Episode Transcript
Speaker 1 00:00:02 Hello, you are listening to countdown travels. My name is Susie and I'm a cruise addict and travel agent. And I recently took a cruise to Alaska with Norwegian cruise lines. So I'm here to share all about my cruise to Alaska.
Speaker 1 00:00:20 Well, welcome back. And again, this is my review of my cruise to Alaska with Norwegian cruise lines on the beautiful Norwegian bliss. So I wanna talk about why I booked this cruise. This cruise was not one that I booked as a cruise vacation because as someone that works in the travel business, I sometimes get invited to, uh, trade events, um, seminars at seas, and this was a seminar at sea. So a seminar at sea is a learning opportunity for travel advisors with the cruise line. And often they have different things that they, that they talk about. So one of the things that we learned about was groups, how to book groups, and that is why I was invited by Norwegian on this one. So let's talk about, uh, another reason why I wanted to book this cruise or actually go on this seminar was because I had never been to glacier bay national park and not all cruise itineraries go there.
Speaker 1 00:01:19 And from what I've heard from others that are really big into cruising to Alaska is you must go to glacier bay. So this itinerary included glacier bay. This is also the first cruise to Alaska for the 2022 Alaska cruise season. This cruise was a seven night cruise, uh, round trip from Seattle with stops in Juno Skyway, Ketchikan, Victoria, British Columbia, and of course cruising through glacier bay. So what, let, let me talk a little bit about like where I'm coming from in terms of getting to the cruise, because I always kind of struggle a little bit when I have to fly out to Florida, I'm not a huge fan of having to fly, especially for long periods of time. And I was really excited about cruising to Alaska because it's only like a two and a half hour flight for me, from California to Seattle.
Speaker 1 00:02:18 Initially I was thinking I could fly in the morning of right. Like it's this short flight. I could totally make it there, like way early in the morning. Something though told me not to you guys know that like air travel right now is kind of tricky. It's crazy. So I decided to book a flight the night before I figured I love Seattle. I could stay one night in Seattle, have dinner, hang out with friends. And I'm so glad that I did. I'm so glad that I did because that weekend president Joe Biden was in Seattle. So what do you think happened? A lot of the flights were canceled as a matter of fact, a lot of the people that supposed to AB board that ship weren't able to because of their flights being either majorly delayed or canceled. So I'm so glad that I flew in the night before I took a flight, a nonstop flight from California to Seattle, and we decided to stay at the Edgewater, which is, oh my gosh, I cannot express to you guys.
Speaker 1 00:03:24 If you have a little bit of extra money and you're going to Seattle, definitely check it out. Uh, I was picked up at the airport by one of my friends that lives out there and I was traveling with two other fellow travel agent friends. It was my birthday <laugh>. So we went out to dinner to the boiling crab. I believe it's called, I can't remember, or the crab pot. I think it's called the crab pot. And we had a really delicious birthday dinner, stayed at the Edgewater, had breakfast at the Edgewater, which was fantastic the morning of our cruise. And it is an amazing place to stay because it's walking distance to pier 66. So if your cruise leaves from pier 66, literally it is like a five minute walk. Not only is it pretty amazing in terms of proximity to the port, but they also, um, take your luggage for you.
Speaker 1 00:04:22 So they have one of the bell, bell hops actually push it in a cart, give them a tip and you don't have to do anything, which was really, really great. So embarkation, I believe we had an 11 o'clock embarkation time. So we walked to the edge. Um, I'm sorry. We walked to the port from Edgewater and there was two lines. When we got to pier 66, we handed over our bags, excuse me, let me backtrack. We handed over our bags to the porters, easy peasy process. And then we waited in a really kind of lengthy line now just to be completely honest and sincere. We were the first cruise back for the 20, 22 season. So they were still kind of figuring stuff out. I am very patient and I give a lot of grace because I know that for the past two years, we have to <laugh>.
