Review of recent sail on Jewel of the Seas

Jewel of the Seas Cruise Review to Caribbean - Southern

Cruises: 4-6 cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 73

Overall rating:

4 out of 5
Verified Review
Jewel of the Seas

Southern Caribbean Holiday

Sail date: February 21, 2015

Ship: Jewel of the Seas

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 7588

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 9 years ago

Review summary

Overall the cruise was fine.  It has been some time since we last cruised and I'm assuming like everything else in this world, the service has gone down to what I expected and received in the past.  We sailed on RCI for the first time based on the high reviews that the cruise line received but were disappointed.  We received higher service on Celebrity. The ship is old and needs lots of upgrading although prices do not reflect this.   Although the food was mid grade, at bes,t for breakfast and lunch, dinner was exceptional.  The young people working breakfast and lunch looked like they were walking around in a daze or too busy chatting with each other to clean and clear tables.  More than once we had to ask.  Maybe the problem was that there were no supervisors on the floor.  On the flip side, the more senior waiters at dinner provided exceptional service.  Asked the front desk to print our boarding passes and was told rather rudely that we had to buy and internet package.   This does not happen at hotels and I consider the ship a floating hotel.  Neither the cruise line or ever informed us of the two formal nights on the ship.  Thankfully, I had brought a long summer dress and my husband had packed a jacket even though we were told on the website that this was all informal dress.  As for the RCI website and actual ship reality, night and day on several issues.  RCI either needs to do a better job of training their phone personnel and update the website to match what actually happens on the ship.  Overall, happy to cruise and had a good time but have a downgraded opinion of RCI.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

3 out of 5
Breakfast and lunch were so so with bad wait staff, dinner was phenomenel

Onboard Activities

3 out of 5
Crew did a great job of keeping everyone entertained

Entertainment

3 out of 5
Shows were ok. Neede to have a one show with each seating not only one show at 7pm.

Service and Staff

5 out of 5
Vincent and Gomez, our dinner staff, were fantastic. Vincent seemed to read my mind as to what I liked.

Ship Quality

1 out of 5
Ship is old and in bad need of an upgrade

Ports of call

San Juan, Puerto Rico

5 out of 5
Take the free trolley ride around town.

Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas

5 out of 5
Shop till you drop. Best shopping in this port

St. John's, Antigua

3 out of 5
Take a spice tour. Learned lots about cocoa and coconuts

Fort-De-France, Martinique

1 out of 5
Skip this island as it is on euro and the french a little difficult.

Castries, St. Lucia

5 out of 5
Try to see the Pitons

St. George's, Grenada

3 out of 5
If you missed the spice trip in Antigua, do one here.
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1 Comment

glomarrone    9 years ago

It sounds like despite some issues, that you had a good cruise.  I hope that you enjoy any future cruises that you take., 

I did take the trolley ride around San Juan.  I also visited the Bacardi Distillery.  I had a fun time in San Juan. 

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