bionicman97 Posted May 2, 2011 Author #276 Share Posted May 2, 2011 Woohoo! Not even half way done yet. Lovin' it. :D If you go by days, we're getting close, but if you go by the amount of info and pics I have of Days 5-7, we're just getting close to 1/3rd of the way :eek: The solarium is gorgeous! I want to go on a Radiance class ship just for that now. My personal opinion is the Radiance class definitely has the nicest solariums :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bionicman97 Posted May 2, 2011 Author #277 Share Posted May 2, 2011 Day 4 - At Sea - Continued After eating lunch, I spent a couple hours working on my pics in photoshop. Around 2pm, after having not eaten in close to 3 hours, I rushed to the Sea View Cafe for a snack If you've never seen a Sea View Cafe, this is what the inside looks like I had a cuban sandwich and some onion rings. They were excellent as always. After this, I found a nice spot in the Centrum area ( I think on Deck 10) called the Explorer(?). I spent about an hour here working with photoshop a little more. After this, I was once again starving, so I rushed over to the Windjammer for tea time. Trying to keep it light, I just got a few desserts After this (around 5pm), I went back to the solarium for a little more r and r Around 6pm, we went back to the room to get ready for the evening. At 6:15pm, we went up to the Viking Crown for the nightly Diamond Event. Up in a few minutes - A Show - Trivia - & Dinner. . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bionicman97 Posted May 2, 2011 Author #278 Share Posted May 2, 2011 Day 4 - At Sea - A Show/Trivia/Dinner Around 6:45, we left the Viking Crown and headed for the show. Right before the show began, the cruise directors staff had a little skit It turned out to be a marriage proposal At 7pm, the show started. The theater was about 90% full. Instead of the cruise director coming out, the Activities Manager, Frankie came out and said the cruise director was unavailable, so he would be hosting tonight. Then this happens. It was a funny little skit. I like it when they do these things. It adds a nice touch. And on to the show As luck would have it, we have seen him two other times already. Up next - The Show & Dinner Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bionicman97 Posted May 2, 2011 Author #279 Share Posted May 2, 2011 Day 4 - The Show & Dinner Here are some pic's from the show He put's on a good show He does some singing, impersonations, etc Most of it is older music (80's and back) and tv stars He got the kids involved And the adults Up next - Trivia & Dinner. . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bionicman97 Posted May 2, 2011 Author #280 Share Posted May 2, 2011 Day 4 - Dinner After the show was over, we went to the Safari club for Movie Trivia After this, it was off to dinner. For dinner, I had the Casesar Salad (not pictured) and the Black Angus Sirloin Notice how similar it is to the "featured dish" - Steak Diane And Dessert After dinner, the waiter made my wife this impressive balloon animal Since we have an early excursion tomorrow in Cartegena, Columbia, we decided to go back to the room after dinner. This would be around 11:05pm All in All, it was a nice, lazy day at Sea Well everyone, we've made it through Day 4. This was a pretty short review day, since we didn't do much at sea. But, Starting tomorrow, we get into the "Meat and Potatoes" of the review. We have three port days in a row (Columbia, Panama & Costa Rica). We had long excursions at every port and I have a ton of pics from each place. After that, we still have a slam full day at Grand Cayman & 2 more sea days. So stay tuned - there is so much more left to come. . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bilyclub Posted May 3, 2011 #281 Share Posted May 3, 2011 Great ongoing review Curtis. Was the solarium roof ever opened? I have never seen the solarium roof opened on a Royal ship when onboard. It seem foolish to have a retractable roof and not open it when the weather was nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carguylee Posted May 3, 2011 #282 Share Posted May 3, 2011 Thanks :) We're pretty far from Pinnacle, but maybe Diamond plus one day :D -- By then they'll probably have 5 more levels ;) Probably should clarify that a little. It was just sending/responding to emails. My father and I own a Construction Company. We do Electric/ Alarm/ HVAC/ Building. Our superintendents email us morning and evening with status updates/photos and we provide direction/clarification/decision making. It all becomes clear now. :D If it allows you to vacation that often then great! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grumpy9117 Posted May 3, 2011 #283 Share Posted May 3, 2011 Great ongoing review Curtis. Was the solarium roof ever opened? I have never seen the solarium roof opened on a Royal ship when onboard.It seem foolish to have a retractable roof and not open it when the weather was nice. The roof doesn't open on the Jewel's solarium. It does on the Vision class though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bionicman97 Posted May 3, 2011 Author #284 Share Posted May 3, 2011 Great ongoing review Curtis. Was the solarium roof ever opened? I have never seen the solarium roof opened on a Royal ship when onboard.It seem foolish to have a retractable roof and not open it when the weather was nice. I have never seen the roof open. It all becomes clear now. :D If it allows you to vacation that often then great! Usually we don't vacation that much (on cruises at least). This was our 5th cruise in 10 months, but we squeezed in a few extra in hopes of having a baby this year and thus not being able to cruise for about a year. Usually we shoot for 3 cruises a year. The roof doesn't open on the Jewel's solarium. It does on the Vision class though. I didn't know that. Thanks :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fastpaks Posted May 3, 2011 #285 Share Posted May 3, 2011 As you can tell, I'm new to these boards. I love the TR and look forward to more. I'm used to Disney but really want to expand my horizons when it comes to cruising. One question, when you are eating lunch, are you paying for each soda every time? RCI offers soda cards right? I heard they are only good for dinner? Thanks Jonathan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bionicman97 Posted May 3, 2011 Author #286 Share Posted May 3, 2011 As you can tell, I'm new to these boards. I love the TR and look forward to more. I'm used to Disney but really want to expand my horizons when it comes to cruising. One question, when you are eating lunch, are you paying for each soda every time? RCI offers soda cards right? I heard they are only good