The Alaskan Jewel! Welcome Aboard….You don’t Exist!

[Pinkocto]

What fun seeing the dogs and the puppies! and Matt is gloriously muscled as well.

 

[Flossbolna]

What a fun excursion!! And the puppies are really cute! I just hope they will be as well cared for as Matt's dogs when they grow up.

and Matt is gloriously muscled as well.

 

[mickeystoontown]

For some gosh darn reason, the Dis has stopped sending me email updates again and I got behind. Oh my word! I am with Skip on this excursion and he would have had a first in the line buddy had I or John been there! We watch Gold Rush faithfully and I would have wigged the heck out if I saw the dredge and got to pan for gold. Well, I've actually panned for gold but in Georgia which is totally not the same since Tony Beets' sister dredge wasn't right there by me. You go Jen on getting the most gold! Have you seen the Gold Rush Pay Dirt that you can buy as a gift? I'm thinking about buying one for each of the kids for Christmas. Bet that Skip would get a kick outta that Christmas gift.

Lunch looked fantastic! I laughed outloud when you said the guy went in search of milk for his kids. Um, hello?

I loved your post on the sled dogs! That's another part of the excursion that I would have loved.

 

[dolphingirl47]

I had always assumed that sled dogs are huskies. The puppies were cute. I am with you though, I like puppies, but I am not too keen on grown dogs. I had some bad experiences in that regard.

Corinna

 

[jenseib]

What fun seeing the dogs and the puppies! and Matt is gloriously muscled as well.

Yes, he was pretty easy on the eyes...don't tell Skip!!!!

What a fun excursion!! And the puppies are really cute! I just hope they will be as well cared for as Matt's dogs when they grow up.

I hope so too, but it sounds like in these parts they take their dog sledding and dogs pretty seriously.

For some gosh darn reason, the Dis has stopped sending me email updates again and I got behind. Oh my word! I am with Skip on this excursion and he would have had a first in the line buddy had I or John been there! We watch Gold Rush faithfully and I would have wigged the heck out if I saw the dredge and got to pan for gold. Well, I've actually panned for gold but in Georgia which is totally not the same since Tony Beets' sister dredge wasn't right there by me. You go Jen on getting the most gold! Have you seen the Gold Rush Pay Dirt that you can buy as a gift? I'm thinking about buying one for each of the kids for Christmas. Bet that Skip would get a kick outta that Christmas gift.

Lunch looked fantastic! I laughed outloud when you said the guy went in search of milk for his kids. Um, hello?

I loved your post on the sled dogs! That's another part of the excursion that I would have loved.

I am having the same issues. I get notifications for a bit and then they stop.
I just know you guys would love this excursion. There was so many neat aspects to it. You should start throwing pennies in a jar and save up for Alaska. I really think your family would totally love the whole experience.
I have not seen that you could buy paydirt. LOL. Yes, he would probably wear his paydirt in a locket! hahaha.

It was crazy that that family went looking for milk. And this family was kind of odd anyways. Their kids were the only ones who did not seem to care for most of the activities and were bored. And I don't remember the juicy details anymore but Skip remembered the family from the ship and there was something about the wife that he told me...but of course I no longer remember it.

It was all so interesting.

I had always assumed that sled dogs are huskies. The puppies were cute. I am with you though, I like puppies, but I am not too keen on grown dogs. I had some bad experiences in that regard.

Corinna

I did too and he actually said they are called Alaskan Huskies (I think...) but it's not a recognized breed because they are mongrels (mutts).
Often when you see pictures or them in movies they show the Siberian Huskies.

 

[jenseib]

While others were enjoying puppy love, I went off in search of the bathrooms.


kfe1 by Jenseib, on Flickr


By then it was time to meet back up with the group and Goldbeard and head to the next destination…..the 40 below room. We were given coats to wear.


kfe3 by Jenseib, on Flickr


kfe2 by Jenseib, on Flickr


I kept telling Claire not to wear the hood on this coat, but she kept putting it back on. EWWWW!


We were led into the room and left in there for a short time.


skag34 by Jenseib, on Flickr


Let’s just say, 40 below is cold!


