Jewel To Alaska May 18-25 Review

Jewel to Alaska May 18-25

Just got back from the first Alaska cruise of the year from the Jewel and here is my review. I'm 39 and and avid winter sports enthusiast and had been considering taking an adventure cruise tour of Alaska (one of the small boat nat geo ones) so this was a scouting trip at a much lower price point to see if I would like non-winter activities in a mountain / coastal destination. This past year I lost my mother to Lou Gehrig's Disease, and after care giving for her and taking care of most of the estate stuff I thought it would be a good trip for my father (73) and I to “restart” so here we go.

We got to Seattle on Thursday night and went to our hotwired hotel, the Renaissance for $125/night, it was near I-5 up the downtown hill so while it was less than a mile from the market and other things it was a workout to get back up the hill. On Thursday afternoon I received a phone call from NCL to not arrive before 12:30 on Saturday due to the small size of the waiting area. We had to check out of the hotel at noon, so we left about 11:45 and took a cab to pier 66. There didn't seem to be any porters curb side and we walked our bags into the baggage area and gave them to a person at a scanner. The line through security was the longest part of embarkation, there were 2 security lines and it took about 20 minutes to get through. Once through, it was up the escalator to the check-in area where they were keeping up with the flow of the guests through security. 5 minutes later had our boarding group assigned and just as we sat down our group was called and we were at Tsar's by 12:30 for lunch. It didn't have much more than the window and outside tables filled and the lunch ended up being a measure of the week's experience in the MDRs. After having salad and appetizers we were waiting for a little bit, a runner had brought out a big tray of food and served a few of the dishes to other tables, a couple of minutes later I noticed that there were two dishes still on that staging table and our waiter was talking to a table right next to that station. About 5 minutes after that, those two dishes that he was standing by for all that time were brought to us with the “crisp” things now “steamed” so it wasn't very good. During the wait the staterooms were announced as ready at 12:45.

We had a standard balcony cabin on deck 10, gave my dad a quick tour (I had previously spent a week on the Pearl) before the life jacket drill and we were away at 4:00. I didn't see any of the beaded Cruise Critic people around the pool area so we had a snack then hung out in the stateroom until dinner at Tsar's (lobster night) and we got a bucket (buy 5 get one free) of beers at Spinnaker later in the night during the house band's performance and I went to bed after hanging out in the casino waiting to see if a poker game would get going.

Day 2 sea day

I started the day by walking for an hour around the promenade deck before the 11 am CC M&G, at which the Hotel Director (Hugo), Food & Bev director (Kevin) and CD (Matt Sole) attended. They basically said hi and asked if there were any questions then headed back to work. They had a sign-up sheet for dinner with an officer (which 3 or 4 groups from the M&G were picked for). Lunch at the buffet then relaxed in our room and watched the scenery. There were a few whale sightings during the day and the ship seemed to slow down for one pod of whales, one surfaced right below our balcony. That evening we ate at Tsar's again (Azura had a 30 minute wait and we walked into Tsar's with no wait). After dinner, we went to “Band on the Run” in the theatre, and I booked the “Rainforest Canoe and Nature Trail” excursion for the next day. A peek into the casino found the dice table active with a couple people betting $500+ per roll so I did a round while waiting for the poker game to get going, the table was making more points than not so it was fun to see the high rollers in their element. The poker game finally got going and all I can really say is that the casino doesn't know how to run a poker game, the players were not given the right chips for a 1-2 NL game (given red and green and like 5 $1 blue chips) and the bank had the wrong chips ($2000 black, $500 green, $200 red and like $50 blue) so the game never got any rhythm since the dealer was making change at every betting round and it broke in about an hour. The third night it got going a little better but it didn't have anyone throwing money at it so I didn't play the rest of the week.

Day 3 Ketchikan

After eating breakfast I boarded the bus for the trip up to the Rainforest Canoe and Nature trail, we had 22 people split between two canoes, the canoe I was on had some older people who didn't paddle all that much so it ended up with half the boat doing the work (they said they were told it wasn't that kind of trip) so it turned into a workout for me instead of a leisurely paddle as it was described. The “nature trail” part of the excursion wasn't worth anything, a trail did a 50 yard circle above their second dock about a ½ mile paddle from the starting point. They had some smoked salmon with chowder and hot drinks that was good, but was disappointed with it since the nature walk was the main reason why I booked the trip (I volunteer at nature areas and parks and love learning about different forests). For this trip to be better, I would have a 3rd pier put in at the far side of the lake and have the hike be between the 2nd pier and the 3rd or the 3rd and the 2nd and you take the other groups first canoe back. After getting back to the pier ate lunch at the buffet and grabbed my dad for a beer and walk around the port. The creek street area was neat with the houses built on structures above the water, this would be a perfect place to watch the fish running in a few weeks (although with 4 cruise ships in port it would be crowded). In the evening we ate at Azura's and I went to the comedy show “Richie Minervini” who had been on a few tv shows and a couple Kevin James' movies, he did the regular cruise ship jokes, fat jokes about himself, humans having gas jokes and a few relationship jokes and was done. (no where near as good as Second City skit show on the Pearl)

