Jewel OTS California Coastal Review 10/3/15

[EbayCruiser]

That first day was a pretty long one and wiped all of us out.

 

Before the trip even began we has agreed to eat in the Windjammer each night for dinner. We didn't feel like dressing up for the dining room and wanted to have flexibility. We had MTD as our dining choice, but we never made reservations.

 

Last year on the Brilliance we had done the same thing. I liked the Windjammer for dinner because it was relaxed and quiet. We always sat in the same seat, so we had the same waiter who would remember our likes and always had our drinks ready each night!

 

This year didn't work out the same. More people ate in the Windjammer nightly, so we found it difficult to always have the same table/waiter. However, it was fine for us and we enjoyed our meals there.

 

On night one, after dinner, we sat in the covered Windjammer area with the comfy chairs. We all had coffee or tea. Within minutes DS passed out on our laps!

 

 

We hung out there for another hour chatting and then headed back to the room to put him to sleep for the night. We had an E1, which held 4 people. Two in the regular bed, one pullman, and one sofabed (for one). Our room steward only pulled the sofabed out part way because she had spoken with us earlier that day about sleeping arrangements. We were worried aboutsleep because he was still in a crib at home. Thankfully we had no trouble all week with the mini bed. It was actually a really cute little bed that came out of the sofa/seat. DS was so proud to have his own little bed. All week he would point to it and tell us that it was his. Just to note: It does extend longer for an adult/teenager if needed.

 

 

We've been home for a couple of days now and I am excited to share that he has napped in his big boy bed twice and slept through the night twice as well! Keep your fingers crossed that he keeps it up.

 

Somewhat off topic here. I LOVE his big boy bed. I saw it when I was pregnant with him and knew I would get the bed one day. We've had it for months, anticipating his switch to it. I thought I'd share a photo here because, well, I think the cruising community would love his room too!

 

 

 

 

Cute room! You should purchase the model of the ship when you cruise each time. We have several of HAL and only one RCI. They would look good displayed in his room.

[nivek82]

Great review and info on the diapers! I am also surprised how many they gave in that pack.

[Sunkissed Mommy]

Santa Barbara is a tender port. I always get nervous with tender ports because there is the potential for severe backlogs when trying to go ashore. For the first hour-ish they allowed people to go down to "beat the rush." By the time we finished breakfast and headed down it was tender ticket time. We managed to get tickets for number one.

 

It was an easy trip to the wharf, no delays, no issues.

 

 

 

There was a trolley near the wharf that would toot everyone around town if they so chose.

 

 

I had researched things to do in Santa Barbara. Being that none of us are wine people, we felt like the excursion options lacked variety. So I did some snooping of Princess's excursions because they do California Coastals every year. I read up on a town named Solvang, about 45 minutes from Santa Barbara. I reserved a car from Avis in advance, it was baout a 20 minute walk from where the tenders let us off. Avis opened at 9am and we arrived at 8:50. The guy working opened the doors early because there were quite a few people waiting to pick up for the day. He was quick and got everyone in to their cars faster than I expected.

 

 

I had reserved a small SUV for the day. We were given a Chevy Equinox. It was spacious enough for the five of us for the day.

[Sunkissed Mommy]

Cute room! You should purchase the model of the ship when you cruise each time. We have several of HAL and only one RCI. They would look good displayed in his room.

 

I buy an ornament from each ship we sail on. :)

I also have an Oasis model that we bought back in 2010 when we sailed it. Now sits on top of his boat shelf. (The room photos are from a few months ago before we moved him in there.)

[sdrocks]

we were also on this cruise and agree the embarkation was a total and

complete fiasco.. we are diamond also & agree that was a total joke as

far as priority boarding. More upset with the way boarding took place than

anything. Have never experienced this before. Have to say disembarking

was a total breeze thankfully.

[Sunkissed Mommy]

[Sunkissed Mommy]

If you've never heard of Solvang that's okay. I hadn't either.

 

It's a really neat Danish town about 45 minutes north of Santa Barbara. We took the scenic route there along the coast rather than the mountain road. Someone on cruise critic told me about it, so we followed those directions.

