Our Jewel Cruise - Feb 7th 2015 - Free Drinks, YAY!

[mncruiser84]

Great review. Thanks a lot we will be on the jewel 4 weeks from Saturday. What made you choose butt's up for your cave tour?

[dortrust]

Ha Ha I remember cashew wine. I bought some the last time we were in Belize. It broke in my suitcase and by the smell I don't think I would have liked it anyway. I now bring bubble wrap everywhere We travel

[aubreyc1988]

Great review. Thanks a lot we will be on the jewel 4 weeks from Saturday. What made you choose butt's up for your cave tour?

 

Price and reviews - it was very highly rated on trip advisor and you couldn't beat the price.

 

I will finish the 4th day tomorrow morning! Today went by super fast and time just got away from me. :eek:

[ladylonghorn]

We are leaving next week on the Jewel - same ports. 2 questions...

 

What did you do in port at Trujillo? And was there excursions you could arrange on your own once in port?

[aubreyc1988]

We are leaving next week on the Jewel - same ports. 2 questions...

 

What did you do in port at Trujillo? And was there excursions you could arrange on your own once in port?

 

We did Campamento beach "resort", which was 35.00pp, plus the cost of a chair. It was OK, if I could go do it again, we would have done the cascades, Campamento was like a low end beach, not a resort at all.

 

As for arranging on your own, because this is a brand new port, it probably would not be as easy in a place like Cozumel, but some people we met at Campamento arranged it while in port

Edited February 26, 2015 by aubreyc1988

[aubreyc1988]

Day 4 Continued

 

I was afraid the water was going to be freezing, but once we were in our tubes floating, it really was not bad. This would be a terrific excursion for a REAL scorcher, as it is very cool temperature wise in the caves.

 

 

Butt’s Up ties up the inner tubes in groups, usually 4 or 6, and they pull you along the river. They give a nice guided tour of the caves. I would say you are tubing for around 30 - 45 minutes. The water can be extremely shallow at some points. That is when they say “Butt’s Up, guys” so we don't drag on the rocks. Sometime’s when it was really shallow, they would say “EXTREME Butt’s Up, guys” :D I think I remember her saying that if the water gets above a certain mark, they close the caves and that the caves shut down in rain season.

 

 

As a little treat, here is a video of the bus ride tour to the caves, and some cave tubing with Butt’s Up. It’s about 20 minutes long.

 

 

After tubing, we went to this little hut building where they served free tamale snacks and you could buy drinks.

 

The tamale snack was not to our liking, but we don’t really like tamales. My husband describes them as “mushy”

 

We did get 2 REAL rum and cokes, which were delicious - So much better with Coke that with Pepsi that the ship has, plus this Cokes have real sugar cane so it was definitely a treat for me. I also bought a coke for the ride home. Soft drinks were 1.00 for a bottle, they had Orange Crush, Coke, maybe Sprite. The Rum and Coke’s were 3.00 each, and they also had “Pantyripper” drinks that coconut, pineapple, and rum in it. Also 3.00 each.

 

We only stayed at the “Food hut” for about 30 minutes. This is where people ATV-ed who booked the ATV excursion. They had a blast and came back pretty muddy. We headed back to the ship in the bus. We were pretty hungry, as we didn’t really eat our tamales and hadn’t eaten since breakfast, but that sugary Coke helped sustain me. :cool:

Edited February 26, 2015 by aubreyc1988

[aubreyc1988]

Here are some more pictures of cave tubing

 

I love my goofy husband!!!

 

 

 

So beautiful

 

 

 

The water is cold on my butt, can you tell?

 

 

Peace out, ready to go cave tubing already!

 

[aubreyc1988]

And more pictures of cave tubing

 

 

 

It was very dark in the caves so hard to take pictures

 

 

 

 

[aubreyc1988]

 

 

 

 

 

[aubreyc1988]

More pictures (hope you guys don't mind)

 

 

 

 

 

 

[aubreyc1988]

 

 

We got back to the ship around 3pm, plenty of time to look around before getting back onboard. So yes, Butt's Up is very good about getting you back on time!

