Just got off Jewel to AK. Post any questions and I'll try to answer

[sdmike]

I'll be doing a full review with pictures, but if anyone has any specific questions about the Jewel or any of the ports, ask away.

[Hikini]

Can't wait to read your review!

[Hopes4]

Did you have a good time? :)

 

Did you find the glasses I lost on her last November? :rolleyes: ;)

[jaja]

Anxiously awaiting your review...will save it ...as hoping to book it for 2014...!!! (I already saved your other post with hotel info!!!!)

[sdmike]

Did you have a good time? :)

 

Sure did! The weather was really pretty crummy after we left Seattle, but that didn't stop us from seeing some amazing scenery and wildlife!

 

Did you find the glasses I lost on her last November?

 

Describe them :p

[sdmike]

Can't wait to read your review!

 

Thanks. I'm working on sorting and uploading pictures first. As you might expect, there are a ton of them. :)

 

Here are a few teasers....

 

Beautiful day in Seattle

 

 

Caught a few things in Ketchikan (but wait until you see the eagle pictures)

 

 

Watched the Oosterdam do its best Titanic impression in Tracy Arm

 

 

Saw the beauty of nature in Skagway (and shopped too)

 

 

...and strolled Victoria on a picture postcard weather day (first sun we saw since leaving Seattle)

 

[NayRN]

OK - get on with it already! I can't wait to read your review!:o

[LadyShiva]

What was your impression of the Jewel's condition? Or her crew?

 

Did you eat at the Brazilian meat on a stick place? Any recommendations for specialty restaurants? With your large group, any tips for how to arrange dining?

 

Did your kids enjoy any of the excursions more than others?

 

How did the cabins work out for your group?

 

How was check-in, after everything you went through to get on the ship?

 

Frankly, I'll take whatever information or pictures you care to share. :)

[sdmike]

Some quick answers below

 

What was your impression of the Jewel's condition? Or her crew?

 

The ship was in very nice condition, although there were some areas in need of a bit of paint touch up. Overall I would give it an A-, which is pretty darned good given the 7 years of use in salt water. The crew was awesome except for a couple of wait staff that could have been a bit more on the ball (forgetting things, etc.)

 

Did you eat at the Brazilian meat on a stick place? Any recommendations for specialty restaurants? With your large group, any tips for how to arrange dining?

 

Yes, we ate at Moderno the first sea day. The food was awesome, just like we experienced on the Epic. My daughter was 1/2 price (she's 11) so we got $10 credited back to us. The salad bar is less extensive than on the Epic but still very good.

 

We ate as a large group 4 of the nights, and went out own directions the rest of the time. My suggestion is to eat early. Azura was more crowded than Tsar's Palace, and the night we went as a group there we arrived at 5:30. The other nights we went to Azura, found a 30 minute wait, then walked over to Tsar's and were seated in a few minutes (even with the large group at 6:30)

 

 

Did your kids enjoy any of the excursions more than others?

 

Oh yes. They LOVED fishing for salmon in Ketchikan. We hauled in 20 of them in a few hours, and had an eagle circling our boat for about 5 minutes. The Tracy Arm excursion was incredible too. They HATED (boring for all of us) the float tour in Skagway. A long bumpy drive to where the rafts were, a 45 minute slow float, then a 45 minute drive back to the ship. It was a waste of money.

 

How did the cabins work out for your group?

I'd give them a B+ overall. A full A+ for size, comfort and the fact that were were all clumped together in a group (4 mini's and 2 insides) and opened all our balcony dividers. I'd give them a B- for noise from above. Lots of running, moving chairs and shuffleboard noise from the pool deck. Didn't hinder my sleep, but since people being inconsiderate is a pet peeve of mine, it irked me that someone wouldn't try to be quieter given the fact there were rooms below them. Would I book the same rooms again? I sure would!

 

 

How was check-in, after everything you went through to get on the ship?

 

We stayed across the street at the Marriott. The bellman of the Marriott carted my bags across the street to the porter at the Jewel. A $10 tip to each of them was the best $20 I spent on the trip :) The check-in process was very fast and painless at 11am, and we were on by 11:30. Easy peasy

 

 

Frankly, I'll take whatever information or pictures you care to share. :)

[jd783]

I can adda little not much of a review guy, I was also on this boat with 14 family members. Weather in Alaska is cold and rainy, prepare for the worst if you are going you can always shed layers. As far as excursions for the family you can get yourself to Mendanhall glacier in juneau by bus $16 round trip(this is a awesome trip) kids will love it. Family of 5 for under $100. In Skagway we went on the grizzly falls zipline kids age 6,11 and 14 loved it. Skagway gets the least amont of rain of the 3 ports.

