Jewel of the Seas Transatlantic Voyage 5/6/18....A tale of two drink packages

[troyandcarol]

We just got back from Paris after a TA on the Navigator, my favorite cruise yet! Hope yours is just as amazing!!

[CruiserMiami]

Enjoy your cruise!

We will be on the Jewel next month. Please share any tips!

[MiniChunks]

Internet has been hard to come by. Trip is amazing and I've got a lot to share. Probably not until I get back to the states

 

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[MA cruisers]

Great review so far. We are doing a Barcelona to Rome cruise (7 day) so I am excited to hear about some of your ports.

[MiniChunks]

Views from our room at Hotel Abruzzi in Rome. I can recommend this place enough! Directly across from the Pantheon

 

 

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[texmex.ferr]

Looks like you got a great hotel Dave, enjoy Rome and have a safe journey home

I’m looking forward to reading your review

 

Margaret

 

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[MiniChunks]

Thanks Margaret. I had a great time with you guys and hope you all have a safe trip home or wherever you're headed next.

 

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[Virtopia]

I can't wait to read the full review - I'm doing the TA in November on this ship back to San Juan and I want to see pictures of your day in Valencia as that is our first stop :)

 

I also want to hear about how the entertainment was. I'm in the same age bracket as you and your wife and I'm fearful there won't be much to do in the evenings. With 8 sea days in total on my sailing, I'll definitely need an active night life!

[texmex.ferr]

Thanks Margaret. I had a great time with you guys and hope you all have a safe trip home or wherever you're headed next.

 

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Thanks Dave we had a great time with you guys too, thanks for coming to play LCR too.

 

Dot dot dot

 

Margaret

 

 

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[drummerdavebmth]

Looking forward to following this review. My wife and I are on Jewel for a 9 night Greek Isles cruise in September!

[MiniChunks]

The Ship:

 

 

I mentioned in the beginning of this review that the last time we were on a Radiance Class ship was our honeymoon in 2005. Our next cruise after that wasn’t until 2013 on Liberty, so my memory of Brilliance of the Seas was a little vague but I remember loving everything about her. Not that I wasn’t fond of Liberty, but there was something about Brilliance that seemed special and I wasn’t sure if it was the fact that it was my honeymoon,or if it was the fact that the ship was that good. I’ve since been on Adventure and Freedom and still felt a draw towards the Radiance Class.

 

I’ve got to say now, that the Radiance Class is by far my favorite class of ship. From the Schooner Bar to the Windjammer, the aft views on the promenade deck and everything in between, this ship is amazing.

 

Outdoor Windjammer seating

 

 

Schooner Bar

 

 

 

Deck 5 Aft views

 

I was disappointed that we did not discover this area until we were departing Tenerife. Every night after dinner we would grab a drink and go watch the sunset from the back of the ship on deck 5. Being this close to the water with the sound of the wake churning, and the beautiful sunsets we were treated to every night, was really something special. I think you lose a bit of that by being on a higher deck, and as most of us are aware, Freedom and Voyager class don't offer anything like this.

[BillOh]

[1]

 

 

I hope you appreciate how quickly we got off the ship so you could get right on. I also didn't leave any messes for you to clean up! I'm also going to guess you wrote this off line in your word processor and then pasted in to the forum. This forum software randomly deletes (as far as I can tell) spaces between words to the OP is not a bad typist or have an intermittent space bar. Off to read!

[MiniChunks]

I hope you appreciate how quickly we got off the ship so you could get right on. I also didn't leave any messes for you to clean up! I'm also going to guess you wrote this off line in your word processor and then pasted in to the forum. This forum software randomly deletes (as far as I can tell) spaces between words to the OP is not a bad typist or have an intermittent space bar. Off to read!

Thanks Bill. We certainly appreciated your quick and clean departure. You hit the nail on the head with the typing. I thought I fixed that but I guess I didn't. I'm sure my wife will chastise me later for my poor proofreading.

 

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[texmex.ferr]

Thanks Bill. We certainly appreciated your quick and clean departure. You hit the nail on the head with the typing. I thought I fixed that but I guess I didn't. I'm sure my wife will chastise me later for my poor proofreading.