 

Before getting back onto the ship, we saw a Cruise Critic couple drinking at the restaurant/bar that is right by the NCL "Welcome Back" tents, so we sat down and talked with them for a while. They bought us a few drinks (So nice of them) and we had a blast! :D

[aubreyc1988]

Day 4 - Conclusion

 

Back on the ship, we showered and got ready for dinner, which we ate at the MDR (Can’t remember which one, probably Azura). I cannot STRESS how slow the service was - when we ate, we ALWAYS had to leave before dessert, even though we told our server when seated that we wanted to make the 7:15 showtime. We eat as early as possible so we can make the early showtime. I wonder if this is regular occurrence or just with our sailing/crew. If it is a regular occurrence, they need to adjust the mealtimes so that people dining early can see the early show.

 

The showtime that evening was a Russian couple who did Aerialist stuff. They were very talented, and interesting to watch.

 

All in all, it was a great day on and off the ship.

[aubreyc1988]

Day 5 - Trujillo, Banana Coast, Honduras

 

So my husband and I were very excited to be going to this port. On our very first cruise, we had Roatan as a port of call, but the ship did not dock due to weather. So this was our first time in Honduras. I knew that this was a brand new port of call, so finding the right excursion to do was difficult. We initially planned to do something someone planned in our roll call, but that fell through so we booked a beach break called Campamento Beach Break Resort.

 

http://www.bestoftrujillo.com/campamento.htm

 

We booked the 35.00pp, which was paid to the person we would be meeting at the port. This excursion had a decent trip advisor reviews and was lead by Victor Bodden, who has a very good reputation as a tour company. We were up bright and early to catch the first tender, as we did not want a repeat of the morning in Belize. But this time it was a lot faster to get onto the lifeboats and over to Trujillo.

 

The entrance to the port is very small, but since they are just beginning I guess it’s to be expected.

 

 

A few little shops, and then you walk not even 1/4 of a mile to Gate 3, which takes you into “Real Trujillo”.

 

 

 

The roads are dirt, so don’t wear any white sandals you might not want to get dirty (like I did). It was very easy to find Victor Bodden tours, and we left as soon as we got to their kiosk in a car for Campamento Beack Resort.

 

 

 

It took around 30 minutes on dirt roads to get to the resort, which is right beside Tranquility Bay and other beach resorts. When we got to the resort, here is when things started to break down. The guy who drove us said we needed wrist bands, but didn’t tell us where to get them. He came back 30 minutes later, saying he forgot to get them for us. The whole resort is run visibly by like 2-3 people. The guy in charge (Don’t remember his name), told us that we had to pay 5.00 each to sit on a chair. The ladies behind us refused to pay that, as they booked the same deal we had. So some people were made to pay for chairs, some people weren’t. It was very confused. We were also supposed to get a complimentary snack and a drink with our excursion, and we only got the drink. Some people got the complimentary snack, others didn’t. It just seemed disorganized and sloppy, but I am sure this will improve over time.

 

 

 

(my husband testing out his waterproof watch - he’s into watches)

[iluvthe-c]

That couple you ran into at the Tender Bar in Belize sound like they are pretty awesome:)

[aubreyc1988]

More pictures of Campamento

 

 

 

 

 

[aubreyc1988]

That couple you ran into at the Tender Bar in Belize sound like they are pretty awesome:)

 

they were alright :p

[aubreyc1988]

 

 

 

 

They have cabana's you can rent out overnight, it seems, they look cute

 

[aubreyc1988]

Pool is behind those bushes, just your ordinary pool, but it’s a nice added feature

 

 

I guess people stay in this building as well

 

 

 

Campamento had a baby jaguar that they keep chained up, it’s mother is dead and they take care of it. They lady who showed me the jaguar was like “Go ahead and pet it, he’s friendly” Yes, I’m sure he is, but I was not taking my chancees I’m not “Condoning” this in any way, I think they should contact a Zoo, but here’s a video of it (hope the link works, let me know if it doesn't)

 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-Iqz5oE7vexcWZHYk9nQlBYc1k/view?usp=sharing

[aubreyc1988]

 

 

and here’s a video of at the entrance of the port of Trujillo. My husband went to go search for some handled cigars and I went shopping for a souvenir and picked up a carved vase.

