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

[jenseib]

As we rode out of the port area I saw this cool shot and took it.


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Off we go.


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A look back at the ship.


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I thought this was kind of funny as the people would walk under this tree and practically disappear.


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Our guide, and I am sorry, but I don’t remember her name, pointed out different homes. Many were historical homes. There were certain things that made homes historical and I can’t remember them all now. But I do know that back then the more windows, doors and colors you had on the house, the better it was. I think it showed status or something, so many homes we saw along our route were a little different looking than a normal home.


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A lot of the homes made me think of doll houses.


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A few unusual sculptures.


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Here’s something you don’t see every day.


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We then approached the Parliament building, but I was on the wrong side and it was really hard to get many good pictures.


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I loved how so many people had flowers everywhere in Victoria.


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Our guide had a story about this hotel, which I no longer remember.


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Passing another horse and carriage.


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I believe now we were heading into Beacon Hill park.


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The Watering Garden is a water play park facility located at the site of the old wading pool in Beacon Hill Park. The goal was to create a play park that celebrates water in creative, playful and visually interesting ways, in all seasons.


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Kids loved to climb on this tree.


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Peacocks were running around but this was the best shot I could get of one.


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Up next….One of the clearest days

 

[dolphingirl47]

What a shame that you ended up on the wrong side. I still loved the photos and the excursion sounds a lot of fun. Those houses look really precious.

Corinna

 

[Pinkocto]

Great updates But how can it be packing day already???

This sounds like a fun excursion and a nice way to see the city. The houses are so cute!

I'm with you, how could they not have cheese for those pretzels?

 

[Beth D]

Great updates! I love the fog pictures.

I love the pretzels from Longhorn - they have a great beer cheese dip, and also a bacon honey mustard for you to dip them in. I could get that and a salad and be happy!

You're packing already? When's the next trip?

 

[westcoastfldisneygirl]

Those houses are so cute! I love them all. What a fun excursion! Sorry you were on the "wrong" side, but you still got great photos!

 

[jedijill]

Catching up! Looks like lots of fun so far. Victoria really is beautiful but too bad you got on the wrong side of the carriage.

Jill in CO

 

[jenseib]

What a shame that you ended up on the wrong side. I still loved the photos and the excursion sounds a lot of fun. Those houses look really precious.

Corinna

It probably drove me more crazy than anyone else would have been. Well normal people. hahaha.

Great updates But how can it be packing day already???

This sounds like a fun excursion and a nice way to see the city. The houses are so cute!

I'm with you, how could they not have cheese for those pretzels?

Skip complained that we HAD to go on a 7 day cruise and by the end of it he wished it was longer. Now he probably won't admit that now, but he asked a couple of times why we didn't extend our stay in Seattle longer or why we didn't do a 10 day cruise....I guess he forgot how he complained that we had to go 7 days as it was. LOL.
I couldn't believe they didn't have cheese either....that just goes hand in hand with pretzels.

Great updates! I love the fog pictures.

I love the pretzels from Longhorn - they have a great beer cheese dip, and also a bacon honey mustard for you to dip them in. I could get that and a salad and be happy!

You're packing already? When's the next trip?

Applebees has some good cheese dip and honey mustard too. Claire loves to get them there.

Those houses are so cute! I love them all. What a fun excursion! Sorry you were on the "wrong" side, but you still got great photos!

They had so many neat houses. Some were just plain ugly, others unique and others charming.

Catching up! Looks like lots of fun so far. Victoria really is beautiful but too bad you got on the wrong side of the carriage.

Jill in CO

I would love to go back and explore more of Victoria.

 

[jenseib]

We continued around the park and our guide told us bits and pieces about it.


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This is the story pole, which I believe has been refurbished a few years ago.


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Our guide pointed out and said this was an extremely clear day. She said typically you can’t see those mountains out there….which by the way is the US…Washington State. Pretty cool! And here comes a Princess ship too.


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We kept on with our guide pointing out things and giving us more info.


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She really kept commenting how clear it was today though. The fact that she talked about it so much must really mean it’s typically much foggier.


