Everything was great except the food was the quality of Golden Coral.
Embarkation
3 out of 5
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
1 out of 5
The staff was friendly, the ship was clean, the events were fun, and our stateroom was clean despite the ship’s age. However, food is a big part of any cruise ship experience, and we thought the food was subpar. For instance, a portabello mushroom dish had so many bread crumbs that it tasted like sawdust. A chocolate lava cake tasted grainy, and the ice cream had ice crystals. In the Windjammers buffet, some things were good, but much of it was the quality of Golden Coral. Almost all deserts weren’t good. We sailed on Carnival five years earlier, and the food on that ship was exceptional both in their buffet and dining room. The only thing consistent with Jewel of the Sea’s food was its inconsistency. We both would jump for joy when we occasionally would get something that was really good. But it was a rarity. This is something RC really needs to fix.
One of us got norovirus near the end of the cruise. This, we feel, was no fault of RC. Rather, this comes from people not washing their hands properly. Come on, people! However, the disembarkation day could have been better. We put out our hang tag for room service the night before, and no one picked it up. So my wife, who didn't have the virus, had to go up to Windjammers and get me some breakfast. We were called the night before for our special disembarkation instructions. The representative told us we would be picked up at 9: a.m. Instead, we were picked up at 8:15. Luckily, we were ready. However, we were instructed to wait on the second deck when we were allowed to disembark. We waited with about 30-40 other passengers for over an hour, leaving all of us standing. Some of the passengers were still ill from the virus. It would have been nice to get some communication from the staff as to why we couldn't disembark.
Banquet/Cafeteria quality food is about the best you can expect in the main dining rooms and buffet when they are feeding several thousand people three meals a day.
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