Jewel Haven Mexican Riviera Photo Review 1/3/16

[MamaMia2]

We arrived in Puerto Vallarta while it was still dark out, here is a picture from our aft cabin as we were arriving.

 

 

I had to take a photo of the humpback whale statue since we'd had such a great time watching them on our excursion in Cabo.

 

 

Just behind the ship upon our return at the end of the day these guys were hanging out. I took this picture from our balcony while waiting to depart Puerto Vallarta.

 

 

DH and I decided early on that while in Puerto Vallarta we wanted to do the Las Caletas Hideaway private beach excursion through NCL (cost is $129 per person for adults, I think it is $83 for children). We've been to NCL's private island and some other private beach excursions and usually find those days to be very relaxing for us. This excursion was all inclusive (for us) and worth the cost, yes we'd do it again. You are taken to the private beach on a catamaran and the trip takes a little over an hour if I remember correctly.

 

 

It was a cold trip for most of us on the boat, people were wrapping themselves up in their beach towels, so you might dress a little warmer than beachwear in the winter months. The crew entertained us and provided bananas and beverages on the way for those that wanted it, but it seemed like most people were just trying to stay warm. About half way to our destination the crew started a little presentation of all the things that are available to do while at Las Caletas. There are kids programs, massages, snorkeling, a cooking program, and a few other things that I don't remember. Some of these things were add-on items and there were additional costs involved but not for all of them. They sold snorkels if you wanted them for $5, but also have them available for use free and ensure that they are cleaned and disinfected between uses. DH and I are avid snorkelers and brought our own gear so we didn't need to use or purchase theirs. One note I would add here is that while we were there (early January) the water was very dirty. We got in, swam around for about five minutes and decided we'd had enough. Yes, there were fish and I'm sure they were colorful, but the water was so murky it wasn't really enjoyable and there was no corral to look at either.

Pictures of Las Caletas will be in the next post.

[MamaMia2]

The following photographs were taken with our underwater cameras because we were planning on snorkeling so we left our big cameras behind on the ship.

 

While we are out snorkeling I usually try to remember to pop my head out of the water and take a picture of the beach from that perspective.

 

 

There were loungers, chairs, and hammocks all along the water with plenty of shade.

 

 

If you want more privacy a trail leading up the hill will reveal hammocks and loungers in private little alcoves along the way.

 

 

Toward the end of the day they gather everyone up to go eat a buffet lunch, which was very enjoyable, and it is included in the price as well. Here is the seating area for one of the lunch spots.

 

 

The donkeys are part of the kids program I believe. We saw employees and parents alike toting their children along on these fun little guys.

 

[MamaMia2]

There was this adorable White Nosed Coatimundi hanging around looking for food. The staff didn't particularly care for it being there, but they weren't really detering him/her with their efforts to run him off either.

 

 

You can see he/she really wasn't all that timid.

 

 

Here you can see some of the water-sports equipment that was available for use, paddle boards, kayaks, tubes, etc. The life vests were required to be worn by everyone that went into the water regardless of your swimming skill level.

 

 

The view from our loungers.

 

 

 

There were floating islands with lougers and hammocks on them if you wanted to swim out to them. Most of the time there was one or two available, probably because all of your stuff would get wet getting there.

 

 

I forgot to mention that the bar staff was constantly around offering beverages sodas, water, rum punch, beer?, and other adult beverages I just don't remember what all of the options were. You didn't ever have to leave your seat and you'd be taken care of. Early on they had a coffee (with a bottle of Kalua beside the pot) and cakes/cookies bar to tide you over until lunch was served.

 

At the end of the day before loading up on the boat to return to the ship they brought out the little monkey, macaws, and extremely large snake. I think I have pictures if anyone wants to see them, but since we didn't really participate in that part of the day (just took a couple of pictures as others were handling them) I didn't feel the need to include those pictures here.

 

Okay, I think that's it for Las Caletas Hideaway and Puerto Vallarta.

