Jewel of the Seas Review

Thanksgiving Cruise

Review for the Western Caribbean Cruise on Jewel of the Seas
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bostonfamily
2-5 Cruises • Age 50s

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Additional details

Sail Date: Nov 2011
Cabin: Deluxe Ocean View Stateroom with Balcony
Traveled with children

Jewel of the Seas (2004) was a delightful ship. This was a family 5 night cruise out of Tampa Florida.

Tampa Port: My DH dropped us off with our luggage at the port entrance and he parked our car across the street from the Port for 15 per day. There were lots of porters with rolling carts to take away your luggage into the large holding area. When we cruised with NCL out of Venice we rolled our own luggage into the holding area where we could keep our luggage in plain view. Here, the porters start loading up their carts and turned to me looking for a tip ! A tip for walking 12 steps into the holding area ! Okay I tipped him one dollar per luggage and trusted that he would roll my luggage into the correct area in the cavern like holding area. We were then ushered into a line going up the escalator and finally into a semi-air conditioned entrance on the second floor. At this point, I was hoping that my luggage would find it's way on board the ship. We waited for about 30 minutes to go through the security machines with our carry ons. They didn't ask me to throw away my 3 plastic water bottles and snacks / fruit from our car ride. Inside we had to fill out a form and line up again to check in with the RCI desk before walking the gangway to finally board the ship. This area was set up with many chairs, drink station and photo station.

Room 8560: We entered the Jewel of the seas around 2:00pm and our cabin was ready. Shortly after the luggages arrived and I gratefully tipped the RCI delivery guy. I've experienced a cruise without my luggage for 3 days before so you can imagine my relief. The balcony of cabin 8560 had 3 chairs and a very small side table just large enough for 4 drinks. This cabin has a pull down single and a side sofa chair which turns into a single bed. The closet had maybe 15 wooden hangers (some with clips for pants) and 12 to 15 small boot - box sized shelves (larger than a shoe box size). I like the NCL Gem better for it's surprisingly wide deep storage shelves in their balcony staterooms. The mattresses are a little firm by the way but that didn't bother us. The water pressure is very very good and the water is hot all the time ! The toilet has a great powerful flush too. The NCL has a rectangle shaped shower whereas this room had a circle shaped shower just enough for one person. Ammenities include a shower gel filled dispenser and solid soaps in the bathroom. Thanks to this board I knew we had to bring our own shampoo, conditioner and lotion. Our room attendant showed up to introduce himself and handed us his card for name + contact number. We only had 2 towel animals over 5 nights so our children weren't running back to seek them nightly like they did on the RCL Gem cruise. He did a good job of tidying up twice a day so we gave him the proper tips over the five days. No pillow chocolate treats at night by the way.

Cabin Review

Deluxe Ocean View Stateroom with Balcony

Cabin E1

The balcony of cabin 8560 had 3 chairs and a very small side table just large enough for 4 drinks. This cabin has a pull down single and a side sofa chair which turns into a single bed. The double door narrow closet had maybe 15 wooden hangers (some with clips for pants) and 12 to 15 small boot - box sized shelves (larger than a shoe box size). Drawers are difficult to open and in need of clorox wipes before using ! Balcony had no obstructions.

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