Come Cruise with Me-Jewel Review 4/8/11-Southern Caribbean/2,000+ Pics/Super Long

[bionicman97]

Day 10 - At Sea - Afternoon

 

After lunch, we went and looked at the ship photos and the shops. At 2:30, we went to a magic show in the safari lounge by the guest entertainers "Knight Magic" It was a good show ~ lasted about 30 minutes

 

 

 

Wife got one more of those virgin lava flows

 

 

After this, we went to the solarium for a serious session of Angry Birds

 

 

At 4pm, we went back to the windjammer one last time for a snack

 

 

It was good

 

 

After this, we went back to the solarium and I watched a couple episodes of Bones.

 

Up next - the evening. . .

[Kilkenny Cruise]

Love your reviews - so informative and so detailed - you must get a real kick out of compiling them.

 

Keep it up - for a first time cruiser in Sept - just reading them alone answers so many questions!

[bionicman97]

Day 10 - Evening

 

At 6pm, we went back to the room to change and put away the last few things. After this, we went up one last time for the Viking Crown for the nightly diamond event.

 

 

At 6:50pm, we went to the theater. As with all the other nights, it was no problem getting a seat. The show started with a video taped message from the captain

 

 

Then we had the dancing thing with some passengers

 

 

 

Then the band played

 

 

Up next - the show. . .

[QTMichele]

 

OK - Here we go:

 

We have. . . - oh wait, didn't I give you a hint in your review :confused:

 

Just have to wait a little longer :rolleyes: But it's coming tonight :D

 

 

I want a hint in YOUR review. ;) :p

 

But, I'll try to be patient, if you try to HURRY IT UP ALREADY! lol

[bionicman97]

Love your reviews - so informative and so detailed - you must get a real kick out of compiling them.

 

Keep it up - for a first time cruiser in Sept - just reading them alone answers so many questions!

 

Thanks :)

 

They are fun to put together, but this one is approaching 3 weeks :eek: so it is coming to an end today (so I can have my evenings back :D)

 

Glad it could help :)

[bionicman97]

I want a hint in YOUR review. ;) :p

 

But, I'll try to be patient, if you try to HURRY IT UP ALREADY! lol

 

I'm hurrying :D

 

The pressure is on. It's 6:10 and the gps says we are getting where we are going at 6:40, so I'm posting like crazy :eek::D

[bionicman97]

Day 10 - The Show

 

So the show tonight featured a comedian/juggler act

 

He was good

 

 

 

 

The singers and dancers did a number

 

 

And then we had the official RCI farewell pep rally

 

 

 

Up next - The Last Supper (of the cruise, of course). . .

[bionicman97]

Day 10 - Dinner Time

 

On the way to dinner, we stopped to watch the tango dancers in the Centrum. Very talented

 

 

For dinner, I had the spinach dip

 

 

A very odd serving of turkey (everyone else got slices with gravy underneath, I think I got the leftovers from the bottom of the pan with gravy dumped on top) ~ It wasn't very good

 

 

And the brownie dessert with the banana parfait

 

 

After this, we went to the Safari Club for a few minutes, then back to our room. I placed the luggage outside and we went to bed at 11:08 am

 

 

Up next - Day 11 - We're back. . .

[bionicman97]

Got up around 7:25 and got ready. We went to the schooner bar at 8am. At 8:10, our number was called and we headed off the ship. After we got off the ship, we quickly found our luggage and got in the line for customs. At 8:50, we had the car loaded and pulled out for home.

 

 

We stopped at lunch in Orlando at Cracker Barrel. We pulled into the driveway of our house just after 4pm.

 

Up Next - The other announcement. . .

[bionicman97]

The Other Announcement

 

I mentioned in the beginning of the review that I had a second announcement. This one really isn't cruise related, but it is, because it will affect our cruising some.

 

We typically go up to West Virginia 3 or 4 times per year to visit some of my wife's family and for the nice change of scenery.

 

They have offered us land before to build a vacation house. This last time when we were up, they had told us that they were going to build a new house and eventually demolish a 100+ year old farmhouse that they currently lived in.

 

Some of you may know and some not, but my families entire life revolves around construction. I have a builders license and my father has an electric and ac license.

 

We worked out a deal to help them construct parts of their house in exchange for the current farmhouse. We are going to put on a 4 bedroom addition to the right of the house, then completely gut the house and restore it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We will have about 4 acres, but we will back up to 150+ family acres to wonder on.

 

We plan on spending about 4 to 6 weeks up here a year, so we are going to cut back on our cruises to about 2 to 3 max per year.

 

I'm out of time now - but more later tonight. . .

[QTMichele]

 

 

Up Next - The other announcement. . .

 

And.... we're still waiting! ;)

[QTMichele]

Not sure how I missed your "announcement" post - congrats on the new home!!!

[Ander026]

Great review. Enjoyed every post. One thing that I noticed is that you grabbed your bags before customs. If you sail out of Port Canaveral you go through custums first and then baggage claim. Congrats on your announcement. I am also looking for a new place to live a little quiter than Kissimmee but still in Florida

[wingnutphl]

Congrats on the new home!!

[Familygoboston]

Curtis...