 

We spent the day walking around looking in the shops, eating pastries, pretzels, and stopping for some coffee and hot chocolate. Right when we went for the coffe it started to rain. We weren't happy, but the locals were because the state is in a drought.

 

 

 

 

[Sunkissed Mommy]

 

 

 

[Sunkissed Mommy]

We enjoyed our time in Solvang. I wish we had eaten lunch in one of the restaurants but we filled up on treats throughout our day! I remember the Cruise Compass saying that the last tender was at 4:30pm. My husband, who likes to give me a heart attack, told me he saw 3pm. So now I was in a panic during the whole ride back to Santa Barbara. I kept running everything through my head:

 

1) Get gas

2) Return car

3) Walk to wahrf.

 

He knew all along I was right, but he loves to get me worked up and laugh at me in a panic! I know it sounds cruel, but it's not as bad as it sounds.

 

It was raining throughout our entire drive back. I was happy for the locals, but it made for an interesting afternoon. We arrived at Avis and took care of the car return, but then we had to walk back to the wharf. About 20 minutes. The problem was, we had my son's car seat. Car seat straps cannot get wet, if they do they are no longer effective. So I asked the guy at Avis for a garbage bag to cover the seat. He went in the back and bought out a car seat bag that they use when cleaning them. I put the seat in a bag and then placed the seat on top of the stroller. DS insisted that his monkey doll/blanket be safely put under the bag so he didn't get wet.

 

 

The next dilemma was my husband. He wasn't wearing a jacket and did not want to get drenched on the walk back to the ship. The guy at Avis gave him a car seat bag too. DH proceeded to tear holes for his head and arms. Everyone was laughing at him, but in good fun of course :)

 

and then we had this!

 

 

I was in flip flops, so by the time we got to the wharf my feet were wet and cold. Thankfully part of the tender waiting area was covered so we were able to stand under it.

 

On the way back to the ship our tender saw a life jacket floating in the water. They have a duty to check out the situation and make sure there isn't a person attached to it. So we went in circles for a few minutes as the crew members retrieved the lifejacket from the water. It was pretty choppy out there. I never get seasick, but I was feeling queezy during this experience!

[Sunkissed Mommy]

Once we were settled and back onboard the skies cleared up and it was beautiful. DH went off to the gym while I took DS to the "playroom" hallway. Then during sailway I went out on the deck to shoot some photos of the coast. As for the first picture, ignore the little guy. He is 2, I have no clue what he was trying to do, lol.

 

 

 

 

 

At 5:15pm Adventure Ocean had a family art activity planned. We headed in there to find out what it was. When I asked they kinda looked at me like "Oh, yeah that..." We went in to the AO area and the guy gave us markers and a paper. So my son got to color in the "big kid room" as he called it. I think the AO gy felt bad because we were the only ones there, so he gave DS a Color Wonder kit to take back to the room with us. Color Wonder are markers that only color on special paper. Perfect for a 2 year old.

 

 

[Sunkissed Mommy]

Pardon the long pause!

 

Up next is San Francisco. Our ship was scheduled to arrive at the terminal 2pm. Sailing under the bridge was to be a little after 1pm (I think... Memory is getting hazy about certain specifics at this time).

 

We had a quick lunch in the Windjammer and then headed to the front of the ship to get ourselves a good viewing spot! We were dead center on deck 13.

 

 

 

 

[Sunkissed Mommy]

 

 

 

I included this next one because I found it fascinating to see all the people snapping photos behind me!

 

[Sunkissed Mommy]

 

 

 

After we passed under the Gold Gate Bridge, I had assumed it would be rather quick to clear local authorities and have the chance to get off the ship. I was wrong. We ended up hanging out on our balconies for a while until we heard the all-clear.

 

Our plan was to explore Pier 39, check out the sea lions, have a Boudin's bowl on the pier, leave my son with my dad around 5pm and head over to the Alcatraz dock for the night tour.

