A Tour of the Inside of the 'Jewel of the Seas'
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We Dock in Key West, Florida

After cruising all night from Fort Lauderdale, we docked in Key West, Florida, about 7AM. I had just awakened and thought I would go up on deck to watch the docking process, but no sooner had I gotten up and ready (which took a bit of time) than I saw out our window that we were already stopped. So, instead of going up to watch the docking, I waited for Fred and we followed our usual route up and over to the Windjammer Cafe for breakfast.

I know it is unusual for me to eat breakfast, but one of the reasons I don't is that doing so requires either getting in my car and going out somewhere or fixing it myself. Neither of these obstacles is present on board the ship, though. You only have to walk a few hundred feet to the cafe, and everything is already prepared. So, most days, I went and actually ate something of a breakfast with Fred. They had everything- fruit, breads, cereals, oatmeal/grits, eggs and all the accoutrements, potatoes, and so on. And as if that wasn't enough, you could have omelettes made to order at the specialty grill.

So we filled our plates and got a seat near the window where, just as Fred took my picture, I turned to look at something in the dining room. While we were eating, Fred took a couple of pictures of Key West Harbor through the window, including one of the many islands that dot the harbor and some of the boat traffic nearby.

We finished breakfast about 8:30AM, and we had to be on the dock at 9:30AM to meet the leader of our first shore excursion. On the way back to our stateroom to get our stuff, Fred took some pictures from the starboard side of the ship. One was of the dock where we were anchored and the street leading towards the Truman White House in the background. Another, again taken with Fred's incredible zoom, was of the Key West Lighthouse- the same one that Fred and I have visited a couple of times on our trips to Key West. The third good picture shows the Key West Museum, one of the places we visited most recently when we were down here with Frank and Joe a couple of years ago. If we have time after our kayaking excursion, I expect we'll walk around the area and possibly stop in again.

At the right is a clip from Google Maps- an aerial view of exactly the dock that our ship, 'Jewel of the Seas,' occupied when we in Key West. You can see all of the buildings that you saw in the last few pictures, and this picture makes it clear where the disembarkation happened. The ship, however, is not 'Jewel of the Seas,' which would have been identifiable by the helicopter pad on the bow of the ship, and, most particularly, the big "H" on the bright green background. It is amazing, though, that the satellite view used by Google was taken at just the time a ship like ours was docked here. Either this was a wild chance, or there is almost ALWAYS a ship docked here. (I recall that there have been docked ships here the last two times we were in Key West.)

Anyway, now that we're done with breakfast, it is time to disembark.

Our Kayaking Excursion

On our cruise, we had booked four shore excursions ahead of time, and the first of them was here in Key West. It was billed as a kayaking tour of some mangrove islands and it was supposed to take about three hours. When we got off the ship, we easily found the woman who was collecting the fifteen or so people who had signed up for this basically tame excursion. There was a bit of a problem with our tickets, and we had to have the ship excursion coordinator who was on the dock phone up to the excursion desk to get them validated.

Once our group was complete, we followed our guide two blocks to where she had parked her van. We all piled in and she headed off eastward across Key West, then north on US-1. Just after we crossed the bridge off of Key West, we turned right into the staging area for the kayaking. It turned out to be a local outfitter that did a number of different types of activities.

After a bit of instruction and guidance, and after getting supplied with some water to take with us, we trooped over to the dock, picked out our kayak (we chose a 2-person craft), got a couple of paddles and headed off.

As I said, there were about fifteen of us, and that came to eight or ten kayaks, since most folks went to to a craft. As we got them into the water, we all paddled a short ways from the dock and waited for our guide to get her own kayak and join us. While we were together, she helped those who needed it with some simple instructions on how to guide the kayak; when there are two people, it is not quite so easy as you might think, and there were quite a few times when Fred and I gave up paddling at the same time, but simply let one or the other guide and propel the kayak.

Before we get into the actual kayak tour, I should mention that I was a little unsure as to whether I should bring my camera along; I wasn't sure I could keep it dry. I read on the Internet before we came, though, that some people, lacking expensive waterproof cases for their cameras, simply put them in a clear plastic ziploc bag and took pictures right through the plastic. This method was not advisable for flash photography, but some people said that their pictures turned out fine. Some of these pictures were taken with the camera inside a bag; others were not. The ones that were are the ones that look like a Doris Day movie with the lens slightly blurred.

We headed west out of the small inlet that was actually right beside and below US-1, reaching the channel between the keys in about a hundred feet or so. Once there, we turned towards the ocean and paddled ourselves across a good bit of open water before reaching some of the stands of mangrove that lined the channel like little islands all the way to the open ocean.

