Had a nice time on this Royal Caribbean cruise jewel of the seas out of Fort Lauderdale, it's not a really big ship, but we had lots of fun. Good entertainment, and food. Staff and service was great. I like that it's in Fort Lauderdale Port Everglades so it's not too far to go to get to the ship. read more

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This was my first time at Royal Caribbean in Fort Lauderdale. Uber dropped us off and I think we were in the right spot. The thing is, we had priority check in but it seemed it's all one place? Anyhow- we got to the security check and I was surprised there wasn't a separate one for priority/status??? But luckily it moved quickly. Then we got to the chaotic part where they told us to pick a line to get checked in. Well- I kept asking if there was a priority / elite line and she was like no. Pick any line. A bunch of people came in and started picking lines. We waited forever. And the I heard an off duty employee saying you can't be in a line that doesn't have an attendant. Wait. What?!?! Most of the lines didn't have an attendant. So why are they even open or options for us? And now what are we supposed to do? I was so annoyed. When we finally got in a line with an attendant- they had an issue checking in my husband. Apparently he was never issued a sail pass; only I had a sail pass. Thankfully, this lady was very kind and said she would do it manually. So we finally got checked in. We went straight to our muster station. That was a quick two minute shpeal and we were free to enjoy the boat. Our room was ready because of our status so we went up to drop our stuff. We had a special lunch from Chop's at 1pm but it was severely lacking. The burger was cold and dry. The fries were cold. Even my flourless chocolate cake was a dried up hockey puck. I was not happy. They didn't even offer me a drink and we had the beverage package! We met up with friends at schooner bar and started drinking. Schooner bar was great for trivia and drinks. Chops was a fantastic Friday night dinner. The Italian place was also very good for Sunday night dinner. The regular dining room breakfast was a joke and dinner was ok- service was amazing but my steak was a cheap cut of meat. Breakfast at windjammers is where it's at. No complaints. Fancy cappuccino, eggs the way I like them, and non standard fare like fried rice. Make the butter easier to find though, please. Like have a thing of whipped butter near the pancakes and waffles. CocoCay was fun. We paid for hideaway beach. It is kind of annoying that you gotta pay for everything- even to ride the slides. Poolside trivia was fun. The theme nights were great. The 80s party was by far my favorite. The activities guy led the singing and dancing and it was well choreographed. I went to the two broadway shows, they were good. The comedian was really funny. I won a t shirt in the raffle. And a pen from trivia. Gambling was difficult to win. The dealers are funny though. Most of my group won a little but a couple of them lost big. Really big. But hey, it's gambling. I'd say I was satisfied with the drink package. And the specialty dining. My room was spacious- a balcony suite. But man they gotta do better with cleaning. The air vent was so full of dust I was surprised any AC could come through. Good lord. Oh, this was jewel of the seas btw. And the desk chair in our room looked like some lady sat there naked and left a cootchie stain on it. See pic. Throw that thing away! Our room attendant was super nice. We enjoyed the towel animals. The shower soap smelled amazing. The bed was ok. The pillows were dreadfully huge. The towel hanger on the shower door just fell off. The ship is so dated. The cabinets look like an old school kitchen lol. We were happy we could watch the FedEx golf cup though. We did appreciate being by the salon and late night pizza joint. Our room location was solid. Nice and quiet. Right by the adult pool. Oh, the pressing service for a shirt took more than 24 hours. Good grief. We were waiting for that shirt so we could go to dinner. It was Latin night so we needed that white linen shirt. It was only $3 though so at least it was a bargain. Overall I prefer port canaveral more than Fort Lauderdale and I don't think I'll ever go on jewel of the seas again. Also, I could care less about cococay so I'll skip that itinerary in the future. So, did I have a wonderful time with friends for their birthdays - yes. We made the best of it. But also, you get what you pay for. So this cheap cruise really can't meet our expectation in every arena. But, it was cheap. read more