[Sunkissed Mommy]

I think we finally got clearance to get off the ship around 3pm. The five of us headed over to Pier 39 to see the Sea Lions. It was a ten minute walk at the most. I was happy that we docked at the old pier. Crown Princess was over at the new cruise terminal, which is nice, but a bit father from the nice waterfront area.

 

By the time we got there, DS had fallen asleep in his stroller. Bummer, we wanted him to see and hear them! We had our photos snapped in front of them and then continued wandering.

 

 

 

 

[Sunkissed Mommy]

 

Everyone, except for me, ordered a clam chowder in a bread bowl. I don't "do" seafood, so I went with tomato soup with asiago croutons. Mine was delicious, everyone else in the group said theirs were yummy as well. Last time I was in San Fran I ate at the main location a littler further down on the waterfront. My dad said he always ate at the small one on the pier. We went for it out of convenience.

 

 

After our soups we wandered in and out of the shops on the pier. Some of my photos from this time are missing because my dad took them on his phone and we haven't swapped pictures yet.

 

Here's a nice one of the carousel.

 

 

At this point we parted ways. DH and I headed off for Alcatraz boats. my dad, his wife, and my son stayed on the pier. My dad took DS on the carousel and then back over to the Sea Lions. He taught him how to bark like them and for the rest of the cruise my son would imitate them, lol.

[Sunkissed Mommy]

 

The roof of each ferry is covered in Solar Panels! Downstairs there are TV screens explaining how they derive their power from alternative sources. It even shows the percentage of power coming from each source at a given time.

 

 

Sailing by our ship as we headed off to Alcatraz. The Alcatraz pier and the one in which the Jewel docked were right next to each other. We had chosen the earlier night tour, it began at 5:55pm. I am glad we did because this gave us additional time after to explore the island and attend the "extra" tours.

 

 

I have A LOT of photos from the Alcatraz night tour. So before I begin posting all of them I want to talk about the night tour.

 

I had been to Alcatraz 22 years ago when I was a kid. It was very cool then, as it is now! DH has never been to Alcatraz (nor the state of California for that matter). Some people have said that they would rather go to Alcatraz in the day for their first trip. So I was a bit hesitant. Was DH going to miss out on something by going at night? I am always second guessing my choices when it comes to vacations because I want everything to be memorable, perfect, and worth it! DH actually got on me about this during this trip. I kept asking "Did you like it?" after everything we did. He told me to calm down and just enjoy myself. Not everything turns out the way you want.

 

Well I can assure you, making your first Alcatraz trip a night tour is totally worth it. I am so glad I booked it. When you arrive it is still daylight, so you can see the outside of the buildings with sunlight. We had some great opportunities while there. When we got back home from the trip DH said the the Alcatraz tour was his favorite part of our entire vacation.

 

 

A guide, National Park ranger,walked with us from the bottom, all the way up (I think he said it's equivalent to 13 flights of stairs). He would pause along the way talking about history and other facts of the island. This gave everyone the chance to catch their breath and still have energy for the self guided/headphone tour inside.

 

Once we arrived at the cellhouse we were directed to a line that wraps around the showers/receiving area for new inmates. At the end of this line you were given headphones in your preferred language.

 

[Sunkissed Mommy]

At this point the tour is mostly self-guided with your headphones. You can pause if you want to take more time to explore an area. The cellhouse was actually pretty crowded and there were moments where it was hard to see something being discussed because of the crowd. As the evening went on it got better as people headed back off the island.

 

 

 

 

 

[Sunkissed Mommy]

Once our headphone tour ended we had the opportunity to see the hospital. They don't always open it to the public, but on this evening it was. We headed up there to check it out. Medical equipment from those days was so different. The wheelchair creeped my husband out, so I took a picture and told him I would use it as torture if he ever crossed the line with me, haha.

 

We also saw "Birdman's" cell/ hospital room. They kept him up there because he was so bad!

 

 

 

 

 

[Sunkissed Mommy]

After the Hospital, we opted for two of the bonus tours. First up was the "Behind the scenes" tour. We weren't sure what this meant, but it sounded interesting. We were warned that you must have stable footing to go on this tour. Our guide was fantastic. He really knew a lot about the history and details of Alcatraz. I wish I could remember his name!

