Fantastic Southern Itinerary
Jewel of the Seas Cruise Review to Caribbean - Southern
Contributor Level:
Purser
Cruises: 4-6 cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 53
7 Night Southern Caribbean (San Juan Roundtrip)
Sail date: February 25, 2018
Ship: Jewel of the Seas
Cabin type: Balcony
Cabin number: 9622
Traveled as: Family (young children)
Reviewed: 6 years ago
Review summary
Choose this cruise for the Southern Caribbean itinerary; not for the experience of the ship. With 5 port of calls with long days of 8-5, the itinerary is just fabulous. Take advantage of excursions and go out and do some things you don't normally get to do.Embarkation
Embarkation was very easy and quick. We tend to bypass all the photo ops and just get onboard. Boarding began at 12:30. We arrived around 12:45 after a short taxi from our hotel (Courtyard by Marriott). We were on board and getting lunch in Windjammer by 1:00. Staterooms were not ready until 1:30.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
Unfortunately, we were disappointed in the quality and presentation of the food on this cruise. We ate all dinners in Tides at our 6:00 seating. The menu selection was never great and the food was often lacking in taste and preparation. Stay away from the NY strip. It's like they purposefully make it bad so you order an upcharge for a Chops steak (you can order a Chops meal from the main dining room each night). We had high hopes for the Ahi Tuna meal but it was just plain awful. No one at our table finished it. The appetizers and desserts were generally good. We ate breakfast and lunch at Windjammer. We never have high expectations for a buffet but this was definitely the worst buffet we had encountered on any cruise. You won't go hungry but the food is really prepared to "feed the masses" and not prepared as top-shelf cuisine.
Onboard Activities
It may just be because it's hard not to compare the Jewel of the Seas, an older smaller ship, to our last cruise on the Oasis, but the pool was a big disappointment. We were traveling with an 11 year old, so she just met the the "11 and under pool" with the slide. Trouble is, that pool and slide truly is for much younger children. And the main pool was very small. Many older cruisers like to sit around the edge of the pool being careful to not actually get wet. So they fuss if any water splashes them. Kind of hard to control water splashes while in a pool! So, my 11 year old that was just in the water and not "splashing about" would get fussed at by the older women. Seems to me they should be at the solarium! The Rock Wall was fun but not very tall. Golf was fun -- once. Ocean Adventure for an 11 year old was the pits. No kids at all attended in the 9-11 group. Don't waste your money on pre-purchasing arcade credits. The arcade is a joke.
Entertainment
The shows were okay. Entertaining, so worth going! But they won't blow you away. I think we enjoyed the Juggling Act the most.
Children's Programs
Awful for the 9-11 age group. No children showed up because there wasn't anything to do! This is very different from our previous experiences. There seemed to be a good number of kids in the 8 and under groups because their parents would drop them off. But for the older kids 9-11, there was just nothing at all. No organized actives. No games. No scavenger hunts. Nothing. And to be honest, we didn't notice that the teen "Fuel" area was being used at all either.
Service and Staff
I have read that the Jewel is used as a training ship. I think that is accurate from what I could tell. But, I do think they put their best foot forward and tried to give very good service in all areas.
Ship Quality
Cleanliness was fine. We didn't encounter any issues with common areas being clean. Windjammer tables are always sticky even if they wipe them down. The design of the ship is just older. The Centrum is not very impressive compared to the new ships. The decor is older and darker. It's fine but if you have ever cruised on a new ship, you will find yourself in a constant state of "unimpressed."
Cabin / Stateroom
I honestly think the cabin was very nice. Kind of dark with older decor, but certainly comfortable and roomy enough. Our daughter (11) slept in the bunk and she was very happy up there. We definitely prefer a balcony and the location of ours was very good. The only port that we didn't have a good view of was Barbados. We had a wonderful view of the other 4 ports. We loved our "wine on the balcony before dinner" ritual.
Ship tip
If you have every cruised on other RCCL newer ships, keep your expectations low and book for the itinerary! The ship itself is the vessel to get to those ports. It's not the "destination" as some of the other ships are.
Thumbs up
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Ports of call
We did not do an excursion as we arrived a day before the cruise so we toured Old San Juan on our own. Loved the Castillo de San Crisobal! You must go there and check out the views! Walking around Old San Juan was lovely.
This was our second time visiting this port. We did an excursion to Buck Island to snorkel. The excursion was wonderful! The captain and crew of our sail boat were fantastic. We were able to see turtles, sting rays, loads of colorful fish, and a "shipwreck" that had been moved there. It was a great day in port although we didn't go into town this time.
We did not do an excursion at this port. We toured the town on our own and enjoyed looking around. St. Kitts was beautiful. But just as in port town, the locals will wear you out with trying to get you to take a taxi here or there, buy something, braid your hair, etc. But it's all good and we like to interact with them a bit.
We did the "Beach Extravaganza" excursion to Ffryes Beach. It didn't exactly meet the description of the excursion but it was a nice beach day. It took quite a while to get there in the vans. The excursion included chairs but an umbrella was an extra $10. Which was fine but I feel like it should be included even if they raise the price by $10. The beach was lovely and the water felt amazing. A couple of drinks and lunch were included and served buffet style by the staff. BBQ chicken, ribs, salad, macaroni salad, etc.
In our opinion, this was the best port of call of the trip! St. Lucia is gorgeous! We did the Hotwire Zipline excursion near the Pitons at Soufriere. Highly recommend this excursion if you're looking for something different. The transportation staff on the boat were excellent and the zipline staff at the Morne Coubril Estate were equally wonderful. We are considering coming back to St. Lucia to stay at one of the resorts there.
We probably should've done a beach on our own excursion as it is very easy to catch a cab to a beach here. But the weather was a bit rainy and overcast so we decided to just go into town for a walkabout. It was fine but nothing too spectacular. The beaches get great reviews so again, that was our fault for not taking in a beach. Especially since the weather cleared up. It was still a nice port and easy to navigate. Bardados is expensive! A basic lunch cost us $70USD for 3 people.
Disembarkation
Very easy. Unless you are able to get an early flight out of San Juan, take your time getting off the ship. We waited until about 10:00 am so it was very, very easy to disembark and catch a taxi to the airport. We still had a 5 hour wait until our flight though so it was a long day.