Live from the NCL Spirit B2B July 5-19, 2023 (more sarcasm and grumpiness!)

[YVRteacher]

17 hours ago, justhappy said:

Beautiful review, beautiful photos and amazing adventures with your dad.

I’m loving it ❤️

Thank you!

Both my dad and I are loving Alaska and being on the Spirit. My only regret is we waited so long before cruising on the Spirit.

[vacation44]

Duplicate 

Edited July 11, 2023 by vacation44

[vacation44]

2 hours ago, YVRteacher said:

Thank you!

Both my dad and I are loving Alaska and being on the Spirit. My only regret is we waited so long before cruising on the Spirit.

Are you loving the Spirit more than the Jewel?  I know how much you love the Jewel and her crew.

[TheGuys16]

Thanks for your review!  I think it is just wonderful that you are able to travel with your dad and have this time together.  I am still snickering at your dad’s comment, “when do they bring the beer?”  I like his style.

[LauraAnneC]

I think if they served cocktail’s and beer in the spa, I’d never leave!

[www3traveler]

Thank you for all the wonderful pictures.  

WOW!!  I did not realize how large an area the slides on the hillside near the Skagway piers cover.

[www3traveler]

Did you make it into Hubbard Glacier?  The Spirit's webcam is showing very foggy conditions.

 

How is Dad doing?

 

BIG BIG BIG BIG HUG

 

Love and prayers always

[ChiefMateJRK]

15 hours ago, YVRteacher said:

Remind me which ship you are on. Bliss again? I know how much you liked Six😉

It will be the Sun.  DD can't do the 14 day B2B due to w%#k, so ten or eleven days is next best thing.  Plus, we haven't been to Haines, Hubbard Glacier or Sitka, so those are newbies for us.  We'll also actually spend a proper day in Victoria, so bring on them butterflys and gardens!!  (that's for DW and DD🤣)

 

No!!, I told you it is Guinness and Siglo I like, "d@mnit!!!"  Don't make me come up there sister!😎🐀

Edited July 11, 2023 by ChiefMateJRK

[destar]

19 hours ago, YVRteacher said:

Both my dad and I are loving Alaska and being on the Spirit. My only regret is we waited so long before cruising on the Spirit.

Enjoying your review, thanks.

 

Our first cruise was a Grand Mediterranean cruise on the Spirit, did enjoyed that ship. Love to see you and dad are enjoying this together. Hopefully I'll have that experience one day with my daughters. I love beers too, enjoy lots of cold beers with dad. 

[YVRteacher]

Catching up!

I haven’t been able to get WiFi since leaving Icy Strait Point.  This post picks up where we left off yesterday, in the middle of the woods in ISP. We headed toward the Spasski River on the boardwalk over the bog.

 

 

We have done this tour before and have seen bears once and no bears twice. Today was a no-bear day. Well, there was that tiny moving black dot waaaaay off in the distance.

 

This is the Spasski River and surrounding valley.

Essentially we paid a lot of money for a crowded walk in the woods.  Normally we tip our tour guides and tip them well.  I didn’t see anyone tip our guide today and that sadly sums up his lack of effort and his not-great guiding skills. He spoke so softly only the people right next to him could hear what he was saying and he spent way too much time telling us about his wife in Thailand.  I know how much she weighs (105 pounds) what she enjoys eating (shrimp) where her friends live (Juneau) what she has to do to get a spousal Visa, what she doesn’t like her husband to eat and what her future dreams encompass. 

This was supposed to be a wildlife viewing excursion and this is the wildlife:

This is as close as we came to a bear

[YVRteacher]

A redeeming quality of the tour is that the tour company who handles ISP finally purchased non-rickety buses. Woo-hoo.

 

After such a crummy excursion we needed to sweeten the day so contributed to the Salvation Army by trying the mini doughnuts. The best part of Icy Strait Point was the doughtnuts. Dad chose blueberry and I was drawn to the snickerdoodle. Both were scrumptious.  Dad ended up with powdered sugar on his beard, shirt, pants, shoes and binoculars.

 

Me: Those doughnuts were delicious!

Dad: darn right!

With three ships in port the cannery, shops, transporter and restaurants were crowded. We quickly navigated away from the crowd toward the peace of the beach with lapping waves. We walked a long way then felt hungry for Cagney’s lunch so headed back to the tender.  Seeing the long line for the transporter, I asked my dad if he wanted to take it or walk.

He decided walk then swore the whole time at the length and steepness of the path.  

[YVRteacher]

Photos from Icy Strait Point

 

[YVRteacher]

We had a wait in the tender as more passengers needed to board before we could zip back to the Spirit. Lady Gaga was playing so my dad said at least they have good music!

