**Photo Review: Norwegian Jewel to Alaska 5/27/18 - 6/4/18

[bluesea777]

Wow! AlainMarie! Great photos of the Jewel - keep them coming! I know Jewel is looking old but she is due for a drydock in mid Oct - early Nov this year and we join her on 15th Nov in Singapore. I heard the crew is of a mixed bag right now, but please carry on with the great review and photos!

[MandyMommyof2]

Wow! Love me a great Alaska review! Excellent job so far. Congratulations on your recent marriage and yah for the 2nd Honeymoon. I cannot wait to hear more.

[alainamarie]

Wow! AlainMarie! Great photos of the Jewel - keep them coming! I know Jewel is looking old but she is due for a drydock in mid Oct - early Nov this year and we join her on 15th Nov in Singapore. I heard the crew is of a mixed bag right now, but please carry on with the great review and photos!

 

Thanks for reading! I’m sure she will be a lot more shiny when you are on her! She’s in decent condition, but definitely due for a facelift and updating.

Mixed bag is a great way to describe the crew and service. We didn’t experience any rudeness, but mostly a general “don’t care” attitude if that makes any sense.

 

Enjoying your review...thanks so much for taking the time:*

 

 

 

Welcome to Seattle. I am waving to you from Camano Island:D

 

Thanks so much for reading! Hello from just over an hour away!! Isn’t our weather just gorgeous right now?!

 

Wow! Love me a great Alaska review! Excellent job so far. Congratulations on your recent marriage and yah for the 2nd Honeymoon. I cannot wait to hear more.

 

 

Thank you so much for the congrats! It’s been a wild year, for sure!! I’m writing as I find time from unpacking. I’ve done a lot of procrastinating!

Thanks for reading along!

 

 

 

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[Youalleverybody]

I'm excited to hear more! Thanks so much for posting the review. We are on the Jewel in July on a Southbound inside passage itinerary. I hope they get some of the staffing kinks worked out by then.

[alainamarie]

I'm excited to hear more! Thanks so much for posting the review. We are on the Jewel in July on a Southbound inside passage itinerary. I hope they get some of the staffing kinks worked out by then.

 

 

 

Thanks for reading! I really think things will pick up in terms of service.

I found out after the cruise that there was a “Dear Steven” box at guest services - you can put a comment on a card and stick it in the box. Apparently he responds individually to concerns - one person told me she told him about the fish issues and that he should be concerned with safety. He gave her some OBC and expressed appreciation for her telling him.

 

 

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[shadowmeboy]

Great start Alaina!

 

Following along!

[cylis9]

I have a serious fish allergy so we end up in the buffet whenever the MDR is too "fishy". This also knocks out Teppanyaki and anything too close to the sushi. I'm becoming an expert at cruise buffets. They aren't my favorite but dying is bad so.....

 

I don't think we met anyone on this trip - it was a bucket list trip for my 78 year old Mom so we were mostly focused on her. If you saw a group trudging down the hallways behind a slower older lady with a floral cane in one hand and a rum & coke in the other, well, that was us. :)

 

 

Enjoying the pictures - I wish I had thought to take more.

[alainamarie]

I have a serious fish allergy so we end up in the buffet whenever the MDR is too "fishy". This also knocks out Teppanyaki and anything too close to the sushi. I'm becoming an expert at cruise buffets. They aren't my favorite but dying is bad so.....

 

 

 

I don't think we met anyone on this trip - it was a bucket list trip for my 78 year old Mom so we were mostly focused on her. If you saw a group trudging down the hallways behind a slower older lady with a floral cane in one hand and a rum & coke in the other, well, that was us. :)

 

 

 

 

 

Enjoying the pictures - I wish I had thought to take more.

 

 

You are too funny! I don’t recall a floral print cane, but I was the one escorting my drunk husband back to the room from the champagne and wine bar!

You are wise to have avoided the fish - a couple of times it was leathery in texture which we both know that can’t be good!

