The Alaskan Jewel! Welcome Aboard….You don’t Exist!

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Just looking at your first arrival photos, I would have to agree with your daughter that the suite is indeed small. :) We have never cruised on NCL, just Holland & Princess. Their suites appear much larger with at least a full sofa. The balcony looks depth challenged as it looks like a lounger will just fit with no space to get around it.

 

That said; I was wondering if you had seen any mobility scooters on your cruise. The hallway picture looked narrow and difficult. Do you feel that there was enough room in your suite for a scooter? For my DW it is a must have, and the reason we book suites.

 

Thank you for your most informative story, looking forward to more.

I am not the OP but I have been in plenty of HAL Suites and also been in this category cabin on 10 deck of the jewel several times. While it is a full suite it is the lower category suite and somewhat similar to what would be an SY or SS on a HAL Vista Ship. There are much larger sq ft full suites on NCL just not on the aft like this one is. I have seen scooters on NCL but not as often as Princess and HAL but the hallway pic looks long and narrow because it does not have the turns that a HAL ship has. I would say the hallway is about the same width as HAL maybe at most 4 inches less. Actually the deck 10 aft balconies are big but again about the same size as the Signature suite balconies on HAL, and definitely not as big as the S and R Class Neptunes suite balconies. Unfortunately with NCL Jewel if you moved up to the Haven where the much larger suites are the balconies are even smaller. The largest Suite Balconies with NCL would be with the Corner aft Haven Suites on Breakaway, Getaway and Escape but then you are going to pay a lot more for those than a Neptune Suite on HAL.

[jmele999]

I am not the OP but I have been in plenty of HAL Suites and also been in this category cabin on 10 deck of the jewel several times. While it is a full suite it is the lower category suite and somewhat similar to what would be an SY or SS on a HAL Vista Ship. There are much larger sq ft full suites on NCL just not on the aft like this one is. I have seen scooters on NCL but not as often as Princess and HAL but the hallway pic looks long and narrow because it does not have the turns that a HAL ship has. I would say the hallway is about the same width as HAL maybe at most 4 inches less. Actually the deck 10 aft balconies are big but again about the same size as the Signature suite balconies on HAL, and definitely not as big as the S and R Class Neptunes suite balconies. Unfortunately with NCL Jewel if you moved up to the Haven where the much larger suites are the balconies are even smaller. The largest Suite Balconies with NCL would be with the Corner aft Haven Suites on Breakaway, Getaway and Escape but then you are going to pay a lot more for those than a Neptune Suite on HAL.

 

 

 

I would like to add some pictures from our Jewel Aft Penthouse on Deck 10 so that you can get an idea about the size of the balcony and the room.

 

 

Here is the hallway.

 

 

 

As LAFFNVegas indicated, the aft penthouses are the smallest suites on the Jewel, but the size of the balcony increases as you go up from deck 8 to deck 10. Here are some pictures from the balcony on Deck 10.

 

 

Edited September 7, 2015 by jmele999

[pizzalady1]

That said; I was wondering if you had seen any mobility scooters on your cruise. The hallway picture looked narrow and difficult. Do you feel that there was enough room in your suite for a scooter? For my DW it is a must have, and the reason we book suites.

 

I had a scooter in an aft balcony cabin, not a suite. There was room to store it. You have to watch, some of the hallways are narrower than others. If there are pillars in the hallway, don't try to navigate it.

[teachtocruis]

I'm loving this review! Especially the pictures of the ship! We will be on the Jewel for Thanksgiving.

 

Kayla

[anonmom]

Thanks for posting this review. You take beautiful pictures! I am booked on my first cruise in January on the Jade, so it is nice to see/read about her sister ship.

[jenseib]

We only had one server in Azura as well. Don't remember if it was the same in Tsar's as we only ate there twice. Once was lunch on embark day and the other was breakfast on debark day, so things were a bit hectic.

 

I am thinking this just might be how NCL runs things. It was just odd to me.

 

Just looking at your first arrival photos, I would have to agree with your daughter that the suite is indeed small. :) We have never cruised on NCL, just Holland & Princess. Their suites appear much larger with at least a full sofa. The balcony looks depth challenged as it looks like a lounger will just fit with no space to get around it.

 

That said; I was wondering if you had seen any mobility scooters on your cruise. The hallway picture looked narrow and difficult. Do you feel that there was enough room in your suite for a scooter? For my DW it is a must have, and the reason we book suites.

 

Thank you for your most informative story, looking forward to more.

