Live from the NCL Spirit B2B July 5-19, 2023 (more sarcasm and grumpiness!)

[www3traveler]

58 minutes ago, omahabob said:

You should get your money back. Somebody put a "u" in your honor. 😆

Honour--Canadian (English) spelling.  She is from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada-- hence Canadian spelling.

[YVRteacher]

3 hours ago, vacation44 said:

I am so happy for you and your dad that the excursion was not cancelled again and you got to go.     After reading your positive review and looking at your pictures, I am glad I booked it for our Jewel cruise next month.   My husband has no idea that NCL even offers this excursion so it will be a real surprise for him.  

That will be a glorious surprise! Dress warmly with a hat that stays on your head and gloves.

[YVRteacher]

Hubbard part 2

Back on board we had time to drop our coats and toques off in the cabin before heading up to the latitudes party. Best latitudes party ever!

Why?

Two words:

Chocolate martinis! I know a group of owls is a parliament and a group of flamingos is a flamboyance. If there is a word for multiple chocolate martinis, perhaps it is a deliciciousness. Whatever the word, that’s what I had. Kim from Canada and I sat in that party and drank chocolate martinis.  They kept coming by with cheese and we kept saying no cheese-just drinks.

 

It’s a good thing these drinks aren’t included in my beverage packages; I wouldn’t be able to speak or write a coherent sentence if they were.  None of the officers or department managers stayed to chat with guests.  Once again Cruise Next Manager Stephanie only recognized the one Ambassador on board.  

 

We didn’t have reservations for tonight and felt like Onda so across deck 12 we traipsed. The poor lifeguard was sitting there shivering with no lives to guard. 

 

Does anyone care what we had for dinner? Likely not. It was excellent and the service was impeccable. We do love Onda on the Spirit!  I need to stock up on vacation hero cards for Luke and the team in Onda (and many, many others as well!)

All the hot tubs were free so we spent an hour in the hot one before bed. 

 

What a spectacular day on the NCL Spirit. Not only did we have an unparalleled glacier viewing experience but it was taco day in the Garden Cafe at lunch! Cruising does not get much better than this!

[YVRteacher]

Good morning from Icy Strait Point.

I just took this photo at 7:20am from our balcony.

 

It’s going to be a gorgeous day! 

[YVRteacher]

1 hour ago, omahabob said:

You should get your money back. Somebody put a "u" in your honor. 😆

The “u” stands for Unlimited Beverage Package!

[www3traveler]

5 minutes ago, YVRteacher said:

Hubbard part 2

Back on board we had time to drop our coats and toques off in the cabin before heading up to the latitudes party. Best latitudes party ever!

Why?

Two words:

Chocolate martinis! I know a group of owls is a parliament and a group of flamingos is a flamboyance. If there is a word for multiple chocolate martinis, perhaps it is a deliciciousness. Whatever the word, that’s what I had. Kim from Canada and I sat in that party and drank chocolate martinis.  They kept coming by with cheese and we kept saying no cheese-just drinks.

 

It’s a good thing these drinks aren’t included in my beverage packages; I wouldn’t be able to speak or write a coherent sentence if they were.  None of the officers or department managers stayed to chat with guests.  Once again Cruise Next Manager Stephanie only recognized the one Ambassador on board.  

 

We didn’t have reservations for tonight and felt like Onda so across deck 12 we traipsed. The poor lifeguard was sitting there shivering with no lives to guard. 

 

Does anyone care what we had for dinner? Likely not. It was excellent and the service was impeccable. We do love Onda on the Spirit!  I need to stock up on vacation hero cards for Luke and the team in Onda (and many, many others as well!)

All the hot tubs were free so we spent an hour in the hot one before bed. 

 

What a spectacular day on the NCL Spirit. Not only did we have an unparalleled glacier viewing experience but it was taco day in the Garden Cafe at lunch! Cruising does not get much better than this!

Hasan will be happy to hear this.  Hasan has been my "Vacation Hero" on more than one cruise.  He is a sweetheart.

