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**Photo Review: Norwegian Jewel to Alaska 5/27/18 - 6/4/18


alainamarie
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Hello everyone! Wow, this is my 5th photo review. I am reporting back after my 9 night cruise to Alaska on the Norwegian Jewel. It was an interesting itinerary that lured me in because it included ports that are new to me (Sitka and ISP).

I also created a packing guide for Alaska because I noticed this question popped up so frequently. Feel free to check it out if you have any interest. My packing worked out perfect and I had very little excess.

A little background about me... This was my 9th cruise, first time on Norwegian, and 2nd time to Alaska (first time was on Celebrity Solstice - see signature for photo review). I have been on 4 Carnival cruises, 3 Celebrity, and 1 Royal. I am 33 years old, from New Orleans and recently moved to Seattle for love. Paul and I were married in early April, so he joined me and we pretended that this was our second honeymoon (first was on Maui late in April).

 

Here I am in Skagway -

 

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I love to travel and cruising is not always my first choice. I'm not the type that wants to take 1000 photos or capture every meal I eat - I believe you should live in the moment. I did make more of an active effort to photograph my meals because we did a 6 night specialty dining package. My husband gifted me a nice mirrorless Canon for Christmas, so all of the photographs are from that one camera.

**I do want to put a disclaimer on this review and I hate that I have to do this. I'm starting to notice a growing trend on CC of people chiming in with negative comments and wordy opinions. This is NOT an opportunity for you to voice your opinion. This is my review that encompasses my own opinion based on my own experience.

 

With that said, let's get this review going! Here's the photo from the NCL website - it makes it appear that we sailed through Glacier Bay, but we did not.

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Saturday 5/26/18 - Seattle

Sunday 5/27/18 - Sea Day

Monday 5/28/18 - Ketchikan

Tuesday 5/29/18 - Juneau

Wednesday 5/30/18 - Skagway

Thursday 5/31/18 - Icy Straight Point

Friday 6/1/18 - Sitka

Saturday 6/2/18 - Sea Day

Sunday 6/3/18 - Victoria

Monday 6/4/18 - Vancouver

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Service/Food:

I'm going to briefly touch on a subject that I know a lot of people have varied opinions on. We had some issues with service throughout the duration of our cruise. This is my first time on NCL, so I can only compare to the 3 other cruise lines I have been on. Aside from service, my husband and I found the food outside of specialty dining was slacking. Very little change in the menus at the MDR and buffets. We also noticed our food was never really hot when served. We noticed a theme with fish - each time we ordered a fish dish, it was either over/under cooked.

 

I will note that I spoke with multiple people throughout the week and even after the cruise and this seemed to be a recurring theme. So before you said I'm picky or snobby, just know that it wasn't just us.

Many of the people I talked to have sailed with NCL before (some have only sailed NCL) and they said this cruise was definitely a "one off".

The cruise prior to ours was 3 weeks long and came from Hong Kong... What a lot of us "heard" was that many new crew were coming on - hundreds to be exact. I'm unsure if the crew that stayed on were tired or perhaps it was just the new crew that were not quite properly trained. Either way, I wanted to touch on this subject because I'm not making this the focus of this review. Alaska was beautiful and our cruise was not ruined. The bartenders made up for any misfortune!

 

Dining:

O'Sheehans - wow. The service did seem to get better, but it still wasn't good even on the last day. It just seemed like they could never get it together - long waits to be helped and an overall poor attitude with the few servers. The food is bar food, but it did the trick, it's just a shame that we had such poor service every time. This place was right outside of our cabin, so I really hoped to love this place.

MDR - We tried Tsar's Palace twice and Azura once. Food was okay, the service here definitely got better after the first few days. I will say, I would have gotten tired of the menu if we ate here every night.

Buffet - There's something for everyone here. Food was okay and it filled us up when we needed breakfast, lunch, or a snack. There was a lot of staff assigned here, so plates were cleared quickly and tables were turned over before you could blink. I dreaded looking for a table in the morning because it was hard to find an available table. We only noticed this at breakfast.

Specialty Dining - I cannot recommend this more. This really made a difference with our overall dining experience. We tried every restaurant and visited Cagney's twice since we had 6 dinners. I'll touch on each meal as I go through my day-to-day.

Cabin/Bidding:

I booked this cruise before Paul & I got super serious and started a long distance relationship. AKA before I had any idea I would fall in love, move across the country, and get married and want to share my cabin!

I was going to travel solo and I had friends who booked separately (one couple cancelled and my previous coworker did come on the cruise). I knew I would not be in my cabin often, so I booked an obstructed OV cabin, OK category - it's a horizontal shaped cabin right outside of O'Sheehans. Cabin # 8592.

