Cruising with Zay - A Jewel of the Seas Review

[TnomadX]

Hi Zay! Loving your review. Yes, B2Bs can sometimes be a little disconcerting in that each leg can be completely different from the other but it sounds like you have well mastered the craft of taking lemons and making lemonade:) Sorry about the cranky dinner companions.

 

Can't wait to read more.

 

You know? I've gotten a chance to see what the staff on board experiences. One week they could have a great crowd, then the next can be a complete opposite. it gets better as the week goes on thank goodness...lol.

[TnomadX]

I slept until about 10 this morning and skipped breakfast. I knew I had some tests to take for school, so I went out to try and find some WiFi. When I got off the ship, I noticed it was a pretty good hike to the island, and I didn't see a shuttle coming or going like I had at other islands. I almost changed my mind because my foot was hurting, but I decided to go ahead and head out there.

 

It was a nice little walk to the island. When I finally made it, I just took a look around the area. It was definitely a little different from St. Thomas. I thought about doing a taxi tour first, but I didn't see anyone willing to do a tour right away. I just continued to walk around for a bit. I finally found this little shop that offered free wifi if you bought something. I ordered bacon, eggs, and orange juice thinking it wouldn't be all that great....especially for the $8 I paid. to my surprise, it was very good.

 

They gave me the password for the wifi, and I connected my computer and began working on my assignments. I kept getting distracted because this little place was very popular. It's where most of the staff from the ship goes to access wifi and order as well. I got a chance to see some of the production singers and dancers, and some of them recognized me from the previous week. Please don't be afraid to approach them. They are all very nice and will welcome you to say hello. Also, people would come and join me and initiate a conversation. This is when I realized that there were some very nice people on board.

 

I must have stayed at this little restaurant for about 4 hours because the internet connection was slow and kept breaking, and it was a great place for being social. I thought I would remember the name of the little place, but it escapes me right now. You won't miss if should you visit this island. It's a very nice place, and perfect if you need wifi for an extended amount of time like I did. It is a U.S. Virgin Island, so US residents will have not problem using their phones.

 

Around 2 or so, I headed back to the ship. On the way back, guess what I just happened to see running? The shuttle train. Apparently there was a mechanical problem with it earlier that they were able to fix prior to the ship leaving. I decided just to walk anyways because I enjoyed the walk up. I went to Latte-Tudes to get some cookies (really, this cookies are absolutely delicious), and got a chance to meet a guy by the name of James Brown. This is one of the nicest guys I've met. We talked for quite some time about where we are from, where we've been, and where we plan to go. He gave me some great advice about where I could go for my next cruise. James works on the ship, and I remembered his name because he has a very popular name. If you are on the ship and see this guy, please tell him his friend in Alaska says hello. I appreciated him for taking time out of his day to just talk with me.

 

I then decided to go to have lunch and met another couple from Los Angeles. They had not been having a good cruise so far because they had been having problems with motion sickness. It was there first cruise, and they thought they wouldn't cruise again. One of the servers came by and heard part of the conversation, and gave them some advice on what to do to make it better for them. It was hard for me to understand him, but I believe the couple got the message and promised to give it a go.

 

I was headed back to my room when I ran into the person who set up our Meet & Mingle prior to us boarding. She let me know about another activity they were planning for our Cruise Critic group. It was scheduled for Thursday around 5:15 after we left St. Lucia. She promised that there would be more prizes given away. I was very excited.

 

I remembered that we were supposed to have a slot pull for our Meet & Mingle group. I've never really organized a slot pull before, so I was really nervous about it. I thought that a good time to do a slot pull would be during our sea day, as this was a port heavy itinerary. I ran into a cruise critic member who made friends with the staff in the casino. She told me she would talk with the manager and get back with me.

 

I went ahead to my room to finally get ready for dinner tonight. I'm sure you've figured out that I wasn't so excited about going due to bad table guests. We made it to the dining room and one of the couples were there already. We quickly talked about how rude we thought the other couple was. We told them that we wouldn't be eating there for the next couple of nights, as we have prior reservations in the specialty restaurants. We were hoping to get our food prior to them joining us. No such luck. They still arrived late, but only thirty minutes this time. Right away they started complaining about things. They said they weren't late because they get there when they get there. They started to give our head waiter a hard time again, and you could see that it was bothering him. The assistant server started working with them to take some of the pressure off of him. They started having a conversation with me about their day and asked what I ordered. Of course they ordered the same thing I did.

 

The other couple decided to depart as they just didn't want to continue eating with them. I continued my conversation with them to be nice. I had learned that they lived in New Jersey, and that they were not a couple. They are just friends who work together. They had cruised on NCL most of the time, and they could go eat whenever they wanted to. I was thinking about telling them about My Time Dining, but they continued talking about everything under the sun.

