Live from the Jewel of the Seas

[sue.young]

Good Morning,

 

We are having a great time on this beautiful ship. We are passing the Azores (sp) islands today. Have had perfect weather until today we are now having rain and high winds, waves between 25 to 30 meters. Captain has advised us to stay off the upper decks. Good day to catch up on napping. Expect rain and clouds tomorrow. Had a wonderful time in Bermuda, the most beautiful water we have ever seen.

 

 

If I can answer any question please ask and I will do my best to help you out.

 

Happy Mother's Day.

[Elizanessie]

Sue...how is the food?:D

Are you staying on for the Baltic sailing..leaving Harwich on the 15th?

Liz

[grannynanny]

Sue, our friends Sandy & Del are on your cruise, please say hi for us. Hope the weather gets better for all of you.

Nancy & Harvey

[emmy]

Hello to you Sue ~

 

We were on the last Caribbean sailing that disembarked on May 1...we left behind two Cruise Critic couples...wonderful people Barrie & Katherine from New Zealand who will also be doing the Baltic run and also Margie and Dick from New York...Margie and Dick have sailed Jewel 6 times including the inaugural.

 

Click on the Jewel family album link on my signature for photos of these two couples...if you see them say hello.

 

Enjoy..... and thanks for posting...hoping for the ocean to calm down for you.

 

Emmy

[shuggee]

Hi Sue, Sorry to hear it's a bit rough on the Jewel today but you've always got that gorgeous ship to explore. We were on it last voyage and absolutely loved it. We had cabins on the stern, (next door to Emmy) unusual motion as last time we were in 1554 with very little motion. Where are you on the ship? Look forward to hearing more from you.

 

P.S. If you see Barrie & Katherine (photos on my link) say hello to them for me will you?

 

Shug.

[sisocialworker]

I was on the jewel w/shug and emmy as well. we loved the ship. hope the weather gets better.

 

say hi to Barrie and Katherine as well as marge and dick. tell them barry, anneliese and aaron(our 6yo) say hi and he is feeling better. he promises not to get sick on any more cruises-he got a sinius infection not sea sick, but loved his 1st cruise anyway.

 

enjoy your trip.

 

barry

[LJR213]

Hi Sue, This is exciting talking with someone that's actually on the ship now. I sail on her in Sept. I hope the weather gets better for you. Although we always want great weather but as long as you don't get sea sick what the heck at least your not home at work. Ok I'll ask the question .....any bed bugs?? haha.. Any information you want to share about the ship and the goings on would be great. What did you do in Bermuda??

L J

[vivienne]

Hope the weather improved for you Sue. I have just booked a European Cruise on the Jewel of the Seas commencing on 20th June from Harwich. Last time I went on a cruise I had a very unpleasant morning as I was rather seasick and wondered if the ship was a good one as regards people being affected by stormy weather as you mentioned the weather wasn't very good.

[sue.young]

Good Afternoon,

 

 

Will try to get to most of your questions.

 

 

We are in cabin 1102 on the aft, we really like the great views leaving port and there is less wind than on the side cabins, we don't mind the walk. We have had a sail-away party leaving each port. We have meet so many nice people. Saw Sandy and Del but have not yet seen Barry so will keep looking.

 

 

We sailed the TA on the Jewel lasr Sept. and think the food has improved. About half way the menu changes to the European menu, a little more bland, more puddings and less rich deserts in my opinion.. We can always fine something (ie too much) to eat. Have been to Chops, exelcent food and service as always and I come from a town know for steak. Not sure if we will get to Portifinos this time.

 

We had have good weather except for the 2 days which were not really bad. We like a little movement of the ship just to remind us we are sailing. Looks like good sailing from here on.

 

 

In Bermuda we spent our first day at Horseshoe Beach, nice packed, powder sand, gentle slope and the prettiest water we have ever seen. Took a taxi tour and stopped at the Swizzle Inn for a rum swizzle. The motto is swizzle in and swagger out, glad we had a cab! The next day we went to Hamilton for sightseeing and shopping. Things are very expensive in Bermuda so will save most of my shopping for later.

 

 

 

Our first European stop was Lisbon, meet up with a past cruiser from the Brilliance. We did a taxi tour to Sintra and Cascis (sp). If anyone need the name of a great driver for Lisbon let me know and I would be happy to pass along his info. spoke very good english, very knolagable an a true gentelman.

