Seas2mountains

This did not make sense to us either. We are hearing that others on this cruise received this same letter. We plan to make reservations as soon as we get on the ship after checking in to the muster stations.

We pre booked all restaurant reservations but will need to make adjustments for our fifth person when we get on the ship. We did receive this letter about our reservation at Cagney’s.

School is out for summer where we live so it is time for a vacation and another cruise! We booked this one in early December 2022 when we planned to take our son and his fiancée as we love being with our family. We have four other adult kids and will try to plan cruise or land vacations with each of them as it fits into our schedules. A few weeks ago, our daughter realized there weren't any available summer camps for her daughter/our granddaughter so we offered to bring her with us. Our granddaughter cruised with us about five years ago when she was 3 years old on the NCL Dawn but was too young to remember it. This time, she will be turning 8 years old a few days after the cruise ends so we will celebrate it all week! We initially thought it would not cost too much to add our granddaughter to our reservation but it actually cost close to $1000 with a four meal specialty dining package and soda package. We wanted to let her order off the adult menu at specialty restaurants. I think I should have considered paying by the drink when she orders soda as she has not been drinking soda lately as she knows it isn't very healthy. 😇 It was a bit of hassle and is costly to add her to our flights as we purchased our airline tickets in December when prices were lower and they had to put her on a different reservation. We can't check her in until we get to the airport but fortunately we are all seated together. We could have paid for a month of summer camps to add her in the end but it will be worth the time with her for sure! 😄 We are mostly packed and waiting for the son, fiancée and granddaughter to arrive at our house to stay overnight as they live about 1.5-2 hour drive away. We are within 45 minutes to the airport. This cruise has been sold out for a few weeks and with other schools out for the summer, we are expecting a more than full cruise but hope our granddaughter can use Splash Academy occassionally. Here is the itinerary for the week. We are booked in two Club Balcony Suites. We will fly out in the morning to Miami.

@bluesea777 will you be doing a live review or would it be possible for you to post the dailies? Have a wonderful cruise! We really enjoyed the early morning train ride from Anchorage to Seward along with exploring the Seward area. If you get to the cruise port before 11am, you will likely be among the first guests to board the ship. @wil e coyote Thank you for your wonderful review. We used to love food at O’Sheehans but agree that it’s been okay and not great. We tend to avoid Chin-Chins, too, as we really only liked the appetizers but not the main course options. We found the food on the rest of the ship to be excellent and the Jewel is among our favorite NCL ships. That is wonderful that you received a 50% off coupon and were able to splurge on a DOS. The hot tub sounds amazing. And we love cruising Alaska to do as you described to watch the wilderness go by.

Do you have any excursions booked on the Spirit? I’m really looking forward to the stops in Valdez but we just plan to walk around the town and stop at the museums. We also like to walk around the area in Skagway like you did as we have done the train ride. When you and your Dad are there in July, I hope the salmon will be running in Pullen Creek near the cruise terminal as that can be entertaining to watch. Icy Straight Point is also a favorite stop to watch the eagles and we have often seen whales in the area and I know you said you also like this port. We did book a whale watching excursion in ISP as we have not done one there and we’ve read this tends to be among the best whale watching territory. We have done the whale watching tours in Juneau and Seward. I’m excited to be on the Spirit for two weeks and then I get to stay on virtually through your review if you plan to write one.

I have not seen any Latitudes offers for 2024 yet. If you don’t receive the Latitude emails, you can view the current offers here: https://www.ncl.com/latitudes-rewards-program/insider-offer

I wish! I work in an alternative high school with a year round schedule. I go back to school on July 6th.

The non-Haven suites with access to Haven like breakfasts and lunches in Moderno/Cagney’s are so special that I think you will adjust to losing the Haven pool area and lounge. Alaska cruises are so beautiful and so different from Caribbean cruises.

Thank you again for your wonderful review. I always love your entertaining reviews. Your review was helpful as we considered going back to Alaska again this year. It is for sure our favorite cruise - especially from Vancouver to Seward or Seward to Vancouver. We booked the Spirit for a B2B on June 21st to July 5th. We will fly to Vancouver on June 20th. But first we will do a family cruise with a son, his fiancée and our sweet almost 8 year old granddaughter on the Escape next Sunday. I also work in a school so I relate to the work you do when not cruising. I look forward to your next review!

I’m so sorry to hear about the news of your position. I hope you are able to find a position that will be a good fit but I understand how difficult this will be given all the positive relationships you must have with your students. 😢

I’ve been on both the Gem and Getaway. I find the Jewel class ships (Gem) to be preferable to the Breakaway class ships (Getaway) for many reasons. While I’ll be cruising soon on the Escape with family and a kid, the Jewel class ships are more peaceful in my opinion. There seems to be an older crowd on the Jewel class but I’ve also seen singles of all ages who seem to hang out together on both ships. My recommendation is to try one and then the other to determine your preference. It’s a cruise and I’m sure you will have a great time!

