Jewel 3/13/16 Mexican Riviera Review (this time with mom)

[CoffeeGoddess]

DAY THREE - CABO SAN LUCAS

 

I had remembered to put the Room Service tag outside the door this time and we got a knock at 8am as we were just getting up with our coffee.

 

 

This was actually the only time I remembered so we wound up calling each morning except the last and they were always there within 10 minutes. By the time mom finished getting ready it was too late to go up to Moderno so we headed for the buffet. That was fine since they had the smoked salmon and fruit my mom wanted and I was able to get my eggs overeasy and bacon.

 

 

Mom had decided yesterday not to try the tenders since she wasn't sure about climbing back up the stairs or getting onto the tender so I was going out by myself. She spent most of the day in the spa and checking out the demonstrations and events they had on board. After breakfast we headed down to the atrium to get a drink from "our" waiter. Mom had sat in the atrium while I was in line for Guest Services the first day and got drinks from him for us. After that, he always came up to us when he saw we were there and asked about mom or me if we were alone.

 

Mom got a bloody Mary and I tried a Mr. Worldwide. It was actually pretty good.

 

 

Then we headed out to the promenade deck to watch as we pulled into Cabo.

 

 

Edited March 27, 2016 by CoffeeGoddess

[candigirl41]

Really enjoying your review. I also have mobility issues, so this is helping me quite a bit. How did you get VIP status? I am just curious. I am thinking of getting a wheelchair for embarkation and disembarkation. I might bring my walker instead. Not sure about it. Were you able to find a place to put your walker in your cabin?

 

Thanks

 

Candi

[CoffeeGoddess]

Really enjoying your review. I also have mobility issues, so this is helping me quite a bit. How did you get VIP status? I am just curious. I am thinking of getting a wheelchair for embarkation and disembarkation. I might bring my walker instead. Not sure about it. Were you able to find a place to put your walker in your cabin?

 

Thanks

 

Candi

 

With the sideways cabin we had plenty of room and just tucked the walker at the end of my bed right by our table. My mom can walk fairly well with her cane but since the ramps to the ship can be a little steep, I did the wheelchair for her. She agreed she would have had a lot of difficulty walking up and down the ramps so it worked out well for us.

 

For debarkation they had you wait in the Fizz Lounge and sign in with Jenmark who then called out your room number as the wheelchairs became available. There were quite a few people there so it can take a little time if you aren't there early to get off. However, they do wheel you right up to a special line at customs so you aren't stuck waiting in the longer line so that does help a bit.

 

As for the VIP status, I can't be sure but it was probably because I set up the M&G. Some people have said they do get perks for this but it really depends on the ship and I didn't get any special treatment the last time I set one up so who really knows? I just set it up because it is something I enjoy doing not because I'm expecting anything.

[CoffeeGoddess]

DAY THREE - CONTINUED

 

Since we had some time before I needed to be down at Maltings for the VIP tender, we headed over to the photo shop to see the pictures we took last night. Mom liked two of them, one with the two of us and one of me, so I bought them for her. They were having a special if you buy a photo you get a copy of it free and I had a discount since I was silver (now gold with this cruise). The odd thing was that they would not do anything less than a 8x10 for the original pictures. They said that was all they had available for portraits but they would give me the copies as 5x7.

 

Here's both of us together:

 

I then headed down for the tender and they took us through the back of house down the stairs for the tender. They totally packed that thing full for the first load, there was even a couple sitting in the elevated seats you needed to climb a little ladder for. On the way my seatmate, Cortney, told me this was her first cruise and she was with her grandparents and that her grandmother was in a wheelchair so they weren't planning to get off on any ports. We wound up hanging out together the whole day and having many drinks and a great time.

 

When we got off the tender and started around the dock area there were plenty of people trying to get us to take tours with them; some quite obnoxiously. We had one goal though and that was free wifi and a drink which we found at Karlito's Cantina.

 

The view from our table.

 

Margarita

 

The waiters

 

Cortney tried to order a michelada but got this instead which she was sure had worcestershire sauce in it. She asked the waiter what was in it and he said "good stuff". She did get another one that only had what she wanted in it.