 

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Hi Dave,

Are you still going to be doing your review here, I appreciate you're back home and back into working mode, but just wondered if you'd had problems trying to post it, or maybe you're trying to decipher you're runners up prize from LCR? lol

 

Margaret

[MiniChunks]

Hi Dave,

Are you still going to be doing your review here, I appreciate you're back home and back into working mode, but just wondered if you'd had problems trying to post it, or maybe you're trying to decipher you're runners up prize from LCR? lol

 

Margaret

Haha. Sorry Margaret. The harsh reality of real life has crushed my cruising spirit and every time I start again, something causes me to stop. I'll do my best to get more up by the end of the week. For now I'll just leave these here

Peak of Mt Tiede in Tenerife

 

Off the coast of Benidorm after leaving Alicante

 

Closing the Schooner Bar around 2:00AM on the last night with two of our favorite bartenders

 

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[pinebro]

At Hotel Abruzzi Did you enjoy the street perfomers-especially pink floyd, surreal near ancient sites

[MiniChunks]

At Hotel Abruzzi Did you enjoy the street perfomers-especially pink floyd, surreal near ancient sites

We loved the whole Abruzzi experience. Sat in at a Cafe in the Piazza for a few hours drinking, eating and listening to the music. It was a highlight of the whole trip.

 

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[friedaliene]

Tally Hoe – Fellow T/A cruisers

May 31/18

Back in the land of Moose & Goose. Exhausted and must do laundry. It was wonderful meeting all you fellow Cruise Critic friends and associates. After, disembarking May 20, we had a whirlwind 10 days – Rome, Budapest, Vienna and Prague. All three cities remarkable and noteworthy – and they all had great beer.

Rome – this is our 3rd time to Roma, Dan’s 5th. We had a wonderful hotel on via Nationale, which was a 5 minute walk to the main train and underground station hub. Across the street, was a small grocery store, with every imaginable cheese and prepared meat, fresh crusty baguettes and rolls, add a bottle of vino and our Roman lunch was prepared. Last time we were in Rome, we went to the top of the dome at St. Peter’s basilica. Now, 10 years older, we did the experience once again. You’re taken by elevator to the base of the dome with it's 15 stories above the entrance level. You, can walk around the base of the dome and revel at Michelangelo’s magnificent brush strokes. Then the trek to the top of the dome is another 320 steps to a 360 degree outside viewing balcony. St. Peter’s is built on a high point in Rome and no other building façade can supersede the height of St. Peter’s. We, also visited the Basilica Papale San Paolo Fuori le Mura, this duomo is not over-whelmed by tourists, but in its own right is certainly significant for 15 minute subway trip. There is an out-standing dome mosaic that is unbelievable, the ceiling of the Sacristy, is covered with wonderful art and gilded framing.

Mosaic dome St Paul's

St Paul's - Rome

We, flew from Rome airport to Budaest, Hungary and stayed in a 100 year old beautiful hotel, on the Buda side. When I booked it I didn’t realize A/C was not automatic. It was over 26 celsius, I should clarify, our room had a small Juliet balcony and we had cross ventilation (corner room) so things were quite bearable. The hotel, had a thermal spa, 3 pools temperatures from warm, medium and hot. Also, there was an outside huge wave pool, that really sent you rock’n’rollin. Hungary, is part of the EU, but has chosen to retain their own currency the Forint. We knew nothing about its value and were a little bewildered when we first went to the ATM at the hotel for cash and it asked us how many tens of thousands of Forints we wanted? We eventually figured out it is ball park a half cent each. So, doing the math conversion Canadian to Forint was a little daunting. Buying a beer, was 900 forints but I felt better knowing it was only about $4.50 cdn for a (metric) pint.

There was a wonderful local farmer’s/crafters market that offered a great variety of Hungarian cuisine, lángos – it’s like a sweet fruit pizza, layer with Nutella, sweet drizzled icing sugar cream with cream cheese, slivered almonds, sprinkled with icing sugar – mmmm, schmecks good. Also, Hungarian goulash with paprikash and potato pancakes.

Did a wonderful ½ day bus tour, 6 passengers on a 40 seat bus, it was as close as we could get to a private tour without the high forint cost. The view of the Danube, from high up on the Buda side with city lights was spectacular.

Viking cruises features from the river the cities parliament buildings on the curve of the Danube, seeing first hand was out-standing.

Budapest - Parliment / Danube

The Buda side of Budapest, is named after Atilla the Hun’s brother Buda. Hungary, has had its high and low’s, once part of the Austro/Hungarian Empire under the Habsburgs, and of course the Russian insurgence in 1956, soldiers and tanks. Still, today you see the vestiges communists rule, the people were hospitable, welcoming and helpful to us tourists.

 

Vienna (Wien) – We traveled as locals via the excellent train system. 3 ½ hours from Budapest to Vienna (not express train but we didn’t hit every small town along the route.

