Alaska on Norwegian Jewel 6/15-6/22

Returned today from Alaska cruise with 9 people varying from age 3-72. Before I go into detail about the ship and cruise, I would like to say that Alaska is really the main attractions. Whatever anxieties about the room, food, entertainment, excursions can be put to rest by the fact that Alaska is the jewel of your trip. We had upgraded to a balcony, and the fact that that there is daylight from 4 am to 11pm even makes it more worthwhile to view the beauty of Alaska on your balcony. This is my fourth cruise in ten years so we are not avid cruisers nor or we novices. We are well travelled, this was our first cruise on NCL and our first to travel in a large group of 9 with my extended family.

My parents flew in along with my sister's family to SEA-TAC and took a shuttle from the airport (about 25 minutes and $25). We drove and used the parking lot across the street from Pier 66 and walked over. Both processes were seamless and without difficulty. We handed in our luggage around 11 am and then decided to walk around Pike's market. It was crowded but made the atmosphere more festive. It was also 77 degrees, and I told my sister we need to get the kids in the pool because this will be the first and last day they would be using it, but I was so wrong! We walked to the Mariott Hotel across the street and used their elevators up which took us to one end of Pike's Market. It was chaos at the market, but we took our time and enjoyed the sights and sounds. We purchased some fresh cherries, chinese buns, shrimp cocktail, tuna poke, mac and cheese from Beecher's and coffee along the way (yes as I said we like to eat).

Around 1:30, we decided to head back to the ship, embarkation was very easy, took less than 20 minutes, the longest line was the initial security scanner.

BTW I am having troubling uploading pictures from my computer, they are jpg files and keeps saying upload failed, any advice? they were taken from a standard cannon camera (nothing special)

R

BTW I am having troubling uploading pictures from my computer, they are jpg files and keeps saying upload failed, any advice? they were taken from a standard cannon camera (nothing special)

The file size of your pics may be too large. Check in the file upload window for the size limitations.

Rather than going into the day to day chronology of our cruise, i would like to break it down by category

ROOM

We had a balcony mid ship on the 9th deck, very quiet, room was small and manageable for four of us, our kids are 10 and 7 so the bunk that pulls down from the top and the convertible sofa was fine, but a full adult would be uncomfortable. There were plenty of drawers, cabinets and hangers and our luggage fit nicely under the bed. We brought a power bar which we left above the desk and used to charge our phone, ipads, camera etc. There was good cell reception at each port. The hair dryer was very strong and TV was a 19inch or so flat screen with limited channels. We did not use the coffee maker.

We did not watch too much TV, but they had a relatively new movie rotating. For us it was The Hobbit, Safe Haven, The Oz movie?!? They had some Nickelodeon shows rotating (icarly, spongebob, etct), and MSNBC, FOX, and some sitcoms

Coffee tip- the coffee at the garden cafe is awful, it is slightly better at the MDRs and we often would call room service in the afternoon for a few cups of coffee. Anything was better than the coffee dispensed in the garden cafe. In the mornings, we went to the 7th deck for our Americano/expresso fix $2 or so, not as good as Starbucks, but better than anything on board.

FOOD

Garden Cafe- very good, nice variety of cold, hot, burgers/pizza, and always an Indian and Chinese section which was surprising. Usually quite crowded, we would have to walk around a few minutes to find seating, but we were also a party of 9. One day for breakfast we did go to the overflow section at Il Cucina.

MDR- Tsars and Azura mediocre at best, not a lot to choose from, uninspired food, the best was the steak and lobster night the first night, all the steaks were overdone, but this is to be expected with cooking 2000 pieces of steak and having to serve it. The fish was overcooked, the pastas were ok, soups were bland. Anything that was in a stew or braised (like the lamb shank) was much better, perhaps because they don't have to time it quite right like a steak or fish. We had breakfast once at Tsars, which was ok, similar to garden cafe.

Specialty Restaurants

Cagney's - my sister and her husband went and they both ordered the ribeye, again they thought the meat was overcooked, the side dishes were bland, they were disappointed

Tepanyaki- always busy, booked and crowded, we booked few days in advance, my parents took the grandkids, and they had a great time, great food, my parents had the lobster, kids had chicken and steak and they loved the fried rice and entertainment

Bistro- french cuisine, very good, very good service, we ordered the 32ounce ribeye for two cut at tableside, cooked perfectly, appetizers (escargot was deliciious), salad, etc, were all good, Dessert was ok, my creme brulee was soggy (and the top is the best part!).