[MamaMia2]

We do come to your neck of the woods every so often -- even if you'll be off on a cruise the next time we are there

 

I know, darn it! I guess if I have to miss your visit a cruise is a good thing to be doing (rather than traveling for work or something) but it sure would've been fun to see you both!

[MamaMia2]

So, I had a few more pictures that I thought I would share, but not enough to warrant separate posts for each.

 

Sunrise in San Pedro, CA from our hotel room, the morning we set sail.

 

 

Sunset on the second evening of the cruise, from our aft balcony.

 

 

And a couple of Mazatlan. Is that a sinkhole? Cave collapse?

 

 

 

Oh, and if it's your birthday during the cruise you may get one of these!

 

 

Thank you again 3kidsncats for allowing me tag along on your review.

[3kidsncats]

The Los Caletas excursion looks just as wonderful as I thought it would be-- definitely going to go on it the next time we hit PV. I love your pics -- it's really fun to see what others did, because it was a completely different view of the ports than what I saw. And also want to try an aft balcony as well -- love the views.

 

What time did we arrive in PV? I can't believe you were awake that early, lol. I think I woke up at 8 or so, and people were already getting off the ship for the day.

[mianmike]

When we were in Mazatlan I noticed quite a bit of heavily armed police/security around town. It felt comforting and unnerving at the same time. Now I see the State Department has issued a travel advisory. Could explain some of the highly visible police presence.

 

"Mazatlan is a major city/travel destination in Sinaloa - Defer non-essential travel to the state of Sinaloa except the cities of Mazatlan, Los Mochis, and the Port of Topolobampo, where you should exercise caution. One of Mexico's most powerful criminal organizations is based in the state of Sinaloa, and violent crime rates remain high in many parts of the state. Travel in Mazatlan should be limited to Zona Dorada and the historic town center, as well as direct routes to and from these locations and the airport. Travel in Los Mochis and Topolobampo is restricted to the city and the port, as well as direct routes to/from these locations and the airport."

 

http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/en/alertswarnings/mexico-travel-warning.html

[3kidsncats]

I completely agree -- the regular officers were reassuring -- the pickup truck with three guys in the back with a machine gun dressed head to toe in black so that you couldn't see even a hint of skin were not particularly nice to see 😐

[triptolemus]

I completely agree -- the regular officers were reassuring -- the pickup truck with three guys in the back with a machine gun dressed head to toe in black so that you couldn't see even a hint of skin were not particularly nice to see 😐

 

I think those guys are just there for show. The guns aren't real, but they sure give you that real Mexican Sinaloan travel experience, don't they? :cool:

 

Thanks for the review, and pics... to both of you. Very helpful as we''re back for another trip to Mex Riv on the Jewel in April.

[MamaMia2]

What time did we arrive in PV? I can't believe you were awake that early, lol. I think I woke up at 8 or so, and people were already getting off the ship for the day.

 

We wouldn't have been up that early on our own either but a number of Puerto Vallarta excursions, including Las Caletas Hideaway, met in the Stardust Theater at 8:00. Our group was the first one to be called and leave the ship, then we kind of grouped up on the pier (near the Macaws) while they got everyone organized. I'd have to guess it was probably around 6:00 or 6:30 that we were pulling into PV and I was out on the balcony taking pictures, lol. You know how it is, you have a camera, you're in a new place, must take pictures.

[3kidsncats]

We wouldn't have been up that early on our own either but a number of Puerto Vallarta excursions, including Las Caletas Hideaway, met in the Stardust Theater at 8:00. Our group was the first one to be called and leave the ship, then we kind of grouped up on the pier (near the Macaws) while they got everyone organized. I'd have to guess it was probably around 6:00 or 6:30 that we were pulling into PV and I was out on the balcony taking pictures, lol. You know how it is, you have a camera, you're in a new place, must take pictures.

 

Ah -- maybe it was a good week for me to miss it after all, don't think I would have done well getting up early that particular day. And yes, the lure of the photo is intense!

[3kidsncats]

Hope to get back on track to finish up the review in the next day or so -- work has sidetracked me ;-)

[mianmike]

Hope to get back on track to finish up the review in the next day or so -- work has sidetracked me ;-)

 

Looking forward to the rest of your review!

