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

[alainamarie]

We went back to the cabin and decided to grab a snack since we did not have dinner reservations tonight. We got a snack at the Great Outdoors then went back to the cabin to take showers.

We had a drink at O'Sheehans then headed to Chin Chin. There was about a 15 minute wait so they gave us a pager. Paul decided to grab some Sake from Sake bar. This is when we first discovered the weird color of the Sake and realized it's unfiltered Sake. I'm not the biggest fan of Sake, so it tastes the same to me.

 

Menus -

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[alainamarie]

I had the calamari, lemon pepper shrimp with combination fried rice, and then I tried the beef chow fun because I was still hungry (small portions!). The chow fun tasted too much like sesame oil - like pure sesame oil so I couldn't eat much. My food otherwise was fine.

 

Service was ok - the wait staff really worked hard but it was VERY busy. Food was like every other free food option - just ok.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We paid $16 for this crud - Hawaiian Poke and sashimi. Paul said it was not good - tasted like old, dried fish. I had a couple of bites and it wasn't great - he was hungry so he ate most of it and then decided to get orange peel beef because he was still hungry.

 

[alainamarie]

I want to make a huge shout out to the bartenders - they truly made the cruise experience. I've never said that on any of the other 8 cruises I've been on, but they were outstanding. Food and general service were so mediocre that bartenders really stood out above the rest. Even with the beverage package, you were treated like any paying customer.

With this said, we found ourselves hanging out ALL of the time at Magnum's Champagne and Wine Bar. Dragan was THE bartender. He would literally just make up a drink for you. He made this creation for me and I entitled it "Dragan Juice" because "The Alaina" never caught on. I introduced this drink to several people and they started requesting "Dragan Juice".

 

 

43 + Chambord + Whipped Cream

Only bad thing - they ran out of whipped cream and started using milk. :loudcry::loudcry::loudcry::loudcry:

 

 

[alainamarie]

We went to Magic Brian after a couple of drinks. Paul passed out (a combination of a long day and too many drinks!) but I really enjoyed the show. I ended up riding Amtrak right next to the guy who was pulled up on stage (shout out to Jim from Texas!). This was the 2nd and final show we saw. I planned our dinners right smack in the middle of shows (not on purpose) and I wish we could have made it to more. :(

Our towel animal for the night -

 

 

Dailies for Day 5 -

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[hawk1972]

Thanks for this...we are booking for our August cruise on the Pearl (glad they get a better parking spot :) ).

 

They do run 6-passenger golf cart shuttles from where the Jewel was docked in Skagway up to the drop-off area. At first I thought I would never need it, but we went back to the ship to eat lunch after our morning bike ride and it really saved time!

[alainamarie]

They do run 6-passenger golf cart shuttles from where the Jewel was docked in Skagway up to the drop-off area. At first I thought I would never need it, but we went back to the ship to eat lunch after our morning bike ride and it really saved time!

 

 

We thought the shuttle was just for people with mobility difficulties, but later found out it was for anyone. We only left the ship once, so we survived the long walk!

 

 

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[hawk1972]

We thought the shuttle was just for people with mobility difficulties, but later found out it was for anyone. We only left the ship once, so we survived the long walk!

 

 

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When we first got off I kind of scoffed at those using the shuttle. But when we got back from our 20+ mile bike ride to Dyea, I was ready to save every step!

 

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[Von & John]

Thanks Alaina!

Enjoying the review, pictures & comments... A question for you on the food. We will be on the Jewel for a 19 Day Transpacific (Vancouver to Tokyo). Currently, we have scheduled 6 Specialty Dining meals - approx. 1/3 of our dinners. Based on your experience w/ the MDR - would you recommend we increase the number of Specialty Dining Meals?

Cheers -- Von

[alainamarie]

Thanks Alaina!

 

Enjoying the review, pictures & comments... A question for you on the food. We will be on the Jewel for a 19 Day Transpacific (Vancouver to Tokyo). Currently, we have scheduled 6 Specialty Dining meals - approx. 1/3 of our dinners. Based on your experience w/ the MDR - would you recommend we increase the number of Specialty Dining Meals?

