MITSUGIRLYS JEWEL OF A CRUISE review and pictorial

[zounds]

Wow! Good for you with the 2-cent slot. I felt pretty good about clearing $29. on a quarter slot, but, of course, gave it back later in the week. I did win $312. on a .50 bet on Holland America once, tho. steve

[ahaught]

Ok, so where did I leave off...Oh yea, I finished up deck 12 and we are moving on to deck 13 now.

 

We will head up the stairs from the Great Outdoors and up to the basketball area.

 

 

 

 

Well, I haven't made it into any of your photos yet, but that blonde kid on the stairs is mine, and those other heads are my wife, sister & SIL! I will keep reading to see if I made the cut!

[ahaught]

I found this picture kinda funny but not. If you find yourself sick with vomiting or diarrhea, the medical staff will give you a complimentary examination. Come on, nothing is free and especially the doctors on the ship. They will probably come look at you and say "Yes, you need to come down to the medical area to have a full examination" then charge you more than what your cruise was.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Actually on a previous cruise, the kid that was pictured by the sports court, was not feeling well in kids crew they called us and had us take him down to the dr for an evaluation. He was just sea sick and it was completely free including medication!

[Disfan5]

Just wanted to add that in our balcony cabin, there was also a plug behind the ice bucket...way in the back. I took a night light with me and it was nice since it was right across from the bathroom. Gave enough light for to show where the bathroom was, but you couldn't really see the light shining from the bed.

 

Also, there is a light in the closet. We didn't find it till I was packing up.

[Econom405]

I also have to say I was very excited to see that you took another cruise so we can all read your review! LOL

Also, as a side note, our hospital just opened up a position specifically for our ED tech who graduated from nursing school, kind of a perk of working for the system prior to and during nursing school. She is in the midst of her orientation now and is so far liking her choice.

We always cheated and let her do certain things while she was a student, that she could do as a student but not as a tech which she appreciates now while in orientation.

ED nursing, as you know, takes a special (a bit twisted and inappropriate) personality if you think you'd like it pursue it!!

[MariTenor1]

Kim: Thank you so much for the fabulous review! My husband, son and I are taking our first NCL cruise (although not our first cruise) in March on Jewel and I am finding your thoughts and pictures to be priceless! Can't wait to read more.

[mitsugirly]

I actually work in a VA ambulatory care facility as a case manager. Some VA ambulatory care facilities are attached to VA hospitals like mine, and some which we call CBOCs are separate but all under the same VA banner. Yes these are Federal positions. I was an ER nurse for about 25 years before I transitioned to case manager, and ER tech experience will be very helpful to you in the job search. Good Luck.

 

I'm hoping between that and working at the hospital for so many years, this will come in handy. Thanks so much for your advice.

 

Excellent review and Photos. Thanks for sharing and taking the time to post it. I will pass it on to the family for thrir April cruise.

 

Thanks for coming in a viewing. :) I hope they enjoy it.

[medicalma'am]

I am patiently waiting until midnight for your next installment...I just got home from work myself. Guess I have to read a book until your next post. :p

 

I had wine at the Latitudes party and it was awful. Hubby had a drink that he liked but I don't remember what it was. The captain had the same speech for each junction that we attended and the jokes were not funny the second and third time around. We would have just heard that same speech if he had been at the CC M&G!

 

You sunset pictures are stunning. I got one good pic from our balcony one evening of the sunset that I really like. I may have to get a print and frame it because it has that beloved aft wake in it. :)

Edited December 28, 2013 by medicalma'am

[mitsugirly]

Wow! Good for you with the 2-cent slot. I felt pretty good about clearing $29. on a quarter slot, but, of course, gave it back later in the week. I did win $312. on a .50 bet on Holland America once, tho. steve

 

I don't have enough guts to play anything more than the .01 or .05 slots. :o I feel nauseous when I double or triple the bet hoping for a better pay off so I rarely do that. :D

 

Well, I haven't made it into any of your photos yet, but that blonde kid on the stairs is mine, and those other heads are my wife, sister & SIL! I will keep reading to see if I made the cut!

