Live from the Jewel April 29-May 13, 2024: will definitely contain sarcasm and grumpiness

[carohs]

Aww looks like you had a great birthday day, even with the rain. Happy late birthday 🎂  🎉 

 

I'd never seen a towel cake before. So awesome! Note to self: take a birthday cruise and eat all the cake and ice cream I could ever want. 

[YVRteacher]

3 hours ago, ihate2cruise said:

Thank Goodness!!! I do not eat sweets at home, when I am on vacation I eat what I want and Cruise Cookies are a MUST for ME 😉  All the talk of vanishing cookies on NCL had me feeling disappointed. Please save me some 😉 We will be on the May 20th Cruise! BTW- did they have scoop hard Ice Cream at the buffet?

No hard ice cream at the Garden Cafe but all the restaurants have it. 

[YVRteacher]

1 hour ago, mjcatlvr said:

So enjoying all of your posts Yvonne. We will be taking my 89 year old father on the beautiful Jewel 07/29/24. If you had a second could you please snap a picture of the breakfast and lunch menus for the Haven diners? I can't seem to find them online with much searching. Thank you in advance 😊

Sure! I will do that today.

[YVRteacher]

3 hours ago, ihate2cruise said:

Happy Belated Birthday!! Let's here it for May Babies. My dad's birthday was also in May, we shared many cruises and vacations together and I have those wonderful memories...I will be celebrating my(milestone) birthday on board in Juneau on the 23rd.

 

Did you know that the Alaskan Fudge Company in Juneau has birthday cake truffles?? They are amazing.

 

Happy Birthday to you in advance!!

[YVRteacher]

18 hours ago, CptBoatface said:

Happy Birthday! May you Pack as much fun in as you can!

I see what you did there!

[YVRteacher]

3 hours ago, Disney Deb said:

Happy birthday a day late, Yvonne! Your day looks like it was fantastic. Did your dad get his laundry back yet? Love this trip review!

It’s 8:00am and my dad is still asleep so we have the do not disturb sign showing. I’m sure I’ll hear about the laundry first thing when he wakes up.

 

I think I need to create a quieter day for my dad today. He was so grumpy yesterday. We are in Skagway all day but our excursion doesn’t meet until 1:00 so I think we will stay in the cabin a bit today. I’m good with some quiet time too.

 

We have Dinner with the Officers tonight so I’m hoping that a quiet day will allow dad to enjoy the dinner. Or at least come to the table and not sit there and scowl. 

[YVRteacher]

This is the last photo I took of Juneau yesterday 

 

Still raining.

 

 

[YVRteacher]

I did not get my free Starbucks birthday drink yesterday.  I had no room.

 

I’m up and about now and confirm we are docked at Railroad aft. 

 

We need to walk up the ramp, through the containers that provide wind and weather protection then take a shuttle past the rock slide.

 

 

 

 

Time for fresh paint

 

Our excursion meets where the shuttle drops off.

 

I found out the other day that the port of Skagway is doing repairs to Ore dock (I love being docked there because it’s so close to Yakutania and the helicopter pads) so that is why we are using Railroad dock. The cruise lines are taking turns with which ships get the aft position and shuttles or the forward position and tenders. Our turn for shuttles today.

 

I see sunshine and it is windy and absolutely freezing. 

 

Anyone cruise on the NCL Windward?

 

 

[YVRteacher]

Newsflash:

it is 9:43am and I hear movement from dad’s bedroom

[YVRteacher]

For some reason he is swearing at the underwear drawer.

 

He also swore at the water that comes out of the tap.

 

I just love my life.

[YVRteacher]

The ship is doing their full crew emergency drill today. Artificial smoke will be used in today’s drill. 
 

 

[MohrPfun]

16 minutes ago, YVRteacher said:

The ship is doing their full crew emergency drill today. Artificial smoke will be used in today’s drill. 
 

 

I’m sure Dad will love that.  Good luck. 😉

[TheGuys16]

Can we circle back to the kids who stole food off your plates?  I need more details.  First time for everything!

 

Happy belated!

[YVRteacher]

Yes, I can write that story. It needs to be written and read with compassion.  I’ll come back to this-I promise!

[YVRteacher]

So I have 36 minutes of internet left. So few minutes and so many stories to share.

 

I can post words but not photos without using minutes so I’ll keep doing that. I may be offline for the next two days (Ketchikan/my dad’s birthday tomorrow then the Inside Passage and Seymour Narrows on Sunday) before arriving home Monday. I’ll resume posting on Monday.

 

I never know what’s coming through when I’m writing. In my head I’m so sarcastic that I think people interpret it as negative. Our experience on the Jewel has been amazing. My dad and I are both happy, are loving being on board and have absorbed and loved all that Alaska has to offer. We really did sit and watch the rain yesterday. We have been surrounded with love, care and kindness on the Jewel and I can’t say enough about the people who come to this ship to work for anywhere from 16 weeks to 10 months straight to support themselves and their own family and in doing so create a shipboard family for us.

 

 

[YVRteacher]

Skagway part 1

Rough.

 

Rough morning.