Sometimes we paddled along pretty much in a line, but occasionally our guide would call us all together in the same spot, and we would make a little flotilla as we all gathered around within earshot as our guide talked or demonstrated one thing or another- in this case, a star urchin. So we would gather either in open water or more often holding on to some mangrove roots as we listened. At one of the stops, I snapped a picture of Fred turned around to see what the guide was talking about.

These stops were pretty frequent, as our guide was quite good with her explanations of her obviously extensive knowledge about these mangrove areas, and so we grouped together pretty frequently.

(Mouseover Image if Video Controls Not Visible) At one of these stops, I made a short movie to try to show you what it was like when we stopped to examine something or other.

We continued paddling along and listening to and asking questions of our guide as we worked our way along the line of mangrove islands all the way down the channel. Eventually, we reached the end of the mangroves and the beginning of the open ocean. You might have thought that the water would be getting deeper and deeper as we went seaward down the channel, but it actually stayed fairly shallow- at least near the mangroves.

When we got to the end of the mangroves, our guide took us to a sandbar that she said had been created by the last hurricane to blow through, and so we stopped our kayaks for a while and some folks got out of their kayaks and stood on the sandbar. I was afraid we might turn over if I tried that, so we just stayed in our kayak listing to the questions and answers.

(Mouseover Image if Video Controls Not Visible) I took what I think is a pretty good movie of Fred, our guide and some of the folks standing outside their kayaks on the sandbar.

After spending some time out here at the edge of the ocean, and drinking in the scenery (and learning a few things as well), our guide headed off on the return trip, with us following her like baby ducks following a mother. There were more stops and interesting things to see and learn about on the trip back, as well as some places that were so shallow that we had to pull ourselves along over the rocks and sand.

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Just before we reached the dock area, we had to go right through one of the mangrove stands, and we followed what was very much like a tunnel through it. I can't be sure if the tunnel was just a fortuitous, natural route through the stand, or whether constant tour traffic has created it, but it was quite a bit of fun maneuvering through it. I took a pretty good movie of our progress through the mangrove tunnel. That movie is at left.

When we got back to the dock, we were the last ones to bring our kayak ashore. There was a miniature boat ramp there, and the procedure was to paddle as fast as we could to push ourselves up the ramp as far as we could. Then we could get out and let the tour personnel pull the kayak out of the water and stack it up with the others. Just before we left the dock to go retrieve our belongings (which we'd left in a locker that had been provided), we took pictures of each other and then asked our guide to get one of both of us. I have put thumbnails for these pictures below. To look at the full-sized picture, just click on the thumbnail:

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The kayaking excursion was tame, but then we weren't looking for a thrill ride. The guide made things interesting, and it was a lot of fun to paddle around the mangroves, knowing that the water was rarely more than three or four feet deep. Once we'd collected our stuff, we all piled into the van again for the return to the dock. The van can't go right up to the dock, so we had to walk the last block or so to get back onto the pier and from there onto the ship.

We walked from where the van dropped us off back to the pier and the ship. We were still wearing our kayaking bathing suits, and we needed to change for our walk around Key West. Also, it was a bit after noon, so we thought that we would stop by the Windjammer Cafe and have some lunch (which I am doing in the picture at right).

I should mention here, since this was our first time off the ship and on again, that each passenger is given a "ship pass," which is a plastic card just like a credit card. When you board, they make the cards right there, embedding a photo of you in the magnetic stripe on the card. When you come back onto the ship, your card goes into a reader, and the attendant can verify your face- this to prevent someone from giving his card to someone else (or, worse, making duplicates of it). With security the way it is these days, you also have to put items you are carrying through an X-ray although, thankfully, when you walk through the metal detector, you don't have to take off shoes and belts and stuff.

Outside the United States, we discovered, you also have to carry your photo ID with you to show the customs agents so that you can even get onto the pier. At least that's the way it was in Mexico and Belize; I don't know if passports will be needed elsewhere (although we brought ours along just in case).

Walking Key West

The Truman Fountain

After we had some lunch and got changed, we left the ship again to do some walking around the harbor area here in Key West. We'd walked around here before, but it has been a couple of years, so we supposed there might be something new. When we left the ship, we walked over to Front Street, and then turned south towards the Truman Winter White House. We walked past that and into a small courtyard on its south side, stopping at a brick fountain beside the Truman building. This was a nice place to stop and take in some sun, and of course pictures were in order- one of me and one of Fred.

American Gothic

From the fountain, we walked back up Front Street Front Street towards the Key West Museum, which we had last visited with Frank and Joe in 2005. Here, we found that there was indeed something new.