 

I think you might have made the cut. Isn't this you?

 

[mitsugirly]

Actually on a previous cruise, the kid that was pictured by the sports court, was not feeling well in kids crew they called us and had us take him down to the dr for an evaluation. He was just sea sick and it was completely free including medication!

 

Well that was sure nice of them. I fell and broke my hand on my Epic cruise and they wanted to charge me $90 just for them to look at it. I opted for a bucket of ice to stick my hand in while I was in the room. :(

 

Just wanted to add that in our balcony cabin, there was also a plug behind the ice bucket...way in the back. I took a night light with me and it was nice since it was right across from the bathroom. Gave enough light for to show where the bathroom was, but you couldn't really see the light shining from the bed.

 

Also, there is a light in the closet. We didn't find it till I was packing up.

 

Good to know about the outlet by the bucket of ice. I wonder why they would put one there?

 

I did know about the light in the closet. We have used it a few times as a night light, but didn't pay any attention this time around.

[mitsugirly]

I also have to say I was very excited to see that you took another cruise so we can all read your review! LOL

Also, as a side note, our hospital just opened up a position specifically for our ED tech who graduated from nursing school, kind of a perk of working for the system prior to and during nursing school. She is in the midst of her orientation now and is so far liking her choice.

We always cheated and let her do certain things while she was a student, that she could do as a student but not as a tech which she appreciates now while in orientation.

ED nursing, as you know, takes a special (a bit twisted and inappropriate) personality if you think you'd like it pursue it!!

 

Yes, I was excited that I took another cruise too. :D I'm hanging in limbo now because I can't book anything until I figure out what I'm doing this following year. I will be graduating in May and any time prior to that I will be moving to another house. So, until those plans are final, I can't book anything. :(

 

I'm definitely a bit twisted and inappropriate and love the ER. It's just some of the people that make it a hard decision. I thrive on the fast paced atmosphere. I thrive on trauma's. I'm the one that goes running when a bone is sticking up out of a leg or there's a gunshot wound or a finger cut off...I'm yelling "let me see!" Tonights "flavor" was a guy that had a nail gun go off in his back right beside his spine (3" nail). :D But some of the nurses around there are notorious for "eating their young" and if you get on their bad side, they will set you up for failure or frame you to get fired. I can't believe all the people I have seen come and go within months of getting hired there. That's what scares me. Sometimes I just want to go somewhere else and start over fresh with new faces and hope for the best. The other half of me wants to stay where I love the job. Ugh.

 

Kim: Thank you so much for the fabulous review! My husband, son and I are taking our first NCL cruise (although not our first cruise) in March on Jewel and I am finding your thoughts and pictures to be priceless! Can't wait to read more.

 

Thanks for the kind words and I hope you stick around.

[mitsugirly]

I am patiently waiting until midnight for your next installment...I just got home from work myself. Guess I have to read a book until your next post. :p

 

I had wine at the Latitudes party and it was awful. Hubby had a drink that he liked but I don't remember what it was. The captain had the same speech for each junction that we attended and the jokes were not funny the second and third time around. We would have just heard that same speech if he had been at the CC M&G!

 

You sunset pictures are stunning. I got one good pic from our balcony one evening of the sunset that I really like. I may have to get a print and frame it because it has that beloved aft wake in it. :)

 

Today was my first day back and work and I knew it was just going to kick my butt after being off for 15 days...and it did. But the great thing is, I found out it's my weekend off. LOL So another few days off work. Hey, I could get use to this. Off 15 days, work 1 day, off some more. Yep, that's the life I'm looking for. :D

 

I can't believe they had the same speech/jokes. Wow, how corny. I wish I wouldn't have missed the Captains party. I had completely forgot all about it after our day in port.

