Subject: Re: Jewel of the Seas review (long)

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Subject: Re: Jewel of the Seas review (long)

Posted on: Tue, 6 Dec 2005 12:50:39 -0500

Thanks for posting. Sounds like it really wasn't much fun.
Doreen

"Jerry Maras" wrote in message
news:FJKdnU_vVaOVhwjenZ2dnUVZ_tadnZ2d@adelphia.com...
> Just got back from this 6 day cruise on Sat Dec 3rd. Ports of call were
Key
> West, Cozumel, Costa Maya and Grand Cayman.
>
> First, the Ship: * * * * *
> This is RCL's newest ship, a Radiance class, which is substantially
smaller
> than the Voyager class ships yet still sails some 2500 or so passengers so
> it's not real small. The ship was beautiful as it should be given it was
> only her 67th voyage, but the layout was suprisingly similar to the last
> ship we were on which was the Enchantment of the Seas (before it was
> stretched). Frankly I was expecting more of a difference. This was our
> first cruise with a balcony, and now my wife is spoiled into not having
> anything less on future cruises. We Loooved the Solarium and spent
several
> hours each day in the heated pool and whirlpool and were thankful for
RCL's
> policy of adults only in the Solarium, leaving it extremely peaceful and
> relaxing.
>
> Though there weren't any signs, you would have thought it was a
non-smoking
> ship. It wasn't, but I swear I only saw two or three people smoking.
That
> was real nice.
>
> Entertainment: * * * *
> The shows were real good, but the cruise director was the worst we've had
of
> 5 cruises. Not that it was her fault, but I wouldn't put a substantially
> overweight British woman in that position unless she was incredibly funny
> and spontaneous. To the contrary, she was not very funny and all her
jokes
> were obviously planned and rehearsed. She just didn't look good or
perform
> well and seemed to be totally out of place.
>
> Food: *
> Somewhere between horrible and fair. The Dining Room food was very good
> (although we did have to send some steaks back that were ordered medium
and
> delivered very well done). The crepes at the Solarium Cafe were excellent
> though they should have had a larger variety. The Buffet was really hit
or
> miss, some things being okay (mainly the sandwiches), but most things not.
> The main reason I give the food such an overall low rating is that 3 of
the
> most popular American foods - Hamburgers, Hot Dogs, and Pizza, were
> absolutely terrible. The pizza was so bad I tried it a second day in
> disbelief that it could be as bad as it was on day one, but it was
> consistently terrible. The Hot dogs might not have been bad except that
> they leave the rolls out on the buffet to dry out. They did the same with
> the Hamburger rolls, but also let the burgers sit in a pool of hot
> drippings. They used a frozen crust for the pizza and what seemed to be
> make believe cheese. To make sure the pizza was bad, they send it through
a
> conveyor oven until it's barely half-cooked. The desserts were pretty
good
> but were supplimented with the leftover desserts from the previous night
in
> the Dining room. We didn't try the freestyle dining at Chops Grille or
> Portofino's, but heard they were pretty good.
>
> Service: * * * *
> In the Dining Room, our waiter was constantly confused when trying to tell
> us what his "suggestions" were for the day, and was not very personable.
He
> tried to be pleasant if there is such a thing, but just didn't have the
> personality for it. Our Assistant Waiter seemed to have more personality
> but was unable to spend much time with us as he had to remain in the
shadow
> of our waiter.
> Every other staff member on this ship was extremely pleasant and
courteous.
> Our cabin attendent was efficient.
>
> Ports of Call: * *
> First, we booked no excursions as we really wanted to relax on this
cruise,
> but we did leave the ship-
> Key West was recovering from hurricane Wilma, and you could see several
> signs of damage yet It didn't seem extreme enough to close or cancel any
> activities. You could see them rebuilding the boardwalk and docks that
were
> damaged. The locals said that they got hit real hard with the storm surge
> and had a lot of flooding but not real bad winds. We just walked down
Duval
> Street to Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville, bought some T-Shirts and stuff
and
> went back to bask in the Solarium.
>
> At Cozumel we didn't leave the ship but those that did came back with
horror
> stories of taking a 20 minute cab ride to find only 3 shops that were
open,
> or having their excursions cancelled for various reasons. It did rain
> pretty hard that day as we could see on the retractable roof over the
> solarium after they closed it. The docks are gone and you have to be
> tendered to the shore. The cruise line had a pity party (disguised as a
> shopping presentation) for the people of Cozumel and were begging
passengers
> to go ashore because the locals have worked so hard to overcome the damage
> done by Wilma. Not to sound cold or crass, but this is a rare vacation
that
> lasted only 6 days. I don't believe that it's our responsibility to spend
> one sixth of our vacation trying to make the locals feel better. If they
> ask for donations fine, but vacation time is precious and cruise line
> passengers shouldn't be asked or encouraged to waste it.
>
> At Costa Maya, we walked around the little shops that they have set up by
> the dock, but we were put off by everyone literally trying to drag you in
to
> look at what they had. Most items aren't priced so you can wheel and
deal,
> but we don't like doing that at all. I even hate it when buying a car,
let
> alone a souvenir shirt. Whenever someone tried to drag us into their
shop,
> we looked the other way and ended up not buying anything. We went back to
> the ship to enjoy our Solarium. A previous cruise gave us a bad
experience
> on an excursion at this port, so we weren't thrilled to begin with.
>
> Grand Cayman also experienced hurricane damage, and blue tarps were
> prominent on the island, though nothing seemed to disrupt any activities.
> This is our favorite island and we did plenty of shopping and got some
> handsome bargains. Most excursions here are excellent, and particularly
any
> that stop at Sting Ray City to swim with the Sting Rays.
>
> Overall, we enjoyed the cruise. As they say, the worst cruise is better
> than no cruise at all. The negatives that I have written here really
didn't
> bother us all that much as we have been on several cruises before and knew
> exactly how to deal with them. RCL says that there mission is to provide
> more options for their guests, and that's exactly what they do. If there
is
> something you don't like, find something that you do like instead. It's
not
> hard to do.
>
> They really should do something about the pizza though.
>
> Feel free to ask any questions or give feedback.
>
> Jerry M
>
>

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