 

Great start Alaina!

 

 

 

Following along!

 

 

Thank you for reading along! Can’t wait to read your review when you get back!!

 

 

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[alainamarie]

We took some pictures with a scenic Seattle in the background.

 

 

 

We were hungry after walking around, so we decided to join the zoo at O'Sheehans. We were also able to peak into our cabin (door was wide open as were all the doors down our hallway).

It didn't seem that crazy busy at first, but the hostess tried talking us out of getting a seat when there was only one table left. She suggested the buffet or MDR. We told her no thanks.

We sat there for almost 30 minutes until we flagged someone down. She eventually came over and we placed an order. Don't get me wrong - we saw the chaos around us, everyone was complaining and trying to place an order. Most people were waiting on food and getting inpatient after placing an order long ago. I honestly think we would have been better off in the buffet area, but Paul thought it was too wild after we checked it out.

Food here was "eh" - it's bar food for the most part. Breakfast was good - we even utilized their express breakfast for port days.

 

Below you can see my inpatient husband already ripping into his wings!

My friends, I am here to tell you that O'Sheehans did not get much better. We tried it several times and had issues with service EVERY time. Don't get me wrong, it did improve, but not much. The main problem was being helped after you sat down. My husband got up one morning and fixed his own coffee because he was a bit hangry. There must have been multiple complaints throughout the cruise because we witness a lot of unhappy patrons.

Helpful hint: if you like caffeinated coffee, be sure to ask before they pour it into your cup. Every time we had breakfast there and they finally served the coffee, they always poured decaff. My husband would always ask if it's decaff and they would confirm. I have never been to a coffee shop that automatically pours decaff, so this really ticked off my husband. He's also a bit of a coffee snob, so go figure.

Ok that was my O'Sheehans soap box and I'm moving on before I digress.

 

It's time for sailaway!!!

After muster, we attended the sailaway party (shout out to my Irish friend, Marsbars who hosted this event!) and got to meet a few people. Here's a photo of us pulling away -

 

 

After sailaway, we had dinner in Tsar's Palace around 715p.. another hot mess in terms of service. Food was ok, but service was scattered. The only part of the meal that was good was the fried Brie. I lie, the best part of the meal was the chocolate lava cake. OMG it's almost as good as the warm chocolate melting cake on Carnival.

We also discovered the Magnum's Champagne and Wine bar... our small group of friends gathered here tonight and we would continue to hang out here. We always had excellent bar service, even during the day. Tons of waiters work this area, but we did not like sitting in the sitting area of Magnum's because it was hot, so we sat in the walkway that had comfy chairs.

 

 

Sorry guys, not many photos happened at the end of this long day. More pictures to come, I promise!

[alainamarie]

First sea day -

We slept in a little bit, but I wanted to get to the meet and greet about 30 minutes early. I wanted to mark name tags for those participating in the gift exchange, so I wanted to beat everywhere to Le Bistro. I organized our meet & greet, originally for 55 people, but many more signed up after.

We decided to give O'Sheehans another try. Guess what? Service was terrible. As soon as someone came to the table, we ordered quickly.

 

 

 

I arrived at Le Bistro around 1030a for our scheduled m&g for 11a.

 

 

Jelica was my event coordinator and she arrived around 1045a and was very sweet. She signed people in and made name tags for them. She sent a letter to my cabin on embarkation day that included her card in case I needed to reach her.

We had an EXCELLENT turn out! Shout out to our awesome roll call!!!

Steven Jacobsen introduced himself to me when he arrived with the crew he asked if he could say some words to the group once seated. We had some people trickle in late because we had a lot of movement on the ship, so a lot of people were suffering with sea sickness. He thanked me during his welcome talk and also mentioned that NCL does monitor CC to see what people are saying, etc.

We also received a card at check in that introduced all of the staff that came to introduce themselves.

 

 

We had a great turn out for our gift exchange. Planma'am did a great job taking care of this!

