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

[YVRteacher]

Skagway

(I wrote this yesterday but the internet wasn’t working. Neither was the NCL app.)

 

Stunning! The weather is stunning!

It’s a 4 ship day in Skagway and the NCL Sun is docked across from us at Railway Dock so passengers are tendering for a two minute expedition to Broadway dock.

We are docked at Ore dock and when we leave the Spirit we hear a family complaining that they have been sitting on the same bench for an hour and there is nothing to do in Skagway.  This is the dock, not the town.

 

We started by walking the Pullen Creek StreamWalk.

We didn’t see salmon but we saw a lot of birds. So many people post about the lower Dewey Lake Trail. Dad took one look at the initial incline and gave me a long story about how his leg is injured (he is just fine with no injuries whatsoever) and he could not do this. The next time we come to Skagway I might need a dad sitter so I can go for a hike! Will pay in beer.

 

We ended up walking to the White Pass and Yukon Railroad workyard, enjoying the stream on the left and the trains going by on the right. The cemetery was not too far beyond that but I didn’t want dad to get too tired so we walked back to town through a residential neighbourhood.  I took photos of flowers

and dad critiqued the lawn mowing abilities of the owners. 

We walked over 10k and it was hot so a stop at the Klondike Brewing Company was necessary.  

 

Dad had the Paystreak and I had the Skeltzer plus a free sample of the Garden City Saison. I will definitely order this next time and am sad I have to wait almost 10 months to have it again. Highly recommend if you like ginger. 

 

When we were at breakfast today I ordered orange juice for me and told the waiter my dad only wanted coffee.  They brought two orange juices. Then I ordered a small amount of scrambled eggs with an English muffin. The waitress brought a huge plate of eggs with toast. We have experienced so many little errors like this in Cagney’s for both breakfast and lunch. My dad just shakes his head. It’s frustrating and shouldn’t be happening.  In all the times we have eaten breakfast and lunch at Cagney’s on the Spirit there have never been more than 3 tables that were occupied.  If you specifically cruise in the Haven for the Haven dining experience (or, on a ship without a Haven restaurant, breakfast in Moderno and lunch in Cagney’s) don’t expect the Haven dining experience on the Spirit.  Adjust your expectations but don’t miss an opportunity to cruise on the Spirit for that reason. For sure the accuracy of meals should be better than it is in Cagney’s but this isn’t impacting our overall enjoyment of the Spirit or the cruise.

 

 When we came back from our long walk in Skagway we ate lunch at the Garden Cafe. Delicious, hot, lots of variety. Dad enjoyed bangers and mash, a staple from his British childhood. We ate outside in the sunshine at The Great Outdoors.

 

 

I have two tips today:

1. If you are cruising to Alaska in July or August and you are prone to seasonal allergies/hayfever bring some antihistamines. The alder trees are going to seed and there are cotton puffs in Seward, Icy Strait Point, Juneau and Skagway. 
2. If you like fudge and you have a craving while in Skagway, pick up a free copy of the Skaguay Alaskan newspaper.
3. 
4.  
5. There is a coupon for a free square of fudge when you buy two squares at the Kone Kompany.

bonus tip:

always take time to cuddle the shop dogs

 

After lunch we went to the pool deck to suntan and read. For a while it felt like Hawaii but eventually the Skagway wind picked up to remind us we are in Alaska. We went to the Biergärten to sit at the bar with one of our favourite bartenders, Shon. Dad had Newcastle on tap and I had a delicious Dark and Stormy. Shon makes great drinks! He is from Grenada and he has two young sons so he knows all the kids’ tv shows and cool stuff. Since it was hot outside many people were ordering Mudslides and Shon was using the chocolate syrup to draw his kids’ favourite characters.  I think he specializes in abstract art because he made a swirly thing and said it was a dinosaur.  The other bartenders were laughing at him. Something I’ve noticed on the Spirit is the personalities of the bartenders shine through. They are free to be themselves and bring their humour and personality to the bar.  The bartenders at the Biergärten were singing love song duets today and were laughing at their own antics. So much fun! Shon asked if we bought anything in Alaska I said only truffles last week in Juneau.  He didn’t know about the Alaskan Fudge Company truffles so I listed the flavours and asked him which kinds he wanted and told him I would bring him some tomorrow. Did you know that as part of crew wellness all NCL ships have bicycles for crew to use in port? I’ve written about that before. Shon goes bike riding any chance he can get and he really enjoyed his ride through Skagway today.  If you cruise with him, ask him to do his bird calls. I asked Shon what he likes to do at home when he isn’t on the ship and he said spend time with his family and take care of his garden.

