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Review of NCL Jewel to Alaska May 25-June 1, 2013


Aurora2143
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Just off the NCL Jewel and it was awesome!!

 

My husband and I flew into Seattle from Denver and my stepson flew in from Tucson. The airport was a bit of a challenge. With my DH dragging two of our extra large suitcases (both maxed out at exactly 50lbs) and our two carry-ons on top of them (me with the third large suitcase), I felt really bad for him that we had to walk a pretty long distance to get to ground transportation for our shuttle to the hotel. Silently in my mind I thought we must have taken the long way somehow, but I would NEVER admit it out loud for my hubby to hear.

 

We spent the evening at the Double Tree Seatac, and if you get the newer rooms (I say small because the room when we returned after the cruise was twice the size. More on that later.) it’s a nice, clean small room. I got a room for my hubby and me and another for my almost 18 year old stepson (if you’re from a blended family, you understand).

 

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At check in, they gave us three warm chocolate chip cookies which I handed to my hubby and he took it over to where our son was sitting and waiting. After getting our room keys, I went to fetched my guys so we can go to our rooms. I noticed on the table next to my son one of the cookies (assuming my hubby put it there for me) and told him he could have mine. He grabbed it and we went upstairs to our rooms.

So my hubby and I got settled in to our room, trying to strategically place our 3 large suitcases and 2 carry-ons so that we’re not stubbing our toes in the middle of the night when there was a knock at the door. It was our son holding one of the three cookies that were given to us at check-in. He pulled the cookie out of the wrapper and asked, “Pattie, when did you have time to take a bite of your cookie?” Ewww!

 

We headed down to dinner in the hotel restaurant. The food was okay, but the quirkiness of the wait staff kept us company. We headed back to our rooms and went right to sleep. Tomorrow was going to be an awesome day!!!

 

Just a side note about this review: I didn't take as many photos as I wished I would have. I was just awed with everything, but will post as many as I did take.

Edited by Aurora2143
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Sunday – Embarkation Day

 

We hired a driver with “Already there town car” which made things much easier. The driver dropped us off and we didn’t see the VIP check in at the far end of the entrance so we got in the regular line. Someone noticed our “Priority” tags but the regular line was shorter so told us to just check in our luggage and go back to the VIP table afterwards. We were given a yellow VIP tag and was escorted to the front of the line all the way until we got to the lounge where we were checked in and met Leah Rodreguez– our concierge.

We hung out in the lounge and enjoyed the snacks and beverages, all of about 5 minutes before we were escorted onto the ship and to Cagney’s for a really nice and relaxing lunch.

 

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Our Suite:

 

After lunch, we headed up to the 14th floor and apparently looked lost. A very nice gentleman asked what room we were looking for, and he just so happened to be our butler – Teodore. He took our carry-on bags that we had with us and escorted us to our room. Our luggage had not made it to our room yet, so we went venturing around the beautiful ship.

 

Upon returning to our room, we took some time to unpack and enjoyed a couple of drinks on the balcony before sail away.

We loved our beautiful room! Nice comfy bed, HUGE bathroom and lots and lots of storage space – BUT…not enough for this disease I have called “over packing”.

 

I took a video of our wonderful 2 bedroom haven villa but got motion sickness watching it, so I'm reluctant to post it. But here's a photo of our living room:

 

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One funny warning about the shower: The shower door opens into the shower and the door handles are little knobs. On a couple of mornings, my hands were wet and too slippery to open the shower door. Had to call out to my hubby to come and rescue me. ☺

Also, the window between the master bathroom and balcony (even with the shade down) is not a one-way glass. A little awkward having my stepson on the balcony while I was showering and then had to race out of the shower into the bedroom area, slipping almost falling just to avoid him seeing me in the buff. We laughed about it afterwards, but I explained that “I’m just not that kind of step-mom”.

 

Our butler Teodore:

 

Absolute gem!!! No matter what we asked for, we got it. He always made sure my hubby’s bucket ‘o beer and our coffee was stocked and made sure that the fridge was always full with the Dr. Pepper we brought on board with us.

One afternoon I asked him about the warm soft pretzels that everyone on CC raves about and he brought them with a mustard dip. My son mentioned that cheese would make them golden but Teodore said that it wasn’t an option for a dipping sauce. 15 minutes later, he returned with a ramekin of melted cheese.

