InternetAgeTraveler

call them - the $999 is just a placeholder until they post their actual inventory, Said the same thing when we booked ours last year and calling them direct it was $179 per day.

Day 4 – Juneau (3 ships in port)

 

I woke up early and the sun was out, but there was forecastfor rain, looking up to the north toward Juneau, it was more cloudy for sure.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We docked in Juneau about an hour before scheduled time andgave the all clear about 30 minutes early. We had a whale watch with Harv and Marv scheduled at 11:30 so this gaveus ample time to finish breakfast and get off the ship. Much nicer than the stampede we hadexperienced previously on the Pearl in Juneau although I still noticed some of the mobility challenged guests had issues getting elevators.

 

It was cloudy but not raining when we arrived, but some ofthe flight tours were canceled. The forecast was for improvement but it didn’t and rained off and on. The mountains remained shrouded in clouds all day.

 

We booked the max 18-person tour through Harv and Marv,their largest boat. They were only 13 on our tour. Just the right size for us compared to the larger cruise line affiliated boats but big enough to be comfortable. After seeing the bubble feeding in Ketchikan, I wasn’t expected we would see much to top that. But we came pretty close. After looking for a couple of humpbacks but not much action, we went to an area where there were between 15 and 30 Orca whales. It was impossible to count. tt was amazing to see so many, right up close and a complete family from young to mature whales. We spent quite a while alongside them before heading back. On the way, we saw 2 humpbacks but that was enough to satisfy everyone having seen the killer whale pod.

 

 

Also available as a 2 minute video here

https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Frichard.nikula%2Fvideos%2F10211959271553360%2F

 

 

The rain and clouds were even more obnoxious in the afternoon and completely hid the mountains and glaciers.

 

We were back in Juneau by 4 PM and stopped at the Red Dog Saloon, just because we were tourists. Average food with some good beer and entertainment. It was fun, but definitely not a stop to takeyour kids to.

 

This night was our Teppanyaki reservation and it fun asalways. The food is top notch and thechefs have a lot of fun it seems. Wewere commenting that one shrimp at Teppanyaki was the size of 3 in the maindining room. The steak was so tender, italmost melted in your mouth.

 

We did the comedy show afterward with Michael Sommerville and he was pretty good. Of course, with a 45 minute show,he was just getting warmed up and it was over.

 

The water was calm though as we made the short trip to Skagway.

 

Tomorrow Skagway – a drive to the Yukon

Day 3 – Ketchikan (2 ships in port)

 

As promised, we rolled into Ketchikan at 7am. I mean right at 7. In most ports, the ship gets in with as much as an hour to spare and has time to setup before letting guests off. Amazingly, within a matter of minutes after docking, they gave the all clear. We were off the ship and headed to our excursion by 7:10. It was raining a bit but we had brought rain jackets for the trip so these got used right away. It wascloudy all day but rained off and on.

We had booked the Eagle Island Kayak direct with South East Exposure. We had looked at doing it with NCL but the $50 markup compared to the direct price made no sense. For the 4 of us, that would have been $200 more. They met us at the visitor centerand it turned out it was just the 4 of us. So not only did it save us money, but we got a private tour. Even with the light rain, we had a blast, saw eagles and many seals and with a very low tide at the start, sea cucumbers, anemones and more starfish than you could count.

 

We were back at the docks just before lunch. As we got off the bus, someone pointed out that there were whales in the harbor. There were several and very active but they disappeared from view so we went in search of lunch. Since Ketchikan is known for the DungenessCrab and is my favorite, we went to the Crab Cracker restaurant. While $40 for a full crab and chowder was a lot for lunch, it was REALLY good. I had looked at the George Inlet excursions but these were out of my pricepoint.

 

We did the obligatory walk along Creek Street, checked out a few shops and checked for salmon (too early) and headed back to the ship.