In front of the museum is a new, twenty-five-foot-high sculpture based on Grant Wood's American Gothic (painting shown at right). Artist Seward Johnson has transformed these classic figures into a three-dimensional scene that towers over treetops and looms above pedestrians.

The concept for Johnson's series is to take iconic images and present them to us for viewing anew. Johnson transforms these familiar images by re-creating them in monumental scale and by completing elements that are outside of the frame of a painting or photo (such as the rear of the figures not shown in the painting, of course, but created by Johnson as shown here).

He thereby makes them viewable in the round, and by adding his transformative alterations, imbues them with a new meaning. Johnson asks us to revisit these visual icons and see how history may (or may not) have shifted how we view them.

There were lots of tourists stopping by American Gothic, and it was tough to get solo pictures in between their arrivals and departures, but we were able to do so after just a short while. So here are excellent views of the colossal American Gothic sculpture, one with me and one with Fred). And finally, here is a closeup of the faces so you can get a good idea of the detail that Johnson created when he transformed the two-dimensional painting into his three-dimensional sculpture. We were quite impressed.

Other Sculpture Pieces

"A Thought to Consider" J. Seward Johnson, Jr. - 2003

In addition to the colossal American Gothic sculpture out front of the museum, there were a number of other pieces, three of them done by the same artist. Near the American Gothic sculpture, there was a bronze, life-size sculpture of Ernest Hemingway, probably Key West's most famous former resident, shown here with Fred. Also, up on the front porch of the museum and to the right of the entrance was an unlabeled piece, either a band or military piper, shown here with me trying to listen to the music.

Probably the most interesting piece here at the front of the museum was the piece entitled "A Thought to Consider," shown at left, by the same artist that did the American Gothic sculpture. This piece was inspired by Edward Manet's painting "In the Winter Garden" which was painted in 1879 and is on display at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.

Manet's painting shows a couple seated in a lush winter garden, but of course the backdrop is not a part of Johnson's sculpture, which focuses on the man and woman only. Actually, Johnson was drawn to the allusive atmosphere of the painting, which was greatly heightened by the well turned-out husband and wife. They quite pointedly display their wedding rings and we assume they are married to each other; the models for the painting, two of Manet's friends, certainly were. But they do not communicate the intimacy we expect of a married couple, and the lady's distracted expression and the man's downcast eyes endow this section of the work with much ambiguity. In turn, this aspect of Manet's work appealed to Johnson, who was free to inject his own interpretation of the scene.

I thought I would try to inject some levity into the piece and had Fred take a picture. The result, which you can see here, only partially achieved that goal. I took a rather more typical picture of Fred with the sculpture.

As we walked around the south side of the museum, still on the porch, we found yet another of Johnson's sculptures, this one also inspired by a figure in a Manet painting- a woman reading at a table.

As we walked around this south side of the museum, Fred was intrigued by the brick columns, and liked the detail work on the columns and on the arches above them. We continued walking around the side of the museum and reached the back side that faced the pier; this angle offered good views of our ship framed by a museum archway. Here is another good view of our ship taken from the back porch of the Key West Museum.

The real surprise came when we got around to the pier side of the museum and saw the large sculpture on the lawn below the porch. When we first saw the sculpture, it was easy to see that it was comprised of a number of nude female figures apparently dancing, hands locked, in a circle- something like a maypole dance (except for the nude aspect).

But when I looked at the sculpture from the porch, and even when we descended to the lawn to take some more pictures of it, I thought that the figure of the man lying on the sculpted blanket was actually real. It was only when he didn't move and I got a bit closer that I could see that the male figure was part of the sculpture. Here is a closeup of the male figure; maybe you can understand how, from a distance, he would appear real.

This sculpture was very much a lighthearted one, I thought, different from the other sculptures that we'd seen. And with our cruise ship as a backdrop and the palm trees in the background, the sunny, frivolous nature of the sculpture was enhanced. The sculpture was just plain fun.

We took a number of other pictures of this sculpture and ourselves participating in it; even though they might be a bit repetitive, you may wish to take a look at some of them. I have put thumbnails for five of the best views below; just click on a thumbnail to view the full-size picture:

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The sculptures at the museum were interesting and when we were done we continued up Front Street and turned towards the pier at the Shell Warehouse.

