ShirleysJourneys

New York City : Pre-Cruise

Our first glimpse of New York City was through the glass at the airport.

We started with a couple of days in New York City staying at the Lexington Hotel which is a Marriott property at the corner of Lexington Ave and 48th.

Hotel rooms in New York are expensive. Fortunately, I bookedthisone well in advance, because some of the downtown hotels were bought out by the city to house immigrants being bussed from the Mexican border, and this caused the prices to become even more inflated than usual.

I asked the hotel’s concierge to recommend a good way to spend a few hours to see some of the sites nearby, and she suggested that we walk. She gave us a map and circled some of the sites we would see along that route. It turned out to be a great suggestion.

And see the sites, we did!

Below is a close-up of Rockefeller Center. The Christmas tree will be placed at street level behind those flags in a few weeks.

Then on to Central Park. I had a terrible misconception of Central Park. Growing up in the 60’s – 70’s and then being a young adult in the 80’s, Central Park was known as a dangerous area. News focused on murders and muggings in Central Park, and the movie industry sensationalized it even more. Today, Central Park is a thriving park with millions of visitors each year. We decided to have the most absolute, tourist experience.

First, we walked around a bit and enjoyed a hot dog from one of the many hot dog stands and were captivated by the lake views.

We checked out the prices of the Nathan’s hot dogs and opted for one of the no-name hot dogs instead. It was just “ok.” Looking back, we should have sprung for Nathan’s.

One great option would be the romantic horse and carriage ride.

But we opted for the motorized tuk tuk. It was a longer tour and seemed like a unique way to tour the park. Our driver gave great commentary and offered to take our photo at several stops along the way.

After our tour, our driver/guide dropped us near Time’s Square where we spent a good chunk of the afternoon and purchased tickets for Aladdan later that night. We also discovered that the subway entrance for Times Square/ 42nd street was right beside that theater. (Good to know for later when it was time to go back to our hotel.)

Times Square was busy but not packed for the afternoon.

After spending some time walking around and getting our Times Square photos, we figured out the subway and went back to our hotel to freshen up a bit and then found Paul’s Pizza for dinner.

We went back to Times Square to grab a coffee and pastry before heading to Aladdin.

Aladdin is playing at the historic Alhambra Theater. Of course, I could not take photos during the show, but I did grab some shots of the theater before the show. We got two seats in the very back of the main level. They were great seats.

The whole show was GREAT!! I highly recommend it.

On Day 2, we spent the morning at the MET (Metropolitan Museum of Art)

I didn’t even take pictures of paintings as I just stood in awe of the masterpieces. I could have spent several days in there but here are just a few photos.

On our final morning in New York, we left the hotel and boarded the Emerald Princess for a Canada/New England Cruise with Lady Liberty wishing us well from the distance.

For my review of the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal. Watch this YouTube video. And if you are interested, there are videos about all the ports on that cruise.

Amsterdam – Embarkation City

In June 2023, we sailed on the Royal Caribbean Jewel of the seas to Norway and above the Arctic Circle, round-trip out of Amsterdam.

This was the itinerary:

We flew from Washington DC to Amsterdam leaving at 5:30 PM for an 8 hour flight. With the time difference the sun came up pretty quickly.

The scenery from the plane was beautiful and I could hardly wait for the tour we had planned.

To learn more about it, go to my youTube video:

Jewel of the Seas – Royal Caribbean

I sailed on Royal Caribbean’s Jewel of the Seas in Norway in June of 2023.

For my full video review of the ship, click here.

Balcony cabin 9018. Click here For my video review of this cabin.

The Jewel has a complimentary, two-story main dining room on decks 4 and 5. Guests can choose early dining around 5:15PM, late dining around 8PM, or “My Time” Dining where you make individual reservations for each night of the sailing. With fixed dining, we could sit at the same table every night with the same servers. With My Time dining, guests are seated randomly throughout the dining room.

The Windjammer is the complimentary buffet area and it is located on deck 11 in the aft of the ship. It is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

In the back of the windjammer on one side are the self-service soft drink machines for those who bought a soda package and the soft-serve ice cream machine complimentary for everyone.

I like bringing my food to the very aft and hanging out here.

