Jewel of the Seas Nov 1st Trip Report

[mn1111]

I got back from my trip with Chanel just in time for lunch and the three of us headed over to the encanto pool as that was the closest one to our room. Mary & Elaine really liked the mudslides there and after having a sip of one had to agree that they definitely made them well. The rest of the afternoon was spent at the beach and in our little plunge pool until it was time to get ready for dinner. I called Elise who was flying in today to check if her flight was on schedule and was informed that all was OK. She was due to arrive at the hotel right around 7:00PM when the party was starting so if all went well the timing would be perfect.

 

At about 7:15, we headed over to Mi Casa and were happy to find that they had free open bar (the invite initially said gin and tonic bar and none of us drinks gin). There were maybe about 25 people in attendance and they redid the whole outside deck all in white, it looked really beautiful, but none of us took any photos. There was also a quartet playing stringed instruments and singing who were pretty good. I found out that they had another similar reception the evening before for the residents and because of all the rain had to move it inside, there were supposedly over 250 people that showed up for that one so it was definitely a lot more chaotic than ours. We easily found a table on the side near where they were serving the paella and had drinks in front of us within a few minutes. We got up and had a serving and while it was simple, it was also truly delicious. They were also passing around all kinds of tapas that the restaurant specializes in which was great for us as a bunch of them were ones we wanted to try and now we didn't have to pay for them!

 

Photos of the giant paella pans-it was really good

 

 

 

It wasn't too long before I got a call from Elise that she arrived. I went over to the check in desk right around the corner from where we were and got her. Boy did she have good timing as the tapas really started coming in fast as soon as she sat down. After a few minutes, Jose Andreas came by and hung out with us for a while, he was really gracious and an excellent host. He told us that there was another group of women from CT staying at the resort that he had just spoken to and seemed surprised that there were so many of us there. He also agreed to take a picture with us.

 

Mary, Elaine & Elise with Jose Andreas

 

After he left, we started enjoying more of the tapas (they kept them coming constantly) and free flowing wine when four women come up to us and said they were from CT and Jose told them about us so they wanted to say hi.

 

We hit it right off and had the best time with them! In the meantime, Jose kept coming by joking that CT was going to take over all of Puerto Rico and we would yell back that Barcelona was next (that is where he is from)! After talking with them for a while we asked how they came to this spot, well it turns out that one women's husband surprised her for her 60th birthday and rented the Su Casa house on the property for her, her sister and two close friends and paid for the whole thing.

 

Su Casa is a villa on the property built in the 1920's by Clara Livingston who lived there until she sold it all to Rockefeller. It was a spanish restaurant with strolling musicians when it was a Hyatt and when the Ritz took over they renovated it, restored it back to its original condition and rent it out for anywhere from $20,000 to $30,000 per night depending on the season! It was funny because these woman had no clue what to expect as they stopped on their way up at the supermarket and picked up groceries. The house comes with a private chef and they laughed that they were standing there with grocery bags while trays of food were being carried in. Now, I've been single all my life by choice and never regretted that decision, but this really made me think that there may have been some additional benefits to being married other than the obvious. Right about then though, my brother texted Mary for the 7th time that day to complain about having to care of the dog who had gotten sick by himself, so that put that though right out of my mind!

 

We were really enjoying ourselves together and they invited us to a private barbeque on the beach the hotel was giving them the next evening. Jose Andreas was going to help prepare it and it really sounded like a lot of fun, but we would be on the cruiseship at that time. We really wanted to go and thought about missing the ship in PR and hopping on in St. Thomas where it would be docked on Sunday as the flight over would only cost about $75 each, but we were hosting a party in our suite for some people on our roll call at 5:00 that day and besides that, had early plans in St Thomas as well, it also would of been a big hassle dealing with all the luggage so we reluctantly had to pass.

 

This is a photo I found of the back view of the Su Casa house looking from the beach over the pool. There are a lot of photos of the interior on-line as well.