Caution, I hadn’t booked shuttle from train to hotel, we had a rather lengthy but unguided extended trip to our hotel (lesson learned, I hope). Our, hotel was smack dab in the centre of everything old and magnificent of Wien. Bonus, our hotel was upgraded to a suite with kitchenette and views of the hotels garden/restaurant. The opulence and splendor of Wien is almost beyond words. The city hall (Rathaus), is glorious, the museum quad, with statues of Hapsburgs, generals and aristocrats is wunderbar. We indulged in cultural sampler of Classical music, ballet, and a snippet of opera. The concert was held in what was once the stock exchange, the hall had a 30 foot ceiling and painted in a classical baroque décor. Through, the dome and you enter into a stupendous pedestrian shopping concourse. The stores featured here are certainly no 5 & dimes. Prada, Hermes, Versace, Ferragamo, Rolex, Monte Blanc, I think you get the gist of the upper echelon of High street shops. We did a city bus tour, and visited the Hapsburgs, Queen Marie Theresa summer cottage – Schonbrunn, with it’s 1,441 (more or less) rooms and their unbridled quest to outdo Versailles, palace and gardens. Close by to the summer palace were residences for the 1,000 or more people it took to run the cottage. Queen Marie, had 19 children and married them off to all the important Royal and influential households of Europe. One of her poor children would become the consort the King Louis of France, ah poor Marie Antoinette she let them eat cake and off they led her to the guillotine.

A little culinary note, Wiener Schnitzel, is not a German or Austrian delectable but was introduced the citizens of Wien by no other than an Italian culinary master.

Prague – Another glorious European city. Again, we traveled as locals by train from Vienna to Prague – a 4 hour respite and recovery from European overload. Our shuttle driver was an English ex-pat living in Czechoslovakia for over 30 years. Again, Czechoslovakia, is part of the EU, but has chosen to retain its own currency – Koruna. Our driver was quick to caution us to the perils of pick-pockets, they seem to like cell phones, last year 10,000 cell phones were pilfered. Close to our apartment/hotel was a huge 5 story – Palladium shopping mall. Again, a plethora of shopping choices vailable.

We, decided on combination bus / walking tour of the city. The views from atop the old-town and former residences of German aristocracy, another Hapsburg palace, very close in design to Schonbrunn / Wein, but a substantially smaller version. We viewed the fruit and vine gardens of a group of monks here. Our guide mentioned at least 4 monk sects that have / had residence in Prague, as well as groups of nuns. We, drove down Wenceslas square, where in 1968, Russian tanks and soldiers took over the city and crushed the Czech’s attempts at autonomy. Another, interesting factoid, Good King Wenceslas, wasn’t really a king, but a grand Duke of Bohemia.

“The story behind the carol: Good King Wenceslas. A carol for the Feast of St Stephen or Boxing Day, with no mention of the Nativity. Wenceslaswas a 10th-century Catholic Duke of Bohemia also known as Vaclav the Good, and was martyred after being assassinated by his wicked brother, Boleslaw the Bad.”

Walked across the Charles Bridge (pedestrian), built in the 1357 to 1402, survived the WW2 bombings intact. The Long Bridge was destroyed at end of WW2 by accident, by the Allies. Brits and Americans mistook the bridge for part of Dresden, when Dresden was almost obliterated.

Our travels were pretty much unthwarted by man and ills of the body, but damn that British weather! Our, final departure toward home was delayed in Prague by an hour because of stormy landing conditions in England. We, didn’t make our connection at Heathrow for the last leg of our journey. Ah, alas, we must rest our weary bones, overnight at Marriott Renaissance, and finish our homeward quest tomorrow.

Joanne aka friedaliene

ps - Please excuse stock photo's. Dan has oddles, on his lap top, but not loaded to our main frame. Main frame is where I have drafted this. Now is back to reality.

[texmex.ferr]

Haha. Sorry Margaret. The harsh reality of real life has crushed my cruising spirit and every time I start again, something causes me to stop. I'll do my best to get more up by the end of the week. For now I'll just leave these here

Peak of Mt Tiede in Tenerife

 

Off the coast of Benidorm after leaving Alicante

 

Closing the Schooner Bar around 2:00AM on the last night with two of our favorite bartenders

 

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No problems Dave, reality hits hard once you're off the cruise ship. Hope you manage to get it posted, I know there's a few folks looking forward to reading your review of our trip.

 

Margaret

[ghagerty]

How was the Novelda & Wine Tasting excursion? We are doing almost this same cruise (with Azores/Gibralter instead of Canary Islands), and are considering either Novelda & Wine Tasting or Benidorm on Your Own. Any thoughts would be appreciated!