Day 4 Juneau

We got up early and took the free city shuttle from dock AJ to the area next to the Tram where the tour companies organize their customers. We took the white school bus to Mendenhall Glacier for $16 round trip (runs every 30 minutes both directions) and walked out to Nugget falls and to get closer pictures of the glacier. There was a mountain goat a few hundred feet above the trail which people with fancy cameras could've gotten photos of, bears were seen here the day before and I saw a couple tracks but no sightings. We got back to the pier around 11 and ate lunch and waited for the “Tracy Arm and glacier explorer” excursion to leave at 1:15. This excursion leaves the dock 15 minutes before the Jewel and is a detail guided trip of the arm and every thing along the way and meets up with the Jewel at the glacier when it arrives. After exiting the channel we ran onto a pod of Orca's which swam up next to the boat and said hello, we saw a group of harbor seals on midway island, a bear foraging on the side of the arm, and mountain goats before getting to the north sawyer glacier. We spent around 30 minutes about 50 yards from it, there were a few large chunks falling off and a couple shooters coming up from underneath the water line so it was a neat experience. The channel to the south sawyer glacier was filled with icebergs and the Jewel was unable to get that close, she pulled in as far as Captain Lars could take her and we went back on. The captain was unable to rotate so that both sides of the ship could get a view, so there may have been some disappointed people with balcony cabins as the Jewel was backed out and turned around to head to Skagway. If you are considering a Jewel trip I wouldn't do it without booking this excursion if glacier viewing is what you want to do.

As a side note to what was the best day of the trip, when we went to board the boat for the excursion I saw a board with the Jewel's current ratings by department and by ship. The current “Food Services” rating was 50%, so I won't harp on the dining issues as they know that there are problems. If I were considering an Alaska run from Seattle in the next month or two I would pick the Pearl if the food experience is important to you. We didn't have enough confidence in the staff to do a specialty restaurant, if they can't get basic preparation and service right we weren't going to pay for an upgraded experience. Hopefully reviews of the next couple of trips will show improvement on this.

Entertainment was the acrobatic couple who did some really cool stuff.

Day 5 Skagway

I didn't see any excursions that looked good to me (no interest in train trip to mountains since I spend winter in the mountains), so we went into town on the “Smart” bus on a $5 all day pass. We did the small US Parks exhibit next to the train station and the city of Skagway museum on the other side of town then went back to the ship and relaxed for the afternoon. There are a couple of car rental places in town and if I were to go back I would book a car to do a sightseeing drive, which would be cheaper than the $120 per person train trip. This evening was the Dinner with an officer night, we were at the table with the Chief Engineer, Ivan from Bulgaria. There were two empty seats at the table so people who won the lottery must have not shown. This was the only meal where preparation was correct and service was good, so I know they can do it, but consistency and experience needs to get to all the staff. We learned a lot about the ship, for instance the ship uses 1 gallon per second while at sea, so with 2500 paying passengers that is a big expense per person per day (60 * 60 * 24 * $3 / 2500). There were two other couples at the table that mainly talked with themselves while my dad and I exhausted our list of technical questions for him. Entertainment that night was the comedian juggler, he was ok.

Day 6 Sea Day

Le Cirque Bijou is a great show, the Jewel's production cast was a lot better for me than the Pearl's.

White Hot Party not very happening maybe like 30 or 40 ppl on the dance floor not a lot of non-couples so I hung out with friends from the canoe trip on the side.

Day 7 Victoria

Arrived Victoria 2:30 pm, Butchart Gardens stops letting people in at 5 since it is still “off season”, could they not cut two hours off Skagway to get to Victoria two hours earlier for the weeks where the main attraction in Victoria isn't open full schedule? Had awesome Halibut dinner at the fisherman's wharf area on the walk back to the ship, which is a set of floating businesses and houses in the harbor.

Disembarkation:

We were ready to leave at 7:15 so we went down to get in line and they were already letting people off, got a cab and was at the airport at 7:45 with 5 hours to wait until our 12:45 flight. The reports on the Seattle port board had me worried but ended up being as smooth as it could possibly be.

All in all, a good trip. I would not take a round trip from Seattle trip again as it burns 1.5 days each way. I would do a one-way north or south bound trip to get more port and activity time.

Glad to hear you had a good trip.

How was the weather?

I can't believe I didn't think to mention that the weather was amazing and sunny all week. Didn't have to get out the rain gear at all, it was windy on the Juneau day but that was it, people were in the pool and laying out on the deck on several of the days.

