Pacific Coastal NCL Jewel including Fleet Week and air show. With lots of pics

[skierjj]

We are Mike and Joyce from Southern California. We are in our early 60s. We cruise about once a year, mostly with NCL. We are platinum latitudes members.

We got all of the perks on this cruise, including all of the usuals and reduced airfare, on board credit, Internet and free laundry.

We chose an aft mini suite. Being on the aft is my happy place. I love watching the wake, reading and drinking coffee or wine on the patio. We also saw some wildlife. We were in a perfect spot for the Naval parade for Fleet Week in San Francisco. The aft balcony is better protected from the winds, but it was still a little chilly out there the first part of the week.

The reduced airfare was a little hit and miss. They said we could only go out of LAX; the price wasn’t that reduced, the flight was very early in the morning, the day of the cruise! Had I booked it ourselves, we would have come in a day or two early and left from a more convenient airport at a more convenient time. That said, the flight was fine on Alaska and we did get a free transfer in a nice bus, and the bags were handled straight to the ship. Also saving us hotel costs. NCL assumes risk if there are delays in flights, I would guess. 

Embarkation was a breeze. We found the platinum line (no line). After we got checked in they had us sit in an area with rows and rows of chairs. We didn’t have to wait too long. It was all very orderly going up to the ship.

We were not allowed to go to our rooms until 12:30 or 1:00? It’s all a blur now. Any way we had to change some of our dining times and get more reservations for specialty dining. It was easy at restaurant reservations desk next to guest services. We also changed a shore excursion. I was able to log on to internet and ask questions at the Internet cafe (no line). The helper there was very helpful and nice and said I really didn’t need to upgrade for more minutes because we had so many ports on this cruise. Oh yeah that works!

We had lunch at the great outdoors (no line), lots of tables, it was a little chilly but the great warm corn chowder was perfect. We finally got our first drink and got into our rooms.

We were a little panicked when we didn’t have our platinum envelope with offers in our room, so I went to go hunt it down, only to have our stateroom steward, Wilmer,  deliver it momentarily. He was great by the way!

It was drizzling in Vancouver that day. Here are pics of our aft facing mini suite, room 11656:

Also being all the way in the back of the ship is a bit of a pain but I figured we were getting a little extra exercise for eating all of that delicious food. We also took the steps a lot and used the rear elevator (a little less crowded) when possible.

 

[skierjj]

We went to Cagneys that night. I was starving and ordered the special big t bone steak, Mac and cheese and mushrooms! Now normally I have a hard time finishing even a small steak but this was done perfectly! I like it medium rare.

I usually snap photos of every meal for my review but it drives Mike crazy so there are very few food pics this trip.

[skierjj]

Mike and I enjoy the casino. We had lots of casino action. We signed up for the slot tournament on the sea  day. (We didn’t win our rounds). But I was very lucky on the first night! I usually play 25 cent video poker, dueces wild, but the odds were better on dollars. So after dinner and the show on the first night we played in the casino. And bam! I hit a royal flush! So rare and so great! I took all of that money and put it in the safe and went straight to the bank when we got home! Yay!

[cuterlmt]

we were on the same cruise! Looking forward to your review. Congrats on the casino win! We spent a good deal of time there too, but mostly at live poker.

[firstimer2009]

I would have a lot in common with you.  I took photos of every drink and meal we had on our recent Venice/Rome trip and cruise on the Star to the Greek Islands.  Thank goodness my husband doesn't mind. 

 

Also love deuces wild and have never hit a Royal.  Congratulations!  I did hit $1500 playing a few different slots on the Star and took that home.  Makes for a wonderful vacation!

[skierjj]

The first port was Victoria, B.C. We researched this port and decided to rent a car and do the world famous Butchart Gardens and have a tea at the dining room on our own. So months ahead, we reserved a rental car at Enterprise. We are pretty organized planners before our trips, but one thing we failed to check out was how far Enterprise agency was from the cruise ship  port. They would have picked us up, but we thought we could walk there! So we started walking and quickly realized that we needed a lyft or Uber to get us to the Enterprise place. Just then a taxi shows up, and we hailed him. No problem, $17 Canadian including tip. Then the rental car was $35 US including the gas we put in at the end. $22 US each for entry to the gardens, $50 each for beautiful formal tea. Enterprise drove us back to the pier for free (just a tip). So all in all we saved time and money going on our own.

A truly delightful day. The weather started out cold an a little drizzly. The sun came out and it was gorgeous. This is our 2nd time at the gardens; it’s beautiful any time of year, but spring and summer are really better in my opinion for the roses and dalias everywhere. Still it was less crowded in the fall and we had the beautiful fall colors.

i am going to post lots of photos of the gardens:

 

[skierjj]

More of the gardens: The water feature, the Japanese garden etc:

 

[skierjj]

[skierjj]

[skierjj]

The next pics are of the tea in the dining room, specifically in the sun room. A historic old restaurant that kind of has that grandmother smell in a good way and the floors kind of creak and the bathrooms are old and charming, it even has a fireplace. I kind of love historic places and get a little sappy sometimes.

