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Cruising with Zay - A Jewel of the Seas Review

TnomadX

By TnomadX,
in Royal Caribbean International

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TnomadX

TnomadX

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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.

 

The name of the sports bar that I couldn't remember the name of is called the T & D's Lookout & Sports Bar. Thank goodness for pictures. Posting some for you now.

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Chrislynn55

Chrislynn55

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Hi Zay...I'm glad to see that you had a great time on the cruises you did after our Breakaway vacation and I'm looking forward to enjoying your review!

 

Pete and I have had enough of winter weather already (and there's a major ice storm predicted for our area this weekend:eek:) so we booked a winter getaway on Explorer of the Seas:)

 

Kathy

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TnomadX

TnomadX

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We woke up around 8:30 AM and decided to go and have breakfast at the Windjammer. FYI…They do serve breakfast in the main dining room until 9am each day. If you like your breakfast cooked to order, please give it a try. I'll talk about that later in the review. The selection in the Windjammer was plentiful. They have the pre-cooked eggs, but I've never really enjoyed those on any cruise line. If you'd like your eggs cooked to order, just head on over to one of the omelette stations (there are two).

 

After breakfast, I was trying to decide if I really wanted to get off at St. Maarten because I've been here before. I decided to relax for a little while. Around 11, I decided to at least go to the shopping area just past the ship. When I got there, I noticed a small area called Telecom Boutique selling wifi and phone cards, so I decided to buy some wifi. The wifi prices are $3 for 1 minutes, $5 for 30 minutes, and $8 for an hour. Trust me! This is SOOO much cheaper than the ship's wifi. It's also much faster. I stayed for about an hour or so, then headed back to the ship. I didn't want to tour St. Maarten because I had already been to the island before, and was saddened by what I saw. If you'd like to tour the island, they do have local taxis there, and they were offering tours of the island between $20 and $30 for a couple of hours.

 

When I got back to the ship, I decided to go to Latte-tudes, which was starting to become one of my regular stops each day. They offer Starbucks coffee (for fee) and some of the best cookies ever. I spoke to one of the servers there, and learned a lot about him. The servers at the coffee shop were all very nice. the young man and I talked about our long flights to Puerto Rico, but his was definitely much longer coming tom India. While chatting with him, the Captain came over to order a coffee. This captain is one of the nicest people I've ever met. He's also one of the youngest captains as well. I learned that he is building a home for his family, and has 3 young children. I also got a chance to speak with the beverage coordinator as well from London. She was also very sweet, and I enjoyed talking with her. I mention this because on some ships, the staff didn't take the time to talk with the passengers as much. Our talks did not seem rushed at all. They were all very friendly and seemed to enjoy talking with the passengers. If you should see someone, just talk to them and see what happens.

 

There wasn't too much going on today, so I just ended up walking around for a little while. It was then time to get ready for dinner. We were eating at Portofino tonight which is one of the specialty restaurants on board. For a cover charge of $20 per person, the food was EXCELLENT. Don't do like we did. The food is plentiful. If you're still hungry after the appetizer, main course, and desert, then order more. DON'T order too much because they do give you plenty. We were absolutely stuffed after leaving. the servers were terrific. I am not one that like to go to specialty restaurants, but this one was great. I highly recommend it. It's italian cuisine, and pictures will soon follow.

 

Lastly, the Production show in the Coral Theatre was pretty good. It's was a West End story, and the singers were phenomenal. The dancers are great as well. If I have to give a complaint, it would be that the music was a little loud, and it was sometimes hard to understand the singers. Other than that, it was a great show.

 

Next….just a few pictures.

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TnomadX

TnomadX

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Can you tell me about the Chops tasting? I've never noticed that before. When was it? Was it listed in the Compass?

 

Thanks.

 

Yes, it is in the Cruise Compass. It was a great experience. Some of the chefs onboard come together from both Chops Grille and Portofino to prepare some sample items (appetizers and deserts). Each Chef gives you an idea of what they are doing, and once done, you are served. I thought it was an excellent way to start the cruise. Keep in mind that once Chops has been filled, no one else will be allowed in. Get at least 15 minutes early if you'd like to do it.

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TnomadX

TnomadX

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We woke up at 9am, went to breakfast at the Windjammer, and off the ship by 11am. We decided to take a local taxi tour which was $20 per person. Our Taxi driver's name was Winston, and he was an EXCELLENT tour guide. The tour was supposed to be 2 1/2 hours, but we took a little longer for sure. He ensured we had a great time by allowing us to stop and take a few pictures, and not just speeding through. At some of our stops, he kept warning us to be careful as some spots were a little dangerous. There were two young ladies that were annoying the heck out of us by not paying attention to what he was saying. They basically just did their own thing ignoring every thing he said.

