"Live" Jewel of the Seas, January 12-16

[rafinmd]

Passed under the Sunshine Skyway Bridge at 4:18. Awsome.

 

Roy

[Familygoboston]

Familygoboston, did you ever happen to catch the Jewel when it was in Boston? That's the last time I saw it before this cruise (I was docked right behind it).

Roy

 

Roy- We have! We live about 20 miles from Boston but we stayed in the Seaport District one night and were walking in the morning and noticed the Jewel out in the port near the Black Falcon Terminal. It was at berth quite a ways off (becasue of her size) and a Seaborn Yatch (I think!) was much closer! We saw folks disembarking from the Seaborn. I didn't have my binoculars, but DH had (always has!) camera and checked with his telephoto!

Interestingly, we've seen RCI ships more often in Bar Harbor- our summer home is near there and we are in Bar Harbor ocassionally!

 

Enjoying your review! We sail in a little more than a month! Sorry your cruise is over...safe travels!

[island lady]

Correct. We are back to back on 16th and 21st...both are 5-nighters, so we have 10 nights on Jewel.

 

Hope you are enjoying your cruise! See you soon! :)

[rafinmd]

Captain James had predicted a 4:30 passage under the Sunshine Skyway Bridge and I set a wakeup call for 4:00. I woke a little before that and noticed a line of lights on the bridge cam. I was out of the cabin before 4 (I hope my phone didn't bother my neighbors. When I got up to the WJ for coffee, the bridge was still about 2 miles away, and I watched us go under it from deck 13 just behind the climbing wall:

 

 

I decided to check out walking the entire length of deck 12, and found the distance to be about a 6-minute walk, roughly 1/3 mile. It was a fairly unobstructed circuit but did require passing through the kids pool (not a problem at 5AM) and negotiating 2 fairly tight wind baffles. I finished my 5 miles about 5:40.

 

We turned in Tampa's inner harbor and backed into the terminal about 6:45. The plan announced for disembarkation was that all non-US citizens were to meet with immigration in the Safari Lounge at 7AM. Once this was done we only had to show our ID's and turn in our customs declarations in the terminal. I was in the first group to leave and had been expected to do so at 8:30, but some people had to be called multiple times to immigration and the process was not completed until after 8:30. My group got permission to leave at 8:40, with a ten minute line to check out of the trip and I was out of the terminal at 9:05 and out of the garage 9:20. I am somewhat less than halfway home, after lunch in Jacksonville and a hotel in South Carolina.

 

Roy

[tofusmom]

I just returned from the same cruise. I brought the compasses home to scan at work. I know how much everyone likes to see these.

 

Ann

[JYL]

rafinmd: Thanks for posting the youtube of the Sunshine Bridge. We cruised 12/10/11, and were on deck 13 as we passed under. The ship blew the horn just as we went underneath, everyone jumped! It was a fun experience, although I did wonder about the drivers up on the bridge and how startled were they?

Familygoboston: try to be there at 6:45, we did MTD and just put in for a late seating. Enjoy your cruise.

[island lady]

Captain James had predicted a 4:30 passage under the Sunshine Skyway Bridge and I set a wakeup call for 4:00. I woke a little before that and noticed a line of lights on the bridge cam. I was out of the cabin before 4 (I hope my phone didn't bother my neighbors. When I got up to the WJ for coffee, the bridge was still about 2 miles away, and I watched us go under it from deck 13 just behind the climbing wall:

 

 

I decided to check out walking the entire length of deck 12, and found the distance to be about a 6-minute walk, roughly 1/3 mile. It was a fairly unobstructed circuit but did require passing through the kids pool (not a problem at 5AM) and negotiating 2 fairly tight wind baffles. I finished my 5 miles about 5:40.

 

We turned in Tampa's inner harbor and backed into the terminal about 6:45. The plan announced for disembarkation was that all non-US citizens were to meet with immigration in the Safari Lounge at 7AM. Once this was done we only had to show our ID's and turn in our customs declarations in the terminal. I was in the first group to leave and had been expected to do so at 8:30, but some people had to be called multiple times to immigration and the process was not completed until after 8:30. My group got permission to leave at 8:40, with a ten minute line to check out of the trip and I was out of the terminal at 9:05 and out of the garage 9:20. I am somewhat less than halfway home, after lunch in Jacksonville and a hotel in South Carolina.

 

Roy

 

The same thing happened to us on our 2/11 Radiance cruise out of Tampa. The non

US citzens were being called over and over again to report in person. It held up

disembarkation for a couple of hours till they tracked them down...or rolled them out

of bed. :rolleyes: ;)

[superduper123]

Passed under the Sunshine Skyway Bridge at 4:18. Awsome.

 

Roy

I didn't plan on getting up early, but was happy that I woke at 430 am without an alarm, so thought I would go up and check it out... Only to find out that I was too late:eek:

[island lady]

I didn't plan on getting up early, but was happy that I woke at 430 am without an alarm, so thought I would go up and check it out... Only to find out that I was too late:eek:

 

We had a great aft cabin (9256) and just watched on the bow cam as it got closer.