 

I took several balcony pictures of the sunset. Loved that balcony and all it had to offer. Maybe some day I'll be able to get an aft balcony/suite like you...until then, just rub it in Robin, rub it in. :D :p

[mitsugirly]

Coming out of the kids club with her new prized possession from this cruise.

 

 

Would you get a load of that face and those eyelashes. She was a beautiful princess tonight and she didn't mind telling us that.

 

We headed to the Blue Lagoon for a late night snack (truth be known, I wanted to get my cheesecake fix on). We were seated and we ordered. Then the wait started again. We waited and waited....for 40 minutes before our food ever came. Really? There really wasn't a lot of people in here at this time, so I'm not sure what the problem was.

 

We entertained ourselves by taking pictures. Sakari was proud of her face and her mermaid so she insisted that I take picture after picture of her in different positions with the mermaid. I won't bore you with all of them.

 

 

I ordered wings and the artichoke dip with chips.

 

The wings were yummy as always

 

 

But the artichoke dip...um. I went to dip and it was runny. It wasn't dip. It wasn't soup. It was even juice like. It was more like water! I called the waiter over and showed them and ask nicely what was wrong with it and if it should be like this? (Which I've ordered this on every cruise and already knew it shouldn't be this way). I couldn't even get it to stick to a chip.

 

 

He took the plate back and said he would take care of it. Another lady came over and ask what the problem was. I told her and informed her that he was taking care of it. Then a few minutes later another guy (who seemed to be overly dressed to just be a waiter/cook/server) and said he had been informed about the dip and was having it recooked for me. He explained it had to be cooked for a certain amount of time at a certain temperature.

 

Well.........it came back out and was exactly the same. They gave many apologies and ask if I wanted something else. I told them it was fine (after all, I was really only there for the cheesecake) and ask for a slice of cheesecake, no toppings with whipped cream.

 

 

 

NOW, my day had been made.

 

I didn't bother to try the dip anymore on the cruise. So, I can't tell you if they ever got it right or not.

 

By this time we had spent so much time here (and it was only supposed to be a late night snack before heading to our room) that Sakari was super tired and falling asleep at the table. What is the deal with the service this time around? Why was it so slow all the time? I understand it was sailing at full capacity, but they should know this and have the staff to accommodate it.

 

We woke Sakari up the best we could. Thank goodness our room was on the same floor and just down the hall a ways. She basically sleep walked all the way back to the room. Eyes closed and all. It was kinda hilarious to watch actually. She walked holding daddys hand and she appeared somewhat intoxicated. When we came to a turn, daddy turned her and she kept walking.

 

[mitsugirly]

We had made it back to our room and the towel animal of the night was a elephant. We were happy to see they decided to give us one tonight. We were also able to get our latitudes mints.

 

 

Sakari woke up long enough to see the towel animal, eat the mints and find Trixie.

 

This time Trixie had climbed up over the cabinet with the mirror to hide.

 

 

I figured since she watched over Sakari last night, she decided to watch over us tonight. I guess that meant we were going to have to behave ourselves. Oh well, we were tired anyhow.

 

 

We kept hearing a whistling noise. We discovered it was coming from the sliding glass doors from the balcony and noticed once again, the door had been left unlocked. We opened the door and discovered the air was now very warm out and it was time to enjoy this Caribbean weather!

 

We also noticed that there were dirty cups on the balcony again and on the desk. Obviously the room steward was out there since it was unlocked, but what did he do if he's not cleaning?

 

He did refill our ice bucket, but did not change out the glasses this time. It was just weird.

 

Our dailies informed us that we needed to turn our clocks forward 1 hr and we also received a letter stating that someone had lost their luggage and wanting to know if anyone received it by mistake and if they would kindly return it. That was the first time I had ever seen anything like that. I sure hope they found it.

 

So off to bed for us and we were kinda happy that we met our friends in the atrium because if we hadn't, I probably would have set our wake up call for really early because I thought we were in Jamaica the next day. :o Man talk about rushing things. Geesh. I was very relieved to know that we had a day to sleep in or not. So I decided not to do the wake up call this time around (as much as I'm always afraid of missing breakfast <--my favorite meal of the day).

