Finding Magical Jewels on the West Coast...9/18/2015 review (16,000+ photos & videos)

[DEIx15x8]

Question for everyone. The International Crew Flag Parade is 15.5 minutes long and the special performance by the Entertainment Staff is about 3.5 minutes long. Do you think I should post them together as a single video or separately with the special performance as a bonus video. I think more may see it through watching the flag parade but if people are actually interested in seeing it specifically there far less likely to not know it exists if tagged onto the end. If it's a standalone video more people will stumble upon it, but it may not interest people into watching as much since it's a bit of a one off thing. So it seems to be a pro/con for either option. What do others think? I've already uploaded all three versions (flag parade + performance, just flag parade, and just performance) so it's not a matter of work or time, just need to know which to annotate and link out.

 

I was able to get a lot of exports and uploads (all the onboard series videos) in the last 48 hours so I decided to hold back on publishing until they were all there. It makes it easier to annotate if I can just link everything as I set them up and have the links not function until the video is live than to have to go back as each gets uploaded and add the link to every other video. I should be able to start publishing them tomorrow!

[Hoopster95]

Question for everyone. Do you think I should post them together as a single video or separately with the special performance as a bonus video.

 

I vote separate :)

[DEIx15x8]

Time for some videos, the first one published is the time-lapse arrival and departure from each port. A nice variety of ports to see and both the Lions Gate Bridge and the Golden Gate Bridge passages. The departure from San Francisco is probably my favorite. The arrival was nice as well but it was still a bit dark when we passed under the bridge but a beautiful subrise in view.

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[DutchCruiseFan]

Great pictures!

[DEIx15x8]

Here's the Jewel of the Seas in Vancouver on 9/18 starting with her arrival in the early morning hours. As I mentioned earlier I shot this from our hotel room. Since I was inside there was no sounds except what was in the room so I muted the arrival. This is her arrival and departure so you'll also get to see her pass under the Lions Gate Bridge.

 

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[The Big Booper]

Earlier in the thread you mentioned that this sailing had the highest number of Pinnacles. Did they quote a number?

[DEIx15x8]

Earlier in the thread you mentioned that this sailing had the highest number of Pinnacles. Did they quote a number?

According to the notes that i took, 3/4 of the passengers were C&A members with 51 being Pinnacle members.

 

Edit: Did some googling, not sure if they misspoke. They did say 51 was a new record for Royal Caribbean, but after digging it seems that my Quantum sailings last year broke the record at 60-70. Unfortunately during my loyalty event they only listed numbers up to Emerald so I don't have noted on the number of Pinnacle members onboard either sailing and no one seems to know for certain what the exact numbers were. Maybe they meant to say it was a ship or class record, not fleet. With 2,078 guests onboard that's a 2.5% Pinnacle number which is likely a fleet wide record percentage though.

Edited October 29, 2015 by DEIx15x8

[The Big Booper]

There were 44 P on the Nov 2014 Explorer repo from NJ to Florida; that is the highest I remember seeing. That record should be demolished when Harmony does it's TA Nov 2016.

[reallyitsmema]

According to the notes that i took, 3/4 of the passengers were C&A members with 51 being Pinnacle members.

 

Edit: Did some googling, not sure if they misspoke. They did say 51 was a new record for Royal Caribbean, but after digging it seems that my Quantum sailings last year broke the record at 60-70. Unfortunately during my loyalty event they only listed numbers up to Emerald so I don't have noted on the number of Pinnacle members onboard either sailing and no one seems to know for certain what the exact numbers were. Maybe they meant to say it was a ship or class record, not fleet. With 2,078 guests onboard that's a 2.5% Pinnacle number which is likely a fleet wide record percentage though.

 

At the Meet and Mingle, Dennis said there were 54 Pinnacles on board and 1,475 Crown and Anchor members on board. He didn't go into the full breakdown of C&A members. There were also only 20 kids on the sailing.