 

Cheers -- Von

 

 

 

That’s hard for me to answer for you - you may have a much better MDR, Chin Chin/sushi, and O’Sheehans experience than we did. Given our 9 night cruise, we spent 6 of them in specialty dining and have no regrets. If you enjoy a dining experience, I recommend it. We would have loved to visit Le Bistro one more time.

Hope this helps! It’s hard to say without knowing someone, but I would venture to say yes.

 

 

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[Von & John]

Thanks - Alaina! :)

[alainamarie]

Thanks - Alaina! :)

It does seem we have some things in common - we have both sailed on Celebrity! It's my favorite cruiseline! Looks like you've been on the Infinity and Connie too - I've also sailed on Solstice (to Alaska!). Love my Celebrity and this cruise made me miss them more!!

 

-Alaina

[alainamarie]

Day 6: Icy Strait Point 5/31/18

 

I planned a short excursion for our day in this very small port. Someone from Cruise Critic (Tatibus0913!) did an arctic cat tour and loved it, so I decided we should try it. It came out to around $260 for the two of us and it was well worth it.

 

 

This is where most excursions leave from - we actually had to go out of the backside of this building. They had a nice coffee shop my husband got a cup of joe at.

 

 

 

This is where we met our excursion - she picked us up in a very nice van.

 

 

 

You can see the zipliners zooming by.

 

Before I take you on our excursion, let me show you around Hoonah.

[alainamarie]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[alainamarie]

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was a museum/shopping area. It was beautiful on the inside and looks so new. Only 1 jewelry store from what I noticed. How refreshing!

 

 

[Von & John]

It does seem we have some things in common - we have both sailed on Celebrity! It's my favorite cruiseline! Looks like you've been on the Infinity and Connie too - I've also sailed on Solstice (to Alaska!). Love my Celebrity and this cruise made me miss them more!!

 

-Alaina

 

 

Alaina -- You are correct!

We love Celebrity. Having said that - we usually select our cruise by itinerary & then value. We'll happily sail on Celebrity, Princess & NCL. We have not yet sailed w/ RCCL nor HAL. We can usually find a cruise we are interested in with these 3 lines...

 

My sister took a cruise this winter around Norway with Hurtigruten - she Loved it!!! Living in Alaska - I am having a hard time imagining leaving one winter spot to cruise in another winter spot ;p...

At the moment - we generally cruise in the winter for sun & warmth! Maybe someday when we have our warm weather winter home...

Cheers -- Von

[alainamarie]

Alaina -- You are correct!

We love Celebrity. Having said that - we usually select our cruise by itinerary & then value. We'll happily sail on Celebrity, Princess & NCL. We have not yet sailed w/ RCCL nor HAL. We can usually find a cruise we are interested in with these 3 lines...

 

My sister took a cruise this winter around Norway with Hurtigruten - she Loved it!!! Living in Alaska - I am having a hard time imagining leaving one winter spot to cruise in another winter spot ;p...

At the moment - we generally cruise in the winter for sun & warmth! Maybe someday when we have our warm weather winter home...

Cheers -- Von

 

 

 

That makes complete sense! I also choose cruises based off of itinerary and cost effectiveness. I’ve never been to Europe and it’s next on my bucket list! We travel the US (land, not sea) so often so we only cruise here and there. I’m not brand loyal. I won’t say “never” to NCL. Just saying “not now... for a while!”

 

Whereabout in Alaska are you?!

 

 

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[Von & John]

Our home is in Talkeetna, 2 hours north of Anchorage. We office out of Anchorage - so spend a major portion of our lives there. Your pic’s have been amazing. I have never made it to Hoonah. Unfortunately, our cruise does not include Icy Strait. Thanks for taking us along on your journey. The good news is - we feel we are going into this cruise w/out too high of expectations - the Jewel only has 2 cruises after ours, b/4 heading to dry dock. I highly recommend European or International cruises. We use them as samplers to determine where we would like to return for extended travel. We laugh as we find w/ mileage tickets, we can generally fly to Barcelona or Rome for the same # of Miles or less than to cruise out of Miami. As a rule, if we are leaving Alaska - we try for 2-3 weeks to make it worthwhile.

