I love to travel: Alaska Cruise: Day 2

[Work in Progress - feedbacks are always welcome]

Date: 10th June 2012
Sunrise: 5.26am (At Sea)
Sunset: 10:07pm
Today's Forcast: Showers 56F/13C

Morning Exploration

My wife and I woke up very early and went exploring together. It was quite an experience as there was basically no one around. My favorite find was the Penny Souvenir Coins machine as shown below:

Note: It costs $1 for each pressed penny and you have to pay for it with your card key. Be very carefully to swipe once, otherwise, it can deduct multiple times while delivering only one pressed penny.

Freestyle Daily

Freestyle Daily is the cruise ship daily newsletter that is delivered to your stateroom. The newsletter contains lots of useful information.

The most useful information to me, is the "The day ahead your choice" section - it lists all the activities on board the ship - from 7am to Close. (Never really figure out when is Close time).
Another information to know is the weather forecast so that you can be prepared. Good to know when the ship stops at a port.

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Breakfast

We had breakfast at the Tsar's Palace Main Dining Room with the kids. My favorite juice is the pune juice. Yummy!

The menu

Bacon combo

Egg combo

Learning about Glacier

I decided to attend a talk given by the cruise ship officer while the girls were away in the Kids Club. It was an hour well spent, as the talk was very informative.

Art Auction

There is a art gallery on board the ship owned by Park West. According to the Freestyle daily, they have $4 million worth of artworks on board. Before boarding the ship, I had never walked into an art gallery. Somehow, at that time, I felt the urge to participate in art auction. The art auction was held inside the Azure restaurant.

After a brief introduction of Park West and the different level of art collection, we were given 40 minutes to browse through the art pieces. Free Champagne was provided. After that, we had an hour of auction. During the auction, the auctioneer used different techniques to arouse your interest to bid. In each auction, they offer 5 mystery items. The price on the mystery item is supposed to be very very good.

I participated in the art auction to learn about the different artists and their work. I believe I achieved that goal during the 2 hours session.

Tip: If you decided to bid, I recommend that you read this site first: http://www.dba-oracle.com/t_cruise_art_auctions_scam_fraud.htm

Family Circus Time

This was where the kids got to learn how perform various circus tricks. Their choices were Chinese YoYo, balance a feather and ... This is a great family activity.

Cruise member demonstrating Chinese Yoyo

Balancing a feather

Cup Cake Making Time

"Cup Cake Making Time" was another great family activity. The kids were given a cupcake, some decorating stuff. They had lots of fun decorating their own cup cakes and of course had more fun eating it later.

Step 1: Collect the cup cake and the cream.

Step 2: Collect decoration items.

Dinner with the Ship's Officer

I entered the "Officers Dinner Raffle" by leaving my name and stateroom at the front desk. You need to sign up before Day 4 if you are interested. Anyway, I did not get picked this time round. Maybe next time.

Nintendo Wii Bowling Competition

There is no bowling facility on Norwegian Jewel. However, they do offer Wii bowling competition. In each round, 4 kids get to play. Everyone would cheer for their favorite player/s.

For each activity that you partipate, you can get a stamp on a activity card. For each win, you get another stamp. On the last day of the cruise, you can turn in your card for some souvenirs. Below are 2 examples:

Gem Stone Seminar

I attended the Gem Stone seminar. I left after 15 minutes because Dave spend most of the time marketing himself. However, to Dave's credit, he did give out some informative pamplets:

Diamonds International: Diamond Buying Guide
ColoBian Emeralds: The Emerald - A buyer's guide.

Family Friendly Feud Game Show

We really enjoyed this game show. In this game, there were 5 adults in one the red team and 4 kids + 1 adult in the blue team. The host from Australia is good. The questions were what made the the show very funny. For example, "What are 5 most popular alcohoic drinks on board the cruise ship?" and "What are the 5 most popular games in the casino?". I cannot believe that the blue team got all correct!

Here is a clip on "Name the most popular game in the casino" question:

Chatting Time

We struck up a converation with another couple. Everyone was relaxed and we had lots to share. I was quite surprised how fast we build up the relationship. From this point on, they were officially our cruise mate. We visited most of the places together and they were very nice to our kids throughout the journey. We were very lucky to have met them.

Playing in the pool

We had some free time before the next event, so we decided to hit the salt water Sapphire pool on the 12th floor. At the time, it was windy and a little chill. Fortunately, the pool is heated and we had fun! One thing cool about the pool was that the water tillteded from one side to another, creating sort of a wave. One thing that surprised me the most was how salty the water was.

You are allowed to sign out as many towels as you need by providing your stateroom number. As you return the towels, they will check it off. Not sure what happen if you don't return the towels.

Dinner

We had our dinner at Azure Dining Room. To dine here, you need to be early, otherwise you will be in for a long long wait.

Below was our desert for that night:

Evening Show

In their words:

Join us tonight as the The Norwegian Jewel Production Cast and Show Orchestra transport you to one of the hottest clubs of the 70's. Club BOTR! This club caters to the elite, and your name is at the top of the guest list. So, come on in and enjoy the soaring melodies of Styx, the disco sounds of Donna Summer, and the driving rock beat of Queen. At club BOTR, we've got whatever you want!

Before the show, the staff would try to sell some instant win tickets. The cost varies depending on the day. The best value is on the 5th day where they sell 3 strips + 15 bingo raffle tickets for $10. You pay for the instant win tickets with your card key.

Housekeeping

One of the thing I appreciate most when on the cruise was that the house keeper cleaned our room twice daily. On the first round, beside the usual cleaning, they would also fold up the sofa-bed. On the second round (in the evening), they would fold down the sofa-bed. In addition, they would leave behind a towel animal and the next day Freestyle daily. If there's a special event (e.g birthday) they will leave behind a card as well, signed by the captain.

By the 2nd day, we had already got to know our house keeper, Raymond. He is a nice man from India. He even taught the kids how to folder towel animals on our last day.

Raymond demonstating mouse folding...

Taking the Stairs

When travelling on the cruise ship, we learned from the kids - always walk the stairs. The added benefit is that there are different art work to appreciate at each level. We did not gain any weight from this trip!

Dress up or Not Night

That night was "Dress up or Not Night!" night. Quite a number of people dressed up and had their portrait taken. We weren't aware of this, thus missed this. Well, I guess we cannot possibly cover all the activities. This is another good reason to read the Freestyle Daily in detail.

I love to travel

Saturday, June 23, 2012

Alaska Cruise: Day 2