Jewel in Alaska 9/7 Review w/ pics

Everything wonderful everyone says about cruising Alaska from an aft suite is true. It’s a fabulous way to go. As such, I’m not going to go on and on about perks and butlers and such... Rather, I would just like to share some quick thoughts and highlights I would, of course, be happy to answer any questions, though.

Seattle Pre-Cruise Day

We arrived in Seattle the day before and shacked up at the Sheraton downtown. Room rate was reasonable, although booked out months in advance so that may have helped here. Much to our surprise, we were not the only people cruising this weekend so a long line was navigated quite quickly and up to the 21st floor we go. The room was appointed nicely and offered a nice view of the downtown area.

For the afternoon’s entertainment, we went extra kitsch and headed toward the Seattle Underground Tour at Pioneer Square. Before the tour we were herded into a refreshment area where we were promised that any purchase would get us “priority” seating for the pre-tour presentation. Seeing as we were in a suite on the ship, there was no reason not to go priority here. Two beers and ten minutes later, we were led into a room with every other person on the tour who had priority seating.

After the presentation, we were led into several areas of the old Seattle underground, the story of which has a lot to do with poop. Although it was interesting to go down there, my wife got a little annoyed as the tour guide kept making tasteless jokes about the vice of the days gone by that when on down there. She was right. It was somewhat offensive that poop jokes and sexual innuendo took the lead while the sacrifices and efforts of the women working on their backs down there were not mentioned.

I don’t expect the tour to be a complete downer and we have a great sense of humor, but some respect for the actual history of the place is in order. Between this and the claustrophobia due to the large group, it was time to go. We left the tour half-way through and headed to the waterfront for some eats.

We hopped a quick cab to Elliot’s Oyster House for a quick bite. We had oysters raw, and two other hot preparations I cannot recall in addition to the clam chowder. One of the oysters featured a frozen sauce made of Rosé wine (I believe). Absolutely amazing! The food is delicious here and the service fulfilled by professional bartenders. I love a professional bartender.

Next we headed to the Wheel. The line was short and the whether pretty good so a quick ride was in order. As we had been up on the Wheel a couple of months ago while we were in Seattle, we put the cameras away and just enjoyed the ride. When we rode before, I saw most of the ride through the lens so it was delightful to put all that stuff away and soak it up.

Continued...

Sail Away Day

It was mostly sunny in Seattle this day when we arrived in aft penthouse 10164. As has been said here many times, it is a stunning place to be. Of course, sailing through the check-in line followed by Cagney’s are great perks, but cruising Alaska from this position is absolutely spectacular.

There are tons of pics of the Seattle skyline during sail away from this position as well so instead of posting more of those, I would like to share a few in particular I found stunning. One is the Jewel’s wake through the fog and the other is Oasis and HAL floating on the fog behind us.

Coming up, the three ports, Sawyer and some time-lapse videos which should be pretty cool…

Thanks for reading!

Some more random choices from the thousands of pics...

Like the rail, we became very familiar with the aft mast...

As we left Seattle, we kept coming in and out of the fog...

That picture of the two ships on the fog is stunning! Not the Oasis though...it's ithe Golden Princess. It chased us out of Seattle too

Ketchikan

We were up early for the entry into the port. Tried to catch the sunrise, but may have missed the shot by a few minutes. It was getting colder now, but the weather was holding. Gone were the shorts and t-shirt from Seattle, replaced with hats and sweaters.

On our day here, we visited Totem Bight Park which was interesting. As I indicated above my wife and I tend to appreciate the history of an area we visit. Our guide (from the east coast) presented the native’s stories authentically and with honor. I think his name was Marty.

The park was well maintained. There were a couple dozen totems to see. My understanding is that originally, the native peoples would not “restore” a totem. They would build another to replace it. At this state park, though, they do perform work to restore them. The totems are hard to photograph unless you want to switch lenses and all that mucking about with the camera. I’m too lazy (or uncommitted) so I leave the 50-200mm lens on and do the best I can.

The totem park sits on a wonderful spit of land which affords some nice views if you step away from the guided tour for a bit.

After, it was time to head to our next old haunt, the pirate bar – Fish Pirates Saloon. We thought we were going crazy as the huge sign was clearly still on the building but the saloon was gone! What had been the saloon was now occupied by an extension of the gift shop. The bar, we discovered, had been moved upstairs. Relieved, we headed there where we discovered the same dude singing the same songs with the same moustache across the room from the same skeleton thing every bit of which my wife just loves.

