Seemoreroyals and Sassycat's Alaskan Cruise

[seemoreroyals]

Sept 5th - 12th NCL Jewel

Day 1 Sat 9/5 - Leave Seattle 4pm
Day 2 Sun 9/6 - Day at Sea
Day 3 Mon 9/7 - Ketchican 7am - 2:30pm
Day 4 Tues 9/8 - Juneau 7am - 1pm
Day 5 Wed 9/9 - Skagway 7am - 5pm
Day 6 Thurs 9/10 Day at Sea
Day 7 Friday 9/11 Victoria, BC 5pm - 11:30pm
Sat 9/12 Seattle 8am debarkation

[seemoreroyals]

I was going to do this on my laptop but loading pitchers onto computer they turned out sideways. So it will not be as detailed as I originally planned.

Overall we had a great time on our cruise. This was our second cruise in the last year and despite the beautiful scenery and everything else that comes with a trip to Alaska we were really tired and needed a couple of weeks to recuperate when we got home. I guess we are just getting old but the trip took a lot out of us.

Our flight to Seattle from DFW was uneventful. Upon arrival we waited for our luggage and our friends from San Diego to meet us there. We arrived at about 10am and by about 11 our luggage and our friends has arrived and I called the transportation company I had booked to pick us up.

Online their website showed an Escalade that would be escorting us to our cruise. It appeared to be clean and new. When they arrived to pick us up it was an Escalade all right but it was dirty inside and out, missing hubcaps, and when I peaked at the odometer it had about 300,000 miles on it. Our driver, Eddie, we referred to him as Sweaty Eddie because judging by his hygiene I think he only bathed once a week and we caught him on the wrong park of the week. We got there in plenty of time but man Sweaty Eddie liked to of killed us with his BO. We were on the ship headed to lunch at O'Sheehan's their 24 hour diner.

We were happy to begin our cruise and although the food their was just okay, and the service was slow and the waiter was rude, the drinks we had were great and we caught up with our friends and looked forward to the week ahead.http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/10/05/1cea5fc7339aeec7d7d7cba5da8c9ce0.jpghttp://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/10/05/37131bf9997ae1649699200fb9574c9a.jpg


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[seemoreroyals]

Stay tuned for more. To be continued.......


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[SoCalRob]

Brian and I are using GroundLink for our cruise in November. The transportation/cars that NCL uses. Is that what you guys used? Or did you use something else?

[seemoreroyals]

Brian and I are using GroundLink for our cruise in November. The transportation/cars that NCL uses. Is that what you guys used? Or did you use something else?

We used a private company Seattle Limo and Town Car aka Sweaty Eddie's at least that's what we called it. It was dependable but that is all I have good to say about it.


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[Nhcris]

SWEATY EDDIE!! Priceless! I love this review already :D

[seemoreroyals]

SWEATY EDDIE!! Priceless! I love this review already :D

Have you used him before? My only regret is that I did not take a picture of him and his misrepresentaion he drove us to and from our cruise in.

[Nhcris]

I have never used Sweaty Eddie but I believe I have run into some of his relatives in Miami. We booked a new company for this Friday, so we'll see!

[Jen Jen]

I can't wait to read more..

[seemoreroyals]

Our driver " Sweaty Eddie" was an Indian but not of Native American decent. We will always remember him as part of this particular cruise experience. In fact if I concentrate enough I can still smell him. Anyway back to the cruise report. I am switching to the laptop and I will insert some pictures later.

After lunch and drinks and more drinks we decide to explore the ship so we would become familiar with the layout. And where all the bars were located. We had the unlimited drink package and as fate would have it we took full advantage during our time onboard. Our rooms were finally ready around 3pm so we went and checked them out and dropped off our carry on stuff. BTW we noticed when even though all of our drinks were free as long as we were within so many miles from Seattle our account was charged about $1 a drink for some sort of bs tax. We kept all of our receipts and between us even though all of the drinks we had were in the $6 to $10 range our bar tab if we would of had to pay for it was about $1500. That might explain part of the reason that it took so long to recover. And before I forget the ship we were on was the NCL Jewel Sept 5th - 12th. Sorry it has take so long to do report.

A little after 4pm we felt the ship begin to move. So we headed up to the sail away party by the pool. They had burgers, BBQ, a pretty decent band was playing, but more importantly they had a bar nearby. We stayed there for about an 30 minutes. It was way too crowded. We headed back down to what would become our home away from home for a great deal of time while we were on the ship: Magnum's Champagne and Martini Bar. We had every intention of having dinner about 5 and then catching the early Welcome Aboard Show at 7:15 but we starting visiting and drinking and enjoying the accoustic guitar player. Next thing we knew it was about 9PM and we missed dinner entirely and barely had time to make it to the late Welcome Aboard Show. It was okay. Throughout the trip we went to the main shows every night but we enjoyed the individual entertainers in the bars and lounges even more. Some time after the show was over we stumbled into the casino. After about 30 minutes of watching sassycat lose about $100 that was to be the only gambling session for either of us on the cruise. Afterwards we visited a couple of other bars on the ship and sometime thereafter we got some pizza somewhere though I can't tell you where and next thing I remember we were back in our cabin. The only reason I know we had pizza that night was because when we woke up next morning we had a plate with 3 or four small pieces of pizza crust on it. To be continued.......

[Cyndyga]

You've got me hooked can't wait for the rest of this! I am thinking an Alaska cruise this summer :)

[goldengreeke]

Great report so far! Those drinks really add up if you don't have a drink package.

They offer them to you everywhere, along with wine at dinner, and on our last 10 day cruise Sharon and my bar bill was $3,300.00 Yikes!

[SlotPlayer]

Welcome Back

Interested in what you thought of the ship itself since i will be on the Jewel xmas week.

[SoCalRob]

Our driver " Sweaty Eddie" was an Indian but not of Native American decent. We will always remember him as part of this particular cruise experience. In fact if I concentrate enough I can still smell him. Anyway back to the cruise report. I am switching to the laptop and I will insert some pictures later.