 

I finally left them for the evening. On the way to the room, I stopped to listen to some of the Latin music that was playing in the Atrium. They were really having a great time. I loved seeing the people having so much fun. I really wished I spoke Spanish just so I could really enjoy them.

 

I was thinking about going to the Headliner's show tonight (Jeff Jenna), but I really didn't want to go. I know he probably had the people laughing hard, but I just wanted to relax the rest of the night.

 

Not too much happened today as you can see. It was much better than before though. Now moving on to Day 4.

Edited December 27, 2013 by TnomadX

[TnomadX]

Today was a very interesting day. We were excited about visiting Antigua. We got off the ship around noon and headed to the island. As soon as we got there, it appeared that many of the taxis were already gone. We wanted to do a ferry, but there wasn't a person there to help us. Finally, a guy by the name of Winston or Jarvis (he gave us two names) asked if we wanted a tour. We said yes and asked him how much would it be. He said that he would only charge us $30 each, and if we didn't like it, he would knock some of the price off. He also said that we would stop off for lunch. I asked if the lunch was included in the tour. He said for us not to worry, it would be taken care of. We said okay.

 

He told us to wait for him to go get the car. He led us to an area just past the entrance to the island, and we waited for him to return to us. We saw a young lady selling spices and jewelry, so I bought some of the spices. We were then approached by a young lady who was wearing leggings with the American Flag on it. She asked us (but was only looking at me) if we wanted a tour of the island. I told her we are waiting for someone to help us and should be right back. She told us to enjoy our tour, and turned and walked away slowly. Hmmmm....I wonder what that meant...lol.

 

Our driver finally came after waiting on him for 15 minutes. We noticed right away that he wasn't in a taxi. It was his personal car. I will admit I was a little worried at first, but I thought I'd try it. ALERT!!!! If your driver does not have an official taxi car, he/she is NOT an official driver. Do NOT do what we did. We basically trusted someone to give us a tour, and to bring us back on time. Anything could have happened.

 

When we got in the car, he started driving. He took us to one of their local colleges where we could take a few pictures. This was one of the few places we could take a picture at. He was a terrible driver. He drove very fast not giving us an opportunity to take pictures often. If you asked him questions, he would turn around to answer those questions not keeping his eyes on the road. We nearly had an accident a few times. I finally got the message and stopped asking him questions.

 

In the meantime, he kept talking about having a sick son. He talked about him so much, that I finally thought that perhaps he's trying to get us to give him an additional tip. He could have been an honest about his son, but it just didn't seem believable.

 

At any rate, he did take us over the island, then stopped us off by a beach. This is the place where we could stop and have lunch. I wrote down the name of it on my phone, then I had to reset it so now it's gone. :( We got a chance to try some of their fish, and the food was really good. the plates were about $10 including the drink. The drinks are not free refills.

 

Our driver told us that we would go and see some more sights. Instead, he took us back to the ship (which we didn't mind). He got us as close as he could, then parked the car. You could tell that he wanted more than what he asked for. We did give him a little extra even though we weren't very pleased with the tour. It may not have been what he wanted, but we didn't care about that.

 

After getting back on the ship, I went to my usual spot Latte-tudes. I talked with my friend about what happened. We just laughed about it and moved on to something else. I then went walking around. Not much was happening around the ship during this time, so I just chose to relax until it was time for dinner.

 

We had made prior reservations for the Mystery Dinner Theatre for 6PM. This was so much fun. Without giving it away, it's a great show that is held in Portofino. It start's out in the Safari Club where you are given a glass of Champagne while you wait for the show to start. Once the show starts, it gets your attention right away.

 

After about 30 minutes of show, we were escorted to our tables in Portofino, and then were served. You are sat with a group of people. Some you may know, and others you may not. It worked out great because the people you are seated with are a team working to solve the mystery together. After you're served, the show continues a couple of times. At the end of the meal, the case is solved. It is a fantastic show, and I know you will enjoy it very much. If you are able and it is offered, please sign up and go. It is a bit pricey at $55 per person, but you'll get your money's worth out of it. It takes about 3 hours from beginning to end. The best time I had all week.

 

Afterwards, a group of us went to the Love and Marriage game. The contestants were put through the same things as the contestants from the previous week's show. It's amazing how you could ask different people the same questions and get an entirely different show. This one was by far more funnier than the previous show. The contestants were really into it. I think we laughed so hard because of the answers the contestants were giving. I was so glad to go with a group of our friends. It made the show and the week better since the week was off to a rocky start initially.

 

Today was really a great day, and I am glad things were starting to turn around. It was very easy to fall asleep tonight and get some rest.

[tigger-ttfn]

Hi Pat! Oh girl, I would've cruised Alaska, too:D Glad you had a great birthday celebration. I just love cruising Alaska, going again in May:cool: If you ever get to SF, send me an email and we'll have a drink.