Skip said he didn’t think it was too bad, and for a very short time it wouldn’t be, but we were in there longer than I liked.


kfe4 by Jenseib, on Flickr


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After that, we headed outside and each family got a piece of wood and a marker. We got to stake our claim! We could write whatever we wanted on them and then nail them on a building.


As we were hammering ours, I spotted this Disney one. LOL.


kfe7 by Jenseib, on Flickr


And here is ours.


kfe8 by Jenseib, on Flickr


kfe9 by Jenseib, on Flickr


And then it was time to head back to the bus. There were 2 buses and we were supposed to get on the right one for our group, but I swear I saw some of our group go on the other one and then of course when they did a head count they were off. But they seemed to get it all figured out in the end.


On the way back into town, Goldbeard told us his real name….Chris. He said he is a professional traveler and he moves around to where he finds work. In the winter he had been in Mexico as a cook and he had 2 options for this winter he was debating over. He said he knew his lifestyle wasn’t for everyone but for someone his age (I believe he was the same age as my son, 26), it worked well for him and he got to see so many new places already in his lifetime. I can see how this would not be for everyone but it did sound interesting and for some the perfect way to see the world and make a living at the same time.


Soon we were back in town. We had a choice to get off the bus in town or go back near the ship. We chose to get off in town. I still had a mission. I wanted some Alaskan crab legs! I knew one place that sold them and planned to head there, but Skip said we should ask Goldbeard what he recommended and he told us of a spot he said was his favorite and we set off for that place.


On the way we could smell a popcorn place and Claire loves popcorn so we headed in to get a bag and I got some caramel corn for Skip as well.


kfe10 by Jenseib, on Flickr


It was right next to the town’s only grocery store.


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I was going to just go for 1 crab leg. They are expensive, but that wasn’t the reason really. I just didn’t need to eat more than one leg, however Skip told me if I was going to eat crab I should eat the whole pound. OK then, I will. Now Claire used to like crab legs but got sick a few years ago and the last thing she had eaten was crab. It wasn’t the cause of her being sick, but she remembers it and now won’t eat them. Skip thinks they are nothing special and way too much work so he doesn’t eat them….so I was going to be eating this pound myself.


kfe16 by Jenseib, on Flickr


We made our order and then waited. They had the Gold Rush rootbeer there too.


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Soon our order was ready. Skip got fish and fries…Claire got fries.


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And then there’s the crab!


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It was very good but it took me a while to get it all out. And my fingers were pretty sore afterwards because King crab has those pokey legs. LOL. Skip and Claire always tease me at how long it takes for me to crack and eat crab and this time was no different. I was very full when we were done. I really could have done with just one leg and been fine. ‘

This place also had a Dungeness crab special that was all you can eat and so many people there were getting that and going to town on it. It was really a good deal too, but I was happy with my king crab and didn’t need an all you can eat portion.


After I was finished up we decided what to do next. We still had a little more time till we had to be back at the ship. Skip was ready to head back but I wanted to go pick up a few more t-shirts. Claire decided she would head back with Skip, so we separated and I headed down to the road with the shops and they headed towards the ship.


kfe23 by Jenseib, on Flickr


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Since I had been in the store earlier today and I knew what I wanted and where it was, my shopping trip was pretty fast, though the lines were now a bit longer than this morning.


I then made my way back to the ship.


kfe26 by Jenseib, on Flickr


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I was looking for seals but I never saw one. Of course I heard from others that one had been playing right there most of the day and he was out in the open for all to see and fairly close.


As I got closer to the ship I stopped and went through my backpack for some reason. I don’t remember why, but I was looking for something and taking a break as the line to get on the ship looked pretty darn long. My phone rang and it was Skip. He had seen me coming and wondered why I had stopped. He said Florentina was waiting for me so she could escort us all back onto the ship. Oh, ok, I will be right on my way then.


When I met up with them Florentina walked us right to the front of the line and let us in. Now that was a nice perk. We didn’t know this was an option in the other ports. In Ketchikan we had no need for it though as we got on at a time when no one else was in line. In Juneau the line was long, but we hung back till it got smaller and since we had been returned late from the excursion maybe Florentina was already back onboard. Or we just never saw her. Skip felt guilty doing this, but I told him it was a perk for staying in the suite and if she was offering than we might as well take advantage of it.


