troyphoto

Delete this from the above post. I deleted the pic, but not the caption.

Norwegian Jewel Alaska one way from BC Aug 2024 A Review and Recap ***NOTE: All but one image in this post are from PAST cruises on the Jewel (and one from the Pearl)**** Well, howdy there internet Cruise people It’s Troyphoto again. Mostly recovered from Covid. I love the Norwegian Jewel. (That's her off Great Stirrup Cay in 2005) Back in Dec of 2005, in her inaugural season, we sailed on her for an Eastern Caribbean trip. Our first ever cruise. That’s when I fell in love with Freestyle cruising. You can see the list in my signature. Only one non-NCL cruise on the list. We hit platinum status with NCL a cruise or two ago. We travelled most recently with family from New Orleans aboard the Breakaway. I'm not a fan of the Breakaway class, because their obnoxiously placed casino dribbles throughout the ship, and the odour of rancid cigarette smoke permeates the common areas in the center of the ship. That made me really appreciate the smaller Jewel Class even more. OK, I admit that the giant palm lights needed to be retired. but they were snazzy in 2005! Whenever I’ve had a less than stellar cruise experience, I’ve retreated to the Jewel for my next cruise. Coming back, always revived my cruising spirit. We tried to cruise on the old Norwegian Dream. It wasn't great. The Norwegian Star lacked the Outdoors. Each time we retreated to the Jewel, or one of her sisters for our next voyage. We did a Crown Princess California Coast cruise in 2015, and were reminded why we loved Freestyle Cruising (Princess was just trying to figure out the freestyle thing, and weren't doing well with it). But that luster on NCL has now worn thin. The Great Outdoors, my favorite spot on the Jewel Class ships. Something has shifted. And not just with the Jewel. The ship’s layout and staff are both great. I love the layout. It makes soooo much sense. From the Great Outdoors as my favorite place to hangout in the warmer climates, to the Stardust theatre, getting around is a breeze. Other Jewel class ships are variations on that theme, and still a good fit with the changes. When I cruise, I want to do two things: Sit and watch the ocean go by (from the Great Outdoors, with an unobstructed view), and eat good food. My wife wants to go see new destinations. She’s flat-out refusing to sail the Caribbean again. We’ve done it too many times for her. But for me it’s about the shipboard experience. And that’s where NCL falls down. The NCL I came to love is no more. Something in their corporate culture has changed. Follow the fishes in the cabin passageways to find the front of the ship! When you board an NCL ship, look down at the carpeting. You’ll see why. Sitting the embarkation waiting area, we were next to a couple on their first ever cruise, and asked us for advice. This is from The Pearl several years ago. Perhaps NCL could have included a directional fish motif in their revised carpeting designs they've recently installed? It would help directionally challenged passenger know which was was which? I suggested they look at the carpet in the cabin hallways. The fish swim toward the front. And each of the stairways is color coded via carpet. Aft, Mid, and Fore all have different colors and artwork theme. Well, with the remodel in drydock, NCL changed all that. So much for that advice. If only I'd known. Now that couple is probably still wandering around the ship, lost, trying to find the way out..."there are no longer fish on the carpet. Which way do we go????" Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate a freshening up. Carpet wears out. Paint chips. Styles change. But pay a bit more for a custom design and put the rebel fish swimming toward the front of the boat into your carpet again. Little details like that matter to both the seasoned and new passengers. Counting cabin numbers take brain power. Follow the fish to the front is primal brain level thinking. Follow the fish… I know where I’m going. When it came to stairwells, the visual clues were gone. I had to pay attention to where we were before stepping into a stairway. Hit the teal carpeted stairway, or the purple one, and I know which of the stairwells in the ship we're at - But, No Longer. Most of the décor changes are fine, but the