LIVE from Jewel May 15, 2024 - 27 nights

twangster · May 20

2 minutes ago, island lady said:

Wow...were you there that early, or just very low attendance in the theater?

I think when they don't send out paper invitations it's easy to forget about it.

Jimbo · May 20

1 hour ago, Sea Dog said:

So sorry I am so late to your great review. Pictures are outstanding as always. I so much want to do this itinerary on Jewel. Sorry if you addressed it but are you happy with Jewel? Is the ship in fairly good shape for her age?

Greg,

If you want to do his B2B itinerary like what he booked, you better get packing because it's only being done this year(2024) by Royal, nothing for 2025 like this.

Maybe look at other cruise lines.

Edited May 20 by Jimbo

twangster · May 20

Through a break in the weather we get our first distant glimpse of Iceland.

twangster · May 20

Sunset at current position 10:43pm

Sunrise at current position 2:53am

island lady · May 20

57 minutes ago, twangster said:

I think when they don't send out paper invitations it's easy to forget about it.

Makes sense. Most times we will get that fold out sheet of paper from the LA on times for upper tier, Cheers, etc. I tend to forget about that one too.

island lady · May 20

1 minute ago, twangster said:

Sunset at current position 10:43pm

Sunrise at current position 2:53am

And Brrrrrr!!! 😉

andreasfcb · May 20

If you can, you should absolutely check out the ocean for fountains of breathing humpback whales. When we were in the area between East and West, we saw multiple whales at once in the distance. Extremely touching for us to see this.

njkruzer · May 20

It's been 6 yrs since Iceland and Greenland. On Serenade I think. 1 new port for each when we're on the Jewel TA in August. For Aykeuri and Reykjavik we'll wander. Haven't decided much else. Relaxing by the pool in Hilton Head, SC right now.

twangster · May 20

Just now, andreasfcb said:

If you can, you should absolutely check out the ocean for fountains of breathing humpback whales. When we were in the area between East and West, we saw multiple whales at once in the distance. Extremely touching for us to see this.

I don't know if I can ever top what I witnessed in Antarctica. There were so many whales I stopped taking photos and just watched the show with my eyes.

andreasfcb · May 20

9 minutes ago, twangster said:

I don't know if I can ever top what I witnessed in Antarctica. There were so many whales I stopped taking photos and just watched the show with my eyes.

Completely different scenery and hard to compare, but both truly amazing. The greatest whale moment in my life was whale watching in the Strait of Gibraltar when a school of common dolphins of over 100 individuals surrounded our boat and jumped out of the water. You could feel their joy of life.

Do you like Puffins? I am not a bird person, but I adore them. We saw some even on our passage from Scotland to Iceland, but we booked a boat tour in Reykjavik to watch them. There is one colony just a few minutes from the city. A third party offers a 1 hour boat trip from Reykjavik. Would definitely recommend! They also recommend whale watching, but it is risky there (weather might not allow you and you don’t always see them).

andreasfcb · May 20

Check out: https://specialtours.is

(also available through Get Your Guide)

Sea Dog · May 20

1 hour ago, Jimbo said:

Greg,

If you want to do his B2B itinerary like what he booked, you better get packing because it's only being done this year(2024) by Royal, nothing for 2025 like this.

Maybe look at other cruise lines.

That's too bad. I really liked this itinerary but we are completely booked for 2024 and have 3 cruises booked in 2025.

island lady · May 20

23 minutes ago, njkruzer said:

It's been 6 yrs since Iceland and Greenland. On Serenade I think. 1 new port for each when we're on the Jewel TA in August. For Aykeuri and Reykjavik we'll wander. Haven't decided much else. Relaxing by the pool in Hilton Head, SC right now.

We will be there in August on Serenade. 😉 🙂

island lady · May 20

24 minutes ago, twangster said:

I don't know if I can ever top what I witnessed in Antarctica. There were so many whales I stopped taking photos and just watched the show with my eyes.

Was indeed a thrill!! Of course blown over by those monster floating islands of blue ice too! 😮

Wow, great times a few months ago on Serenade down there. 🥰

njkruzer · May 20

29 minutes ago, island lady said:

We will be there in August on Serenade. 😉 🙂

We'll wave!

DelMom18a · May 20

2 hours ago, andreasfcb said:

Do you like Puffins? I am not a bird person, but I adore them. We saw some even on our passage from Scotland to Iceland, but we booked a boat tour in Reykjavik to watch them. There is one colony just a few minutes from the city. A third party offers a 1 hour boat trip from Reykjavik. Would definitely recommend! They also recommend whale watching, but it is risky there (weather might not allow you and you don’t always see them).

My son and I were in Iceland this time last year and I too am not a bird person but adore the puffins. We saw hundreds of puffins at Borgarfjordur Eystri. Not sure where the Jewel's ports are but if it possible to get there I can't recommend it enough.

andreasfcb · May 20

37 minutes ago, DelMom18a said:

My son and I were in Iceland this time last year and I too am not a bird person but adore the puffins. We saw hundreds of puffins at Borgarfjordur Eystri. Not sure where the Jewel's ports are but if it possible to get there I can't recommend it enough.

There was a 7 hour shore excursion from Seydisfjordur with a short stop there, but we decided not to take it because the other things were rather meh.

I was surprised to hear that there is a colony literally next to Reykjavik. The small ship of the operator can cruise really close to the tiny island (just a few metres away) and you can closely watch the cute birds (among few oyster catchers, seagulls).

Below is a small glimpse of what you can see there.

That said, there is a also a Royal Caribbean shore excursion by boat on the next cruise (Arctic Circle) in Honningsvag where you are guaranteed to see puffins as well (and other sea life!). You will find us there. 🙂

Edited May 20 by andreasfcb

DelMom18a · May 20

1 hour ago, andreasfcb said:

There was a 7 hour shore excursion from Seydisfjordur with a short stop there, but we decided not to take it because the other things were rather meh.

I was surprised to hear that there is a colony literally next to Reykjavik. The small ship of the operator can cruise really close to the tiny island (just a few metres away) and you can closely watch the cute birds (among few oyster catchers, seagulls).

Below is a small glimpse of what you can see there.

That said, there is a also a Royal Caribbean shore excursion by boat on the next cruise (Arctic Circle) in Honningsvag where you are guaranteed to see puffins as well (and other sea life!). You will find us there. 🙂

We were driving clockwise around the country and now that we've been talking about it, I want to go back! I'm very disappointed that Royal isn't cruising there next year.

andreasfcb · May 20

4 minutes ago, DelMom18a said:

We were driving clockwise around the country and now that we've been talking about it, I want to go back! I'm very disappointed that Royal isn't cruising there next year.

FYI, there is one cruise (transatlantic through Iceland and Greenland) next year, but it does not seem attractive to me because it doesn't stay as long in Iceland as before. If I recall correctly, you could make a cruise with Celebrity. We never cruised with anything else than Royal Caribbean, but due to their lack of attractive Royal itineraries in Europe, we are considering the transition to Celebrity in the near future...

DelMom18a · May 21

Thanks, I'll look into the Celebrity cruise.

And now back to @twangster...............

Sinders99 · May 21

16 hours ago, celly said:

Our cabin attendant brings us the next day Cruise Compass daily when we starts his evening service. We asked him for a printed copy on the first day of the cruise.

Thank you. We’ll be sure to request evening service and a printed copy of the compas 😁😁