jollytammy

Thank you for such an upbeat review! It was wonderful to see good things about the ship. We sail the Sunshine next February.

Tammy

THANK YOU! I like the extra room to move around, LOL!

We have cruised on some of the larger ships, and what we found were that the showers in the Spa were open to everyone. I took advantage of the large showers in the locker room, instead of using the small shower in my room. I've not been on a Conquest size ship before and am unfamiliar with the SPA layout. Does the Conquest have locker rooms with showers open to everyone?

Thanks!

We loved the poolside cabanas. My parents were with us (85 & 81) and they couldn't stop talking about how nice they were. It's a great place to get away from everyone, and a place to get out of the sun. They are private and the staff will shoo anyone away that comes into the area. We have booked a cabana for our upcoming cruise in january.

We did the pool cabanas in March and LOVED it! Worth every bit of money!

Tammy

Thanks!! Very helpful!

Jollytammy

We are going to Aruba in January, and the Trikes Aruba looked amazing! Question is, if my husband and I drive the Trikes, would my 80-year old parents find the ride too much for them?

Thanks!

Jollytammy

Yes please!!!

Harv and Marv are wonderful! Our excursion was set for 7:30 am and there was plenty of time. They are picking you up at the dock and they know if the ship arrives late.

We had the best time on this excursion, and it was by far our favorite! There were 6 of us, so we had our own boat with Captain Liz! She was amazing! We only saw a few "tails", but we did see a baby whale come up so close we could have touched her. PLUS, she went under our boat. The baby was playing with a sea lion close to us, and they were copying each other. At one point, the whale went under the boat. Captain Liz seemed very excited about the whale under the boat, so I figured it must be something special to have them do that.

Harv and Marv's captains talk to each other over the radio about the whales, so if your boat isn't near one, they'll go to where the whale has been sited. It was so amazing and beautiful! The best excursion by far, and worth every cent! We were back to the ship in plenty of time!

We’ve only been on about 4 cruises; 3 were out of Port Canaveral and the other out of Tampa. So I was surprised how different the Seattle port was, and did not like the set up at all (pier 66). The set up seemed small and cramped. I guess I’m use to the nice, airiness of both Tampa and Port Canaveral. We had flown in the night before and stayed at Sleep Inn SeaTac. The hotel was nice, and the shuttle picked us up from the airport. We used Seattle Express to take us to the port and to take us to the airport on our return on Saturday. We were very satisfied with the service. Everyone was very polite. I was a little concerned when they were not at the hotel at EXACTLY 10:30, but that is my stress problem. They arrived a few minutes later and all was well with the world. We had several other stops, so I didn’t arrive at the pier at the break of dawn, and by the time we got through the line, they had announced open boarding. I usually like to be as early as possible, so I can get on the ship as soon as possible.

I was traveling with my parents, my mother-in-law, husband and husband’s aunt. Between the check-in at the counter and going through the door to the gangplank, my parents “misplaced” their room keys! We had got our photo, showed our keys/ID, and had started up the gangplank when I turned to take photos of everyone. Where were my parents? So we trudge back down the gangplank to find security sending them back to find their room keys/ID. After several searches and back and forth walks, they found their keys/IDs. My dad had my mom’s, and she had his. What mixed up everyone was that my dad also produced his key/ID from our last cruise in January of 2015! WHAT!

So, after we finally get everyone on the ship, they announced that our rooms were ready and we headed up there to drop off what we could and then met up again to eat. All our rooms were on deck 10 forward (basically under the Spa), so we usually would meet near the elevators deck 10 forward.

I enjoyed the layout of the Jewel. She seemed easier to navigate than the Sun. Although I tended to get turned around, I thought the layout was nice. The one section I did miss from the Sun was having the sports bar near the Great Outdoors. We use to go and hang out in the sports bar on the Sun, and then make a quick dash over to the Great Outdoors or Garden Café for snacks. Since O’sheehans was not near the Great Outdoors, and they had a “hostess”, we tended not to hangout in that location like we did on the Sun. We did find that the card/game room was very handy for when we played cards, and we used that location, which was down from the spa, several times. I was surprised how many people used the room, and there appeared to be a nice supply of games.

We had a balcony which is really a necessity for this cruise. We used our balcony more than we ever have before. I would open the drapes and just lie in bed and watch the scenery go by. It was really amazing.

Food: Loved the Garden Café. They always had a nice choice and I found several things that I wanted and enjoyed. My mom said it best when she stated that it was nice having dinner in the sit-down restaurants, but the Garden Café had a better selection each night and service was quicker. The dining room we used was the informal Azura. We enjoyed not having to dress up. After the 3rd night, we found a server that we liked, and we asked for him the rest of the time. He was very entertaining and treated us to some wonderful laughs. Rodwin is amazing, ask for him. Desserts, to me, are better in the dining room than in the Garden Café. We ate dinner each night in Azura, except one night when we tried Chin Chin. This restaurant is also free, and it was a nice change. I did find that they had an amazing dessert that had bean curd in the name, but turned out to be flaky triangles with a chocolate like filling. It is worth trying Chin Chin at least once. We never had dinner at O’sheehans, but did go for snacks a couple times late at night. There were two soft-serve machines in the Garden Café and the layout and size was a little better to me than on the Sun. There were always lots of choices at the Garden Café and the Great Outdoors. Because of the weather, seating tending to disappear fast due to losing the seating on the aft deck, near the Great Outdoors. We ended up eating in the La Cucina most days after getting our food.