 

 

After we left the party, we didn't feel like going to sleep so we took a swim in the encanto pool. While the water in the pool was too warm during the day for our liking, it was perfect for a night dip. It really was the perfect end to a perfect day. This was the last night I would be able to sleep outside, but we were definitely looking forward to the cruising on Jewel of the seas the next day.

[mn1111]

Enjoying your report and awesome photo's.

 

Thanks! I'm getting ready to report on the cruise now, which was awesome as well!

 

Neda

[Folk Singer]

Thank you for this.

[mn1111]

Day 5-Saturday Nov 1-Puerto Rico-Embarkation Day

 

We awoke to beautiful weather and calm water on the beach once again. After another delicious breakfast we hit the beach for the last time. We weren’t in any hurry to get to the ship at this point because Elaine had a 7:00PM flight out and the beach was so nice we figured it would be better to stay and have lunch there before leaving. After Elaine decided not to come on the cruise and before we left CT, I had planned on getting her drunk and talking her into dropping the car at the airport for us as it would save some time and more than a few bucks (we figured we could pay a taxi driver the cab fare to the airport and Elaine could follow him). I then realized that the hotel probably wouldn’t have that much alcohol on hand and so I did the next best thing and just asked her outright and to my surprise she agreed immediately! That is until she saw the size of the car we had and the insane drivers that populate a good part of Puerto Rico so that was the end of that. I thought about leaving earlier, dropping the luggage off at the ship and then returning the car before getting a cab back to port but that would be a big hassle as the port is closer to the hotel than the airport is and it just didn’t make sense to drive past it like that.

 

We ended up having the hotel provide a driver for us that would drop us off at the ship first and then take Elaine over and drop the car for us. It was a fairly expensive option, but it did save us at least 90 minutes which were well used on the beach and pools.

 

Now that we were on the way to the ship, I really couldn’t wait for the cruise to start! We had a fairly active roll call which I participated in more than usual as we had a really good group of people sailing and we all clicked for some reason. We were originally booked in Grand Suite 1532 and I kept watching to see if an owners suite would open up as if the price was right we wanted to upgrade.

While an owners suite never materialized, I did notice that the Royal Suite was just sitting there for the taking, but the price difference was more than we wanted to spend. At the same time RCCL announced changes to the club royale program which is their casino players club that I am a member of and as a result they were offering really good upgrade prices to members in order to help them use up their credits before the March 15th cut off date. I figured what the heck and made the call to check on the upgrade price and what do you know, we ended up getting the Royal Suite for only $230 more (I made her repeat it three times as I really didn't believe it at first)!!!

 

Since we now had this huge awesome suite, we figured it would be fun to throw a party for our roll call so we contacted Diego the concierge and ordered some canapes and champagne to be delivered up at 4:30 for a 5:00PM party. Needless to say, we were now very excited to check it all out.

 

We got to the port at about 3:15 and at that time there were really not too many lines though the general boarding line looked like it was about a 20 minute wait or so. Once we got to the check in desk, we filled out our forms and were asked to wait to the side, but they didn't give us a reason as to why. I got nervous at first wondering if I did anything wrong, I then realized that I didn't and wondered what Elise did wrong (we all knew it wasn't Mary). We had about 6 bottles of good wine in our carry-ons and figured maybe they wanted to take some of them, but after a few minutes Diego showed up to escort us on board (what a relief). Upon entering the suite we were truly impressed as it was beautiful and we knew we were going to have a great week. Mary and Elise were wise enough to get pictures before we messed it up (I wasn't as wise). I'm going to include a bunch of pictures that both Elise and I took (hers are of the neat cabin and mine are of the messy one).

 

View to balcony from entry way

 

 

 

 

View to balcony from entry way

 

 

 

 

 

 

View to living room from entry way

 

 

 

Balcony Shots

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'll add more photos of the suite in the next few posts.

