A Real Alaskan Jewel - May 7 - My first NCL Review!

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

FlyingCruiser - A quick question for you. Did you stop in Sitka and/or Icy Strait Point? These are the two ports we haven't visited previously and am a bit confused as to what to do. Walking doesn't bother us, so we do plan to walk from ISP to Hoonah. Thank you!

 

Yes, we stopped at Icy Strait Point, but not at Sitka. I believe the Pearl did go to Sitka though. Hoonah is a very small place. No dock, tender in on using the ship's lifeboats although there are plans for a cruise ship dock to be built in the future. Plenty of tours to do in Hoonah, but you can also just walk or take a shuttle to the city to walk around some. We didn't go into town, rather we did a tour and a show in the port area, but we were told that getting into town wasn't hard to do. I did kinda get the idea that they didn't really want too many tourists in town though, they would rather people stay in the port area and go on excursions. I will talk all about that visit though, it was our next to last port day, later in the week.

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

We last left off with DAY 4: KETCHIKAN, which featured our first port visit and a tour of the general area of Ketchikan and surrounding areas. As this was a fairly port-intensive cruise, we quickly traveled up through the Inside Passage overnight and made our way to Juneau, the capital of the state of Alaska. I hope you are continuing to enjoy this review, and any questions or comments are welcome. Juneau is also a beautiful place, same as Ketchikan, so without further ado, let’s get to it, shall we? We pick up on a Sunday in Juneau….

DAY 5: JUNEAU

We arrived in port at 0900 this morning, or so I was told because as I have said before, I am not a morning person and we had no early excursions planned for this day. Juneau is the capital of Alaska and has a population of about 32000. It is the second largest city in the USA, by land size, and is completely isolated in terms of road transportation out of town. Like other cities, sea or air is the only way to get in and out.

I got up in time to hit breakfast in the main buffet area today, and got the usual sausage, eggs, potatoes and pancakes. Decent. The eggs are the usual powdered or whatever, not freshly cracked, but edible. I also got cranberry juice and apple juice as although the bars are open 24/7, none near the buffet were functioning and who wants a Pepsi that early in the morning anyway? I will note that later in the day, they still have juices in the machines at the buffet, but they are heavily watered down, more like flavored water and they are nasty. I wasn’t a fan.

Breakfast:

After a leisurely breakfast, I hung around in the cabin for a while and just enjoyed the breeze blowing in through the sliding doors to the balcony. I like that on NCL, the doors slide and stay open, whereas on some other lines, they are simple doors on hinges that cannot be left open and thus do kind of kill the advantages of having a balcony. I will also say that although you can hear all overhead announcements from the cruise staff, it wasn’t too intrusive and rarely woke me up. Then again, I am a very sound sleeper and can sleep through a lot, so it might be an issue for some other people.

The room stewards work from I believe, 0900 or 1000, and get off at 1400, so you have to get your room done during that time or wait until evening turndown. So, around 1100, we needed to find somewhere to go be for a while to allow the steward to clean our cabin. By the way, it is cool that instead of big, bulky hangtags on the door, just change your status on the little wheel on the wall in the hallway to WELCOME, or, SERVICE CABIN, or DO NOT DISTURB, or something along those lines and they will know whether or not they should knock or just leave you alone. So, around 1100 or so, my mom headed off to go walk around some and I got into my swim trunks to check out the pool and hot tub for the first time.

The pool is located up on Deck 12, between the spa and gym and the buffet dining room. It features two pools and two hot tubs, along with one child hot tub, located off in the corner, away from the main pools. There is also a small waterslide, but honestly it wasn’t too intimidating and compared to other lines modernized waterparks, it wasn’t even worth doing. Now, it being Alaska, and only in the mid 60s, you would think the pools would be cold at least. Not in a million years. The pools were probably about 90 degrees, not that much cooler than the hot tubs. Relaxing, soothing and gave me a great view of the surrounding mountains that we would be going to explore later on.

I also got to see the famous approach to Juneau Airport, which is located pretty far down the way, which features a standard approach then sharp left turn at the last minute to land on a runway between two mountains. Pretty cool. We didn’t get near the airport itself on this trip but as with the other towns, the airport is a major lifeline for people who live there and those who live in other cities, who rely on travel to Juneau for all types of things.

This is a view of the Gastineau Channel, which Juneau is located on. This also shows the approach path to JNU. They fly past the two mountains in the picture, turn left to land at the airport located behind the mountain on the left.

So, at around 1230, I headed back down to the cabin to see what was going on down there and waited until my mom came back in order to figure out what we were going to do in terms of getting off the ship and exploring. We had nothing planned for early in the day, although we did have a city tour and gold panning excursion scheduled for that evening. Our friends did a whale watching tour and trip to Mendenhall Glacier, but since both my mom and I had done that tour before, we passed and stayed around town instead. Not to mention we didn’t see it being worth it to spend all that money on a tour we had already done in the past. So, we got off the ship around 1330 and headed down into the port area to explore some.

So, we got off the ship and exited into the general port area. I got a neat picture with a NCL employee costumed up as a lumberjack before exiting the ship, and I believe my mom actually purchased it at the end of the cruise. More on the NCL photographs later…. The general port area is your standard area with a visitors center, shops, and kiosks trying to sell excursions. There are also some shops and a restaurant here. The Mount Roberts Tramway also departs from here. I believe it goes all the way up the mountain in the form of a cable car, and drops off at the top where you can continue on hiking or whatever to the other side. I was way too much of a wimp to ride that though. Think of a 3000 foot climb with nothing but a cable holding my ride up. No thanks, lol.

The tramway, located right near the ship.

The port is about a mile from the downtown Juneau area, and it is walkable but they run a free shuttle from the port to town. Just know that at peak times, the line to board can get a little long so plan ahead for that. We rode into town and just walked around some. The city itself is very old and has a lot of history. We walked down the main street in town and checked out the mix of shops, restaurants and government buildings they have here. My mom stopped into a few shops to find some stuff that might be worth buying as souvenirs and I walked around and explored some more.