 

We arrived at the Garden Cafe for breakfast at 9:55. All the food was being whisked away. I was able to grab a slice of cheese and a half of an English muffin. It was like a scene from a military movie where the forces charged in swiftly and took no mercy, not even for the cantaloupe.

 

The Freestyle Daily lists The Great Outdoors being open. 

It’s not remotely open.

 

A maître d walked by and I asked why it wasn’t open.

He said the weather was too bad.

 

This weather.

It’s a gorgeous day. 

 

I asked where to get food. He said the Garden Cafe. I said they took all the food away. He said there was still food.  We went back to try to get breakfast. 

 

This is what was available.

 

I had to eat so we went to O’Sheehan’s. 

That was a disaster.

 

If you’re going to make fake eggs, at least measure the water correctly. This is the breakfast sandwich.

 

 

 It blows my mind what chefs cook and what waiters serve. At some point a quality check needs to happen. I asked for tomatoes but not potatoes. Neither came.

 

My dad ordered the oatmeal. I’ve had it before and it is supposed to come on a little platter with the oatmeal, some brown sugar, some raisins and some hot milk. Maybe some cinnamon. This is what my dad got. 

 

Just a bowl plunked down in front of him with no accoutrements. The accoutrements are the best part of the oatmeal.

 

We were served cold coffee.

 

Those who know me know how much I adore brunch. It’s my favourite. We have concluded that O’Sheehan’s on this ship is not the place for breakfast. Drinks yes. Eggs no.

 

 

The woman behind us just ordered 14 pieces of bacon plus three entrees. I guess she likes brunch too.

 

We left O’Sheehan’s and went to bracelet making. That was fun! You get a kit and can do what you want. I loved seeing the different designs people created.

 

 

 

 

 

We went back to O’Sheehan’s (it’s the only indoor bar open when we are in port) for morning libations. Hello hot toddy made with cognac!  My first cognac of my life, I believe.  Not the last!!! Oh, this is a good, good drink!

 

Note: neither of us were in a bad mood or let the breakfast experience wreck our day or our morning. 

[YVRteacher]

 I’m on Aurora Borealis watch! Tonight is supposed to be a big, big night in the Northern Lights department.

[YVRteacher]

Having been out on the balcony to blow morning bubbles in port (as one does) I knew how bone-chilling cold it was outside and made sure dad wore all his warm clothing, including the fleece jacket I couldn’t get him to wear in Icy Strait Point. I also made sure he donned warm socks, his toque and had gloves. No one needs a cold dad in Skagway!

 

The shuttle we were forced to take took us longer than it would have to walk and the driver asked for tips. To her credit, on the way back to the ship later this afternoon she gave us the tip that tonight was supposed to be the best Northern Lights in 19 years due to solar activity. 

 

Our excursion met in the same place all the Princess shore excursions met since their tender drop off point and our shuttle drop off point melded once they were off the dock. It was quite chaotic (but bearable) and the signage was poor so be prepared to do some hunting and wending your way through the masses to find your excursion. 

[YVRteacher]

When we were on the shuttle and the driver was telling us about the Aurora Borealis, a man on the bus asked where are we supposed to look.

 

I turned around and said “up.”

 

 

[YVRteacher]

It happened!!

It was magical!!!

 

I had an alarm set for midnight to get up and look UP. At 11:45 I just felt this deep pull to check at that time. 
 

Nothing from the balcony.

 

I got dressed. Nothing matched. I didn’t care.

 

I went up.

 

I heard the excited buzz before even reaching deck 13.

 

Thankfully I Ketut in Maltings taught me how to best photograph the Aurora Borealis using an iPhone.

 

Tonight I saw magic dancing dramatically in the sky and I’ll never never forget

[YVRteacher]

Yes, I came back to the cabin to try to get my dad to come up to deck 13. He has never seen the Aurora Borealis either.

 

Dad really isn’t one for magic and chose to stay in bed.

[mimi'sgirl]

4 hours ago, YVRteacher said:

It happened!!

It was magical!!!

 

I had an alarm set for midnight to get up and look UP. At 11:45 I just felt this deep pull to check at that time. 
 

Nothing from the balcony.

 

I got dressed. Nothing matched. I didn’t care.

 

I went up.

 

I heard the excited buzz before even reaching deck 13.

 

Thankfully I Ketut in Maltings taught me how to best photograph the Aurora Borealis using an iPhone.

 

Tonight I saw magic dancing dramatically in the sky and I’ll never never forget

I am so happy for you!! What an amazing view! That is a bucket list item for me. 

[YVRteacher]

It was so special! People were crying, saying how this was a bucket list item. It seems like there was a 15 minute time frame where they were visible. Maybe they came out later throughout the night too.

[YVRteacher]

@mjcatlvr

Here is the updated Haven breakfast menu. 
Lunch menu coming soon!

[YVRteacher]

Skagway part 2

 

 

I didn’t take a lot of photos today because our driver/guide was so incredible I just wanted to listen to her singing and her stories. We did the Skagway Original Streetcar tour and both rated it 10/10.

 

We did this tour about 10 years  ago and both enjoyed it: this time was even better because our guide (Kylie) put everything she had into our experience on board her streetcar.  My dad and I have now either driven or walked every single street and avenue in Skagway!