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MIER. Sadly more expensive (it was a late night Amazon purchase that may have involved gummies) but I regret nothing. So many pockets. So comfortable. And I live in New England, so they'll come in handy!

Oh. My. GAWD. THERE WERE DRAWERS????????!!!!!!! Do you think this is used as a secret IQ test? It even went over my engineer husband's head. We couldn't figure out why there would be so little space, especially for a cold weather cruise.

I think I do still have them in my suitcase! I'll see if I can scan them in.

We have survived our journey home -- docked in Seward Monday morning, about a 3 hour bus ride to Anchorage (traffic backup), about 3 hours waiting for plane to Seattle, and finally wheels up in Seattle again at 11:45 p.m. before finally, finally, landing in Boston at 8 a.m. Tuesday. I had no sleep, plus I don't think I've seen a sunset since embarking from Vancouver. Have you seen the Sandra Bullock movie, "The Proposal?" The one where she tries to force her assistant (Ryan Reynolds) to marry her so she can get American citizenship, leading to wacky hi-jinks in Sitka, Alaska where the sun apparently never sets? Yes. You need those blackout curtains. Yes. Night does look like day (I can't say how late, but I swear that final night, it was still bright after 11 p.m. (In any case, "The Proposal" is also in constant rotation on the ship's romance channel if you find yourself sick in bed on your cruise. That would be me, blearily calling at my husband "that's not Alaska, where we are! That's Rockport, where we used to be!") We haven't been on a cruise since 2017, when we cruised Hawaii on the Pride of America. That was an amazing experience, and hard to top and it was also the last vacation we took, period. DH and I are in our mid-50s. Since 2017, we've put two kids through college (without debt thanks to the combination of saving since their births and very smart kids who earned merit scholarships and, yes, graduated with job offers). I also was laid off from my news job -- my third layoff in a decade. And did I mention the pandemic? I ended up finally landing the perfect job late last summer and to celebrate, we booked this cruise! We, ah, spent a long time during the pandemic looking at Norwegian cruise brochures. We picked the Jewel because it didn't have a race track on top (it just seemed inappropriate around glaciers?) AND it left on June 12 -- my 56th birthday. So what happens when you have a birthday during your cruise? Something sweet arrives out of the blue while you're unpacking. Let's talk about the room. We had 10120, a balcony cabin, midship. Not a lot of room for storage. There are two small closets, each with a single shelf. There's a desk, which holds the hair dryer (solidly inside the top drawer, cannot be removed) and two desky drawers. This is a room that calls for magnet hooks, which we put everywhere. And we definitely overpacked. Temps all week were in the high 40s, low 60s. We needed the rain gear, not so much the winter coats and Bean boots. My best option on excursions were leggings under these water-repellant hiking pants I bought on a whim during one of those late night Amazon binges, which was really comfortable and not overly warm. And we only dressed up for dinner on one night. I'll tell you about the other birthday surprise tomorrow. It involved a gift of underwear, seaweed, giant mylar blankets, and a really festive hairstyle.

We are sitting at the airport in Seattle so I figured I’d start off our review of our week on the NCL Jewel. The questions you didn’t know you wanted answered: Is Alaska actually cold in the month of June? Do you know the washy-washy guy, and have you danced with him? What really happens during a couples massage and why is this woman handing us disposable underwear? Why is NyQuil more valuable than gold on an Alaskan cruise — and what unexpected place can you find it in Ketchikan? Why are so many tour buses driven by dad joke cracking young people? Are you really going to see whales? Is it in unAmerican to yell at the eagle who is dive-bombing you? Why is it 10:30 pm and still sunny out? Why does the wi-fi not work? yay! Our flight to Boston is ready to board! Will update when we have finally caught up on sleep!

My daughter tells me that performers are avoiding Norwegian, in part because they have very strict daily weigh-ins (you’re out if you gain five pounds) and not the best working conditions. If you can get the talent, why even try for the best shows?

Different kind of insurance, unfortunately. Allianz only covers medical if there is no pre-existing condition, and mental health emergencies are not covered. This upcoming trip, we are insured for everything. My child went through a partial residential program that changed her life, became an advocate for mental health in her high school and now, a couple years out of college, works with troubled youth.

We had to cancel our cruise to Hawaii a week before sailing a number of years ago. We had travel insurance, BUT... The reason for cancellation was the emergency hospitalization of one of our kids for mental health reasons. The insurance did not cover anything related to mental health, despite the fact that the child was a minor and only a monster would abandon them during an extreme time of need. We were able to cancel all our trip excursions, flight, and hotel. Our travel agent worked tirelessly to get at least a portion of a refund for the cruise itself. I have no regrets for canceling for my kid. It was a lifesaver and worth every penny. And when we rebooked a year later, our travel agent got us better rates and deals on everything.

Following! We're on the Jewel for the June 12 sailing -- my birthday!

We are going on our third NCL cruise next month, to Alaska. Our last cruise was on POA and we loved almost everything about it (I think my recap is linked in my signature; the things I didn't like were not typical). You essentially are using the ship as a floating hotel so you can get a taste of all the islands. We went in the spring, before school let out, so there weren't a ton of kids running around and we were among the younger adults on the ship. Our very first cruise was Boston to Bermuda, a big family trip that included our then-young kids, and they absolutely loved the kids programming during the at-sea days.