the buffet line so people had to go through the line twice or just cut the line (which is what most people did). Same thing with the soft serve ice cream. There were never fewer than 15 people in line for soft serve ice cream and part of the problem is that the toppings were placed before people got to the ice cream machine. Read more