The room was beautiful with flowers on the window rails, a glass ceiling gave lots of light. The table was beautifully set.

We chose the a berry tea and the wine pairings to go with the tea. We had scones with Devonshire cream and homemade strawberry jam. We had hot appetizers, little tea sandwiches and beautiful pastries and deserts. The desert honey wine was an excellent finish. It was formal but not too formal. I admired the unusual succulents, orchids and indoor plants around the room

[skierjj]

Before we returned the car we made a stop at a Canadian pharmacy. I am allergic to bee stings and my epi pen was expired. So I walk into  the pharmacy, no doctor visit, no prescription needed, and walk out with my brand new epi pen. $100 Canadian. My pharmacy quoted $400 U.S. Super easy. Just FYI.

[Lovetotraveltami]

This trip is on our short list.  Thanks for sharing.  I love what you have written.

[luvcruzing]

What was the date of this cruise?

 

Beautiful pictures.  Looking forward to more.

[skierjj]

53 minutes ago, luvcruzing said:

What was the date of this cruise?

 

Beautiful pictures.  Looking forward to more.

10/7/19-10/13/19 6 day repositioning Vancouver to LA. Pacific Coastal

[skierjj]

1 hour ago, Lovetotraveltami said:

This trip is on our short list.  Thanks for sharing.  I love what you have written.

Thanks. It was a great cruise.

[skierjj]

23 hours ago, cuterlmt said:

we were on the same cruise! Looking forward to your review. Congrats on the casino win! We spent a good deal of time there too, but mostly at live poker.

Hope you had fun! We loved the Jewel! I’m too scared to play live poker. That’s a whole other animal. Ha ha! We like the poker TV tournaments though.

[skierjj]

10 hours ago, firstimer2009 said:

I would have a lot in common with you.  I took photos of every drink and meal we had on our recent Venice/Rome trip and cruise on the Star to the Greek Islands.  Thank goodness my husband doesn't mind. 

 

Also love deuces wild and have never hit a Royal.  Congratulations!  I did hit $1500 playing a few different slots on the Star and took that home.  Makes for a wonderful vacation!

We were on the Star right after dry dock 2015. The crew were still laying down new carpet as we sailed. They called it “the cruise with no limes” In Mexico!??? Lemons in your Corona? Oh the stories we could tell of that cruise. 5 day Cabo overnighter. Spring break. Super great cruise critic group! The cabin crawl was fun! Don’t remember too much else! 

[skierjj]

The night after the gardens, We went to Le Bistro. It was very elegant with great service. We had a table by the window. I had cog au vin, (chicken in a red wine sauce with vegetables), Mike had escargot and a shrimp dish. It was excellent. We saw whale spouts in the ocean (the windows were pretty dirty, pictures were awful).

The entertainment was one we really enjoyed, called “Rock you tonight”. Great quality for a production show. The music was from our era, so we loved it. We had great seats.

After the show, we spent time in the casino again. Super fun bartenders and great service.

 

[skierjj]

The next port was Astoria, Oregon. We had never been here and we were looking forward to this port. We scheduled an excursion through NCL called “bike tour through Astoria”.  It was a good thing that we had a shore excursion through the ship on that particular day because we were allowed to go through customs first. 

NCL had a US customs entry process right on board that morning. It was easy, we showed up early and went right through the line (almost no line). You showed them your passport then they gave you a little sticker on your key card. Didn’t have to declare anything and nothing to fill out. So we avoided having to go through customs again in San Pedro.

Next we waited in the theater for our tour group to be called. Mike always panics and thinks we missed our group number and makes ME go down to the stage and ask the shore ex. rep if our group has been called. (No it hadn’t).

We finally get called in our group and march off the dock and we find our tour group near the pier with lots and lots of bikes. We found a bike and adjusted the seats etc.  Even our guide says there are way too many people on this excursion then there should be, but she and her partner do the best they can with maybe 30+ people. You could only hear if you were close to the guide, but it really didn’t matter because it was such a beautiful day for a bike ride. Started out cold but warmed up to a really pleasant sunny clear day.

 

[debenson0723]

Hi Joyce...great to 'see' you and Mike again.  Congrats on the casino win...that is awesome! I did the opposite of this cruise, LA to Vancouver, in April on the Bliss. Really love that ship and it was great to be on her again.  Heading out in 27 days for the Getaway 7 day Western out of New Orleans with Tina.  Looking forward to sailing down the Mississippi for the first time.

Loving your review and photos.  Going to make a note of that tea for next time...it looked amazing.  Can't wait to read more and see more photos.  Take care.

Deb

[skierjj]

We were able to gather a lot of the history of Astoria. The fur trading days, the cannery days, the bridge building, fish processing, history of sand bar pilots, the trolley, just lots of odds and ends about the city. It was once the most wicked city on the West for all of its brothels etc. One of which is still standing, it is a restaurant now. 

We stopped for coffee. Later we stopped at a present day fish processing business. Today’s catch was Chinook salmon. Very interesting. 