 

I'd love that. You never know it may be in the next year. Pat

[Barb Nahoumi]

Today we slept in a little longer than we planned. Being on deck 2, we actually heard the ship getting into the port. It was very loud and startled me. We went back to sleep and didn't wake up until 12pm or so. We took our showers and then headed to the Windjammer for lunch. Again, it was an amazing experience. The staff was great and was there right away to take away our plates. We got a chance to see one of our servers from Dinner, and he was just as great as he was the night before.

 

We ran into a couple from our Cruise Critic group, and decided to have lunch with them as well. They had overslept as well. We had a nice lunch and decided to stick together and get off the ship for a bit since we were at a place we've never been to before. We walked to the area where they offer taxi service. They use large vehicles to tour the island, and try to fill them up because the vehicles use a lot of gas. They do have the smaller vehicles that are closed in, but we wanted an opened vehicle so we can have the fresh air. They didn't want to tour four of us in the opened vehicle because there wasn't enough people. We decided to head back to the ship. Just when we were on our way, they decided to go ahead and let us take the larger vehicle. It's like we got our own private tour.

 

We had a great tour guide. As we were touring the island, he gave us information about the island. Can you guess who discovered this island? As we were touring the island, I noticed how extremely narrow the streets are. As we traveled further up, the streets would curve around making it difficult to see oncoming traffic. Many times we got scared because other cars were coming from the other direction. We finally made a pit stop at one of sports bar and got some fruit smoothies. We laughed about the bar because we were trying to figure out what made it a sports bar. It was a very small place, and there were no televisions in site. I joked about the kids playing basketball downstairs, and that being the sports part of it...lol. At any rate, the smoothies were really, really good. If you should ever stop there (I wish I could remember the name of it), please have a smoothie. They were excellent. You won't regret it. BTW, If you consider a taxi tour of the island, The going rate was $20 per person.

 

Our tour guide decided to bring us back to the ship because the vehicle we were in was using a lot of gas. All in all, we spent two hours on our tour. After making it back to the ship, we decided to do a mini cabin crawl. Our friends had an accessible handicap suite, and it was absolutely beautiful. There was a large amount of space, a walk-in closet, a beautiful balcony, and a nice sized bathroom. Our room was on deck two, and was an ocean view. The ocean view room wasn't bad. The bathroom is the typical cruise ship stateroom sized bathroom. It had just enough room to do what you needed to do, adequate closet space, and a nice size room. The porthole was a bit tiny and was behind the bed. You had to climb on the bed to peek out at the ocean. If you get an ocean view, I would recommend getting one on at least deck 3 because the port hole is a lot bigger. You're not as close to the water either as you are on deck 2.

 

After our cabin crawl, we just relaxed a little bit and got ready for our official Royal Caribbean Meet & Mingle. Not everyone got a chance to show up because the time and date had changed, and it was right before the first seating for dinner, which was formal night as well. We still had a great time. I thought Royal Caribbean put together a great Meet & Mingle. They had a drawing for all of those who came and gave away some really nice prizes. If you sign up for the meet & mingle, please go. It was a very pleasurable experience. It was great to meet those we had been communicating with on the boards.

 

Shortly afterwards, we decided to go the Captain's Welcome Aboard Reception. It was nice as well. the entire senior staff was there to greet us making it a very special welcome. We ran into some of our dinner mates and had a great time with them. Don't forget that they give complimentary glasses of champagne. Take advantage of all those things that are complimentary if you can. Drinks can become expensive really quick on board any cruise ship.

 

We then went to dinner and had an amazing time with our dinner table group. We all laughed and had an amazing time together. Our wait staff made sure we were the last table left because they enjoyed us as well. We had them laughing the entire time as well. Our wait staff had an excellent sense of humor. They had given one of our table mates a Spanish menu just to see if they'd notice. We all laughed very hard when she realized it was in Spanish.

 

After dinner, we went to the headliner show featuring Greg London. He's an impressionist, and did a pretty good job. There were a couple of people we didn't believe he sounded like, but all in all, it was a good show.

 

Day two was an excellent day. When I get a chance, I'm going to post some pictures for all to see. Please continue to stay tuned....

 

Hi Zay,

 

I remember Greg London from the NCL Dawn. He was OK.

 

We'll be in an Oceanview, Deck 2, on the Explorer in March. Were you able to see any marine life from that level?

[TnomadX]

Hi Zay,

 

I remember Greg London from the NCL Dawn. He was OK.

 

We'll be in an Oceanview, Deck 2, on the Explorer in March. Were you able to see any marine life from that level?

 

No, it was above sea level. There were times we could see flying fish though.

 

--

Zay

[Barb Nahoumi]

I hope that you are feeling better, and wish you and your family a Happy & Healthy New Year.

[The Big Booper]

Will you be posting any pictures of your selves? Always like to match a face to the travelers.