 

There are several types of suites on NCL. This was just a Penthouse. The smallest that they have. And Claire has never been in a suite, only a balcony stateroom so she had no idea what the size should be. She kept thinking that this was smaller than a regular DCL balcony room and it was much larger.

 

 

Our Balcony was bigger than a normal one but we did not have much extra room. They did just fit in there at an angle.

 

I really did not notice much in the way of scooters. I just don't look for them unless I have a friend using one. I did take a picture of one in the hall. It will be in my next installment

[jenseib]

I would like to add some pictures from our Jewel Aft Penthouse on Deck 10 so that you can get an idea about the size of the balcony and the room.

 

 

Here is the hallway.

 

 

 

As LAFFNVegas indicated, the aft penthouses are the smallest suites on the Jewel, but the size of the balcony increases as you go up from deck 8 to deck 10. Here are some pictures from the balcony on Deck 10.

 

 

 

I think our balcony might have been slightly smaller in width..though it could be just fooling me because of the way the chairs are set up on yours. I still really liked the size.

 

I'm loving this review! Especially the pictures of the ship! We will be on the Jewel for Thanksgiving.

 

Kayla

 

Thanks! I am actually working on planning a mini trip over Thanksgiving too..Unfortunately it's not a cruise.

[jenseib]

Thanks for posting this review. You take beautiful pictures! I am booked on my first cruise in January on the Jade, so it is nice to see/read about her sister ship.

 

My friend sailed the Jade about a month before I was on the Jewel. She loved it!!!

[jenseib]

Day 3, Aug.2, 2015, Day at Sea

My body was still on Eastern Standard Time and I woke up extremely early. I tried to go back to sleep but after a while I gave up and put on some clothes and decided to walk around the ship for a bit. It was still dark out.

I went up to deck 12 thinking I would check out the pool area and see what it looked like at night. This was easier said than done. I had to cut through the buffet area. Not a sole in site, but a lot of the area was roped off. As I walked through I came to a door that would lead me out of the buffet and it was closed. I could not for the life of me figure out how to open it so I gave up and started walking back. A crew member suddenly showed up and I asked him how to get through and he came back and opened the door for me. It was easier than I thought…that is if you knew how to do it.

I walked out and it was still chilly and windy.

jnight1 by Jenseib, on Flickr

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[jenseib]

I always enjoy early morning walks on DCL, but on this ship it really felt more forbidden and after a bit I decided to head back to the room and try to sleep a little more.

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Plus it was too cold.

I did manage to fall asleep for about 2 more hours or so.

Once everyone else woke up, we got dressed and went to see how the weather was for the day.

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On the pool deck there is a little area that is for kids with a kids hot tub and a VERY small slide.

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[jenseib]

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It was still windy and chilly. We decided we needed some breakfast and headed to the buffet.

There are bathrooms and a shower room near the pool.

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I helped Claire with her food and got a few pictures as well while we made our selections.

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[jenseib]

The seating area is big, but it was crowded. We were directed to go sit in La Cucina for more seating. La Cucina is the Italian specialty restaurant, which is located right near the buffet area.

My plate

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The thing in the middle is a pancake loaded with whipped cream (I don’t do syrup). I had read how the whipped cream on NCL is so tasty and wonderful. OMG! They weren’t lying. This stuff was like crack! It tasted heavenly!

Claire’s plate. When there are waffles and bacon, Claire is happy!

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And Skip’s plate.

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When we were done we headed out the back door of La Cucina and checked out the back deck. There was some empty seats here, but it was still cold and windy too.

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We went back to the room for a bit. We looked over the Freestyle Daily to see what we would like to do today.

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[jenseib]

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Claire and I decided to go and talk to Florentina and check up on our excursion tickets for Ketchikan.

She informed me it was sold out but they were working on it since I have proof I pre-booked the reservation. I was going to demand something bigger …for the same cost if they did not come through for me. This was unacceptable. She said “let me make a phone call and check on it” so Claire and I waited and she said they pushed us through and we are in! yes!!! Our tickets would be sent to our room later (and they were).

I now was feeling a bit better.

Claire and I went to the gift shop again then to browse around, hoping to find new items. Nope, still very unimpressive. We walked towards the Atrium then, passing through the art Gallery, which had the art packed away currently.

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We noticed the shore excursion desk crew members were dressed up in Alaskan wear. You can kind of see the guy to the right of this picture. He is wearing a red flannel lumberjack type shirt.

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[jenseib]

And the gal…..well I think you can guess the profession she was dress up as.

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It was now getting close to the first activity we wanted to do today, so we met up with Skip and headed that way.

Up next…all about Glaciers and too many drinks!