 

I asked about a water taxi to the beach and they had a guy right there who would get us one. I believe it was $7 each but I may have been mistaken because I had a few drinks by that time. We got the water taxi and were dropped off by the huge spring break party time. We went up to the little beach shack by there and had some lunch and a couple of beers.

 

In the water taxi.

Edited March 27, 2016 by CoffeeGoddess

[CoffeeGoddess]

DAY THREE - CONTINUED

 

The sushi was really good at this place and it was amusing to watch the mass of college humanity next door for a little while.

 

 

 

Since they didn't have wifif we went for a walk along the beach heading back towards the marina. There was a place that had orange umbrellas and looked inviting so we headed there. It turned out to be the Hacienda residences and beach club and they weren't allowing people who weren't guest into the pool but would let us up to the bar. It was beautiful bar and they made some really good drinks. We stayed there for a little bit and talked briefly with a couple from Canada who stayed there over the winter weeks at a time. Life goals, eh?

 

 

 

 

Before we headed out I asked the bartender for a recommendation on tequila for shots and he poured a smooth one. They did take credit cards and I spent $80 there on drinks and tip. It was well worth it.

 

[CoffeeGoddess]

DAY THREE - CONTINUED

 

Feeling no pain at this point, Cortney and I decided to head back and make sure we got on a tender so as not to miss the ship. She had her bikini on so that she could get sun as we walked and everyone tried to get her into their shop or restaurant. She bought bracelets for us from a vendor with me chipping in my last $5 and it was a fun walk back. We saw our starting point so stopped back in for another shot, wifi, and to say "hi" to the waiters.

 

 

Yes, it's a little blurry but so were we at this point.

 

We then stopped at the black and white store Cortney wanted to visit and got some souvenirs. We headed back to the tender and met more drunken people and we all had a good time.

 

I met mom in the room and told her about our good time and we went down to Chin Chin's for dinner. I had the orange beef which was really good and mom had the salt and pepper calamari which was also really good.

 

 

 

Mom got the Wasabi Cocktail again any time we were in there. She loved that thing.

 

After dinner mom and I went off to the spa and then to bed.

[candigirl41]

Do you have any contact information for setting up the meet and greet. I would like to arrange this as my travelling companion is paying for me to go and I would like to do something nice for him. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks again for the great info.

 

Candi

[CoffeeGoddess]

DAY FOUR - MAZATLAN

 

Amazingly I was feeling ok after yesterday and we got up at 8am, ordered coffee and went up for breakfast in the buffet. I saw Cortney and we swapped names to find each other on FB. Today Mom was getting off the ship and I planned to take a pulmonia to the square, then over to the church, and then drop mom back off for some shopping while I went to Stone Island. It kind of worked out that way.

 

We got on the tram to the port shopping area and immediately got a pulmonia for $8 to the square just outside the gate. I was able to fold mom's walker up and put it in the back and the ride was nice. When we reached the square, I tried to pay the driver with a $20 but he wouldn't take a larger bill. Thankfully mom had smaller bills and we paid and went to find drinks and wifi. This "smaller bills" thing seemed to be a big deal since when we got back to the port another guy in pulmonia behind us asked us if we had change for twenty since his driver also wouldn't take it.

 

 

 

The blue shirted helpers pointed us to the cathedral from the square and while it really wasn't that far of a walk, mom just couldn't do it even with several rests on the benches. Since she was wiped out, I just waved down another pulmonia and we went back to the port for $5. I got mom back to the ship and then went back out to get a water taxi to Stone Island.

 

It wasn't too far of walk heading right as I got out of the port and then up a dirt road. It was cheap for a round trip at about 30 pesos for a round trip. The water taxi was down a ramp to the dock and then you had to get into it from the dock. Definitely not for someone with walking issues.

 

Dirt road and dock with taxis. That orange building is where you pay and the docks are behind.

 

 

 

Heading to the Stone Island dock.

