The Alaskan Jewel! Welcome Aboard….You don’t Exist!

[jenseib]

I was on same cruise as you.... Can't wait to read your review to compare to our experiences. We had a great time and didn't encounter any problems. We spent 2 days before cruise and 2 days after cruise in Seattle. Was a fantastic 12 day adventure and can cross Alaskan cruise off my bucket list. Look forward to reading more.

 

Are you doing a review of any type? If so, let me know!

 

Our problem was rare and they didn't know how to handle it.

 

Enjoying your review, thanks for writing!

 

 

Thanks for joining in.

[iggy's mom]

I've enjoyed your other reviews! Looking forward to reading this one.

 

Clair

[jenseib]

I've enjoyed your other reviews! Looking forward to reading this one.

 

Clair

 

 

Thanks for joining in!!!!!

[jenseib]

Before I get started with our first day, I do want to add a few things.

 

About 2 weeks before our cruise I was in contact with someone from Concierge. They asked our likes and wants and anything we may need.

Our anniversary is mid July, so I had added this was an anniversary trip. I also requested foam pillows, an egg crate topper for Claire’s bed, and hot cocoa packets for our room. Also extra towels and a few other odds in and ends and she said she had it all noted and attached to our reservation. Great. One less thing we would have to ask about.

 

 

Also about a week or so before our cruise NCL announced that as of Aug. 1st the gratuities/service charges were going up. Now Skip and I were already covered in the promo, but Claire wasn’t. I decided to prepay hers. The savings wasn’t huge, but hey, every penny counts and we were already spending the most we ever had on a vacation. (the flights were killers and I still cringe at the price we ended up paying, but it could have been more, I guess. That’s one of the downsides of not booking WAY out ahead of time)

 

Skip did not know what kind of room we had, except that it was a balcony. I was a bit nervous on what he would think when a butler would show up daily. I just knew he would cringe about it. I was a bit nervous too really. We just are not the type to need extra pampering. I figured we would play it by ear and if we felt uncomfortable we would let him/her know that we didn’t need any extra services.

And then I wasn’t sure about how to tip the butler. I read up on it on Cruise Critic and there were a lot of heated debates on how much to tip. I came up with a price that sounded acceptable to me and stashed that money in an envelope. I figured if the service was exceptional we could add more and if it was less, then we could take away.

 

Another service for suite guests is Concierge. Now I knew Florentina was the concierge person on the Jewel. I still wasn’t sure exactly how much we would ever actually need or use her. I had prebooked everything, so again I figured we would play it by ear. This is another person to tip, so I added what I thought was appropriate to my special tip envelope and again if we needed to add or subtract to it we could.

 

I also made up another envelope for extra tips like porters, bus drivers, excursions, etc. I put 5’s and 10’s in that envelope to make it easier to have easy access to money when needed.

 

For those that don’t know, Skip is a dairy farmer. He and his brother actually retired early spring. I knew they would go nuts with just general farming, but they were also going into the beef cattle business. They are so used to being active and working so much, that it was a culture shock for them to have so little to do now and sure enough within a month they decided to go back into the dairy business. However they were going back in in a different way. They ordered a robot milker so they no longer had to be there to milk the cows twice a day every day. The cows will be able to just go up to this milker and get milked when needed. All summer long the robot has been in the processed of being installed and the milking parlor is going through a transformation to accommodate this machine. A lot was going to happen while we were gone and Skip’s brother Dave tends to panic when Skip isn’t around. Luckily with all this extra relaxation they have had over the summer, he was not too nervous and things were going pretty smoothly.

 

A few nights before we left, a bunch of “the guys” came out to the barn and were having a few beers and chit chatting…..or really shooting the bull is probably a better term for their chit chat.

I walked out to nosey in on the latest farm gossip. Of course the conversation turned to our upcoming trip. All the guys were jealous and Skip was really eating it up.

He then asked if I ever booked any excursions. Yes I did! (no thanks to you and your input).

I told him what they were and he was very excited I booked the Deadliest Catch one. I knew this was going to be a big thing for him and I also knew this was one thing that was making him want to go to Alaska. He beamed a big smile when I told him about it and all the guys once again were jealous and excited. Skip did not seem too excited about the other excursions, but I knew he would be happy with them once we got there. He was just unfamiliar with them and he is one who likes to be familiar with everything. (He is NOT good with change in most cases…to a point it can drive me batty).

 

I was so glad I had booked these excursions though as they promised to be pretty exciting and I could tell he would be disappointed if I hadn’t prebooked.

 

Now…I promise on to day one next!