 

Our booked July 5th Jewel itin has all different stops then the following July 12th itin, except for St. Kitts. Seriously debating taking the second week so I am interested in your 2 week report. B2B are always interesting. We already will have paid the airfare and will use Marriott miles for pre and post cruise stays in PR.

[lv2bcruzin]

I just wanted to post a link to our photos from the 1st week of this same cruise. I sent a few photos of Zay to him, so if he wants to share that is up to him. :p The photos are mainly of the ship and the ports of call, but there are some photos of us in there as well.

 

The only port missing is Barbados (our favorite :D). I should be uploading those sometime this weekend.

 

You can view the photos here: Cruise Ship & Ports of Call Photos

Edited December 29, 2013 by lv2bcruzin

[Peacockscruise]

Hi Zay. Loving your review and the good tips that you have shared. We are sailing the Jewel March15 and 22, 2014. Can't wait to hear more. Interesting to know that each week can have a different "feel" to it based on your dining partners and other travelers that you have contact with.

Thank you for sharing, as We do a countdown your review helps to make the waiting bare able .

[TnomadX]

Today was a very interesting day. We were excited about visiting Antigua. We got off the ship around noon and headed to the island. As soon as we got there, it appeared that many of the taxis were already gone. We wanted to do a ferry, but there wasn't a person there to help us. Finally, a guy by the name of Winston or Jarvis (he gave us two names) asked if we wanted a tour. We said yes and asked him how much would it be. He said that he would only charge us $30 each, and if we didn't like it, he would knock some of the price off. He also said that we would stop off for lunch. I asked if the lunch was included in the tour. He said for us not to worry, it would be taken care of. We said okay.

 

He told us to wait for him to go get the car. He led us to an area just past the entrance to the island, and we waited for him to return to us. We saw a young lady selling spices and jewelry, so I bought some of the spices. We were then approached by a young lady who was wearing leggings with the American Flag on it. She asked us (but was only looking at me) if we wanted a tour of the island. I told her we are waiting for someone to help us and should be right back. She told us to enjoy our tour, and turned and walked away slowly. Hmmmm....I wonder what that meant...lol.

 

Our driver finally came after waiting on him for 15 minutes. We noticed right away that he wasn't in a taxi. It was his personal car. I will admit I was a little worried at first, but I thought I'd try it. ALERT!!!! If your driver does not have an official taxi car, he/she is NOT an official driver. Do NOT do what we did. We basically trusted someone to give us a tour, and to bring us back on time. Anything could have happened.

 

When we got in the car, he started driving. He took us to one of their local colleges where we could take a few pictures. This was one of the few places we could take a picture at. He was a terrible driver. He drove very fast not giving us an opportunity to take pictures often. If you asked him questions, he would turn around to answer those questions not keeping his eyes on the road. We nearly had an accident a few times. I finally got the message and stopped asking him questions.

 

In the meantime, he kept talking about having a sick son. He talked about him so much, that I finally thought that perhaps he's trying to get us to give him an additional tip. He could have been an honest about his son, but it just didn't seem believable.

 

At any rate, he did take us over the island, then stopped us off by a beach. This is the place where we could stop and have lunch. I wrote down the name of it on my phone, then I had to reset it so now it's gone. :( We got a chance to try some of their fish, and the food was really good. the plates were about $10 including the drink. The drinks are not free refills.

 

Our driver told us that we would go and see some more sights. Instead, he took us back to the ship (which we didn't mind). He got us as close as he could, then parked the car. You could tell that he wanted more than what he asked for. We did give him a little extra even though we weren't very pleased with the tour. It may not have been what he wanted, but we didn't care about that.

 

After getting back on the ship, I went to my usual spot Latte-tudes. I talked with my friend about what happened. We just laughed about it and moved on to something else. I then went walking around. Not much was happening around the ship during this time, so I just chose to relax until it was time for dinner.

 

We had made prior reservations for the Mystery Dinner Theatre for 6PM. This was so much fun. Without giving it away, it's a great show that is held in Portofino. It start's out in the Safari Club where you are given a glass of Champagne while you wait for the show to start. Once the show starts, it gets your attention right away.

 

After about 30 minutes of show, we were escorted to our tables in Portofino, and then were served. You are sat with a group of people. Some you may know, and others you may not. It worked out great because the people you are seated with are a team working to solve the mystery together. After you're served, the show continues a couple of times. At the end of the meal, the case is solved. It is a fantastic show, and I know you will enjoy it very much. If you are able and it is offered, please sign up and go. It is a bit pricey at $55 per person, but you'll get your money's worth out of it. It takes about 3 hours from beginning to end. The best time I had all week.