Edited March 27, 2016 by CoffeeGoddess

[CoffeeGoddess]

DAY FOUR - CONTINUED

 

Stone Island was not all that hopping. I walked for a little bit and stopped at one place where a lot of people where hanging but continued on and finally stopped at Lety's. I had a cheese quesadilla and a margarita there and bargained with seller for a bracelet. He had exactly the same stuff that everyone else was selling and that they were selling in Cabo.

 

I have to say the beach was not all that great. The sand was dark and the water wasn't very clear. Most of the beach shacks were empty along the beach. Also, I wound up with a rash on my feet and lower legs here that I wasn't sure came from the sand or the water.

 

 

 

 

 

I took the water taxi back and headed for the ship. I have to say that this place may get a bad rap but I didn't feel unsafe at all walking. This was really the scariest thing I saw there:

 

It was prime rib night in O' Sheehan's so mom wanted to have dinner there. We got there a little early and they woudn't start serving the prim rib until 5:30 so I had some wings and a pot pie and she ordered her prime rib as soon as she could. This was the only time when we didn't get stellar service. The waiter was a little slow and we had to flag him down a few times but it was also pretty packed in there so maybe that was the issue.

 

 

Mom enjoyed her prime rib and wound up taking some of it back to the room (and not eating it) for later. She finally told me to not let her take anything back from then on since she never ate the rest. Also, every night we had some kind of snack sent to our room from one of the officers which my mom thought was THE BEST THING EVER.

 

We ended the day in the spa again and then on to bed.

[CoffeeGoddess]

DAY FIVE - Puerto Vallarta

 

After not being able to do much yesterday, mom decided that she would only get off at the port area to do some shopping today and then go back to the ship. So we had our coffee and breakfast and I headed out to grab the bus to the Malecon to check out the sculptures. The bus stop was right outside the port road and it didn't take long for the bus I needed to come along. A helpful worker tidying up the stop told me which one to grab and that it was 7.5 pesos a person. The bus certainly had it's drivers style with a flaming playboy bunny head on the front and Jesus and Mary statues above his head.

 

 

I knew the stop I wanted was right before or after a park and as we drove by it the police were making many arrests. I got off at the next stop and headed for the ocean with a stop at Starbucks for some wifi and a drink. I really enjoyed walking along the Malecon and the sculptures. These are just some of the ones I took pictures of and that were there.

 

 

 

 

I stopped for wifi and lunch at a 2nd floor burger place and had some fish tacos and beer.

 

 

I then did some shopping and picked a few t-shirts for souvenirs checking out this interesting shop.

 

[CoffeeGoddess]

DAY FIVE - CONTINUED

 

There was also this little courtyard off the walk that had souvenir stands all around and this little bar in the middle. I had an urge to pull up a chair there and have a few beers but wanted to walk back along the beach and I knew that would be a haul so headed out.

 

 

 

At first walking along the beach was pretty nice. But soon it got really hot and muggy and the beach broke for a bit with a really rocky place that I needed to put my shoes back on. I said, "bugger this for lark" and went up the next access way and got a taxi back to the port.

 

I figured I'd stop and get another drink at the little port restaurant since they had free wifi and I did. Since it was St. Patrick's Day all the servers were wearing green hats and they might have even stiffened the drinks a bit because that one margarita packed a punch!

 

 

While I was sitting there I saw the shop right outside unfurl this tapestry that had peacocks on it and I knew I needed to get it. Once I finished my holy-cow-that's-strong drink I did. And a key holder that made me laugh. Then I staggered back to the ship and foolishly stopped at the silver place there. After a little bargaining I was the owner of two silver bracelets which I probably paid more than they were worth. Damnable tequila!

 

 

I found mom in the atrium with her favorite server and then we went out on deck with a couple of drinks to watch the ship sail away. Don't let the dreary skies fool you, it was beautiful for most of the day.

 

 

 

This night we went up to the buffet for dinner and then I went to the spa and took a walk around the ship before turning in.