[Kattus]

And the gal…..well I think you can guess the profession she was dress up as.

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It was now getting close to the first activity we wanted to do today, so we met up with Skip and headed that way.

Up next…all about Glaciers and too many drinks!

 

LOL She doesn't look too thrilled

[jenseib]

LOL She doesn't look too thrilled

 

LOL! I guess she doesn't like that profession! :p

[jenseib]

At some point in time we met up with Skip. I believe the plan was to meet in the Stardust theatre but we found him beforehand.

We were going to go and watch a presentation on Glaciers and then after that about port excursions.

We made our way there passing through Chin Chin.

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Tepanyaki is right off of Chin Chin.

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A look down…that is where Le Bistro is.

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These seats are in the waiting area for Chin Chin and Tepanyaki.

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And Walking through Fyzz.

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A lot of activities went on in here. I kept calling it the Bubble Room and Skip would call it the Fuzzy Lounge. Of course Claire knew the correct name and would get mad at us for calling it by the wrong name…so of course we kept doing that.

[jenseib]

Claire stopped for a quick picture.

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We sat in the balcony area. The bad thing about these seats is they have glass panels for safety…but it makes it hard to see at times. They seem to end right at eye level so you have to kind of duck to see through the glass or stretch up to see over.

They have these little cup holders on the floor. They are not that great though and many were broken or just not very sturdy.

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And then the presentation began and we learned about Glaciers and Ice Fields and it was very interesting.

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Next up was a talk about port adventures so in between I took a quickie shot of the pillar that I thought was pretty.

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This next talk was interesting too. They just touched on different activities and excursions, but it was neat to see what all is offered. Each time Skip would ask “Are we doing that one?” LOL. He really wanted to do the plane or helicopter ones, but then I told him the price (which I had told him several times already over the past 2 days) and he backed off quite a bit. But he says next time we go…and he is pretty certain there is a next time….he wants to do at least one plane excursion.

We were told to dress like an onion in the ports…..so you can peel off layers as you go….the temps can range all over the place in different areas and it often gets warmer during the day.

Ketchikan is the rain capital of the US. Expect it to rain….actually expect for a chance of rain in all the ports as it is a rain forest. I had planned for that and brought rain ponchos too. I had been watching the weather for about 2 weeks before going and the last one I looked at (and it changed so many times) said that all port days had very low chances of rain. That being said, we all know how weather forecasts go and I was not going to be disappointed if it did rain and that is just the way it goes.

There was a shopping presentation next and we had no interest in staying for that so we headed out.

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[jenseib]

Dora’s Dance Party was going on in the Fyzz. Claire refused to stay and watch but I did take a couple of quick pictures as we passed through.

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I remember when my days were filled with Dora shows and Dora talk. My baby has grown up.

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We walked outside to admire the views and it seemed like the wind had died down and the day was getting better.

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I just love to watch the wake of the ship. It’s so mesmerizing.

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We separated from Skip once again. We told him we were going to Moderno for lunch and if he wanted to go there to meet us at a certain time. He was determined he was going to eat at the buffet today. We also had plans to go to the family pizza making later in La Cucina and if we didn’t see him before that then he was to meet us there.

Now I want to point out that some might find it weird that Skip and I separate a lot. It doesn’t bother me one bit. I want to do what I want and Skip has other ideas of fun. That’s fine with me. I rather not force someone to enjoy what I enjoy and then hear complaints about it. Sometimes Claire will go with me and sometimes she will go with him. Sometimes she went to the club and we all were on our own. It’s what makes cruising so great for our family. We can all do what we want and not worry about the others having a good time.

One thing I wanted to do was check out Spinnakers. I had seen pictures of it and it looked so neat and I wanted to get a few of my own. Claire wanted to see it too.

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Bingo was going on, so we quietly went in and looked around from the outer edges.

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[jenseib]

We loved these chairs.

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They also had these strange looking couch/bed chairs but people were sitting on them and sadly I never came back when the place was empty to get a picture of them.

My preteen. It makes me so sad she is growing up, but with growing up we can now do different things than when she was little. So that’s the plus side I guess.

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Bingo is pretty popular. We are not really bingo people so we sat in the funky chairs and watched the world go by. They crowned a Bingo King and Queen. They received a paper crown and some other little perks. The funny thing is both the King and the Queen were men! We actually saw the Bingo King later on a few times and I told him I recognized him as the Bingo King. His wife got a kick out of that I think.

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We decided to have a drink while we were in there. I got an amaretto sour and Claire got a coke.

