B2B on the Jewel ~ Once Again! ~ Nov. 29th and Dec. 6th ~ My Diary

[maxs mom]

Greetings All!!

 

Just back from another two weeks on the beautiful Jewel of the Seas out of San Juan. Fabulous Southern Caribbean islands and very port intensive. We had a great time!! I may have to abbreviate things a little as this is such a busy time of year and I don't have much time. We are also heading out on Christmas Day for two weeks on the Explorer.....so I'm busy washing clothes and repacking packing as we speak!!

 

So here goes.......

 

 

Once again we flew to San Juan on Southwest and once again it was a pleasant experience! It was a long day of travel and we arrived right on time a little after 5 o'clock on Friday, November 28th. No crowds at the airport AT ALL!! We quickly grabbed a taxi and motored a whole 5 minutes over to the Embassy Suites.....checked in and immediately went to the manager's reception. We started chatting with another couple there and found out that they were from North Carolina, too, and were also sailing on the Jewel. Nice to make new friends right away. We grabbed a quick bite to eat. We were exhausted, so we went on to bed.

 

Saturday ~ November 29, 2014 ~ San Juan

 

I tossed and turned all night as I usually do the night before a cruise. The breakfast at the ES this morning was awful. This is an OK place to stay, but I am really tired of the Suite taxes and the resort fees that they pile on. May go elsewhere next time.

 

We met up with Ben and Jessica, our new friends, this morning and shared a taxi to the port with them. We stopped at a Walgreen's along the way and got a case of water to take on board with us. I taped a couple of luggage tags on there and gave it to the porters. Worked great.

 

We arrived at the port around 11:00. Hardly anyone was there, so we walked right in.....no lines.....wonderful!

 

As we were checking in at the counter we heard someone shout "Jane and John!!!" I turned around and it was Diego, the Concierge, there to welcome us. That made me feel so special!

 

We had our welcome aboard picture made and we were on board in no time!

 

 

We found a nice spot by Café Lattetudes to hang out while we waited on cabins to open up at 1:00. Ben and Jessica joined us.

 

 

I ran around and got all our dinner reservations made.....Chops. Portofino, and My Time Dining......no problems. I also went up to the Windjammer to grab some iced tea and cookies to snack on while we were waiting. There was hardly anyone in the Windjammer.....that was weird. While doing all this running around....I encountered quite a few crew members that remembered me from being on board in September. Our waiter, a head waiter, and some others.....all very welcoming and glad to see us again.....everywhere we turned, there was someone we knew. That was neat.

 

Cabins opened promptly at 1:00, so we made our way up to Deck 8 to our E1 cabin for the week.....8104.....right off the Centrum and on the hump. Great cabin with an even greater balcony. Loved it!!

 

 

 

 

This was a fabulous location. We noticed that since September, the balcony furniture has been replaced. The nice comfy chairs and tables are now on the balconies of the Jewel!!

[LBumb]

great start

[maxs mom]

On to the Windjammer for lunch.....still no crowds! Quite pleasant! I noticed that they had nice new white trays to present all of the food. It looked very nice. I have always loved the salad bar on this ship!

 

 

Here is a chicken and rice dish that they had a couple of times during the week. It looked good. I never tried it, though.

 

 

The presentation of the food here was very nice and we always found something good to eat. Of course, this being such a port intensive cruise, we only ate here for a few times. BUT......we came in almost everyday to have some soft serve frozen yogurt! That's what we got for dessert today.

 

When we got back to our cabin after lunch.....there was a bottle of wine there from Diego! How nice! We got a little unpacking done and also some rest.

 

At 3:30 I went up to the Sky Bar for a pre Meet and Mingle. It was well attended and we had a nice time getting to know each other. Great group!!

 

 

 

A little rest time and more unpacking was next. Here are a couple more pictures of our fabulous balcony. We really enjoyed it this week.

 

 

[maxs mom]

great start

 

Congratulations on making the first post!! Great to "see" you again!