Thank you for doing this live review. We board the Escape in two weeks on May 28th so I appreciate the dailies and your updates. What time did they begin boarding? Have a wonderful cruise!

in Sewel. Speaking of typos. I apparently made a new word combining Seward and Jewel. 🤣 Happy Birthday to your Dad and Happy Belated Birthday to you! I’m sorry to hear that the Endicott Arm excursion didn’t happen and that none of the ships made it very far. That has been our experience, too, with one exception where we were able to go further than we had on any previous cruise. Whenever I see Endicott Arm on the itinerary, I know it will be like having Great Stirrup Cay on the itinerary. It sounds like you had an amazing celebration for your Dad and the crew really treated him so well with the dinner and treats. Enjoy your final days. The Jewel is a special ship with a fabulous crew.

We have been the first and second person to board in Seward and it was at 11am both times with the most recent one on the Jewel in June 2022. That’s great if the boarding time in Sewel got adjusted to an earlier time.

Sweet corn hush puppies Spinach Caesar Shrimp fritters

Thank you! We did have a wonderful cruise. We will be on the Escape in about 18 days. I’ll report here on getting access to Veuve.

Loving your review as I catch up after being on the Sky this weekend. We also love Seward and it is my favorite cruise port. There is so much to do between catching the train and exploring Alaska if embarking or disembarking there. If anyone has a short stop, walking through the town, going to the SeaLife Center and seeing all the amazing animals, birds and sea creatures like you mentioned was a great time. We were fascinated by how deep some birds dove in the water. We also loved Major Marine tours in Seward. My profile photo was taken in Seward. Enjoy your cruise and time with your sweet Dad!

We are Sapphire and boarded the Sky on Friday from the Miami terminal. Once past security, the line for general check-in had no wait. There were four other couples with us in Priority boarding including some who paid for it like you. We left the priority line to check-in with the general line. Based on the time they arrived, it was probably not really worth the cost as it didn’t save any time.

Just off the Sky today and had no problem getting Veuve by the glass with P+ in Le Bistro. We did not try to get it in other bars but did ask for other P+ wine by the glass choices. Several lounge servers kindly got the wine from another bar or the dining room if they didn’t have it in their bar/lounge.

We are off the ship waiting in an airline lounge at the FLL airport for an early afternoon flight. We had a wonderful cruise and are excited to get on the Escape with three other family members in 20 days. We were not successful with check in for the next cruise using the ship wifi as it got stuck on the photo and would not load the safety video. We were able finish check-in this morning when back on our cell carrier. This cruise had many more younger passengers as is common with 3 day cruises. But I had not previously been on a ship with so many bachelor and bachelorette parties. It was fun to watch how some had coordinated dress codes for the weekend with the bride wearing only white in the evening and for bathing suits and the others wearing black for most of the weekend to include bathing suits. That’s a huge commitment to have the cruise cost and all the time and clothing purchases. We would say at least one was acting like a Bridezilla. My husband said it was like having little gangs all over the ship. When the bride or bachelor got up to go to the next venue, they had 6-12 people following. When we were going to Cagney’s and we’re going to walk across the pool deck, my husband said, “I hope I don’t have to see any more exposed butts.” I still don’t get the shear cover ups that don’t cover any thing. I think our theme was that we saw more exposed body parts than we care to see. We like the Alaska cruises with the older crowds.

Yes, Alexa has a beautiful voice and she is so talented! We did enjoy listening to her on one of the evenings. I do also follow her on Facebook. We also really liked listening to Leoh in Sugarcane on two evenings. He played some country music along with some Bruno Mars, Coldplay, John Mayer, and Ed Sheeran type of songs. The Sonata band is also very talented. I was amazed at how quickly they transitioned from song to song with no breaks between songs. Anyone getting on the Sky will be blessed with wonderful musicians. We did not go to any shows in the theater.

Here is the updated one when the weather decision was made to skip this stop. We each got a $25 refundable on board credit for skipping Great Stirrup Cay which was really nice. We know it’s a 50-50 chance of stopping or not.

Here is the daily that assumed we could tender at Great Stirrup Cay and the updated one when the weather decision was made to skip this stop.

We had to skip GSC today due to wind and waves. We see 12 oz. Cans.

We wish we could take the entertainment on this ship to our next cruise. They are all that good!!! In hindsight, I’d say the entertainment on our last cruise on the Gem was a 5 out of 10 when comparing to this cruise where it is a 9.5 out of 10. Alexa, Leoh and especially the amazing band, Sonata, are the reason. I know a lot of people seem to love the Latin band.