Trip Report: Jewel of the Seas Southern Caribbean (10/11/14 Sailing)

[Godsonsafari]

Hey folks!

 

I've posted trip reports in the past on CC, and this won't be much different. I've got a lot of stuff to write from my wife and I's time on the Jewel last week, and I'm hoping to get it done in a semi-reasonable fashion. I've got 1100 pictures and some video to sort through while I do it, but I think I'm up to the task. I posted the preface to the trip report series on my blog:

 

http://realtalkguidetoawesome.wordpress.com/2014/10/22/tr-jewel-of-the-seas-2014-caribbean-cruise-pt-1-preface/

 

The cruise itself was definitely interesting - Hurricane Gonzalo created quite the mess and we happened to be sailing when it was spinning around. You'll see a lot of that when I get the Antigua shots up. We also had a couple post-cruise nights at the La Concha that I'll get in depth about when I get there. I'll direct link some content here to the thread though - pictures, a quick tour of our aft balcony cabin, things like that. I guess the best thing I've got right now is this picture from the beach next to Fort Frederik:

 

[iamsunnysarah]

Looking forward to reading your review!

[Folk Singer]

Oh we are so looking forward to your review.:):)

[gms5002]

Subscribed.

[chickadee1]

We're going in 10 days so very interested in seeing your review! Will be going to Antigua and very interested in damage there!!

[jenf22]

We were on this cruise as well. It was our first RCCL cruise after 3 DCL cruises. We were very disappointed about missing St. Maarten and having our excursions cancelled in Antigua. But at least we had smooth sailing. I took around 2500 pictures and just started going through them last night. I am eager to read you report! Thanks for doing it!

[At Sea 4Ever]

We were on that cruise as well! Had a great time like always. Can't believe the cruise is over already : (. Will definitely be following your review!

 

 

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[RoyalFan2011]

Looking forward to your review.

 

 

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[Godsonsafari]

Here's part 2 - my ship review.

https://realtalkguidetoawesome.wordpress.com/2014/10/23/tr-jewel-of-the-seas-2014-caribbean-cruise-pt-2-ship-review-1011-10182014/

 

[YOUTUBE]adhxlgznSAQ[/YOUTUBE]

 

Just a quick Cliffs Notes version of some of my thoughts:

 

-If you're taking Royal Caribbean for the food in the MDR, you're doing it wrong. As much as everyone thinks culture being more "casual" is contributing to the decline and fall of traditional dining on cruise ships, let me offer a secondary contributing cause; the food isn't as good or at least significantly better than other free options on board.

 

-Our cabin was nice and even being over the Safari Club, noise wasn't a significant factor. As twitter me might say, "those beds doe." New mattresses would be choice. Next time I'm requesting an egg crate.

 

-Speaking of Safari Club, isn't that the best? The lounges on this ship are seriously wonderful.

 

-El Gaucho is pretty awesome. City of Dreams is incomprehensibly bad as a production show. Not the performers fault. West End To Broadway and The Platters were somewhere in between those extremes on the quality spectrum.

 

-This cruise had outstanding people watching.

 

-We like Royal Caribbean, but not enough to hitch our wagon to them forever.

 

Here's some bonus pics I uploaded and didn't use:

 

Solarium. Put in a thalassotherapy pool, a la the Celebrity Summit, and I may never have left it. I might still be there, waiting for my bank account to run dry.

 

Main pool deck.

 

Looking towards the rock wall late in the evening.

 

Promenade. I was often surprised how few people were on it.

 

 

A busy breakfast time at Windjammer.

Edited October 23, 2014 by Godsonsafari

[LifeIsButADream]

Hey there... I was on this cruise as well...in fact, I was your aft neighbor in 7174...I think I waved to you and your wife one morning on our balconies. :) I am thoroughly enjoying your review and can't wait to read more.

[Godsonsafari]

Another full part is up for embarkation and St. Croix:

 

https://realtalkguidetoawesome.wordpress.com/2014/10/24/tr-jewel-of-the-seas-2014-caribbean-cruise-pt-3-embarkation-st-croix-1011-122014/

 

again, cliffs notes:

 

Embarking, the mic cut out during the muster drill from the bridge and we didn't hear about half of it. No loss. We ate at the buffet and went to the pool while everyone else met their new tablemates and saw a comedian tell jokes, probably observational humor, and pump up his more adult show later in the cruise. I think we got the better end of the deal.

