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

[YVRteacher]

Back on the bus and Driver Dave told us Ketchikan has two seasons: winter and construction:

 

 

When we swiped our key cards at the top of the ramp before heading back to the Jewel I asked if Beulah was there. She woke up, had a big stretch and came out to say hi. I sat on the dock and cuddled her and she wagged her tail and climbed into the sleeve of my jacket.  Beulah just turned one. I love her!

 

 

[YVRteacher]

The internet konked out on me.

 

Again.

 

We are both doing great and are having a wonderful cruise. We have laughed so much and we loved our days in Ketchikan and Juneau. 

[kitkat343]

3 hours ago, YVRteacher said:

The internet konked out on me.

 

Again.

 

We are both doing great and are having a wonderful cruise. We have laughed so much and we loved our days in Ketchikan and Juneau. 

I'm so glad you've gotten to have this wonderful experience together!

[BigRedFan]

17 hours ago, YVRteacher said:

Who is on board?

 

Captain 

Johan Stofling

 

Chief Engineer 

Igor Sanje

 

Staff Captain 

Santiago Filevich

 

Cruise Director

Tahani Bautista

 

General Manager 

Fabrice de Corte

 

Staff Chief Engineer 

Luksa Dabo

 

Food and Beverage Director Tyson Pinto

 

Safety Officer

Andrea Brajovic

 

Executive Chef

Peter D Costa

 

Guest Services Manager

Emil Carino

 

Executive Housekeeper

Ricardo Nestor

 

Restaurant Manager

Wilson D Souza

 

Beverage Manager

Muhammad Efendi

 

Casino Manager

Bekezela Sithole

 

Cruise Next Manager

Chzariendale Aguilar

 

Shore Excursion Manager

Denisa A.

 

 

 

I was on the Jewel earlier in the year Japan, transpacific & Alaska.  It was wonderful.  Had several delightful dinners with the officers.  The first one was with the Chief Engineer Igor Sanje.  Since my mother was from Croatia we had very interesting conversation, especially about sewage mishaps. 🙂

Edited August 23 by BigRedFan

[graphicguy]

18 hours ago, YVRteacher said:

She is awful. By far the worst concierge we have ever had on any ship. I don’t want to name her here.

That is really sad.  Concierges are a big part of the Haven experience.  Personally, I'd have a frank conversation with the GM about it.  It's really unacceptable to have a poor Concierge in the Haven.  And, if NCL doesn't know, it will just continue.

 

Everything else?  Loving your posts!!!!!

[mking8288]

8 hours ago, YVRteacher said:

The internet konked out on me.

Again ... 

Happy to read that Dad and you on another cruise together, looking out for each other (more for him) and stunning pictures as always.  

 

Any clue as to suspected reasons for ship's WiFi internet to be konking in-and-out, over-subscribed and unable to balance/throttle the server's cached load ?   

 

Starlink is supposed to help improve and enhance, not to made the sluggish connectivity worst than before.  Miami, this is a problem with the evolving age cohorts but only if they are paying attention to details.  

 

How's the weather forecast & outlook ?  Thanks for sharing and virtually bring so many of us along on the journey. 

[Kp125]

Is the Jewel already on star link? I thought it was scheduled to switch 9/9. If so they may be band aiding the system until the switch

[Travelicious]

On 8/19/2024 at 5:23 PM, YVRteacher said:

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

So glad you decided to do this!  I'm just finding it, so have a few pages to catch up, but want to go ahead and wish you and your dad a great trip!

[YVRteacher]

3 hours ago, Kp125 said:

Is the Jewel already on star link? I thought it was scheduled to switch 9/9. If so they may be band aiding the system until the switch

If the Jewel was on Starlink I wouldn’t be two days behind in this thread😁

[YVRteacher]

5 hours ago, mking8288 said:

Happy to read that Dad and you on another cruise together, looking out for each other (more for him) and stunning pictures as always.  

 

Any clue as to suspected reasons for ship's WiFi internet to be konking in-and-out, over-subscribed and unable to balance/throttle the server's cached load ?   

 

Starlink is supposed to help improve and enhance, not to made the sluggish connectivity worst than before.  Miami, this is a problem with the evolving age cohorts but only if they are paying attention to details.  

 

How's the weather forecast & outlook ?  Thanks for sharing and virtually bring so many of us along on the journey. 

The Jewel does not yet have Starlink.

[YVRteacher]

Once on board we enjoyed a picnic lunch on our balcony, courtesy of the day’s butler treats (I have asked for vegetables and cheese each day and look at the cheese art they carefully crafted!)

