Review of Jewel to Alaska 7/28-8/4 - with pictures

[david_sobe]

Great review so far

Love the pictures!

[ute_fan]

Hi Susan <waving> ! Hope you are all well :)

 

Hi Cinci! Doing just fine other than suffering from a severe case of PCD. Trying to figure out when and where I want to go next. Where's your next adventure taking you?

[sdmike]

Day 3-Ketchikan

 

Our first port day was in Ketchikan. By now it was in the 40’s and raining, but the views coming into port were still very nice.

 

 

Some local money, I presume

 

 

The fishing fleet heading out of harbor

 

 

 

 

Our first eagle sighting

 

Edited August 6, 2012 by sdmike

[sdmike]

We had chartered a fishing boat with Ken at Northern Lights Charters on our own. Ken was waiting at the dock at 7am once we were cleared to depart, having pulled his small boat up to the pier across from the Jewel. The boat holds only 6 people, but that was perfect for our group of…ahem…6.

 

 

 

After a safety briefing we headed out of the harbor to some islands further south.

 

 

 

 

Edited August 6, 2012 by sdmike

[sdmike]

On the way we passed a tall channel marker with a majestic eagle perched on the top, about 60 feet off the ground. Ken turned off the engines and whistled, loudly. Much to our surprise the eagle leapt off the tower and was flying right for us! Stunned I hurried to turn my camera on and started shooting as fast as I could. Ken threw some herring in the water, and the eagle deftly swooped in and picked it up. Amazing! We were only there for a couple of minutes, but the event might have been the highlight of the entire trip!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 6, 2012 by sdmike

[ute_fan]

I think I know what I want to do next time I'm in Ketchikan! What gorgeous photos of that eagle!!

[david_sobe]

WOW

That is a National Geographic picture!

[sdmike]

Just a couple more since it was so amazing!

 

 

 

 

After a few minutes the eagle tired of our games and returned to his perch, and we carried on out of the channel places further south.

 

Just wow

 

Ken readied the trolling lines and downriggers, and within 3 minutes we had our first pink salmon on the line! It wasn’t big..maybe 5-7 lbs, but it was perfect for my kids! This was repeated 19 more times in the next couple of hours! I was hoping to catch a larger silver or king while out there, but we got what we got. Yep…we got 20 salmon. Each of the kids caught 5 of them, and my wife and MIL each caught a couple. I took my one and helped out with the rest. This really wasn’t about me fishing, it was about THEM fishing. (grin).

 

Did I mention that the weather was cold and rainy? Did I mention that we didn’t care? Haha

 

Here are a bunch of pictures from fishing:

 

 

 

Edited August 6, 2012 by sdmike

[sdmike]

This was quite fun, and quite a "deck ballet". We had 3 fish on at once.

 

 

 

Yours truly pulling in my one fish. yay dad!

 

 

 

 

[sdmike]

After a couple of hours we figured we had enough to keep us eating salmon for some time. Ken also had a noon trip, and we had to get the fish delivered to the processor, plus Ken needed to clean up his boat for the afternoon group.

 

One thing we noticed is that 3 of the 4 lines were catching fish all day. One of the lines, a shallow lure, didn't. Ken figured that there must be SOMETHING on it...kelp, jellyfish, fish...that kept the salmon from hitting it. So he handed my son the rod, we all "voted" on what might be on there, and he started reeling. What was it?

 

It was a Pollock!

 

 

 

 

We went back up the channel and floated up to small dock north of where the Jewel was docked. We offloaded our catch and placed our order to be processed – 6 fished to be smoked and sent to my parents back east, and the remaining 14 fish to be cleaned and smoked (5 of them) or frozen (9 of them) for shipment to San Diego. The cost is around $7lb for frozen and $9lb smoked, including packing and shipping. Not bad at all!

 

 

 

 

It was nice to see my OCD (clean freak) DS17 actually pick up a fish.

 

Edited August 6, 2012 by sdmike

[sdmike]

After fishing we had time to walk around town and shop a bit. It’s a quaint little town, but with all the tourist shops you come to know and love (sigh). My kids were cold and wet so they went back on the ship, as did my MIL

 

That night we had dinner at Tsars again (same routine…full at the other MDR, but no problem getting a table for 14 at Tsars), and the meal was quite good again. That night they had your typical hypnotist show. I wasn’t going to go but my daughter was on a mission to see all the shows. I took her to the 9:15 show and it was quite fun! We both enjoyed it.

