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

[YVRteacher]

Too special not to share!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I Ketut (bartender in Magnums) has a friend working on the NCL Encore. They took this photo onboard the Encore as they left Ketchikan. When I Ketut air dropped it my dad asked if I was going to say I took this photo. Nope! Credit goes to a bartender on Encore. You would think my dad would know me better than that!

 

 

 

[YVRteacher]

Ketchikan 1

 

Dad birthday

 

We agreed last night we would wake up on time for breakfast in Moderno.  I set an alarm and got ready and woke my dad up as late as I could. I said happy birthday and he said “oh god.”

 

He was pretty groggy for the first part of the day but did enjoy his breakfast: Eggs Benedict without the English Muffin.

 

I made my usual but it wasn’t good today. The tomato was so sour and the hollandaise sauce was a solid glop. The eggs were good and so was the fruit.

 

When we returned to the room Fajar came to give my dad his own towel cake!

He came back two minutes later to sprinkle it with paper confetti.  Then he tried to sell me some Cruise Next certificates.

 

 

I set up a chair with dad’s gifts and loved watching him open them.

 

“Oh,” he smiled, “Bert AND Ernie!”

 

 

When he saw the Sue Coccia rhinoceros wooden puzzle he said

“Gosh golly that’s beautiful!”

 

Then he went in his room to put away his gifts and saw his towel cake again:

“Oh look at that! 

Wow that’s heavy

That’s pretty amazing!”

 

I said it was his birthday so he got to choose what we did this morning. We don’t arrive in Ward Cove until 1:00pm.

Dad chose the spa and that’s where we are now, surrounded by the most noise a spa has ever heard. It’s awful. 

 

My dad keeps telling me to go to medical. I’m not going to medical. It’s a cold. I can take medicine and get better in a week or not take medicine and get better in about seven days.

 

I forgot to take morning balcony photos so these are late morning spa vantage photos of our stunning sail-in to Ketchikan.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[schmoopie17]

"He was pretty groggy for the first part of the day but did enjoy his breakfast: Eggs Benedict without the English Muffin."

 

If I would ever order Eggs Benedict, it would be without the eggs. Eggs are nasty...

[Kalynan]

Just joined and looking forward to reading !!!

 

Hope you & your Dad have had a great time.

 

We are doing the same B2B route in September and are looking forward to our first visit to Canada & Alaska.

[www3traveler]

Thank you for all the beautiful pictures.

BIG BIG BIG BIG BIG BIG HUG

Love and prayers always

[YVRteacher]

If you are currently on an NCL ship or are boarding one in the next week you may notice a change in management. All the GMs have a conference in Miami this week and they haven’t been able to meet together since before Covid. Food and Beverage managers will be stepping up to the GM position for a week. The moment Rumi left this week the Dear Rumi box in the atrium was changed to the Dear Tyson box.

 

I usually write Rumi a thank you note and tuck it in there because I know a lot of those notes are complaints but I thought it would be weird for Tyson to get a note about how great Rumi is.

 

The Vacation Hero box on the Jewel is full! It always is. 

[YVRteacher]

We are aboard the Aleutian Ballad for the Bering Sea Crab Fisherman’s Tour!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

@libtrek where are you? We missed you? I truly hope you and Rich are ok.

 

 

[www3traveler]

9 minutes ago, YVRteacher said:

If you are currently on an NCL ship or are boarding one in the next week you may notice a change in management. All the GMs have a conference in Miami this week and they haven’t been able to meet together since before Covid. Food and Beverage managers will be stepping up to the GM position for a week. The moment Rumi left this week the Dear Rumi box in the atrium was changed to the Dear Tyson box.

 

I usually write Rumi a thank you note and tuck it in there because I know a lot of those notes are complaints but I thought it would be weird for Tyson to get a note about how great Rumi is.

 

The Vacation Hero box on the Jewel is full! It always is. 

I wondered if Rumi joined his friends in Miami.  Got a note from Steven Saturday, he was on his way to Miami.

This sounds like a wonderful Conference.  

