Jewel of the Seas - 11/9 Cruise Review

[Illinois cruiser]

We will be on this same cruise on Jan 4, 2014. I am looking forward to reading the rest of the review. I am extremely interested in hearing about St. Croix and Martinique as we have never been there. Still researching ideas on activities ( excursions) at those stops!

[astracat]

We are going on Jewel on the 29th woohoo! Different ports but, want to hear about the ship itself as I've never been on it. Thanks!!

[scomar]

Oh, final piece of Day 1 information…there was one muster drill and it was at 8:00. It seemed to take forever compared to other times. Not sure if it was due to all announcements being made in multiple languages or just slow. Be prepared to stand for 20 plus minutes.

 

Do you feel that the longer duration of the muster drill was due to people having about 4 more fours than usual to party, therefore making it harder for them to get quite before the muster drill will begin?

[BillOh]

Do you feel that the longer duration of the muster drill was due to people having about 4 more fours than usual to party, therefore making it harder for them to get quite before the muster drill will begin?

 

Or possibly just show up.

[kmkristianson]

Been under the weather and not able to do a whole lot but shuffle through work, so I appologize for the delay, but will return soon!

 

Hi. I was on the same sailing as the OP. As a matter of fact, we met and talked several times! Hi Karen, great review! I did not have any problem with ship movement. However, I was in cabin 9078, mid-ship. I told Karen that ginger capsules have worked well for me in the past, with zero side effects. You may want to investigate that route. The motion sickness aroma-therapy oil Karen used smelled REALLY GOOD. Maybe she will share where she bought it......?

 

I got the oil at Wal-mart, right next to the dramanine.....it was less than 5 bucks, - saw it for a lot more on the ship. We used one vial for the two of us for the week.

 

Thanks!

 

Karen

[BillOh]

Been under the weather and not able to do a whole lot but shuffle through work, so I appologize for the delay, but will return soon!

 

 

 

I got the oil at Wal-mart, right next to the dramanine.....it was less than 5 bucks, - saw it for a lot more on the ship. We used one vial for the two of us for the week.

 

Thanks!

 

Karen

 

No apology needed, at least for me, I've got 150 days to go ;) These reviews are a service and unpaid one, I will look forward to what you have to say as it comes. Thanks.

[khm1]

Been under the weather and not able to do a whole lot but shuffle through work, so I appologize for the delay, but will return soon!

 

 

 

I got the oil at Wal-mart, right next to the dramanine.....it was less than 5 bucks, - saw it for a lot more on the ship. We used one vial for the two of us for the week.

 

Thanks!

 

Karen

 

I hope that you get well soon! I ALWAYS get sick this time of year. It is hard with the holidays to get ready for....

[swsf99a]

Get well soon! Also enjoying the review. We will be on the March 15, 2014 sailing on the Jewel!

[kmkristianson]

Sorry for the delay...but finally back at it....so here are the Day 2 - St. Thomas Cruise Compasses for those who are interested.....

 

 

 

 

[kmkristianson]

Day 3 found us in the beautiful island of St. Croix… after another lazy morning by the pool, we wandered off to the small market area at the pier.

 

It was quite warm with little breeze....even the venders said how warm it was....no trade winds.

There is a small fort right off the pier and a boardwalk that you can walk straight to the beach.

 

 

 

[kmkristianson]

OK, call me a geek, but I always am amazed by the tieing up and casting off of the ship lines. With the aft cabin, we got to see this several times during the week...

 

I think I took more pictures than anyone should

 

.....

 

A beautiful sunset as we sail on to Antigua......

 

[welshrich]

How was the entertainment? we were on a cruise that started from spain a few years ago, it was mostly visual (singers, jugglers and magicians) so no one felt left out because of any language barrier and the CD did announcements in 3 languages. I see you had Joey Van, he was on a TA cruise last year, really funny.

[alexpress]

Been nice to read your review. We will be on her on Feb 1st. We like aft cabins but they are not always so easy to get. Our first cruise was on Radiance 11 years ago and also been on the other Radiance class ships so I'm sorry to read that you thought she was a little bit under par. That will not spoil our enjoyment though. We chose Jewel purely for the itinerary. We've done the Southern trip a few times and always enjoy it.

 

We fly in to San Juan via Atlanta on Jan 29th to stay at the Intercontinental for 3 nights which is quite near the airport.

[kmkristianson]

We had a ship sponsored tour in Antigua. The See Antigua by Sea. It is a powered catamaran tour around the island of Antigua with a lunch beach break. This particular tour was cheaper booking through the ship than if I booked it direct through the Excellence. Overall great tour, we were lucky to get a nice seat up top…..If it would have been an 1 less, that would have been great…..I was getting very tired of the sun, wind and boat by the time we redocked….it is an all day tour. We left the ship at 8:30 and did not get back to the dock til 4. Not a lot of time for anything else. They served a delicious lunch of jerk chicken and fish and plenty of drinks….the pineapple juice with coconut rum was mmmm….

 

Not the best photos of the boat, I only had a telephoto lens on the camera, which worked well for the majority of the day!

The homes you can see as you go around the island are unbelievable....The crew did a great job with little tid bits of history and lore....pointing out many of the homes of celebrities.

 

 

 

Oprah's house on "Long Island" Antigua

 

[kmkristianson]

Just prior to lunch we traversed a portion of the island where you had to travel in the Atlantic…..well we were rocking and jumping then…..Hold on!!!

The cove we stopped at for lunch was on Green Island…..small beach area and nice warm water to float in. The crew brought out beverages and snorkeling was available…..One word of caution, the beach has lots of plants with burs on them….I would advise leaving your towel on board…..ouch!!

 

Eric Clapton's Home and Studio

 

More from around the island - the afternoon was more landscape - if you do the tour I would recommend to get on the right side of the ship....this will be the land side as you travel around the island.

 

 

 

[toto6]

We have this excursion booked in March. Gotta remember to sit on the right. ;). The pictures look awesome!

Thanks for the compasses!