Edited November 16, 2014 by mn1111

[mn1111]

Bedroom

 

 

 

 

 

Vanity in Bedroom

 

 

Walk through closet in bedroom-This is where the safe was located also

[mn1111]

I was surprised to find out that this suite has two full baths as the description on Royals website didn't mention it and I couldn't tell from the floor plans. One was off the bedroom and the was near the entry way. The shower in the second bathroom was decent sized as well (about the size of the one in an owners suite). This came in really handy as Elise took as long to get ready as Mary and I do combined so if the three of us had to share one, we would of been late to everything.

 

Master Bath

 

Elise in the mirror

 

This shower was great-it had three shower heads and a steam function

 

Jacuzzi tub that not one of us ever used

 

 

 

 

We only got two crappy shots of the other bathroom, but here they are...

 

 

[mn1111]

Photos of living area

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By the end of the week this is what the top of the piano looked like!

 

[mn1111]

We were only in the cabin for a few moments when our most awesome room steward Ronoldo showed up and introduced himself. We liked him right away and he took very good care of us all week long. Definitely one of the best room stewards we had in a long time. At 4:30 sharp room service knocked on the door with the items for the party. We ordered two bottles of champagne and also bought one at the duty free store in the terminal. Another bottle also came with the suite and we carried on the one the hotel gave us so between that and the wine we bought on we were all set to go. Also Carol from our roll call bought over a really nice bottle of red wine and another bottle of champagne. It was a good thing because my guess is that we ended up with over 30 people attending our party!

 

The only issue at this point was the hors d'oeuvres, which were three tiny plates of cold I don't know what! They didn't even look edible, I tried one and yes, they tasted as bad as they looked. To make matters even worse, I was originally quoted $50 each for these things and there was no way I was going pay for that so I complained to the room service girl who totally agreed as we were expecting hot items not these little cold toasty things. She called the kitchen and said to give them 20 minutes and sure enough 20 minutes later they showed up with three very large trays of much much better looking hot appetizers. What was even better is that the whole thing ended up being comped my guess is from the casino, but I'm not sure though had I known it at the time, I never would of complained.

 

Before long our roll call members started show up and it was really nice to finally put faces to the names. I had already met Barbara (chickadee) and her husband George as they live locally and George has a restored vintage pick up truck that he shows at a venue very close to where I live so I had the pleasure of meeting them there. Elise took a few photos of the event, but only from one vantage point, if anyone that was there sees this and has better pics, feel free to post them up.

 

Our Party

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mn1111]

Thank you for this.

 

No problem, it's a lot of fun reliving everything!

[mn1111]

We had a great turn out for the party and I think everyone had a good time meeting each other. The last of our group left around 6:30 or so and we figured it would be a good time to unpack before muster and dinner. We had the late dinner seating at 8:30 so had plenty of time to empty our suitcases and settle in.

 

Our wait team was Dennis and assistant waitress who a really nice woman from Jamaica, her name began with a K, but I forgot the rest of it. We loved her though, always a smile and by the next time we were in there had my iced tea ready for me as soon as I sat down. It was just the three of us at a table which was fine, but it probably would of been more fun to dine with others as we were feeling social on this cruise.

 

After dinner we hit the casino where I lost heavily rather quickly and then called it a night as we had to be off the ship early the next morning.

[mn1111]

Day 6-Nov 2-St. Thomas

 

This was the day I was looking forward to most as we had chartered a boat to visit St. John and the BVI's. Of all the things to do on all the islands, this was always my favorite and I could do it over and over again and never get bored. Two women we met on our roll call Michele and Lori would be joining us today. In fact, we would be with them for four out of the five days. Other than a brief intro at the party the day before, we had never met them. To be honest this made me a little nervous, not for my sake as I can deal with just about anyone, but more for Mary as she sometimes takes a while to warm up to people and I've stuck with a few doozies in the past. I remember joking around with Barbara before the cruise that if it didn't go well with them, I was going to be in big trouble and might have to bunk with her and George to which she replied fat chance as it was their 40th anniversary, so I was praying it would work out or I'd be sleeping on the pool deck. I needn't have worried as they were excellent company and we all hit it off and had the best time together!!