 

Both dad and I felt like Windows for dinner.  We have never enjoyed a main dining room as much as we have enjoyed Windows.  Every item we have ordered has been accurate and excellent. Tonight was no exception:

 

 

Shortly after 7:00pm a Code Alpha was announced: Stardust Theatre, deck 8, starboard side.

 

We had a window seat looking toward the Sun and saw them pulling up the lifeboats that were used as tenders.  One got stuck and it seems like they were having difficulty using the pulleys and hydraulics to get the tender back on board.

 

Midway through dinner there was thumping from above like being in La Cucina under the basketball court on the Jewel.  We must have been seated directly underneath the stage in the theatre and tonight’s show is Blazing Boots.

 

When we were in Windows yesterday for lunch the maître d came to say that there was another family on board with the same last name as us.  My dad and I have a unique last name and are the only people in Canada with this name. The maître d told the other family about us and they asked to meet us so just as we were finishing dessert the maître d came to say the other family was in the dining room.  We joined them for a little while and I think it was quite special for my dad to connect with someone with the same last name. Dad is the youngest of 9 siblings and none of his brothers’ sons had boys so the family name has not been carried forth. The origin story this family described is completely different from the research and information we have so I doubt we are related. Still cool though, and I’m grateful for an astute maître d. 

 

Dad went to bed about 8:30 and I went in a hot tub to watch sailaway and the incredible scenery.  

 

If I’m only going to see one sunset this cruise, at least it was a stunner:

Tomorrow we are back in Juneau!

 

[YVRteacher]

Juneau

 

Yesterday the Internet Cafe Manager logged on to an NCL computer using his account so I could watch the safety video and complete online check-in. Today Monica (concierge) used her laptop to print the cruise documents for both upcoming cruises. 

 

Do you think they got our breakfast order correct in Cagney’s today?

 

They did not. Food order was right (and the was food was good) but the drink order (so simple: orange juice and coffee) was not correct. 

 

We didn’t have an excursion booked for Juneau today. Just as we were about to swipe our drink cards to get off the ship it started pouring. We went back to the cabin to change into hiking boots and grab our unbrellas and when we got back down to deck 4 the rain had stopped.  

We went to a kiosk and booked the city tour and Mendenhall Glacier.  Before boarding the bus we went to the Alaskan Fudge Company  to get truffles.  The first branch we went to only had 4 kinds of truffles so we walked to the main store and they had all the truffles.  Truffles procured, we boarded the old rickety school bus for the drive out to Mendenhall.

Same bus driver we had in May. Same jokes. Good guy!

 

My mission was to walk to Nugget Falls. I gave dad a choice between staying at the Visitor Centre or walking and he chose to walk. 

 

Come with us on the trail!

It’s a well maintained, mostly flat trail. I would call this a walk, not a hike.

You will see dry creek beds and trickling rivers. This is not Nugget Falls.

This is also not Nugget Falls.

The trail has mile markers every tenth of a mile.

I tried to find a porcupine up in a tree but didn’t see one.

 

As you get closer to Nugget Falls you’ll see a large rockslide

 

This is Nugget Falls!

 

 

After our visit to Mendenhall Glacier we went to Douglas Island then to the whale statue.

 

 

 

It was raining quite hard at this point so we came back to the Spirit and headed to the Garden Cafe for soup (dad), broccoli and curry (me) and German Chocolate cake (both of us! That stuff is sooooo good.)

