Jomykje

1 hour ago, theorbo said:

 

 

* How has the Thermal Spa been, if you have experienced it this trip? I cannot remember if CAS members get an in-port visit for free but maybe I'm confusing that with X's Persian Garden access? 

 

 

 

Thank you! 

We were on the Jewel last year and they have a free sauna and steam room.

6 hours ago, Hoopster95 said:

AAAAAAAAGH!!!!

twang… are you attending?

I need proof that I actually did this 🥶😉

 

 

Thank you for the picture. I think I will skip this part on our Arctic Circle cruise in August 🥶

17 hours ago, Cherful59 said:

Do you know how long they will be onboard?  Thank you

Same question.  Do you know how long they will be onboard, or is it only for this cruise?  Thank you

It looks like this is their only cruise on the Jewel this time…

24 minutes ago, twangster said:

Some see it as Royal choosing not to service a region but there in some cases they are being pushed to this outcome partially by their own choices going back several years now.

 

Between IMO 2023 and Norway closing the fjords in many cases deployment choices are being impacted for the cruise industry.  The UK/EU market is a good example.  Iceland from Europe on older ships is all but being eliminated.  Newer ships with lower emissions using fuel sources like LNG could do it, but Royal has very few ships with LNG and the ones they do have are too large for the Iceland market.   

 

It's not just a matter of Royal choosing not to serve the UK or EU markets as they have in the past, they don't have right sized ships that meet the technical requirements to service these routes given new operational requirements designed to lower ship emissions impacting the entire global shipping industry.

 

This is largely by their own making choosing to build only mega ships with cleaner energy solutions, or by delaying the migration to cleaner energy compared to the competition.  They saw this coming while ships like Ovation and Odyssey were being built but they choose to keep those ships running on MGO to save money on re-engineering them.  Now, years later, they are trapped by that decision making, long before Jason Liberty was leading the company.  

 

 

Combined with the market in the US changing with so many new to cruise devouring cruises as a new untapped source of revenue, a target customer that prefers short cruises, Royal is chasing the short cruise business with mostly MGO based ships while they can, in the US that as a region is behind some European countries that individually are looking at or have created emissions changes for shipping. 

Thank you for this explanation. I am a bit sad Royal will not sail out of Amsterdam next year, but now it makes more sense. 
 

20 hours ago, LAL Cruiser said:

If Silver Ray follows the same path that Silver Nova took last year....when sea trials are complete, the next stop will be Amsterdam for deliveries of furniture, supplies and equipment.  Nova spent many days docked just outside of Amsterdam centre accepting deliveries.  

 

THANK YOU for the pictures!

I hope for the passengers on the first sailing it won’t take to long to get all the equipment. I read they were ahead of schedule and the delivery of the ship to Silversea was two days earlier then planned. So fingers crossed for a smooth finish!

Hello all,

From my little village in the North of the Netherlands we can see the cruise ships when they are doing their sea trials from Eemshaven and are being prepared to start their journey. Today I tried to make some photo’s of the Silver Ray. Unfortunately all the roads to the ship are closed and only open for the people who work on the ship, so the pictures are taken from a distance not very clear, but I hope some of you will enjoy them. 

50 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

Once you follow that link, the option to see other ships/dates should become available.

I found it! Thank you!

1 hour ago, la_croisiere_s'amuse said:

You should see "Browse our ships" right below those two options. That will let you pick your ship (or any other) and its current sailing. If you aren't seeing that, it wouldn't be the first time the app has glitched. 🙂 

Thank you! I found it while using my Ipad. 

Hello,

Last year I could see the menu and activities of the cruises before ours to get a bit of an idea what we could expect. You could click on: select other date (or cruise?)  but when I do that now you can only add another reservation number or book another cruise.

Did they change this, or am I not looking at the right place.

thank you in advance.

No cruises from Amsterdam… 😢

Time for me to go and look at the Celebrity page of this forum.

Here is some information about where to buy it. I do not know if they mean dutch catering whole sellers or that they sell it in other countries as well.

56 minutes ago, Sunshine3601 said:

I love their butter too.  I took a photo to see if I could find online, but no luck.

Maybe this helps?

https://kaptein.info/en/products/butter/

Here in the Netherlands you can find it in most supermarkets I think. Glad you like it.