About 5 blocks down, there is a city park with major milestones and historical moments in Juneau’s history, located right on the water. Really cute. Across the street from that is the city’s public library, combined with a daily-rate parking garage for commuters. Land is pretty scarce right here, as it is in most Alaskan towns, as once you get away from the water, the topography goes straight up as in mountains pretty quickly. Downtown only stretches for a few more blocks, so I walked back to meet my mom and decide where we would get lunch.

View from park, view of our ship from the park, and a little sign reminding us of how far we are from everywhere else in the world, haha.

 

 

There is a restaurant, located off the street a little, called Tracy’s King Crab. Fresh, locally-caught seafood. Neat atmosphere, and although a little on the expensive side, still very good value for tourists. Order at the front counter, have food delivered at picnic tables located right near the water, enjoy. We got a crab soup, king crab leg, Dungeness crab cluster combo, for like $40. They offer numerous combos or a-la-carte stuff. I will include pics of this place and everything else from the rest of the day in a following post, I already reached my 6-pic limit for this one.

Around 1600 we headed out and walked down the street, where I wanted to show my mom the Alaska State Capitol. It isn’t that big, and surely doesn’t stand out. I believe our tour guide later on said that it is the only statehouse in the country that doesn’t have a huge dome. Anyway, after that, we headed back to get the shuttle to the ship, as we wanted to meet our friends at the ship for our 1800 gold panning excursion. The line for the shuttle bus was a couple hundred people long, so it did take a while to get on the bus, but it only took about 5 minutes to get back to the ship.

We met our friends at the excursion pick-up area at 1700 and headed over to wait for our excursion to board. This tour only had about 15 people on it, as it was admittedly late in the day, but that was fine. Our tour driver arrived, we boarded, and were off on our way. We rode through the area we had explored on foot earlier and our driver pointed out some landmarks along the way. He did tell us that there was some sort of ordinance that required a church to be built for every bar in town, so there are a lot of churches in the city. We also rode past the statehouse, and he told us that it was a huge tourist attraction due to the fact that Sarah Palin did live there at one time. He said she actually didn’t spend a lot of time there during her time as governor, but lots of people still wanted to see it.

We continued up through town, so far up that we were up in the clouds, literally. Over the mountain, and through the woods, to the old gold mine we went. After all, a lot of the reason Alaskan towns exist as they do now is due to the gold rush of a century ago. We stopped at the old gold mine and our tour guide, Motherload Matt, took us to the place we would be panning. He explained the history of the mine and we got to see the ruins of one of the original trains that would take people up into the mountains to the mines. He said billions of dollars of gold are still in the mountains around Juneau, but a lot of the land is government-owned and depending on the price of gold, it is not feasible to mine it right now. He also stated that the mountains around the area have hundreds of tunnels running through them.

Matt was a real Alaskan, authentic as could be. Funny as well. From Alaska, hasn’t traveled that much, really cool dude. He showed us how to pan, and we all got to try it for ourselves. I got a few flakes for myself, but not everyone did. One guy really got into it and tried about 5 pans worth of silt to sift through. Matt explained that the place we panned, near the creek, was pretty much mined out from tourists in the area all the time, but further downstream, he had his favorite places to go. He said if you get really good at it, you can get nuggets here and there and sell a few grams of gold for a day’s work and make some decent money. Panning is taking a shovelful of silt, putting it and some water in a pan, shaking it out to get the dirt and lighter rocks out a few times, and if you do it right and are lucky, getting a heavier piece of gold at the bottom of the pan when all is said and done. Fun but I wouldn’t want to make a living doing it, haha. We all got certificates that we were honorary miners for the day and began to ride back down to town. We rode through town, and much of the residential part of downtown is on the side of a mountain, so navigating tight and narrow streets can be an adventure. Come around 1930, the tour was over and we headed back to the ship. Nice, good tour and didn’t cost that much. Maybe around $40 or so? Honestly don’t remember the exact amount.

Once back onboard, we decided we would try out the main dining room experience on this evening. You don’t need to make a reservation for the MDR, as it is all anytime dining, and we chose the Tsar’s Palace. We went at sort of an off-time, so no wait for us although at busier times, I was told there could be a bit of a wait for a table.

We were seated next to an older couple from Houston, who had actually been on the ship since it left Houston for its repositioning trip through the Panama Canal, all around the west coast, to Seattle. They we nice and enjoyed the entire trip up to that point. I got a steak which was not too bad at all. I also got an ice cream pound cake. The food was ok but the service in the main dining rooms was lacking both times we went. I like scheduled, sitdown MDR setups and although YTD is convenient and you don’t really have to get dressed up, I like the idea that the wait staff gets to know what you want without asking and you get to know your tablemates at scheduled dining. I put up with it though. Everything has a tradeoff I guess.

After dinner, we looked for something to do and there was a comedian scheduled for this evening. Unlike other lines, this ship only had one comedy night and it was in the main theater, not a more quaint lounge setting. The ship left at 2100 and sunset was also around this time, so I went outside and checked out departure from Juneau and the beautiful sunset and made my way to the theater. The show started at 2115, our comedian was named Rod Long, and he was described as both a comedian and a professional photographer. I know it was all part of the routine, but he was really not that funny and did not vary his jokes at all. One can only take so much sexual and racial stuff in a routine. Big disappointment there. Not too big a crowd there either.

After the show was over, I headed back to the cabin but I wasn’t ready to go to bed yet so I went down to the casino to play some. I actually won my 10 bucks back tonight, which was cool. After playing that for a while, I headed back upstairs and to bed around midnight or so. We thought about getting a pizza delivered, for a $5 additional charge, but we both decided against it and I headed to bed shortly after. After all, the next day was going to be another busy one, as we were scheduled to tour Skagway.

I will leave it off there, and I have many pictures to include in the next few posts. Check them out. Enjoy. The next day featured some really breathtaking shots of Skagway and the surrounding areas. That is up next. Good night and

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

Our lunch place in Juneau - Tracy's King Crab. I sent a few pics of this place to my friends back home, and they were so jealous. hehe. My one friend was actually gearing up for an Alaskan vacation herself, so she was loving the pics I was sending her of Alaska.