Here are some more photos from the port of Astoria:

[skierjj]

Once we got back on board, we wandered around the ship. We were trying to find a great place to watch the air show in a couple of days.

Here are just a few pics around the ship.

We went to Modernos for dinner that night. Yum. No pictures here.

The salad bar was killer. Very Mediteranean. Then, when we were ready for meats, they gave us very tiny portions, which was great, because you could try all of the selections. And it was a perfect pace on the meats. The sides were yummy too. Everyone enjoys the grilled pineapple. This was the best experience at Modernos on any NCL ship. Food was excellent as was the service. I usually come away from these Brazilian steaks houses too stuffed or feeling like they were just pushing the meats too fast and furious. This was just the right amount of time between each course, each new thing.

[skierjj]

30 minutes ago, debenson0723 said:

Hi Joyce...great to 'see' you and Mike again.  Congrats on the casino win...that is awesome! I did the opposite of this cruise, LA to Vancouver, in April on the Bliss. Really love that ship and it was great to be on her again.  Heading out in 27 days for the Getaway 7 day Western out of New Orleans with Tina.  Looking forward to sailing down the Mississippi for the first time.

Loving your review and photos.  Going to make a note of that tea for next time...it looked amazing.  Can't wait to read more and see more photos.  Take care.

Deb

Hi Deb!

Wasn't that inaugural Bliss Panama Canal trip the bomb? Loved her. We sailed on the Bliss again the same year at Christmas. Didn’t have quite the devotees as we had,  but still had a terrific time. Especially the music. Siglo band rocks! Best cover band in the fleet!

Have fun in New Orleans, one of our very favorite cities. Going to Costa Maya? I recommend Maya Chan beach, a private excursion well worth the extra research and way off the beaten path!

Please tell Tina hi and give her our love! Best cruise critic roll call host ever!

Have a great cruise on the getaway! Have a frozen cocktail for me in the ice bar!

[skierjj]

The next day was our first and only sea day. We had a slot tournament- no luck. Breakfast at the local. I got an express breakfast, Mike had an omelette. It was quick and hot and good.

Then I had the cruise critic meet and greet at Le Bistro. The best part was meeting the officers. They were really friendly and they told us that the Jewel recently won an award for having the friendliest crew in the fleet! Now I started noticing even more how the people in the crew were just nice and smiling and were there to please. Fantastic.

They also told us where the ship was going next: all over the Pacific for the winter. Back to Vancouver, Hawaii, Tahiti, then Australia. 

One of our favorite bartenders is Yaz-D, he works at the Champagne bar. His wife, May, works on board in Tzars main dining room. We happen to sail with them on the Escape, the Bliss and the Jewel! They are from the Philippines. They have kids at home being raised by her mom. They make more money on the cruise ship then they can make at home, but still, it must be so hard! And each of these crew members probably have a similar story; yet they are so friendly all of the time to us.

Mr. Frank, our bartender at the casino bar is from India. He and his wife are expecting a baby in April back home. Frank’s contract is up in March, so he can fly home to be with his wife when the baby is born. He was just beaming about becoming a Dad.

The crew seemed to be happy to have a change of scenery after what must have been a long exhausting Alaska season.

The ship was clean and beautiful too. The ship was getting fresh paint in some areas. So then I was supposed to be part of a pub crawl but I just didn’t feel up to it. Later, I joined the wine and chocolate pairing which was good, educational and fun!

We had a little rough seas that day, not bad, just a little rocking and rolling, which honestly I think are kind of fun, does anybody else feel this way? I like not being able to walk down the hall in a strait line. I like the kind of roller coaster ups and downs. I marvel at the entertainers on stage that can keep their footing.

I read a lot that day I think. We had dinner at Chin Chin. It was yummy. Mike had sushi and sashimi. I couldn’t decide and I asked the chef if there was a bento box entree. He said he would make me one! Super cool and yummy. Here is a pic:

I found on of May from our Bliss trip!

[skierjj]

The next port was San Francisco. What a beautiful city in the fall! Clear skies, sunny and warm days, sparkling water in the bay, and the Golden Gate Bridge in all of her glory!

I had a shore excursion planned on this day to go to Muir Woods and Sausalito through NCL. Thankfully to cruise critic, from someone on our roll call, I was informed that we we just happened to be in port the day of Fleet week: the naval ship parade and the air show. Mike convinced me to change plans and just stay on board ship and have a front row seat to all of the action complete with food and free drinks.

Well he was right, but I still whined about it, I turned in my San Francisco shore excursion tickets on the first day. I’m so glad we did!

We could watch the ships from our aft balcony with mimosas in our room. Then we went up one floor to the great outdoors for a table and seats along the rail. Perfect! We had a good camera, big binoculars (which I used almost the whole), and our cell phones, which take really lousy pictures at an air show, but the photos are so easy to upload here, that’s what you are going to get. Sorry.

I know absolutely nothing about military ships or planes, so I can’t answer any questions  regarding what we saw; I just know it was impressive, exciting, entertaining and fun! Yes it made you feel very patriotic too.🇺🇸

Here is the line up: