Today the real fun of our cruise vacation begins and without a doubt, embarkation day is my absolute favorite day of the cruise. Today we got to board Jewel of the Seas and start the fun.
We woke up and had breakfast at a small cafe in San Juan. It was quaint, quick and cheap and just the right sort of basic breakfast food we needed. Called Cafeteria Mallorca, it was pretty close to our hotel and I think everyone was happy with it. Naturally, I went easy on my breakfast in anticipation for our first meal on Jewel of the Seas!
After breakfast we made a pit stop at a CVS to buy wine. Seriously. It turns out there really aren't any wine stores in Old San Juan and for whatever reason, this CVS has an amazing selection of wine for a convenience store. We wanted to bring our alloted amount of 2 bottles of wine for dinner and made out quite well.
Now it was time to get to Jewel, so we went back to our hotel, got a taxi, loaded up our stuff and took the short drive to the port. Nearly immediately we could see Jewel of the Seas docked in San Juan habror at the Pan American Pier. The taxi drive was no more than 5 minutes and we arrived at 10:30am.
Once there, the pier was closed although they allowed guests to take their luggage and wait in line. What was weird was the porters were there, but not taking luggage. However, there was a special line for Platinum Crown and Anchor members and above and in that line, porters were accepting luggage. I felt bad for the other people in the main line because they had to drag all of their luggage into line and then wait with it.
The check-in process did not begin until 11 so all guests had to wait outside, which was only a problem because it was oppresively hot and humid. Luckily we only waited perhaps 20 minutes and at 11am the doors opened and we were let in. Security and check-in was a breeze and interestingly the ship was open for boarding immediately. We got onboard and made our way right to the Windjammer.
Although the ship was open, the Windjammer was not open yet. They informed us the Windjammer would open in another 10 minutes so we hung out until it was ready.
A little background on me, we haven't been on a Royal Caribbean ship this "small" before. We had been on Voyager, Freedom and Oasis class ships so Radiance class is going to be an interesting comparisson for us. Just driving to the pier, we noticed it looked smaller than other ships we had been on. That being said, smaller isn't a bad thing. It's simply different and throughout these blog posts, I will be making comparissons to note differences.
The Windjammer opened up and I was impressed by how classy it looked compared to the Windjammers on newer ships. I liked the deep blues and hard wood look. It reminded me of the Schooner Bar on other ships.
Food wise, the Windjammer was as good as I remembered. Wide selection with a lot for everyone. Of all the food I tried, I had to get the honey stung chicken if only for the sake of embarkation day tradition. Eating lunch in the Windjammer on my first day is that moment when it starts to sink in that I'm on a Royal Caribbean vacation.
After lunch, we went to Guest Services and booked in-room babysitting. $19 per hour for up to 3 kids. The staff member informed us they would take our day and time requests down but they would notify us if there was a staff member was available. It's kind of like someone puts out a notice to the staff members a guest wants babysitting and if someone signs up for it, then you get a babysitter. Basically, there isn't a dedicated babysitter.
We then headed to the Main Dining Room to check our table assignment. Our table was for six, which is perfect for our group. I also spoke with the Head Waiter on duty to request Indian curry every night for dinner. I told him I was vegetarian, which is a lie but it's easier to say that than explain that I can't get enough of their curry.
Next up we took the elevators to the spa for a tour. Frankly, I think the spa on Jewel was much nicer than the spa on Freedom of the Seas in terms of decor and ammenities. Quick note, the sauna and steam room are complimentary for all guests. There's also some really amazing thermal, aroma and massage rooms. You can book an unlimited pass for the heated chair, rainforest shower, aroma and steam rooms for $69 per person. My wife is debating it but I think our itinerary (6 islands, 7 nights) is too port intensive to make it worth it. They do offer a day pass for $20 per person.
After our tour it was 1pm and time for our room to be ready. Sure enough, we got to our deck and the doors were open for guests to go in. We had booked a "hump" balcony room and the room was clean and in good working order. The real reason we booked this room was for the super big balcony that can fit 2 regular chairs, a table and 2 lounge chairs as well.
After relaxing in the afternoon we went back to the spa for the raffle drawing. I didn't expect to win but our friends wanted to give it a try and so we went. As it turns out....we didn't win anything. Oh well!
The spa raffle took longer than we expected and so it was off to dinner in the main dining room. I know there are a lot of strong opinions about the main dining room but I really like the experience of the main dining room. To me. it's something very special to cruising and Royal Caribbean does it well. Yes, I saw people show up wearing shorts, hats and flip flops. But I think was way worse were people showing up an hour or longer late for dinner and being seated! I'm assuming this is a day one thing but I found it incredibly rude personally. If you are going to be that late, then enjoy the Windjammer or one of the specialty restaurants. Anyway, off my soap box.
Dinner was great and this was my second time around with the new menu. I found the vegetarian tortillas to be good while my wife loved her grilled chicken dish. Our friends raved about the coconut seafood soup.
By the way, the wine we bought? No problems getting it in and brought it to dinner and at least thus far, no corkage fee charged to me. This is exactly the same experience I had on Freedom of the Seas in February. I'm certainly not complaining!
Following dinner it was time for muster drill. Seriously. 8pm muster was so odd because every other cruise we have ever been on had muster in the later afternoon. But with this Jewel of the Seas cruise, we were sailing at 8pm so a late muster drill was a necessity. I was quite happy to discover our muster station was in the Schooner bar because that meant it was air conditioned!
After muster it was finally time to sailaway, so we made our way to the front of deck 5 to go to the helipad. There were probably 20 people or so there, so plenty of room. Helipad is still very much a well kept secret for sailaway! It was quite beautiful leaving San Juan harbor at night to see everything lit up.
The kids wanted ice cream and the adults were open for another snack so we went to the Windjammer (before you ask, Seaview Cafe was closed and we do have plans to go check it out). Another good selection of food and their free sushi I found to be MUCH better than the free sushi on Freedom of the Seas. I'd compare it to supermarket sushi here on Jewel and the rolls with fish were worth a snack.
Tomorrow we will be in St. Croix, a first for us. St. Croix is part of the United States so we will be tweeting and Instagraming a storm up again so follow us there for up-to-the-minute updates! Also, post your questions and comments in the comments area below and I will do my best to answer them for you.
Day 1 Cruise Compass
Day 2 Cruise Compass