LIVE from Jewel May 15, 2024 - 27 nights

[twangster]

Day Three - Sea Day

 

Cruise compass:

 

JW May 15 day 3 cruisecompass.pdf

 

Location report:

 

 

Foggy at times.

 

 

Our progress:

 

 

 

Sea depth is only 30m. 

[twangster]

Starlink gateway city remains London.

[twangster]

I didn't grab a picture but last night in the Centrum the Minstrels Duo were performing.  

 

I'm a sucker for a good violinist and it was very enjoyable. 

 

They are back in the Centrum tonight starting at 4pm.   

[celly]

32 minutes ago, twangster said:

I didn't grab a picture but last night in the Centrum the Minstrels Duo were performing.  

 

I'm a sucker for a good violinist and it was very enjoyable. 

 

They are back in the Centrum tonight starting at 4pm.   

They were performing in the Main Dining Room last night, very enjoyable, it reminded us of the good old days of cruising!

[Biker19]

2 hours ago, twangster said:

It's pretty awesome that my WiFi session is better than the wired desktop.

I rather have the latency of the wired set up.

[twangster]

Pool is heated, slightly.

 

If feels warmer than the North Sea.  At times you can see steam come off it.  Sticking my hand in the pool my fingers didn't turn blue but I wasn't enticed to jump in. 

 

[twangster]

Captain's Corner this morning.

 

 

 

It was stated at a meeting in January there were blueprints presented for a Project Discovery concept ship.  So it's progressed far enough to have drawings prepared however that doesn't mean it's proceeding based on those exact concept drawings.   

[twangster]

Times for CAS related events:

 

 

Day one Welcome Aboard Celebration is new.

 

Top tier on day six.

 

Note at the bottom there is a specialty coffee voucher "Valid this sailing only".

 

The coffee machines in the CL and SL both appear to be working.  Not sure why they've extended the extra voucher for this cruise.

[bobmacliberty]

4 hours ago, twangster said:

Looks like some guests did some shopping in port. Their acquisitions will be held until we debark.  

 

 

Good thing your KLM house didn't end up there. 🙂

 

3 hours ago, twangster said:

End of geek mode for now...

 

 

I like when you go into geek mode, but I'm almost certainly in the minority.

 

[twangster]

1 hour ago, Biker19 said:

I rather have the latency of the wired set up.

 

I feel like we're splitting hairs at this point. 

 

Plus I'm not sure they'd like my 300' ethernet cable running down the hallway after me.  🤣

[Biker19]

4 minutes ago, twangster said:

I feel like we're splitting hairs at this point.

For some reason that 26ms ping for the wired connection seems suspect - like too good to be true. But right, compared to the 200ms of O3B and 600ms of old geosync sat connection, anything under 50ms is great. That fairly close London downlink may have something to do with it.

[twangster]

9 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

For some reason that 26ms ping for the wired connection seems suspect - like too good to be true. But right, compared to the 200ms of O3B and 600ms of old geosync sat connection, anything under 50ms is great. That fairly close London downlink may have something to do with it.

 

Here on a sea day with a "Thriller" dance practice taking place in the Centrum I repeated the tests.

 

Wired: 

Test 1 - 169/29 Mbps, 27ms

Test 2 - 187/23 Mbps, 26ms

Test 3 - 181/35 Mbps, 34ms

 

Wireless:

Test 1 - 162/39 Mbps, 35ms

Test 2 - 159/38 Mbps, 42ms

Test 3 - 116/25 Mbps, 40ms

 

Wired should always rule and the results support that. 

 

Starlink has some variance built in as the satellites are in motion in 3D space relative to the ship and the gateway city.  Depending when you run the test you could see some differences just based on positioning in that moment.  

 

Pinging the local default gateway over wireless yields an average of 10ms so that much latency is just the nature of the WiFi on board and that doesn't appear to be unusual especially with a crowded WiFi spectrum sharing the RF airspace with other devices in the Centrum.