 

[alainamarie]

Later in the day, Steven - the hotel director, sent chocolates to everyone's cabin who attended the M&G (those who signed in and put a cabin #). So to put rumors to rest, if you coordinate a M&G on NCL, you do not necessarily get "VIP". Every hotel director is different and I guess Steven does not extend that courtesy to all M&G coordinators. I've read that many people have received this special honor, I was not one of those fortunate people. Oh well, my cruise would have been the same either way!

 

We walked through the shops, they opened at 9am this morning. Paul discovered a great bartender in O'Sheehans, so we did go to the bar. We found the bar service at O'Sheehans to be consistently great.

We went to the cabin for naps. Paul wanted to take his kindle into Spinnaker while I continued my nap. I woke up at 7 and woke in a panic when Paul had not returned. We had dinner at 8 at Cagney's and I was concerned that Paul ended up at a bar and forgot about dinner. I know, first world problems!

I hurried to get dressed and ran all over the ship looking for him once he had not returned at 730. I even checked Spinnaker but I did not see him. I think we missed each other by seconds! After my panicked search, I decided to go back to the room and see if he was there. I found his polo shirt on the bed, so I knew he was alive! I ran up to Cagney's and there he was just before 8! It was at that moment that we decided to each purchase the Iconcierge app for $9.95 so we could message each other and have some form of communication. I'm not sure if you have a significant other that enjoys a cocktail or 10, but mine sure does so you never know where you'll find him!

 

I also want to mention the amazing hostess at Cagney's who not only helped me find Spinnaker during my panicked search, but she was so sweet when I ran to her asking if I could push back my reservation if I couldn't find my husband. Analyn - you are a doll!

So now that my pulse settled, we were seated right at the time of our reservation. Analyn put us at a window because of all of my troubles... I honestly think she felt sorry for me or thought I was crazy. I'm going to blame my excessive amount of sleep on my panic!

My view

 

 

View of Cagney's from our table

 

 

I'm not always good about taking photos of menus or food, but I really did try this cruise!

 

 

I had the lump crab salad and the potato soup - I forgot to photograph the soup, but it was delicious!!!

The lump crab salad sounds great, but it tasted more like chicken salad.

 

 

Paul got the shrimp cocktail and loved it

[alainamarie]

Paul had the ribeye and said it was great.

 

 

I had the lamb chops and they were AMAZING!!!

 

 

Our sides - sauteed spinach was good, au gratin potatoes were good, mac and cheese was ok, and onion rings were not a hit. We had enough food on our plates that we only picked at the sides.

 

 

We actually ate at Cagney's twice and we ordered completely different things. Paul is a meat-lover and we had 6 specialty dinners, so I chose Cagney's as our one repeat meal because Paul loves a good steak. I couldn't decide between Cagney's and LeBistro and it really is a win-win. Paul enjoyed Cagney's slightly more, so I'm glad we did this as a repeat.

[Yorkvillain]

Loving this review Alaina. Great job.

[alainamarie]

We got back to the cabin to our first towel creation. I will attach dailies tomorrow, but it's 130am and I need to get to bed soon. I am going to make one more post with some random thoughts I forgot to mention on embarkation day and then I'll be sure to include the dailies when I get going tomorrow.

[alainamarie]

Loving this review Alaina. Great job.

Thank you so much for reading along!

[alainamarie]

I wanted to make a note before I end the day - I forgot to mention this for embarkation day. It was a wild day, so I guess my brain is still clouded!

 

Guest Services:

I made a quick stop at guest services. We realized that we needed an extension cord for Paul's CPAP when we were unpacking once rooms became available (they were available right at 130). We went down and had to sign one out. We also requested an egg crate for the bed because it was way too hard for us. Our visit at guest relations was quick and smooth. We waited until much later in the day when there was zero line. The only other visit to guest relations was to turn in our Canada declaration forms and on the last day to return the extension cord.