for dinner? Thanks Jonathan Welcome to the RCI Board :) You can get a soda card (I did). It is $6 per day+15% gratuity and you have to buy it for the entire length of a cruise (can't buy it by the day). For this 10 day cruise, it was like $69 You can get soda anytime, as much as you want. Just show your card (they put a sticker on it) at any bar, in the windjammer or at dinner. They also give you a cup you can use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LBumb Posted May 3, 2011 #287 Share Posted May 3, 2011 great job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bilyclub Posted May 3, 2011 #288 Share Posted May 3, 2011 The roof doesn't open on the Jewel's solarium. It does on the Vision class though. Are you sure? My memory says the roof is retractable. Radiance class ships have a gross tonnage of 90,090 gross tons. All ships have more environmentally-friendly gas turbine engines. The Radiance class ships have over 3 acres (12,000 m2) of glass, glass exterior viewing elevators, over 700 balcony staterooms, two-level glass windowed dining rooms, alternative restaurants, a retractable glass roof over a pool, an outdoor pool, as well as the first self-leveling billiard tables at sea. The Radiance class ships were constructed at Meyer Werft, Papenburg, Germany. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bionicman97 Posted May 3, 2011 Author #289 Share Posted May 3, 2011 great job. Thanks :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grumpy9117 Posted May 3, 2011 #290 Share Posted May 3, 2011 Are you sure? My memory says the roof is retractable. Radiance class ships have a gross tonnage of 90,090 gross tons. All ships have more environmentally-friendly gas turbine engines. The Radiance class ships have over 3 acres (12,000 m2) of glass, glass exterior viewing elevators, over 700 balcony staterooms, two-level glass windowed dining rooms, alternative restaurants, a retractable glass roof over a pool, an outdoor pool, as well as the first self-leveling billiard tables at sea. The Radiance class ships were constructed at Meyer Werft, Papenburg, Germany. Yes, I was just on the April 8th cruise on the Jewel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sarahc78 Posted May 3, 2011 #291 Share Posted May 3, 2011 Great review....long...but great :p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bionicman97 Posted May 3, 2011 Author #292 Share Posted May 3, 2011 Great review....long...but great :p Thanks :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reallyitsmema Posted May 3, 2011 #293 Share Posted May 3, 2011 Yes, I was just on the April 8th cruise on the Jewel. It is retractable, they just keep it closed pretty much all the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bilyclub Posted May 3, 2011 #294 Share Posted May 3, 2011 Photo of the solarium roof: and more talk: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1378930 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mais318 Posted May 4, 2011 #295 Share Posted May 4, 2011 I cant wait to come home and see whats new on this review every day! I just was wondering if it would be worth it to bring both a DSLR and a Point and Shot like you did. Did you use both cameras enough to justify the extra chargers lenses, etc. Great Review, Keep it up! :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bionicman97 Posted May 4, 2011 Author #296 Share Posted May 4, 2011 Sorry about not getting anything up yet today - Another family computer repair. Just got home for the first time today at 9:45pm Day 5 - Caratagena, Columbia Got up around 5:50 am (this would be 7:50 am EST -- We've now moved back 2 hours). I decided to do the elliptical today instead of the jogging track, since I can barely walk at this point I worked out until around 7am and then went back to the room to get ready. Took a couple shots as we were getting close to docking Looks like it is going to be a nice place At 7:30am, we met up with the rest of our party and headed off the ship to meet for the excursion we had booked. It is called Deluxe Cartagena and Fortress. We quickly found our bus and left the pier at 8am. Here is a picture of our tour guide He did a good job. He had three catch phrases that he said all of the time: "little by little", "don't be haste" and "mind your head/step" - He said them so often that we used them as a running joke through the rest of the cruise Up Next - The Drive through town. . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bionicman97 Posted May 4, 2011 Author #297 Share Posted May 4, 2011 I cant wait to come home and see whats new on this review every day! I just was wondering if it would be worth it to bring both a DSLR and a Point and Shot like you did. Did you use both cameras enough to justify the extra chargers lenses, etc. Great Review, Keep it up! :) For me, it's definitely worth it to take both. I use the DSLR for the first day to take a lot of pictures of the ship. I also use it for ports I've never been to. For the rest, I usually us a P & S. Thanks :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bionicman97 Posted May 4, 2011 Author #298 Share Posted May 4, 2011 Day 5 - Cartagena, Columbia - Driving through town So, as we left the port and drove to the Fortress, I tried to take a lot of pictures We saw a lot of these buses as we drove I'm always interested in street signs for some reason A side street Some colorful buildings Courtyard and building All the streets are narrow and the buildings very close to the road Up next - more of the drive through town. . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bionicman97 Posted May 4, 2011 Author #299 Share Posted May 4, 2011 Day 5 - Cartagena, Columbia More of the drive -- Please excuse the quality of some of the pictures - I'm shooting on a moving bus through glass Another side street Everyone seems to drive small cars and take security very seriously here I'm assuming these are cabs Saw lots of areas like this They have street vendors selling newspapers/tabloids And this is the reason I would never drive here! Coming tomorrow -- Fortress - Inquisition palace - Cathedral - A local Show - Food - Shows - And More! . . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nathand95 Posted May 4, 2011 #300 Share Posted May 4, 2011 Great start to Cartegena. It looks like a really diverse port. I can't wait for more!!! On the excursion did you ever feel endangered? We were going to do a cruise from Colon this past April to Cartegena and th ABC islands, but my mom was "too scared of the ports". I'm going to show her your review to show you won't get caught up in drug wars...right?;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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