[www3traveler]

4 minutes ago, YVRteacher said:

Good morning from Icy Strait Point.

I just took this photo at 7:20am from our balcony.

 

It’s going to be a gorgeous day! 

Anything special planned for today?

[luvteaching]

Thank you @YVRteacher for the great review of the small boat excursion at Hubbard and this whole thread! My favorite glacier is Hubbard and I've wanted to do this excursion before. We've done something similar at Sawyer Glacier and loved it. DH's mobility made this a no-go. However, DH passed a few weeks ago and I'm going to go on our already-paid-for HAL cruise in September. I've booked this excursion and can't wait for it! Thank you for taking us along. 

 

Karen

(from Kamloops and Coquitlam)

[www3traveler]

5 minutes ago, luvteaching said:

Thank you @YVRteacher for the great review of the small boat excursion at Hubbard and this whole thread! My favorite glacier is Hubbard and I've wanted to do this excursion before. We've done something similar at Sawyer Glacier and loved it. DH's mobility made this a no-go. However, DH passed a few weeks ago and I'm going to go on our already-paid-for HAL cruise in September. I've booked this excursion and can't wait for it! Thank you for taking us along. 

 

Karen

(from Kamloops and Coquitlam)

Very sorry for your loss.  Prayers for you and your family.  Enjoy your cruise

[omahabob]

34 minutes ago, www3traveler said:

Honour--Canadian (English) spelling.  She is from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada-- hence Canadian spelling.

Yes,I know. You obviously missed my smiley.

[vacation44]

36 minutes ago, YVRteacher said:

That will be a glorious surprise! Dress warmly with a hat that stays on your head and gloves.

New hat and gloves are on my shopping list for tomorrow!

[cruiseny4life]

1 hour ago, YVRteacher said:

Does anyone care what we had for dinner? Likely not. It was excellent and the service was impeccable. We do love Onda on the Spirit!  I need to stock up on vacation hero cards for Luke and the team in Onda (and many, many others as well!)

 

I care! I'm glad Onda still has burrata! I miss it at La Cucina. And those carrots look fantastic! Mmmmmmm, I'm hungry and it's past lunchtime here on the east coast. 

Good morning to you!

[YVRteacher]

1 hour ago, luvteaching said:

Thank you @YVRteacher for the great review of the small boat excursion at Hubbard and this whole thread! My favorite glacier is Hubbard and I've wanted to do this excursion before. We've done something similar at Sawyer Glacier and loved it. DH's mobility made this a no-go. However, DH passed a few weeks ago and I'm going to go on our already-paid-for HAL cruise in September. I've booked this excursion and can't wait for it! Thank you for taking us along. 

 

Karen

(from Kamloops and Coquitlam)

Oh Karen, I’m so sorry for the loss of your husband.

Best wishes for a wonderful Alaskan cruise on HAL.  You are giving yourself a gift of amazing Glacier viewing! Please let us know how it goes.

[kessdarln]

On 7/3/2023 at 7:02 PM, KACTravels said:

@YVRteacher  I had to share this with you!  Do you remember my “Better than a Sock Monkey” comment?  They are in Alaska right now 🤣🤣🤣

Ha Ha they need Captain Hudson too ❤️ 

[quack2]

Looks like a nice evening leaving Icy Strait.

[www3traveler]

Hi Sweetie,

Just saw on the ABC newswebsite that Mount Fagradalsfjall Volcano has erupted.

[YVRteacher]

18 hours ago, quack2 said:

Looks like a nice evening leaving Icy Strait.

We had a gorgeous day in ISP and a beautiful evening on board.

[quack2]

Just now, YVRteacher said:

We had a gorgeous day in ISP and a beautiful evening on board.

One has to savor those beautiful Alaska sunsets.  On my last Alaska cruise, I had one sunset night, and that was between Vancouver and Victoria.  It didn't really count.