[ourfamilylovescruising]

We do love Universal too. I am a big Harry Potter fan, but my family loves all of Universal. Only I have stayed onsite though there and now I would never want to stay off when we go back. LOL.

 

 

 

Thanks!

 

I would love to work with a cruise company.....I am assuming you get some discounts?

I do but they are usually last minute and with kids most of the time cant use them so doesn't help to much. but I love what I do:D

[NancyL2]

Quick question...Did you do the Chefs Table? If so, do you remember which night the Jewel had this?

Thanks.

[jenseib]

Quick question...Did you do the Chefs Table? If so, do you remember which night the Jewel had this?

Thanks.

 

 

I did not. I never saw it listed or advertised...but I swear I overheard someone making a reservation on Thursday for it when I was in the dining reservations line. So that would lead me to guess Thursday night. I could be totally off and he could've been making something else, but I remember hearing the price and it was high, so I figured that is what it was for.

[jenseib]

I do but they are usually last minute and with kids most of the time cant use them so doesn't help to much. but I love what I do:D

 

 

Bummer! Those darn kids! ;)

[NancyL2]

Thanks so the the info. Thursday would work perfectly for me. :)

Yes, the price for one at Chefs Table is high...$99. But those who have attended say it's well worth the money.

 

 

I did not. I never saw it listed or advertised...but I swear I overheard someone making a reservation on Thursday for it when I was in the dining reservations line. So that would lead me to guess Thursday night. I could be totally off and he could've been making something else, but I remember hearing the price and it was high, so I figured that is what it was for.

[jenseib]

Thanks so the the info. Thursday would work perfectly for me. :)

Yes, the price for one at Chefs Table is high...$99. But those who have attended say it's well worth the money.

 

 

Yes. I know it was over 100 per person but she was quoting with gratuities so I figured it had to be it.

[jenseib]

Day 1, July 31, 2015, Traveling to Seattle

The plan for today was to leave the house by 6 AM. We had a 9:40 flight out of Detroit, which is the closest big airport for us. We were driving to my Aunts house and then she was driving us to the airport.

I got up around 5ish to get ready and Skip and Claire were not far behind me. I had packed the car with the suitcases the night before so we should’ve been ready to go….but I know better than that. Skip of course had to run out the barn a couple of times to check things and it probably was about 6:10 before we actually left the house.

I drove to my aunts….I always drive and Skip tells me how to drive from the passenger seat. I asked Skip if he had cigarettes and he said just the packs he had in his hand. UGH! I told him to be sure to pack some and he NEVER does. I knew he could get some on the ship at a reasonable price so I wasn’t too worried. I asked if he brought his phone charger. NOPE! He and his brother Dave have dumb phones and share a charger out in the barn. He said Dave would need it to keep his phone charged. Of course it won’t help if Skip’s phone is dead. Luckily I was pretty sure my kindle charger would work with his phone and I had that packed.

Aunt Mary was ready and we moved our suitcases to her CRV, made a potty break and soon were on our way.

On the way we chattered away about our trip. Aunt Mary told us about their trip to Seattle a while back and how they wanted to see Mt. Rainier. She said they were going to ask at the hotel desk how to get nearer to see it and low and behold that day the clouds and mist that had been around for the whole trip had lifted and they could see the Mountain right outside their hotel. I was hoping to see the Mountain myself.

We talked about the excursions we had planned and what we hoped to see and do. After a bit Aunt Mary said to watch for signs to turn onto another highway. Oh…..I saw that a while back, is that where we were supposed to turn? Shoot! Skip confirmed he had seen us pass it too. I then pulled out my phone and asked Siri to get us to DTW. She seemed to think we could still get there by getting off at an exit in about 10 miles. I then called Uncle Geoff (Aunt Mary’s husband) and asked if he thought we should turn around or keep following Siri’s directions. Geoff said to turn around.

We thought about it and we knew we were pretty far from where we had seen the turn off and decided to follow Siri. We also started seeing planes, which is usually a good sign you are close to the airport.

This route actually ended up being better as my Aunt said when she went back home there was an accident and we would’ve been stuck in traffic and probably pretty late to the airport.

We arrived and pulled our bags out and said our good byes to Aunt Mary and went to the curbside check in and left our bags.

Smokers have to make 1 final stop before we go in, so off to the side we went.

Claire was ready!!!

dtw1 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

We headed in through security and it was pretty painless for us. Since Claire is 10, she and I still can go through the old scanner. Skip has had 3 hip replacements….yes I said 3…. 2 on 1 hip and 1 on the other, so he had to go through the body scanner and then they typically wand him down as well.