 

Bidding: I placed a bid for a balcony and a mini-suite and both were rejected. In hindsight, if I knew my future mate would be traveling with me, I would have booked a balcony cabin. The price was sooo steep and never did decrease - only went up for our cruise. The only way I could potentially afford to get a balcony would be through rolling the dice with bidding.

You live, you learn. Our cabin was just fine for the two of us. We are both extroverts, so we did not spend much time in the cabin.

 

Here are some photos of our cabin -

 

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Our view

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Pre- Cruise:

 

Hotel-

I booked my hotel one year in advance, basically as soon as the books opened up. I had my eye on the Marriott Waterfront, mostly because of its proximity to the ship. I chose the corner room, large guest room with 1 king, panoramic view. After taxes, it came out to just under $300 for the one night beforehand. We decided to keep this room even though we now live in Seattle. I also made a reservation through expedia for the Fairmont Olympic Hotel because it was a dream to stay there. I was able to book this room before Marriott, but I did cancel due to the port proximity of the Marriott.

 

So word to the wise - book early and have deep pockets. There are less expensive options further away from downtown (near the space needle & near the airport are much more affordable); it's all about where you want to be and what you want to pay. I love a good location, so it's worth it to me to pay a little more. Afterall, it's our 2nd honeymoon!

This is our corner, water-view room.

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A view of the other rooms from our balcony

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Another view from our balcony, this time - Elliott Bay!

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We walked across the street to Anthony's and had dinner at the upstairs bar. We watched the sun set with a beautiful view of Elliott Bay. We had wine and appetizers and really enjoyed ourselves. It was literally steps away and Pier 66 is just a few more steps away.

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We got back to the room and were blessed with this view from our balcony -

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Going on the Jewel in August Following your review

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

 

Thanks so much for reading!

 

Thanks Alaina - looking forward to the next installment!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

 

Thanks for reading! Embarkation day is coming soon!

I will try to post dailies as well - I saved all of them, but it’s a matter of remembering to take photos!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

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Looking forward to your review. The pictures are great so far. We stayed at the Marriott too & you can’t beat the location.

 

It was the best location! Our room was great so that didn’t hurt! Thanks for reading.

 

hopping onboard!

 

 

 

 

 

and agree about the sadness of having to prerequisite no negative comments. I have noticed that trend too. :(

 

 

Isn’t it so frustrating? I love reading reviews but get dismayed when you see the negative interruptions. What can ya do?

 

 

 

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Am excited to see your pics & review. Its my first time on the Jewel at Christmas this year & I cant get enough of hearing about peoples holidays and experiences. I am always so thankful for the people who take the time to share

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Hi! We took this same cruise and we were also very disappointed with the food and the buffet. This is our third cruise with NCL, and it was MUCH better on the other two. I have never had this much trouble finding a table in the buffet, and was disappointed with the speciality dining. We had some hiccups with the cabin the first couple of days, with those smoothed out on the third or fourth day. I was impressed with Sitka & Hoonah, though, and would visit either again.

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Hi! We took this same cruise and we were also very disappointed with the food and the buffet. This is our third cruise with NCL, and it was MUCH better on the other two. I have never had this much trouble finding a table in the buffet, and was disappointed with the speciality dining. We had some hiccups with the cabin the first couple of days, with those smoothed out on the third or fourth day. I was impressed with Sitka & Hoonah, though, and would visit either again.

 

I agree on food. It was 50/50 for us. Buffet was not as good as in past and LaCucina pasta sauce was like tomato soup. Literally. Cagney, LeBistro, sushi were all good. MDR was ok.

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I agree on food. It was 50/50 for us. Buffet was not as good as in past and LaCucina pasta sauce was like tomato soup. Literally. Cagney, LeBistro, sushi were all good. MDR was ok.

 

My son compared the sauce at La Cucina to Chef Boyardee. We really enjoyed Moderno, though. We only went to the Azura twice, it was fine both times.

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Enjoying your posts and pictures. Congratulations on your recent marriage! I'm doing our 1st Transatlantic on the Jade...same floor you were on on your ship, obstructed room also!

 

Sent from my SM-J320P using Forums mobile app

Thank you for reading along! And a big thank you for the congrats! Our honeymoons are officially over. :(

We loved the location of our cabin, perfectly located and quiet. It was a wee bit of a tight fit if one of us was in the bathroom and the other was at the vanity/closet area, but we made do!