17 hours ago, patattack said:

I am watching for the Jewel for 2025 or 2026 out of Amsterdam.  I sure wished I had booked it this year.

I still have hope. They have to send Jewel somewhere in the month April- september. So why not Amsterdam? Maybe she cannot go into the fjords anymore, but what about the British Isles and Iceland? Are those itenararies not profitable anymore and will she be send somewhere else? But if they will, why did they not already let us know?

I think they are still figuring out their best move and nothing is decided yet. 

3 hours ago, FamilyCruiserUK said:

More then welcome..we are going on world Europa from Barcelona in April. All i would advise if your expecting royal level of service and entertainment then MSC is totally different. Its European so we dont need so much of the in your face customer service, lots of different languages and nationalities onboard, shows are good but different. Food is more of a European flavour, yes still have burgers and fries (chips for us in uk). 

Over all its a different experience but still a lot of fun. And the different itineraries are well worth that difference. 👍

Thank you. We are from the Netherlands, so we are used to the european customer service😅 And after 1 cruise we are not ‘Loyal to Royal’ (or any other cruiseline) yet. So this is a good time to try others. One worry about MSC is that they are not very accommodating for food allergies and we both have them. I think we sould first try a short itinerary with them to see how they handle things. 

Thank you very much @Saab4444 

I looked at their site and I like there itineraries. 

28 minutes ago, Saab4444 said:

According to the official Royal schedule Europe 2025 is published, any additiional ship (e.g. Jewel) would be an unexpected and late change, I doubt it.

Thank you. Not the news I wanted to hear, but we will start looking for other lines too just in case. 

Thank you @little britain and @FamilyCruiserUK I will look at MSC. Maybe that is something for us. 

Thank you @twangster

I will keep an eye on this thread and keep my fingers crossed for some sailings from the Netherlands next summer. 
 

Luckely we choose NORWAY AND THE ARCTIC CIRCLE this year

We are pretty new to cruising, but after our first cruise on Jewel of the seas last year we are hooked. We are sailing from Amsterdam to the arctic circle this year, but already looking for sailings out of Amsterdam ( or maybe Rotterdam) for next year.

If I look at the scedule the europe sailings should have been released in november, but I cannot find any from The Netherlands. Did I miss them, are they skipping the Netherlands or do I have to be more patient and wait. 
 

Thank  you in advance

Thank you @Engineroom Snipe

Thank you @CntPAcruiser

I am afraid the sky does not dark  enough night to see the northern lights between april and the beginning of august, so I would not count on it. 

I was reading this thread to find the answer to the following question: does the jewel of the seas sauna and steamroom have a relaxation room nearby that you can use after you went into the sauna or not. I went to the sauna last year on the Jewel but did not see a room like that: just the sauna, steamroom, showers and lockers. Did I miss the relaxation room, or is there none?

And after reading this thread I am confused: are you allowed to use the single-sex sauna naked or do you have to wear a swimsuit? Last year I wore my swimsuite because I thought I had to. 

When we boarded the Jewel of the seas last week in Amsterdam for a two weeks cruise there was a small stand where you could buy wine and a singh that said: special offer: you can bring in two bottles of wine today. So maybe it was because it was a two weeks cruise?  

45 minutes ago, mac_tlc said:

Captain Michael just gave a great explanation of why our itinerary was modified. 
 

Due to the lack of rain in Central Europe, particularly Holland and Germany, the salinity of the water all the way to Amsterdam is forecast to be above a limit of 4000mg/liter. Once that level is reached, the locks between Amsterdam and the ocean are restricted in operation to 6am to 7pm. The more frequently the locks are operated, the more salt water is released into the river towards Amsterdam. 
 

The critical level will be reached tomorrow. On our normal schedule, we would reach the locks at 1:30am in order to be alongside and ready to depart at 7am. If we had to wait until the locks could open at 6am on the 29th, we would not be alongside until 10:30ish. That would most likely result in folks missing flights and impacting the next cruise. So the decision was made to skip Molde in order to be at the locks on the 28th before they close. We are scheduled to be alongside in Amsterdam at 4pm on the 28th.
 

More rainfall produces more fresh water into the water system keeping the salinity below the threshold. 

 

 

Now back to our regularly a scheduled program……

 

 

mac_tlc

Thank you for this explanation. Fascinating! It has not rained for several weeks now  here in the North of the Netherlands. Very unusual. Let’s hope this will change soon.