Jewel ~ S. Caribbean and Panama Canal ~ April 25th & May 2nd ~ My Diary

[irishgal432]

 

[*]Yes' date=' Donna.....they still have the specialty coffees here. This is one of my favorite perks that we get and it's not that hard for them to do. The Freedom and the Navigator do not do this.....shame on them!!!

 

[/list']

 

 

Thanks for the review. We are sailing on the Jewel in Alaska next week. Diego is truly a gem having sailed with him before. This is our first as a Diamond member. Is the coffee in the Mir breakfast different than what is in the cl lounge?

[maxs mom]

Welcome home Jane it was a pleasure meeting you after reading all your great reviews. It WAS a great roll call as were both the meet and mingles. We enjoyed the Southern Caribbean portion of the cruise and experienced some of the best service excellence Royal Caribbean has ever offered before. I cannot wait to read the rest of your review!

 

Sue

 

Hi Sue! Pleasure meeting you as well. I agree. We also experienced excellent service throughout the three weeks on board.

[maxs mom]

Thanks for the review. We are sailing on the Jewel in Alaska next week. Diego is truly a gem having sailed with him before. This is our first as a Diamond member. Is the coffee in the Mir breakfast different than what is in the cl lounge?

 

Yes....the specialty coffees are a little different in the MDR. I think they are better. You have a choice of cappicino, latte, or macchiato. I don't use the machine in the CL any more. It's always got some kind of maintenance that needs to be done on it. They have regular pots of coffee in the CL, so I just use that first thing in the morning. I'm so jealous......would love to be on an Alaskan cruise this summer! You are in for a treat! The crew is really excited about being in Alaska

[irishgal432]

We are looking forward to it. One more question. We normally do not eat in Specialty restaurants but have a dining credit. Which did you prefer Chops or Giovanni's?

 

Thanks!

[britty1]

Hi Jane: I have been looking forward to your review and yes you have been away from cruising for a little bit so I have missed your writing. Thank you for taking the time to let us sail with you. Hope to sail with you one of these days. :D We will be on the Jewel again for Xmas/New Year cruises and looking forward to sailing again.

 

We will be in your neck of the woods next week. Holly Springs, NC for graduation of grand-daughter out of high school. So land trip for us.

[1northstar]

Jane I was hoping you guys would cruise sooner than later so that I could enjoy one of your reviews!

[maggieq]

Jane I was hoping you guys would cruise sooner than later so that I could enjoy one of your reviews!

 

I second that as I love her reviews.

[CRUISEMAMI]

 

[*]Yes' date=' Donna.....they still have the specialty coffees here. This is one of my favorite perks that we get and it's not that hard for them to do. The Freedom and the Navigator do not do this.....shame on them!!!

 

[/list']

 

 

The few times I did cruise on the NAV, they had the special breakfast, in a separate room!!!!

Maybe they stopped it now!!!!

:(

[maxs mom]

We are looking forward to it. One more question. We normally do not eat in Specialty restaurants but have a dining credit. Which did you prefer Chops or Giovanni's?

 

Thanks!

 

Oh .....I love all the Specialty restaurants. Jewel hasn't been refurbed yet, so there is no Giovani's. Portofino is still there. I like both restaurants for different reasons. Portofino has just as good or better steaks than Chops, so if you are only going to one, I might lean toward that one. But go to both if you can. They are great.

 

Thanks for checking in everybody. I love hearing from all of you!!

 

And yes, Franca.....Navigator no longer does the D/D+ breakfasts.....according to folks in the know.

[CRUISEMAMI]

That's too bad: we were thinking of booking cruises, when she comes back to FL!!!

Well, no big deal!!!

Loved the Chop's breakfast on BR!

Edited May 28, 2015 by CRUISEMAMI

[maxs mom]

Hi Jane: I have been looking forward to your review and yes you have been away from cruising for a little bit so I have missed your writing. Thank you for taking the time to let us sail with you. Hope to sail with you one of these days. :D We will be on the Jewel again for Xmas/New Year cruises and looking forward to sailing again.

 

We will be in your neck of the woods next week. Holly Springs, NC for graduation of grand-daughter out of high school. So land trip for us.

 

Have fun in NC!! Haven't heard from Guy and Lisa in a while! Tell them hello. We need to connect on a cruise again soon. I'll bet they are in Venice soon!

[maxs mom]

Monday ~ April 27, 2015 ~ St. Kitts

 

 

Same morning routine. Sail in from CL......one of our very favorite islands:

 

 

 

We always take on fuel in St. Kitts:

 

 

Had breakfast this morning with more folks that we've cruised with before on the Jewel. It's nice to see so many familiar faces.

 

The Beach du Jour is The Marriott. We've been to all the beaches on St. Kitts and proclaimed this the best all round day in St. Kitts a long time ago. We get a day pass here for $35. The taxi drivers are right at the end of the pier and they will take you right there.....$12 for the taxi.....no waiting.....very nice guys......always.

 

The Marriott was looking great today. They have made some improvements since we were here last in December. The Wi-Fi was significantly better. Very fast.....even out on the beach.