After lunch and drinks and more drinks we decide to explore the ship so we would become familiar with the layout. And where all the bars were located. We had the unlimited drink package and as fate would have it we took full advantage during our time onboard. Our rooms were finally ready around 3pm so we went and checked them out and dropped off our carry on stuff. BTW we noticed when even though all of our drinks were free as long as we were within so many miles from Seattle our account was charged about $1 a drink for some sort of bs tax. We kept all of our receipts and between us even though all of the drinks we had were in the $6 to $10 range our bar tab if we would of had to pay for it was about $1500. That might explain part of the reason that it took so long to recover. And before I forget the ship we were on was the NCL Jewel Sept 5th - 12th. Sorry it has take so long to do report.

A little after 4pm we felt the ship begin to move. So we headed up to the sail away party by the pool. They had burgers, BBQ, a pretty decent band was playing, but more importantly they had a bar nearby. We stayed there for about an 30 minutes. It was way too crowded. We headed back down to what would become our home away from home for a great deal of time while we were on the ship: Magnum's Champagne and Martini Bar. We had every intention of having dinner about 5 and then catching the early Welcome Aboard Show at 7:15 but we starting visiting and drinking and enjoying the accoustic guitar player. Next thing we knew it was about 9PM and we missed dinner entirely and barely had time to make it to the late Welcome Aboard Show. It was okay. Throughout the trip we went to the main shows every night but we enjoyed the individual entertainers in the bars and lounges even more. Some time after the show was over we stumbled into the casino. After about 30 minutes of watching sassycat lose about $100 that was to be the only gambling session for either of us on the cruise. Afterwards we visited a couple of other bars on the ship and sometime thereafter we got some pizza somewhere though I can't tell you where and next thing I remember we were back in our cabin. The only reason I know we had pizza that night was because when we woke up next morning we had a plate with 3 or four small pieces of pizza crust on it. To be continued.......

So do you and Karen not gamble much on cruises?

[seemoreroyals]

You've got me hooked can't wait for the rest of this! I am thinking an Alaska cruise this summer :)

It is a beautiful part of the world. Everyone should go at least once. I hope you decide to go.


Great report so far! Those drinks really add up if you don't have a drink package.

They offer them to you everywhere, along with wine at dinner, and on our last 10 day cruise Sharon and my bar bill was $3,300.00 Yikes!

Yikes is right!!! I thought we had alcohol poisoning when we got back. I don't think there is any way we could consume $3300 worth of drinks even on a 10 day cruise. You are in a league of your own. There is no way I could keep up with you.


Welcome Back

Interested in what you thought of the ship itself since i will be on the Jewel xmas week.

I really liked the ship. We had been on the NCL Dawn this past December and overall I think we liked the Jewel a little bit more. Most of the bars and entertainment options are on either the 6th or 7th deck and then the pool and the remainder of the bars and restaurants are on the 12th deck so it's easy to find your way around. We really enjoyed a place called the Great Outdoors which is on the back side of the buffet. Even as cool as it was in Alaska we were able to check it out a couple of times. If we were taking a warm weather cruise we would definitely eat breakfast there every morning.


So do you and Karen not gamble much on cruises?

We have gambled probably a grand total of an hour during our last 2 cruises. There is just so many other things to do. I saw quite a few people gambling there especially during the first part of the cruise and they had a decent variety of machines. We didn't want our gambling to get in the way of our drinking.

[goldengreeke]

Yikes is right!!! I thought we had alcohol poisoning when we got back. I don't think there is any way we could consume $3300 worth of drinks even on a 10 day cruise. You are in a league of your own. There is no way I could keep up with you.


Actually, when you do the math, that's only about one drink an hour for each of us every day. Could have been much worse if we would have ordered more expensive wine during the evening dinners..

[Mimi]

Great report so far! Those drinks really add up if you don't have a drink package.

They offer them to you everywhere, along with wine at dinner, and on our last 10 day cruise Sharon and my bar bill was $3,300.00 Yikes!
Lol, know that feeling well. Our first cruise, our charges print-out wouldn't fit under the door. It looked like a phone book, good times though! Glad they have the unlimited option now!

[Stephiede11]

I applaud all you guys that can drink like that. I would be in a coma, lol. Looks like you had a great time with friends. Can't wait to read the rest.

[seemoreroyals]

You've got me hooked can't wait for the rest of this! I am thinking an Alaska cruise this summer :)


Great report so far! Those drinks really add up if you don't have a drink package.

They offer them to you everywhere, along with wine at dinner, and on our last 10 day cruise Sharon and my bar bill was $3,300.00 Yikes!


Welcome Back

Interested in what you thought of the ship itself since i will be on the Jewel xmas week.


So do you and Karen not gamble much on cruises?


Actually, when you do the math, that's only about one drink an hour for each of us every day. Could have been much worse if we would have ordered more expensive wine during the evening dinners..

On a 10 day cruise that's $330 a day or about $165 each. At current rates that would give you each about 15 to 20 drinks per day. You cannot get bottled wine on the UDP only wine by the glass. Allowing for time to sleep and time at each port 15 to 20 drinks per person per day for 10 days is some pretty serious drinking. I could probably hang with you for maybe one day and that would be about it. On a positive note that much alcohol in your system would probably kill and prevent any viruses from getting in your system that might be running rampant on the ship.

[foamy]

On a 10 day cruise that's $330 a day or about $165 each. At current rates that would give you each about 15 to 20 drinks per day. You cannot get bottled wine on the UDP only wine by the glass. Allowing for time to sleep and time at each port 15 to 20 drinks per person per day for 10 days is some pretty serious drinking. I could probably hang with you for maybe one day and that would be about it. On a positive note that much alcohol in your system would probably kill and prevent any viruses from getting in your system that might be running rampant on the ship.

Hell James goldengreeke will spill that many in a day. hhh

[michelelovesvegas]

I applaud all you guys that can drink like that. I would be in a coma, lol. Looks like you had a great time with friends. Can't wait to read the rest.

