Jewel of the Seas - trip journal with pictures

[CruisinCrow]

Ah no, Legend is in Asia year round and is a Vision class ship thus smaller than Jewel. You were docked next to Liberty of the Seas, a Freedom class ship and bigger than Jewel which is a Radiance class ship.

 

Oops, you're right. It was Liberty.

[CruisinCrow]

To burn calories I've taken walks around the upper deck in addition walking on excursions. Once I even returned home weighing 7 lbs less than when I left home. That was a 12 nite cruise.

 

Good advice. We try to use the stairs instead of the elevators too.

[CruisinCrow]

Great review, thanks for sharing!!! I love your pics, especially the 5th one of the Tampa skyline...you should frame it...the cloud formations are amazing!!!!

 

Thank you. The sky really was beautiful - one of the prettiest sail aways we've had.

[gelo7]

Excellent review.

[iloverags2]

My one and only port call on Cozumel was a rainy day also. What a bummer. But those swing bar seats look awfully nifty!

[CruisinCrow]

The final chapter...

 

Sunday – Day at Sea

I’d forgotten to turn on the white noise machine before we went to bed so I woke up at 4:30 to the sound of the wooden clothes hangers bumping together from the motion of the ship. When I woke up again it was 7:30. The first thing I did was look out the window to check the weather. It was sunny! Hooray!

 

After breakfast in the Windjammer, we took a walk around Deck 5 to see the huge waves crashing against the side of the ship. It was really exhilarating! Every once in a while, some flying fish would leap out of the waves and skip across the water. I remembered how on the first sea day, the ship had been going in the same direction as the wind. Now we were headed in the opposite direction and going directly into it. And the wind was a lot stronger too. According to the information they were showing on our cabin TV, the apparent wind speed across the deck was 53 mph! The helipad would not have been a fun place to be that day! But at least the sun was finally out so we headed for the pool deck to soak up as many rays as we could. Our solar batteries were running on low and needed a recharge.

 

Notice the apparent wind speed:

 

 

At 10:30, the activities staff started selling Walk for Wishes t-shirts by the pool. Walk for Wishes is a 1-mile walk around the deck to raise money for the Make a Wish foundation. Royal Caribbean sponsors Make a Wish and hosts one family a month on one their ships. We signed up and at 11:15, the walk started with a pep talk from Carly, the cruise director. Then we all did 5 laps around the jogging track on Deck 12. Have you even tried to walk in 53 mph winds? Well, it was a challenge! At some points along the walk, it felt like my flip flops were going to be blown right off my feet. But it was fun and for a good cause. After the walk, Carly thanked everyone for participating.

 

Walk for Wishes t-shirts:

 

 

We had lunch in the Seaview Café again (tuna melt for me and a Reuben for Ron) and then soaked up some more rays until mid-afternoon when it started to get cool. I wanted to give the casino one last shot but Ron didn’t want to give all his money back so he went to the Schooner Bar to watch the playoff game while I found an open Black Jack table. Things started off horribly – I didn’t win a single hand for a while and was about ready to give up when the table finally turned. I played until I started to get hungry for dinner and then cashed out. I ended up with exactly the same amount of money that I had when I started! It would have been nice to win but at least I didn’t lose.

 

Tuna melt from Seaview:

 

 

Dusk over the pool deck:

 

 

At dinner Ron was our waiter again. The menu wasn’t very exciting that night so I just had the shrimp cocktail and some pasta with marinara sauce. The banana parfait for dessert was really good though. Carlos brought my daily shot without me even asking. It was the best one of all and now I have a new set of shot glasses. :)

 

After dinner we went to the Coral Theater for the farewell production show “City of Dreams” but we just didn’t get the show. It was supposed to be about two lovers who meet in different cities around the world and outer space. Outer space? Whaatttt? They actually sang “I Enjoy Being a Girl” in a Thailand setting. So random! The dancers were very talented so it was a shame that they didn’t have better material to work with. Ron and I quietly made our escape after about 10 minutes. We were sleepy anyway and morning would come early. We took one last ride up and down the outside elevators and then went to bed.

 

The Centrum at night:

 

Edited January 20, 2012 by CruisinCrow

[CruisinCrow]

Monday – Home Again

The instructions we’d gotten the day before about disembarking didn’t mention anything about early walk-offs. But we didn’t feel like packing before bed and we didn’t have much luggage so we decided to just pack when we got up in the morning and carry off our bags with our assigned group. We had a leisurely breakfast in the main dining room and then rolled our way to the Safari Club for the 8:50 meeting time. There were pastries, juices and coffee set out for us while we waited (a nice touch) and the large TV was playing CNN. Oh no! The news station was showing footage of a capsized cruise ship in Italy! How horrifying and sad! Those poor people – they were just starting out on their cruise, excited and happy like we had been.

 

Early morning in Tampa:

 

 

After waiting and waiting for the crew to call our group to disembark, they announced that if we had all of our luggage with us, we could leave the ship at any time. Now that would have been nice to have known an hour before. Oh well. We walked off the ship and through customs in record time and were home by 10. It’s good to be on vacation but it’s good to be home too!