[amarvel]

Hope to get back on track to finish up the review in the next day or so -- work has sidetracked me ;-)

Can't wait :)

 

weird question but do you know when the casino opened on day1?

[MamaMia2]

Hope to get back on track to finish up the review in the next day or so -- work has sidetracked me ;-)

 

I just hate when work gets in the way of the fun stuff! ;) I look forward to the rest of your review! :)

[3kidsncats]

Can't wait :)

 

weird question but do you know when the casino opened on day1?

 

I don't gamble, so didn't pay any attention, but I looked on the Day 1 Daily, and all I can find is that the Casino Guest Services opened at 5pm, and the Casino Bar opened at 6:30pm. Hope that helps

[3kidsncats]

DH and I had lunch in the courtyard -- our last one :-( We both had the French Dip, which one of our daughters had tried and liked. It was good, but we could easily have split one, as we each only ate half. We put the two halves on one plate, pulled all the fries together, and DD2 was able to enjoy finishing it for us.

 

 

 

After lunch, I went off to Spinnakers to join up with our CC friends for the second pub crawl. DH was along after a little bit. It was a smaller group this time, and we only visited two bars -- Spinnakers and Maltings. Spinnakers was pretty empty, and the seas were moving pretty good. We sat in the window and enjoyed watching the horizon go up and down, lol. We also had an.....entertaining bartender serving us. He talked a lot. I mean a lot. He was genial enough, with a great Jamaican accent - and enjoyed trying to put us on with a story about going off at work one time while still in Jamaica. He also likes Campari. I tried the "Mr. Worldwide" at Spinnakers, which was fine, but not memorable.

 

After a bit, we opted to head to Maltings, where we had my favorite bartender of the trip, Stan. Stan is also genial, but not quite so verbose. He also provides outstanding service, so we gravitated to him whenever we were in the Maltings/Shakers/Magnums area. It was another great afternoon of enjoyable conversation. Can I say again how great the people are that were on our rollcall? I don't recall the name of the drink I ordered -- since we were in Maltings (the area over towards Magnums where we usually sat was too close to some kind of informational seminar) I ordered one of the drinks off their specialty menu -- Scotch and Amaretto. It tasted better after a little stir, but really not my thing. So switched over to a Raspberry Martini -- French Kiss maybe? I really wish I had taken photos of the drink menus. Hopefully someone going on the Jewel soon will take a photo of the Shakers options so I can check out what is listed for the Lavender Patch Martini.

 

As evening drew in, we agreed to meet up for the 7:15 Le Cirque show -- so off to the cabins to freshen up and herd the cats, I mean kids. They went up to the Haven reserved seating, and we met up with Mianmike and MamaMia2 and sat in the second row. This show fills up much earlier than others, so be sure to get there early. It has components over the audience, so really, anywhere you sit is going to offer some great views. Loved the show, and then afterwards they had some of the officers and staff come out on stage. I posted a pic of that earlier, so won't re-post it.

 

We had dinner reservations at Cagney's for 9:30, but checked in and they were able to get us in at 9pm. DD1 wasn't feeling great -- had a headache and a bit of nausea, probably from the motion of the ship, which was not horrible, but definitely moving all day. She ended heading back to the cabin after the appetizer. We tried a few new appetizers this time -- I had the Mexican Caeser salad, DH had the short-rib confit, and DD had the shrimp. For entrees, BF had the lamb chops, which he enjoyed, although he is not a big meat eater. The rest of us split between the Whole Lobster and Filets. I had the cajun spice on my filet -- should have gotten the gorgonzola crust instead. The layer of seasoning was too heavy and salty. I scraped about 70% of it off, but it still was over salty and kind of gritty from the salts. But, the steak was very, very tender and perfectly cooked otherwise. It was the Chocolate Night, so the added desserts were a Chocolate Hazelnut Bar and Chocolate Beet something or other. Went with the Hazelnut Bar and it was freaking awesome. The best dessert of the trip.