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We then headed down for our Teppanyaki dinner, which was just the three of us and two other people, everyone else must have been at the Bon Voyage party on the deck. The food was excellent and so was our entertaining chef.

Side note: Although Teppanyaki was very slow on the first night, I'm glad we went. The chef was able to relax and have lots of fun as cooked our dinner. We went back on another evening when it was packed and I felt kinda bad because the chef seemed rushed. They were running behind schedule, so you know...utensils flying where they shouldn't...I don't know, I preferred the first night. Just my opinion. :)

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Love your review. We go next month and this is making me excited.

 

What time did you arrive at the dock on Saturday?

 

We got there about noon-ish. Our driver picked us up at the hotel and took us to Safeway so that we could buy sodas to take on the ship.

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Day 2 – Sea Day

 

Today was going to be my very first Meet & Greet.

 

So hubby and son went down to breakfast at Cagney’s while I stayed in the room to get ready for the M&G.

We went down to the Star Lounge and it was so fun to finally meet all the people from our roll call. The cabin crawl was great!

After the M&G, we went to Cagney’s for lunch and I enjoyed my swordfish sandwich so much the first day, that I decided to have it again with the carrot cake for dessert. And yes, the carrot cake was to die for.

I had scheduled massages for us in the afternoon, so off to the spa we went.

Hubby and son had the “Father and Son Chill Out Massage” while I just had the Swedish massage for myself.

During my massage, my masseuse would pause several times. I just thought she was doing some Zen thing until she sat down to massage my head. A couple of times when she would pause, I could feel her face really close over mine and it made me a bit nervous, until…she started snoring!!! I was laughing inside, but couldn’t wait for the massage to get done – afraid that her face was going to fall on mine. Awkward…

I’m just glad that hubby and son’s massages were great! This was our son’s first massage and wanted it to be a good experience.

 

We headed back to our room for a quick nap and then got ready for dinner at Le Bistro.

The food was so awesome! We ordered the 32oz steak, gave half to our son and hubby and I split the other half. I also had the Coq Au Vin, and DS had the Lobster dish, which he said was awesome.

 

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After dinner, we headed over to the Spinnaker lounge for the “Battle of the Sexes” game show. DS was shocked that his “straight laced, square” dad participated in some of the activities. It was great!

DS headed back to the room to go to bed while hubby and I enjoyed a little karaoke before turning in.

 

Tomorrow is Ketchikan! It’s gonna be a lot of fun!

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We got there about noon-ish. Our driver picked us up at the hotel and took us to Safeway so that we could buy sodas to take on the ship.

 

 

 

 

Thank you so much. We are local and trying to figure it what time to arrive to maximize or time:-)

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Day 3 – Ketchikan, AK

 

Now the really fun stuff begins!!

 

After my 7 cups of morning coffee, we headed down to Cagney’s for breakfast. I had the salmon frittata with was excellent! DH had the sausage and eggs while DS had the French toast.

 

Off the ship we go...

 

Getting off was a breeze since we didn’t have to meet up with the tour until 10:30am. We window shopped around at the port shops taking note of the stuff we wanted to buy when we returned from the tour.

 

We were taken by motor coach to George Inlet Lodge for our exclusive crab feast. We were in a really nice dining area with another couple and a solo cruiser. I have iodine/shellfish allergies but have refused to give up shellfish, so I started loading up on the Benadryl. Oh the all you can eat crab is absolutely fabulous!!!

After our meal, we had a little time to kill before our float plane arrived to pick us up so we ventured into the gift shop. There was an area connected to the shop which was the main dining room. Crowded and a bit noisy, hubby was grateful that I booked the “exclusive” and dined in the private dining area.

 

A side note about my hubby: He used to be the type that would say, “we don’t need a nice room because we’ll hardly be in there”, or “we can just eat in the main area, food is just food”. I think I’ve spoiled him rotten. Vacationing has taken a whole new turn with him. Now he says, “it’s nice to have nice room to hang out in” or “it’s nice to dine in a quiet area”. LOL!!!

 

Here’s our float plane and pilot!

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The flight was totally awesome. Great views and got a good look at our ship while flying.

 

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Once back on the ship, the guys went to the Haven area while I took a nap. Overdose on Benadryl totally wiped me out, and it seemed that I was starting to come down with something. My sinuses were really congested and I was having a hard time breathing.

Dinnertime rolled around and we decided to try Moderno for dinner.

Growing up in Hawaii for almost 30 years and now live in the mountains of Colorado, I’ve missed many foods and dishes. I was so excited when I saw that they had Portuguese bean soup, and I’ve got to give kudos to the chef…the soup was AWESOME!!! A little info on how Moderno dining works, for those who’ve never dined there. Each person is given a place card, one side red and the other side green. Once you’re done with the salad bar, you turn the card to green signally the wait staff to start bringing out the meats. They take turns bringing out all sorts of meats on skewers and if you want it, they will cut off a piece for you. When you are done and can’t eat anymore, you turn your card over to the red side and they will stop bringing the meats. Hubby called it a “carnivore’s paradise”. The manager couldn’t stop laughing because all I could rave and talk about was the soup.

The sirloin and Portuguese sausage were my favorites.

 

After Dinner, we ventured around the ship a little bit and then turned in for the night. Tomorrow is Juneau, gotta wake up a little early for our Pilot’s Choice helicopter tour.

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Day 4 – Juneau, AK

 

Got into port about 7am and had to meet the driver at 9am for our Temsco Pilot’s Choice tour. So, we had Teodore bring us breakfast in our room while we got ready.

 

According to our instructions: (When you depart your ship, look for the Mt. Roberts Tramway. Facing the mountain that the tram ascends, on the right side of the tramway parking lot, you will see a 15 foot tall sign shaped like a lollipop (disc on the end of a stick) displaying “Dock C”. If you stand at that sign, you are in the right place!

 

So my hubby and I were on our balcony looking and looking for this lollipop thing with our binoculars and couldn’t find it. So we decided to give ourselves a little extra time and got off the ship at 8:30am. Walked around that whole parking lot over and over, asking for directions and finally hubby notices the tramway…a couple ships over. Now by this time, it’s about 5 ‘til 9 and DH is panicking. We have to catch a shuttle to get over there and the line is really long! So I asked one of the taxi drivers if he would take us over and he said no. He only does tours and we will have to wait for the shuttle. Now by this time, hubby’s face has turned about 4 shades of red and I had to calm him down. He doesn’t like to be late.

Finally got on the shuttle bus, found the lollipop sign and off we were to our tour.

 

And here's DS and me in the front seat of the helicopter…

 

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First stop on glacier, I think it was called Guilky glacier. As we were flying over, we saw this beautiful pool and he turned around and stopped there.

 

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The camera just can't capture the beautiful shade of blue. Truly amazing!!

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Our second stop, the icy planes – which was covered with snow, but still so beautiful!!

 

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After the helicopter tour, we had planned on going to Tracy’s Crab Shack for lunch before returning to the ship. There was a bit of an issue with the transportation back and had to wait almost 45 minutes for them to drive us back, sooo….we took Tracy’s off the itinerary and told ourselves that we can have King Crab at the Skagway Fish Company tomorrow.

We get back to the lollipop sign at 12:45 and all aboard for our ship was 1:00pm. Here comes hubby’s panic again when he sees the really long like for the shuttle back to our ship. His biggest fear – being left behind. So I walk over to the main road and found a taxi driver but he was waiting for his large party to get in his car, but he was nice enough to call another one on his radio. I swear the 3 minute wait felt like half an hour with a husband who’s freaking out thinking the ship is going to leave without us. Finally, after what felt like eternity the cab driver comes and whisked us back to the ship…as he shared stories of people who have been left behind. LMBO!!!

So we get in line to get back on the ship, and mind you everyone is trying to get back on so the line is a little long. Still in a panic thinking at exactly 1pm, they’re going to shutdown the gangway and whose who are still outside will be left behind, I explained that we could either catch a flight to Skagway or I’ll look for one of those fjord tours that will meet up with the ship in Tracy Arm (knowing that those tours left Juneau about 15 minutes ago, but he didn’t need to know that), finally calmed him down.

 

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Day 4 – Continued.

 

Once back on the ship, we went to Cagney’s for lunch and to get my hubby a beer and a cocktail for myself. I had the swordfish sandwich and carrot cake again, DH had burger and DS had a double order of shrimp cocktail and the steak.

