Semi-Live from the Jewel, Alaska one way Aug 19-26

[troyphoto]

Greetings!

 

After following YVRteacher's thread (with her grumpy dad), I'm inspired to write my own blog of our trip.

 

This our 12th cruise on NCL, and will be our fourth time on the Jewel. Our first ever cruise on her was Dec of 2005, during her inaugural month. We still have our keycards that featured a photo of Jewel at sea!

 

We're travelling with buddies. They accompanied us 7 years ago when we did the round trip from Seattle to Glacier Bay. That was our 30th anniversary.

 

My profile pic is from that trip. My wife is the cute one in the photo.

 

Vancouver info for those interested. We spent the night in the Blue Horizon hotel. It's convenient to the port, but you have to lug your own bags. Since we came out of Eastern time zone (USA) we're three hours behind here. It was a struggle to stay in bed until 5am local since I'm usually up three hours earlier. So the first order was to shower and go find coffee (as in dark roast, and a big cup of it).

 

I looked online for "coffee near me" and found lots of choices. Two were open 24/7. So I had breakfast at Breka Bakery, but be warned all coffee is espresso based. I got an eclair and a salted Caramel Mocha. Not quite the dark roast I wanted. If espresso drinks are your thing, then Breka is high the list. Everything was yum.

 

After that, I headed half a block the other way and got a large dark roast at Timmies. Took that back to the hotel room. Next up, we meet the travel buddies (hereafter "buddies") for a trip to.... wait for it....

 

Breka Bakery. Hmmm... what should I get this time.

 

And after that, we'll check out of the hotel, and see if we can deposit bags at the port early? Our Buddies are from Pacific time zone, so they got a later start on check in (and aren't yet Platinum level) so their check in time at the port is Noon. Ours is 10a. We'll check in with them. But we'd like to not have to sit for 2 hours with the big suitcases.

 

As for Semi-Live.... I don't plan on purchasing internet minutes beyond the free at sea. So most of my updating will be limited pics, and sporadic. I'll add more after the cruise.

 

From YVRteacher's thread, we know to check out the Huckleberry Truffles at Junea. Otherwise, we're just going to explore the towns at each stop. Nothing exciting from us. 

 

I'm an indie author, and I'm in the final stages of typo clean up on the next book. So most mornings, weather permitting, I'll have laptop out in the Great Outdoors, checking emails from my beta readers, fixing typos, and reuploading the manuscript for the next batch of beta readers. (that's where the internet minutes get priority. If we can get cell service in the ports, I'll flip to hot spot on my phone and save the NCL minutes for non-port days.

 

Edited August 19 by troyphoto

[www3traveler]

Enjoy your cruise  Thank you for sharing

[bluesea777]

Enjoy your cruise, but be aware your internet minutes mean nothing, I’m afraid. Saint Greg just now got off the Jewel and he has said the internet on Jewel was abysmal.

 

 

[troyphoto]

9 minutes ago, bluesea777 said:

Enjoy your cruise, but be aware your internet minutes mean nothing, I’m afraid. Saint Greg just now got off the Jewel and he has said the internet on Jewel was abysmal.

 

 

I expected such. Hence the "Semi Live"

[bluesea777]

8 hours ago, troyphoto said:

I expected such. Hence the "Semi Live"

 

Not that but this:

 

"I'm an indie author, and I'm in the final stages of typo clean up on the next book. So most mornings, weather permitting, I'll have laptop out in the Great Outdoors, checking emails from my beta readers, fixing typos, and reuploading the manuscript for the next batch of beta readers. (that's where the internet minutes get priority."

 

 

[zqvol]

10 hours ago, bluesea777 said:

Enjoy your cruise, but be aware your internet minutes mean nothing, I’m afraid. Saint Greg just now got off the Jewel and he has said the internet on Jewel was abysmal.

 

 

Posting a live is easy and there is plenty of Internet speed to do it, UNLESS you insist on post dozens and dozens of 5MB pictures. Keep it to,text and you’ll be great. 

[YVRteacher]

It was wonderful to meet you tonight! Thank you for the books and for the delightful conversation!

[troyphoto]

Morning report Day 2: Sitting O'Sheehans at 5:15 am. Breakfast starts at 5:30, but coffee is available. I'm mostly adjusted to three time zones backward, but I usually get up at 4:30am

 

It's a foggy morning with a full moon right outside the window I chose to sit at.