 

We got the boat through Sonic Charters whom I had never used before, but they had excellent reviews so we gave them a chance. We usually go with See and Ski, but because I originally thought we might be 7 (before Elaine cancelled I was trying to talk my niece into joining us), we had to go with a bigger boat once Lori and Michele signed up as the See and Ski boats can only fit 6. They sent a driver to pick us up at the port at 8:15AM for our ride to Red Hook where we would meet the boat. The cost was exactly the same as if we grabbed a taxi in port, but we had the convenience of not having to wait for them to fill up which can sometimes take 15-20 minutes to do. I really liked this option and will ask for it again anytime I take a private tour going to that part of the island as it really saved a lot of time and hassle.

 

We arrived right on time at Sapphire Marina and met Captain Tony who would be taking us out that day. The 32 foot boat was advertised to be able to fit 12 people, but I wouldn't put more than 8 on it though it was great for our group of 5.

 

Our boat for the day-Taken from Sonic Charters website

 

 

Captain Tony at the helm

 

Since there was no restroom on this boat, we all used the facilities and were off. We were debating whether or not to make the 2 hour trip over to Virgin Gorda and visit the baths or not, but decided against it as it would take up half the day and there were many other places we wanted to hit. Our first stop was in Tortola to clear customs which took about 15 minutes and costs $40 per person. They wouldn't allow us to take any photos, but I got one of Sopers hole marina across the bay.

 

Sopers Hole Marina-We didn't stop here, but will maybe next time

[mn1111]

St Thomas Cont'd-

 

Our first stop was to the Norman Caves for snorkeling. Norman Island where the caves are located is currently uninhabited, but contains a bar/restaurant called Pirates Bight which we did not visit. It is also supposedly the inspiration for treasure island as pirates really did hide treasure there and to this day there are all sorts of rumors flying around about where there is still some hidden.

 

The three water level caves and surrounding reefs are ideal for snorkeling. We spent quite a bit of time here, but in going to the first cave which is the tightest one, Mary got a little freaked out as she gets nervous in water and I had to guide her back to the boat. In hindsight, I wish we went into second cave first as it is a little wider and a lot more pretty featuring lots of purples (rocks, corals etc). I've always referred to it as the purple cave. I forgot to bring my camera both times entering the water, when we first got in and after I brought Mary back so I don't have any of my own photos. I did take the following two from the web one showing the outside of the caves and the other showing a bit of what it looks like in the purple cave.

 

 

 

Underwater shot taken in second cave (not my photo)-The cool trunk fish were in abundance on most stops we made today.

 

We spent about an hour in the water here, and had originally planned on snorkeling over by the Indians afterwards, but the water over there was rougher and there was no way we were going to Mary in the water again at that spot. With that dilemma in hand, we figured it was time for painkillers and lunch over at the Soggy Dollar bar in White Bay on the island of Jost Van Dyke. The Soggy Dollar is kind of a land mark typical beach bar/shack that got it's name from boaters having to jump into the water to get to it which got their money wet (they actually have a clothesline where money can be hung to dry). They are famous for their painkillers and while they still maintain their laid back "beach shack" charm, it has turned into quite the tourist spot and if you don't time it right can be packed with wall to wall people.

 

There are actually several bar/restaurants on this stretch of beach and my favorite is a place called One Love as their food is usually a little better, but since we anchored right off the Soggy Dollar we decided on lunch there. All of us including Captain Tony had the Mahi Sandwich and it was definitely better than I remembered, the fish seemed extra fresh that day. Mary and Elise had the painkillers and said they definitely lived up to the hype. It was relatively quiet, but not empty and business was steady for them. I bought a T-shirt from the little store there and they must of "rang" up at least $400 in sales while I was just standing there waiting to pay. The place is definitely a gold mine.

