alainamarie

We stopped in Issaquah and met up with Cruise Critic Member Alainamarie. She had just gotten back from Alaska on the Jewel and picked up the shirts she had bought for me. We were going to use them as giveaways at the Meet & Greet I was organizing. (Alaina's latest review can be found here: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2642510 )

Alaina is was really nice to meet you in person!

It was great meeting you & Susan! Your review is off to a wonderful start and I can’t wait to relive Alaska with you!!

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Try Wal-Mart or any discount store. Maybe a drug store or the grocery store. I find them in the travel & trial size section. If you can't find the small size, you could always pull some out of a larger container and stash them in a zip-lock bag for your trip. I believe I have the Lysol wipes.

 

 

 

Hope you find what you are wanting!

 

 

 

Patti

I’ve seen them at target and Walmart, but I actually bought a 6 pack cheaper on amazon.

I hope you find it!!

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VERY helpful. Thank you

Happy to help! Let me know if you have any other questions.

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So how exactly does a gift exchange work. I think my roll call is going to do one, but the details haven't been discussed. I'm shopping this weekend and would like to know what to buy. I don't know if everyone brings one gift and there is some way to allocate who gets whose? Or does everyone bring a bunch of small gifts to hand out to everyone?

Hello! The way ours worked was whoever wanted to participate brought a WRAPPED gift from their hometown valued around $15. Be sure everyone wraps it. We had one table designated for gifts and I placed a sticker on nametags as so we knew who was participating. One would hope people wouldn’t grab a gift if they didn’t bring one, but we put a sticker on name tags just to verify.

Once the m&g was over, the person running our gift exchange made an announcement and the gift group walked up to the table and grabbed a gift. The person running it was sure to look at name tags to verify everyone grabbing a gift was legit.

Does this help? Ours was pretty simple but I know some people pull numbers, etc. It was smooth and took a few minutes. I gave a New Orleans glass cutting board - had a New Orleans scene on it. I received a calendar, towel, and oven mitt from Ireland and LOVE it!

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Day 9 Dailies

Day 8 dailies

Coffee, Donuts, Pastries, Soup, Sandwiches... A nice place to take a break on a road trip.

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Oh, now I'm interested!!

Which part of LA? Spent 3 years in Shreveport, w/ many trips South

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I was in the New Orleans area - only drove through Shreveport when going to Houston! I surely am not missing the heat right now!

You've never been to Tim Horton's? Now that's just sad. We generally stop at one, two or three... when we drive through Canada, between Alaska & the Lower 48. You'll have to check them out, next chance you get. We were very surprised to see Tim Horton's has moved to the Lower 48 - we saw a number of them a week ago in Michigan...

I’m from south Louisiana, so I’ve never heard of it. But now I’m wildly curious about it! I don’t even know what type of food they serve!

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I’m just realizing that I did not post day 8 & 9 dailies... I will post those tomorrow!

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Alaina --

 

Thanks for the fantastic review & pictures!!! You took us right along with you.

 

We have never written a review... You may have inspired us to write one in the future...

 

 

 

Talkeetna is a fantastic place to visit & live. Let us know if you ever make it up here. A spur of the moment Alaskan vacation in 2000 - motivated my permanent move. Johnny & I managed Denali Lodges once upon a time -- currently work for an Alaskan Native Corporation.

 

 

 

Congratulations & Best Wishes to you & Paul!! Wishing you a long & happy life together filled w/ travel...

 

Cheers -- Von & John

Thank you for all of your kind comments and encouragement during this review. I would LOVE to follow along if you decide to write one. I use the notes app on my iPhone to make notes throughout the cruise because I never remember the details.

I love that a vacation inspired a move to Alaska - how awesome!! I would love to visit one day.

Until then, take care and have an amazing cruise!! Keep in touch with me - alainamarie2003 at hotmail dot com.

Alaina

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No pictures of the Tim Hortons you picked up on the way home?

 

 

 

Loved your review. I will introduce myself if I see you around town and will review our Alaska trip (and Jeep tour) later this summer.