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[jenseib]

Amaretto sours are small and soooo tasty. I sucked that baby down in about 2 minutes…..so I asked for another.

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I love this decoration.

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Well I sucked that one down pretty fast too. I don’t drink often these days. I am no longer young and my bar days are long in my past. Wowee. 2 quick drinks packed a little punch for me. Thank goodness I wasn’t driving the boat. I really felt tipsy.

It was time to eat now, which was a good thing. Soaking up some of those drinks would be a wise thing to do right now.

Claire and I headed off to Moderno. When we arrived the gal who seats you recognized us, as did Florentina. I think because we had spent half the day there yesterday fixing things, we were kind of easy to remember.

Every time we went to Moderno we were seated at the same 1 of 2 table’s right in the middle next to the window. I didn’t complain because the view was good but it was kind of funny.

As we walked in I heard a lady at another table say she thought I was from Cruise Critic. I said yes I am and we were on the same roll call thread (which only had a few people on it for some odd reason). We knew we were both doing the same excursion in Skagway.

Claire and I ordered the soup of the day, which I don’t remember what it was. It was good, but not a favorite for me.

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I got the Risotto with shrimp and scallops.

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It was to die for! I wish I had gone back and had it again on another day but we never made it back for lunch.

I am pretty sure Claire had the steak again today which is probably why I didn’t take a picture of her meal.

We both got the Warm Expresso Chocolate Brownie for dessert. I worried it would taste like coffee….it did not and it was very good!!!!!!

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As we were eating dessert, Skip arrived. I told him we would wait for him if he wanted to eat but he said no. I am not sure if he did go to the buffet or if he was still full from breakfast.

[jenseib]

We decided on an activity we wanted to do next and we still had some time, so we headed outside again to watch the beautiful world go by.

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Up Next....Some Nick Fun and Pizzas!

[jenseib]

There was a Nick Live show going on in the Fyzz Lounge at 1, so that is where we were headed. As we headed there someone was asking another person where he could see the bridge. I heard him and pointed him to the right direction. It’s on deck 11. You go towards the front of the ship and then you will find the area. Skip was impressed you could see the bridge and said he would like to go, but I told him we were running late so we would have to do it after the show.

The show had already started when we arrived but we did find some seats on the edge. These chairs are so neat looking, but next to impossible to move. We wanted to get a better view…..instead of the pole, but we could only move the chairs a few inches. Nothing to grab on to and the legs didn’t make for an easy move either.

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This was basically a contest with activities and trivia. Winning wasn’t what I would want to do. You got pies in your face and slimmed….but I guess for a kid that is exciting.

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[jenseib]

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He was the grand winner of the event so he got a total slime. Yuck!

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When it was over we waited a bit before leaving to let it clear out as it was pretty full and we would just be fighting crowds.

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We then made our way to the bridge viewing area. It has all sorts of plaques, awards and info in the room and then a glassed off are you can look through.

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[jenseib]

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It was interesting to see our route and where we were at the moment. (they had this on a TV station in the room as well)

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We could’ve spent more time in there looking everything over but Claire was not quite as interested as us. And there were others in there so we didn’t want to block their views of everything. The room is fairly small.

We separated again with plans to meet up for the pizza making at 3.

Claire and I headed to the room. Our tickets were there! Yay!!!!!

I forgot to mention that when I talked to Florentina earlier today that she apologized for everything that went on yesterday. This was a heartfelt one and it meant a lot to me now. She was honest and told me she had never had an issue like this happen before and she didn’t know what to do. I hope that NCL now trains her on what to do, but the fact that she apologized and told me she was in a panic did smooth things over with me much more.

I don’t remember why we went back to the room, but I know I needed to take an ibuprofen. I didn’t have a drink with me…and why would I drink water? LOL. I really don’t know why I didn’t drink the water, but the sparkling wine bottle was there so I decided to try to open it. Let’s just say I rarely drink this stuff and had no clue how to open it. I started twisting off the wire and Claire had her head right over it watching. I said to her “you better back off as I don’t know how to open this and for all I know this thing is going to go poof”. At that exact moment Claire slightly backed up and the cork just went flying with a lot of force. I asked Claire if she got hit and she said no, but it just missed her. She said she felt the wind of it pass her forehead. Knowing that no one got hurt we then laughed about it. I poured myself a glass and it was pretty tasty. I am not sure if this is “good” stuff or not, but I liked it.

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I sipped on this all through the week. Skip never had any.

It was time to head to La Cucina for Family Pizza Making. Surprisingly, Skip was there waiting for us.

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It filled up fast and soon there were no tables left.