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

[MDSue]

More of the atrium:

 

 

 

[MDSue]

And one of the exterior of the ship- docked in Martinique:

 

 

Tomorrow- more of the interior and then on to detailed island reviews and pics.

 

Susan

[MDSue]

A few more ship pictures:

 

Main pool area:

 

 

The Schooner Bar area:

 

 

[MDSue]

The Schooner Bar area: In this same area they had a Nintendo Wii set up where teens were playing games, a sports bar, and some nice, quiet area overlooking the ocean.

 

 

 

 

[MDSue]

And Portofino's

 

 

 

Looking through the glass at the Hollywood Odyssey Lounge:

 

[MDSue]

A few more shots:

 

Stairwell artwork:

 

 

Cake decorating demo in the atrium:

 

 

The helicopter landing pad. There are a few benches to sit and enjoy the view here:

 

[MDSue]

A little about the Meet and Mingle:

 

Our roll call was pretty slow with only a few people participating on a semi-regular basis. I was wondering if there would be much of a turn out for the Meet and Mingle. I'd say about 2 dozen people showed up and the staff put a lot of effort into making it a fun get-together.

 

They provided ice-water and fresh baked cookies for free and had a bartender on staff for paid drinks.

 

They drew names and gave out a handful of prizes including Royal Caribbean hats, umbrellas, and other knickknacks. I won a nice bottle of champagne. It was nice to meet some of the other CC members. One couple only lived a few miles away from me.

 

We shared a few excursion ideas and it was a nice get-together.

 

 

 

Coming up next- Sailing out of San Juan at night, and the ports of St. Thomas and St. John.

 

I haven't forgotten the Daily Patters, but my scanner is not communicating with my laptop, so it will take me a bit to figure out the best way to upload them. It will probably be early next week.

 

See you soon!

 

Susan

Edited April 25, 2014 by MDSue

[librarylady19]

Loving your photos and review. Can't wait for my first cruise on Jewel next year!

[concord_62]

Great review and astounding pictures! I especially like the ones of the Centrum!! We were on the same itinerary just before yours ... March 29 - April 5. It was our first cruise and we loved it. I love what you chose to do in Martinique ... wish we had done something like that. Our bus tour was not that great, but there weren't many choices. Thanks for sharing your experience!

 

Sue D

[Jax129]

loving your review so far. We are thinking of doing a cruise out of San Juan & your review is making me think...YES!! Please keep it coming! :)

[MDSue]

Great review and astounding pictures! I especially like the ones of the Centrum!! We were on the same itinerary just before yours ... March 29 - April 5. It was our first cruise and we loved it. I love what you chose to do in Martinique ... wish we had done something like that. Our bus tour was not that great, but there weren't many choices. Thanks for sharing your experience!

 

Sue D

 

Thanks, Wait until you see the pictures- it was probably my favorite my stop. I was afraid it was going to be a let down because we couldn't find much info online.

I had no idea what the beach would be like and we were pleasantly surprised.

 

Susan

[MDSue]

loving your review so far. We are thinking of doing a cruise out of San Juan & your review is making me think...YES!! Please keep it coming! :)

 

Thanks! I had a super busy weekend, but I'm ready to get back to the islands now and any other finishing touches. I'm uploading pictures of St. John now and will be posting soon.

 

Susan

[MDSue]

Loving your photos and review. Can't wait for my first cruise on Jewel next year!

 

Thanks, I love taking a ton of pictures, so it's nice to have an outlet to share them. I actually have a FB page where I have albums and reviews of most many of the islands that we've visited. I'm doing a picture review there also (one reason, I'm so far behind!).

 

I'm not sure if I am allowed to share the address for it here on CC though.

 

Susan

[MDSue]

Our day in St. Thomas and St. John.

 

Our ship docked at the Havensight dock in St. Thomas. Originally, I had planned to get to St. John on our own by taking a cab to Red Hook and taking the ferry from there. However, another CC member posted a comparison of the cost to and from St. John on your own or by taking a boat arranged through a ship tour. It ended up being cheaper to go through the ship tour (surprisingly).

 

The downside was that we had almost 2 hours between when we docked and when we had to catch the ship tour to the island. The tour consisted of transportation to and from Cruz Bay. After that, we were on our own for a few hours before we had to meet the boat for the ride back. We arrived at cruz Bay at 11 am and had to meet the boat for the trip back at 2:45- slightly less time than advertised.

 

However, it gave us a little time to shop in port for a little while and I needed a lens cover for my camera which I found at a camera store there.

 

The crew over and back were great and we had a lot of fun coming and going, especially returning to the ship where the "painkiller" rum drinks were free-flowing. Unfortunately, for me, alcohol and sun don't mix so I skipped the fun. My sister made up for my loss, two-fold!

 

Overall, I think this is a great way to get back and forth to St. John. It was super easy. As I mentioned earlier, though- just be sure you pay careful attention to where you are supposed to meet the boat for the return trip. We were dropped off at the wrong spot and almost missed our ride back:eek:

 

Pictures next.

