Jewel of the Seas Review 3-10 May So. Caribbean

[surfnsun]

And bartender Bob kept the "Run Runch" flowing :D LOL

 

There you are! Thanks for stopping by. :) Oh yes, he was a fantastic bartender.

 

Folks - meet Bob's daughter! She's referring to the fact if you sit next to John in the van, he designates you as the bartender and you are then responsible for making sure all the other people in the van are well "refreshed".

[JMCRUZIN]

Great review! Can't wait to read the rest!

[surfnsun]

surfnsun

Thank you for your review we loved it . You had great shots ,and it was well written and interesting. We are cruising on the Jewel in Nov . But not the same islands, as you had on your cruise. After reading your review . The time is not going fast enough. Certainly glad you posted this review. Happy cruising. Just waiting for your next one.

 

187 days cruise time.

kruise kat :) kruise runner :cool:

 

Thank you kruise runner! I'm still working on several more installments on this review. I'm hoping cruise critic will give me the grand prize for the longest running review and I will settle for no less than a free cruise for two. :p:D

[surfnsun]

Great review! Can't wait to read the rest!

 

Thank you so much! :)

[surfnsun]

See title above. A little shopping here and an opportunity to get yummy bakery goods and maybe soak up a little rum punch or beer. :rolleyes: We chose the ham and cheese croissant sandwich (price not included in the tour). (Please help me here, dancer19, as I don't recall the price of the tour and forgot to the mention that earlier)

 

 

 

 

[surfnsun]

OK, my friends...time to bring this review up a notch. I'm now posting a video and if this works it will be one of many. Please someone, kindly let me know if this works.

 

No explanation needed as I think the video speaks for itself. Enjoy and please pay no attention to that crazy guy at the beginning of the video as he would not get out of the way of my camera. :D

 

http://tinypic.com/usermedia.php?uo=fNkd6hpTbcOzlQrYE4%2FDrIh4l5k2TGxc#.U3FqSWdOXVI

Edited May 13, 2014 by surfnsun

[surfnsun]

Must have worked since you all are speechless. :p:)

 

We stayed at Maho beach for 30-40 minutes and then headed back to Front Street where you had the option of being dropped off for shopping and making your way across the bay via water taxi or John would take you directly back to the ship. As this is our shopping port, we elected to shop. I am a tanzanite junkie. I have earrings, a ring, and a necklace. This time I bought a tanzanite bracelet. Next cruise, I suppose I'll have to find a tanzanite toe ring as I think that may be the only option left. (That was a joke as I don't think tanzanite toe rings actually exist). :D

 

We made it back to the ship about an hour before sailaway and took our power nap, of course, and I sleep on the lounger on the balcony.

 

This evening is formal night and I had prebooked dinner in Chops.

Edited May 13, 2014 by surfnsun

[surfnsun]

How about we pause here for photos of the solarium pool. Hard to find a chair here if you get here much past...I would say...7amish. I took these photos about 6am and it wasn't long after that folks started showing up for front row seats:

 

 

 

 

[surfnsun]

That's it for tonight folks. I should be able to post a bit in the morning and then wrap up with a Chops review tomorrow night and get a good bit of St. Kitts done tomorrow night as well. St. Kitts was awesome but I can not wait to get to Antigua as it will be a review of an excursion I guarantee you've never read before. :):) It will warm your heart for weeks, and even if you are not the sentimental type, you will be reformed by the end of our Antigua excursion adventure.

 

Have a good evening! :)

Edited May 13, 2014 by surfnsun

[dacsmom]

I do love Bernards Tours, you see so much.

[surfnsun]

I do love Bernards Tours, you see so much.

 

Agree! :)

[dancer19]

See title above. A little shopping here and an opportunity to get yummy bakery goods and maybe soak up a little rum punch or beer. :rolleyes: We chose the ham and cheese croissant sandwich (price not included in the tour). (Please help me here, dancer19, as I don't recall the price of the tour and forgot to the mention that earlier)

 

 

 

 

 

The Price of tour number 2 with Bernard's tours is 45$ with a 5$ deposit each

[surfnsun]

The Price of tour number 2 with Bernard's tours is 45$ with a 5$ deposit each

 

Mucho thanks dancer19! XOXOXOXOXO:)

[courtsavvy]

Love your review so far!!!

 

We loved the Solarium on this ship and really enjoyed it the last few days. Getting up early allows you to get both a treadmill and a pool chair after! ;)

[Let'sGo!]

Hi there - I'm addicted to your review so far! We are headed out on Jewel next week. We too are staying a couple of days pre and post cruise at El Convento! We love it there!

 

I have a couple of questions:

1. How do you get to that restaurant, St. Germain's from the hotel? The last couple of times we've eaten at the hotel's tapas bar, but I would love to check out something new.

2. Do you have to actually enter El Morro to get access to the cemetery? Like you, I find looking at those old monuments and headstones fascinating and love to do some black and white photography in cemeteries.

 

Can't wait to hear about your other stops! You're doing great!

 

Thanks,

Ann

[Familygoboston]

ummm, those people are kinda stalking you;)

 

Just found your review tonight! Great job! Already clipped 3 restaurant recommendations into my "tips" document for our AOS cruise out of SJ next year, and back on Jewel (tentatively) in 2015- we will transit the Panama Canal and end up SJ at the end. (I'm not all in enough to make a ticker, but I did join the RC)

 

Looking forward to the rest and seeing what you did at each port- we've got St Lucia on our cruise and haven't been. So I look forward to seeing your tour there!

 

You want more Tanzanite, eh? Well, you could start piercing some things:eek:

 

Thanks for posting!

Edited May 13, 2014 by Familygoboston

[Sky616]

We always cruise with a balcony and this was our first aft balcony. We loved it in spite of the long hallway walk (pic on that later). Here are some shots of the stateroom and balcony:

 

 

 

And the typical sized bathroom where you can sit on the toilet while washing your hair in the sink and sticking your legs in the shower and shaving them. Saves soooo much time. :p

 

 

 

With this being your first aft balcony I was just wondering how did it compare to a port or starboard balcony which you've done in the past? Was the balcony bigger? We are thinking of getting one for our cruise out of San Juan on Adventure. We currently have a port side balcony.

[surfnsun]

Love your review so far!!!

 

We loved the Solarium on this ship and really enjoyed it the last few days. Getting up early allows you to get both a treadmill and a pool chair after! ;)

 

Hi courtsavvy aka multi-tasker! ;) Nice to see another from the roll call stopping by! :)

[surfnsun]

Hi there - I'm addicted to your review so far! We are headed out on Jewel next week. We too are staying a couple of days pre and post cruise at El Convento! We love it there!

 

I have a couple of questions:

1. How do you get to that restaurant, St. Germain's from the hotel? The last couple of times we've eaten at the hotel's tapas bar, but I would love to check out something new.

2. Do you have to actually enter El Morro to get access to the cemetery? Like you, I find looking at those old monuments and headstones fascinating and love to do some black and white photography in cemeteries.

 

Can't wait to hear about your other stops! You're doing great!

 

Thanks,

Ann

 

Thank you Ann for your comments and I'm happy to answer your questions.

 

1. To get to St. Germain's, depart the El Convento hotel and take an immediate left onto Calle Del Cristo and an immediate right onto Calle Luna (as if walking along the side of the church) and then one block left onto Calle San Jose and then next right onto Calle Sol and you should see St. Germain coming up on your right at the next crossroad at the corner of Calle Sol and Calle Cruz. It's a short walk as the blocks as short, as you know. :) five minutes at the most.

 

2. Good question and thanks for asking. You go down a narrow driveway and please be cautious as this is the same driveway vehicles use but it is the only access. Vehicles honk when going around the corner and they typically don't drive fast so it not too big a deal, really. We actually went there the first night. It is beautiful at night but the gates are closed and my pictures turned out badly. Two pics below and one shows the driveway (easy to see from anywhere in the field of the fort) and one a picture at night (albeit bad).

 

See the schoolbus and the driveway that is sunken and goes underground? That's it!:

 

 

Another angle:

 

 

Night photo:

 

[surfnsun]

ummm, those people are kinda stalking you;)

 

Just found your review tonight! Great job! Already clipped 3 restaurant recommendations into my "tips" document for our AOS cruise out of SJ next year, and back on Jewel (tentatively) in 2015- we will transit the Panama Canal and end up SJ at the end. (I'm not all in enough to make a ticker, but I did join the RC)

 

Looking forward to the rest and seeing what you did at each port- we've got St Lucia on our cruise and haven't been. So I look forward to seeing your tour there!

 

You want more Tanzanite, eh? Well, you could start piercing some things:eek:

 

Thanks for posting!

 

Familygoboston! How the heck are ya and thanks for stopping by! Your review inspired me and it was soooo good!

 

On the restaurants, I might have misspelled Fedos Deli and it should be Fefos Deli...at least that is so according to my credit card bill.

 

St. Lucia was AMAZING. It's our favorite island and we did a custom tour. I've got lots of photos and videos of snorkeling and our boat ride.

 

Hahahahaha. Piercing?! :eek: Your so funny! Yes, I'm in tanzanite junkie rehab but it doesn't appear to be working. :D

 

Nice to know your stalking..I mean following. lol :)

Edited May 13, 2014 by surfnsun

[surfnsun]

With this being your first aft balcony I was just wondering how did it compare to a port or starboard balcony which you've done in the past? Was the balcony bigger? We are thinking of getting one for our cruise out of San Juan on Adventure. We currently have a port side balcony.

 

The aft balcony is much bigger than most port or starboard balconies. This ship had hump cabins and those might compare. Not sure if Adventure has hump cabins. The advantage of having a port or starboard balcony (even thought much smaller (room for two chairs and table only) is you can see in front and behind you so you can see more of the island as you pull in and leave ports. Aft makes you feel more secluded but that can be a good thing and the view of the wake at the back of the ship is lovely, especially at night with the moon reflection (pic coming up on that later). We did pull into port in reverse in Antigua (I think) so we actually had a better view on that port of the island than startboard or port. The walk all the way to aft can be pretty long. Not too bad on the smaller ships so I found it ok. Not to scare you away or anything because I would get one again in a heartbeat, but here is a pic and our cabin is at the very, very end which you might be able to see if you up your zoom level on your toolbar. :D

 

 

[surfnsun]

Only enough time for a few ship photos of the main pool and then off to work. I'll close up day two St. Maarten tonight and continue on to St. Kitts. See you tonight!

 

Main pool photos below:

 

 

 

 

 

[heyletsgo]

Hey again surfnsun! What did you do in St. Lucia? I am stuck there. I planned some fun stuff for other stops. Please help! Thanks!

[surfnsun]

Hey again surfnsun! What did you do in St. Lucia? I am stuck there. I planned some fun stuff for other stops. Please help! Thanks!

 

Hi again! We arranged a customized tour for 5 of us with Spencer Ambrose tours. We had already done what his regular preplanned scheduled tour offered. This time I wanted to get closer to the Pitons and we saw them from above and went to the beach in between and snorkeled at the base. It was really great. Cost for customized was $90 each. I will do a full review probably Thursday night ok?.

[Reader0108598]

Thank u Reader. DH will especially appreciate ur comments as he got stuck doing all the laundry and putting away groceries yesterday.:)

 

 

UMMM .......Hellooo that's what DH's are for:D