 

 

 

Downtown Juneau. Red Dog Saloon in the distance. Thought of going in here but it was really crowded so we decided against it ultimately. Statehouse a few blocks further up. Public library was just off to the left, out of the shot. Shops all along the right side of the street.

 

Wayyyy up in the mountains. On our way up to go gold panning. So far up no cell phone service was available here. Bears in the area but we did not see any here.

 

 

The place we went gold panning. Nice cold stream here, rocky, old mining area. Plenty of gold in the mountains all around. I got a few flakes that I put in a container and took home with me. This is also the only time it rained when we were off the ship during the entire cruise.

 

 

Once back onboard, the next day's Freestyle Daily and towel animal.

 

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

Dinner in the Tsar's Palace restaurant. Steak and ice cream pound cake dessert. Steak here was probably better than in the actual steakhouse. Service was lacking here though. Tablemates were pleasant to talk to over dinner.

 

 

 

Sunset, as we left Juneau, taken from outer deck. Actually went for a walk around the entire deck after dinner, before comedy show. There is a walking track both on that deck and the upper deck that goes all around the ship. I think 8 laps or something equals a mile. Pretty cool but windy in spots.

 

 

Our new cabin. Lot smaller huh? :rolleyes:

[js4rq]

Enjoying your photo review... looking forward to more! :D

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

Enjoying your photo review... looking forward to more! :D

 

Ask, and you shall receive. Day 6 is coming right up. Thanks for reading and I hope you are enjoying following along as much as I am enjoying re-living this vacation through this review.

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

Well, with Juneau and our first port day past us, we move on to our next port of call. We next visited the city of Skagway, just up the Inside passage about a hundred or so miles. I don’t know if I can definitely say this was my favorite port, but I feel like I got the most spectacular pictures here and definitely traveled pretty far away from the port itself. So, we continue with my adventure in Skagway…..

DAY 6: SKAGWAY

As with most of our stops here in Alaska, we arrived here early today. We had to set our clocks back an hour the previous night, as we moved out of the Pacific time zone, and were an hour behind Seattle time and four hours behind east coast time. So, although we arrived at 0700, our excursion was not that early and I slept in for a little while at least. Today was a rather cool and cloudy day, but no rain. It appeared most mornings were like this - low clouds and fog early in the morning and burning off to yield a pretty nice afternoon.

Although I did not get out of bed to witness it, apparently at about 0400 or 0500 the waterway got extremely foggy and the ship captain had to continuously blast the horn to alert any nearby vessels of our presence. Again, it was so early I heard it but I wasn’t inclined to go outside to check it out either. My mom said she went out there though and said it was pea soup fog. Very eerie. I know what really dense fog is but thankfully modern navigation technology and a good crew kept us safe for the trip into Skagway.

By the time I finally got out of bed, the fog had pretty much burned off and I got a nice picture of the mountains that surround this place. I went upstairs to get some breakfast and to explore the ship some more. I did not go into the gym, although I passed it several times and it did look pretty comprehensive. It had weight training IIRC, but tons and tons of cardio machines and if I wanted to, I could have gotten a machine with no problem at anytime. I declined though, being that it was vacation and all, lol. At home I do love to do an hour on the elliptical though when I get the chance. Situated between the elevator bank and the pool area is the library, and I saw people in here playing games and reading all cruise long. Also, there is a place where all the ship’s officers photos and job titles are shown here. Pretty cool.

Outside the ship, when I first woke up:

So, after breakfast and walking around, we got ready to get off the ship and go to our excursion. I forget what time our excursion began, but it was somewhere in the 1000 range, as it was scheduled to take the better part of the day to complete. Skagway is a small town, located not that far from the Canadian border, and has a population of only a thousand or so. The population does grow in summer however, for the tourist season. It has the same type of climate as other southeastern Alaskan towns, and today was a nice spring day.

Now, our excursion today was on the White Pass Railroad. Most of what I talk about for this port day will involve this tour. I had gone on the tour back in 2007 but wanted to do it again because I enjoyed it so much then. We booked this through the ship and it was the most expensive excursion we did. Somewhere around a hundred dollars but well worth it. So, let’s get to it.

A preview of the train we would be riding today...more coming up shortly.

We waited just outside the port gates for our tour operator to show up, and he eventually did. They have a small newsstand in that area and I got a 20-oz Coke for the road. It was nice to have a real Coke again, lol. Our one friend forgot her passport, so she had to run back to her cabin to get it. Note, if you book the White Pass train, you MUST have your passport with you. The train runs into Canada, your tour operator won’t let you on the tour without it and Canadian and US Customs check you for it on each border crossing.

Me, outside the newsstand, in front of the docked Jewel.

Our tour today would include a bus ride up the Klondike Highway, all the way up into the Yukon Territory, and back down to town on the White Pass Railroad. Much more on the railroad and its history as we go on. I forget our driver’s name, but he has lived in Skagway for a number of years and has gone between Alaska and the Lower 48 numerous times for work and family over the years. He gave an informative and entertaining tour as we rode through town, and explained how he got to be a tour operator and that his other profession is schoolteacher. He also said that there is no doctor in town so if you get sick, it is chopper or ferry to Juneau to get treated. There is also no scheduled air service here, but there is a small airstrip in town and general aviation does operate here. Perhaps also air taxi service but not sure about that.

The Klondike Highway runs all the way up to White Horse and beyond in the Yukon, and actually does allow access to the rest of North America, although it is a narrow, wind-y and roundabout way to get anywhere outside the immediate area. Our tour took us a total of 27 miles each way, over the international border, and somewhere around 4000 feet or so up into the mountain range.

Early in the bus trip:

Now, the history of this roadway is that it was built much later than the actual settlement in this area happened but it was seen as imperative that there was a road link to the rest of the world from here. Our driver told us that May is a transitional month, as it is all throughout the area. Although there was still a lot of snow, he said the snow pack was much less than it had been just a few weeks prior, due to warmer temperatures and longer days. He said that this past winter was not a particularly snowy one, but they still did get a decent amount. I think they average about 4 feet a year there. We got more than that where I live this past winter, haha.