We grabbed our carryons and back packs and headed to our gate. We were hungry so Claire and I went to find some food. I knew what I wanted. Earl of Sandwich! I think I got some sort of ham and cheese, though I no longer really remember, but it was very tasty. Claire is picky and options were limited this early in the morning so she got a muffin from another spot. She headed back to sit with Skip and I stopped and got us some drinks as well.

We sat and ate and Skip headed off to find something for himself.

dtw2 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

earl by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

He seemed to be gone quite a while and I was starting to wonder where the heck he went. Finally he came back and told us he got some breakfast at Ruby Tuesdays. He went in and sat down and had a full service meal. LOL!

We saw that our plane had arrived…I think it was a little bit late…and so we made a last potty stop before it was time to line up.

sw1 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

I prefer Southwest and I earn the rewards points through them. I took 3 roundtrip flights with them for free last year! When booking air, I kept watching Southwest and Delta. Delta was quite a bit higher plus I would have to pay for bags. The plus to Delta was that was a direct flight. When I booked the cruise I looked at SW’s prices and they were high but doable. But I stupidly waited as I was busy and I really thought they might go down a bit. Stupid mistake on my part! They went up after that that then the ideal flight ended up being booked for the way home. In the end I manually put in making a connecting flight in Chicago (it was automatically putting in Arizona or Denver) and I got the price down a bit and the total trip hours would be a bit shorter. If I had booked when I originally looked though I would’ve saved about $400 or more total for all of us.

We boarded and found seats. Claire thinks she needs a window seat and then shuts the shade. I have to remind her that when in the window seat you are not allowed to shut the shade unless mom or dad says its ok. The point of the window seat is to look out. I also informed her I would be on top of her at times looking out and trying to get some pictures.

I feel bad for Skip because he rarely ever gets the window seat anymore. Maybe on our next trip I will be nice and let him have it one way.

We took a selfie as we got ready to go.

sw17 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

This flight was only like 45 minutes. As soon as we leveled off they were serving drinks and snacks and then picking up trash and then landing again. I love flights like that. We had a couple of extra flight attendants on our flight. One was sitting across the aisle. We started talking about looking for our next gate when we got off and this flight attendant was going to be on that same flight. What a small world.

sw16 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

[jenseib]

Once we got off we made potty stops again and then found our gate number. But wait….what is that smell???? POPCORN! Boy did it smell good. I think it was called Nuts on Clark. Skip said after we got to our gate he would come back and get some. The line was long and our gate was in another concourse so I told him he better get in line now. He was in there for quite some time and our flight attendant friend was in there as well.

When he came out he said it was like the Soup ****. Now Skip can tell a tale or 2 at times so I am not sure if I believe him or not. But he said they weren’t supposed to talk or chit chat and he asked the person next to him which kind to get and she whispered to just get the special. I do know that at one point I looked in and told him Claire and I were going somewhere and he put his fingers to his lips to tell me to be quiet. LOL.

He came out with the special which was Caramel and cheese mixed together. The caramel was much better in my opinion. He got a big bag and said it was $27. That better be darn good popcorn….and it was.

We headed to our gate and stood at one of the plug in tables to stretch our legs and recharge our devices a bit. I always bring along mobile chargers but I try not to use them while in the airports if I don’t have to. I rather save the juice for the actual plane ride.

We munched out our million dollar popcorn and soon it was time to board again.

sw15 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

We found our seats and soon were in the air. This flight was going to be a bit over 4 hours. That’s the longest flight Claire has ever been on, but she had electronics and she was fine. We also brought extra snacks and of course they served drinks and snacks. I had 4 drink coupons from SW and I turned 1 in for a free Bud Light. Skip didn’t want any. I had thought we would each have one on the way there and one on the way home, but I returned with 3 unused coupons, so I guess I better see if I have any friends who want them as they expire in Dec.

Our flight offers free TV and music but I could not get the kindle to connect. I was already aware this would probably be a problem from looking online beforehand. Several people around us with different types of tablets tried to connect and they all had issues. This is something SW should fix. Not everyone owns an Apple or Driod device.

I could get it on my computer but I was using it to edit pictures from a day trip Claire and I had recently taken. I could also get it on my iphone but I was listening to an audio book. Claire has my older daughters old iphone just to use with wifi and she too was listening to an audio book….and there sat Skip. Luckily I had downloaded my book to both my phone and kindle, so I handed him the phone and set up the TV and I listened to my book on the kindle. I really think after this trip, Skip may join the real world and get a smart phone. He used my phone on more than one occasion for various reasons.