 

 

Am excited to see your pics & review. Its my first time on the Jewel at Christmas this year & I cant get enough of hearing about peoples holidays and experiences. I am always so thankful for the people who take the time to share

 

Thank you for reading along! I've learned so much from reading other reviews that I've really enjoyed doing my own.

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Hi! We took this same cruise and we were also very disappointed with the food and the buffet. This is our third cruise with NCL, and it was MUCH better on the other two. I have never had this much trouble finding a table in the buffet, and was disappointed with the speciality dining. We had some hiccups with the cabin the first couple of days, with those smoothed out on the third or fourth day. I was impressed with Sitka & Hoonah, though, and would visit either again.

 

Most cruise ship buffets leave a lot to be desired for me, but that's because I'm not a buffet person. Breakfast did the trick, but it really did get old after a few days. Overall I would say the food is "okay", but we did like the specialty restaurants. Our biggest issue was service - lack thereof - but food was a close second.

 

 

I agree on food. It was 50/50 for us. Buffet was not as good as in past and LaCucina pasta sauce was like tomato soup. Literally. Cagney, LeBistro, sushi were all good. MDR was ok.

Wasn't the food so hit and miss? LaCucina was our least favorite - my calamari, Caesar salad, and osso bucco was delish, but my husband's salmon was a real miss. It was served literally raw and ice cold in the middle. Unfortunately, our waitress also forgot about us so it took a while for him to get a re-make. More on that later... ;p

I totally agree on the MDR - just ok.

Thanks for reading! I'm trying to remember if we met or not! I kept asking people their screen names!

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Embarkation Day

My husband woke up earlier than me, so he set off to Glazer's to buy me a zoom lens for my camera and hit an ATM. While he was gone, I opened the curtain to this beautiful site!

 

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If you are thinking about whether or not to spend the extra money on booking the Marriott, let this picture do the talking. We were very pleased with our stay.

 

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My new zoom lens!

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When he got back, I was dressed and packed. He wanted to take me to one of his favorite breakfast places outside of Pike's Place. The elevator outside of the hotel was down for maintenance, but we survived!

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We walked to Seatown Seabar and had a wonderful breakfast.

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So here's the sad news - after we got back to the hotel, we grabbed our luggage and made our way to Pier 66 just before 11. I have no pictures because it was pure CHAOS. People were EVERYWHERE. So many people disembarked from the previous cruise and were in lines everywhere. People trying to check in didn't know what to do with luggage and porters/port staff didn't know where to tell us to put our luggage. Paul and I walked back and forth with our luggage trying to figure out where to go and eventually found someone who said "leave your bags here". There was other luggage in the area, so we went inside to check in. It was 20 minutes of insanity and I have no pictures to show for it! What a mess - it's my 9th cruise and it's never happened before. I had tip money for the porter in my pocket and didn't even have anyone to hand off luggage to.

Check in and security were a breeze and we had about 15 minutes to wait for our boarding number to be called.

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We board the ship and decide to walk around so I can take a few pictures. The first thing my husband says (it's his first cruise ever) "Ugh, this carpet is disgusting". Way to keep an open mind, Paul! He was actually right because the carpet throughout the ship and especially in our cabin did look very tired. I must say, I wasn't really looking down until he pointed it out.

Here are some random photos -

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One of our favorite places throughout the cruise was the Spinnaker. Great views and there were a few lounging green chairs that we loved.

 

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I grabbed a few photos of Chin Chin as we walked by. We did visit Chin Chin one night and my husband really liked the bartender at the Sake bar. His Sake looked like milk and he explained that it was unfiltered Sake... unsure why they only had that as an option and not regular Sake like we are used to. Perhaps more people prefer the unfiltered Sake?

My husband had the Hawaiian Poke bowl and the sashimi when we dined at Chin Chin, he said it was "OK". More on that later. ;)

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A couple more photos inside, then I'll take you outside for a bit. I'm standing right outside of where our cabin is located. They had nightly musicians/bands playing right here. We never heard music or any commotion from our cabin. You can see O'Sheehans to the left and right, Lava Cafe is just below. Oh just wait until I tell you about our O'Sheehans experience! :o

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I didn't do a great job of taking photos inside, you know how embarkation day goes.

Let's move on outside.

 

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While taking this photo (above), my back was to the bar. Here's the bar that's behind me (below).

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We really liked this bar and ended up hanging here with friends for glacier viewing.

 

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Deck area -

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I would say we did see a good bit of people in the hot tubs. They were not crowded by any means, but people seemed to utilize them. I also saw a few people in the pool, but not many.

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We did not visit The Grill area, we tended to walk inside to the buffet where they had similar offerings as The Grill.

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Jogging/walking track -

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