[gotksgirl]

 

I can't believe they had the same speech/jokes. Wow, how corny. I wish I wouldn't have missed the Captains party. I had completely forgot all about it after our day in port.

 

 

Do you mean the Silver and up Wine and Cheese Latitudes party? I finally introduced myself to you in the elevator on our way there with my mom and some of my kids. I was surprised to not see you there. My kids wanted the cheese and free soda ;-) and my mom wanted some free wine. The talk was very short and no one danced. We thought it was pretty lame, so you didn't miss much.

 

Oh and I am the one right after kids club one night that said the bathroom stalls were empty (as in we were not waiting for one) but didn't get a chance to say that my daughter was in one...I think you probably remember the rest. ;-)

 

Your daughter said hi to my 4 year old boy (Presten) a few times around the ship including the last night at the buffet after the kids club.

 

I am not sure if you made all of those connections. I tried to go up to you after the Meet and Greet, but you were busy in another conversation.

 

Something weird about our room compared to yours: the TV in our balcony was on a shelf in the corner near the fridge where you have a long mirror without a shelf. Where your TV is located was just a shelf for us.

[mitsugirly]

Do you mean the Silver and up Wine and Cheese Latitudes party? I finally introduced myself to you in the elevator on our way there with my mom and some of my kids. I was surprised to not see you there. My kids wanted the cheese and free soda ;-) and my mom wanted some free wine. The talk was very short and no one danced. We thought it was pretty lame, so you didn't miss much.

 

Oh and I am the one right after kids club one night that said the bathroom stalls were empty (as in we were not waiting for one) but didn't get a chance to say that my daughter was in one...I think you probably remember the rest. ;-)

 

Your daughter said hi to my 4 year old boy (Presten) a few times around the ship including the last night at the buffet after the kids club.

 

I am not sure if you made all of those connections. I tried to go up to you after the Meet and Greet, but you were busy in another conversation.

 

Something weird about our room compared to yours: the TV in our balcony was on a shelf in the corner near the fridge where you have a long mirror without a shelf. Where your TV is located was just a shelf for us.

 

When I posted what you quoted, we were referring to the cc meet & greets jokes being the same as the Captains party jokes. Not the latitudes party. We went to the latitudes party. We just forgot about the captains party and didn't go. It's different.

 

At the latitudes party we were sitting straight ahead all the way to the front by the windows. We were with other members from the m&g. I have never been to one where they danced. It's usually just a free giveaway of prizes and it's over.

 

I do remember the bathroom stall incidence. :p Oops. I didn't know that was you though. Not the best place to meet, but hey, it's an opportunity. You should have introduced yourself. :D

 

I didn't put any of it together. I'm sorry. Sakari makes friends so easily and is very talkative. When she will see another kid on the ship that's in her kids club, she jumps right on it to talk to them and tells me "that's my kids club friend" hehe It's so cute.

 

That is weird about the tv and them being in different places. :confused:

[gotksgirl]

When I posted what you quoted, we were referring to the cc meet & greets jokes being the same as the Captains party jokes. Not the latitudes party. We went to the latitudes party. We just forgot about the captains party and didn't go. It's different.

 

At the latitudes party we were sitting straight ahead all the way to the front by the windows. We were with other members from the m&g. I have never been to one where they danced. It's usually just a free giveaway of prizes and it's over.

 

I was just saying that I saw you in the elevator and finally introduced myself as we were going to the Captains party. At least I think it was that one - Thursday after Grand Cayman, right? The wine and cheese one.

 

I saw you at the regular Latitudes party. We were crammed on 4 high seats without a table on the same side as you along the windows. You beat us to the couch ;-)

 

Now it sounds like I was stalking you!

[mitsugirly]

I was just saying that I saw you in the elevator and finally introduced myself as we were going to the Captains party. At least I think it was that one - Thursday after Grand Cayman, right? The wine and cheese one.