 

Afterwards, a group of us went to the Love and Marriage game. The contestants were put through the same things as the contestants from the previous week's show. It's amazing how you could ask different people the same questions and get an entirely different show. This one was by far more funnier than the previous show. The contestants were really into it. I think we laughed so hard because of the answers the contestants were giving. I was so glad to go with a group of our friends. It made the show and the week better since the week was off to a rocky start initially.

 

Today was really a great day, and I am glad things were starting to turn around. It was very easy to fall asleep tonight and get some rest.

 

Can't believe I forgot to add something to day 4 review. After the Love and Marriage Game, I went to the pool party because I wasn't quite ready to go to sleep. They had a very nice setup for snacks and drinks. There were quite a few people there, and they really looked like they were having a good time. I wanted to dance myself, but my foot was still bothering me. I ran into our dinner mates, and they were talking up a storm to me. I couldn't believe these were the same people who were being so rude. They were really nice tonight, and very talkative.

 

It started raining really hard, so they moved the party to the Vortex Night Club. Most of the cruise director staff was there, and they all seemed to be enjoying themselves very much. There were people making requests, and the DJ honored all of them. Then...the unthinkable happened. My table mates had gone over to the Activities Manager to have him announce that it was my birthday. At Midnight, he said that we'd like to say happy birthday to Jason...lol. He was looking at me, and I looked in the same direction he was because my name isn't Jason. He came and pointed at me, and everyone celebrated my birthday with me for a few minutes. It was one of the nicest things my table mates had done. For must a moment, I felt a little guilty about how I felt about them. For some reason, they really liked me.

 

Afterwards, I went to bed...lol. Sorry about forgetting this piece of information.

[TnomadX]

I woke up a little early because it was my birthday. I wasn’t sure if I was going to get off the ship or not because I had heard some awful things about Martinique. Martinique is a French island, and I’ve been told on a number of occasions that the French don’t like Americans. I decided to go and have breakfast in the dining room today and give it some thought. I am so glad I chose the dining room for breakfast. It is cooked to order, and absolutely wonderful. It was definitely a much better experience than in the Windjammer. I’m not saying the Windjammer is a bad experience at all. I just enjoyed the dining room’s breakfast much better. If you love French Toast, you’ll love them here. Just know that you’ll probably only need one piece, as they are HUGE!! I was seated with some really great people, and one of them was from our cruise critic group. We had a great time laughing and talking.

 

I then decided to go ahead and make my way off the ship. I thought I’d be able to ignore any rudeness today because it’s my birthday ☺. Once off the ship, I headed for the shuttle to the island. The shuttle driver had difficulty getting through because so many people were walking in the street. There were two sidewalks to the island, but everyone seemed to ignore them. They were also very slow at getting out of the way so he could pass by.

 

We finally made it to the island, and I decided to brush up on some of the French I learned in school. I started speaking to some of the locals with a friendly Bonjour, and then they’d go into a full conversation in French. They quickly learned that my French was limited when they saw how big my eyes got when they started talking…lol. I’m sure they must have laughed at me when I walked away. The people you’ll meet as you enter the island are very nice. Many of them did indeed speak English. You may be told that they don’t on the ship. Just know that there are quite a few that do.

 

I decided that I wanted to take a tour of the island. I saw a guy who was offering taxi service. He told me that the tour would cost me 60 euros per hour. I thought…gee, that’s expensive. 60 euros when we made it to Martinique was approximately $50 USD. I decided to keep looking. I walked down to the ATM which is a few feet from the McDonalds on the island (It’s a good walk into town so be prepared if you need to use the ATM). After getting what I needed I headed back the direction of the ship. I met a very nice lady who was also a passenger on the Jewel, and we talked for an hour. I told her that I wanted to do a tour of the island, but it is very expensive. She offered to help me find someone to get us a tour, so we went off to find one. I went back to the guy I initially talked to, and interestingly enough, his price had come down. It was now 40 euros an hour. I decided to take it, but he said that he didn’t want to. He sent me to another guy instead.

 

I walked over to talk with the other guy, and he asked me what kind of a tour I wanted. I told him I just wanted to drive around and at least see the city. His name is George, and he was absolutely the friendliest guy I met on the island. He asked me how I would be paying hi m (euros or dollars). I told him euros, and he told me it would be 20 euros for two hours. I thought this was much better than what I was offered by the other guy, so I took it. He assisted me and my new friend on the bus and went to find just a few more passengers. After about 10 minutes we were on our way.

 

As I mentioned, George was the nicest person I had met on board. He had physically challenged people on board, and was very helpful to all of us. In many of the islands we had gone to before, not many of them stopped so we could get pictures very often. George stopped as often as he could. He took us to some of the best spots to take pictures. The island is absolutely beautiful. We made several stops along the way to get pictures, and each stop was more breathtaking than the one before. George knew exactly what to do.

