LIVE forn the JEWEL of the SEAS, Lots of Pictures, Island reviews and more!

[MDSue]

We will be on Jewel in January (I know, a long way away!) and Martinique was the only island that we are not sure what to do.

 

I did read that you can walk to where the ferry leaves and get a taxi there. We were interested in seeing St. Pierre (town was destroyed by the volanco) but other than that, we are at a loss on what to do. We will be looking forward to seeing what you do while you are there!

 

I know how devastating it is to have your laptop fail you on a trip. Our last cruise, our laptop died three days into the cruise, and we had to rely on our tablet to get us by. It is crazy how much we rely on our internet access!

 

Have a great cruise!

 

Hello, We definitely had a great time; especially in Martinique. I was interested in seeing St. Pierre, but I'm glad we took the ferry over to Point Du Bout. It was like visiting a small French village. The beach at the hotel was really nice, but I'm glad we went early. We got two chairs under an umbrella even though the attendant originally told us we couldn't rent an umbrella. When a later group of tourist showed up, all the chairs were rented and they were turned away or just had to sit on their towels on the beach. We had use of the bathrooms and outdoor showers along with the chair rentals.

 

The free beach where most of the passengers went did not seem to have any amenities, but would have been fine to hang out for awhile. Quite a few people were snorkeling.

 

I'll do a full review when I upload my Martinique pictures, but the island proved to be one of my favorites despite the language barrier.

 

Susan

[MDSue]

Hi Susan:

 

Yes! A live review from the Jewel of the Seas. I will be on the Jewel in July, taking a vacation with my sister and her family. We will be visiting 3 of your ports, Antigua, St. Lucia and St. Croix. Looking forward to your visit to those islands.

 

I'm glad you had a wonderful time in Old San Juan. It is a beautiful old city. I work right in Old San Juan and like to take a walk up El Morro every day at lunch. It is just a beautiful, relaxing view.

 

Enjoy your cruise!

 

Hi Rosa, Sorry for my late response. I would so love to live in Old San Juan! My sister and I love the city. When I went with my husband a few years ago during the San Sebastian Festival, he didn't like it at all. It probably didn't help that traffic was terrible that day and it rained on and off all day.

 

We've walked by El Morro on many of our trips there, but never actually walked up to the fort until this year. It is such a beautiful place to visit. We really enjoy watching the kite flyers there, too.

 

I can imagine that El Morro would be a great place to enjoy lunch every day. You'll have a great time on the Jewel and have a wonderful opportunity to see El Morro at night by sea. We love watching the sailaway in San Juan!

 

Susan

[MDSue]

Hi Sue, Thanks for the review. Does the Jewel have drink vouchers for Diamond status? Thank You

 

I am so sorry I missed your post and didn't get a chance to follow up. I hope that someone else might know and let you know. We have quite a few cruises to go before we hit Diamond status. This was only my third cruise on Royal Caribbean, but after this trip, it has moved up to my number one choice.

 

Susan

[MDSue]

And now, back to the Rainforest....

 

After a short picture taking stop at the falls we headed on to Yokahu Observation Point. Here, you could climb up a tower for a view of the rainforest and all the way to the coastline. It was ninety-some steps to the top and had many windows on the way up with scenic views. The walk up was not very strenuous and fairly easy.

 

 

 

A view from ground level:

 

[MDSue]

See you tomorrow to finish the rainforest, and then onto Luquillo Beach, and more of Old San Juan and then a new island each day.

 

Susan

[librarylady19]

Wonderful. I loved San Juan and really want to visit more of PR. Thanks! For all your hard work posting.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Edited April 22, 2014 by librarylady19

[Highboy90]

Enjoyed reading. Thanks Susan!

[Familygoboston]

I am so sorry I missed your post and didn't get a chance to follow up. I hope that someone else might know and let you know. We have quite a few cruises to go before we hit Diamond status. This was only my third cruise on Royal Caribbean, but after this trip, it has moved up to my number one choice.