 

 

 

 

Happy Cruising to you all!

~Susan

 

 

Edited January 20, 2012 by CruisinCrow

[Familygoboston]

Thanks really enjoyed your photos! Sounds like you had a nice relaxing cruise!

So sad to end it with news of Costa:(

[CariBear]

I enjoyed reading your trip report! Sounds like you had a relaxing vacation...even if the weather was not the best. I only live about 25 minutes from the Port of Tampa and would love to sail out of there sometime soon.

[NeuroQueen]

Very nice review! I didn't realize how pretty the Tampa port looks. Great photos! I've been wanting to book this ship for awhile and I think you have just convinced me. Thanks!

[CruisinCrow]

Thanks really enjoyed your photos! Sounds like you had a nice relaxing cruise!

So sad to end it with news of Costa:(

 

Yes, that was really sad. We hadn't been watching the news at all so we didn't know about it.

[CruisinCrow]

CariBear and NeuroQueen, I'd definitely recommend the Jewel. Leaving out of Tampa is so convenient. We wished there were more port days but the ship is really lovely. Now I know why everyone seems to love the Radiance class ships. It's just the right size and it feels and looks like a ship should.

 

I hope you can both go soon!

[CruisinCrow]

For all you guys who like to look at pictures, here's a link to the whole set:

http://share.shutterfly.com/share/received/welcome.sfly?fid=5bd06ef1b9423c0a&sid=8IZN2rNs2at1e

[sunandseagirl617]

Beautiful pictures! Love the Tampa skyline and the Jewel! We are researching now for the Jewel sailings within the next couple of weeks! You are making the choice easy!!:) Thank you!

[kruzerci]

I'm excited to try a new embarkation port. Tampa sounds pretty nice.

[Cruise_Kitten]

Thanks for the info on the food issue, I now the gym will be a good idea to for us, we are not gym freaks but I am working hard not to gain more. Thank you to whoever it was that stated to use the stairs more, I have walked the stairs and really it seems better then waiting for the elevators that are always doing their own thing.

The Walk For Wishes....how much was the donation you gave to take part? I have seen it on Independence in the UK but have never been around to do it. I would love to do it as it's for a good cause and it's a bit of exercise :D

 

What a lovely review you have done as well.....i always enjoy the ones with pictures.

 

CK x

[CruisinCrow]

Thanks for the info on the food issue, I now the gym will be a good idea to for us, we are not gym freaks but I am working hard not to gain more. Thank you to whoever it was that stated to use the stairs more, I have walked the stairs and really it seems better then waiting for the elevators that are always doing their own thing.

The Walk For Wishes....how much was the donation you gave to take part? I have seen it on Independence in the UK but have never been around to do it. I would love to do it as it's for a good cause and it's a bit of exercise :D

 

What I liked about the gym was that it was on the bow and the entire front was made of windows. You got a really nice panoramic view of the ocean. I just wished I would have brought my iPod so I could have listened to music while I walked.

 

The donation for the Walk for Wishes was $10 a person. (You could donate more, if you wanted.) They put it on your Seapass card.

 

Congratulations on your weight loss and have a great cruise!

[roxy1955]

I hope to be on The Jewel in October to Canada and New England. Good to see someone takes pictures of the TV screen, as well as the towel animals. A question - How does one get to the helipad?

[Pumbaamd]

Take deck 5 outside (Promenade) forward. You will have to climb the stairs to deck 6. The helipad is there. Enjoy Jewel!

Rick and Deirdra

[kmills]

Your pictures and review is wonderful. We leave on 2/18 on the Jewel it is our first time to try RCI but 4th cruise so very exicited.

[Mrssmithysrat]

Great review. Totally agree with you about 'city of dreams'. We saw the same show on Jewel on our Baltic cruise in August 2011.

 

we cam away saying the production side of things was great but it was a shame they didnt really put as much thought into the plot!

[Abu Sara]

Great review and thanks for the link to all the pics. My wife and I enjoyed the Radiance last year and are really looking forward to the Jewel in March..my R&R from Afghanistan cruise and oldest daughter's 21st birthday present :).

[kybrennan]

We are cruising on the Jewel Feb. 27th. It'll be our first cruise... Thanks so much for this review.... You've just made me very excited!!!

[Tanker4]

We are cruising on the Jewel Feb. 27th. It'll be our first cruise... Thanks so much for this review.... You've just made me very excited!!!

 

You picked a great ship for your first cruise. IMO the Radiance class ships are the most beautiful in RCL's fleet. We've done Radiance twice and will be on the Jewel next Monday. Really looking forward to it. Welcome to the world of cruising!:)

[cruising mickey]

Great review with awesome pics, I'm definitely jealous as I'm not sailing on her til "much" later. Are there any pics of menus for the MDR, bars, specialty dining, other packages (soda, juices):eek:?

 

Thanks