Sept. 20, 2018 Dawes Glacier and Juneau

We arranged for a wake up call early this morning to be able to view our entry into Endicott Arm at 6:30a.m. I went for breakfast in the Lido or I should say the Garden Cafe as they don’t call it the Lido on this ship. Don’t know if that applies on all NCL ships or what. Most lines call the buffet the Lido but anyway, already this early there were no window seats available but you could still see a lot of scenery from any seat. I went out on deck and took pics from everywhere on the ship. I think I walked the entire ship twice and spent some time recovering from my arduous journey in Spinnikers Lounge. Unfortunately didn’t bring my IPad with me otherwise I might still be there as it’s such a nice place to relax in the forward of the ship and enjoy the views from the floor to ceiling windows. Eventually I returned to the cabin where I continued to take pics from our balcony on our way back down the arm. Big and little icebergs continued to pass by for a long time and many of them were shaped like ice fish. Eventually the scenery became just water, mountains and islands and we are now heading for Juneau, Alaska. I had purchased a ticket to go up on the Mt. Roberts tram at a certain time but our agenda has changed. I think I’ll still be able to go up on it whenever we get there because the ticket says my time is at 000
It’s another beautiful sunny day today and we are super lucky once again. There’s just a little chill in the air and it’s about 64º or 18º C.
Lunchtime already and I’m not really hungry. I ended up with a Greek salad once again as it’s so good and some slices of melons for dessert and then went to the Fyzz Lounge for the trivia contest. I sat with a nice couple from Victoria, B.C. who used to live in Delta so that was cool to find out and I had a good chat with Robert and his wife Roberta after trivia was over.

Later I went to the cabin and Annie was resting and so I sat with her and chatted while we watched 2000 passengers debark from our balcony. Most climbed aboard buses but lots of them walked to town. Finally the lineups disappeared and so we made our move to hit the town of Juneau. The ship was docked close to town but the route to walk there is at least a mile, with about half a mile being uphill. By the time we got outside of the ship there was no lineup left so we were able to board the next bus that arrived bringing passengers back already. When we got off the bus Annie went to town to find some free WiFi and I climbed aboard the Mt.Roberts tram for a very scenic ride to the top of the mountain. I had expected the tram ride to be a little scary but it wasn’t in the least so that was nice and as well I saw a nice big eagle sitting in a tree. At the tourist trap at the top I browsed the jewelry and books and clothes and only saw one thing I might have purchased. The one thing was a small silicone mat with a nice raised pattern that I thought would work great as a stamp for my Gelli printing. It was about $15. U.S. which I felt was a fair price. It didn’t have the size mentioned on it though so I had to try and guess if it was 6” sq. or 8” sq. I prefer 8” and I thought it was probably only 6” so I asked a fellow there what he thought and he also thought it was only 6” and his wife agreed so that cinched it and I didn’t buy. I was able to get on the next tram down the mountain and the next bus was waiting to go back to the ship so that worked out real well.

Annie wasn’t in the cabin when I got back so I didn’t know if she was still in Juneau or had already returned to the ship and was out and about. I rested awhile and then went to the stage show which was a hilarious ventriloquist with audience participation who had me doubled over laughing so much. I then went to Chin Chin which is a free Chinese food restaurant along with a sushi side which charges a fee. I decided to have fried rice and a shrimp and veggie dish along with an awesome seaweed salad and a Panda salad with coconut for dessert. Everything I ordered was delicious.

I thought I’d go to the casino afterwards but because we are still docked the casino is closed so I went to the computer place thinking I’d send my daughters an email. It wasn’t to be as the lady in charge there said I’d have to enter the same pw that I use on my home computer. What a stupid conundrum! I couldn’t remember that password as it’s been about 20 years since I’ve had to enter it. I kind of thought that she was mistaken in that request but no, that's the way they do it. So wth now. I can’t email my daughters? As well she asked if I had a device and I told her yes, my IPad and she insisted that I had to write the email on it and then copy/paste onto their computer for sending. I think that’s more complicated than what's necessary and because I don’t know how to copy/paste on iPad I quietly walked away. Hopefully tomorrow somebody else will be in charge there and we’ll figure out something else so I can let the family know I’m ok and enjoying my cruise.

