YVRteacher’s dad is on a cruise! Live from the Jewel Aug 19- Sept 2, 2024

[SenatorsFan]

@YVRteacher, I just finished reading "Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow" and really enjoyed it; I hope you do, too.

[EllieinNJ]

Really enjoyed your Princess report and looking forward to your time on the Jewel.

[Muckyduckway]

So happy you changed your mind about writing about this cruise. I haven't even started to read it yet and have a huge smile on my face. Crossing everything that your cruise does the same for you and your dad. 

[BigRedFan]

14 hours ago, YVRteacher said:

We left my dad’s place at 11:50 am and were eating lunch in the suites/Haven restaurant, Cagney’s, by 12:30.

 

Because I spent the first five weeks of summer travelling on Princess

I had to check in for this NCL cruise while on a cruise ship in the North Atlantic. I secured us a later than normal port arrival time then received several emails from NCL saying port arrival times would be strictly checked

 

No one checked. I did not submit the medical and special needs Access Desk form this time. I forgot. I was too busy scouting icebergs in Greenlandic fjords, gallivanting through the British Isles, buying a dress in Paris and getting a tattoo in Iceland.

 

The port was pretty smooth. The Vancouver port staff were friendly and organized so I was impressed and not at all embarrassed on behalf of my city.

 

I did have to use my teacher voice on the concierge. I asked for an escort through the port just because my dad can not handle confusion or long lines. She had absolutely no idea what to do and kept giving me incorrect information. She was literally making up things that were not true. At one point I told her she needed to stop and listen to me. After her third error where I again told her how to get through the port she apologized to us.  She eventually called a butler who did a great job whisking us through the port and onboard. The butler said the concierge is new and just transferred to the Jewel from the Breakaway. I am already missing Armando and of course Rumi. Both are on vacation.

Rumi is the BEST!!! I was on the Jewel for Japan all the way back to Vancouver earlier this year.  Wonderful trip, wonderful ship and the best staff!!!

[Turtles06]

Yvonne, I hope you and your Dad have a great cruise! 

[brookie848]

15 hours ago, YVRteacher said:

 

No one checked. I did not submit the medical and special needs Access Desk form this time. I forgot. I was too busy scouting icebergs in Greenlandic fjords, gallivanting through the British Isles, buying a dress in Paris and getting a tattoo in Iceland.

 

I hope you are enjoying your cruise! For future sailings, you may be able to ask your PCC to just transfer for Access Desk requests to your new sailing. That is what ours does for us -- we have only filled out the form once since Covid re-starts and he just transfers that info to every sailing.

[tcmagnum]

17 hours ago, YVRteacher said:

Let’s get this Live started off right! Beer for dad, Mai Tai for me.

 

A family in matching shirts with personal statements just walked by. Their shirts say things like most likely to be celebrating a birthday, most likely to be caught shopping, most likely to be cold.  
 

I asked my dad what his shirt would say.

 

He replied, “most likely to be complaining.”

 

 

This is so my dad and mom!!

So glad I found your trip review with you and your dad.

I love your writing style and just love your dad...

Have a wonderful trip!!

[dlh015]

Thank goodness!!!  I was in severe withdrawal from your Princess Live...and so glad you decided to do this one with your dad!!

 

I'll get my pic fix for the next couple weeks while you have a great cruise with your dad!!

Smoooooth sailing!!

[Sugar Magnolia]

My heart is full.

 

[fethiyeden]

Thanks for sharing your trip with us again. Will look forward to updates whenever you have time. 

[YVRteacher]

[schmoopie17]

1 hour ago, YVRteacher said:

 

Good to see you made the mustard drill. And that you were able to ketchup with the rest of the group.

 

Yes, I know I've used those lines a few (okay, many) times in the past. But it's Happy Hour where I am...and I may be overly "happy"...

[ggTexasGal]

@schmoopie17 I'll drink to that!

[YVRteacher]

Finally, I can post! The wifi is atrocious. 

[YVRteacher]

Here are the words that were supposed to go with yesterday’s photos. 
 

I think we sailed away at 5:03pm. One moment we were at the dock and the next moment we were moving! The sailaway party started and so did the rain. My dad got 14 raindrops on his head and told me he was “soaked” and that it was “pouring.” I didn’t have anything to give him to cover his head so some strands of his hair got messed up.

 

We ran up and surprised Tahani (cruise director whom we adore!) and she was as excited to see us as we were to see her! I’m so, so happy Tahani is our CD! 

 

For the first time EVER we danced at the sailaway oarty, but we were tricked into doing so. Tahini said “the captain said this looks like a great group. The first 100 people to come to the stage and wave to the captain get a treat!”

 

Well, I adore treats so I ran to the front and waved at the camera: I jumped up and down and smiled and then I realized I was not wearing a sports bra and jumping up and down ON CAMERA was not my best life choice. Then Tahani said the treat was a free dance class and the music started and all of a sudden we were participating the heck out of the sailaway dance party.  Up until today, we have always been watchers, not participators. We danced all the dances but whenever Tahani said “go left”  by the time my brain computed which direction left was, everyone else was going right.  Yes, I did  bump into everyone within an arm’s width of me. They were very gracious.  We had a great time at the sailaway party!

 

I wanted to get some photos of Stanley Park and the Lions Gate Bridge so I parked dad undercover at Topsiders and took a few photos from deck 13.  It was really raining by this point! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[YVRteacher]

My dad and I came back to the cabin just to freshen up for a moment before dinner and I blew bubbles. I could hear so many people squealing “bubbles! Look at the bubbles! Someone brought bubbles!” That made me happy. It was too windy to capture the bubbles on camera since they whizzed by like a first time cruiser heading to the dessert section of the buffet.