Note: When you sign out an extension cord, you have to return it on debarkation day and you do receive a notification letter reminding you. You are supposed to return the cord with the paper they give you when you sign it out (which we did).

 

Cabin Attendant:

I did leave our cabin attendant a note on the first night with a few requests. We wanted the fridge to be emptied so we could place our bottled water in there. I pre-ordered 12 one liter bottles of water and we still ended up with a few unused bottles.

I also requested 2 extra pillows (we both used 3 pillows each) and we wanted daily ice in the ice bucket because Paul brought a big Yeti with him. I did leave a tip with my note since I made a few requests. I believe in tipping for good service, so I also gave him another tip at the end along with a bunch of Seattle Chocolates and a thank you note.

 

He never formally introduced himself, which was fine. We only ran into him a couple of times when we entered the room and he was in there. He his job well and we did not make any other requests throughout the cruise. I have no idea what his name was, I didn't even look at the memo on the table.

He was very quick to place the egg crate onto the bed, the gentleman from guest services called him and the crate was placed when we got to bed on night one.

He gets zero complaints from me! I love the Houdini type.

 

Sidenote: I grabbed a few organza bags I had at home and placed a couple of Seattle Chocolates and cash in there for tips at our specialty dinners. I got this idea from Shadowmeboy (shout out, Matt!) and thought it was so clever to add a touch of home with a cash tip. I just wanted to mention this because I thought it was such a sweet touch. I have no idea how each person perceived this, I'm sure they were appreciative of the tip, but I thought it was nice to extend a sweet treat that can't be found other than in Seattle.

I'm not starting a discussion on the subject of tipping, I just wanted to pass this idea along.

I will start tomorrow with posting the daily, it's still in my backpack that I hope to unpack. Can you tell laundry and groceries were the first priority?!

[sue402001]

Love your review and can't wait to read more. I hope things improve before I sail her in August!

[alainamarie]

Love your review and can't wait to read more. I hope things improve before I sail her in August!

Thanks for reading! I'm sure things will only get better - especially with the feedback from our sailing. We had so many new crew and probably some tired crew after the 3 week expedition before ours... you shouldn't have the same issue.

[hawk1972]

Thanks for sharing your review. We were on this same cruise with you, but unfortunately didn't make it to the Meet & Greet as planned because I got confused about the time change. We did go the Sailaway party at Great Outdoors and met a few people. Your review will let me re-live the cruise.

 

I'm not good at writing reviews, so let me add a few comments to yours, if I may.

 

Overall, we loved the cruise. The two new ports (for us) of Icy Straight Point/Hoonah and Sitka were great. We can't wait to go back. My wife and I both said we could live in Sitka, or at least go back for a visit. What a beautiful spot!

 

I found service on the ship overall to be okay. We had the UBP, and it was never hard to get a drink, either by going up to the bar or by finding a waitperson. This was especially easy in the Atrium Bar, which became my favorite. Also got good service at the Great Outdoors and O'Sheehan's bar.

 

I didn't have any issues that I had to address at the Service Desk, but saw a lot of people lined up there the last couple of days.

Our steward did a good job. He brought extra pillows as requested on the first night, and made him okay with me.

Service in the dining areas was somewhat inconsistent, but never really bad for us.

 

I agree that it could be hit or miss in O'Sheehan's. We at breakfast there once and dinner once. The rest of the times (3 or 4) was for lunch. We always managed to get waited on in a reasonable amount of time. My wife liked the Chef Salad and I liked the tuna sandwich, among other items.

 

We ate mostly in the MDR (Tsar's Palace) -- for breakfast and dinner, and some for lunch. We didn't like to fight the crowds in the Garden Cafe. Service for us was mostly good. We were seated promptly and take care of. The food didn't blow me away, but I do think it was a little better than our January cruise on RCL.

 

We ate at Cagney's on the first night for our anniversary, and I have to say I wasn't blown away. We had eaten there once before with a package when it was all-inclusive. They did give us a cake and sing to us, and that was appreciated.