 

After lunch we hung out on the beach for a while. The beach here is perfect with sugar white sand and clear blue water. Just what comes into mind when thinking of a Caribbean beach. After about an hour or so, it started to get a little crowded so we decided to get moving on to our next stop.

 

Photos of White Bay

 

 

 

 

Soggy Dollar Bar in the background

[mn1111]

Next up was Sandy Spit which is just a tiny little island with some palm trees that you can walk all the way around in less than 5 minutes. This is also where they film a lot of the Corona commercials. Captain Tony dropped us very close to the beach in waist deep water and we just walked on shore. Everyone but myself took the little walk around the island collecting shells etc., i took my mask and went snorkeling on the reef adjacent to the island for a while. After a bit we hung out in the water for a bit and moved to our next stop. We spent maybe about 40 minutes or so here.

 

Photos of Sandy Spit

 

 

 

My one "must do" activity for today was to visit Honeymoon Beach in St. John which is one of the seven beaches that are part of the Caneel Bay Resort (a place that is on my bucket list to stay at one day). I've always loved that beach, it is great for hanging out on and there is a nice little coral reef within easy swimming distance that anyone can do. So that is where we were headed next.

 

We spent a good hour or so at honeymoon, enjoying the beach and snorkeling the coral reef. We saw a few turtles pop their heads up, but we didn't get too close to them as they were further out in the bay than where we were.

 

Photos of Honeymoon Beach taken from the boat

 

 

 

 

[Canadian Tyler]

Really enjoying this report. Between the hotel and the awesome suite you sure know how to travel!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[sandm]

Loving your report. We had your room in September. I LOVED the walk through closet and the steam in the shower.

I ended up using the big bathroom and my husband used the smaller one off the entryway.

 

The shower in the big bathroom didn't allow the water to get very hot but a word to our room steward and it was fixed in no time.

 

Thank you for your pictures. I enjoy being reminded of the fun we had hosting cocktails every evening before dinner.

[mn1111]

Really enjoying this report. Between the hotel and the awesome suite you sure know how to travel!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

 

Thanks so much, I'm glad your enjoying it! We lucked into the suite, but the hotel I watched like a hawk for two years before we could get a price that was somewhat reasonable. I found a few other reasonable options for staying at the property now though, so hopefully will be able to enjoy it again soon.

[mn1111]

Loving your report. We had your room in September. I LOVED the walk through closet and the steam in the shower.

I ended up using the big bathroom and my husband used the smaller one off the entryway.

 

The shower in the big bathroom didn't allow the water to get very hot but a word to our room steward and it was fixed in no time.

 

Thank you for your pictures. I enjoy being reminded of the fun we had hosting cocktails every evening before dinner.

 

We loved this cabin too, but the problem is we got spoiled and will always want it in the future so these cruises are going to get a lot more expensive unless I can snag another deal like this one which isn't likely. I couldn't figure out the water temp in the shower until the last few nights and never could figure out the lights (we just gave up and left them as is). I have a funny story about the steam shower though.

 

Neda

[mn1111]

Our next and last stop was Christmas Cove which was also on St. John to snorkel with the turtles. Captain Tony told us that all the locals bring their boats there on Christmas day and share meals and exchange gifts. He said sometimes there could be hundreds of boats there all at once and that it was a really fun time.

 

The water here was very deep, but also very calm. There is no coral reef, but lots of turtle grass which I guess the turtles dig because we saw lots of them everywhere. We got pretty close to several and not one of us got any photos as we were too busy enjoying ourselves. We also saw plenty of fish, mostly trunk fish, a puffer fish (which was really cool) and a few stingrays. We didn't have a lot of time here as it was getting late, but it was enough to see what we wanted to see. I had never been to this spot before, so now it is on my list of places to return to when in the area again.

 

Photo of Christmas Cove taken from the web

 

 

All too soon it was time to say goodbye to Captain Tony. We took the obligatory goodbye photo and we were on our way back to port.

 

Lori, Elise, Mary, Captain Tony and the beautiful Michele!

