SeaBaby

Another fan of the Jewel here. Love the Schooner Bar, its large windows and great views of the sea. Looking forward to our next 2 cruises on her.

When we boarded, we were informed that we would arrive an hour late in St. Thomas, that is at 11 am instead of 10. In fact we arrived shortly after 10 am. As for vibration, we never felt any movement other than on the second to last night when we felt some rocking and rolling, which the captain later said was due to a weather system and 9 to 12 foot sea swells. A little movement during the last day as well, but again it seemed more weather related, and we had 45 mph winds across the deck. We have certainly experienced more movement on other ships. The ship's speed on Saturday was 18.6 knots according to the info shown on the tv. Top speed is something like 22 knots for Allure normally.

Hope this helps.

Suzanne

Just got off 2 weeks on the Jewel,and we wanted to take Diego home and keep him. He is definitely in the top 5 concierges, maybe even higher. There was nothing he couldn't make wonderful. He remembered us from last year and he was only on board 1 week before he left for vacation then.

Sally

Juan Diego was on our Australia/New Zealand cruise in Feb/March on the Radiance. He was absolutely the best concierge I have ever met. He raised the bar very high for our future expectations!

Rereading the above post, I see that the Jewel concierge was Diego Tripaldi, not the same Diego who was on Radiance.

Suzanne

I am enjoying your review and photos and look forward to reading more. I was on the same cruise, so we had similar experiences with long flight and packing dilemmas. I also expected warmer weather than we got, and wished I had packed more long pants and long sleeved tops. It was a fantastic cruise, beautiful scenery, especially going through the Sounds in New Zealand.

Suzanne

I believe it depends on where the ship departs from, and whether a port of call requires a visa. If you need a visa to enter the country prior to embarking the ship, then you very likely need to secure it on your own. This is the case for our forthcoming Australia cruise, as we fly into Sydney for our cruise on the Radiance.

On the other hand, if a visa is required for a port call then it will be taken care of for you as long as you are on a ship-sponsored excursion. This was the case on our Baltic cruise. We flew into England (no visa required for Canadians) and for our port call in St. Petersburg the visa was taken care of by the cruise line because we were on a ship sponsored excursion. Those who wished to tour privately had to obtain their own visas for Russia.

Suzanne

What a very informative document! We'll be there next month. Thank you so much for this.

Sea Baby

The formula worked for me! We had 33 cruise credits before and we now have 244 points.

33 x 7 = 231 + 13 = 244 Bingo!

Suzanne

Sorta the same thing happened to me on the RD last month.........there was a martini tasting/making kind of class at 4pm at the Champagne Bar......we showed up at 3:45.......bartender in charge told us they canx it,not enough showed up...........HUH?? 15 mins prior and they can determine that??:confused:

I just think he didn't want to be bothered.......

 

Oh well,we went on and did whatever.............didn't ruin the cruise for us,but I found it really odd.....

It's happened to me before, and while I may be disappointed, it certainly doesn't make me mad. It's a business after all. On the other hand, I do agree there should be a general disclaimer on the cruise compass to the effect that scheduled activities may not take place if there are not enough participants.

Suzanne

As one who likes to enjoy a quality beverage.... I am looking for a quality bartender next week... I was intriqued by your post... How long ago were you on the AOS

Zark427 - we were on AOS for special 10 day sailing May 3, 2004. I think Rafael was scheduled for some time off in September, but do ask for him just in case.

Another excellent bartender on AOS is Marcello. We met him in June 2003 on a back-to-back. He was also in Blue Moon, but rotated to Schooner bar the second week. We asked for him this past May - he was working in the theatre bar in the evening and the pool bar in the day. When we finally saw him, the first thing he said to us was the drinks we ordered a year earlier!!! Marcello is referred to as "the old man" on AOS.

Enjoy your cruise!

SeaBaby

Yes!! I tried a variety of martinis in the Blue Moon including green apple martinis; and the bartender (Rafael Laloo - I wonder if he's still there?) made me one not on the menu :D - an espresso martini - because I told him I love espresso!

The Blue Moon was quiet in the evenings and got very lively around 10 p.m. with an awesome band. DH and I closed that bar many nights on our AOS cruises.

SeaBaby