 

I saw you at the regular Latitudes party. We were crammed on 4 high seats without a table on the same side as you along the windows. You beat us to the couch ;-)

 

Now it sounds like I was stalking you!

 

Oh sorry, I misunderstood. Yes, the Captians party was Thursday I believe. That's the one we didn't make it to.

 

Sorry we beat you to the couch. :o You coulda came on over and piled in with us. The more the merrier. :D

 

The stalking comment cracked me up. hehe :p

[Nightengale212]

But some of the nurses around there are notorious for "eating their young" and if you get on their bad side, they will set you up for failure or frame you to get fired. I can't believe all the people I have seen come and go within months of getting hired there. That's what scares me. Sometimes I just want to go somewhere else and start over fresh with new faces and hope for the best. The other half of me wants to stay where I love the job. Ugh.

 

Kim, listen to this old ER nurse, do not, and I repeat do not, let any of these power trip nurses or doctors get the best of you!!! Unfortunately, these types are everywhere, and in every profession, and the only way they are able to feel a sense of worthiness is through intimidating other individuals. More than likely, if your hospital offers you a position after graduation it will probably be on a med/surg unit or with your background maybe telemetry or ICU. Although you have great love for the ER, you will get exceptional experience working in these specialty areas which will build your skill set and confidence. So, when you are able to transition back to the ER you will be an experienced confident R.N. with a strong foundation which the intimidators will not be able to shake.

[medicalma'am]

There are some hospitals that hire right into the ER or ICU. I went for the one that let me start in ICU. They valued my experience in Respiratory Therapy and as a Paramedic and even paid me more starting out to go to work for them. Other hospitals in the area would hire as an ICU nurse, but wanted me to work med/surg for six months. :(

 

I know how it can be in the large cities though. We had two young graduate Registered nurses come to our hospital from Minnesota because they couldn't get a job ANYwhere! One was an experienced medic from the army. With your long experience there and your work ethic, I think they like you. ;) I bet that you will get that job offer!

[ahaught]

This is one of the doors leading to the balcony next to us. Everyone always ask if they can be unlocked. Well this is the key hole and it looks like it's a hex key that fits it. However, I can say it must have been used a lot because you could see that it was really worn. I do know another roll call member was complaining because their balcony was unlocked and there was no privacy or they were afraid someone could come in their room. Yikes! But I can see if a family had 2 cabins side by side how wonderful this would be to open it up and have all of that room.

 

 

 

 

Now this brings me to a question I have for those of you that have sailed the balcony and are experienced with it.

 

This appeared in our room and I have no idea what it is or where it came from. It was not there the first day when we arrived and you can see from previous pictures that the blinds where pulled all the way back.

 

At first I thought it might be a cushion from the couch that pulled out into a bed. However, each day the bed was made and this huge black cushion remained in this spot. The couch did not feel any different (like sinking in or a cushion missing).

 

 

I have to say that I really hated this thing. We were unable to open our blinds all the way and if you were sitting on the couch you only had half a view. I was constantly fighting with the blinds to keep them open and having to shove them between this cushion and the couch, which didn't work out too great. I finally gave up since the one time I did get it really pushed back for the following picture, you still had the cushion in your viewing way.

 

 

One other thing I wanted to point out to everyone, in case you didn't know, was that the walls are magnatized. We discovered this about day 2 or 3 when we had purchased some magnets for the refrigerator and left them on the bed and when the steward made up the room, he had put them on the wall. Again, I need that cruising for dummies book. However, this will come in handy next time. I have big plans for this! hehe

 

 

We asked the hotel director directly about opening the door between our balconies since we had family next door, he said they would only open them if we also had connecting staterooms.

 

That cushion does go at the end of the couch when it is made into a bed and stores under (inside) the couch when it is not. Every night I would take it off so we could get to the balcony after turn down and leave it off. Then the following night the room steward would put it back at the end of the bed.

 

I am surprised with all of your research that you haven't seen to bring magnets because everything on the ship is metal.

[gardiner41]

Aww, thanks for the compliment. I enjoy doing the reviews, although it seems to put my life on hold for awhile and I can't seem to focus on much more than getting the pictures ready and writing my review. (I have yet to make it out of my pj's today or taken a shower...shhh, don't tell anyone, that's so not me). :o

 

I have completely decided that next time I ever cruise out of NOLA, it won't be during the winter and it will definitely include a few extra days there prior to the cruise. There's just so much to see and do there (which I experienced the first time there, but haven't been able to do since then). :(

 

Ok, you have put such pressure on me now knowing that you told your husband what you are and are not doing based on my reviews and pictures. Yikes. :eek: :D Do you mind me asking which you decided to do?

 

You are very welcome for the review and my "hobby"...it's a hobby I wish I had more time to do (and money for of course).

 

 

 

When we went to Alaska, our first cruise, we did not book any exctra days in our departure port...and regretted it. So now we have made it as habit. We are not big "partiers" and we are into history, nature and architecture as well as music. So..our NOLA trip will be a little different than most.

We are staying at the Hyatt FQ. The St Charles St car stops just across the street, so we will have easy access to pretty much everything.

Plans are to do a walking tour of the quarter, spend time on Frenchman st enjoying several of the music venues, do a planation tour and a swamp tour, enjoy a cemetery tour take a trip on the Natchez Steam boat (with several members from CC on our rollcall on Saturday). If we have time we will do a tour of the Garden area if not next trip :-)

 

As for excursions...we are booked for Almaplena (sp don't have it in front of me) We were going to go to Chankanab (again spelling lol) but realized we don't have enough time since we are doing the ATV's in the morning. So we are going to Money bar..your pics influenced that as well. Next time we will go to Chank for the full day.

 

Our cruise is the Belize itinerary instead of Ochos Rios, so we are doing the Laminai ruins (only ship sponsored tour) then in Roatan we have a Private vistor bodden tour as that is my Husband's birthday.

 

I was interested to see you your comparison to the pearl. I will have to look for your review of her in the new year when we are back. We are thinking about sailing her next year (you may remember us having a discussion about this) and were going to do a trial run on her in April to see if we liked her enough for 3 weeks. But now that you are saying she is very similar to Jewel, we have decided not to book the April cruise.

We just got back from two weeks in Cuba (yup we are Canadian) and we are travelling most of the summer (July we are going to Ireland for 17 days and August we are doing a road trip in our RV through the east coast. New England, then crossing from Maine into Nova Scotia, where I grew up) then over to Prince Edward Island, back to Nova Scotia then over to Newfoundland and back home to Ontario through New Brunswick, and Quebec)

So we will probably do a 3 or 4 day April get away for our anniversary rather than another cruise.

Yes I am spoiled :-)

 

Hopefully someday we will end up on the same cruise...but for now I am really enjoying this review, and checking out your excursion experiences in the port threads.

[mitsugirly]

Kim, listen to this old ER nurse, do not, and I repeat do not, let any of these power trip nurses or doctors get the best of you!!! Unfortunately, these types are everywhere, and in every profession, and the only way they are able to feel a sense of worthiness is through intimidating other individuals. More than likely, if your hospital offers you a position after graduation it will probably be on a med/surg unit or with your background maybe telemetry or ICU. Although you have great love for the ER, you will get exceptional experience working in these specialty areas which will build your skill set and confidence. So, when you are able to transition back to the ER you will be an experienced confident R.N. with a strong foundation which the intimidators will not be able to shake.

 

This is part of the problem. They have "clicks" there and some of the charge nurses are in clicks with these nurses. If you're not in their click, you are sometimes harassed or picked on. Some of the charge nurses have no business being a charge nurse and are very unprofessional. I have caught another tech that thinks she's "all that" go to the charge nurse to try to make me look bad and herself look good and the charge nurse was playing right along and I walked in on the charge nurse saying stuff about me. Yes, I spoke my mind and told them if they had a problem, they should be saying it to my face and not behind my back. We have had charge nurses fired for stealing medication. That's how this place is unfortunately. :( There's really no one you can trust to go to. Management is a joke. I have worked in the ED alone for almost 3 years (in Feb) and have been a tech a little over 2 and the head of management don't even know my name. (I guess I'm flying pretty low, which can be a good thing).