[DEIx15x8]

There were 44 P on the Nov 2014 Explorer repo from NJ to Florida; that is the highest I remember seeing. That record should be demolished when Harmony does it's TA Nov 2016.

 

It seems like it will be. It's attracting all the people that went on the previous Oasis TAs as well as the people that want to sail the new ships. Those are both high C&A attracting elements.

 

Here is the video for Victoria, the only ship spotting day of the cruise. As mentioned earlier the ms Amsterdam and Norwegian Pearl both arrived at 6pm just before we left and then later in the night we were sailing along side the Westerdam.

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[DEIx15x8]

Here's the Captain's Welcome Reception from 9/19. As mentioned in the previous post it was held in the Centrum and a rather efficient event that started with Dennis singing, someone of which is included in the video.

 

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[JamesEM]

Thanks for your review, photos, and videos.

[DEIx15x8]

Here is the foggy arrival and departure from Astoria. This is the one with the crazy birds starting about 26 minutes in and building. The end of the video also features that little boat in the rough seas that I showed in the photo as well as the pilot being picked up. Hope everyone enjoys it. The two videos from the sea day should be out on Monday and then on Tuesday I'll pick the review back up with San Francisco and post the videos hopefully inline with the reviews for each day of the sailing.

 

[YOUTUBE]YwyDW2_r9ak[/YOUTUBE]

[DEIx15x8]

Today’s first video is the International Crew Flag parade from our one sea day. As I mentioned in my post about the day, Captain Thore Thorolvsen even came out do do a little jig when Norway was announced.

 

[YOUTUBE]WdwsIHkwnC0[/YOUTUBE]

[DEIx15x8]

Following the crew flag parade the Entertainment Staff put on a short dance performance for all the guests. I’m not sure how often the Jewel does this or if it was truly unique to this individual set of crew, but it was not listed on the compass and added an extra dose of fun to the pool deck on our only sea day.

[YOUTUBE]XJMagwg3GR4[/YOUTUBE]

[DEIx15x8]

Jewel of the Seas: San Francisco (9/22/15)

So many beautiful photos from this day: https://goo.gl/photos/xRYadzyJVz4CanHR6

The 22nd was the big day of the sailing, our arrival into San Francisco! This was going to be an overnight and we got there for an early start to our two days. Before it was even 5:30am I was up on deck waiting in the freezing cold (not sure why waking up early to sail under a bridge always means I have to freeze, but it seems to). Ironically when my phone connected to AT&T’s network I got a notification that San Francisco Bay Area Transit had been added to Apple Maps. Talk about perfect timing!

 

From a distance the Golden Gate Bridge was surprisingly hard to spot. The city was all lit up with lines of street lights.

 

But the bridge was dark.

 

As we got closer it was possible to make out the bridge more clearly but still rather darkly. The lights on the bridge seem to shine from the roadway up at the two towers casting light on there broad surfaces that are visible from either end, but leaving the sides that are visible when entering or leaving the harbor in the shadows.

 

 

The light of the ship lit up the underside of the roadway though so we could see our passage. Unlike her twin in Lisbon, the Golden Gate Bridge seemed much quieter as we sailed under.

[DEIx15x8]

On the other side the bridge had a nice view as we sailed away.

 

Ahead of us the San Francisco-Oakland By Bridge was laid out in full lights, far more visible and exciting a sight than the Golden Gate Bridge. She really is an unappreciated step sibling that we grew to love more and more throughout our stay. At that time the sun was just starting to cast some light on the horizon.

 

 

 

The early morning sunlight allowed us to make out the silhouettes of the SF skyline as we sailed around.

 

As we went past Alcatraz we could just make out the appearance of the prison on the hill.

[DEIx15x8]

Pier 27 is the new terminal that just opened recently. The area features a triangle of land that used to have a building running down both sides. They demolished the one side to make room for the new terminal and left the other side there. While being renovated the old side started on fire causing extensive damage that needed immediate repair causing the construction of the new terminal to halt for a considerable amount of time.