 

 

Our view of the Disney Magic in dock.

St. Croix: We walked off the ship and got a chair at Freedom City Surf just next door to the Fort in Frederiksted. It was a 20 spot to get this and we got wristbands for cheap rum punch and wifi access too. Considering the price of shore excursions in that port, I don't know why more people skip those and just go right to the Fort, beaches, art gallery, etc.

 

While dining at Portofino's (which was great!), we were informed by the ship's captain that St. Maarten was cancelled as a result of a Tropical Storm we were seriously clueless existed. To be fair, the only information provided by CNN or ESPN about anything was that everyone in America was going to get Ebola and that the Demarco Murray of the Dallas Cowboys may be carrying the football too much. We've been before, so we weren't that bummed, but yeah, I'd prefer to have the port fees back or have gotten to sit on Orient Beach. Wasn't to be.

 

Here's a couple bonus shots from St. Croix:

 

Ship looming over the pier in St. Croix

 

 

 

Edge of the beach looking at the ship.

[RoyalFan2011]

Do you have any pictures of your balcony?

 

 

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[AlbertaCruisers]

Do you have any pictures of your balcony?

 

 

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Check out the video of his room in post #9.

[RoyalFan2011]

Completely missed that. Thank you!

 

 

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[Godsonsafari]

Part 4 is now posted with our at sea day and Antigua:

 

http://realtalkguidetoawesome.wordpress.com/2014/10/25/tr-jewel-of-the-seas-2014-caribbean-cruise-pt-4-impromptu-sea-day-antigua-1013-142014/

 

I wrote twice as much as the previous two entries combined, so I may understandably want to cut down the writing here. Again, a cliffs notes:

 

-St. Maarten was to be the next day of the cruise after St. Croix, but was cancelled by the emergence of Tropical Storm Gonzalo. Only when researching now did I find out that someone lost their life there as a result of the story. The boat did their best to create activities out of thin air, and our path took us well south of the storm and out of choppy water. El Gaucho was that evening and he was *excellent*.

 

-Antigua was our next day at port and our shore excursion, like many, was cancelled by the until then unknown fact that Antigua's power grid was damaged by the storm. There was confusion, some arguing, and eventually we agreed to do a taxi tour. Naturally, I lost the guy's business card, but if I ever find it, I'll be sure to post his contact information because he did a great job at the low price of $25/PP.

 

-The pictures generally speak for themselves. Antigua is a lovely island and reasonably well developed for tourism. We had a wonderful time and our driver was extremely knowledgeable. Nelson's Dockyard has been compared to Colonial Williamsburg and Mystic Seaport online. I see where that comes from, but it is a bit small to realistically stand next to them. The beach was wonderful, as was the general scenery of the island.

 

Like before, here's a bunch of shots which didn't make the trip report:

 

Jewel, solamente Jewel.

 

Shirley Heights overlook.

 

Old boat dock as part of the Admiral's Inn at Nelson's Dockyard.

 

Walking out on the balcony of the museum in Nelson'd Dockyard, I took this shot looking out down the "street".

 

Here's one picture of damage - I have another shot of this on the blog, but if you look at the full size shot you can see the wire hanging across the road that we drove under. This was around Falmouth Harbor coming down the hillside.

 

One of the fallen trees at Nelson's Dockyard.

Edited October 25, 2014 by Godsonsafari

[Godsonsafari]

OK folks, here's part 5, St. Lucia:

http://realtalkguidetoawesome.wordpress.com/2014/10/26/tr-jewel-of-the-seas-2014-caribbean-cruise-pt-5-st-lucia-10152014/

 

St. Lucia is the prettiest island we've been to in the Caribbean. With the giant Pitons and jagged coast, it feels more foreign and exotic than the likes of St. Maarten or Nassau even with a fairly developed port city. I'm definitely all about taking some sort of excursion by boat to the Pitons - it's a great way to see them. I also get the distinct sense that St. Lucia isn't an island you visit to go to the beach, much like Dominica isn't. The volcanic history is a bit more recent, and the beaches that we snorkeled off of was pretty rocky and shell-y. Snorkeling was decent though. I can't say anything that bad about it.

 

I'll have a couple posts w/pictures because I just took so damn many.

 

 

We've cruised into a few places where the flight path took planes near the ship, but never where they took them directly over us as in St. Lucia. The runway is RIGHT THERE. No, seriously:

 

See?