Back on the ship, I went back to the room to drop off the shopping bag and Skip and Claire headed out to deck 7 to find our “friend” and watch the late comers with him.


Up next…..Wow, that’s late!

 

[westcoastfldisneygirl]

PUPPPPPPPPPPIEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!

HOW sweet are those dogs!!! I love them. What a fun thing to see and learn about! So good to hear those dogs are so well taken care of.

I like Apollo!!! He seems like he was hilarious

 

[bcwife76]

I'd say that's a great perk, getting on the ship ahead of the rest sounds like GoldBeard has quite the life.....a little envious of people who can live that way, not gonna lie!

Mmmmmm....crab......sore fingers totally worth it!

 

[chartle]

I had always assumed that sled dogs are huskies. The puppies were cute. I am with you though, I like puppies, but I am not too keen on grown dogs. I had some bad experiences in that regard.

Corinna

I did too and he actually said they are called Alaskan Huskies (I think...) but it's not a recognized breed because they are mongrels (mutts).
Often when you see pictures or them in movies they show the Siberian Huskies.

Once heard that for races they want dogs that are lean sprinters which huskies I guess are not.

 

[dolphingirl47]

40 below sounds awfully cold. I am glad that you did get your crab legs. The fast track access to the ship is a nice perk.

Corinna

 

[Rambler5678]

Would you choose NCL over Disney again? For our family of four it would be $11,500 for a veranda but only $7,200 for a mini-suite on NCL. Kids ages are 6 and 13.

 

[jenseib]

PUPPPPPPPPPPIEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!

HOW sweet are those dogs!!! I love them. What a fun thing to see and learn about! So good to hear those dogs are so well taken care of.

I like Apollo!!! He seems like he was hilarious

Those puppies were so darn cute. Apollo was so hilarious. And Matt was funny too and he did such a good job. He made you feel like you have known him forever.

I'd say that's a great perk, getting on the ship ahead of the rest sounds like GoldBeard has quite the life.....a little envious of people who can live that way, not gonna lie!

Mmmmmm....crab......sore fingers totally worth it!

It was a nice perk. Now we could have waited in the line no problem but since she was offering I was all over it.
You know if I had not had kids at a young age, I think I would have liked that lifestyle for a while too.

Once heard that for races they want dogs that are lean sprinters which huskies I guess are not.

I can totally believe that.

40 below sounds awfully cold. I am glad that you did get your crab legs. The fast track access to the ship is a nice perk.

Corinna

Yes, for a minute or 2 not too bad but for sure not something you would want to get stuck in.
I was very happy to finally dig into some crab!

Would you choose NCL over Disney again? For our family of four it would be $11,500 for a veranda but only $7,200 for a mini-suite on NCL. Kids ages are 6 and 13.

That's really a hard question and you do have to look at what works best for your family. I will start by saying if money was no object I would pick Disney every time.
Keep in mind that mini suite on NCL is about the same size as a veranda on Disney. Disney rooms are bigger than most lines. Also keep in mind that Disney offers free soft drinks in the restaurants and beverage station. NCL does not, so you have to pay of each or get a soft drink package. So that then does make the price go up on NCL. In my opinion the restaurants on Disney have far better service. Even better than the specialty restaurants on NCL, however NCL had a lot more choices in the specialty restaurant area. If we did NCL again I would pay for the dining package so we could eat in those restaurants rather than the dining rooms as we just enjoyed all the choices so much. Now I know plenty of people who only dine in the main dining rooms and are perfectly happy on NCL and they did have some nice looking menus. The one night we did a dining room I just felt it was painfully slow and it took a while to get drinks...like milk when we asked for that.
If you are used to DCL you will notice differences for sure. For the price we had compared to what it would have cost us to go on DCL which was almost double for an ocean view room at the time I booked, I would for sure do NCL again. I would also try for a penthouse suite again for our family, though I would be fine in any room if it came down to it. Alaska is so beautiful so I think no matter what line you are on, you are going to enjoy the views and the ports. We had 2 1/2 sea days and we had plenty to keep us busy....and some of that was just relaxing and napping. The Casino in NCL is a plus for those who like those. I am not a big gambler but I enjoyed playing in there a bit. Skip likes casinos too. But I don't miss them on DCL either, nor has he.

