ute_fan

When's your cruise?  We sailed on 6/15, which happened to be a very cool and rainy week.  They didn't use the outside dining on the Waterfront at all.

1 minute ago, sailawaybellaluna said:

Thank you! 

 

Also wondering if there are any favorites amongst the free main dining rooms? I have just made most of our reservations for dinner each night in the Manhattan, with only one reservation in each Savor and Taste. My understanding is that Savor and Taste are both opened for lunch on sea days - is that right?

The 3 MDR's share the same dining room and have the same dinner menus.  We've always preferred the aft restaurant on the other ships, which would be the Manhattan on the Joy.  We ate there twice, but ended up deciding we preferred Taste and Savor this time.  The tables seemed closer together in the Manhattan, and the noise level was worse.  The first time we ate there we ended up with a huge family at the tables next to us (probably 25-30 people, including small kids). We had a great table right by the aft windows, and ended up with 3-4 of the small boys in the family right behind my chair.  The family was very noisy -- lots of talking and laughing, and we literally couldn't hear ourselves thing.  No fault of NCL obviously.  The next night they seated us right by one of the stations where they stage the meals, and again it was hard to carry on a conversation.

We dined at Savor the next time for lunch, and found a waiter who recognized us from a Jewel cruise. He floated between Taste and Savor depending on the meal, and we ended up asking to be seated in his area as he took very good care of us.  I prefer Taste, but the only real difference between those two was the decor.  

I was in a regular balcony room on our recent Joy cruise and got them too. The first few times we sailed we got them (10-15 years ago) and then they stopped sending them and you had to print them. 

No idea why we got them this time. 

Didn't have any real issues with mine the middle of June.  Flying from SLC to SEA, so it was a short flight.  Flight to SEA was later arriving than I would have preferred (11:45 arrival time) and later leaving (6:30 departure time), but no real issues other than some stress on my part.

Both flights were on time and arrived slightly early.  I really don't like flying in the day of sailing and would never do it for a longer flight, especially one with connections, but these ones worked fine.

I don't think Jay is back in business either.  We went our with Jayleen the week of 6/15, and it sounded like her parents are happily retired and living off the sale of Harv & Marv's.  I'd also contacted Steve and referred another group from our roll call to him.  His company is https://www.alaskahumpbackadventures.com/ while Jayleen's is https://jayleensalaska.com/.  I wouldn't hesitate to go with either one of them.  We had a great trip with Jayleen, and also went out with Steve when he was still working for Harv & Marv.

Another of Jayleen's uncle's is working for another company, but I forget which one it was.

1 hour ago, Alaska0799 said:

Harv and Marv and Jayleen are very good. But over our 12 cruises and numerous whale watch operators, Captain Steve of Alaska Humpback Adventures is unparalleled for small boat whale watching!  Check out reviews on TripAdvisor.  Connect with him at 907.209.7005.

We went with Captain Steve when he was working for Harv & Marv.  He is also very good.  Turns out he's related to Jay from Harv & Marv's and is Jayleen's uncle.  

18 minutes ago, esm54687 said:

How recent was your cruise because the "free" iMessage loop hole was closed some time ago.....  you now need an internet package to use iMessage. 

 

The NCL application is indepent of any internet package and every phone is required to purchase the texting / calling piece at a cost of approx $10 to communicate with each other EVEN if you have an internet package.. the free part is for shipboard information only. 

Sailed on 6/15, got back 6/22/19.  This was very recent.

17 minutes ago, Ptroxx said:

Just curious.  With the iPhone what phone service do you have that was working to message ?     

Also were you able to connect to the internet ?  In port or away?   

 

 

I have Sprint -- and it worked better than I expected. On the ship I was in airplane mode though, so not using my service.  We did have internet available on the ship because we had the internet package.  In port it was spotty.  Ketchikan I had it sitting in the middle of the water while we were going out to halibut fish.  Juneau was a little spottier, and Skagway we had it right in town -- and then picked up service in Carcross too.

23 hours ago, Paul Bogle said:

We were able to fly in the day before departure for a $25 deviation fee. Our understanding is that you can fly in up to five days early for the $25 and fly back up to five days after the cruise returns for another $25. I'm very surprised this isn't available from the DFW metroplex.

21 hours ago, Nola26 said:

2 days, not 5

Interesting, because we tried a couple of different times to change our flight times and they wouldn't let us -- and this was like 2 weeks before.  We were told since the tickets had already been issued we couldn't change them.  The first time we called we just asked if we could change times and they said no, and the second time we asked if we could change and fly in a day early -- and the answer was still no.  Don't know what we were doing wrong!

