The Back to Back - Jewel of the Seas 2025 June 27-July 4, 2025 Ft. Lauderdale, FL (Coco Cay, Nassau, Coco Cay)
Cruise #26 and 27... Let's GOOO!
After 25 cruises, we needed to shake things up so Chris and I decided to take a Back to Back cruise out of Ft. Lauderdale, FL. We sail from Galveston mostly as we live less than 80 miles from the terminal but the Galveston market has gotten SO HIGH in price. The cruise industry has realized that people who live in Texas and surrounding states will pay BIG BUCKS to not have to fly to Florida and the cruise fare prices have skyrocketed in the last 3-5 years. Combine that with the exact same routes every single cruise due to distance and location of Galveston, we needed a change. We discovered in 2024 on our Independence of the Seas cruise out of Miami that is is actually CHEAPER to fly to Florida to get on a ship; even when you include airfare. This summer proved to be the same scenario.
This Back to Back cruise (3 day and 4 day combined) fare, taxes and port fees was over $700 less than the same 7 days out of Galveston. Even the 5 day cruise out of Galveston was still $400 more than taking a back to back cruise out of Florida. Even when you include airfare, we still saved money by flying to Florida. Now keep in mind we still stayed in Ft. Lauderdale for 2 nights prior to the cruise and this racked up costs but overall, we still saved money not cruising out of Galveston. TIP- Be ready to pay well over $1K per person for ANY ship out of Galveston in the summer. Even 4 and 5 day cruises are running $1K per person in the summer.
We have cruised 13 previous times with Carnival, 9 times with Royal Caribbean, 2 times with Norwegian and 1 time with Princess.
This blog will contain entries of our day-to-day life aboard the Jewel of the Seasas well as a shore excursion details, port tips and tricks and so much more. We will also highlight our Pre-Cruise trip to Ft. Lauderdale, FL as well.
Throughout the blog posts, we will also share the lots of tips, tricks and insiders knowledge about cruising out of Ft. Lauderdale, information about cruising to Royal Caribbean's private island, Coco Cay as well as great information about Jewel of the Seas.
The Jewel of the Seas was good to us... And we loved Coco Cay!
Bahamas Bound Jewel of the Seas Back to Back Cruise #2 Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Adults Only Beach Club in the Bahamas- YES PLEASE!
After 25 26 cruises, we needed to shake things up so Chris and I decided to take a Back to Back cruise out of Ft. Lauderdale, FL. This Back to Back consisted of a 3 day "weekend" cruise followed by a 4 day Monday- Friday cruise out of Ft. Lauderdale, FL. We have never been to Ft. Lauderdale so we flew in 2 days early to explore on our own.
This 4 day cruise was the complete opposite as the previous 3 day weekend cruise loaded with adults overindulging. This 4 day cruise was LOADED with kids and families and there was not near as much "boozing" on this cruise. Due to the July 4th holiday falling on the last day of the cruise, I think families saw an opportunity to take vacation days and take their kids along. We enjoyed this quick cruise to Nassau and Royal Caribbean's private island, Coco Cay so much!
Jewel of the Seas was good to us! Until next time Royal Caribbean!
We really enjoyed this quick cruise to Nassau and Coco Cay. We LOVE Coco Cay so it was nice to be able to "go right back" just a few days later! This Back to Back cruise was AWESOME and I'm so glad we added it to our Cruising Adventure list!
Up Next... Harmony of the Seas with the kids (Winter Break 2026)
We are ready for a day of rest, relaxation and NO KIDS!
Good Morning Coco Cay- We love you!
The Celebrity Reflection and Jewel of the Seas!
We booked the Adults OnlyHideaway Beach Club for an additional cost. We explored this venue on our Independence of the Seas cruise in Summer 2024 and we LOVED it. TIP- Royal Caribbean uses dynamic pricing and we paid $48/per person for access to this Adults Only area. The original price is $89/ pp. We believe this is WELL WORTH it.
Once we arrived at Hideaway, we made our way to the pool and placed our stuff down on the beach chairs and then made our way to the Swim Up Bar. This is the largest Swim Up Bar in the World and is SO MUCH fun. All of the bartenders at this bar LIVE on the island and serve 3 months on the island and 1 month off. We were even able to reconnect with 2 from our Indy cruise last summer.
The Hideaway Beach Club pool and Swim Up Bar. We spent all day in the pool chairs... We loved it!
Hello Coco Cay and Hideaway Beach Club!
We spent all day lounging in the pool chairs and enjoying the way less crowded pool and lagoon area. TIP- We were in port at Coco Cay with the Celebrity Reflection which holds 3K passengers and our ship held just over 2K so this was a very light day for Coco Cay. We met some fellow cruisers and talked to them for quite a while before getting lunch at Slice of Paradise. This pizza joint is solely located within the Hideaway Beach Club and offers really great (and weird) pizza options. We loved the BBQ and I especially liked the Bahamian Seafood pizza. It sounded weird but it was REALLY tasty!
The Slice of Paradise Menu had something for EVERYONE and it was so good!