[YVRteacher]

Stop 1

Hauling up the long line 
 

 

 

 

[YVRteacher]

Stop 2

Eagles.  All the eagles. So many eagles.

 

 

[YVRteacher]

Stop 3

Hauling up a crab trap

 

 

[YVRteacher]

More crabs!

 

[YVRteacher]

Stop 4 was the fake king crabs and the fisherman’s memorial.

 

Stop 5

Octopus!

 

 

[YVRteacher]

We didn’t get to touch the giant pacific octopus but there were three baby giant pacific octopuses in the aquarium on board. These creatures are rotated out and are not kept captive for more than a few days.

 

 

 

 

 

 

As we head back to Ketchikan we pass the Coast Guard station

 

 

 

[YVRteacher]

Best excursion ever!

 

look at the sky on the way back to Ward Cove

 

[YVRteacher]

My dad always loves La Cucina but we ate there twice on this cruise and he didn’t really like it all that much. I liked my food but dad gets to choose what he wants for tonight as it’s his birthday! 
 

We were able to get into Cagney’s thanks to our concierge. I asked Armando to join us for dinner.

 

 

The conversation was so great I forgot to take photos.

 

What did we each order?

 

Dad:

Lobster Bisque 1/2 portion

Jumbo Shrimp Skewer (1/2 portion but the waiter brought the cold appetizer Jumbo Shrimp trio instead which I sent back.)

 

Armando:

French Onion Soup

Petit Filet Mignon

Side dish: asparagus

 

Yvonne

Moderno salad bar

 

Sides for the table:

Potatoes au gratin (sheer perfection. I could eat those for breakfast and be happy.)

Grilled Zucchini (also excellent)

Onion rings (a little too greasy but crispy and good. I hate onions but love onion rings)

Broccoli (always order the broccoli for good measure.)  I put some broccoli on dad’s plate, some broccoli on Armando’s plate and some broccoli on dad’s plate.

Dad turned to Armando and said, “do you see what I’m dealing with here?”

 

I was just trying to be helpful and make sure everyone had some green veggies tonight.

 

For dessert, we had this!

 

 

Layers of mocha cake alternating with mocha cream and white sponge cake interspersed with blackberry Coulis. 

 

Sheila, the maître d at Cagney’s cut and served the cake. She made a huge first slice and asked my dad if that was good or if he wanted a bigger or smaller slice. He said that was good.

 

Two minutes later he asked Armando and I (who both had small, normal sized slices) how he ended up with such a giant piece. I told him Sheila asked him and he said that was good.

Dad said “I was trying to be polite!”

 

The cake was light and delicious. I highly recommend the mocha cake!

 

I asked Armando to share the cake with the butlers and we had used a voucher for dinner with wine so Armando took a bottle of wine back for the butlers as well. Merlot goes well with mocha cake, right?

 

[YVRteacher]

We went back to the cabin and I thought dad was going to bed since it was almost 9pm.

 

He came out and said he felt like going to bed but then he told himself it was his birthday and he should go out and have some fun. I told him I would do whatever he wanted to do.

He wanted to go to Maltings for drinks.

 

He also said “it was nice of that chap to have dinner with us.”

 

I look forward to telling this to Armando tomorrow!

 

We really, really loved sharing a meal and conversation with Armando. His parents are both 95 and they met in the army when Americans were recruiting from the Philippines.

He recently taught his mom to text since she couldn’t always figure out how to answer a video call. Armando is a super talented, award-winning photographer and he showed us the montages he created while the Jewel was in Asia. He loved that itinerary.  It took a long time to eat dinner because we were all talking so much we didn’t have time to take bites. I’ve learned my dad does a million times better in a group setting when it is a quiet environment. He literally shrinks into himself when it is noisy like at a bar or in the MDR but engages so much more easily when there is no extra sensory input. It is not always possible to create the ideal setting for dad on a cruise. I guess we could do room service, but dinner with the officers in our cabin would be a bit awkward.

[YVRteacher]

I should have asked this 13 days ago:

Does anyone know how to prevent the Nespresso machine from making the cups overflow?