 

Sleep deprivation robbed us of our travel buddies after dinner. They tried to fly out of LAX, on an very early morning figuring they could nap on the benches there. But, TSA lines don't open until 4am... and a lot of other people had the same idea. Including the guy sawing logs with industrial chainsaws. Needless to say, (but I'll say it) they're as tired as we were yesterday. Early bedtimes for everyone.

 

Embarkation was easy, though a bit confusing as to where to drop bags. That was inside hall C in the port terminal. We all had different embarkation times 10, 11 for the wife and despite me checking us both in together, and our buddies at noon. But we were waved on through since the lines were short.

 

Wife went up to the Spa Raffle yesterday, and missed that it was held in the fitness center and not the spa. However, that didn't stop her from spending money. Sea Salt scrub and a facial coming up on two port days.

 

So, I didn't feel bad about upgrading to the unlimited browsing package on the internet this morning.

 

After dinner, wife and I hit bar city for beverages. I'm on a quest to try each of the whiskey cocktails on the menu. Last night was the sunny monk. Wife had a couple of Rum Cakes and a Rum & coke (she drank about half of my Rum Cake, after I decided whiskey sounded better).,

 

I got to meet up with YVR Cruiser and John. I told him he's a celebrity, and started to ask him about the time he wrestled a grizzly bear to save a busload of children. He laughed and shook his head.

 

YVR asked me to sign the three paperbacks I brought to her students. They're technically not young adult books, but should be fine for her library. Magical Cozy Mysteries. A murder mystery, but no gore, no sex, no cussing. Well, there might be a few exclamations of some word that doubles as cussing, but it's like "darn" but appropriate to the culture of the book.

 

Wife finally drug me away from John and his daughter. Very charming people. Sorry if I talked your ears off.

 

Music in Bar city was Melvin of the 9-fingers... or maybe that's of the 6-strings. Good music. Enjoyed it. But a bit too loud. And I'm only 60!!!

 

But, I just upgraded hearing aids to new Oticons. And with the Deep Neural Network built into each, it was still struggling to pick out voices over the music. I finally used a sound meter on my phone to check. Back at the seating area by Shakers, along the hull of the ship, it was 86-89 db. Actually not bad, but it could have been a bit quieter.

Wife told me to turn my hearing aids down. Doh! I do have a volume control on my ears.

 

On an off note, I run the tinnitus masker on my Oticon Hearing Aids. EXCEPT when I have the NCL app open on my phone. The sound meter app doesn't interfere with the Oticon app, but the NCL app does. For some reason the NCL app seems to be "streaming" and anything taking the streaming slot shuts down the tinnitus masker. Grrrrr... That's going to be annoying. I'll need to keep the Freestyle Daily in my pocket.

 

While typing, I managed to eat some French Toast, download a bunch of email, and prep to blast a few more typos.

 

I'll post pics once I'm back to faster internet.

 

 

[troyphoto]

Its 5:09a local as I write this. Still at sea, but closing on Ketchican.

 

With the unlimited internet plan, I had enough juice for the laptop to passively download my 50+ emails. Replying is a different matter. I'll try to remember to copy this message to the clipboard just in case it FUBARS with the internet.

 

Yesterday was a lot of mixed signals between wife, myself, and travel buddies. Wife was at the omlette station in the grand buffet when I made my exit thinking no one was coming to see me. And that was after three breakfasts (Hobbits got nothing on me!) Once in O'Sheehans, and two trips throught the buffet, first for more bacon (MORE BACON!!!!) and then because that danish looked yumm. 

 

While I eventually found the wife down in the comfy seats in the Whiskey bar, travel buddies got a late start and didn't see us in the Great Outdoors (it was so foggy the seats were damp, and not enough people were sitting to dry them off for me.) We finally connected about 4p and went to dinner together, and the show after. The wives headed out to dance in the spinnaker.

 

Just like YVRteacher, we're noticing the quality of the food has dropped. Not terrible, but our Bacon Bourbon Chicken was on the tough side. The fish and chips in O'Sheehans was it's usual quality. And the NY Strip - which was a square cut hunk of meat, not a strip - was passable. A bit on the tough side as well. I get the sense they're cooking the steaks with an eye towards internal temp, and not to the sear for the Myar reaction. Yes, I have a Kamado grill at home. I wasn't expecting a great reverse sear steak, but it was fairly basic.

That said, tonight is Moderna. Looking forward to lots of meat!

