DeAnna Flocco

Age: 49
Occupation: retired
Number of Cruises: 5
Cruise Line: RCCL
Ship: Jewel of the Seas
Sailing Date: April 9th, 2005
Itinerary: Eastern Caribbean

Let me start by saying that I have taken 4 cruises in the last 15 months all but 1 have been on Celebrity. The one that I am writing about is the last one I took which happen to be on RCCL, Jewel of the Seas. My friend and I chose this one because of the following reasons.. First the ship is approximately 1 year old and second the itinerary was suitable to both of us. The embarkation went very smoothly and we were allowed on the ship very early.

We went to our room to drop off our carry on luggage before heading up to the buffet for lunch. The room steward was in the hallway when we arrived and welcomed us aboard. We noticed that the bed had not been separated per our request and approached the room steward about this. He informed us that it would we done before bedtime. We went up for the first lunch buffet and the food was as we expected.....cruise ship food is not ever wonderful....just food. All went without a hitch until bedtime, our beds had been separated but no turn down service nor did we find a pitcher of water in our cabin as had been the case on other cruise lines. I proceeded to find the room steward and inquire about the above. he told me that turn down service would start the following night due to the tough day they have when the previous passengers leave and the new ones come on board, as far as the water he informed me that was handled thru room service and I would have to continually call them when we would like a pitcher of water. Needless to say we were both quite stunned and challenged this with our room steward. He became confrontational with us so we just decided to wait and see how the following 8 days unfolded. The ship is beautiful, nice job on the layout and artwork.

The ports of call were great....all the shore excursions went well, although the departing off this ship each day became somewhat of a mystery as to why they kept changing the departure route. We found the ship to be not as clean and we thought it could of been. At no time did we ever see the staff vacuum any room. Even the main dining room needed a good cleaning. As the 8 days went on we began to notice things regarding the staff and the ship. The staff apparently were very unhappy about certain things and one person told us they were short handed. I have to say that I saw a couple of things where the staff and the supervisors were in a heated discussion regarding work issues. I thought this to be very unprofessional.

Lets talk about the food......Breakfast was ok....standard items, egg station with one person doing all the egg orders, cereal, fruit, basic breakfast fare. Lunch was always buffet or burgers, there was a Asian counter where one could get stir fry, which was always fresh and tasty, also sandwiches and pizza. Dinner in the main dinning room was not good...We ate there for 3 nights and started going up to the casual restaurant due to this......food not good, service not good, staff not accommodating as far as simple things....In other words we were better off upstairs at the casual buffet with the same food and additional choices and helping our selves versus having to endure rude people. I enjoyed the cruise as far as the ports, the size of the ship but will not travel again on RCCL. My past experiences on Celebrity have spoiled me and I now expect certain things for my money. I hope this helps someone who is open minded in the fact that this is only my opinion but when it comes to cruising the accommodations, the staff and the food should be at a certain level for anyone to enjoy a vacation and when those things are not met.....we tend to not a have as good a vacation and we should.