[YVRteacher]

(I wrote this yesterday but was unable to post)

Dear NCL,

Please turn off the PA system in the cabins when we arrive at ports at 7am. Some people actually consider 7am to be valuable sleeping time, not announcement time.

Thank you,

Your tired passenger

 

The only NCL Shore Excursion we booked this week was for Hubbard Glacier yesterday (did I mention how worth it that was? 100%!) We have a private photo safari tour booked in Ketchikan and nothing is booked for Icy Strait Point, Skagway or Juneau. 

 

Wanting a change from Cagney’s for breakfast we went to the Garden Cafe and sat in the overflow restaurant, Onda.  Food was good and there was a large selection. I had an avocado Eggs Benny. Dad had the same, which surprised me because he doesn’t like avocado. I guess he forgot.  

 

We docked today so getting off the ship and onto land was easy. No line up. We took the Transporter gondola from Wilderness Landing to Ocean Landing (used to be Adventure Landing.) From there we walked along the beach as far as we could go in both directions. Dad got tired and I asked if he wanted to sit down. He said yes but they should have logs to sit on. 

 

The whole beach is lined with logs. 

 

He said they weren’t the right kind of logs. He said these logs would make his pants dirty. 

 

We kept walking.

 

There were signs and ropes saying the trails were closed due to bear sightings in the area. My dad saw the bear warning sign just as I almost stepped on a fresh, steaming mound of bear poo (anyone read The Giggler Treatment by Roddy Doyle?) It was female bear poop.* Dad then saw a stick and said “there’s a stick!”

 

Me, somewhat incredulous, “You want to poke at the poop with a stick?”

 

Dad: “no, to fight off the bear!”

 

He then saw the instructions on the sign that said to stay together in a group so he came and stood behind me, putting me in between him and any bear in front of us. Thanks, Dad.

 

We turned around and walked the Veteran’s path toward Hoonah then dad got tired. We found a log that met his criteria and he sat and watched the salmon jumping while I walked another half mile and back.  

We did not see Frederick the whale this week but we saw salmon flinging themselves out of the ocean. The salmon have arrived, so people doing the bear watch tour saw one bear today.  We received a full refund from NCL for the crummy Spasski River Valley and Wildlife Search shore excursion last week. 

 

When we got on the transporter gondola to get back to Wilderness Landing a couple of crew members got on as well.  One of them took some videos then began the task of brushing the dandruff off his shoulders. This was not a subtle event; rather, there was vigorous shaking and brushing with the hands. I almost threw up, thinking I may be inhaling someone’s head skin as I breathed. 🤢 

 

We enjoyed a beautiful day inhaling fresh air with a side of dandruff in ISP.

 

Still tired of Cagney’s, we had lunch in Windows. It was excellent. 

Even though my Spanish Frittata had copious amounts of onions it was still delicious and dad loved his Baja fish tacos.  A bald eagle came and sat on the piling next to our window so it was lunch with a wildlife sighting.  For an appetizer I had the Caprese salad and we both LOVED the milk chocolate peanut butter cheesecake. I wanted two but didn’t think I should be greedy. 

 

Deck crew were doing lifeboat and safety drills all morning and long into the afternoon. We watched the team rescue a “body” and I asked the supervisor who was standing on deck 7 if the tender boat drivers were from other departments and he said they are all from the deck department.

Over and over someone threw the dummy overboard and different crew members practiced retrieving it with a pole with a hook. Why the fake overboard person needs a hard hat is beyond me.

 

 

Both salmon and jellyfish are so prolific today we can see them from the Spirit.  The salmon are huge!

 

After relaxing in the hot tubs we went to Magnums. I haven’t mentioned Diego yet because we haven’t had a lot of Diego time.  He is incredible. Magnums can’t contain Diego and it is standing room only this evening. People were dancing and singing along. Drunk shouting man twisted and shouted his way into Diego’s iPad and mic and Diego had to give him a shove to keep him away. 

