Booked this cruise because of the itinerary. I planned on visiting friends in both Barbados and Tobago, which I did. The only problem with the itinerary is the San Juan departure port which is cumbersome to get to. The Jewel although one of RCI's older ships was clean and well maintained and really doesn't show her age. Some aspects like the tiny pools and small windjammer buffet do harken to previous eras, but that expected on a vessel this age. The biggest frustration on the Jewel was the main elevators, they are terrible! They seem to have no logic to them and don't ever seem to stop on the 5th floor, of course the busiest floor. The main atrium is the hub of the ship and is beautiful, but on this cruise there was always something going on and it was always loud, it kind of ruined the serenity of the space. The windjammer buffet was not as large as on modern ships and really had a limited offering, there was only one place you could get fried eggs in the morning for example. By and large the general food quality was excellent and service in the main dinning room was impeccable. Our head waiter was the most involved and friendliest head waiter I have ever experienced on 15 cruises. The specialty restaurants were hit and miss. we had a wonderful time in the Italian but received terrible service from an over worked waiter in the steak house, also the steaks were all incorrectly cooked. The cabin attendant was amazing, and even thought they only clean once a day now, the cabin was always presentable. After being a RCI cruiser for over 25 years the one thing that was noticeable is the reduction in customer facing staff. Bars that used to have two or three bartenders now have one, open spaces like the pool deck or solarium that used to have multiple waiters now have one or none, the cruise directors staff numbers were also noticeably lower. One of my biggest take always from this cruise was the increase in traffic on the southern islands. The traffic on Trinidad and St. Maarten in particular was terrible. The ride to Moho Beach took over an hour and only a few years ago it took 20 minutes. I would take this cruise again but would stay close to the piers to avoid traffic and I would avoid the steak house restaurant do to the terrible service there.