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

[jenseib]

I ran up and took a few pictures of the pizza area.

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They were small personal pizzas.

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Skip and I weren’t hungry, so we decided Claire would just make one and we would nibble off of it. Many families did make 1 per person, but it would’ve been a waste for us.

They had people line up and there were a lot of people so we just sat back and waited for the line to die down. As we were waiting someone shouted dolphin and I ran over to the window to see. I kept missing it, but did get a shot of it going under water.

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Looking at this next picture, I really can’t tell if it was truly a dolphin or an orca. Orca’s were spotted all day long…and of course I never saw one.

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The line started to lessen so Claire and I went to wait.

They had coloring sheets for kids to color while waiting. I thought it was funny that they had a Disney sheet.

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Claire is hard at work making her pizza perfect.

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[jenseib]

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See the guy in the green down at the other end in the left. He was the only male kid’s club counselor. His name was Captain Crunch. Skip kept laughing and saying “What parent would name their kid Captain Crunch.” Claire would get mad and try to explain they all had fake names but Skip played dumb.

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They put the pizzas on a tray and then the gal marked down where it was on the tray and which tray and then they took them to back. When your tray was done they would call your names…..though they had the girl with the quietest voice doing it.

We started to nibble before I remembered to take a picture.

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After that was over, Claire wanted to go to the kids club and Skip went off on his own too. I think he went to the Casino.

We went to the club entrance and found out that her age group was on deck 6 forward in a room. It was basically a conference room that they were using for the 10-12 year olds. It was right near the Stardust Theatre entrance on deck 6.

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The door is to the left in this next picture.

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I signed her in and they told me what time the club closed. She could check out then or I could come get her. They would be in the Splash academy at that time. Claire was nervous about checking herself out so I said I would come up there and get her.

[jenseib]

I wandered around then for a bit and took a few pictures.

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Up next…Claire’s favorite dinner!

[InTheWASide]

Really appreciate you doing all this OP. And it's right as I enter my last week before I board for my 10 day Alaska on Jewel so it's REALLY keeping me excited.

[jenseib]

Really appreciate you doing all this OP. And it's right as I enter my last week before I board for my 10 day Alaska on Jewel so it's REALLY keeping me excited.

 

OOOOH! I am so jealous. I would love to do 10 days. Even Skip who thought 7 days would be too long said he would like to do a longer one next time.

[jenseib]

While I was walking around a Crew Member was walking the same direction and saw my Disney Castaway backpack that I was carrying. He asked which ships I have been on and which cruise directors I have had….You guessed it. He used to work for DCL as well….on the Magic. He was super friendly and we chatted a bit till we parted ways.

The weather actually had gotten better today too. The wind had died down a bit and it was not quite as cold out anymore. I was happy for that.

I headed back to the room for some reason and our daily treats were set out.

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These cookies were almost as good as DCL’s.

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I headed down to the casino and blew a few dollars. Let’s just say... I am not very good at slot machines. But it’s fun to do and I really limit myself on how much I spend.

Skip was there and I sat with him for a bit and then we headed off to pick up Claire. The line for the Splash Academy was very long. I told Skip to weave up there and see if he could see Claire and tell her to check herself out. He couldn’t see her.

As we got closer to the front I heard one of the counselors say that all the Dolphins had been dismissed and had already checked themselves out. Skip had a bit of panic. I told him not to worry as Claire is always supposed to go back to the room if she checks herself out and to wait for one of us.

FYI..The kids clubs on NCL are not open during dinner hours. I know for some this is kind of a pain. It was Ok for us, but Claire does like to sometimes skip dinner and go to the club. A few times she had asked if she could go while we had a reservation for a meal…as we often eat late. In most cases it didn’t work because the clubs typically closed by 10 PM as well.

So we headed back to the room and she was there. She did tell me she was walking with new friends and got herself turned around and ended up at the front of the ship. So her friend showed her her room before Claire came back to ours. A little tip that helped my family many times….the fish in the carpet swim towards the front of the ship. Both commented to me how after I told them that tip they were able to turn themselves around a few times when going to the wrong way. Of course one time I did not pay attention and led my family to the front instead of the back. I guess when I am leading they assume I know what I am doing and don’t pay attention.