At the Cruise Ship Dock

When we came out onto the broad plaza adjacent to the northernmost ship dock space (you can follow our progress on the aerial view at left; we are at point "A" at the moment), we could see, of course, that there was no ship docked here right now. This gave us an unobstructed view of the "Jewel of the Seas". Then we crossed the bridge that connects the two docking plazas to come to the plaza adjacent to our own ship (labeled with a "B" on the aerial view at left). As you can see from the aerial view, when a ship as large as ours is docked in this space, the bow of the ship essentially blocks entrance to the marina by the hotel and museum. There is a ferry to Sunset Island that has to come in and out of this marina, and so what it has to do is come between our ship and the pier, going under our mooring lines so that it can get into the sheltered marina. As you can see, even a fairly good-sized boat can pass under the mooring lines of a ship as large as ours.

Bow/Port Views of the "Jewel of the Seas"

From this dock, walking along it from north to south, we were presented with really great opportunities for excellent photos of the ship we were sailing on. There is not much I can say about each individual picture, so I have just chosen five of the best pictures for inclusion here. To see any of the full-size images, just click on its thumbnail below:

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Pelicans and Seagulls; Seagulls and Pelicans

Here on the dock where the 'Jewel of the Seas' is tied up (point 'B' on the aerial view), Fred found some interesting pelicans and seagulls. The seagulls were particularly interesting because of the way they were sitting on the ship's lines- all facing the same direction and into the wind. Here are thumbnails for six of these wildlife pictures that Fred took. To see any of the full-size images, just click on its thumbnail:

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Harbor Scenery

From our vantage point at the end of the dock where our ship was, we could get a good view of the passengers embarking at the conclusion of their own shore excursions or their time walking around Key West.

(Mouseover Image if Video Controls Not Visible) We had a bit over an hour before the ship sailed. I also thought I would take a movie of the entire area, including the dock we'd come from, the ship, the small harbor next to it and the buildings along the harbor.

We walked along the dock towards the ship until we reached the small marina, and had to turn to walk around it. From our vantage point at "C" on the aerial view above, we got a different view of the ship, one softened by the palm trees in the picture. Looking in the other direction, Fred could also get a good view of the Key West Museum.

When we reached the corner of the marina where the museum was located, I walked over onto the museum grounds again to get a better view of the marina and our ship. Then we walked around to the entrance to our own ship's dock, preparing to go back on board.

On Our Dock

We stopped for just a bit on the walkway (point "D" on the aerial view above) leading to the queue for people getting back on the ship and took a few pictures, like the one Fred took of me on the walkway and this view of the marina and museum. The only picture I took was one of the forward portion of our ship.

We had a bit of time before we needed to board, so we walked down to the end of the dock where our ship was tied up (point "E" on the aerial view), and took some pictures along the length of the ship. I've picked a few of these to include here, and have put thumbnails for them below. To see any full-size picture, just click on its thumbnail:

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By the time we'd taken these pictures, the line had abated and we decided go get back on board.

On the Bow of "Jewel of the Seas"

When we got back on board, there was about thirty minutes before our scheduled departure, and I wanted to watch the process of undocking and getting underway, so Fred and I went up to the bow of the ship to watch.

While we were waiting for the announcement that we were undocking, we wandered around the bow taking pictures, like this view of the marina and museum, and this view looking back towards the entry to our pier and the last passengers coming aboard. Watching them made me wonder what would happen if the boarding computer showed that one or more passengers had not boarded when it was time for the ship to leave. I recalled that Grant had been very worried that I had missed the ship in St. Thomas when I'd gone off to hunt down a Baskin-Robbins, but I wondered whether nowadays they would try to track a passenger down before leaving. One day I'll have to ask.

At one point, we spotted a really beautiful sailboat coming through the Key West harbor and heading out into the Caribbean. It looked so serene, and it made me recall just how quiet sailing is, and I found myself wishing I could be aboard a boat like that one for a few days; it's an entirely different experience than the cruise ship or even small power boats. Maybe one day I can get one like the one Grant had years ago.

Well, it's just a few minutes before our scheduled departure, and I've taken some final shots of the Key West harbor area while we are still docked. Here is one of the dock ahead of us, one of the bridge between docks and one of the hotel and restaurant right next to our ship. I might mention that there was a guy a ways down the side of the ship with his laptop, apparently piggybacking on a wireless connection active in the hotel. He had some headphones on, and I suspect that he was trying to use the network to make some VOIP calls.

(Mouseover Image if Video Controls Not Visible) Just before our scheduled departure, I took one more movie of the entire harbor area.

 

The "Jewel of the Seas" Leaves Key West

Right on time, at 4:30PM, dock personnel from Key West released the lines that were holding our ship to the dock, both fore and aft. Then the captain began to swing the bow of the ship away from the dock, while at the same time moving the ship laterally away from the dock along its entire length.