 

Another grump: As I mentioned in the last post, I'm conscious of sound levels and quality. As my hearing ebs away, I'm concerned about loudness, and about quality. We went to the production cast's Rock N Roll show. It was great. But the sound engineer needs to do some work.

 

I was a wedding photog for 20 years, and DJs and bands all seemed to believe that if people weren't filling the dance floor, you need to Pump up the Volume. Never mind the plates of cake and food in front of them. So I got my ears blasted too much, before a friend warned me to wear heaing protection. (It was too late).

 

At the show, last night, we were sitting house center, about 2/3rds of the way up. I snuck in a soundmeter reading with my app in the second song. 95db and peaking about 98. 

 

Let's take a trip through IOSHA guidines for safe exposure times. 85 db is 8 hours of exposore before you need a quiet time rest. Every 3 db over that, cut the time in half: 88, 91, 94 = 4 hr, 2, hr, 1 hour. Add in the 30 min pre show that was over 85 db and they were pushing the limit on safe exposure.

 

I use closed domes on my aids, so I do get a little protection, but my wife shoved her rubber tipped earbuds in to drop the sound to a manageable level. Travel buddies didn't bring anything.

 

One of the key reasons in my hearing loss is loud noise exposure. I suggest bringing a set of basic foam earplugs. Protect what's left of your hearing. On a side note, I started with my hearing aids down as far as they'd go, but upped the treble on the three band EQ. I gave that upafter 15 min, and shut them down, just leaving them in for the sound dampening.

Now lets talk about the good: I like the refresh the ship got, with one exception. There are no fish on the carpet to direct my wife. She's a bit directionally challenged on the ship, and the last refresh softened, or took away the fore/aft clues.

But the decor has a much more modern edge. I love the inside look. I miss all of the decor on the outside that have been painted over. The old silhouette of the dude with the camera right next to the Starboard aft doors to the Promenade (according to my wife) looked like me when I was holding my camera between shots at a wedding. We notice the vanishing silhouetts before 2020 when we previously sailed on the Jewel. But, there were still decorative murals near the various restaurants that had themes to indicate what was inside at that location. Those are gone. As are the sea scape murals on the curved walls in the Great Outdoors. Perhaps a sky blue color there would help the ambiance. I'll dig into the archieves and post old pics once I get back to the land of the good internet.

Wife has her spa visit today, and with the last call for shuttles to the ship from Ketchican at 1:30, we may just stay on the boat.

 

Had a drink in Magnums with YVRteacher and Dad John. Learned about his past professional life, and how he came to be in Canada. Interesting chap when he's not having a "Dad Moment".

Will type more later!

[cruiseny4life]

Have a great trip! I'm following along...glad to see who the author is that was referenced earlier! 

[troyphoto]

Quick correction on the above about sound - it’s the NIOSH limits for 3db increase- I get my initialisms confused 

[schmoopie17]

Following both you and @YVRteacheron your trek to Alaska. If you forget to mention anything, Alaska. (Okay, lame joke. But those are the only ones I know).

 

Dueling trip reports. Kind of like Deliverance...without the goofy characters.

 

 

[SenatorsFan]

I'm happily reading along. Thanks for doing this.

[troyphoto]

Went to the Not so newlywed game show this evening. John and Yvonne sat right next to us. Yvonne kept trying to get us to volunteer. I had to remind her, we've been on 13 cruises and know how embarrassing this game show is.

 

Full write up tomorrow morning if we have any internet.

 

I had to laugh when I saw the notice in the FSD that internet might be throttled/reduced while in port. What's half of nothing???

Edited August 22 by troyphoto

[troyphoto]

And I'm back at 5:10a local time.

 

Slightly better Internet last night and tonight. Hoping it's because spacex has more satellites overhead in this part of Alaska. BC was relatively devoid of them.

 

Hit the late show of the aerial couple last night, since we had dinner in Moderna. Evidently we're supposed to reserve two cabins at once, for a table of 4, not two tables of two. But the hostess got it figured out. 

 

Wife only growled AFTER we were seated together with our travel buddies. Dinner was good. Nothing really chewy, everything cooked well. I never did get to try the picanna, but everything else made it to our table. Loved the pinappple. I had the flan with coconut. Yum. 

 

Went to the Not-so-Newlywed game shows. Of course, wife and I had to discuss our answers to what was asked. The humorous one was "What song best exemplies your love life now"

Only Takes a minute
All night Long

can't touch this
There I am again on my own!

if I'm not sharing with the ship's audience, I'm not sharing with y'all. 😉

 

The newly weds won!

