Jewel of the Sea Southern Caribbean Photo Review- March 28, 2015

[usckatieh]

St Thomas Beach Options

 

I’ve never been to St Thomas before so I tried to research what would be some family friendly options. We were the only ship in port this Sunday so I figured that would be a good day to try an on-our-own excursion. My searches were coming up with three major beaches, so we were between Megan’s Bay, Sapphire Beach and Coki Beach. Here’s my research:

 

• 
  Magen’s Bay- sheltered bay, lifeguards, bathrooms, $10/pp taxi, $20 chairs/umbrella, tram?, $4 entrance fee= $72 for day
  - Lunch at Megan’s $8-12
  - Calm water
  Pros- lifeguards, public bathrooms and showers, less beach vendors than Coki but still busy
  Cons- not very good snorkeling

• Coki- popular beach, crowded on ship days, good snorkeling
  - Coral World near Coki, $19 adult/$10 kids
  Pros- close to Coral World, good snorkeling even in shallow areas
  Cons- lots of beach vendors, smaller beach than Megan’s- more crowded

• Sapphire Beach- best for snorkeling, shade trees, $10/pp taxi ride, windsurfing, $9 each for chairs
  Pros- bathrooms at the dive shop, not busy, lots of natural shade
  Cons- no lifeguards

 

I also heard that St John’s Truck bay was a great excursion too, but since we have never been to St Thomas, I wanted to see that island before taking a trip over to St. John. We weighed the options and because we all were interested in some snorkeling at a novice level, my husband does not like beach vendors bothering him and I love having a little shade, we decided to go with Sapphire Beach.

 

We walked quickly through the shops lining the pier to taxi station where a lady points us to a taxi van and we go ahead and jump in. The ride from the pier to Sapphire Beach was a decent distance, probably took about 20 minutes and cost $50 before tip for 6 people- he quoted us $10 each and $5/kid. We scheduled a pickup time with the driver and we were on our way! The area the driver dropped us off at, looked like the front of a condo complex but once we walked around the building, we found our island paradise. We rented some chairs at the dive shop and they set us up with a great spot in the shade near the right side of the beach. The dive shop also started us a tab- just leave a credit card or your sea pass with them to get a tab going- and we charged a few things throughout the day. Can sodas and chips are $2 each, my husband rented a snorkel outfit for $10 for the day and a vest for $10.

 

There was coral all the way up to the beach where our beach chairs were set up, so we walked around a few chairs and waded in at the sandy area. It was a bit of a quick drop from ankle to waist deep but stayed mostly shallow for a long ways giving the kids a good bit of area to play around in. There was coral all around us and little white fish would swing right up to you even in the shallow areas. Here’s a photo of Kasiah and DH wading out.

 

 

Right side of the beach- notice the dark area where the coral comes all the way to the beach.

 

 

Left side of the beach- more open sun areas for chairs

 

 

Here’s a satellite map to give you a feel for where we were.

 

A photo of our base camp

 

 

My view from the chair

 

 

Hyperlapse video of the waves

 

 

If you haven’t played with it before, hyperlapse is an app that connected with instagram that takes video and then speeds it up sort of like a time-lapse series of photographs.

 

Another app I found, photosphere, it allows you to take 360 degree photos and then turn them into a location photo- sort of like street view- on google maps. Here’s a link out to the photo sphere I took in front of our chairs. Be sure to try to scroll all the way around to see the full view!

Edited April 14, 2015 by usckatieh

[usckatieh]

Photo of the dive shop and bathrooms

 

 

Here’s the dive’s rental prices. The folks running the shop were very nice.

 

 

My family has never been snorkeling before but we all had a great time. My daughter got pretty adventurous too. Here’s a few photos of the fish (sorry, my underwater photography could use some work).

 

 

 

My favorite fish

 

[PompeySailor]

Great pics Katie

Enjoying your review:)

[usckatieh]

Then, I broke out the infrared camera and had a little fun

 

Color infrared- the coral gave off an interesting glow

 

This is one of my favorite photos from the trip

 

People on the beach- doesn’t that look freaky?!