We had an amazing room steward. We had ice every day and he made sure to learn our names and would greet us in the hallway, using our names. He was one of the better stewards that we’ve ever had.

The shows were the best I’ve seen, other than when we were on Disney (which you can’t beat). The musical the second night was amazing. Maybe because it was music from the 70’s, but I loved it. Much better than what was on the Sun last year. The two comedians were wonderful. We absolutely loved Jean-Pierre, who was more comedian than magician. He might not be everybody’s taste, but we LOVED HIM, the audience seemed to enjoy his show also. The gymnasts were amazing and the two shows they had left us breathless. I will mention that although I totally enjoyed the show with just the gymnasts, about half-way through, I was getting bored. But that is also me. I really enjoyed the show that had the singing, dancing and the gymnasts.

We spent way too much on Bingo and Deal or No Deal. The assistant cruise director was not as good with Deal or No Deal as the assistant on the Sun. But we played, and my mom won $50, so she was happy. We played Bingo more than normal, because we won one game, and then had to play every day with the hope we would win again. We enjoyed the music trivia games, although we were very, very bad at the games.

For excursions in Ketchikan, we did nothing, but shop. My husband went to the Lumberjack show and had a great time. To me it seemed expensive at $37, but it made him happy and kept him busy while I shopped. In Juneau we did the whale watch with Harv and Marv. LOVED them. It was our best excursion our whole trip. In Skagway we did the train. It was beautiful and really cool, but….after about an hour I had had enough. The train moved too fast and I missed shots, or I had a shadow from the window. I enjoyed the van ride back better than the entire train ride. It was worth doing once, but I can only look at mountains and trees for so long, before my attention wanders. The Chilhoot people were amazing, and we loved our van ride. We stopped in town and shopped our way back to the ship. We really enjoyed Skagway and thought it had a great deal of character. We ate lunch while in town at Bites on Broadway, which had some amazing, create your own sandwiches. We were not too impressed with Victoria. We did a carriage ride, but when they say that 6 people will fit, they need to specify that 6 “skinny” people will fit. We were a little tightly squished on our ride. The ride was OK, but nothing to write home about, LOL.

I did invest in the deal where you put money down toward the next cruise and you are given OBC. Since we had spent so much on bingo and Deal or No Deal, plus a few drinks here and there, I put down $1000 toward 4 future deposits, and got onboard credit of enough to break even on our charges and just owe the 4 deposits. Made me happy.

We did the walk off option when we arrived in port. We had done this in Tampa and were off the boat quickly. We did not get in line as early as we did in Tampa, and by the time we got in line, the line had snaked around the deck. The wait wasn’t too bad, just a little chilly. But once we were off, we were free to go. We didn’t have to look for luggage, which makes me very happy. We walked to the meeting place for Seattle Express and got on and headed to the airport.

I am loving your report! It is one of the best, basic, informational reports I've ever seen. You give lots of facts, but in a format that is so easy to read and quick to find information.

Again, THANK YOU!

Jollytammy

We are going on the Jewel next May to Alaska and your report is wonderful!! I just love researching and finding all the information that people give! And your report is perfect! I read one report before we went on the Sun in January and the girl mentioned which that one elevator button didn't light up like all the others, and that you had to push it separate from the others. That information came in handy! Just like all the information you're giving!! Thank you for everything!

Jollytammy

Loved Maya Chan!! We had the best time, and it was even a rainy day. The service was awesome, the food terrific, and the view, heaven! The place is in terrific shape! Best place in the world.!

We went outside the fence to the local crafts market. The local crafts are cheaper outside the fence. I love the hot sauce, Marie Sharp's, and I found the price is the same inside as outside the fence. We did not do any excursions, just visited the shops, did the chocolate tour, ate lunch and visited the crafts market. I never felt unsafe or worried. There were several other tourists walking around with us, and lots of tourists at the crafts market. You go out the gate, turn left and walk a couple of blocks. You do have to walk through a few people trying to sell tours, but otherwise no problems.

We did the taste bar three different nights. Supposedly, the food was from different areas of the ship. The first night was from the Blue Iguana and one night was from the Steak house. We would slip by at 5:30, grab a sample and then mosey down for early seating. There was plenty of time. The food is already ready and you just go up and they serve it to you on a little plate. My husband loved the barbeque like chicken from the Blue Iguana, and the short ribs from the steak house. It was like having a little appetizer before we went into dinner.

Thank you!!!!

Ok, please excuse these "stupid" questions, but we have only been on 2 cruises, and both of those were Disney. Disney had the beverage station where you got your own free drinks.

1.Where do you go to get something free to drink--water, coffee, etc.

2. If you buy the soda card, where can you get the soda?

3. If you order room service, do you tip them?

4. If I bring my own travel mug, can I get that filled with coffee? Or my own water bottle and get that filled with water?

5. What beverages are free? water, coffee, tea?

another stupid question, are most of the quick eating places on the promenade (spelling?) or are there places near the pools were you can get things like fruit and pizza and sandwiches without going into windjammer.

Thank you in advance for all your help! Thank you, thank you!

Tammy