Speaker 1 00:05:17 I mean, there's new employees, there's new trainings, there's new technology. And I saw that. I saw that at the pier and I know that people are doing their best. So I am not one to complain. I'm being patient and we get through one line and then we get through and it's like, I was like literally four different lines. So one checked vaccines, one checked your arrive can, which you have to complete before you should complete before arriving to the port, because to go into Canada. Now you have to complete a complete, a separate different form and, uh, state your reason of going the dates that you're gonna be there, how you're getting to Canada, are you fully vaccinated? So what was interesting was that I knew that going beforehand that Canada has this requirement because Victoria British Columbia was one of our stops on the itinerary.
Speaker 1 00:06:10 So when we were at the port, there was like a huge section of people that I guess had not done that. So they had to spend time during the port doing that. So we finally get through the entire embarkation process, which took us about, I would say an hour or so. We board the ship. I had been on the Norwegian bliss before, so I kind of knew my way around. And then just recently I had cruised with, on the Norwegian Encore, which is her sister. So I'm very familiar with the ship, the ship layout. Um, we be being that we were, oh gosh, I wanna say it was already closer to one o'clock our rooms were ready, which was really nice. So we had to our room to drop off our bags and I'm trying to remember what we did next. Did we go get something to eat?
Speaker 1 00:07:00 I think we might actually, I think we might have gone to Starbucks because this class ship has a huge Starbucks in it. And you guys know I'm a big fan of Starbucks. So we are kind of walking around, you know, having recently been on the Encore, we're kind of like comparing it, like what's the same, what's different. Um, and one of the first things that we did is the muster drill, which you started on the app and then you finish it with, uh, two of the crew members. It literally took us like five minutes. That is a one positive thing from this pandemic was how easy it is to do a muster drill. Uh, what did we do after that? I think I recorded like a room tour for my TikTok and again, little shameful plug right now, but I do have a pretty active TikTok account.
Speaker 1 00:07:49 You can find me at cruising, Susie on TikTok, and there's a full, complete room tour of our balcony state room that we had on that ship. And then we were off to explore this cruise had 2,600 passengers, and I honestly did not see a lot of kids on this sailing. It was pretty adult driven. Now keep in mind that Norwegian cruise line is currently requiring anyone over the age of 12 to be fully vaccinated. So not only that, but we're kind of, you know, schools in sessions. So I, there was just very few children on the ship. Let me talk a little bit about our state room. So this was booked through the seminar at sea. We did not have a choice of what we got and I actually love what we got. We got a balcony, ocean view, balcony, state room on deck 11.
Speaker 1 00:08:42 It was starboard side. That's the right side of the ship. We were kind of mid forward on that cruise, which it wasn't too much in the front. And I, it was just perfect, honestly, like there was no weird vibrating, no weird noises. I really did enjoy that. Um, I, I shared this room with a fellow travel agent friend, so it was my friend Yahi and I that shared this room. It was a great location close to those, uh, AFT, uh, not AFT forward elevators. Uh, and I just loved this ocean view balcony, state room. And I will continue to tell my clients if you're gonna cruise to Alaska, spend the extra money and get that ocean view balcony, state room. So let's talk about some of the highlights that Norwegian cruise line offers. Uh, they always have a free et sea promotion, which includes alcohol, wifi minutes beverage package, uh, which is the alcohol short excursion credit of $50 per port, and then a specialty dining package, depending on what kind of room type you, you get.
Speaker 1 00:09:52 In addition, sometimes you can even get like extra onboard credit, a bottle of wine, depending on who you book with and when you book. So that is really nice because a lot of the mainstream cruises, uh, from other lines don't include that. And so it's kind of nice to when you buy a cruise, like, you know, you don't have to budget, for example, you know, your beverages, the specialty dining is really fantastic with Norwegian cruise lines because I am a big foodie and I love trying different foods from different cultures, or I'm just not like a hamburger and fries kind of girl. Like I love, um, ethnic food and there's a lot of options you have teki you have Italian, you have French food, you have Mexican, you have barbecue. I mean, there's so many different restaurants on the ship that you could essentially try out.