Loved your review! My DD and I read it together for 3 weeks, it allowed us to get excited about our cruise next Feb and learn a little about Jewel. (also good to have something to connect over with a teen;))

Love all you little anecdotes and how much you are willing to share!

 

Congratulations on your new farm house! I think you will love having a place near family (ours is also on the old family 'stead, but we had to shell out bucks to get ours from a distant cousin, lucky you:D) One of the things I have loved is having a place to go back to every year, with family all around; it is a fabulous way to raise a kid, with a break in the country every summer to kick back, kayak, swim, noodle in the woods:) (Warning: piece of unsolicited parenting advice- DONT get a tv!)

 

But, I have to tell you, one of the reasons we don't cruise so much (tho I am diamond after our Jewel cruise:D) is because we own a summer home, and I like to be there for 2 months, and not interrupt our time there, so you may find you might cut down on cruising. The other reason has to do with our big land dream vacas (which we do as soon as school gets out every other year) and my annual trek to visit the folks in FL, which this year includes a cruise, but sometimes includes Disney or last year, Harry Potter World!

 

I wish you and your wife the very best with your new vacation home and your new baby! What a big year, thanks for sharing all that with us and your fun review...can't wait to see the big announcement on CC about the baby...you know we will all be looking for it;)

[BonTXNY]

A wonderful end to a wonderful cruise. Lots of luck with your upcoming new addition.. Make that 2 new additions, the baby and the house. Enjoy both to the fullest :D

[ArkieCruisin]

Wow what an amazing review. Loved the pictures and the humor :) Congrats on the baby and the house!

[Texas Teen]

The review is over??? :(

 

Thanks for taking the time to post the review. The pictures were great! :D

[otowncruisr]

Thanks for a daily dose of the high seas. It was the next best thing to being there.

[Havana Daydreamin]

Thanks for the ride!

 

I don't know that I will ever get over wondering around! I LOVED that even though at first I believed in a typo for wandering around. It just seemed to fit! Walking around with wonder!

 

WOWIE, If we could just all do that a little more!

 

 

Thanks again! I really enjoyed it!

[candicecaribbean]

Curtis, I really enjoyed this and am sad to see it end. Thank you so much for taking time to do this. Blessings to you and your lovely wife.

[Darkwolfe]

Extremely well done Curtis. Congrats for all the good things coming up in your life.

[Woe is me]

Great review. Enjoyed every post. One thing that I noticed is that you grabbed your bags before customs. If you sail out of Port Canaveral you go through custums first and then baggage claim. Congrats on your announcement. I am also looking for a new place to live a little quiter than Kissimmee but still in Florida

 

Every port I have entered the good old USA, you claim your baggage, and then go through customs with your baggage!:confused::confused:

[bionicman97]

Not sure how I missed your "announcement" post - congrats on the new home!!!

 

Thanks :)

 

Great review. Enjoyed every post. One thing that I noticed is that you grabbed your bags before customs. If you sail out of Port Canaveral you go through custums first and then baggage claim. Congrats on your announcement. I am also looking for a new place to live a little quiter than Kissimmee but still in Florida

 

Thanks :)

 

The baggage claim seems to be different everywhere. In Port Canaveral, they use the conveyer belt system, in Port Everglades, they set them out by number.

 

I live in a pretty quiet place in Florida, but there's not much to do here and not much for work. We travel for most of our work.

 

Congrats on the new home!!

 

Thanks :)

[bionicman97]

Curtis...

Loved your review! My DD and I read it together for 3 weeks, it allowed us to get excited about our cruise next Feb and learn a little about Jewel. (also good to have something to connect over with a teen;))

Love all you little anecdotes and how much you are willing to share!

 

Congratulations on your new farm house! I think you will love having a place near family (ours is also on the old family 'stead, but we had to shell out bucks to get ours from a distant cousin, lucky you:D) One of the things I have loved is having a place to go back to every year, with family all around; it is a fabulous way to raise a kid, with a break in the country every summer to kick back, kayak, swim, noodle in the woods:) (Warning: piece of unsolicited parenting advice- DONT get a tv!)

 

But, I have to tell you, one of the reasons we don't cruise so much (tho I am diamond after our Jewel cruise:D) is because we own a summer home, and I like to be there for 2 months, and not interrupt our time there, so you may find you might cut down on cruising. The other reason has to do with our big land dream vacas (which we do as soon as school gets out every other year) and my annual trek to visit the folks in FL, which this year includes a cruise, but sometimes includes Disney or last year, Harry Potter World!

 

I wish you and your wife the very best with your new vacation home and your new baby! What a big year, thanks for sharing all that with us and your fun review...can't wait to see the big announcement on CC about the baby...you know we will all be looking for it;)

 

Thanks for sticking around the whole way.

 

We are very excited about the house, especially to take the little one up in the future. I've already got 4 weeks budgeted for the remainder of this year to go up and help the relatives with their house. Hopefully we can start working on ours next year. It will cut down on our cruising, but being that we live in Florida and we are used to taking last minute cruises, I still believe we will definitely do 2 a year and probably 3 (although probably not many 10 nighters).

 

Hope you and your family have a great trip on the Jewel :)