Come Cruise with Me-Jewel Review 4/8/11-Southern Caribbean/2,000+ Pics/Super Long

[bionicman97]

Hello everyone! We got back this past Monday from 10 days on the Jewel of the Seas. I have spent every spare minute I have had in the past week processing photos from the cruise, and I am now officially ready.

The following is my extremely long review/journal from the April 8th sailing on the Jewel of the Seas for a 10 night Southern Caribbean cruise.

Our ports of call include Labadee, Haiti; Cartagena, Columbia; Colon, Panama; Puerto Limon, Costa Rica; & Georgetown, Grand Cayman.

I don't hold back in a review, so if its great, you'll know about it. If it wasn't, I'll share that also.

Everything that I will write was written the day that it occurred (except for the occasional thought that I throw in from time to time). I will start with Day 0 (The day we leave the house) and end on Day 11 (The day we return home).

We picked this particular cruise because we had always wanted to try something longer than a 7 day cruise, it had 3 new ports of call for us & it fit in with our work schedule.

This review is not for the weak of "patience". I have over 2,000 pictures uploaded already and have well over another 1,500 to go through still. I also have over 4 hours of video that I haven't even looked at yet. I wrote well over 20 pages of notes while we were on the cruise. This review is going to be an ongoing process that will probably take me a couple of weeks to cover.

If you have read any of my reviews before, my style will remain the same. (If you want a sample, look in my signature and click on "review" next to the Radiance.) I will give you the blow by blow of everywhere we went, everything we did and everything I ate, from the time I got up till the time I went to bed. We did excursions at almost every port, most 6 hours long, so I have a lot to share.

This post will be my most long winded one. I mainly use pictures to convey the story with words to describe the event

If you are kind enough to make a comment or question, I will always do my best to reply.

We also have two announcements that are big for my family. I will share one in the beginning and one at the end of the review.

For the cruise, we had an E1 Balcony (7534).

A little background, my wife and I have been married for 9 years. I am 31 and she is 29. We have been cruising since September 2006.



This was our 13th cruise, all of which have been on Royal Caribbean. We have sailed on every class now, except the Oasis class, which will more than likely be our next cruise.

We mainly cruise for the entertainment, the food, visiting new places, dancing, etc.

We live in Florida, so we mainly look to cruise in the off season for the great prices.

This is it for tonight's post, just wanted to get the ball rolling so I can get started tomorrow (Monday).

[demodawn]

Cant wait for the rest!

[ryano]

looking forward to it as always!

[judie43]

Hi Curtis....we were on the same cruise so I am really looking forward to your impression of it. I can't wait to see your pictures...I took a total of 47 !!

[Rancher Dave]

Keep up the nice review!

[nathand95]

Can't wait for this review! I've only been on NCL and CCL, but my parents and I are looking to try Royal. That is one of the best itineraries I have seen for a Caribbean cruise.
I can't wait to see all the pictures and hear how it was.

[bravescots53]

I am considering this itinerary for next year, so I am anxiously awaiting your review and what you thought of the ports.

[B_Mc]

Looking forward to it!

[charliegirlac]

Cant wait to read the rest!! Love long winded photo trips!!

[kycruiser72]

We were also on the Jewel with you guys. Looking forward to the rest of your review.

Matt, Terri, Julia, Liam

[DEERINH2O]

Can't wait for the review. I love reading them.
Thanks for taking the time to write it.

Kathy

[bionicman97]

Originally Posted by demodawn

Cant wait for the rest!

Thanks

Originally Posted by ryano

looking forward to it as always!

Thanks

Originally Posted by judie43

Hi Curtis....we were on the same cruise so I am really looking forward to your impression of it. I can't wait to see your pictures...I took a total of 47 !!

47 I had that many before we got to the ship We'll just say I like to have a camera around.

We had a great time overall, I hope you did too.

[bionicman97]

Originally Posted by Rancher Dave

Keep up the nice review!

Will do

Originally Posted by nathand95

Can't wait for this review! I've only been on NCL and CCL, but my parents and I are looking to try Royal. That is one of the best itineraries I have seen for a Caribbean cruise.
I can't wait to see all the pictures and hear how it was.

There will be plenty of pictures, I promise.

Originally Posted by bravescots53

I am considering this itinerary for next year, so I am anxiously awaiting your review and what you thought of the ports.

Ports of call were great. I'll share a lot from each place.

[bionicman97]

Originally Posted by B_Mc

Looking forward to it!

Thanks

Originally Posted by charliegirlac

Cant wait to read the rest!! Love long winded photo trips!!

You're in luck then

Originally Posted by kycruiser72

We were also on the Jewel with you guys. Looking forward to the rest of your review.

Matt, Terri, Julia, Liam

Hope you enjoyed the cruise, we had a great time

[bionicman97]

Originally Posted by DEERINH2O

Can't wait for the review. I love reading them.
Thanks for taking the time to write it.

Kathy

No problem. It gives me one last chance to take the cruise over in my mind

[bionicman97]

First off, I wanted to introduce you to the family. They always go on a cruise with me.



Cameras:

Bottom right: Canon DS940is (the go everywhere/wife's camera)
Bottom middle: Canon D10 (Underwater)
Bottom left: Canon G11 (my go everywhere camera/shows/food)
Center: Canon t1i

Lens:

Far left: Canon 50mm Prime
Next (going right): Canon 18-55 os
Next: Canon 55-250 os
Next: Sigma 18-200 os (my primary lens for this trip)

I used an ipad2 to write the review (not pictured)

If you are wondering, I took this picture with my cellphone, because that's all I had left

[bionicman97]

So, I mentioned that I would have a big announcement for my family at the beginning of the review and the end of the review. So what is my announcement for the beginning?










If you didn't catch it in that picture, I'll give you a slightly enhanced version



That's right, we are going to be first time parents! We have been "planning" on this for a very long time, so we are very excited

The due date is October 20th, so my wife was 12 weeks along when he departed on the ship.

Thanks to a suggestion from QTMichele, we shall be calling this trip "The Babymoon".

OK - I have to get some work done now, but later this afternoon, we will be starting on our road trip down - Stay Tuned!

[max'smom]

Curtis....Congratulations! Looking forward to your review. I like to do reviews like this myself. It really helps to relive the trip and I really think it's helpful to others. I know how much time it takes, so thanks for taking the time to do this!

[waf125]

Originally Posted by bionicman97

So, I mentioned that I would have a big announcement for my family at the beginning of the review and the end of the review. So what is my announcement for the beginning?










If you didn't catch it in that picture, I'll give you a slightly enhanced version



That's right, we are going to be first time parents! We have been "planning" on this for a very long time, so we are very excited

The due date is October 20th, so my wife was 12 weeks along when he departed on the ship.

Thanks to a suggestion from QTMichele, we shall be calling this trip "The Babymoon".

OK - I have to get some work done now, but later this afternoon, we will be starting on our road trip down - Stay Tuned!

Congratulations!

[Puffinater]

Looking forward to your review and pictures.