NCL Jewel to Alaska May 20-27 2017 - An Absolutely Amazing Alaskan Adventure!

Very much enjoying the outstanding photos.:)

Thanks so much! I got a new camera for the trip and I was pleased with how most of them came out. I have to say, though, the iphone takes a decent picture! :)

I am really enjoying your cruise review as we are leaving aboard the Pearl on July 9--also in a 2 bd suite though not Haven so I am thankful for your pictures as well. I am looking forward to seeing the rest of it, particularly any comments about your excursions.

I'm also in a 2 bedroom suite on the Pearl's July 9th sailing. Please join our roll call: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2467572 We'd love to have you :)

Such beautiful pictures! Thank you for the detailed and awesome review. We're 37 short days from our own adventure on the Pearl and this really fed my "pre-gaming" of vacation.

As a fellow Eastern time zone traveler, I've been concerned about the time difference. Did you find that you were up early every day? Did you struggle with the change in time zone at all? We're traveling with kids and I suspect we'll be up pretty early and crashing early.

Such beautiful pictures! Thank you for the detailed and awesome review. We're 37 short days from our own adventure on the Pearl and this really fed my "pre-gaming" of vacation.

 

As a fellow Eastern time zone traveler, I've been concerned about the time difference. Did you find that you were up early every day? Did you struggle with the change in time zone at all? We're traveling with kids and I suspect we'll be up pretty early and crashing early.

Thanks for the kind words!

Very good question about the time zone "issue". We did go a day early which helped a bit. But yes, I rose pretty early, as did my daughter... my son could sleep 24 hours a day so can't really use him as an example. I was actually glad of the early rising, as the scenery was just so amazing, especially pulling in to ports. Many of the stops on the Jewel were early so it worked well. I believe the Pearl's stops are later?

It has taken me a bit longer to acclimate to being home :(. I travel a lot for work but I think because we stayed much longer, and ultimately the time change was 5 hours in Skagway, it took it's toll, lol. I'm sure it's not because I'm getting old...

Have a great trip!

May 23 - Dailies!

Enjoying the review.. will be following, I am dying to see Alaska, but I am set on Norway for my 40th in 3 years.

I'm now intrigued by Norway as well! There's a 14 day that includes scotland and iceland, but can't take that much time off for awhile...

May 24th - Skagway!

I was really looking forward to Skagway as I had booked the 3.5 hour White Pass Summit Rail and Bus Tour. This was the first excursion I booked as I knew we would like it. I booked directly with Chilkoot which not only saved us a few dollars, but I believe may have gotten us the better seats on the train (IMHO). I chose the 12:00 pm time, because after getting up early all the other mornings it was nice to not have to this time. I thought we could roam around town a bit first, and then catch the tour. The only issue with this was that Chilkoot picks you up at the cruise dock (no other option) and the town is a 15 minute walk or short shuttle bus ride away. We really hadn't built this time in, but we did manage to get to the town to look around and get some snacks for the excursion.

View of the dock (Jewel is behind the other ship

The Pearl at her dock... can't remember but think she came in after us...

There are shuttles to the town, I think there was a small fee, but we walked. It really wasn't that far. The town is cute, with some museum type places.

Replication of an old fashioned bar

As noted, the town is cute. We were going to try and get to the Red Onion Saloon but that didn't happen. Next time! We got some snacks and hustled back to the dock area to meet our tour. We were glad we had brought some snacks as there's no option to purchase anything while on the tour, however they do provide water.

May 24th - Skagway White Pass Train

We met the tour representative in the circle area at the dock where everyone else was waiting for their excursions. He showed up with a sign that said Chilkoot. We were early as always, and had some panic after our "Shane" experience in Juneau, but they arrived on time. We accumulated a small group of 13 people, but were waiting for 2 more. Our group started getting edgy (particularly me as I remembered reading about wanting to sit in the caboose) but everyone was well behaved (even me) and they eventually decided not to wait for the missing party (2 people). We walked to meet Ann, our tour guide, in front of a small mini bus. Anne was fantastic, and immediately started telling us everything we would need to know for our excursion... next steps, timing, where and when we would see her next, etc. When we got to the train, she told us that there was good news, we had the caboose! Yeah! I had also told the kids to make sure we got seats on the left side of the train, as this was the best scenery. This was absolutely true. We only had the 13 people, so there was no issue of not enough seats for everyone to see. The caboose is best because you get an uninterrupted view of the back when you step out on the little platform. So cool.... Once on the train there was a guide type person who commented on different things that would be coming up to see. It was just the right amount of information, while providing plenty of time to just look at the views.

We passed by the yard where they keep the trains...

The views just got better and better.

May 24th - Skagway - White Pass Train

More awesome views...

The front of our train

A view of bridal falls, which has a cute story to go with it...

As we climbed (approximately 2,500 feet I believe) the terrain got a bit different

May 24th - Skagway - White Pass Train

There are just so many good pictures I'm having a hard time choosing... hope it's not too much. Here are the last few from the train ride...we eventually made it to Fraser, BC. I'm realizing now that I did not mention that you MUST have your passport for this trip. The first Chilkoot guy checks, Anne checks, and now the Fraser border patrol people board the train and check before you get off the train. It's all very official! :). My daughter and I ran to the restroom but my son was smart enough to go get his passport stamped at the little office.