 

If you watch the video, watch it until the end, it’s only about 1 minute long.

 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-Iqz5oE7vexcEVfeDNudkx0bHc/view?usp=sharing

[apmecruise]

That Jaguar is so sad, hate the chain and the future is bleak. I mean he is a wild animal.

[aubreyc1988]

That Jaguar is so sad, hate the chain and the future is bleak. I mean he is a wild animal.

Yes very sad, I wish they would contact some professionals to help them. I am sure that once more people start going there, people will complain and hopefully something will change

[aubreyc1988]

(Sorry for the late installment, have been lazy over the weekend)

 

We ate at the Campamento restaurant and boy, was that a mistake! It took us 1 hr to get our food to us, we were the ONLY people ordering food. We couldn’t figure out why it was taking so long, until we saw the guy who greeted us carrying out a big tray of those free “Snacks” to the people sitting at the beach, didn’t even offer us one! Shortly after that we got our meals.

 

TJ ordered a chicken and rice stir fry and I had orange chicken with white rice. Both meals came with a side of french fries. The meals were both good, but I definitely wouldn’t have waited an hour for them - that is a lot of time when you are only at a place for 3 hours - takes away from beach and relaxation time. Our meals were very cheap though, a very good value. It was 15.00 for both of us, my meal was a little bit more than my husbands.

 

Here are some pictures of the menu and prices.

 

 

 

 

 

[aubreyc1988]

We headed back to the ship fairly early, around 3pm. We had dinner at Azura, which was a slow ordeal again, had to leave early because we wanted to make the 7:15 show. All of the shows were great, tonight’s show was Jean Pierre Comedian/Magician. He was funny, but the whole magic experience was ruined for us because of something members of the audience did, but I am sure that if you go to see it, it will not be ruined in the same way. I won’t go into details, because I do not want to spoil the show for you.

 

Later that night we went to “The Liar’s Club Game Show” in Spinnaker, which was a lot of fun. First time I have ever been to a game show like that and both me and my husband really enjoyed it. Make sure you go see it.

 

That pretty much sums up Day 5!

[aubreyc1988]

Day 6 - Sea Day

 

After Campamento in Trujillo, I was looking forward to spending the last two days of our cruise at sea. I enjoy port days, but sometimes they can be expensive and I love utilizing the things that are included in the cost of cruising. We did have LeBistro booked for supper, which is a for fee restaurant, but it was paid for pre-cruise, which is always nice.

 

I hung out for a bit of the late morning, early afternoon at the pool bar. The head bartender Christine was great, and she made me these custom Mojitos that were amazing - her Raspberry one was so light and crisp, tasted like a tea!

 

My husband went to “Close up Magic With Jean Pierre” in the afternoon. He loves magic and is always like “HOW DID THEY DO THAT?” I sat at the Sky High bar with some Cruise Critic friends, drinking and having a good time while TJ was at the magic show. My husband said the magic thing was way cool and was glad he went.

Dinner at 5:30 at LeBistro was good, but we again did not get to finish our meal because service was so slow and poor. We told our waitress straight away that we needed to make the 7:15 show, but that didn’t seem to speed things up at all. There were maybe 10 diners in the restaurant. I had the apple pork and my husband had the lamb. My husband said the lamb was just OK, not outstanding. I liked my pork, but it definitely was not as good as Cagney’s.

 

Showtime tonight was Le Cirque Bijou, which was very cool. Like other reviewers have said, try to sit further back so you can really see what is going on.

 

The White Hot Party started at 10:15 and was held in the Spinnaker. It was pretty much a fail, not nearly as cool as the one on the Getaway. So I went to bed early.

 

That sums up Day 6, a beautiful day at sea.

[mncruiser84]

This was a good review. Thanks