 

Along the way, we made some stops where we could get see some of the spices they grow on the island. To be able to smell the fresh spices was an awesome experience for me. We also stopped at another spot that had an absolutely beautiful view of the island. It was simply breathtaking. I got a chance to sample some of the coconut water right from the coconut. For about $3, the cut open a coconut, put a straw in it, and give it to you. After you have finished the water, they'll even open it up for you so you can enjoy the coconut. I don't remember what the area was called, but the tour guide will definitely warn you about loose rocks there. PLEASE, PLEASE BE CAREFUL. You don't want to come back injured.

 

Now before I go any further, I thought I'd caution you to something. On this island, the locals have little monkeys they walk around with. They try to place this little guys on your shoulder, and everyone usually goes crazy about how cute they are. If you take a picture with that monkey, the locals charge you for it. In other words, if the monkey is placed on your shoulder, there's a fee to get it off. If you want to take a picture with the monkey, please ask the local how much it is BEFORE they place it on your shoulder. The fees can range between $2 and $50.

 

We also learned that St. Kitts doesn't allow profanity on the island. Locals can be thrown in jail for using it. If you can, please try to refrain from using profanity. I know many countries don't mind it as much, but here it is a big deal.

 

After the tour, we headed back to the ship and to the Windjammer for a quick lunch. There wasn't much of a selection today, partly because I got there kind of late (around 4PM). They advertise closing around 2:30. I did run into some of our cruise critic friends, and sat down to eat with them. We laughed for a while and talked about our day.

 

I then went to my stateroom and accidentally fell asleep. My friend and to wake me up for dinner, and off we went. As I mentioned before, we had a great dinner party. Each person was absolutely great. All of our personalities worked well together. We had people who normally didn't like dining with others. We laughed every night and couldn't wait to get together.

 

Tonight's show was he Love and Marriage game. If you've never been to the show before, I really recommend it. Typically there's a competition of some sort for the newlyweds and those who have been married up to twenty years that want to be a part of the show. The couple that is married the longest is automatically invited on stage. The competitions are hosted by the activities manager, while the game is hosted by the cruise director. The questions are always the same, but the answers are ALWAYS different…lol. Go see the show It's an absolute hoot.

 

All in all, it was a great day here as well. I enjoyed the island, and had a great time. Pictures coming soon…..Stay tuned.

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TnomadX

TnomadX

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Hi Zay...I'm glad to see that you had a great time on the cruises you did after our Breakaway vacation and I'm looking forward to enjoying your review!

 

Pete and I have had enough of winter weather already (and there's a major ice storm predicted for our area this weekend:eek:) so we booked a winter getaway on Explorer of the Seas:)

 

Kathy

 

Hi Kathy,

 

I'm so glad I went back to review some of the messages. How are you? The weather is bad across the country this year. Even Alaska is having a hard time with it. I know you'll enjoy your getaway on the Explorer. Please, please make sure to tell me about it when you return. Please be careful in the ice. Stay in if you can.

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TnomadX

TnomadX

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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....

 

One thing I forgot to mention is that we arrived to Tortola on a Sunday. There were quite a few shopping venues closed. The port shops were open, but as you venture out, stores were closed. This will not be much of a shopping stop.

 

Those of you who will do the other itinerary, St Thomas is also in the same boat (no pun intended). When you arrive in St. Thomas, get up early and get out there. The stores are going to close early. I was absolutely surprised that St. Thomas looked like a ghost town downtown after 2PM. Port side shopping will still be available as long as the ship is there, but the downtown area closes early.

 

Just an FYI. I will remind you again when I talk about the experience in St. Thomas.

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Sunny AZ Girl

Sunny AZ Girl

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Good to know about the store closings on Sundays. Our first cruise of the B2B has St. MARTIN instead of Tortola and I suspect we'll run into the same thing. On the 2nd week we'll be in St. Thomas and I suspect we'll run into the same problem.

 

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk

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TnomadX

TnomadX

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Hello Tnomadx. Great Review. Do you know if Lattetudes is includes in the new Drinking Packages?? I Love latte and cappuccino.

 

During our sailing, Latte-tudes was included in one of the drink packages. Once you board the Jewel, there will be someone at a beautifully decorated table displaying the drink packages that they have. When you go to the Windjammer, someone will be there as well.

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TnomadX

TnomadX

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Good to know about the store closings on Sundays. Our first cruise of the B2B has St. MARTIN instead of Tortola and I suspect we'll run into the same thing. On the 2nd week we'll be in St. Thomas and I suspect we'll run into the same problem.

 

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk

 

You'll definitely run into that problem at St. Thomas for sure. I can't wait until I get to that port so I can share my experiences there. It really was a ghost town. We had a friend traveling with us who had actually stayed in St. Thomas for a few days and never saw it look that way before.

 

So on your first cruise, did they remove Tortola from the itinerary, or change the date they will port there?

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