LIVE from Jewel May 15, 2024 - 27 nights

[twangster]

Here is a timelapse from a 360 camera on my balcony.

 

 

[FionaMG]

Hope the weather clears up for you. 🤞

[twangster]

Night one was spent donating a kidney to the casino.  At least it felt that way.  Luck was not on my side.

 

We encountered heavy fog and the ship employed the fog protocols blowing the ship's whistle every few minutes.

 

After a few hours of this you grow accustomed to it, until you hear another's ship's whistle answering back, and it sounded close.  It was a night when the bridge crew earned their salaries.  

 

Time change tonight, one hour back.  

 

[twangster]

1 hour ago, bobmacliberty said:

I'm all in for this.  Can't wait for some fantastic @twangster photos.  Did you bring a tripod for the long exposure shots?  Did you get a little house on KLM?  I always preferred KLM equipment to/from Schiphol even if it was a Delta ticket.

 

We hadn't landed yet and my Amsterdam souvenir shopping was complete.

 

[twangster]

Day Two - Dover, England

 

The fog from last night became the fog of the morning.

 

 

It's a busy section of water and I could hear several other ships following fog protocol blowing their whistles, some faint, some loud.

 

marinetraffic.com:

 

 

The white cliffs of... the mist.

 

 

 

 

Confirmed.  The captain found England.

 

[mac_tlc]

Great itinerary. We did the Jewel out of Amsterdam to the fjords last year. A very memorable experience. Had an aft balcony. Wonderful views. Hope your fjord weather is like ours—- it was 84 degrees in Flam. 
 

 

mac_tlc

[Mrs.Dukes]

Looking forward to following along and seeing your fabulous photos! Looks like great itineraries. Thanks for sharing it with us.

[island lady]

Sorry about the rain, but your narration and pictures were great!  🥰

 

How was the service in Chops for breakfast?  When Jewel was doing her 6/8 runs out of PC it was terrible.  Wonderful on all the other ships...but Jewel could not get it together during our time.  😞 

[twangster]

5 minutes ago, island lady said:

Sorry about the rain, but your narration and pictures were great!  🥰

 

How was the service in Chops for breakfast?  When Jewel was doing her 6/8 runs out of PC it was terrible.  Wonderful on all the other ships...but Jewel could not get it together during our time.  😞 

 

They opened an hour late!  (or I forgot to change time last night) 🤣

 

Service was fine this morning and I don't recall an issue back in 2022.  Sorry you had issues.

 

 

[island lady]

8 minutes ago, twangster said:

 

They opened an hour late!  (or I forgot to change time last night) 🤣

 

Service was fine this morning and I don't recall an issue back in 2022.  Sorry you had issues.

 

 

 

That's good!  Enjoy your breakfast in there, one of our favorite perks.  🥰

 

Funny thing was the really terrible waiter we had on Jewel at that time, we saw on Serenade during the 1st quarter WC.   Luckily he was not assigned to our table.  😉 

[clochette]

What a great trip and those 2 cruises look both amazing, I really look forward to following you,

[sandjb]

2 hours ago, twangster said:

Here is a timelapse from a 360 camera on my balcony.

 

 

Great video! How did you mount the camera on the outside of the bottom of the balcony? Was there a space at the bottom to slide the camera through the glass barrier?

 

Thanks for all this info - very helpful. We're looking forward to sailing on June 23rd.

[twangster]

Just now, sandjb said:

Great video! How did you mount the camera on the outside of the bottom of the balcony? Was there a space at the bottom to slide the camera through the glass barrier?

 

Thanks for all this info - very helpful. We're looking forward to sailing on June 23rd.

 

There is a gap at the bottom of the glass.  

 

I have a telescoping pole held in place with elastic velcro straps in two places for security.  The red hat is keeping the rain off my battery pack powering the camera for these long timelapse.  

 

On other ships I've secured the pole to the handrail when there is a gap to pass the velcro strap through.  In this case the handrail has no gaps so I went low.

 

You don't have to have the camera out too far for the 360 effect to work it's magic.

 

[twangster]

Suite Concierge - Bing Bai

Crown Lounge Concierge - Andrea Martinez C.

Loyalty Ambassador - Isabeth Avila

 

I was happy to see Bing back on a ship.  She was the Suite Concierge on Ovation back in 2019/2020 before the shutdown.  Sailing to New Zealand with her when the world lost its mind early in 2020.   I wasn't sure what had happened to her and I'm glad she is back.

 

[twangster]

Current Voom Starlink gateway city is London.  

 

Still getting great Voom speeds.  

 

It wasn't that long ago that legacy ship satellite service was terrible in this region.  Starlink is a game changer.  Uploading that sail away timelapse in 4K would have been very challenging before.  Now with Starlink it was uploaded in under 45 seconds.

 

 

 

Edited May 16 by twangster

[LindaD22]

We join you on Jewel for the Arctic Circle cruise. 
 

I didn’t know that we would be going through locks leaving Amsterdam! From sailaway, how long did it take to reach the locks? I want to be sure we’re on deck for that. 

[alexgtp]

3 hours ago, twangster said:

Night one was spent donating a kidney to the casino.  At least it felt that way.  Luck was not on my side.

 

We encountered heavy fog and the ship employed the fog protocols blowing the ship's whistle every few minutes.

 

After a few hours of this you grow accustomed to it, until you hear another's ship's whistle answering back, and it sounded close.  It was a night when the bridge crew earned their salaries.  

 

Time change tonight, one hour back.  

 

 

 

With the dry dock? Any new slots in the Casino??? We sailed her last year for Norwegian Fjords and will be back on her in Sept for Greenland! We had great profit from casino!

[twangster]

14 minutes ago, LindaD22 said:

We join you on Jewel for the Arctic Circle cruise. 
 

I didn’t know that we would be going through locks leaving Amsterdam! From sailaway, how long did it take to reach the locks? I want to be sure we’re on deck for that. 

 

Somewhere around 2h to 2.5h depending on marine traffic.

 

I was glad I had rain pants and a raincoat, but I'm hoping for better weather next cruise.  🙂

[Cherful59]

Thanks for the live review.  I am on the July 5th cruise and will be following along.

[Missusdubbya]

7 hours ago, bobmacliberty said:

Did you get a little house on KLM?

I love those little gins 😁

[LisaAtlCruiser]

Great pictures!  Will be joining you on the Arctic Circle itinerary.  🙂

 

[twangster]

2 hours ago, alexgtp said:

 

 

With the dry dock? Any new slots in the Casino??? We sailed her last year for Norwegian Fjords and will be back on her in Sept for Greenland! We had great profit from casino!

 

Seeing more slots with the full display versus the fake rotary wheels. 

 

Some are not in service yet. 

[beachluver9]

6 hours ago, twangster said:

 

We hadn't landed yet and my Amsterdam souvenir shopping was complete.

 

We are on the same Delta flight serviced by KLM for the Arctic Circle cruise following this one.  What is the # of your house?  Did they offer choices?

[twangster]

6 minutes ago, beachluver9 said:

We are on the same Delta flight serviced by KLM for the Arctic Circle cruise following this one.  What is the # of your house?  Did they offer choices?

 

Yes there were many choices.  I chose the smallest one on the plate, #73.

 

 

[timxrx]

This trip report will definitely help me count down the days till I board the Jewel on June 11th for a B3B of 37 days. Looking forward to to all your great pictures and information.