Drinks/Cocktails- all reasonably priced, we are not huge drinkers, usually had a cocktail during a show or with dinner, they were made well and thought they made most of the drinks quite strong

Blue Lagoon- chicken wings are good! lol, nice place to sit and watch the band that plays in the evening and eat, we enjoyed the Beatles cover band (Next Stage) while eating chicken wings and fish and chips (just ok)

Chocolate Buffet- held at Garden Cafe on the day of Skagway- we meandered around but did not eat anything, looked like there was quite an ample amount for those with a sweet tooth

Room Service-we did not try the pizza, most of the time we ordered chicken strips for the kids when they were hungry and coffee for us. They were always timely and cordial

Outside Pool Grill- not sure what it's called, always had burgers and hot dogs, but they also had some very good choices depending on the day, one day was bbq chicken/ribs, another day tandoor chicken with briyanai, another day bbq salmon/fish,, another day an entire vat of salmon chowder, always walk by there you never know what you will run into :)

The file size of your pics may be too large. Check in the file upload window for the size limitations.

Thanks, I may have to defer posting pictures until I learn how to compress my files.

use a photo service like Picassa then insert them here. Images uploaded directly to CC are impossible to see due to their small size

Entertainment

Casino- my parents love the casino, they spent a lot of time on the slots and my mom won quite a bit of $ on the nickel slots (about $300), I played a little blackjack and craps and didn't fare as well, they have tournaments every day in the afternoon. We did not play deal or no deal or bingo, but we did participate in the raffle on the last day (more on that later)

Shows- we loved the shows, the comedy/magician (Jean Pierre), hypnotist (brenda kaye) were very funny, Band on the Run, the Russian couple acrobats and the circus shows were all very good. My parents would go early at 7 pm and try to reserve some seats for the 730 show, the 930 shows seemed to be less crowded because perhaps most of the kids went to the earlier show

Trivia Shows- we always tried to make the 5pm name that tune with Patrick,the assistant cruise director. There was an 80s, 90s, TV show theme, Michael Jackson one that were fun, there was also trivia times throughout the day. All of the trivia/name that tunes shows were well attended and fun.

Nickelodeon- we had a 3, 7, and 10 year old. We participated in the Dora Storytime, Nick dance party where all the characters come out, Nick Slime Time show, Pajama Jam which is a breakfast, extra fee $20 and most of the meet and greets which were free. The 3 and 7 year old loved it, my 10 year old was probably a little past all the characters but he still enjoyed the pajama jam and Slime Time show

Late Night Shows- needless to say, we did not attend most of these because of our kids, we did see the 80s rock night at 11:30 and dancing with the jewel stars which again were well attended and well done, but I was falling asleep during these shows because they were "so late" for us

Pool- we had amazing weather the entire week 70-80, not a drop of rain, we used the pool almost every day, the slide was "ok" according to my kids, a little slow, and sometimes they would even get stuck going down. They had some Nick games and activities poolside but we never were able to make the times work. The water temperature was great, but once you get out of the pool, it was quite cold, at least for the adults, kids didn't seem to care. It was warm enough to lay poolside and enjoy the view of the inside passage and watch the kids swim. I thought we were in the Caribbean.

Spa- My parents bought the one week spa past, a must if you are spa junkies like my parents, they went almost every day, and the day of Tracy Arm Fjord they spent a majority of the time at the spa which is at the front of the boat and overlooks both sides of the Tracy Arm, with panoramic views. It was perfect for them.

Workout room- the equipement was new, well kept, clean, and fairly busy, we managed to go twice, utilizing the bikes, elliptical, treadmills and weights.

Other- we utilized the game room, library, ping pong tables, my 10 year old went to one of the ping pong tournaments. The library had a limited selection of books and seats/chairs were rather uncomfortable so we checked out the books and took them back to our room. The game rooms were sometimes very crowded as well, they let us take checkers, cards and uno back to our rooms as well.

View of seattle from ship

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View of ship from seattle

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View of ship from pier

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Chicken tandoori and vegetable briyani bbq poolside

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Random beautiful picture of Alaska. More to come later if I can figure this upload system

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We also were on this cruise, 9th deck balcony also, which we found very small for us.

This was our 3rd NCL cruise and the Jewel was our least favorite. We had read that it was the sister ship/just like the Pearl, far from it, IMO.....especially the buffet.

We still had a wonderful time though and that was some crazy hot weather in Skagway!

We also were on this cruise, 9th deck balcony also, which we found very small for us.