We decided to shower and get ready for the first show tonight.

The Show tonight was Band on the Run. I was VERY impressed. I think Disney puts on fabulous shows and this could compete. The singing was well done and the costumes were great. For those who read my Caribbean Princess report….the costumes were great and the singing was horrid.

After the show we went out on deck for a little bit….it was windy again, but still much better than last night… and then it was time to head towards Teppanyaki for dinner.

We had to check in at Chin Chin and we were early so Skip sat down and I took some pictures.

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We loved that bubbly bar. We thought it was so pretty.

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[jenseib]

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Claire and I decided to go down the steps and check out the bubble bar closer.

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Claire sat on the floor and I tried to take pictures of her in front of it. Every single one I took without a flash, where the bubble colors shown much better..she was either closing her eyes or looking away. The best of the bunch was the one and only one I took with a flash…of course.

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There was a guy playing piano and singing….we personally do not like this kind of entertainment usually, but it was obviously very popular as they had entertainment like this every night around the ship.

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[jenseib]

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Right around 8:30, the time of our reservation we were taken back into Teppanyaki. You have to walk through Chin Chin to get to it. We were seated and looked over the menu.

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I wanted the Lobster and Scallop combo but not the calamari…(Sorry but I think it’s disgusting) so I asked if I could have filet mignon instead. I have read other people have done this but our waiter acted like this was a big no no…but he told me to just keep it a secret and he would make it happen. Fine by me. He didn’t say how long to keep it a secret though. LOL.

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The chefs came out.. .there are 4 tables and they all work at the same time. With Teppanyaki they only have a few seatings a night and the chefs all cook at the same time for each seating.

Now since we are on a ship, they can’t do all the same sort of tricks you will see on a land based hibachi grill. They don’t do the big poof of fire and they don’t do the steaming onion volcano. But they still do some of the similar tricks the other ones do.

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[jenseib]

See the egg in the air in the next picture?

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While he was doing all of his egg tricks one got away and knocked a glass of water all over a lady and her son at our table. She took it in good stride though and the chef kept apologizing over and over.

This next one is something I have never seen done. He made a flower design out of the egg.

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He also cooked things differently than the land based ones do.

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A snake made out of egg!

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[jenseib]

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Instead of throwing meat for each of us to catch in our mouths…always a favorite of Claire’s….he threw pieces of egg. I guess egg is less expensive? That would be the only reason I can see why they do that. I caught mine though!

Soup was different also than what we normally get at land based restaurants.

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It had chunks in it and Claire was sure it would poison her. LOL. I ate one…pretty sure it was tofu…YUCK. I told her to just eat around those. The soup was just ok in my opinion.

Next was the salad…again this was different than what we are used to. I wasn’t a fan. It was a seaweed salad and it had an odd texture to it.

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Also at the land based ones we go to they typically serve the rice first and then plop the veggies on top and they are all mixed up. Here each person gets one stack of veggies.

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And rice is served in a bowl.

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Still tasted good, just noting the differences.

[jenseib]

My scallops.

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And my steak.

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I never took a picture of the lobster. End the end I ended up dumping my bowl of rice on my plate and mixing it together. We also were served extra if we wanted. Claire loves the rice and took extra. Claire got the filet mignon too. I think Skip got steak and chicken.

It was very good but I think our chef was a little heavy on the sauce. My food, especially the steak was just a bit too saucy tasting to me. However Claire LOVED hers and begged to come back again. While sitting there I looked on the iConcierge app and found that they did have lunch openings on our next sea day and booked it.

For dessert we had 2 choices…Green tea cake or Fresh Fruit. You couldn’t pay me to eat green tea cake so I went with the fruit. So did Claire but Skip got the cake.

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Claire is pretty selective with fruit. I convinced her to try the kiwi and now she is a kiwi lover.