 

Deducting that "WiFi penalty" from the results above appears consistent with latency expectations.   

 

In other words and in non-technical terms... it's working pretty great. 🙂

[twangster]

 

Test upload, this may not work out, let's see.

 

Vertical video balcony selfie on a foggy sea day.

[Oceansaway17]

3 hours ago, twangster said:

I didn't grab a picture but last night in the Centrum the Minstrels Duo were performing.  

 

I'm a sucker for a good violinist and it was very enjoyable. 

 

They are back in the Centrum tonight starting at 4pm.   

Hey Twangster good to see a new thread.

I am doing the Jewel in August for a 12 Artic and I can't wait.  Love the Jewel class ship with atrium.

I did not realize there would be a lock to go through from Amsterdam.  Too bad next year AMS will have less ships as they are going out of Rotterdam.  Even way less than Copenhagen.  So, this is the year to do Norway and it will be my 2nd time as I did first trip on Serenade.

 

I got off the Icon last Sat (11th) and I missed seeing Capt Loy return to ship.  While I did like a lot of things about ICON, I found chairs to be odd and low to the ground. The shows were good except Effectors.  Best update to ship was Promenade.  And I got to meet the dog, Rover. 

Now that I have done the ICON, I do want to return to smaller ships and non-Caribbean ports.

Look forward to following your journey but I will have to follow your Norway portion later since I will leave in early June for Barcelona to catch a10 day on Escape.  She has a great itinerary which is 3 days longer than Oasis and cheaper too.

bye for now.  Your threads are always great.

[island lady]

40 minutes ago, twangster said:

 

Test upload, this may not work out, let's see.

 

Vertical video balcony selfie on a foggy sea day.

 

Great video!!   A bit dizzy like, but pretty cool!   And love the new paint job...sweet!  

[twangster]

The Minstrels Duo in the Centrum.  

 

 

It’s moments like this I’m glad our Crown and Anchor drink vouchers work nearly everywhere.  I’d much rather be in the Centrum listening to live string music compared to a lounge.  

[twangster]

Formal night.  I’m more smart casual.  
 

The Windjammer doesn’t judge.  

[twangster]

I confirmed the speciality coffee voucher did not count against my regular CAS drink vouchers today.  
 

I inquired with our Loyalty Ambassador Isabeth regarding the extra speciality coffee voucher.  
 

It’s due to the high number of D and D+ on this sailing.  They are trying to reduce the pressure on the CL coffee machine.  
 

So thanks D & D+!   

[twangster]

A fog has been lifted off my head and it’s clear sailing at the moment.  
 

Sailing away into the sunset.,,

 

[twangster]

Harrison Smart in the Schooner Bar.  
 

He is pretty good.  Piano tunes.  

[RedMaple]

58 minutes ago, twangster said:

I confirmed the speciality coffee voucher did not count against my regular CAS drink vouchers today.  
 

I inquired with our Loyalty Ambassador Isabeth regarding the extra speciality coffee voucher.  
 

It’s due to the high number of D and D+ on this sailing.  They are trying to reduce the pressure on the CL coffee machine.  
 

So thanks D & D+!   

 

We sailed on previous cruises where they gave the specialty coffee coupons.  It was more convenient than lining up for the self serve coffee machines.  I'm going to assume (fingers crossed) it will still be there for the May 30 Norway cruise.

[twangster]

Nearing the summer solstice it is still light out at 9:30pm.  The sun may have set, but it’s still golden hour. 
 

 

 

 

[twangster]

Mind you it’s fresh outside.  Temperature is mostly a factor of sea temperature out here.  Pack accordingly.  

[Wrunkles]

Thanks for doing the live review.  I love all your pictures! 

[fla33023]

I've never been to Amsterdam and could use some clarification. Is this really one business...x-rated shows, a bar and medical care? Lol