 

We also had an opportunity to go to their Botanical Gardens. We didn’t go inside because it’s a bit on the expensive side, but I’m told it’s worth every penny. It’s a very large garden. We just stopped to take some pictures there and to get some drinks. Again…you may be told that they don’t take the American dollar. In many places, they do. While they will accept the American dollar, you may receive your change back in Euros. Be prepared for that.

 

We also were able to stop at one of their Catholic Churches as well. It was an absolutely beautiful church. You can see this church from a great distance away. It is definitely a must see should you stop here.

 

We then headed back to the ship. On the way, George noticed that we were taking pictures. He would stop so we could get a good shot. I really meant it when I said he was the nicest person we had met on the island. I am so glad that he was our tour guide on the island. I wished I had gotten his last name because I want to recommend him to others because of how caring and considerate he was.

 

Now…I’d like to recommend that you either have a pre-arranged tour prior to your cruise OR get a tour from the cruise line. I recommend this because The taxis on the island may give you different rates, and there’s no telling where they will actually take you. I believe they will show you some things, but I don’t know if they’ll show you something you’ll actually like. The next time I go, I will definitely get a prearranged tour.

 

When I made it back to the ship, I went to have lunch at the Windjammer. As I was getting it, I was surrounding by 5 servers. For a moment, I thought I had done something wrong. Then I heard my previous week’s server start a countdown. They all started singing happy birthday to me. This made my day.

 

I then went to go sit at my favorite spot (Latte-tudes), but didn’t have the cookies this time. I just wanted to sit and enjoy the view. I had a few conversations with some of the people passing by. Then decided to go to the room and rest for a bit.

 

Tonight we were going to Chops Grill for my birthday dinner. We had prearranged it with some of our cruise critic friends. Let me tell you that the night was so great. We had an excellent time. Our server was great and very attentive. Our dinner started at 7pm, and we were seated right away. A few moments later, My server for the week showed up just to wish me a happy birthday. I thought that was so nice of him. I thanked him very much for taking the time to do that.

 

Let me just say that in Chops, you are given so much food. One thing I’d like for people to know before going to dinner here is that the sides are large enough to share with everyone on the table. You’re not just getting a small order of sides. Everyone should discuss what he or she would like to share so that they are not wasted. Oh…and the mashed potatoes are the BEST!!!!! All the food was great!!! The food will come out a little slower because they cook the food to order. Please plan for that. One of our cruise critic friends did have longer than usual wait times. We may not have noticed because we were too busy laughing and talking. I do know that we didn’t leave out until almost 10.

 

After dinner, I was thinking about my kiddos back home. I was wondering if they were missing me like I was missing them. They were supposed to give me a call, but the phone never rang. In fact, I fell asleep trying to wait for them. I woke up around 2 in the morning and noticed I had text messages and missed calls. I went to the 4th floor (as that is where reception seemed to be the best) to call them. They ALL couldn’t wait to talk to me. It made my day even better. They all had something to talk about, and it was so nice to hear their voices.

 

I had a great day. It was indeed one of the best birthdays I’ve ever had.

[TnomadX]

Will you be posting any pictures of your selves? Always like to match a face to the travelers.

 

Our booked July 5th Jewel itin has all different stops then the following July 12th itin, except for St. Kitts. Seriously debating taking the second week so I am interested in your 2 week report. B2B are always interesting. We already will have paid the airfare and will use Marriott miles for pre and post cruise stays in PR.

 

I may post a pic or two of me. You'll enjoy your b2b. I'll be interested to hear your thoughts on the vibe of the ship of the two sailings.

[Miss Vickie]

Enjoying your review! Did they have a pasta demonstration lunch in Portofino whiile you were on board? We did it on Serenade a couple of years ago and enjoyed it, hoping jewel has it, too.

[windham depot]

I woke up a little early because it was my birthday. I wasn’t sure if I was going to get off the ship or not because I had heard some awful things about Martinique. Martinique is a French island, and I’ve been told on a number of occasions that the French don’t like Americans. I decided to go and have breakfast in the dining room today and give it some thought. I am so glad I chose the dining room for breakfast. It is cooked to order, and absolutely wonderful. It was definitely a much better experience than in the Windjammer. I’m not saying the Windjammer is a bad experience at all. I just enjoyed the dining room’s breakfast much better. If you love French Toast, you’ll love them here. Just know that you’ll probably only need one piece, as they are HUGE!! I was seated with some really great people, and one of them was from our cruise critic group. We had a great time laughing and talking.

 

I then decided to go ahead and make my way off the ship. I thought I’d be able to ignore any rudeness today because it’s my birthday ☺. Once off the ship, I headed for the shuttle to the island. The shuttle driver had difficulty getting through because so many people were walking in the street. There were two sidewalks to the island, but everyone seemed to ignore them. They were also very slow at getting out of the way so he could pass by.