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The Mile 0 marker is the start of the over 8,000 km Trans-Canada Highway that spans the entire length of Canada.


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I am not sure what I was aiming for here. I guess just the lapping waves on the rocks.


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Again she commented on how clear it was and this was not a normal site.


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The yards were so pretty along the way.


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And soon we were back at the port.


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A few more ships were here now too.


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We got off and handed our guide a tip and took a few pictures.


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While on the ride, Claire was constantly complaining about her arm. She was sure it was broken and going to fall off. It never even had a bruise. Now I am sure she whacked it good and I am sure it really did hurt, but there was nothing I could do about it except offer her some ibuprofen, which she refuses to take, so if you won’t take anything for pain, I tend to feel less sorry for you.

Also she was now getting hungry. So she started in on that a bit. We told her we would get something to eat before she was at the death stage.


As we got off, we asked a taxi driver how much it would be to get to Butchart Gardens. It was going to be over $50 each way and then our admission price as well. We decided to pass on that. As much as I would have loved to have gone and seen the gardens we couldn’t justify paying over $100 in transportation alone. There was a restaurant at the outer edge of the port area that our guide told us was good and popular and we debated on walking over there for dinner.

We found a spot to sit and think it over. Lots of the crew members were sitting there so I think this is where they could get wifi as all were on their phones or tablets. I connected to one free wifi, but it was extremely slow. I saw lots of options for those with passwords so I am guess that many of the crew could get connected to those.


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I gave up on the wifi and we walked over to a little gift shop in the port area and it was pretty worthless…. Very small and nothing catching our eye. Not even a magnet that interested me.


We decide we were really closer to the ship than the restaurant so we might as well just go back and have dinner onboard and save some money.



Up next……Dinner

 

[dizneeat]

Sorry I haven't posted in a while, but I did read every bit of your TR. I know, I sound like a broken record, but I just love all your photos. That horse drawn carriage ride looks like a lot of fun and even though you were on the "wrong" side, you got some awesome shots.
And how lucky that you had that clear day and got to see all those mountains. AWESOME!

She was sure it was broken and going to fall off.

Also she was now getting hungry. So she started in on that a bit. We told her we would get something to eat before she was at the death stage.

Poor, poor Claire. What horrible parents she has got.
It sounds like she did not have any permanent damage, but sometimes it really can hurt if you whack your arm in the wrong place. And then you let her starve. Good thing the ship was close by and you decided to head there instead of "endangering" poor Claire even more.

 

[westcoastfldisneygirl]

I love the Mile 0 Marker! How cool.

Can't wait to see what's for dinner!

 

[dolphingirl47]

We were not as lucky with such a clear day. It was very overcast when we were there and it even rained a little at one point. What a shame that it was so expensive to go to Butchart Gardens. I would have passed, too.

Corinna

 

[Pinkocto]

Those mountain pictures are just gorgeous!!!!

Poor Claire, she really seems to be suffering this trip. Hopefully she forgot these things after getting home.

I love that Skip was wondering why the trip wasn't longer...

 

[jenseib]

Sorry I haven't posted in a while, but I did read every bit of your TR. I know, I sound like a broken record, but I just love all your photos. That horse drawn carriage ride looks like a lot of fun and even though you were on the "wrong" side, you got some awesome shots.
And how lucky that you had that clear day and got to see all those mountains. AWESOME!


Poor, poor Claire. What horrible parents she has got.
It sounds like she did not have any permanent damage, but sometimes it really can hurt if you whack your arm in the wrong place. And then you let her starve. Good thing the ship was close by and you decided to head there instead of "endangering" poor Claire even more.

I totally understand. I am so busy and many of us have been sick lately too this week so it's hard to keep up and reply!

Claire has such awful parents. She should trade us in!

I think it was just one of those bad places that hurts even if you don't do much damage.

I love the Mile 0 Marker! How cool.

Can't wait to see what's for dinner!

It was pretty cool. Sorry, hope you haven't been drooling over dinner all these days. LOL. It's been a busy week.

We were not as lucky with such a clear day. It was very overcast when we were there and it even rained a little at one point. What a shame that it was so expensive to go to Butchart Gardens. I would have passed, too.

