Jewel of the Sea Southern Caribbean Photo Review- March 28, 2015

[usckatieh]

We were on this cruise too. Can't wait to live it again through your review.

 

Hey RoyalFan! I hope you had as much fun as us! Feel free to add your perspective too.

 

You are blowing me away with these photos! Just gorgeous!! Especially, this one of the ocean:

 

http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb133/usckatieh/Jewel%202015%20Cruise/Jewel2015-1036.jpg

 

I also enjoyed the ones of the cemetery. You have quite the eye!

(Hoping you have interior photos of the ship as well.)

 

Yes, I'll post some interior shots too soon! There were so many fun photo opportunities on this trip!

[DutchCruiseFan]

Looking forward to the rest of your review!

[usckatieh]

Our chariot awaits!

 

For me, the first true moment of excitement is seeing the big ship at the pier as you arrive at the terminal! On the way, the taxi driver was nice enough to teach the kids some Spanish so they were exclaiming “Para el crucero rapido!” or “to the cruise quickly!” Embarkation was super easy. We arrived about 2:30 and there was no wait at the curb to drop the luggage with the porters.

 

We went through initial security without an problems and they grabbed my husband and I to the Gold member check in line. There was only one person ahead of us, so the whole process from drop off to check in for us took about 10-15 minutes total! Poor Grandma and Grandpa had to check in through the “newbie line” but even that line only took about 20 minutes to get through. Here’s a photo of the Newbie line. Gold and up and suites had very little to no wait.

 

 

They also have a table set up to get the kids their emergency wristbands right after check in. If you haven’t cruised before, they give all kids a wristband with their muster station on it so that in the case of an emergency, if the kids weren’t with you (at kids club or something) the staff would escort them immediately to their muster station and you’d meet them there. The bracelets have to be worn the entire trip.

 

Here’s some good advice for the San Juan terminal though- keep your passports out the whole time! They had to have 5-6 different checkpoints throughout the process. I mean we just got our seapasses and yet checked our passports at the bottom of the escalator to get to the ship, the top of the elevator, when we walked around the corner, etc.

 

Our Room!

 

The nice part about checking in after 1:00 is we were able to go straight to our rooms! We had 7144 and 7146 Adjoining E3 – Ocean view balcony (obstructed). The room seemed to me to be the same size as similar rooms on the Freedom and Oasis. I think the room was above Portofinos restaurant but it was very quiet the entire trip.

 

 

These rooms both had a pullman bed and sofa bed which we never pulled out but it looked about a twin size mattress.

 

 

The obstructed balcony came from the fact that top of the lifeboats were flush with the floor of our balcony. So you couldn’t see straight down into the water, but that didn’t bother me a bit- I’ll post photos of that soon! Outlets are only on the desk and the bathroom so the Belkin 3-outlet mini-travel charger with 2 USB ports came in very handy for allowing us to charge all our phones/devices at once. The only outdated thing I found is that one room had an old CRT tv but the other had a flat screen. Also, it's good to know is that the connecting doors do not have hand locks on them once the room attendant supervisor comes along and opens them. So when we wanted to make sure the kids didn’t open the door between to the two rooms, we stuck a suitcase in front of the door.

 

Not a highly exciting photo but if you’re like me, you want to know what closet space you’ll have.

 

 

Bathroom with the regular bank-drive-through-tube shower

 

[usckatieh]

Here’s the cruise compasses, Gold rewards and ship staff info that were waiting for us on the bed

 

 

 

 

 

 

First order of business after a little unpacking was to find the drink machines since DH and Mother in law and Father in law all had the soda package, and fill out the paperwork for Adventure Ocean!

 

That’s one pretty Centrum!

Edited April 12, 2015 by usckatieh

[drarill]

Thanks for taking the time to share your cruise with us!!! Your pictures are amazing!! Looking forward to the rest of your review. :)

[usckatieh]

Dining room hiccup

 

It’s a little odd to me to have dinner before the muster drill but since we had signed up for the 6:00pm traditional dining, we started getting ready for dinner about 5:15. The room attendants had all the luggage to the rooms before dinner which I was pretty impressed with.

