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

[bonvoyagie]

While I would have liked the Pearl to visit Tracy Arm - it does not. On Thursday she visits Glacier Bay. Juneau is it's first port call.

[jenseib]

While I would have liked the Pearl to visit Tracy Arm - it does not. On Thursday she visits Glacier Bay. Juneau is it's first port call.

 

You are so right. Not sure how I mixed that up in my brain! Do they go there that morning then? Or do they spend a day there. I know I knew it's route before at one time, but I think I am now mixing up with another line.

[bonvoyagie]

I know there are so many different routes.:D The Pearl leaves Seattle on Sun - is at sea Mon and half of Tue where it splits the day with the Jewel, Then it is on to Skagway (both ships) Thursday all day is spent in Glacier Bay, Friday AM in Ketchikan, Sat eve in Victoria then back to Seattle.

 

There are some HAL ships that do a "service call" at Tracy Arm prior to Juneau - this is to allow their small boat tour to explore Tracy Arm - the tour catches up with the ship in Juneau. They also do Glacier Bay later in the week.

 

Glacier Bay is usually 7-8 or more hours of cruising with views of at least 5 glaciers.

[SuiteTraveler]

I'm really enjoying your review! I was excited to read about the Deadliest Catch type tour in Ketchikan! That would be fun! BTW, I think those seals have been up in that river on river street for years! About 5 years ago I saw one laying back in the water munching away on its salmon while the other was trying to catch salmon in the run. So cute! I guess that is their home territory.

[quercus alba]

In exchange for your picture of Pearl entering Juneau, here's one of Jewel leaving (about 2 weeks previously) for you: :)

[Silver Sweethearts]

"I decided I wanted to find the front of the ship…the stern… as it had now been opened for passengers to go out and view."

 

Think you may have meant to say the bow is at the front of the ship.

[TMC]

Jen,

 

Thanks to your review and great photos I have convinced my family that we should visit Chihuly before our cruise. Could you please tell me about how long you spent there? Our sightseeing list keeps growing :)

 

TMC

[jenseib]

I know there are so many different routes.:D The Pearl leaves Seattle on Sun - is at sea Mon and half of Tue where it splits the day with the Jewel, Then it is on to Skagway (both ships) Thursday all day is spent in Glacier Bay, Friday AM in Ketchikan, Sat eve in Victoria then back to Seattle.

 

There are some HAL ships that do a "service call" at Tracy Arm prior to Juneau - this is to allow their small boat tour to explore Tracy Arm - the tour catches up with the ship in Juneau. They also do Glacier Bay later in the week.

 

Glacier Bay is usually 7-8 or more hours of cruising with views of at least 5 glaciers.

 

The Jewel has one of those tours too and I really wanted to do it but it just didn't work out with all I had planned. If we ever sail the Jewel again it will be on the top of the list!

I would love to do Glacier Bay though. I have so many wants and not enough money!!! :rolleyes:

 

I'm really enjoying your review! I was excited to read about the Deadliest Catch type tour in Ketchikan! That would be fun! BTW, I think those seals have been up in that river on river street for years! About 5 years ago I saw one laying back in the water munching away on its salmon while the other was trying to catch salmon in the run. So cute! I guess that is their home territory.

 

 

Thanks! That was a great tour and I would recommend it to anyone. You don't even have to like the show to enjoy it.

Those seals have a great spot....why leave? :D

[jenseib]

"I decided I wanted to find the front of the ship…the stern… as it had now been opened for passengers to go out and view."

 

Think you may have meant to say the bow is at the front of the ship.

 

And you would be right! I couldn't think of the right term when typing it a week or so ago. And for some reason bow never came into my brain. LOL :eek:

 

In exchange for your picture of Pearl entering Juneau, here's one of Jewel leaving (about 2 weeks previously) for you: :)

 

Thanks! I wish I was on her right now...though somewhere tropical would be better at this time of year. Though we are having a heatwave in Ohio right now with Temps in the 70's all week. It's been wonderful.

