Our May 31, 2014 cruise to Alaska on the Jewel

[goldie888]

That's good to know! I don't mind paying extra if it is good.

 

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[brunolvr]

Any lobsters? We will be on the August sailing, any lobsters at MDR or specialty restaurants?

 

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No, we didn't see any lobster on the menu in the MDR and only a lobster "pasta" dish in the buffet. :(

[brunolvr]

We watched lots of float planes take off and land-

 

 

Watching 2 eagles from Spinnaker Lounge-

 

 

My husband and daughter enjoying an empty Spinnaker Lounge-

 

 

An early lunch in O'Sheehan's so we could get ready for our "Tracy Arm Fjord & Glacier Explorer" excursion.

A tuna sandwich for me-

 

 

And my husband enjoyed a hamburger-

[staceycs]

Great review. Leaving on the Pearl August 3rd.

[brunolvr]

We had booked the “Tracy Arm Fjord & Glacier Explorer” excursion so we knew we needed to have an early lunch so we would be ready to meet for that excursion about 12:30PM. We boarded our excursion boat and were on our way at 1:00PM. Shortly after leaving, we saw the Pearl cruising down Stephens Passage towards Juneau. They were being escorted by an “armed” Coast Guard boat which we found rather surprising.

 

View of the Jewel as we head out of Juneau on our excursion boat-

 

 

We encountered the Pearl being escorted by an armed Coast Guard boat-

 

 

And we're on our way down Stephens Passage towards Tracy Arm Fjord. Yes, it was cold and rainy out-

[brunolvr]

On our way we stopped to watch an eagle and also some seals resting on some rocks. Then we saw a humpback whale “lunge feeding” close to the shore. We stopped and watched him for about 15-20 minutes before we were once more on our way. About 3PM we started seeing icebergs.

 

 

Harbor seals-

 

 

 

Eagle-

 

 

 

Humpback whale. One time he opened his mouth really wide for everyone to see but no chance to get a picture of it-

 

 

 

First iceberg sighting-

[brunolvr]

Lots of waterfalls in Tracy Arm-

 

 

We got up close to this waterfall-

 

 

We encountered this boat, the "Alaskan Dream", which our Captain said was an "overnight" excursion boat.

 

 

Beautiful scenery even in the rain-

 

 

Sawyer Island (the Jewel was only able to make it this far because of all the ice)-

[Hikini]

I've been enjoying this so much, but forgot to ask - the "new" photo gallery. It's in the same place? And as I look at all the computer screens, I'm wondering how this works. We always kind of enjoyed going to look thru all of the random pictures in the photo gallery. It appears it is done differently now.

 

I'm guessing this is how they save money by not printing out each picture only to have many of them go into the garbage.

[staceycs]

Loving your review. We are taking the Pearl on August 3 and I am second guessing if our room should be port or starboard. Currently we are starboard. Suggestions since you have taken so many Alaskan cruises? This is our first and hopefully not our last.

[brunolvr]

Loving your review. We are taking the Pearl on August 3 and I am second guessing if our room should be port or starboard. Currently we are starboard. Suggestions since you have taken so many Alaskan cruises? This is our first and hopefully not our last.

 

If you're going on the Pearl and to Glacier Bay, my choice would be port side, as that is the better side for first going into Glacier Bay.

[brunolvr]

I've been enjoying this so much, but forgot to ask - the "new" photo gallery. It's in the same place? And as I look at all the computer screens, I'm wondering how this works. We always kind of enjoyed going to look thru all of the random pictures in the photo gallery. It appears it is done differently now.

 

I'm guessing this is how they save money by not printing out each picture only to have many of them go into the garbage.

 

I assume the photo gallery is still in the same place but remember this was the first time we were on the Jewel.

 

Every time they take your picture (whether at dinner, getting off the ship at the different ports, formal pictures, etc.), they scan your room card. When you go down to the photo gallery, you scan your room card in the computer and it tells you which "book case" and book # your pictures are in. Each one of the "orange books" is a room number's pictures.

 

During "open" hours, you can take your book down and inside are your pictures already printed out. You still pick out the pictures you like or don't like and they discard the ones you don't want. When the photo gallery is closed, the silver bar is across the books and you can't get them out. I guess if the photo gallery is closed you can still look at your pictures on the computer but we never tried that.

 

I hope I explained it okay. :confused:

[Hikini]

I assume the photo gallery is still in the same place but remember this was the first time we were on the Jewel.

 

Every time they take your picture (whether at dinner, getting off the ship at the different ports, formal pictures, etc.), they scan your room card. When you go down to the photo gallery, you scan your room card in the computer and it tells you which "book case" and book # your pictures are in. Each one of the "orange books" is a room number's pictures.

 

During "open" hours, you can take your book down and inside are your pictures already printed out. You still pick out the pictures you like or don't like and they discard the ones you don't want. When the photo gallery is closed, the silver bar is across the books and you can't get them out. I guess if the photo gallery is closed you can still look at your pictures on the computer but we never tried that.