I’ve never been to Tim Horton’s, I’m sad I missed out!

Thanks for reading, holler if you find yourself in Issaquah. If you live on lake Sammamish I’ll be your new BFF. [emoji12]

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We were on the same cruise. We ate breakfast, after getting i in either the buffet or the a Great Northern and then would sit in La Cocina. We never, ever had a problem getting a seat in there and most of the time, along the windows. There is a sign to show it was open for sitting for breakfast and lunch. Same as the main dining room on embarkation day in Seattle. Staff tried to steer us to the buffet but we went to the dining room and had a great lunch with a window table overlooking the harbor. Nice way to start the cruise.

 

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I found out AFTER the cruise that you could sit in La Cucina. We would have happily done this if someone said anything.

On embarkation, we weren’t starving for a big meal, so we thought O’Sheehans would do the trick (snacks). I definitely know to do MDR next time!

What a great review Alaina, thanks for putting in the time to do such a great one. You have a talent for writing. Thanks again!

Thank YOU for taking your time to read it! I’m so glad you enjoyed it!

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Thanks for your awesome review! Going next week and it was so fun reading about your trip. We also booked a post tour with Landsea and it was good to see they treated you so well.

They were awesome to work with. They did run a little late, but I had no place to be! Thanks for reading and have an awesome trip!!

I have been following your posts from the beginning... waiting for the last one to thank you for taking the time to share your experience. It was a huge investment on your part but has helped so many people. I am cruising Alaska on the Jewel in August. I haven't been on a cruise ship in 18 years and don't remember much about it, and I have never been to Alaska. I will be traveling with my family, including my Autistic daughter, so I plan plan plan plan trips to help improve the chance of success. So I've been gobbling up whatever information I can find to prepare me for the trip. Your thread was just the ticket... very honest and informative. And you seem to be just the most delightful person. Congratulations on your marriage and I wish you all the best...

Thank you for the kind wishes! You are too sweet.

I am so happy this review helped guide you in some way. You will have an amazing trip and you will have memories to last you a lifetime! Enjoy!

Great review Alaina!

 

 

 

I will get my review going in a few days!

I’m shaking with excitement waiting on your review!!! Thanks for following along, I’m so glad you experienced better service and overall food quality than we did. I knew it would only get better!

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Thanks for your excellent review. You've given me a lot of good ideas for the next time we cruise to Alaska, which I'm sure we will do.

Thank you so much for following along! Reviews help so much with my planning as well. For instance - the arctic cat tour in ISP from the review I read. I would have never discovered that on my own!

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And my last photo from the trip -

I can't believe my review is actually over! I loved this itinerary, but I will say it was exhausting! I'm so glad we visited Sitka and ISP in addition to the standard Alaska route. 6 ports kept us busy, but we wouldn't change a thing about the itinerary.

Please let me know if you have any questions or if you need any elaboration.

Thank you for reading - I hope you found at least one piece of information helpful through this journey.

By this point in the day, I just wanted to be home. I had zero desire for a train ride because I was exhausted. I am glad I chose this route home because it was beautiful!

Lunch - this was not a covered item for our tour, however, the driver gave us over an hour at Granville Island market. The market was incredible and I bought a couple of snacks. I was more interested in finding wifi, so I did a bit of walking before heading back to the bus. The market was incredible - soooo many options and ethnic foods. I would spend a lot of time here if I lived nearby.

I was dropped off at Pacific Central Station along with one other couple. Drop off was included in the tour. It is so beautiful inside of the station, but I felt so flustered trying to figure out what to do. They had not formed lines yet, but I ended up being first in line for business class. Then someone behind me said we had to weigh suitcases, so I went to get my bigger bag weighed. I was right at 50 pounds - woohoo!!!

Boarding was pretty quick, you turned in your customs form and had your passport in hand.

I was the first one on board!

Yay, a single seat!

