YVRteacher’s dad is on a cruise! Live from the Jewel Aug 19- Sept 2, 2024

[YVRteacher]

Since we saw an otter here 10 years ago I come to look for otters in the harbour each time we are in Seward. No otters today but I still enjoyed walking amongst the boats. I always do.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dad was too cold so we had to leave.  From the Harbourmaster’s office we took the shuttle back to the Jewel.

[Cruisercl]

Loving your live review! 

Very glad to see your beautiful pics of Seward. Your photography skills are excellent. Actually all of your pics are really good.

I was hoping to go on NCL to Seward next Summer but, as you stated, they are not going there. Disappointed. I have some decisons to make now. I like to cruise Alaska and have not been to Seward for many years. Bummer!!

Hope the new cabin goes OK, it is a bit of a nuisance to change cabins.

I am enjoying you and your Dad. 

Will continue to follow along.

Thanks! 🙂

[shadowmeboy]

2 hours ago, YVRteacher said:

I could have sat for hours and used the internet but I have a dad who gets impatient quickly so we moved on and walked along the beach.  

 

After a couple hours of walking we were hungry and I asked my dad if we wanted to eat in Seward or return to the ship. I really wanted to eat in town and was hoping that’s what he would choose.

 

@shadowmeboy

We were once again foiled in our attempt to visit the Seward Brewing Company as they don’t open until 5pm.

This was a “last chance” since we aren’t booked to go on a cruise to Alaska next summer and even if we were the Jade (which is replacing the Jewel out of Vancouver) goes to Whittier instead of Seward.

 

A place caught my eye so in I peeked and the atmosphere felt great and I looked at the menu to make sure there was something vegetarian and we had a wonderful lunch at the Highliner Restaurant. 

 

 

They had a terrific selection of draught beer for dad and a draught root beer for me!

 

Dad took one bite of his clam chowder and exclaimed quite exuberantly “oh, that’s yummy!” Normally he is very reserved now that dementia has crept in and taken away so much of his personality but for him to be this demonstrative over soup, you know it was darn good soup!!

 

 

Everything we saw coming out of the kitchen looked amazing!

 

Best nachos ever, and there was not one hair!

 

They didn’t have wifi so the waitress connected me to her hot spot and I was able to get a couple more emails out plus post our Skagway day on CC.

 

 

that sucks about Seward Brewing! Glad you found a good lunch spot as an alternative!

[YVRteacher]

Just like in May dad’s security experience with the metal detector in Seward caused him to tell everyone in the terminal he was never cruising again.

 

I do my best to set him up for success going through security but I didn’t know he had three quarters in one pocket, a dime in another, his Diamond latitudes pin in his shirt pocket and a metal pen tucked inside his jacket just in case he needed to write an emergency letter while in Seward.  He wouldn’t take his Tilley hat off so the metal snaps beeped and so did his belt. They kept making my dad go through the metal detector and each time he set it off we discovered a different item. It would have been funny if dad wasn’t so distraught. 

 

Cabins were ready by the time we boarded and we unpacked (there’s a doozy of a story here) then bought spa passes, signed up for the Latitudes benefits

 

 

(no exposed armpits. Is this new?)

 

and found two bar stools at O’Sheehan’s. I ordered us both “we survived security at the port in Seward but only barely” Mudslides.  

I wanted another but they are filling and I knew dad would want dinner.

 

Dad complaint of the day:

“The hallway is too long.”

 

[YVRteacher]

Our previous cabin (11018) was so great. It was clean and in great shape thanks to one of the best room stewards ever, Luis, and it didn’t rattle or creak and there was no noise from any direction, ever.

This new cabin creaks and clicks mysteriously (I can’t find the source!) and is not clean.  The couch is stained in a bad way and needs a darn good washy washy with some type of super powered upholstery disinfectant, there is hair in the shower, hair on my sheets and a sticky spot on the counter. I found the sticky spot when I tried to write a note and put my hand in a sticky glob. 

 

I found a used contact lens on the floor in my room then when I tried to unpack I couldn’t close the bottom drawer in the closet which meant I couldn’t slide the closet door to access the hangers.

 

I used the flashlight on my phone and could see what looked like a superhero tshirt wedged behind the drawer.  I tried to remove the drawer from the sliding mechanism but it wasn’t like the dishwasher where the drawer just slides out. Then I tried to wedge a wooden coat hanger (that was all I had-what I needed was a metal one) behind the drawer but it had no give so I couldn’t hook the stuck item.

 

I told my dad I needed a pair of tongs from the buffet!

 

Then I went into the main part of the cabin to see what I could MacGyver and voila! Tongs on top of the ice bucket!

 

 

What did I pull out from behind the drawer in my room?