Random thoughts. Hot tubs way to much chlorine, bring bar soap(shower gel dosent cut it). Red dog saloon Juneau and Red onion Saloon Skagway fun afternoon for cocktails. Bring ponchos. Enjoy Alaska and the NCL Jewel Sorry to hijack your review The large group from NY

[LadyShiva]

Thank you for the answers, sdmike.

[djmess]

Thank you for the awesome Tease!

 

My son will be 10 by next August when we are on the Jewel to Alaska. Any must sees for a 10y/o boy? Thinking we will want to fish for Salmon. That sounds awesome! He is a seasoned cruiser, but Alaska is a dream for us. We live on the East Coast, so not saying we will only do Alaska once, but want to treat it that way!

[vivavegas]

Welcome Back! Glad you had a good cruise!:)

[sdmike]

Thank you for the awesome Tease!

 

My son will be 10 by next August when we are on the Jewel to Alaska. Any must sees for a 10y/o boy? Thinking we will want to fish for Salmon. That sounds awesome! He is a seasoned cruiser, but Alaska is a dream for us. We live on the East Coast, so not saying we will only do Alaska once, but want to treat it that way!

 

To be honest, it depends on the kid. My daughter (11) loved salmon fishing, but some might not. We didn't do the ziplines in AK, but we did them in Roatan and I'm sure the ones in AK would be awesome too. One thing we didn't do, simply because there wasn't time, was the whale watching in Juneau. My relatives that went on the trip said they saw about 30 whales. We only saw a few from the ship, and that was a crap shoot.

[sdmike]

I can adda little not much of a review guy, I was also on this boat with 14 family members. Weather in Alaska is cold and rainy, prepare for the worst if you are going you can always shed layers. As far as excursions for the family you can get yourself to Mendanhall glacier in juneau by bus $16 round trip(this is a awesome trip) kids will love it. Family of 5 for under $100. In Skagway we went on the grizzly falls zipline kids age 6,11 and 14 loved it. Skagway gets the least amont of rain of the 3 ports.

Random thoughts. Hot tubs way to much chlorine, bring bar soap(shower gel dosent cut it). Red dog saloon Juneau and Red onion Saloon Skagway fun afternoon for cocktails. Bring ponchos. Enjoy Alaska and the NCL Jewel Sorry to hijack your review The large group from NY

 

I agree. Think layers, even in July. On the Tracy Arm trip my wife was wearing a long sleeve shirt, a hooded sweatshirt, a rain jacket and gloves and she was freezing. It was likely in the high 30's or low 40's with rain and wind, so be prepared. :)

[sdmike]

Here are a couple of items of interest (I think)

 

 

• We ate at 5:30 one night in Moderno and got a free bottle of wine for each couple. That kept us busy for a few days since 3 of the couples didn't drink wine.:) This offer was good for ANY night at any specialty restaurant, according to the daily
  

 

• The mini-suites have flat screen TV's. The inside rooms do not. Not sure about standard balcony rooms
  

 

• The safes are big. I could fit an ipad, laptop and DSLR in it
  

 

• The mini-suites have coffee makers. The inside rooms do not. We never used it.
  

 

• The mini-suites have bathtubs. The inside rooms do not. Both bathrooms were a good size though.
  

 

• We had two loungers on our balcony, while my parents next door had a chair and a lounger. My brother had two chairs. We all had a small table. Not sure of why the difference, but the balconies were too shallow for the loungers to lay down anyway. Besides, it was cold and windy. :)
  

 

• The mini-suites had robes. The inside rooms did not.
  

 

• We were able to move my sons (15 and 17) to their own inside room once on the ship. We actually did quite a room shuffle, with my brother and family moving to the room booked with my wife because they needed to connect to my parents. Again, none of this was a problem at the guest services desk, nor was it a problem getting extra keys to each room so we could go back and forth.
  

 

• Teen curfew is 1am. I found out that it's not strongly enforced when my 15 year old "came in" at 2:30 one night....and had a bunch of friends with him :eek: I nipped that in the bud real quickly
  

 

• You can't put a spending limit on a kid's card. My brother tried. You either enable charging or don't
  

 

• There are only two 110v plugs in the room. Bring a power strip if you need more
  

 

• There are hair dryers in both the mini's and the inside rooms
  

 

• In AK you don't get pool towels. You "check them out" next to the pool. A $25 charge hits you if you don't bring it back
  

 

• They now have flavored water on the ship. I usually saw Mango or Strawberry Kiwi along with iced tea. They have espresso machines in the buffet area. It's the ones with the bean containers on top.
  

