The adults had an ocean-view cabin on Deck 3, #3564. It was the same location we had when cruised on the Jewel in 2013. The kids were just down the hall in #3576. Both cabins were located just forward of mid-ship. While admittedly a long way from the pool and Windjammer on Deck 11, it was an easy walk to everything else! The Centrum was 1 deck up, the gangway was 1 deck down, MyTime Dining and the Promenade Deck were both just 2 decks up. We loved the location!

Our adult kids opted for this excursion. Based on their feedback, I would not recommend. They said the vessel was extremely crowded, as there was apparently no limit to the number of guests they would take. The guide provided virtually no information about the island. They were very disappointed in their choice, especially when they heard how great our day was (on Paddles, a private excursion), for only a few dollars more than they spent.

Antigua

Our tour guide was “DJ Dave” and he was GREAT! There were six of us on the tour and the other two (Miles and John, who were also on our Antigua excursion) were scheduled to do the tour version which included Orient Beach. Initially, the plan was to drop them at Orient while our family spent extra time in Marigot. However, Miles and John decided they’d prefer more time in Marigot, so we only made a brief stop to SEE the beach, then proceeded to Marigot. We ate lunch at Rosemary’s, recommended by our guide. As we spoke, we realized that none of us was interested in seeing the planes at Moho, so we asked DJ Dave if we could skip that stop. He was happy to oblige and we got to spend a little more time in Marigot. Essentially, we got a private tour for $40! Dave said that, as long as everyone on the tour agrees with the stops and timing, the guides are happy to please. Other highlights of our tour were Carl, the sea urchin man, who was a delight showing us various sea creatures. It was both entertaining and educational. We also visited the iguana guy, where we were able to hand feed a large herd (is that the right term?) of iguana. I’d visited St. Maarten several times before, but had never seen the parts of the island I saw on this tour. I have an entirely new appreciation for St. Maarten. It was my son’s favorite port.  I highly recommend Bernard’s and now understand why the company gets so many rave reviews.

The adults opted for Calabaza Catamaran. It was a lovely day, very relaxing. We toured the coastline, being offered a constant stream of food starting with banana bread, then humus and fresh fruit, and finally a freshly made hot lunch. The rum punch, topped with nutmeg, was unique and delicious. The two snorkel stops, both off Carlisle Beach, included swimming with the turtles, then snorkeling at three ship wrecks. The staff constantly snapped photos, which they ten post to a website for customers to view upon their return home. A nice idea.
Our adult kids opted for the less costly Stiletto Catamaran, which did not include lunch but visited the same stops. They were also very pleased with their experience. Our catamarans passed each other at one point and we were able to wave hello!

Barbados

We had high hopes for this excursion and were not disappointed. The city of Castries struck us as far more developed than expected (isn’t this a rain forest island?) and fairly dirty and littered. It didn’t make a great first impression, but it quickly got better. We first toured the island by land, stopping at many scenic points for photo opportunities. Once outside the city, the views were beautiful. Lunch at Herod’s mom’s (she seems to run a local patio-style restaurant) was delicious and you could see the Pitons from the patio. A brief stop to swim at the falls, and then off to the volcano. We opted to skip the mud bath and just walk up the street to view the volcano. A speed boat took us on a wild ride along the coast to the beach, where we were pleasantly surprised at the quality of snorkeling. St. Lucia is a gorgeous island.

We sailed over to Buck island, where a brief snorkeling tutorial was provided. We had a little while to explore Buck Island before proceeding to the reef. On route, we spotted a family of dolphins off the side of the boat – something our crew told us very rarely happens. (Once every couple of years as they described.) We were all thrilled to watch as the dolphins swam alongside the ship, close enough to get amazing photos. Then the captain said, “If you want to jump in with them, feel free.” It was difficult to get close to them in the water, and you could actually view them better from on the ship, but it was still exciting to be swimming in close proximity. 

After our impromptu dolphin swim, we proceeded to the reef for some of the best snorkeling I’ve ever experienced. It was on par with the barrier reef in Grand Cayman. 

After snorkeling, we boarded the catamaran to sail to another private beach where we would have a BBQ lunch and rum punch. It was clearly raining on the mainland, so we floated out in the water for a while, playing games and drinking rum punch, waiting for the rain to pass over. When we arrived on the beach, there were only a few rain drops left and our crew whipped us up a great lunch of burgers, hot dogs, veggie burgers and grilled Mahi Mahi. We ate lunch and watched the mongoose scurry around in the woods. 

Initially, I was thinking we’d made a mistake booking the full-day, rather than the half-day excursion; because it didn’t leave us time to explore other parts of the island. But we thoroughly enjoyed the day and were ultimately really pleased that we’d opted for the full-day tour.

We did not do any excursions on San Juan this cruise as we arrived at port on embarkation day.

San Juan

Initially, I was thinking we’d made a mistake booking the full-day, rather than the half-day excursion; because it didn’t leave us time to explore other parts of the island.There were six of us on the tour and the other two (Miles and John, who were also on our Antigua excursion) were scheduled to do the tour version which included Orient Beach.

Jewel of the Seas Review

Graduation Cruise

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Cabin Review

Large Ocean View Stateroom

Port Reviews

Antigua

Barbados

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