 

Susan

 

In November, there were no vouchers. There was a nightly "diamond event" in the Hollywood Odyssey lounge on deck 13. There was a bartender there, but I only had a glass of house wine, so I don't know if you could order a regular drink. I think you can but only get a discount, only beer and wine is free. But someone might be able to confirm that, and whether it's changed recently. It has on some ships, but those seem mainly on sailings with a large amount of diamond cruisers. For instance Jewel is going from LA to FL through the Panama Canal, and I expect that will have a HUGE population of Diamond and more cruisers, and that's the sort of sailing where they might go with vouchers.

[MDSue]

In November, there were no vouchers. There was a nightly "diamond event" in the Hollywood Odyssey lounge on deck 13. There was a bartender there, but I only had a glass of house wine, so I don't know if you could order a regular drink. I think you can but only get a discount, only beer and wine is free. But someone might be able to confirm that, and whether it's changed recently. It has on some ships, but those seem mainly on sailings with a large amount of diamond cruisers. For instance Jewel is going from LA to FL through the Panama Canal, and I expect that will have a HUGE population of Diamond and more cruisers, and that's the sort of sailing where they might go with vouchers.

 

Thanks so much for chipping in. Between trying to figure out the new Windows program and conserving my Internet package minutes, I missed a few posts:)

 

At the Cruise Critic Meet and Mingle, one of the prizes was 30 minutes of free Internet. I REALLY wished I could have won that! The ironic thing was I did win the big prize which was a nice bottle of champagne and I am not much of a drinker. My son got a nice souvenir from the trip- I was glad it didn't explode in the luggage!

 

Susan

[MDSue]

Enjoyed reading. Thanks Susan!

 

Thanks, I'm going to have to check out your reviews on your NCL cruises. I feel like I need to choose a favorite line and stick with it so I can build up loyalty perks, but I like to try all the lines and compare.

 

Susan

[MDSue]

Wonderful. I loved San Juan and really want to visit more of PR. Thanks! For all your hard work posting.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

Thanks! We love San Juan also and want to see more of Puerto Rico. I know their economy is really hurting and that is obvious in some areas, but the country is really beautiful. I'm looking forward to seeing other parts of the country in future visits:)

[Cruise_Christy]

Thanks very much for taking the time to write this, & post all the great pictures. Reading along and really enjoying it.

[MDSue]

Thanks very much for taking the time to write this, & post all the great pictures. Reading along and really enjoying it.

 

Thanks! I've got lots more to come.

[MDSue]

More from the rainforest:

 

As we hiked up to the top of tower we saw many scenic views through the openings:

 

 

 

[MDSue]

And views from the top:

 

 

I'm not sure if the high-rise building were from San Juan or not:

 

[MDSue]

Our guide pointed out the white flowers that you can barely see on the tree in the background. He said that the locals can accurately predict that day's weather by the flowers which open and close according to what the weather will be. In the time we stood there and watched, the flowers opened from full bloom to barely visible in a matter of seconds. According to the guide, we would not get any rain that day (even though scattered showers were in the forecast). He was right, we had a beautiful, sunny day

 

 

 

 

Well, I'm off to meet my daughter and run a few errands. When I come back, I have much more from the rainforest and onward.

 

See you soon!

 

Susan

[MDSue]

El Yunque Rainforest continued:

 

While we were at the Tower our quide, Carlos, took a moment to tell us a personal story that seemed to have really touched him. Like I said earlier, when he was first driving around picking up all of the tour group, he was largely silent- only checking names against his list. I seriously wondered whether he was just going to drive us from place to place and never open up.

 

When he suddenly pulled over in a gas station, we were all a bit confused, but figured he just chose that moment to introduce himself and give us a run down of our tour. When we were at the tower, he found out that seconds after he pulled over, a large truck overturned onto a vehicle and that a few people were killed right where we should have been. He felt that it was divine intervention that our sudden stop may have saved our lives.

 

Later on when it was just my sister and I and Carlos sitting in the van while we were waiting for the group, we chatted about his life and family and his faith. It was a pleasure getting to know the real person behind the tour guide.

 

Anyway, the guide took our group to the path leading to the waterfall and reminded everyone that the hike back was quite strenuous and a lot of climbing steps. My sister was worried that her knee might not hold up to the hike so we chose to stay behind and hang out at our lunch stop. There were some trails there we could hike that were much easier. I would have loved to have seen the waterfall, but didn't want to hold back the rest of the group if we lagged behind.