Some simple little things are so complicated. Another example is a machine onboard that squashes a penny and engraves NCL on it. Those machines have been around since forever but the instructions are complicated and I’ve seen lots of people get fed up with it and they walk away. So I thought I’d try it but yeah, it doesn’t even begin to work, it just keeps on saying to swipe your ship card and then nothing happens, no squashed penny, no nothing. I swiped my card every which way and still didn’t get a squashed penny. If the dam machine is broken wth don’t they put an out of order sign on it? Bah humbug!

Ahh, the stupid little things in life eh.
So I thought I’d go to the casino but alas, it doesn’t open until after we’ve sailed for 15 - 20 minutes or so many miles away from land. So that left nothing for me to do so I sat around in the Cafe for awhile before retiring to the cabin.

Sept 19, 2018 Ketchican, Alaska

Woke up already docked in beautiful downtown Ketchikan. I got ready and went for breakfast then disembarked and I was excited to see the Time Bandit docked near us. My husband and I have enjoyed the show The Deadliest Catch for several seasons now. It looked a little smaller than I had remembered it to be. I wandered around town for awhile. Shopped in a lot of shops and the best thing I saw that I wanted to buy was salt water taffy which was priced $5.99 for a huge bag full. I didn’t buy it because then I’d have to take it with me on the duck tour. Later after the tour I forgot to go back in and buy it but I think i'll be getting enough calories as it is on this cruise so it's a good thing.

At the appointed time I went to where the duck vehicle was parked and then climbed aboard when it was ready. The tour through the town of Ketchikan was real nice and the guide pointed out every building of any importance, every street and store and school and the hospital with tales for each one. He was witty and I enjoyed learning all about not only Ketchikan but about life and living in Alaska. Eventually we arrived at the entry point for the duck vehicle to drive into the ocean. It was kind of cool to feel the difference of land versus water. So off we went sailing around in this duck boat and I was astonished to see so many boats docked in the marina there. Many were fishing boats, some were pleasure craft (I think there’s a lot of rich people in Alaska) and there were even houseboats with people living on them. Wish I would have asked him if they stay in this location year round. I expect the answer would be no even although he did say that it really doesn’t get that cold there in the winter. I kind of came to the conclusion that the mass exodus from there once the cruise season is over might be due to being so remote rather than anything to do with the weather. The only way out of Ketchikan is by plane or boat. It was a nice excursion and I was very lucky to go once again on such a beautiful sunny day because it rains here over 300 days of the year. Just the same a duck boat has a roof but the sides are open and the wind is whistling by. I had a heavy scarf around my neck and a hood to cover my head too and was real glad I had brought it along.

Back on the ship I dropped off all the excess clothing and went to the buffet for lunch. Soon a lady asked if she could join me and I said yes of course. Her name was Margaret and she was a very interesting solo cruiser formerly from England and now living in Australia. We had a nice visit and then she had something to attend so off she went one way and I went the other way to the casino where they were just powering it up and I wasted my money once again. This is starting to sound like a repeat of another cruise where I was a casino loser for the first two weeks and then suddenly won it all back and then some in the third week. Well, I sure hope that happens again but of course I can’t count on it.

I returned to the cabin to repair a fingernail before it ripped completely off and ended up deciding to shower and wash my hair. Weird goings on when on a cruise as I never shower in the middle of the day but I felt a little grungy from the salty spray on the duck boat.

