But will there be a walrus? Jewel Arctic Cruise, June 20-July 2, 2022

[KristiZ]

I’m tempting fate by starting this blog a whole two days early. Eep! We’ve been trying to cruise some form of this itinerary for years and it has just never worked out. Then finally in 2020 we were booked. Hooray! Wait, what? Global pandemic? Doh! There was no lift and shift option, since Royal didn’t offer anything like this in 2021, so we took our FCC and stayed home. As soon as the summer 2022 schedule came out I booked, deciding to worry about how it might fit in our plans later  Turned out to be a little bit stressful, since we will be moving less than 4 weeks after we get home from this trip, but that’s Future KristiZ’s problem. Good luck to her! Ha!

It is myself, MisterZ, and MomMe again on this cruise. The conversation might have gone something like this: “Hey Ma! We’re cruising the Arctic next year!” “Oh, how fun for you two!” “No, WE’RE cruising the Arctic. All three of us.” “Well ok then! Guess I better find some sweaters.” I appreciate her ability to roll with it  

We’re on Jewel of the Seas in an aft corner 2-bedroom Owner’s Suite, #9656. Should be perfect for all the Norwegian scenery.

Itinerary:

• June 20 - Amsterdam
• June 21 - At Sea
• June 22 - Molde
• June 23 - At Sea
• June 24 - Tromso
• June 25 - Honningsvag
• June 26 - At Sea
• June 27 - Alesund
• June 28 - Flam
• June 29 - Haugesund
• June 30 - Kristiansand
• July 1 - At Sea
• July 2 - Amsterdam

June 29 was supposed to be a sea day, but about 30 days before departure Haugesund was added. First time I’ve had a port added without any other port changing. Who knew? It was already a pretty busy itinerary, now more so. 

I will hopefully be able to include some photos from MisterZ’s much better camera as we go along. And please ask whatever questions you have about Jewel, Norway, or anything else and I’ll do my best to get them answered.

[KristiZ]

Flight logistics for this cruise were tough. Since we’re coming from Managua, Nicaragua our options are a bit limited. I also wanted to avoid the “test to fly to the US” hassle if we were just going to transit through, so flying through Panama City was the choice. I also didn’t want to fly for 18-24 hours. There is one flight per day from Managua to Panama City, and then one nonstop flight from Panama to Amsterdam. Sounds great, right? Except the Managua flight got into Panama 5 minutes after the Amsterdam flight left. And the two airlines involved don’t play nicely together, so buying a through ticket wasn’t possible anyway. Overnight in Panama was our only option.

And then flight schedules changed about 6 weeks before our trip. Turns out we would have had a very manageable 3 hours to make the connection in Panama, but now it was too late. Changing either flight by a day would have tripled our cost. Overnight in Panama remained our best option.

We flew to Panama yesterday, and spent the night at the Crowne Plaza Airport hotel. It was… serviceable. And that’s pretty much all I’ll say about that. Oh, except the dinner buffet (the only choice) was actually pretty tasty. So that was nice.

We are currently sitting in the KLM lounge waiting for our Amsterdam flight to board. MomMe, flying out of Jacksonville via Atlanta, is already on her way to Amsterdam. We will meet her at the hotel, as she gets in about 6 hours before we do.

We got the email from the Suite Concierge about 6 days out. I’ll see if I can drum up a copy later.

 

 

 

[Cruisin and Boozin]

Wow how exciting! Hope you all have a blast.

[FionaMG]

Fabulous itinerary. Look forward to "travelling" along with you. Enjoy!

[WAAAYTOOO]

I’m pretty sure this is the same suite we had booked for our Aug 19 Jewel cruise out of Amsterdam.  Of course, we had to cancel.  I hope you guys have a GREAT time !

[SpeedNoodles]

I can't wait - you do the some of the best live blogs ever!

[Curt From Canada]

Following this one (top of the list).  This looks identical to our 2023 sailing.  Enjoy the "Top of the World".

Curt from Canada

[Matt]

15 hours ago, KristiZ said:

I’m tempting fate by starting this blog a whole two days early.

It's okay, @Lovetocruise2002 starts her live blogs like six weeks early

[KristiZ]

We have arrived in Amsterdam! We flew nonstop on KLM in business class. It was an outstanding flight. MisterZ and I decided long ago that the vacation starts when you leave your house, not when you reach your destination, so we budget for nicer flights than we did when we were young.

Here’s my seat:

And MisterZ’s adorable tiny welcome aboard Heineken:

Ten hours, over night. Here’s the menu (it was all delicious, btw):

Also, KLM does a cute collectible gifty thing — a house full of gin! There are 102 different ones to collect, a new one every year apparently. The flight attendant made it clear we should fly a lot more and collect them all  We’ll see if they make our suitcases go to the Bad Kid room tomorrow or not!

