LIVE 💎 Jewel 💎 of the Seas - Southern Caribbean 1/20/24

[cft8]

We will be on Jewel from Amsterdam this summer, so I’m appreciating your pics of the different spaces around the ship. I’d been wondering what the Pit Stop was after looking at the deck plans!

[cantellu]

My wife and I will be on this cruse Feb 2nd. Thank you so much for sharing your experience. Looking forward to your comment on Trinidad and Tobago excursions.

[Hoopster95]

4 hours ago, SteelCityCruiser10 said:

Roads are super windy.  Driver says about 1 hour drive.  Longer than expected 🤔 

 

 

Just wait if they hit rush hour or some kind of event on the roads on the way back. My experience was about 1 hour 20min back... stop and go traffic. Hopefully SteelCity doesn't experience this.

[SteelCityCruiser10]

Back from the Maracas Beach Excursion.  

 

It was about 45-50 minutes to get there via Mini Bus with a short stop (maybe 5 min) at a scenic overlook which also had snack/souvenir stands.

 

We met in the schooner at 9 and by 9:35 we were in the bus and shoving off.

 

We arrived at Maracas Beach at 10:30 & had 3 hours there.  Meeting time back at the bus was 1:30.  It did take longer to get back since there was more traffic but not much. It was about 60-65 minutes on the return.

 

Heres pics from bus and scenic overlook stop.

 

 

 

 

 

[SteelCityCruiser10]

Scenic overlook

 

 

 

 

 

🐾🐾🐾🐾

Miss my fur babies

[SteelCityCruiser10]

We enjoyed the beach and got there in one of the first 2 bus loads so we got a really good spot with some shade trees and near the food and bus parking lot.  

 

2 chairs and an umbrella were $20.

Carib beers were $4 each.

 

 There were many vendors walking around selling beers/water/pop, coconut, snow cones, even good humor ice cream.  Generally they just walked past & were not pushy at all.  

[SteelCityCruiser10]

Maracas Beach

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[SteelCityCruiser10]

The water was nice especially since it was about 90 degrees+ in the sun.

 

Water had a  Little chill at first but not bad at all.  Very refreshing.  

 

Red flags were out…The water was pretty rough with waves curling & crashing and current was strong.  Still plenty of people in the water.

 

There were lifeguards that would walk around directing people with a whistle who were getting too comfortable & heading out too far.

 

 

Not sure you’ll be able to tell from the video…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[SteelCityCruiser10]

 

 

 

[SteelCityCruiser10]

We grabbed a Bake n Shark right before getting back in the bus.  It was good.  Hit the spot after a few Carib’s and a long bus ride ahead.

 

The sauce labeled ketchup was most definitely NOT ketchup and it SURELY was NOT Heinz!  😂  

 

 

[SteelCityCruiser10]

22 hours ago, SteelCityCruiser10 said:

Heading up to concierge lounge for some freebie bevy’s then who knows.  Maybe MDR?  It’s mexican night with spaghetti bolognese on the menu.  That’s awesome.

 

dress code is white night

 

May just do room service again.  Winging it.

 

We did just do room service last night.  Royal Burger is always good.  

 

Chicken wings meh - mostly breading and light on the meat.  Not my bag baby.  

 

 

[SteelCityCruiser10]

Dinner tonight will be Giovanni’s via room service (thanks again Edna for arrangements)

 

 Edna is a fantastic concierge.  I like her attitude &  personality.

[SteelCityCruiser10]

Sorry must be hungry .. got sidetracked with food info.  

 

Here’s some more on Trinidad port area.  

 

There are some shops indoors right off the ship and also an outdoor market - open air type market.  The outdoor market was blazing hot and crowded.  

 

Nothing here caught our eye.  Not much to see IMO.   Same old stuff/trinkets being peddled at any other port.  

 

Either choose an excursion or stay on the ship.  No way I’d wander aimlessly here or venture too far outside port area on my own.  That’s just me, but there seemed to be a few adventurous folks…very few.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[SteelCityCruiser10]

Solarium roof open this afternoon 

 

Edited January 23 by SteelCityCruiser10
stupid auto correct

[Ocean Boy]

1 hour ago, SteelCityCruiser10 said:

Solarium roof open this afternoon 

 

Never opened when we were on Serenade.

[SG65CB]

On my Jewel sailing in February the Maracas Beach Break excursion from RC is $79 per person. I'm guessing you paid a similar amount. But you still  had to pay for chairs and umbrellas. It seems like this excursion is just a round trip bus ride. Any idea what is the cost of a taxi to Maracas and back?