[MiniChunks]

4 hours ago, ghagerty said:

How was the Novelda & Wine Tasting excursion? We are doing almost this same cruise (with Azores/Gibralter instead of Canary Islands), and are considering either Novelda & Wine Tasting or Benidorm on Your Own. Any thoughts would be appreciated!

I had every intention in finishing this review, got home and life got in the way. We enjoyed the Novelda and Wine tasting tour quite a bit. The church and castle were really nice, with an amazing view overlooking the valley and vineyard they eventually take you to. After the church we went to Casa Cesilia vineyard, https://casacesilia.es/en/, where we were given a very thorough tour(perhaps a bit too thorough) then given the chance to sample and purchase their wines. I don't have a very sophisticated pallet when it comes to wine(the $8 bottle of Dark Horse Cab next to me agrees), but I thought their reds were good. One complaint I had was the small samples they gave us, and weren't given the opportunity to buy by the glass. Do mention that to someone if you'd like more however. They were very accommodating when i asked for a bit more. I did speak to people who enjoyed the port area and Benidorm, but I really cant speak to those experiences first hand. I'll try to upload some pictures tomorrow from my office computer. Enjoy your cruise!

[MiniChunks]

1 hour ago, singinalot said:

how was the DIY to Tenerife and what were your thoughts on the hotel in Rome?

The DIY in Tenerife was one of my best cruise experiences ever. The car rental lot is right in the parking lot where you exit the ship(maybe a 10min walk) and opened up shortly after we got there. The roads can be a bit sketchy around there, but if you are a confident driver you shouldn't have a problem. If you plan to go to Mt Teide, i would suggest pre-buying your cable car passes and getting there earlier. There is very limited parking at the cable car itself and by the time we left people were parking quite a good distance away. If you want to hike to the top you need a special permit that you get from the Spanish government. You will absolutely not get past the guard station to hike the peak without the permit and a passport. The view is truly amazing everywhere you go on Tenerife. You start in a beach/desert like setting and as you work your way up you find yourself in a pine forest. Not sure if you've ever hiked around Lake Tahoe, but that's the closest thing i can think of to what it looked like. As you approach the base of Mt Teide it looks like you landed on Mars. All of the volcanic activity over the past 100,000 years has turned everything red with very little vegetation and large lava/rock formations. If you leave Mt Teide toward Aguamansa, you descend into a rainforest. We went from bright blue sky and sun to wet fog in a matter of minutes. Some advice we got from the cable car worker was to avoid eating in the Teide area. Its very touristy and you don't get a good local dining experience. I have to say the we were very happy with where we ended up. 

 

Hotel Abruzzi was another favorite of mine from this trip. The foot path is right outside the front door of the hotel. Take a right and within 5 minutes you end up in Piazza Navona, a left almost the same distance to Trevi Fountain. The Spanish Steps are also a short walk away. We splurged a little and got one of the corner suites which turned out to be very worth it. The windows open up and you get a breeze, as well as hearing the sounds of the performers and people in the square. We even witnessed an engagement standing in our window looking down. The room and hotel itself was nice. I don't have a lot of experience in European hotels, but everything appeared to be newly renovated. Very modern furnishings, but don't expect to be wowed by the check in and walk to your room. The lobby is more of a hallway, and the stairs are narrow and windy. The elevator is not really something i'd suggest riding in unless you have to, but is convenient for sending your luggage up and down. The hotel staff was amazing though. We arrived very early, so they checked our bags and we took off for the day. When we got back in the afternoon everything was neatly placed in our room. 

 

Please feel free to ask any other questions you may have. Again, i'll try to post some more pictures tomorrow. 

[MiniChunks]

Here are a few pictures of the church of Santa María Magdalena

 

This is a model of an organ they are working on inside the church. It wasn't complete, but they had it setup enough so they could do demonstrations of the sound.

Here's the actual organ under construction

 

A view of the castle as you approach via bus

 

The view from the church overlooking the valley

 

 

 

[MiniChunks]

Here are some shots from the vineyard

 

 

Looking up at the church from the front yard of the vineyard. As you can tell, its not much of a ride from one to the other.

[MiniChunks]

On 3/13/2019 at 8:39 PM, singinalot said:

how was the DIY to Tenerife and what were your thoughts on the hotel in Rome?

 

As i said before, the drive around Tenerife was amazing. Here are some pictures of the adventure. I really wish i took more. 

 

This was the section of the hiking path where it is only accessible by permit. You can see that it starts off relatively tame, but as you get higher it gets very narrow and winds around quite a bit. There's a good reason they only issue 30 permits per hour to go up.

The view from the top was really cool. You can see how the lava cooled as it flowed down.

Edited March 15, 2019 by MiniChunks