The Jewel's Repositioning Cruise: A Pictorial Review!

[DarthGrady]

One last photo op

 

 

 

 

Noooooooooo!!!!! The dreaded departure docs!

 

[DarthGrady]

Missed one from Marigot

 

Thats it for St. Maarten. I'll be back on tomorrow with our last stop, San Juan.

[IBookHePays]

Thank you so much for the great review and pictures! I'm always wanting to, but sometimes...it just doesn't happen. Much appreciated!:)

[PCWalton1]

Hi,

What is your opinion of Bernard's Tour? We have them booked for next week as we have never been to the island before.

Thanks

Bill

[DarthGrady]

Hi,

What is your opinion of Bernard's Tour? We have them booked for next week as we have never been to the island before.

Thanks

Bill

 

We enjoyed the tour at St. Maarten with Bernard's, it was a nice sampler of the island. We saw places that we'd not been to before, and it gave us an idea of what we'd like to see again. We'll definitely return to Orient Beach and Marigot. But Maho is sort of a one trick pony, once you've seen the planes there isn't a big draw to go back there.

[britty1]

Grady: We will be on Jewel next Spring leaving from San Juan - We are on the 8th deck and that overhang looks like it might really spoil your view. Do you know about what cabins it affects - we are in cabin 8622. Thanks for any input you can provide. :D

[UNV-IT!!!]

A couple of late night shots

 

 

Was this open late for swimming.?

[UNV-IT!!!]

BTW that other jet was a Boeing 757. Wooo I leave next Friday for sanjuan

[DarthGrady]

Was this open late for swimming.?

 

I think the Solarium and its pool/spa is open 24/7, not sure about the main pool.

[DarthGrady]

Grady: We will be on Jewel next Spring leaving from San Juan - We are on the 8th deck and that overhang looks like it might really spoil your view. Do you know about what cabins it affects - we are in cabin 8622. Thanks for any input you can provide. :D

 

The overhang mostly affects deck 7 balconies, aft of the "hump" (mid-ship elevators and Centrum). The higher you go, the less it will block your view. The extended balconies at the front of deck 7 go all the way out to the edge, not sure why they didn't do that on the aft ones as well. In any case, it doesn't really spoil your view, you just can't see directly down to the waterline of the ship. The panorama is still very nice, and the size of those balconies are about twice that of a regular one.

Edited May 24, 2013 by DarthGrady

[DarthGrady]

Post Cruise:

We debarked in San Juan around 8 am, it went very smoothly. We booked the "Old and New San Juan" tour through the cruise line. They had the shuttle waiting for us at the terminal and took care of transporting our luggage to the airport.

Our guide took us on a narrated tour of the old and new sections of the city with a long stop at the San Cristobal fort. The stop allows enough time (about an hour and a half) to quickly see the fort and walk around down town. The driver then took us to the airport.

L.T. booked the same flight as us, so we all had lunch at the airport. The security process at San Juan's airport was very unorganized. At one point there were three lines for three security officers. Sounds like a simple equation right? Unfortunately it wasn't as clear to the dim TSA staff. Since the lines weren't directly in front of each officer, one agent wound up checking two lines while two agents checked the other. Not a huge deal, but it displays the incompetence of the people we entrust with our security. After the security headache we thankfully had an uneventful flight home.

The view at San Juan

In San Juan

The Capitol Building

 

[DarthGrady]

Around Old San Juan

 

 

 

 

 

[DarthGrady]

The Forts:

 

El Morro

 

Inside San Cristobal

 

 

The view from San Cristobal

 

 

[DarthGrady]

More at San Cristobal

 

 

 

 

The cruise ship hiding behind that building looks familiar

 

[DarthGrady]

Panoramas from the fort

 

 

 

[IBookHePays]

I love the panoramas! Thanks again for a great review!

Edited May 24, 2013 by IBookHePays

[DarthGrady]

I'm going to go off on a tangent for a moment. I meant to post this while covering the ship. This is the new brand of tea that RCI is putting out now. It's awful. I enjoy Earl Grey, and this new stuff tastes bad. I've written about my dislike for this new brand on the comment cards. Hopefully they switch back to the (still not great) Lipton.

Okay, back on track:

Heading to the airport, Puerto Rico's main "interstate"

Some salt in the wound as our vacation ended

The Normandie Hotel, built to look like the former ocean liner of the same name.

One last glimpse of our ship

Our final stop of the trip

Edited May 24, 2013 by DarthGrady

[DarthGrady]

And that's it.

 

All in all it was an excellent cruise that went by much too fast! Thanks to everyone for their positive comments. If you have any questions feel free to ask away. :)

[windjamming]

Oh, that tea was bad!! On other cruises the Lipton green tea would run out well before the end of the cruise.

[windjamming]

Oh, that tea was bad!! On other cruises the Lipton green tea would run out well before the end of the cruise.

 

Oops clicked send and can't edit from the phone. On this cruise there was so much tea left all over the ship on the last day!

 

Great review, and thanks for bringing back fun memories. I wonder if we crossed paths!

[DarthGrady]

Oops clicked send and can't edit from the phone. On this cruise there was so much tea left all over the ship on the last day!

 

Great review, and thanks for bringing back fun memories. I wonder if we crossed paths!

 

Yes, I usually drink several cups of tea a day. Not this cruise. I had to switch to coffee. At least they were using the Seattle's Best, so that was tolerable.

 

You may have seen me, I've been told I look exactly like Channing Tatum. ;):D

[VillaHappy]

So did the wife sneak one of those chickens in her luggage as a souvenier?

 

Now that you are home, you can fess up! :cool:

[Manateemike]

And that's it.

 

All in all it was an excellent cruise that went by much too fast! Thanks to everyone for their positive comments. If you have any questions feel free to ask away. :)

 

Hey DarthGrady,

 

What a wonderful review. Your effort is much,much appreciated by all.

And by the way, you might remember me. St. Martin.

I was "Mike" the Bartender who was sitting in the front next to John, tending bar at the cooler. Almost got fired a couple of times, what with "Jim" in the seat in back of me watching my every move!!!

Thanks,

Mike

(Hope you enjoyed your Presidente beer!! Or was it Carona?):p

The Rum Punch was awesome too!!

[cruiserdudebobby8]

love all the pictures!

[Virtopia]

Thanks for the pictures; they were great and made me extremely excited for my upcoming sailing.