Jewel to Alaska May 7-14, 2016 review

[jollytammy]

We’ve only been on about 4 cruises; 3 were out of Port Canaveral and the other out of Tampa. So I was surprised how different the Seattle port was, and did not like the set up at all (pier 66). The set up seemed small and cramped. I guess I’m use to the nice, airiness of both Tampa and Port Canaveral. We had flown in the night before and stayed at Sleep Inn SeaTac. The hotel was nice, and the shuttle picked us up from the airport. We used Seattle Express to take us to the port and to take us to the airport on our return on Saturday. We were very satisfied with the service. Everyone was very polite. I was a little concerned when they were not at the hotel at EXACTLY 10:30, but that is my stress problem. They arrived a few minutes later and all was well with the world. We had several other stops, so I didn’t arrive at the pier at the break of dawn, and by the time we got through the line, they had announced open boarding. I usually like to be as early as possible, so I can get on the ship as soon as possible.

 

I was traveling with my parents, my mother-in-law, husband and husband’s aunt. Between the check-in at the counter and going through the door to the gangplank, my parents “misplaced” their room keys! We had got our photo, showed our keys/ID, and had started up the gangplank when I turned to take photos of everyone. Where were my parents? So we trudge back down the gangplank to find security sending them back to find their room keys/ID. After several searches and back and forth walks, they found their keys/IDs. My dad had my mom’s, and she had his. What mixed up everyone was that my dad also produced his key/ID from our last cruise in January of 2015! WHAT!

 

So, after we finally get everyone on the ship, they announced that our rooms were ready and we headed up there to drop off what we could and then met up again to eat. All our rooms were on deck 10 forward (basically under the Spa), so we usually would meet near the elevators deck 10 forward.

 

I enjoyed the layout of the Jewel. She seemed easier to navigate than the Sun. Although I tended to get turned around, I thought the layout was nice. The one section I did miss from the Sun was having the sports bar near the Great Outdoors. We use to go and hang out in the sports bar on the Sun, and then make a quick dash over to the Great Outdoors or Garden Café for snacks. Since O’sheehans was not near the Great Outdoors, and they had a “hostess”, we tended not to hangout in that location like we did on the Sun. We did find that the card/game room was very handy for when we played cards, and we used that location, which was down from the spa, several times. I was surprised how many people used the room, and there appeared to be a nice supply of games.

 

We had a balcony which is really a necessity for this cruise. We used our balcony more than we ever have before. I would open the drapes and just lie in bed and watch the scenery go by. It was really amazing.

 

Food: Loved the Garden Café. They always had a nice choice and I found several things that I wanted and enjoyed. My mom said it best when she stated that it was nice having dinner in the sit-down restaurants, but the Garden Café had a better selection each night and service was quicker. The dining room we used was the informal Azura. We enjoyed not having to dress up. After the 3rd night, we found a server that we liked, and we asked for him the rest of the time. He was very entertaining and treated us to some wonderful laughs. Rodwin is amazing, ask for him. Desserts, to me, are better in the dining room than in the Garden Café. We ate dinner each night in Azura, except one night when we tried Chin Chin. This restaurant is also free, and it was a nice change. I did find that they had an amazing dessert that had bean curd in the name, but turned out to be flaky triangles with a chocolate like filling. It is worth trying Chin Chin at least once. We never had dinner at O’sheehans, but did go for snacks a couple times late at night. There were two soft-serve machines in the Garden Café and the layout and size was a little better to me than on the Sun. There were always lots of choices at the Garden Café and the Great Outdoors. Because of the weather, seating tending to disappear fast due to losing the seating on the aft deck, near the Great Outdoors. We ended up eating in the La Cucina most days after getting our food.

 

We had an amazing room steward. We had ice every day and he made sure to learn our names and would greet us in the hallway, using our names. He was one of the better stewards that we’ve ever had.

 

The shows were the best I’ve seen, other than when we were on Disney (which you can’t beat). The musical the second night was amazing. Maybe because it was music from the 70’s, but I loved it. Much better than what was on the Sun last year. The two comedians were wonderful. We absolutely loved Jean-Pierre, who was more comedian than magician. He might not be everybody’s taste, but we LOVED HIM, the audience seemed to enjoy his show also. The gymnasts were amazing and the two shows they had left us breathless. I will mention that although I totally enjoyed the show with just the gymnasts, about half-way through, I was getting bored. But that is also me. I really enjoyed the show that had the singing, dancing and the gymnasts.

