RD29P5

Probably about the time you hand it over to them.

I've been to both, and I'd avoid Icy Strait, or not get off the ship. The old cannery is interesting, and yeah the zip line's looked fun unless your like me and have a serious fear of height's. The one knock I heard on the zip lines came from the tour guide for the ATV ride (which I'd avoid) she said 40 minute bus ride for 90 seconds of zip line. All of the excursion's are run by the same company, so what you see is what your get. The nice thing about Icy Strait is none of the jewelry shops that are in all the other ports, and they want to keep it that way, which I agree with. 

While I do agree that Glacier Bay is a must do, I got better picture's and I think both Dawes and Hubbard glacier's are more scenic. Neither of the cruises out of Seattle will do a full inside passage through the British Columbia portion of the inside passage. While the scenery throughout the inside passage is breathtaking the British Columbia portion with it's narrow passageways for me is as much of a must see as Glacier Bay is.

Honestly I don't think you can go wrong with any of the itineraries in Alaska, so look at port times and research excursions for what you want to do in each and choose the itinerary that best suits the port times for what you would like to do.

Having done both the round trip out of Seattle and a one way in Alaska, I think the one way is a better experience. The dates they have are a bit early for my taste, I prefer to go a bit later in the summer, but that's personal preference. If you can upgrade to an ocean view or balcony without incurring a huge cost I would, the view through the British Columbia portion of the inside passage is awesome. It really doesn't matter which side of the ship you are on for glacier viewing, as the ship will pivot giving each side a view. 

The ship itself is fine, she doesn't have all the choices of the megaships. I don't see that as an issue personally for Alaska where the destination is Alaska not the ship.

In Skagway I highly recommend the eagle preserve float. We saw somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 eagles. Bear have been seen frequently though we didn't see any, we did see sign's of bear activity.  

That's been pretty much my experience on Carnival. 

I've done starboard and gotten amazing sunset photo's from the balcony on the way back to Seattle. I have yet to see any land based wildlife from the ship while cruising, so I don't think I'd make a decision on the hope of seeing anything wildlife wise. Never been much of an early riser so I can't say if the morning sun would be a selling point for me or not. Then again in July the sun will be up around 4 AMish.

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I saw it on the Jewel with a large group in Cagney's one night. I'm sure it took a bit of planing beforehand to make it happen though. 6 or 8 tables put together in front of the grill area seemed to work with 2 waiter's. It was a challenge for the photographer when they wanted a group photo though.

Seems like what they tell you and what the billing system actually does comes out to two different things. I don't know if the billing system would allow them to manually put in a charge once the card is swiped and the SDP kicks in. 

14 hours ago, amisup said:

Thank you. I really appreciate your response ! You made a great point there. I had been on Caribbean before and it can get quite bumpy. What about the noise from the engines ? Do you hear them more on deck 4 than deck 5 ? Also deck 5 near the front is close to theatre - does that get noisy ? 

As far as noise goes, I really can't say. My hearing is so bad that things that bother most people I can't even hear.

You'll be fine with either of those choices. You will be in sheltered water's for most of the trip. While waves and swells do happen, the chances of rough sea's on that trip are minimized by the inside passage route. Depending on which way you choose the only open ocean is the Gulf of Alaska, and even that is somewhat sheltered.

Icy Strait is the Ensenada of Alaska, sounds real nice until you get there. We did a ATV ride, (they call it an adventure), the guide spent more time bad mouthing the cruise lines than passing on any useful info. Oh we did learn that she used a .270 Winchester to take a deer earlier in the year. I took 7 picture's at Icy Strait the entire time we were there. I took almost 400 in Skagway/Haines. Choose carefully Alaska is great, personally having done both a round trip and a one way, I'll do the one way trip without any hesitation, but I'll relax on the ship at Icy Strait.

I never thought UBP or whatever it is now was "free", but it is a hefty discount over outright buying it.

For a salt free diet you'll probably have to contact he access desk, since salt is used in pretty much all cooking. You can call or send them an email. They will get back to you within a few days if you email, they deal with these issues all the time.

 call 1-866-584-9756 (voice), send an email to accessdesk@ncl.com 

There is no coed steam room, sauna facilities, but the therapy pool, a hot tub, and the heated lounges in the larger part of the spa area are coed.  Not sure if you can bring drinks in or not. There is water and I believe iced tea available inside the spa area.

Some find it better to pay for drinks as you go. For me it's not too big of stretch to think that we will probably drink enough over the course of 7 days to exceed the out of pocket cost to us on the free at sea perk. Neither of us are heavy drinker's but when you look at the cost of the drinks it adds up pretty quick. Although they are cheaper than at a professional sports event or a concert.

I'd be more upset about having to go to Ensenada. 

4 minutes ago, Shellbelle28 said:

Hey Korlad:

I am booked on the Jewel late next year and have been hunting for information on the refurbishments. Can you tell me where you ran across the information on the Penthouse Suite redecoration? (We'll be in 10664 by the way).

I agree, the Jewel's furnishings are very outdated and, I have heard, badly worn. We were in the Pearl's aft penthouse suites last month, which were refreshed a year or so ago, and the colors are nice and neutral now. 

Maybe there going to finish what they started. Because 9170 needs new color's badly. This is from July.

I think a lot might have to do with the sailing. Going to Alaska if the weather isn't good, probably not much noise from the pool deck. On a warmer sailing your probably going to get some noise from lounges being moved around. 

I've never stayed in the Haven either, but I have stayed in an aft penthouse suite on the Jewel, and would not hesitate for a second to book one of those rooms again. We were in a corner suite and the balcony was great. A quick ride up the elevator to the bar at great outdoors to pick up drinks, then sit on the balcony and enjoy the scenery go by. The only thing you miss out on is Haven access to the courtyard, but since we were invited in for the captain's cocktail party and glacier viewing in Alaska I don't think we missed much. 

I do not believe that your parents will receive 250 internet minutes each. I'm pretty certain that perk is per cabin not per person.

Yes they do. The problem is getting to the input's, not much movement of the TV to allow access.

On NCL's site if you look at the ship's profile under learn about our cruises, it will have a link to photo's, webcam, and 360 virtual tours about the middle of the page.

And I thought it was just me with CBP at YVR. Although the young lady from Canada's version of TSA who wanted to confiscate the fudge in my carry-on because it was a "gel like" material was not one of the more pleasant experience's I've had in Canada.

I know that I am old already...but;

 

 

back in my day, long time ago...We ripped our jeans, but then put a patch on them. LOL.

Thanks for the flashback to those iron on patches my mother used to put on Levi's. The one's that never looked the same color, and were always 4 times stiffer then the jeans ever were.