I did not think that pictures would illustrate what happened very well, so I took two consecutive movies, and I think that if you watch them, you will be able to experience our departure from the dock:

(Mouseover Image if Video Controls Not Visible) Departure-Part 1

(Mouseover Image if Video Controls Not Visible) Departure-Part 2

After just two or three minutes, we were a couple of hundred feet away from the dock, and just a few minutes later the captain had turned the bow away from the dock to head out into the harbor. It would have been interesting to be on the dock and watch the ship depart, for when the captain turned the bow away from the dock, he in fact pivoted the whole ship using the stern as a pivot point, until we found ourselves pointing in the opposite direction than when we were at the dock. This meant that from the port side of the ship, now, we can see the harbor area of Key West.

As it left the dock, the captain turned the ship completely around towards the Caribbean, and, as we began steaming out of Key West Harbor, the port side of the ship was facing the dock where we'd been anchored. Looking out across the port side of the ship, here is Fred and Key West Harbor behind him. And, again looking out across the port side of the ship, we are leaving the dock and harbor behind us.

As we picked up speed heading out of the harbor, Fred had time to take a couple of very interesting shots on the bow of the ship. Up above and behind us, as you may have seen in earlier pictures, is the bridge, with its panes of glass stretching from side to side across the ship. Fred used his zoom lens to focus in on three of these window panes, and in one of them you can see his reflection- and mine as well. You can also see, refracted in different directions, the helicopter pad on which we were standing. Take a look at that very artistic shot here. Almost to the mouth of the harbor, Fred took an interesting picture of me on the bow of the ship, with the open Caribbean out ahead of us.

About twenty minutes after we left the dock we passed the southwesternmost point of the keys and this beautiful beach. We were now on our path southwestward, and would pass north of Cuba and then head south to our first non-US port- Cozumel, Mexico.

Evening Show

Coral Theatre Plan Deck 5 Coral Theatre Plan Deck 6

This evening, Greg had made reservations for all of us to eat at one of the specialty restaurants on board- a steakhouse called "Chops Grille." Fred and I thought about it before getting on the cruise and decided to bow out of having dinner there. Not only were we more interested in either the dining room or the Windjammer Buffet, but we didn't see the point in spending another $50 just to eat in a smaller dining room and have a steak. So we planned to go to the evening show and then have dinner in either the dining room or the buffet. We finally decided on the buffet as this evening was one of what we were told were "formal nights" in the dining room when jackets were required, and we'd decided not to bring any. (We did not find out until the last day of the cruise that in fact jackets were NOT required on formal nights; only shorts and other casual wear are not allowed. So, we could have gone to the dining room after all, but it would have been awkward to be the only two people at our table anyway.)

On the nights that there are shows, there are two performances. One is at about 9PM, and is for the passengers who have the main dinner seating at 6PM. The other show is at 10:45PM, for the passengers who are done with their late-seating dinner about ten-fifteen. So we thought we would go have dinner in the buffet around eight-thirty and then go to teh late show in the theatre.

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The Coral Theatre is in the bow of the ship, and it is three decks tall. The stage and first few seating rows are really on deck 4, and the orchestra floor rises to deck 5. You can enter the balconies from deck 6. We got to the theatre a few minutes early and took seats about six rows back from the stage in the center section. I took a number of pictures from our seats. Many of them did not turn out well; the room is so large that a flash just illuminates what is close by and throws everything else into darkness. Not using a flash is problematic as, even with the low light setting, one must hold the camera very still. I am still learning how to use it, and wasn't very good with the low-light shots. I should have taken a movie of the theatre before the show started, but neglected to. I did take two acceptable pictures from our seats. The first one looks towards the stage and the second one looks across the theatre.

This evening's show was "Tribute: A Salute to the Temptations." The group, Tribute, looked and sounded like the Temptations, and did all of their greatest hits. It was a pretty good show, and we enjoyed it. I did take a couple of movies during the performance, and one of them turned out quite well. It is a movie of the group doing the Temptations hit "My Girl." You can use the player at left to watch it.

After the show was over, we went up to decks 11, 12 and 13 for a walk around the ship. It was a beautiful night (the weather was uniformly nice all throughout the cruise). When we got over to the main atrium, we saw an announcement board that a group composed of crew members called "Almost the Village People" would be performing in Vortex- the deck 13 nightclub. So we went up there for a while to watch them. They weren't half bad, but pretty amusing.

After ambling around the ship for a while longer, we went back to our cabin and bed.

You can use the links below to continue to another photo album page.

	A Tour of the Inside of the 'Jewel of the Seas'
	A Tour of the Outside of the 'Jewel of the Seas'
	Return to the Caribbean Cruise Master Index