Corinna

I really felt lucky at how nice the whole trip really was.
If we ever make it back to Victoria I am for sure going to book and excursion to Butchart.

Those mountain pictures are just gorgeous!!!!

Poor Claire, she really seems to be suffering this trip. Hopefully she forgot these things after getting home.

I love that Skip was wondering why the trip wasn't longer...

Everything was gorgeous really this trip. Each day was more beauty.

Claire is sick right now and boy you would think she is dying. I think she might have some of her dad in her. LOL.

 

[jenseib]

One restaurant I had wanted to try was Le Bistro. It is the French specialty restaurant. I had heard mixed reviews on it so I never made a reservation ahead of time. Tonight would be the perfect night to try it. We figured if we didn’t like the food we had time to go to another restaurant or even the main dining room.


We walked down and asked if it was possible to get seated and they said yes and led the way. Now Claire was not opposed to going here but she was now dead set on getting one last order of truffle fries from Cagneys. I told her if we couldn’t get them here I would call up our butler and she could get them.


So we had a seat in a practically empty restaurant.


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We kind of got a weird vibe in there though. I think because it was slow the waiters were just not on their top game. It wasn’t bad service….just kind of weird.


We had this bread to start out with…I forget what this stuff with it was…maybe a salmon mousse?


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We asked if Claire could get fries, which were not listed and they said yes. We were hoping they would be the truffle fries


Skip ordered a soup…I am pretty sure it was a mushroom soup and when it arrived it came like this. We totally laughed as this was not what any of us expected. Skip said it was good though.


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I got the escargot.


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Someone is in pain.


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I also got the French onion soup.


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It was all good.


I don’t remember if Claire had an appetizer or not, but if she did, I did not take a picture.


Skip ordered something with lobster in it for his entrée which shocked me as he doesn’t eat lobster ever usually. I don’t remember what it was, but I think that its pasta…or potatoes…I didn’t take a picture of the menu so I can’t remember now. He said it was pretty good though.


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Claire and I both got beef tenderloins.


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Hers with fries and no sauce.


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Sadly they were not truffle fries.


These steaks were the best ones we had on the ship. They were so wonderful in taste and so tender we could cut them with a fork. Now I wish we had come here more often.


Time for dessert. I believe Skip ordered the Chocolate Napoleon.


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I took a bite and it was really good.


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Claire went with ice-cream.


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And I went with the Crème Brulee.


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It was all good and I would come back here again in the future.


A few pictures before we left.


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A look back at our table as we left.


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This is quite the sculpture at the entrance.


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Not one you would find on DCL. Hahahaha


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A look outside.


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It was an amazing sky tonight.


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We headed back to the room to change and pack up the rest and set the bags out. This guy was waiting for us.


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Penelope and Silky were waiting for Claire.


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[jenseib]

We packed up the room and we looked out at the beautiful sky.


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The Princess ship was docked next to us and it looks so pretty with lights lit up, but try as I did, I could never get a good shot of it.


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We went for a walk around a bit and looked outside at the pier.


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I saw this and couldn’t figure out what a Rest Ted area was. LOL.


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OOOOH! Restricted area….just had part of it covered over.


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By now we were starting to have some tears about the cruise coming to an end. Claire gets emotional sometimes at the end of vacations. Yes we are all sad, but I know for her it is also due to lack of sleep. Then there were tears that she would never have truffle fries again and we didn’t get any tonight. Oh dear! I quickly called Melony and asked her if she could get some for us. She kind of acted put out about it…but that is her JOB! She said she would call and find out as it was just about time for Cagneys to close. I prayed she got right on it as I knew Claire was going to be one unhappy camper if she didn’t get any.


Luckily she was able to get them and Claire was so happy and ate them like it was her last meal ever. I thanked Melony but honestly it really did leave a bad taste in my mouth about how she acted put out…and I was making up envelopes for tips at that moment. I actually left her a lot less that I had intended to from my preplanning. Not that she wasn’t good, she was fine, but not over the top and we never did get some of the things we requested, like a foam topper for Claire and foam pillows. And we rarely saw her. If I had used her services more, I would have left more.


