Ready for our Jewel cruise - semi live report

[mixplix]

Dinner wed night was not very good - thankfully my kids and I enjoyed a pre-dinner snack at WJ, as has become our habit.

 

Hung out drinking with new friends until someone suggested we hit the hot tub. Solarium was closed but jumped in one open one at pool - at 1 am they kicked us out but opened the solarium hot tub - couple a slices and we went to bed

 

Thurs - asleep at 130 am, up at 625 am .,,,oh boy.

 

Safe wasn't working - call to guest services and follow up to maintenance fixed that.

 

Quick 5k run on deck and showered and breakfast for tour. Booked through Real St Lucia tours - 200 for the four of us, private car and tour guide driver, picked up at 830 am, back at ship by 315 - cooler full of drinks in the car and went wherever we wanted. He made suggestions but didn't push - it was truly our tour. Highly recommend.

 

Back to ship for lunch and maybe a cat nap?

 

 

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[mixplix]

Friday was Barbados - what a beautiful island - at least the beaches. It was Good Friday so most stuff was closed except for beaches and tourist stuff.

 

Love love love the Boatyard! 20 pp includes return cab ($5 pp there) umbrella chairs rope swing water toys thirty minute boat trip to snorkel with turtles and one free drink. When the siren blows (around 230) free shots at the bar. Had a great great day and the weather was perfect.

 

Ranking of islands 1) Barbados 2) St Kitts 3) Antigua 4) St Lucia and St Thomas. This is really for beaches, so not fair to St Lucia since we explored and it wasn't about the beach. No desire to return to St Thomas. Antigua has nice beaches but go through some crappy areas to get to them. I would actually consider a weeks vacation at St Kitts or Barbados (with research of course), where I wouldn't at the other three.

 

Last night hung out with our group of new friends in safari lounge for kareoke, then men v women game then guest. Happy to say that the men swept the woman, supposedly breaking a long woman's winning streak. As for quest, it's all about your group as we did it for 20 minutes two years ago on Adventure and I had enough. Also, need I say, Team Ocho kicked ass and won quest / my contributions include my hairy back and the finale where I was dressed up as a (very sexy) woman complete with panties bra high heels and lipstick / hope that video never surfaces.

 

Last day - last moving breakfast on WJ rear outside where we've had every breakfast and late lunch/snack.

 

Will report back with last night thoughts, disembarkation and final thoughts tomorrow. Never got cruise director info for beensailing, will try to get

 

 

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[BEENSAILING]

Friday was Barbados - what a beautiful island - at least the beaches. It was Good Friday so most stuff was closed except for beaches and tourist stuff.

 

Love love love the Boatyard! 20 pp includes return cab ($5 pp there) umbrella chairs rope swing water toys thirty minute boat trip to snorkel with turtles and one free drink. When the siren blows (around 230) free shots at the bar. Had a great great day and the weather was perfect.

 

Ranking of islands 1) Barbados 2) St Kitts 3) Antigua 4) St Lucia and St Thomas. This is really for beaches, so not fair to St Lucia since we explored and it wasn't about the beach. No desire to return to St Thomas. Antigua has nice beaches but go through some crappy areas to get to them. I would actually consider a weeks vacation at St Kitts or Barbados (with research of course), where I wouldn't at the other three.

 

Last night hung out with our group of new friends in safari lounge for kareoke, then men v women game then guest. Happy to say that the men swept the woman, supposedly breaking a long woman's winning streak. As for quest, it's all about your group as we did it for 20 minutes two years ago on Adventure and I had enough. Also, need I say, Team Ocho kicked ass and won quest / my contributions include my hairy back and the finale where I was dressed up as a (very sexy) woman complete with panties bra high heels and lipstick / hope that video never surfaces.

 

Last day - last moving breakfast on WJ rear outside where we've had every breakfast and late lunch/snack.

 

Will report back with last night thoughts, disembarkation and final thoughts tomorrow. Never got cruise director info for beensailing, will try to get

 

 

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thx...

[mixplix]

So we leave today - having my last breakfast in the WJ before we head to airport.

 

Yesterday's sea day - sushi making was very cool - 30 pp limited to 22 people. Little history on sushi and how to make. Plenty of good and good fun.

 

Kinda of cloudy at that point 1230 or so and found friends around pool. Watched belly flop contest.

 

Managed to slowly cull together chairs on 12 above pool. Sun came out and it was beautiful.

 

After our groups successful victory last night at quest, team Ocho continued its winning ways taking gold at adult dodgeball!

 

Headed Back and chilled at pool and chairs until 6ish then packed and showered.

 

One last group dinner in MDR and one last stop for drinks to see Winston at the pit stop. We were impressed we managed to hang with our twenty and thirty something crew most of the week - we were all shot and called it a night right around midnight.

 

Final thoughts

 

Jewel is too small - I liked the larger pools and promenade area - I can't imagine going transatlantic on this ship. It's ok for a port heavy itinerary though.

 

I HATE the craps rules . RCL screwed the pooch on this. I along with other serious craps players won't play with these rules - I usually play 2-3 hours per night - that's a lot of revenue they are losing. At this rate I see them pulling the craps table (just one) in the future. Very disappointed.

 

Food - fine to good. No specialty restaurants for us. I always ordered multiple apps and entrees. I usually had pre-dinner dinner at WJ - little snack to take the edge off. WJ was fine for breakfast and post lunch back on cruise snack - the last night's dinner was really good - lamb chops and flank steak.

 

Ship activities - did no shows except quest so can't comment on comedy or other productions.

 

Didn't find RCL to be pushy for stuff - few vendors walked right by.

 

Ship itself looked to be in good shape well taken care of and always clean. No issues there.

 

Chair hogs - only one sea day so not that big a deal

 

Smoking - casino very smoky ventilation sucks

 

Fitness center - very old and small - spin bikes archaic - instructors lame.

 

Sharing drink packages - saw quite a bit - example - husband and wife had package got drinks for kids; three friends in a room, two had package and always bought for third. I was the beneficiary on multiple occasions so I had no problem with it. Flame away.

 

All in all great trip - total bill after OBC (with extra 100 from Costco for some reason) was 341, with no drink packages for us.

 

Let me know if have any questions!

Mix plix

 

 

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[ArkieCruisin]

Thanks for the review. Sounds like you had a great time.

[Worn out mailman]

Pretty good review. Keep in mind that a few clouds can ruin the overall impression of a place, esp. a beach in the Caribbean. Only full sun brings out the beautiful color and full clarity of the water. You may have enjoyed St Thomas more without the clouds. April kinda begins the rainy season. We've had our best luck in March overall.

 

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[mixplix]

mailman - it wasnt just the day (which started out cloudy and rainy and ended up beautiful). At it was just Magens Bay - it was just the feel of the Island - it just wasnt there for us.

[tahqa]

Last night hung out with our group of new friends in safari lounge for kareoke, then men v women game then guest. Happy to say that the men swept the woman, supposedly breaking a long woman's winning streak.

 

Pfft. If the women were on a winning streak then it was only since February since I was on the men's winning team then. :D