dmwnc1959

1 minute ago, PATRLR said:

The picture above seems to be about as close as Bliss got.  If ever there was a testimonial for getting onto the Allen Marine excursion (called "TRACY ARM FJORD & GLACIER EXPLORER" in 2018) it's that picture.  This is how close we got to the glacier in 2018:

 

 

 

Is that one that you booked through NCL? I think they also offer one of these for Hubbard Glacier, and I've been eye-balling it as well. 

A couple of screenshots I grabbed from her bridge cam back on April 29th while sitting in drydock...

Realizing that Norwegian Jade will be the NCL guinea pig for this port in 2025, stumbled across the fact that there's apparently a 2-1/2 mile one-way tunnel in and out, and it's the the longest (2.5 miles) highway tunnel in North America.

https://www.facebook.com/story.php?id=100044584939798&story_fbid=1865960627184285

https://www.whittieralaska.gov/tunnel/

https://dot.alaska.gov/creg/whittiertunnel/schedule.shtml

9 minutes ago, umaine89 said:

It was cool to see the ship name on the  digital signs coming in. I’m in an interior room. It’s only me and I won’t spend much time there. 

Nice! I've got an inside solo down on Deck 5 for next year. 

2 minutes ago, PC Skier said:

Does the Encore go through the old or new locks in Panama?

 
She goes through the new locks. 

"When the ship is at sea or anchored, nudity is generally allowed. However, when the ship is docked, all passengers must be fully clothed on all parts of the vessel, including private balconies, until an announcement is made that it is acceptable to be nude again.

Clothing is also required in all dining areas, not including bathrobes or lingerie, the latter of which is forbidden as general attire, along with fetish wear. Specific rules regarding appropriate conduct in public areas will also be enforced.

Additional precautions, such as mandatory towel use on shared seating and strict non-photo zones throughout the ship, will also ensure privacy and comfort for all passengers."  - Cruise Hive 

Still not my cup of tea. 😳

Just now, ggTexasGal said:

Your vacation sounds wonderful. I hope that you both have a wonderful time and take home great memories!

THANKS! I do a little planning every day, little things like researching some of the new ports and what there is to do, watching youtube travel videos on how to pack lightly, checking the shore excursions on my bookings to see what new things pop up - I already have 9 booked - and checking what time sunrise and sunset is for each port against what time we arrive and depart. Loved watching the NCL bridge cams as the ships moved up the West Coast and made note of where they docked. It's a lot of fun! 

Just now, Two Wheels Only said:

The "...long pants in one MDR...." varies by ship. 

 

On some ships, shorts are fine in all MDRs. 

 

When in doubt, check the dailies for your particular cruise. 

I'm hoping that maybe Norwegian Jade will be a little bit more relaxed and casual, especially since this is a longer repositioning cruise? I had mentioned in another thread that I was going to pack a light sports jacket, but was told that wasn't necessary. 

1 minute ago, ggTexasGal said:

You probably will benefit from the "$34 fill the laundry bag" if you need to have things cleaned during your trip.

I had planned on using Los Angeles as my laundry day, but now that I'm trying to pack fewer clothes I'll definitely take advantage of the $34 laundry bag deal. 

2 minutes ago, dhanakorn said:

The "official" rule is you have to wear pants for dinner in MDR. But the during my previous cruise on Sky in March, I was surprised that shorts were allowed in MDR during dinner since it's a Caribbean cruise. I confirmed this exception with maître d'. And many guys did wear shorts during dinner on this cruise. Other specialty restaurants (except Le Bistro) also allowed wearing shorts for dinner on this cruise.

That's one aspect of this cruise I was looking at, since the first two weeks are basically hot and humid climates while going from Florida down through the Panama Canal up the coast through El Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Mexico. I think from San Francisco up to Whittier and then back down to Vancouver it'll be cold. 

1 minute ago, ggTexasGal said:

Shorts are fine for breakfast and lunch.  You should be fine for those meals.

Just, long pants and collared shirts for dinner!

I'll probably pack three pair of wrinkle-free long khakis for dinner. That should be more than enough. Plus a half dozen shorts of different colors. And some shoes that are flexible as casual dinner-wear and day-wear. One pair of sneakers in addition to the ones I'll be wearing on the plane. And a few pair of blue jeans for Alaska. Trying to keep everything under one standard check-in suitcase and one carry-on.

4 minutes ago, ggTexasGal said:

The largest of the main dining rooms, Le Bistro and Ocean Blue require long pants!

There are no true formal nights!!!

