Janet K.
Matthews
John_n_Janet_Mattthews@msn.com
Cruise Line: Royal
Caribbean
Cruise Ship: Jewel of the Seas
Itinerary: Eastern Caribbean; St. Maarten, St. Thomas, San
Juan, Tortola
Departure Date: March 8th, 2008
Age: 70
Occupation: Retired
Number of Cruises: 19
What an exciting 50th anniversary cruise this started out to
be. Like none other! Thankfully, we decided to stay a day
early in Ft. Lauderdale at Embassy Suites since this was a
special cruise for us. We do not always stay in a hotel the
day before a cruise but this was a wise choice as weather
was a problem in Dallas (we live in Austin) and our flight
was from Austin to Dallas to Ft. Lauderdale. We found out
the night before we were to fly out of Austin that ALL
flights to Dallas had been cancelled due to a snowstorm in
March! American Air Lines asked if we would consider riding
a bus that they were providing for their passengers to
Dallas. You bet! It was a three-hour drive to Dallas in a
very nice bus, with bathroom facilities, and very capable
driver. We arrived in Dallas to find all the flights from
Dallas to Ft. Lauderdale were being cancelled. Oh, joy! As
the weather began to clear we finally got on a flight around
7:00 pm to Ft. Lauderdale. We are on our way at last to our
anniversary cruise. We arrived at our hotel (Embassy
Suites) at about 11:00 pm at night to find several people
coming in from all over (including Alaska) on late flights.
This is a very nice hotel (very clean) with a nice buffet
for breakfast. I would stay here again. Since I have
trouble walking any distance the porter even asked if I
needed a wheelchair to the room. We usually do not take my
wheelchair on the plane we request wheelchair assistance and
it is always provided.
EMBARKATION
Embassy Suites (we purchased a package with the room)
provided travel to Jewel of the Seas. We arrived early but
since we are Platinum we were seated in an area for
wheelchair access to get on the ship. After a short wait we
had someone come and take us (Royal Caribbean provided a
wheelchair) to our cabin. We were extremely grateful for
the young man that wheeled me up our cabin, as it’s a very
long walk and steep as well up the gangplank. John gave him
a nice tip!
CABIN
Stateroom #7612, deck 7, is one of many wheelchair
accessible staterooms with an automatic door opener on Jewel
of the Seas. My electric scooter that we had rented from
Care Vacations was charged and waiting for me to use. Our
travel agents, Bill and Sammie, of Above and Beyond, had the
cabin decorated with an anniversary theme. Nice touch! We
had ordered some chocolate covered strawberries for our sail
away. They were delivered as promised. We also ordered the
Romance Package, which is a fun thing to do. The cabin was
very comfortable and the bathroom was handicapped accessible
with railings everywhere. Our cabin steward kept the room
very clean and we loved the towel animals.
FOOD & SERVICE
Since it was our anniversary we decided to eat in the
specialty restaurants. The first formal night we had a
lovely dinner at Portofino’s ($20.00 charge per person) and
the service was wonderful. Well worth the extra charge.
The second formal night we chose Chops ($25.00 charge per
person) as our next special dining experience. We had a
table by the window, which is a nice touch. We both ordered
the filet (you could cut it with a fork) it was delicious.
Both specialty restaurants are excellent but if given the
choice between Portofino’s and Chops I would choose Chops
due to the attentive service.
John and I decided to go to the Mystery Dinner Theater
($49.95) and that was a lot of fun. If you can, we can
recommend this as everyone in the audience participates.
The Windjammer is one of the most unique we have ever been
in. There are separate stations for all the food. We
personally liked this concept. The food was excellent, hot
and well prepared. The Asian station had fresh stir-fry as
well. We ate most of our breakfasts and lunches here. At
supper, it was a little more formal with silverware and
napkin already at the table.
Room Service was always prompt. We had a special breakfast
one morning since we purchased the Romance Package. This
included a champagne breakfast, omelets, juice, pastries,
coffee and the list goes on. The tray the food came on was
bigger than the coffee table! Since we were so tired the
first morning after traveling and staying in an airport all
day we also ordered room service. The room service people
found out it was our 50th wedding anniversary and sent up
some cookies for us. We always tipped room service. We had
coffee several nights before going to bed as well. We are
coffee drinkers. The coffee is very strong but good.
ENTERTAINMENT
All the shows we attended were excellent with lots of
talent. We looked forward to going to all of them and that
usually is not the case. The female comedian was fantastic
and funny. Most of the main shows were child friendly. We
did not go to any of the lounge shows this time.
PORTS OF CALL
We did not do any special tours we just went off on our
own. John got a wheelchair from Royal Caribbean so that we
could shop down town at St. Thomas. There are wheelchair
accessible cabs right off the pier. We docked at the new
pier in St. Thomas, which is just starting up, and it’s very
nice. There are clean restrooms, and new shops just
starting up and etc. I did miss going to Havensight mall.
St. Maarten is where I always do the most jewelry shopping.
I personally feel that St. Maarten jewelry shops (Kay’s)
right by the pier have better prices than St. Thomas. St.
Maarten has a nice pier, which is electric scooter
friendly. If you have any problems the Royal Caribbean
people are there to help out.
Since my hubby collects Hard Rock pins we always stop at the
Hard Rock in Nassau. We always pick up a t-shirt or two as
well. Even if you don’t buy anything it’s a fun shop to
visit. I used my scooter right off the ship in Nassau as
well.
We stayed on the ship for San Juan. We have been there
several times.
DEBARKATION
We used the special service that is now provided by Royal
Caribbean. The cost of $20.00 per person seemed well worth
it even if our luggage did not make it to Austin with us.
American Airlines had a problem in Ft. Lauderdale and
American ended up delivering our luggage to the house at
5:20 am the next day.
From start to finish our cruise was exciting and fun even
with all the glitches along the way. Each cruise is
different but all cruises are what you make them.