Since this is an international tour, the buses are set up to narrate the tour in all types of languages, through pre-recorded headsets. All of the people on our bus spoke English so our driver did a standard narration, and we didn’t use the headsets. As we went further up the roadway, we gained elevation and stopped a number of times at vantage points looking out for miles and miles. We actually did see a black bear walking along the side of the road, on the other side of the guard rail but he was paying us no mind and kept going like we weren’t there. May is when they come out of hibernation and things like dandelions begin to grow, so they are all about getting their plant nutrition at this time of year. This is also the only bear we saw close-up all cruise long.

We stopped at the Welcome to Alaska sign, and all got our pics taken in front of it. Whatever you do, don’t go near the guard rail though as it is just a huge drop-off immediately past it and all you see is boulders and snow and more boulders and more snow. Beautiful view from here and the other places we stopped along the bus route. He said that the sign is actually taken down and stored in the wintertime because snowplows would destroy it when they pass by to clear the roads in the winter. It is actually pretty crazy how so much of the terrain is untouched, but right near the road you can see the dirty snow, from cars and trucks passing by so much. Puts things in perspective.

The story of this area is unique. During the late 1800s, there was a massive gold rush in this area, and thousands of people from all over flocked here to get in on the action. It turned out that people would stake claim to land and by the time people got up there, there would be nothing left to claim for themselves, so they had to work for others or go back home. Nonetheless, the trip was just awful, especially in winter. Many of the prospectors were tradesmen at other things and had no experience in hiking through terrain, so many of them and/or the horses they took up through the pass didn’t make it. Canada put in restrictions that anyone who was going to go into their territories for gold had to have enough food and clothing to survive the entire winter because they were so tired of people going up there unprepared and starving. That just made the trip harder. More on that all when I talk about the trip back on the train however.

Once we got into the Yukon, we exited the bus and walked around a little. There are restrooms in the customs and welcome center there for anyone who needs to use them and it is a good idea to do so because it is another hour or more ride back down to Skagway. They also have an area where you can stamp your passport with the town name and most of us took advantage of the opportunity. We boarded the train shortly thereafter and were on our way back. Canadian customs checked everyone out on the train, we were good and off we went.

A preview of the train trip:

This tour did have a few people from other buses mixed in with us, so they did hand out headsets with an audio recording of the tour highlights, but our tour guide also gave a good, detailed narration to those who wanted more of a live interaction with a guide. Our guide was from Fairbanks, but has worked on the White Pass train for a few years now and he said he really liked doing that as a summer job. Winters are dark and cold in Fairbanks, so the people there really do appreciate summer. A few miles into the trip, we passed the US/Canada border, marked with flags and a little monument.. The train was enclosed but you could walk out onto the ends of the train cars and take pictures that were unobstructed by the windows and feel the crisp air.

I went out there a few times but the train was moving pretty fast and I didn’t want to stumble and fall or lose my camera or something. Now, this train line was a modern technological marvel. I think most train beds are 5 feet wide or something, but this one was built just three feet wide, into the side of mountains, in the Alaskan/Yukon wilderness. Around 1900, no less. The White Pass was proposed and built by a few wealthy folks who wanted to prove to the world that it was possible to build a railroad through here and to have an efficient way to get the gold out and to the sea. It took a couple years to build, a lot of money and explosives, and lots of manpower (a handful of men died building it) but it became a reality. Fast forward to today, gold mining in this area isn’t a huge industry anymore but the train still exists as a tourist attraction and runs to coincide with the cruise ship season. I am a train fan, so this was all kinds of fun for me.

We rode through some areas that just made you scratch your head how they built and operated this thing in the first place. Just breathtaking views from this train though. I have a few dozen pics of this tour I will share in a little while. Stay tuned. It went down a few thousand feet in elevation in just a few mile stretch and crossed a few bridges that looked down thousands of feet below. Just a few miles out from Skagway was a spot that it was explained that tons of explosives were used to make way through the rock formations and a few men actually died when huge boulders broke off and crushed them during construction. There is a memorial there at the side of the railroad.

We finally arrived back near Skagway at around 1500 and were checked by US CBP before we were allowed to disembark from the train. Once you arrive back at the visitors center, in the middle of town, you are given an option to ride on the bus back to the ship or walk around downtown some. We all elected to walk around downtown to sightsee and shop.

They went off to shop some and I went and walked around town some. Not that downtown is that big, only a few blocks each way but when you think of old west towns, yep, this is it. Neat. I stopped into a candy shop that doubled with a tour operator ticket office, and got some caramel popcorn with candied almonds. They sold all types of popcorn here, at all prices, but mine ended up being somewhere around $9. It was a pretty big bag and did last me a few days though once back on the ship. Looking back, I would have probably gotten something without the nuts in it but it was still good. I stopped in a store that sold touristy stuff and got a shot glass and a magnet, which I get in all ports I visit. I have a wall full of shot glasses and a refrigerator full of magnets, ha. By now it was about 1700, and although the ship didn’t leave until 2000, the tourist past of the day was pretty much over for everyone.

There is a shuttle that will take you from the town square back to the ship, but it surely is walkable. Maybe a mile walk along the road between the water and the huge mountains. A lot of the people who live there seasonally rent Rvs for the season and there is a park that they all kind of congregate in. There is also a nice city park there. So, I walked back to the ship and it was getting kind of chilly by this point, but not extreme. I had a warm hoodie on today and that was more than enough for me.

I stopped at the boulder wall just across the dock from the ship, to check out the graffiti….artwork from past cruises and ship visits. It seems that ship captains liked to note that they were there and thus ship name, date, and captain name and a little note were painted on boulders. There were quite a few of them there, dating back decades, so obviously Skagway is a busy cruise port. Kinda neat little touch but I am still trying to figure out how some people got up so high on the rocks to paint their messages.

We were onboard again before 1800 and chose to hit the Azura dining room for this evening. The Azura is located midship, and is the ship’s other main anytime dining room. Again, no wait here for a 1900 seating but I have to say the service here was awful. Again, good food but lousy and inattentive, almost rude service by most of the staff we came in contact with. We were seated by ourselves tonight which was fine, but our incompetent waiter messed up our orders, didn’t bring us some stuff we ordered, and was very indifferent to us being there and acted almost rude to us. Disappointing. My entrees were very good though. I believe I got ribs and brisket/short ribs and shrimp. Pretty tasty.