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We all got ready for bed and watched some tv then. Skip and I faded out early but we found out the next morning Claire was up late again and she even watched us leave port. Oh my word. She is so overtired, yet she doesn’t go to sleep when she has the chance. Crazy kid.



Up next…good by Jewel.

 

[dolphingirl47]

I am glad that dinner was a success. I am not overly keen on French food, but the steak looks lovely and the mushroom soup looks amazing. I definitely get feeling a little emotional at the end of a trip. I still do this now even with enough sleep. I glad that Claire got her truffle fries, but I can't believe that the butler behaved the way she did.

Corinna

 

[jenseib]

I am glad that dinner was a success. I am not overly keen on French food, but the steak looks lovely and the mushroom soup looks amazing. I definitely get feeling a little emotional at the end of a trip. I still do this now even with enough sleep. I glad that Claire got her truffle fries, but I can't believe that the butler behaved the way she did.

Corinna

I really hate the trips to end too. I really need to win the lottery so I can afford my travel addictions. LOL
I have read that some butlers are just fantastic and some not so great. I think ours was just mediocre. She really didn't go out of her way too much, but we didn't need her a lot either.

 

[jenseib]

Day 9, Aug. 8, 2015, Saturday


No one in their right mind wants to go home from vacation….that being said, Skip is always one who wants an early flight home (which I now rarely book…too bad for you), and typically is just done with vacation on that last morning. If we don’t have an early flight though he wants to do something to fill up our time before the flight…no rest and relaxation for him….as in 2014 when we had a later flight out of Orlando and he decided that morning we should go to Universal for a few hours.


Believe it or not, Skip was in no hurry to get off the ship today. That is a sure sign he had a wonderful time!


When we woke we were in Seattle already. We let Claire sleep a bit and I went outside to make some calls and check my phone and all that good stuff.


The port was busy with activity this morning.


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It was a little foggy this morning too.


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I headed back to the room and watched out on our balcony.


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It’s so depressing to know you have to get off the ship and someone else is going to have your room.


I made sure we had the rest of the stuff gathered and ready to go and went for another walk.


This was interesting…they were loading these cages and taking the luggage off that way.


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I went to get some breakfast. Pretty much the same thing I had every day.


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I headed back to the room and we finished getting ready for the day. Skip and Claire got some breakfast. Claire isn’t really big on breakfast but we kind of made her eat something since it could be awhile before we eat again. Once we had our bellies full we had to do the inevitable…..we had to disembark.


We headed to the Suite disembarking meeting area, which was at Chin Chin today. Florentina was there and took a group of us off. Basically she held some people back who were in line to get off and let us through. It’s funny as one guy was trying to get around her and she told him to stop and he just gave her a strange look and kept going. I suppose he was wondering why these people were allowed to cut in line.


We grabbed our bags and made it through Customs easily. We got off earlier than I expected. I like to wait till the last second to get off, but I guess we were moving faster than I thought that day. We headed outside and found the Shuttle Express stand and checked in. We told them we were early and he said it would be about 30 minutes or so. We found a spot out of the way and camped out.


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And I took some pictures.


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Claire and I went over around the side and took a look at the ship again.


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When we walked back Skip was getting ready to call us. We had been called to board the shuttle and he was bringing the bags over to load. We had a lady driver and all the guys tried to help but she said it was just easier for her to do it.


We piled in the van and off we went. The driver asked what airlines and she told us that she was not going to drop us off in front of the Southwest area because it was very congested and she would drop us off further down and we could walk. Ok then. LOL.


The driver set her GPS to get us to the airport, which I thought was weird because you would think she would know the way back and forth easily if this was her job. Maybe she was new and still learning the ropes?


I took a few pictures as we went along.


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We arrived and were dropped off. Skip had talked to the driver a bit and told her we had a late flight (as did the other family in the van) and she gave some ideas of places to go that were fairly close to the airport. I think one was a park or garden and Skip asked if we wanted to go. I didn’t really care and in the end we decided we may be rushing it too much to get there and back.