 

[usckatieh]

I hope I'm not making you guys dizzy jumping from tour guide photos to artsy photos and back- hehe!

 

Back to regular photos

 

Our quiet side of the beach

 

Looking out towards the islands. There were quite a few sailboats going by- I’m guessing headed to the marina, not far from the beach.

 

What a breathtaking beach!

 

My beach bums

 

 

It may have had something to do with us being the only ship in port, but this beach was never very crowded, yet it was still busy enough to make you feel safe. You could tell that residents from the hotel/condos were hanging out with us. And much to my husband’s appreciation, no one solicited us. We don’t mind helping out the local economy but it was nice to have a quiet, relaxing day on the beach. So if you decide to go to Sapphire Beach, bring water shoes because of the coral and your snorkel or just sunscreen and a good book and you’ll definitely have a good time!

[usckatieh]

Family Photos

 

Our cab driver was waiting for us when we packed up at the beach, so we headed back to the pier. Tonight was the first formal night! I can’t help but post a few photos of my sweethearts in their formalwear on the balcony.

 

 

Aren’t they hams?

 

 

I don’t get in front of the camera much so formal night is my chance to get a good photo of the whole family. Here’s one on the 6th floor staircase of the whole gang. The other main photo setup was on the Centrum staircase, but I’m not a fan of the green lights under the stairs. You can vaguely see the lighted starircase to the bottom right of the family photo.

 

 

Our stateroom attendant was sweet enough to make a towel animal for the kids every night! That’s the first time we’ve had that happen on RC. Here’s Kasiah communing with the towel elephant.

 

The kids went to Kid’s Club after dinner as became a pattern throughout the week and we picked them up at 10, before the nighttime fees begin. I think they charge $7/hr per child from 10pm-1am or something close to that. To be honest, we were usually so tired from the day’s excursions that we never really made it to any of the later events past 10:00. I did attend one show done by a comedian/musician but shows on the ship aren’t really my cup of tea. The in-laws and DH did attend a few of the 9:00 shows and seemed to enjoy them! Just don’t expect the same caliber show as Hairspray or Come Fly with Me on the Oasis. In my opinion, the Jewel had more “entertainers” and the Oasis had more what I think of as “shows.”

 

Coming up next…Gardens, hilltops and beaches at St Kitts!

[dnewscruiser]

Loving your review and pics! I was really glad to hear your info on the St. Thomas beaches. We'll be there in next month on Oasis, and in the past, we've always taken the ferry over to St. John for snorkeling in Trunk Bay, which we love. We are considering staying on St. Thomas this time though, to cut down on travel time and enjoy more time at the beach. I am mainly considering Coki and Sapphire, leaning more towards Sapphire though because of the shade. My only concern is arranging your taxi driver for the return trip. Sounds like you had no issues, but on the chance your driver doesn't show up, did it seem like it would be difficult to get another cab? How much time did you allow yourself to get back to the ship? Also, I understand the facilities are more limited on Sapphire than Coki--did you notice any place you could (safely) walk to get lunch if need be? Thanks for your help!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[usckatieh]

Loving your review and pics! I was really glad to hear your info on the St. Thomas beaches. We'll be there in next month on Oasis, and in the past, we've always taken the ferry over to St. John for snorkeling in Trunk Bay, which we love. We are considering staying on St. Thomas this time though, to cut down on travel time and enjoy more time at the beach. I am mainly considering Coki and Sapphire, leaning more towards Sapphire though because of the shade. My only concern is arranging your taxi driver for the return trip. Sounds like you had no issues, but on the chance your driver doesn't show up, did it seem like it would be difficult to get another cab? How much time did you allow yourself to get back to the ship? Also, I understand the facilities are more limited on Sapphire than Coki--did you notice any place you could (safely) walk to get lunch if need be? Thanks for your help!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

 

Hey! I'm glad the info was useful to you! I thought about the cab thing too but I felt pretty confident that someone at the dive shop would be able to call a cab for us if our cab driver had been missing. We planned on eating a late lunch on the ship so we were headed back by 2:30. I could see how traffic might get worse with more ships because it is a bit of a long drive. If I was there later, I'd probably give myself an hour and half to get back, but take that knowing I'm super paranoid about being late. :)

 

I didn't really pay much attention to lunch options but it did seem that the dive shop was the only thing close by and they sold mostly snacks. Maybe someone else can chime in with their experiences. Have fun!!!