 

I told dad I would get us drinks and when I was at Topsider’s procuring the drinks a hot dog caught my eye and I knew dad would love that.

 

What a delightful lunch! Please note the minute serving of vegetables on dad’s plate.

We sat out there for quite a while, laughing at the salmon flinging themselves out of the ocean and marveling at the innocent-looking jellyfish ballooning in and out.  We could see large school of salmon just under the surface but when I took a photo it looked like regular ocean, not ocean with salmon school in session.

 

I was able to connect to the wifi at Ward Cove from our cabin’s balcony and shared a few posts from yesterday.

 

Not everyone is getting a full cruise this week

Edited August 23 by YVRteacher

[YVRteacher]

I am able to post today because we are in the Yukon so I can use my phone plan.

 

I’m so sorry I’m not responding to all your messages and questions. 

[mking8288]

16 minutes ago, YVRteacher said:

The Jewel does not yet have Starlink.

My bad ... I stand corrected, sorry about mistaken.  NCL's promises broken on timelines in rolling out fleet-wide.  

 

Either that, or, subconsciously, making fun & joking about how sluggish & unresponsive NCL's satellite WiFi has been - without AND with Starlink tech.  

 

 

Side notes: actually, I was reviewing our pre-Starlink onboard results on NCL when we're cruising and speed-wise, not bad (YMMV as it's hardware dependent as well, etc. etc.)  older ISP, EMC delivered faster speed but latency was really bad.  SL lowered the latency - great - but download speed is worst, much worst on ships like the Joy, Getaway, and Escape.  CNN team researching cruise ship "broadband" connectivity contacted others from different lines and myself via CC a good # of years ago as part of their facts-checking, no surprises then or now. Princess's MedallionMax roaring out soon and of course, Royal's Voom ...  NCL has to invest to grow the potential market to appeal to the younger millennials and not throttle, charging more for less vs. the competition isn't a smart, long term strategy.  

 

NCL "leadership" is lucky b/c older cruisers don't care (not "demanding") for being connected most of the time while at sea, or once the ship sail out to international water ... like our oldest brother-in-law, heading toward the big "Eight" and prefer status quo (perhaps or similar to YVR's dad and others)   I just helped them book another "Escape" next Spring from home port... not flying anywhere - reminded me he needs help to request wheelchair assistance for embark & disembark ...   As to whether they will continue to buy more CN Certs, not that sure anymore.  

[YVRteacher]

 

 

I asked dad if he wanted to go up to the pool deck to soak in a hot tub or go to the spa. He said “the spa sure was nice yesterday” so here we are, enjoying the sailaway from Ketchikan from the hot ceramic loungers. Ahhhhhh.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The sun is radiant, the ocean is glistening and little boats are creating Piet Mondrian-like wakes ahead of us.

 

I tried to teach my dad how to sit and relax on the lounge seat in the pool

 

Then I tried to teach him to float. He sank.

 

Then I tried to teach him to hold onto a bar and stretch his legs out behind him. He said “my feet don’t bend that way” and “this is too much exercise.”

 

I asked if he wanted bubbles or no bubbles. We agreed no bubbles and I said it was peaceful.

 

Dad said “yes, it’s all very peaceful except for that art. It’s crap.”

 

 

We relaxed and a man came into the spa to find his wife; he tapped her on the shoulder, called her honey and she said I’m not your wife! He was pretty embarrassed and said his wife had the exact same bathing suit! When his wife came out of the bathroom her bathing suit was nothing like not-your-wife’s. I laughed so hard.

[YVRteacher]

I showered in the spa and dad showered in the cabin.

 

While pulling the cabin door shut, dad asked me if I was hungry. He does not care if I am hungry: this is the way he tells me he is hungry! I said yes, but first we have a party.

 

His face lit up and he asked “is it my birthday?”  Then I could tell he was doing some math is his head because he said “no, it can’t be my birthday because your birthday is before mine.”

 

We walked up two flights to Spinnaker for the Latitudes party that was not for dad’s birthday. He pointed to a green drink and said I’ll have that. I said no you won’t and ordered him a beer.  That Kermit the frog coloured drink was tequila with green stuff and my dad would not have liked that.

 

 

The music at the latitudes party is so loud and metallic it hurts my teeth.

 

The Latitudes party was, for lack of a better word, pitiful. There was no thank you, no recognition of latitudes members and no food. Not even a grape. Some ships still do appies and some do cheese and grapes on little plates and this one does nothing.
 

The Cruise Next manager has not even said hello to us. 