 

I'll add more as I think of things

[Relax@Sea]

Here are a couple of items of interest (I think)

 

 

• We ate at 5:30 one night in Moderno and got a free bottle of wine for each couple. That kept us busy for a few days since 3 of the couples didn't drink wine.:) This offer was good for ANY night at any specialty restaurant, according to the daily
  

 

• The mini-suites have flat screen TV's. The inside rooms do not. Not sure about standard balcony rooms
  

 

• The safes are big. I could fit an ipad, laptop and DSLR in it
  

 

• The mini-suites have coffee makers. The inside rooms do not. We never used it.
  

 

• The mini-suites have bathtubs. The inside rooms do not. Both bathrooms were a good size though.
  

 

• We had two loungers on our balcony, while my parents next door had a chair and a lounger. My brother had two chairs. We all had a small table. Not sure of why the difference, but the balconies were too shallow for the loungers to lay down anyway. Besides, it was cold and windy. :)
  

 

• The mini-suites had robes. The inside rooms did not.
  

 

• We were able to move my sons (15 and 17) to their own inside room once on the ship. We actually did quite a room shuffle, with my brother and family moving to the room booked with my wife because they needed to connect to my parents. Again, none of this was a problem at the guest services desk, nor was it a problem getting extra keys to each room so we could go back and forth.
  

 

• Teen curfew is 1am. I found out that it's not strongly enforced when my 15 year old "came in" at 2:30 one night....and had a bunch of friends with him :eek: I nipped that in the bud real quickly
  

 

• You can't put a spending limit on a kid's card. My brother tried. You either enable charging or don't
  

 

• There are only two 110v plugs in the room. Bring a power strip if you need more
  

 

• There are hair dryers in both the mini's and the inside rooms
  

 

• In AK you don't get pool towels. You "check them out" next to the pool. A $25 charge hits you if you don't bring it back
  

 

• They now have flavored water on the ship. I usually saw Mango or Strawberry Kiwi along with iced tea. They have espresso machines in the buffet area. It's the ones with the bean containers on top.
  

 

I'll add more as I think of things

 

Friends we were traveling with on our cruise in March changed there Kids accounts to cash/or had there account set as cash and just refilled it when it ran out so this set up there spending limit.

 

Great review and photo's.

[OceanDreaming2]

• They now have flavored water on the ship. I usually saw Mango or Strawberry Kiwi along with iced tea. They have espresso machines in the buffet area. It's the ones with the bean containers on top.
  

 

Was the water sweetened or unsweetened? Complimentary?

 

Thanks - we'll be on the Jewel this time next week. :)

[tokidoki]

thanks for your info, can you tell me about the current entertainment?:cool::cool: If its possible do you have the freestyle dallies that we can see?:cool:

[tdcjerry]

How about the Cruise director and Concierge? we go in 3 weeks.

[sdmike]

Was the water sweetened or unsweetened? Complimentary?

 

Thanks - we'll be on the Jewel this time next week. :)

 

The water was sweetened, but not overly so. It was complimentary just like the tea and regular water. :)

 

Have a great trip! Once I get my pictures uploaded I'll post a lot more about this trip.

[sdmike]

thanks for your info, can you tell me about the current entertainment?:cool::cool: If its possible do you have the freestyle dallies that we can see?:cool:

 

I didn't save the dailies. sorry.

 

The entertainment was pretty good. Better than the RCI and Carnival ships I've been on, but clearly not up to Epic standards either. They had a comedian/magician named "JP" who was pretty good, and a hypnotist that was funny as well. Some people raved about Fire and Ice, a couple that did various gigs around the ship. Lots of Tina Turner, Michael Jackson, etc. They also had an asian guy that played the guitar and sang Neil Diamond songs...which was sorta strange. :) The Band on the Run show was ok, but my 80's rock and roll ears kept hoping for the "real" songs and not the "cruise show" version of them.

 

What made this "really good" entertainment instead of just "ok" entertainment was the husband and wife acrobat team. They did a show by themselves, then played a major role in the larger production show Le Cirque Bijou. I found this show to be a notch below Cirque Dreams on the Epic, but still a "don't miss" production.

[sdmike]

How about the Cruise director and Concierge? we go in 3 weeks.

 

Didn't have a concierge. The cruise director was some guy named Johnny. Always wore a suit jacket and hat. Reminded me of George Lopez, but not nearly as entertaining. :)

[kanitter]

Cant wait to see the pictures. We just booked the Jewel for January 2014 out of NOLA:)

[Hikini]

Interesting to hear about the new offering of flavored water. Was that in the dining room as well, or only in the buffet?