Edited April 14, 2015 by usckatieh

[Luv06012012]

Enjoying your review! We are doing Adventure in a few weeks...our itinerary has a few of the same ports as yours so I'm loving the info!

 

Your pictures are amazing and I loved the pics of the statues at the cemetary. Every time I see pictures of that cemetary it is so gorgeous...who would ever think that they would think a cemetary was pretty?

 

Your kids are adorable and I love their formal night attire...they are so cute!

 

Can't wait to read more....

[ValerieJo]

Wonderful review and amazing pictures. The Southern route and the Jewel are one of our favorites. I'm reliving our cruise from 2014 through your review and getting geeked for our back 2 back next year on The Jewel.

 

Thank you for posting.

[bubba83]

enjoying your review so much! The anticipation continues to build in our home for our children's first cruise in April 2016. they will be 3 and 5.5 at the time! I love hearing how much children really enjoy Adventure Ocean, gives me hope that my husband and I can have some grownup time while the kids are still having a blast!

[Mamacane71]

Your pictures are stunning! Loving this review. We did Jewel two years ago. Loved the ship!

[Susie51]

Thank you for continuing to post. The info about the beaches in St. Thomas is very helpful.

[britty1]

Enjoying your review and your pictures are stunning. Thank you for sharing.:D

[ampc007]

sorry if I missed this, but did you bring your own snorkel gear or rent it from the shop? if you brought your own, did you notice if they rented any kid snorkel gear or just adults? Thanks for sharing the pics and your kids are too cute!

[Miss Vickie]

Looking at booking either Jewel or the Summit, any thoughts? There's me my DW who are in their 30s, my parents in their 60s.

 

We've sailed both. We've done 14 radiance-class sailings, with 2 more on Jewel booked for next January, and we've sailed Summit once, with a second time booked for 2017. We were in our mid 50's when we last sailed Summit, and will be early-mid 60's when we're on her again. In 2009 we felt like we were the youngest folks on there. We don't get into rowdy deck parties or pool games, discos or the like, but found Summit very quiet, even for us. The ships are the same size, but laid out very differently. We didn't find the food on Summit to be appreciably better than on Serenade (the radiance-class ship in San Juan at the time, preferred the service and staff, as well as the entertainment on Royal. We had chosen Summit for the itinerary at the time - they were going to ports Royal was not yet going to. Although we actually think Royal is still a better fit for us, we're venturing back to Summit because we found an 11-night itinerary that attracted us, and the 123go promo they were offering couldn't be matched. Last time we were on was pre-refurb, so we're looking forward to seeing how she has changed.

 

The 7-day itineraries on both ships are now very similar. If I were in your situation I'd go with Jewel.

[usckatieh]

I'm excited for all of you who are taking Jewel trips soon! You'll have a blast. A back to back Southern Caribbean would be amazing! Have fun!

 

sorry if I missed this, but did you bring your own snorkel gear or rent it from the shop? if you brought your own, did you notice if they rented any kid snorkel gear or just adults? Thanks for sharing the pics and your kids are too cute!

 

We brought along snorkels and masks for the kids and myself but my husband rented his from the dive shop. When Nathan rented his snorkel outfit at the dive shop, they allowed my daughter to rent flippers only for something like $2-3. I figured that I don't mind wearing something that was on someone else's feet but I'd rather have my own mouthpiece. :eek: Just my own paranoia.

 

Vickie- I'm glad someone could help you with your Summit question. I'm not familiar with that ship.