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My January 2026 sailing on Jewel of the Seas was overall a very positive experience and reinforced why I continue to choose Royal Caribbean. The ship was beautiful, well maintained, easy to navigate, and had a relaxed, classic cruising feel. The strongest part of this sailing was absolutely the staff. From stateroom service to dining, beverage, and guest-facing teams, many crew members went well beyond expectations. My room steward, I Gusti, was exceptional and even surprised me with a birthday towel animal and candle, which felt genuinely thoughtful. In dining and casual venues, Carlito, Jasper, and Yogesh consistently ensured our group could sit together and were well cared for. In the Crown Lounge, Percy and Celina Racon stood out for their warmth and professionalism. At Starbucks, Jeca remembered my name and the order specifications upon every single visit, which was impressive and appreciated. The Photography Team was another highlight. Franco is went above and beyond. He recognized me on the first day, by name, introduced himself, and when i asked how he knew me, he mentioned he looked at all the people that purchased the 100 photo package. He was genuinely invested in capturing great photos. One of my favorite group shots was taken when he intentionally went to a higher deck to get the perfect angle. Levenish was also outstanding, truly paying attention to detail and not just taking the photo but ensuring quality images. These photographers clearly cared about their craft. Onboard entertainment was mixed mag but still enjoyable. Given that The Jewel is a Radiance Class ship (a smaller boat) I did not expect large-scale Broadway productions. However, Royal Caribbean singers and dancers shows would have landed much better if they were billed as themed variety shows rather than story-driven productions. Several people in our group left early because the first show was advertised as a production with a Lost Atlantis love theme. Once the second song started the show did not connect clearly to the music, or theme or plot. That being said the talent, costumes, and set design were beyond excellent, but clearer marketing would set better expectations. I told those that left the next day it was essentially a themed Variety show, the singers sang there BEST songs in great costumes, Like Christina Aguilera's "Fighter" dressed as a geisha while great and beautiful didnt fit into the shows expectations as per the show description and billing. However, The Travelers Duo, with Boti and Sylvia, was phenomenal and by far my favorite performance of the cruise. Their cirque de Soleil style trapeze, acrobatic, gymnast performances were more than impressive. I also got to meet them in the windjammer and they were also pleasant and friendly, even asked if I wanted a photo and I did. My second favorite show was the magician, Hector Ruiz, was also excellent, delivering a surprisingly powerful message about individuality and chasing dreams. - JUST WOW. One important area for improvement, however, is inclusivity and sensitivity training, particularly regarding gender identity. This sailing had a noticeably diverse guest population, including many LGBTQIA travelers, which made the environment feel welcoming. However, I experienced repeated misgendering in the Windjammer, including once by a supervisor during a guest satisfaction check. To Royal Caribbean's credit, the issue was handled professionally once raised, and I felt heard and validated. Still, this highlights a clear gap in training. It happend every day, and I have been presenting full time female for 25 years, and am quite femanine in all of my presentation. I realize his tone and inent matter, but impact matters more, and this is an area where Royal can continue to grow. Overall, Jewel of the Seas delivered a memorable, comfortable, and welcoming cruise, largely because of an outstanding crew who consistently made guests feel seen and valued. While there are opportunities to improve entertainment framing and inclusivity training, I left feeling relaxed, appreciated, and confident in continuing to recommend Royal Caribbean. read more

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The ship needs updating. Food in the main dining is not fresh- a lot better in the Windjammer but too crowded. Servers at the main dining are excellent. Boarding and disembarking is smooth and efficient. read more

Royal Caribbean - Room needs updating. Outdated decors, cabinets and furniture. The smallest TV ever! - Boat Tours Near Me - Fort Lauderdale, Florida

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My first cruise. Only 2 options for food after 11 pm . Crusty sandwich or pizza.... Omg

I went on a cruise that went to the Bahamas, Costa Maya, and Cozumel. Pros- The staff was incredible. They smiled every time I passed and were super lively. The activities are super fun and range from card making to karaoke. Our room maintenance person was Floyd and he was a highlight of the trip- so so friendly. The rooms are kept very clean. The food is incredible, there is a more casual dinning option that has a large range of food and a fancier one for dinner and that food is exceptional. Cons- They provide everything including shower soap but you might want to bring your own because it's just a 2-in-1. Bring layers, they keep the ship's ac very high and the dining room especially is very cold. All in all this cruise was amazing and I'd definitely recommend. read more