We were all very full but we enjoyed the meal. The bills came as this is a specialty restaurant. Without looking it up I want to say this one is $29 per person. Kids are not discounted. But Claire loves her steak so even if we had paid for it or actually paid for the dining plan, she would have gotten her money’s worth. We found with the specialty restaurants they all did the bill a bit differently. Some made each of us sign our own copy, even Claire, and taking each card to run through. Others would allow one of us to sign and some only needed one card to run through. It didn’t really matter to us too much except a few times when Skip wanted to leave but couldn’t till the cards came back. They often were a bit slow with this process.

After dinner we rolled ourselves outside again.

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The wind did pick up a bit and I found a cubby to stand in to block it while Skip chatted with a new friend he made.

[jenseib]

The sunset was beautiful again tonight.

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We walked around a bit…checked the gift shop to see if any new merchandise was out…nope! And got some drinks to take back to the room.

We had this waiting for us tonight.

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The pink doll is Penelope and she is lying on top of “silky”. Silky and Penelope come on every trip with us. Yes my 10 year old still needs them to sleep!

We settled in for the night watching tv and drifting off. Tomorrow was our first port day. Ketchikan….here we come!

Up next….Our first taste of Alaska!

[Wavesprite]

I noticed "Penelope" in one other picture and almost commented. My 10 year old has almost the exact same doll, but she has blond braids and her name is "Vanilla". Last year at Disneyland Vanilla got taken to the laundry in the bed sheets, we got her back but my daughter was traumatized, so she doesn't travel with us anymore.

[caribill]

Last year at Disneyland Vanilla got taken to the laundry in the bed sheets, we got her back but my daughter was traumatized, so she doesn't travel with us anymore.

 

Daughter or Vanilla?

[Wavesprite]

Lol, vanilla !

[frodoandsam]

Loving your review! It is like a wonderful novel! Can't wait for the next chapter!

[jenseib]

I noticed "Penelope" in one other picture and almost commented. My 10 year old has almost the exact same doll, but she has blond braids and her name is "Vanilla". Last year at Disneyland Vanilla got taken to the laundry in the bed sheets, we got her back but my daughter was traumatized, so she doesn't travel with us anymore.

 

AWWW I love it! I know which one you are talking about too. We had a "Vanilla" as a back up but she was to wise when she was little and knew it wasn't Penelope.

 

Daughter or Vanilla?

 

:D hahahaha

[jenseib]

Loving your review! It is like a wonderful novel! Can't wait for the next chapter!

 

Thanks! And welcome to cruise critic!

[ala1017]

My 11 yo daughter still has a travel buddy too...It's a pink (?), now grey 12 year old bunny named Bun Bun. I bought Bun Bun as her first "Toy" when I first found out I was pregnant, little did I know Bun Bun would be such a huge part of our family, she goes everywhere we go. She recently had a sleepover at a friends house and was a tad embarrassed by having to bring her so we tucked her in her pillowcase and all was well and her secret was safe. I'm sure Bun Bun will go off to college and be part of her own family when she is older..there are no plans to put her away anytime in the near future. That rabbit has had an exciting life too. Once she went away and we for sure thought she was rabbitnapped. The great people of Spirit airlines found her and returned her safe to my daughter, she got her picture taken with the pilot before they took off in the cockpit and everything. Really quite cute.

[jm485]

Really enjoying this! The photos are great and really give a good feeling for the trip.

 

FYI, the best advice I ever got about opening sparkling wine is "twist the bottle not the cork." Take off the foil and wire, put one hand over the cork, hold the bottle at the base of the neck with the other and gently twist the bottle while holding the cork still. You 'll just get a small "pop," so not as dramatic without the flying cork and spewing bottle. But you'll greatly reduce the risk of cork-induced eye injury ... and the waste of good wine! :D

[NancyL2]

Just got home from my week on the Jewel....someone is now in "my" cabin. :(

 

Love your review of the Teppanyaki. Chin Chin was also a favorite of mine. I went for dinner there one night by myself and they couldn't have been more gracious. Service was excellent!

Ohhh how I didn't want to leave to ship.

