Jewel 2/28/16 Review

[murphy4]

This is my first review, please excuse any typos or fragmented sentences! I just wrote notes in my phone everyday and pretty much copied them to my review! The trip was just myself (51) and DH (49). We are not into the nightclubs so I can’t offer any insight to them!

 

 

 

Day 1 San Juan-Friday

 

Early flight out of Philly, Landed in San Juan at 12:30. Took a taxi to our hotel. Holy high class!!! The room wasn't ready so the front desk held our luggage and gave us a pager to let us know when it would be ready. We ate lunch outside near the pool and then went exploring. Of course we found a homeless person WITH a dog in front of a Walgreens. Off we go into Walgreens to buy dog food and treats! I gave the man the bag of dog stuff and $5 for him and had to gave the puppy lots of love. So cute! He looked like a dachshund German shepherd dog!

 

By the time we got back our room was ready. The hallway door looks over the courtyard/pool area and the sliding door in the room looks out over the ocean. Even with the door shut we can hear the waves hit the beach. We puttered around the room and then decided to take a "short" nap. Two hours later we woke up! By then it was 6pm(we are an hour ahead of PA). We got in our bathing suits and went down to the pool. It was heavenly. The pool was like bath water. We hung out there just talking and enjoying the ambiance. When we got out we realized we had been in the pool for two hours!!! By then it was 9pm our time. Dinner?? We got dressed and did more exploring. We walked for about an hour and a half and wound up getting flatbread pizza. I had sorbet. After dinner it was back to Walgreens for some fruit! The sights on the Street were fun. This must be the big street for clubs and parties. Our hotel lobby had a band and packed bar!

 

Day 2- San Juan- Saturday

We slept late and relaxed in the room. We finally left at around 11:45 AM and walked across the street to have breakfast at Angel Café. Very good breakfast and reasonably priced.

 

We got in our bathing suits and went for a nice long walk on the beach. We went in the ocean for about an hour maybe more, the water was beautiful and the waves were fun. We then went in the infinity pool for another couple hours. Ray went to work out I explored and then I laid on the lounger and read my book.

 

After Ray worked out we went to dinner. Then walked the other way on the main strip. Tons of places to eat and lots of people walking. Stopped at Walgreens to get fruit and water then back to the hotel to watch some tv.

 

Day 1-Sunday/San Juan/cruise

 

Slept in and went to breakfast at Angel cafe. After breakfast we checked out of our room and spent the day on the beach and in the pools. 3:30 we went to the locker rooms and showered. Then we walked over to Ben & Jerrys for our sorbet.

We got the taxi and arrived at the ship at 5:00. NO lines :)

Cabin is very nice, the ship is beautiful. We had dinner in the dining room, explored and then back to the cabin to watch movies. Ship left at 8:30pm. We couldn't go on deck during sail away as it was pouring

 

 

 

 

 

Day 2-Monday

St Thomas

Breakfast In The windjammer and then caught a cab to Coral World for snuba with VISnuba

Snuba was amazing. I did have a slight panick attack but "Tammy" the guide helped me through it. Loved snuba!!!

Back to the port to go thru the HD store-Ray bought a pin. We got back on board and had a bite to eat. Dinner at Portofino tonight!

 

Portofino was a bit of a disappointment. We really did not care for the food.

 

 

Day 3-Tuesday

St Maarten

 

First off I have to say that the original port for this day was St. Kitts. 7 days before the trip we got an email saying that we were going to St Maarten instead. Frantic last minute attempts to book an excursion and we found Captain Bob!! We got off the ship at 9:15 and walked to the marina to meet with Captain Bob. We were on a double engine boat with 11 other people. Our captain was ken. We left the marina and went past the cruise ships out into the ocean. What a ride!!! Huge waves. We rode for about 30 minutes to our first snorkel spot. Tintamarre Island. Snorkeled there for 40 minutes, saw fish, stingray and sea turtles. Back on the boat to Pinel Island. It's right across from orient beach. We didn't snorkel there, we chose to just hang out in the ocean. After that it was back on the boat to head to our lunch spot. Our captain made some detours to show us some cool hotels and nice beaches. We also saw Dolphins.

For the lunch spot Ken backed the boat pretty close to the beach and we had to jump in the water to get to the beach. Lunch was Mahi Mahi and rice. OMG wonderful!!! Ray and I split a Guavaberry drink. Really good but strong!!

