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Bit of a blog – Jewel of the Seas – Panama Canal – March 2nd 2009


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Day 1 Sunday March 1st

 

You may want to skip this day as it’s our pre cruise arrival day. Just so you know who you’re reading about: I’m in my 50s and Darran in his 40s. I’m a teacher and Darran is in IT. 3 daughters flown the nest.

 

Trip booked, flights and transfers included, through a TA. Flew out of Terminal 3 London Heathrow. Virgin Atlantic. Check in went smoothly enough as I’d already printed off boarding passes so we just had to baggage drop. Teeny bit concerned that the luggage conveyor belts weren’t working and our cases couldn’t even get on the scales.... but that resolved pretty quickly. The queues for the scanners for carry on baggage and personal screening was altogether a different matter. They were very very long. For the first time in ages I bleeped going through and was subjected to a public body search..... rigorous.... no worries. Glad we had allowed the full 3 hours before boarding as the whole thing took an hour. Cut down on my shopping time. Prices in Heathrow for tobacco are more expensive than those on the plane. Of course we didn’t know that at the time. I don’t smoke but Darran does.... so we also pre-ordered 200 on the plane for the return leg. Masses and masses of people in terminal 3. Made getting around the shops and restaurants difficult. Having flown out of terminal 5 recently the difference is tangible. Bought DD3 some perfume and a gift for the Meet & Mingle on board. Had a particularly unpleasant breakfast.

 

The flight was pretty full in our section. Service excellent. Had a neighbour and we chatted off and on. Survived the 9 or so hours. Watched Slumdog Millionaire. What an awesome movie though it was difficult to read the sub titles on such a small screen. Napped a bit.

 

Miami airport. Those guys have got immigration down to a fine art. Plenty of staff; no other flight in our section and we sailed through. Luggage was just being delivered to the baggage hall as we got there..... quite a trek. Chaos though. Some of the carousels weren’t working and baggage was being delivered for some of the internal flights manually. Worked our way round the crowds and nearly missed the RCCL rep.... he wasn’t holding up his paddle. Then we waited and waited for what seemed like an eternity though was probably only 5 or 20 minutes..... but the others on our flight for the hotel transfer didn’t appear.... I did suggest to the rep that they could have walked right by him as we had done initially. I wasn’t feeling my usual sweet and patient self.... I was hot, bothered and knackered. Another rep appeared and he took us to a van.... bit of a walk and no offer of help with the luggage. Van driver very chatty and we had a giggle over the lack of clear skies and sunshine. Remembered to have some $ bills in a pocket for tipping. (Love these boards!) He’s given us a list of pick up times for the various hotels. If they run to schedule we wouldn’t get to the ship much before 1pm. That’s too late for me so we plan to cab it around 1030 from the hotel. We have a date to meet those on the roll call at 3pm.... need to get to Portofino’s to bring forward our booked reservation and check the Main Dining Room for our table.... still hoping to get My Time Dining... have prepaid the gratuities with this in mind and the poor $/£ exchange in mind but then couldn’t get on the list as it was full.

 

Wyndham Hotel is very close to the airport. It’s clean and the reception staff very helpful and considerate. Room is large with 2 double beds. There is net access in the room but it’s chargeable. I think the lobby has a hotspot as I saw a couple of people down there on lap tops. They have 4 computers for free access in the lobby too. I am feeling lagged and though I would love to go to a place called Coconut Grove as suggested by the chap at reception I feel that a meal in is in order so we sample the restaurant. Really good food. Darran had steak (of course) and I had Tequila Lime Chicken.... divine. Halfway decent coffee. Miffed at the poor service and quite shocked to be honest as this is the first time in all my visits to the US that this has happened...... or maybe I’m just too tired.... shrug. 15% service charge included but not up to arguing the case.

 

Will post day 2 tomorrow :) Connection permitting.

 

Linda

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Looking forward to reading your daily blog again - we followed your IOS blog last year.

Will be interested to hear how the JOS compares with IOS as we were torn between this years IOS Med tour and the JOS Scandivanian tour.