 

We did some epic people watching this afternoon and love being docked at the Alaska Steamship dock instead of at the AJ dock. At the Biergärten, we gave Shon his truffles. He rode a bike out to Costco and back today.  He said there are 15 bikes for crew on the Spirit.  

 

We had a terrific day in Juneau!

[purpleally]

On 7/14/2023 at 5:32 PM, www3traveler said:

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

Weren’t they kidding?

[YVRteacher]

Juneau part 2

 

Yesterday we had the Captain’s Party.

Food on a spoon? Yes please!

 

We were chatting with Hasan when our butler, Dovie, came to offer hors d’oeuvres. I told Hasan how wonderful Dovie is and he said the saying on the ship is that Dovie is so happy she smiles when she is sleeping.

 

Look at this! This is a Black Forest Martini! 

It’s like dessert with a side of vodka (probably not unlike the cake Jerry made last week during battle of the cake masters!) We had a great time at the Captain’s Party chatting with Hasan.  The only thing missing was the captain! 

 

Luke and his team made our dinner in Onda so fabulous. We shared half portions of the Burrata salad without the prosciutto plus the Market Salad then I savoured a half order of the Mezzelune. My dad asked me to order for him so I chose a half order of Mezzalune with sautéed shrimp.
 

The waiters, wine steward and maître d all came by to say how good that looked and what a good idea that was. Of course I ordered a side of carrots. They are like the chocolate of the vegetable world: highly addictive.  I was too full for dessert (must have been all the carrots!) but dad had caramel gelato. I sampled a tiny bite and wow!

 

We went to Battle of the Sexes in Spinnaker and it was as hokey as always. I try to avoid this when possible.

 

When we returned to the cabin for the night my clean laundry was all hung up in the closet. I could live on this ship!

[YVRteacher]

Ketchikan

They have stopped the 7am blasting PA announcements in the cabins so both dad and I slept in late today. We enjoyed a lovely breakfast of food from the Garden Cafe eaten in Onda. I had half a bagel with cream cheese and tomato plus  a folded egg cheesy thing (not an omelette, but I don’t know what it was) and some pineapple. Dad had scrambled eggs, bacon and fruit. We did deck laps then sat in Spinnaker watching the shoreside happenings which included another passenger loaded onto an ambulance on a stretcher.

The ambulance drove right down the ramp and onto the dock at Ward Cove.

 

While in Spinnaker we enjoyed the rehearsal for the Broadway Cabaret tonight.

 

When we were on our Alaskan cruise on the Jewel in May I had done some research for private tours and found Ketchikan Photo Safari. We were rained out in May and had rescheduled for today.  All this week I have been sending emails and texts and the company was not replying. You can guess where this is going. We headed up to the warehouse in Ward Cove, looked around at stuff we don’t need then we waited.

And waited.

A representative from another company, a representative from the lumberjack show and a shoreside excursions employee all checked in on us. They weren’t trying to sell us anything-they were offering help.  One of the people from a zipline company used her phone to call the number I had for Ketchikan Photo Safari. Turns out we were calling the former owner (very rude to me: I had the phone on speaker and the zipline guide’s mouth dropped open in shock!) who just sold the company. He called the new owner who called the zipline rep back. I didn’t use my phone because it’s a Canadian phone and I would have roaming charges. The new owner had no recollection of booking us today. I had a record of all correspondence and he was eventually able to find the reservation. At no time did he apologize. He said he was out on his boat and could pick us up later this afternoon. Our all aboard time was 5:00pm today so that didn’t work. I asked for a refund.  I don’t normally slam little companies but I would not advise booking with Ketchikan Photo Safari.  You can’t run a business when you forget to pick up your clients!

 

We tried to find an excursion but since it was approaching 1:00pm all but three had departed and we had already done those three. 

We took the shuttle into town and were privileged to be on Papa Bear’s bus. I love these retired gentlemen who come to Alaska for the summers to drive buses. 