We’re staying at the Steigenberger Airport Hotel Amsterdam. It’s quite lovely, although some rooms are more updated than others. The restaurant is excellent. This hotel chain is always a solid choice, if you have the option. MomMe was already here as planned.

We used our BinaxNOW covid tests and all came back negative. Woohoo! We are currently waiting for the tiny humans to stop playing Minecraft on the hotel computers so that we can print our result. Heh.

One more sleep and we’re ON THE CRUISE!! 

 

[KristiZ]

Suite Concierge email as promised!

[Lovetocruise2002]

7 hours ago, Matt said:

It's okay, @Lovetocruise2002 starts her live blogs like six weeks early

I told you those days are long gone!

@GregDand I were just discussing how much we should tempt fate and when we should start our Fjords blog lol

[GregD]

1 hour ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

I told you those days are long gone!

@GregDand I were just discussing how much we should tempt fate and when we should start our Fjords blog lol

[GregD]

I can't wait to follow along with this one. It will help me get through the next couple weeks till we and @Lovetocruise2002 take over Anthem!

 

[Lovetocruise2002]

I just noticed that Cheker is your suite concierge! He was on Harmony for quite a while and he is awesome!  I always wondered if he came back after the pandemic. Glad to see that he is back at it again. 

Happy cruise day!

[Sweety]

Have an awesome cruise 

[KristiZ]

5 hours ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

I just noticed that Cheker is your suite concierge! He was on Harmony for quite a while and he is awesome!  I always wondered if he came back after the pandemic. Glad to see that he is back at it again. 

Happy cruise day!

Yes! I’m already impressed!  

[KristiZ]

We woke up a bit leisurely, and then had an excellent breakfast at the hotel. Had we chosen to stay at the Movenpick like many others did, we would have walked across the street to the ship. But we opted for the short trip on the front end when we were tired from flying and ended up with a 20 minute taxi ride. Very manageable! Cost was 75 euros because the hotel called us a van. That was about 15 euros more than a regular cab, but it was a very comfortable trip so we didn’t mind.

At the terminal we went first to a separate station for losers… uh, people who didn’t have bag tags. Our cruise documents (including bag tags) never did show up for us. The nice man there took about 45 seconds to write us up some tags and then whisked our bags away. Then we went upstairs to check in. The suite line was not immediately apparent but asking the first line wrangler got us headed in the right direction. We did not need to show our vax cards; they said the uploaded picture was sufficient. We had our printed setsail passes and our printed covid tests. #TeamPrintItOut

Then, a monkey wrench. The nice check in kid said “oh. Hm. Come with me please” and hauled us off to the special service desk in the corner and then hightailed it out of there. The nice woman there was very careful to tap dance around the problem in hopes of softening the blow, but we got it out of her after a minute — turns out we had an outstanding balance of $138 euros (why euros and not dollars I have no idea). She was careful to make it clear we were definitely getting on the ship, but that we would have to go to Guest Services to either pay or clear it up. She vastly underestimated my need to GET ON THE SHIP. Just give me the bill already and I’ll sort it out later!! HA! She was pleased I didn’t have a meltdown, poor lady. I imagine her job is the worst of any in the terminal.

That took 8-10 minutes and then we were off to the next stage. We were handed a boarding group card and sent to the next room. We waited less than 5 minutes and then were sent to board. This step was just crowd control, so that no one was packed too closely together.

No mask mandate in the Netherlands, FYI. Still lots of signage about being careful, but everyone was pretty much left to their own devices.

All told, we left the Steigenberger at 10:48 and were onboard at 11:55. 

[KristiZ]

Cabin 9656, aft corner. 

Entry:

Second bath:

Vanity for second bedroom:

Main room from entryway:

Entertainment center:

Second bedroom and closet:

Master bedroom, vanity, closet, bath:

Balcony:

On the deck plan it looks like the balcony is bigger than it is. That said, you can actually get around the side and sit/lean against the side of the ship pretty comfortably.

I wondered how this room would feel compare to the side 2-br GS on Enchantment, which is significantly bigger. I think we will be quite happy even though it’s smaller — we’re one fewer people and the balcony is definitely larger.

I was also worried about windows on this particular itinerary, since there will be a LOT of daylight, but it turns our neither bedroom has any windows.

[Sweety]

I am differently following 

[KristiZ]

Some other bits about the cabin — there are binoculars available for use:

Pillow choices:

First night pressing offer and towel delivery:

Complimentary delivery:

Water (Evian) for the suite, sparkling wine for D+, and a bunch of waters for not sure what:

We also got a fruit plate for the suite and 3 Coronas for D+ (although only MisterZ has Corona as his choice).