If I remember right, someone on their last Vegas trip didn't feel so well the next morning, so they topped it off the morning with another drink! lol

[Stephiede11]

If I remember right, someone on their last Vegas trip didn't feel so well the next morning, so they topped it off the morning with another drink! lol
Haha, you are correct. I'm learning from the best, lol. I just told Chris I need to start back drinking to get ready for Halloween. I know who I'll be partying with.

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[sassycat]

Some cabin pics
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[sassycat]

Where we spent most evenings after the shows
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[seemoreroyals]

I was really excited by the location of our room. We did not have a balcony but our cabin had a picture window so we had a great view outside. Being located on the 5th deck right around the corner from the elevators and stairs we had easy and quick access to everything. Also it was convenient that our friends we were cruising with were just two cabins down. One thing I did not count on or think about when we were choosing our cabin was on the deck plans it showed our cabin then an open area and then another run of cabins so I am thinking that is great because literally as soon as you got off the elevator our cabin is right there and there is no one on one side of us. I think it was the second or third day of the cruise when we were awakened about 4am to what sounded like metal clanking sound and all sorts of weird noises. I looked out the window and I saw a smaller boat right outside. Evidently this open area was a place where they brought in or let off crew members or possibly brought in supplies. We only noticed it a couple of times but when we did it was very loud and seemed to go on for thirty minutes or so. Not what you want to hear when you are trying to get rested up for the next day. Other than that I would give our room two thumbs up.

Sunday September 5th was the first full day of our cruise and was also a day at sea. After a good night sleep we got up around 8am and looked for a place to eat breakfast. After breakfast we went up top to the jogging track to get our morning walk in but it was very windy and just enough mist in the air to make for miserable walking conditions so we found a great alternative on the 7th deck which was more sheltered. It became our go to place for the at sea days to get our morning walk in.

At 11am we were scheduled to attend a Cruise Critic meet and greet and gift exchange. I was concerned our friends would not make it because on the last cruise we went on with them they had a hard time getting up in the morning. We got there a few minutes early to meet some of the fellow cruisers I had been corresponding with and about 1 minute until 11 our friends sauntered in just as we were about to give up on them. After about an hour or so at the meet and greet / gift exchange we headed for the main dining room for lunch.

We ate at both main dining rooms during our cruise and the food was consistently good. And Tsar's which was the nicer of the two we were usually able to get a table by the window , which is where we had lunch. I don't remember what I had to eat, I think it was fried chicken. I remember our friends were unusually hungry because they were hung over and it was almost 1pm and it was there first meal of the day. As we were eating lunch we were thrilled to see both whales and a school of dolphins. We took some pictures which I will try to post. Forgive me if they come out sideways.

4075407640774078

After lunch we settled in at our favorite bar, Magnums. They usually had great entertainment there. The guitar player, a couple of different piano players, a duo, and a trio and they they were all very good. Later we had dinner, caught the main show and returned to Magnums for some more cocktails. I also think that later on that night we went to the Atrium Lounge to watch one of the girls we met at the Cruise Critic meet and greet participate in the Kareoke contest. A little after midnight we headed to our cabin as we were arriving in Ketchican the next morning at 7am. Not a good thing when you are trying to get all you can get out of the unlimited drink package.

4080408140824083

Coming next our day in Ketchican. Stay tuned. More to come..................

[SlotPlayer]

Enjoying the report. I declined UDP on my cruise since i barely drink. But i think i get a drink card while playing in the casino. It worked out to be a great deal for you all.

I am glad to hear that Jewel has the Great Outdoors. I love that area. It's esp great for Alaska. Mexico, i dont know but since i have an inside cabin this time, i will probably try to eat there.

[seemoreroyals]

Also wanted to mention to those of you that are thinking about cruising with NCL there has been some controversy recently about removing food from the dining areas and taking food to your room. They briefly attempted to enforce this but I can say on several occasions during our cruise instead of eating a big meal we went to the buffet area and got something to take with us to the room with no problems. We also packed a couple of small thermoses that we made quite a few visits to the buffet area to fill with the flavored water that they have there. It was a great way to stay hydrated as much as we were drinking on this trip. They are, however, charging a fee of $7.95 to order room service.

[sassycat]

Another pic of dolphins
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[Luckylinda123]

I am enjoying your report. Glad you had a good time.

[Nhcris]

WOW! I love Alaska for the wildlife viewing but I have NEVER seen that many dolphins at once. That must have been spectacular to see in person!

Your pictures of Magnum's made me smile. I spent many hours sitting right in that very seat kibitzing and watching the world go by.

Glad you were happy with the food. I've always been satisfied with it, but NCL takes quite a beating on the CC forums about it.

Can't wait to read more!

[dvandentop]

Have to read through this thread and see all the pictures when I get home

[seemoreroyals]

Have to read through this thread and see all the pictures when I get home

Be prepared to look sideways alot. When I post pictures from my computer they are coming out sideways. We still have 100's of pictures to post going forward and I think from now on as far as pictures are concerned we are going to try to post them from iphone using tapatalk. I am going to continue to post my review using my laptop and go back and edit the text and add my pictures later via tapatalk. Hope it works so our pictures are easier for everyone to see.

[seemoreroyals]

Day 3 Ketchican 7am - 2:30 pm. The first day of three days in a row where the boat gets to port at 7am. And I think this was the first morning where we heard the loud clanging sounds at 3 in the morning. The consensus the night before was to meet our friends for breakfast at 8:30. We knew going into it that this 3 day stretch of the boat getting to port was going to be brutal. I may have mentioned earlier that our friends are not early risers plus they live in California which is 2 time zones behind where we live. I was really surprised that they were up and ready to go on time. We met for breakfast and had no particular plans for that day. They had heard about a tour that was only about three hours long that went to areas in Ketchican known for bear sightings and also known to be nesting sights for eagles and ending with a visit to Dolly's House which was once a house of prostitution a long time ago. So we decided to do that.