As we got closer to I could see mountains so I would randomly take pictures out of the window. I will state now that I knew my phone pictures would be off on the time stamp because of the time zone changes but the 2 other cameras I took, The Canon SLR and the Olympus point and shoot should’ve been on the same time…but when I organize them in flickr they are NOT lining up right, so at times during this report I may have pictures out of sync….which might not bother you, but drives me BATTY!!!!!

sw2 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

sw3 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

Mountains really excite me. I live in Ohio in about the flattest part of the state there is.

sw4 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

sw5 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

sw6 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

[jenseib]

sw7 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

sw8 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

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sw10 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

sw11 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

sw19 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

[jenseib]

sw12 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

sw13 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

sw18 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

sw14 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

And there it is! Mt. Rainier. At least I was pretty sure it was! I was pretty excited to see it.

sea12 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

And soon we were landing! Yay! I get antsy on long flights, but I made it in one piece and our vacation was now officially starting.

As we taxied I got this picture with my phone and I must say I thought it was an awesome shot.

sea11 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

[jenseib]

Once we got off the plane we made our way down towards luggage claim…but first things first. Smokers who have been on a plane for hours need to a bit of fresh air. I found a sign that said the smoking areas were on either ends of the building. Well we were in the middle. So we just took off one way and found the area and some people were a little less grouchy after making that stop. (Ok really no one was grouchy and Skip had been chewing Nicorette gum while on the plane).

We headed back to the luggage claim and they were just coming off and we found our bags easily….and doubled checked to be sure they were ours. A few years ago my dad had grabbed the wrong bag and we didn’t find out till the next day. Luckily the airport had their right bag and the exchange was easily made before we had to board the ship.

Off to find Shuttle Express. I had my directions written all out and they were easy to find. The only problem for us was pulling several suitcases and Claire can’t seem to handle more than a carryon bag. I think next time I would invest in one of those carts just to make it slightly easier on all of us.

I checked us in and we were told we would have a little wait, so they sat down and I walked around the area and took a few pictures.

sea1 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

sea2 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

sea3 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

sea4 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

sea5 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

sea6 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

[scubacruiserx2]

We're so glad that you're back from your cruise and looking forward to the rest of your review and great photos of the adventure ! Catchy title . :) :D

Edited August 18, 2015 by scubacruiserx2

[jenseib]

We're so glad that you're back from your cruise and looking forward to the rest of your review and great photos of the adventure ! Catchy title . :) :D

 

 

Glad you made it over!!!

[jenseib]

Our shuttle bus arrived sooner than I thought it would and we loaded up. The driver asked where everyone was going and we were told we would be the first ones off.

sea7 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

sea8 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

One thing we noticed right away was the Seattle was BROWN! They really need some rain.

sea9 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

As we passed this stadium I tried to read the name…SAFECO. Ok, that should be pretty easy to read right….

sea10 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

Not for me who does not watch any sports at all. I was calling it Sah Ef Co. Yep, I’m a dork. Skip then mentioned the name and I was totally laughing at myself. I guess I was trying to give it an Indian name or something.

I also want to note the traffic. It was a lot of stop and go. It was crazy busy and we were really surprised at how bad it was. I had heard it could/would be but it was worse than I expected.

When we got off the expressway we saw a homeless guy with his cardboard sign. Skip joked it was the same guy from our area. I found out later that there are a TON of homeless in Seattle. Something else I didn’t expect. I was talking to my friend from NYC and her husband had recently been to Seattle for business and she said he said it was worse than NYC.

Right away I spotted our hotel but we passed it. I thought we were going to be the first off? We then went around the block and he dropped us off at the side. He got our bags out and showed us where to go in. We mentioned the traffic to him and he said that that was actually light traffic and as the day went on it would get worse, especially with all the activities going on down at the waterfront. I had read in my researching that there was a lot going on, which included boat races and the Blue Angels as well.

We went inside and a bell man took our bags and pointed the way to check in. I got us checked in without any issues. She handed us a letter from NCL about what time the shuttle would be picking us up, where to meet and when and what time our bags should be ready for pick up in our room. A nice perk with booking your hotel through NCL is that they take your bags from your room and you never see them again till on the ship! We asked about our bags as we didn’t see the guy and she said she would let him know and he would be right up.

We headed to our room and rested for a few minutes…well they did and I took pictures.

Claire is good about not messing things up till I take pictures but Skip plops right on the bed every time.

cp1 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

She claimed this bed for herself.

cp2 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

[jenseib]

cp3 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

cp4 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

cp5 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

The view out the window.

cp6 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

cp7 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

cp8 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

[jenseib]

cp9 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

cp10 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

The room was big and we approved of it.