 

We were so hungry we went right to Cagney’s. @Seas2mountains you mentioned Katerine. I’d love to say hi from you but I don’t know your name. (All the staff in Cagney’s are wonderful and kind.)

 

Dad isn’t always hungry for lunch but all that walking today increased his appetite and he loved his crab cakes and his brownie. I had a burgerless Brie burger with Brie, avocado, lettuce and tomato. 

 

This was part of our lunch time conversation:

 

Me, looking at the calendar, “we are back here in Icy Strait Point next week and we don’t have anything booked.  We can wait and see what the weather is like.”

 

Dad: I want to go ziplining!

 

Me, with glee, “really??!!”

 

Dad: “no! What do you think I am? A twit?”

 

Emoji Movie Title Trivia was in the atrium at 2:00 and I wanted to play. Dad said he would come along. I told him it was a family event and he couldn’t swear at the questions. 

 

Me: Do you know what an emoji is?

Dad: No

 

We didn’t win.🥴😂😆

[YVRteacher]

Where did we leave off?

Oh yes, Emoji Movie Trivia.  We tend to always be checking in with each other so I said to my dad, “I chose this activity. What do you want to do next?

He said take a nap. 

I said of course he could take a nap and I could read. Then he decided he really didn’t want a nap. He wanted to go to the top deck and walk around. We were halfway around when we were waylaid by a whale. Frederick is his name (given to him by the locals since this is Frederick sound) and solo bubble net feeding is his game. We spent an hour watching Frederick from the Spirit. Because we were so high up we could clearly see his movement and his motives. It was fascinating!  Jayleen told us that some whales can bubble feed on their own but that it is fewer than 1% of all humpbacks. Frederick is the local whale who lives in the shallow waters surrounding ISP and Hoonah. He is a curious whale and we once saw him come up to a group of kayakers just as they pushed off from the beach. They spent most of their kayak tour sitting in 3 feet of water taking selfies with a whale. I would HAVE 😉done the same.

 

Frederick approached the Princess ship just as an NCL tender boat made the turn to swing into place at the dock. Essentially Frederick cut off the tender boat. The tender boat driver stopped the tender right away then kept the boat still in the water. We watched Frederick swim on over to the tender for a looky loo.  Then we watched the tender boat reverse and slowly back away. It was like what humans are supposed to do when they encounter a black bear. We were really hoping the tender boat driver had his phone in his pocket because those photos would be Instagram-worthy!

 

The free whale watching was delightful, the sun was out and the hot tubs surrounding the main pool deck were not crowded. The hot tubs at Spice H2O were like people soup.  We found a hot hot tub (unlike most NCL hot tubs which are lukewarm) and spent a couple hours luxuriating in bliss.

 

I made sure dad wore his hat! He got thirsty so we had to get out for drinks. No drinking in the hot tubs on this ship. It is enforced. 

 

Our dinner reservations were for some bizarre time so we just showed up at Onda at 5::30 and our favourite maître d, Luke, took great care of us. From start to finish we enjoyed excellent service and food. 

 

We ordered a market salad to share, a half order of Scialatielli for dad, half order of spaghetti for me, carrots to share and tiramisu to share.  

When the food came I said to dad, “here, try a carrot.”

 

Dad: “Carrots are for people with bad eyesight. There is nothing wrong with my eyesight. I have perfect eyes.”

 

Me: “you had cataract surgery in both eyes last year!”

 

Dad: “that’s different!”

 

Me: eats all the carrots

The dessert chef who makes the tiramisu on the Spirit should get a gold star (plus a Vacation Hero card!)

Jackson Rayne put on a mystifying, captivating illusion show.  It was the kind of show where one leaves wondering, “how did he do that?” My only critique is 45 minutes of Jackson Rayne wasn’t long enough.  The best part was when he needed audience input for his finale and used the ‘toss the beach ball into the crowd’ method to select three passengers. One was an adult woman, one was an 8ish year old boy and the third was a young lady about 4 years old. Jackson did some mind reading using his grandmother’s favourite book with the woman then guided the two kids through a Las Vegas gambling experience (picture Mad Libs, Vegas edition.) At one point he asked the boy and the girl how much money they wanted to win in Vegas.

There was a lot of whispering back and forth, some negotiating, lots of very serious contemplation.  Eventually they announced the amount:

11.

They want to win a jackpot of $11.

 

Inspired by the big dreams of two children, dad and I went to the casino after the show. This was our arrival conversation

 

Me: how come you never pull my seat out?

Dad: I have to pull out my wallet!