 

Got back to our room to relax and to wait for the ship to go through Tracy Arm Fjord. Once we got in there, it was absolutely magnificent. We say a few bald eagles, seals and majestic waterfalls.

 

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May I make a little suggestion: Do not make dinner reservations for the day you go through the fjord. We had sushi bar reservations and had to change it twice before we finally decided to go to dinner towards the end of the fjord journey. I was TOTALLY bummed while we were sitting at the sushi bar, I looked outside and there was a huge glacier as the ship was spinning around…and I forgot my camera in the room.

 

After dinner, we headed over to the Stardust theater for the Comic Magician Jean-Pierre. Totally awesome and hilarious. Highly recommend this show!

 

Tomorrow is Skagway!! Ocean Rafts Alaska tour and Skagway Fish Company HERE WE COME!!

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Love reading your review - keep it coming. We were on the Pearl last summer and had a blast. We also spent more time in the cabin (SF Suite) because my MIL came along and there was lots of family stuff to catch up on and it was nice to have the extra space. Also enjoyed Cagney's for breakfast.

 

Loved the photo of the Jewel from the air. Out of curiosity why did you not do the Tracy Arm Explorer?

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Love reading your review - keep it coming. We were on the Pearl last summer and had a blast. We also spent more time in the cabin (SF Suite) because my MIL came along and there was lots of family stuff to catch up on and it was nice to have the extra space. Also enjoyed Cagney's for breakfast.

 

Loved the photo of the Jewel from the air. Out of curiosity why did you not do the Tracy Arm Explorer?

 

I really really wanted to do the explorer and had I had the foreknowledge that we were going to have awesome weather (70+ degrees), I definitely would have. I was worried that if the weather was bad, 4-5 hours on a small ferry would be difficult for my DS to tolerate because he's from Arizona.

Plus, with the mishap with Temsco's transport back, we may have missed the ferry and then oh boy! what would I do with my husband? We would have missed the ferry and the ship. :)

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Day 5 – Skagway, AK

 

Arrived in port at 7am and didn’t have to meet with the driver to take us on the tour until 10am, so we had a leisurely breakfast at Cagney’s again. We all had the same thing. Frittata for me, eggs and sausage for DH and French toast for DS. I’m thinking we’ve obsessively become creatures of habit. LOL!

 

Headed off the ship and met up with Ashley of Ocean Rafts Alaska to take us to the other side of the port for our tour. As we were driving, he asked what else we had planned while in Skagway. I eagerly said that we wanted to eat lunch at the Skagway Fish Company for lunch and we’d appreciate it if he could give us directions on how to get there. His reply was, “It burned down last week.” Thinking he was joking, I just shrugged it off until he drove us by it and said, “there it is”.

I looked at my DH (who was really looking forward to eating King Crab on this trip) and said, “I’m sorry”. We discovered on this trip that Benadryl is no longer working for my shellfish allergy and seemed that my reactions were worse than before. We thought that maybe this was God’s way of telling me “NO MORE SHELLFISH!!!” Missed out on Tracy’s and insisted that we were going to have it at the Fish Company. Oh well…on to the rafting tour.

 

We got dressed in these jumpsuits that kept us warm and dry.

 

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No zoom for this photo. This is how close we got to the whales.

 

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If you look closely, it’s a new baby mountain goat with its mama. So precious, this was the highlight of the trip for me!

 

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Seals basking in the sun. We were so blessed with awesome weather everyday of this cruise!!

 

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Awesome waterfall!!! Face is all puffy from eating shrimp the night before at the sushi bar. Fine, learned my lesson!!! No more shellfish.

Side note for the ladies: Keratin Express treatment done right before the cruise. I didn’t use any products in my hair and it stayed frizz-free, even through this rafting tour – even got misty in front of one of the waterfalls. DS was getting frustrated with me because he was sporting a puffy version of a James Dean hairdo, while mine stayed nice and smooth.

 

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Gotta show off my handsome guys!

 

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Edited by Aurora2143
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After the rafting tour, Ashley pointed at a blue little house looking restaurant about 2 blocks away and said they had best food in town. So we decided to just walk there and find our own transport back to the ship. When we got there, the restaurant was closed for lunch. Hmmm, thinking that they could glean from the business that would be going to the Skagway Fish Company which WAS next door, perhaps they should consider opening for lunch.