[Realtor at Sea]

Oh goody, I love your reviews!

[kleo30]

Looking forward to your review Jane.

[Frenchie1964]

I really love your reviews!! I have been bouncing around between Indy, Serenade or Jewel.

[whalelover4]

Love your reviews! Can't wait to read more since we will be on her in March and have only ever been to St. Thomas!

 

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[maxs mom]

Thanks for the votes of confidence, y'all!

 

Frenchie......You can't lose with either the Indy, Serenade, or Jewel. All great ships....just consider the itineraries.[/size]

[Agutaya]

I'm looking forward to another of your great reviews even if it must be abbreviated a bit. We'll be on a B2B on Jewel at the end of Oct and first week of Nov 2015 so will have most of the same ports. Any chance you'll be on either of those two cruises next year?

 

Mary

[maxs mom]

We were off to the Concierge Lounge around 6:30. It closed at 7:30 tonight because of Muster Drill, so we stopped by to say hello to Diego and have a couple of drinks. We were so surprised when we got there to see Joseph, the bartender that worked in there in September. He immediately remembered us and also our drink preferences. He had them ready!! Amazing! Diego has Joseph working the CL permanently now because they have a really good working relationship. It really makes things run smoothly in there. Joseph is one of the best!

 

 

Tonight we sat with a fun loving family from the UK. They were on their second leg of a B2B. They were impressed that we knew Joseph. They were always dressed nicely and always looked like they were having fun all week.

 

 

This is when we learned that we were sailing this week with 700 less passengers than they sailed last week. Amazing! That's why there were never any crowds anywhere. It was kind of nice.

 

We enjoyed our drinks then went on down to the Muster Drill at 8:00. Our station this week was in the Schooner Bar. Yay!! Love it when that happens. The Muster Drill did not last too long and we were soon on our way to Chops for dinner. They also remembered us in Chops......remembered our preferences and even remembered where we sat the last time we were in there. The Head Waiter had just come from the Explorer and he remembered us from that ship. He made us guess all night where we knew him from.

 

We ordered our standard here.....I got the goat cheese salad and a petit filet. John got the onion soup and a New York Strip. Also a baked potato. (Still missing those onion rings!) Everything was delicious. Service was just a little slow but not too bad.

 

 

 

 

[maxs mom]

I'm looking forward to another of your great reviews even if it must be abbreviated a bit. We'll be on a B2B on Jewel at the end of Oct and first week of Nov 2015 so will have most of the same ports. Any chance you'll be on either of those two cruises next year?

 

Mary

 

Mary.....you will love it. We do hope to go back on the Jewel again next year, but at this point we don't know which weeks yet. Gotta make sure Diego will be there first!

[LoveThoseSeaDays]

So excited to have found your review! We are booked on the Jewel one year from now for a family vacation, on the same itinerary as the first leg of your voyage. We are hoping to spend two days in San Juan before we sail -- I'm especially thrilled to be heading to Antigua.

 

Thank you for all the photos -- can't wait to hear all the details!

[maxs mom]

Ever since the demise of the Mud Pie.....the Huckleberry Cheesecake has become our go to dessert. I also like the other chocolate dessert with the coconut ice cream.....but we split the cheesecake tonight. Yum!

 

 

We devoured it!

 

 

We used one of our BOGO's here tonight and they let us use the other one for Portofino later in the week. We paid for it tonight, though.

 

We strolled around a bit after dinner. The ship was beautifully decorated for Christmas.

 

 

We stopped in the Sports Bar and watched the final half of the Auburn/Alabama game. Then this magnet in the casino drew us in there. I think most everyone knows how my luck goes in the casino. We wisely just watched tonight and didn't get taken in. I know......hard to believe!!

 

We were pretty wiped out, so we went to bed after that.

[CRUISEMAMI]

A very good start, as usual Jane!

Hopefully you'll have it done :) by the 24.....