[CoffeeGoddess]

DAY SIX - SEA DAY

 

Today we started off by sleeping in and then getting the usual room service coffee and breakfast at the buffet. Cortney told me her zipline tour had been cut short when the police showed up and were doing a cartel bust in the area. The tour provider gave everyone 1/2 their money back but that must have been a heart stopper there for a little bit.

 

For today mom and I had nothing planned except for dinner at Cagney's. So she did her mom things and I took a tour around the ship and read my book in the spa for a relaxing day. In the evening we got ready and went up to the Sugarcane bar in Modernos for pre-dinner drinks before our reservation.

 

 

Mom had two mojitos and was feeling fine when we went in for dinner. They sat us by the window in a half both and I had this looking at me the whole time.

 

 

We ordered and mom wanted to try the whole lobster but the waiter suggested the tail and the shrimp since he said that sometimes the quality of the whole lobster didn't turn out to be the greatest. That's what mom ordered along with the potato soup. I did the shrimp cocktail, short rib confit and the 5oz filet.

 

 

 

 

Edited March 28, 2016 by CoffeeGoddess

[CoffeeGoddess]

DAY SIX - CONTINUED

 

Mom tucked right into her entree so I didn't get a picture of it. She had coleslaw as the side and it very sweet and even had raisins in it which neither of us liked. I had the truffle fries which were alright, and then she had the raspberry creme brulee and I had the apple crumble for dessert.

 

 

 

After dinner mom was feeling tired so I tucked her in and went around the ship again. We had a nice surprise in the room of priority tags for disembarkment. We used those even though we weren't in too much of hurry to get off because I knew they would be waiting for us when we did.

 

Edited March 28, 2016 by CoffeeGoddess

[CoffeeGoddess]

DAY SEVEN - SEA DAY

 

Having no particular place to go again today we got up late and hit the buffet. Today though it was pretty chilly out with the wind whipping around and the buffet was packed. I took mom over to La Cucina where there were plenty of seats available.

 

 

I had bought one of the timed internet packages and was just using it here and there because I knew I needed to have some minutes to check mom in for her flight and also for my app to check in. Today, they had a special on 30 and 60 minutes of internet so I added 60 to my account and it wound up working out well. We had discussed how best to get back to the airport and I had spent several frustrating minutes on my phone trying to book Supershuttle but it didn't work out. So we chose to do the NCL shuttle. Well, when I went down to guest services to buy it they told me yesterday was the last day for that. Well, poop. Thankfully I was able to book Supershuttle easily on the website using the internet cafe computers when I went to check mom in.

 

Mom wanted to see the sushi roll demonstration and then we went up to Chin Chins for the Noodle Bar for lunch. Mom had two of the Wasbi Cocktails while we were there.

 

 

 

 

Singapore Noodles (mom had the shrimp fried rice but I didn't get a good picture)

 

Five Spice Chocolate Cake

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Mom decided to do the spa special of a massage and went off for that while I just spent time in the spa.

Edited March 28, 2016 by CoffeeGoddess

[CoffeeGoddess]

DAY SEVEN - CONTINUED

 

Mom enjoyed her massage and when we came back to the room I got a picture of her with all the towel animals, except for the monkey that was hanging from the ceiling. She loved those things so much she bought the DVD for how to create them.

 

 

Mom had heard about the win a free cruise thing so went up to the bingo to buy one of the pull tabs. The person selling the things and mom must of had a miscommunication because by the time I came back mom had bingo cards. She thought about turning them back in because they were $40 but decided to play them. No, we didn't win anything but that's why it's called gambling.

 

Mom went to the show that night and I decided to go to the spa and then wander around the ship since the spa closed early that night. As you can see by my picture below you can indeed bring drinks into the spa.

 

 

I was hanging out in Fizz having a drink and listening to the band when the show got out and mom came over for a glass of wine. It was a nice way to end the last night of our cruise.

 

 

[CoffeeGoddess]

DEBARKATION

 

We set the wake up call for 7:00 and started getting ready when it went off. Since I figured that the elevators would be starting to get full due to people going for early walk-off we had breakfast in O' Sheehans. Mom had the quick breakfast and I had the corned beef hash. We had a leisurely breakfast and bid farewell to Ken and Evelyn who were also eating there but doing walk-off.