Later, for dinner Annie had reserved a table for a dozen people from the solos group so I went and joined them. I sat next to a man named Brad and he was a very interesting guy (ex marine) with a lot of funny stories to tell. Once again I forgot to take pics of my meal and now I can’t remember what I ate except for my dessert which was bananas Foster. Afterwards we all went to the Fyzz Lounge where some of our group danced the night away to the music of an awesome singing couple called Fire and Ice. I then returned to the cabin as they were all proceeding to another music/dancing lounge and I was too tired to go.

I may have sized my pics too small to see that the fish in the carpet are all swimming towards the front of the ship. This makes it so much easier to find your way to your cabin. There's also an occasional red herring swimming the wrong way.

Sept.18, 2018 Onboard the Jewel, Day 2

We woke up early and land was very close to our ship on the port side. I felt confused as I knew we’d been sailing for 8 or 9 hrs and I had never seen land this close on my previous trips to Alaska. I felt like something was wrong but then realized I had probably not been on the port side before when cruising to Alaska and therefore didn’t know what it was or where we were.

Eventually I sorted it out; it was still Vancouver Island that we were passing! It seemed bizarre to have sailed all night and we still hadn’t passed VI. On previous cruises we were on the starboard side viewing the mainland of beautiful British Columbia not even thinking of Vancouver Island on the opposite side of the ship. It will likely always surprise me to see and realize just how very huge my beautiful home Province is.

I went for breakfast in the Garden Cafe buffet and uppermost in my mind was to hopefully find out if they served muscelli. It’s my fav. breakfast food along with a little fruit and my last cruiseship the Carnival Sunshine didn’t have it and that was a disappointment. I went directly to the kiosk with the Cereal sign and found Creme of wheat and oatmeal and dry cereals but no muscelli. It was such a downer thinking I won’t get my fav brekkie for 35 days! What ever will I eat? Well, I don’t get muscelli at home and I’m still alive but on a cruiseship yes, I want my muscelli and it’s one of the first things that I think of and look forward to when I book a cruise.
So sadly I walked to my next favourite kiosk and that’s the one with the sign Fresh Fruit and there in a huge bowl was my muscelli! It was such a surprise I almost cried with relief! It was awesome with nuts, seeds, grated apple and raisins. Why would they put it with the fruits would be a weird question I thought so I didn’t ask it but Annie said she thought it was considered to be a health food so that’s why it lived with the fresh fruits. I was just happy to know it was there and I now know the secret of where it’s kept and I’ll be it’s best customer every day.

After breakfast I went to the Spinnaker lounge for the Cruise Critics meet and greet. It was nice to talk to other members and I signed up for the cabin crawl, two slot tournaments and a scavenger hunt and then took a ....uh....leisurely route to return to the cabin. Along the way I stopped at a bar that had a sign advertising coffee drinks so I asked for a frozen chocolate coffee and the guy asked if I meant iced coffee so I said no, a drink like Starbucks makes and he gave me a blank look. So I said something like a milkshake and he said ok. So he made my drink and asked if I wanted whipped cream on it and I while I don’t usually this time I said yes, big mistake......he put one of those tall plastic lids on it and then I asked for a straw and he said we don’t have any. What the heck! How do they expect people to drink their drinks from a plastic cup with 3 inches of whip on top and one of those weird tall toppers with a big hole in it where the straw is usually located. What a strange conundrum. So I removed that lid and sipped my frozen coffee as best as I could without getting a white moustache while looking all around for some sort of straw but I saw nada. Eventually I found out the NCL has disposed of all plastic straws in their quest to be environmentally friendly and they were waiting for paper straws to arrive. Now while I approve of making the world a better place I will have to delete frozen coffee drinks from my diet to comply because sipping it out of a tall container that contains more plastic than at least 100 straws doesn’t quite cut it for me. I think they’re confused thinking that everyone is going to throw their straws overboard and that thinking is just plain dumb. In fact, if anything they are the culprits themselves likely disposing of their garbage by dumping it overboard. In other words they’re their own worst enemy! Whadda ya think they’ll do after a couple months of people complaining? Yeah, me too......they’ll get straws again whether plastic or paper or whatever else they could be made of, straws will be back because it’s a very important little thing.
At lunchtime I went back to the buffet and had some fish, veggies, fruit and 3 desserts. Am I a piglet or what? I then visited the casino where I won and lost two or three times ending up on the loser side and because I felt cold I returned to the cabin to get my jacket. Once there i decided to slip under the covers to warm up and then didn’t feel like carrying on to any more activities so I just chilled...... or I guess I should say I just warmed....