Papa Bear gave us an excellent history with lots of information about the pulp mill at Ward Cove and the damage they did to the environment and how both the EPA and FBI investigated and eventually the pulp mill was fined $3 million.

Papa Bear told us that one year it rained for 88 days in a row in Ketchikan. 98% of the power in Ketchikan is hydro electric

 

Dad had a stomachache all morning and was dramatically moaning as we explored Ketchikan.  We walked to Creek Street hoping to see salmon but all we saw was seaweed and a wayward jellyfish.

 

 

I asked dad if a beer would help his tummy.

Dad: I’m not a doctor, but…

 

@ceilidh1 recommended the Asylum and when @ceilidh1 recommends a place for beer you listen! We both loved it there! The burger place next door was closed on Mondays and I was hungry so I had Cheetos and some kind of Alaskan cider. Dad had Alaskan Brewing White Ale x2.

 

We ran into Dovie in town and walked back to Berth 4 with her. We had the same double decker bus but not the same driver on the way back to the Spirit and it was lovely to spend time getting to know Dovie better. There are two butlers on the Spirit and they both have 9 cabins.

Dovie told us she didn’t want to give us our luggage tags for disembarkation because she doesn’t want us to leave. I now have 4 favourite butlers: Dovie, Rogin, Naveen and Carlos who is now a concierge. I told Dovie today that she is an outstanding butler and she would make an equally outstanding concierge. This is her first contract as a butler (she used to be a waitress) and she said management has asked her to become a concierge but she doesn’t know if she could do it.  She said she loves being a butler for now.

 

As we were walking through Ward Cove Dovie showed me her purchases from the Filipino store in Ketchikan then she gave me one her cakes and told me she wanted me to try it. 

As a little example of Dovie’s kindness, she noticed we ate the peach from the fruit basket last week so this week the fruit basket had a multitude of peaches!

 

As we boarded the Spirit another passenger was being disembarked, but in the port agent’s car, not an ambulance.

 

Dad had a nap and I ate some cheese and crackers from Dovie.

Then I did Emoji Movie Titles trivia and tanked! My mind thinks in Tribond, not emojis! Plus I’ve barely seen any movies so there’s not a lot of hope. I’m so busy I don’t have Netflix, Crave, Prime, Hulu or Apple TV.

 

Dad came and found me in the atrium then we went to Henry’s Pub for pre dinner drinks.  Froilan continues to make the best Matadors!

 

 

At dinner in Windows I asked maître d Francisco how his day was and he said he said to stay on board and guard the ship then he extrapolated to say that he guarded the ship while doing ceiling inspection!😆

 

 

Our food was very good: I ordered a combination of sides from the other meals: asparagus, mashed potato, mushrooms, kale and couscous.  
 

Service was a little slow (95 minutes for appetizers, a main course and dessert that was never delivered) and the waitress brought the tray of desserts for 4 tables then just stood there talking to another server while dad’s ice cream melted faster than the Grand Pacific Glacier. 

 

We left before dessert arrived, settled into seats in the theatre to see vocalist Chris Burke (army guy, American Idol, phantom on Broadway) but we lasted three notes, looked at each other, said nope and left the theatre. Just as we were leaving a crew member came out of a crew door.  Dad loudly exclaimed, “look, other people are walking out too” and the crew guy laughed.

I asked dad if he wanted to go in the hot tub but he said he would get too wet.  At dinner he said his fettuccini noodles were too long. 

 

I must have been too busy gallivanting tonight because apparently I missed the sunset. 

 

We absolutely LOVED the Broadway in Concert performed by the 4 singers (Angelita, Brae, John and Jordan) and the showband. Spinnaker was packed with an audience of showtune-loving passengers (and their husbands😉.) They started with Cabaret, took us through Little Shop of Horrors, peaked with a grand selection of powerful lyrics from Les Mis and brought the house down with the famous song from Rent.  When they were doing Les Mis it felt like there was an entire Broadway cast on the stage of Spinnaker. This was by far the best Broadway Cabaret we have been to on NCL and it was my favourite entertainment on the Spirit. 45 minutes of Broadway! What a treat!