 

 

We went to the Fizz Lounge were the people needing wheelchair assistance were to go and I dropped mom off there and took her rented walker back to the room where the company would pick it up. It was pretty full in the lounge and getting fuller. Jenmark was coordinating it and told us just to let us know when we were ready to get off and he'd get us the next chair. He was taking people's room numbers and then calling them out as chairs became available.

 

 

At about 9am I figured it would be good to get going to make sure we were ready for the shuttle and Jenmark set us up with the next wheelchair. The guy took us off the ship and right to the port building but we had to wait for another person to take us through customs. We got a very chatty and friendly older guy who took us through the separate line to customs which had only a few other people in it. Then I grabbed the luggage and he even took us out to the shuttle area to await the shuttle. He was telling us that one of the people he took down once waited until right after customs then just jumped out of the wheelchair, grabbed their luggage and took off out of the terminal. He figured they just wanted to bypass the line. Once again the port people were great.

 

Our shuttle driver took us to the terminal for mom's flight and even went inside and got someone to come out with a wheelchair for her. I said goodbye and then walked back to my terminal. My flight came on time and I was back in Las Vegas and in my house by 3:00. Boy was I tired.

 

I have some more pictures here from around the ship and I'll post them in no particular order. I also want to post the link here for a great ship walk-through of the Jewel done by Sheebah

 

Bridge Viewing Area:

 

 

 

[CoffeeGoddess]

Women's side of the Spa:

 

Open showers with enclosed "therapy" showers behind.

 

Cold plunge

 

Sauna

 

Hot tub

 

There was also a steam room but my picture didn't come out well. Talking with a couple of guys in the co-ed area it sounds like the same amenities are in the men's side of the spa.

 

I also looked to answer the question about what was available in the gym locker rooms. Here is what is in the women's locker room right off the fitness room floor:

 

Lockers and hair dryer

 

Shower and steam room

[CoffeeGoddess]

Self Explanatory

 

Atrium and bar

 

 

 

Games in the game room

 

Part of the Library

[CoffeeGoddess]

Pool deck during a sea day

 

The Chapel

 

 

Deck 14 at the front of the ship

 

Deck 14 forward looking over the pool deck

 

Deck 15 forward

[CoffeeGoddess]

Finally our room, 8090 an obstructed ocean view with the sideways layout.

 

The obstructed view:

 

You can see the bed side in post 16 but here is the other side:

 

Bathroom

 

Shower

 

Mini-fridge and closet area

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Desk area

 

After it is done uploading, I'll post the link to the Youtube video of the tour. Otherwise that's it for this review. If you are going on the Jewel anytime soon I hope you have as great a time as we did.

[clarkg]

I'm enjoying the review. Thanks for taking the time to write it. It's funny to hear you say that this was the first time on a smaller ship. When we first took the Jewel, it was one of the largest ships we had been on.

[CoffeeGoddess]

I'm enjoying the review. Thanks for taking the time to write it. It's funny to hear you say that this was the first time on a smaller ship. When we first took the Jewel, it was one of the largest ships we had been on.

 

Thanks!

[CoffeeGoddess]

 

And here's my room video. A little shaky but it turned out ok.

 

I also have a walk through of the Escape Forward Facing Penthouse on my channel.

Edited March 29, 2016 by CoffeeGoddess

[fmigali]

Again, great review! Just booked this cruise this morning for November. This will be our first time on NCL so I have what may be a weird question to you...I saw in your review that you went to Moderno for breakfast a couple of times. Is there a cover charge for breakfast?

[CoffeeGoddess]

Again, great review! Just booked this cruise this morning for November. This will be our first time on NCL so I have what may be a weird question to you...I saw in your review that you went to Moderno for breakfast a couple of times. Is there a cover charge for breakfast?

 

I hope you enjoy it! Moderno is only for breakfast and lunch if you are in a suite or, in my case, designated as a VIP for some reason.