So at 6pm we got ready for the the formal dinner at 7pm. In the Tzar dining room. I started with beef barley soup in honour of my childhood, a lovely Greek salad and a fish called Hake which was awesome and cherries jubilee for dessert.
Later we all went to the stage show which was very lively with fit young dancers and loud music. Actually it gave me a headache and as talented as they were I was glad when it was over so I could get outta there and into the casino for a little quiet game time.

Cruising the NCL Jewel

Cruising with NCL Jewel

I am off once again checking out what’s happening on the seas and in the world.




 This will be BTB (back to back cruises)

First leg:

Date	Port	Arrive	Depart
Monday, September 17	Vancouver, BC, Canada		4:00pm
Tuesday, September 18	At Sea
Wednesday, September 19	Ketchikan, AK	6:00am	3:00pm
Thursday, September 20	Tracy Arm (Twin Sawyer Glaciers), AK (Cruising)
Thursday, September 20	Juneau, AK	2:30pm	9:00pm
Friday, September 21	At Sea
Saturday, September 22	Anchorage (Seward), AK	7:00am	6:00pm
Sunday, September 23	At Sea
Monday, September 24	At Sea
Tuesday, September 25	At Sea
Wednesday, September 26	Cross International Dateline (Cruising)
Thursday, September 27	At Sea
Friday, September 28	At Sea
Saturday, September 29	Petropavlovsk, Kamchatka, Russia	8:00am	7:00pm
Sunday, September 30	At Sea
Monday, October 1	At Sea
Tuesday, October 2	Sapporo (Muroran), Japan	8:00am	6:00pm
Wednesday, October 3	Hakodate, Japan	8:00am	6:00pm
Thursday, October 4	Aomori, Japan	8:00am	6:00pm
Friday, October 5	At Sea
Saturday, October 6	Tokyo (Yokohama), Japan	6:30am

　


Second leg:

　 

Date	Port	Arrive	Depart
Saturday, October 6	Tokyo (Yokohama), Japan		7:00pm
Sunday, October 7	Shimizu, Japan	8:00am	4:00pm
Monday, October 8	Kochi, Japan	8:00am	4:00pm
Tuesday, October 9	At Sea
Wednesday, October 10	Taipei (Keelung), Taiwan	8:00am	6:00pm
Thursday, October 11	Hong Kong	7:00pm
Friday, October 12	Hong Kong		5:00pm
Saturday, October 13	At Sea
Sunday, October 14	Nha Trang, Vietnam	8:00am	6:00pm
Monday, October 15	Ho Chi Minh City (Phu My), Vietnam	8:00am	6:00pm
Tuesday, October 16	At Sea
Wednesday, October 17	Sihanoukville, Cambodia	6:00am	5:00pm
Thursday, October 18	Bangkok (Laem Chabang), Thailand	8:00am
Friday, October 19	Bangkok (Laem Chabang), Thailand		7:00pm
Saturday, October 20	Ko Samui, Thailand	9:00am	5:00pm
Sunday, October 21	At Sea
Monday, October 22	Singapore	8:00am