 

This was our 3rd NCL cruise and the Jewel was our least favorite. We had read that it was the sister ship/just like the Pearl, far from it, IMO.....especially the buffet.

 

We still had a wonderful time though and that was some crazy hot weather in Skagway!

Yes of all the times I went in cc to do research for the trip, no one mentioned bringing sunscreen and the likelihood of getting sunburned! This was our first ncl trip. As I said earlier, I think I would have been more disgruntled if it weren't for the beauty of Alaska and the scenery. We've been to Mexico and Caribbean on a cruise and it just doesn't compare. I will talk about the excursions and ports tomorrow. I would be interested on your thoughts regarding the Pearl. We were looking at this ship as a possible next cruise.

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Excursions/Ports

Ketchikan

We chose the george inlet lodge crab feast, it was about a 30 minute ride out of ketchikan, then onto a boat where we viewed some eagles and learned about crabbing, the kids had fun "petting" the crabs. The eagles were in full view, they provided binoculars and pointed out an eagles nest. The best part of the excursion was the crab. If you like crab, this is the tour for you, we went back to the lodge after the hour boat ride and had a nice salad, followed by all you can eat fresh dungeness crab. The crab keeps coming, and it is delicious and freshly steamed. You can definitely eat your money's worth. The meal ends with a blueberry cheescake which is also very tasty.

We only had about 45 minutes to look around after coming back to the port and walked over to creek street (about a 10 minute walk). It was enough time for us since we are not big shoppers.

Juneau

We splurged and went on the ERA helicopter tour with dog sledding. We booked directly through the company which saved us about $50 per person and also used AAA discount, all in all in saved us over $250 for a party of four. We booked about two months in advance and called the company to confirm the day of the tour (again, good cell reception at each port). We took the shuttle to the tramway (free) and before the meeting time, walked around a bit. I needed something at the drug store, and was able to find Juneau Drug Pharmacy. They were great to work with.

The ERA shuttle took us to their helicopter base, provided us with glacier boots, a brief safety guide and we were off! There were 6 to a helicopter and the views are undescribable. The ride was very smooth, they provide you with BOSE headphones, and you can ask as many questions as you want. This was our first time on a helicopter and an experience of a lifetime. We went over the mountains into the glaciers, about a 20 minute ride, into their base camp, where the dogs and employees stay for 3-4 months. You were surrounded by crystal blue skies, a sheet of ice for miles and miles, and mountain ranges that are snow capped. Oh and it was 65 degrees! It was so hot, we started taking off most of our layers. The sled ride was fun, we were each able to drive the sled, and then play with the dogs afterwards. The dogs are so excited to race,I wished we could have raced a little longer but the views and the helicopter ride were the highlight for me.

My parents and sister did the Mendenhall Glacier/Gardens/Hatchery. They had a nice time, the hatchery was basically a basin of water with very litte fish, and a waste of time. I 'm not sure if this was not the right time of year, but they said it was not impressive. The gardens were nice, and the glacier was impressive but they did not do the mile hike to Nugget Falls because they were short on time, and had a 3 year old. Of note, a sad fact about Mendenhall Glacier is that is has receded a mile in the last 500 years, and another mile in the last 50 years due to global warming. At this alarming rate, it's sad to think our grandchildren may not be able to experience these wonders of nature.

We were planning to eat at Tracy's CrabShack upon returning to town, but my sister's tour was running late, so they headed directly back to the ship. We were able to go, and got a quick bite, their special was one king crab leg, crab bisque and four crab cakes four about $35, with drinks it came to $42. We each had a bite literally and headed back to the ship. This was in sharp contrast to the dozen dungeness crab legs we had eaten at the crab fest the day before. Of course they are different types, but $25 for one king crab leg was not worth it.

Upon heading back to the ship, we were still a bit hungry, the NCL staff upon embarkation told us to avoid Garden Cafe as it was a zoo (around 1pm). We went to Tsars and found my sister and our family. They had ordered, but Tsars was also a madhouse. We decided to go to the outdoor grill and found some food and seating there. This is probably a problem when coming back from Juneau as everyone rushes Tsars and Garden Cafe at lunchtime. It took my sister and my family over an hour and a half to receive their meal, and half of it was ill prepared. I told them to come up to the outdoor grill, but they felt bad leaving their table. I would prepare for long waits for lunch on this day. We had our little "appetizer" at Tracy's crab shack so we were able to wait a little before eating.

I will keep trying to post pictures!

