Jewel 6/6-13/2015 review

[Emptynesternow]

Review of the NCL Jewel 6/6-13/2015 40th Wedding Anniversary Cruise

We went to Seattle on 6/4 to check out this city that we have never been too. We had made arrangements with Shuttle Express for a town car pickup and return. Our driver was waiting in the luggage area when we got off the escalator. We were blessed with great weather, a great location to stay (Marriott Waterfront) and a great time. We visited the city center where the Space Needle is – went up, went to Chiluly Glass and the Duck tour. We went through Pike’s Market and watched fish being thrown. One thing – the flowers!!! Oh my were they beautiful and were they cheap! Huge and I mean huge bouquets for $15, $10 and $5. Sweetpeas of every color!

SATURDAY, EMBARKATION DAY – left the hotel at 10 a.m. and just walked across the street. We dropped off our luggage and headed over to the entrance door, where this gentleman asked what time our arrival time was to be there. I showed him our boarding passes and there was no specific time so we walked right in. We lucked out with boarding card 2 and at 10:50 they allowed the passengers to board. This being our first NCL cruise we were impressed with the decorations on the boarding deck, the welcoming and the ease of how everything went. Once inside we went up to O’Sheehan’s for lunch. At 1:30 the staterooms were ready and we went to find ours. Since we are veteran cruisers we were surprised that the stateroom (mid-ship balcony) was so small compared to what we have stayed in. Then we saw the bathroom and laughed at the size of the area for the toilet! Trust me…if you are a large person you will NOT get in there. The toilet was at an angle on top of it! The sliding glass doors, with a little etched glass, offered no privacy….same on the shower. Storage – you needed to be creative and it all worked out.

Our cabin steward was Hillary from India….a superb cabin steward! He explained things, redirected us and made sure we had everything. He even fixed a problem we had - more on that later. We had towel animals we had never seen before….a lobster, polar bear, eskimo, and mice.

First night’s dinner was in Cagney’s (we had the UDP). Appetizer was very good but we were not impressed with the filet I had or the sea bass my husband had. On top of that, there was a group of 8 nearby with a child (age 8-10) who only knew how to talk by yelling. When he didn’t get attention he talked even louder. Not one word was said to him to be quiet. Then the father talked and it was obvious that the kid was mimicking his dad. Then I heard them said they were going to LeBistro the next night – where we also had reservations.

SUNDAY, 1ST SEA DAY – Seas were rough….alot of rocking and rolling as we were in the Pacific Ocean. Luckily, I had some non-drowsy Dramamine and that helped a lot. We did breakfast in Tsar’s and it proved to be a great place to eat. At 11 a.m. we had a Cruise Critic meet and greet in LeBistro – 56 folks signed up, but shamefully only 12 showed up. It was a shame because a great many of the officers showed up and told us about themselves. Although, a small group, we had a very nice time. Thank you’s to Alex and Jennifer for organizing it! Before we went to LeBistro for dinner we did some photos and hoped they would turn out well. When the hostess took us inside we were about to be seated – you guessed it – right next to the previous night’s loud kiddo! I immediately asked for a different table in a quieter area which she was happy to do. That move was a great decision, as we had the best ever waiter! His name is Boodie, from Indonesia, and he was also the “washy washy” singer! He may be lots of fun outside the buffet but he was superb in how he treated us! On top of that the food was amazing!

MONDAY – KETCHIKAN – A beautiful day and such an easy port to hop off and on the ship. We shopped in town and walked around checking out totem poles and scenery. We had booked a float plane ride with Island Wings for 1 p.m. so off we went to find our meeting point. Shona (the voice on the phone) picked us up and took us for the 5 minute ride to the dock. We waited on our pilot and owner, Michele to return with another group and watched as she glided onto the water and taxied over. After getting us on board and assigning us seats we were told the safety features, etc. We then put on headsets and off we went. Mind you I was very nervous about this 7 seat plane but it was really nice. Michele has been a pilot for over 30 years – she got her license as a junior in high school. We flew thru the fjords and saw the most incredible scenery. We were fortunate to see mountain goats up on the tops of a mountain. Unfortunately, the cloud level was to low and we could not venture to the glacier. However, off we went to Marconi Lake and landed on the lake – and trust me we did not even know we were on the water Michele is so good! We got out and took pictures , swatted what we thought were flies but were really very big mosquitos! She explained that Alaska had a weird winter – very little snow and rain. Ketchikan is a temperate rain forest and relies on the snow and rain. She said that the ski resorts in Alaska were only open for 2 days this past season because they didn’t get snow. She said normally the lake we landed on would still be frozen and that there would have been 50-100 feet of snow – there was neither!

Dinner was in Moderno – was ok, but not outstanding. I certainly enjoyed the lamb…..my hubby enjoyed the filet. Sides were ok, but our rice wasn’t cooked completely and the potatoes were cool not hot.

TUESDAY – JUNEAU & CRUISE SAWYER GLACIER – Another beautiful day! We chose to do a whale watch with Harv & Marv. We had 6 of us on board with our pilot, who was fun and full of great information about whales, spotting them, their coloring and the names they are given. We were fortunate to see several whales, one of which was named “Flame” – her huge tail had a great design on it – which is how they are names. Apparently, fisherman take “ownership” of whales and name them. We got very lucky and saw a mom and her baby. The baby kept coming out of the water and twisting it’s body trying to bring up it’s tail. They do not get their true tail design/coloring until they are 2 years old.

Dinner tonight was in Tsar’s. We always had a table by the window each time we went and we were not disappointed! We had a great view of the ice bergs/flows as we travelled. Some of them had sea lions resting on them. We were nearly finished with dinner when the Captain slowed the ship down and turned it around so we quickly got our coats and went up on deck. The view of this glacier was fantastic! The back of the ship was up close and allowed for some great photographs.

WEDNESDAY – SKAGWAY – We arrived to cloudy, misty, low clouds with some misting rain. It looked really dreary. We took the shuttle in to town ($2 each way per person) and took a bit of time to visit the shops, people watch and take pictures, but the weather was chilly and we decided to go back and eat before our train ride up the White Pass. We got on the train and the tour guide was very informative on what we were seeing. It is a long ride – nearly 2 hours – up the mountain, but with glorious views of waterfalls, bridges and sites where the Yukon Trail was. Going back down the mountain was much quicker and the tour guide announced that the breaks would be used so expect some bumps. Once we rolled into the station it was a short walk to the ship, however, the wind had increased to the point it was difficult to walk and it really caught your breath if you looked straight ahead.

Dinner tonight was Tsar’s again….an enjoyable meal!

THURSDAY – SEA DAY – Again the ship was rocking and rolling….actually quite hard for the first part of the day, but the closer we got to Victoria the smoother it became.

Dinner tonight was in LeBistro – we asked for Boodie’s section as we had enjoyed him so much. Again, he did not disappoint and we had a great meal of the Coronets as an appetizer and the Fruits de Mer for our main course. It was delicious!

FRIDAY – VICTORIA, BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA – An absolutely beautiful day. That morning we went to the free cruise drawing (no such luck for us) then went back to the cabin to get ready for lunch. When we came in I went to look for something and saw that there was an enormous amount of black stuff all over the bed. I went out into the hall and found Hillary. He came back and said it was the filter above the bed and he had someone come to change it. He said he would clean up the mess and put new sheets, etc. on the bed. On occasion that happens…but I’m glad we weren’t sleeping when it did. We arrived at 2:30 and had to be back on the ship at 9 p.m. We took a double decker bus tour around the city. This city is clean and full of beautiful gardens. We even saw palm trees! That’s right! Although not native to the area, this island is protected from harsh winters. We did not go to Bouchart Gardens but wandered down to the waterfront to watch seaplanes, ferries and “pickle boats” come and go.The pickle boats are miniature ferries that go from place to place. The sea planes came and went continuously. We stopped for a glass of wine and an appetizer – a yummy shrimp and crab dip. We opted to get the shuttle back (round trip $10 each from the pier to downtown). We went to the Azura MDR for dinner – again another nice meal.