　
Ship Class Jewel Class
Year Built 2005
Passenger Capacity 2376
Number of Crew 1081
Gross Tonage 93502
Decks 12
Cabins 1,188
Take a ride on this grand jewel of the sea! Norwegian Jewel has plenty of exciting activities, itineraries, and dining options to keep every passenger happy! Find a delicious outdoor buffet that offers a wide variety of ethnic cuisines and pastas at the Great Outdoors, sink your teeth into a Brazilian feast featuring endless skewers of succulent barbecued meats at Moderno Churrascaria, or become enraptured by the exquisite décor inspired by St. Petersburg’s grand Russian palaces as you dine on an award-wining five-course menu at the Tsar’s Palace Main Dining Room. There are over 16 tantalizing dining options, so no one will go hungry! Adults can enjoy13 bars and nightclubs, where children of all ages will have their own adventures at the awesome water park, video arcade, and kids only club rooms. Together, the whole family can join in a game at the outdoor basketball/volleyball/tennis court, and then take a seat in the Stardust Theater for some action-packed live entertainment. No matter what kind of vacation you are looking for – relaxing, exciting, or both – discover the meaning of ‘Freestyle Cruising’ onboard the Norwegian Jewel.


Dining
A dazzling lineup of dining options like her sisters, Norwegian Jewel features more than 10 restaurants including passenger favorites such as Cagney’s Steak House, Blue Lagoon and Norwegian Cruise Line’s signature restaurant, Le Bistro. In addition, Norwegian Jewel also features:

Teppanyaki
It’s dinner and a show – Hibachi Chefs grill up steak, seafood, chicken, and veggies right before your eyes. Get dinner started with a Japanese martini and finish it with a delightful slice of green tea cake, all culinary creations are sure to send your senses head over heels.

Chin Chin
The décor of this Asian restaurant is inspired by the traditional female costumes and dances of the Far East. Tibetan flags will flutter along the railing next to the traditionally carved entrance.

Tsar’s Palace
This main restaurant is inspired by the grandeur of the palaces of St. Petersburg and the era of Russian Tsars. White and gold ceilings, green marbled pillars and 24-carat gold-coated chandeliers will adorn this very detailed room.

Azura
This main restaurant is inspired by today’s modern boutique hotel designs. The clean-lined, rich timber room will combine blues and purples with orange accents. The signature of this room will be the interpretations of pop art rendered in backlit glass that glow and set the mood for intimate dining.

Mama’s Italian Kitchen
This dedicated Italian restaurant will resemble a village Trattoria with a long wooden table running through the center of the room to create the feel of a traditional farmhouse kitchen.

　

I am so looking forward to this cruise. Jewel is the sister ship of Jade which I have cruised and so hopefully will be able to find my way around the ship quickly and easily.

Stay tuned for my daily entries and pics of 35 days of cruising and 3 days in Singapore before flying home on Oct. 25, 2018.

Sept. 17, 2018 North to Alaska Day 1

I’m on my way to meet my travel companion Annie at the cruise terminal in Vancouver. We’ll be meeting for the first time....can you believe it......i’m going on a 35 day cruise with a total stranger; a person I’ve never even met before!

There wasn't a concrete plan to meet but we had decided it would be in the terminal before we boarded the ship. Annie recognized me first and came over and introduced herself while I wasn’t even looking for her yet as I was busy getting all the ropes done before boarding. It’s quite a lengthy security procedure now a days. It was pretty cool to meet finally and now we 'll share a room for the next 37 days. We had communicated via email for about 4 months before this meeting and I felt like I already knew her and I think she was comfortable with me too even though i'm about 12 years older than her. We had decided a long time ago that we wouldn't have to do everything together unless some things turned out that way. I had assured her that i'm ok to eat and do excursions and other things by myself and she agreed as well. If we ended up doing the same things at the same time that would be cool too. We are both members of Cruise Critic and although i'm not single I was ok with meeting and doing things like meeting with the other single and solo travellers onboard.

Once onboard we walked around and found our way to become the first new passengers to order lunch in the Tzar dining room and it was another cool thing to be the only guests in this very beautiful and large dining room! I ordered a Greek salad and fried chicken and curly fries for my lunch and it was delicious. So we chatted and got to know each other a little better

We walked some more and spent some time getting acquainted with the pools, thermal suite and spa, casino and all the restaurants, bars, card room, library and showroom etc.