 

The first hiccup came up when we got to the dining room and realized that they had my husband, myself and the kids at one table and my husband’s parents at a table across the room. I’m not sure how the managed that because every time I called to check on our reservations which were made together, they confirmed that we had 6 people together at the 6:00 traditional dining seating. The head waiter wasn’t able to help us with the issue but a fellow cruisecritic buddy at the table with us volunteered to switch herself and her two daughters to another table so our family could all eat together the next night. I thought that was very generous of her! Thanks ladypirate2012! (We also ended up on the same plane back home since we’re both from SC)!

 

Our waiters for the week were great! The quality of the food was also very good, although we still think the Freedom has the best MDR chef! There were lots of nights where they offered escargot (in case you find snails tasty). The kids favorites of the week were the fruit plate appetizer (which the waiters had ready for them when we arrive- how thoughtful), cheeseburgers, pepperoni pizza, and the brownie with ice cream. That brownie became a desert favorite for the adults and kids alike by the end of the week. Yum! Adult favorites were the duck, lobster (of course), spinach dip, scallops, key lime pie and crème brulee. A few of the dishes were dubbed “unremarkable” but all of them were decent if not delicious. Sorry, not a lot of food porn until lobster night. I’m usually a few bites into my meal before I even think about photos. I guess my stomach trumps my brain a lot of the time. Since I don’t have any food photos from that night, I’ll post a few photos of the dining room that I took later in the trip.

 

 

 

 

Our muster drill was in Portfinos. Interestingly, we got an announcement about 5 minutes after muster was supposed to start that some muster stations were still reporting people missing and the captain won’t start until everyone is there. I’m not sure if that’s an attempt to shame people into showing up or what but we started about 10 minutes after schedule. The muster drill on the Jewel is an announcement accompanied by a life vest demonstration by the staff in the room. Again, quick and easy.

After muster, we headed to the pool deck for the Sail away party. There were a few people dancing but I had expected more kids out there since it was a spring break cruise. Oh well, my cuties had fun dancing around.

 

 

When we returned to the room, the attendant had pushed together our two twin beds and brought down the Pullman bed. Here’s my guy trying out his new hideout.

 

 

He was perfectly happy there all week. DD slept in Grandma and Grandpa’s Pullman bed and just ran back and forth when she wanted clothes or games.

 

Coming up... My first snorkeling experience in St Thomas!

Edited April 12, 2015 by usckatieh

[cocacola86]

Looking at booking either Jewel or the Summit, any thoughts? There's me my DW who are in their 30s, my parents in their 60s.

[Texasopa]

"One last thought that made my husband and I giggle a little. Do you see anything wrong with this photo? This reminded me of a series of photos called “Not my job”. Hehe."

 

I'm sure (hopefully) that your referring to the salt and pepper packs in the shakers. I have to admit that is a little strange, but there is no way in H?ll

I would use a salt and pepper shaker in a hotel room without knowing for SURE what was in them. Why not just lay the packets on the counter or a small receptacle? Probably complaints about NO salt and pepper shakers.

I guess my OCD thoughts are drugs, sugar or body fluids intermingled in them.

 

I'm totally enjoying your review, Thanks...

[kruise runner]

Hi

We are reliving the memories of the Jewel. The Jewel was our first RCI cruise in Nov. We did the opposite itinerary to your cruise .Yes the islands are beautiful, Your pictures are great and bring life back the memories. The Jewel is an excellent ship no complaints at all. This was one of our best cruise, we had in awhile. You are dong a great job on your review and wonder full photos as well. Just waiting for more. Thank you so much.:D Happy Cruising

Looking to cruise again

kruise runner:cool:,kruise kat:)

[barbeyg]

Loving your review so far! We are sailing Radiance in AK next year, and since they are both Radiance class, I really appreciate the closet and bathroom photos.

[tripster]

Your review just keeps getting better and better! I am so enjoying it! Please continue...

[lovetoteach1]

Hi Katie!

Love your review so far! I would love a copy of your template! jcodol@cox.net I am an OCD planner but you take it to the next level and I love it! I'm definitely stealing the ziplock bag idea! My husband and I have been on the Jewel before and we also did the Southern route for our honeymoon. We took our kids last year for the first time on the Adventure and they love it as much as we do. Cannot wait to do it again next year. Looking forward to the rest of your review!