The lines are very different but you still will have an enjoyable cruise experience. Like I said, if you are used to DCL you will notice differences, but if you go in with an open mind then you will be fine. Heck they LOST my reservation and were not very good at fixing things and I still had a fabulous time.

 

[westcoastfldisneygirl]

Thank you for sharing your cruise knowledge! We have yet to do a Disney cruise (I know, I know!) so I appreciate the comparisons!

 

[jenseib]

Thank you for sharing your cruise knowledge! We have yet to do a Disney cruise (I know, I know!) so I appreciate the comparisons!

Of course every family is different and even the same families on the same cruise can have different experiences

 

[jenseib]

I dropped my things off in the room and then returned back to deck 7 to join my family. In reality I thought we would be already starting on our way, but we weren’t and the gangway was still out. Skip told me they had just seen a lady run to the ship and everyone applauded but it appeared we were still waiting for some more. I took a few pictures as we waited.


kfe49 by Jenseib, on Flickr


I thought I had taken a picture of the water to show how high the tide had risen but I can’t find it now. But it was up at least 6-8 feet from this morning.


kfe50 by Jenseib, on Flickr


A few other stragglers came back and we clapped again….but still waited.

So we stood there and chatted with our buddy. We just couldn’t believe someone was this late. All aboard is 30 minutes before your sail time. We are now at and a little past the sail time. Why on earth would you chance being this late. We could see a few people waiting by the gangway checking their watches and talking on walkie talkies. The forklift driver was there waiting and had turned it off because he had been sitting there so long.


Finally way down past the railroad station we could see some people coming. One started running and the other guy did the fake run, but was really a walk. After a bit he totally stopped that. People on the ship were hooting and hollering, booing and cheering. It was pretty funny. The first of the 2 ran most of the way and made it back to the ship. I assume he was a teenaged son. The dad walked pretty much the whole entire way and it’s not a short walk. I kept saying if that was me I would at least do the fake run the whole way back to show I was putting in an effort.

The forklift driver started up the tractor and the guy moved a little faster for a few seconds then slowed down again. Then the forklift driver started revving up the engine over and over to let this guy know he better hurry up. He did not. He walked at a snail’s pace the rest of the way. I couldn’t believe how rude this was. So of course as he rounds the corner towards the gangway people start hollering at him…I may have hollered too. LOL. Something about buying a watch if I remember correctly. Hahaha.


This guy must’ve just taken his last step off the gangway and the forklift driver had already had it lifted and backed away.


With all that fun over with now, we just watched as we sailed away.


kfe51 by Jenseib, on Flickr


kfe52 by Jenseib, on Flickr


And then we headed back to the room for a bit. Snacks were waiting.


kfe29 by Jenseib, on Flickr


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We loved these cookies and Claire and I had one each. We figured we would have more later. For some odd reason later in the evening when we came back to the room and planned to have some for a snack, Melony had already removed them. I am not sure why as any other nonperishable snack had been always left in the room till we were done with them. This made Claire mad and I wasn’t too happy about that either, but it wasn’t like we were going to starve to death.


Claire headed to the kids club for a little bit and Skip went off on his own. I took in the scenery.


skagway3 by Jenseib, on Flickr


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I then picked up Claire from the kids club and we ended up running into Skip.


kfe53 by Jenseib, on Flickr


So we all sat down at the bar in the atrium and ordered a drink.


kfe55 by Jenseib, on Flickr


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YUM!


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My favorite…the Mango Meltdown.


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There is a Carlos Bakery case right next to this bar. The treats do cost, so we never did get anything from there. They looked good, but we ate so much junk as it was that we didn’t need anything extra.


skagway13 by Jenseib, on Flickr


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Then back outside to enjoy the weather and the views.


skagway21 by Jenseib, on Flickr


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Up next…a not so great dinner with a fabulous view!

 

[bcwife76]

I love the contrast of the green water against the blues and greens of the mountains.

As for the stragglers as the end.....so rude!!! What makes him more important than the hundreds of other people on the ship who made it back in time?