 

Asking for a (ahem) friend.

 

I stopped using it after the third epic overflow situation.  

 

 

Heads up:

If you like the Macallan whiskey drink it now. In two weeks NCL is replacing Macallan with Johnnie Walker and the whiskey tasting will be a Johnnie Walker experience.

 

Have I told you about the time I did the Macallan tasting and a mother and son showed up? It was the son’s birthday. As soon as we started the son liked his drink so much the mom said she would buy him a bottle.

She nearly fainted when the bartender told her the price in the gift shop. That was on the Bliss.

Edited May 13 by YVRteacher

[MohrPfun]

OMG OMG OMG!!!!!!!

 

These pictures are amazing!!!  Welcome home and I hope you’re finally feeling a bit better.

 

All of these posts today are just amazing, thank you again for sharing your adventures with Dad!

 

I love the pics of you both with the crabs, but I have to say, Dad’s birthday towel cake made me tear up a little bit and I’m so happy he loved it too!  (His real cake is even more stunning!)

 

This morning I awoke at the 21 day mark with an email to check-in from NCL for our 6/3 sailing on the Jewel and I have my fingers crossed for a towel cake too!  (Our sail date is my actual bday and your father and I also share the same first name)

[ceilidh1]

2 minutes ago, YVRteacher said:

I should have asked this 13 days ago:

Does anyone know how to prevent the Nespresso machine from making the cups overflow?

 

Asking for a (ahem) friend.

 

I stopped using it after the third epic overflow situation.  

 

 

Ooooh, pick me! Pick me! I know!

 

You get a bigger cup!

 

Do I get a gold star?

 

[YVRteacher]

12 minutes ago, MohrPfun said:

OMG OMG OMG!!!!!!!

 

These pictures are amazing!!!  Welcome home and I hope you’re finally feeling a bit better.

 

All of these posts today are just amazing, thank you again for sharing your adventures with Dad!

 

I love the pics of you both with the crabs, but I have to say, Dad’s birthday towel cake made me tear up a little bit and I’m so happy he loved it too!  (His real cake is even more stunning!)

 

This morning I awoke at the 21 day mark with an email to check-in from NCL for our 6/3 sailing on the Jewel and I have my fingers crossed for a towel cake too!  (Our sail date is my actual bday and your father and I also share the same first name)

They really made our birthdays special. We do this trip each year and have had the same concierge for years.

 

I teared up when they brought the cake out for dad!

 

What excursions are you doing?

 

[YVRteacher]

14 minutes ago, ceilidh1 said:

Ooooh, pick me! Pick me! I know!

 

You get a bigger cup!

 

Do I get a gold star?

 

I did that!!!!

 

I made the small drink in the big cup.

 

 

[YVRteacher]

Then I just had a teeny tiny coffee though.

[YVRteacher]

Our new friends figured out how to get a smile out of my dad.

 

They met us at Maltings and said “Happy Birthday, John! Your hair looks great today!”

 

You should have seen my dad beaming!

 

He pats his hair down and rearranges the top 62 strands every time he gets in the elevator and sees himself in the mirror.

 

[MohrPfun]

2 minutes ago, YVRteacher said:

They really made our birthdays special. We do this trip each year and have had the same concierge for years.

 

I teared up when they brought the cake out for dad!

 

What excursions are you doing?

 

We’re following your lead, of course.

 

Let’s see…

 

Hubbard Glacier excursion/boat thingy.

Gondola at Icy Strait.

Streetcar in Skagway.

Jayleen’s whale watching in Juneau.

Sea crab in Ketchikan.

 

FAS+ locked in, Thermal Spa passes secured, and looking forward to making friends with our butler and concierge.

 

Dinners booked are Teppenyaki, Cagney’s, La Cucina and Le Bistro. 
 

The rest we will play by ear.  Your advice that I’ve gleaned from your reports is invaluable, thank you so much!  (Especially since my husband is also a vegetarian, so that aspect has helped immeasurably in my planning too)