The complimentary, Solarium Cafe’ is located on deck 11 in the solarium. The solarium is an adult’s only area most of the time, but children are allowed to come to the cafe portion. They serve light bites during the day and after the buffet has closed for the night

Cafe Latte-Tudes, on deck 5 has complimentary pastries, yogurts, and fruit at breakfast, with light bites and desserts in the afternoon. The specialty coffee shop is here and these coffees and teas come at an extra charge.

There are some specialty dining restaurants onboard as well.

Chops Grill and Giovanni’s Table are on deck 6.

We had great meals in both. This is Chops: The waiter kindly cut up my steak for me since I was in a sling (I broke my shoulder two weeks before sailing.) Enormous shrimp appetizer, onion rolls and pretzel bread, salad, sides to share, and some amazing dessert.

Giovanni’s: soft bread, eggplant parmesan and calamari for starters, seafood linguini, pan fried branzino fillets and filet mignon; and tirimisu for me and chocolate hazelnut cake for hubby.

Izumi’s is the Japanese restaurant, and it is on deck 12. We did not get a chance to eat here, but this is the menu and a picture of the restaurant.

On deck 13, the very top deck, is the rock climbing wall, the mini-golf course, and some lounges; the Diamond Club for loyalty members who have diamond status and above; the Concierge Lounge for guests staying in full suites (not junior suites); and the Vortex – a relaxing room with a view for everyone during the day and an entertainment venue in the evening.

Deck 12 has the sports court which could convert from pickle ball to basketball; shuffleboard court; the fitness center; The kid’s club areas; video arcade; kid’s pool and water slide; and jogging track .

Outside the Windjammer on deck 11 is “Thirst Quenchers” a complimentary self-serve drink station that is available 24/7.

the main pool is located mid-ship on deck 11

There is a stage here with an outdoor movie screen above. Various activities and entertainments can be found here throughout the cruise. Currently it is set up for corn hole.

And here it is showing the movie screen and the excited crowd getting ready for the ceremony crossing the Arctic Circle.

There is a pool towel stand and some complimentary life vests for the children.

And just beyond the main pool, and past these lounge chairs, on the port side heading forward, is the smoking area for the top decks.

Heading back inside is the Solarium. The cafe was mentioned earlier in my section on dining. But the solarium is usually for adults only; however, they will open the pool at certain times of the day for families with children when sailing in cold climates.

And at the very front on deck 11 is the Vitality Spa where people can schedule hair and nail appointments and massage, facials, and other spa packages. Those packages cost extra, but anyone can use the steam room and showers.

The other outdoor public areas on the ship are on deck 5, and if they have opened the heli-pad on deck 6, a guest can walk all the way around the ship. There are lounge chairs on both sides, and the lifeboats hang from deck 6 above deck 5 providing shade. This is a good place for scenic photos near the water’s surface.

Indoor public spaces on deck 4 include the dining room mentioned earlier, the centrum with an ATM machine, and guest services including the shore excursions desk.

On deck 5 is the second floor of the dining room, and Cafe’ Latte-Tudes I mentioned earlier. Here are also the shops, a photo gallery, and an entrance to the main theater.

Conference Room is tucked in behind the photo gallery

On deck 6 there is the second-story entrance to the theater in the front of the ship. In the middle is the cinema, the Pit Stop sports bar, and the casino. The casino also allows smoking in a certain section while playing as of the time of this post.

The centrum has seating on this floor where folks can sit and listen to the music below or stand at the rails to watch the action.

Heading aft will take you to the Schooner Bar – this was the gathering point for lots of trivia matches during our cruise.

And walking through the Schooner Bar takes us to the Safari Club where there is a small library, a couple of cantilevered pool tables, and a large venue for lectures, art auctions, bingo and entertainment. Plus a great place for aft views.

Royal Caribbean’s wifi is called Voom at Sea. People must purchase an internet package to use the wifi, but if you want to use it at a ship computer there are a couple of places for that. One on deck 4 and the other on deck 7. Deck 7 computers had access to a printer.

There are four ships currently in the Radiance Class of ships with Royal Caribbean: The Radiance, The Brilliance, the Serenade, and the Jewel. Each of them have a few differences, but are similar. We had already sailed on the other three. Now, we have sailed on all four!

I plan to start my blog series and video series about the wonderful Norway adventure we had on this beautiful ship. Stay tuned!