Royal Caribbean - A towel dog - Boat Tours Near Me - Fort Lauderdale, Florida

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Sailed on the Jewel of the Seas from November 9-20th, 2009 for our honeymoon. It was an 11-night Ultimate Caribbean & Panama itinerary. The clientele was a bit older on this ship/itinerary, but there were also a lot of 20-somethings on honeymoons, just like us. It is a beautiful ship. We especially enjoyed the Seaview Cafe at the aft of the ship. It was a great lunch place with amazing oceanviews. We also frequented the Self-Leveling Pool tables in the Safari Club a lot. The sea-view elevators were a great way to watch the waves while going from deck to deck. read more

Just got back from the 5 night cruise to Bahamas and Haiti. I have to say that we have come to terms with Royal Caribbean being a cruiseline for people in their 40s and higher. There aren't many activities for the younger crowd (young being in your early thirties). We literally met all retired folks that do consecutive cruises. We could never make it to the "club" because it always opened after midnight. Although I'm 32, I'm ready for bed at that time lol. One thing is for sure, the food on Royal Caribbean is AMAZING!! We purchased the ultimate dining package (along with the beverage package) and we were able to dine at 3 of the 4 specialty restaurants on the ship (Chops Grille, Izumi and Giovanni's). All had fantastic food! My personal favorite was Izumi, but my boyfriend liked Giovanni's the best. The dining package was $118 each person, and it covered 5 dinners and 2 lunches. WORTH IT!!!! Oh, and Labadee was gorgeous!!! Perfect weather for February. Just hot enough to be able to swim in the ocean. read more

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Our cruise director was the very charming Dennis Charles hailing from Wisconsin, one night he DJ ed @ our pool party and showed his skills & knowledge taking request. Every pool function was a party and lots of fun. especially the belly flop contest. Every night we would run into our director 1:00 am @ the ships snack bar aft, their food really hits the spot else we ate on the ship. We had our first lady captain Lis Lauritzen she was also special to us The theater productions were Broadway style as always. Loved the disco club and very late night hot tub hours.FYI, if you want champaign for late night hot tub action the casino bar is open after all the other bars are closed. On Barbados we went on an excursion taking us to 4 breath taking beaches. St.Croix's The Palm excursion has a beautiful narrow beach, a very nice bar, restaurant and a phenomenal pool all within steps of one another. Antigua has beautiful spacious beaches. Extravaganza Beach excursion, there's a very nice restaurant there serving an awesome buffet lunch and the owner has priceless stories he loves to share about his growth and history of his beloved island. read more

Best way to sum it up is WOW!! I have never had a vacation and experience as great as this one. My husband has tried to get me to go on a cruise since we got together almost seven years ago. I have always been anti-cruise with the fear of getting sea sick and the thinking it won't be such a good time. Well, after his persistence of trying to get me to go for so long, I finally agreed. We decided on Royal Caribbean after hearing so many positive things about it. We decided to go on the Jewel of the Seas to the Southern Caribbean on an island hopping cruise. Island hopping is when you visit several islands on the cruise instead of just going to one place. Every day we were somewhere different. I consider it the perfect vacation...(hey when else can you visit five islands over the course of a week for one price). This particular cruise left out of Puerto Rico so we flew down the day before and spent the day there. From the moment we got there, I was impressed with everything. We boarded the ship as early as possible (I think it was around noon-ish). The ship didn't depart until 6pm but I wanted to get the most out of this experience. They took our luggage and we carried in one mini bag with items we might need right away. The pool is open along with the food when you first board. Rooms are not ready so instant. We grabbed some food at the buffet. Everything you could possibly want is there and everything tastes so good! We then walked around the ship trying to familiarize ourselves with where we would be spending the next week. They have duty free (tax free) shops on the ship but they are only open when the ship is at sea. Our rooms were ready about 3:00ish. Our luggage was sitting outside our doors waiting for us. I decided to take the cheap route when I agreed to the cruise and opted for an inside room. Everybody warned me it's such a small room but I didn't care. I wasn't as excited about going on the cruise as I should have been. I still had my doubts. The inside rooms are not the biggest but they were big enough. We are barley in our room anyway so what's the difference. Surprisingly, the closet in the rooms is actually nice and roomy. We first met our stateroom attendant when we first went to go check out our rooms. Our attendant Jason, was the best. We introduced ourselves the first time and from then on out, he remembered us by name. Whenever he would see us walking down the hall, he would run to open our room for us and always acknowledge us by name and ask how our day was going and if there is anything we needed. I know this is his job but I truly felt that he went above and beyond. Now, my husband and I are not the type of people that could sit out by a pool all day and do nothing. After about an hour or so, we get bored. Great thing about the cruise, if you are the type of people like us, great! You won't be bored. If you are the type to just hang out and relax, great! You can do that as much as you want. At any given time on the ship, there are multiple activities / events going on around the ship so you can pick what you want to do. Never too much down time unless you choose to have it at which point, you can hang out by the pools as much as you want. Another great thing about the cruise, no matter what time of day or night it is, there is always some type of food place open on the ship (not to mention room service is always available). The staff is super friendly is always helpful if you need anything. Once you talk to someone, most of them know you for the rest of the cruise. The staff is great at remembering you and taking care of anything you could want. If you feel motion sickness at all, you can go to the customer service desk and get a free pill to help you not be motion sickness. Unfortunately, our cruise came to an end just like any vacation does. I will not go on anything but a cruise from now on. One cruise and I became a cruiser for life. It is truly the best vacation you could even have. So much to do and so little to do if you choose. read more

Just got off the ship. Had a great time. The service was top notch and the ship seemed brand new and very clean. Our stateroom with balcony exceeded my expectations. My only complaint was the food in the Tides dining room was just OK. However, the two specialty restaurants Chops and Portifino were fantastic with rack of lamb, seafood, fillet Mignon, veal, and much more always on the menu. There is a surcharge of $20-25 per person, but it is definitely worth it. The ports of call were touristy but that's the type of vacation it was and what I expected. One thing I was very impressed with was the boarding of 2500 people and how fast, efficient and organized it was. Would recommend. read more

Great looking ship! it goes for 10 to 14 day cruises around the caribbean. crowd is a little bit older...but if you take this cruise...ask for Brunno at Guest services. he will provide you with personalized service and assist you in any excursions that you want to take! read more

What an amazing crew aboard this ship!!!!! They certainly made our vacation very special. Ship was kept in pristine condition.

This was our first cruise (non-work cruise- I'm a marine biologist, so I've been out to sea for work numerous times). The accommodations were great- the room was fantastic and super clean and most of the staff were excellent. The most disappointing thing was the food. The Windjammer buffet was really terrible...and we had heard that there was always a bunch of different options- which there weren't. Even the buffet was only opened during certain hours during the day, and closed up by 9pm. The ONLY thing available after 11pm was either a hot dog or piece of frozen pizza from the solarium food stand. The Dining Room food was somewhat better, but not by much. The last two days were the best food days, but overall, it was a huge disappointment!!! The pool was small and so packed, that it was hard to even find an opened lounge chair anywhere during most of the day. The indoor pool was filled with older people ( and I mean MUCH older during the day, and closed at night) The Cozumel excursion we booked through Royal Caribbean was also not a good experience. We paid for a catamaran ride with less than 28 other people to 2 separate snorkeling sites.....we got a regular double decker dive boat packed with customers, we were dumped in on top of one another and had to SWIM from one reef to the next. So instead of having time to check out any of the reef, we were busy trying not to get kicked in the face by other less experienced snorkelers who were struggling to keep up with swimming. Anytime we tried to get some distance between us and the other people, we got yelled at to stay close to the flag. We were on the move constantly, so there was not time to check out the reef/fish at all. When we were done, they told us they were bringing us to a 'private island' for free lunch and drinks. They said, 'EVERYTHING IS FREE JUST FOR YOU'. We got there, went to the tables to get lunch, they charged me $16 for the scary buffet they had going, and finally after we complained, they finally gave us our money back. We had 15 minutes after that fiasco to try to find an opened chair in the designated area to relax with the HUNDREDS of other customers that also were dumped in the same spot, before heading back. The second stop was a MUCH different experience. We took the Mayan Ruins tour, but it was booked through an outside company, and it literally made the entire trip worthwhile! http://www.thenativechoice.com/chacchoben_extreme.php If your ship stops in Costa Maya, I recommend it highly! Every aspect of this trip was completely amazing! It will probably be a while (if ever) before we book another cruise. If we do, we'll be sure to book with a big group of friends, and really research the boat to make sure they will have the amenities that will make our trip more enjoyable. read more