attention to detail of the passenger experience, those extra little tweaks that made NCL special are now just normal décor. Normal is everywhere. NCL dropped the special. While I do miss the towel animals, I agree with NCL that ditching the evening freshen up of the cabins was an easy expense to cut. Food: Perhaps continuing with the Free At Sea Promotion was poor planning? Prices are high everywhere. And Cruising is a market where we lock in prices up to a year or so early. So the cruise lines have to absorb, or pre-price inflation. This is very apparent in the onboard food selection. We expect menus to change. The addition of the standard NY Strip steak option, baked Ziti, and Cesare salad to the menu, meant we have fallbacks in the main dining rooms if the night’s dinner isn’t to our palate. I tried the NY Strip that was actually a square, not a strip. Once. This has been my fallback dish on every cruise since it was added to the nightly menu. No longer. I’m not sure if they’re baking the steaks? I’m not sure it ever hit a hot grill. There was no basic sear on it, and mostly devoid of flavor. I don’t want to, but I’d NOW rather go to the buffet than hit the MDR based on food offerings there. That’s a shift. We were travelling with friends this trip, and our evening dinners together, after doing our own things separately in port, was a highlight to the day. Until it came to the food. Our travel buddies even admitted the same. And this was their third cruise total, third on NCL. Wife of that couple normally had her phone out, photographing every plate when it hit the table with an excited Oooooo! My Bacon Something Chicken with sweet potatoes and corn from this cruise. I took a pic. Travel buddy did not. She’s a foodie, and loves presentation and flair. As we discussed the trip, she pointed out that she hadn’t taken any food photos this trip. Something had changed. NCL had gone from “Ooooooooo!” to ordinary. To be fair, the Chicken Cordon Bleu was decent in preparation and taste. As was the country fried chicken. We never had an OFF dish. But I ate chicken at dinner three times, Ziti once. I prefer beef. If I’m eating chicken or pasta, the beef dishes aren’t ones I care for, or there was only seafood and chicken. The buffet, and O’Sheehans were fine, and up to expectations. Moderno was fine. But the specialty restaurants were always swamped. Being Platinum, we had two more specialty meals we could have scheduled. But we skipped for the MDR to be with our travel buddies, who didn’t have platinum status and those included perks. So we ate all nights but one, in the MDRs. There, something is off with the food selection, and prep. The magic is dying. Entertainment: A past marquee of the production cast. Before they added the digital displays outside of Stardust. The Theater shows were fine, though I question why there were three nights of the same comedian? The Rock U Tonight was great entertainment – BUT TOOOOO FRICKIN LOUD. Sound at 95db for 45 minutes is right at the edge of causing hearing damage. DROP THE VOLUME by 5 db. It will still be a good show. OR WARN GUESTS TO BRING EAR PROTECTION! Somewhere along the line, NCL dropped a night of the production cast in favor of a Wheel of Fortune as a “show.” WoF is a moneymaker for NCL, and has usually been in the afternoon on a sea day. I’m not going to go pay to play a game show I never watch on tv. We loved the added vocal or magician or juggler acts NCL featured in the past. No longer on the Jewel class? So we dropped a night of a good show, for a pay to play show??? I preferred the entertainment on the Jewel class to the horde of small venues/loud parties on the Breakaway class. But even here, the magic is slipping away from NCL. Instead WHEEL .... OF.... FORTUNE... we ended up in the bar, and consumed a couple more cocktails than usual on our Unlimited Beverage plan. The good old days of entertainment on the Jewel Class. The lounge acts were fine, but again too loud by about 3-5 db for most areas. (Yes, I have a sound meter app on my phone, and I’m happy to use it). That's an audio issue, not a performer issue. Ports: Starting in BC was interesting. I covered it in a previous post on this thread. One thing I didn’t pay attention to, until it was too late. NCL dropped putting port info sheets into the Freestyle