[jenseib]

Jen,

 

Thanks to your review and great photos I have convinced my family that we should visit Chihuly before our cruise. Could you please tell me about how long you spent there? Our sightseeing list keeps growing :)

 

TMC

 

I don't remember offhand but I would say a good hour? Probably a little longer with travel time. You can get through it pretty fast, it just depends on how much you want to linger in areas. You could get through it in 10-15 minutes easily but we lingered here and there and I took pictures. Plus for the price I wanted to get my monies worth. The nice thing is, it is open fairly late so it worked well for us to go in the evening. Also it opens at a fairly decent time in the morning and I could have easily gone there before getting on the ship.

[jenseib]

Before I go on I wanted to correct a mistake I made. I mentioned the Pearl had come from Tracy Arm and that is not true. I had a flakey moment. The Pearl goes to Glacier Bay and never goes to Tracy Arm and has a half day at sea before arriving at Juneau.

Back to the report…….

 

I ended up just going out on 7 for a bit while I pondered it over as to which deck I needed to go to get to the front.

 

endi17 by Jenseib, on Flickr

 

endi61 by Jenseib, on Flickr

 

endi18 by Jenseib, on Flickr

 

endi19 by Jenseib, on Flickr

 

Yeah…I like icebergs.

 

endi20 by Jenseib, on Flickr

 

I then finally realized what deck it was…and I can’t remember now…but I want to say it was deck 8……but whatever deck it was, I found it and went out.

 

endi21 by Jenseib, on Flickr

Edited November 4, 2015 by jenseib

[jenseib]

It was a little windy out there but not too bad. And it was just really cool to be in this normally restricted area. I hear it really depends on weather and conditions as to how long they keep it open as it can be dangerous if it is wavy or really windy. It must’ve been perfect conditions today as they kept it up for hours.

 

And the views….splendid!!!!!

 

endi22 by Jenseib, on Flickr

 

endi23 by Jenseib, on Flickr

 

endi24 by Jenseib, on Flickr

 

endi25 by Jenseib, on Flickr

 

This is the deck/area that the crews pool is located on as well.

 

endi26 by Jenseib, on Flickr

 

endi27 by Jenseib, on Flickr

[jenseib]

endi28 by Jenseib, on Flickr

 

The anchor!

 

endi29 by Jenseib, on Flickr

 

Actually I believe this is a back-up anchor. I heard some people talking about why would the anchor be up here and it would be awfully hard to move. Then another guy said well ships never anchor anymore…which is not true. I finally joined in the conversation after a bit and told them yes they do anchor…when they tender they have to anchor. I said I was pretty sure this was just a back-up anchor and they agreed that made sense.

 

endi30 by Jenseib, on Flickr

 

endi31 by Jenseib, on Flickr

 

Everywhere I looked there was just another stunning view.

 

endi32 by Jenseib, on Flickr

 

Some birds were enjoying the views as well.

 

endi33 by Jenseib, on Flickr

[jenseib]

endi1 by Jenseib, on Flickr

 

endi2 by Jenseib, on Flickr

 

endi3 by Jenseib, on Flickr

 

endi62 by Jenseib, on Flickr

 

I got to talking to a lady for quite some time. I believe she is a professor somewhere, though I no longer remember where. We had such a nice talk and we got on to subjects of glaciers (wonder why?) and culture and people. My great uncle had actually lived with Eskimos in Alaska many years ago (he has passed now). He was an anthropologist and he studied many cultures. He wrote some books….and I will be honest…I have never read a single one though I do have a copy of one somewhere. They are very difficult to read and super technical. Not an enjoyable read by any means. So we talked about him a bit.

He has a story that one time he and some of the people were out hunting or getting supplies….something along those lines…and a very bad winter storm came. They basically had to hunker down and wait it out as visibility was zero. I think it was something like 2 or 3 days and they had quite a rough time over those days. When the storm stopped they found out the village was only like 50 feet away. Of course with as bad as it was if they went in the wrong direction they could’ve been lost forever or died.

 

Anyways…I had a nice chat with this lady. I went to take a picture of the ship.

 

endi34 by Jenseib, on Flickr

 

The lady made the comment that that is where some of the fancy smanchy suites are. I didn’t say anything because those were forward Penthouse suites….just like what I had, only I was in the aft. LOL.