My husband and I sailed Dec. 3-13th to Caribbean / Central & South America. We're in our 30's and boy were we a bit shocked to see that the median age aboard was 65-70+. Lots of walkers, wheelchairs and motorized chairs, as well as crankiness, rudeness and disorder. At dinner we were seated with other 30-somethings in a side room that seemed fit for those less important than the serial cruisers who got to enjoy the high ceilings of the main dining area. The head waiter told us as an aside that "seriously, only retired people tend to take 10-day cruises". Information that would have been helpful months ago. The RC site did not give any clues to the demographic shock we were to experience. The boat itself seemed too small for the amount of people on it - always fighting for deck chairs and chairs in the Windjammer cafe...emphasis on JAM. Never have I seen such chaos: there is no semblance of order or politeness in that area of the boat. Never come between the elderly and their next meal, apparently. I experienced *multiple* instances of these people feeling it was their right to cut in line in front of me for coffee or to purchase something in the gift shop, though I was clearly next in line. The Divine Right of Senior as someone on board so eloquently put it. The food quality and quantity was subpar compared to Princess (maybe it is an economic thing) and the boat itself seemed a bit confusing as it was essentially Art Deco mixed with odd bits of modern art as well as statues of distorted people and flamingos. The gift/jewelry shop on board was an utter fire hazard when they were doing nightly giveaways. People were jammed shoulder to shoulder to see if they won any bit of junk and this caused congestion to other parts of the ship. Two of our tours were cancelled for no reason and everything shut down at 9pm when the older folks presumably went to bed. The shows were better coordinated and choreographed on Princess, too. Much of their production was truly cringe-worthy. The port stops were really the only redeeming thing about being on this boat and the room service and stewards were terrific, nice and timely. This experience gave new meaning to the phrase "hell is other people". read more

I decided to invite my friend on a cruise (Royal Caribbean Jewel of the Seas)with me which we are both 17 and my mom and her boyfriend. My friend started getting anxiety claustrophobia during 2nd or 3rd day of the cruise. It was impossible for her to eat and enjoy her time so she decided to visit the doctor. Mind the fact JUST TO TALK to the doctor is about $117 WITHOUT prescribing anything. She listed her symptoms and the doctor said she needs to get off the ship and to find a flight out of the next port. My mom had to go with her because my friend is a minor. When my friend realized she was getting out of the port, she calmed down and realized she could last one last day on the ship (sea day). The doctor refused and kicked her and my friend off. Mostly because they were afraid she would commit suicide and get bad publicity because apparently signing a waver just wasn't enough. So they were kicked off, AND made my mom PAY for the HOTEL AND FLIGHT, even after my friend said she could handle it. Thanks to Jewel of the Seas, my friend has to sell her car because the cruise line made them pay for their own hotel and flight. My mom later got the bill, but they didn't add the doctors cost because they didn't want the insurance company to know about it. Sneaky ship and WOULD NOT recommend going on JEWEL OF THE SEAS. All they care about is MONEY. However, I have been on Freedom of the Seas before and it was great! read more