2012 Caribbean Cruise

It is a little late to update the blogspot with our cruise information and pictures, but, I guess it is better late than never.

We started 2012 by taking a five day Western Caribbean cruise on Royal Caribbean's Jewel of the Seas. We had leisurely days at sea and stops in Cozumel and Costa Maya.

We flew from Cincinnati , Ohio to Tampa January 7 for a cruise to Mexico. We normally fly out of Dayton, Ohio, however the cruise package we bought, Cincinnati was the airport we had to use. This was the first time we had flown from Cincinnati and the airport was easy to get to and clearing security was much quicker than the Dayton Airport.

After an uneventful flight, we arrived in Tampa and took a shuttle to the ship. This is the second time we have taken a cruise from Tampa and once again, we had an easy boarding. This was our first cruise on Royal Caribbean and we were impressed with how quickly we were processed.

We boarded the ship and expected to have to wait awhile before we could check out our cabin. However, it was ready by 1:00 PM but our luggage hadn't arrived yet. We then went to the dining room for lunch. We were impressed with the layout of the dining room and their buffet. We were able to find a table immediately and get through the buffet line quickly. The food was great and we thoroughly enjoyed a nice, quiet lunch by ourselves. We arrived early and got on board before the majority of the passengers.

After lunch, we took a tour of the top decks of the ship. All our other cruises have been on Holland America and their ships are smaller than the Jewel of The Seas.

We departed around 5:00 PM and had planned on staying on deck to watch the cast off and the passage under the bridge. The captain said that there was only about 6 feet of clearance from the top the the ship and the bottom of the bridge. However, we had the 6:00 PM seating for dinner and had to get ready for dinner.

The dining room was much larger than the one on Holland America and we were seated on the first floor of the dining room. On Holland America, we always sat on the second level and had a great view of the ocean while dining. On this cruise, we could not see the ocean which was a little disappointing.


The couple that were seated with us were from Florida and were a very friendly couple. Our first night dining turned out to be a very pleasant dinner. The service was great and the food was outstanding.

After dinner we made our way to the Coral Theater for the Welcome Aboard Show, starring David Orion, who has been Jerry Seinfeld's opening act and a Star Search winner. He was very entertaining and kept the crowd laughing.

After the show, we checked out the ship some more, strolled on the deck and watched the waves go by.