Excursions/Ports Continued

Tracy Arm Fjord

The Fjord is a 30 mile inlet surrounded by cliffs and ends at a glacier. We left Juneau about 1:30 and people started to take their seats on the forward decks and balcony about 3. The trip into the fjord and back takes about 5 hours so you really have plenty of time to take pictures and enjoy the views, the crux of the fjord inlet is probably from about 5-6:30 with hitting the end of the fjord around 6:30 and then probably another hour to turn around. We actually spent time on Deck 12 at the pool with the kids, taking in the view from 3-5, then headed back to our room. My parents then went to the mandara spa to enjoy the views with their spa pass. We ordered room service for the kids, knowing we would be eating later, and then enjoyed the rest of the view on our balcony from 5-6:30. It was magnificent and so peaceful, you felt as if the mountains were moving and the ship was sitting still.

Around 7:30 we headed to dinner at Tsars and again you can enjoy the views, as it takes a good hour to turn the ship around and start heading back. Dinner was not good, I had their special, the seafood canneloni, I had trouble identifying what type of seafood was in the pasta. My son had the roasted chicken (kind of tasted like the one you buy at supermarkets precooked). My husband had the lamb shank-that was good.

The other half of the family went to the 7:30 show, we opted to go to the later show that evening, but my daughter and I were tired so we went to bed. I was content however with the glaciers, the dogs, and the fjord. It had been an amazing day

Skagway

We chose the bus ride up to Fraser, train ride back, and gold dredge tour, it was a 6 hour tour and my sister was a little nervous about having a 3 year old on a 6 hour tour. She did fine. Our tour guides had not been spectacular this trip. My sister said the Mendenhall tour guide was pretty good, but our tour guide in Ketchikan was not very entertaining and the one in Skagway was the worst! We didn't even think this guy was for real (he shall remain nameless), we thought we were on a candid camera show. At one point he said, "to the left over there are some tall trees.", and that's it, I can't even make this stuff up. This is no fault of NCLs, but I kid you not he also started off by saying, "there are four seasons in Skagway, early winter, winter, late winter, and construction season, unfortunately you have come during construction season so if we want to make the train ride in time we cannot stop anywhere and take any pictures", and again unfortunately he was right!, what would probably be a 40 minute ride to fraser along with maybe 20 minutes worth of stopping along the way, ended up being a 40 minute ride, with 20 minutes of construction and another 40 minutes at the border of backlogged tourbuses and travelers! The bus ride was 90 minutes with over half of that time being at the border. There was one line to get through, and the border patrol had to get on each bus and view all our passports. This is not efficient in a heavily tourist visited area.

Again, with negatives there are always positives, we got on the train (sit on the right side going down and the left side if you are starting from town) and the train ride down was wonderful, there was some narration, although difficult to hear at times, and we frequently went to the outside of the train to take pictures. It was gorgeous, like an IMAX movie.

We had our tour guide waiting for us at the end of the field trip. and he took us on a 5 minute (thankfully) bus ride over to the gold dredge tour. This is an interesting tour if you are interested in the dredge history and mining of Skagway. We chose this tour mostly for the kids, the actual panning part was about 20 minutes and the tour was an hour, which was a little long for the kids. Oh and it was 80 degrees!! We had received water on the train ride, and some cheese and crackers on the way to the dredge tour but kids were hungry and hot. Luckily they had drinks and other snacks at the dredge. The pans are preset and you actually don't go into the Klondike river, it's fairly fabricated but my 10 year old loved it, they weigh your gold at the ends and we were able to collect $55 or so worth of gold total.

We headed back to the ship around 3pm, the tour guide gives you an option to be dropped off in town, but the kiddos were starving and hot (remember 80 degrees!). Right before we got on the ship, we climbed down the rocks where the ship is docked and dipped our feet in the glacial waters, it was a pretty green that day and the water was colllllldddd despite the 80 degree weather, but at least we can say we dipped our feet in glacial waters that are a zillion years old!

That afternoon the restaurants were not as crowded probably because there are a variety of tours that end at different times, and you do not leave port until 5 or 5:30.

Hope this works

first is ketchikan port, next few are aerial views in Juneau and glacier we landed on for dog sled tour

Sea Day and Victoria

Sea Day

We finally used the kids club, my 7 year old did not enjoy it, my 10 year old tolerated it, he said he wouldn't mind going back. They seemed very friendly (australian?) and had a good range of activities, but my kids would rather stick with us.