Daily. I don’t bother with the port’s talk, nor do I watch TV, since those always showed up. Handy map to stick in my pocket as we explore each town. Where did those go? Ketchican: Docking in Ward Cove, and having a bus ride isn’t bad, but two adults (one with dad-bod) in a school bus seat is uncomfortable at best. Try to wait for the “tour busses” to arrive if you have the time. Skip the school busses. The entire downtown shopping seems to be owned by Tongass or the Cruise Lines’ subsidiaries (the same shops in every port). Juneau: It’s the capital, and has a wide variety of shopping. Someday we should do an excursion. Maybe. Like I said, I cruise to watch the ocean. Skagway: More commercial shops, with some independent ones. Another port I’d take excursions if I return. We did the White Pass railway before, and once was enough for the wife. So we wondered around. Our travel buddies, who did our S Caribbean tour on the Jade with us, went jewelry shopping, and found the SAME gent in the same branded store they purchased from on that cruise, right there in Skagway. Yes, she got another ring from him. Funny how the same reps, the same store brands, the same-same are available in most cruise ports. Icy Straight Point: I didn’t realize how cool this port was until I sat at the gondola stop near the Cannery, while the wife hiked the nature trail. Jack, a First Nations member, storyteller, and keep of the warm fire pit near the cannery chatted with me about how the port stop came to be. According to him, they are reinvesting their docking fees to pay off the cruise lines for building the new docks. They’re reinvesting their gondola fees to pay off the building of the gondolas. The tribe/village/corporation want to continue to own their port. That’s refreshing compared to the rubber-stamped feel of the other cruise-line owned facilities in port towns. In ISP we spend time only in the Cannery section. IF I ever go back, I’d like to do more exploring. The free gondola ride to the cannery side is worth a trip. We didn’t make it to the top of the mountain ($50 ticket each) but should have used our cruise excursion voucher for it. By this point in the cruise, though, we were getting tired. Part of it was another cruise, with lower than expected experiences. Hubbard Glacier: Was fogged in. We saw it, but not very close, about 7 miles out, I heard. Glacier Bay on a previous cruise was better. Disembark was already covered in the thread. Overall, I still love the Jewel Class design The crew is always great. I filled out a couple of vacation hero cards for great service. We only had one clunker of a waiter in O'Sheehans, but the manager was quick to step in. The new guy will get up to speed soon. NCL has a good restaurant team. The menu, and base quality of the food is where I have noticed a drop in its quality. As well as cuts in the entertainment. Really? Wheel of Fortune, buy a card to participate as a prime night’s entertainment? I don't watch the show on the telly, why watch it on a cruise? If that's your thing, I'm happy for you. But I lament what had been a different opportunity squandered by NCL. When we sailed on the Breakaway, we missed the “A Cool Show in Stardust” every night. We would go back on a Jewel class, and had four nights of cool shows by the production cast. And another singer/comedian/magician night each. While the comedian this trip was funny, we didn’t need three nights of comedy with the same guy. Nor did we need a commercialized game show. I miss the comedian one night, a magician or juggler another night, and four nights of the production cast. There were magic in those shows, even if we’d seen a similar act before. The belt tightening is apparent across NCL. And every notch tighter squeezes more and more of the magic of cruising away. Will we cruise NCL again? Maybe. But platinum status only works for perks when we’re travelling alone. We’ll use those coupons for specialty dining then. But, travelling with family or friends? We’d rather spend time with them, and don’t want to wave privilege of platinum in their faces. When we cruise, we want to find that magic again. NCL’s magic wand needs some serious recharging. Based other other’s recommendations, perhaps it’s time we try Princess? How long does it take to get to platinum status there?