 

We were in Vigo,Spain yesterday. We were not expecting much in this port from what we had been told but we loved the town. Yes it is a working seaport but many beatiful buildings in the town and friendly people. Great tapas and sangria, a very relaxing day.

 

 

All to soon the Gala Dinner tonight. Yes, there is lobster but now paired with garlic shrimp, so will have to make our own "surf and turf" of lobster and prime rib.

 

 

 

Had no problem with bring wine, booze or pop on board at FLL or any of the other ports. We were only charged one fee in the liquor store when we bout extra bottles the first night.

 

 

We will be in France tomorrow, we are going to attempt to take the train from LeHarve to HonFlur. Should be fun with our limited French.

 

 

I am envious of those of you who will be on this ship, just so lovely and the crew works very hard. We have an exelcent waiter, busboy and stateromm attendents.

 

 

I will check in once more before we leave on Sunday. We will be in London for a few day and then back home. Wish we were doing the back 2 back but work interfears with my fun. If you have any other questinos or I missed yours just let me know. Just keep in mind everything in perspective and your cruise will be great, if you want things to be like at home, stay home. We enjoy the differences and to challange of something new.

 

 

On to France

[emmy]

Sue thanks for checking in :) We were in cabin 1604 on the April 23 sailing just a couple down from you...do you still have Akil as room steward? If you do say hello from Miss Emily :)

 

barrie is in cabin 7172 aft right below you.

 

Enjoy the rest of the cruise.

 

Emmy

[vivienne]

Just wondered Sue if you could give me an idea of the prices of drinks on board - say for a small beer, glass of wine, cocktail of the day.

 

With having so many people on board does it take a long time to get people off at the ports or is it well organised so you are not waiting too long?

[sue.young]

Good Morning,

We are now bak home, sorry I did not get a chance to post before we left the ship.

 

Emmy, Aki was not our cabin stewart. Rooms 1602 and 1604 are great because of the nice large balcony, we really enjoy our balcony time and perfect for sail-away parties.

 

Vivienne . The ship did very well during the rough seas. We were lucky that we were heading east and the winds were directly behind us, even though the seas were over 30 feet we had no side to side and little up and down motion.

 

Funny you should ask about drink prices as we noticed there were not any drink specials for the different bars. There was always a drink of the day usually $5.95. Som

ne of our fellow cruisers meet with the bar manager who could not really offer any explaination as to why there were no specials. They were first told by the pursers desk something about the cost of shipping alcohol across was prohibitive, so that is when they requested to meet with the bar manager, who offered them a evening in the cosierage (sp) lounge.

The price for a margarita was 7.50, did not get wine by the glass or beer.

 

Did not have any problems with waiting to get off or on at any of the ports.

Any more questions let me know.

Safe travel to those cruising on the Jewel.

[vivienne]

Thanks for the information Sue. Really pleased to hear the ship coped well in rough seas as I was really seasick for a few hours on my last cruise and am now panicking a bit with sailing in the North Sea which can be rough and wishing I hadn't booked - it was a last minute decision. I will try one of the bands you can wear on your wrist and find out more about the patches you put behind your ear.

 

Sounds a lovely ship though so part of me is looking forward to it!!

[gkm]

Hi Sue, I'm glad to hear that you missed the storm that we had on the Brilliance crossing a few days before you. We had winds of 103 mph and seas of 25-30 feet. This lasted for two days and it was quite a wild ride. We were on the aft which I'm sure felt the movement more that the middle of the ship. We had our bedside tables fall over twice and, drawers that didn't want to stay closed. I heard that a couple of people had their TVs fall over.

 

Other than that, it was a wonderful trip! I'm glad to hear you had such a good time.

 

Garry

[vivienne]

Did you have any problems with being seasick Garry with being on such a rough crossing? If not, are you one of the lucky ones who is not affected by seasickness, or did you take something to prevent it? If you took something to prevent it and it worked I would love to know what it was.

[gr8memories]

Hi Sue,

 

I was wondering what your disembarkation process was like? We are sailing on the Jewel in June out of Harwich and will need to disembark right away at 7 a.m. in order to make our flight in Gatwick. What options did RCCL give you for requesting departure time? Who did they let off the ship first? I appreciate your help.

 

Sue