Having been on VOS last year we got used to a large ship therefore opted for the IOS.

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NorbertsNiece...(Linda) I will be watching for your daily posts (connection permitting). My Mom (Jean) is on this cruise with you but did not sign up for the "Meet & Mingle" since she's NOT into computers at the age of 78.

 

She's in cabin 9572 D-1 with her cousin, Gail. She is Diamond C & A member and should be in the Concierge's Lounge before their early seating dinner time in case you're in there, too.

 

If you're near her cabin, stop by and say her daughter says HI.

 

Happy Cruisin'

 

Thanks...

from another Linda

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Day 2 Monday 2nd March

 

Falling asleep was not a problem. Staying asleep was. First woke up at 2am then 430am. Body ready for the day. Hmmm. It’s now 525 am. We’re both up.

 

We went back to sleep for a couple of hours. Breakfasted in the hotel. Took a 25 minute walk to a supermarket and bought a box of caffeine free diet coke and a dozen bottles of mineral water. Cabbed it back to the hotel. Packed up and headed to the port by cab. Decided we’d rather sit there rather than sitting in the hotel room.

 

Arrived at the port 1025. Checked the bags and drinks with the porter and headed into the building. And waited and waited and waited. Around 1130 they were able to allow us to board. Apparently they had a problem with the gizmo that takes the pictures that matches the boarding cards and had to relocate it. We were kept informed about the delay by a very jovial port official.

 

We then had to wait whilst the girl at the check in desk manually filled out the boarding info as the computer was down. She then had to disappear with that info in order for the boarding cards to be issued. Finally we were allowed on board.

 

Head straight to Portofino’s as planned. No problems at all in shifting our meal time. In fact for that day they only had 2 or 3 other bookings! Located Tides, the Main Dining Room. They weren’t taking any requests until 1230 so we headed to Windjammer. THAT wasn’t due to open until 12. The queue outside was already very long. It appears that they were given a snap inspection by the Health Authority and would not be allowed to open the restaurant until it had passed (found out later that they had scored 98%...... so what was the 2% lacking in then huh huh?). Around 1230 ish they opened the doors. By now the queue was not only long but disgruntled. As we were near the front of the queue we were seated quickly. As we’d been so long queuing we had befriended those around us and sat with them! They turned out to have the room immediately below us!

Honey stung chicken.... not great.... the fresh salad I had with it though was refreshing. For the lemonade drinkers out there there was plenty! Darran had a mix of roast beef, fish, gravy, mash and veg. Cleaned his plate so must have been good! We passed on dessert to go to the dining room to sort out the MTD. Did that painlessly.

 

It’s gone 1pm so we headed for the cabin. We have an aft on deck 10. It’s decorated as requested for Darran’s upcoming birthday and there’s a plate of preordered chocolate covered strawberries J DD1 will be sooooo jealous! The balcony is HUGE. Enough room for 2 loungers, 2 chairs and a table. The neighbours have luggage already. We don’t. Other luggage appears for other neighbours. Ours doesn’t. I go looking for our room steward. There’s no-one in sight. I call housekeeping as Darran really needs an ash tray. Our steward will be on duty at 3pm. Request the ash tray. Get a cup of tea and a decaf coffee delivered via room service. No kettle in room.

 

3pm we are at the Schooner Bar meeting our roll call buddies for an informal Meet & Mingle. Chops and Portofino’s are adjacent and they are holding tastings..... seriously..... crab cakes and salad from Chops and ..... wait for it..... Tiramisu from Portofino’s!!!! Meeting the roll call guys was awesome. We had a blast.

 

4pm head back to the room to hopefully unpack and get ready for Muster. Still no luggage. No room steward. 430pm Muster. On deck 5. We are really appreciating the walk! Get back to room and our steward introduces herself; she’s a sweet woman called Pastora. Still no luggage.... it arrives 530pm. Yayyyy. Pastora actually brought it herself. She objected to being tipped but I was so happy to see the bags and the drinks. In the meantime we had been informed over the tannoy that due to the bad weather elsewhere in the US some passengers had been delayed and we were to wait for them. Sailaway, due to have been 5pm is put back. I was disappointed initially not to leave Miami in daylight. I needn’t have been. The city by night was glorious. We eventually sail away at 7pm.