 

As we reached our cabins, the most amazing thing happened. I was walking toward the balcony and 6 humpback whales came up doing bubble feeding right outside our room. All I could say to my wife was“look, look, look”. All 4 of usmanaged to see them and it was really cool. We went out on the balcony and as we were watching them, they did it again. We had seen the thing that mostpeople hope for, right from the ship! Of course, no one was ready for it and no good pictures (see fuzzy image below), but it is etched in our minds.

 

They proceeded down the bay, but we never saw them do itagain. Only a handful of people on the ship saw it, and we just happened to be in the right place at the right time. We had reserved whale watching the next day and I really concerned, our travel companions would be disappointed since they had just seen the crown jewel.

We had made our dining reservations shortly after the window had opened, so the difficulties with our reservation at Moderno had me worried since we had booked Teppanyaki later in the cruise which of course was a popular one and completely booked up already. I went to the reservations desk and found out that my online reservations had not transferred properly to the ship’s system. Of course, Teppanyaki was booked up but they said that they would see what they could do. We did get our dinner there, although not on the original night. The cruise staff really went the extra mile and we really appreciative of the effort that they put into working this out. It wasn’t just us, I saw several people with the same problem. They were doing their best to accommodate everyone. I guess I would suggest to others to check at the reservation desk just to be sure. Although, I am sure they will have corrected the issue, I know I will still check in the future.

 

The latitudes reception was held in the Spinnakerlounge. They offered drinks and snacks,plus a band for dancing. It was well put together and another chance for the senior officers to make their presence known.

 

This evening we ate in the Tsar dining room. The meals were good and a wide selection although not quite as same as the specialty ones we had done the first 2 nights.

 

The show that night was a Duo Elegia, a Russian husband andwife acrobatic team we had seen previously on the Jewel on an early Caribbeancruise. They were worth seeing again andsome of their skills were right up there with the best.

 

Next up - Juneau Whale watching, can we top today?

Day 2 – Sea Day

Day 2, a sea day started out beautiful. We were still in the confines of insidepassage East of Vancouver Island and it was peaceful and calm. We had our first whale sighting. All was good.

We typically hit the buffet for breakfast, mostly becauseyou have more selection over what you eat. The restaurants offered similar menus, but less customization to yourpreference. Seating was always achallenge, but if you were willing to walk to the back or the La Cucina, therewas always seating to be found.

The cruise critic meet and greet was in the morning and itwas fun to meet some of the other posters on the forum. The entire bridge staff was there to greetus and it was clear that they really appreciate the effort that we put in towrite reviews and offer assistance. Notto mention that they were really great people. It takes a lot to run any kind of hotel and this was a top-notch group.

As we reached the end of the Vancouver Island, the wind hadkicked up and the seas became a lot rougher. Tolerable, but you could see some people feeling it a bit.

About 2 to 3 hours in, we felt the shipchange course and shortly after an announcement was made that we were turningaround in order to do another medical evacuation. It was unclear how far back we were headed,but after a couple of hours, we heard a helicopter outside our room. And it was literally right above us. We watched as they maneuvered and droppedpersonnel. It left and shortly returnedto pick up the patient and family members. Great work by the ship crew and the Canadian Coast Guard completing thistransfer considering the weather. Once completed, we circled back north.

Although we had spent at least 4 hours making this loop, thecrew said we expected to arrive in Ketchikan on time.

There were 2 rounds of Bingo that day and we didn’t play ineither, but it was a great money maker for the ship. The bargain round was $20for 2 games with less that $200 in payouts. The prizes really don’t seem tomatch up to the cost. I wish they wouldoffer some even cheaper alternatives that might be just more enjoyable to playsince people do enjoy it.

That evening we had reservations for Moderno, the Brazilianrestaurant. There seemed to be someconfusion with our reservation but they did seat us. The meal there was as typical, more food thanyou can imagine. They made sure tobring out items we wanted. One itemthat I had asked for, came late after the table had been cleared and they evengot me a clean plate and silverware to be sure I got some.

We had dressed up a bit for the first “Dress up or not”night. A small percentage of guestschose to dress up. We had photos takenhoping to get a nice anniversary shot.