 

My mom and MIL went to the casino for a while and had mixed luck. I never got near the place personally. Just too many other things to do.

 

Here are some more pictures from Ketchikan, in no particular order

 

 

 

 

No chair hog problem on this trip

 

 

 

 

Another awesome day in the books

Edited August 6, 2012 by sdmike

[davesgirl51]

Hi Cinci! Doing just fine other than suffering from a severe case of PCD. Trying to figure out when and where I want to go next. Where's your next adventure taking you?

 

October - Sun

December - Epic

Dec/Jan - Jewel

April-May 35 day Repo NY thru Seattle to Seattle (that's what David wanted for his 75th birthday)

October - Jewel

December - Jewel

 

PCD is a dreadful thing ;)

[davesgirl51]

Love your eagle pics Mike and isn't fishing just a hoot !!:D

[sdmike]

Day 4-Juneau

 

After having been up very early the first two mornings we slept in until 7am in Juneau. We woke up as the Jewel was entering the harbor and docking at terminal AJ (the furthest south).

 

 

Another beautiful Alaska day. lol

 

 

From AJ you have to take shuttles into town, unless you did what WE did (grin).

There is a small shack to the right of the ship when you get off. National Car Rental! We had rented a mini-van for under $100 for my group of 6 and anyone else we could fit. It was raining pretty hard so I walked over and got the van, then slipped over to pick up the rest of the group at the bottom of the ramp. Since I had worked in Juneau for the better part of a year I knew where to go. We headed out to Mendenhall on our own, before any of the tour busses got out there. Even though there were 3 other ships in port, Mendenhall had not gotten crowded yet.

 

We took the 30 minute walk out to the falls and took lots of pictures, and even walked along the beach of Mendenhall Lake and picked up some chunks of glacier ice. It’s amazingly clear and heavy, and has great texture.

 

 

 

Edited August 6, 2012 by sdmike

[sdmike]

Some more pictures out at Mendenhall

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[sdmike]

On the way back the busses had started to arrive and the area got crowded. We were glad to be leaving, and saving over $500 by renting a van was just great icing on the cake. On the way back we also stopped by the fish hatchery just south of the airport and watched the salmon come up the ladders to spawn. It’s free to walk around the hatchery, and the guides are very informative. It was a great stop, even though it was raining and cold (have I mentioned the weather yet? Lol)

 

 

You could almost walk across these

 

 

Bonk!

 

 

 

 

I drove back to the ship, dropped everyone off around noon, and quickly returned the van. We grabbed a fast lunch at the buffet and got ready for our “official” excursion, the trip to Tracy Arm Fjord.

Edited August 6, 2012 by sdmike

[Bug & Sprouts]

AWESOME pictures! Thank you!

[thecatsmeow]

Enjoying you review very much! The pictures are a great addition.

Joyce

[sdmike]

At 12:45 we met in the Stardust theater and were ushered out through crew hallways to a waiting twin hulled catamaran with four 600hp engines. By the way, walking through the crew halls showed just how seriously they take their ratings and awards. There were progress posters showing various rankings of the ships and the crew. Especially notable were the big board touting the Vacation Stars, those that received positive comments on their Star Cards (used to be Style Cards). The “stars” also wore pins. It’s clearly very important to them.[/font]

 

But I digress…

 

Once on the boat we headed off to Tracy Arm lickety split. As we exited the harbor the Pearl was coming in to take the place of the Jewel at Pier AJ.

 

 

They blew their horns at each other a couple of times, which seemed quite funny at the time:

 

Pearl: Hey…get going. You’re in my spot

Jewel: Oh shut it…you’re early

Pearl: Pfft. Only by a few minutes. Get a move on, will ya?