 

 

 

We got back to port with about 45 minutes to spare before final boarding. We wasted no time at all in shopping around the port until we had to get back on the ship. It was Sunday, so a lot of the shops were closed but we managed to pick up a few nice items (booze and cigarettes).

 

Back on the ship we realized it was formal night and none of us felt like dressing up so the ever capable Diego snagged 8:00PM reservations for us at Portofino. We spent the next three hours getting ready and sitting out on the balcony drinking some excellent wine matched with some mediocre snacks from the concierge lounge. The appetizers in the lounge on the Jewel weren't nearly as good as the ones they put out on the Freedom for some reason, but the service in there was excellent and we were still pretty full from lunch so it didn't matter. They were also really good about opening up the wine we brought with us from home and Diego gave us a nice decanter so we could decant it properly.

 

At 8:00 we went down to dinner, Mary and I ordered the lamb chops and Elise had one of the veal dishes. The lamb chops were good (mashed potatoes were excellent), the veal not so much as it was very dry. The atmosphere and service were good though so we were happy.

 

Afterwards we all went to the casino where I got brutalized again. I noticed Mary was hanging out a little longer than she usually would. Upon further investigation (something was off), I found out the reason.

 

SHE WAS TERRIFIED OF THIS!!!

 

 

Apparently when she went up to the cabin by herself the night before, the creaking noises of the ship made her think that this guy was walking around the room at night. She really watches too many horror movies. I tried to sympathize with her, but also tried to bribe Ronaldo the next time I saw him to dress up like it and stand over her bed while she was sleeping (he wanted no part of that). Being the good sister in law that I am, I cut my losses and escorted her back up and thought about St. Croix which is where we were headed to the following day.

[mn1111]

Day 7-Nov 4th-St. Croix

 

Before I get into St. Croix, I just wanted to give some final thoughts about Sonic Charters in St. Thomas (I forgot to do it before). This was a great outfit and I wouldn't hesitate to charter with them again if we had more than 5 people sailing. For a group up to 5 (we usually go with 3 or 4), I would stick with See & Ski only because they are about $170 less for the day. The boats are a little smaller 26 ft vs 32 ft, but with 4 people it was more than comfortable enough and they are a wonderful company as well.

 

Anyway, our plans for St. Croix were simple, we were just going to hang on the beach for the day. Originally we had day passes to the Buccaneer hotel near Christiansted, but upon further research we realized that the best beaches were on the west side closer to where the ship docks and it didn't make sense to drive 30 minutes to the other side of the island for an inferior beach. Barbara who was on our roll call is actually the one who found the spot next door to where we were going otherwise we would of never found it.

 

It was going to be the five of us again today and since we didn't have anyone meeting us, we could have breakfast on the ship. The absolute best suite perk in my opinion is the ability to have breakfast cooked to order in Chops. It was really nice to be able to sit in the quiet restaurant and order whatever we wanted and have it delivered nice and hot. Diego was nice enough to allow Lori and Michelle access as well so we could eat together. We used this option on three or four mornings and there were never more than 2 or 3 other tables in there while we were in, so service was very fast.

 

After breakfast we took a $3 cab ride over to a place called Cottages by the Sea where we rented a cottage on the beach for the day. The price was really reasonable and while we could of rented chairs on the beach from the next hotel over for a few dollars less, I really wanted to check this place out as the room rates are ridiculously low even in the middle of winter and I'm looking for a budget get-away spot for this Feb or March.

 

The ride from the ship to the cottages only took about 5 minutes and not too long after that we were all checked in and ready for the beach. The beach here was beautiful, crystal clear water and soft white sand. It was very quiet and practically empty which is just how I like it, so I was definitely a happy camper. The little cottage they gave us was small, but fully equipped and clean, I would definitely be able to stay here on a land vacation!

