Jewel of the Seas Review

3.5 / 5.0
1,643 reviews

Ship is too small for us

Review for the Southern Caribbean Cruise on Jewel of the Seas
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jobella418
6-10 Cruises • Age 60s

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Sail Date: Feb 2018
Cabin: Large Ocean View Stateroom

We normally book Carnival but got a great 2 for 1 deal at Christmas and sailed 8 weeks later. Overall we had a great time but we now know we like the larger ships so we won't be booking this class again. The ship bounced around the entire week even had to give our room steward some help for seasickness. There wasn't much to do around the ship, the only fun areas were the main lobby area which was REALLY small and never could see anything unless you camped out there and missed dinner. They had no dancers until the last formal night, they flew in some comedians and a magician which were just so, so. No more fun in the dining room they cut out the singing and dancing. They also have a very small selection on the dinner menus and for this cruise had some weird selections for the entrees. I normally have a hard time not ordering 3 dinners but one night I didn't even order 1 because nothing sounded remotely good. BUT I do have to say the food that I did like was very good and prepared well. There were many little things that we didn't like and think we are just avid Carnival people and like more fun and people with some enthusiasm the atmosphere was just a bit too boring for us. On the positive side this was the easiest boarding and deboarding of any cruise we have been on. If you board in San Juan and your boat leaves at 8:30 pm don't worry get to the port at noon and walk right on! The food at the Windjammer was REALLY good for buffet food. They have an amazing Indian food chef I couldn't get enough of the curry chicken. Also, the staff on this boat from the wait staff, cabin steward, bartendars to the maintenance people were incredibly nice. Everyone greeted you with a smile and had something to say besides hello. I have been on RC before and I have never had the maitre'd in the main dinning room come by every night to see how we were doing and mean it, not just do it for the tips. I also liked how they had bottled water to purchase and fresh towels for you to take as you got off the ship for the excursions. We also dropped our dirty towels at the check in and were able to get fresh ones for the night if we wanted. Other cruises I have had to run around chasing down someone to get towels before an excursion. On this ship do NOT book rooms 4561, 4560, 4559, 45558. They are right off the lobby where the only real fun was for all the evenings, very loud and these rooms also had a sewage smell all week.

Cabin Review

Large Ocean View Stateroom

Cabin H

Room steward was the BEST, such a sweetie. Didn't mind being on the main floor we were far enough away from the noise. The window was large, Carnival has a better layout of the rooms than this ship does. I didn't like having to split up all my bathroom stuff into 3 cabinets, half in the bathroom the other in the room, I never knew where anything was. The closet design is dumb, shelving is like 4 inches deep and no rod for long items. I did like the safe was a Pin number didn't have to use a card that was nice. OH BUT the bed was like a mediaeval torture rack. If you like sleeping on a rock slab you will love it. If not be prepared for many sleepless nights. We asked for a topper but it didn't do anything.

Port Reviews

Martinique

We tried to hire a driver to take us around the city but NO ONE would help us because there was only 2 of us. There is nowhere to go here and nothing to see. The only things they provide is taking you to another island for a beach day we didn't want to do that. We were off ship for an hour and went right back on people were rude. I would never go back to this place again. Seemed most people on ship had the same experience because the ships pools were packed by noon.

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