 

 

First we head out to the beach:

 

[maxs mom]

They have made wonderful improvements to the cabanas and the beach area. When we were here in December, there were bulldozers all over the beach, digging everything up. Looks great now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Something new all over the property.......egrets!

 

[cruisexlife]

Jane,

 

I've been looking forward to this! You have a great writing style and I cannot wait to read more! :D

[theminnow]

Always look forward to reading your reviews. You do such a great job and the pictures are fantastic.

 

Craig

[britty1]

Have fun in NC!! Haven't heard from Guy and Lisa in a while! Tell them hello. We need to connect on a cruise again soon. I'll bet they are in Venice soon!

 

Yes, I think Lisa and Guy leave on June 11th to spend 1 week in Venice, then cruise for two weeks on the Splendor OTS around the Greek Islands and other places in the Med, then back to Venice for another week. So they won't be back til Mid July. I will tell them you said Hi.

 

We were on Navigator and in March with Lisa and Guy, they went for one breakfast in Chops one morning but I think it might have been for Suites and Pinnacles. Guy was not impressed. We did the MDR for breakfast the rest of the week. :D

[maxs mom]

Yes, I think Lisa and Guy leave on June 11th to spend 1 week in Venice, then cruise for two weeks on the Splendor OTS around the Greek Islands and other places in the Med, then back to Venice for another week. So they won't be back til Mid July. I will tell them you said Hi.

 

We were on Navigator and in March with Lisa and Guy, they went for one breakfast in Chops one morning but I think it might have been for Suites and Pinnacles. Guy was not impressed. We did the MDR for breakfast the rest of the week. :D

 

Every ship is different. Yes....they still have the Suite Guest breakfast and that's usually pretty good....or so I'm told. It was on the Jewel anyway.

 

We were lucky to hang out in Venice a couple of days with Guy and Lisa and that was a treat.

[maxs mom]

It was so quiet and relaxing at the Marriott today. The temperature was perfect. We read and checked e-mail in the morning. Around 12:45 we adjourned to the pool area and found some nice chairs in the shade.

 

 

We ate lunch at the poolside restaurant.......excellent food.....huge portions (we have to share)......and good service.......that has also improved considerably. I think there had been some complaints and everyone is trying harder now. We shared a hamburger today.

 

 

I thoroughly enjoy this pool area. I swam in the pool for a while after lunch and read some more. It is so hard to leave here!

 

 

 

[maxs mom]

At 3 o'clock, we reluctantly packed up all our stuff and headed for the taxi stand out front. We said goodbye to our new little friend here.

 

 

 

 

We got back to the ship very quickly for frozen yogurt time! We rested in our cabin for the rest of the afternoon.

 

 

 

[maxs mom]

To the CL this evening for drinks where we met up with Karen and Pete, and Mike and Gigi. Everyone left to go to the Repeat Cruiser party, so then we had the whole place to ourselves and enjoyed Diego's and Joseph's company. Nice quiet time. Diego told me that he was a little bit nervous about the next cruise (Panama Canal) because there would be 44 Pinnacle members on board. He said that was going to be the most challenging cruise of his career. No need for him to be nervous, though. He can handle anything.

 

 

We went to dinner around 8 and were seated around the same spot as the night before, but with a different waiter. We liked him, too. Nice dinner. Instead of the stuffed pasta shells that I usually get.....it came with fusilli pasta and it was even better than the shells.

 

Tonight we were lucky to meet a couple sitting next to us. Karl and Silke are from Germany and we struck up a conversation. We got along very well with them and arranged to meet for a beach day in Barbados.

 

 

We stopped by the casino next and we both won a nice amount tonight. We stopped immediately! We retired to our cabin and were in bed at 9:30 tonight! Wild times!!!!!

 

[zigybean]

Don't want to detour your review, but can I ask a question? I have never been on the Jewel and I am scheduled on the Jewel early next year, and I was wondering what their beer list looks like. Is there any hope of some craft beers or is it mostly the bud/miller/bass/newcastle types of beers.

[jzad]

Welcome home Jane! So happy to read another one of your fantastic reviews!

[Sea3PO]

Hi Jane,

 

Thanks for posting the review. It's bringing back lots of great memories! We thoroughly enjoyed meeting you and John and the time we shared onboard. Hope our sailing paths cross again soon! :)

 

Steve & Mike

[maxs mom]

Don't want to detour your review, but can I ask a question? I have never been on the Jewel and I am scheduled on the Jewel early next year, and I was wondering what their beer list looks like. Is there any hope of some craft beers or is it mostly the bud/miller/bass/newcastle types of beers.

 

I'm pretty sure there aren't any craft beers, but don't hold me to that. I think there are on the ships with an English Pub on board. Maybe someone else might be able to answer. Amstel Light is as daring as we go! But I love to try the different beers that they have in the English pubs.

[maxs mom]

Welcome home Jane! So happy to read another one of your fantastic reviews!

 

Thank you! You are so kind!