Speaker 1 00:10:43 And as I mentioned before, I am a big fan of Starbucks, like huge, and they have an amazing Starbucks on the ship. Another highlight of this, of this cruise ship is the observation lounge, which is located at the very front of the ship. It's just, I wanna say it's about three, three to four decks of pure glass. And it's so amazing for Alaska because it was chilly. This was a, this was a cold cruise. And to be able to see taken all the sites from the outside, from the inside without feeling cold was amazing. Another highlight of this ship that I love, especially for Caribbean cruises is the waterfront. The waterfront is located on deck seven or eight. If my memory serves me correctly, I think it was decade. And it's just a prominent deck. And there's a lot of like comfortable seating. You have some of the restaurants, um, have part of it on the waterfront, so you can dine outside, you can grab a cocktail.
Speaker 1 00:11:50 It just, it really takes your breath away. I love the waterfront. So for Alaska, this ship is a, a, a great option. So you have this one in the Norwegian Encore, that's the sister that has a very same layout. Um, and again, there's a lot of places throughout the ship that provides you that indoor outdoor experience, um, without being outside. So what restaurants did I experience on the ship? So their, um, main dining room is called the Manhattan room. And then they have two smaller restaurants called taste and saver, which offer the same things that they offer in the Manhattan room. I, we had, I think we ate at taste or saver a couple times for breakfast, uh, because I'm not a big buffet person. Uh, and then we had, I think the Manhattan room for a couple times during that cruise, we had dinner there as well.
Speaker 1 00:12:43 So specialty dining, uh, you can make the reservations before your cruise on your cruise partner with Norwegian cruise lines, or you can also make them once you're on board. And we didn't have, um, the opportunity to make 'em before the cruise. Cause it was kind of a last minute cruise. So we made those reservations on the ship and we had no problem getting a time to dine. Now, keep in mind though that we were cruising with like two 20, let's say 2,500 people. I think the capacity in that cruise is over 4,000. So that is something to keep in mind if once we return to more normal times with cruising is make sure you make those reservations will in advance. If possible. We tried those logos, which is the Mexican, uh, restaurant on the ship. It's one of their specialty dining options. And it was great.
Speaker 1 00:13:31 It was fantastic. Just like I remember it. And another one that we tried that just kind of blew my mind, no way was lab bistro, which is a French cuisine. I had the best piece of thet I have ever had in my life. Like Mike drop, it was cooked just perfectly seasoned, just perfectly. It was like, it just cut like butter. I mean, it was, it was amazing if I cruise and let me backtrack when I cruise again with Norwegian cruise lines, I will definitely try Laber again. Another one that was new for me. So Laber was new for me. I never tried that one. And then food Republic was one that I wanted to try. So my, my goal as a travel advisor, when I go on these cruises is to try as many things as I can to report back to my clients.
Speaker 1 00:14:18 Right. Food Republic is an Asian fusion restaurant. So you had like, they, I think they call them, um, Tijuana fries, which is Tijuana's a city in Mexico. So it had like meat, it had like Tika cheese steak, and then you had like sushi rolls. You had ramen. It was just like kind of a neglect type of dining experience. And my friend who loves Asian food was with me and she loved it. I thought it was Soso. Um, gonna be honest with you. I, I'm not too sure. Quite frankly, I would try it again, but I'm not a big food. I'm not a big Asian food person. My family is. I, I, I I'd rather have something else. Uh, we also tried Coco's desserts, which is one of the like chocolate dessert. Um, oh my gosh, I'm trying to blank. It's like a bakery, but it's not really a bakery cuz they offer like ice cream and shakes and uh, crepes, uh, dessert shop maybe.
Speaker 1 00:15:23 Is that what you call it? And it was delicious. It was one is plenty to share by the way, like we had a Sunday and it was just really dis delicious. And I just wanna give a big shout out right now while we're talking about the restaurants and some of the food options. Again, going back to that Starbucks. Some of my favorite crew on the ship were the baristas at Starbucks. Cause we got to know them and I'm just so thankful for them and their kindness and they really made my week, uh, an amazing one just because of just, yeah, I know just really like giving excellent service, but not only that, but being super friendly and kind the buffets called the garden cafe on with the Norwegian cruise lines, we ate their, I think a couple times for lunch maybe, and then a quick breakfast because when we're, when we cruise with on these cruise ships and we have seminars, we don't have a lot of time in the morning to go and have a sit down breakfast.