Jewel: Make me…

 

I digress again

 

It took over an hour to get down to Tracy Arm, and the crew of the boat kept saying how good the conditions were today. Um….were they seeing what I was? It was raining and cold, and yet about a half dozen of us die hards were out on the decks taking pictures. The other 100 wimps stayed inside, occasionally sticking their heads out for some cool air before muttering about the cold and going back to the warmth of the glass windowed boat. Oh yeah…and their free hot chocolate, coffee and donut holes. Lol

 

Anyway, pictures don’t do Tracy Arm justice. It is awe inspiring. Stunning. Amazing

 

 

 

We sidled up to water falls, got close to stunningly blue icebergs, and meandered out way down the 30 mile long fjord. The HAL Oosterdam joined us on our trek but had to stay a mile away from the glaciers. We got 4 times closer, enough to hear and feel calving and “shooters” (underwater calving) and the waves they caused. First we cruised up to North Sawyer and sat for 45 minutes or so before going down to South Sawyer. Again…wow! Until you’re in that cold rain, fresh air and surrounded by that beauty, you just won’t understand how amazing it is.[/font]

 

 

 

Edited August 6, 2012 by sdmike

[sdmike]

Allow me to post some more pictures of Tracy Arm and both the North and South Sawyer glaciers. Stunning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[sdmike]

 

 

 

 

 

[relaxatsea]

Thank you Mike!

 

Your review is wonderful and your photos are spectacular! I loved the eagle!

 

Also, I've been reading your posts for a long time now and it is very nice to see a picture of you since, up until now, I've just seen your feet on the rail!

 

You are one of my favorite posters, so I am avidly following your review.

 

My DH and I were on a similar Alaska cruise in 2004 on the Star, it was wonderful.

[sdmike]

While we were up by the Glacier we heard a loud scraping noise and turned to see the Oosterdam trying to get through some icebergs. It was taking quite a beating, and I bet the captain will too the next time they take a look at that ship’s hull. I learned later that the Jewel’s captain was pretty ticked off at the Oosterdam captain for “hogging the view” for a full 2 hours, keeping the Jewel from getting closer when she arrived.

 

 

 

Around 6pm our boat turned and started heading away from the glacier, just as the Jewel rounded the bend and came into view. Our boat cheered. I’m not sure if it’s because it was such a majestic sight or because we were frozen like popsicles…or both. Yeah…probably both. It was funny. As we approached the Jewel to board we were getting cheers and cat calls from people on their balcony. Some guy offered to throw me a beer but thought better of it. Someone yelled down asking “where are you coming from? Where is your luggage?” not knowing we were an excursion. They thought we had missed the boat in Juneau and had to rush down to meet them. LOL

 

 

 

 

Edited August 7, 2012 by sdmike

[sdmike]

After getting back and getting dinner we went to see the Russian acrobats (I forget their stage names). They were extremely skilled and the show was very good. Not quite Cirque Dreams (Epic) good, but far better than most ship entertainment fare.

 

After the show we looked for some fun on the ship but since we were not into karaoke or gambling we decided to go watch some Olympics and hit the bed. Thankfully, our excursion in Skagway was in the afternoon. We could sleep in. Good thing…these early mornings were wearing on me (grin).

 

One note here…this was the first of 2 “all you could stuff” laundry nights. I think the second one was Thursday. It was $24.95 for a large, paper bag. It was bigger than the plastic ones they used on the Epic when sailed her.

 

 

 

Got some elephant tonight...

 

 

One more of these for the road. The looked like big ole sausages out there :)

 

Edited August 7, 2012 by sdmike

[sdmike]

Day 5-Skagway

 

We got up in the morning around 8am and got breakfast up in Moderno. They had a small buffet-like spread there, and the restaurant was deserted. Not much selection, but nice and relaxed compared to the Garden Café or Great Outdoors. After breakfast my wife and I decided to walk around Skagway a bit. We paid $2 for a shuttle from Ore Pier down to 7th avenue, the end of the shopping drag, to work ourselves back. Skagway is an 800 person town in the winter, doubling during the summer, and adding 10,000 more people when four ships hit the docks. Think the streets might be crowded? Yep! Not so bad that you couldn’t get around, but certainly were bumping some elbows.

 

 

 

 

 

It didn’t help that all the riff raff from the Pearl was there at the same time (lol!). We flashed NCL gang symbols at the pax visible on the Pearl, knowing we were on the best two ships in Alaska.

 

 

Edited August 7, 2012 by sdmike