Norovirus had broken out the cruise before; we didn't get to our staterooms until after 11:00 p.m. and many other cruisers after that. We were not kept informed of progress to "sanitize"; waiting areas were crowded, staff were not helpful. The first two days of our cruise were 'lost' as a result of the problems and of course everything was blamed on the additional work needing to be done as a result of the virus. We are sending a letter to RCCL detailing all of the issues. The line should have opened the bars- free of charge - and should have planned activities and other things to do while we were on board and at sea and not allowed to go to our cabins. I recommend potential cruisers also check other websites because many cruisers on this ship stated they would be writing to RCCL and posting comments if requested by their travel agents and on websites.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
1 out of 5
Our wait staff tried but the new menu was not nearly as good as any of the prior menues and we have been cruising with RCCL since 1997. The chef on the Jewel needs a remedial course in cooking. You would think that the "doneness" of meats would be pretty standard and yet when medium or rare cuts were requested, they would always be well done. Fruits and vegetable just did not look appetizing.
Entertainment
1 out of 5
Everything just seemed to be mediocre except the magician who was very good. The activities are the same on every ship but were much more limited on this itinerary; there were a lot of much older people on this ship but there should have been more to do for those of us without gray hair! The same games are played on each ship and it seems on each itinerary. It is time they change some of the activities/ games (eg: The Quest, the same questions in the Love and Marriage game) so those of us who cruise frequently won't actually know the answers to the questions or what the quest will be seeking!
Children's Programs
1 out of 5
From other cruisers we got the following: the children's activity center was not opened the first few days of the cruise because of the virus the week before and NOTHING was done to keep the few kids on this cruise occupied. RCCL should keep the kids from the adults only areas and when notified by other cruisers that kids are misbehaving, they should remove the children from those areas.
Service and Staff
1 out of 5
On this particular cruise, we found problems in just about every area especially with guest services and with the supervision in most departments. I understand staff were bombarded with uphappy cruisers but they should have gone out of their way to try to make cruisers happy- especially those of us with platinum and diamond status and they didn't even do the bare minimum to try to keep us happy. The cruise started off badly and didn't seem to get much better.
Ship Quality
1 out of 5
Seems something must have been wrong with the quality since on our cruise the norovirus broke out again. Kids were not kept out of the adult areas and people cruising with a toddler allowed the child in the hot tub after taking her 'pull up' off. When the pool staff were given this information, they stated they told the parents to take the child out but they would not listen. The supervisor said the parents said she was toilet trained. If so, why was the child in pull ups? When asked by a cruiser, the mother stated in case they couldn''t make the restroom in time. RCCL should enforce their own policies.
Toured on our own as no one shore excursion went to the places we wanted to visit. Easy city to tour on own. Buy the Stockholm Card as it does save money on musueums and transit,
Excellent port- Definately take shore excursions so you don't have to get your own tourist Visa. Excellent tour guides. Hermitage, Cathedrals and palaces all were wonderful tours.
Not sure why this ship has this on the itinerary. Not much to do there unless we picked a poor tour. There is an amusement park there which- even traveling without children- would have been more fun then the city tour.
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