 

The new terminal was a beautiful modern art piece, a vast contrast to the classic older piers.

 

 

It was a beautiful modern terminal. While I can’t judge it’s capabilities since it was only a port of call, it certainly seemed visually like it could compete with the newest terminals on the east coast.

 

To put it ahead though the location was absolutely perfect with a view of each of the main landmarks visible right from the ship.

 

 

[DEIx15x8]

As soon as we got docked we were perfectly positioned and timed to the see the sunrise over the bay bridge. I don’t think we could have been more perfectly angled or positioned for everybody on the port side to have the perfect view for our entire stay in San Francisco.

 

 

 

 

 

I don’t want to go overboard, so please check the album out for all these beautiful sunrise photos. These were all taken right from our balcony.

 

Here is the video of our arrival on the 22nd, as well as the departure on the 23rd.

[YOUTUBE]hpzp06qM6V8[/YOUTUBE]

[The Big Booper]

Thanks for all the sunrise pictures. No way am I getting up that early on a cruise.:D

[DEIx15x8]

Thanks for all the sunrise pictures. No way am I getting up that early on a cruise.

That's why you need to cruise on the west coast. You have to sleep in to see the sunrise! ;-)

 

 

Whenever I book a vacation maximizing my budget is one of the top priorities. I try to see and do as much as I possibly can while spending as little as possible, which is why my vacations are often so long. Our first day in San Francisco was a great example of doing this. I was a bit concerned about my plan, even questioning it all the way to the moment I stepped off the ship, but in the end it worked out great and I wouldn’t have changed a thing. There are tons of excursions offered to see SF including the hop on hop off bus, but they are all rather expensive and just different ways of getting around the city. The problem is we have buses at home, the real attraction in SF is the transportation itself. That’s what we wanted to see and experience so instead of doing a tour, we did the transit!

 

Once docked we had a leisurely breakfast and then took a walt to the ferry terminal to buy a one day transit passport. It cost $17 per person and gave us unlimited use of the SF transit system including the classic street cars and cable cars. They were also selling it at the cable car area as well as on the actual cable cars, but I don’t think they were offering it on the street cars or any where closer to the terminal that I could find. The ferry terminal was not to far away and it was a nice walk in the morning. The building itself besides being an iconic landmark on the water front was a rather nice market inside with some beautiful architecture.

 

 

My favorite part was the Ferry Departure board that would start cycling through every letter row by row to refresh. It reminded me a bit of the panel mural on Quantum of the Seas. It’s amazing how they used to be able to do these kinds of boards when they look so complex compared to the modern LED screens that replaced them.

 

We then hopped on a classic street car right outside the ferry terminal and rode back past the ship, past fisherman’s wharf and got off about a block from the Powerll/Hyde Cable Card Line. If you ever ride one of these be sure to look up. I didn’t notice it the first few times because the train in general was cool, but in signage/advertising along the ceiling around mid train there is usually a sign that lists the history of the individual car including where it came from originally and the pain scheme on it. It was kind of cool because the first time I noticed it we just happened to be on a train that came from Philadelphia so we came all the way out west to ride a train that used to be near our home.

 

At the end of the line for the cable card they had a stand selling tickets if you needed them. It seemed like almost everyone was buying the one day pass since it’s only $17. A 3 day pass is also available for $26, if we didn’t have plans the second day we likely would have went for that one since it’s a great value even if we only used 2/3 of it. If your visiting, not on a cruise 7 days is also available for $35. If you don’t get a pass simply getting on the cable car and off, regardless of the ride length or if your changing cars will cost $7 each time so the pass is a much better deal. Trying to think back, I believe we may have gotten on and off about 6 or 7 times so that would have cost us $42 or more. Surprisingly it seemed like nearly everyone in line that was buying the passes had already purchased a hop on hop off tour for the day.