 

 We had a lot of fun (it’s such a great casino with a fun vibe, awesome staff and interesting machines) and best of all no smoke. A more professional gambler would have different criteria for a fun casino but I am thrilled with the smoke-free experience. We sat down next to a really nice guy who taught my dad how to play a kind of complex video slot (the kind where it cycles through 10 plays then adds up all the bonuses hit in those 10 plays then you find out if you win anything or not.) We won a big jackpot (sarcasm!) of $86. Dad was thrilled.

 

We spent about an hour in the spa between the casino and bed time.  We were the only people there.

When I get home where the WiFi is unlimited (and a bra is optional) I am going to google where to buy a heated ceramic lounger.

 

Me: what’s our drink tally for today?

Dad: I had one glass of water!

 

Actual drink tally:

Dad

3 regular beers

2 Italian beers

 

Yvonne

1 painkiller

1 rum and Coke

1 signature Mai Tai

2 Palermo Old Fashioneds (I may have discovered a new favourite drink!)

 

 

 

 

[YVRteacher]

Hubbard Glacier

 

I was awake at 5am to see we were shrouded in fog. I knew the Spirit hadn’t made it to Hubbard Glacier the last two weeks so fell back asleep wondering if we would see a glacier today or not. 

At 7 am the alarm clock that sounded suspiciously similar to Cruise Director Jerry woke me up. The small glacier explorer excursion boat was boarding on the Starboard side. Two new Cruise Critic friends (plus 128 other passengers) were on that boat so I stepped onto the balcony to take some photos.  

Chilly out there!

Hopefully this will be us next week, but in the afternoon instead of early morning.

 

Once the excursion boat left Jerry announced that this would be as close as we get to Hubbard Glacier today as there is too much ice in the water.

 

Um, really?

 

This photo is with the regular camera lens, not zoomed at all and no filters (I never use filters.)

The closest we got to the glacier today was 7 miles. The people who went on the excursion were 1/2 mile away.

 

Here is the same view with a 5x zoom.

When I was a teenager my mom’s friend’s daughter had a baby. My mom’s friend went to visit her grandson and called my mom afterward. The meeting must have been uneventful and anticlimactic because my mom’s friend complained that “he didn’t even do anything.” This is the story that came to mind while glacier viewing today. We looked at ice. Nothing happened.

 

Dad felt NCL should have sent some whales our way to entertain us.

 

In one of my better life choices. I used the breakfast order form and hung it on the door handle before bed last night. Do you know what goes really well with an early morning glacier viewing? Room service coffee and chocolate croissants. Oh yes we did!!

 

One word to describe today’s glacier viewing:

peaceful

 

Edited July 12, 2023 by YVRteacher

[YVRteacher]

Like brown bears emerging from hibernation, we left the cabin about 9:30am.  We watched the end of trivia, chatted with Ray and went to the Shore Ex to describe our experience yesterday in Icy Strait Point. I will keep you updated with how NCL handles this.

 

We had a little bit of time before the next event so went to the casino and played the Irish Luck game. Hit a bonus. Won some money. Cashed out.

 

On the way to cake decorating I saw the officer who was leading the medical team when there was a code alpha on Sunday. I asked if the man was okay and he said he was fine. I have been so worried all week and I’m so glad the gentleman is alright.

 

Edited July 12, 2023 by YVRteacher

[YVRteacher]

We just did Sail and Sustain Mixology so I apologize in advance for all babbling, typos and grammatical errors. My brain is full of booze!

 

We are having the best sea day!

 

We laughed all the way through cake decorating, thanks to Cruise Director Jerry! This guy could have a career as a stand up comic! Thank you @Seas2mountains for the recommendation! The last time we saw a cake decorating this good was with cruise director Soozie (who now works for NCL corporate in Florida) comedian Tim Kaminski and pianist/singer/king of sarcasm (my hero) Jim Badger.  

Our cake makers today are lead pastry chef Shirley, Cruise Next Manager Stephanie and (pro?) Black Forest cake maker/Cruise Director Jerry.  There was whipped cream squirted into mouths (including that of the videographer!) tossed cherries flying through the air, cake doused in kirsch,  bites of cake stuffed in mouths,   chocolate shavings sampled by the handfuls (by both Jerry and the kids) and, to top it off, a triple cake tossing contest in which entire cakes were thrown into the air, flipped and caught. Picture the Olympic diving event but with Black Forest Cake.  Jerry pulled off the elusive double flip and the crowd went wild.

If you are on the Spirit or any other ship with Jerry, clear your calendar so as not to miss cake decorating.

 

Sail and Sustain Mixology was so much fun!

 

Each ship does it differently and today we had the Spirit’s dream team:

Jocelyn 

Froilan

Rustan

Kurt (head bartender)

Christine (assistant beverage manager)

They did a choreographed cocktail mixing presentation with the 4 bartenders all making a different drink at the same time.  