 

Luckily dad looked at the poster sized wall calendar and saw we had a reservation for Teppanyaki tonight. I’ve hit the point in the cruise where I know what port is next but have no clue what day it is. Teppanyaki was the best we have experienced. Great chef with a repertoire of songs that rivals the lounge singers. We both enjoyed the production and our food.  

 

Highly recommend Teppanyaki on the Spirit. When we were on the Jewel in December we walked out of Teppanyaki and dad said he would never do it again.  I guess he forgot.

 

We ended the day in the Stardust Theatre watching Duo Forte in Midnight Sky. This is the aerialist show. It was meh. Would not recommend. It was clumsy and the videos were really stupid.  This was a really low-quality act and I hope it isn’t going to become the norm on NCL. 

 

*You never know what you will learn on a cruise. Last week I learned how to tell the difference between female bear poop and male bear poop.  Males poop while they are walking so the scat is a line of smaller plops. Female scat is one big pile, because they have their sh!t together.

 

Drink Tally

Dad

2 regular beers

1 Asahi

 

Yvonne

2 Painkillers

1 Bellini from the bottle with my name on it

2 Wasabi Cocktails (note that these are made from Sake and lychee liqueur and there is no wasabi in the drink)

 

I tried to check in for the second leg of my upcoming B2B cruise on the NCL Star today.  Using the NCL app I could do 7/8 of the check in process.  Both without internet and with internet I could not watch the safety video. This seems ironic given the number of safety video emails we all receive ahead of our cruises. If I wasn’t already in my pyjamas I would go to the Internet Cafe. 

Edited July 15, 2023 by YVRteacher

[YVRteacher]

8 minutes ago, quack2 said:

One has to savor those beautiful Alaska sunsets.  On my last Alaska cruise, I had one sunset night, and that was between Vancouver and Victoria.  It didn't really count.

I think this means you get an Alaskan cruise do-over! Which ship would you choose?

[highwaynan]

Thank you @YVRteacher for this post. I have followed daily and look forward to each update. We have been on an NCL cruise on the Sun to Alaska and wanted to return. Started sharing your posts with my husband last Sunday. We looked at each other and said let's go. Long story short went to travel agent yesterday and booked b2b August 16 to 30. All because of you we are excited to be going back and also on the Spirit, our favourite ship.. The clock is ticking for all of us so thanks for the push!

[YVRteacher]

@highwaynan oh my goodness! I’m so excited for you!

[YVRteacher]

It is so hot in Skagway today the NCL pool lifeguard had to put up an umbrella. I just had the best nap of my life on a deck chair but was woken up by some guy a couple chairs down playing The Sports on his phone. 
 

This is how dad relaxes on the pool deck:

 

 

 

[quack2]

2 hours ago, YVRteacher said:

It is so hot in Skagway today the NCL pool lifeguard had to put up an umbrella. I just had the best nap of my life on a deck chair but was woken up by some guy a couple chairs down playing The Sports on his phone. 
 

This is how dad relaxes on the pool deck:

 

 

 

Reminds me of Nixon walking on the beach in Oregon in 1968.

[quack2]

3 hours ago, YVRteacher said:

I think this means you get an Alaskan cruise do-over! Which ship would you choose?

I was thinking of doing something mid to late August, but a family health issue looks it will make that impossible.  If I did, I was going to see how cheap I could do it as a single.  For me, that means:

 

1.  Seattle RT (no flights)

2.  Inside cabin

3.  No drinky package.

4.  Maybe one specialty restaurant.

 

I don't really care for Seattle itineraries but it is more convenient for me.  I can drive up or take the train.  My next trip on the Kenai (one of my favorites places on the planet along with the Lauterbrunnen Valley in Switzerland;  Dingle, Ireland; Vernazza, Italy; and Krakow, Poland.)  will have to wait for next year.

 

I'm thinking an inside cabin, in addition to being a lot cheaper, might force me to less time in my room and get out on the ship more.  I usually treat a cruise as comfortable transportation between the ports where I do photography.  I have been less interested in what's going on on the ship.