 

We finally made it to the island, and I decided to brush up on some of the French I learned in school. I started speaking to some of the locals with a friendly Bonjour, and then they’d go into a full conversation in French. They quickly learned that my French was limited when they saw how big my eyes got when they started talking…lol. I’m sure they must have laughed at me when I walked away. The people you’ll meet as you enter the island are very nice. Many of them did indeed speak English. You may be told that they don’t on the ship. Just know that there are quite a few that do.

 

I decided that I wanted to take a tour of the island. I saw a guy who was offering taxi service. He told me that the tour would cost me 60 euros per hour. I thought…gee, that’s expensive. 60 euros when we made it to Martinique was approximately $50 USD. I decided to keep looking. I walked down to the ATM which is a few feet from the McDonalds on the island (It’s a good walk into town so be prepared if you need to use the ATM). After getting what I needed I headed back the direction of the ship. I met a very nice lady who was also a passenger on the Jewel, and we talked for an hour. I told her that I wanted to do a tour of the island, but it is very expensive. She offered to help me find someone to get us a tour, so we went off to find one. I went back to the guy I initially talked to, and interestingly enough, his price had come down. It was now 40 euros an hour. I decided to take it, but he said that he didn’t want to. He sent me to another guy instead.

 

I walked over to talk with the other guy, and he asked me what kind of a tour I wanted. I told him I just wanted to drive around and at least see the city. His name is George, and he was absolutely the friendliest guy I met on the island. He asked me how I would be paying hi m (euros or dollars). I told him euros, and he told me it would be 20 euros for two hours. I thought this was much better than what I was offered by the other guy, so I took it. He assisted me and my new friend on the bus and went to find just a few more passengers. After about 10 minutes we were on our way.

 

As I mentioned, George was the nicest person I had met on board. He had physically challenged people on board, and was very helpful to all of us. In many of the islands we had gone to before, not many of them stopped so we could get pictures very often. George stopped as often as he could. He took us to some of the best spots to take pictures. The island is absolutely beautiful. We made several stops along the way to get pictures, and each stop was more breathtaking than the one before. George knew exactly what to do.

 

We also had an opportunity to go to their Botanical Gardens. We didn’t go inside because it’s a bit on the expensive side, but I’m told it’s worth every penny. It’s a very large garden. We just stopped to take some pictures there and to get some drinks. Again…you may be told that they don’t take the American dollar. In many places, they do. While they will accept the American dollar, you may receive your change back in Euros. Be prepared for that.

 

We also were able to stop at one of their Catholic Churches as well. It was an absolutely beautiful church. You can see this church from a great distance away. It is definitely a must see should you stop here.

 

We then headed back to the ship. On the way, George noticed that we were taking pictures. He would stop so we could get a good shot. I really meant it when I said he was the nicest person we had met on the island. I am so glad that he was our tour guide on the island. I wished I had gotten his last name because I want to recommend him to others because of how caring and considerate he was.

 

Now…I’d like to recommend that you either have a pre-arranged tour prior to your cruise OR get a tour from the cruise line. I recommend this because The taxis on the island may give you different rates, and there’s no telling where they will actually take you. I believe they will show you some things, but I don’t know if they’ll show you something you’ll actually like. The next time I go, I will definitely get a prearranged tour.

 

When I made it back to the ship, I went to have lunch at the Windjammer. As I was getting it, I was surrounding by 5 servers. For a moment, I thought I had done something wrong. Then I heard my previous week’s server start a countdown. They all started singing happy birthday to me. This made my day.

 

I then went to go sit at my favorite spot (Latte-tudes), but didn’t have the cookies this time. I just wanted to sit and enjoy the view. I had a few conversations with some of the people passing by. Then decided to go to the room and rest for a bit.

 

Tonight we were going to Chops Grill for my birthday dinner. We had prearranged it with some of our cruise critic friends. Let me tell you that the night was so great. We had an excellent time. Our server was great and very attentive. Our dinner started at 7pm, and we were seated right away. A few moments later, My server for the week showed up just to wish me a happy birthday. I thought that was so nice of him. I thanked him very much for taking the time to do that.

 

Let me just say that in Chops, you are given so much food. One thing I’d like for people to know before going to dinner here is that the sides are large enough to share with everyone on the table. You’re not just getting a small order of sides. Everyone should discuss what he or she would like to share so that they are not wasted. Oh…and the mashed potatoes are the BEST!!!!! All the food was great!!! The food will come out a little slower because they cook the food to order. Please plan for that. One of our cruise critic friends did have longer than usual wait times. We may not have noticed because we were too busy laughing and talking. I do know that we didn’t leave out until almost 10.

 

After dinner, I was thinking about my kiddos back home. I was wondering if they were missing me like I was missing them. They were supposed to give me a call, but the phone never rang. In fact, I fell asleep trying to wait for them. I woke up around 2 in the morning and noticed I had text messages and missed calls. I went to the 4th floor (as that is where reception seemed to be the best) to call them. They ALL couldn’t wait to talk to me. It made my day even better. They all had something to talk about, and it was so nice to hear their voices.

 

I had a great day. It was indeed one of the best birthdays I’ve ever had.

 

 

Hi Zay, sharing in your birthday celebration was one of the highlights of our cruise for us. We had such a great time celebrating with all of you. It was a really fun night with amazing people. Thank you for including us.

 

Rhonda

Edited December 29, 2013 by windham depot

[tigger-ttfn]

Zay so glad you had a good tour in Martinique. We just walk around town and thought it was OK but not something I'd do again. Wish I'd found you to tour with because the tour with the taxies are expensive. Love your review. Looking forward to more my friend. Pat

[Sunny AZ Girl]

Zay, I want to wish you a very belated Happy Birthday! It sounds as if your celebration was wonderful. Right now I am really regretting choosing to go to Las Vegas for our anniversary instead of on the Sapphire Princess with you. (I don't know if you remember, but I popped into your Roll Call while I was considering that cruise). I know I would have really enjoyed meeting you.

 

As far as island tours are concerned, I almost always prearrange our tours with reputable guides (recommended here &/or on TA). I like the security of knowing that we have something planned. All of our days on our Jewel cruise this coming May are already arranged! But I admire your flexibility and sense of adventure each day. I am looking forward to the rest of your review.

Edited December 30, 2013 by Sunny AZ Girl

[TnomadX]

I just wanted to post a link to our photos from the 1st week of this same cruise. I sent a few photos of Zay to him, so if he wants to share that is up to him. :p The photos are mainly of the ship and the ports of call, but there are some photos of us in there as well.

 

The only port missing is Barbados (our favorite :D). I should be uploading those sometime this weekend.

 

You can view the photos here: Cruise Ship & Ports of Call Photos

 

Thanks for posting those Adam. They brought back some great memories.

[TnomadX]

Enjoying your review! Did they have a pasta demonstration lunch in Portofino whiile you were on board? We did it on Serenade a couple of years ago and enjoyed it, hoping jewel has it, too.

 

They didn't have it this time. At least I didn't hear of it as I would have been there.

[TnomadX]

Zay so glad you had a good tour in Martinique. We just walk around town and thought it was OK but not something I'd do again. Wish I'd found you to tour with because the tour with the taxies are expensive. Love your review. Looking forward to more my friend. Pat

 

Awe Pat. I wished you could have come with us too. I know you would have enjoyed it with us. It was really great. We wanted some more passengers, and our tour guide was really nice. And YES....they were very expensive, but George gave us a break.

[TnomadX]

Zay, I want to wish you a very belated Happy Birthday! It sounds as if your celebration was wonderful. Right now I am really regretting choosing to go to Las Vegas for our anniversary instead of on the Sapphire Princess with you. (I don't know if you remember, but I popped into your Roll Call while I was considering that cruise). I know I would have really enjoyed meeting you.

 

As far as island tours are concerned, I almost always prearrange our tours with reputable guides (recommended here &/or on TA). I like the security of knowing that we have something planned. All of our days on our Jewel cruise this coming May are already arranged! But I admire your flexibility and sense of adventure each day. I am looking forward to the rest of your review.

 

Thank you so much. I usually do plan each day prior to me cruising so that I do have something planned. This time, I decided to try something a little different because I wanted to give people an idea of what to expect should they decide to just try a tour right off the ship instead of pre-booking. I'm so glad I did it because I learned a lot. I know that if I tour some of these islands again, I know which ones I wouldn't mind just getting off the ship and using a taxi and which ones I'll pre-book in advance. Martinique is definitely one I'll pre-book in the future should I have stop on that island again. The taxis there WILL take advantage of you if you're not careful.

 

Also...I won't be doing the Sapphire Princess in January. I chose to go with Carnival instead. I am taking my kiddos along, and Princess wouldn't allow me to arrange what I needed. I was so bummed. I think we'll have a good time on Carnival. It's only for four days, so we should be good.

 

So you going to Las Vegas for your Anniversary, eh? I used to live there 10 years ago. I loved it. I believe you'll have a wonderful time there as well. Hang on, and I do remember you popping in ;).

[deetrayn]

Hi Zay,

 

I'm still shaking my head about Winston/Jarvis in Antigua. Enjoying the day by day report of our cruise. :)

 

Dee

[The Big Booper]

Hi Zay,

 

I'm still shaking my head about Winston/Jarvis in Antigua. Enjoying the day by day report of our cruise. :)

 

Dee

 

Based on your CC name, are you from NYC?

[tigger-ttfn]

Happy New Year Zay. Pat

[gxchan]

Hey Zay! Just wanted to wish you and your kids the very best 2014 has to offer. Hope we cruise together one day:)