It would be incorrect to say that our recent voyage aboard Royal Caribbean's Jewel of the Seas was the worst cruise experience we have endured. That honor still belongs to a Carnival cruise to Mexico that we took a few years ago. This trip, however, was a far cry from the fabulous cruise experiences offered by some of the better cruise lines such as RCI's sister company, Azamara.

To be fair, RCI does not pretend to be in the same class as Azamara , Oceana or some of the other premium cruise lines. On the other hand, RCI should recognize that many of its passengers are really turned off by their al-la-carte pricing approach, by which just about everything available on board, other than the cabin and basic meals, costs extra. I spoke to dozens of passengers who felt the same as I on this subject. Also missing on this ship are some of the little things, such as having hand cream, shampoo, etc. in the cabins. This is surprising because even the lowest priced budget motels commonly make these necessities available. The ladies in our group particularly missed not having a chocolate morsel on the pillow every night. Sadly, this customer comfort is not feature that is offered on the Jewel of the Seas.

I can understand charging extra for a meal in the specialty restaurants, ($40 per person), or for a glass of beer or wine at the bar, ($7 plus 15% mandatory gratuity), but charging for a cup of espresso at dinner seems downright ridiculous. Even bottled water in the cabins was an extra charge item, ($3.95). The cruise line did come through with some free drinking water, however, when the folks in the cabin next to ours discovered that the water coming out of the faucet in their bathroom was black and foul smelling. Read more