That evening we went to the show, Band on the Run. The singers were not suited for some of thesongs, and while entertaining, it had a lot of room for improvement. Some guest enjoyed but it wasn’t anythingspecial. Looking back, the sameproduction company also performed during the Le Cirque Bijou performance laterin the week and we much better. So Ithink it was more of a case of the show not being suited to the entertainers.

Next - Ketchikan, what a day

Since I can't post this all at once, I will submit it with an overview first and then arranged by date and activity. I will include pictures although a few more in our photo album and more to be added.

 

This was the very first Vancouver to Seward sailing by the Jewel so we didn't have much history to base it on as far as timings and activities but we had a lot of fun. I captured the dallies and will post them as well but in the mean time, if anyone wants them, let me know.

 

 

Itinerary and cabin.

 

Our cruise was for our 30th wedding anniversaryand was 2 couples, myself and my wife (60+) and her sister and husband(50+). It was our 3rd Alaskacruise and their 1st. Webooked over a year in advance. We chose this cruise specifically for theitinerary. When originally booked, itwas on the NCL Sun which wouldn’t have been our choice had it not been thisroute. It was later changed to the NCLJewel which was a much better option. The main considerations were a northbound tour that did Glacier Bay andpreferably Hubbard Glacier. Most cruiselines do Hubbard only on Southbound cruises. We preferred northbound because the scenery gets more spectacular as itgoes. That is, starting with capped hills,leading to snow capped mountains, glaciers, and ultimately Denali instead ofthe other way around. We also chose portside balcony rooms mid ship. Whileconventional wisdom says the starboard is better for northbound, from myexperience, Glacier Bay is better enjoyed from a port cabin. See notes below on Glacier Bay fordetails. We were in 10604 and 10606, adjoining cabinsthat we had opened so we could occasionally communicate without going out inthe hall or over the balcony. We werehappy with the rooms, they were convenient to the elevators and allactivities. We did some noise from thekid’s club and arcade but typically only during the day. Because of the weather we hit during thecruise, some of the outside kid activities were forced inside so the roomsunder it on the 11th deck were likely quite noisy at times so cabinsto avoid just in case.

 

The good

 

Great itinerary. Ithink it is one of the best options available with long port times, Glacier Bayand Hubbard Glacier, in a northbound cruise.

 

Ship officers. Creditgoes to Steven Jacobsen, the hotel director, but this was one of the best crewsI have sailed with.

 

Entertainment – overall was pretty good, a few exceptions,but NCL does a good job of providing a variety of optins

 

The not as good

 

Bingo / Deal or No Deal – the cost outweighs the potentialwinnings

 

Smoking in the casino – I know its tradition, but notdesirable for the average person these days.

 

Photos – always expensive on cruise ships, but we typicallybuy a few. The pictures that theyprinted out had some filter process applied that made your teeth very white andalso highlighted other white areas and for us looked very unnatural. We got a number of different answers aboutthem but eventually talked to someone that said if we committed to buying them,they can reprint without it. I talked with a few others and they didn’t haveas obviously bad photos as our original so it may depend on the photo itself butdon’t accept them if you don’t like it.

 

The General

 

Cabin Steward – every cabin steward has their ownstyle. On this cruise, ours was verylow key. We didn’t actually see her muchat the start but finally we did see her more regularly. We found that she relied on us setting thedial outside our room to make up or turn down the room which we didn’toriginally do.

 

Now for our complete trip report…

 

Before cruise.

 

We flew into Portland and rented a car. For $400, we had a 3-day rental from Alamothat we could drop off at Canada Place. This worked well for us to visit family along the way and still reachVancouver the day before.

 

It was a nice drive up with the only unexpected delay ofover an hour and a half at Canadian customs. Be sure to watch the road signs to see which of the 2 routes offer theleast wait times, but still expect some delay and plan accordingly.

 

Vancouver

 

In Vancouver, we stayed at the Sandman Hotel. The first impression of the hotel was verydirty looking from the outside. But theinterior was much nicer and the rooms were comfortable and we had no complaints. While probably true of any hotel in thedowntown area, it was convenient to everything. Hobson street was 2 blocks up, the Gas light district was 4 blocks down. Canada Place was a bit further and an easywalk without suitcases. The Soccer/Footballstadium was right next door and the couple we were traveling with even took ina match.