 

endi63 by Jenseib, on Flickr

[jenseib]

As we talked I would take some random pictures here and there.

 

endi35 by Jenseib, on Flickr

 

endi36 by Jenseib, on Flickr

 

You may notice there is a guy wearing a t-shirt and shorts. It wasn’t quite that warm but it really wasn’t too bad. It was a bit windy and chilly but not uncomfortable at all.

 

endi64 by Jenseib, on Flickr

 

endi37 by Jenseib, on Flickr

 

endi4 by Jenseib, on Flickr

 

At some point in time they had a naturalist talking on the loudspeaker. It was really hard to hear him in this location. I did think I made out we were in Endicott Arm though.

 

endi38 by Jenseib, on Flickr

[jenseib]

endi39 by Jenseib, on Flickr

 

endi5 by Jenseib, on Flickr

 

 

Up next….More of Endicott Arm from the front of the ship

[jenseib]

I stayed up in the front of the ship for at least an hour or so. It was just so wonderful there and there was always a new and stunning view to see.

Yep, more icebergs, though I will admit, I thought there would be more in here.

endi40 by Jenseib, on Flickr

endi41 by Jenseib, on Flickr

endi42 by Jenseib, on Flickr

endi43 by Jenseib, on Flickr

endi44 by Jenseib, on Flickr

endi45 by Jenseib, on Flickr

[jenseib]

Well that’s a dirty piece of ice!

endi46 by Jenseib, on Flickr

endi47 by Jenseib, on Flickr

endi48 by Jenseib, on Flickr

endi49 by Jenseib, on Flickr

endi50 by Jenseib, on Flickr

endi51 by Jenseib, on Flickr

[jenseib]

endi52 by Jenseib, on Flickr

endi53 by Jenseib, on Flickr

endi54 by Jenseib, on Flickr

I knew by now Claire would be out of the kids club and I was having a hard time pulling myself away from all the beauty.

endi55 by Jenseib, on Flickr

endi65 by Jenseib, on Flickr

endi66 by Jenseib, on Flickr

[jenseib]

endi91 by Jenseib, on Flickr

endi92 by Jenseib, on Flickr

endi56 by Jenseib, on Flickr

endi57 by Jenseib, on Flickr

endi58 by Jenseib, on Flickr

endi59 by Jenseib, on Flickr

[jenseib]

endi60 by Jenseib, on Flickr

 

endi67 by Jenseib, on Flickr

 

The waterfalls fascinated me too. They seemed to be all over.

 

endi68 by Jenseib, on Flickr

 

endi69 by Jenseib, on Flickr

 

Well that is a big chunk of ice!

 

endi70 by Jenseib, on Flickr

 

endi71 by Jenseib, on Flickr

[jenseib]

endi72 by Jenseib, on Flickr

endi73 by Jenseib, on Flickr

endi74 by Jenseib, on Flickr

endi75 by Jenseib, on Flickr

I finally decided I better go check and make sure Claire made it back to the room so I left my prime spot and said goodbye to the lady I had been talking too.

Up next…..a special viewing area…wow!!!

[Tinknock50]

Looking forward to your "special viewing area"!

 

Great review! I have been in Tracy Arm a few times and seeing your pictures I am hoping we see Endicott Arm on our cruise.

Edited November 6, 2015 by Tinknock50

[Applescruff]

I have been trying to take this slowly but, alas, I have finally caught up with you. Your photos are incredible! This trip report is such a wonderful way to remember your adventure and keep the photographs in context. We'll be be taking our first cruise on the Norwegian Sun in August, so I am definitely taking notes about things to do and see!

 

I really hope the Sun has fish on the floor. I have such a ridiculously poor sense of direction, it took me a month to learn my way around the building where I work. I keep imagining myself getting lost every time I venture out for a meal!

[rjc2015]

As we talked I would take some random pictures here and there.

 

endi35 by Jenseib, on Flickr

 

You may notice there is a guy wearing a t-shirt and shorts. It wasn’t quite that warm but it really wasn’t too bad. It was a bit windy and chilly but not uncomfortable at all.

 

endi64 by Jenseib, on Flickr

 

 

It's finally happened! I'm the guy in the red pullover and the drawstring backpack! :D:D:D