 

I have noticed they offer most new grads (the ones that actually went to school at our hospital, which is a teaching hospital), jobs on the heart floor or in the telemetry step down units. The only new grads that get offered jobs in the ED are the techs that already work there.

 

There are some hospitals that hire right into the ER or ICU. I went for the one that let me start in ICU. They valued my experience in Respiratory Therapy and as a Paramedic and even paid me more starting out to go to work for them. Other hospitals in the area would hire as an ICU nurse' date=' but wanted me to work med/surg for six months. :(

 

I know how it can be in the large cities though. We had two young graduate Registered nurses come to our hospital from Minnesota because they couldn't get a job ANYwhere! One was an experienced medic from the army. With your long experience there and your work ethic, I think they like you. ;) I bet that you will get that job offer![/size']

 

We'll see if they do. However, I'm just so torn about even wanting them to offer me a job there. Starting out fresh with new people may be just what I need.

[mitsugirly]

 

I am surprised with all of your research that you haven't seen to bring magnets because everything on the ship is metal.

 

It has never been something that I thought about needing anything for until now. Then after I discovered it, I thought of all the neat things I could do with it. I always see others asking about the doors being metal so that they could put things on them to be able to pick out their room, but just never noticed anyone saying anything about the inside. :)

 

 

As for excursions...we are booked for Almaplena (sp don't have it in front of me) We were going to go to Chankanab (again spelling lol) but realized we don't have enough time since we are doing the ATV's in the morning. So we are going to Money bar..your pics influenced that as well. Next time we will go to Chank for the full day.

 

I was interested to see you your comparison to the pearl. I will have to look for your review of her in the new year when we are back. We are thinking about sailing her next year (you may remember us having a discussion about this) and were going to do a trial run on her in April to see if we liked her enough for 3 weeks. But now that you are saying she is very similar to Jewel, we have decided not to book the April cruise.

 

Hopefully someday we will end up on the same cruise...but for now I am really enjoying this review, and checking out your excursion experiences in the port threads.

 

You will love Almaplena. The water there is beautiful. It's the prettiest place I have found there so far.

 

I don't think you'll be too disappointed in the Money Bar, if you are going for the snorkeling. It's supposed to be the same as Chankanaab. It's just the place and "beach" that are a little different (smaller and a man made beach).

 

Yes, the Pearl and the Jewel are basically the exact same ship. They are designed the same with just a few differences here and there.

[gardiner41]

You will love Almaplena. The water there is beautiful. It's the prettiest place I have found there so far.

 

I don't think you'll be too disappointed in the Money Bar, if you are going for the snorkeling. It's supposed to be the same as Chankanaab. It's just the place and "beach" that are a little different (smaller and a man made beach).

 

Yes, the Pearl and the Jewel are basically the exact same ship. They are designed the same with just a few differences here and there.

 

I have been very impressed so far with the owners communication at Almaplena. A few special requests were no problem at all for her.

I chose there because we wanted a nice quiet beach day at the end of the cruise..which for us is the end of almost 2 weeks of go go go.

Also DH loves to sleep on the beach and people watch while I snorkel so it fit the bill.

 

Money bar is for snorkeling for me, a dip for DH and a place to have lunch and clean up/rince off after the ATV's..assuming it ends up being muddy.

We have several members of our rollcall joining us on the ATV trip and some will head to money bar after with us. It should be a good hangout spot for those who don't snorkel, and for myself and anyone else who snorkels it should be a great spot to swim with the fish and hopefully get some photos of species not yet filmed.

 

One of my hobbies is photography so like you I end up with pics of everything hoping for those few "perfect" shots.