A Special Thank You to Cruise Critic

[doormaster]

My wife and I went on our first cruise last week. We left Monday Feb.11, 2013 and returned Sat. Feb. 16, 2013. We were on the Jewel of the Seas. We had a fantastic cruise and hope to cruise again. My main reason for this review is to thank all of you that make Cruise Critic boards so informative. Many of the decisions we made about our cruise were made after searching Cruise Critic and if we could not find the info we were looking for I would post a question and I always received an answer.

 

I will try to list some of the decisions you help us make.

(1) We had never cruised before so we did not have any idea as to what itinerary would be best for us. After checking C.C. we decided on Western Caribbean. Thanks C.C.

(2) We did not know what Cruise Line to choose. After checking C.C. we decided on Royal Caribbean. Thanks C.C.

(3) With many ships to choose from we looked at many reviews and decided on The Jewel of The Seas. Thanks C.C.

(4) We wanted a balcony stateroom but found they could be difficult to find. We read tips about how to look for certain staterooms on different sites. Very late one night I was going thru my “routine” of checking sites for available staterooms I saw a hump balcony room was available, I immediately put a 24 hour hold on it and then went to C.C.

for input about this stateroom. Our stateroom was perfect, close to the elevators and near the Centrum, a very good choice for us.

(5) We started looking for a flight to Tampa and learned about ways to search for flights quickly (flight matrix). We also found out more about booking our flights through Choice Air and we booked and that worked well. Thanks C.C.

(6) Now we needed to book our hotel we found many options and then found Chase Suites in Tampa. We had never heard of Chase Suites. After checking with C.C. we booked our hotel. Chase Suites has a cruise and snooze package that worked great for us.

They picked us up at Tampa airport on Sunday Feb. 10, 2013, we stayed overnight in a nice clean suite, and Monday after a nice breakfast (included in the package) they brought us to the ship terminal. On Saturday Feb.16, 2013 they picked us up at the ship terminal and brought us to the Tampa airport. All of this was included in the package.

Chase Suites was great! Thanks C.C.

(7) We wanted to snorkel while in Cozumel, we saw many options, and we checked with C.C. and decided to take a taxi to The Money Bar. This was fantastic. For $30.00 per person we had a private guide (Daniel) who spoke very good English, instructions on how to use the gear, he basically towed the two of us out to the reef and only asked us to kick with our flippers. We saw so many fish, many different colors of fish, different species; we even saw a snake at the bottom. Daniel took one of the two underwater cameras we had with and did a free dive to the bottom where he took pictures of fish and pictures of us.

The food included was very good as many on C.C. said it was. Thanks C.C.

(8) We visited Instrumentos Musicales (Pax) a music store that we had heard about and C.C. members said it was a worthwhile stop. We really enjoyed talking to the owner of the store and his wife about all the instruments they had in the store. We also enjoyed meeting Sergio and his Father and Mother at Sergio’s Silver Thanks C.C.

 

I could list many more but as you can see all of you on C.C. helped make this a very special trip that my wife and I will never forget! Thank You so much C.C. :):):):):)

[maureencruiser]

This is great! Now, you are addicted like the rest of us! Welcome to your new obsession! When's the next cruise? ;)

[nacdcruiser]

Nice post, doormaster!

[DrD]

Yes, it's a great resource. Sometimes it's hard to understand why some people don't do such research then complain on board the ship or ironically here on the forum.

 

Welcome to the club of the not lame.

[GSuitesailing]

Thanks for such a nice post. So glad to hear you enjoyed your first cruise and all your research paid off. CC provides a wealth of knowledge for the asking/taking.

 

I'm wondering, have you started to think about your second cruise yet?

[doormaster]

We are thinking about Southern Caribbean but are now enjoying the memories of this cruise.

[cruzin lady]

We, too, agree with the other posters. We had already sailed many times before

someone told me about CC. I don't know how we made it without CC!

 

To say it provides a wealth of information is really not good enough; it is awesome!!

 

We're "loyal Royals and loyal Cruise Critic members." We hear such tragic things on the different types of media, but when we come to CC a huge part of the posts are so very

positive. Let's all do our part in keeping posts positive!

 

Happy cruising,

 

Cruzin Lady

[molly361]

Welcome back - Glad you had a great time!!:D

[printingchick]

I've been here for years, but continue to benefit from GREAT information from CC members. It's a great place to be!