Christine and Kurt did the teaching.  There were 3 passengers (all Canadian and all of us are B2B) and these talented bartenders kept us laughing and informed.  What a lively event! My dad asked me if we get to do this again next week and was thrilled to find out we do. 

 

Today my favourite was Cafe Replay.  All the drinks were well-made and Christine convinced us to come to the afternoon Margarita tasting in Henry’s Pub. Note: by convinced I mean asked once and we said yes right away! More time with Christine, Kurt, Froilan and Ruston? Yes please! (Jocelyn went to tend the bar at The Local.) I don’t know what makes the drinks so good on the Spirit.  Happiness?  Very likely.  I’ll write more about our overall experience at the end of our cruise next week but will confirm what fans of the Spirit already know: cruising on the Spirit is what cruising is meant to be. I’m so glad we get to do another week on board this beautiful ship with her incredible people.

Edited July 12, 2023 by YVRteacher

[YVRteacher]

20 hours ago, vacation44 said:

Are you loving the Spirit more than the Jewel?  I know how much you love the Jewel and her crew.

It’s a tie!  My dad says they are like sisters!

 

[YVRteacher]

16 hours ago, TheGuys16 said:

Thanks for your review!  I think it is just wonderful that you are able to travel with your dad and have this time together.  I am still snickering at your dad’s comment, “when do they bring the beer?”  I like his style.

He does love his beer!

Thank you for reading!

[YVRteacher]

11 hours ago, www3traveler said:

Did you make it into Hubbard Glacier?  The Spirit's webcam is showing very foggy conditions.

 

How is Dad doing?

 

BIG BIG BIG BIG HUG

 

Love and prayers always

We did!  I’m really hoping new Cruise Critic friend will come here to write about her experience today on the excursion to Hubbard Glacier.

 

Dad is doing great.  He is happy!  He can get from one place to another on the Spirit by himself now. He enjoyed Icy Strait Point more than I did. The Spirit is an amazing ship with an incredible team on board.  The weather this week made for lots of port time and lots of exercise. Dad is eating well, drinking beer every day, enjoying all the music and shows and onboard experiences. 

[YVRteacher]

8 hours ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

It will be the Sun.  DD can't do the 14 day B2B due to w%#k, so ten or eleven days is next best thing.  Plus, we haven't been to Haines, Hubbard Glacier or Sitka, so those are newbies for us.  We'll also actually spend a proper day in Victoria, so bring on them butterflys and gardens!!  (that's for DW and DD🤣)

 

No!!, I told you it is Guinness and Siglo I like, "d@mnit!!!"  Don't make me come up there sister!😎🐀

Oh shoot. Did you say Guinness and Siglo? I thought it was Aragon and Boleyn!

[www3traveler]

Sounds like a wonderful 1st week.  Glad you have been able to find lots of good things to eat and Dad is finding some good beer.

 

Please give my love and Thanks to Hasan.  Did he eve find time to have dinner with you.  Did you do the "Dining with an Officer"?  Sometime the term "Officer" leaves a lot to be desired.

 

I pray that this week's cruise is another grand adventure.

 

BIG BIG BIG BIG HUGS

 

Love and prayers always

[UKstages]

7 hours ago, YVRteacher said:

We had a wait in the tender as more passengers needed to board before we could zip back to the Spirit. Lady Gaga was playing so my dad said at least they have good music!

see? this is what I mean! haters always be like “norwegian don’t have no entertainment.” (grumble, grumble, moan, moan.) here, they’ve apparently hired lady gaga not just for one of the smaller ships, but to play on a tender! way to go, NCL… bravo! what a special treat that must’ve been! did she do an acoustic show or did she have a whole big band? (in which case, did people complain about having fewer seats on the tender? haters gonna hate!)

 

7 hours ago, YVRteacher said:

We had a lot of fun (it’s such a great casino with a fun vibe, awesome staff and interesting machines) and best of all no smoke.

you’ve mentioned this a couple of times and this appeals to me tremendously. i only sail the newer ships specifically because they have non-smoking casinos. my understanding was that the older ships all have 100% smoking casinos. i’m surprised to learn that’s not the case.

[KACTravels]

You are bringing back so many memories!  Bailey and I saw Fredrick Bubble feed off Spice H20, although we didn’t know his name or backstory. We love Jackson Rayne too!  When you see Froilan again, please tell him Bailey and I said Hello and we hope to see him soon. 

[warb]

Great Report as always.  Wow, you mentioned Tim Kaminski. Met him

on the Jewel a long time ago. Great Guy. Does anyone know where he is

now?