Between Sassycat and I we have quite a few pictures. There was a bear sighting we missed out on and it rained the second half of this tour but over all it was time well spent. Since we were only going to be in port until 2:30 and we wanted to have time to do some shopping this tour ended up perfect for us. I was amazed at how inexpensive everything was. We headed back to the ship with a couple of bags of t-shirts and hats and other stuff we really didn't need and were back on board with about 30 minutes to spare. After a couple of hours of quiet time back in the cabin we met us again with our friends for our normal pattern of drinking, listening to the entertainment at Magnum's, dinner, going to the nightly show, going back for more drinks and calling it a night somewhere in the midnight to 1am range if I were guessing. We had to get a little rest as our next stop was a visit to Juneau with an arrival the next morning at 7am.
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[SoCalRob]

Also wanted to mention to those of you that are thinking about cruising with NCL there has been some controversy recently about removing food from the dining areas and taking food to your room. They briefly attempted to enforce this but I can say on several occasions during our cruise instead of eating a big meal we went to the buffet area and got something to take with us to the room with no problems. We also packed a couple of small thermoses that we made quite a few visits to the buffet area to fill with the flavored water that they have there. It was a great way to stay hydrated as much as we were drinking on this trip. They are, however, charging a fee of $7.95 to order room service.
Wow. Thermoses are a fantastic idea that I didn't even think about! Thanks seemoreroyals. I have 46 days till I set sail! I'm getting more and more excited! Also glad I don't have to pay that room service charge. Cuz I'm sure I'll use it a lot.

[sassycat]

Some more pics from Ketchikan
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[sassycat]

The above pictures from Dolly's showed the shower curtain. We were told that back in the day - the first condoms were made out of silk - but didn't work- so she sewed them on the shower curtain as decorations.

[sassycat]

James had mentioned on the first full day at sea-we attended the cruise critic meet. I won the cruise critic door prize.

We also all brought gifts to be exchanged and most people brought something from their area and then explained the meaning of the gift when someone picked it.

James and I both got gifts from the Atlanta area - Coke and Delta.
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[seemoreroyals]

Day 4 Juneau 7am to 1pm. Port day in Juneau was our shortest port day. We rented a car and after an early breakfast we were on our way to Mendenhahl Glacier. We wanted to get there before all of the buses and tours. Unfortunately we had about a 30 minute delay picking up our rent car because there was some sort of a hangup involving paperwork with the people in front of us in line to pick up our rental car. Not sure what the deal was but once it was our turn we were in on car and on our way in less than 5 minutes. We still got there before most of the tours and managed to get some spectacular pictures. I had read on Cruise Critic that if you get there early enough sometimes you can see bears. Unfortunately no bear sightings but we took the hike down to Nugget Falls and a close up view of the glacier. We spent quite a bit of time and I can see why Mendenhahl is supposed to be the most photographed glacier in the world. We spent quite a bit of time there and because our time was so limited we headed back to drop off the car and squeeze in some shopping before it was time to get back on cruiseship.

Later after a late lunch back on board ship we headed to the Spinaker Lounge for a viewing of Sawyer Glacier as we made our way through the inside passage. Afterwards we hung out and had some drinks at Magnums and did our normal cruise thing throughout the evening and next thing we knew it was close to midnight and after an 18 hour day we collapsed in our cabin. We had to get ready for tomorrow and our day in Skagway. To be continued.....http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/10/07/e0defd6a7176185bc13bc184261ddf03.jpghttp://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/10/07/060be7ccb3e34def80ab679e4b9dd866.jpghttp://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/10/07/a787b2130435cd7ad91b9bab2028bd8c.jpghttp://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/10/07/ca07d5c16a4d9998ba727a803896505a.jpghttp://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/10/07/ca1388edb4a7bde5826efda969183da8.jpghttp://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/10/07/6cdc83c56d3920c7adbcc21c80cf2ebb.jpg

[sassycat]

More Juneau pics
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[dvandentop]

great report and enjoying the pictures so far great job on the cruise critic drawing.

i bet it is breathtaking there

[Moneybags]

Awesome report and pix - thanks!

[Luckylinda123]

You have the picture posting perfect. I have never been to Alaska it looks like a great state to visit.

[Jen Jen]

Looks like a wonderful trip. We need a Joker's cruise.

[BorgataBabe]

What a fantastic TR so far, Alaska does look beautiful, thanks for sharing.


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[Drgonslyer]

Great TR and pictures - thanks

[FL Mary]

Great report and pictures! It brought back memories of my Alaskan cruise a couple of years ago.

[Jeani]

Loving the trip report and pictures!!! Thanks for sharing and looking forward to the rest of your trip :)

[seemoreroyals]

Day 5 September 9th Skagway 7:00 - 5:00. I think we saved our favorite of the three main port stops for last. I think all 4 of us liked it the most although Ketchican, Juneau, and Skagway each have there own unique beauty to take in. Since we were doing our cruise in September the weather was a little on the cool side but it was also evidently the peak time for fall foliage in Skagway. I don't think I have ever seen as many bright yellow leaves anywhere. We rented a 4 door 4wd Jeep Wranger. The drive we were taking goes almost the same track as the train that Skagway is famous for. We had did the train on our only other visit many years ago and we liked the Jeep option much better because we were able get out and walk around and stop and start at our convenience. Since I was driving and I had an issue with the camera on my phone being full, most of the pictures here will be courtesy of Sassycat.