 

I hope I explained it okay. :confused:

 

Yes, you explained it very well. Thank you! If the photo gallery is in the same place you remember it being on the Pearl, then it's the same on the Jewel. 7th floor, Starboard side between the atrium and the AFT elevator lobby. (And the entrance to the AFT MDR.) This seems neater and more organized but I will miss the browsing. ;)

[amarvel]

Oh interesting.....so the photos are still printed out? I was thinking they would print if you bought. But i'm assuming you can view them on the computer and if you choose to purchase the photo you go to bookcase to get your actual print?

 

 

 

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[Hikini]

I also thought they would print them for you if you chose them from the computer. Seems to me it would waste a lot less paper. But I couldn't figure out the bookcase thing, if they only printed the ones you want. Thanks to Sandy, I don't have to wonder anymore! :)

 

And maybe this is an evolving process.

[amarvel]

That's what i'm wondering....maybe they are phasing to all digital eventually but waiting to make sure the key card system works well.

 

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[Hikini]

It will be interesting to see how it is, and I have to wait less than 9 weeks now to take a look! :)

[Hikini]

Hey Sandy, a silly question here: Was there more than 1 blow dryer in your suite? We're going to be in a 2 bedroom penthouse (not the Haven) and I wondered if each bathroom or bedroom has its own blow dryer.

[brunolvr]

Hey Sandy, a silly question here: Was there more than 1 blow dryer in your suite? We're going to be in a 2 bedroom penthouse (not the Haven) and I wondered if each bathroom or bedroom has its own blow dryer.

 

Hi, Hikini. Yes, there was a hair dryer in the main bathroom and also one in the 2nd bedroom just outside the bathroom door next to the phone. We were in a 2-bedroom suite several years ago on the Star and it was also the same set-up as the Haven suites on both the Pearl & Jewel. There was a large mirror just beside the hairdryer.

[brunolvr]

Seals on icebergs and swimming in the water. Lots of baby seals.

 

 

Here comes another excursion boat, the "Katlian Express". It was quite a bit smaller than us and it just plowed right through the ice and got very close to Sawyer Glacier.

 

 

Sawyer Glacier surrounded by lots of ice-

 

 

The Captain of our excursion boat kept trying to get as close as he safely could.

[brunolvr]

You can see the little "Katlian Express" getting nice & close to Sawyer Glacier-

 

 

We tried to ease closer but couldn't get anywhere near the glacier as the Katlian Express.

 

 

About 5:40PM, we saw the Jewel coming into view by Sawyer Island.

 

 

There's the Jewel!

 

 

About 6PM, the Jewel positioned herself near Sawyer Island and waited for us.

[brunolvr]

By 6:10PM we were heading to the Jewel-

 

 

The beautiful Jewel!

 

 

You can see the little door opened for us on Deck 4 so we could re-board the Jewel.

 

We were back onboard the Jewel by 6:30PM. Here's a zoomed in view that those who stayed on the Jewel had of Sawyer Glacier. We're so glad we did the "Tracy Arm Fjord & Glacier Explorer" excursion. Even though we didn't get as close as we had hoped, it was much closer than the Jewel. And we stopped and saw a lot of other things along the way.

 

 

More chocolate-covered strawberries waiting for us when we got back to our suite-

 

 

And a cute bear towel animal was the only bear we saw today-

 

 

We had 7:30PM dinner reservations at La Cucina and enjoyed a very good meal there. Then we went to the 9:15PM show in the Stardust Theater, "Duo Deja Vu". The show was good but we were pretty tired after our exciting day.

[brunolvr]

Just in case anyone is interested in signing up for computer usage on the ship, my daughter brought her tablet on the cruise as she wanted to be able to communicate with her friend who was housesitting & taking care of her cats.

 

She signed up for the 250 minute plan for $100 and got an additional 30 minutes. They also had 100 minutes for $55.

 

We had heard from others before our cruise how long it took to sign on and how slow it was but here are her remarks about using her tablet in our suite:

 

"I’d rate it average. Didn’t lock up, wasn't too slow, it just took a minute to log on. I would use it again. Nothing spectacular, but not horrible like some people said."

[ricruise]

Love the review and the pictures. We'll be going on the Jewel for the first time in December. Do you have any pictures of the casino?

[brunolvr]

Love the review and the pictures. We'll be going on the Jewel for the first time in December. Do you have any pictures of the casino?

 

No, sorry, I walked by the casino but never stopped by there to take pictures. I'll check to see if my daughter did, but I don't think so.

[TwinMommyByGrace]

If you're going on the Pearl and to Glacier Bay, my choice would be port side, as that is the better side for first going into Glacier Bay.

 

Sandy, Would you also recommend port side for the Jewell? We're in a mini-suite on the Jewel at the end of August but on the starboard side.