So we walked back and decided to take a shuttle back to the ship. As we were boarding the shuttle, we asked the driver if he would be going to the ships, and he said yes. So off we went…into Skagway town…got to the first stop and the driver informed us that this was his last stop and everyone had to get off. My first thought was, “Oh Lord, hubby’s going to lose his mind”. We got off the shuttle and DH looked like he was about to turn into the Hulk! Eyes were turning red, veins popping out on his forehead…then I noticed the shuttle with the sign, “NCL Jewel”, THANK GOD!!!

 

Once back on board the ship, we went back to Cagney’s for lunch and to get my hubby a beer and a good stiff drink for myself. I thought about spiking DH’s beer with a shot of whiskey because I knew he would talk about the bus incident during the whole time we were at lunch, and he did.

As we looked at the menu, DH looked over at me and said, “please have something other than the swordfish sandwich”, so I ordered the philly. After a couple of bites, I was wishing I had the swordfish. ☺

 

I retired back to our room as the boys went to the Haven to enjoy the fantastic weather. We decided to return to Teppanyaki again for dinner and this time I alerted them of my shellfish allergy. Wrong move! I understand that they were just trying to be careful, but because of the possible cross contamination, they wouldn’t let me have the soup or the salad for appetizer. I snuck and ate DH and DS’s portions. At our table, there was a couple and one of their mothers all dressed in white, in preparation for the White Hot Party that evening. They looked really sharp!

As the restaurant was running about 30 minutes behind, as mentioned earlier the chef seemed rushed. One of his spatulas went flying straight toward the mother in all white, almost knocking her wine over. Good thing it was white wine, but the food and grease on the spatula would have made a huge mess of her beautiful outfit.

 

After dinner, DS was tired and went back to the room as DH and I walked around the ship before retiring for the evening.

 

Totally looking forward to Sea Day tomorrow. We get to sleep in!!

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Wow! Great pics up on that glacier. Now I know something that I want to do my next visit. It's neat to see the exact same trip but with completely different ways to spend the day.

 

As for your issue earlier running from the bathroom...um...bathrobes? :p

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Wow! Great pics up on that glacier. Now I know something that I want to do my next visit. It's neat to see the exact same trip but with completely different ways to spend the day.

 

As for your issue earlier running from the bathroom...um...bathrobes? :p

 

Yes the Pilot's Choice was awesome. On our next trip, I want to do the fishing charter that you did.

 

The master bath is connected to the bedroom. He wasn't out on the balcony when I started showering and didn't think anything of it until I saw him out there while I was showering. Then the awkwardness started, towels were in the shelf, and the bathrobes were in the closet.

He also agreed that he would be traumatized if he would have accidentally seen something and agreed that while I'm in the shower, he wouldn't go out on the balcony. :)

Edited by Aurora2143
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Again loving your review and pics - you really lucked out on the weather.

 

BTW the fire at the fish company was reported on the AK board here at CC. I also found their facebook page where they simply said that they were closed until further notice - no reason.

 

I hope that NCL's Freestyle cruising agreed with your DH since he does not appear to like schedules. BTW my DW is the same way and loves Freestyle cruising. She puts up with schedules for excursions but that is about it.:)

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Again loving your review and pics - you really lucked out on the weather.

 

BTW the fire at the fish company was reported on the AK board here at CC. I also found their facebook page where they simply said that they were closed until further notice - no reason.

 

I hope that NCL's Freestyle cruising agreed with your DH since he does not appear to like schedules. BTW my DW is the same way and loves Freestyle cruising. She puts up with schedules for excursions but that is about it.:)

 

Actually DH prefers the scheduled dining, likes everything perfectly scheduled. He loses his mind when things aren't perfect and orderly.

Our next cruise in September is a west. Med. I am taking no chances with taxis, no matter how easy. I'm hiring a driver for ALL transportation and I don't care what the cost. Just as long as I can keep him from panicking. :D

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Your pictures are spectacular. I think we will have to consider a few of your excursion ideas when we sail Alaska again!

 

And if you have any questions, please let me know. DH said that it was the best vacation he's ever been on. **patting myself on the back**. :D

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