Sounds like you liked AK - remember that the Jewel lost over 10% of her crew to the Breakaway so it may take awhile until the new crew is up to speed. I was on the Pearl last summer and had a wonderful time both in AK and with the overall service.

I can't believe I didn't think to mention that the weather was amazing and sunny all week. Didn't have to get out the rain gear at all' date=' it was windy on the Juneau day but that was it, people were in the pool and laying out on the deck on several of the days.[/quote']

 

You did luck out! I was just wondering since everyone is so concerned with what the weather will be -- it's just a luck of the draw which you can't do anything about, just accept it and "go with the flow"!:rolleyes:

Was there any other entertainment beside the magician and the cirque? We just got off of Breakaway and the options were great. Howl at the moon,Slam Allen. Plus rock of ages and burn the floor. Jewel seems to have a lot less variety.

Thanks for the detailed report!

Thanks for the review, we will be on the Jewel in September, looking forward to exploring the ship!

Thanks for sharing your review. I'm jealous of the nice weather you guys had, but I guess the upside of the rainy, cold weather we had is that it "felt" like Alaska. :)

Nice review. Thanks especially for the report on your day at Victoria. One of my must-haves has always been a daytime stop at this wonderful city. Maybe that's not such a good idea after all.

Nice review. Thanks especially for the report on your day at Victoria. One of my must-haves has always been a daytime stop at this wonderful city. Maybe that's not such a good idea after all.

By the time we got off the ship and walked to the city bus (#75 goes to the gardens) it was 3:35, we just missed the 3:30 bus, luckily the bus driver at 4:00 told us we wouldn't make it. Had I known the distances would have just taken the ship excursion and paid the extra $20 and at least gotten an hour in. In Juneau the white/blue bus to mendenhall make sense but in victoria just take an organized tour there from the ship or independent group since the gardens are a little ways away. In the summer I think it's open till 9 or 10 so shouldn't be an issue with a 2:30 port time.

Was there any other entertainment beside the magician and the cirque? We just got off of Breakaway and the options were great. Howl at the moon,Slam Allen. Plus rock of ages and burn the floor. Jewel seems to have a lot less variety.

Bar city, crystal atrium and spinnaker have music acts throughout the day and evening. Tsars palace has music during most of the dinner seating. Best of all, the washy washy guitarist at the buffet for breakfast and the washy washy rapper for lunch!

Thanks for the review, I will be on the Jewel on Aug. 10th can't wait..

Can you please let me know more about the issues you had with the food or service of the food? We will be on the Jewel in late June and this is my first time with NCL. This really worries me since I will have all 3 of my children on board with us. We have only cruised with Carnival and I have never had a bad experience with them at all. I have been worried about trying another cruise line but we mostly changed due to the Nickelodeon experience for the kids. I hope I did not make a mistake by trying NCL. :eek::(

Can you please let me know more about the issues you had with the food or service of the food? We will be on the Jewel in late June and this is my first time with NCL. This really worries me since I will have all 3 of my children on board with us. We have only cruised with Carnival and I have never had a bad experience with them at all. I have been worried about trying another cruise line but we mostly changed due to the Nickelodeon experience for the kids. I hope I did not make a mistake by trying NCL. :eek::(

One or more portions of the dish not prepped properly (overcooked mainly) or dish delivered too long after it was plated (incorrect serving temp or texture change due length of time covered and steaming effect). I don't care if it takes a year to get my food, just get it to me the way it should be served. The high volume environment is all about consistency and timing, wasn't there in our week. Buffet was fine, blue lagoon ok

Thank you for writing and sharing your review.

Keith

Thanks for the in-depth review. We were on the Jewel last September and had a fantastic experience. (Including the food services!) :)

I was on this cruise too and did the meet and greet with sup'd although I don't think we actually met. We had a pretty good turn out. I agree that the restaurant experience at Tsars was not the best but we stuck with the garden buffet, great outdoors for late lunch snacks- was perfect for sailing out from Juneau in the warm sun- and the Blue Lagoon. Didn't do specialty restaurants but did get pizza delivery one night for a snack after going to Bar City to listen to a great guitar player (70's and some current tunes). Found the sea days a bit slow with activities geared toward slower paced folks but we managed to keep busy walking around the ship, in the casino and with the great weather just sitting, relaxing and people watching. I agree that the glacier portion of the cruise was one favorite of mine. We rented a Jeep (Alaska green jeeps) in Skagway and were pleased as we could do what we wanted and not feel herded around. Took the blue bus to the Mendenhall glacier in Juneau- again beautiful day to take in the sights there. My close second fav to the glacier cruise after Juneau was Victoria BC. Beautiful city- clean, friendly and great local beers at the local scot public house. Took cab from pier to Empress Hotel for $10 each way. Half the cost of the buses that had lines of folks at the pier. This is one city I would like to go back to someday- so much to see and only a short time to spend there.

Overall, we had a good time and it was a very relaxing experience.