[YVRteacher]

Dinner in La Cucina

 

Wow. Just wow. We were shocked with the new menu and reduced options. There are few pasta dishes and no vegetarian main course options. My favourite salad, the Ensalada Mista, is gone as is the fettuccini Alfredo con funghi. This menu consists of disappointment and cutbacks.

 

 

 

For the appetizer I ordered the pear and Gorgonzola salad without the Gorgonzola. It was basically a pile of too-big lettuce in a bowl. No one even tried to make it look or taste good.

 

 

My dad had the calamari which he normally loves. He took one bite and said it was tough. He winced through the entire plate.  Good thing this was a half order. 

 

For the main course I ordered the Gamberi Fra Diavolo for dad but in a half portion and with regular tomato sauce instead of spicy. This is his plate as it was delivered to the table.

 

We were so, so disappointed in dinner and if we had one word it would be ‘disgusted.’  Nothing was done to make the meal nice. It wasn’t well plated, it definitely didn’t look like the photo standards NCL provides to their chefs and sous chefs and it simply was not good. It wasn’t even next to good.

 

We used a specialty dining meal but if we hadn’t it would have been $97.00

 

including a $35 charge for this (my dinner)

 

This is how it was presented. As I said, disgusting.

 

The fly in the water was free. 

 

I was glad the fly landed in the water and not my Prosecco.

 

We both looked at each at the same time and said “we used to love this.”

 

My dad said, “when you think of the number of good meals we’ve had in La Cucina, it’s sad to see it go that bad.”

 

We looked at the dessert menu and vetoed it. Crêpes were being made one by one in the Garden Cafe.

 

They were sad crêpes. So, so sad.

 

We noticed the Jewel no longer uses Heinz and has switched to sub-par ketchup. Last year I thought the last straw was when NCL discontinued the distribution of free anti-seasick tablets. I was wrong. 

[YVRteacher]

Back at the cabin we admired our strawberries

 

and met with the butler to go over our preferences and requests for the week. I really like him. He admired my large paper calendar and said how organized it is. Then he said his wife does this for him at home!

 

 

The evening show tonight was comedian Dean Edwards. Totally the wrong guy and the wrong material for this crowd. We left when he started shouting his jokes. I didn’t laugh once.

[YVRteacher]

We had a wonderful evening at Maltings!

 

 

 

An author visit, a book signing (more on that to come!) favourite bartenders we’ve known for years, El-Marie making heart signs and a lovely long conversation with Aan made the night both fun and special. When we stood up to leave the bar Aan asked if we wanted a yellow cab or a blue cab😀.  It’s hard to get down from those high stools after two drinks!

 

I signed us up for one of these.

 

 

I said to my dad that even though dinner was terrible I was still having a good time and he agreed. Every few moments my dad offered me an extra pillow for my bed. Fabrice and Tyson stopped by to say hi and “welcome home” and that right there is what I love about the Jewel.

 

 

 

Day one drink tally

Dad

2 beers

Red wine with dinner (I ordered him a Shiraz)

2 Mai Tais

 

Yvonne

2 Mai Tais

Prosecco 

Old fashioned

Amaretto sour

[hernando52]

The La Cucina dinner pictures as well as the crepe just made me and my husband so sad.  We too have aways had very good meals in La Cucina, and what they put in front of you both was just plain unacceptable.  I hope the food scene improves for you both!

[Hogladyrider]

54 minutes ago, YVRteacher said:

Finally, I can post! The wifi is atrocious. 

Yup @Saint Greg just debarked and LOTS of COMPLAINTS about WiFi all week, LOTS of refunds issued.

[vswan]

Scheduled to go on the jewel in January out of Tampa. Do you think the bad wifi is specific to Alaska or the Jewel? Just wondering if I should bother upgrading to a higher level of wifi if it's that bad.

 

[AmyJA]

Wait.....what!!!

 

I thought you were not going to do a live. 

 

Thank you very much for changing your mind. I look forward to this trip with you and dad.

[AKR2011]

Welcome back, Yvonne! I didn't think,you were doing a Live, so this is a lovely surprise.  I'm sorry things aren't starting out so great, and I really hope they improve. Wishing you a wonderful couple weeks at sea ❤️⚓️

[YVRteacher]

Day 2

 

I slept well in my cozy cave. I love the total darkness! I had food poisoning in the middle of the night and that was rough. 

At 6:00am the ship’s horn woke me up so I used my power of inference to envision the fog that shrouded us.

 

Not wanting to miss breakfast in Moderno, I set an alarm for 8:30am and woke my dad up at 8:45. He asked, “where are we?” He told me he expected to wake up in Ketchikan today. I told him we had almost a full day in Beautiful British Columbia and showed him the spectacular view from our spacious balcony. 

 

Dad always takes the Freestyle Daily to bed and circles the activities he wants to do the next day. I asked him what we were doing today and he pointed to and read the heading on the Freestyle Daily that invites passengers to “Take  a Sea Day for Yourself.”  At first I assumed this was code for “Yvonne gets to read her books” but no.

Apparently we are doing all the things except for fruit carving. I would have liked fruit carving!

 

I used one of the paper caps on the glasses in the cabin and doled out my dad’s medication for the day.  We both made our beds and headed to Moderno for breakfast.