“Live” Jewel of the Seas - February 4, 2018

Hello and Welcome!!

We are currently 5 days away from our flight to SJU to pick up the Jewel OTS on Sunday!!

This will be my second RCCL cruise (9th Cruise overall) and my BF’s first RCCL Cruise (2nd overall). This will be our first cruise together after our Majesty OTS cruise in September was cancelled, and also our first of 3 cruises we have booked this year.

This is myself and my BF of three years. We are both in aviation and share a passion for airplanes and the industry. I am divorced with two children (9 and 11) and they love BF as much as I do, which is awesome and makes for a happy household. In fact, our second cruise this year will be a family cruise on Mariner OTS and it will be the kids first cruise. They are beyond excited, my parents are also going on that cruise with us and will be surprising the kids at the airport in MIA.

Getting back on track!! We are focusing on this cruise now!! BF and myself will be flying from the D.C area on Saturday morning and staying in SJU Saturday night. Originally we were booked at the Hilton Caribe, however, that hotel was heavily damaged in hurricane Irma and is still under repairs. The Hilton Diamond desk has been beyond helpful and rebooked us at the Doubletree SJU with no issues and even reimbursed points for our troubles.

We originally booked and ocean view room on Jewel OTS but after watching the price fluctuate, we were able to upgrade to a balcony stateroom at no additional cost. Gotta love when that happens!!!

Obviously I will post our own pictures when we are onboard but this gives a decent idea!!

Now on to work and packing last minute!! I will be working out of town until the evening of the 1st so my packing time is limited to one day!! I’m also aiming to ONLY bring a carry on bag...challenge accepted!!!

Thanks for tuning in and updates will be coming along!!

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I ALMOST FORGOT!!

This cruise is also part of my 33rd Birthday from BF!! I turn 33 on February 7th and he has a whole day planned out on the ship.

I guess my age is setting in to the point I forget about my own birthday. :o:'):loudcry:

Following along. I hope you have a great cruise.

I'm interested to see how Jewel handles the muster with the late departure. I know that Adventure has two musters, one at 5:30pm and the other just before departure. Adventure also pushes back traditional dining by 30 minutes on the first night. Curious how Jewel handles this.

I ALMOST FORGOT!!

 

This cruise is also part of my 33rd Birthday from BF!! I turn 33 on February 7th and he has a whole day planned out on the ship.

 

I guess my age is setting in to the point I forget about my own birthday. :o:'):loudcry:

I hope you have a great time on your upcoming cruise. I booked my next Jewel cruise about 600 days ago, but have been watching all the trip reports/reviews since December watching how conditions improve. Can't wait for your trip to start. Now, I'm off to go look at your itinerary.

I'm interested to see how Jewel handles the muster with the late departure. I know that Adventure has two musters, one at 5:30pm and the other just before departure. Adventure also pushes back traditional dining by 30 minutes on the first night. Curious how Jewel handles this.

The late departure is something I have not experienced in a very long time. The last time was on NCL Star in Hawaii WAY back in 2003. We are curious as to what time we should board the ship. We are actually leaning towards late afternoon so we can see more of SJU as we won’t have time when we come back.

I’ll start taking notes of questions and try to answer them as the cruise goes along! We are late traditional dining so I hope it’s not 9pm on day 1 but we can manage if that’s the case. It’s vacation [emoji41]

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I hope you have a great time on your upcoming cruise. I booked my next Jewel cruise about 600 days ago, but have been watching all the trip reports/reviews since December watching how conditions improve. Can't wait for your trip to start. Now, I'm off to go look at your itinerary.

We have been keeping a countdown for this cruise since March, the anticipation is one of my favorite parts!!

I’ll try my beat to keep everyone updated!!

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Following along. I hope you have a great cruise.

Thank you!! [emoji41][emoji267]

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The late departure is something I have not experienced in a very long time. The last time was on NCL Star in Hawaii WAY back in 2003. We are curious as to what time we should board the ship. We are actually leaning towards late afternoon so we can see more of SJU as we won’t have time when we come back.

 

I’ll start taking notes of questions and try to answer them as the cruise goes along! We are late traditional dining so I hope it’s not 9pm on day 1 but we can manage if that’s the case. It’s vacation [emoji41]

I do know that you can drop your bags, check-in, and then leave the terminal if you like. We've done that several times with Adventure.