 

Then we went to the aerial acrobatic musical show. Excellent as always. I did sneak in the sound meter app sitting in the same place as last night. 90-92 db. Much better. The bass was bassy, the highs were good and crisp. And my ears weren't fatigued at the end of the show. That extra 4-5 db on the rock show don't help the show, it just pushes the ear fatigue and risk of hearing damage right to the limit.

 

We did stop by Bliss for the M/F duo (keyboards and Vocals). They were runnin 85db-ish, but the vocals had a bit of a waver on the channel, with a touch of distortion. We were sitting over by the old Karokee rooms. And I always ask my wife to confirm my observations, since my ears aren't to be trusted.

 

BTW: anyone know what the old karokee rooms in Bliss are used for? Open for all to sit? Karokee still? 

 

We're heading into Juneau today, but don't disembark until 11a. So O'Sheehans is nowhere near as crowded as yesterday morning at this time. Too many excited people wanted to get off the ship since Ketchikan only had luminous sunshine, and not the liquid sunshine!

 

Lets's see if we can get some pics to upload? 

It's still spinning on the upload, but that's a view of the sunset on the sailaway from Ketchikan. I'll hold off on further pics untill the spacex signal is better.

Edited August 22 by troyphoto

[troyphoto]

Wife and I started today (Juneau Day) with breakfasts on our own. then we spent some time in Spinnaker watching the sea planes land in-between the ships. Five ships in port today. Ruby Princess, HAL Nieuw Amsterdam, Something Celebrity (Solstice, perhaps?) and a smaller white ship that has her nose pointed at us. So I can't see the symbol or name well enough. That ship is tendering.

 

After Lunch in O'Sheehans, we heading into Juneau. Shuttle ride was easy. (Reminder, my current as of this writing, profile pic is of the Pearl in the same berth 7 years ago). We timed it to get some walking between light rains. More Sprinkles than rain. But, we did get free "authentic Juneau Rain" as one of the shuttle drivers called it.

 

Wandered looking for Tshirts and travel mugs with First Nations artist work. Wife found a couple of TShirts she like enough. I added a sticker of similar artwork to go on my computer. Found a travel tumbler a few stores away. 

 

Here's some of the ships in port.

 

 

[cruiservictor]

I am enjoying your reports. The Celebrity ship is, in fact, the Solstice. And the smaller white ship that is tendering is the Regatta, of Oceania Cruises, a sister company to NCL. 

[Southern Dan]

I was on the Jewel last week, enjoy your trip as it goes fast!  If you run into Junnel behind the bar in O'Sheehans tell him Dan and Carianne from Georgia say hello.

[troyphoto]

It's Friday Aug 23 and I'm writing from O'Sheehans at 5:30-ish am. Already been here half

 

Our cabin is on deck 9 mid, so its a short run down to the pub. Have to wait until the kitchen is going with breakfast (5:30) and my french toast just arrived.

 

I love the Great Outdoors, but it's a tad too chilly for me. So my new hangout is here in O'Sheehans until it gets busy enough they should get this table back.

 

Last night, after the travel buddies returned to headed to dinner in The Palace. I'd been trying to figure out what changed. Yvonne clued me in that the crew onboard during the pandemic starting eliminating the colonial influences. Correct me if I'm off, but the nekkid lady stature and the staircase filigrees used to be "white marble?" The wall art obviously swithced. No more Russian Royalty of any stripe.

 

The faux Fabrege Eggs, the Men and Womens powder room signage still remain. But the "Royal" motif on the chairs.

 

At dinner, two of us had the Market Fish, Two the Chicken Cordon Bleau. Both were good, but our food tanks are getting over-filled.

 

Wife has a Salt Scrub down at the spa this morning. After that we'll head into Skagway and see some shopping...

 

yesterday wife scored a couple of T-shirts with first nations artwork. I've had a Tshirt with a David R. Boxley design for several years. It was to support the Hayek Foundation (Spelling???) - whose mission teaching the native language that was beaten out of past generations. IIRC, when the foundation was organized there were just over 80 some native speakers of the language in N. America left. 

 

Well, wife said we could donate to the foundation, but she wanted T-shirts now. So we shopped in Juneau. She got two. I got a sticker for my computer, and a new travel tumbler.

