dreaming paradise

Has anyone stayed in this cabin that can provide a review? Pros and Cons

Jules815. How did you keep track of prices dropping? Did you use a specific app?

Perfect. Thanks

We changed it to cabin #8604. I hope that was a good choice. Feedback please. Thanks

Does anyone have the pricelist for ironing / washing?

Please post the spa packages prices (day spa, week spa, just thermal use, etc.)

Please explain what the different beverage packages are, what they include, and the prices for each. Thanks!

What are the perks you receive onboard by being a platinum member?

We would like some information / pricing on packages for the Spa, beverage packages, and the price to get some garments ironed. As you can see this cruise must be completely relaxing and let someone else do the work. LOL

We will be cruising the southern Caribbean islands and were wondering if any of the past cruisers have met any JWs that provide tours or transportation on any of the following islands. If so, can you provide us their contact information?

San Juan

Barbados

St. Lucia

St. Croix

Antigia

We changed our cabin to 8604 in order to have the bigger balcony. It is a connecting cabin so does that mean that the balconies connect too or will we still have privacy?

Can you share the website or contact info for the $355 house?

We are cruising in January. Can you share the contact or website for the house for $355 per night?

Thanks Ken. We chaned the cabins for ones on the hump.

Should we consider changing these to 8588 or 8585? We are celebrating aspecial anniversary and want to make sure everything is perfect. Please help. We are opem to rvery suggestion. Thanks.

I've seen others mention the hump. Can you please explain why is that a good thing?

My cabin was assigned but should I switch to the hump?

Greetings All!!

 

Just back from another two weeks on the beautiful Jewel of the Seas out of San Juan. Fabulous Southern Caribbean islands and very port intensive. We had a great time!! I may have to abbreviate things a little as this is such a busy time of year and I don't have much time. We are also heading out on Christmas Day for two weeks on the Explorer.....so I'm busy washing clothes and repacking packing as we speak!!

 

So here goes.......

 

 

Once again we flew to San Juan on Southwest and once again it was a pleasant experience! It was a long day of travel and we arrived right on time a little after 5 o'clock on Friday' date=' November 28th. No crowds at the airport AT ALL!! We quickly grabbed a taxi and motored a whole 5 minutes over to the Embassy Suites.....checked in and immediately went to the manager's reception. We started chatting with another couple there and found out that they were from North Carolina, too, and were also sailing on the Jewel. Nice to make new friends right away. We grabbed a quick bite to eat. We were exhausted, so we went on to bed.

 

[u']Saturday ~ November 29, 2014 ~ San Juan[/u]

 

I tossed and turned all night as I usually do the night before a cruise. The breakfast at the ES this morning was awful. This is an OK place to stay, but I am really tired of the Suite taxes and the resort fees that they pile on. May go elsewhere next time.

 

We met up with Ben and Jessica, our new friends, this morning and shared a taxi to the port with them. We stopped at a Walgreen's along the way and got a case of water to take on board with us. I taped a couple of luggage tags on there and gave it to the porters. Worked great.

 

We arrived at the port around 11:00. Hardly anyone was there, so we walked right in.....no lines.....wonderful!

 

As we were checking in at the counter we heard someone shout "Jane and John!!!" I turned around and it was Diego, the Concierge, there to welcome us. That made me feel so special!

 

We had our welcome aboard picture made and we were on board in no time!

 

 

We found a nice spot by Café Lattetudes to hang out while we waited on cabins to open up at 1:00. Ben and Jessica joined us.

 

 

I ran around and got all our dinner reservations made.....Chops. Portofino, and My Time Dining......no problems. I also went up to the Windjammer to grab some iced tea and cookies to snack on while we were waiting. There was hardly anyone in the Windjammer.....that was weird. While doing all this running around....I encountered quite a few crew members that remembered me from being on board in September. Our waiter, a head waiter, and some others.....all very welcoming and glad to see us again.....everywhere we turned, there was someone we knew. That was neat.

 

Cabins opened promptly at 1:00, so we made our way up to Deck 8 to our E1 cabin for the week.....8104.....right off the Centrum and on the hump. Great cabin with an even greater balcony. Loved it!!

 

 

 

 

This was a fabulous location. We noticed that since September, the balcony furniture has been replaced. The nice comfy chairs and tables are now on the balconies of the Jewel!!

Yes, it was 9092

 

How was your cabin9092? What are the benefits of being on the hump? Was it quiet? Would like to know because it's available on my cruise so should I take it? The other one you wanted is also available. What's the difference?

What is the benefit of having a cabin on the hump of the deck?

