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

[maxs mom]

Monday ~ December 8, 2014 ~ St. Kitts

 

On turn around day in San Juan, they brought aboard a whole bunch of poinsettias.

 

 

There were four ships in port today!! I've never seen that in St. Kitts! But all was good. I do love this island!!

 

 

 

 

Here's the view from our balcony!!!

 

 

LOL!! It's really not that bad, but most of he deck 7 balcony cabins have the lifeboat cover to deal with and you can't see straight down to the ocean.

 

Just to the right here at the end of the pier, you can easily get a taxi. You don't have to wait for one to fill up and the drivers are so nice!

 

[maxs mom]

After reading about your B2B adventures, we've booked 2 cruises from San Juan next January on the Adventure. I can't wait. It's kind of been a dream of mine to do a B2B. Thanks for all the information you've provided through your reviews. I'll keep watching for them!

 

Good for you!! You will love the B2B's, especially from San Juan. They ARE port intensive, though, so you have to be ready for that!

[maxs mom]

After breakfast we get a taxi over to the Marriott. We've tried several beaches here over the years, but the Marriott has been our favorite. We go back every time. We don't even have to think about it.

 

 

 

Today we go out to the beach and they are doing some kind of construction/renovation of some kind around the cabanas. There's a bulldozer out there. All of the available cabanas seemed to be taken.......sooooooo we found a really nice spot up by the pool and that's where we hung out for the day.

 

 

 

It wasn't crowded at all by the pool this morning, but by the time we left in the afternoon, it was busy. Not horrible, but busy. I love to hang out here! The Wi-Fi was exceptionally good today.

 

 

[maxs mom]

Around noon we went over to the pool restaurant for lunch. The food is great here. You must use a credit card......they don't accept cash.

 

 

I swam in the pool after lunch and the water was delightful. The last couple of times we were here the water was more like bath water.......too warm. Today it was refreshing.

 

 

 

 

 

They even had a water aerobics class going on:

 

[maxs mom]

This was our spot:

 

 

We enjoyed ourselves here relaxing all afternoon and left around three o'clock. We'll be back next time!

 

 

We easily got a taxi back to the ship.

 

The Quantum came in at about 11:00 and docked right beside us. Wow!! What a ship! I was surprised that the hull was painted Carolina Blue!

 

 

 

 

[micmacmissy]

 

The Quantum came in at about 11:00 and docked right beside us. Wow!! What a ship! I was surprised that the hull was painted Carolina Blue!

 

Jane, when are you guys trying out the Quantum???

[maxs mom]

Jane, when are you guys trying out the Quantum???

 

Good question, but we have no plans right now. We have the third sailing of the Anthem booked, but I'm pretty sure we will move that reservation to something else. It sounds like a wonderful trip, but I'm afraid it would be a little too strenuous for us right now. I think I would also be too stressed out trying to figure out all the dining reservations with such a picky eater. I wouldn't even know where to start to figure that out!!! Sooooooo......I doubt we will try it any time soon. I love my old ships!!! A good many of the Jewel's crew got to go over and visit the Quantum today. Our waiter got to try the iFly. He loved it. All the crew said they loved the ship.

Edited December 22, 2014 by max'smom

[maxs mom]

More Quantum pictures and sail away.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[maxs mom]

Good- Bye St. Kitts!

 

 

 

 

 

Met a new couple in the CL tonight.....Wendy and Peter from Arizona. We enjoyed talking to them. I believe they are CC members, too.

 

 

Italian night in the Dining Room. Kasa brought us all kinds of appetizers. I ended up with the eggplant parmesean. It was good, but I wished I had ordered the lasagna!

 

We walked through the casino tonight. A Wheel of Fortune machine sucked down $40 from John in the blink of an eye.....so we went back to the cabin. I think we were in bed by 9:30!!

 

[maxs mom]

Tuesday ~ December 9, 2014 ~ St. Maarten

 

St Maarten, here we come!!

 

 

 

Sunrise!

 

 

My every day morning routine......coffee and journal writing.

 

 

Six......count 'em.....six ships in port today!! Yikes!! I was dreading this!

 

[Lady Hudson]

Thanks for the pictures of Quantum -- going on her 1/3. Let me know if you have any questions. Katherine

[tigger-ttfn]

Jane

Met Jeff and Art last Dec on Jewel. They were so much fun in the lounge and at the meet and mingle. Will be on Serenade just before you next year so sorry we won't get to meet. Will make sure the ship is in order when you get on board. Pat

[maxs mom]

Up bright and early this morning. We were to meet our friends who have a timeshare here, out at Orient Bay today. But I logged on to the internet this morning and found a message saying that the husband was having some stomach issues and they wouldn't be able to make it today. I was bummed.

 

I was expecting a nightmare with 6 ships in port today. But it wasn't so bad....for us, anyway. Yes.....it was very busy but we did OK. The problem in the morning was that we couldn't get any kind of a shuttle to the end of the pier and we were docked way back behind the Independence. That's a hard walk for John.....but we managed.....barely.

 

We went to the taxi stand and caught a taxi out to Orient Beach. The driver dropped most of the passengers off at one end, but we wanted to go to the other end.....away from the crowds. Our favorite spot out there at the moment is a place called Palm Beach. It's just a little farther.....but the taxi driver...like most, but not all of them do....pitched a fit about driving us down there. We turned on our Southern Charm, though, and she ended up being nice about it. Be sure and let the dispatcher know that you want to be let off at Palm Beach if you go.

