Jewel B2B ~ Southern Caribbean

We just got back from a Back to Back on Jewel of the Seas out of San Juan. I wanted to do a small review of the cruise and mainly talk about the islands. Cruise Critic has been so helpful to me as I plan our cruises so I wanted to pay it forward. Let me know if you have any questions along the way!

I will start with our first port of call: St. Thomas.

We decided to go to Magen's Bay since we had never been there before. The taxi ride was $10 per person, per way and it was $5 per person to get onto the beach. So it was $50 for us to get there and back and into the beach. We decided not to buy chairs because there was plenty of space for us to lay our towels down. The beach was beautiful and we enjoyed ourselves.

Headed back to the Jewel!

View looking down from an upper deck to the Centrum.

Next stop: St. Kitts! There is always a rain cloud over this mountain top and it's so beautiful! See the rainbow?

We had been to Carambola Beach Club in the past and fell in love so we decided to stick with what we knew! It was $4 per person, per way to Carambola. So $16 RT total for us was very welcome compared to what we paid in St. Thomas! We paid $30 for 2 chairs and an umbrella.

Our next stop was Antigua. Both my husband and I had a head cold so we decided to stay on the ship for the day. We were bummed because we love the beaches of Antigua.

View from the ship

Luckily, we were feeling better for St. Lucia! I've always thought the port here is beautiful.

We hopped in cab and went to Rodney Bay - Reduit Beach. It was $28 round trip for both of us and we paid $15 for 2 chairs and an umbrella.

When was the muster drill on the first day? Also, wondering if you happen to have the name of the MDR menu for each night? Thanks in advance!

Our next stop is probably our favorite Caribbean island: Barbados! Where it's always sunny, hot and the sand is like powdered sugar!

We love going to Boatyard Beach on Carlisle Bay. It's about a 5 min taxi ride from the port. It is $5 per person. To get into Boatyard, it is $20 per person. With that comes, 2 chairs and an umbrella, 2 welcome drinks, free snorkeling with the turtles and at a ship wreck, a rope swing, trampoline and iceberg in the ocean AND your taxi ride back to the ship! It's really a great deal and we love eating at their restaurant as well. You can only use their facilities if you have paid the entry fee.

Also, they do sell out by about 11am so if you want a spot, get there early!

When was the muster drill on the first day? Also, wondering if you happen to have the name of the MDR menu for each night? Thanks in advance!

The muster drill was at 5:45pm both weeks we were on. No I do not have the names for the menus. They switched them up though between the 2 weeks and they told us they were new menus starting on January 14th. The dessert is now on the menu with the appetizer and main course so you order dessert in the beginning with everything else. :confused:

Time for a sea day, and a beautiful, sunny day it was! Final day of the cruise.

Waiting for the belly flop competition to begin!

A quick note that the roof in the Solarium was open every port day until 4pm. It was nice to have the sun!

We were in a Junior Suite for the 1st week and here is a picture of the room (1584)

We loved the extra space, the full tub/shower, and the extra wide balcony.

The 2nd week, we were in a balcony stateroom (1056) right off of the Centrum elevators. The location was amazing as we just went up 1 deck to the Windjammer and we were right at our room after getting off of the elevators. We never had any issues with noise from the Centrum. I didn't get any interior pictures as it was just like a normal balcony room but the balcony is extra long. We did enjoy 2 loungers, 2 chairs and a table. (can't see the loungers in the picture)

1st day of the 2nd week: St. Croix. We love St. Croix and have always gone to Rhythms at Rainbow Beach to enjoy our day. We didn't think we needed to change anything so that is what we did! It is a very short (2-3 min) taxi ride to the beach for $3 per person, per way. At Rainbow Beach, they have adirondack style chairs for $5 each and full loungers for $10 each. The umbrella is $10 as well. We opted for an adirondack and a lounger.

We love eating at the restaurant here and you can't beat the view!

