Friday, June 22, 2012

Alaska Cruise - Day 1

[Work in Progress - feedbacks are always welcome]

Norwegian Jewel Welcomes us!

Finally, we are on the Norwegian Jewel!  We boarded from deck 7. 

The doors we came through on the first day.

These doors are also the entry into the Crystal Atrium.  This is the deck where the reception desk and ship stores (shore excursion desk, photo gallery, duty free store and etc) are located.     

Crystal Atrium

Here is a great ship tour video produced by mrrubendave

Lunch Time!

We were directed by a cruise member to the Garden Cafe (deck 12th) for our lunch.  Surprisingly, on our way to the escalator, another cruise member recommended us Tsar's Palace Main Dining Room (deck 7) instead.



Outside Tsar's Palace

Entrance of Tsar's Palace

That was the first and best recommendation we received throughout this trip!  Below are the reasons why:
  1. It is a very nice restaurant.
  2. There wasn't many people, thus pretty relaxing.  Great after the 1.5hrs work to get ourselves on board.
  3. There are these huge glass panels that enable us to enjoy the scenery outside.
  4. They have outstanding service and friendly staff
Our starters

The kids have the option to order from the kid's menu. However, our kids love adult food.
Cover Page

Inside Page

Request: If you are on Norwegian Jewel, please help me say hi to Officer Oscar and waiter Andrew.  Especially, Officer Oscar, he really took good care of us when were there.  We absolute adore him!  
Officer Oscar
Tip: We usually allocate 1.5hrs for our meal at the restarant since we want to dine with a relax mood. 

Tip: Except for breakfast, we adults would need to pay for juice.  We always asked for water.  The kids get juice for all meals. 

Checking into our Stateroom

At around 2pm, there was an announcement that all stateroomswereare ready for occupancy.  We could not wait to get to our stateroom!  We explored our way to our 1st stateroom on deck 9.

Our stateroom #1

We had a balcony stateroom.  We absolutely needed it.  During the trip, we took many nice ocean and landscape pictures from our stateroom.


View from our stateroon

We then made our way to our 2nd stateroom on deck 10.  It was an inside stateroom.  No one in our family wanted to stay there after experiencing the balcony stateroom!

Boat drill

At 3:15pm, there was a mandatory life boat drill.  Since the assembly station is dependent on the stateroom and we have 2 staterooms in 2 different level, we have to report separately.  My assigned assembly area was at Mama's Italian restaurant.  When we arrived around 3:10pm, most of the passengers had already reported.  There wasn't any seats left.  After about 20 minutes, the crews started the life jacket demonstration.  We were not allowed to video this event.

Tip:  Attendence is taken in this drill.  A passenger needs to attend the makeup session the next day if he misses this drill.


Touring the ship 

After the drill, we went for a self-guided tour around the cruise ship.  Below were the views from Norwegian Jewel:

Downtown Seattle

Space needle at the far end.

Party Time

The "Party like a Norwegian!" party started at 4pm by the poolside.  My family enjoyed the dancing as it was fun.  We waved good bye to Seattle as Norwegian Jewel pulled away from Pier 66.


Splashdown Kid's Club

We should have visited the Splashdown Kid's Club on deck 12 after the drill!  Parents are allowed to tour the facility between 2pm to 5pm.  After that, only kids are allowed into the Splashdown Kid's Club.  That would also be a good good time to sign our kids up for the program.  They have 3 categories based on age:
  1. 2 to 5 years old:  They are in a different room.
  2. 6 to 9 years old
  3. 10 - 12 years old    
My 3 kids simply love the Splashdown Kid's Club.  There were lots of organised activities and the staffs were always energetic and nice!
The schedule part 2

The schedule part 1
The club house

Splashdown Kid's Club Checkin Process
  1. Either my wife's or my card key (adult) is needed to check in the kids.  The name on the cardkey must matches that on their record - created when we registered the kid.  
  2. The kid is issued a re-useable security wraist band.  a couple of information are written on the wrist band:
    1. Kid name and stateroom number
    2. Lifeboat number
    3. Allegries
    4. Name of authorized adults and their stateroom number. 
  3. I need to sign in each time.  In the sign in sheet, I need to specify where I will be.

SpongeBob Time

At 6pm, our family attended the "Meet and Greet SpongeBob" session at Spinnaker.  After the cruise photographer had his turn, we were allowed to take a picture with our camera.  This was where my kids had their very first picture with Spongebob.

I discovered another cruise ship ahead of us.  I never really figured out the name of that cruise ship.  I guessed its a Princess ship leaving from Vancouver, BC.  Having a ship so closed-by really gave me a sense of security as they could surely come to our rescue if needed.


Evening Show 

At around 7pm, we headed toward to the Stardust theater.  The title for the show was "Welcome Aboard Variety show: Featuring the Comedy and Magic of Jean Pierre". 



The host of the show was Cruise Director, Daniel Olsson, aka Dan, the man.  The performers were:
  1. Comedian David Naser
  2. Comedian cum Magician Jean Pierre.   He performed similar that night!
  3. The Norwegian Cruise Line Production Cast
  4. Nickelodeon Characters appearance.
 

At the end of the show, we were introduced to the Captain and senior management on board the Norwegian Jewel.   

Tip: Each night, there are always 2 identical evening shows.  The first show starts at 7:30pm and the second show starts at 9:30pm.  The door usually opens half an hour before the show.  It is usually much more crowded on the 7:30 show. 

Sleepy Time 

When we arrived back in our stateroom, we had 3 surprises!
  1. We had a cute towel bunny welcoming us.
  2. We will have lost an hour when we have reached Keichikan.
  3. The cabin housekeeper had set down the sofa bed.  

What a great way to end our first day on the Norwegian Jewel!

The Alaksa Cruise Series

  1. Alaska Cruise - Embarkment
  2. Alaska Cruise - Day 1
  3. Alaska Cruise: Day 2
  4. Alaska Cruise: Day 3 (Ketchikan)
  5. Alaska Cruise: Day 3 (On board)
  6. Alaska Cruise: Day 4 (Juneau)
  7. Alaska Cruise: Day 4 (On Board)
  8. Alaska Cruise - Day 5 (Skagway)
  9. Alaska Cruise - Day 5 (On Board)
  10. Alaska Cruise: Day 6
  11. Alaska Cruise: Day 7 (On Board)
  12. Alaska Cruise: Day 7 (Victoria, BC)
  13. Alaska Cruise: Day 7 (Last Evening)
  14. Alaska Cruise: Day 8 (Disembarkment)
  15. Alaska Cruise: Reflection

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