Then just at the right time we popped out on the balcony to see the

brightly lit bridge as we slid underneath.

Really impressive! Were able to see it lit like that for a long time as we sailed

further away from it.

[LBumb]

great job

[FrannyK]

We had a great aft cabin (9256) and just watched on the bow cam as it got closer.

Then just at the right time we popped out on the balcony to see the

brightly lit bridge as we slid underneath.

Really impressive! Were able to see it lit like that for a long time as we sailed

further away from it.

 

We have 9256 on the 26th! Can't wait to experience our first aft. We will definitely check out the bridge from our balcony :)

[island lady]

We have 9256 on the 26th! Can't wait to experience our first aft. We will definitely check out the bridge from our balcony :)

 

Oh my gosh you will love that cabin! :)

 

That is is assuming you are a fan of large balconies! It is a standard SOV cabin inside, but the large wrap aft balcony is fantastic!

The only other more popular aft wrap balcony is the JS 1100 just above. I now

have that one booked for our "Valentines Day' cruise next year. ;)

[FrannyK]

Oh my gosh you will love that cabin! :)

 

That is is assuming you are a fan of large balconies! It is a standard SOV cabin inside, but the large wrap aft balcony is fantastic!

The only other more popular aft wrap balcony is the JS 1100 just above. I now

have that one booked for our "Valentines Day' cruise next year. ;)

 

Yeaaaaa! We've had only standard size balconys so far. LOVE spending time on our balcony so a big one can only be better! Haven't splurged for a suite yet. Maybe we'll follow you to 1100 next year!

[rafinmd]

I didn't plan on getting up early, but was happy that I woke at 430 am without an alarm, so thought I would go up and check it out... Only to find out that I was too late:eek:

 

What a shame to be up that early and still miss the event. Bummer! By the way, I got home today about 4:45. Time to start serious planning for Asia.

 

I did a "decide later"; will probably be on Enchantment some time to Bermuda.

 

Roy

[superduper123]

What a shame to be up that early and still miss the event. Bummer! By the way, I got home today about 4:45. Time to start serious planning for Asia.

 

I did a "decide later"; will probably be on Enchantment some time to Bermuda.

 

Roy

I did a "decide later" also.

And I am booked on the Enchantment in May. Really looking forward to cruising from home, as I don't take advantage of that enough.

[senslady]

We would like to sail on the Jewel of the Seas next October. I am wondering if they have My Time Dining on this ship. Does anyone know? Thanks.

[justwanton]

They do offer MTD we were on this past week and it was our first time with this dining.

We thought it was great! We went once at 5:30 once at 8:45pm...no matter when we went none to only 5 min. wait. Have fun.

 

Laura

[senslady]

They do offer MTD we were on this past week and it was our first time with this dining.

We thought it was great! We went once at 5:30 once at 8:45pm...no matter when we went none to only 5 min. wait. Have fun.

 

Laura

Thanks so much for your prompt answer. :)

[island lady]

Yeaaaaa! We've had only standard size balconys so far. LOVE spending time on our balcony so a big one can only be better! Haven't splurged for a suite yet. Maybe we'll follow you to 1100 next year!

 

Can't wait to check it out myself 2/13! :D

[island lady]

We would like to sail on the Jewel of the Seas next October. I am wondering if they have My Time Dining on this ship. Does anyone know? Thanks.

 

MTD is offered on all RCI ships. We love it, and will never go back to traditional

dining. Works really well for us!

[johnx7]

Glad to hear the balcony on 9256 is really big, as I have it booked for my Jewel of the Seas sailing. Thanks for the review!

[island lady]

Glad to hear the balcony on 9256 is really big, as I have it booked for my Jewel of the Seas sailing. Thanks for the review!

 

And I am looking forward to sister ship Radiance in that cabin with a great view

on both sides as we travel the inland passage through Alaska and BC. :)

[eem0924]

I was on this sailing as well and LOVED the ship. Just the right size not too big and not too small.

 

I loved the huge Windjammer indoor/outdoor table setup. We never had trouble finding a table at breakfast or lunch.

 

We also never had trouble waiting for elevators. What a switch, in past cruises we sometimes had a long wait. This was great!!!

 

Outside the Windjammer they were selling individual bottles of Australian wine. Very tasty, but only available at that location. Wish I could get them at other places on the ship.

[FrannyK]

They do offer MTD we were on this past week and it was our first time with this dining.

We thought it was great! We went once at 5:30 once at 8:45pm...no matter when we went none to only 5 min. wait. Have fun.

 

Laura

 

This is really good to hear. We are trying MTD for the first time on the Jewel the 26th. There are 4 of us and I reserved online for 7:45 each night. Looking forward to trying it...

[rafinmd]

Full cruises for the 4 days have now been posted on the ***** site.

 

Thanks Matt.

 

http://www.*****.com/cruise-compass

 

Roy