 

The embarkation process was the worst I have encountered on any of our cruises. We stayed at the Marriott Courtyard/Union Lake (which we really liked). They had a car service which brought us to the port for $20 and we arrived about 10:30. We planned to drop our luggage off and explore Pike Place on foot and board after lunch. There were people everywhere! For some reason, passengers were delayed getting off. We too couldn't find a porter to take our bags. We finally found a line for dropping off luggage and left it there and headed off on foot.

 

We could see a long line for getting on the ship, so we sat at Anthony's outdoor area for a while after noon, waiting for the line to go down. Boarding time was 2:00, so we finally got in line about 1:30. The security process was fairly quick, but the check-in process took forever it seemed. I think it took us over an hour to finally get on the ship. People were late getting on the ship, because muster drill had to be delayed an hour or so. We heard that the Jewel had to leave the dock briefly that morning after it had initially landed and that's what caused the delay in passengers disembarking, but I don't know if that was true.

 

Disembarkation in Vancouver was kind of a mess too. When we got in the terminal at about 9 am, there were people everywhere, getting off the three ships in port and some already arriving to board. The line for taxis was huge! We couldn't find the line for our Quick Shuttle bus to Seattle and kept getting sent to different places, but did finally find it.

 

If we do go on a cruise from Seattle again, I will definitely try to book the Marriott Waterfront. That looks like a great place to stay -- right across the street from the pier.

 

Thanks again!

[gsuoumu]

I'll be on Jewel in three weeks. First Alaskan cruise and first time with NCL so your review is definitely helpful. Thanks.

[shadowmeboy]

the best part of the meal was the chocolate lava cake. OMG it's almost as good as the warm chocolate melting cake on Carnival.

 

 

 

 

I heart the chocolate lava cake!

 

 

 

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[alainamarie]

Thanks for sharing your review. We were on this same cruise with you, but unfortunately didn't make it to the Meet & Greet as planned because I got confused about the time change. We did go the Sailaway party at Great Outdoors and met a few people. Your review will let me re-live the cruise.

 

I'm not good at writing reviews, so let me add a few comments to yours, if I may.

 

Overall, we loved the cruise. The two new ports (for us) of Icy Straight Point/Hoonah and Sitka were great. We can't wait to go back. My wife and I both said we could live in Sitka, or at least go back for a visit. What a beautiful spot!

 

I found service on the ship overall to be okay. We had the UBP, and it was never hard to get a drink, either by going up to the bar or by finding a waitperson. This was especially easy in the Atrium Bar, which became my favorite. Also got good service at the Great Outdoors and O'Sheehan's bar.

 

I didn't have any issues that I had to address at the Service Desk, but saw a lot of people lined up there the last couple of days.

Our steward did a good job. He brought extra pillows as requested on the first night, and made him okay with me.

Service in the dining areas was somewhat inconsistent, but never really bad for us.

 

I agree that it could be hit or miss in O'Sheehan's. We at breakfast there once and dinner once. The rest of the times (3 or 4) was for lunch. We always managed to get waited on in a reasonable amount of time. My wife liked the Chef Salad and I liked the tuna sandwich, among other items.

 

We ate mostly in the MDR (Tsar's Palace) -- for breakfast and dinner, and some for lunch. We didn't like to fight the crowds in the Garden Cafe. Service for us was mostly good. We were seated promptly and take care of. The food didn't blow me away, but I do think it was a little better than our January cruise on RCL.

 

We ate at Cagney's on the first night for our anniversary, and I have to say I wasn't blown away. We had eaten there once before with a package when it was all-inclusive. They did give us a cake and sing to us, and that was appreciated.

 

The embarkation process was the worst I have encountered on any of our cruises. We stayed at the Marriott Courtyard/Union Lake (which we really liked). They had a car service which brought us to the port for $20 and we arrived about 10:30. We planned to drop our luggage off and explore Pike Place on foot and board after lunch. There were people everywhere! For some reason, passengers were delayed getting off. We too couldn't find a porter to take our bags. We finally found a line for dropping off luggage and left it there and headed off on foot.