[usckatieh]

 

 

 

 

[usckatieh]

Day 3- St Kitts

 

A view sailing into St Kitts

 

I'm not sure who was sailing with us

 

St Kitts was the destination where we decided to take a non-Royal Caribbean tour. Based on the itineraries and cruise critic reputations of a few different vendors, I decided to go with the "Grand Tour of St Kitts" through Thenford Grey Tours. The cost was $48/adult and $24/child and it included 3-4 Hours of sightseeing plus 1-2 hrs beach and that price included the $10 admission to Brimstone Hill Fortress. The ship had a similar tour for the same price but theirs did not include the beach stop so I think Thenford was a pretty good value.

 

Finding our tour was super easy, we just went to the end of the pier and there was a lady holding up a sign for Grey Tours. Since there was a big group of tourists, they put our family of 6 with another family of 5 (Grandparents, parents and child) and we jumped in a clean, air-conditioned 4-row van with Thenford’s brother, who would be our tour guide for the day. The tour started a little rocky due to no fault of our guide, but the 2 year old daughter of the family that was with us spent about 10-15 minutes screaming and squirming out of her car seat and then her parent’s arms until she finally settled in. It’s funny because the thing that settled her down was looking over her Daddy’s shoulder at “the baby”, my 5 year old sitting quietly in his car seat. Note to parents of young kids- use caution if your child doesn’t like car rides- hehe. But having all been parents once, the adults in our group understood and once she got settled down, we were in for a fun and adventure filled trip!

 

Here's our first view along the road that bordered the water. You can see another ship pulling into port.

 

I thought this was really cool. It's remains of the old railroad that used to take sugar from the plantations to the refineries.

 

 

Our first stop was Romney Manor and the Caribelle Batik. The manor used to be a sugar refinery in the days of slavery. Mr Grey gave us some background for the area and spent about 5 minutes showing us some local plants in the garden. Then we had about 30 minutes to explore around and visit the shops.

 

Here's Mr Grey (Sorry, I can't seem to remember Thenford's brother's first name)

 

An overview of the Caribelle Batik and the busier gardens.

[usckatieh]

Some of the interesting plants

 

 

Here's is a 400 year old Saman tree in B&W infared.

 

The color version- I just love how surreal this one turned out.

 

A view with the regular camera. Can you imagine how many hurricanes that tree has lived through? Mr Grey showed us where vegetation that had been blown into the tree from hurricanes, soil and all, and had just started growing on it limbs.

[usckatieh]

B&W infrared of the Belltower

 

 

Ruins of the old refinery

 

I wish I had gotten pictures of it, but the little shop in the middle of the gardens had women using wax in a fabric dying process to create different designs and artworks. The kids and I found that really, really interesting and we ended up purchasing a small scarf as a keepsake. They had some lovely items like dresses and purchases available as well at standard gift shop markup prices, but to me, it made it so much more meaningful that you just watched how they make the items that they were selling in the store! Here's the one we purchase, which you'll see throughout the rest of the vacation. ;)

 

 

I think 30 minutes was a little quick for wandering time but we caught the highlights at Romney Manor and we had much more to see! If I was visiting Romney on my own, I would plan for an hour to walk the grounds, or an hour and a half if I wanted to browse through the store too.

 

We had a view of St Thomas Anglican Church which was damaged by a hurricane on the way to our next stop.

Edited April 15, 2015 by usckatieh

[usckatieh]

Sorry, this will be a very photo heavy day, but there was a lot to see!

 

Our 2nd official stop was Brimstone Hill Fortress. This was my little boy’s favorite destination of the week. It is a giant fort complex built on the steep hillside of St Kitts. Here's a view of the fort from the road that borders the water.

 

 

The first thing we did on the way up the hill was squeeze through some pretty tight stone gates (note to self- if renting a car, make sure the driver feels confident enough to drive through stone gates on tight curves before you make the trek up yourself). We sat through a 10 minute 1980’s historical video about the fort (at least it was air conditioned) and then Mr Grey set us off to explore on our own. We had an hour to wander.

 

Here's the area where we started from. Most of the pictures in the following posts are from the top area in the photo. You can also see the very long stone ramp that you climb to get to the top.

 

Little guys passed out on the ride over but fortunately woke up before we climbed that long ramp.