 

foam airplane

bra top

 

Advice from me: if you stay in this cabin you may not want to use the ice bucket tongs. They have touched what no tongs should touch.

[YVRteacher]

Luis clearly communicated dad’s pillow preferences to the new room steward

[YVRteacher]

My dad wanted to eat in the Palace so I cancelled our Moderno reservation.

 

The service was obtrusive and ruined the meal for me.  We had 7 different people trying to serve us. Eventually I asked the maître d to ask the waiters to stop this and just have one waiter. 

 

Part of the food was good and part wasn’t.

The cauliflower soup was excellent! Had I been smart I would have ordered another bowl and just had that.

 

I ordered three appetizers and told the waiter this was my dinner and to bring it at the same time as my dad’s food. He didn’t listen to what I ordered and brought my food without bringing my dad’s food. Another waiter came by and said “is there anything I can get you?

I said “yes, my dad’s food.”

 

dad’s food

 

 

I had a little bite of this honey creme brûlée and it was sweet but cold

 

The Greek salad looked so good but had way too much oregano and was unpleasant.

Maybe the cap on the spice bottle fell off. That has happened to me before! The bruschetta which I normally love was soggy. If I am going to eat bread, it needs to be good bread. I don’t waste carbs on soggy bread.  I also don’t know why it was doused in fake Parmesan. 

 

My dessert fruit plate was enough for 4 people. How is this possibly a serving for one person?

 

 

[YVRteacher]

We went to the spa with a book for me and binoculars for dad. 

 

At one point a lady went to get herself a towel and I heard her exclaim “oh, sir, this is the co-ed area. Maybe you should put some clothes on!”

 

It wasn’t dad this time!

 

Mt. Marathon at sailaway

 

[YVRteacher]

Evening balcony views

 

 

 

Evening cabin table view. Someone sent us a lot of treats! I ate half a cookie which is why there is a half on the plate. I didn’t want you to think NCL sent us a half a cookie.

 

[YVRteacher]

[YVRteacher]

[YVRteacher]

[YVRteacher]

[YVRteacher]

[YVRteacher]

[YVRteacher]

[YVRteacher]

I think they tried to get rid of us on day 5 last week

 

 but I can’t imagine why!!

[YVRteacher]

I’m trying to keep this trip report chronological.

Today is day 4 of week 2 and I’m finally caught up posting week one. I bought the unlimited internet package for the last 5 days of this cruise for $29.99. I have to be in touch with work this week and couldn’t manage without internet access.

 

We are now on day 4 of the toilets in the cabin not working.

 

Yes, I have reported it to the room steward. 
Yes, the room steward reported it. This is not at all the room steward’s fault. 
No, it is not just our cabin. It is a bank of about 10 cabins.

Yes, there have been brief moments where the toilets flushed. Most of the time the button goes in and there is no sound or an air sound. If it does flush, it takes 5-6 tries plus I have to keep pouring water into the toilet to get even a tiny bit of toilet paper to flush.
 

When I phoned Guest Services tonight to report the non-working toilets again the guest services agent said she would let our concierge know.

 

I said that is not how to handle this. I told her our concierge is awful and that this could be reported to the General Manager. She said she would report it to the Guest Services Manager. 
 

I was kind and calm when calling Guest Services. I will never raise my voice or get angry with a guest services agent. I asked her to document my report, I asked her to report it to the GM (which it sounds like she won’t do) and I stated that I expected compensation for a cruise in a suite without a working toilet.

I wonder why there is reluctance not to report to the GM? 
 

I will be contacting the GM tomorrow. 

[hernando52]

I have loved reading about your Jewel experiences and enjoying your photography.  We are a couple of seniors who will be sailing on the Jewel in both December and January out of Tampa.  You made my day when you stated that you were in suite 11018 and loved it!!!  Why....because both of our cruises will be in that suite!  I do hope that the whole dining aspect gets better though!!  Enjoy the rest of your cruise with your dad.

[2bc cruisers]

I too travel with an early/mid dementia person.  Your review is helping me to process and plan for our next cruises.  Wish we lived nearer to a cruise port, our trips involve flights which means more security lines.  Bleck. Always an adventure!  Thank you for the review!  Love the pictures.  

[graphicguy]

11 hours ago, YVRteacher said:

Our previous cabin (11018) was so great. It was clean and in great shape thanks to one of the best room stewards ever, Luis, and it didn’t rattle or creak and there was no noise from any direction, ever.

This new cabin creaks and clicks mysteriously (I can’t find the source!) and is not clean.  The couch is stained in a bad way and needs a darn good washy washy with some type of super powered upholstery disinfectant, there is hair in the shower, hair on my sheets and a sticky spot on the counter. I found the sticky spot when I tried to write a note and put my hand in a sticky glob. 