 

The show last night was the comedy one with Dean (forgot his last name). A good show, but adults only. It wasn't super raunchy. There were a few moments when I aske "are we ready to laugh at that topic yet?" Yep, pandemic jokes. They were funny, but I'm not sure we are far enough removed from those years yet. The laughter was a bit nervous during that part of his set.

 

Perfect couple game show was good as usual. Wife and buddy went dancing after. The hubby's retired to our cabins. Our grove things long since stopped being able to shake in anything resembling a fun dance.

 

And we just docked in Skagway as I was typing.

 

Here's some pics since I have Cell-Hot Spot to post with.

 

[Shellbelle28]

4 hours ago, troyphoto said:

It's Friday Aug 23 and I'm writing from O'Sheehans at 5:30-ish am. Already been here half

 

Our cabin is on deck 9 mid, so its a short run down to the pub. Have to wait until the kitchen is going with breakfast (5:30) and my french toast just arrived.

 

I love the Great Outdoors, but it's a tad too chilly for me. So my new hangout is here in O'Sheehans until it gets busy enough they should get this table back.

 

Last night, after the travel buddies returned to headed to dinner in The Palace. I'd been trying to figure out what changed. Yvonne clued me in that the crew onboard during the pandemic starting eliminating the colonial influences. Correct me if I'm off, but the nekkid lady stature and the staircase filigrees used to be "white marble?" The wall art obviously swithced. No more Russian Royalty of any stripe.

 

The faux Fabrege Eggs, the Men and Womens powder room signage still remain. But the "Royal" motif on the chairs.

 

At dinner, two of us had the Market Fish, Two the Chicken Cordon Bleau. Both were good, but our food tanks are getting over-filled.

 

Wife has a Salt Scrub down at the spa this morning. After that we'll head into Skagway and see some shopping...

 

yesterday wife scored a couple of T-shirts with first nations artwork. I've had a Tshirt with a David R. Boxley design for several years. It was to support the Hayek Foundation (Spelling???) - whose mission teaching the native language that was beaten out of past generations. IIRC, when the foundation was organized there were just over 80 some native speakers of the language in N. America left. 

 

Well, wife said we could donate to the foundation, but she wanted T-shirts now. So we shopped in Juneau. She got two. I got a sticker for my computer, and a new travel tumbler.

 

The show last night was the comedy one with Dean (forgot his last name). A good show, but adults only. It wasn't super raunchy. There were a few moments when I aske "are we ready to laugh at that topic yet?" Yep, pandemic jokes. They were funny, but I'm not sure we are far enough removed from those years yet. The laughter was a bit nervous during that part of his set.

 

Perfect couple game show was good as usual. Wife and buddy went dancing after. The hubby's retired to our cabins. Our grove things long since stopped being able to shake in anything resembling a fun dance.

 

And we just docked in Skagway as I was typing.

 

Here's some pics since I have Cell-Hot Spot to post with.

 

Keep an eye out for products from a company called Native Northwest. I think I bought some of their items in Ketchikan and many time online since then. Good quality and beautiful products. 

 

[Tyskie]

17 hours ago, Shellbelle28 said:

Keep an eye out for products from a company called Native Northwest. I think I bought some of their items in Ketchikan and many time online since then. Good quality and beautiful products. 

 

 

 

 

 

Another example of Native Northwest

 

[Tyskie]

Ooops, first picture attempt didn't work

Native Northwest bag

[troyphoto]

I'm up and in O'Sheehans for French Toast.

 

Last night was the Caberet set from the singers in the production cast. One couple is married, according to their chatting with the audience between songs.

 

Sound was again at a good level. Peaking around 92 db. Comfortable to listen, and no ear fatigue.

 

Wife and I hung out in the whiskey bar for an hour or so afterward. Dan the Man the bartender was on break, but the waiter kept us going with drinks. I'm now down to only one of the signature cocktails on the whiskey menu to try.

 

Last night tried the Jackhammer, and the Whiskey Orchard Press. The latter was sweet enough the wife liked it. I enjoyed both. 

 

Tonight, I'll try the spiked whiskey.

[troyphoto]

Looks like there is luggage storage at Ted Stevens Airport in the south terminal near baggage claim. Both we and travel buddies have late night flights. So we'll drop the bags and then go explore. What's the favorite things to do/see within walking of the airport?

[www3traveler]

A very quick Goggle search says that the airport is 5 miles South of town.  Does not look like there is much  to see or do outside of the airport.  A couple of things inside the airport look interesting but will probably take just a very few minutes to see.