 

He took us in to Corridor A, which is locked during normal "business hours." Within this area there is a stairwell that goes DOWN. It leads to the underground area of Alcatraz. Many many moons ago there was a Citadel on the island and that building was incorporated in to the construction of the prison.

 

We got to go under the main prison to see the old construction, corridors, rooms, etc. It was fascinating. I don't want to give away too much just in case someone has the chance to go on the tour.We had to wear hardhats because the area is old and there are low ceilings.

 

 

 

 

I am going to sign off for now. I need to cook dinner and take care of my family. I should be back with more Alcatraz photos and information tomorrow :)

Edited October 19, 2015 by smileyperry

[Sunkissed Mommy]

I am hoping at least a few people are still following along. I feel like crickets are chirping in my review, hah.

 

So after the underground tour we selected a second tour about the 1962 Escape. We had another guide provide a detailed synopsis of what they know about the circumstances. We walked with him to different locations where they supposedly snuck out (no not the part inside the wall). We slowly made our way down the sloping paths toward the last boat of the evening. This is where I got some of the best night shots of Alcatraz!

 

 

 

 

[Sunkissed Mommy]

 

 

[niksmom630]

I'm following along and am really enjoying the review so far! Keep it coming!

 

I think we were on the same sailing a few years ago--maybe it was Liberty in November of 2012? Since then I have enjoyed many of your "post baby" adventures at sea :)

[Sunkissed Mommy]

I'm following along and am really enjoying the review so far! Keep it coming!

 

I think we were on the same sailing a few years ago--maybe it was Liberty in November of 2012? Since then I have enjoyed many of your "post baby" adventures at sea :)

 

 

Phew, I was hoping I wasn't typing this up for nothing. I know it's long and some people don;t enjoy drawn out reviews. I like them because of the details. I have learned so much from others that I like to give back.

 

 

Yes yes, we did sail on the Liberty with you! I remember your CC name. I was almost 6 months pregnant on that cruise. Time flies!

[Sunkissed Mommy]

We got back to the ship around 10pm and headed straight for the room. DS was asleep in my dad's room and thankfully we were able to pick him up, change him, and put him to sleep in his mini bed without an issue. Thats the benefit of the connecting door.

 

We woke up, ate breakfast, and headed off the ship by 9am. Our plan for the day was to use the HOHO Bus to see all the popular things in San Fran. I bought the tickets directly through Big Bus, they were the same company that offered them through Royal Caribbean. It was a few dollars cheaper on our own. This was my first mistake. Let me explain...

 

Last time I was in San Francisco was 2009, with a friend. We were there for a teaching conference. We bought HOHO tickets and used the bus to get around and see everything after the conference had ended. It worked out perfectly, so I assumed it would work the same way this time. I could not remember the company I bought them from last time, but it was NOT Big Bus. I would highly recommend choosing another company. Big Bus stops at some weird, random, useless locations in my opinion. It doesn't stop at Alamo Square, but a block away down a hill. It stops at the "wrong" side of the Golden gate Bridge. What do I mean? I mean it stops on the North side where the angle is so sharp that it's near impossible to get a good shot.

 

Here is my photo from 2009 (I am on the left, my friend on the right). We stopped at the South side of the bridge. Great angle. Nice displays & signs explaining the bridge. A store. Just all around better location. The bus from 2009 stopped on both sides.

 

 

Here is the BEST shot I could get on this recent trip. While beautiful, the bridge is barely visible.

 

 

Lets not forget to mention the incredibly rude people we encountered. No where else on this day did we have rudeness around us except for here. I was trying to get a family shot. No one wanted to take our picture, not sure why, but I suspect many of the people didn't understand me. I heard a lot of foreign languages. The best family shot I could get was this:

 

 

Why am I disappointed? The guy who is blocking the bridge spoke English. Two seconds before I had asked if he would take our picture and he said no! He knew we were taking our picture and still leaned out to take his!

 

Alright I am done with my negative ranting. I am going to make dinner and hopefully be back with more photos from our touring around the city.

[AlohaBoundHK]

Great review and awesome pics...thanks!