 

Panoramic of the view from the starting area

 

Now we're on the upper area. View of Nevis from the cannons

 

Panoramic view

Edited April 15, 2015 by usckatieh

[usckatieh]

Cannons! Patrick and I imagined blowing up some pirate ships.

 

Be aware that there are some very steep and unguarded drop offs so please watch small kids closely. For example, over that ledge is about a 20-30 foot drop to a stone floor. No ropes, no gates, just a little folded sign in the middle that said to say away from the edge. :eek:

 

Here's what on the other side of that drop. Talk about a mini-heart attack.

 

This is Kasiah's "British soldier" face.

 

Here's another photosphere if you'd like a 360 tour of the courtyard.

 

Lastly, a family photo by the parking area.

 

I felt like one hour was sufficient to see the highlights but if I was traveling there on my own, I would think 2 hours would be better. Note on coming there on your own- as we were leaving the fort, we saw a family with the mother in a wheelchair trying to walk up to the entrance to the fortress from the street/sea level. She asked our driver how much we would charge to take them up to the top but we had a full van- we’re hoping another van or cab may have been able to pick them up because it’s neither pleasurable nor safe considering how narrow the roads were, to try to walk up to the Fortress especially with one member of your group in a wheelchair. Mr Grey thought they may have taken the public bus to get to the Fortress because the bus stop is at the bottom of the hill, so please DO NOT take the public buses to Brimstone Hill fort and try to walk up. Tour guide, cab or rental car would be the way to go.

Edited April 15, 2015 by usckatieh

[usckatieh]

Our next stop was the popular Timothy Hill. I had seen photos from this vantage point online and it really seems to be the best view of St Kitts on the island. From the hill, you can see the Atlantic and Caribbean sides as well as the sister island Nevis in the background. Besides the view, Timothy Hill is just a turnout from the road with sugar cane and monkey vendors, so I feel like that would also be a stop that would be very easy to do on your own or on a cab-guided tour.

 

One side of Timothy Hill

 

Iconic view on the other side (in color infrared)

 

Our last stop was Carabol Beach Club on South Friers beach. This was on the Caribbean side (right side) of the photo I just took at Timothy Hill. Our group collectively decided that we wanted to get picked up in an hour and a half. By this point it was 2:00, so we were all getting pretty hungry. The restaurant on-site was very slow (guess they were on “island time”) but the food was pretty yummy all around. Definitely resort prices on the meals though. Most lunch entrees were still $10-16 each.

 

Here's the left side of the beach- it is a gorgeous beach!

 

The Beach Club. My husband said when we get rich and move to the Caribbean, he wants to build a place like this. It was pretty swanky. Giant custom-made hardwood doors, fancy sunken in seating areas.

 

I found the beach to be a little crowded but we were also probably there at peak time. The water near the right side of the resort was very shallow and it had the clearest water that I had ever seen. More of those cute little white fish swam around our feet the whole time that the kids were splashing around.

 

Once it was time to go, Mr Grey chauffeured us right up to the cruise terminal entrance! Overall this was a very informational, high quality tour. Thenford’s brother was funny, explained things along the way, took good care of us at the stops (I never felt neglected like he was going to drop us off and run), he welcomed questions, he knows lots about plants (probably a little more than the kids wanted to hear but oh well) and I felt like we had just enough time to explore. I forgot to mention, they also provided us with provided us with cold bottled water too. My Husband’s only complaint was that the van did not great shocks probably due to the state of the many beat up and narrow local roads- personally, I would not want to drive there. DH also mentioned that he could have skipped the Manor and spent more time at the Fortress and the Beach. Or he could have just done the beach alone and been happy. But I personally enjoyed all the stops, if not just for the cool photo ops, and you don't know what you're missing until you see it!

 

We kept our new routine of MDR dinner, followed by kids club and a post-dinner milk and cookies room service order and passing out by 10:30.

 

Next up… a lazy shopping day at St Maarten!

Edited April 15, 2015 by usckatieh

[Hoopster95]

Superb review and equally awesome photos. Thank you!