 

[OnTheJourney]

On 1/20/2024 at 8:45 PM, SteelCityCruiser10 said:

$3.24 charge for popcorn

Cheapskates! When we watched the superbowl back in '17 on the Celebrity Infinity, they put out a (free) real nice spread - hot sliders, other sandwiches, chips, salsa, veggies, etc. plus a gigantic cake. Showed the game in the theatre. Each side of the stage was filled with hundreds of colored balloons for both teams. It was so much fun! People sat on their respective side of the theatre to cheer on their team. It was another amazing Tom Brady come-from-behind win.  On Viking last year, they showed the divisional playoff games on the stateroom tvs. Some people (due to the time difference since we were in Europe) stayed up all night to watch, and yet except for experiencing it real-time they wouldn't have had to. The games were available to play at any time the rest of the cruise under the "special events" menu on the tv. I thought that was great of Viking to show them.

Edited January 23 by OnTheJourney

[SteelCityCruiser10]

51 minutes ago, SG65CB said:

On my Jewel sailing in February the Maracas Beach Break excursion from RC is $79 per person. I'm guessing you paid a similar amount. But you still  had to pay for chairs and umbrellas. It seems like this excursion is just a round trip bus ride. Any idea what is the cost of a taxi to Maracas and back?

 

I think it’s was $75.99 per person.  Too much bus time for me but was overall good experience.  I am glad we decided to do it.  Definitely don’t regret the decision.  

[SteelCityCruiser10]

54 minutes ago, SG65CB said:

On my Jewel sailing in February the Maracas Beach Break excursion from RC is $79 per person. I'm guessing you paid a similar amount. But you still  had to pay for chairs and umbrellas. It seems like this excursion is just a round trip bus ride. Any idea what is the cost of a taxi to Maracas and back?

 

Sorry I do not know taxi fares but i imagine a major portion of the cost, if not all, is the transportation.  

 

Everything once we got there was additional cost.

Edited January 23 by SteelCityCruiser10

[SteelCityCruiser10]

Giovanni’s (in room)

 

Caprese Salads

We split all 3:

Filet Mignon/ mashed potatoes 

Seafood Linguine

Branzino/root vegetables

 

We enjoyed everything.  Steak was just as good as Chops on night 2.  Very much like the seafood linguine.

 

We had a delivery that we put in the cooler for dessert 😋 

 

 

 

 

 

[SteelCityCruiser10]

Sunset from our balcony 

 

 

[SteelCityCruiser10]

[SteelCityCruiser10]

7 hours ago, JDPCruisers said:

Have been following along and appreciate the great pics and thoughts. I might have missed it, but how is the overall condition of the ship and your GS? Any pros and cons, so far? Many children?

 

 

Taking into consideration the ships age she is fantastic.  Sure, she could use some TLC in spots but everything has been in good working order.

 

GS is great.   Can’t find a single thing to complain about.

 

 I love radiance class so I am somewhat partial.  

 

If you come into it expecting it to be like Oasis class you’ll be disappointed most likely.  Apples and oranges IMO.
 

 I haven’t noticed many children. 👍🏻

 

Ill be posting final thoughts at the end.

[SteelCityCruiser10]

38 minutes ago, SteelCityCruiser10 said:

I think it’s was $75.99 per person.  Too much bus time for me but was overall good experience.  I am glad we decided to do it.  Definitely don’t regret the decision.  

I lied.  Checked and it was $79.99/person.  

[Hoopster95]

2 hours ago, SteelCityCruiser10 said:

Solarium roof open this afternoon 

 

This is a super rare photo SteelCity. A very small percentage of cruisers get to witness this, even those who have sailed on Radiance Cass many times.

 

1 hour ago, SG65CB said:

On my Jewel sailing in March the Maracas Beach Break excursion from RC is $79 per person. I'm guessing you paid a similar amount. But you still  had to pay for chairs and umbrellas. It seems like this excursion is just a round trip bus ride. Any idea what is the cost of a taxi to Maracas and back?

 

 

Last March, I had a pre-booked with a fb group on a mini-bus, same size of bus as SteelCity shows you here so about 25 people I think. We paid $25 return. IIRC a taxi was $30-$40 return. Again IIRC there are not many (if any) taxis sitting around at Maracas waiting for a return trip. So you'd need to arrange and pay a driver to wait for you. There were plenty of drivers/cabs available just outside the gate all of them pleading for your business.

 

:or $60 pre-booked non RC group tour

https://www.myguidetrinidadandtobago.com/experiences/maracas-day-trip-to-maracas-beach-from-port-of-spain

Edited January 24 by Hoopster95