 

So now we are at our favorite beach bar on Orient. We like it here because it's quiet and has no crowds like the other places. In fact....we were the only people there today off a cruise ship! Just like I like it!! We got primo chairs. The chairs and umbrellas here are free as long as you eat lunch in their restaurant.

 

 

All kinds of cute French beach boys and girls here!

 

 

Our great spot for the day!

 

 

We settled in to enjoy the day of quiet relaxation and beautiful scenery.

 

Now about a month or so ago, St. Maarten experienced a pretty bad hurricane. Although only a Category One.....significant damage was done to many of the bars out here on the beach. This was still quite evident all up and down the beach. Palm Beach lost all but one of their cabanas, their beach bar, and the upstairs porch area of their restaurant. They were busily rebuilding and a lot of that was going on today. They hoped to get things back up and running as usual within a week. They were working out of a temporary bar and restaurant today.

 

They are building a new and improved beach bar. It's going to be great.

 

 

This was their temporary bar. They make some great drinks here!!

 

 

This was their temporary restaurant while they were rebuilding. Wonderful French food here, but you can still get a good hamburger!

 

 

[maxs mom]

Jane

Met Jeff and Art last Dec on Jewel. They were so much fun in the lounge and at the meet and mingle. Will be on Serenade just before you next year so sorry we won't get to meet. Will make sure the ship is in order when you get on board. Pat

 

Wow!! Art and Jeff get around!!! Hey....you never know......we might try to make a B2B out of that Serenade cruise. Would be great to meet you guys!

[jkrislc]

[

Here's the view from our balcony!!!

 

 

LOL!! It's really not that bad' date=' but most of he deck 7 balcony cabins have the lifeboat cover to deal with and you can't see straight down to the ocean.

[/quote']

 

Good advice not to step there, I guess. ;)

 

Loving the review. I'll be on with my family in less than two weeks. We're also in Deck 7, but on the hump, which I don't think is obstructed, but is subject to noise from the Centrum.

[The Big Booper]

 

...>>>SNIP<<<...

 

The Quantum came in at about 11:00 and docked right beside us. Wow!! What a ship! I was surprised that the hull was painted Carolina Blue!

 

...>>>SNIP<<<...

 

 

 

 

...>>>SNIP<<<...

 

 

 

 

The Allure and Oasis hulls are painted the same color. I haven't seen the Q yet' date=' in person.

 

Hope you finish this Jewel writeup before they frog march you onto the Explorer.;)

[/font']

Edited December 23, 2014 by The Big Booper

[maxs mom]

Good advice not to step there, I guess. ;)

 

Loving the review. I'll be on with my family in less than two weeks. We're also in Deck 7, but on the hump, which I don't think is obstructed, but is subject to noise from the Centrum.

 

You are correct. Those hump balconies on the starboard side on deck 7 do not have an obstructed view. They are really nice. And guess what......no noise from the centrum. It is amazing. If you open the door, you can hear all kinds of stuff, but with the door closed, there is no problem! Those are good cabins.

[maxs mom]

The Allure and Oasis hulls are painted the same color. I haven't seen the Q yet, in person.

 

Hope you finish this Jewel writeup before they frog march you onto the Explorer.;)

 

Sure didn't notice that about the Allure and the Oasis. It's more noticeable on the Quantum.

 

I'm trying to hurry!! I have two days left!!

[maxs mom]

This was such a relaxing day.

 

 

 

 

 

[maxs mom]

 

One of the side effects of the storm is all this seagrass is washing up on shore. It's a mess, but it didn't bother my relaxation any. There is a lot of it in the water, too. The water was pretty rough today, so we didn't venture in. Again.....that did not interfere with my relaxation!

 

 

 

 

This is John's hamburger that he got in the nice French restaurant!!

 

 

This was our view from the temporary restaurant.

 

I had a picture of my Caesar salad with chicken some where but it got lost.

 

[maxs mom]

A few more shots before we go.

 

This little guy is always here!

 

 

 

A Bushwhacker in the making!

 

 

Yum!!

 

 

The great bar and restaurant staff!

 

 

It was just so peaceful here. We gathered our things together around 2:15 and had them call a taxi for us. The waitress gave me another shot of spiced rum while we were waiting. The taxi was there by 2:30....perfect.....we missed the rush hour getting back to the port.

 

[maxs mom]

Sooooo many people at the port today! We were able to grab one of those shuttles back to the ship, thank goodness!

 

 

 

 

 

[maxs mom]

 

 

Once back on the ship......we found a little pillow art on the bed.

 

 

After all that relaxation today on the beach......we needed more rest time back on the ship!! Actually I felt like I had been run over by a truck!! The Meet and Mingle was at 5 o'clock today, but I just couldn't get myself together in time to go. I hate missing those but when the itinerary is so port intensive.....it's hard to get there.

 

It was white night tonight. We visited with Art and Jeff before dinner.

 

 

 

On to dinner. Kasa is still bringing us all kinds of appetizers that we don't order. Too much food! I think I had the coq au vin again and I know I had this for dessert.

 

[kleo30]

Jane, we really enjoyed our day at Palm Beach last month. I'm so glad you shared your great find. They were just starting the rebuilding. It looks like they've made a lot of progress!

 

The food was amazing. The rum was amazing. They gave us several shots, and we ended up buying 2 bottles. Yum! And I had my first bushwhacker that day. So thanks :)

[maxs mom]

Our dinner table:

 

 

We strolled around a bit.

 

 

We went to the centrum area to check e-mail.

 

 

 

Tonight's towel animal.