 

After the ship had turned in the bay we headed for dinner. Our neighbours were seated at the next table and we spent a lovely couple of hours enjoying the conversation and the food. A Bailey’s before dinner and one after. I’m a merry bunny.

 

We head for the Schooner Bar where there’s a wi fi hotspot so I could upload yesterday’s blog. Remind me in the future not to offer to sing along with a professional keyboard player/singer when I’ve had 2 drinks. That’s all I’m saying about that. The Shoop Shoop song will never be the same. I’m grateful that there’s few people there.

 

We catch the Welcome to the Ship show on the TV. Looks like they had loads of empty seats.... with the late sailaway people will have been in dinner. Joff Eaton, an English CD.... he’s efficient and very confident, of course.

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I'm looking forward to hearing all about your thoughts as you take this cruise. We just got back fron the same cruise on Feb. 20th. Our only complaint was they gave us way too much food!!!! You'll come to love Joff -- we found him absolutley hilarious. Try to attend the trivia on the sea days. My group actually won it -- but it was fun with Joff. If you have even half as much fun as we did you'll enjoy every minute.

Judy

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NorbertsNiece...(Linda) I will be watching for your daily posts (connection permitting). My Mom (Jean) is on this cruise with you but did not sign up for the "Meet & Mingle" since she's NOT into computers at the age of 78.

 

She's in cabin 9572 D-1 with her cousin, Gail. She is Diamond C & A member and should be in the Concierge's Lounge before their early seating dinner time in case you're in there, too.

 

If you're near her cabin, stop by and say her daughter says HI.

 

Happy Cruisin'

 

Thanks...

from another Linda

I left your mum a voice message on her phone..... hope I didn't scare her with my English accent :D

The phone rang last night but I was already semi conscious..... ;)

 

We're Gold members so won't bump into her in the lounge.....

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Day 3 Tuesday 3rd March

Awake at 615. I’m on the jogging track by 640. Seriously. Then I get on a bike in the gym and work off 50 calories. Then I do my physio exercises. Who’d have guessed I could do that!

Bring Darran back an orange juice from Windjammer. Love the shower despite it being small it’s certainly powerful. Breakfast in the MDR. Darran had eggs Benedict and sausage..... I had the smoked salmon plate. Delicious.

There’s been no invitation to the Meet & Mingle for the roll call and last night I had queried that with guest services. After breakfast we go to guest services to ask about it. Due to a computer glitch the guest information for the M&M has become corrupted and we will have a M&M but unlikely before day 6. I express my concern at that but there’s not a lot I can do. I asked whether he had followed the roll call chats and he acknowledged that he had so he could get a feel of what was being said. I said the phrase I have been dying to say all my life..... do you know who I am? ROFLMAO.

We head for the solarium. It’s gorgeous. Not sure about the fake bird sounds but the atmosphere is restful. We have a swim and then soak in the whirlpool. I forget that I’m wearing a hearing aid. Fortunately it has survived. We chat to the others there to discover that they are from the same neighbourhood in Detroit as my family. It’s as very small world.

Chilling out on a lounger, we score 1 /10 on the daily trivia sheet and I get stuck into the daily Sudoku. I had picked up sheets in the library; outside the room there’s a 1000 piece jigsaw. I’m determined to place one piece but give up trying to find it. Whilst we’re enjoying the solarium an announcement is made over the tannoy that the Cruise Critic meet & mingle would take place at 1130 in the Vortex lounge..... the original day and date! We scurry back to the room to dry off and collect the gift we had brought with..... a Harrods red double decker London bus and a tin of English Breakfast tea with a pattern of the London Underground on it.

There’s a message on the phone from one of the frequent posters (we’re a great bunch of (mostly) girls!) On arrival we’re met by the chap from guest services who’d said the M&M would take place on day 6. He apologized profusely and said they’d had so many calls they managed to get the list sorted. He didn’t have a list with him.