 

I found a used contact lens on the floor in my room then when I tried to unpack I couldn’t close the bottom drawer in the closet which meant I couldn’t slide the closet door to access the hangers.

 

I used the flashlight on my phone and could see what looked like a superhero tshirt wedged behind the drawer.  I tried to remove the drawer from the sliding mechanism but it wasn’t like the dishwasher where the drawer just slides out. Then I tried to wedge a wooden coat hanger (that was all I had-what I needed was a metal one) behind the drawer but it had no give so I couldn’t hook the stuck item.

 

I told my dad I needed a pair of tongs from the buffet!

 

Then I went into the main part of the cabin to see what I could MacGyver and voila! Tongs on top of the ice bucket!

 

 

What did I pull out from behind the drawer in my room?

 

foam airplane

bra top

 

Advice from me: if you stay in this cabin you may not want to use the ice bucket tongs. They have touched what no tongs should touch.

I'm not a germaphobe by any stretch.  But, I would certainly be giving a tour of that cabin to the GM or at least the Head of Housekeeping to have them immediately address it.  That's truly unacceptable.

[YVRteacher]

Week 2 day 2

sea day/Hubbard Glacier

 

This morning at Moderno a passenger was complaining to the concierge that his cabin was on the wrong the side of the ship and he couldn’t see the mountains.

 

It is so grey that no one can see the mountains! 
 

 

As I was getting organized last night I realized we didn’t have our shore excursion tickets for Hubbard today. I suspect they were delivered to the previous cabin.  I asked the concierge to help us. She said she would get the butler to help. I have asked her for one thing this whole cruise and she passed it off to the butler. It is not the butler’s job to get our shore excursion tickets.

 

I arrived at morning trivia on time. Tahani asked “where’s dad?”

 

I told her he was trying to figure out how to put his pants on.

 

It must have been a challenging morning in the pants department because dad did not arrive until question 10.

 

Likewise, it was a challenging morning in the trivia department but we tied for the win. I love my new plastic pouch and dad selected a key chain. At the end of trivia Tahani JOKINGLY said to crumple up your papers and throw them at the winners. The idiot next to me took it seriously and hit me in the face. He thought this was hilarious. I hope he finds a hair in his nachos this week. 

We passed deck 11 and our attentive and amazing room steward from last week was in the door talking to someone. I waved and said hello and told him I missed him. 

 

He stepped aside to say “good morning Sir John” and my dad waved back then turned to me and asked “who is he?”

 

Despite asking the concierge our shore excursion tickets still weren’t in the cabin two hours later.

 

I had to go to the Shore Ex and stand in line to get them. The shore ex guy called me Mrs. and when I corrected him to Ms. he said it didn’t matter. It matters to me. Mrs is my dead mom. I’m not my dad’s wife. Names matter. Be respectful.  Today at lunch the hostess called my dad Richard. This was after she had swiped the card so our names were on the screen. Richard is the guest who went in before us.

 

When Armado was our concierge he told us we never had to stand in line. Not true with the current useless concierge.

Our onboard account is wrong (all the credits have not been loaded) and I went to ask about it last week. When I followed up today it was still wrong and there were even more errors. Not only that but the line for Guest Services was long. Representatives were coming out from behind the counter to help reduce the line. We were so clearly next and the representative went to the man behind us. I said we are next. The guest services rep said “we always start from the back.”

Bull crap. That is not how lines work. The person at guest services couldn’t help us at all and she blamed everything on finance. She said they hadn’t uploaded the accounts yet. Today is day 9 onboard.

 

I heard another guest services agent blatantly lying to a passenger saying that cruise ship internet never works in international waters. Why not say the truth: the internet on the NCL Jewel is so poor it barely works anywhere. 

 

I had a conversation with a department manager a couple days ago and this person had to go ashore in Icy Strait Point to get internet to complete their NCL paperwork.  When you don’t provide your employees with the tools needed to do their job, you have a problem as a company.

[YVRteacher]

I needed a drink after that so here we are at O’Sheehan’s.

 

Painkiller for me, beer for dad, smiles and laughs for and from the bartenders. This team works so incredibly hard.

[YVRteacher]

The whole staff team at Cagney’s/ Moderno is coughing and has runny noses. No one is masked. It’s hard to work when you’re sick. But if you have a food-based job NCL should provide masks and days off.

 

Lunch

Dad

Soup

Crab cake

both of these portions are half orders

 

 

Yvonne

Brie, avocado, lettuce, tomato sandwich 

Dessert we shared our usual

 

Edited August 30 by YVRteacher

[YVRteacher]

 

I had a 26 minute nap then it was time to get ready for our Hubbard adventure!