A pictorial reflection on Jewel OTS November 1st - 8th

That night was a night of finality - Our final night in the MDR, final trip to the sauna, steam room and whirlpool, final virgin cocktail in the Solarium and final visit to the theatre for the farewell show.

Cases were packed and left out, we had an 11.15 flight out of San Juan the next day, and were booked for a 7.30 departure off the ship. For the last time, we crawled under those wonderful Royal Caribbean sheets as Captain Dustin and his crew headed back to San Juan.

Thank you for taking the time to do this report. Greatly appreciate your photos, and of course enjoyed your writing!

We are on the same itinerary in a short time. Could you tell me about St. Croix, and walking from the ship to the beach please? Perhaps brief directions, and an estimate of how long it might take to walk?

Many thanks!

Very nice trip report! Thank you for sharing!

Where to next?

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Great review! Felt like I was there! Thank you so much!!

Your photo tour answered some questions for me, but I have a few more. We will be on Jewel doing the identical itinerary in January.

Do you recall which night they held the 70s party?

What night was the second formal night? St. Maarten?

Did they have the "White Night" party? If so, do you remember which night?

What night was the Quest Game?

Thanks!

Thanks folks for your kind words.

Next for us is Canada / New England on Anthem next October.

The questions -

To get to the beach at St Croix, once you have passed through the gate at the pier, turn left and you'll see the clock tower and the red building, which is Fort Frederick.

There's a path which goes past the tents selling souvenirs and just in front of the fort, take that path and the beach is right there, at a leisurely pace, you'll take no more than 10 - 15 minutes to walk from the ship to the beach, and at pace, you'll do it in less.

There's also a nice walk along the seafront if you turn right, past some war memorials and the courthouse. It's also a good angle to get nice shots of the ship.

The second formal night was on Friday night after St Maarten, and yes, Fisherman's Plate was on the menu. The 70s Dance Party was in the centruum that night.

Dancing Under the Stars was on Wednesday night after St Lucia, there was no White Nights party.

Quest was on Monday night - John Blair's observation being he likes to hold it early because it changes the character of the cruise. I believe he had a point, and whatever other quibbles (none major) I may have about him, I think he got that one right.

I'll scan the Compasses over the next few days and post them here.

One final observation, particularly from the point of a newbie to San Juan. As I indicated, I had registered for the 7.30 departure off the ship, and we were at the theatre as instructed 10 minutes before.

It went like clockwork, and as I expected, we were approached by a porter when we got into the baggage hall.

I nodded, he helped with the bags, guided us through customs, and had our cases in the back of a taxi before you could say "that was quick!" We were at the airport within 40 minutes of leaving our cabin, enough time for a stroll around the airport while beloved read a book!

We went in, checked in, in plenty of time for our flight to JFK.

On our first day in San Juan, we'd looked across the bay from Raices and looked at the area's most iconic factory.

Now, in the Duty Free Shop, its produce was on prominent display!

We boarded our plane without incident, and were soon taxiing to the runway, crossing over what appeared to be a main road in the process.

The flight was uneventful - I was happy to see Fantastic 4 was one of the free movie options, but it turned out to be the dubbed Spanish version!

Either way we were soon flying over Long Island and into JFK.

We landed at JFK at 1.20pm, with three hours to make our Aer Lingus connection to Dublin. We came in to Gate 9 in Terminal 5. Aer Lingus uses Gate 11. Judging by what I saw from my window as we taxied to a stop, I reckoned we'd probably make it!

And we did.

We even had time for lunch.

As we sat in the concourse eating our Cheeburger Cheeburger (never heard of it before, good burger and excellent onion rings), a lady passed. "She's the spitting image of Liz", observed Pauline.

We had sent a lot of time with Liz and her husband and two adult children on Liberty a year earlier, they hail from Limerick.

I looked closely, and realised there was a very good reason she looked like Liz. She was Liz! It transpired she, her sister and daughter and other assorted female clan members were returning to Shannon after a few days shopping in the Big Apple. We chatted for a while, and then went on our way, reflecting that if you stand still in JFK for long enough, you're bound to see someone you know!

Before too long, we boarded on time and were soon in the air, landing at Dublin Airport at 4.10am our time. We picked up the car, drove 150 miles home, and arrived at our front door just before 8am.

As we were falling into bed, Jewel of the Seas was heading towards St Thomas. Hard to believe had been on board less than 24 hours earlier!

After a few hours it was get up, do some shopping, check e-mails, and real life slowly consumed us again. Ever since though, there's been an extra little pep in our step.

I admitted at the start that I would have been happy with Europe. Now, I'd happily go back to San Juan and do the other islands in the region. And then go back to the ones we've been to already...........maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon..........

Thank you for your helpful response!

And now the really important question: what was Pauline reading?

I enjoyed the trip down memory lane with you. It was nice to meet you and your lovely wife on this cruise. Your review was like a great cruise - it came to a conclusion all too soon! Thank you for taking your time to share it with us. I learned some pointers that I will tuck away for next year as we revisit some of the same ports.

She started the week with Lee Childs' new Jack Reacher book "Make Me", then moved on to Deen Koontz's "The City"

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Thanks for the great review and photos. It was nice to see you both again, even , if only in pics. I'll be boarding in 9 days and am ready thanks to you.

Thanks for the lovely review. This was especially helpful for me as I'll be doing this exact same itinerary this upcoming Sunday, and I've also got tours booked with Harods and Barnard!!!

Here are the Cruise Compasses from the week, I'll post all four pages until Tuesday. After that, Page 3 is pretty much identical each day apart from the dress code and menu, so I'll just post those details in the title of each post

I'm not seeing the photos lately just some kitten

Great review. Please wish your wife a belated Happy Birthday.

Having sailed with the Blairs multiple times I agree with your assessment of them. They are not my favorite either.

I was surprised when I followed the link on another thread and saw your picture. My first thought was that looks just like on of the couples on our tour in St. Maarten. We were on the Liberty and shared Barnard's tour with you in St. Maarten. Your picture of our sailaway is phenomenal.

We were on the Liberty and shared Barnard's tour with you in St. Maarten. Your picture of our sailaway is phenomenal.

Excellent - I remember you well, I enjoyed the discussion on differing tax and excise rates between different states.

Enjoy Christmas on Enchantment (runs to check Barbara's signature to make sure he's got that right!!!)

Ahem, enjoy Christmas on Grandeur!

Like you and Pauline, Judy and I have NEVER had such an effortless boarding of a ship EVER. RCI really had their act together.

This (meeting at Casa Dante the Saturday night prior to boarding our Jewel) was the first Roll Call group we really participated in for some number of months prior to the cruise. What a pleasure it was to meet a dozen people we had 'come to know' through the Roll Call on Cruise Critic. Will continue with each of the cruises we take in the future. Looking forward to reading your next installments to this cruise.

Great review! Enjoyed the pictures also.

I really enjoyed your review. Thanks for posting it.