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

[alainamarie]

I will hopefully get to our day in Sitka in the next day. Thanks again for reading along!

 

 

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[alainamarie]

Day 7: Sitka 6/1/18

Paul booked an excursion through the cruise line - Sitka Salmon Sportfishing. He didn't catch anything, but had fun fishing. I don't think he enjoyed this excursion nearly as much as he did halibut fishing in Ketchikan

 

I was invited by a friend to join her family on a boat excursion booked independently. Puffinsandwhales was a private charter with Davey and he was wonderful.

I would love to make a trip back to Sitka and spend several days seeing this beautiful town. This town has NOT sold out to jewelry stores, etc. It's kept it's original charm and Davey seemed very proud of it - and he should be! His love for Sitka and wild/sea life is outstanding and he was such a knowledgeable guide.

 

Right away we saw a humpback! We later saw another whale, otters, puffins, and so much more.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And then the cutest little otter - I named him Paw Paw.

 

 

 

 

 

[alainamarie]

Here are a bunch of photos from the boat. It was a beautiful day, so we were very lucky!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[alainamarie]

Puffins!

 

 

 

 

 

Eagle's nest

[alainamarie]

We saw one more whale on the way back in to the dock!

 

 

 

This is the dock area that Davey has his boat at -

 

 

 

Note: You have to take a free shuttle from the cruise ship dock to downtown. This took about 10 minutes but drops you in the center of downtown. I walked around a little once we used the restroom, but I didn't feel like shopping. Paul wasn't done with his excursion yet, so I headed back to the ship.

I hit the shuttle back to the ship at a perfect time - it was right at noon and no line.

 

 

This is the area where the ship is docked. Not much you can do around this area.

 

[alainamarie]

I went to the buffet and had a little lunch. Then I went to spinnaker to grab one of the nice green chairs so I could chill and wait for Paul. He texted me that he found halibut fish and chips and they were delicious. Sure beats my pitiful buffet lunch!

I sent a couple of photos to my mom - I texted her a picture of my camera since I didn't have wifi to send electronically to my phone.

Here are the two teasers I sent her -

 

 

 

 

 

She didn't seem as excited as I was, but then again, she's never been to Alaska!

I was going to send her this photo, but then I realized it's hard to tell it's a whale!

[alainamarie]

Paul and I hung out in Spinnaker for a while talking with friends (Hi Doug and Debbie!!!) until after sail away.

We went back to the room for showers and then stopped in at O'Sheehans for some cheese sticks, chicken tenders, and of course - a Manhattan for Paul. The cheese sticks are so gross, I don't know why I keep trying them! Maybe in hopes they get better? Let me try to describe them - the cheese never gets melty almost like they are old frozen cheese sticks or perhaps it's just really fake cheese? I don't know! And don't get me started on that gross and watery dip they serve them with! :o

Chicken tenders were delish! Honey mustard they serve it with was also delicious as well.

We listened to some music while at O'Sheehans and this guy was so good! We heard him many nights while we were at Magnum's.

After our snack, I had "Dragan Juice" at Magnum's. We ran into our New Zealand friends there and stayed until Cagney's dinner reservations at 8.

This was our second dinner at Cagney's and Paul loved his Bison steak. I disliked this 2nd go round because my 8oz filet was overcooked, but I was too full to send it back so I ended up picking at it. I ordered it medium-well and it was basically burnt and dried out. I ate a few bites and lost interest. We also tried 4 new sides and really loved the creamed corn. Between my chicken tenders a couple hours earlier and my soup/salad, I wasn't hungry for steak because otherwise it would have gone right back. Paul is still talking about his Bison steak, by the way! :D

There was also a table of 10 seated next to us, they were all crew, but we couldn't get a good enough look at the patches on their shirt sleeves. They were sharing 6 bottles of wine among the 10 of them and were incredibly loud and it became obnoxious. I ordered the chocolate brownie and it tasted old and packaged. Even Paul agreed, so we drank our coffee and happily left. I talked to someone a couple nights later and she loved the chocolate brownie, so go figure. Food is so subjective!

Our waitress this time was not as great as the other restaurants. Unfortunately, she was also assigned to that table for 10 next to us, so we were forgotten for a while after our entrees came out.

I will say, my husband and I both agree that we love Cagney's and Le Bistro the most. We actually liked the atmosphere of Cagney's slightly more. Perhaps it's more of our style than Le Bistro, but we still enjoyed Le Bistro a LOT.

After dinner, we went back to Magnum's and met up with a bunch of friends to end our night. We stayed until midnight and went back to the room to crash. Thankfully tomorrow is a sea day!

[hawk1972]

We really liked Sitka too and would love to go back and spend more time.

 

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[jeffregpuck]

I'm excited for you! I know how hard it is (and how lucky you have to get) to get great photos of wildlife. My number one goal this trip is to see Grizzlies (at least one--and you've already seen two!!) as we didn't get to see those on our last trip. We've seen Orcas, humpbacks, mountain sheep, black bear, salmon, seals, etc.....but no bears. I'm so jelly right now!!

 

I went to the buffet and had a little lunch. Then I went to spinnaker to grab one of the nice green chairs so I could chill and wait for Paul. He texted me that he found halibut fish and chips and they were delicious. Sure beats my pitiful buffet lunch!

I sent a couple of photos to my mom - I texted her a picture of my camera since I didn't have wifi to send electronically to my phone.

Here are the two teasers I sent her -

 

 

 

 

 

She didn't seem as excited as I was, but then again, she's never been to Alaska!

I was going to send her this photo, but then I realized it's hard to tell it's a whale!

