Jewel of the Seas to Alaska! May 29, 2015 Pictorial Review!

[DarthGrady]

 

 

 

At Caribou Crossing

 

 

[DarthGrady]

 

 

 

The wildlife museum

 

 

[DarthGrady]

And of course the main attraction at Caribou Crossing, the sled dogs and their puppies

 

 

 

 

 

[CruisingChristine]

How beautiful! We leave on Friday, and your pictures have me so excited about this trip.

The puppies are so cute!

[DarthGrady]

Carcross

 

 

 

On the road back to Skagway, a caribou

 

 

The WP & YR steam engine still in operation, its tours are more money but include adult beverages

 

Edited June 17, 2015 by DarthGrady

[MiMiMurrieta]

Leaving on June 26... Love seeing these pictures and sharing your journey!

[jaspercat]

And of course the main attraction at Caribou Crossing, the sled dogs and their puppies

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Awe the puppies! Snuggled a few when I was there. My family did the dog-cart part --- had a great time and was very informative. (Sorry Grady had to delete one of yours to post the below.)

 

Here's a pic of the dogs all harnessed up and raring to go!

 

[DarthGrady]

Awe the puppies! Snuggled a few when I was there. My family did the dog-cart part --- had a great time and was very informative. (Sorry Grady had to delete one of yours to post the below.)

 

Here's a pic of the dogs all harnessed up and raring to go!

 

 

No problem, thanks for sharing!

[jaspercat]

Grady --- is John B and his wife still the CD and Activities Director? (Wasn't a fan - just curious if they are still onboard as heard they were heading off for vacation, but didn't hear when.)

 

It was always a good night in the DL with Hector:o:D

[DarthGrady]

Grady --- is John B and his wife still the CD and Activities Director? (Wasn't a fan - just curious if they are still onboard as heard they were heading off for vacation, but didn't hear when.)

 

It was always a good night in the DL with Hector:o:D

 

Yes they were still onboard during our cruise. I saw them out and about a few times.

 

Hector has quite the fan following. We posted a few pics with him on a "social media website" and lots of folks were happy that he's still there. I'm not sure when I'll be back on Jewel, but I definitely hope to see him again.

[pspercy]

Our Cabin:

 

We had cabin 3608, which is an ocean view (window only) room on deck 3. It was a good location being close to the stairwell and elevators, but not too close. The cabin had been updated slightly with a flat screen TV. . . . .

 

 

That looks familiar . . yep, just checked my bundle of seapass cards, 3608 is where we were on Jewel doing Can/Northeast in October 2012 :D:eek:

Edited June 18, 2015 by pspercy

[sg1phileshipper]

Amazing pictures and great review. I had so many flashbacks to Alaska on the Radiance in 2009. Carcross, Caribou Crossing, the ship, and so on. Thanks for sharing

 

Cindy

[slk230red]

Hey Grady, when you went through Tracy Arm Fjords did you get to see Sawyer Glacier up close? We were there the same day just before you and never got close....just a peak of the top in the distance.

[DarthGrady]

Hey Grady, when you went through Tracy Arm Fjords did you get to see Sawyer Glacier up close? We were there the same day just before you and never got close....just a peak of the top in the distance.

Yes, same experience here. I'll be posting that part of the review later today. We were pretty far away. A little disappointing. I was hoping to at least get close enough to break off a few pieces to make daiquiris.

[jmf123]

Posting info for Den Leader and MiMiMurrieta, but also want to thank DarthGrady for a great review and photos! It's fun to relive our Alaska (Serenade) cruise, and look forward to our first time on Jewel in September. (And you are right, the helicopter from Juneau is worth every penny!).

 

Was it warm enough to swim in the outside pool during the first couple of days? We are traveling with 4 children ages 11, 12,13,14 (not all ours).

Den Leader, just wanted to mention that during inclement weather and select hours, the ship may permit the Solarium pool to be used by children under age 16, provided they are directly supervised by a parent or guardian. Bring your swimsuits, it's nice and toasty in there! :cool:

 

We are taking our family ....15 of us including 7 grands aged 5-11. This is a celebration of my husband's 70th birthday. I have been looking at weather reports as we depart Seattle Friday June 26. As much as I am excited, I am anxious too. Just want everyone to enjoy...hoping the grands will enjoy the kid activities so that we can have some adult time with our 3 children and their spouses. We have booked the private dining rooms for night 3 and night 7. I loved seeing the Mimi golf course, the climbing wall and the basketball court. We are hoping for great formal night pictures and to that end the boys/men will wear tuxedos. This is a once in a lifetime trip and we hope it will be educational as well as fun. Thank you for posting!

 

MiMiMurrieta, your family cruise sounds wonderful! I just wanted to mention that you can opt for My Family Time Dining (for first seating) in the Main Dining Room, for children ages 3 to 11. Your grandkids can enjoy their meal within 40 minutes of seating, before Adventure Ocean staff pick them up for a night of fun activities. The adults stay behind to relax and continue the meal. This program starts the second evening onboard. After that, you can use it each evening, or whenever you wish. Have an amazing cruise!:)

 

Yes, same experience here. I'll be posting that part of the review later today. We were pretty far away. A little disappointing. I was hoping to at least get close enough to break off a few pieces to make daiquiris.

 

Love it! :D

[MiMiMurrieta]

We do have "my family time dining"... 6 pm seating! Thank you for the post. I am hoping to get us one long table ( small tables pushed together banquet style) rather than two rounds next to each other. I plan to visit the mater'd once we board to request that configuration. Anyone had success doing this? We have one little guy (8) with special needs. We booked the two speciality DR's on night 3 and night 7 for adults only. We also hope to get some special family photos on formal nights...the guys (big and small) are bringing tuxedos. I cannot believe it is next week!! So excited.... And the above posts have been great to get us acclimated. Thank you all so much!

[DarthGrady]

Leaving on June 26... Love seeing these pictures and sharing your journey!

 

Amazing pictures and great review. I had so many flashbacks to Alaska on the Radiance in 2009. Carcross, Caribou Crossing, the ship, and so on. Thanks for sharing

 

Cindy

 

Glad you all are enjoying it! Still quite a bit to go. I've also got a bunch from our time in Seattle I'm going to post, just in case anyone is going to see the sights around town.

[js4rq]

Gorgeous photos. Looking forward to more!

[Scotty G]

Maria, the ship’s Loyalty Ambassador, stopped in many times throughout the week as well. She does a great job making everyone feel welcome.

Hi my friend!

 

Glad you got to meet my friend Mariya Lyamshyna. She was the bar person on our first Jewel cruise (and subsequent) in the Hollywood Odyssey - Concierge Overflow. We are so proud of her becoming the Loyalty Ambassador. Well deserved and super qualified after so many years on board with Jewel and RCI!

 

Thanks for taking the time to do your usual magic!!!

[DarthGrady]

Hi my friend!

 

Glad you got to meet my friend Mariya Lyamshyna. She was the bar person on our first Jewel cruise (and subsequent) in the Hollywood Odyssey - Concierge Overflow. We are so proud of her becoming the Loyalty Ambassador. Well deserved and super qualified after so many years on board with Jewel and RCI!

 

Thanks for taking the time to do your usual magic!!!

 

Hello again, thanks for stopping in!

 

Not only was she the LA, she jumped behind the bar and helped Hector out a few times as well. Her husband is also a really nice guy, he was the bar lead for the VCL, so we saw him each night when we were up in the Vortex.

[Scotty G]

Hello again, thanks for stopping in!

 

Not only was she the LA, she jumped behind the bar and helped Hector out a few times as well. Her husband is also a really nice guy, he was the bar lead for the VCL, so we saw him each night when we were up in the Vortex.

 

Not surprising :) She and Ali have been my friends on FB for many years now!

[DarthGrady]

Day 5, Tracy Arm Fjord:

 

We entered the Tracy Arm Fjord early, around 6:30 am. Unfortunately it was an event much too early for this night owl to witness. Maria recommended that everyone be up for that, but I figured I’d see us leave, just as good.

 

The Tracy Arm Fjord is very beautiful, and worth seeing once. Unfortunately we weren't able to get very close to the main attraction, which is Sawyer Glacier. We got much closer to the glaciers several years ago on Carnival Spirit as we cruised through Glacier Bay. We did see a bit of wildlife, a few seals laying on the floating ice.

 

The Top Tier Event (shouldn't it be Top Tiers?) was held out on the Helipad as we cruised out after seeing Sawyer Glacier. It was a very nice venue, I wish other ships would get inventive with their locations like that. I realize it was just because we were on a scenic cruise, but not being cooped up in a lounge was nice.

 

After leaving the fjord, it was basically just a sea day. I relaxed around the ship in the afternoon before the nightly activities began. I believe it was this night that we hit an odd snag. Karaoke ended, which usually results in that crowd leaving the Hollywood Odyssey and walking next door into the Vortex. This results in a nice bump in the party atmosphere in the disco.

 

Unfortunately on this night they had double booked the DJ, so when the karaoke crowd walked in it was just house music playing. Most left and the disco was pretty empty the rest of the time. The worst part is that the DJ had been scheduled in the casino. Why they felt the need to put a live DJ in a venue that has not one square foot of space set aside for dancing is beyond me.

 

It’s just another example of Royal Caribbean’s inability (or lack of interest?) to run a proper wild/fun/boozy nightclub. I've said many times, and likely will again, that they could take several pages out of Carnival’s playbook in that area.

 

Tracy Arm Fjord

 

 

 

 

 

[DarthGrady]

A fellow CC'er who was on Celebrity Infinity that same day was kind enough to share photos of our early morning passing in the fjord. I'll share them here, very cool to see pics of your own ship taken from elsewhere.

 

Hi Florida neighbor,

 

We were on the Celebrity Infinity from San Francisco to Vancouver. When we were coming out of Tracy Arm Fjord on 6/2/15, I took some pictures of the Jewel as you were coming through. Here are some of the pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[niklynn1]

We were on this exact same cruise the week following you, and our Sawyer Glacier experience was stunning! My absolute favorite part of the entire trip! We were able to get quite close to the glacier and spent an hour and 45 minutes just slowly rotating near it before heading back out again.

 

It makes me curious as to what the difference was just a few days prior for your trip. From the pics you posted, it doesn't appear to be an over abundance of ice in the water. What reason did the captain give for not being able to make it further in?

[DarthGrady]

More Tracy Arm Fjord