We powered away from the dock while we were still at dinner and were on our way up the channel. I loved tonight’s sunset and was sure to get a few pics of the twilight as we slowly made our way away, before we went to the evening’s entertainment show. Again, the water was very still and calm, and the pic I got of sunset was one of my favorites from the entire trip.

Tonight’s post-dinner entertainment was a musical group, called the Flash Back Four. They were really good. We actually heard them rehearsing when we walked by the theater earlier in the day. They played 60s and 70s favorites and really put on a good, entertaining show. The theater again wasn’t packed but it was decently attended. My mom liked it more than I did, however. Lol. There was other entertainment each night, such as piano and classical music in the lounges and there was usually some type of party in the Fyzz or Spinnaker lounges. I didn’t go to any of these though.

So, after the show, I stopped by the room again to see what towel animal we got and headed back out to the casino to spend a few dollars. I again had fun on the penny slots, but lost a few bucks. By this time of night, it was really the only entertainment I was interested in and I wasn’t particularly ready to go to bed just yet. It is neat that they have a bar right in the casino, so I would always get a soda before and after playing there. Very convenient. After playing for a little while, I headed back to the cabin to watch late night news recap shows and went to sleep.

I will leave off with that, and will get to the pictures from this day next. Tomorrow featured a trip to Glacier Bay, and if you think today’s pictures were beautiful, check out the ones I got from there. I cannot wait to get on with that. Hope you enjoyed re-living today’s adventure along with me and as always, happy cruising!

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

As we rode up through the mountains, it looked like this outside the bus. No snow here, although the further up we got, the more snow we saw.

 

 

I am sure everyone will get a kick out of this. A black bear, likely just out of hibernation. Apologize that it wasn't a little closer but it gives you the idea of how big they are and how far away from everything that we were.

 

Vast wilderness.

 

One of our stops, about halfway up the route. It was cold here but not too much. The air up here is just awesome. Clean, clear, pretty much untouched. The bridges these roads cross are built to withstand earthquakes since they do happen quite often here. Our tour guide is also in this picture, he did a great job and made it a positive experience.

 

 

Close to the top. Imagine trying to make your way through this in the middle of the winter with just a little food and a horse. What they did for riches.

 

 

The famous Welcome to Alaska sign.

 

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

Hard melted-then-refrozen snow pack from this past winter. We had already boarded the train and were on our way back down towards Skagway when I took this.

 

 

A look down at the Klondike Highway from the railroad.

 

More snow, rugged terrain and steep dropoff. This was not skiing-type snow, think hard snow that is more like ice because it has been sitting there for a while.

 

Another look at the Klondike Highway. See all the dirt around the sides of the road? Ewww.

 

International crossing.

 

Going around a particularly sharp bend. Neat huh? We also stopped at one point along the way to pick up some hikers who booked a wilderness adventure, who were headed back to Skagway.

 

[motleyfan]

Good evening Norwegian fans! As is says in the title, here I come with an Alaskan Jewel of a review from the May 7 NCL Jewel Alaska Inside Passage cruise. And what a cruise adventure it was.

First, let me just give everybody a quick little background about me, FlyingCruiserNJ the poster and what to expect in my review.

Although this was my first time on NCL, I am a seasoned cruiser and have cruised about 15 times prior to this, mostly on Carnival but also on Princess and Royal Caribbean. I am from suburban Philadelphia, in my mid 30s, single, no kids, and have a rather flexible work schedule, so I like to cruise often, up to 3 or 4 times a year. It really is my preferred method of vacation. My mother, who I cruised with on this voyage, has been on this particular ship twice however and probably a total of about twice as many cruises as I have overall. She told me coming into this one that I would love the ship and I absolutely did. I have a lot to say about everything, from the ship itself to crew, to ports of call, food, and I cannot wait to get to it.

Now, when I post a review, I love to describe the entire experience, from planning, to pre-cruise, to the cruise, to post-cruise with editorial comments included. I also love to add some humor whenever possible to jazz things up a little. I also like to take lots of pictures on vacation, and I like to make my experiences come to life a little more through pictures. On this 9-day sailing alone, I took almost 200 pictures and will include many of them in this very detailed review. In other words, my reviews are not short, but they are exciting and I like to think I am telling a great story that can allow others to feel like they were right there on vacation with me. I also hope that people can learn something about a ship or a service or a port that they might not have known about before through my storytelling.

So, with that little bit out of the way, here we go with my first NCL review….

We really planned this cruise out a long way ahead of time, which is not usual for me at least. I do like to do a lot of short cruises on relatively quick notice but this was a different type of vacation, and we really went all out to get the ball rolling on getting the whole thing organized well in advance. I had been in Alaska before, back in 2007, on the Golden Princess. I liked the experience then, and we had a few longtime family friends, almost considered extended family, who never had gone there and said they were interested. So, we figured that this particular cruise was the best way to go in terms of itinerary, ship, ports, price and sail dates/departure port.

We decided to go with two balcony cabins (they did cost more, but it really is worth it for this type of cruise), and did pay quite a bit when we booked it late last year. But, after seeing massive price drops on the NCL website early this year, we contacted the reservations department and asked if they could give us a price drop or something similar. Seeing this was the ship’s first trip to Alaska for 2015 and it was the very beginning of the season for cruises there, the prices did drop some before sailing due to I guess, lack of demand. The NCL representative not only dropped our total costs down by a good bit, but they allowed us to use the price drop to prepay our auto gratuities and port fees and also gave us the Ultimate Dining Package for free. More on the UDP later, but it was a good touch because after researching the ship beforehand, I saw that there were some upcharge restaurants I really wanted to try. So, with that done, we had everything planned out and went ahead and began to book our excursions one by one all through late winter and early spring and picked out our day-before-cruise lodging and flights so everything was done and we could relax before our sailing.

With all our pre-cruise planning done, now we get to move onto the actual vacation, haha. We will begin with our day-before cruise activities, and I will call this DAY ONE: TRAVEL DAY. I will try to include a day at a time as I go through this review, but it will take a while. Hopefully everybody can bear with me through this adventure, as it really does take a lot of time and effort to do these. This is somewhere around my sixth review on CC, I like to think they get better and better each time. Check out some of my past ones, they are in my signature. Y’all ready? LOL. Here we go.