We decided to do a trip into the Yukon territory past Carcross and up to Emerald Lake. It was altogether a little over 5 hours roundtrip but we had plenty of time since we had a lengthy port day. We picked up our Jeep and headed out. We were warned ahead of time that there was only 1 place along the way to stop and use the restroom. What they didn't tell us was that it was $1 each to use it. Sassy has a picture of the sign when we get to her pictures. After leaving Skagway we hit a foggy stretch that seemed to last for ever but we finally got through it and made it into Yukon Territory. We returned to Skagway with plenty of time left for the girls to go shopping. I hope you enjoy our pictures and I will be back later with a recap of our comomg up day at sea and our evening at Victoria.

http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/10/08/02697f3ce8d2cf7db5f4fc277ef831b3.jpghttp://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/10/08/58b26ea70be0267f13cbe43c7a89085c.jpghttp://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/10/08/cd22a7cc419c7105ed8772fb5e123c18.jpghttp://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/10/08/bdae43fb64242cbe62a8fa968d6f4156.jpghttp://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/10/08/5437a8f323055fd8c4e7dd9a7ff7feb0.jpghttp://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/10/08/88affb5e15020187d96eb11edbd6e1f5.jpghttp://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/10/08/e55dcf2d54eb76b28d06e350c8a212fd.jpg

[sassycat]

Here is a picture of our Jeephttp://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/10/08/b7217aaf9f4303b25b33c89d5e2bc3aa.jpghttp://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/10/08/6b9afcf62293cd997d462b456a13e90d.jpg
Some more pics
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/10/08/b89e8a83f27168a4422a83b484b6ff2f.jpghttp://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/10/08/3ebf661d3939f3b9d0f5dc9a2f75c649.jpghttp://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/10/08/93dfc31517c7e795ddc52925b82c683d.jpghttp://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/10/08/029d644ea247295d6387a6ac6ed881a2.jpghttp://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/10/08/c5ce0dd1104a955f4fcf29394caebb44.jpghttp://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/10/08/7d5c6ba48e7d4de608aff15c0904c8fe.jpg

Here is a pic of Emerald Lake

http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/10/08/d5eaf69dacd4a25611268d28f407772b.jpg


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[SoCalRob]

Your pictures are just amazingly breathtaking!!!! It just solidifies my desire to want to go to Alaska. So gorgeous and I'm so glad you two were able to share this with us.

[sassycat]

A pic of the pay toilet area
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/10/08/2388bb93b1e53523e9eec5d7985ee12d.jpghttp://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/10/08/32bf0f7d0bca5a03e387d2139eb8d9d9.jpg


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[sassycat]

And then the free outdoor toilet areas
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/10/08/80f13d850bb9d9684129e8cd40e6595d.jpg


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[sassycat]

A store near our rent car place
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[Penguin]

Hey guys, this is a great report!!!! Thanks for sharing.

[SlotPlayer]

Skagway is my favorite though like you say Juneau and Ketchikan are also worthwhile. I did that Skagway tour twice already but with a tour company.

I would do it again.

Thanks for the report!

[seemoreroyals]

Skagway is my favorite though like you say Juneau and Ketchikan are also worthwhile. I did that Skagway tour twice already but with a tour company.

I would do it again.

Thanks for the report!

We really liked Skagway. The only other time we were there, almost 20 years ago, we did the train but I think the jeep gave us more flexibility. We turned around at Emerald Lake but I guess we good of kept going further in to Yukon territory. That was where they recommended. Also went through Dyea on the way back. We saw some sea otters and tried to take pictures but I guess they did not come out.

[foamy]

That looks so good I wouldn't have got back on the boat. hhh

[seemoreroyals]

Day 6 September 10th Day at Sea. So after three consecutive days of getting to port at 7am we finally get to sleep in. Or so we thought. We were awakened and kept up for at least an hour in the middle of the night by noise and racket next to us were they were loading or unloading somebody or something from the ship. I banged on the wall and they would stop for a little bit and then it would start again. We finally got back to sleep and got some rest. We would need it as once we got up and about and met our friends for a late breakfast we made plans for some extensive drinking. Not only were we at sea, but we would not get to our next port Victoria until 5pm the following day so there was really nothing to hold us back. So that is pretty much what we did all day. And reflected on what a great time we were having and how fast it had gone by. We still found time to eat and we went to the main show that night but mainly we drank. The last picture of the towel animal on our bed was taken at 1:58AM. Thank god for iphones. Without them I would never know how long our drinkfest had lasted.

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[seemoreroyals]

Day 7 Sept. 11th Victoria, BC 5pm - 11:30pm. It was Friday and it was the last day of the cruise and even though it seemed we had just boarded it was almost over. We did not get up in time so instead of breakfast we met up for lunch. We had to have all of our stuff packed and ready by later on that evening so while the girls went back to the rooms to pack Patrick and I went up to Magnum's for a few more drinks. We pondered what to do while in Victoria. We all are active and like to walk so when we got to Victoria instead of taking the bus we made a walk out of it. We all really liked Victoria. It was only about 2 miles to downtown where the shopping was at so it took no time at all to get there. The cost of living must be fairly high there as all of the prices in the shops in Victoria were much higher. I think we paid almost $10 for 2 bottles of water. But we did take some pictures and walk around and went in and out of a few shops. All this walking was making us hungry so we headed back to the ship for our last night of dinner and drinks. We only stayed up until a little after midnight because we had to be up and finished with breakfast and off the ship by about 8:30AM the next morning so we could catch our ride back to the airport for our flight back home.http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/10/10/3ad105270b46336a09faa6a4d7045837.jpghttp://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/10/10/fb35f4d117e7eb8b2cd199587afdf73c.jpghttp://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/10/10/1dc42f2613ce48ffb105fe38e480e751.jpghttp://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/10/10/865b830a5a64c18f0db9b8435982a25e.jpghttp://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/10/10/50121724fa56012f3ce0f1c84bbab850.jpghttp://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/10/10/6c3a02195810a0d43b1f4a4e22ef75b6.jpghttp://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/10/10/738203210b5d828d4b432defbe2eafca.jpghttp://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/10/10/f6b89a1d576d66e9935083b9a9507742.jpghttp://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/10/10/909fbf00bc0a1dbbcda9b1a6d6106543.jpghttp://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/10/10/97e50620ec0514470c48a129a9d4f6a7.jpg

[Mauretania]

Thank you for the report. I agree it is a nice walk from the cruise ship port into downtown Victoria. The Butchart Gardens are a highlight, just outside Victoria, but probably not
enough time for a short visit in the evening. I did two Alaska cruises twenty years ago but neither did Skagway. I expect the ports are much busier than back in the 90's!