As we came back to the ship, the view of the ships in port was just beautiful!

The other ship is the Carnival Fascination. We noticed that there were no passengers on the ship. I just recently read that they are housing FEMA workers for a little while longer there. It also looked like they were working on the ship as part of a pre-refurbishment.

The muster drill was at 5:45pm both weeks we were on. No I do not have the names for the menus. They switched them up though between the 2 weeks and they told us they were new menus starting on January 14th. The dessert is now on the menu with the appetizer and main course so you order dessert in the beginning with everything else. :confused:

Thanks for the info!

Next up: St. Maarten!

We decided to get in a taxi and head to Great Bay beach. We've always seen this beach from the ship but had never visited. It was $3 per person, per way by land taxi. I did not check on the water taxi but I know that is an option. The beach was gorgeous. We purchased 2 chairs and an umbrella for $25 and we convinced the guy to throw in a free bucket of beer!

We tried to eat at a restaurant called Caribbean Blend but after waiting 45 mins for some chicken wings, we left money for the drinks and walked away.

Side note: formal nights are Day 2 and 6 on this cruise. We love getting all fancy!

Also the Captain's reception was on the first formal night.

The beautiful Centrum!

Enjoying this thread.

Lovely photos.

Keith

Also beautiful couple.

Keith

Martinique was up next! We weren't very excited about this island but I was pleased with how it turned out!

My husband needed to make some calls so we found a little pizza shop with WiFi. Here is the view of the ship from our seat!

After using the WiFi and ordering a few drinks, we decided to take a walk. We stumbled upon a nice little beach where we decided to take a swim! If you are leaving the ship, walk all the way down to your right along the boardwalk. It ends at a fort and that is where the beach is!

Our 2nd to last stop was Barbados again. Since we LOVE the island, we weren't sad about visiting here twice!

Caught the Adonia pulling in to port!

Spent another awesome day at Boatyard!

View from lunch

Last port day of the cruise: Grenada.

(I want that hot pink house) :D

Our original plan was to take the water taxi to Grand Anse but as we sat on our balcony drinking coffee, we realized they were making people wait up to 30 mins to fill the water taxi before they would leave! The water taxi was $5 per person, per way to Grand Anse. The land taxi was $5 per person for a taxi of 4 but if you only had 2 people, it was $15 total per way. We found another couple so it was only $5 for us. It was pretty cool to drive through the town and see the local area.

We had been to Lazy Dayz a few years ago and I remembered their chairs were reasonable so we went back there. It was $15 for 2 chairs and an umbrella. Beers were only $2 which is pretty cheap for buying them at the beach.

Best part of a balcony room

Final sunset at sea :loudcry:

Until next year....

Beautiful photos Laura!

We just got back from a Back to Back on Jewel of the Seas out of San Juan. I wanted to do a small review of the cruise and mainly talk about the islands.

Small? I didn't sign up for small. How is small going to help me get through 87 days? OBLIGATIONS YOUNG LADY!

;)

Do you recall the name of the restaurant at Boatyard in Barbados?

Martinique was up next! We weren't very excited about this island but I was pleased with how it turned out!

 

 

My husband needed to make some calls so we found a little pizza shop with WiFi. Here is the view of the ship from our seat!

 

 

After using the WiFi and ordering a few drinks, we decided to take a walk. We stumbled upon a nice little beach where we decided to take a swim! If you are leaving the ship, walk all the way down to your right along the boardwalk. It ends at a fort and that is where the beach is!

 

 

Pictures aren't showing for me this morning, I'll check at home tonight.

Pictures aren't showing for me this morning, I'll check at home tonight.

I can see them fine Bill. Maybe photobucket is blocked?

I can see them fine Bill. Maybe photobucket is blocked?

Possibly, one nice thing about the new forum software, if I quote a message, I can see the links to the site where the photo is hosted. Yup, that is it, photobucket is blocked due to our cloud governance policy. Viewing will have to wait till tonight.