DAY ONE: TRAVEL DAY

If you have not noticed, the cruise left from Seattle, and I am from Philly. That is only about 3000 miles away. As most of you know, if you have to travel any type of distance to get to a cruise, it is best that you travel to the city of departure the day before and just hang out there so you aren’t stressed out that you will miss the cruise due to unforeseen travel or other problems. So, we did just that. Not to mention, when I cruised from SEA back in 2007, it was summer and although we traveled out the day before, massive weather issues caused our connecting flight to be cancelled and we were re-re-routed and did not arrive until the day of departure anyway, just hours before scheduled sail time. In other words, you never know what will happen and you just can’t chance it. Especially not for a cruise that you spend thousands of dollars on and look forward to for a year or more. I will admit that I have traveled cross-country day-of for a cruise, but it was not a 9-day Alaska and I was much more flexible with my travel options, due to being a solo traveler. That was very stressful in itself and looking back, I was very lucky to make it there on time as it was.

So, we all booked a nonstop, direct flight from Baltimore/Washington Int’l (KBWI), to Seattle/Tacoma Int’l (KSEA) that worked out both price-wise and schedule wise. We learned from our mistakes to book direct if you can over connections. I actually used points/miles I had accumulated so I didn’t pay anything and free is always good. BWI is about an hour and a half or a hundred miles from Philly, and depending on traffic, can take hours so we made sure to leave home plenty early before our flight and used EconoPark, an off-site parking service that I had used for a previous cruise last fall. I can’t say enough about that place. It is hard to get to and it is a little out of the way but they pick you up right at your car, help you with your bags, give you complimentary bottles of water so you are not thirsty before your flight, and are very affordable. We only paid about $80 for 10 days of parking. Can’t be beat and great service if you get their internet special rates.

So, we got there around 1000, checked our two bags each (lol) and were on our way for a an on-time departure to Seattle. Amazingly enough, the flight was not full and I didn’t have anyone in the middle seat next to my window seat, which is awesome especially on a 6-hour flight. I also got to travel on an airplane type that I have never traveled before and it was a really nice ride. We got to SEA around 1400 local time, got our bags, and called the hotel shuttle to come pick us up. After extensive searching and reading of hundreds of reviews, we settled on the Best Western Executel, which is a few miles from the airport, but not more than a 15 minute ride or so. Nice place, good price, value, clean, friendly service, I highly recommend it for anyone looking for a decent hotel accommodation pre-cruise.

My flight from BWI-SEA

 

Final approach to SEA. Nice mountain scenery in the background on the way into there

 

 

We checked in at the hotel, dropped our stuff off, and went to get dinner at their on-site restaurant as we were hungry from a day of traveling and didn’t want to order delivery and there aren’t really that many dining options in the area of the hotel. Amazingly, while it was a little expensive, the food and service in the restaurant was good and filled us up well for the rest of the night. I got some pasta soup and a pizza and that was more than enough to keep me happy. I went down to the indoor pool and hot tub and hung out there for a few hours after dinner to relax. I have to say the weather in Seattle was exceptional while we were there, about 70 and sunny. There is also a game room and a nice gym downstairs if you have kids or something and are looking for stuff to do. The hotel also has free wifi but the signal could be somewhat weak depending on where you were in the hotel.

Me at the indoor pool/hot tub. The hot tub wasn't that hot and the bubblejets weren't working but it was still relaxing.

 

This was our room. Got it for a little over a hundred bucks for the night, and although we had to pay an extra $10 for a rollaway bed, it was worth it and cheaper than going with two separate hotel rooms.

We all hit bed early because although it was only 2200 there, I was still on east coast time and it was really 0100 to me and I was tired. Had to rest up for embarkation the next day. The next day was very exciting, and I can’t wait to get into talking about it.

So, that wraps up DAY ONE: TRAVEL DAY. That gives you an idea of what is to come hopefully, and I will try to get to DAY TWO: EMBARKATION DAY at some point in the next couple days with many, many more beautiful pictures to come.. I hope you have enjoyed so far and I am looking forward to continuing with re-living my adventures again soon. Happy cruising and thanks to all who have served in the US Armed Forces for everything you do for this nation and the world on this Memorial Day weekend.

　

　

　

 

I just read part 1 of your review, I love the style you write in as far as giving the whole picture absolutely awesome. as a person has never flown those pictures are really really cool

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

Headed back towards Skagway, at about 1500 feet. They handed out a map so we could follow along where we were on the route. In the distance, between the mountains, is the port of Skagway and our ship.

 

 

 

 

Our train car, taken when we arrived back at the station. Our car was not an original 1900 build, but a few cars on this train were. Original frames, rehabbed to current standards for today's operations. Pretty cool. They had boiler stoves in each car to warm them up if it was cold outside but they weren't needed today.

 

 

Downtown Skagway. Cool little old west town.

 

 

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

The I WAS HERE wall, right across from the ship. You can sit in the dining room buffet and look out at all these. Pretty cool. One captain has two spots taken, from visits about 10 years apart.

 

 

Dinner

 

 

The theater, before the show. I think they said photography was allowed for this show but I didn't take any during the performance. The Flash Back Four put on a good show here this night.

 

 

Sunset, one of my absolute favorite pictures from this entire cruise.

 

 

Stingray towel animal and next day's Freestyle Daily. Goodnight!

 

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

I just read part 1 of your review, I love the style you write in as far as giving the whole picture absolutely awesome. as a person has never flown those pictures are really really cool

 

Glad you enjoyed. It's a lengthy review with lots of pictures and detail, and I am really enjoying writing it. I love writing reviews like this because I love reading those that others post also. And flying is easy, nothing at all to get too worked up over. I was nervous the first time I flew, back more than 15 years ago but I do it all the time nowadays. It is actually kind of fun. Nothing like flying 35000 feet above the earth, at 500 mph or more. Great scenery and you get to see whole swaths of the country that you would probably never see from the ground. Hope you continue enjoying this review as I move along in it. I just posted Skagway, and up next is Glacier Bay.