Tip about the trivia and name that tune events- go early, they start right on the dot, and if you are a few minutes late, you will miss a few of the tunes, I've noticed with other events they start right on time as well

We didn't arrive Victoria until 2:30, we spent the morning packing and at 11 am we went to the nick toons dance show, all the characters showed up and they did a conga line as well as other dances, there was the final bingo and raffle at 11:30 so we decided to stay in our seats as the crowds were starting to fill in quickly. They made a big push at the end so we bought some bingo cards and raffle tickets, my mother and sister had bought raffle tickets the night prior at a show. My mother and sister actually got into an argument because my mother reasoned that no one ever one at a raffle and the odds were impossible. My sister argued that reasoning was ridiculous because she likes to play slots. In any event, they had purchased 40 tickets between the two of them and split them, and had to be present if for some reason their number was announced. We bought the extra bingo cards and 20 more raffle tickets. The bingo prize was $2076. The raffle ticket was for a 7 day cruise on NCL to anywhere in the caribbean on any ship. They had been promoting it all week long!

After Bingo, they did the raffle, it was quite messy, the drum did not have a latch and the tickets kept falling out when they rotated it. They asked someone in the audience who did not have a ticket to come and draw the winning ticket. She actually accidentally drew two tickets and then bingo mama (that's what they call her) asked her to pick one ticket back. It was a 6 number ticket and they announced the first three numbers and asked whoever to stand up who had the first three tickets (there must have been 10,000 tickets or more), then they announced the next two numbers and asked those to keep standing. In that moment I didn't realize that my brother in law and my mother were the only ones standing up. What I did know was the last number was 0-9, my mom had two tickets that had the first 5 numbers, so i thought we had a 20% chance of winning. Again, what i did not realize was that my brother in law had the other 8 tickets with the first 5 numbers. There was a lot of hesitation and finally bingo mama said the last number was "0". My mom had the "0" and "1", my brother in law had "2-9" as we found out later. I screamed first. My brother in law said it must have lasted 30 seconds (probably shorter but it seemed like 30 seconds) of me screaming before they cued the music and people started clapping. My sister starting throwing her daughter up in the air like simba in the lion king, it was all very dramatic for us because they had been fighting just 10 minutes before the raffle. So yes my parents won a free cruise on NCL!

We couldn't believe it, we were instructed to come back that evening to guest services and sure enough they presented my mom with a certificate valid for a year, can cruise on any ship 7 days that goes to any part of the caribbean (west/east). Any advice CC?

Ok will have to do victoria in the next segment..

That is SOOO awesome that your parents won!!!

My DH could not STAND Bingo Mama's voice, he said it was like nails on a chalkboard.....LOL

What did you think of Matt? I liked him, although a bit dry.

That was our first encounter with bingo mana but yes she had a bit of car salesman personality in her. And her voice was like she was trying too hard. I liked both Patrick and Matt. They are not over the top, not annoying or flamboyant. Maybe people found them boring but I thought they were fine!

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Congratulations to your parents on winning the cruise! I would have screamed too! :)

We also had Jean Pierre and Brenda Kaye on the Jewel last year and loved their shows. Especially Brenda's adult show - absolutely hilarious!!

My family will be going to Alaska aboard the Jewel in less than two weeks, so I found your review to be really helpful. I've been pretty excited about the food, so I couldn't help but be a little disappointed after reading your review. I'm crossing my fingers there will be sushi aboard!

Anyway, I read on the NCL site yesterday that at each port, guests will disembark two hours after docking and are expected to be back on board two hours before departing. We arrive in Juneau at 7 a.m. and depart at 1:30 p.m, but with the two hour buffer, we're really only in town from 9-11:30. We had planned on renting a car and going to see the Mendenhall Glacier and a playground (for our 19-month-old son) that day, but I don't know if that's really doable in two hours. Plus, after reading your review, it sounds like we should eat something before hopping back the ship - or risk facing crowds at the restaurants on board.

My question to you is - do they really let you off two hours after docking and expect you back two hours before boarding? Or is there some leeway there?

Thanks!

The two hours only applies on the first and last days. You can leave the ship as soon as it is cleared, which will be at about the advertised time, and should be back on 30 minutes before departure.

For each port when the on board time was 30 min before departure time. So for juneau it was 1. We finished our tour at noon and ate at tracys crab Shack and took the shuttle back at 1245. We were back in board at 1 bit since Juneau is the shortest port day, everyone else returned between 1230 and 1 and decided to eat lunch. So my suggestion is to eat a snack and try to eat a little later at 2. For Ketchikan and skagway it was after lunch hour so again not a problem (2 or 230 was all aboard time for Ketchikan and 5 for skagway)

For getting off the ship, the ship was always docked before we even woke up for the day so I don't know what time they started letting people off but I think most of the time the ship was in port by 7am and people were getting off shortly after.