We did have the free airfare.  Flying from SLC to SEA our flight left at 10:30 and was due in at 11:45.  The ship sailed at 5, so I was feeling pretty nervous.  Coming back, we didn't leave SEA until 6:30, so we spent most of the day just sitting at Seatac.  I did end up using some of my skymiles (we were on Delta) and upgrading to first class, so that we would be off the plane as early as possible and able to get to baggage claim and get our bags and get to the bus transfer quickly.  It ended up working fine and we were on the ship by 1:30.  The added benefit that I didn't realize is that first class entitles to you to free checked bags, so we didn't have to pay the baggage fees on the way out.

16 minutes ago, merinski said:

We were able to imessage on RCCl Anthem on & off the ship to home as well. What ship were you on NCL?

We will be on Joy in Oct. This would be good.

On the Joy!  Since we were in Alaska there were a few places, where we were in narrow mountainous areas and the WiFi didn't work at all that we couldn't iMessage, but that was the exception and not the rule.

 

6 hours ago, dhanderson said:

We used Harv & Marv in 2017. Great trip on a small boat - 8 people. This time we are going on a 6 passenger boat with Jayleen's Alaska. Jayleen is the daughter of one of the original owners of Harv and Marv, and was a guide for them before starting her own business. I've communicated with her by email and phone and can tell she loves what she does. And from all thre revies I've read, she's very good at it also.  Excited to meet her in person.

We went whale watching with Jayleen on our trip on 6/15!  She was excellent.  She learned how to boat at age 11, and frequently went out with her Dad when he was still involved with Harv & Marv.  We were her only two passengers and had a great time with her.  

A little clarification from our recent trip.  We had the 250 minute internet plan.  Put your phone on airplane mode once you board, turn on the wireless, and login to the app.  That uses a free WiFi available on the ship and doesn't consume any of your internet time.  The app is useful for things like making dinner reservations, or seeing what activities are going on around the ship, etc.

In addition, if you're sending iMessages with an iPhone, you can use them without any charge -- whether or not you're on the ship.  My hubby and I were able to text each other without using any of our minutes this way, and could also text my daughter who was at home dealing with a sick baby.  This ONLY work with iPhones, not phones that send regular text messages.

We also had trouble trying to sending message to phones that didn't use iMessage.  Even though we had the wireless, they simply wouldn't send if it wasn't an iMessage.  Don't know if that would have changed if we'd paid the $10 device charge, but since we didn't need to use it to communicate on the other ship, we never paid that.

I didn't see any diet choices on our cruise on the Joy except Diet Pepsi -- but I didn't specifically ask.

Same issue with our cruise which returned 6/22.  I'm not planning on cruising again soon, so it's not a huge issue -- but I'm hoping it will show up before I forget about it and lose the points.

We stayed in one of the picture window cabins on the Jewel back in 2007.  No issues at all with noise.  What we found annoying was that it's hard to get there from here.  The aft elevators don't to down to deck 5 -- which isn't an issue as the rooms are all mid-ship or forward.  However, in order to get to the MDR at the back of deck 6, you had to go up to deck 7 as you can't go from forward or midship to aft on deck 6.  The kitchens are in the way.  The forward/midship venues on deck 6 didn't have the same problem, just the main dining room.  

Been a long time ago, but if I remember correctly that MDR Is actually half a flight of stairs down from deck 7 to enter the MDR, and then another half flight of stairs from the reception desk down to the seating level.  There was one elevator for passengers with accessibility that you could get to from the main floor of the dining room. 

It wasn't a huge deal, but do be aware of it.

17 hours ago, ErLee said:

We went out with Jayleen on June 15th, and I second the recommendation! It was fabulous! Such a personal experience, and Jayleen is a delightful young woman with all kinds of mad skills and knowledge of those waters. We were lucky enough to find a mother with her 6 month old calf who was feeling playful. That baby breached repeatedly for at least 45 minutes....it was unforgettable!

I'm jealous!  We had a Mom and calf (Flame and Bunsen ??), but they weren't breaching.  Isn't it wonderful when they do?

On 6/25/2019 at 12:15 PM, Coral said:

A friend is going on a family trip. Interested in a private whale watching. Family number is 14 but 2-4 may not go whale watching.

Wanted to give a friend a list of choices that will accommodate her group.

If you're interested in going in Juneau, Harv & Marv's now has bigger 18 passenger boats.  You can either rent the entire boat for yourself or split it with others, assuming they have availability for your date.