Speaker 1 00:16:19 So we would go up there, grab an omelet. They have the like make your own omelet stations will not make your own. They make it for you. So yeah, I mean it was just your average kind of, uh, offerings. One thing that I do love about Norwegian is that they have a really good Indian section of their buffet and I love Indian food. So I thought that was kind of cool. And then one area that I don't know, a lot of people know about is in the observation lounge, they have small bites. So if you're up there, you just wanna grab a bowl of fruit or a dessert or a small sandwich. You can also grab some small, small bites there. So our first port of call was in June Alaska. And because we had taken advantage of the free et sea promo, my um, $50 of on of a shore excursion credit went a long way because I was able to book the aerial tram.
Speaker 1 00:17:19 And I think the aerial tram was 70 something dollars. So you do the math, it was a great, a great deal, right where the port is at in Juno, they have an aerial tram that takes you 1800 feet up in the air. I had seen it the last time that I was there, but the last time that I was there, we actually went to Menden hall glacier, which takes you, oh, maybe about 20 minutes out to, uh, the national park where Menden hall glacier is at. And we decided we wanna do to do something different. We did the aerial tram. Now keep in mind that this was the very first cruise to Alaska and it's still very early for the Alaska season. I don't, we were the only ship out there, the first ship and the only ship. So the Alaska season is just ramping up now and they're, you know, literally just starting up.
Speaker 1 00:18:12 So people in Alaska were super excited to see us, you know, some of the tour operators and local, uh, shop owners and restaurants because as you know, or I don't know if you know, but the Alaska season was started up kind of late last year. Uh, cuz it had shut down for the pandemic for quite a while. It was a rain Cooley day, a cool a rain Cooley day. Oh my goodness. It was a rainy cool day. Um, we took a tram from the port to the little port area. Okay. So let me backtrack. Norwegian cruise lines has a different dock than Royal Caribbean. So Norwegian stock is a little further out than Royal Caribbean is. So we have to take a tram to go back to the port area where all the shops are at. So they had a tram that took us a complimentary tram or a shuttle.
Speaker 1 00:19:05 And then from there we boarded the aerial tram that took us 1800 feet up in the air. There's a restaurant there's shops, there's hiking trails, there's view beautiful views of the port and the ship. There was, there was a lot of snow up there because again, we went what the last week of April. And then we did some shopping in Juno. We went to the red dog saloon and yours truly had a duck fart, which is a shot. I don't remember what's in it, but it was delicious. We also had a glacier Marita, uh, and enjoyed some very funny country music. After that, we headed over to Tracy's king crab shack and enjoyed some delicious king crab. Our second port of call on this cruise was sway Alaska Inka way. The most popular thing to do there is to do the white pest train. And we had done that last year when we went to Alaska with Royal Caribbean.
Speaker 1 00:20:04 So again, we were trying to really expand our knowledge of, uh, the different ports and do different things. Now keep in mind again that were still very early in the Alaska season. So a lot of the things that are generally offered were not offered. So we were just trying to do something that we had never done before. We wanted to so bad rent a Jeep and go to the Canadian border, kind of following the same trail that the train takes. But when we got there, it was foggy and I, I mean, there's snow all around us, not on the floor, but like in the mountains, I'm from California. I don't know how to drive in snow. And I had told my friends, I'm like, I don't feel a hundred comfortable renting a vehicle. I don't know the road. I don't know how windy it is.
Speaker 1 00:20:51 I don't know where I'm going and it looks foggy. There could P potentially be snow as we're driving up the mountain and it wasn't worth it for me to risk my safety in theirs to rent a car for the experience. I think maybe in a different time, like maybe later in may or in June, once some of the weather gets improves in terms of the snow, I might have felt a little more brave to do it, but I'm very realistic. And you know, I don't wanna put myself in danger or my friends in danger. So we decided to just stay in town. We did local shopping ska has a lot of history because it used to be a mining town during the gold rush days. So all throughout the little, um, port area, they have, um, murals and they have informational plaques that you can read about what happened, you know, during the time of the gold rush.