Edited September 13, 2015 by NancyL2

[Msmojo66]

Loving your report as well!!! We (my daughter 7 and I, our 1st cruise along with my mom, her 4th) on the Jewel in May. Love seeing it again!! We had the trip of a lifetime and now I have the cruise bug!! Can't wait to go again but probably be awhile, as I had won a trip through a local radio station and used the money for our cruise. We had mini-suite on 11th floor and loved every minute of it!! My daughter, who is normally very shy loved the kids club and sometimes would not even want to eat dinner before going. This does make me want to do a report as we did some fun excursions and had momma and baby whales breaching in Juneau!!! I just don't know how to download the photos.

 

Waiting for more!!!! Keep it coming!!!

[mykindaparty]

Come back and finish please.....

[jenseib]

My 11 yo daughter still has a travel buddy too...It's a pink (?), now grey 12 year old bunny named Bun Bun. I bought Bun Bun as her first "Toy" when I first found out I was pregnant, little did I know Bun Bun would be such a huge part of our family, she goes everywhere we go. She recently had a sleepover at a friends house and was a tad embarrassed by having to bring her so we tucked her in her pillowcase and all was well and her secret was safe. I'm sure Bun Bun will go off to college and be part of her own family when she is older..there are no plans to put her away anytime in the near future. That rabbit has had an exciting life too. Once she went away and we for sure thought she was rabbitnapped. The great people of Spirit airlines found her and returned her safe to my daughter, she got her picture taken with the pilot before they took off in the cockpit and everything. Really quite cute.

 

Penelope was given to me in the hospital by my sister for Claire when she was born. She didn't start loving her for a few more months though. At one point I bougt 3 more as back ups off of ebay. For a long time she never knew the difference if I was washing one or one was misplaced...but then she got smart. The real Penelope had a silky tale....which is the tag. The others had a rough texture tag but Penelopes is very silky to the touch. She got her name because one day Claire asked me what her name was. I just off the top of my head said Penelope.....and it stuck and she started calling her that.

I have heard a few stories of kids leaving them on airplanes. I always tell Claire to be sure you keep her in the bag and don't take her out till we arrive. There still is that chance she might get lost though and I hope if that ever happens we will survive!

That's so cute that Bun Bun got a picture with the pilot!

 

Really enjoying this! The photos are great and really give a good feeling for the trip.

 

FYI, the best advice I ever got about opening sparkling wine is "twist the bottle not the cork." Take off the foil and wire, put one hand over the cork, hold the bottle at the base of the neck with the other and gently twist the bottle while holding the cork still. You 'll just get a small "pop," so not as dramatic without the flying cork and spewing bottle. But you'll greatly reduce the risk of cork-induced eye injury ... and the waste of good wine! :D

 

 

Thanks so much for that info! I will remember that for the futurre.

I think this baby was ready to go. I hadn't even started twisting the cork or bottle. I had only just undone the wire. lol! I am so glad Claire did not get it in the face! That would have put a huge damper on the whole trip. :p

[jenseib]

Just got home from my week on the Jewel....someone is now in "my" cabin. :(

 

Love your review of theTeppanyaki. Chin Chin was also a favorite of mine. I went for dinner there one night by myself and they couldn't have been more gracious. Service was excellent!

Ohhh how I didn't want to leave to ship.

 

I hear good things about Chin Chin so if we ever go back we will have to try it.

 

Don't you hate knowing someone else is in "your" cabin! :mad:

 

Loving your report as well!!! We (my daughter 7 and I, our 1st cruise along with my mom, her 4th) on the Jewel in May. Love seeing it again!! We had the trip of a lifetime and now I have the cruise bug!! Can't wait to go again but probably be awhile, as I had won a trip through a local radio station and used the money for our cruise. We had mini-suite on 11th floor and loved every minute of it!! My daughter, who is normally very shy loved the kids club and sometimes would not even want to eat dinner before going. This does make me want to do a report as we did some fun excursions and had momma and baby whales breaching in Juneau!!! I just don't know how to download the photos.

 

Waiting for more!!!! Keep it coming!!!

 

I have the cruise bug too. I am so happy to have one planned for Feb on the DCL Magic. And my whole family wants to do one on the DCL Fantasy next fall but it's not booked yet. They keep talking like they are going but no one is committing to any dates. I wish I could afford to cruise every other month. :D

 

Let me know if you do a report. I would love to read it!

I never saw a whale breach....and I kept asking them too!:confused: