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JEWEL b2b (Greece/W Med) semi-live Aug24 - Sept14 REVIEW w/lots of photos


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Hey everyone!!!!!

We've had a great two nights in Jewel. Diego CL is awesome, chops and Giovanni's excellent. The crowd and nightlife very very excellent!

 

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And the officers provided a special D+ PN and suite guests a special sail in party, just excellent, great food, free beverages of all

Kinds. And now we're running for tender number 1... Special access with Diego from

The CL. We're in Santorini heading to Oia.

See Ya later [emoji3]

 

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May I ask if you did an excursion or just did Santorini on your own? We are looking for the best way to get to Oia so we can walk the trail back.

Thank you!

janine

 

 

 

We did this on our own. The very easiest way is on the water taxis. I'll explain better in my full review.... The very second you dismount the tender at Old Port, there are huge signs for water taxi directly to Oia. No joke, we got Jewel approx 12:50pm and we were at the Oia dismount pint at about 1:45pm. Super simple and extremely easy. 15 euro includes bus ticket back to Fira.

 

 

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Hi,

 

Thank you for the nice pics.

 

We are booked on the TA this November. I´m very interested in the Menus of the MDR.

 

Have a wonderful vacation!!

 

BR

 

 

 

Hi Hexi. I'm no longer an MDR fan and not spending much time there. They are standard menus that I'm sure Bob can provide a link to. Other than the new Indian menu they provide which I hope to try tonight in MTD

 

 

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Wifi has been extremely spotty today in Mykonos. Tendering was delayed a good 1 1/2 hours due to weather and I think we could've been close to cancelling (big swells, 25 mph winds). Instead of 8am, by 9:45am the tendering process started. We shared the port with Costa Neoclassical and Favilosa who were both overnight ships

 

Views from by balcony

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The day was planned as half beach day then afternoon walking around Old Town. Capt Dustin extended our port stay by 2 hours so now our port time is 9:45am to 7pm (instead of 5pm as originally planned). We took

Public bus to the beach... Super easy to find with minimal homework. 1.80 euro each way

 

Platis Gialos Beach

 

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Walking path to Pagara Beach. We hung out at Pagara for about 2 hours or so. The loungers are a total rip off there (50 euro for 2) and much better value in Platis Gialos (40 euro + free drink + restaurant discount). There was also a

"Cheap" section of 20 euro For 2 loungers.

Re Paraga, pics and reviews showed this as perhaps the better choice but wrong, we should've stayed in Platis Gialos. Better sand and nicer swim albeit much busier.

 

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Had a GREAT lunch in Old Town (Gyros) and walked around taking a bazillion photos and simply enjoying The afternoon. Whipped

Out and Aboard now for the evening (5pm)

G'nite everyone

 

Tenders coming and going

 

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We did this on our own. The very easiest way is on the water taxis. I'll explain better in my full review.... The very second you dismount the tender at Old Port, there are huge signs for water taxi directly to Oia. No joke, we got Jewel approx 12:50pm and we were at the Oia dismount pint at about 1:45pm. Super simple and extremely easy. 15 euro includes bus ticket back to Fira.

 

 

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Terrific! Thank you so much!

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Very very early and long day in Athens yesterday folks, sorry for the delay in posting. I've logged into my D+ wifi now for the remainder of this cruise with the coupon so all good.

 

Before I forget to mention, 10 day drink card available yesterday for $85.

 

Pirius is a very industrial port and a good 30min from the Plaka district where all the sites were.

 

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We opted for the X80 transit express bus... Big mistake. Such a pain in the a$$, even Beachcruzer and DH said had they realized how bad it was they would've done a taxi. A river approached us as we were buying out 4.50euro bus tickets and offered us his taxi for 25euro for the whole day at his disposal. We should have definitely done that. I will explain in my full review when I get home.

 

I have some ultra beautiful photos with my new Sony CXR100M3, but for now here's a couple at the Acropolis

 

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Lunch, lamb souvlaki and gyro, in the Plaka district

 

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The original modern Olympic Games stadium (1896) and museum. I ran a quarter lap (video) and crossed the finish line lol!! Yes, gold medal and Canada flag in hand!

