Ship Visit Information

Ship: Jewel of the Seas
Visit Date: 19 July, 2012
Port: Harwich
Cruise Line: Royal Caribbean International
Review Author: Harry Cotterill

On August 19th 2012, I had had the opportunity to visit Royal Caribbean International’s 90,090 tonne, Jewel of the Seas, whilst the vessel was berthed alongside the Cruise Terminal at Harwich International Port.

This was in fact the second time that 23 had visited Jewel of the Seas, the first being during the summer of 2009. I was invited on board with my parents by the Master at the time, Captain James McDonald, after Mike Rawlings, Managing Director, Global Cruise Services (UK) Ltd presented our original drawing aboard the ship some weeks before.

Jewel of the Seas has been based at Harwich International Port during the summer months since 2004, but the vessel will not be returning to the United Kingdom in 2013. She will instead be replaced by her sister vessel, Brilliance of the Seas.

Due to the ever exceeding excellence of our drawing, as well as the fact Jewel of the Seas will not be returning in 2013, we took the decision to especially assign a brand new drawing of the ship in July 2012. We then took the opportunity to contact the crew aboard Jewel of the Seas to request permission to visit the ship to present the new drawing, before the ship leaves Harwich for the last time on August 31st 2012. Captain Stig Nilsen was kind enough to accept our request and granted us permission to visit Jewel of the Seas on August 19th 2012.

I was joined aboard Jewel of the Seas by my father. Upon boarding the vessel at approximately 10:30, they were escorted to reception in the ship’s main centrum on Deck 4. A short while later they were meant to the Staff Captain, Thomas Roth, who officially welcomed them aboard.

My father and I were then taken up to Deck 5 to Café Latte’-Tudes, which overlooks the ship’s impressive centrum, where they enjoyed a drink and pastry each, together with Staff Captain Thomas Roth.

After chatting for quite some time Staff Captain, Thomas Roth then invited my father and I to visit the bridge and escorted them there personally. I was then given the opportunity to unveil his brand new drawing of Jewel of the Seas to the Staff Captain and other Officers on the navigation bridge. 

We then took the opportunity to have a number of photographs taken together with the drawing on the ship’s bridge wing. I was also given the chance to sit in the command seat on the bridge, where he had sat some 3 years previously, during his first visit aboard on August 21st 2009.

My father and I then accepted the Staff Captain’s invitation to tour the ship’s passenger amenities with one of the Officers on the bridge. The complete tour of the ship from the upper pool decks, right down to the lower public decks, gave them the chance to admire the numerous restaurants, bars and lounges aboard Jewel of the Seas again, not the mention the more impressive areas, such as the centrum, theatre and main dining room.

Upon completing the tour of the ship, the Officer then invited my father and I back to the bridge, where they took the opportunity to take a number of photographs from the opposite bridge wing, overlooking Harwich International Port and the Cruise Terminal.

At approximately 12:30, some 2 hours after boarding the ship, the Officer then escorted us to the Promenade Deck on Deck 5, where they then disembarked the vessel.

Photo Gallery