Don't want to miss it.... Hehehe

Franca

 

 

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[maxs mom]

So excited to have found your review! We are booked on the Jewel one year from now for a family vacation, on the same itinerary as the first leg of your voyage. We are hoping to spend two days in San Juan before we sail -- I'm especially thrilled to be heading to Antigua.

 

Thank you for all the photos -- can't wait to hear all the details!

 

This is one of the best cruises you can do!! If you love to go to the beach, then stay tuned. We found a great beach that we have never been to before on this leg. Can't wait to share the pictures!

[maxs mom]

A very good start, as usual Jane!

Hopefully you'll have it done :) by the 24.....

Don't want to miss it.... Hehehe

Franca

 

 

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Hey Franca!! I know you are packing and chomping at the bit to get on the Legend! I'm happy for you. Hope you have a great cruise. I'll do my best to finish this for you.

[SherriZ366]

Another great review Jane!!

[mpoole3]

I'm so excited to have a new review to read! Jane welcome back! I love reading your reviews!

[smeck]

Nice to see another review from one of my favorite reviewers. I'm abandoning Royal for A cruise with Princess, Royal can't come to it's European itenaries.

[CRUISEMAMI]

Hey Franca!! I know you are packing and chomping at the bit to get on the Legend! I'm happy for you. Hope you have a great cruise. I'll do my best to finish this for you.

 

 

Oh.... Thank you Jane!

You should be packing too, again;)

 

 

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[maxs mom]

I'm so excited to have a new review to read! Jane welcome back! I love reading your reviews!

 

Well......you've written a whole bunch of good ones recently!! I think you are cruising as much as we are!!

Edited December 18, 2014 by max'smom

[maxs mom]

Sunday ~ November 30, 2014 ~ At Sea

 

Our first day out was our one and only sea day for this cruise. I started out with coffee in the CL where I wrote in my journal and visited with Diego. That is my morning ritual. There is a very good continental breakfast here, but I'm not in to carbs for breakfast, so I just admire it from afar!

 

 

Unfortunately the coffee machine was out of order this week. But there was plenty of coffee brought in.

 

 

Not only was there new furniture on the balconies, there was new furniture everywhere! Here is the new furniture in the centrum:

 

 

There were these great new card tables and chairs on Deck 9 and 10. They were used a lot.

 

 

We went to breakfast.....as always.....in the special dining room for D, D+, and P members. This is one of the perks that we like the best!! Breakfast is our favorite meal of the day and we never miss it. Since John is a diabetic, he tries to keep things consistent, so we order the same thing every day. The waiters just can't understand why we don't want menus every day. Believe me....I would love to eat everything on that menu....but it would be disastrous if we did. This is my standard breakfast everyday. I don't eat the potatoes, though. Sometimes I stray to oatmeal.

 

 

This is the breakfast area. We had it to ourselves most mornings this week. It was used heavily the next week.

 

Edited December 18, 2014 by max'smom

[maxs mom]

We spent the next part of our morning in the CL for more coffee and some reading time.

 

 

It was really cold in there so we went back to our cabin where we enjoyed our wonderful balcony. So peaceful and the perfect temperature. We read out there in the lounges and even napped a little. So comfy!

 

 

Lunch was in the Seaview Café today. Such a great lunch spot!! Our favorite waiter, Kasa, was there to greet us.

 

 

John had a hot dog and those wonderful onion rings! I had a bowl of chili.....and of course, onion rings!! The desserts here are really good, but we went down to the WJ for frozen yogurt.

 

I wandered around a bit after lunch and passed by the Belly Flop Contest. Always fun.

 

 

 

 

I strolled through the Solarium and the Shops on Board. It was VERY noticeable that there were 700 people missing! Much less crowded everywhere than usual.

 

Once back to the cabin.....more reading and relaxation. Nice long time for that today. I read many, many books on this trip.

[Lady Hudson]

Thanks for posting, Jane. Love your reviews. Just got a new IPad mini and your writings will help to initiate it to the to world of cruise critic.:). Katherine