[jlat]

We were on the same cruise, it was a great time. The Jewel is a great ship. This was our first time out on RCCL, but it won't be our last.

 

We were on the boat waiting on y'all. We didn't wait long at all actually.

 

Again it was a great week!

[MDSue]

I keep promising St. John and neglecting to post the pictures of our departure from San Juan, which is really a not miss activity.

 

Not too many ships actually depart in the evening where you get the opportunity to see the city all lit up at night.

 

As an added bonus, the ships sail right by the great walls of El Morro which are so pretty at night.

 

A view of Old San Juan at departure:

 

 

 

 

Next El Morrow

[MDSue]

A few more of the city:

 

 

And El Morro:

 

 

 

[MDSue]

From a slight distance- the lighthouse atop El Morro:

 

 

 

And sailing off into the night away from San Juan:

 

 

Luckily our room was facing the shore so we could watch departure from our balcony. This year our ship was facing forward and we pulled straight out and down the channel.

 

Last year we had to back out of the port which actually was incredibly cool- it was quite a ways before the captain could turn the ship around head out to sea.

[MDSue]

We arrived in St. Thomas bright and early around 7am and were allowed off the ship soon after. Many of the stores by the Havensight shops were either not open or just opening up. Most were open shortly afterwards though.

 

Usually, when we come to St. Thomas, we spend half a day at the beach and half a day shopping in Charlotte Amalie. This time, we decided to visit St. John instead.

 

Here is the ship pulling into St. Thomas at sunrise. We love having a balcony so we can watch the ships sail in and out of port from the comfort of our room. Personally, I don't want to get up at the crack of dawn to go up on deck to watch us come in and at departure time, we've had a full day in port and just want to shower and relax on the balcony for departure.

 

 

 

[MDSue]

I feel like my review is going slower than molasses. In order to post pictures, I first have to upload them to a photo-hosting site (after I've chosen my favorites).

 

As I mentioned at the beginning of my then "live" review that my laptop died for good right after I began the review. I made a special trip to Best Buy in San Juan for an emergency replacement. I figured that I have to have a laptop anyway and since I usually buy my laptops from the local Best Buys, that I could go to my local branch if I had any issues.

 

Well, my new laptop drove me nuts from the very start. I was totally confused with how to operate the new Windows 8 and the computer seemed "possessed" from the start. It was constantly switching windows on me for no apparent reason and was freezing up on a regular basis. It made it next to impossible to upload pictures, work on the review, or anything else.

 

Shortly after I got home, I decided I'd had enough and brought the laptop to our local Best Buy for help. I honestly didn't know if the problem was with me or the laptop, but I've owned many and never had problems like this one.

 

Anyway, the sales staff was more than helpful and agreed that my best option was to return it for another model. Unfortunately, they didn't have the laptop in stock I wanted and they agreed to let me to continue to use this one until my new one comes in even though it will be past the 15 day return period.

 

Sorry for the long explanation, but my computer problems have slowed me down considerably. I'm so looking forward to getting a "new" new laptop and hopefully having a better experience with the next one.

 

Anyway- I'll be back tomorrow with St. John pictures and maybe even a few more islands.

 

Here's one of our ship docked at the Havensight dock to tide you over.

 

 

See you then!

 

Susan

[MDSue]

Good evening, I'm finally ready to share some additional island pictures and tips.

 

We met up with our tour leader at 9:45 and walked down the dock to where our boat was tied to:

 

 

We quickly loaded in and were off to St. John. The boat was filled pretty full and there was a combination of shaded seats and seats open to the sun. For the most part, the ride was dry- but we did hit a few wakes of other boats that gave people sitting in the very front or along the sides a few splashes. I had to keep my good camera covered to protect it. We traveled along the shoreline and our guides pointed out a few sights along the way:

 

 

 

 

 

It took about 20 t0 30 minutes for the ride over to Cruz Bay:

 

Edited April 28, 2014 by MDSue

[purplethorn]

lovely pictures, thanks so much

Do you by any chance have any pics of the kids areas and more specifically the royal tots room

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[MDSue]

We tied up at the dock which turned out to be close by the main dock where the regular ferry drives back and forth between the islands. I seem to have misplaced the pictures I took of the docking area, but make sure you make a mental note of where the dock is so you don't end up in the wrong place like we did.

 

This is the main area of Cruz Bay that has a handful of shops and a nice bar on the waterfront. We were waiting here at the main pier for our return boat only to find out it was located about a block down the road to the left:

 

 

 

[MDSue]

lovely pictures, thanks so much

Do you by any chance have any pics of the kids areas and more specifically the royal tots room

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

 

Thank-you:) I don't have any pictures of the Royal Tots room unfortunately, but I do have some pictures of the outside kids play area:

 

 

The Rock wall:

 

 

 

The pool area:

 

 

Even though we cruised on Spring Break with lots of families, I barely saw the kids and they were never an issue. I didn't even encounter the typical elevator button pushers this time. I have to assume the kids were kept well-entertained.

[purplethorn]

great, thanks! We are considering the southern Caribbean itinerary for this summer and I am really hoping the nursery is a bit larger than on the Liberty

 

 

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