There was a little foray into the casino before Broadway but it was more of a donation than a win so we will gloss over that and skip right to the last event of the evening, the adults only show with comedian Vince Acevedo. It was the exact same show he did on the Jewel in December. Some people laughed. Many didn’t. His strength is more his crowd work than his scripted jokes.  He is smart and could be so good if he put the time into developing more material.

 

Today’s drink tally

Dad

2 pints of Alaskan Brewing Company white ale at Asylum (all pints are $3.50!)

1 beer at Henry’s Pub

1.5 glasses of Riesling with dinner

 

Yvonne

1 pint of cider at Asylum

2 Matadors at Henry’s Pub

1 glass of Riesling

 

Yesterday’s drink tally:

I forget but it involved Black Forest martinis at the Captainless Captain’s Party and OMG were they ever delicious.

 

Number of shop dogs in Ketchikan: zero

 

Number of salmon sited in Ketchikan: zero

 

Number of jewelry stores we went into in Ketchikan today: zero

 

Number of free minutes the Internet Cafe Manager gave me today: 126. He knows I’m writing on Cruise Critic.

 

Number of Emoji movie trivia questions I answered correctly: 8

 

Number of espressos I made this afternoon using the Nespresso machine in the cabin: one. That’s why it is 12:43am and I’m still awake.

Number of crepes consumed today by me: one small one.  Strawberry in the middle, whipped cream, cookie crumbles and mango papaya cobbler dollop on top. There was no crepe chef when we arrived at the crepe station but a maître d was there. She had never made a crepe before and had a crowd (okay, 4 people) watching her.  She did an excellent job! I asked for a really small crepe and she made it pancake size and cooked it perfectly. Did I mention I could live on this ship?

 

We had a great day!

 

[Jojo27]

Love your reviews, informative and fun to read- thanks for taking us along on your trip.

[ceilidh1]

So glad you liked the Asylum - we will be there tomorrow! Woot! Loving Cunard so far - spent the morning in the thermal suite and had a bit of a “dad” moment when I complained to my friend “these stone loungers are too hard”… lol. You can take the Brit out of Britain…

[YVRteacher]

@ceilidh1 hello!  Are you doing a live review?  Thanks for the recommendation-it was the perfect spot! I can relate to that kind of dad moment as thermal loungers are hard! How was embarkation?

[YVRteacher]

Just correcting my own mistake. Sighted. Not sited.

[www3traveler]

Hi,

How much time will you have between arriving home and leaving for the airport and The Star.

Can not wait to hear about your Star adventure.

BIG BIG BIG BIG HUG

Love and prayers

Mandy

 

[quack2]

3 hours ago, YVRteacher said:

Just correcting my own mistake. Sighted. Not sited.

You will not be cited.

[libtrek]

3 hours ago, YVRteacher said:

Just correcting my own mistake. Sighted. Not sited.

LOL. Librarians never get over proofreading tendencies. Even after 15 years of retirement, I still spot errors on my library’s Web and newsletters. I do not tell them about it, Use self-restraint, LOL. So, which ship is going to be your Alaska favorite, the Jewell or Spirit? Mary

[ceilidh1]

The library on QE is the bomb!!! Made me think of you!

[YVRteacher]

@ceilidh1 Those photos look like heaven to me!!! I would spend so much time in the library I’d miss Alaska! I hope you have a great day in Ketchikan tomorrow.

Edited July 19, 2023 by YVRteacher

[YVRteacher]

4 hours ago, libtrek said:

LOL. Librarians never get over proofreading tendencies. Even after 15 years of retirement, I still spot errors on my library’s Web and newsletters. I do not tell them about it, Use self-restraint, LOL. So, which ship is going to be your Alaska favorite, the Jewell or Spirit? Mary

I completely relate to the proofreading! My problem is that I’m usually writing at night and don’t spot my own errors.