 

 

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[alainamarie]

So let's move on to our awesome excursion.

Here are the arctic cats we rented - you get 2 hours with them and you can easily fill the 2 hours by going up and down the logging roads. I was getting a little nervous on time towards the end that I made Paul head back to town. We drove around town, but of course it's small so it didn't take long.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just to show you how dusty you get, this is a picture I took to hopefully show you how dusty I personally got. I still need to buy some canned air to help blow up some of the dust in my camera (my lens is fine, but the zoom knob definitely needs to be cleaned better).

 

[alainamarie]

We were driving toward "Long Island" and found a bunch of people stopped - I guess this is why: a mamma and her 2 cubs! One cub napped the entire time so you can only see him/her laying down.

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can see the other cub just a wee bit here -

[alainamarie]

We made it to "Long Island"!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[alainamarie]

Oh, Paul... he loves Long Island!

 

 

Our dirty cat!

 

 

 

A couple more photos on the way back

 

 

 

[alainamarie]

We walked back to the ship and took a few photos along the way. We spent an hour or so before our excursion walking around town, so we didn't feel the need to do it again.

 

 

 

 

 

Can you spot the eagle??

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back to the ship! We had lunch at garden cafe then we needed showers ASAP because we were full of dust from head to toe. Literally - my hair was caked!

I took a nap while Paul read in Spinnaker. We had dinner at Moderno tonight, so we started at the Mojito Bar. We loved the bartender here, Ali. He's amazing!

[alainamarie]

Moderno -

I would say that we really enjoyed it. It wasn't our favorite, but certainly not our least favorite. We LOVED the grilled pineapple and want to make our own. Salad bar was nice, but I wouldn't say it's comparable to those of Brazilian steakhouses at home. It was good enough and I enjoyed a delicious salad and a pasta salad with shrimp.

I enjoyed the lamp chops, sirloin, and the chicken. Coconut flan for dessert was great!

This meal is not worth repeating - once is enough on a cruise. I would eat here again, I just don't foresee myself eating here twice in the same week.

Sorry guys, no pictures of food because it came out so sporadically.

 

 

 

 

 

We left dinner and went to Magnum's Wine & Champagne bar for some concoctions by Dragan. I enjoyed my regular - Dragan Juice - it's soo good! Unfortunately, Magnum's is out of whipped cream so they had to start substituting milk. How does a ship run out of whipping cream??? I don't understand.

 

We were out until midnight before retiring.

[alainamarie]

Our towel animal for the night -

 

 

Day 6 Daily -

 

 

 

 

 

 

[alainamarie]

Our home is in Talkeetna, 2 hours north of Anchorage. We office out of Anchorage - so spend a major portion of our lives there. Your pic’s have been amazing. I have never made it to Hoonah. Unfortunately, our cruise does not include Icy Strait. Thanks for taking us along on your journey. The good news is - we feel we are going into this cruise w/out too high of expectations - the Jewel only has 2 cruises after ours, b/4 heading to dry dock. I highly recommend European or International cruises. We use them as samplers to determine where we would like to return for extended travel. We laugh as we find w/ mileage tickets, we can generally fly to Barcelona or Rome for the same # of Miles or less than to cruise out of Miami. As a rule, if we are leaving Alaska - we try for 2-3 weeks to make it worthwhile.

 

 

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Thank you so much for being such a faithful follower! I would LOVE to visit Talkeetna - I have so much land to cover in Alaska! My husband is flying to Yakutat in September to fish, I’m a little jealous! (Not of the fishing)

My next port to cover is Sitka and I must say, I fell in love! If you ever do travel to ISP, be sure to include something else as there isn’t too much to see/do. Very small, beautiful town.

 

Do you work in tourism?

 

 

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