 

We could see a long line for getting on the ship, so we sat at Anthony's outdoor area for a while after noon, waiting for the line to go down. Boarding time was 2:00, so we finally got in line about 1:30. The security process was fairly quick, but the check-in process took forever it seemed. I think it took us over an hour to finally get on the ship. People were late getting on the ship, because muster drill had to be delayed an hour or so. We heard that the Jewel had to leave the dock briefly that morning after it had initially landed and that's what caused the delay in passengers disembarking, but I don't know if that was true.

 

Disembarkation in Vancouver was kind of a mess too. When we got in the terminal at about 9 am, there were people everywhere, getting off the three ships in port and some already arriving to board. The line for taxis was huge! We couldn't find the line for our Quick Shuttle bus to Seattle and kept getting sent to different places, but did finally find it.

 

If we do go on a cruise from Seattle again, I will definitely try to book the Marriott Waterfront. That looks like a great place to stay -- right across the street from the pier.

 

Thanks again!

 

So sorry I missed you! Can't remember if we met at Sailaway.. I kept trying to ask people their screennames! I appreciate your input here - I think we all had a great cruise with just a few hiccups. Alaska was beautiful and boy did we luck out on weather!!!

 

We disembarked first thing - my husband was worried about getting to the airport and through customs, so we self disembarked before 8am, actually right when they called priority. It was a breeze and we were off the ship in less than 10 minutes. No line for a cab and I easily found the East Vancouver Convention Center. The staff working this cruise port were wonderfully nice. I'll touch on that at the end. :)

[alainamarie]

I'll be on Jewel in three weeks. First Alaskan cruise and first time with NCL so your review is definitely helpful. Thanks.

This was my first cruise on NCL and my husband's first cruise ever. You will LOVE Alaska and want to go back (I did!).

 

 

I heart the chocolate lava cake!

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OMG it's so good! I honestly could do without that cherry sauce - or whatever it is on top of the cake. So basically, I want two lava cakes, no sauce, and ice cream! Haha - it's so gooood!!!

[alainamarie]

Sidenote: I'm literally taking these photos at my desk, so don't mind the surrounding interruptions (like my tshirt). :cool:

To conclude our first sea day, here is the card given to you upon check in at the meet & greet. This is a great resource if you have a huge issue that needs to be addressed. For us, we did not have a pressing issue that needed to be reported. In hindsight, we probably should have reported the fish situations because we heard from other people that they reported it as a safety concern. I guess we just didn't think of it as a concern, just a singular bad dish.

 

 

 

 

The daily -

 

 

 

 

 

[alainamarie]

Day 3 - Ketchikan 5/28/18

 

Since this was my second time visiting Ketchikan, I wanted to re-visit a place I enjoyed the last time.

Two years ago, I did a seaplane and crab feast combo via Celebrity. I'm not a huge fan of seaplanes, but really loved the crab feast at George Inlet Lodge. I booked directly through the lodge and it was around $75 and included pickup/drop off at the visitor's center.

My husband did the halibut fishing trip via NCL and had to be off the ship and at the pier for 705a. Needless to say, after all of his commotion I could not go back to sleep. I ended up getting off the ship around 8 and walking around and doing a little shopping. I'm not a big shopper, but I had to get some things for a friend. I found a cute coffee shop and hopped in for a latte and an apple fritter, Sweet Mermaids is the name of the coffee shop just on the main strip. They don't have a website, but I found this link with info on the place.. Didn't take any pictures cuz I was hangry and uncaffeinated.

As per usual, the weather was rainy and overcast. This was actually our only rainy day (asides from Victoria just as we exited the ship), so I guess I can't complain!

 

Oh look, you can see Sweet Mermaids in this pic!!

 

 

 

 

As you can tell, it was a crowded day with several ships in port.