 

Here's a few pictures from our lunch stop:

 

 

 

I ordered a special quesadilla that included chicken, cheese, banana peppers, and a few other ingredients I can't remember. It was absolutely delicious!

 

 

Carlos had us order lunch before the hike and it was ready and waiting when everyone returned from the hike. It was a nice, casual, outdoor seating area.

[MDSue]

A few more images from the rainforest:

 

 

 

 

Next- Luquillo Beach

[MDSue]

It was right around 3 pm by time we were ready to leave the beach and head to Luquillo Beach. I can understand why you really need a full day tour to experience the rainforest. There was so much more to see and do, so even more than a full day would be worthwhile if you were doing it yourself.

 

We drove to Luquillo Beach next and had about an hour and a half to enjoy the beach before heading back to San Juan.

 

The beach area was quite large and had plenty of shade trees or sunny spots to hang out. They had bathrooms, showers, and changing areas along with a drink and snack bar, and a small souvenir shop. Further down was a large strip of restaurants and shops, but we didn't park close to that area.

 

Here are a few shots of the beach:

 

 

 

 

More to come...

[Quilting Queen]

Susan Thank you for the pictures of the beach. We will be spending a week at Gran Melia in the Rio Grand area and Loquillo beach seems to be the nearest improved beach. Is there snorkeling at the beach? You said you didn't get to the little shopping area so I hope to make it there.

 

Our Bio Bay tour was canceled because the little bugs are going dark on Vieques island. I hope we can get to the other end of the island as there is another bio bay on the south east end.

 

Norine

[MDSue]

Luquillo Beach cont.

 

 

This egret wasn't too shy while walking around the beach looking for tasty snacks.

 

 

 

Sadly, there were a handful of thin, stray dogs wandering the beach. Me, being the ultimate sucker for animals just wanted to rescue all of them. I fed the last of my snack food to one of them who cuddled up to my leg. I wish I could have brought her home. A local rescue group based out of Washington, DC where we adopted our dog has started to rescue many homeless dogs from Puerto Rico. It really drives home the need for us all to do our part to reduce the stray pet population. If I didn't already have two rescue dogs at home, I would have done everything in my power to bring one home. None were at all threatening or problemsome.

 

If you have any room in your home or heart to add a new lifelong family member, check your local rescue group. There are so many dogs and cats who need homes.

[maggieq]

Hi Susan, did you happen to keep any compasses that you could post? Thanks!

[MDSue]

Hi Susan, did you happen to keep any compasses that you could post? Thanks!

 

Hi Maggie, We did bring the cruise compasses home with us. My scanner is not communicating with my computer so I'll have to take individual pictures of each page and upload. It will take me a few days before I can get to them:)

[MIcruiser99]

El Yunque Rainforest continued:

My sister was worried that her knee might not hold up to the hike so we chose to stay behind and hang out at our lunch stop. There were some trails there we could hike that were much easier. I would have loved to have seen the waterfall, but didn't want to hold back the rest of the group if we lagged behind.

 

We went down the trail looking for the waterfall and finally gave up after about a half hour of hiking. We are of average fitness, and did not have a problem with the hiking but it was hot, and sticky, and felt like a long, tiring hike.

 

Thanks for the beautiful pictures. We did not go to the buildings that you showed, and now, I wish we had!

[MDSue]

Susan Thank you for the pictures of the beach. We will be spending a week at Gran Melia in the Rio Grand area and Loquillo beach seems to be the nearest improved beach. Is there snorkeling at the beach? You said you didn't get to the little shopping area so I hope to make it there.

 

Our Bio Bay tour was canceled because the little bugs are going dark on Vieques island. I hope we can get to the other end of the island as there is another bio bay on the south east end.

 

Norine

 

Hi Norine, I wondered why our guide didn't park closer to the strip of shops at Luquillo Beach and he said that some customers were complaining of stomach upset after eating at some of the establishments. There were a ton of eating places and souvenir type shops there.

 

The bio-bay tour is one a future tour wish list. We could have added it to this tour but it would have been a really long day.

 

We didn't see any snorkeling at Luquillo Bach so I'm not sure if there are any good spots there. The water wasn't the clear aqua blue like many Caribbean beaches so the visibility might be reduced.

 

Susan