I love the Jewel class ships!  There's not much difference between the Jewel and the Pearl, and we did an Alaskan cruise in 2008 on the Pearl in an inside cabin.  It was an unplanned trip -- but thanks to a $200 credit from NCL for some issues we had on our 2007 Jewel cruise (due to it being the first sailing of that itinerary) and a $200 airfare credit from Delta for an overbooked business flight, we decided to go, but needed to do it as cheaply as possible.

Our inside cabin was on deck 8.  Deck 7 on the Jewel class ships is the promenade deck.  At that time, at least, they had a lot of chairs and loungers on deck 7, and we treated it as our own personal balcony.  I can't promise that they're still there since it's been several years, but between that seating and other indoor public spaces where I could see out, I didn't really miss a balcony that much.  A couple of my favorite indoor areas on the ship were the card room and the library.  They were seldom used, and had nice windows to look out of.  

We just got back from the Joy, and in spite of it being a newer ship and recently renovated, I prefer the layout of the Jewel class ships.

 

33 minutes ago, Greenpea2 said:

I don’t see surf and turf on the menu posted...am I missing that or is that a special?

We were on the Joy last week (sailed 6/15), and it was on their regular menu.  A filet and lobster tail, with the $10.99 upgrade charge.  

I didn't get pictures of any of the menus this time.  I wonder if there are small differences between the various ships?

22 hours ago, FLAHAM said:

It's a good thing you are willing to pay for lobster cooked "anyway," because the lobster cooked in Ocean Blue isn't cooked very well and is a major disappointment.  Not surprising, as it is previously frozen and not freshly killed.  A good number of alternative entrees that are much better. 

I didn't have lobster, but my husband had the surf and turf which included a filet and a lobster tail -- and also had the upcharge.  He wasn't very impressed with that.  It was quite small, and he said it was a little rubbery.  There were a couple of ladies by us eating whole lobsters and they seemed to be enjoying them, but there was a language barrier so we didn't ask them how they liked them.

Nita -- if you're going to pay the upcharge make sure you get the whole lobster and not just the tail.

Went whale watching with Jayleen last week and can't say enough good things about her.  Our first whale watching trip was with her Dad (Jay) who was one of the original founders of Harv & Marv's.  We'd been out with them two more times, but they didn't have availability at the time we needed, so we went with Jayleen.  My husband and I ended up being her only passengers and had a private whale watching tour!  

She did an excellent job of finding whales for us, and maneuvering her boat so we had the best vantage point possible.  We were able to see multiple whales, and since it was only us and she knew that was what our focus was, she let us whale watch the entire time.  She's very knowledgeable about the whales in the area as she grew up watching them from her home on Shelter Island and was able to identify several of the whales we were looking at.

If you're looking for a whale watching tour in Juneau on one of the small 6 passenger boats, give her a call.    

On 6/15/2019 at 5:56 PM, Budget Queen said:

 

I never tire of the endless beauty and changes on the Klondike Highway.      

 

What about flying??    Have you been to Haines?     Fly one way, ferry the other.   Rent a car drive the Haines Highway???   Murray also has a guide. 😀.      

 

I never worry about weather.    

Didn’t see this before we sailed. Thanks Budget Queen. We went ahead and got

our rental car and drove the Klondike Highway. Getting the rental car was fairly quick - maybe 20 minutes - and the road was beautiful as always. 

Next time we go I’ll consider getting to Haines and renting a car there. Didn’t know Murray had a guide that covered that area too. 

Budget Queen -- on this subject, do you have any particular suggestions for Skagway?  This will be our 5th time there.  First time we rented a car and drove to Emerald Lake.  2nd time we did the Lake Bennett train excursion.  3rd time we did the Davidson Glacier canoe tour.  4th time we did the Yukon Drive and stopped and saw the sled dog puppies.

I currently have a car reserved in Skagway, but really don't know if I want to do that again.  Yes, it's beautiful -- but the weather forecast isn't looking super great and I don't know if I care about seeing it in cloudy, showery weather.  Anything else that's worth doing?

7 minutes ago, AlanF65 said:

It might also be dependent on how many ship /passengers are in port. if Ovation and 2-3 other ships are there lots of people in town.

Good point.  The NCL Bliss and NCL Joy are both big ships and are in port that day, along with the Golden Princess and Radiance of the Seas.

20 minutes ago, verobay said:

I remember walking past several little booths selling same-day excursions. We didn't investigate much else so I can't comment on price or variety available, but we saw at least 2 or 3 booths on the way into town. There's probably more if you're looking for them.

Thank you!  That was what I was wondering.  We've always had something booked and I haven't paid attention to whether there were any available.