SATURDAY – SEATTLE – Time to head for home. We did easy walk off and waited in line from about 6:40 until about 7:30 when the ship got the ok to allow us to come to shore. Once off we headed straight to the Shuttle Express tent to head to the airport. I will be contacting Shuttle Express tomorrow….with all the great reviews, etc . our return was timely but not what I was expecting. Our pickup when we arrived was a clean (inside and out) car. Our return…the car had not been cleaned. The outside was not washed, the interior had not been wiped down in quite some time. The driver, although friendly, smelled! We weren’t sure if it was coming from his pores, his mouth or otherwise. I tried to open the windows and he had the windows locked. I requested the windows be open but he said he would turn the A/ C on. That’s fine but it was blowing the stench back. The airport was a zoo….and the lines for check in were unbelievably long. We opted to do it outside and was thru that in 10 minutes. It would have taken us well over an hour if we had gone inside. Security was a breeze. About an hour before we were to board someone came over and told us the gate was wrong and that we needed to move across the way. It was a fiasco on this plane. There was a tour (I think they were from Brazil) and they were really screwing up the seating. Making it worse the interpreter was seated in the back and didn’t assist. They were putting luggage in areas other than where they were sitting then sitting in the wrong seats. The flight attendants had their hands full! We had some heavy turbulence and several hard jolts. Someone in the back of the plane kept screaming. Getting off those who had moved their carry on to various locations were yelling in their native language to each other….so they proceeded to pass the overhead luggage over everyone’s heads! It took forever to deplane!

BARS – Lots to choose from but we found Shaker’s Martini bar to be the best. What super bartenders. Once in particular, Dino, treated us very well. We tipped him well a couple of times that week. He makes a great drink! Oliver is very nice too, but we had a good view of all of them making drinks and he was a sloppy pourer and didn’t fill the shot glass full. In Victoria, the government there would only allow the ship to have 3 bars open when in port. That meant all the waiters from the various restaurants were getting drinks as well as the customers. It was something to watch.

O’SHEEHAN’S – Was quick and for the most part tasty. My hubby’s corned beef sandwich wasn’t great – full of fat and grizzle. The wings, chicken pot pie and fish & chips are good as well.

CHIN CHIN – open for dinner but on sea days it becomes UDON’s noodle bar.

SEASIDE BBQ – Every nice day they had 4 huge grills on the deck serving grilled pork chops, hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken, fish, paella, corn on the cob, along with various salads.

ENTERTAINMENT – Lets just say it was the best we have ever seen on any of our cruises. The shows in the Stardust Theater were phenomenal – don’t miss them. The bands that played around the ship were exceptionally good. They had tribute nights in various locations – Elton John, The Beatles, etc.

KIDS CLUB – We could hear them and it was obvious they were having a blast. They even put on a show.

CREW TALENT SHOW – Was terrific!

CRUISE DIRECTOR – Armon was great…he got involved in everything!

WHAT WE MISSED – We did miss the piano bar and adult comedy. We did find that there was more music on the ship then any other we had been on – and fewer activities scheduled. There were numerous skin care, acupuncture, etc lectures that we noticed very few people attending. As we walked pass two of them only 1 person was in attendance.

WHAT WE DIDN’T LIKE – The tiny commode room (we’re not large people either) and the Casino was a bust…didn’t pay out.

WHAT IMPRESSED US THE MOST – This was our first NCL cruise and our 10th cruise. We could not believe how accessible the ship’s officers and staff were. They were everywhere. They asked you about your day, how was the cruise, what they could do for you, etc. We have NEVER seen this on any other cruise. They even lined the dock on our last cruise day in Victoria. They kept telling everyone to please call them at any time….their phone numbers were listed! We’ve never seen a Maître’ d who went around the dining rooms and restaurants like they were on this ship. They really made you feel special.

[Emptynesternow]

Please note that when you go to the shows...especially Iluminesque ....go early as both shows were full and they will not allow you in after a certain time due to what the performers are doing.

[D&J38]

Hi Sue! Great review! It was so nice to meet your and your hubby on the cruise. Now I have to go back and fix mine where I messed up the cabin time...

 

Janice

[seemoreroyals]

Thank you for the excellent and comprehensive review. Too bad you had to deal with the screaming kid the first night of your cruise. I am glad you were able to get moved on your second night and run across such a great waiter. It is so nice to have great service and be pampered.

 

I have been hearing from everyone how great the entertainment on the Jewel has been. I hope when we get our turn in September they keep the same group of entertainers together and they continue to be as impressive.

 

Thanks again for providing a glimpse of what we have to look forward to in a few short months.

[Emptynesternow]

Janice it was great to meet you and Dick.....saw your review....great one too!