 

Photos of the beach at Cottages by the Sea (my photos don't do the place justice)

 

 

Looking toward the cottages from the beach

 

Looking toward the port with Jewel of the Seas docked

 

After enjoying the water for a while, I took a quick walk next door (less than a minute) to say hi to Barbarba and George who were spending the day there along with a few other roll call friends. They got an awesome deal, 2 chairs and an umbrella with a free rum punch for $25 total and that included the use of the small pool and showers they had there. I was worried about that spot being crowded, but there were probably only about 10-12 people there if I had to guess so all was good.

[Folk Singer]

Really enjoying this report. Between the hotel and the awesome suite you sure know how to travel!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

 

i say. Wish we were there. Great Photos and wonderful review.

Edited November 18, 2014 by Folk Singer

[mn1111]

I threw my mask on and went snorkeling for a while, there isn't really a true reef in front of the cottages, but there were numerous patches of live rock with different sea life that kept my attention for a while. Elise went out for a bit also and saw a turtle which from what I hear is a common site at this location. This time I remembered to bring my camera in the water and got a few shots.

 

 

 

 

 

Cool little lizard fish hanging on the bottom

 

It wasn't too long after, we decided to have lunch at the restaurant on the beach between the cottages and the hotel next door (sand castles). Some of us ordered the fish sandwiches and some the crab sandwiches, they were both really delicious including the sides that came along with them and the pinacoloda was the best I've had yet on the whole trip. Mary and Elise got painkillers and said they were even better than the ones at the Soggy Dollar. The food here was definitely a hit so if anyone ends up here for the day, definitely treat yourselves to lunch or at least a pinacolada. I didn't get a picture of the menu, but did take some screen shots of it from the website as listed below.

 

 

 

 

After lunch we swam on the beach some more until it was time to head back to the ship. We got to port with about an hour or so left until all aboard. Mary & Elise wanted to shop around a bit and I was on a mission to find some decent cheese. I was down to my last three bottles of wine which happened to be the best of what we carried on board with us and the cheese on the ship had been terrible and there was no way I was going to go another night pairing my expensive wine with that flavorless cheese (a girl has to draw the line somewhere).

 

I found a cab to take me to the local supermarket and unfortunately all they had was Cracker Barrel (I was hoping at least for some aged Cabot), but it would have to do as it was still better than what they had on board. So I ended up paying $20 for a cab ride to get two little $3.99 things of cheese, to some it may seem stupid, but it was definitely worth it to me.

 

Back on board, we enjoyed the cheese with some wine and fruit (the grapes on the ship have been fabulous as well as the apples) while we got ready for dinner.

 

We had dinner in the main dining room that night and think we had the shrimp which were really good. I've had them before on different ships and they were just OK, that night they really got them right and it was probably the best meal we had on board. After that it was another losing night in the casino (the craps table had been cold all week at that point) and off to bed sometime later. Missing my outdoor bed at the hotel, I slept on a lounger out on the balcony and had a decent night sleep though the lounger wasn't as comfortable as what I slept on back at the Ritz.

[mn1111]

i say. Wish we were there. Great Photos and wonderful review.

 

 

Thanks! I'm going to try to get some work done and then come back and post about Antigua.

[mn1111]

Day 8-Nov 5th-Antigua

 

At 7:00AM sharp the coffee we ordered for 7:30AM was delivered. This was to be the case for the rest of the week, where it would be delivered about 1/2 hour before requested. We outsmarted them on the last day though and ordered it to be delivered a half hour later than we wanted it and sure enough it worked!

 

We had enough time to meet Laurie, Michele and our new friend traveling alone from Germany Gabi for a quick breakfast at chops. Once off the ship we headed over towards the clothing store around the corner called Exotic Antigua where were meeting our charter boat for the day.

 

Steel drum band playing as we got off the ship

 

 

 

We chartered a boat to go snorkeling off the North Shore islands with a grilled lobster lunch on the beach. There were 10 of us going today as Carol (tomcruizer) and her husband Tom, sister Dottie and friend Susan decided to join us. We were a little nervous before meeting everyone as to how it would work out because I usually like to charter just for my group and maybe one or two others and ten seemed like a lot to me, but it worked out great. Everyone got along fine and the conversation was really interesting. I think having a few more made it even more fun and it dropped the per person cost by a bit too!