 

After lunch we continued to our last snorkel spot. I didn't snorkel, I chose to lay on the boat and relax. 30 minutes later everyone was back on the boat to head to the marina.

 

We saw some really beautiful houses along the water on the way back. We stopped at Maho beach and saw some small planes come in. We did see some big planes take off and wow!! The jet engines were so strong. Then it was back to the marina to get on the jewel! We arrived at the marina and walked back to the jewel for all aboard at 4:30.

 

Tomorrow at sea day!

 

 

Day 4-Wednesday

 

At sea day today. Started off right by sleeping til 9:30! Ray worked out, I shopped and read... A lot!

 

After dinner we played phase 10. The off to bed to get up early for Aruba..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 5- Aruba-Thursday

Aruba

We rented a car from Royal car rental, excellent and easy to deal with. First off we drove to Baby Beach. Stunning beach!!! The water was almost Neon blue. We also stopped at Rodgers Beach to watch the kit surfers. We left Baby Beach and drove back thru town to the California Lighthouse, Eagle Beach and Palm Beach. It is the total opposite end of the island. We went past the low hotel section and the high rise section to get there, the view was beautiful. The landscape is so varied. Cactus and hills and then the ocean. We drove back down the main road and pulled over to snorkel. TONS of fish. Schools of fish in all sizes. Quite a few starfish too. We snorkeled for over an hour and then got changed to head back to the ship. When we went to return the car we found out that we could not do so until 4pm as that is when I told them we would be back. We walked around for a little while and then decided to get lunch, a drink and free wifi at the mojito bar/restaurant. Good lunch and strong drinks. After the meal was over the waitress came by and gave us two Jell-O shots!

 

Once back on board we got showered for Chops. Pretty good meal. After dinner we played a game of phase 10.

 

Curaçao tomorrow!

 

Day 6-Friday

 

Curaçao

 

We got off the ship and looke for the person holding the Resorts for a Day sign, she directed us to a mall shuttle bus with ac. It was a 45 minute ride to Santa Barbara Beach Resort. The first thing we did when we got there was eat and then explore. The resort was stunning. Two huge pools, one with a fountain and chairs on a ledge in the pool. The beach area was along the side of the resort, on the inlet to the marina. Small beach with no waves but very pretty. The front of the resort faced the ocean.

 

Ray hung in the pool and I got us drinks. The Santa Barbara sunset was delicious!! I took a nap on one of the chairs in the pool while Ray swam. We had lunch at 1:00. Fish tacos for Ray (he said they were the best he had ever had). And fish salad for me (totally yummy). The Mahi Mahi in the taco’s and salad was so fresh! Bartender Raygene was great!

 

After lunch we went to the Lobby to use the free wifi until it was time to catch the bus back to the ship.

 

At the pier we walked around and explored for 30 minutes. It was extremely hot. The port shopping area has lots of shade and we saw an infinity pool and small beach that people were using. I am not sure if there was a charge for that area.

 

Back on board, time to get ready for formal night. Prime rib for me and 2 lobster tails for Ray. After dinner another game of Phase 10 and then headed to the 9:00 Headliner show. The show was billed two comedians Alfred & Seymour. These guys were funny! It was a dance/improve/comedy gig.

 

Tomorrow last at sea day.

 

 

Day 7-Saturday

 

At sea

 

 

Review

Our Cabin location was great. Close to everything and extremely quiet (except the morning we returned to San Juan, the ramp to take off the luggage was right below us) . Cabin Stewart Jorge was great.

We loved the size of the ship, after sailing only Oasis class it was nice to be able to get places quickly. The Jewel is a beautiful ship. The Solarium was very pretty, although we did miss the freshwater pool that we were used to from Oasis. The gym is extremely well maintained and a pleasure to use.

 

Not much to do at night unless you wanted to drink or dance. There was a show every night in the Coral Theater. Most of the shows where Broadway type singing and dancing. One night there was an Adult Comedy Show at 10:30. Definitely not the funniest comedian we have seen on ships. The Headliner night 6 Alfred and Seymour was a great show!

 

The crew on board was very accommodating. I had read reviews about the crew being "too social with each other". I think it was nice to see the crew actually interacting with each other and being friendly. These crew members work very hard to make the guests vacations as good as can be. I know that the crew of the Jewel made my vacation aboard a wonderful experience.