[seemoreroyals]

Thank you for the report. I agree it is a nice walk from the cruise ship port into downtown Victoria. The Butchart Gardens are a highlight, just outside Victoria, but probably not
enough time for a short visit in the evening. I did two Alaska cruises twenty years ago but neither did Skagway. I expect the ports are much busier than back in the 90's!

We thought about Butchart Gardens but not enough time. Hear it is beautiful but we really enjoyed our walk into Victoria. Since it's been almost 20 years you are due a return trip to Alaska. That's how long it was for us between trips. I hope on your next one you pick one that includes Skagway as one of the stops. The only Alaskan port we have enjoyed as much was on our last Alaska cruise we stopped at Sitka and really liked that it as well.

[CTslotters]

Thank you for sharing your trip with us! The views and scenery are breathtaking!

[nhmajik]

Wow what a fabulous trip, loved all the pictures and details. I can see why you guys needed a couple weeks to chill when you got back. I know there is no way I could do all that drinking and late nights early mornings and day excursions for so many days in a row. You guys are champs!!! We have never been on a cruise and seeing Alaska looks like the perfect way to go!!!~ Thank you for sharing your trip James and Karen it was awesome to read. :)

[seemoreroyals]

Wow what a fabulous trip, loved all the pictures and details. I can see why you guys needed a couple weeks to chill when you got back. I know there is no way I could do all that drinking and late nights early mornings and day excursions for so many days in a row. You guys are champs!!! We have never been on a cruise and seeing Alaska looks like the perfect way to go!!!~ Thank you for sharing your trip James and Karen it was awesome to read. :)

Stay tuned Chrissy because in the next couple of days I am going to do one last installment of final thoughts on our cruise. You and Steve should do a cruise some time. One cruise we have never done is a fall foliage cruise up in your neck of the woods. That's on our list to do one of these days.

[twinslotaddicts]

What a fantastic trip report!!!! My daughter worked in Denali for the Summer of 2013 & 2014 then last year she took a week off and her and my parents did an Alaska cruise with Princess since she worked for them she got an amazing deal on a balcony cabin for them. They absolutely loved it!!! Thanks for taking the time to do an awesome report!!!

Ang

[SoCalRob]

Fantastic trip report and I know now more than ever that I eventually want to do an Alaska cruise (providing my very first cruise goes well). If not, then I'll eventually travel to Alaska somehow just to see it. It looks so spectacular.

[seemoreroyals]

What a fantastic trip report!!!! My daughter worked in Denali for the Summer of 2013 & 2014 then last year she took a week off and her and my parents did an Alaska cruise with Princess since she worked for them she got an amazing deal on a balcony cabin for them. They absolutely loved it!!! Thanks for taking the time to do an awesome report!!!

Ang


Fantastic trip report and I know now more than ever that I eventually want to do an Alaska cruise (providing my very first cruise goes well). If not, then I'll eventually travel to Alaska somehow just to see it. It looks so spectacular.

Thanks Ang and Rob for the kind words. Ang what a great experience your daughter must have had. We have not been to Denali. May have to do inland Alaska next time. Rob I hope your first cruise is a great experience so an Alaskan cruise will be in your plans as well.

[dvandentop]

Wow yet again thanks for all the pictures and in depth details love reading about it and hope to get on an alaskan cruise one day too

[seemoreroyals]

Debarkation and Final Thoughts on Alaskan Cruise

So by 9am on Sat. Sept 12th we were off the boat and claiming our luggage. It was all there . I have to admit both embarkation and debarkation (getting on and off the boat to those of you that don't cruise) were fast and efficient. Put in a call to Sweaty Eddie and true to his word he was there to whisk us to the airport within about 5 minutes. I asked him when he needed my credit card to take care of the transportation charges and he said not to worry he had did that last week. He had told me last week not to worry about it because we would take care of it when we got back and to enjoy our cruise. I asked him if he had a receipt for us and he said he would make sure we got one emailed to us. So my wife, sassycat, gets on her iphone and checks transactions on our credit card and finds out that he has charged our card $144 instead of the $120 we had agreed to. Upon finding this out I confronted him about this and he said that was because he went ahead and added our gratuity to him for us so we would not have to worry about it later. $24 is not that big of a deal and if he had better personal hygiene and wasn't such a cad we would have tipped him more than that anyway. And BTW we still have not received an email receipt from him and we still keep an eye on our credit card account because I just don't trust the little stinker.

Final Thoughts On Food: rating C

The food was just okay. The only meal that exceeded our expectations was one night they had mexican food night on the buffet it was really good. Other than that the buffet for us the couple of other times we went there was just okay. And it was very crowded with screaming toddlers and senior citizens on scooters seemingly coming at us from all directions. O'Sheehans which is their 24 hour diner was a disappointment. Other than the drinks we had there, food quality and selection was not good IMO. Both of the main dining rooms the food was a little better than average but the speed and quality of service was a little worse than what we expected. NCL no longer offers lobster on their cruises and one night they had a dish that was supposed to have lobster in it but if there was any lobster in it we never saw or tasted any. None of the food was as good as what we can get at the casino steakhouse, or at Outback or Cheddar's or even at a Denny's restaurant at home. Most of the desserts we tried looked good but tasted like they were missing something.

Final Thoughts on Entertainment: B+

Both the entertainment in the bars and in the nightly shows was about what we expected but not quite as good as we had on our last cruise this past Dec on the NCL Dawn. In the bars they had a guitar player and a piano player and a couple of other acts that were enjoyable but the guitar player, Randon, was not quite as good as he was billed to be according to all of the reviews we read on Cruise Critic. On our last cruise the guitar player played more 70's music including some Pink Floyd which was right in my wheel house. They did have some theme nights like one night they played Elton John, Neil Diamond and a few others.