 

The company we used is called Creole cruises and they had really good reviews. The boat is supposed to fit 23 people, it was perfect for our group of 10 but I wouldn't put anymore on it, though I heard they sail full quite often with no complaints. I had confirmed a 9:00AM pick up several months ahead of time and reconfirmed the week before, but for some reason they had us down for 9:30 so it was a long 30 minutes sitting there wondering if they forgot us or not. At 9:30 Captain Glen and his first mate (really nice guy, but I forgot his name) showed up with the boat and we were off.

 

We took a nice leisurely cruise up the coast past some resorts with Glen pointing different points of interest until we got to Bird Island about 40 minutes later where we dropped off Glens assistant with the food and those of us who didn't want to go back out with the boat to the snorkeling spot.

 

Passing Jumby Bay Resort on the way

 

After that was all done we took about a 5 minute boat ride over to the reef and snorkeled for about 45 minutes or so.

 

Snorkeling Location

 

 

 

The snorkeling was pretty decent, but not great however there were lots of fish. I didn't bring my camera in the water, but wish I did as there were a few decent photo opportunities including a cool eel and a very colorful scrawled filefish. Once everyone was back in the boat we headed back to Bird Island to hang on the beach for a bit while lunch was prepared.

 

Elise, Lori, Michele & Mary hanging on the beach as we are coming in from snorkeling

 

 

There was some grass on one side of the beach, but the other side was nice and clear.

 

 

Our boat for the day...

 

[mn1111]

Lunch was starting to smell good. They also had a very good fruit punch with a bottle of rum for those who wanted to indulge besides for all the usual soft drinks and bottled water. We had two bottles of champagne left from the party that I bought along before realizing that I wouldn't be able to get them back on the ship if we didn't drink them, so everyone helped "get rid of it" it was a valiant team effort!

 

Glen cooking our lunch

 

 

 

After a little while lunch was ready, it was really good too. Glens wife Katja is quite the cook as she made three different salads to go with everything and it was all excellent. We ate on the pick nick tables that were half in the sand and half in the water.

 

 

Since it was Michele's birthday we asked to see if they would make a cake for her and Glens wife ended up baking it herself. It was some kind of coconut pineapple cake that was out of this world, I think it was my favorite desert of the whole trip.

 

After lunch, Glen took those who wanted to go on a hike up the hill. I chose to stay on the beach, but several people decided to go. I gave Lori my camera to get some shots of what it looked like up there and this is what she came back with.

 

 

 

 

Pretty soon it was time to move on. We had one more stop to make over at the starfish gardens off of Maiden island. Just as the name indicates it is basically a spot near a beach with lots of starfish. We hung out there for a while with our snorkel masks before heading back to port. There wasn't a reef or anything, but there were some mangrove trees there with some juvenile fish.

 

Not sure if this is the starfish gardens spot or not

 

 

Once back at port we only had about a half hour before final boarding so we said our goodbyes and headed back to the ship. All in all this was definitely an excellent day and I wouldn't hesitate to book with Creole Cruises again in the future.

 

Back on the ship we fell into our usual routine of wine and cheese on the balcony while getting ready for dinner. Dinner was in the dining room again tonight, don't remember what we had, but I don't think we ate much of it anyway as we were still full from lunch. After dinner we played in the casino a bit before checking out the comedian which is the one and only show we saw all week. He was OK, but it definitely wouldn't of been a big deal if we missed it. Afterwards Mary and I headed up as we had a really early day in St. Lucia while Elise closed the casino.

[swingphi]

Thanks for the detailed description. It really helps. I'm on the December 6th sailing and I am driving my husband nuts with my excitement. Your review and photos are wonderful. This is our first cruise in 6 years due to family illness. Is the suite worth the upgrade? Thanks again.