There were lovely canapés, iced tea and lemonade. Very much appreciated. A raffle..... some good prizes to be honest including some art work and the very last aqua mouse. We did as well as usual and won absolutely nothing. We exchanged gifts and I got a lovely set of drinks coasters from Arizona. Some of them went off on a room crawl. We passed on that and instead went to lunch in the Seaview Cafe. I had soup; Darran had tuna melt. It’s a quiet little place hidden from the crowd. Food is ok. Sorry to all those Seaview Cafe aficionados but the food was just ok. We get chocolate milkshakes and bring them back to the room.

We’d noticed a seeing eye dog being walked on board and this afternoon there was a talk in the theatre about her – Curry – who is a dog in training. I realised how much I was missing our two dogs. The talk was spellbinding. Kudos to RCCL for accommodating the dog and her trainer family. Giving the dog in training as many experiences as possible so that when she is placed with her new owner nothing she encounters will be new or strange is an amazing task. She sat alert most of the time.... watching her handler intently. I’d asked if it would be possible to be able to pet her. When her blue ID coat was removed she relaxed immediately and became the playful young dog she truly is. What a delight!

Formal night. I’ve left my formal wear tops at home. Typical. I make do with rather nice T-shirt which has buttons and a tux jacket pattern on it. Darran has his tux.... not sure if I told you earlier that he didn’t know he was travelling here until around 2 weeks ago! We look cool even if I do say so myself.

Confession time : I had 2 starters.... garlic snails.... :D then roast duck. Yummy. Darran had shrimp cocktail and fillet of beef. Started off with a Baileys. I don’t want to get any of the staff into trouble but I HAVE to tell you this. Yesterday’s 2nd Baileys was comped by one of the waiters. Tonight he comped a B52 in a love cup. This man is both a gem and an evil purveyor of alcohol. I told him about how I disgraced myself the previous night and how it was all his fault! By the time we left the dining room I’m about ready for my bed! I manage to stagger to the casino and get my $2 free go with a coupon from the book. I have budgeted each night for losing in the casino and not long after having achieved my goal of losing we leave. I’ll let you know if I fail and actually come away with more than I go in with! I’ve heard of people winning from their coupon voucher..... we have 2 more vouchers to go......

Didn’t make the show. Marty Allen.

 

Regarding the ship. She is stunning. I don’t have sufficient superlatives to describe her. We love the art work which is everywhere. It’s diverse and thought provoking. Some of the pieces are huge. We really do appreciate them. The attention to detail creates an overall appearance of comfort with a touch of class. Nothing is overwhelmingly opulent which makes us feel very much at ease. The colour schemes combined with the use of natural light.... there is so much glass allowing the outside in.... means you don’t feel overpowered by anything. The centrum is the most stunning. The use of coloured lights to highlight the different floors, balconies, lifts is so intriguing and innovative.

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Day 4 Wednesday 4th March

We had to put our clocks forward an hour last night. Breakfasted on melon, frosties with banana slices (yum) orange juice and decaf. Feel good. Darran had a cooked breakfast. We’re on a large table and have a good chat with our neighbours. Think about the lack of exercise but do nothing.

We head straight for the Solarium and chill out..... wonderful. Lovely swim. I discover that due to the salt water I can just float upright with no effort. 6 / 10 on the daily trivia. Catch a few zzzzzzz on the lounger. Captain’s noon address wakes me up (James MacDonald).

We lunch in MDR. Fabulous fresh salad served to order...... loads of choice and dressings..... with the most enormous shrimp. I have also ordered a burger.... in future I will be fine with the salad. I hate wasting food but the menu at lunch is long and sounds wonderful. They have dessert too..... how much can a person eat? We didn’t have dessert.