Was hoping to be able to do breakfast and lunch in Grand Pacific and get away with shorts? The ones I have border on semi-dress shorts, sort of like Oxford cotton twill or classic khaki chino shorts.

2 minutes ago, ggTexasGal said:

The largest of the main dining rooms, Le Bistro and Ocean Blue require long pants!

There are no true formal nights!!!

EDITED to add posted at the same time as yours..

So, for Norwegian Jade that would be Grand Pacific? 

2 minutes ago, RocketMan275 said:

NCL doesn't do 'formal nights'.

The NCL dress code only requires long pants in IIRC, one of the MDRs and a couple of the specality restaurants, Le Bistro and Ocean Blue.

What's Ocean Blue? Guess I should've specified that I'm on the Norwegian Jade. So the long pants requirement is for MDR dinner only?

Not to start 'that thread', but other than on formal nights can I wear shorts in the MDR? Maybe more so for breakfast and lunch for the MDR? And for the complementary restaurants like Jasmines or the Sushi Bar at dinner? Still working on a packing list for this 32-nights and trying to slim down my day-wear options. 😁

Did you guys leave early today? Everything I have with a schedule shows a departure at 530pm. When I looked at the webcam at 5pm she was already gone. ☹️

26 minutes ago, umaine89 said:

Yeah I rented a car and am parking it at the port for 5 days. It’s pretty close to price of private shuttle. And I came in a day early wanted to go to dinner last night and hit Walgreens for sunscreen and Dunkin on the way to the port today. Then my flight is out late on Monday so I am going somewhere after I get off. 
 

Feels like I am getting close. 

 

That said, don’t rent from Fox. The offsite location and upsell isn’t worth whatever I might have saved.

 

View from parking garage. 

 

 

Toyota Corolla is fine for its purpose though. 
 

Hit the garage at 1210. Made it through security quickly but wasn’t excited by the line to check in. 
 

 

There was a split in line and one side was regular and one side was Latitude premium or something. Talked to the people behind me and we decided they weren’t going to kick us out if we went left instead of right. So that’s what I did. 
 

1247 walking on. 

 

37 minutes from parking to on the boat is good time. 

Just noticed that the highway sign has the ship name! That must've been exciting. 😁

Great timing getting on board! What kind of cabin did you book?

I'm not sure if this will be of interest to you, but directly in front of the ship on the other side of that basin there's a platform barge with one of the SpaceX rocket modules sitting on it, plus a couple of other SpaceX vessels. 
 

11 minutes ago, schmoopie17 said:

Saw "growlers" in the title and I got all excited thinking they were filling growlers in the District Brewhouse. But since you never included anything growler-related in the body of your post, maybe they are and you forgot to mention it. Fingers crossed...

Oops, my bad. The growlers are in the water. Not a lot of them, but they are there.  
 

"There are smaller pieces of ice known as “bergy bits” and “growlers.” Bergy bits and growlers can originate from glaciers or shelf ice, and may also be the result of a large iceberg that has broken up. A bergy bit is a medium to large fragment of ice. Its height is generally greater than three feetbut less than 16 feet above sea level and its area is normally about 1,076-3,229 square feet. Growlers are smaller fragments of ice and are roughly the size of a truck or grand piano. They extend less than three feet above the sea surface and occupy an area of about 215 square feet." - NOAA 

And, in case you were wondering, you're at Terminal 10...😁

Sneaking in at 5am this morning...😁

4 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

Likely for those who paid the Perspective Studio for a glacier portrait. 

 

Last year on the Encore, the random ship's photographers had a patch in the middle of the medivac dot to take photos with you and the ship in the background. They were very protective of their "turf" which we kinda ignored while taking pictures. On this cruise, our stateroom, was a forward facing Haven suite (one of the windows along the starboard side). 

I'm sure that Perspective Studio portrait isn't cheap! Looking at those screen grabs In my post I now see some sort of traffic cone looking thing in the middle of the medivac dot, so that explains that. 👍

5 hours ago, gknep said:

I'm going to guess that it was used for people to pose for the ship photographers.

Nice! 👍🏻

Watched the Norwegian Bliss bridge cam as she neared the turnaround point of Endicott Arm, looks amazing! What's the Red Carpet for? 
 

9 hours ago, Ferry_Watcher said:

ISP is my favorite Alaskan port-of-call.

Thanks for porting the video.

 
This may be a crazy ask, but do you remember if there is cell phone service here? Thought maybe it would be a good place to post cruise updates without using the ships Wi-Fi.