[alainamarie]

I'm excited for you! I know how hard it is (and how lucky you have to get) to get great photos of wildlife. My number one goal this trip is to see Grizzlies (at least one--and you've already seen two!!) as we didn't get to see those on our last trip. We've seen Orcas, humpbacks, mountain sheep, black bear, salmon, seals, etc.....but no bears. I'm so jelly right now!!

 

 

Aww you are so sweet! We had a wonderful trip and beautiful weather - I will just call it lucky!

 

I wasn’t able to photograph the other bear in Skagway since it was on the drivers side, so I wish I had a few more shots for ya!

Thank you for reading!

 

We really liked Sitka too and would love to go back and spend more time.

 

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I could easily spend a long weekend here - my husband would love to fish here a bit more.

 

 

 

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[alainamarie]

I will post dailies tomorrow. Did anyone notice I put the incorrect date on the subject of this review?! Omg how did I mess that up?!?! [emoji33]

 

 

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[hawk1972]

I could easily spend a long weekend here - my husband would love to fish here a bit more.

 

 

 

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It might be fun to use the ferry system to explore some of these places again. I know they don't run daily but I wonder how hard it would be.

[Geauxboy]

Great review. We have never done an Alaska cruise but it’s on the bucket list for sure!!

 

 

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[alainamarie]

It might be fun to use the ferry system to explore some of these places again. I know they don't run daily but I wonder how hard it would be.

I'll have to look into it!

 

 

Great review. We have never done an Alaska cruise but it’s on the bucket list for sure!!

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Be sure you do it one day! It's so worth it! This was my second one and I could easily do more!

 

Thanks for reading!

[alainamarie]

Our towel creation for the night -

Dailies -

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[cruisingbajan]

Nice review so far. Looking forward to the rest of it.

 

We are doing Alaska for our 10th anniversary next year.

[alainamarie]

Nice review so far. Looking forward to the rest of it.

 

 

 

We are doing Alaska for our 10th anniversary next year.

 

 

 

Thank you so much for reading! Just a few more days left to this review.

 

 

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[nptovar]

Hi. Thank you for your post. Would you say the Norwegian Jewel is fun for kids?

[alainamarie]

Day 8: Sea Day #2 - 6/2/18

 

I slept in until almost 10 and met Paul for breakfast at Garden Cafe. Had the typical breakfast fare then walked through the shops. There was a $10 sale going on, but nothing worth buying. We ended up in Magnum's and ran into friends. I had a few pina colada's because it sounded good. Paul and I headed to O'Sheehans for a snack - WHY DO WE KEEP GETTING MOZZARELLA STICKS?!! Paul also had the wings and I had a chicken sandwich.. food wasn't even hot, barely warm -BUT -- the service was much better!

Back to the room - I started packing while Paul went to read his kindle in Spinnaker. I took a nap until 6-ish and then we got ready and went to Magnum's for round 2. We had dinner reservations at Teppanyaki and for some reason, I thought they were for 8 (they were actually for 830). So we were told to come back - totally my fault. We went back to Magnum's then were finally successful with being at Teppanyaki at the right time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Miso soup was GROSS - couldn't take more than one bite. Everything else was great! Paul had the shrimp and filet and I had the seafood (scallop and calamari).

We went back to Magnum's but didn't stay long. We crashed around midnight.

[alainamarie]

Hi. Thank you for your post. Would you say the Norwegian Jewel is fun for kids?

Hello there! I really can't speak on kids because we sailed as two adults. I have heard wonderful things about NCL's kids program and the team club through friends. We did see a lot of families and kids.

Sorry I can't be of help with this!

[alainamarie]

Our last towel creation - :loudcry:

 

I will post the dailies tomorrow. I am hoping to get to Victoria at some point this weekend, but it may not be until next week.

[MaryBethV]

Day 8: Sea Day #2 - 6/2/18

 

Miso soup was GROSS - couldn't take more than one bite. Everything else was great! Paul had the shrimp and filet and I had the seafood (scallop and calamari).

 

They need a new recipe I think! We were on the Getaway in May and the miso soup was seriously inedible. The rest of the meal was good!

 

Loving your review and dreaming of cruising to Alaska. :)

[alainamarie]

They need a new recipe I think! We were on the Getaway in May and the miso soup was seriously inedible. The rest of the meal was good!

 

Loving your review and dreaming of cruising to Alaska. :)

 

 

 

I agree with you- I don’t know how anyone eats it. Everything else was delicious! Thanks so much for reading along - be sure to make it to Alaska one day! Such a dream!

 

 

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[two_by_the_sea]

Thank you so much for this photo review. It has really helped our planning. I wondered how you got to the King George Lodge in Ketchikan for your crab feast?

 

Thanks so much!

[sprint180]

quote=alainamarie;56245550]

 

 

So here's the sad news - after we got back to the hotel, we grabbed our luggage and made our way to Pier 66 just before 11. I have no pictures because it was pure CHAOS. People were EVERYWHERE. So many people disembarked from the previous cruise and were in lines everywhere. People trying to check in didn't know what to do with luggage and porters/port staff didn't know where to tell us to put our luggage. Paul and I walked back and forth with our luggage trying to figure out where to go and eventually found someone who said "leave your bags here". There was other luggage in the area, so we went inside to check in. It was 20 minutes of insanity and I have no pictures to show for it! What a mess - it's my 9th cruise and it's never happened before. I had tip money for the porter in my pocket and didn't even have anyone to hand off luggage to.

Check in and security were a breeze and we had about 15 minutes to wait for our boarding number to be called.

 

We went to Alaska on the pearl and the luggage issue was the same. To bad they haven't fixed that by now. We had stayed at a hotel through NCL so they took care of our luggage and boy was I grateful for that.