LIVE from Jewel May 15, 2024 - 27 nights

[twangster]

Wave Benders are a man down.  Something about one band member downstairs in medical and having to elevate a leg.  
 

They still sound pretty good.  

[twangster]

Quest tonight at 10:30pm.  
 

Might be in bed by then.  🤣

[twangster]

Starlink in heavy rain, in a packed Centrum.  
 

[andreasfcb]

14 hours ago, twangster said:

As far as the internet or Voom experience has been on board, Starlink is an important change that is largely responsible for the improved user experience but a Starlink upgrade alone won't always create the best outcome.

 

The other important factor driving the user experience is the WiFi platform or technology in use.  In order to fully utilize the Starlink upgrade to its maximum potential the WiFi platform has to be upgraded as well.  It also has to be properly configured.   The best WiFi hardware configured improperly would cause a terrible user experience.

 

Fortunately Jewel has had her WiFi tech upgraded on board and it appears to be properly configured unlike what I discovered on another Radiance class ship a few years ago.

 

This starts with allocating various access points to different non-competing frequencies.

 

 

Jewel is using 20 MHz channels.

 

2.4 GHz band:

 

 

 

5GHz band:

 

 

 

The use of 20MHz channel width isn't going to provide the most throughput theoretically possible however it is the proper method to configure a WiFi platform for this type of environment.

 

Given the inherent bandwidth available through Starlink there would be no benefit to using 40MHz or 80MHz channel width like one might at home.  More importantly given the number of access points in close proximity, higher channel widths would create more overlap and interference yielding lower performance. 

 

Since for the most part WiFi clients will be accessing Starlink as opposed to local network resources, it would make little sense using higher channel width.

 

For example there are a number of high performance outdoor access points on deck 12.  By configuring them as they have, those access points can coexist with reduced overlap and interference in an environment where they will at times have hundreds of devices connected such as during sail away or other pool deck events for the masses.

 

On some ships they speed restrict WiFi for each user to around 10Mbps throughput.  This remains to be a misguided attempt to share bandwidth.  The problem with this approach is that it creates congestion in the WiFi spectrum by prolonging the amount of time a WiFi client is consuming spectrum.  With each client taking longer to complete its data exchange the spectrum is busy longer.  This appears to be the approach they are taking with the mega ships, Oasis and Icon class and it drive me crazy.

 

Fortunately they are not (yet) implementing per user speed restrictions on the smaller ships, at least in my experience.  

 

In summary Jewel has nailed the WiFi upgrade and they are not speed restricting users beyond the use of 20MHz channel width which is the proper approach for this type of environment.  

 

 

I thought you were on Jewel, not Spectrum. 😉

[twangster]

1 hour ago, Laurie JJ said:

Really enjoying your report Twangster. We are looking forward to our upcoming trip on Jewel in July to Norway. This will be our first time on a Radiance class ship and are excited to try out a smaller ship. Do you know if there are hot water kettles in the balcony cabins?  Tea on the balcony in Norway sounds nice!

 

My balcony cabin does not have a kettle.

[twangster]

Day Fifthteen - Bruges (Zeebrugge), Belgium

 

 

 

[twangster]

Last night I noticed they added some excursions for today.   Given this was a port recently added to the itinerary these were not offered initially.

 

 

I haven't booked a ship excursion for today.

[twangster]

The ship hasn't yet provided departure information for those leaving tomorrow.  There are these notes in the cruise compass:

 

 

[twangster]

15 hours ago, LAKaye said:

 

Hello to Twangster !

Thank you so very much for taking us along with you on this wonderful journey.

 

I too am a lover of the Deck 7 forward rooms on the Radiance class ships.

Looking at your photos, I am curious to see that your balcony and the balconies aft of you have a solid- or plain-colored Bolidt brand deck surface, but the balconies forward of yours appear to have a teak or teak-look surface.

Is that what I'm seeing?

 

Being a cruise nerd, I find this interesting.  

 

Thank you 🙏🏻

Leslie

I waited until we made it to a port to check this out.  

As near as I can tell only the two cabins forward of my cabin have the extra treatment on their balcony.  

Starboard balconies don’t appear to have any.  
 

On the port side only two have it.  
 

 

The cabin immediately forward of mine has a raised deck approximately 1cm high while the cabin forward of it has the teak like pattern painted on the surface without the raised bit.  
 

That leads me to think it was some sort of repair.  

[Sinders99]

@twangster if it's not too much trouble I'd love to hear what happens on your change over day between cruises.

Hubby and I are doing B2B cruises on Jewel in June & July for a total of 25 nights. We've never sailed B2B before so it's completely new to us. We'd love to stay onboard on changeover day to book our dining (as we have the unlimited dining plan for our second cruise) but then after we've got that out of the way we'd like to go ashore and maybe do some laundry and explore Amsterdam a little more before reboarding before sail away. We just don't know what to expect or if going ashore is even going to be an option.

[twangster]

25 minutes ago, Sinders99 said:

@twangster if it's not too much trouble I'd love to hear what happens on your change over day between cruises.

Hubby and I are doing B2B cruises on Jewel in June & July for a total of 25 nights. We've never sailed B2B before so it's completely new to us. We'd love to stay onboard on changeover day to book our dining (as we have the unlimited dining plan for our second cruise) but then after we've got that out of the way we'd like to go ashore and maybe do some laundry and explore Amsterdam a little more before reboarding before sail away. We just don't know what to expect or if going ashore is even going to be an option.

 

When I came back on board today a letter for consecutive cruisers was on my door.

 

 

My allocated time to visit the theater and be checked in for my next cruise is 8:30am.  

 

 

I'm moving cabins but just down the hall.  As it turns out my cabin attendant will be the same.  He has advised me to leave everything that is in the closet on hangers as is and he will move swap the hangers between cabins.  Everything else gets packed in my suitcase.  

 

[twangster]

Taking the free shuttle to the gate of the cruise terminal.

 

 

The cruise terminal:

 

 

Walked the wrong way initially.

 

 

Chocolate factory outlet near the cruise terminal.

 

 

 

 

Information on the day pass for the transit system.  There is a grocery store here where you can buy the pass and also any water or soda you wish.

 

 

I didn't have a destination in mind, I just walked.

 

 

A tribute to the Manitoba Dragoons.

 

 

The area is largely industrial with a lot of trucking or transportation.  Sidewalks were great for walking though, just not a lot to see.

 

 

The light rail train.

 

 

Eventually I made it to a residential area.

 

 

 

 

 

This area is clearly a beach resort type town but given it's off season everything was closed.

 

 

A Carnival ship arrived in port.  Oh wait...

 

 

At this point a light rain started and the clouds looked like it could become more than a light rain so I packed my good camera away, donned my rain coat and started making my way back. 

[twangster]

Checking out that chocolate factory I saw earlier.  It's close to the cruise terminal.

 

Sugar free sections:

 

 

 

 

All sorts of interesting chocolate shapes and sizes.  

 

 

Despite the cool temperatures some ice cream was in order.

 

 

[twangster]

I may have become a little out of control in the chocolate factory, but I have another two weeks on board, so...

 

[twangster]

I managed to get just over 4 miles in so I think I've earned some whiskey filled chocolate.

 

[twangster]

Zeebrugge is a busy sea port.  Here is a timelapse.

 

 

 

[twangster]

Getting ready to depart Zeeburgge.  
 

Captain indicated we’ll go through the lock at 2:15am for a 6am arrival into Amsterdam.   

[cruiselvr04]

4 hours ago, twangster said:

 

When I came back on board today a letter for consecutive cruisers was on my door.

 

 

My allocated time to visit the theater and be checked in for my next cruise is 8:30am.  

 

 

I'm moving cabins but just down the hall.  As it turns out my cabin attendant will be the same.  He has advised me to leave everything that is in the closet on hangers as is and he will move swap the hangers between cabins.  Everything else gets packed in my suitcase.  

 

Thanks for posting this. I was wondering how much time we’d have in Amsterdam on TAD.  While we like the consecutive cruisers lunches, we’d also like to get off and see more of Amsterdam so this gives us a time frame. We could easily spend 4-5 hours off exploring. We have the same cabin.  We have decided not to try a Royal up because so much time is wasted packing and unpacking. 

[twangster]

Day 15 cruise compass

 

JW May 15 day 15 cruisecompass.pdf

[Oceansaway17]

1 hour ago, twangster said:

Getting ready to depart Zeeburgge.  
 

Captain indicated we’ll go through the lock at 2:15am for a 6am arrival into Amsterdam.   

I guess you will be up and on the balcony to film.

Looking forward to your Norway cruise.

I am on the 12 nights Arctic in August.  I noticed Jewel is doing about four of these, and each one has a different itinerary.  Some of your ports are different than mine,

Sad to see this is the last year for Jewel doing Norway.

Enjoy turnaround day.  I did this on Serenade in 2018 in Copenhagen for Baltics after Norway.

Glad I got off the ship in St Petersburg back then.

PS You had wonderful weather in Iceland and should be glad.

[twangster]

Parade of Nations, 8:15pm, Centrum

 

 

 

848 crew from 60 nations.  

 

[twangster]

I distributed some of my excess chocolate acquisitions to some crew members.  They were very appreciative.  Should’ve acquired more.  Many deserving crew on board.  

[Sea Dog]

7 hours ago, twangster said:

I managed to get just over 4 miles in so I think I've earned some whiskey filled chocolate.

 

I am impressed. That’s a lot of walking. What are you wearing for shoes?

[FionaMG]

39 minutes ago, twangster said:

Parade of Nations, 8:15pm, Centrum

 

 

 

848 crew from 60 nations.  

 

I love the parade of nations. I wish they still did it on the bigger ships.

[island lady]

On 5/28/2024 at 4:24 PM, andreasfcb said:

I thought you were on Jewel, not Spectrum. 😉

 

Ships internet before Elon came along....cave man days.  😉