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**Jewel of the Seas 9.21.2013 Review**

Virtopia

By Virtopia,
in Royal Caribbean International

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ericadawn2001

ericadawn2001

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10129573023_b0041d4baf.jpg

DSCN1203 by Virtopia, on Flickr

 

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DSCN1210 by Virtopia, on Flickr

 

Next, we went onto the sulphur springs and the volcano, followed by the waterfalls, which were absolutely beautiful. I wanted to go in and take a picture, but I didn't have the appropriate attire unfortunately. The lush greenery of St Lucia is absolutely breathtaking - it's really hard to describe. The Pitons are also an amazing sight.

 

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DSCN1216 by Virtopia, on Flickr

 

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DSCN1221 by Virtopia, on Flickr

 

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DSCN1223 by Virtopia, on Flickr

 

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DSCN1227 by Virtopia, on Flickr

 

I will be back with the rest of St Lucia tomorrow and the last stop, Barbados! Thanks again for all the kind words.

 

Thanks so much for sharing with us! I'm really enjoying your review!! Great itinerary and great ship!!

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Virtopia

Virtopia

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I'm sorry everyone! I've had a few late nights and haven't been able to finish accordingly, but I will be finishing it tonight with the rest of St Lucia, Barbados and my overall thoughts on the cruise.

 

Stay tuned! :D

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using the Cruise Critic App

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In Toronto

In Toronto

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I'm sorry everyone! I've had a few late nights and haven't been able to finish accordingly, but I will be finishing it tonight with the rest of St Lucia, Barbados and my overall thoughts on the cruise.

 

Stay tuned! :D

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using the Cruise Critic App

Looking forward to reading the next installment over our Canadian Thanksgiving weekend.

 

Thanks for doing this.

 

6 weeks until we board for our B2B.

 

Ellen

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Virtopia

Virtopia

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Okay, I'm so sorry for the delay, but I'm back to finish this off! Most of it will be the pictures, but I will add my commentary here and there.

 

So, once we left the sulphur springs, we were transported to a boat dock. The driver had told us before that we could take a smaller boat back to the ship when we were done and it would be an extra $20 ... lucky for me, another woman in the tour talked him down to $10.

 

Now, clearly I have no fear of being on the water as I love to cruise, but this has to be the smallest boat I've ever been in while in such a large body of water. I'll admit, I was quite nervous a few times.

 

We took about a 10 minute boat ride over to Jalousie Beach (Jalousie means Jealous). This beach is between the Pitons, so it's really nice, but we only got a small portion of the beach since were weren't staying on the resort and a lot of vendors were in that area, which was a bit of a nuisance to be honest. Whether it was snorkelling gear or fresh fruit, they were trying to sell you something.

 

We had our included lunch as soon as we arrived, which was very tasty and I consumed quite a few glasses of rum punch! We spent about 90 minutes on the beach and then made the 1 hour boat ride back to the ship, with a few stops along the way.

 

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DSCN1229 by Virtopia, on Flickr

 

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DSCN1231 by Virtopia, on Flickr

 

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DSCN1232 by Virtopia, on Flickr

 

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DSCN1247 by Virtopia, on Flickr

 

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DSCN1262 by Virtopia, on Flickr

 

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DSCN1265 by Virtopia, on Flickr

 

Once I got over my nerves, it was a nice ride back to the ship and we saw St Vincent in the distance. Even though this was my most expensive excursion ($75), it was well worth it as it was a full day tour. I didn't get back to my cabin until 4:30pm.

 

I ate in the Windjammer for dinner this evening and I really enjoyed it. There was another theatre show that I went to with Gladys and her DH ... once again, we left early. I'm trying here, but they weren't giving me a reason to stay, sorry. After my customary hour or so on deck 5, I was off to bed.

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Virtopia

Virtopia

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Finally, we had reached our last port stop, Barbados! I was excited about this stop has I have a good friend whose from there and was anxious to hear how I'd like his island.

 

We had a tour booked with Tyrone Griffith that was organized with Gladys through our Roll Call. I met her and her DH before getting off the ship as I had no idea where I was going.

 

Our tour bus was filled with all members from our Roll Call, so it was a great group as we have been talking for the last few months about our excitement for this group.

 

We met up with Tyrone and he assigned Carl as our tour guide. Our van was quite small and I felt sorry for those who were in the back - I was fortunate enough to get assigned the front seat.

 

Barbados is beautiful! He drove us around the city and explained the parishes and the different areas surrounding the port. The first beach we stopped at for a picture opportunity would've been enough for me. I also remember him saying that all the beaches are public as well.

 

We also visited the Sand Lands gated community, where Tiger Woods got married and spends quite a lot of time. We also got to see some special animals as we drove through the grounds as well!

 

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DSCN1288 by Virtopia, on Flickr

 

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DSCN1289 by Virtopia, on Flickr

 

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DSCN1290 by Virtopia, on Flickr

 

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DSCN1293 by Virtopia, on Flickr

 

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DSCN1296 by Virtopia, on Flickr

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Virtopia

Virtopia

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Yes, monkeys!

 

I was so excited to see them and we got a chance to feed them some bananas, which was fun. We had two children in our tour and it was so precious to see them feed the monkeys.

 

From there, we went to various other stops in Barbados, one of them being St James Church, which is the oldest church in Barbados. It was beautiful to walk through there as a former president went there (sorry can't remember the name right now) and Kofi Annan visited there as well.

 

From there we drove around the island some more and just took in the sights around us. We finally made it to the top of this hill and the view was breathtaking! Once again, we couldn't help but pull out our cameras to try and capture the memory.