I head down to the Schooner bar where it seems the hotspot to connect to the net is easiest. I’ve tried in the solarium and windjammer to no good effect. I discover the Safari Lounge.... how have I missed it? It’s a huge room with tremendous appeal. The decor is lush. After I’ve posted yesterday’s blog (and I manage a few words on MSN with DD1 in the UK and DD2 in Iceland) we run into some folks we’d met from the roll call and sit with them by the rear window.... window is the wrong word really..... it stretches the whole length of the room and captures the complete rear view of the ocean. Superb. CD is starting up the progressive trivia so we don’t join in but listen in from afar. He’s funny and his audience enjoy his repartee. We are in excellent company and really enjoy ourselves. 2 for one cocktail coupon enjoyed too ;)

I’ve realised when posting that I’m being charged too much..... head off to the guest services guys where they refund today’s charges..... nice. Connection is slow enough. For those techies out there I’m on a Samsung NC10. Can’t post pics at the rate of connection. Darran has taken high res pics on his Canon 450D and will post to his Flickr account on our return and I have my mobile phone pics which will go up on Facebook. Will post the best here on our return.... or certainly the link.

There’s a talk this afternoon on blogging. I miss it. There’s the Park West auction also. You can’t walk around on Deck 4 without having to avoid their pictures stacked up all over the place. Very hard sell going on. We bump into Marty Allen in the lift. His room is on our deck.

Having vowed not to eat between meals I order chicken drumettes through room service. Had to be done.

Evening show is West End and Broadway. After our delicious dinner (I had cauliflower soup and butter fried chicken..... Darran had.... beef yet again....) we stroll towards the theatre. I hear the strains of Skimbleshanks the Railway Cat and perform a 180 degree manoeuvre..... my DDs who are following this blog will know why..... the rest of you..... it’s to do with Andrew Lloyd Webber, my brother and a surfeit of schmaltz.

We discover that there is a place at the Windjammer where you can help yourself to tea and coffee etc 24/7 so we do that.

I am posting this on our return from our day in Aruba. More about that tomorrow..... suffice it to say we had an amazing time.

Getting online is tedious and I wish I could read other posts. I’ll have a lot to catch up on on our return. We’re on our balcony watching people run for the ship which leaves in 15 minutes. Very amusing since on board was 15 minutes ago..... As I can’t get online from our location I’ll have to go hotspot it.

Linda

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Am enjoying all of your posts so much! Thanks for taking the time to post them!

 

what on earth is progressive trivia? never heard of it

have you happened to pop into the nightclub? would love to hear what the music is like up there and if they are playing fun 70's music or if its just loud rap :(

 

hope you had a fabulous day in aruba & looking forward to your next post, whenever you get the chance

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Progressive trivia is where you play with a team over a number of days and your points are added up.

Getting online today has been a nightmare..... heading for Cartagena as we speak!!

Day 5 – Thursday 5th March

Darran wants to be up to catch us arriving in Aruba and the sunrise so he arranges a wake up call for 6am. He disappears with his camera. I watch arrival on the TV. We are followed into port by Celebrity Summit which parks, sorry - docks, right up behind us. I can see into the bridge from my room J

Breakfast in the room. Yayy for room service. Disembarking starts very quickly and we can see people ashore already. We head down and meet up with Nancy and David from our roll call. We are taking ABC Tours jeep and snorkel half day tour..... we have to be back on board by 230pm. I’ve arranged this outing after reading a recommendation on the Cruise Critic board for Aruba. Darran buys a cheap baseball cap in the shops at the terminal. The tour operator is in the terminal building already so we head off..... we pick up two people from the Summit.

We’re driven to their rental location to await others. Eventually we are 3 jeeps. Each jeep can hold 8 people securely along padded benches in the rear. We cruisers are in the lead jeep with Papa Alfred.... what a character! It turns out that the other 2 jeeps are driven by holidaymakers..... the tour company didn’t have enough drivers! As we get further and further out of town the road becomes less and less tarmac and more and more stone and rock. I didn’t see one traffic signal. I forgot to ask whether they have any.