So two beers, Ring of Fire from the moustache man and a kiss from the skeleton and back to the ship for us.

Forgot the damn sunrise... :) and you're right, Mike, about the Princess.

Great so far. Keep it coming. We love Alaska and are already thinking of doing a 3rd cruise there. Love seeing the photos

lol! Native American name... "Marty". :):p

Interesting about Fish Pirates. The bar was still downstairs last year, and fairly large! Did they 5x the size of the gift shop or something when they moved the bar upstairs?

Couple more leaving Ketchikan.

This is why I don't change lenses. Totem Bight Park can be seen from the channel as the ship travels north leaving port. I eyeballed the shoreline of the starboard side trying to follow the road which leads to the park. It's not the best photo, but I sat for 45 minutes waiting to take a shot at it so I'm a little proud. :)

Continuing north, the channel narrows a bit and is surrounded by hills and trees. Of course, it's beautiful here, but something stuck me as odd: clear logging. I'm not a tree hugger or anything too dramatic, but I try to respect nature whenever possible and so I must say it was a little sad to see the land like this. There were a number of other areas clear logged like this. I would guess that they come back and re-seed these areas, so...

As the sun dropped over the barren hills, the whole place just sunk into this amazing blue hue. It's like we were just enveloped in this great big blue icy blanket.

The evening concluded with dinner and drinks. We had the UBP so at this point worthwhile photos are over for the evening.

More to come...

lol! Native American name... "Marty". :):p

 

Interesting about Fish Pirates. The bar was still downstairs last year, and fairly large! Did they 5x the size of the gift shop or something when they moved the bar upstairs?

Yes, the gift shop expanded, possibly to accommodate the additional people movers visiting the area. I heard there were a number of people mover log jams there in the past so dramatic expansion was necessary. Where the bar sat on the left, and the gift shop was that little store front to the right... the gift shop is all of that now. New bar upstairs. My wife and I promised them we would return as long as they didn't move the friggin' bar again...

eta: was it gambee who did all the funny people mover jokes? I think so. Just want to make sure I give proper credit. I actually asked one woman to let me drive her people mover around the ship! She happily obliged and I proceed to do laps around Bar City. It was a riot... shout out!

Very much enjoying your great review and fabulous photos...........thanks!

DD is very interested in going to Alaska so will share this with her.

DD and I will be on the Jewel in April in AFT Penthouse Suite 9170, so hope you share some details.

Looks like you had a great vacation!

Very much enjoying your great review and fabulous photos...........thanks!

 

DD is very interested in going to Alaska so will share this with her.

 

DD and I will be on the Jewel in April in AFT Penthouse Suite 9170, so hope you share some details.

 

Looks like you had a great vacation!

Glad you're enjoying. Not sure if you've done the suite thing before but if not, I found everything I needed to know by google-searching this forum for "suite perks", "jewel 10164" and so on. A quick look shows I don't have many good photos of the suite; it's somewhat hard to photograph. I'll keep looking though.

Excellant review! I would love to cruise Alaska again.

Your pictures are STUNNING!!!! Thanks for sharing :)

Sawyer Glacier

Next up is Tracy Arm and Sawyer Glacier. Tracy Arm is absolutely spectacular, and it is the place I use when I try to explain an Alaskan Cruise to people who haven’t done it before. That we can take this big ass ship up a fjord that close to the land is beyond impressive to me.

We awoke around 7 am to a different sort of “quiet”. The wake had silenced as the ship slowed and through our groggy eyes peeked out the open sliding door to see the distinct rocky formations of the Tracy Arm. This is where the Lavazza machine comes in handy. Three minutes later we’re dressed in jammies with coffee and cameras in hand as we moved deeper into the fjord. Since we entered early, we were the only ship there all the way in and out. I guess the other ships were at Juneau. There are thousands of pictures of Tracy Arm here and elsewhere, so I hope it’s okay if I pick a few.

And… yet another picture of Sawyer… but here’s what’s neat about viewing this area from your aft balcony… you can hear the glacier. Let me repeat that: you can HEAR the glacier. As it moves, it makes a sound I can only describe as “land thunder”. You cannot hear this from most other parts of the ship – maybe the balconies, but certainly not deck 12. You have to get to a place where the din and chatter of other passengers is out of earshot. We were treated to chunks falling off and sea lion things playing on the ice.