 

That was it for the night -- we enjoyed another quiet time before bed in the cabin. First cruise I've ever been on where I didn't go dancing even once, or stay out past about 11. And I'm surprisingly ok with it, lol. This trip was more about relaxing than partying, so it's all good.

 

One thing I forgot to mention -- and I can't really remember if it was Friday morning or Saturday morning-- I was late on taking notes, and thought we had Friday breakfast in the courtyard, but I think it was actually in Modernos. Anyhow, one of those mornings, we talked to the hostess Aileene who works at the Moderno/Cagneys check-in podium to find out if our reservation request for Modernos on Saturday night had ever been changed -- since we had never heard back from Joaquin, we didn't know whether we were still on at Le Bistro, or at Modernos. She said we had Le Bistro reservations. We explained the situation, and asked if there was anyway we could get ANY time slot at Modernos, and that then there would be a great Le Bistro slot for someone. She said she would check and let us know. We were having breakfast that morning in Modernos, so while we were eating, she came over and gave me a slip with a 7pm reservation for us at Modernos on Saturday. How fantastic is that? We were very impressed with the effort and service.

[3kidsncats]

I totally forgot -- Friday after the pub crawl, we went back to the cabin, and the sunset was amazing. I decided to take an impromptu bath, since I had not yet had one in that lovely window bathtub. I implored DH, who just wanted to have a shower, to run and get me some champagne for my bath. Lovely, wonderful man that he is, he went and got the champagne for us both. I very, very highly recommend if you are in any kind of cabin that has a bathtub in the window, that you enjoy a sunset bath -- it was amazingly wonderful.

 

 

 

 

Then, at one point that evening -- I think it was after show, but before dinner, we bumped into Alex as we stopped in at the cabin. He said he left a surprise for us in our room.

 

 

Is he not the sweetest steward ever?? I just loved the romantic swans and flower petals. With the kids in tow, it wasn't a romantic focus on this trip, but this lovely gesture certainly helped make it extra special. When we went to bed, I tucked them into the tub window, where they looked very sweet as well

 

 

I was way too busy Saturday trying to prepare to depart the lovely Jewel the next morning, and trying to still enjoy the day, to take any journal notes. So this day is a little fuzzy on details, but that's ok.

 

I do know I got up early and pulled my suitcase out from under the bed (there is a lot of room there for suitcases, in case anyone is wondering) and did a preliminary pack. I put all my things I wouldn't need for the day in the bag, and just kept out dinner outfit, pjs, clothes for the morning, and appropriate shoes. Also redistributed toiletries back to my carry-on bag selection. DH was surprised I did that so early, but for me, it allowed the rest of the day to be about enjoying myself, without worrying about it all day.

 

We spent time that morning doing random stuff -- I think that was the morning we ate in Modernos, because now I'm remembering that I couldn't eat much breakfast, as the motion was bothering me just a little bit. I took a bonine, and was good to go from there. I had a plan for lunch that day -- I wanted an aft window seat in Tzars for lunch. You can't make lunch reservations, so I did wander about the ship after breakfast, bought one photo from a port day, and made my one and only stop in the duty free store. They so need some ship specific merch. I would have bought a coffee cup if they'd had one for the Jewel. All they had was an assortment of generic cups, tees, hats, etc. I think they had a men's style Jewel cap, and that was it. I went down to Tzars and popped in and asked a waitress about the best time to show up to get the window seat. She suggested noon, so DD3 and I had a lunch date and showed up at 11:45. We were about 3rd in line, and promptly were seated at noon in a table at the window.

 

I had looked before sailing to see what size tables were available -- there weren't a lot of photos of that section, but I asked Aliza during our dinner with an officer, and she said they seat tables for 2 or 4 in the window, and tables for 6 just back from the window. Since the older kids and DH wanted sushi or something, DD3 and I had a lovely lunch just the two of us. Although DH and DD2 did come and join us towards the end -- more on that later.