[YVRteacher]

Cagney’s

 

The first cruise we went on we thought the specialty restaurant was the MDR and we ate all our meals except Christmas dinner in the buffet. We treated ourselves to ‘specialty’ MDR that night!

 

Tonight we truly enjoyed a specialty dining meal in Cagney’s. I know that Sheila is checking our orders before they come to the table to ensure accuracy. For dad I ordered the lobster bisque and the jumbo shrimp skewer.

 

 

For myself I did the Moderno salad bar and some rice and black beans from Moderno.  

 

 

 

The restaurant manager and sous chef are now checking in on us at the beginning and the end of each meal. It shouldn’t have to be this way and it is awkward for us but if this is what it takes to move closer to good than poor quality so be it.

 

Everything was excellent including the view.

 

 

 

For dessert dad ordered raspberry creme brûlée and I had the banana meringue tart from Moderno. 
 

 

 

Cagney’s was great for this vegetarian because everything I ordered was from Moderno. Cagney’s was great for dad because he had seafood and crême brûlée.

As mentioned I requested the same waiter for breakfast in Moderno, lunch in Cagney’s and dinner when we eat in Cagney’s. He is taking such great care of us. I have already told both the restaurant manager and the executive sous chef how much we appreciate Ram.

[YVRteacher]

I wanted to walk but we got windblown outside so we did some indoor deck laps then checked out the bridge viewing room. I waved at everyone and they waved back. The junior officers were scoping for whales with binoculars. We haven’t seen any whales yet but other people did yesterday and I saw an otter tonight. 

 

We kept walking and ended up in the diamond section of the gift shop. NCL now sells Biscoff and they have new blinged out merch.

 

 

For the first time on this cruise we had a very long wait for an elevator as we tried to make our way to Spinnaker for the Newlywed Not So Newlywed Game. Eventually we caught an elevator going down in order to go back up again. 

 

Tahani does a terrific job hosting Newlywed and is quick with the humour and comebacks. All the questions were new which was refreshing and made the show more enjoyable.

 

Dad said it was “mildly amusing.”

 

Dad was done for the night so I walked him back to the cabin. He ate two gummy bears.

 

Then he took off his shoes and asked me where to put them. I showed him then stayed in his room. He looked at me quizzically and I told him I was here to help him get ready.

 

He said “I don’t need help” to which I replied “oh. Ok. You did yesterday.”

 

Dad took great offence to this and said “I most certainly did not! You lie like a sidewalk.”

 

I laughed so hard I almost peed my pants. That made dad laugh and we just howled together. 

 

We sure had a terrific day!

[YVRteacher]

When the sun and the sky and the ocean work together to put on a show this good, I stop and take notice

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[YVRteacher]

Drink tally day 3

Drink Tally

 

Dad

Ginger ale

2 beers

 

Yvonne

Margarita

2 tequila passionate fruit

[Tyskie]

Had to laugh - my Father’s saying was:

” If you say so”  i didn’t have as much time with him - but it was still special ❤️

12 minutes ago, YVRteacher said:

Dad took great offence to this and said “I most certainly did not! You lie like a sidewalk.”

 

I laughed so hard I almost peed my pants. That made dad laugh and we just howled together. 

 

We sure had a terrific day!

[mking8288]

47 minutes ago, YVRteacher said:

...

The music at the latitudes party is so loud and metallic it hurts my teeth.

The Latitudes party was, for lack of a better word, pitiful. There was no thank you, no recognition of latitudes members and no food. Not even a grape. Some ships still do ... and this one does nothing.
The Cruise Next manager has not even said hello to us. 

 

Wow !!  To not even acknowledge and introduce onboard their "Ambassadors" with dad and you doing B2B.  

 

At a loss on what can one say.  

[TM]

Amazing sunset pictures.

[LauraAnneC]

Yvonne, loving your review as always. Great to see you back in Alaska with your Dad. I hope you both have a wonderful, memorable trip together. 
 

Laura 

 

PS: memorable for beautiful sunsets, etc rather that moons in the spa! 😉

[Swells1]

I saw this and immediately thought, "The world's turned upside-down".

 

I'm gonna go watch "Hamilton" now. Thank you for the inspiration.

[ceilidh1]

I don’t want to “quote” your posts as the pictures take forever to load and wifi is not our friend right now…but wanted to check in and let you know I’m reading (and miss you).

 

- Biscoff!!! Airplane cookies. I had some on air Canada today and was so happy. 
 

- Dad is the best. Please tell him how much I love his British-isms. We really need to bring him to brunch next time!

 

- I got you treats at Buc-ee’s!