After a bit no one showed up with our bags and we were antsy to go get something to eat so I said I would head down and find out and if he came up for Skip to let him in….and don’t forget to tip!

When I got down to the lobby he was there and said he had just looked up our room number and was about to come up. I told him the gal had said she would let him know and he said she never did but perhaps she had gotten busy checking in more people. So we went back up to the room with our bags. I then asked him how to get to the Cheesecake factory. Anyone who knows me knows I have a little obsession with that place and there is not one locally so when I find them I usually try to eat there. I was jumping for joy when I was looking online for nearby places to eat in my research to find one just a few blocks away. He pointed out the window and showed us the direction to go and it sounded easy enough. Yay!

Once he left we got ready to head out for some dinner!

As we walked along I spotted some sailors. I thought that was so neat and took a picture.

sea14 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

We ended up seeing sailors all over the place so we assumed a ship must be docked.

sea13 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

One thing I also didn’t realize is that Seattle is very hilly. I was amazed at some of the streets that seemed to just drop off so steeply.

Soon we spotted the Cheesecake Factory and Claire and I let out a cheer! This would be Skip’s first visit to one.

sea15 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

sea16 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

[jenseib]

We went in and put our name in. I think they said it would be about a 15 minute wait. I took some pictures as we waited.

I saw this bus go by and I thought it was so cool…Disney has some of those accordion buses too.

cheese2 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

cheese1 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

sea21 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

We walked over to the cheesecake display case and we picked out some favorites that we may want to try.

sea17 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

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[jenseib]

A look at the bar.

sea22 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

We were called and taken back to our table.

sea20 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

It really didn’t seem that busy so I am not sure why we even had a wait, unless they just didn’t have a lot of wait staff at that time of day. Even though it was dinner time at home, it was only after 3 PM here.

Bread was served and we just love their bread. I think we ate 2 baskets worth.

sea26 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

Skip was amazed at how big the menu was. On our first trip to a Cheesecake Factory it was in Orlando and that menu was even bigger. I am not sure if it was just that location or if they have since taken items off, but it was like 30 pages longs there.

I ordered raspberry lemonade and it was delicious.

sea24 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

sea25 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

At home I have put a limit on how much pop we drink. Claire and I were drinking a lot every day. It’s now 1 per day except on special occasions and vacation was a special occasion and Claire was so excited to be able to have limitless pop.

We debated on an appetizer…well mostly Skip did, but in the end we decided not to since we wanted to get cheesecake too. Plus I kept telling Skip that the portions were pretty big.

He went with fish tacos and he said they were really good.

sea27 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

[jenseib]

Claire went with what she always gets…pepperoni pizza.

sea28 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

I had the parmesan crusted chicken.

sea29 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

I love this stuff and I crave it at times. It is soooo good!!!

cheese3 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

We didn’t quite eat it all so to go boxes were made and we ordered cheesecake to go as well. We were given one bag with the to go box and another bag with the cheesecakes. Both bags were kind of small. I wish they would have given us one big bag. If I had been smart, I would have taken 1 of the cheesecakes out and put it in with the to go items….but that required thinking ahead. LOL.

I had bought cheesecake factory gift cards at home just for this occasion. I had $75 worth and figured it would be good to cover it. We were actually just a bit over that amount. (Skip had some alcoholic beverages).

[jm485]

Enjoying your review so much. Your Skip sounds a lot like my John. I have a reservation on the Pearl in an aft PH and I'm anticipating the same concerns about a butler. I'll be interested in your perspective about how it works.

 

Chicago-style popcorn is yummy (sorry, there's just no other word that fits). Every time my work travel takes me to or through an airport there, I'm under orders to bring back a bag from Garrett's!

 

Thanks for taking the time to post so many details.

[jenseib]

Enjoying your review so much. Your Skip sounds a lot like my John. I have a reservation on the Pearl in an aft PH and I'm anticipating the same concerns about a butler. I'll be interested in your perspective about how it works.

 

Chicago-style popcorn is yummy (sorry, there's just no other word that fits). Every time my work travel takes me to or through an airport there, I'm under orders to bring back a bag from Garrett's!

 

Thanks for taking the time to post so many details.

 

 

Thanks!

He did well actually. Now we didn't really use the butler much and she just mainly delivered snacks each day, so he was fine with that. What he really liked was to be able to bypass the long lines to get on the ship....and during our port days too.

 

I never knew there was such a thing as Chicago popcorn, but we saw a ton of people getting it and one lady who was boarding with us told us she had to get it every time she passed through there.