Edited June 6, 2015 by FlyingCruiserNJ

[jenseib]

Looks like a fabulous day. When they check you passports for the train tour how do the do that? Just look to see you have one, or are they scanned? I just wondered how much time it takes for them to do that with so many people.

[CRZe787]

Great job!

 

 

iPhone TPTK

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

Looks like a fabulous day. When they check you passports for the train tour how do the do that? Just look to see you have one, or are they scanned? I just wondered how much time it takes for them to do that with so many people.

 

It was a really nice day. I think I had more fun that the first time I visited here years ago. In Canada, two customs officers board and just go through the vehicle to make sure everyone has a valid passport with matching photos and all that, it is pretty quick. In the US, same thing but nobody can use their phones or cameras or anything while the officer is in the train car. They also do a quick check to see that everyone is good. If there was an issue I guess they would hold things up and take longer but my experience was pretty smooth and quick. When we got off the ship in Victoria they were a little more strict but I will talk about that later in the review. Thanks for reading along!

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

Great job!

 

 

iPhone TPTK

 

Thanks, appreciate the kind words and glad you are enjoying. I have the next part of my adventure coming right up for your reading pleasure.

[troy.hebert.77]

I am loving your review. We will be doing an Alaskan cruise next summer. I am have a hard time deciding between the Carnival legend or NCL. I have been on 5 Caribbean cruises, all on Carnival. They are the only cruise line I know. Also does a birth certificate and drivers license work for customs on the Yukon train excursion or passport only? Thanks again

Edited June 11, 2015 by troy.hebert.77

[js4rq]

Loving your review so far! :)

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

And, here we go with the next part of my adventure. It’s been a busy week as it always seems to be for me, but here I am with more pictures and a summary of my day in Glacier Bay, Alaska. This day featured a lot of photos, and although we did not get off the ship here, it was still a beautiful day with lots to see all day long. As always, thanks for reading along so far and for being patient with me taking so long to get this done, and enjoy Day 7 of my adventure!

DAY 7: GLACIER BAY

After an eventful day in Skagway yesterday, today featured a trip into Alaska’s Glacier Bay. Obviously there was no port here to stop in, as it is completely uninhabited land, but the land itself was the main attraction on this day. Today was clear, but since we were surrounded by ice, I would say it was a chilly 50 degrees or so. Not bad at all however.

I got up around my normal time and sat out on the balcony for a little while to just see what was up outside. I did not visit this place when I sailed to Alaska back in 2007, rather we went to Tracy Arm Fjord. So this was new to me. I had vague memories of what the fjord was like then, so I kind of knew what to expect. I went upstairs to get a late breakfast and walk around some close to 1100 and see us approach the glacier fields.

From my balcony, just entering Glacier Bay

This area is highly regulated by the US government, as all vessels in the area have to have a pilot and rangers onboard for guidance and compliance at all times and there are even restrictions as to how many ships can go into the area and for how long. This was the very beginning of the season, so it was not busy in the area and that led to us having more of a spectacular viewing experience. More on that….

Sometime around noon, we finally got to the glaciers. The pilot onboard would announce to us where we were, what the rock/ice formations were and how they were formed, etc, and we would pull up within viewing distance of each one. I thought it was neat that many of the crew were just as into it as the passengers were. Many of them were taking selfies with the mountains and glaciers in the background, and getting group pics of each other. It really was a nice touch, that they got to do that and nobody really gave them any issues for it that I saw at least.

It was explained to us that the glaciers dive down and just cut right through rock and create their own geography as they flow. Although only a few of the glaciers in this area are actually growing and a few are retreating, the glaciers still take up lots and lots of real estate. A mountain with really jagged rock formations was affected by a glacier at one time and those that have smoother terrains probably weren’t. We passed pretty close to a few of these mountains as we got further into the bay. I will note that there wasn’t a lot of the dramatic blue water that is caused by falling glacier ice here, and that was disappointing because I remember how cool it looked when we had gone to Tracy Arm. Nonetheless, we still were treated to some great views today.

I forget the names of most of the glaciers here, but the one I remember by name is the Johns Hopkins Glacier, and I believe that is the one that is growing the most in the area. It is moving fast and is advancing at a pretty rapid pace, so said our pilot. Due to icebergs and the general situation in the area, we couldn’t get closer than a few miles to it, but it was still easy to see and all we saw around us was mountains and more mountains. Really neat and nature at its finest. Since it seemed to be only us and the MS Westerdam (Holland America) in the area today, we got to spend more time than we would have in mid-season as only two vessels are allowed in these areas at a time at any time. Usually there is a line of ships waiting to get in there for a quick look during the middle of the season.

Mountains and the bay, glaciers right around the corner - more later

So, at each glacier the ship would stop and spin around 360 degrees in order to allow everyone onboard a chance to see, regardless of location. I went upstairs to the very upper deck and it was crowded. Hundreds of people, all trying to get that perfect shot. Really awesome. We moved on to the next few glaciers, which were not as big or advancing like the Johns Hopkins, and went through the same process with each one. We got closer to some than others, depending again on location and some other factors I suppose. We actually got a little break around lunchtime, where we traveled from one group of glaciers to the next, so that was a perfect time to get lunch and go for a swim.

GLACIER!

So we all met up for buffet lunch and discussed what we had seen before and I went in the pool for a little while to soak up the rays and relax some. The pool was colder today, but the hot tubs were still hot. Met a few nice people in the hot tub also, and watched them do the ice carving demonstration. I believe the artist made a swan today. We wondered among ourselves whether the artist has a few fallback designs in case he messes up on his primary idea and has to change up on the fly.

We stayed upstairs to watch the ship get very, and I do mean, very close to another glacier at about 1500. We were close enough to be looking right down at pieces of broken off, floating ice from this glacier as we sailed past. We spun around again, and headed off to the next glacier. We actually looked at this one from our balcony, and at one point we could see a huge chunk of ice break off and fall into the water. 10 seconds later, we heard the crashing noises. Powerful forces of nature. It was May after all, and with the warm weather, ice does tend to melt some. After passing that glacier, around 1600, our tour of Glacier Bay was over and it was back to open cruising for a while.