Speaker 1 00:21:44 So that was kind of cool. We also enjoyed some coffee and got some fried dough at the Klon Klondike do shop. So we took it very easy and just kind of explored the town because the last time we were there last in October last year, a lot of the shops had closed down. So what's the what's funny about Alaska is for me last year, we were the last cruise to be in Alaska and this year we're the first cruise. So I got a taste on both sides. The next stop on our cruise was glacier bay. I can't even ex like explain to you guys how excited I was about going to glacier bay because a lot of the people that are like my hardcore Alaska cruisers had said, I want an itinerary with glacier bay. So I've learned a lot. Uh, I learned that you have to be up early.
Speaker 1 00:22:35 I learned that, especially on these ships people head to the observation lounge for obvious reasons, but the coolest part about glacier bays that they bring on a ranger from the national park, from glacier bay national park. And they do a NA narration of what it's around us about, um, just everything from, you know, what kind of wildlife history. Uh, and it was so cool because you could hear the ranger announced on the cruise, the cruise ships PA system. So even if you weren't like by the ranger, you could still hear him. And I really thought that was so cool. I'm a big person. Like I'm a big learner of things. So I love to learn about history. I love to learn about my surroundings, not just see them, but learn about them. So one thing I have a big tip that I have if you're gonna cruise to Alaska, uh, and no matter what cruise you go on, if you're going to glacier bay, you gotta wake up early to grab a good, a good spot to see some of those outdoor views.
Speaker 1 00:23:41 Because during, when you're cruising through glacier bay, you don't get off the ship. Um, you just, you just cruise through it. And then at, you know, you, you pass by, um, glaciers. So the main one out there is Marjorie glacier. And that's the one that we, the, the ship kind of stops at that point. And just does like 360 turns, um, that you can see the glacier and take pictures. Uh, it was cold. Uh, I would say, you know, if you were outside, definitely have to have a coat on and gloves and a hat and scarfs, cuz it was, it was chilly. If you wanna stay outside and kind of really take it all in, you have to be prepared for that. Especially if you're cruising early in the Alaska season, another big tip, if you want to like really get those amazing views without being around a lot of people.
Speaker 1 00:24:31 And again, I don't know if I'm spilling the beans too much here, but go to the waterfront on duck eight. There wasn't a lot of people there, there was a lot of more people in the observation lounges inside and then up on the Lido. So, uh, bring binoculars if you can. That's another great tip if you're cruising to glacier bay, I'm so glad I got to experience it because it's kind of one of those things that I, these glaciers are melting. And so, um, I'm just kind of grateful that I was able to be a, a part of that and just, you know, be able to take it all in. So at this point we're making our way back south through the inside passage and our next port of call is ke a can and ketchup can just gives me all the feels. I mean, it's beautiful, it's green.
Speaker 1 00:25:22 And it, it kind of feels really like, I don't know, like it's cozy to me and we had a very short stay in catch a can because the next day we had to make a Trek down, back down to Victoria, British Columbia. But we signed up to attend the lumberjack show, which is something that you can do in catch a can. And it was super funny. It was really cool. Definitely recommend if you are wanting to go to Ketch a can and get off the ship and do something easy, go watch the lumberjack show. We booked it through the cruise line. But one thing that I wanna mention, if you, if you're a cruiser and you've been on Royal Caribbean, you've been on Norwegian, they don't dock at the same place. So Royal Caribbean docks right in front of the port, Norwegian does not. So again, they had a shuttle that would take you down to the downtown port shopping area.
Speaker 1 00:26:13 So that's just something to keep in mind. I did hear Norwegian say though, that they're working on expanding their poor and adding shops in restaurants and a lumber Jack show. So I would say stay tuned for that one. Our fourth port of call is the Victoria British Columbia. Now just remember, or if you don't know, Canada just opened up for cruise travel, not that long ago. So we were, I think only the sixth ship in since, since they opened up to cruise ships again and because of the passenger vessels act, we have to stop there in Canada. There has to be an international port of call when a cruise starts and ends in a us port of call, our short, our stay. There was very short. We ended up pulling in really late. It was like 8:30 PM. We had booked a horse carriage ride, um, which kind of give us a little quick one hour tour of Victoria British Columbia.