As far as the nightly shows go they had a real funny comedian, David Naster, on there who we enjoyed immensely. On our last cruise they did not have a comic. All they had was what they called 2nd City. All they did was skits and IMO they were not very funny. The other shows, one night they had a hypnotist, we went even though I guess some people can be hypnotized, and it was not very good. The had a couple of shows that were of the song and dance type and a show with a magician and another one where they had acrobats. The only memorable show for us though was the comedian. At the end of the show he was hawking an item called the Naster Blaster. I wish I had bought a couple on the cruise but I was pleasantly surprised when I googled the Naster Blaster when we got back and found out I can buy them online with free shipping.

Final Thoughts on Ports: A

We enjoyed all of the ports. I would have given the ports an A+ but we did not like the fact that three mornings in a row the ship got into port at 7am. That was a little early for us and way too early for our friends we were cruising with. In order of how much we liked them I would say Skagway the most, Juneau second most, Ketchican third most, and for us Victoria was just kind of an afterthought. They all had their own personality and even though it was a bit cool we dodged a bullet as far as weather was concerned. A couple of showers in Ketchican was all we had to contend with. And the shopping was great everywhere except for Victoria. That was another advantage of going to Alaska in September because all of the major shops were having end of season sales. By the time we got to Victoria we knew our cruise was almost over and we had to pack and we were collectively exhausted from everything we had done the previous several days so we did not like Victoria as much as the other ports of call we visited.

Final Thoughts on Drinks and Drink Service Aboard Ship: A-

As part of our package we had what the call the unlimited drink package (UDP). All you can drink booze at any of the bars anywhere on the ship including restaurants. the drinks themselves were very good. The beer was cold and they had a decent variety. Sassycat, who is mainly a wine drinker was satisfied with the selection of wines on board. One of my favorite drinks I had was called a BBC ( bailey, banana liquor, and coconut ). They were very tasty and after having too many on the first day of our cruise we refrained from having any more the rest of the trip except as a last drink of the night before going to bed drink each night. We tried a little of everything and were impressed with the variety of different types of booze all the bars had. As many people on board that were getting the UBP, it is amazing they served as well as they did and that they did not run out of alcohol. They could of used an extra bartender or cocktail waitress or two but overall the drinks and the drink service were very good.

Final Thoughts on NCL and their Crew: B

NCL is not the same as it was 20 years ago. Like all of the major corporate cruise lines, as well as providing a memorable cruise so that their clientele will continue to sail with them, they are guilty of cutting corners in ways where they think they can get away with it. Most notable was food. The advent of pay extra for specialty dining is another way that they are trying to add extra revenue to the bottom line. When we first cruised over 20 years ago the food was better and if you wanted lobster all of the cruiselines had lobster night. You did not have to pay an extra $30 if you wanted lobster. The employees for the most part were friendly and hard working. The cruise industry has given many of these people a great way to see the rest of the world and a way to broaden their horizons and I was happy to contribute to that.

That's it for our cruise trip report. I will finish it off in a couple of days with one final collection of pictures we took. I wish we had taken more pictures but we spent most of our time living in the moment. I hope everyone enjoyed it and is planning their own cruises. Overall we both like shorter 2-4 day casino vacationing but every now and then a cruise makes a good change of pace.

[Jeani]

Thanks seemoreroyals and sassycat for sharing your cruise and thoughts. I'm not much of a cruiser but yours sounded like fun. I love Alaska and enjoyed seeing your pictures.

[Luckylinda123]

Glad you had a great cruise! Thanks for the report it was very interesting.

[nighthawk66]

Glad you had a great time see you in a few weeks

[twinslotaddicts]

seemoreroyals will you please share what the charge was per person for the unlimited drink package? Thanks for sharing your wonderful trip and sorry the food wasn't better.

Ang

[SoCalRob]

Debarkation and Final Thoughts on Alaskan Cruise

So by 9am on Sat. Sept 12th we were off the boat and claiming our luggage. It was all there . I have to admit both embarkation and debarkation (getting on and off the boat to those of you that don't cruise) were fast and efficient. Put in a call to Sweaty Eddie and true to his word he was there to whisk us to the airport within about 5 minutes. I asked him when he needed my credit card to take care of the transportation charges and he said not to worry he had did that last week. He had told me last week not to worry about it because we would take care of it when we got back and to enjoy our cruise. I asked him if he had a receipt for us and he said he would make sure we got one emailed to us. So my wife, sassycat, gets on her iphone and checks transactions on our credit card and finds out that he has charged our card $144 instead of the $120 we had agreed to. Upon finding this out I confronted him about this and he said that was because he went ahead and added our gratuity to him for us so we would not have to worry about it later. $24 is not that big of a deal and if he had better personal hygiene and wasn't such a cad we would have tipped him more than that anyway. And BTW we still have not received an email receipt from him and we still keep an eye on our credit card account because I just don't trust the little stinker.

Final Thoughts On Food: rating C

The food was just okay. The only meal that exceeded our expectations was one night they had mexican food night on the buffet it was really good. Other than that the buffet for us the couple of other times we went there was just okay. And it was very crowded with screaming toddlers and senior citizens on scooters seemingly coming at us from all directions. O'Sheehans which is their 24 hour diner was a disappointment. Other than the drinks we had there, food quality and selection was not good IMO. Both of the main dining rooms the food was a little better than average but the speed and quality of service was a little worse than what we expected. NCL no longer offers lobster on their cruises and one night they had a dish that was supposed to have lobster in it but if there was any lobster in it we never saw or tasted any. None of the food was as good as what we can get at the casino steakhouse, or at Outback or Cheddar's or even at a Denny's restaurant at home. Most of the desserts we tried looked good but tasted like they were missing something.

Final Thoughts on Entertainment: B+

Both the entertainment in the bars and in the nightly shows was about what we expected but not quite as good as we had on our last cruise this past Dec on the NCL Dawn. In the bars they had a guitar player and a piano player and a couple of other acts that were enjoyable but the guitar player, Randon, was not quite as good as he was billed to be according to all of the reviews we read on Cruise Critic. On our last cruise the guitar player played more 70's music including some Pink Floyd which was right in my wheel house. They did have some theme nights like one night they played Elton John, Neil Diamond and a few others.