My wife and I (54 and 53) have been holding off doing a Southern Caribbean Cruise out of San Juan till I had 3 weeks of vacation. She has been at her place of employment 34 years so vacation is no problem for her. If I had waited a few weeks I would be 55 and saved some money, but we like to cruise around our anniversary when we can. This is our 2nd time on Jewel so this review will be more about the itinerary than the ship.

 

To me this trip started when we boarded Allure back on April 28th of 2013. I had picked out the May 3rd 2014 Jewel sailing before boarding and planned on seeing the Loyalty Ambassador on the first sea day. I had already picked the aft cabin to be my first Aft cabin ever. Overall the Loyalty Ambassador did nothing to impress me. I had booked the Allure cruise with the Loyalty Ambassador on Jewel and that was a nicer experience. The sought after cabin was already unavailable, which didn’t surprise me. The LA did suggest a cabin on the hump deck 9 with a very deep balcony. More on that once we get on the ship. Having booked this one a year in advance I was making note to call once a month and check on that cabin. Going back to Allure my roll call there had been “invaded” by the Arizona cruisers. We had a great time and made a dozen or so new friends. One among them decided to take the same cruise as us, so already we knew two people. On the day of the Grandeur fire, it was the day I put on my calendar to call crown and anchor and check on that corner aft. The phone was busy and I knew the operators were busy so I put it off till the next day. Wouldn’t you know it, another of the AZ cruisers decided to join us, and that cabin was now available and they got it that very day! I wish I had known you could be on a waiting list for a particular cabin. Something new I learned. We also have a couple here in Ohio we are friends with and after going on Enchantment they decided to join us as well. This cruise will be the most people on a cruise that I have known before hand.

There ended up being quite a few more from the Arizona cruisers going and they picked out the Tre-Palmas hotel for their pre-cruise stay. I just decided to tag along with them and also take the private shuttle to the port that they reserved. That made my pre-planning a bit easier, something that would help this time. Two events that would change my life happened between the time I booked this cruise and the day of sailing. I became a Grandfather for the first time in August and I have back surgery Jan 10th of this year. Both of these events took time away from my normal obsessive cruise planning. The sailing would be 4 months after my spinal fusion surgery so I didn’t know what I would be able to do or not do. As a result, while many of my cruise friends were researching private tours I was doing nothing. I wouldn’t book any excursions till April. This made me nervous as I’ve long gone over to mainly private excursions because Royal has a 30% cancelation rate on excursions for me. More on that once we reach St Kitts!

We flew to San Juan from Columbus, Ohio via Southwest Airlines on Friday May 2nd. Again this was the cruise I felt the least prepared for because of our life events. We got up to fly out on a Friday morning, one of the busiest travel days of the week. I didn’t allow enough time to get to the airport and through security. We finished packing midnight the night before and went to bed getting up at 4:15am. As we should have been heading out the door, my wife weighed the suitcases and one was 54 pounds. Last minute adjustments put us out the door 10 minutes late. The line at Southwest check in was long, but we got through it. I had paid for early bird check in so we should be among the first on the plane. However, that was in danger as the security line was very long. I knew we would get through it before the plane left, but there was a danger we wouldn’t get on the plane early enough to sit together and that would have made for a disastrous 33rd wedding anniversary. Fortunately for us, the TSA’s were checking the paperwork of people in the long line. They noted I was pre-approved and could by pass the line. This meant no shoe and belt removal and speeding through, but it meant leaving my wife behind. I decided to do so to guarantee our sitting together for the long flight. The TSA took pitty on my my wife and sent her along with me. Ok, how many reviews have praised the TSA? We got to San Juan around 2pm, paid $19 for a cab to Tre-Palmas which is an ocean front bed and breakfast that SunnyAZgirl (cc name) found on trip advisor. Her group stayed here and arrived a day ahead. We just planned on the one day and joining them on their shuttle to the pier.

 

We arrived at Tre Palmas while the Arizona group was out sight seeing. We had reserved unit #9 but we were told the AC was under repair and were given “an upgrade” to Ocean view” unit 1. Turns out this wasn’t exactly an upgrade. Here is why they call it Tre-Pamas.

 

 

 

Below is a pic of room one. It was clean and affordable, but a bit tiny. At least the AC worked. Overall the place was good enough. If I was going myself, I would stay at a more major hotel chain or other place in a downtown or old town area.

 

 

The upgrade to the oceanview room turned out to be a slight mistake. The room was along the main road next to the ocean and all night we heard idiots with loud stereos driving back and forth! We made it through though. We had a continental breakfast in the common area below before heading to the ship. This place was a nice place for a group as we dominated the place, but alone I would stay elsewhere.

 

 

PS, yea, I'm with that! (or more politely, my wife of 33 years)