 

We spent way too much on Bingo and Deal or No Deal. The assistant cruise director was not as good with Deal or No Deal as the assistant on the Sun. But we played, and my mom won $50, so she was happy. We played Bingo more than normal, because we won one game, and then had to play every day with the hope we would win again. We enjoyed the music trivia games, although we were very, very bad at the games.

 

For excursions in Ketchikan, we did nothing, but shop. My husband went to the Lumberjack show and had a great time. To me it seemed expensive at $37, but it made him happy and kept him busy while I shopped. In Juneau we did the whale watch with Harv and Marv. LOVED them. It was our best excursion our whole trip. In Skagway we did the train. It was beautiful and really cool, but….after about an hour I had had enough. The train moved too fast and I missed shots, or I had a shadow from the window. I enjoyed the van ride back better than the entire train ride. It was worth doing once, but I can only look at mountains and trees for so long, before my attention wanders. The Chilhoot people were amazing, and we loved our van ride. We stopped in town and shopped our way back to the ship. We really enjoyed Skagway and thought it had a great deal of character. We ate lunch while in town at Bites on Broadway, which had some amazing, create your own sandwiches. We were not too impressed with Victoria. We did a carriage ride, but when they say that 6 people will fit, they need to specify that 6 “skinny” people will fit. We were a little tightly squished on our ride. The ride was OK, but nothing to write home about, LOL.

 

I did invest in the deal where you put money down toward the next cruise and you are given OBC. Since we had spent so much on bingo and Deal or No Deal, plus a few drinks here and there, I put down $1000 toward 4 future deposits, and got onboard credit of enough to break even on our charges and just owe the 4 deposits. Made me happy.

 

We did the walk off option when we arrived in port. We had done this in Tampa and were off the boat quickly. We did not get in line as early as we did in Tampa, and by the time we got in line, the line had snaked around the deck. The wait wasn’t too bad, just a little chilly. But once we were off, we were free to go. We didn’t have to look for luggage, which makes me very happy. We walked to the meeting place for Seattle Express and got on and headed to the airport.

[pspercy]

So did you see any whales with Harv?

[JimS4210]

Thanks for the review! We'll be on the Jewel Sept. 27th for a Pacific Coastal cruise from Vancouver to LA so I appreciate you taking the time to write!

 

Incidentally, we were on the Sun for an Alaskan cruise two years ago and also used Harv and Marv's. Best day ever! We saw tons of whales (literally) and they couldn't have been nicer! If we ever take another Alaskan cruise they are a must!

 

Jim

[BirdTravels]

Thank you very much for taking the time to write the review. Alaskan cruises are our favorite. We cruised Alaska on the Jewel last summer and your review brings back good memories.

[lij1972]

Thanks for the review! I do have a question for you.

 

When was your excursion with Harv and Marv? I would like to take them but as the ship gets in at 7am and the only tour available that would coincide with our time in Juneau is 7:30am. I'm concerned that there wouldn't be enough time to meet the pick up time, especially if the ship is delayed getting in.

 

Thanks!

Lisa

[jollytammy]

Harv and Marv are wonderful! Our excursion was set for 7:30 am and there was plenty of time. They are picking you up at the dock and they know if the ship arrives late.

 

We had the best time on this excursion, and it was by far our favorite! There were 6 of us, so we had our own boat with Captain Liz! She was amazing! We only saw a few "tails", but we did see a baby whale come up so close we could have touched her. PLUS, she went under our boat. The baby was playing with a sea lion close to us, and they were copying each other. At one point, the whale went under the boat. Captain Liz seemed very excited about the whale under the boat, so I figured it must be something special to have them do that.

 

Harv and Marv's captains talk to each other over the radio about the whales, so if your boat isn't near one, they'll go to where the whale has been sited. It was so amazing and beautiful! The best excursion by far, and worth every cent! We were back to the ship in plenty of time!

[Newfun4me]

Thanks for the review! We are on the Jewel to Alaska on July 30. With Harv and Marv's, how was the boat ride? My 17-year-old son does just fine in a boat on a lake, but has had pretty bad seasickness on 2 deep sea fishing trips we've taken. I know it's a relatively small boat, so I'd appreciate any insight you have. Thanks!