Last week I was on deck 13 heading to Spinnaker from outside (near the Pitstop), and a couple of bubbles came floating by. I looked around, but didn't see you. Were you up on the front observation deck with bubbles?

and only tear from the side with the horizontal arrow. It's like doing a rubic's cube. Once you understand the secret, it's kind of easy. The problem is, what to do with a half-full tube of creamer if you don't use all of it. I ended up putting my open one back in the creamer cup with all the packets, standing upright. I'd use it on the next few cups. When I was out of that single packet, it was time to hit the bar.

In between Cov!d naps, I decided to go through my photo archives and see what the Jewel looked like before the painted over all of the promenade deck outside murals and figures. Here's a few from days gone by. Cruise was in 2016 Mex Riviera. And what is now the Pitstop bar 13-Mid

Oh, don't worry. I've got a fever and blah head. I tried to ride it out without cold meds, but my fever is over 100f so time to control it. I'll waste the test tomorrow, but it's pretty obvious. We're in hibernation mode for the next week.

Tell Dad we say HI from Indiana!

And another update before the recap. Monday, wife noticed a tickle in her throat, but chalked it up to being around all the diesel exhaust (the Anchorage city busses had a bit of exhaust make it inside each one). After the redeye flight home, I noticed a tickle in my throat. Hoped it was the lack of sleep on the flight. This morning still had a tickle, so I tested for Cov!d. Negative! Headed out for a more complete grocery run. Came home, wife was still in bed. So I tossed a test kit in the bathroom for her. An hour later, she's Positive! And not the type of Positive that resolves itself in 9 mos (we're just turned 60, that's not our job any longer). And my symptoms started getting worse. Stuffy head. Slight headache. What the wife said had yesterday but chalked up to the flight. Today, she's the same. with a very mild fever. So it looks like I'm a day behind her on symptoms. We're vaccinated, and have had it before (this is my third time). So my final wrap up may wait a few days. Here's some more pics. Me in my happy place on the Jewel class an inside cabin on deck 9 I always forget we're platinum level and get strawberries. By the time I see them, I'm not hungry. Then we go to dinner, and I'm really not hungry when we come back. The mouse-ship leaving Vancouver. Who's favorite drink is this? For me it was OK, but I like whiskey cocktails better. Wife loved it and had a few more through the cruise. A very foggy morning at sea. A boring pic but an interesting story you might have heard before. Our travel buddies are Japanese-Americans (He's dual citizen, as his parents were Japanes-Americans, but he was born in Japan, and came to the US when he was 6). And he laughed every time we walked past this sign. Wife finally asked why. "Because that is Japanese slang for Naughty Bits" I have no idea if that's correct, but that's what he remembers. Though his command of the language is mostly forgotten. His parents pushed him to learn English early on after immigrating when he was 6.