 

 

 

Day 8-debarkation

 

Flight home at 4:15..

Up and out of the cabin at 7:30 to eat in the dining room.

 

We planned on returning to La Concha for the day to enjoy the pools and beach. At breakfast we heard that there was an 80% chance of rain. We hung out on the ship for about an hour and then decided to go to Old San Juan. When we got off the ship of course there were about 100 people waiting to get through customs. A porter approached us to ask if we wanted help. Sure! He loaded up our stuff, proceded to take us around the long line and we only had 4 people in front of us. Walked off the ship, bypassed the lines and were in a taxi in 10 minutes ($10 tip) We took a taxi $14 to the Barrachina restaurant to have them hold our luggage for the day. (Tipped the person $10). The hotel is supposed to have wifi, unfortunately the phones were down. We decided to talk a walk. We were there on a day they had two festivals going on. One was the circus festival, many streets were closed for that, the other was a HUGE dog event. There were at least 400 dogs at the park (very ironic as I am heavily involved in dog rescue!). We enjoyed walking the streets and had lunch in a cafe that had wifi. When it was time to go to the airport we were told that it was almost impossible to have a taxi pick us up. We grabbed our luggage and started walking to the pier to get a cab. Luckily it was downhill!!! We walked about 10 blocks before we got to the pier in Old San Juan. We did get a taxi there and off to the airport! Taxi fare was $24. At the airport the security line for terminal B was about 300 people long! The line to check bags was about 50 people long. Allow a full 2 hours before the flight!! When we walked into the terminal a porter came up to us to ask if we would like "express service" for a monetary tip. Sure!! He took our bags and put them thru a pre check scanner. Then we went to the ticket kiosk. He entered all our info, I paid for the luggage and we went to the front of the line. He asked if we minded walking to bypass the security check near us. Of course not! He lead us down to terminal A checkpoint which only had about 20 people in line. ($20 tip...worth every cent!) We got thru that line in 15 minutes. From the time we walked in the airport until we checked luggage and got thru security was 20 minutes total!

 

WONDERFUL WONDERFUL TRIP

 

 

I will attempt to post pictures (never posted pictures to CC before) if anyone is interested and will happily answer questions

[davekathy]

Thanks for sharing your Cruise. We sailed on the Jewel September 2015. The Jewel was our first Radiance class ship and really liked it. We are doing a B2B Cruise on the Jewel April 2017.

[sara mom]

Thanks so much for your review! I loved the info about what you did at the ports. Sorry your St Kitts day was changed but you made the best if it! We leave in less than 3 weeks.

[kevink]

Hi,

Did they say why you were re-routed to St. Maarten instead of St. Kitts? We are on Jewel for your itinerary in a few weeks, and I really hope we're still going to St. Kitts. We've been looking forward to St. Kitts because it would be a new island for us.

 

-- Kevin

[riclop]

Thanks for the review.

[Keith1010]

Excellent review.

 

Thanks for taking the time to write this.

 

Keith

[KirkNC]

Thanks for your review.

[cruiseapril]

Great review. Enjoyed your port reviews- especially of Aruba and Curacao.

[murphy4]

Hi,

Did they say why you were re-routed to St. Maarten instead of St. Kitts? We are on Jewel for your itinerary in a few weeks, and I really hope we're still going to St. Kitts. We've been looking forward to St. Kitts because it would be a new island for us.

 

-- Kevin

 

no one was able to tell us why the Jewel did not call on St. Kitts. The Adventurer did go to St Kitts that week. :confused:

[CanadaRob]

no one was able to tell us why the Jewel did not call on St. Kitts. The Adventurer did go to St Kitts that week. :confused:

Meet and mingle either Dennis or Enzo indicated a Celebrity ship needed the berth at St Kitts(I guess more than us on the Jewel did)

[OntarioTraveller]

Nice review.

We are on this ship (different itinery) next February. We have stayed at La Concha before for the night pre-cruise. It is amazing but pricey. You mentioned that you were thinking of spending time there before your flight out (I think that is what you meant). Will they let you come and use the pools and beach chairs for a day that you aren't staying? Did you ask ahead? Pay for a day pass? Thanks!!