 

 

The view from our table

 

 

And the Aft window seating, in case anyone else out there is looking, like I was :-)

[amarvel]

I don't gamble, so didn't pay any attention, but I looked on the Day 1 Daily, and all I can find is that the Casino Guest Services opened at 5pm, and the Casino Bar opened at 6:30pm. Hope that helps

That does! Thanks! :)

[3kidsncats]

I've heard mixed reviews on the MDR food during the past year, but I have to say that both meals I had in Tzars were quite good. If we didn't have the included specialty dining, I would have been quite happy dining each evening in the MDR. I tried a crab/beet salad appetizer with guacomole, and it was very good. DD3 had nachos -- those looked just ok, and she didn't eat a lot of them.

 

 

For lunch I ordered a shrimp penne pasta with pesto -- it was very good, and DD3 ordered the Chicken entree, which she liked, but would have preferred chicken breast I think.

 

 

 

A few comments about service. I have a feeling our waiter may have been new, or maybe just tired. He was very cordial, and helpful, but he did forget to take our drink order. I ended up asking for a glass of wine for me, and soda for DD3 -- so then gave him our room card. He got just ever so slightly flustered when he realized we were Haven guests, and then forgot what wine I ordered, but did come back and ask. Then when he brought our entrees, he brought this for me:

 

 

This, a delicious smelling salmon burger, that I didn't order. He quickly went and got the correct entree for me, and left the burger with us to enjoy. I had no room in my tummy for two lunches, although we did taste the fries -- they were really, really good, btw. We had him get a cover for it, and took it to go. Now, many might consider this to be less than stellar service, but it didn't bother me. I am ok with mix-ups that are handled well -- as in with a smile, and as promptly as is reasonable. If the waiter is friendly, and has a great attitude, then I'm happy most of the time. BJ, our waiter, had those attributes, and his demeanor contributed to a good dining experience.

 

Dessert was a peanut butter cup cheesecake for me, and a white chocolate mousse with red velvet cake for DD3. Both were wonderful. The cheesecake was nicely flavored, was mostly traditional cheesecake with the light inclusion of miniature peanut butter cups. It hit just the right balance between the flavors. The mousse was also delicious -- i got to taste it. Right about that time, DH and DD2 showed up, and DH tasted the mousse also. BJ insisted on bringing him one, and DH polished it off with a smile.

 

 

[3kidsncats]

A photo with BJ before we left

 

 

We decided to step out on deck six -- much closer to the ocean than our balcony. But also windy and chilly -- and I didn't have a sweater, so we didn't stay long.

 

 

 

 

 

And here is a photo of the Chocolate Hazelnut Bar from the night before -- it was on DH's phone :-) Sooooooo yummy!

 

I'm off for some afternoon errands, and then will finish up the few little things later today or tomorrow from the daily part of the cruise, and also a summation of my impressions of the Haven that I didn't cover before.

[mamacita4]

This has been a great review, really love all the photos and little details you've included. My mouth is watering from the food and drink photos! How I wish we were back there enjoying it all. Looking forward to your next posts.

[mamacita4]

Mia,

So glad you posted photos of Las Caletas. We had originally booked the excursion also, but my boys decided they would prefer something more adventurous, so we changed excursions. It's nice to see what I missed :)

[MamaMia2]

Mia,

So glad you posted photos of Las Caletas. We had originally booked the excursion also, but my boys decided they would prefer something more adventurous, so we changed excursions. It's nice to see what I missed :)

 

I'm so glad you enjoyed them. It'll give you something to look forward to on your next Mexican Riviera cruise, should you decide on that excursion next time. :)

[berkley123]

Just a quick note to let you know that the Jewel had a great special dietary needs service. Our daughter was assigned a special server who met with her the first day to go over her needs. He then met with her each night and would take her menu order for the next day. He was available to her where ever she ate be it the main dinning rooms or specialty dining. She would tell the regular server to get him and he would show up and serve her. The ship has a seperat kitchen for the special diet needs so there is no cross contamination that might happen in the main kitchens. I can't say enough good things about NCL and the Jewel when it comes to this level of service.

 

Keep up the great review 3Kids it is bringing back great memories of new friends and a wonderful vacation.