THE CRUISE:
Royal Caribbean 7-day Cruise on Jewel of the Sea
ITINIARAY DETAILS
FLIGHT: Dec 8th — CLE (8:55am) to CLT to SJU (Arrive @ 4:13pm)
Day 1: San Juan –Leave dock @ 8:00PM
Day 2: Cruising
Day 3: Barbados
Day 4: St. Lucia
Day 5: Antigua
Day 6: St. Maarten
Day 7: St. Thomas
Day 8: San Juan @ 6:00am -> Flight home at 6:15pm -> Arrive in CLE midnight
COSTS PER PERSON:
Cruise: $530
Flight: $493
Luggage: $25
Private Transportation (round trip): $36
Insurance (optional): $44
Tipping Charge on Cruse: $100 / $14per day
ADDITIONAL COSTS ON CRUISE:
-Coffee, Juice, Milk, Cups of Water – FREE
-All other beverages cost money including specialty coffees
-18% gratuity is added to beverages, mini bar, spa and salon purchases
-Any Excursions
-All casino play
-Tipping every and all attendants and servers
-From the port to anything it will probably cost you some money to get to any beach. You cannot just walk to a beach from the ship.
PROS OF THE CRUISE SHIP:
– We chose to fly into Puerto Rico because and depart from there to get a better itinerary. From PR you can hit a ton more islands because you’re already close to them. If you left from Florida you’d be sailing a lot more.
-Beach towels were included
-Base room was good enough for 2 people to share. We hardly were in the room except to nap and sleep.
-Smaller ship so not dealing with massive crowds
-Terrific base value for all the islands we visited!
-I’m glad we ported at different docks every day – I would have been bored sailing on the ship for more than a day.
-Excellent food! There was never anything we couldn’t find and the evening dining was amazing! Our Server Ben Amor (wherever you are in the world) was a true professional.
CONS OF THE CRUISE SHIP:
-Pools were so small and hot tubs were always filled. I never went in either.
-Everything costs extra money – good coffee included. HAH!
-Smaller ship so you felt every rocking motion. I got a trans derm scop patch (Rx from GP) for the entirety of the cruise.
– If you are going to drink a few times a day/evening – get the alcohol package – drinks are no less than $8/drink +18% tax… some of our friends ended up paying just as much for their alcohol at the end of the trip than they did for the cruise! LOL!
HELPFUL TIPS:
– It was extremely hard to find info on this cruise to plan accordingly /Royal Caribbean should really update their website with all the amenities and things to pack for the trip.
– There are 2 nights that are “Dress Up” which are usually your cruising day and day 5.
– The term dress up is loose. Some people wore formal gowns others wore sundresses. Dressing up 1 night was fun… the second night after beaching all day was brutal! If you don’t like to dress up… look for the “freestyle” cruising.
– Plan excursions in advance for the best price!
– My friend and I split the mobile phone wi-fi which was worth it to me $70/each for the week!
– The sun is excruciating in the Caribbean. Bring protective sun gear, hats, polarized sunglasses, shirts, comfortable shoes, water sandals like sketchers or chocos. AND ALOE!!
– Bring CASH!! So many of our friends did not bring cash and needed to borrow from another friend. Islands and taxi’s require cash and ATM’s are not readily available.