The only caveat is Victoria which gets in around 2. We waited till 3 to avoid the crowd and got back around 830. Ship leaves at 930. Thank you for enjoying my report. I will finish the last segment tonight!

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clelbonv and KeithJenner: Thanks for clarifying! That's good news!

Victoria

Victoria is almost our second home, my husband grew up here and we were scheduled to meet some friends for dinner. The ship arrived around 2, and folks starting getting off at 2:20, we waited til 3 to avoid the initial rush, there was still quite a line for taxi and shuttle. The taxi is $9 to downtown, the shuttle is $10 roundtrip per person. With 9 of us, it made more sense to take the taxi, and our friends were going to take us back to the ship after dinner.

We were dropped off in front of the Empress Hotel, took some pictures of the inner harbor and hotel, did not go inside (as we have been many times before), tea time was taking place, again a neat thing to do but you need to reserve ahead of time, and it's costly ($40-$50 pp). We walked down government street the main street, that is partly pedestrian only, stopped at a gelato store, bought some gelato, candy and fudge for the kids, made our way to Roger's chocolates to pick up some chocolates for our friends back home. We continued to the indoor mall, The Bay Centre. The boys had been at sea for two days and were starving for internet access, stopped at the local Starbucks where they spent an hour playing on their phones and finally drinking some decent coffee. For those with kids, there's a cute boutique clothing store next to starbucks Scallywags. The better half spent a majority of time at that store.

For my extended family, this was only their second time in victoria in 15 years so it was nice of them to get to know the city again. My brother in law had never tried poutine, fries and gravy with cheese curds. We went to the food court to NY fries and ordered a few different fries (fries with butter chicken, fries with braised beef and fries with gravy and cheese curds yum!). We then made our way to chinatown, a very small chinatown. Kids but some trinkets (rings, an umbrella all for about $10 or less) and walked down fan tan alley, the narrowest commercial street in all of North America. The Chinatown is also the oldest Chinatown in Canada (much smaller, and less hilly than San Francisco).

It was a very walking tour of the city on our own, and the kids did fine, took about 3 hours. Then we went to dinner with our good ol canadian friends and headed back to the ship around 8-8:30. It was a good day.

Other places I would recommend without doing a tour in Victoria would be:

Beacon Hill Park (closer to Empress but may need a taxi), they have a little petting zoo, nice gardens, and playground for the kids

Royal British Museum- very nice museum, IMAX theatre

Fish and Chips- try them, they are so much better here than in the States

Bug Museum- great for kids, will occupy an hour or so of your time

Buchardt Gardens- this is a good 40 minutes away from the city, may need to do it with a tour

Sticky Wicket- standard british pub/restaurant downtown with good brew and food

Final Day

Disembarkation

Night before they will provide you with luggage tags, you need to have your luggage out by midnight with the tags depending on what time you want to get off the ship. I had to go to Deck 7 guest services to find the tags. We chose the 9 am departure (lavendar). My family's flight was not until 2:30 so we had no rush to get off.

We woke up around 7:30, had breakfast around 8:15 (again very crowded) in the garden cafe, and a little before 9 they called our color, we walked off, found our luggage and we were back on land in Seattle. It was very simple.

Final Tips

Walkie talkies- we brought them, they didn't work very well, they worked if you were down the hall but if you are on different floors they didn't work

Cell Phones- worked well at each port even on the ship, the lower decks didn't work very well (my sister was on deck 5)

Hair Dryer in room - very good

Power Bar- bring one if you have a lot of electronics

Shampoo/Conditioner- almost nonexistent- bring your own if you want your hair to look halfway decent

Sanitary Napkins- None on the entire ship, none in the gift store, even called the health clinic on board and they had none so be prepared

Freestyle Dining- be aware of the heavy traffic times and avoid them if possible, the wait at tsars and azura can be long, garden cafe is always a back up but finding seating may be difficult, le bistro was our favorite specialty restaurant, teppanyaki is very busy, limited seating, book early

Coffee- garden cafe- bad, MDR- slightly better Cafe Lavazz on deck 7- best but have to pay

Shows/Trivia/Name that Tune- get there on time

Raffle- you never know what will happen.....