 

[dolphingirl47]

I cannot understand why people would leave it until the last minute to get back to the ship. When this happened once to us when we were on a shoe excursion organized by DCL it was driving me crazy even I knew we were covered.How strange that the cookies had been taken away.

Corinna

 

[jenseib]

I love the contrast of the green water against the blues and greens of the mountains.

As for the stragglers as the end.....so rude!!! What makes him more important than the hundreds of other people on the ship who made it back in time?

The scenery was just so amazing. I swear you were constantly seeing something new that was just as amazing as the thing you saw before/

I cannot understand why people would leave it until the last minute to get back to the ship. When this happened once to us when we were on a shoe excursion organized by DCL it was driving me crazy even I knew we were covered.How strange that the cookies had been taken away.

Corinna

We were somewhat late getting back to Juneau on an NCL excursion and it had me nervous too. I can't imagine coming back that late and not running back and praying the ship was waiting. Makes you wonder what was so important that they risked missing the ship.

 

[jenseib]

Enjoying the views!!!

Every so often I would play with the settings on the point and shoot camera. Remember I had only just bought this camera a few days before the trip. This setting does a high definition of sorts and it was pretty cool with the dramatic effects it would give.


skagway27 by Jenseib, on Flickr


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Relaxing on the balcony. I actually think I dozed off for a bit too.


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It was time to get ready for dinner.

Tonight we were eating at Moderno, which is a Brazilian steakhouse. It has a small salad bar and then the servers come around with skewers of meats. How could you go wrong with that? I think there were 25 different meats listed to choose from. We already know Claire is a lover of steak so I figured this would be highlight.


We were seated right away and ironically it was one of the 2 tables we always seated at for lunch or breakfast when we would go here for those meals.


I wasn’t paying too much attention, talking away and all of a sudden I looked up and said OH MY GOD!!!!!!


The lady at the table behind us says “You just looked out the window didn’t you?” Yes I did.


skag137 by Jenseib, on Flickr


Let me just say this picture does not do this justice in the least bit. We were so close to this mountain it was unreal and it was so bright and colorful. Just draw dropping beauty.


skag138 by Jenseib, on Flickr


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Well that was incredible. We chatted a bit and ordered drinks and then I saw several people making their way to the window on the other side so I jumped up to take a look.


skag18 by Jenseib, on Flickr


And of course I snapped a few more pictures.


skag19 by Jenseib, on Flickr


With all the excitement over I headed up to the salad bar.


skag140 by Jenseib, on Flickr


They have a system where you have a card and when you turn it to green you that means you want the meats to come, when it is red then that means you don’t need anything currently.


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skag142 by Jenseib, on Flickr


In theory it’s a good idea. You just have to remember to keep turning it over when you don’t need anything. The down side to this is they kept bringing the same meats and we wanted to try other meats. We were offered sausages and chicken over and over, but what we wanted was the good steaks. Finally we asked when they would be around and our server said he would tell them. They took forever to come with the good meats and then only once and you only got one piece at a time. There were supposed to be around 25 meats to choose from. We never had that many to choose from and the ones we saw mainly were variations on the same thing…spicy sausage, mild sausage, etc.


If I remember right the rolls weren’t all that fabulous either.


skag143 by Jenseib, on Flickr


This tray of foods was brought out to the table to share family style. We pretty much only liked the mashed potatoes.


skag144 by Jenseib, on Flickr


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12341623_10208249692340748_5672659195509371146_n by Jenseib, on Flickr


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Some of the meats were better than others. But none were stand out great. We really became more annoyed about what we were offered than anything. It seemed like pulling teeth to get any of the more expensive meats and Skip caught on quickly they were offering the cheaper meats over and over and grumbled. Plus the fact that it was so slow between each skewer coming out. The dessert they offer here is grilled pineapple on a skewer. It was not catching our fancy and honestly it just took too long at this point we just wanted to leave. Claire and I figured we would eat the cookies in our room later…which of course were gone when we went back.


We wanted to catch the show tonight so we declined the pineapple and headed out.


Up next…..Not quite what we expected….

 

[westcoastfldisneygirl]

Sorry the food wasn't that great The views and your photos are fabulous! The cookie situation was bizarre as well...why wouldn't they think you would've wanted them later?