So, after that, it was a late afternoon stop in O’Sheehan’s for some wings and chicken fingers. They also have onion rings as an appetizer here and I believe if you order a hot dog, it automatically comes with fries. However, the fries were not so great here as they didn’t seem to be fresh and the rolls they put the dogs in are way too big for a regular hot dog. They are more like what you would use to put bratwurst off the grill in, rather than a regular hot dog bun. Think they had the same types of buns at the buffet however, so it must be how they do things at NCL. That was really my only complaint about O’Sheehan’s. I went back for a short nap in the cabin around 1700, as we had reservations for Moderno, the Brazilian steakhouse for this evening at 1830.

I got ready just before it was time to go, and met the group upstairs at the restaurant, located on Deck 13, near the Spinnaker. It was kind of breezy as we were moving pretty fast again, but the views from inside the restaurant were pretty nice. You could see outside in all directions from our table, and we actually did get to see a few whales jumping around at one point during dinner. That drew a crowd for a while once word got out of whales nearby.

Dinner was good and this was my first time in a Brazilian-type steakhouse. I had read all about them and know people who have gone to the ones they have in Philly and they rave about the experience. We were seated, drink orders taken, and then time to hit the extensive salad bar they had there. I didn’t want to fill up too much on that so I didn’t eat too much but instead waited for the main attraction to arrive. They come around with skewers of about a half dozen types of roasted meats and carve onto your plate until you tell them to stop. The signal that you want more is keeping the placard at your table turned up to the green side and once you are done, flip it over to red to tell them you are done. We got lamb, chicken, pork, sausages steak, and a few other things and it was good. They do all the cooking in the kitchen at Cagney’s steakhouse, if you were wondering. I was full and although it was good, it still wasn’t my favorite dinner place. This was the third stop on our UDP tour for those of you keeping count. I believe regular price is either $20 or $25. Pretty good value.

Moderno

Now, after dinner, it was a lazy evening at the cabin, just watching sunset behind the spectacular mountains. This was also the night that the Amtrak train derailed in Philadelphia, killing 8 people and injuring hundreds more. When we got back from dinner, I was flipping through the news channels and saw the breaking coverage they had. I know where this spot in Philly is, and it is a very busy rail corridor between Washington and New York. This was a complete disaster that shut down train service throughout the Northeast for a week and created havoc for hundreds of thousands. Anyway, I am big on marking major historical moments as they happen, so I got a nice contrasting view in a photo. It showed the disaster coverage, while in the same picture, I was looking out at beautiful scenery while on vacation.

Contrasting things right here - vacation with tragedy back home

After watching TV some, I went downstairs to lose a few more dollars at the casino and came back up to the room before midnight to see what was going on. By this point, pretty much everything shuts down onboard the ship, and there isn’t much to do other than casino or bed. I think there was a dance party going on at Spinnaker but I didn’t feel like checking that out. We again decided against getting a pizza delivered and it turned out to be a good thing because word the next day was that the pizzas that people got that night were not good at all. Would have been a waste of money if we had ordered one. On a side note, the much-talked about $7.95 room service charges had not yet started on this cruise although we did not order any ourselves. Nor did they give people any trouble about bringing small quantities of food out of the buffet dining rooms for eating elsewhere.

So, that is about it for today, I have quite a few pics I will be posting in a minute, and I can’t wait to get to my next day’s adventure in Icy Strait Point. Have a good night and happy reading and cruising!

Edited June 11, 2015 by FlyingCruiserNJ

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

Morning in Glacier Bay:

 

 

More awesome views of faraway and nearby mountains, getting closer to the glaciers:

 

 

Mountain that was cut up by a glacier a long time ago. Lots of these formations in the area:

 

 

 

A big glacier, the Johns Hopkins. This is as close as we got but still close enough to see how mammoth it really was. Had to compete with lots and lots of others who were trying to get pictures to get these:

 

 

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

From my perch up top, overlooking everything. This deck was crowded. Ship spun 360 degrees in order to give everyone a look. Seeing the ship with the mountains and glacier in the distance puts everything in perspective.

 

 

The Westerdam. They were also in the bay today, and we saw them again later on in the cruise:

 

Nature, man!

 

 

I think this is the closest we got to a glacier. Could see and hear ice breaking off this. And this was nowhere near the biggest glacier we saw:

 

 

 

A whale sighting! Taken from inside Moderno, while we waited for dinner to be served. I was lucky enough to get at least this glimpse of the tail, other people were not quick enough with the camera draw to get anything.

 

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

Moderno Brazilian Steakhouse:

 

 

 

Hanging out inside the cabin, after dinner and before sunset - found out about the awful train derailment here:

 

 

Sunset - have to be quick to get these shots as the sun goes behind the mountains quickly and then it's gone:

 

 

Dusk and a distant pic of the NCL Pearl, on a similar itinerary to ours. I think they left from Vancouver. Have been reading some nice reviews of this particular voyage as well.

 

 

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

I am loving your review. We will be doing an Alaskan cruise next summer. I am have a hard time deciding between the Carnival legend or NCL. I have been on 5 Caribbean cruises, all on Carnival. They are the only cruise line I know. Also does a birth certificate and drivers license work for customs on the Yukon train excursion or passport only? Thanks again

 

Thanks for reading along!

 

I do not know whether or not the birth certificate is OK but I am almost certain driver's license won't be enough. It is treated just like any other customs entry point in the USA I think and I know you cannot get back into the country with just a driver's license anymore.

 

I have been on a dozen Carnival cruises but never the Legend. This was actually only my third non-Carnival cruise but I would suggest NCL as it is different, but still a nice time. Less nightlife on NCL but buffet food is way better although dining rooms aren't as good and more stuff that is upcharge than Carnival. For Alaska, honestly I don't think you can go wrong with any line. I sailed to Alaska on Princess before, and it was just as nice as this cruise was. Whatever you decide on, I am sure you will love your cruise.

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

Loving your review so far! :)

 

I am glad to hear that you are enjoying, thanks for checking my review out. I'm making progress, albeit slowly but I'm getting there. :) Just got Day 7 posted tonight and hopefully can get to Day 8 in the near future.