Jodi

[usckatieh]

I'm sure (hopefully) that your referring to the salt and pepper packs in the shakers. I have to admit that is a little strange, but there is no way in H?ll

I would use a salt and pepper shaker in a hotel room without knowing for SURE what was in them. Why not just lay the packets on the counter or a small receptacle? Probably complaints about NO salt and pepper shakers.

I guess my OCD thoughts are drugs, sugar or body fluids intermingled in them.

 

I'm totally enjoying your review, Thanks...

 

Good point! :eek: I've never really expected to see salt and pepper shakers in a hotel room anyways, so the fact that they shoved packets into the shakers and then put the caps back on made us laugh- my first though being "the boss said to put salt in there and I put salt in there" but that's a whole new perspective- yuck! Thank goodness for individually wrapped salt/pepper! :rolleyes:

[usckatieh]

Hi Katie!

Love your review so far! I would love a copy of your template! jcodol@cox.net I am an OCD planner but you take it to the next level and I love it! I'm definitely stealing the ziplock bag idea! My husband and I have been on the Jewel before and we also did the Southern route for our honeymoon. We took our kids last year for the first time on the Adventure and they love it as much as we do. Cannot wait to do it again next year. Looking forward to the rest of your review!

Jodi

 

My husband thought I was a little crazy when I started doing the clothes in bags thing, but it really ends up making life so easy. The baggies pack really well and then everything gets stacked in a drawer or cube and the kids can just grab the next day in the pile and start getting dressed. I highly recommend it!

[Susie51]

I used the bag idea last cruise and it is really worked well. Thanks for your review.

[beej]

I pack everything in cubes, big and small ones. Love that I don't have to do anything but zip them up to pack when we have to come home. So much faster. I just flip the tops over and put in a drawer or on a shelf. Love them

[jocelyne.mauboussin]

Torche

[cruzin4sun]

I am really enjoying your review and your pictures, fantastic. You have a beautiful family.

 

Did your kids enjoy Adventure Ocean? We are taking our 4 year old GD on her first cruise a few weeks. We have never used the kids club before and we are not sure what to expect.

 

I would love a copy of your spreadsheet please cathier@outlook.com.

 

Thank you.

[LoveThoseSeaDays]

We have used the ziploc bag system for years -- extended family think I'm nuts, but it sure makes packing easy.

 

When our daughter was small and we were travelling Europe in a hotel-a-day kind of journey, I put a full outfit for her including socks and underwear into each bag. It was so easy to pull out, and didn't mess up the rest of the gear in the suitcase.

 

We've graduated a bit now -- just packing similar items in the bags. The system works very well for us!

[usckatieh]

 

 

 

 

[usckatieh]

I am really enjoying your review and your pictures, fantastic. You have a beautiful family.

 

Did your kids enjoy Adventure Ocean? We are taking our 4 year old GD on her first cruise a few weeks. We have never used the kids club before and we are not sure what to expect.

 

I would love a copy of your spreadsheet please cathier@outlook.com.

 

Thank you.

 

The kids both really loved Adventure Ocean. And the staff seemed really well suited to work with children. When we were signing the kids in, they said they had been looking forward to spring break all year because they'd have more kids to play with. They were always playing games and coming back with balloons or science projects or drawings and other fun stuff. My kids had a blast!

[pinkroses]

Loving your review, Katie. Thanks for sharing!

[usckatieh]

St Thomas

 

St Thomas has to have one of the prettiest port areas I’ve ever seen (right behind that crystal blue water of Phillipsburg, St Maarten). Here’s a few shots of the view coming into the pier.

 

 

 

 

I took these photos coming into St Thomas to show what the “obstructed balcony” view looked like.

 

 

 

Here’s the chairs and table on the balcony- and the handy clips that I used for drying swimsuits throughout the week.

 

 

We hit the Windjammer for breakfast in the morning and check towels out on deck 2 right before leaving the ship. I don’t know if it’s the ship or a new concept but the idea of checking out towels at the disembarkation desk instead of the pool deck like we did last year was genius in my opinion! So convenient!

[renjrusa]

love your review so far and can't wait for the rest of it. We are on Jewel in 12 days... Thanks for sharing and your photos are beautiful...

[crusinot]

We are sailing Indy in June! I was thinking about booking this cruise before we leave Indy! I am looking forward to the rest of your review!