DISEMBARKING AND ANCHORAGE (I realized I missed a couple of days. Rather than backtrack, I'll add details to the next write-up which is going to be a recap, and final thoughts on the cruise, NCL, and cruising in general) Greetings and salutations from NE Indiana. We have returned home after a gruelling red-eye 8 hours of flights following a napless day in Anchorage. First we disembarked in the giant warehouse of a terminal. found our bags easily and checked in with the Big ACT Bus folks. We got Eddie as our driver. His patter and narration was entertaining and kept us awake... Well, it kept me awake, but I'm a morning person. Wife fell asleep during the 25-mile stretch with no narration. Travel buddies fell asleep then and I'm not sure when they woke. We were dropped off by the ticketing area upstairs at Ted Stevens airport in Anchorage. Baggage storage is downstairs next to baggage #4 turnstyle. It's a tiny office, but well run. Easy breezy. The toughest part was figuring out where to put the credit card on their terminal. Next was figuring out the People Mover Bus system to get downtown Anchorage. It's currently the #40 Bus. And there's a stop on the lower level of the airport drive (lowest level is the train connection). I think it's near Baggage #7. Cross to the median with EXACT FAIR. HINT if you're over 60, ask for a senior discount. We got an all day pass for $2.50US each instead of $5. EXACT bills needed, but you can do multiple passes on larger bills (2 for $5). Be warned NO CHANGE given. Save a five$ or a ten$ for this situation. The 40 bus runs a loop downtown, then to the airport, then back downtown. You're looking for the stop called "Downtown Transit Center" at 6th ave and G st. This is where you return to board for your trip back to the airport. You got the day pass, right? We then headed over to see the mall and shops nearby. Some more touristy gift shops are near the mall. There are free downtown maps all over (we got ours at the airport - They're FREE as my father in law said every Christmas when he passed out the latest Indiana State maps he snagged from the rest stop near his home. You always need a good map, and free is a bonus. A block away from the transit center is a pub called "Humpys" and was recommended by Eddie the Bus Driver. We decided to return for dinner. Everything from pub burgers to Hallibut fish and chips. We headed to do some shopping but didn't purchase anything. If you need a beverage and place to sit, the upper floor of the mall has a food court. We got sodas and a snack to share, and then hung out with a celebrity from Indiana, our home state. Yep. The lasagna loving feline is a Hoosier! His creator, Jim Davis, is from our part of the state, and even attended our collegiate alma mater... Next we decided to head toward the salmon viewing area along ship creek... yep. We went there.And me without a paddle. Fortunately, my sweetie was able to help me out of the jam I was in. Across the railroad tracks is the Ulu Factory. It's worth a stop. Just make sure you put the blades in your checked bags. I'm sure the TSA has enough confiscated Ulus and don't need more. Behind the Ulu factory is a paved path. Take it about 1/2 a mile to the right and you'll come to a green bridge over Ship Creek at a small waterfall. There were only two fish there. One dead on a sandbar, and another looking dazed and confused like he just swam out of that loud rock show on the second night of the cruise. After exploring that area, we made the hike back to 6th Ave. Warning it's uphill for about three big blocks. Much like YVRteacher's dad, I'd had enough of the walking around in the cold, and wanted to eat. So we got a booth at Humpy's. gotta love a good pub ceiling! Travel buddies who eat a lot of seafood, pronounced their halibut & chips very good. Wife and I went for comfort food of a good pub-burger for each. Good meals, reasonably priced, and excellent service. There is a smaller Humpy's inside the airport as well, but their ceiling isn't as cool as the one downtown. Warning: Back at the airport, check with your booking agents for your airlines when you can drop bags off. Despite the airport website saying "four hours" before the flight, United wouldn't take the bags early than 3 hours before. So we sat with our bags in the ticketing area for an hour. Wife and I bid farewell to our friends after getting our bags checked. Amazingly our two bags, after hap-hazard packing weighed in at point-six of a pound different from each other. Three hours later we were on a red-eye back to Indiana (via OHare). We left Anchorage on a 9:55pm flight, and at 9:55am local Indiana time, were back in our car driving home. An 8-hour trip! (We lost four hours flying east). And I got to see a lightning show in this could system the pilot diverted around as the sun rose. Laundry is only half done, and the essential groceries are restocked. We're both in the mood for a pizza tonight. But, alas, no Dan-the-Man in Maltings to make us whiskey cocktails. The next major post from me will probably be more of a wrap up and fill in of the days I wasn't able to cover due to #%^$! internet on board. It might take a day to pull the thoughts together. And Pizza. I need some good midwest style pizza.

We can uber or catch a cab if needed. 5 mile walk may not be in our cards.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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???

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

It was so fun to meet with you and Dad. Thanks for the croissants! And if anyone gets a chance to meet John, he’s rather interesting when you get him telling stories about himself!

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!

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.

I expected such. Hence the "Semi Live"

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.

Good. If you do one, I won't have to. 😃

12:30 BC time Sunday (today). We're meeting up with our travel buddies then. FYI I'm an indie author of magical cozy mysteries. I've tossed a couple of my books in the suitcase for you. We'll have to connect onboard. And yes, Whiskey/Whisky! We'll probably connect at Maltings

Thanks for the great review, despite not so great experiences. Wife and I are boarding the Jewel on Monday. She was our first cruise back when the Jewel was shiny new in 2005. I'm hoping that the issues are getting better rather than worse. If you're on the ship next week, we'll hope to meet you. If not, safe travels, calm seas, and a following breeze!