 

Our activity the day before leaving was the Capilano Suspensionbridge. One of the free shuttles leftjust 2 blocks from the hotel. There was rain in the area, but after checkingthe weather, we felt a 10am start would work. By the time we got there, the weather in the area had cleared. They weren’t any crowds at this point, andwe were able to buy tickets enter quickly. We had considered buying the tickets online but since we weren’t sure wewould do it, we waited. We both got $4discounts (hotel guest and AAA) which we wouldn’t have got online. When we left the lines were longer andclearly at peak times could be long so buying online is probably the bestoverall but waiting worked for us. Thebridge and surrounding area was very nice. The bridge was fun to cross and the cliff walk interesting, but wereally enjoyed the tree top walk and rain forest trails on the opposite side ofthe bridge. We hadn’t anticipated thisgoing in, but we spent the majority of time over there.

 

 

 

Returning back to Vancouver, we considered stopping atStanley Park, but everyone was ready for lunch and a rest break so wedidn’t. A lot to see on a futurevisit.

 

In the evening, we walked down to the Gas light district,checked out the clock, did a bit of shopping and grabbed dinner. Everyone was raring to go cruising the next day.

 

 

Embarkation

 

When we had completed our online check-in, our check in timewas 9:30-10:00. That was a lot earlierthan we had planned to go but come morning, we were ready so went ahead andleft. Because we had our bags, wegrabbed 2 taxis at the hotel to Canada Place. They took us right to the bag drop off. One challenge is the Taxi credit cardmachines did not work at this level of the parking garage so we ended payingcash ($10 US). If we hadn’t had thecash, they driver said he would need to go out and then come back in.

 

We got to the check in area and there were about 100 peoplethere. We grabbed a seat and waited fora while before they started checking us in. It went relatively smooth and we proceeded to customs, this also wentquick as there were no lines and we were in the next waiting area by shortlyafter 11. They said that boarding wouldbegin at 11:30 but that ended up being delayed because the crew was performinga safety drill. We were on the boat bynoon. That of course meant time to hitthe buffet and grab a seat by the window.

 

Rooms were ready at1:30 and we got our first chance to check out the staterooms. A surprise to us was that our wife’s sisterhad purchased an anniversary package for our room so it was decorated withstreamers and balloons. It wasn’t acomplete surprise because the package showed up in our NCL account. I had noticed it and hadn’t mentioned it tomy wife, but I thought it was our travel agent that purchased it. It would have been nice if it could havebeen tracked on their room so it would have been a complete surprise.

 

Since we boarded early, we checked out a few things aroundthe ship but a lot wasn’t open yet but it gave us a chance to relax.

 

Our departure time was listed as 4:00 PM but left at 5:00after the typical emergency talk. Thesail away party kicked off and we sailed under the Lion’s Gate Bridge and were on our way.

Well, almost. About an hour out of Vancouver, the shipmade an unexpected U turn and we were on our way back toward Vancouver. It was quite a while after we turned, buteventually there was an announcement that they had to do a medicalevacuation. We had to wait for theCoast Guard by boat to arrive and it was a couple of hours later that wefinally were on our way again.

 

We had reservations at Le Bistro for that evening and hadplanned to be sailing but were still in the outer harbor but it was still anenjoyable meal. This restaurant has adress code of no jeans and a collared shirt for men and it was generallyfollowed. The meal was excellent. We really enjoyed the French Onion soup (astep above the French Onion in the main dining rooms). My wife said she could eat the 4 somethingall day long.

 

After a beautiful sunset, we were ready for bed and skippedthe welcome aboard show.

 

 

next post day 2 (A sea day)

Did two in Juneau. Don't remember who it was through, but both were booked through Princess. Didn't feel it was worth it. Not for the food you get, the amount of time it takes up, and the whole atmosphere.

