I would like to thank everyone who responded to my drink package question and my comments regarding booking the spa. They were all very helpful for this cruise. We sailed on the Jewel of the Seas Nov 6-13. I would have posted earlier, but my Pop stayed with us this past week.
Of course we compared it to our Disney cruises....how could we not when we've only ever had Disney ocean cruises in the past? Our only other cruise line is Viking River cruises, which is not comparable at all. Comparing these two cruise lines are like comparing apples and oranges. Both are fruits, but they taste completely different. Here are my observations, and I apologize in advance for the length:
Of course we compared it to our Disney cruises....how could we not when we've only ever had Disney ocean cruises in the past? Our only other cruise line is Viking River cruises, which is not comparable at all. Comparing these two cruise lines are like comparing apples and oranges. Both are fruits, but they taste completely different. Here are my observations, and I apologize in advance for the length:
- This ship was very nicely appointed in the common areas. The Safari Club and Schooners Bar (where we spent most of our time) was beautifully themed and decorated. The main dining room, while generic, looked good. The atrium was so small compared to Disney ship, but looked nice. They said the ship was full, but we never felt like there was a throng of people everywhere. There always seemed to be places to sit and small tables on which to put your drinks/play cards. They seemed to be pretty good at dispersing people throughout the ship. Or....they weren't as full as they said. We had the late dining, and there were nights were the dining room seemed empty.
- The staterooms were small, but we all know that Disney staterooms are among the largest in the industry. I just was surprised when my father's interior stateroom, my ocean view stateroom, and my mother's balcony stateroom were all the same size!!! I was prepared for my stateroom to be small, but couldn't believe that my mom's stateroom was exactly the same except for the balcony. I just expected it to be larger.
- I missed the split bathroom, but I liked RCCL's round shower stall better. I felt like I had more room while showering.
- The ship came in from Europe the morning of our cruise. We heard from a staff member later in the week that it was a very rough crossing...they were dodging 3 storms. We also overheard staff members saying things like, "Are you feeling better? It's good to have you back." We decided to assume sea sickness and not Covid it this instance. They main dining room was short staffed (very obvious) and this is probably why.
- Our server for dinner was fantastic...upbeat, always smiling, remembered us (we were a party of 11...tough to miss us!). However, we found out midway through the week when her assistant disappeared, that she was brand new to this ship starting with this cruise. She is a 7 year veteran of RCCL and was transferred to the Jewel that morning from one of the other ships docked at Port Canaveral because the Jewel was short staffed (which confirmed our suspicions). While an experienced server, she did not know where anything was located on this particular ship and it was a new menu. To compound that, the assistant they paired her with left on Wednesday (San Juan) to go home because she had finished her contract and was on vacation for 2 months. She never got another assistant. Two other assistant servers helped her out in addition to their regular stations. We felt this was poor planning on someone's part.
- The food in the main dining room was meh. My dad described it as "diner food with great service." My husband's salmon came out raw the first night, his steak came out rare when he asked for medium well, and another steak came out like shoe leather. Food was warm, but never hot. The other thing we noticed is that what was listed on the menu wasn't necessarily what was served. The shoe leather steak was supposed to be Steak Diane, but it was just a steak. No sauce. For lunch my dad ordered ricotta gnocchi with pesto sauce. What came out was potato gnocchi with mushrooms in some sort of cream sauce....no pesto in sight. It was inedible. I ordered chicken and waffles with a tabasco infused honey dipping sauce. What came out was waffles, fried chicken on the bone (1 piece was a thigh, 1 piece was mostly the back (I cut up chicken on a regular basis, so I know my chicken pieces)) and brown gravy. And it was cold. We did breakfast twice in the main dining room. They could not get all our meals out at one shot. A third of the table would get food, then the next batch would come out, and two of us sat there for a good 5 minutes waiting for ours. The buffet was breakfast and lunch for the rest of the cruise.
- The buffet was much better. We've never been a fan of Disney's buffet, but this was so much better than the main dining room that it became our preferred breakfast and lunch spot.
- We made out just fine without a beverage package. We had tea, coffee, and water at the buffet. We found the stations to get said drinks in the off times. DH bought a coffee from the coffee bar when he wanted. He said it was much better coffee than the buffet. He was pleasantly surprised that they didn't price gouge - a cup of tea was $2.00 and an Americano was $3.95 or so. I have no idea what the fancy coffees were because he only drinks "regular" coffee. I had 1 cup of tea, and for $2.00, I would just go up to the drink area and get it there.
- My mom and her husband got the soda package. He drinks soda!!! A lot!!! And quickly! He was miffed that he had to wait 26 minutes (his words) in between fill ups with his cup. I'm guessing there's an RFID chip in the cup, and that prevents people from filling up their cup and dumping it into someone else's, and going back for a refill. He liked the machines because he could get whatever he wanted and didn't have to wait in line at a bar, and he's not a bar person.