[KristiZ]

Here are the assorted fliers in the room. First is the suite letter:

Then the two Diamond letters for MomMe:

And the Diamond Plus letters for MisterZ and me:

The loyalty event is night 2:

We earned another block on this cruise, but they are out of stock so here’s the card for that:

 

[KristiZ]

Hands down my favorite sailaway of any cruise ever! Helped that there was so much light — it felt like 3p when we finally sailed away at nearly 6p — she we got to see everything so clearly. Also, it takes a long time to get to the actual ocean from Amsterdam so there was a lot to see for a long way. 

Shots while still docked:

Early part of sailaway, while still in the center of town:

Later, as we got to the more industrial areas:

Then more pastoral:

I have no idea what this is but I like it!

Wildlife:

There’s a single lock near the exit, which was fun:

Crazy people… uh, surfers enjoying the nice weather. There were 50 or more of them scattered on both sides of the ship exit. Plus several parasailers:

The lighthouse marking our entry into the ocean:

I may have a few more shots. I’ll do a second post if I do!

[FionaMG]

Ok, you've convinced me. I need to do a cruise that sails from Amsterdam!

[KristiZ]

I knew there were more photos  

The pier:

The science museum next to the pier:

Starboard views while still docked:

Passing a Delft porcelain ad:

Windmill parts:

Pretty!

Ossobuco and prawns from Giovannis:

 

[FionaMG]

Need a "Yum!" emoji. I love those prawns.

[KristiZ]

To recap boarding day, we were onboard before noon. We went directly to Chops to book our BOGOs. We intended to eat at Chops that night and Giovanni’s the second (MisterZ and I each have a BOGO to use, so MomMe’s dinner was covered each night. Yes, I am an excellent daughter  ) However, Chops was completely sold out on nights 1 & 2! So we ended up at Giovanni’s on day 1 and Chops on day 3. They were able to honor our BOGO for Wednesday by us paying for it ahead — apparently the ability to use the Diamond + BOGO disappears from the system after the second day but pre-charging get around it. Fine by me!

Next we did our safety brief and checked in at our muster station. Took less than 5 minutes total.

Finally I went to Guest Services to see about our balance due. It was a shortage in the cruise fare payment somehow. They offered to let me call Sharla at no charge to check on it, but she was probably still sleeping  Also, since we paid for this trip with three FCCs plus some new money, and then applied 5 other FCCs (transfers from relatives) after final payment, I’m not surprised something got messed up. So they charged the last bit to our room and we went on our way. I’ll look into it when we get home.

We then swung by the Windjammer for a lunch snack. It was packed, and they were making the “eat and get out” announcements. Fortunately most people don’t know about the tables outside Izumi that you can access from the stairs inside the Windjammer. We headed up and have a lovely view for our lunch. Helped that the weather was lovely as well!

By then it was just past 1p and the rooms were ready. Our suitcases arrived about 10 minutes after we did. After unpacking I went to the spa to book a massage and then scouted out the Diamond Lounge and the Concierge Club. 

Dinner at Giovanni’s was nice, and the view was terrific during sailaway. Still a bit jetlagged, we were in bed before 10p.

[Curt From Canada]

Question:  Is the Concierge Lounge now suites only?  The D+ note seemed to imply that the Diamond Lounge is now (at least for this sailing) for D, D+ and Pinnacles.

Following very closely.  We are on Jewel for this itinerary a year from now.

Thanks for all your time and effort

Curt from Canada

[KristiZ]

33 minutes ago, Curt From Canada said:

Question:  Is the Concierge Lounge now suites only?  The D+ note seemed to imply that the Diamond Lounge is now (at least for this sailing) for D, D+ and Pinnacles.

Following very closely.  We are on Jewel for this itinerary a year from now.

Thanks for all your time and effort

Curt from Canada

I believe Pinnacles are allowed in the Concierge Club. I’ll ask for sure and let you know! 

[KristiZ]

Day 2 - At Sea

I set a “just in case” alarm for this morning because I had a massage at 8a. I needed it! Jumped up at 745a and booked it to the spa. MisterZ slept until I got back, so I guess we were both tired!

The rest of the day was pretty casual, just drifting wherever things looked interesting.

We had dinner in the MDR. We have a table to ourselves right against the window. It’s quite nice.

MDR shots:

Pumpkin soup:

Tenderloin:

Chicken and Asparagus Pie:

Duck a L’Orange:

Carrot cake:

Apple pie:

As you can see from the chicken pie and the actual apple pie (not an Apple Blossom), we recently left the British Isles and have some leftovers  

Looking down the center of the Centrum from the Loyalty Desk on deck 11:

We saw the Jack Pack, a swing group that did well on Britain’s Got Talent in 2014. They were decent:

Our studious towel animal:

 

[WAAAYTOOO]

Better to have a studious towel animal than a dunce.  