 

We took the cable car for a short ride up the hill and hopped off at Lombard Street, the windiest road and a surprisingly popular tourist stop with the cable cars stopping directly at the top of the street making it easy to get off and back on afterwards.

[DEIx15x8]

There was also a nice view of the city from the top of Lombard Street that included the Jewel of the Seas docked down below.

 

We hopped back on a cable car and continued up the hill. Hanging off the side of these things is surprisingly fun and exciting. Who knew public transit could be as fun as an amusement park.

 

These cars are a real engineering marvel. The complexity in everything and the amount of manual work that is involved is incredible. The engineers have to constantly be taking action at various points, hitting the brake, releasing the cable, and it’s all in clear sight. It’s really rather amazing with how much is involved and people standing in he way and hanging off that they are still allowed to operate in the US. I can’t think of anything else like it that hasn’t already been shut down from a lawsuit. Even the turn table at the end of each line is a wooden disc that is rotated by the engineers physically pushing the car. It’s like a piece of history that’s frozen in time and some how still operating flawlessly.

 

Next we got off at the corner of Washington and Powell. This is the location of the Cable Car Museum, a free museum that’s open to the public to learn about the history and operations of the San Francisco Cable Car lines. What makes it really neat though is that it’s not just a random location, it’s actually the cable car barn and powerhouse building.

 

Inside they have plaques like the one above explaining every aspect of the system and how it operates while you look down upon the actual engines that are spinning the cables that are running through the streets to move the four lines. I took a ton of pictures of the place and the plaques so if your interested in learning more check out the album and if you ever get to SF be sure to visit. I’ll also have video of it and everything else I did in SF as part of theCruiseView. Out of the whole cruise, this was the most interesting thing we did and it was completely free!

 

[DEIx15x8]

After we were done watching all of the equipment, learning about how everything works, and seeing all the historical cable cars we then headed down into the basement where they have a window that lets you look under the street at the actual cables moving through the street in the intersection outside.

 

 

After that we continued riding the cable cars. We rode all four lines from start to finish to really take in the city. It was a great way to see how diverse the different areas are and get a quick sight seeing of all the main landmarks in that area. Even just with these four lines we saw so many different styles of city including chinatown and the business district. Most importantly we went up and down some huge hills. The smell of the brakes and the clamp grasping the line creates a unique smell that really added to the experience. Riding these cable cars is a unique and thrilling experience that is not like riding a bus. I could have ridden them all day long.

 

 

 

[DEIx15x8]

The last line we rode was the California line which ended about a block from the Ferry Building where we started the day.

 

We took a quick walk through there again before hopping on a street car once again to go past the ship and this time got off at Fisherman’s Wharf.

 

There were a lot of different restaurants in this area and some great views of Alcatraz Island.

 

Since we’re eating on the ship there didn’t seem to be much else of interest there. We walked back towards the ship to Pier 39. This area seemed much newer and was more focused on shopping as well as food and entertainment. It also had some beautiful views of the area.

 

The weather was still rough so it was interesting to watch some of the sight seeing boats battle with the seas as they were passing by.

 

Unfortunately while the Golden Gate Bridge was visible the fog continued to obscure it from here, just like it did from the ship.

[DEIx15x8]

We then headed back to the ship to get ready for dinner and take in some of the view from there. While the clouds and haze remained we were able to see some what of a sunset.

 

At night though the city was lit up all around us. We could even see the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance dimly lit again. The real star once again was the Bay Bridge though.

 

Hoping to get a better view of the Golden Gate Bridge we left the ship to head back to Pier 39 for another look around, and of course a chance to see our ship lit up at night. I forgot to mention it before, but if your docked in SF they run a free shuttle to Pier 39. We used the classic street cars again, but the shuttle was a nice alternative if we did’t have the pass.

 

 

Even from the farther distance though, the Bay Bridge was still the clear winner.

 

Pier 39 was not as busy at night as it was during the day, but it was likely because it was a weekday. It seemed like they had some bars and other areas that would be more crowded on weekends, and we were there until everything closed.