- My sister and her husband got the alcohol package that included coffee and water (not sure which one). They felt they got their money's worth. They each got 2 coffees per day, wine and mixed drinks at night, and canned water. They had their 4 boys with them, and each time they got a drink, the staff just handed the boys a can of water. That was at least twice a day. My sister said just getting the water paid for the package. She said staff was just great in this respect, and her boys felt special getting their drinks!
- We visited the spa on sail away day. They did their raffles....we did not win anything. They did mention that the saunas were free for the duration of the cruise, so we checked them out on day 3. They were not co-ed, so I could not hang out with my husband. You only had access to the changing room and the sauna/steam room. There were no shower facilities available afterwards. They had a "relaxation room" which was an interior room with regular chairs. Given it was at the end of the ship, I expected chaises and at least some outdoor ventilation. We did not use the sauna.
- I also don't know how busy the spa actually was. There was always someone in the check-in area giving away free shoulder massages. A lot of times, while just walking around the ship, some of the spa staff would be outside listening to the deck entertainment. I just thought that was odd.
- Disney has it all over RCCL when getting on the ship. You can't beat having your name read and being clapped on the ship while stepping into the atrium. We stepped on the Jewel onto an exterior deck. No one was there to direct you. We were supposed to find our muster stations and check in. My sister's muster station was right there. Our was on the other side of the boat, my mom's was in a lounge somewhere, and my dad's in an different spot. When you did find an employee to help you, they were trying to check in their muster people. Not that it was disorganized, there just was nothing. You stepped on the ship....and you were on the ship.
- Casino seemed empty when we walked by, but you could smoke in there. We're not smokers, and avoided this area because it smelled.
- Shops were small and had mediocre merchandise. We did not buy anything on ship.
- Entertainment was okay. We did a LOT of trivia, which we enjoyed. We saw a lot of the same people and just chatted. I think we did trivia 2-3 times a day. We brought a deck of cards to fill in while we waited. They had board games in the same area (in between the Schooner bar and Safari club) that you could borrow. There were some serious Scrabble games going on! I saw more people playing games, cards, and reading books than on Disney ships. They also had 2 self-leveling pool tables. They were really cool to watch! We also played a mystery game on the first morning. I don't know how to explain it except that it was like an escape room on paper. They suggested teams of at least 5 to accomplish everything in 45 minutes. It was a lot of fun! We got a envelope of information that contained a bunch of different puzzles. Some were folding puzzles, sudoku type puzzles, word scrambles, etc. I was running around the room collecting clues while my husband and mom and dad sorted through all the info. We're glad we did this one...it was a lot of fun!
- I did not see any of the shows. We had dining at 7:00, so the later show started at 9:30. I was exhausted by 9:00 every night so I never saw any of them. The one I wanted to see on the night I was awake enough was cancelled. It was an Argentine Tango show, and the seas were very rough. I think it was cancelled because there's no way they could have danced with this ship bouncing. The first night was a comedian and people said he was great. We saw the video of him on the cruise TV later in the week, and we didn't think he was all that funny. DH went to the juggler show one night and Broadway type show another night. He said the juggler was good, and Broadway show was strong on singing/dancing and weak on story. Some of the bands in the atrium were so-so. The best one was the Latino group - fantastic music! They also played pool-side.
- We did not get in any of the pools. The family pool was always busy. The adult pool in the solarium was empty, i.e. no water, the first two days of the cruise, and filled with water the rest of the cruise. I have a pool in my lanai at home, so there was no burning need to go swimming.
- The RCCL app sucked. They did not want you to use the paper navigators, but we requested them. So did a lot of other people, because we saw people referring to them everywhere. I would look at the day's events on my phone and see very few things to do. DH would look at his app and say, "no, there's plenty of stuff." We compared phones side by side and the apps showed different things. I tried refreshing the app, turning WIFI on and off, turning airplane mode on and off. Eventually, I saw what he saw. If I didn't have him checking his phone or the paper navigator, I would think there was not a lot going on.
- That being said, I don't want to be attached to my phone while on vacation. I don't want to carry my phone around the ship. I don't want to carry my handbag to hold my phone, I don't want to hang it around my neck, and ladies clothing does not have big enough pockets (if they even have pockets!) to put my phone in. When I asked for the paper navigator, my room steward said he would try to get us a copy because there were not enough printed to go around.
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) Disney cruise was on the Fantasy in 2015 and it was Amazing, absolutely amazing, but being from Canada with the exchange and that, we simply can't afford to cruise Disney. We did the one cruise when my stepdaughter was 10/11ish, and we do have DD6 now, so will do another one someday for sure. Since the Fantasy we've been on Royal, Princess and Holland and had good times. Are they Disney, no, but still nice vacations.