Speaker 1 00:27:12 I had been there before. So I, it is, it is stunning. It is beautiful. There's so many flowers, lots of history. Um, it was dark on our carriage ride. It was really cold, but we made the best of it and we had fun. So what was the, some of the highlights of this cruise? Definitely glacier bay and ha having that, uh, park ranger narration throughout the ship was really awesome. Love LA bistro and their steak. Uh, I haven't mentioned this yet, but Jersey boys, which is one of their production shows was phenomenal. It was so good. Again, the crew at the Starbucks, the baristas, there were just really friendly and welcoming, loved my balcony. Loved love, love having balcony during this, uh, cruise to Alaska embar was fast and easy. I think I got off cuz my flight was at 1130. So I got off by eight 30.
Speaker 1 00:28:15 I think I was off the ship. Literally like kind of walked off, to be honest with you. It was super easy. Uh, right outside the port, there were cab cabs that one of 'em offered $45 to Seattle. Um, Seattle airport and Seattle. Airport's about a, I wanna say maybe like a 25 minute drive. So I thought $45 is not bad. Um, another thing that I really wanna quickly mention, because I had taken advantage of this program is called port port valet. You can sign up online, it's free. And I did it on my Royal Caribbean cruise last year when I went to Alaska where you signed up before your cruise and they take your bags the night before and they actually take 'em to the airport for you and they get 'em checked in for you. And I was super excited about trying that again, but unfortunately I do not know why, but it was canceled for this cruise.
Speaker 1 00:29:12 Another thing that I learned about when flying from Seattle is that they have something called sea spot saver, S E a spot saver. You can find it online again. Uh, and if you don't have the, the TSA precheck or global entry or clear, uh, the TSA lines, TSA lines were really long. They had like posters all over the place, talking about, um, scan the QR code and, you know, save your spot in line. And no one was really doing it. And I overheard one of the employees at the airport say, just sign, uh, scan that. And you can like totally not have to wait in this line. So I gave it a try and I went, I probably would've waited over an hour in that line. I, you guys, I literally waited like five minutes after scanning that code <laugh> so it's a good tip.
Speaker 1 00:30:04 It's called C spot saver. You can find it online. So just an overall recap, it was a great experience. I'm so glad that I went during the springtime cruise to Alaska. I do wanna mention though, as a complete and honest review, our C day there, the first, so we boarded the ship day one on day two was a C day and we are not in the inside passage yet. The seas were really, really, really choppy. So you need to be prepared. You need to make sure that, you know, you know, either bring medicine over the counter or prescribed, if you know that you are prone to motion sickness, nowhere, hopefully you're not in the AFT or the very back of the ship or the very front of the ship. And if you're not feeling well, nowhere to go on the ship. So just both of my cruises to Alaska have had really choppy sea days.
Speaker 1 00:31:01 There was no actual storm on this one. I don't know. It just was really windy, wind creates waves. And I wanna just be really completely honest about that because we rocked for an entire day, that first day out to Alaska. So it's important to know, especially if you're a first time cruiser when you're in the inside passage, it's smooth sailing. It's just, when you're out in that open ocean, it's just, just a Rocky ride. I'm so glad again and blessed that I had this opportunity with Norwegian cruise lines to cruise to Alaska. I feel more than ready and prepared to talk Alaska with anyone interested in going to Alaska. And I can't wait to go back one day. I would love to go back next time during the summer months, which I hear are the best ones to go. So I'm talking June, July, August. Thank you again for listening to my review of my Cru to Alaska with Norwegian cruise line. I hope you enjoyed my review of cruising to Alaska with Norwegian. Please let me know if you have any questions, leave me a review like and subscribe. And until the next time, we'll see you guys soon.