I was so hungry that I ended up buying a bunch of snacks and a sandwich -

Day 10: Debarkation / Vancouver June 4, 2018

After a few hours of sleep, our alarms went off just after 6. We were going to get off the ship on our own first thing in the morning so Paul could get to the airport and through customs. My tour wasn't until 10, but I exited the ship with him so I could find where I needed to be.

Paul still had some packing to do, so he finished his packing and then we hit the buffet. I certainly do not miss looking for a table! I always found Garden Cafe hard to find a table, we rarely lucked out with a table and you could typically find us at the Great Outdoors. Our last morning was no different, we ate outside and enjoyed our last few moments aboard. The last day is always crazy.

We found it super easy to exit the ship - there was great signage pointing me where I needed to go (Canada Place is where my tour picked up). Paul grabbed a cab easily, one of the benefits of leaving early is no lines. I waited in the lobby of the Pan Pacific Hotel so I could hop on wifi and have a place to sit with all of my luggage. I had almost 2 hours to wait, so I waited the first hour or so inside, then I ventured outside to check in for the tour. I chose Landsea as the company for a half day tour of Vancouver. It's a great company, I had questions along the way and they always emailed me right back. Our guide was great - so I highly recommend this company.

Canada place - spent a lot of time out here. This is a very busy area, people waiting all over the place for rides and tour pickups. My tour was running late due to the other pickups before me.

My tour of Vancouver begins - you can see the Jewel parked next to the Disney Wonder.

I have loved reading your review so much. Thank you for taking the time to share. I have a Christmas cruise booked on the Jewel (Australia & New Zealand) and don't see too many reviews of her on here (lots on the larger/newer ships). I have loved your honest opinion on things & really enjoyed "going with you" to Alaska. Its a place on my list of cruises to do in the future!

Thank you so much for reading! I’m glad you enjoyed my journey. I have one day left to this trip and it’s a long one!

Take care and enjoy your cruise,

Alaina

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Our bus driver was kind enough to drop us off downtown instead of at the ship - he gave everyone both options. Our first stop was the Empress Hotel.

Inside of the tea room

Michelle guided us to Bard & Banker - a beautiful pub that used to be a bank. She visited here years ago when she was in Victoria and loved it. We had delicious oysters and calamari and drinks. Michelle & Becca had sandwiches and they loved them.

We stayed here for a couple of hours and then shopped a bit. We then found a bus that shuttles cruise passengers. We inquired about the cost, but the driver said to just hop on. Apparently at the cruise port you pay $13 for round trip, but the driver didn't have a credit card machine or accept money so he told us not to worry about it. We felt really bad, but I think he let on several passengers who walked and didn't pay. He did ask how we got downtown and I explained.

Once on board, we went to the Wine & Champagne bar for some last drinks with friends. Paul and I broke away from our friends and went to Azura for dinner around 830p. The food was ok, service was great. I was sure to get my last chocolate lava cake - it's still good!

We had drinks until around midnight then went back to the room for showers and final packing. What a fun cruise this has been! So many friends made and drinks had - it was a really good time. We had some bumps in the road with NCL in terms of service and non-specialty food, but it did not ruin a good time. Alaska is the destination so we kept that in mind.

**I forgot to mention our breakfast this morning at O'Sheehans - we had terrible service yet again. We were going to get our own table, but saw our friends Michelle and Becca, so we joined them (they had just ordered). Paul got so frustrated with waiting for coffee, that he was getting up to get his own. The waiter came at that same moment and went to pour the coffee - Paul happened to ask him if it's decaff and the waiter said yes. That was not the correct answer, sir! Who just pours decaff? I think I ranted about this earlier in the review, so I won't rant again. Either way, breakfast tasted good but service was terrible. I've talked to someone who is currently on the Jewel and he told me the service has been just fine here - so I'm thinking it was our cruise that had this service issue in O'Sheehans.

That's it for the cruise portion - I will write more about debarkation, my Vancouver tour, and Amtrak (cascades rail) soon. So much going on this week, I will try to wrap this review up soon!

We concluded our 2 hour stay in the gardens with lunch because we were starving by this point. We ate here at the Dining Room -