The ship has pleased me tremendously......it is much more beautiful than I had anticipated or expected. I had done a cruise on Jewels sister ship Jade a few years ago and my memories of it are of rather drab surroundings with lots of dark old world colours so I was expecting Jewel to be similar especially in view of the fact that Jewel is on her last cruise before going to dry dock for several weeks after our cruise is over. In my mind I was picturing a musty dark ship with little colour, maybe a little rusty and probably needing paint, new carpets, new mattresses etc. How wrong I was to see a beautiful bright colourful clean ship! I was elated to see this lovely ship with fresh colours and modern decor throughout and a friendly happy welcoming crew! Our cabin wasn’t ready yet so we walked around checking her out before finding our cabin and when it was ready for us we started the arduous task of unpacking, figuring out who got which bed and closet space etc. Soon it was time to go to the muster drill and for our group it was held in the same restaurant that we had eaten in earlier which was cool cuz we knew where it was.

Later we went to the stage show and then returned to our cabin and hit the sack at midnight just as we finally started on our journey north to Alaska.

Our ship is finally just now pulling out 6 hours late! So many people were disappointed that our first few hours of sailing weren’t during daylight. I too was disappointed that passengers didn’t get to see the awesome beauty of the coastline of my beautiful British Columbia which I’m very proud of. Some people would have liked to have spent more time in Vancouver instead of being on a stalled ship and I don't blame them as it was a huge loss to Vancouver that they were stuck onboard instead of contributing to the economy here. But when they say we're sailing at 6p.m. it's all aboard! In fact everyone has to be onboard at 3p.m. for a 6p.m. sailing. So what happened?

They said the reason for the delay was that we were still taking on provisions for our first 19 days. Somehow, I didn’t really believe that as this ship has done this cruise before and would know how to get loaded with all supplies and still be able to sail away at the regular time of 6p.m. So, 6 hours late to depart was suspicious but finally we are on our way and I’m actually writing this in my pj’s as I sit on my bed watching the night lights of Vancouver go by from our balcony cabin on the port side of the ship.

Where's Willy

 My $20. bill has surfaced once again, this time in Mississauga, Ontario. This is the eighth time it has been documented on the Where's Willy site. It took 140 days, 6 hrs and 59 minutes for it to travel from it's last known sighting in Pickering, Ont. 493 kms. away. It travelled at a speed of 0.30 kms. per day.  Nice to know it's still alive and well and hopefully it's been buying lots of cool stuff as it travelled. Maybe it'll turn and head to the west coast once again. Happy travels Bill, hope you come on out to beautiful British Columbia again; i'll be looking for you.

Rainy day visit with Jen, Hailey and Emily

It was a cold rainy day I met my granddaughter Jennifer and her two kiddos, my great granddaughters at Boston pizza. It was literally pouring when we arrived but we were warm and dry in our usual booth. The girls had pictures to colour and exciting things to tell me; they were going on a cruise! Hailey then asked her mom if they were going to be fishing when they were on the boat and I had the pleasure of telling her that no, they weren't going to be fishing, they'd be playing, dressing up, enjoying the pool, making new friends, having fun and even sleeping on the biggest boat she had ever seen. I think I did correct her eventually to say it was a ship, not a boat. I'm thrilled that they'll have this awesome experience with their parents and grand parents, aunt, uncle and cousins and I can't wait to hear all about it.

Emily has grown so much, she is 2 now. She had been drinking chocolate milk as you can tell.

Hailey had been experiencing an ear ache and really didn't feel very well. She ordered her usual chicken strips, fries and ice cream and did eat a little but most went home in a doggy bag. Can you believe Hailey is 5 already and she attends kindergarten now.

Jennifer is doing an awesome job of looking after her family, home and dog all the while holding down her other job of teaching school full time with 28 students in her class.

Bon voyage, have a great time, and enjoy your well deserved trip! We'll catch up over lunch at BP when you return.