Sailed on the Jewel of the Seas 12/24-12/29/2011. Family of three: 2 adults and our 10 1/2 year old son. Flew into Tampa (from Baltimore) on the morning of cruise and took a taxi to the port. Easy. Checked our luggage in with a porter and were through registration and on board before noon! Port of Tampa was easy to navigate and plenty of people there to help and point you along the way. Had a decent buffet lunch as soon as we boarded and explored the ship until we could get to our rooms (which was around 1 PM).

Ship is a nice size, big enough to have lots of different spaces- but easy enough to figure out and get around. Ship is well kept/maintained. Crew seemed very friendly and made a point to always say hello and smile. Also- pool waiters remembered our names- nice.

Cabin was clean and we had an excellent room steward named Carlos. The only thing I didn't like about our room was the carpet seemed kind of old and could stand to be replaced. Especially in the area near the balcony door. I was glad I brought slippers! plenty of storage for a family of 3. Read more