You did sawyer in the morning? On our trip we did it after departing Juneau at 1:15pm. Guess they changed things up a bit

You did sawyer in the morning? On our trip we did it after departing Juneau at 1:15pm. Guess they changed things up a bit

Yup.

I was on the same cruise as you last year - or a few before or after - and yeah, it was in the PM. There were five other ships up there so maybe that's why they did it. We ended up tendering in Juneau when we arrived then had the dock a few hours later so I'm guessing the Jewel was trying to avoid tendering by doing the Arm in the morning and the plan just didn't work out...

eta: I should say there were five ships TOTAL, including the Jewel. Juneau can dock 4 if I recall correctly.

Glad you're enjoying. Not sure if you've done the suite thing before but if not, I found everything I needed to know by google-searching this forum for "suite perks", "jewel 10164" and so on. A quick look shows I don't have many good photos of the suite; it's somewhat hard to photograph. I'll keep looking though.

No problem:) Did the google search you recommended and found lots of goodies. We all have a good idea of what to expect from NCL when it comes to cabins so the photos of the coffee maker, bathroom, etc. are not exciting.

Your most recent photos are great and loved the sea lions.

Yup.

 

I was on the same cruise as you last year - or a few before or after - and yeah, it was in the PM. There were five other ships up there so maybe that's why they did it. We ended up tendering in Juneau when we arrived then had the dock a few hours later so hazarding a guess I'm guessing the Jewel was trying to avoid tendering by doing the Arm in the morning and the plan just didn't work out...

 

eta: I should say there were five ships TOTAL, including the Jewel. Juneau can dock 4 if I recall correctly.

Interesting. Did the Pearl come in at 1pm like previous itineraries, or did they somehow switch up the Terminal AJ use?

As we approached the mouth of the Arm, I noticed on the bridge cam that the bow of the ship was still open. I quickly grabbed a camera and headed forward to get on the bow. Not many folks get down there and I wanted to be one of them. Besides forward, I had no idea where I was going.

Fearing too much foot traffic on deck 7, I proceeded to deck 4 to make the 965 foot journey to the bow. Realizing I still had no idea where to go as I arrived forward, I busted out my Star Trek communicator (aka, ship phone). A quick communication with John our concierge had me heading to deck 8 where I found the open hatch leading out to the bow. Success!

Five minutes later and ship’s security whisked the remaining few off the bow and back into areas of the ship where things could be comfortably consumed. It was very nice to get out there, though. I don’t remember Captain Lars leaving it open that long last time and I'm very appreciative.

Interesting. Did the Pearl come in at 1pm like previous itineraries, or did they somehow switch up the Terminal AJ use?

I don't know exactly. I think the Pearl along with maybe one or two of the other ships made the trip into the Arm. All I know is we left Seattle with three ships and showed up in Juneau with 5. Since we showed up last, we tendered.

And I'll just put it here since I'm talking about tendering... the tendering thing was a joke. Not because of the lines (we didn't see any; we were suite) but because of the tender pilot! He couldn't dock the friggin boat. It's a 3 minute journey from the Jewel to the dock. It took him 10 minutes to dock. I don't care about a little extra time, but making 12 attempts at lining the tender boat up to the dock over and over doesn't exactly inspire confidence. At sea, you want confidence in the crew. I wish I had pictures, but just imagine a look of utter bewilderment on the face of everyone, including a couple of crew!

Anyway... that's all I can do today... Juneau, Mendenhall, Skagway, White Pass RR, maybe Victoria tomorrow.

This is the first review of an Alaskan cruise. My mind is always in the Caribbean. We're considering doing Alaska. Your review is starting to convince me to take the plunge. Keep it coming!

Absolutely loving this review. Enjoying your writing style, your obvious sense of humor, and your simply spectacular photos.

DH and I have an Alaskan Cruise on our Bucket List, thanks to SDMike's review last year, and your review might just push it off the list and into the "booked" column.

Can hardly wait for your next installment.

:)

Loved your review. Fantastic pictures. I believe I should consider cruising Alaska with NCL.

FABULOUS photos ! Thanks very much.

Lovely pictures!