[KristiZ]

Day 3 - Molde

Sunrise was at 349am. I did not get up for it. We arrived at Molde at 8a, after a leisurely entrance to Moldefjord. Some entrance shots:

We had company coming in, but the Perla wandered off and didn’t come to Molde until much later in the day:

Our tour was in the afternoon, called Hiking Varden. We rode up to the top of the hill outside of town and walked back to the ship. From the top:

 

And then on the way down:

 

Then we stopped for coffee and lefse at the Romsdahl Open Air museum. They had moved historic house examples from all over the county:

A couple more shots of Molde on our way out of town:

 

 

Edited June 22, 2022 by KristiZ
Reorder pics

[KristiZ]

15 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

Better to have a studious towel animal than a dunce.  

Oh totally!  

[KristiZ]

There are 1792 passengers aboard. It’s fun to hear all the different languages and accents! A very international crowd for sure. 
Crown and anchor numbers:

• 356 Gold
• 79 Platinum
• 56 Emerald
• 197 Diamond
• 213 Diamond Plus
• 79 Pinnacle

The highest point count was 4000. Definitely an itinerary that draws experienced cruisers!

[ellcee]

Loving this blog!

[KristiZ]

We crossed over the Arctic Circle today (Thursday) at 10am. The Captain announced that sunset will be at 11:48pm. On Monday.

[KristiZ]

Day 4 - At Sea

I will say that if you tend toward seasickness, an itinerary in the North Sea might not be for you. Last night we had 30 foot swells most of the night. Several passengers actually switched rooms in the middle of the night because their cabins were “too loud, with lots of creaking and popping”, including the one directly below us. Personally I feel it just sounded like a ship at sea, but maybe they were more used to larger ships. Dunno.

Morning saw much smoother sailing. There was a Blue Nose ceremony at 10:30am, a champagne toast at 5pm, and a balloon drop at 5:15pm. We also got certificates for crossing the Arctic Circle. 

There have been lots of activities, including various trivia, bingo, art auctions, and the like. I will send in the Cruise Compasses at the end.

I’ve gotten behind already in posting food pictures, so here’s a bunch, in no particular order, to catch up!

Lunch at Izumi, but we mostly failed at getting photos. Here’s karaage and potstickers:

From the MDR or room service:

Pepper Steak Pie:

Classic Cheesecake:

Seafood cake:

Braised Short Ribs:

Chicken Schnitzel:

Classic chocolate cake:

Steak Oscar:

Jaffa cake:

And here’s a jaunty hippo!

[KristiZ]

Day 5 - Tromso

This is one of the larger cities in northern Norway, about 80,000 people. They are also going from 50 cruise ships docking in 2019 to nearly 500 expected in 2022. Crazy! A lot is due to uncertainty in the Baltics, so many lines are looking for alternate ports. Also, Norway opened up a bit faster than many other countries in the region. They have a huge tunnel system for getting between the sections of town scattered on different island. I’ve never been in a tunnel system so expansive that it needed traffic circles  

We did the Highlights of Tromso tour. We saw part of the Tromso Museum, specifically the portion dedicated to the Sami people who were the indigenous reindeer herders that occupied northern Scandinavia starting about 2000 years ago. Our guide did an excellent job of talking us through this section.

Next we took a cable car to the top of the hill outside of town. A four minute ride and then some amazing views. The weather was excellent again today! We also had a tasty local waffle with jam and brown cheese.

Last we visited the Arctic Cathedral. There was a concert going on at the time so we didn’t get too many pictures on the inside. 

Here’s a decent shot of the Cathedral as we were sailing away:

One of the other tour buses broke down, so we got to see what a heavy duty Norwegian tow truck looks like:

 

Shots of town during arrival and sailaway, in no particular order:

And some scenery as we headed north:

 

[KristiZ]

We ate dinner at Chops as we sailed out of Tromso. I have to say this Chops experience was just decent. Not bad, but not excellent — either in food or in service.

 

 

[Lovetocruise2002]

On 6/24/2022 at 3:13 AM, KristiZ said:

I will say that if you tend toward seasickness, an itinerary in the North Sea might not be for you.

This makes me nervous now….we are only going as far North as Alesund though so hopefully it won’t be too bad. 

[KristiZ]

34 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

This makes me nervous now….we are only going as far North as Alesund though so hopefully it won’t be too bad. 

The route will make a difference too — if the captain can keep more “inside” you’ll have no issue at all. Our trip from Tromso to Honningsvag was smooth as glass! And you’re later in the season, so more likely to be better weather!