As far as the nightly shows go they had a real funny comedian, David Naster, on there who we enjoyed immensely. On our last cruise they did not have a comic. All they had was what they called 2nd City. All they did was skits and IMO they were not very funny. The other shows, one night they had a hypnotist, we went even though I guess some people can be hypnotized, and it was not very good. The had a couple of shows that were of the song and dance type and a show with a magician and another one where they had acrobats. The only memorable show for us though was the comedian. At the end of the show he was hawking an item called the Naster Blaster. I wish I had bought a couple on the cruise but I was pleasantly surprised when I googled the Naster Blaster when we got back and found out I can buy them online with free shipping.

Final Thoughts on Ports: A

We enjoyed all of the ports. I would have given the ports an A+ but we did not like the fact that three mornings in a row the ship got into port at 7am. That was a little early for us and way too early for our friends we were cruising with. In order of how much we liked them I would say Skagway the most, Juneau second most, Ketchican third most, and for us Victoria was just kind of an afterthought. They all had their own personality and even though it was a bit cool we dodged a bullet as far as weather was concerned. A couple of showers in Ketchican was all we had to contend with. And the shopping was great everywhere except for Victoria. That was another advantage of going to Alaska in September because all of the major shops were having end of season sales. By the time we got to Victoria we knew our cruise was almost over and we had to pack and we were collectively exhausted from everything we had done the previous several days so we did not like Victoria as much as the other ports of call we visited.

Final Thoughts on Drinks and Drink Service Aboard Ship: A-

As part of our package we had what the call the unlimited drink package (UDP). All you can drink booze at any of the bars anywhere on the ship including restaurants. the drinks themselves were very good. The beer was cold and they had a decent variety. Sassycat, who is mainly a wine drinker was satisfied with the selection of wines on board. One of my favorite drinks I had was called a BBC ( bailey, banana liquor, and coconut ). They were very tasty and after having too many on the first day of our cruise we refrained from having any more the rest of the trip except as a last drink of the night before going to bed drink each night. We tried a little of everything and were impressed with the variety of different types of booze all the bars had. As many people on board that were getting the UBP, it is amazing they served as well as they did and that they did not run out of alcohol. They could of used an extra bartender or cocktail waitress or two but overall the drinks and the drink service were very good.

Final Thoughts on NCL and their Crew: B

NCL is not the same as it was 20 years ago. Like all of the major corporate cruise lines, as well as providing a memorable cruise so that their clientele will continue to sail with them, they are guilty of cutting corners in ways where they think they can get away with it. Most notable was food. The advent of pay extra for specialty dining is another way that they are trying to add extra revenue to the bottom line. When we first cruised over 20 years ago the food was better and if you wanted lobster all of the cruiselines had lobster night. You did not have to pay an extra $30 if you wanted lobster. The employees for the most part were friendly and hard working. The cruise industry has given many of these people a great way to see the rest of the world and a way to broaden their horizons and I was happy to contribute to that.

That's it for our cruise trip report. I will finish it off in a couple of days with one final collection of pictures we took. I wish we had taken more pictures but we spent most of our time living in the moment. I hope everyone enjoyed it and is planning their own cruises. Overall we both like shorter 2-4 day casino vacationing but every now and then a cruise makes a good change of pace.
As far as I'm aware their Away and Away+ ships still do lobster... From what I read though they only do Lobster as an up charge menu item. So glad you guys had a great cruise. It's a bummer the food sucked and since I'm basically going on my cruise to eat and drink I hope our food is good. With the Ultimate Beverage Package(UBP)you still had to pay a port tax right when drinking in Port? From what I've read(and I just want to know the final answer) when ordering drinks in NY/Fl/etc they charge like $1 or $2 for the city tax or something. So really the drinks aren't completely free in Port. Right?

[seemoreroyals]

seemoreroyals will you please share what the charge was per person for the unlimited drink package? Thanks for sharing your wonderful trip and sorry the food wasn't better.

Ang

When we booked our cruise the free drink package was one of the perks we got for booking when we did. Anything booked with NCL after June 1st of this year I think you can still get the UBP but they no longer pay the tips as part of it. My understanding is that now every time you buy a drink they charge an 18% gratuity to your sail and sign card.

SoCalRob in regards to your question about paying a tax for a drink while in port, the only port we had to pay a tax way while we were in Seattle. I noticed that on our bill their were several small charges around $1 each charged to us on the 1st day of our cruise. We did not have any of these charges while in any of the Alaska ports or when we visited Victoria. So if you have to pay a city tax in Seattle you will probably have to pay a city tax in New York as well I am guessing.

[SoCalRob]

When we booked our cruise the free drink package was one of the perks we got for booking when we did. Anything booked with NCL after June 1st of this year I think you can still get the UBP but they no longer pay the tips as part of it. My understanding is that now every time you buy a drink they charge an 18% gratuity to your sail and sign card.

SoCalRob in regards to your question about paying a tax for a drink while in port, the only port we had to pay a tax way while we were in Seattle. I noticed that on our bill their were several small charges around $1 each charged to us on the 1st day of our cruise. We did not have any of these charges while in any of the Alaska ports or when we visited Victoria. So if you have to pay a city tax in Seattle you will probably have to pay a city tax in New York as well I am guessing.
Thanks James! That's what I thought. I hope they don't do it in Florida too. My bf can drink! Though he's paying for all the misc charges at the end so that'll be on him. *shrugs*.

[Handpayhopeful]

Thanks for such a detailed report. I've heard the Alaskan cruise is the cruise to take, your pics make me want to go!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[seemoreroyals]

Now that our Alaskan Cruise is over a month behind us all we have left to remember it by are some NCL Freestyle Dailies, UBP receipts, and of course an assortment of pictures.

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[zeus]

What an incredible trip you guys had. It took a while to take it all in that I had to go back and read it again because my free time has been limited the last couple of weeks. Thanks for all of the details and fabulous pics! Looking forward to your next one.

[Laurie]

Really great pictures Karen and James! Looks and sounds like you had a fun time! We will go to Alaska some day hopefully on a cruise also. Thanks for the report :star: