16Nt RC Jewel OTS Panama East Bound Cruise

Jewel of the Seas Cruise Review to Panama Canal, Central America

Cruises: 7+ cruises
Reviews: 3
Helpful Votes: 94

Overall rating:

4.7 out of 5
Jewel of the Seas

16 Night Panama Canal Eastbound (San Diego To Miami)

Sail date: March 13, 2019

Ship: Jewel of the Seas

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 7026

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 5 years ago

Review summary

We picked it for the Cruise Destinations, thru the Panama. Started in San Diego, loved SD, stay at the Sheraton (close to airport and cruise port) and walked around, to Little Italy, the docks, Dinner at the Fish Market. We love the Jewel, food and service, superb! Clean and not small not huge. Los Cabos - walked around, visiting shops, stopped at a cpl bars for Mexican home made salsa and guac, Margaritas, people watching around the Marina, whale watching the 1st afternoon - private excursion about 8 of us so went out to Lands End too. Puerto Vallarta - met great friends and went to Marriott Resort, day pass, had access to pool and Ocean, lounge chairs, bar and food, was beautiful, safe, fun! Peurto Quetzel, Guatamala- RC excursion - Coffee Plantation etc, very good narration out to the farm and sight seeing there and back. Great coffee too! Punterenas Cost Rica, did a private excursion with 6 new cruise buddies, comfy, AC van, with Dimas Saravua Azcarate Tours, met us at the dock, wild monkey stop - not a stop on the road but natural habitat private farm area, zipling - outstanding, and Wild Adventures Croc cruise in the river, then lunch on one of the nearby mtns overlooking the Ocean and countryside, Dimas was Great! the whole excursion was well done and appreciated by all of us! Panama Canal - one day thru the locks - narrated thru out the day on the ship, and views were cool! Colon Panama - we had nothing planned for this port but go to the Free Zone, somewhat disappointed, once outside of the Cruise/Port gates, it was messy and chaos, with construction, dirty, garbage, difficult to traverse to free zone shopping, stores were dirty and nothing really great for sales....back to the ship! Cartagena Columbia - Our best surprise, clean, fun, Port, went to Teirra Bomba island, private excursion to a private beach bar location the Beach Bomba, we got to arranged pick up area, there was 8 of us, quick boat ride and great beach, water, beer, food Pina's, etc We had a Balcony SR, on the 7th which gives you extended balcony room, so the xtra room was nice! Entertainment was good, we made our own gathering and fun. great at Chops, Chefs Dinner, Mystery Who Done it Dinner, Azumi and Giavonnis, all outstanding!

Embarkation

5 out of 5
Quick

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5
Fantastic

Onboard Activities

4 out of 5
We walked the track, used the pool on occasion, did mostly our own stuff when at sea.

Entertainment

4 out of 5
Went to about half of the shows, they were ok to good.

Service and Staff

5 out of 5
Room steward p Aluna was outstanding!, all waiters, assistant waiters, etc bartenders, Mgrs, excellent!

Ship Quality

5 out of 5
Was ideal for age and size of the shape, no complaints!

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5
Again, ideal and loved the extended balcony on deck 7.

Ship tip

Service and food, we feel compared to other RC ships, one of the top even maybe the best!

Ports of call

San Diego, California

5 out of 5
Clean and safe.

Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

5 out of 5
Walked around the port, whale watching, Land ends/Arch...beers, margaritas, homemade guac, all good

Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

5 out of 5
Quick taxi to the Marriott Resort, and did a day pass, was perfect, pool hottub, drinks food, at a good price.

Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala

4 out of 5
Coffee plantation tour, the trip/sightseeing and narrating was better, the plantation was ok, somewhat boring for us, they finished the coffee picking, so wasnt really much to see, but the coffee was very good!

Puntarenas, Costa Rica

5 out of 5
Monkey seeing, zipling and Croc/wildlife river cruise, all outstanding, we booked privately with Dima Shor tours, private and Govt approved, great guy and price and AC van, 6 of us went. At the end had some drinks and late lunch, perfect!

Panama Canal Transit

4 out of 5
Was good to see and experience.

Colon, Panama

3 out of 5
Port out side of the gate is dirty, under construction, poor directions, escpecially if you want walk around, almost scary in spots! Only real disappointment from this trip! We walked to the free zone shopping area and it wasnt any better!

Cartagena, Colombia

5 out of 5
Beautiful, probably our biggest surprise, how nice the port was , taxi to a beach and private boat to Beach Bomba - great day, service, beach and water!

Miami, Florida

4 out of 5
Disembark was quick, cab then airport...

Disembarkation

5 out of 5
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3 Comments

cruisereckoning    4 years ago

Thanks for the review, sounds great

Lola2013    5 years ago

This is great to hear. Our group is sailing in just 47 days! Can’t wait.

Mike787    5 years ago

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