Port Intensive and Picture Intensive Trip Report for Jewel's E Mediterranean cruise

[PhilNDebbieAtSea]

We met M&F at 7:30 to go to the concierge lounge.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[PhilNDebbieAtSea]

The concierge, Diego, came over and introduced himself. Very nice guy! M got a wine, F got his usual water, and P got a Millers as there is no Coors Light in the concierge lounges fleetwide. I decided to wait until dinner for a drink.

 

There was great music in the Centrum. We went to dinner a little late after 8:30 to miss the typical first day line. Could not believe our eyes! The line was still there. We sat at the business center to wait it out, but even after the line started moving, it kept getting longer. Oh well, we went to wait in the line.

[PhilNDebbieAtSea]

We had table 480. Denis was our waiter and Matija (not likely his name) our assistant water (young, handsome, clueless boy). What a debacle. The waiter did not introduce himself. The assistant waiter did not know what a sourdough roll was or Moscato wine. They now bring a basket of different kinds of rolls and put it on the table. Some people might like that, but M&I both only like sourdough rolls. When we finished those that were there, we asked for more sourdough rolls. Assistant waiter did not know what we meant. The waiter came over, after we saw the assistant waiter asking him about it, and slammed a basket of rolls down and said “more bread”. M asked about the bartender to take our drink order and Denis said yes and waved her away with his hand. We never got a bartender. (We found out later that the assistant waiter had come on the ship just before our seating and that the assistant waiters now take the drink orders. It is not really a good reason for the waiter’s behavior, but it is what it is! We would have been understanding if someone had taken the minute to explain it to us.) P&F had to go out to the nearest bar and get wine and beer. Then, P had to go to the casino bar to get Coors Light because the nearest bar didn’t have any Coors.

 

Another table was seated near us and they were being fawned over by the assistant waiter and another waiter from another area. We overheard that it was our assistant waiter’s first day, but no one told us. This waiter from the other area helped our assistant waiter clean the appetizers from 2 of the tables that were assigned to our wait team and they were standing there making conversation with them for a while. M eventually called him over and asked are you helping him with his tables? Why is no one taking care of us? He apologized and said he didn’t know we were one of the other waiter’s tables and he was just helping him because he had just come on the ship and started that day at 6 pm. Okay. He was very nice, but it was awkward. Still no bartender or drinks.

 

The real waiter came over at the end of the meal and finally started to try to talk to us. He threw the boy assistant waiter under the bus and blamed him for everything, saying he came on between the 1st and 2nd seating and promising that he would have a new partner tomorrow. Sorry buddy – our poor experience was not that poor kid’s fault. We considered asking to change tables, but we didn’t want to get people in trouble and knew the boy would take the brunt of it.

 

 

[PhilNDebbieAtSea]

 

 

 

 

 

I forgot to take pics of the main courses... After dinner, Phil went to the casino and I sat on the balcony and read before going to bed.

[PhilNDebbieAtSea]

Thursday,10/26/17, Day 7, Day 2 cruise – At Sea

 

Sea day! So relaxing! Beautiful sunrise and scenery!

 

 

[PhilNDebbieAtSea]

I had my nails done at 8 am at the spa, which I pre-booked online. I don’t get my nails done often so it is kind of a cruise tradition. I still gave her $10 tip over the automatic gratuity. She had only come on board 5 days ago. There are a lot of new people on this ship! The ship was very quiet this first sea day early morning.

 

 

 

[PhilNDebbieAtSea]

 

 

 

[PhilNDebbieAtSea]

Got some sunrise shots on my way.

 

 

 

[PhilNDebbieAtSea]

I stopped at Chops to say we would not make lunch today. We are going to do a dinner instead. They had to cancel the reservation, which was refunded to the cruise account, and we would have to book a new reservation. She also told me the other sea day lunch would be in Giovanni’s instead of Chops. I said that’s okay – we like Giovanni’s. I made a mental note to check the price because lunch for Chops was $19 and Giovanni’s dinner was only $20 online but $29 on the ship.

 

P&I ordered room service when I got back to the room. An hour passed and still nothing. I called and cancelled. I told them that it was taking too long. (I hope I don’t sound awful – I was afraid it would not come and then breakfast would be over in the WJ as it was getting late. They sent me a plate of chocolate covered strawberries the next day in apology.) We went to the Windjammer for breakfast. Food was cold, and they were shutting down one side. We sat in the back outside area and it was so nice back there. There was no salt and pepper though, so I went in and asked staff for one and he just took it off a table. As I was headed back, a girl, coming in with the same mission, asked me where I got it and I told her that I had asked and they just took it off a table, but here you can have this one right after he uses it…

[PhilNDebbieAtSea]

We went back to the room. Got a phone call on the room phone and it was noisy in the background. The person said Ms. Debbie? Yes. Please hold. Then, M got on the line. I said, what you had to go through the switch board???? No, they were walking by Giovanni’s and Diego saw them. He told them to come in – it was the suite special event brunch (but we had decided not to go). He told them that we were in there so they went in. We were not. When she said so, Diego said hold on and actually called us. LOL! We went down – it was casual, luckily. The food was amazing. Much better than the event on the Radiance when we went to that one. I am still thinking about the lamb chops they had!!!!! Delicious!! Probably one of the top 2 things I ate for the whole trip.

 

 

 

[PhilNDebbieAtSea]

 

 

 

 

[PhilNDebbieAtSea]

 

 

[georgiacat]

I am really enjoying your review. Beautiful pictures.

[PhilNDebbieAtSea]

We got the guys to get in the boat for a photo op. Security walked by and we were afraid they would get in trouble, but they just joked that Frank would drive the ship – that is right up his alley as that is one of his standing jokes that he is going to “drive” the ship!

 

 

 

Wish we had seen this hat before they got into the boat…

 

 

We booked our next cruise.

 

[PhilNDebbieAtSea]

We relaxed the rest of the day.

 

 

 

 

 

[PhilNDebbieAtSea]

 

 

 

 

[PhilNDebbieAtSea]

Lovely sunset!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[PhilNDebbieAtSea]

We went to the concierge lounge. Diego told us that he would take us off the ship tomorrow for the tender at 7:30 am. (Nice was our only tender port.) He also made Chops dinner reservations for Saturday for us. We stopped at the casino bar to get our drinks for dinner. M tried to get 2 glasses of wine (with her drink package) to last the whole dinner, but no go. She explained there was no bar service at all at dinner last night and we had to go to bars outside of the dining room to get drinks. The bartender was in disbelief. He told us who to ask for in the dining room and said he would tell the manager.

 

It was formal night. At dinner, there was a new assistant server, who was much better. Then, a bartender came over and said the bar manager called and we would definitely get drinks. Very nice and we were impressed with the casino bartender and the bar manager! It was also lucky because he came over at 9 pm and we hadn’t been offered any drink service to that point, so it had not been starting off any better! We explained to this bar staff what had happened. He said the wait staff now bring drinks and we said how the waiter waved us off when we asked for bar service last night. He ordered our drinks for us and the new assistant waiter brought them. They were very solicitous. We saw the bartender go to the head waiter and then get on the phone. Yikes!! Later that night, the head waiter came over and apologized. He said new guy, blah, blah, blah, would provide better service. Thanks!

[PhilNDebbieAtSea]

We had beef tenderloin and duck tonight. Lemon meringue pie was way too tart, but everything else was very good.

 

 

 

 

 

[PhilNDebbieAtSea]

 

 

 

 

 

[PhilNDebbieAtSea]

After dinner, I was ready for bed! Phil to the casino!

 

[PhilNDebbieAtSea]

Friday,10/27/17 – Day 8, Day 3 cruise – Nice, France

Villefrance,Nice, France! So excited! It has always been my dream to go to France! I can’t even say how much I loved this port and experience. I can’t believe we got the boys to go to France – they have an unreasonable and unfathomable dislike of all things French. 😊 I think we may have changed their opinions. Well, maybe not, but they are not as antagonistic…

 

Concierge took us down at 7:30 and we had an 8 am tour. This was the only tender port. It was a stunning sail to port at sunrise. You can’t make this up. Dreams do come true!

 

 

 

 

[PhilNDebbieAtSea]

 

 

 

 

[PhilNDebbieAtSea]

Someone was very tired…

 

 

 

 

 

[PhilNDebbieAtSea]

We had a tour through Riviera Premium Tours. It was 360 euros and then we added 2 hours to include Cannes for another 130 euros. Our guide was Sue, and she was very nice and helpful. LOL, we walked right by her at first. She was just holding up her phone and we did not notice our name on it. Finally, M said let’s check her, she is holding something up. Lo and behold, it was for us. Sue was from China, doing tours in France. She had a lot of information and took lots of pictures of us (without us even asking – maybe a little too much, lol!)

 

Sue was worried about our ambitious plans, but we got everything done! (Eze, Monaco, Monte Carlo, Cannes, Nice. We figured we were there, might as well see it all as you never know if you are coming back.) We are not shoppers or dawdlers so there was plenty of time! She even had time to take us up the mountain after the tour.

 

We went to Eze first. Very charming and beautiful old town, but nothing was open yet because it was so early. We were hoping to get a pastry or something as we did not get breakfast before leaving the ship.