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

[jenseib]

When we got to a certain point the ship stopped and started making a circle so that all sides of the ship could get different views of the glacier and surrounding area. The Captain did a fantastic job with this. Now we had prime viewing area but for those who stayed on their balconies or just on another deck, this was fabulous to get all the views. He went really slow and I believe he made more than one rotation.


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We decided we wanted to go get some more hot chocolate but when we got downstairs they were just finishing up clearing everything away. In my opinion they should have kept it out the whole time, but we would live without it.


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We headed back up to continue taking in all the beautiful sights.


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The excursion boat was now heading back to us.


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Claire took some shots around the ship.


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I had thought about leaving through these stairs but in the end when we left I wanted another look at the Haven.


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Another shot of Claire.


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Here it comes.


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We just couldn’t get enough of all the beauty around us.


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But finally we decided it was time to go find Skip, so we headed down through the Haven again and took a few more pictures.


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Up next….someone needs to catch up on her sleep!!!!

 

[dolphingirl47]

The pictures are all stunning. I particular like the one below.

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I am glad that you got to see the seals.

Corinna

 

[Pinkocto]

Seals on icebergs!!! SO cool! And they are cute little guys too

I like that dragon in the Haven.

And I don't blame you wanting to do that excursion next time.

 

[AquaDame]

We looked down and saw a chef walk by. We thought it was funny that he had a star on the top of his hat. We would have never have known that if we didn’t see him from above.


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See, other lines really DO pay attention to the little details also!

 

[jenseib]

The pictures are all stunning. I particular like the one below.



I am glad that you got to see the seals.

Corinna

Thanks. It's so hard to pick a favorite picture because there were so many beautiful things to see.

Seals on icebergs!!! SO cool! And they are cute little guys too

They are so cute. And they looked at us like we were crazy.

And I don't blame you wanting to do that excursion next time.

It really looks so neat. I love how close they get up to the glacier.

See, other lines really DO pay attention to the little details also!

hahahaha

 

[jenseib]

We exited the Haven courtyard area and I took a few pictures down the hallways.


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And out to the elevators.


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The stairs down.


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As I was taking that picture, Claire was taking this one.


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And I was taking this one….


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Claire was taking this.


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We hit the elevator button but it seemed to take forever to come so we ended up taking the stairs down.


We headed to our room to find Skip and he was nowhere to be found. We then began our search for him and I took pictures along the way…some from our balcony and some from deck 7.


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Claire wanted to go to the show tonight. I needed a shower before we could go and there just was not enough time. I told her that if we found Skip I would have him take her. Of course I could not find him and she was starting to cry over it. I knew she had been pushing it over the last few days and needed some sleep. Nothing I said would make her happy and she turned into a total crab. The fun girl who had been laughing and joking with me just an hour before up on 14 was gone and a mean little runt took her place.


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The show tonight was call Luminescence and from what I read was like a Cirque du soleil type show. Honestly these type of shows don’t excite me all that much, but I would have still gone to see it if I had time…but I was not going to go all grubby like I was. We did a lot of searching and I took a shower and we gave up on the show.


We went off once again to see if we could find Skip once we felt the show was over. I figured he would come looking for us if he thought we went and we headed out towards the Stardust Theatre, the Casino and deck 7 near where the show exited.


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And we found him! He went to the show all by himself. He said he kept looking to see if we would show up. Oh no! Well that made more tears for our tired girl and I was now the worst mother in the world and he was the worst father. We are so cruel to make her miss the show.


We stood out on deck 7 for a bit and enjoyed the beauty as our little one whined about how horrible we are.


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Up next….Dinner!!!!

 

[mickeystoontown]

Jen, I can't believe that you were such a horrible mother. And Skip, we'll he's a horrible father! Just kiddin'. Isn't it crazy how a kid's emotional state can turn on a dime like that?

 

[Pinkocto]

I really like those carpet pictures after the Haven.

Bummer about the show mishap.

 

[jenseib]

Jen, I can't believe that you were such a horrible mother. And Skip, we'll he's a horrible father! Just kiddin'. Isn't it crazy how a kid's emotional state can turn on a dime like that?

It's amazing how horrible we are. Just the other day she was crying about something really stupid and told me I was an awful mother...and I saw her eyes widen....I didn't mean it!!!!
She doesn't even realize how great she has it. She has traveled to destinations that many people will never see in their lifetime.

I really like those carpet pictures after the Haven.

Bummer about the show mishap.

The Haven is such a beautiful area. WHEN I win the lottery we will stay in there. hahaha

 

[jenseib]

It was now time to head to our dinner reservation. I told Claire that if we got out fast enough then I would take her to the next show. If not we would look for it on TV tonight as they seemed to be running shows on the TV each night.


Our reservation was in La Cucina tonight, which is the Italian restaurant.


We were seated right away and started in with the bread.


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Skip had some sort of cocktail.


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I did a poor job tonight and did not take pictures of the menus. I also can barely remember what we had, so it’s just going to be pictures without much explanation.


I noticed the beautiful sky outside and ran to the window to take some shots.


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We ordered a pizza to share as an appetizer and it was pretty good.


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The photographer came around and took out picture too.


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As we waiting for our entrees I took some more pictures out the window.


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Service was pretty slow and Claire was already complaining about going to the show.


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Even though we were at an Italian restaurant, Claire still insisted on steak.


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If I remember right, I got some sort of Lobster Fettuccini.


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It was just ok. I don’t think I would order it again if we ever came back. I don’t think it was bad, it just wasn’t really what I was expecting and I didn’t like the noodles so much.


I believe Skip got the Salmon and he said it was excellent. He hasn’t had much salmon in his lifetime…nor have I…and he really took a liking to it this trip and was eating it quite a bit.


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By now we had missed the beginning of the show. I think we ordered dessert, but I have no pictures of it. I guess I was just tired at that point and probably Claire was distracting me with her complaints. Skip of course kept talking about the amazing things in the show, which made the situation even worse with Claire.

It seemed to take a long time for our bill to come to be signed. The waiter was nice enough but this place just was not very efficient and it was starting to get on our nerves. We wanted to leave and it seemed to take forever to get out of there.


Once we did leave it was way too late to go to the show and we decided to call it a night and see if we could find it on TV.


This guy was waiting for us in our room tonight.


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Tomorrow we would be arriving in Skagway. Our excursion wasn’t leaving till 10:30 so we decided we would let Claire sleep in today. She had been up early the last 2 days and it was catching up with her. I told Skip that I knew I would still wake up early, so I may head off the ship and then come back in time to make sure they were up and ready to go.


We got settled in and tried to find the show on TV with no such luck. I could barely stay awake and handed the remote off to Claire so she could keep channel surfing. She did tell me she never found it.



Up next…..Arriving in Skagway!

 

[dizneeat]

Just wanted to let you know that I am all caught up again, Jen. There is far too much to comment on, as I did not have a lot of time for the DIS the last three weeks, but I wanted to add that I really enjoc coming along on your trip.

 

[dolphingirl47]

The food looked lovely, but what a shame about the slow service. I am sorry that Claire never got to watch the show.

Corinna

 

[Pinkocto]

Too bad about the slow service.

I might have kicked Skip under the table with him talking about how good the show was...

 

[jenseib]

Just wanted to let you know that I am all caught up again, Jen. There is far too much to comment on, as I did not have a lot of time for the DIS the last three weeks, but I wanted to add that I really enjoc coming along on your trip.

Glad to see you again. I know how it is. I have been so busy lately too. We are heading out of town on Tuesday for 6 days so I will be very behind again when I get home.

The food looked lovely, but what a shame about the slow service. I am sorry that Claire never got to watch the show.

Corinna

I had heard that most of NCL was slow and some was and some wasn't....but that is one area they need to improve.

Too bad about the slow service.

I might have kicked Skip under the table with him talking about how good the show was...

Yeah...I got some dirty looks from me but he just thinks he is so funny.

 

[jenseib]

Day 6, Aug. 5, 2015, Wednesday


Today we were visiting our last Alaskan port, Skagway!


Here is today’s Freestyle Daily.


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Just like every other day, my body was still on Ohio time, so I was up pretty darn early. But when you get up early you can see some amazing views. And I enjoyed them from our balcony.


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And I also headed down to deck seven as well.


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The ritual was as we got near port I would check my phone for a signal and then message friends to see how everything was going and to check my emails. It’s amazing how as soon as you leave for a week…all of a sudden people are contacting you for work issues.


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The Pearl was already in port this morning.


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We turned around and backed in.


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Welcome to Skagway!


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They are ready for us!


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There was a helicopter pad right near us and they would take off and land constantly all day long.


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Somebody has some big bucks.


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From our aft balcony we could see everything as we backed in.


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The one guy looks like he is cold.


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[jenseib]

I enjoyed watching the docking procedure. These guys work hard.


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A look out at the town.


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The White Pass railroad.


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Skip had wanted to do the train and for various reasons we did not. If we ever go back we will have to do it because he still has it in his mind that he missed it and he talks about it all the time.


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I love the misty mountain.


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Since I was going to let the family sleep and head off on my own for a bit, I ran up and got some breakfast.


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Of course I had the pancakes with the crack whipped cream on them. YUM!!!!


After I ate, I headed back to the room, gathered what I wanted to take with me and headed out to get off the ship.


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Hello Skagway!


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Of course we docked the furthest from the town, so I had a little bit of a walk to get there.


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Our balcony…with my 2 family members asleep inside the room.


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Up next…On to Skagway!

 

[dolphingirl47]

The light in those morning photos is amazing. We did the train when we were in Skagway and I can definitely recommend it.

Corinna

 

[cruisehopeful]

I feel the same as your husband. I keep thinking about the train in Skagway and how I will go on it next time we go to Alaska, since we didn't do it last time. I hope it is as good as I imagine it to be.

I'm still debating between DCL again, or NCL Jewel or Celebrity Solstice. Your report (aside from the first day) makes the Jewel sound really great.

 

[jenseib]

The light in those morning photos is amazing. We did the train when we were in Skagway and I can definitely recommend it.

Corinna

I have read many reports of people doing the train and it does look good. My fear for me is motion sickness. I did a train to Toronto once...several hours and I felt awful the whole time. of course I didn't take any meds back then for motion sickness either.

I feel the same as your husband. I keep thinking about the train in Skagway and how I will go on it next time we go to Alaska, since we didn't do it last time. I hope it is as good as I imagine it to be.

I am sure we will have to do it. He said there is a show coming up later this week where they are doing a train ride through Alaska live...sounds boring to me...but he is excited about it. LOL.

I'm still debating between DCL again, or NCL Jewel or Celebrity Solstice. Your report (aside from the first day) makes the Jewel sound really great.

I still feel DCL is probably the best, but for the cost difference I was happy with NCL. There are noticible differences in each cruise line, but if you go in with a good attitude then you can have a great time.

 

[jenseib]

The path to town was clearly marked but it was still quite a walk.


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I ended up hitting this store on the way back.


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This is the train tracks snow remover. This one is basically for show but I do know it was taken out once somewhat recently when snow was bad and they needed extra help.


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And the historic Skagway!!!


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The Red Onion which was a brothel in its former life, now a restaurant with a brothel theme. I never went inside but I did peek through the windows.


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Some hikers/backpackers. That has to be quite an adventure.


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I was looking for a place to get crab, after all I missed getting crab yesterday in Juneau. This place had it on the menu so I made a mental note.


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There is that beautiful house again. We were told on our tour that it was pretty pricey.


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A look back down the street…that’s not our ship…ours would be to the far right looking down.


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We learned this had some significance which I can no longer remember now.


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I did some window shopping on my way back down the street.


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I crossed back over at the Red Onion and took a peek in the windows.


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I then went into the t-shirt store and did some shopping. I bought a lot of t-shirts and socks for friends and family back home and I also got Claire and I a shirt each. I picked up a magnet to I believe. I was completely sweating by now. It was much warmer than I had thought it would be and I had taken off my coat and I was still quite warm. I grabbed a diet coke to help cool me down on the walk back as well.

As I checked out I asked the cashier if this was the normal temperatures here as it was much warmer than I expect and he said no. He said they were having a heat wave this week and the temps were much higher than normal. I am pretty sure it was in the high 70’s to low 80’s in some areas today. Of course in Alaska it depends where you are at and it’s best to dress in layers so you can peel off in the areas that are warmer.


Once I had my purchases I headed back to the ship to get my family going.


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These stairs are steep and kind of scary.


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Back on the ship I got Claire up and ready to go. I showed her the purchases and she approved of the shirt I got her….and has worn it several times since we have been home.


We went up so she could get a quick bite to eat at the buffet and then headed down to deck 7 to watch the world go by till it was time to get off to meet up for our excursion.


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Up next….The Klondike Family Experience.