The BBQ and the Seafood pizza slices!
We also tried the beef and the chicken empanadas.
This area was extremely nice and well kept!
Afternoon We spent the majority of the rest of the afternoon in the pool and lounging in the pool chairs with sunscreen breaks in between. Before we left Hideaway to go back to the ship we stopped at the Snack Shack for one more order of Mozzarella sticks (ok two) and another funnel cake. I swear these are literally addictive and SO GOOD!
It's time to say goodbye but we LOVED spending our day here!
See you next time Hideaway!
We got on the tram back to the Jewel of the Seas around 3:45PM as all aboard time was 5PM. We were in port with the Celebrity Reflection and our entire tram was packed with some very "rowdy and lively" passengers from the Reflection! We had a blast getting all the way back to the ship and met some friends in the meantime.
Just 12 hours left in our Back to Back adventure... We are NOT ready for it to be over!
In 26 cruises, we have seen a LOT of towel animals but never seen one on the TOILET! Haha.. we called asking for our luggage tags and our room steward said "check the wash room". We were literally LOL! #Memories
The Celebrity Reflection set sail before we did at 5:10PM and the Jewel of the Seas set sail back to Ft. Lauderdale at 5:20PM. I watched another sail away from Coco Cay from the outside of Deck 5 and really enjoyed watching the crew get the island ready for the next day of cruisers. Coco Cay sees 8-12K passengers EVERY DAY and a ship is in port every single day!
Goodbye Celebrity Reflection- We will see you in the morning!
An empty Coco Cay- A rare sight!
I seriously LOVE this island... It may now be my favorite port!
Evening I enjoyed more live music in the Centrum before Chris met me to do one final round of blackjack in the Casino before cashing in our chips for the cruise. Overall we ended $12 ahead and that is a WIN! We turned in all the cash towards our On Board Spending account and ended the cruise with a $7 bill so again, that is a WIN!
We enjoyed drinks at Schooner Bar and played one more trivia of American Anthems and won this trivia as well. This would make 4 wins for this cruise! After trivia we went back to the room and got all of our suitcases ready to put outside the room at 10PM. TIP- We opt for the luggage assist program that allows you to disembark the ship without having to deal with your luggage the next morning. The only kicker... you have to have everything packed and ready by 10PM the night before disembark!
We enjoyed our last dinner in the Main Dining Room and the service was the best of our time in the MDR this cruise. Our waiters, Jay and Pat, went above and beyond and we really appreciated all they did to make our experience one to remember. The food was much better on this menu than the previous night as well.
The Taste of Italy menu in the Main Dining Room
Chicken Parmesan- 2.0 The chicken was REALLY dry and overcooked!
Mushroom Risotto- 1.5 Why would I have been thinking it would be similar to the Giovanni's? I think that set me up for failure but Chris agreed it was nowhere near as good.
Crème de Pot-3.0 Great flavor and texture.
We had hoped to go to the Crazy Quest for our night entertainment but the Safari Lounge was PACKED so we opted to enjoy the piano man and a last round of drinks at the Schooner Bar. Once again, Raj and Simon were some of the best bartenders we have had and we LOVED getting to know them!
We decided to walk on the outside deck 5 one more time and were shocked the helicopter pad was open so we ventured up there around 11PM. We noticed bright lights of a "city" and assumed we it was Miami. We took a video and pictures but when we got back to the room the Map Channel said we were pointing due west so those lights would have been "Bermuda"... UMMMM NO! That was Miami! I would die on that hill! But proves we were just going in circles to get back to Ft. Lauderdale!
There's no way you can tell me this IS NOT Miami and Ft. Lauderdale. It is clearly a city and there's not other place nearby that would put off that much light!
This was maybe 5-7 minutes later on the TV in the stateroom. It has not updated yet... We were sailing south and that was Miami and Ft. Lauderdale.
We LOVED this day at Hideaway Beach and Coco Cay! We will be back... SOON!
We LOVE Coco Cay and really enjoyed getting to visit this private island TWICE during this Back to Back adventure! We cannot wait to take the kids in Summer 2026!
This cruise was special and we really enjoyed adding a Back to Back to our list of cruising adventures. Not to mention, we LOVE Coco Cay and getting to visit twice was PERFECT.
Up Next... a possible Fall Break cruise and then Harmony of the Seas with the kids for Winter Break!
The New and Improved Nassau July 2, 2025 Nassau, Bahamas
Hello Nassau... It's been TOO long!
Morning We woke up around 8AM and got ready for a morning spent on board with less people since most people will be going ashore in Nassau. We ate breakfast in the Main Dining Room and the service was quick and the food was great.
After breakfast we made our way to an empty Solarium to enjoy the tiny hot tub by ourselves. We were able to enjoy this 13 person hot tub without any the passengers for about 30 minutes. TIP- This is the ONLY hot tub in the Solarium and it is SO small. It is smaller than a hot tub you could purchase on land to put in your backyard- although I will say I saw 13 people OR MORE in said hot tub the day before. Overall, this Solarium left MUCH to be desired but it is covered and has a pool (which is more than I can say for some Oasis class Solariums).