 

We docked to the left of the Disney Magic.

 

 

We're off on our excursion: "Pitons Cruise and Snorkel" if you're following at home.

 

 

Passing the Pirate tour boat as we round the exit of Castries' harbor.

 

 

Yeah. There was a lot of scenery like this.

 

More to come....

[Godsonsafari]

continued.....

 

 

St. Lucia's coast is an embarrassment of riches. I haven't been to Hawaii yet, but this is kinda how I imagine Kauai looks.

 

 

Very brief stop to drop off people in Soufriere for their ziplining excursion. This is actually used as a cruise port by some of the smaller yacht style lines such as Windstar and Star Clippers.

 

 

Yup.

 

 

Uh huh.

 

 

Hey fish. The snorkeling wasn't abjectly terrible. I was surprised after I saw where we were going, but yup, the water was clear (aside from lots of floating seaweed to push through) and there were actually fish and coral that was alive.

 

 

Glittering lights of Castries as we depart.

 

I can't be angry at people who think that every island in the Caribbean is the same or don't have any interest in actual physical beauty. I just feel bad for those people at having such lousy taste. For everyone else out there (and there's a lot of people), cruising the Southern Caribbean is so the best. You should probably go before the number of boats and itineraries there keeps multiplying, and places like St. Lucia end up resembling Cozumel.

[drarill]

Great review and beautiful pictures. Thanks for taking the time to share your cruise with us. :)

[speshl]

I am getting so excited, down to 104 days.

 

Just wanted to say 'hi" to everyone.

[Jacey1971]

Thank you for that Great review!

 

~Jacey ]

[Godsonsafari]

Almost done! How did that happen so fast? I think it took me a month to write the Mediterranean ones last year. Part 6 of the full trip report is here:

 

http://realtalkguidetoawesome.wordpress.com/2014/10/28/tr-jewel-of-the-seas-2014-caribbean-cruise-pt-6-barbados-sea-day-1016-172014/

 

The last port of the cruise took us to Barbados, again a new island. We had a tour booked through Glory Tours that we'd hope would get us to both Harrison's Cave and to the Concorde Experience, but our driver indicated that the Concorde Experience wasn't answering their phone when he initially called and was kinda wishy-washy about them being open regularly this time of year. So, we skipped it. Happens. Harrison's Cave is a pretty nice show cave with the most unique feature of an electric vehicle tram system to transports guests inside the caves.

 

Aside from that, we basically did an island tour hitting all the high spots for a moment or two and learning all about Barbados from our driver both entry and advanced level. In a couple years, I expect Barbados to be a zoo comparable to St. Maarten - by all means, go now, go as soon as possible.

 

Some pictures:

 

Harrison's Cave aboard the tram

 

Another inside Harrison's Cave.

 

Bathsheba. Gorgeous coast line. Our guide explained to us also the purpose of many rock/chain link barriers on this side of the island which are used to prevent soil erosion from the hillsides. Drive along and you'll see them often on the left.

 

Inside of St. James Parish Church, the oldest on the island.

 

 

Parliament in downtown.

 

 

Back on the ship, a rare quiet evening at the Windjammer.

 

Just one last part to go: our post cruise stay at La Concha in San Juan's Condado Beach neighborhood.

Edited October 28, 2014 by Godsonsafari

[NemoCrownie]

This has been a fun, witty review. You have a great sense of humor and I like your writing style. We've been to these islands and will be on this itinerary in February but I have learned some interesting tidbits that would never have crossed my mind - not unusual. Thank you for taking so much time to do this. Kind of a twofer review with your blog. I always love a bargain!!

 

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[kruise runner]

Hi

We certainly enjoyed your review and pictures. You are so right about just enjoying the beauty of the southern Caribbean. This why we tend to take as many island tours as we can when cruising. Get out and check and experience what islands offer. We haven't been disappointed yet. We will be on the Jewel in 18 days. I like the way you write your review keeps it interesting .Thank you Great job.

kruise runner:cool:

Edited October 28, 2014 by kruise runner

[R&R-Cruisers]

Thanks for the pictures. You captured my family by the pool (sitting at the bar looking over the pool). Thanks for the flash back. It was a great cruise and I wasn't expecting to see a picture like this one!

[PathfinderEss]

Enjoying your review and great photo's.