 

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DSCN1300 by Virtopia, on Flickr

 

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DSCN1303 by Virtopia, on Flickr

 

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DSCN1304 by Virtopia, on Flickr

 

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DSCN1311 by Virtopia, on Flickr

 

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DSCN1313 by Virtopia, on Flickr

 

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DSCN1314 by Virtopia, on Flickr

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Virtopia

Virtopia

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Once we were done there, we went down to Bathsheba, which is a famous beach in Barbados. I've heard a lot about it before, so I was excited to finally see it for myself. It's a very popular beach for surfing according to Carl.

 

Another beautiful beach and I couldn't take enough pictures. That guy in the picture looked like he was waiting for a good wave to come in.

 

Right down the road, we stopped at a local bar so we could try the famed island beer, Banks beer. I'm not a beer drinker at all, but I tried it and actually enjoyed it.

 

We stopped at another church for the view in the back alone - yea, we didn't even go in. The view was amazing, as usual, and we saw a man that was buried behind the church standing up, as per his request. We all thought that was quite interesting. We also saw a man with a pet monkey!

 

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DSCN1320 by Virtopia, on Flickr

 

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DSCN1323 by Virtopia, on Flickr

 

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DSCN1324 by Virtopia, on Flickr

 

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DSCN1326 by Virtopia, on Flickr

 

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DSCN1329 by Virtopia, on Flickr

 

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DSCN1330 by Virtopia, on Flickr

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Virtopia

Virtopia

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I was so determined to finish tonight, but sleep is taking me down! I'll finish up with a few last pictures of Barbados and I promise I will finish tomorrow with the one and only sea day on this cruise and my overall thoughts.

 

This picture is the beach that Carl dropped off some of us for about 2 hours; I didn't even make it that far when I realized they had free wi fi. I made a Face Time call to my sister and was able to talk to my family for a bit. By the time I was done catching up on some emails, Carl and returned and we headed back to the ship. It was a good tour overall - a little disorganized but I still personally had a great day and was even more appreciative that they made a special picture stop for me so I can see where my friend grew up.

 

Once back on the ship, I went to my cabin and started packing my things as I knew it would be a late night ... yes, tonight was finally the Quest! I had dinner in the Windjammer once again and went to various events around the ship until the Quest was going to start.

 

It was held in the Safari Club, which hosted quite a lot of events during the week. I really like the space and I was glad I got there early as it started to fill up about 20 minutes before it started. This was the first Quest I've seen that had some new material, so I was happy to see that, but of course, we always end up with the same finale which is completely entertaining. After the Quest, I spent quite a bit of time out on deck 5 and I'd always see the same female officer walk by me a couple times. I really love how Royal staff will go out of their way to say hello to you - it makes me feel special.

 

Okay, I will be back tomorrow with the rest - I already feel a snore coming on! :p

 

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DSCN1343 by Virtopia, on Flickr

 

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DSCN1350 by Virtopia, on Flickr

 

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DSCN1352 by Virtopia, on Flickr

 

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DSCN1353 by Virtopia, on Flickr

 

Oh, and this was my stateroom attendant, Elrid. He was absolutely fantastic and definitely earned my WOW card.

 

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DSCN1356 by Virtopia, on Flickr

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Virtopia

Virtopia

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I have cruised many times on RCI, and the only White Party I have ever known about was on NCL! I think it must be relatively new. I also saw something about a midnight buffet at the party. I thought those were long gone.

 

It was just called a Poolside Party in the cruise compass, but it does ask you to wear white in there as well and the midnight buffet is the same time. It was great!

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Mommy4lyfe

Mommy4lyfe

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It was just called a Poolside Party in the cruise compass, but it does ask you to wear white in there as well and the midnight buffet is the same time. It was great!

 

Every RCCL ship I have been on had a white night. This is the first one we missed because I was so exhausted.

 

Love this review. .. Hubby said hello.

 

I miss being on the Jewel. We had a great time. Hope everyone is doing well:)

 

Sent from my SCH-S960L using Forums mobile app

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Virtopia

Virtopia

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Before I start, I'll say one thing. This cruise really made me realize how much I love and appreciate sea days. Yes, I was glad to go to all the stops, but I also just love my time on the water. I'm also glad the sea day was last and not first like I've seen on some other itineraries.

 

So, this this was the one and only sea day, I knew the pool area would fill up quickly and early, so without the aide of an alarm clock, I got up at 8am and was down by the pool by 9am. It was starting to get crowded around that time, so I found a seat and went to get some breakfast.

 

About an hour or so later, I met up with Gladys and her DH who had found some seats in the Solarium, so we all went in there and I spent some time in the hot tub. By this time, it was becoming absolutely crowded everywhere.

 

Once we spent a bit of time out there, Gladys and I had lunch with the two sisters that had come with us last minute to Coconut Beach. We went to the MDR and had a good time.

 

Once we were done there, I went back to my cabin to relax and finish my packing as I knew I'd be out late this evening. I didn't leave my cabin again until it was dinner time. I did a lot of exploring of the ship and and taking some various pictures. I also went to the Farewell show, which was probably one of the better performances of the night. I didn't eat until after the show and was glad to have the company once again of Gladys and her DH. Once we said good evening for the night, I was out on deck 5 for quite awhile as I knew it would be my last time for 6 months.

 

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DSCN1362 by Virtopia, on Flickr

 

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DSCN1364 by Virtopia, on Flickr

 

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DSCN1365 by Virtopia, on Flickr

 

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DSCN1366 by Virtopia, on Flickr

 

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DSCN1368 by Virtopia, on Flickr

 

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DSCN1371 by Virtopia, on Flickr

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