We got in the very long line for Southwest. I had a bit of worry because I know you can’t check your bags in too early (found that out the year before). I figured we were border line on time now and I sure as heck didn’t want to drag these bags around any longer. A SW person came down the line and asked what time flights were. I believe ours was at 2:05. She told us we should be fine and that by the time we got to the front we would be right at the check in time. Good! I believe at the time we got in line it was about 9:40ish.


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We finally made it up to the check in and I worried as we were still early but they had no issues and took our bags Thank the Lord!!!


After that we walked all the way down to the smoking section, which is at the very end of each side of the terminal. We sat there for a bit and I texted family and friends and checked emails and all that fun stuff.

 

[jenseib]

We then decided to head inside and get through security.


Then we were on a quest for lunch. I thought it would be good to do a sit down place since we had a long time to kill but it seemed no one agreed on anything or wanted to wait so in the end we found a pizza place and went there.


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It wasn’t busy at all when we arrived but by the time we left every seat in the place was filled. I guess we arrived at the right time. I would have stayed there longer just chilling but Skip said we should get up so our table was freed up for others.


We headed to our gate and it was packed. I think there were 2 or 3 flights going out of this gate before us so we had quite a wait. I found a seat near a plug and plugged in devices to keep us charged up and Claire played games on her kindle and I on my phone. There was only one free seat, so I took that and Claire and Skip sat on the floor. Skip took a nap.


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Skip asked why we didn’t stay another night then. I just rolled my eyes. Seriously???? Had I done that he would have been mad most likely.


As we waited around we did get some snacks and we saw the one family who were on our flight here…they had gone on Princess. They were taking the flight before ours. I had looked at the flight but it was quite a bit more in cost when I was booking and never went down that I saw so I chose the later one. That flight was overbooked too. They kept announcing that they needed people to give up their seats and they could get on the next flight and of course some perks were offered I am sure. Skip announced that if our flight was overbooked we were giving up our seats and we would tell them we would fly out tomorrow. Who is this man and what has he done with my husband? Of course our flight was full, but not over booked and we soon were called to board the plane.

I sat in the middle again and Claire in the window seat. The thing is she kept leaning on me and Skip was too and I felt so cramped and started having anxiety. I tend to get that at times when I know I am trapped, but typically it’s on the way home. I think the excitement of going someplace on the way there keeps it down. I got wiggly a bit and I mentioned to Skip I was having it and he said he was too. I guess we both were just tired as well and we were now crashing.


One thing I did to pass the time was I paid for the wifi. This was wonderful and I know on all future long flights I will buy it. I might even do it for some shorter ones as well.


I kept smelling a bad BO smell….and it was CLAIRE!!! I asked her if she had put deodorant on and she said I had packed it already so she didn’t. I let her know that in the future she can ask me for it. LOL!!!


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Our next stop was Chicago. When we got off the plane we made our way to our gate but we had a little bit of time. How different it was tonight compared to last week during the day. Much more quiet and we noticed right away the popcorn place was not open and no scents of that wonderful stuff was floating our way.


We decided to get something to eat here as well and settled for McDonalds. We ordered our food and took it to our seats and ate and waited. I decided I should let my Aunt Mary know that our flights were going well and on time so she was aware since she was picking us up in Detroit. She never responded and I joked with Skip about it….”Should we be worried?”


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Time to board the next flight. I love that this flight is only about an hour long.


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I demanded that I sit in the window seat this time. I couldn’t take both of them leaning on me again. It was so much better. I could lean towards the window (which is something Claire should have been doing) and I felt like I had so much more room.


Stinky…I mean Claire…is ready to take off.


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I believe we had a pretty new plane so I guess that is why I took some random pictures.


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I connected to the wifi again and it really was so nice to have.


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And soon we were landing and back in Detroit. I turned my phone on and saw Aunt Mary replied and just said “OK”.


I got a shot of the jetway coming out to us.


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We soon were disembarking and heading to the bathrooms and then picking up our luggage. Aunt Mary text to say she was on her way but still a few minutes out, which was fine. We had to wait for the bags any ways.


Once all was picked up we waited for Aunt Mary and soon she was pulling up and there was like 3 lanes of traffic all stopped to pick up passengers so we darted out and loaded our bags quickly and got in and took off.


We chatted about the trip and then Aunt Mary made a confession. She said our other Aunt is visiting and staying at her house and they were both tired and got ready for bed. She said my text bothered her. She thought she was picking us up Sunday and so she then woke up her husband and asked when we were coming home and he wasn’t sure so she went and found my itinerary and sure enough it was today. LOL. Luckily she had plenty of time to get dressed and head up to get us. Of course had she not been there we would have lived and survived with her either coming later or us finding a close by airport hotel.

Now we joke with her as her husband flies a lot for work and she takes him and drops him off and we always ask her if she is sure she has the right day!


Once we arrived at her house we transferred the bags to our car and set off for home. It was good to be home, but of course the blues set in a bit too. We had such a fabulous time and the hum drum of everyday life and getting back to work is no fun.


Skip proclaimed this was the best vacation he has ever been on which means quite a bit. He often doesn’t comment on vacations and even though I know he has a good time he often will act like he didn’t have a good time. He still talks about it and I am sure in a few years we will be heading back to Alaska.


Now would I sail NCL again? Actually…yes I would. We had a very rare problem, which could have ruined many peoples whole vacation but we pushed through it and didn’t let it get us down….too much at least. Once we got going it was fabulous. It’s not the same as Disney and that still is my favorite line, but it had some perks. We enjoyed the beverage package. I don’t drink a lot so having it free was nice for me to try a few things and not feel like I had to drink its worth.

We really enjoyed the dining package as well. I liked trying several of the specialty restaurants. I think if/when we sail NCL again I would add that on so we can enjoy many of them again.

The crew was not as friendly as most of the DCL’s crew, but there were some members that were fabulous. Claire actually enjoyed the NCL kids club more than DCL’s. I think because it was a longer cruise and she really enjoyed the interactive part of it. It sounded like they really didn’t have a lot of free time play, which with DCL there is more of since the club is just so fabulous and big. She also really liked the counselors a lot.

The Nickelodeon part was neat, but not a must for us. Skip actually got annoyed by one of the Nick staff members….a guy and I can’t remember which one, but Skip said he drove him crazy. With Nick gone now from NCL it won’t really bother us, but I am glad we did get on a ship that had it so I now know what it was like.


A few days after I got home I did send off some emails to NCL about the problem we had with our lost reservation and the way it was handled. We have been given a nice onboard credit to use….originally within a year of the sail date, but I wrote back and said that would not be possible for us and they extended it for 2 years. So most likely we will be sailing NCL in the next year or so.


Upcoming vacations? I have one scheduled for Feb with many co-workers. It’s an educational type trip with fun thrown in. Several of us are starting out at Universal Studios Orlando then moving to Disney World for a few days and then onto the Disney Magic for a 4 night cruise. I have been asked if I will write about it and at this point I am not sure. It takes a lot of work and time. If I do it may not be started for a few months after I get back so I can get things situated and pictures edited. I might only do the cruise portion as we have more free time then and it won’t be all about education. I am thinking I may take less pictures this time around so that might not make for an interesting trip report….oh who am I kidding…you know I will be taking pictures. Hahaha.

I also may do it in segments and each part being its own report.


We also have been talking for over a year now of doing a big family cruise on the Disney Fantasy. So far nothing is booked but we are talking about November. Hopefully we can get that settled up soon.


Thanks so much for sticking with me all these months as I wrote about our experience. I hope it helped at least one person plan a perfect trip for themselves or answered some questions you may have had.

 

[jedijill]

The food looked amazing! Your butler doesn't sound that on top of her game. If I was paying for concierge, I would be expecting a lot more! Poor Claire! You guys are so mean to her!

ETA: You snuck in the last update. Glad Skip had a good vacation! Your trip was amazing and very informative since I'm thinking about Alaska in the near future. Glad NCL addressed the issues you had.

Can't wait to read about your next adventure!

Jill in CO