jakoury

Well we got back a few days ago and I have to say that this was my best trip yet! Port Everglades was kind of a let down as it was dirty and a very short sail out with very little interaction with folks on shore. The ship itself was very well maintained, and the staff was wonderful. I met our cruise director, Clodgah (spelling) the first night out of port and found her to be a lot of fun. Her husband and infant son were on board as well, and they were great folks. I have to say, and the wife agrees, that she was the best directer we have ever had. I also met the captain on the first night. He was a great guy named Thor with a great sense of humor. I found by the end of the cruise that he was around us passengers more than any captain from my previous sailings. We got on the love and marrage game, which was a blast and I participated in the quest very activly. I won't let the cat out of the bag for those of you that have never seen the quest before, but for those whom have seen it, I was involved in the very last part. Needless to say I ended up all over the closed circut TV throughout the sailing. I got a 5th place in the long ball drive the first time with a drive of 220 yards, and participated again a few days later and drove one 248 yards but still only got 5th again. 248 won it the first time so I figured I was in like Flint. The winning drive was 278 yards! The wife on the other hand got the bronze medal in the ladies division for her drive. We had Crazie with us and got many comments on her which gave me the chance to talk about this web site with many people. I'm sure a few will end up joining. I will post some pics in the next week or so. San Juan was a good time. We took a cab to the fort and walked all over it and the cemetary, then walked back to the ship. On the walk back I ended up meeting the owner of one of the cigar shops. We hung out for about 45 minutes just shooting the breeze. He supplied copious amounts of rum and gave me a very nice smoke. He ships to the mainland and I plan on placing an order shortly. St. Thomas was ok. We walked to the Jewish Temple and got a tour from the Rabbi. It is a neat place to see even if you are not Jewish. It is the oldest temple in the western hemisphere to be in constant use, being built in 1790. The building itself is beautiful and has a sand floor. We went ahead and joined the temple even though we can't forsee ever going to services there. We did not do much in St. Maarten. Just ended up hanging out at an outside bar with a French guy doing some people watching. Tortola was my favorite island. It is much more laid back than all the other places I have been and the people were very nice. We went to a beach on the other side of the island. I stayed in the water for several hours all together while the wife napped and read her book. There were many tropical fish around once I got into about 5 feet of water ranging from just a few inchies long to about a foot in length. They were not bashfull at all and I swam and played with them the whole time. To get to the beach we took a jeepny over the mountain, and I was terrified the whole trip. The road going over the mountain has very few switch backs. It pretty much goes straight up to a little over 1000 feet then straight down. The name of the road is "Steep Hill" We went to Atlantis while in Nassau. We booked it through RCCL, and found it to be very nice. The aquarium was top notch and the casino was beautiful. We ate lunch at an outdoors resturant at Atlantis. It was a huge covered pavillion type thing with the beach on one side and the shark area of the aquarium on the other. The price was not bad either. The only thing I did not enjoy was the comedian that was on the ship. He just was not funny. I made the mistake of turning on Fox News the last day and learned of all the bad weather and tornados that hit the Atlanta area. I found out that we had 3 touch down in my community, and we have mutual aid agree ments with Atlanta so I was a little worried about home and knew I would be busy when I got back. And sure enough I have been. Today was the first time I have been able to get on the computer. I was not even unpacked until late last night and still have not gotten the pictures developd. Overall it was a great trip and I did not want to come back. I highly reccomend The Jewel Of The Seas to all of you.

Thanks for the info!

Has anyone ever done the Atlantis shore excursion offered by Royal Carrib? If yes, do you get to use the ammenities and water slides, or is it just a tour of the hotel and aquarium?

I always get back pretty early because I don't like the idea of being stranded. On my last cruise as the ship was leaving the harbor in Cozumel a family was run out to the ship on the harbor pilot boat. It was a great thing to watch the transfer, and laughed so hard I almost soiled myself when I saw the crew of the boat were all wearing Mexican luchidor wrestling masks. They were hamming it up big time.

A big part of my job is writting employee evaluations, and in doing so over the years have learned how important they are. I think that doing a cruise reveiw is just as important. It is a big deal to praise cruise line employees when they do a good job, and I have found that the overwhelming majority do a fantastic job. The cruise industry has got some of the best customer service I have ever come across and I brag about it. On the rare occassion that I find somthing negative I also think it is important to share that as well, so it can be fixed for others in the future.

I would do it in a heart beat! Unfortunately I will never be able to afford it. That is why when I retire in 7 years I'm buying an old CrisCraft of about 65 feet and living on the water.

I have only been out of Port Canaveral and Miami. I liked the facity at Port Canaveral a little better but going out past the causway and Star Island leaving Miami was nicer than the sail out of Canaveral. When it comes down to it though, as long as I'm sailing out I would be happy with going out of a land fill in NJ!

This issue was my first. I really enjoyed it, and had a good time reading about some of the older boats the wife went on when she was a kid.

Oh, and Cape May is a great place to visit. Many of our founding fathers vacationed there 200+ years ago.

Stay out of the city proper and stick to the nicer areas around the boardwalk and casinos. It goes from nice to scary in about a block in some areas.

I don't typicaly make lists. I just like to set the basics in motion and have fun figuring out what I'm gonna do. Now the wife on the other hand makes mucho grande lists. Her packing list is scary! She has dreams of forgetting to pack things, so she checks the list many times packing then unpacking. It's really pretty comical. Of course I did forget my shoes once on a trip down to Orlando. Did not realize I forgot them until I got to downtown Disney. Walked around barefoot until I found a pair of very over priced and uncomfortable flip flops.

I was there last March and even though it rained pretty hard most of the day, I had a great time. The rain was nice and warm as well as the ocean water. After a nice swim I just kicked back on a lounge chair and drifted off to sleep in the rain. The wife was not very pleased with the rain and went back to the boat pretty quick. I headed back in after a few hours of napping and watching a water spout a few miles off shore for a while. The staff was very nice on shore, and was given discount prices at the bar because the rain kept most people on the ship. I'll definately be going back.

We have a travel kit I out together for her with sharps and all the other stuff we need. Taking a perscription along is a great idea I did not think of though. THANKS!

We just graze all day, but eat in the dinning room for evening meals. We get the late seating and just enjoy the meal and new people we meet at the table.

I don't think it is going to be a problem, but my wife was diagnosed with MS since our last cruise. I have to give her a Betaseron injection every other day. This whole injection thing is new to us, and I was wondering if there may be a problem with us taking her medication and syringes on board. i'm sure it would follow the same rules as insulin, so what is the procedure? We would like to put it in carry on luggage. Is there any special thing we need to do to accoplish this?