We realise fairly soon the importance of wearing the seatbelts as the road becomes less like a road and more like.... well.... off road.... Our first stop is the highest point of the island. The view is spectacular. Papa Alfred tells us about the history of the island and the wildlife therein..... particularly concerning boa constrictors which they are allowed to kill freely due to the devastating effect they are having on the dog / goat / chicken population. The boa isn’t native to the island but was brought there unknowingly in plant life many years ago. So we’re very careful not to go wandering off.

Papa Alfred has a cool box full of iced coca cola and an urn with iced water. We are encouraged to help ourselves.

Next stop is a cave formed out of rock thousands if not millions of years ago when the volcano and subsequent earthquakes formed the island. The first cave we arrived at was closed so we were driven to another. They are trying to reinstate the bat population so we only have limited access. The clamber up into the cave bothers me but I manage. Fascinating environment with natural light coming in from above.

We then head off into the wilderness. I’m reminded of Captain Kirk’s ‘to boldly go where no man has gone before’. I don’t think I’ve mentioned I don’t do white knuckle rides. I was heard to shout out ‘Whose idea was this?’ and realise it was mine. Note to self : research more in future. It was fun. Don’t get me wrong. Truly the most exciting drive I have ever been on; I’ve done the Colour Canyon in Egypt and THAT scared me.

We pass 2 ATVs (Quads). Man and his wife. Neither with helmets. They are not doing too well. We pass a Dutch family in a 4x4. HE’s given up. His wife and daughter have gone for a walk. We continue onwards. Upwards. Downwards. Seemingly never ending. These Land Rovers are awesome beasts. We eventually arrive. We can see the sea. The coastline is exciting and raw. There’s nothing peaceful about this place..... the crashing of the surf and the rough terrain forbid that. To get down to the water we have to....clamber....precariously on rock. There is a rail for part of the way. Disney this isn’t. It’s as nature intended. Don’t even consider Health and Safety here.... it’s every man, woman and child for themselves. Very, very steep.

At the bottom of the cliff is the natural pool. Again, extremely difficult to reach in bare feet.... I notice some people have those shoes for wearing in the sea..... so sensible. We’d been given snorkels and masks to carry down from the jeep. Everyone manages to get to the pool.... I give up initially. It’s too hazardous for me to attempt without my specs. So I decide to forego the snorkel and clamber over the barrier rocks with my trainers (sneakers) on. I then leave them on a rock and ease myself into the water. The pool is protected from the crashing waves by a range of rocks. The pool itself is still. I can see the fish on the bottom; there are crabs scurrying amongst the rocks. There are others there too so the atmosphere is quite jolly.... some of the younger people are encouraged by Papa Alfred to climb up the rocks and jump / dive / bomb into the pool. Much applause. The water is so refreshing from the heat of the day. I’m proud of myself for having made the climb down the cliff let alone accessing the pool. Climbing out of the pool and then back up the cliff took all the energy I could muster. We then drove to a seashore fort ruins. I stayed on the jeep. Visitors to the site previously had left little piles of stones all over the place; single stones one on top of the other...... hundreds of them. What the original purpose was is not certain..... they’re not Aruban in culture. They’re certainly bizarre.

The Casino is rocking tonight. I stand behind an elderly gentleman at the cashier desk. He is cashing in his chips. In excess of $5,000. He tips the cashier $100. I clasp my $10 bill tightly in my hand and smile. I win $2. And put it back in.

Headliner tonight is a keyboard player..... we stand at the back.... as he breaks into an old standard we both leave...... sigh.... I want innovation. We get a Beatles tribute band some time apparently. For that I’ll get there early enough for a seat.

I’m awake! We go to the Safari lounge where there’s a Name That Tune gameshow. We’re joined by Lynne and Murph from our roll call. We have a really good time. Lynne makes it to the floor quiz and does really well.

I forgot to tell you yesterday.... we have towel animals!! Yesterday was a scorpion..... and today is a waggy-tailed dog. No pillow chocolates. Tonight we got our C&A baseball caps. We dined in Windjammer as there’s sushi..... well nigiri and California rolls.... no sashimi or yakitori. But still.

Earlier we’d discovered the soft ice cream machine......

Cartagena tomorrow.

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