Hello from the Jewel of the Seas Solarium (not my favorite- but not terrible).
A morning spent on a quite ship is a morning WELL SPENT!
We enjoyed the hot tub and Solarium pool back and forth for nearly 2 hours before it started to get busy and we opted to get out and try to go and explore Nassau. We changed clothes and got off the ship to what seemed like a completely different pier and port. We took a free shuttle from the ship to the port shopping area where we found countless shops, restaurants, bars and so much more. You could spend an entire day off the ship in this port area but we chose to walk out into the nearby straw market area in hopes of finding a massage or spa nearby. We walked several blocks and asked locals but we did not find a convenient Spa where we could get massages so we walked back to the ship. TIP- Nassau has REALLY improved since our last visit in 2017 and I cannot wait to take the kids back in 2026 on our Symphony of the Seas cruise.
The New and Improved Nassau cruise port was SO IMPRESSIVE!
Headed back to the Jewel of the Seas... Our home for 2 more days!
Well done Bahamas... WELL DONE! Nassau is AMAZING and just perfect for a cruise port day!
Afternoon We grabbed lunch in the Windjammer after getting back on the ship and this was the least crowded we saw the Windjammer during all 7 days onboard the Jewel of the Seas. The food was hot and fresh and I was impressed with the food and service.
As we finished lunch we saw the MSC Meraviglia pull into Nassau and we were amazed at this ship. We have never sailed on MSC but we are highly intrigued by this cruise line and with the MSC Seascape coming to Galveston this November, we wanted to scope it out. I can say with certainty, we will be looking into booking an MSC cruise in the very near future. Especially with the new Carnival Rewards program happening and MSC matching loyalty status. Now is the perfect time to explore all cruise options! Although, I will admit I truly am LOYAL TO ROYAL. I don't care the size of ship or all she offers, the service is superb every time with Royal Caribbean!
The MSC Meraviglia... This 171K GROSS TON ship was SO impressive. That is larger than the Anthem of the Seas we got off 3 week earlier! Wow... I am seriously impressed!
Atlantis as seen from our ship!
The MSC Meraviglia was impressive and seemed family friendly with water slides and a ropes course.
The Disney Dream, MSC Meraviglia and the RCCL Freedom of the Seas docked in Nassau on July 2, 2025.
We laid out on Deck 5 for most of the afternoon before watching sail away from the aft of Deck 5. We were the 3rd ship to leave Nassau behind the Carnival Pride headed to Half Moon Cay and the Royal Caribbean Freedom of the Seas sailing back to Miami. This was an AMAZING sail away seeing all that had changed in Nassau since 2017.
This island used to be just land... Now this will be the home to Royal Caribbean's PRIVATE island (Royal Beach Club Paradise Island). Looking back to 2015... This used to be JUST LAND. Royal Beach Club opens in December 2025.
The Freedom of the Seas backing out heading home to Miami!
Goodbye Freedom of the Seas!
Carnival Pride sailing towards Half Moon Cay (Carnival Cruise Line Private Island)
Another view of the Freedom of the Seas. (She is the only one left we have yet to sail in the Freedom class... I feel an itch to check her off my Royal list)
We really enjoyed this sail away and it wasn't too hot!
Goodbye Nassau... See you in a year!
This lonely (and abandoned) light house is the sign you're almost in Nassau!
This was an AWESOME sail away!
Evening We took showers and got ready for an evening aboard the Jewel of the Seas and then headed to the Casino. We were able to find 2 seats at the $10 blackjack table where we stayed for nearly 3 hours. We went up and down and back and forth but ended even for the trip between the two of us! We opted to go to the Ventriloquist show before dinner and we really enjoyed this show.
This guy was REALLY good and funny!
Dinner in the Main Dining Room was our LEAST favorite menu of all that Royal offers but we gave it a shot as it has been 3-4 cruises since dining in the MDR on the Taste of the Caribbean menu. However, we were reminded that you ALWAYS go to specialty dining on this menu night! The food was good and the service was exceptional but it's just not our favorite.
The Taste of the Caribbean MDR menu
Tiger Shrimp- 4.0 These were a "little chewy" but good flavor. French Onion Soup- 5.0 Best thing I had in the MDR for this sailing!
Asian Tacos (given by waiter)- 2.5 I really don't like the dough for these tacos.
Garlic Shrimp- 3.0 These were just "ok" and again, a little over cooked!
Pesto Pasta- 1.0 It was awful... bland and just yuck!
Pineapple Cake- 3.0 This was flavorful and light.
Carrot Cake-3.5 Chris enjoyed this.
After dinner we walked around the upper decks before going to the Pit Stop to get drinks before the Love and Marriage Show in the Coral Theater. We love this show and Jamie, the CD, did a great job with each of the couples and we enjoyed this show. We called it a night shortly after this show around 11:30PM.
Day 6 was a success... We loved exploring Nassau!
It was a great day explore the New and Improved Nassau and we cannot wait to get back in 2026.
Up Next... Hideaway Beach Adults Only Club in Coco Cay!