Thank you! I'm glad to hear it! Feel free to chime in... Have you seen yourself in any pictures?? :)

Haven't been in any of your pics.....

Did you see this while at the viewing party?

Haven't been in any of your pics.....

 

Did you see this while at the viewing party?

I did not but I sure wish I did! What's going on there, might I ask??

I think alcohol may have been involved.:)

A couple officers persuaded him to come down.

We had a forward penthouse so we had front row seats.

Loving this !!!!! Your pics are great keep them coming, any chance you have the dailie from Victoria ?

Love this!!! Would you mind posting the link to your post in the Alaska 2017 Trip Reports folder on the Alaska board? There isn't an NCL review up there yet and your pictures are amazing! :)

Love this!!! Would you mind posting the link to your post in the Alaska 2017 Trip Reports folder on the Alaska board? There isn't an NCL review up there yet and your pictures are amazing! :)

Done, I think... :)

Dailies from Day 5 -

Dailies Day 6

Loving this !!!!! Your pics are great keep them coming, any chance you have the dailie from Victoria ?

Oh No, I can't find Day 7 Dailies. I'm so sorry. If they turn up I will post them immediately. I'm sad to say I haven't fully unpacked, but they don't seem to be with the other papers I had :(

Loving your review!

A few questions:

Post 50 re: Victoria

- what time of day were you there? (we'll be docked 6pm-12am and wondered if it's comparable).

- how many folks could you take for $95/hour?

Post 85 re: train. You mentioned going to restroom at Fraser... they do have restrooms on the train though, right?

Thank you!

Loving your review!

A few questions:

Post 50 re: Victoria

- what time of day were you there? (we'll be docked 6pm-12am and wondered if it's comparable).

- how many folks could you take for $95/hour?

Post 85 re: train. You mentioned going to restroom at Fraser... they do have restrooms on the train though, right?

Thank you!

Thanks!

We were in Victoria from 2:30 to 9:30 I believe... we met our tour person at 3:00 pm (I would probably make it a bit later if I were to do it again as I hate rushing off the ship). We ended up bringing some friends we met on the ship so there were 5 of us in a van and I would say we could have taken 2 more comfortably.

Yes, the train has a restroom but I didn't want to miss anything! It sounds odd but it was like watching a movie, lol.

Thank you for the great review! I'm going with two friends on 6/24. You mentioned your son gets motion sickness. I do too and it's my first cruise. Planes usually do not bother me unless it's bad turbulence but in a car, I have to be either driving or in the front seat and cannot be reading or looking down. What precautions did your son take? It's been suggested to me to take ginger supplements a few weeks before and continue taking during the trip.

Thank you for the great review! I'm going with two friends on 6/24. You mentioned your son gets motion sickness. I do too and it's my first cruise. Planes usually do not bother me unless it's bad turbulence but in a car, I have to be either driving or in the front seat and cannot be reading or looking down. What precautions did your son take? It's been suggested to me to take ginger supplements a few weeks before and continue taking during the trip.

Thank you! My son has motion sickness, but as you note is fine on a plane and is usually fine in the car, even in the back seat. On the ship, he doesn't get physically ill, just feels extremely dizzy, even if it's just gently rolling. He did pretty well on this trip, it really wasn't rough at all. He took dramamine and wore the sea bands on his wrist. The dramamine can make him tired (although he sleeps a lot anyway so it's hard to know if it's the dramamine!) I highly recommend trying to get the "patch" thing that goes behind the ear, I believe its prescription. I think this works best for normal motion sickness. Have a great trip!!

May 25th - Day at Sea!

I love Sea Days! I don't remember much of what we did this day (always write your review right away... ) but I'm sure it was relaxing! I believe my daughter and I ate breakfast in Moderno and then went to the spa for a bit. We sat in the atrium for a bit too and had a drink at the java bar, I believe. We caught the close-up magic show in the stardust theater and enjoyed it (I'm not a huge magic person, but it was good).

We must have had a drink because my pictures are slightly off... ;)

May 25th - Continued

We had a 7:00 pm dinner at Le Bistro. I have a love/like relationship with this restaurant. I really liked it on the Dawn, didn't like the atmosphere but the food was good on the Breakaway. Here on the Jewel, the atmosphere was ok, however we had our first encounter with only so-so service. We do not look for anything special, per se, but the people here really didn't seem like they wanted to be there... it was really odd, especially for one of the specialty restaurants. We were initially saying to ourselves, well that's it, we won't choose Le Bistro again, but then the food came...

I had mussels, which were awesome...

My daughter and I both had the mushroom soup, which I liked and she thought was so-so..

I had some sort of mental lapse, and didn't order the steak, and got the shrimp with artichoke, which was really good, but...

Both kids got the steak and I tried some and it was amazing. I really think it's as good as if not better than Cagneys.

The kids had the crème brulee for dessert