 

The Jewel will always be a truly special ship for both my dad and I.  I don’t think any ship or management team will ever compare to what we’ve experienced and how we are treated on the Jewel.

 

That said, I absolutely love the Spirit and am keen to sail on her again.  I would say the Alaskan experience is better on the Jewel because they make the glacier viewing days so special and the Jewel usually does Tracey Arm, Endicott Arm or Glacier Bay and I prefer all three of these to Hubbard.  Hubbard is spectacular up close but is not spectacular 7 miles away which is as close as the Spirit gets.  The Spirit wins out in the cabin department and my bed was 100% more comfortable than what I sleep on in the back bedroom in the two bedroom suite on the Jewel.

 

I think I love both ships! Both have terrific crew and both are the size of ship I prefer.  I’ll do a little more reflecting and write up a post when I get home (or when I’m at the airport!)

[YVRteacher]

7 hours ago, www3traveler said:

Hi,

How much time will you have between arriving home and leaving for the airport and The Star.

Can not wait to hear about your Star adventure.

BIG BIG BIG BIG HUG

Love and prayers

Mandy

 

Hi! I will have 23 hours in Vancouver before heading to the airport on Thursday.  I’m excited to write about this upcoming cruise on the Star!

 

Mandy, Hasan really wants you to cruise on the Spirit again. He asked me again yesterday when you were going to be on board.  He clearly admires you and appreciates you!

 

I have a couple of good stories from Hasan to share and will do so when I have more time to write.

[YVRteacher]

We left our cabin (10022) at 8:30am, walked off the ship and through the port, jumped in two different taxis going two different different directions and I had laundry in the washing machine at home at 8:52am.

[YVRteacher]

The Spirit has incredible bartenders, bar waiters, head bartenders and beverage managers. Hands down the best drinks we’ve ever had on NCL. I did the NCL post cruise survey today and scored every category related to a bar “excellent.”

 

My three favourite drinks:

Amaretto Alexander (bottom row, third from the right.) I don’t know if this is a real drink or not. I asked the bartender, Shon, if other bartenders would know how to make this and he didn’t know. It had 1 part amaretto, 2 parts ice cream mix, ice and lots of cinnamon.

Black Forest Martini (first column, second from the top)

Chocolate Martini (fifth column, second from the top)

[YVRteacher]

On 7/12/2023 at 5:34 PM, www3traveler said:

Sounds like you had a lot of  Vacation Hero cards to write.

I send a note to Hasan this morning.

This was the start…

Strangely, the Spirit did not have a box specifically for the Vacation Hero cards. On the last night they put out the Dear General Manager  Box and said to use that. I always enjoy seeing the clear Vacation Hero box fill up throughout the cruise.

 

I also kept a list of names to write in the post-cruise survey. 

Edited July 20, 2023 by YVRteacher

[Norwegianprincess]

I have enjoyed reading your report, thank you so much! Bon voyage on your next journey, hope to see you on the Tromso to Reykjavik leg of your B2B cruise! 

Always nice to chat a little with a fellow librarian!

[Maleficent's Dad]

Love your reporting!  Love reading about your adventures with dad and his hysterical comments!  Thank you!

[Mrhubbabubba]

Thank you for this. My family and I did our first cruise this year (Alaska), and it was fun to relive some of those memories through the eyes of someone one else’s and see how the experience on a different ship was similar and different. 

Great job!

[Seas2mountains]

Thank you for a wonderful live review as usual!  We loved the Spirit, too, and really hope we can return soon. Please keep writing these live reviews as they are greatly appreciated! 😁. I’m so excited to follow your cruise on the Star as we are considering the Iceland/Norway itinerary on the same ship for a cruise in June 2024. 

[Tyskie]

Thank you for another great review of your Alaska Adventures!  I looked forward to it every morning.

 

I have already "picked you up" for your Star & Iceland trip.  Hope it's amazing! Definitely one of my bucket list places 💕

[SenatorsFan]

This was such an entertaining review. Thanks for bringing us along. Now I'm off to follow your next cruise! 🥰