This is what makes "reviews" challenging to use, my neighbors just got back and the Salmon bake was their favorite. Everyone has different likes and wants

Our cruise a few years ago back was nice (except Ketchikan) but it can vary a lot. What we noticed most doing the same tour in June was the daylight hours were reduced in August. See review in signature.

Our cruise is June 2018 (yay) and we booked last June. We also disembark in Seward and are doing land on our own. 2 couples traveling together.

 

Rental car. In July 2018, Hertz listed cars on their website for this year but at $999 a day. This seemed odd so I called the Seward office directly. They said they hadn't posted their inventory for this year yet. But they gave me a price and took my reservation. Cars eventually listed on Hertz website but slightly more than we were quoted. Price Has gone up since although with 60 days to go, cars are still available.

 

Lodging. This was a bit trickier to book in advance as not all places listed availability. Some didn't even list until the off season. Looking Last year we found quite a few based on the Healy website and online booking sites. One that we liked was already booked up even that far in advance. At this point, rooms are scarce, at least at the online sites.

 

Excursions. We booked independent. We booked them when we decided on them and the websites listed dates. We had most booked by end of the year. Most still have availability but we got times and tours we wanted.

 

Airfare. When these first showed up, they were high but after a few weeks dropped. We checked some of the price prediction websites and watched for good fares and booked once we found "good deals". Since it was a northbound cruise, we booked flights one way. Flight to Vancouver were booked first and from anchorage later. The current prices are about the same or just a bit lower than we booked.

suggest you use your favorite map program and check out the route. A few corners but more straight than curved. There are stops along the way so that breaks it up too. We liked it rather than seeing the "same" scenery in 2 directions. Some photos in our travel pictures

 

Our kids had fun with other teens on the sea days. The Pearl starts,with a short day, then a full sea day, then gets into Juneau at 2pm. So there is a lot of time to kill. They did bowling and there were a few other organized things to keep the busy. Riding the elevators was even a thing to do. Once you hit Juneau, the next days are busy port days. Then you repeat the sea days on the trip back. Some photos in my signature from our trip on the Pearl 2007 (the 2010 review is without the kids).

 

Their favorite excursion was rock climbing and repelling in Skagway.

I just am curious in the going prices on NCL (Jewel if it matters). We usually find a couple we like but it's been a couple years since last cruise.

For example, it is easy to compute photo package at $150 for 11 photos is $13.60 per photo (with discount $120 or $11 each) but you could have gotten various on board specials, etc.

 

please note your tier and what discounts were applied.

Most Seattle cruises go west of Vancouver island which means open ocean and increases chances for rough seas for the first and last sea days. We did a cruise In August and had choppy but not rough seas. But one person's experience is kind of meaningless.

 

As a result I started capturing cruise web cams time lapse videos for the specific examples of what you might expect (but even with 100s to choose from, you could end up with a completely different experience..

 

You can click on this link to search Seattle and August to get some examples from a few different years. http://m.youtube.com/user/InternetAgeTraveler/search?query=seattle%20august

FYI, per their website, adventure bound boards at 8:15 and departs at 8:30

This sounds life something we would like to do in June 2018 Where can I make arrangements to do this??

Search Tagish Kennels and you will find them. If driving, can be on your own. If not, several cruise lines have Yukon trips that include it

Wondering if anyone had any experience. I have a mail into them too but still busy season for them

Hi,

 

If you’re interested I wrote an article to describe my DIY Yukon daytrip: daydreamunderthestars.com/2017/11/20/the-yukon/

 

Marie

 

Nice story. We also did the drive and doing again in June.

For some reason, your link goes to the wrong page for me but this works. https://daydreamunderthestars.com/2017/11/20/the-yukon/

We have done the Pearl twice but never Tracy Arm. However, i have seen videos and it is quite different than Glacier Bay but not necessarily in the way you mean. Tracy Arm is sailing in a fjord, picturesque but not like Glacier Bay. Go to Youtube and search for both and you will get the general idea,

 

Also, from Juneau, I don't are many options that do Tracy Arm as you are arrive in port in the afternoon. Also, since everyone has been cooped up, getting off in Juneau is kind of slow. I would do the whale watch (we did one and plan to do again this year but from the Jewel). Do research and decide for yourself of course.