I do know that you can drop your bags, check-in, and then leave the terminal if you like. We've done that several times with Adventure.

Oh good to know thank you!! This is why I LOVE the cruise critic community, always so helpful and sharing of knowledge.

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We are on this cruise also.

We fly in Friday and are staying in Old San Juan at an AirBnB. We were in San Juan as a port stop about 6 years ago and then we left out of San Juan on the Adventure two years ago.

Looking forward to spending more time in Old San Juan.

We are on this cruise also.

 

 

 

We fly in Friday and are staying in Old San Juan at an AirBnB. We were in San Juan as a port stop about 6 years ago and then we left out of San Juan on the Adventure two years ago.

 

 

 

Looking forward to spending more time in Old San Juan.

I hadn’t thought about AirBnB as an option, I would love to know how this goes for y’all. We have never used them and know many people who have and enjoyed their experience.

I’ve been in SJU but it’s been 20 years. We went on our first cruise in 1998 as a port of call on the Sensation.

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Adventure also pushes back traditional dining by 30 minutes on the first night. Curious how Jewel handles this.

I'll be curious about this myself, at least you don't have to wait 90+ days for an answer ;) My first time on Jewell I ASSumed that they did the same thing, based on reviews I had read, but we ended up 15 minutes late to dinner! That is coming up on 4 years ago.

Following as we are booked on b2b in April. Especially interested in times for muster and show times each night so I can book My time dining.

Have a wonderful trip and can't wait to hear more.

Donna

Following!!! We will be on the Jewel on Feb 25th. Can' wait!!!

I'm interested to see how Jewel handles the muster with the late departure. I know that Adventure has two musters, one at 5:30pm and the other just before departure. Adventure also pushes back traditional dining by 30 minutes on the first night. Curious how Jewel handles this.

Jewel has one muster at 8pm. Dinner is moved to 8:45. At least that's how it's been on our last 16 cruises from San Juan.

We are on this cruise also.

 

We fly in Friday and are staying in Old San Juan at an AirBnB. We were in San Juan as a port stop about 6 years ago and then we left out of San Juan on the Adventure two years ago.

 

Looking forward to spending more time in Old San Juan.

We are too. Flying in on Friday, staying at BW Palm in Condado. See you onboard.

Jewel has one muster at 8pm. Dinner is moved to 8:45. At least that's how it's been on our last 16 cruises from San Juan.

Thanks for the info. What are the normal times for early and late traditional dinner?

Thanks for the info. What are the normal times for early and late traditional dinner?

Late traditional dinner is 8:30 Early is 6.

Hi! DH and I are on this cruise as well. Staying at the Decanter Hotel in OSJ the night before the cruise, due to hurricane damage at our original booking. I've heard there's only 1 muster on this ship, it's late- like 8pm or something. They stop dinner, and for those in the middle of eating, they have to come back to finish.

Seems like a terrible idea- who wants warmed up, or cold food when they come back? Maybe they just slow down and stop serving courses like 30 minutes early? Not sure, but we'll see.

Late traditional dinner is 8:30 Early is 6.

Thank-you. Nice to see these have not been made earlier like on other ships.

Hi! DH and I are on this cruise as well. Staying at the Decanter Hotel in OSJ the night before the cruise, due to hurricane damage at our original booking. I've heard there's only 1 muster on this ship, it's late- like 8pm or something. They stop dinner, and for those in the middle of eating, they have to come back to finish.

 

Seems like a terrible idea- who wants warmed up, or cold food when they come back? Maybe they just slow down and stop serving courses like 30 minutes early? Not sure, but we'll see.

No, they don't let you book dinner if you cannot finish before muster.

It’s so nice to see so many others on this sailing!!! I heard it’s a full ship!!

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Enjoy the cruise! Looking forward to following along...I was on the Jewel last year during your exact week...wish I was going again this year!

We're on this cruise as well, come on over to the roll call and say Hi.

I've heard from folks onboard last week that they had 2 musters, one at 5:30 and one later for the late arrivals. Don't know if this will be true for our sailing.