 

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Give Diego and the wonderful Dr Feelgood Ravi a hug from me! Loving the photos.

 

 

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Will do lb... Do they know you by your screen handle?

And yes, Ravi prescribes our "medication" every night very well!! [emoji381][emoji485][emoji483][emoji12]

 

 

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Just walking on deck 5 as we speak out to the helipad as gf takes a nap after a totally brilliant day in Katakolon/Olympia!

 

Super HIGhLY recommended is Katakolon Taxi with Andrew. Family run business, he himself had us in his Mercedes taxi for private tour. Olympia was awesome. Note the cross section of the pillar on the right is 5 1/2 feet diameter!

 

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We were then taken to the Magna Greek Agritouristico farm... Family run and a tour just picked up by RCL this year per the owner Anna... They ave already been serving Hal, Regent and others.

 

The biggest surprise and one of the best parts of this cruise so far. I very highly recommend this. We had a full on lunch served to us all with homemade products... Olives are incredible, the wine even more so. Exquisite local homemade lunch. Just a totally awesome couple of hours with an amazing host and very caring family at every step.

 

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We also had time to stop at the honey farm, another new stop on tours. Not as great as the Magna Greek farm but a decent stop for a short hour nonetheless. We were back onboard about an hour before all-aboard

 

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After hitting up our room to freshen up, I was just now walking around the various decks taking photos of areas I hadn't yet taken

 

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Gorgeous!! Makes me so excited for July 1!!!! Thank you for sharing!!

 

 

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Thank you... And of course to everyone who has expressed kind words that I haven't had time to acknowledge as I quickly posted this last week. These photos are all from my iPhone... Just wait until I do my full review once I'm home [emoji3]

 

 

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Thank you... And of course to everyone who has expressed kind words that I haven't had time to acknowledge as I quickly posted this last week. These photos are all from my iPhone... Just wait until I do my full review once I'm home [emoji3]

 

 

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Cannot wait!! I'm sending my friend going with me next summer the link to this thread! :)

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Good bye Greece... See you again some other time

 

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Capt. Dustin shared horn blasts with the pilot as he waved a goodbye to us

 

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Ah.... This is the life!!!

 

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80s+90s music trivia, production show, Quet and Latin dance party on the pool deck tonight.... Soooo glad we're gaining an hour on the time change. Go to admit, long days in Rome and touring Greece in 85-100 degree weather has taken a lot of us. We're really looking forward to the sea day and turn-around day of "nothingness"! Capt Dustin announced possible showers and 2-3 meter (5-8 foot) swells in the Med as we head back to Civitavecchia. Transiting the Messina Strait at about 9-10am with hopefully a view of Mt Stromboli (active volcano) shortly after that.

Good night all

 

 

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You mentioned the drink card. Being D+ did you purchase it or have you just drank around the hours of the diamond lounge?

 

$85 for 10 doesn't seem to bad.

 

Todd

 

 

 

It's a great price for those who would have drinks all night for example partying after the lounge hours or during the day on a sea day at pool deck. I've bought each time before on prev cruises when available but not this time. The service from Ravi in the CL second to none on any CL... He had drinks waiting for us and would replenish even before we were finished the first drink. Truth be told one night we missed the magician headliner (luckily for us as we were told It was awful) and sat in the outer court of the CL with drinks so didn't need any after that. Last night we cancelled MTD all together and stayed In the CL eating apples and veggies (we were too full from out excursion) until 8pm music trivia so again no need for the card. Today sea day we can use our D+ BOGO and so forth if needed. We still have a bottle of wine in our room to pour a glass also.

 

Btw, both my gf and I walked in together at embarkation with 2 bottles of wine each... We walked in directly next to each other, through the the same scanner and guards... They didn't say a thing. So we could've had a 4 bottles this cruise, get off at Civitavecchia, and prob bring back another 4 bottles.

 

 

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Entering the Messina Strait. Turning the corner of Calabria we could not see Mt Etna unfortunately as it was extremely misty outside, I could only make the outline of the peak. From this 1st photo Etna should be clearly visible towering over the rest of the land

 

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We're now in the strait. Messina is on the left as we now head north to Civitavecchia.

 

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