We did your sled dogs with Michelle Phillips a few years ago and had a great time. Last time, we got there right after lunch and after the main cruise tours were done and were the only ones there. Since they moved closer to Skagway, not sure what the best time would be. We could it on the way back which would later in the day? Anyone have any experience?

The train and bus cover the same general area but on different sides of valley. For us, the train one way was enough. Doing the bus down in our case had stops and allowed us to get out.

 

The train up and back can be done without a passport but the bus requires one to get back into US.

 

 

See photos at

Thank you for clarifying. Although both itineraries are inside passage, you are saying that going up, the better side is starboard and going back it's port. Passengers on the Ruby would be indifferent, but passengers on a northbound inside passage that includes Hubbard Glacier would want starboard. That's good to know.

I think I said Glacier Bay routes make port better because of a number of factors, narration, where the ships sail and position of the sun. Other than noting that round trips sail "similar" routes, I was stating the general preference was toward the east. And yes, on the Millennium this would make most people choose starboard first.

A couple years back I started capturing time lapse images from ship web cams. The goal was to build a library of cruises to answer those often asked questions about what is the weather like and how rough is this route or that. I did it for a few years, but it got to be more work than i had time for. Since we are cruising to Alaska again next year, that peaked my interest again. So i have my system busy collecting data but i still had not made videos out of them. I did a few this week and the one major difference compared to the old ones is the amount of images I captured and the playback rate. Where I was posting 2-3 minute videos before, these are 4-6 minute ones. I find that the scenery in particular is a lot easier to see going by (not that it is like the real cruise) and the web cam quality is not HD so its not the same as being there.

 

I would appreciate if you would watch a few of these and comment either here or on the video what you think. I picked a few recent samples with Seattle, Vancouver, Whittier and even a San Francisco (wow is that a long cruise).

 

You'll notice these are mostly Princess cruises, the main reason that they have good quality webcams and are reliable. I also captured NCL in the past, but this year, their webcams have been quite unreliable. I also have a few land base time lapses as well. And as noted, there are over 400 more on my channel...

 

Ruby Princess

July 1st 2017 Seattle Roundtrip via Glacier Bay

July 22 2017, Seattle Round trip via Glacier Bay

 

Coral Princess, July 8th 2017, Vancouver Northbound

 

Emerald Princess, July 9th, 2017 Seattle Roundtrip via Tracy Arm

 

Star Princess, June 24, 2017, Whittier Southbound

 

Grand Princess, June 26th 2017, San Francisco Roundtrip via Glacier Bay

 

Juneau Harbor July 2017

 

Skagway Harbor July 2017

Interesting thread. On northbound inside passage next June 8, starboard side booked up already on Millennium for balcony cabins and plenty are open on port side. I wonder why.

The Millennium is a northbound cruise that doesn't do Glacier Bay. Sailing north, the starboard side is on the land side and when in open waters, the port side looks out to sea. The OP was asking about a round trip that did Glacier Bay.

We took a bit more pessimistic approach. By renting in Seward even though it was more, we get right on to our own adventure. We plan to stop before Talkeetna on the first day, leaving us a modest drive the next day with time to explore as we go. Than we plan to spend 2 nights in Healy before returning to Anchorage for a late night flight home.

 

But i always encourage everyone to do their research and make their own plans as it always seems to work out best...

As noted above and in my opinion, the port side is better for Glacier Bay and on deck when you can to see what there is to see... but on a round trip, there is a lot on both sides and the ship does in fact go through the same areas in both directions. I don't think anyone is ever unhappy with their choice (it is an Alaska cruise after all).

 

If you have 4 minutes, you can get a preview on this time lapse

from the ships webcam. Its not the same as being there, because you only see ahead but it gives you some idea. I have been compiling these off an on for years and i have been working on 2017 but haven't posted many yet but since you asked, i went ahead and did the Ruby for July 22nd.