Really, I’m just now getting around to announcing where we’re going next. We had these ideas for some time, and had actually booked both back around Thanksgiving just after I started my side hustle as a travel agent.
October 2023
With Future Cruise Credit that had to be used by this fall, it was a given we would take a 2023 cruise, and we settled on a 7-day itinerary in the US Northeast and Canada — a leaf-peeping tour, so to speak, the first week of October. It’s this cruise: Canada & New England: Newport & Portland from New York, New York
Of course, we’re familiar with the Breakaway Plus class of ships from our time on NCL Encore last fall.
This will be our first Aft Balcony room, 13312:
June 2024
We evaluated a number of possibilities for this trip. Originally I booked us and my mother for an Alaska itinerary on Jewel, but Mom has decided that she will not be able to enjoy it due to her health. So Roxan and I investigated other ideas, since this would be our fourth Alaska trip and our second on Jewel. We thought about Europe, particularly a couple of British Isles and Northern European itineraries out of Southampton. But we decided the airfare and cruise fare would be too expensive to set aside enough money in a 1-year time frame alongside the trip above (final payment for June trips is this month).
Jewel is, thus far, our favorite ship by just a whisker over Encore. We like them for different reasons. We decided to splurge some this time and get a forward facing Penthouse Suite — one of just two like this on the ship! These are the pair of rooms that are right under the part of the bridge that juts forward in the center of the ship.
It’s suite 10000, and if you look carefully at the point of the arrow you’ll see the room windows follow the contour of the bridge above, so they are angled to the starboard side of the ship.
That means we can sit on this full-size sofa (our room will be a mirror-image of this) and see as much or better what the folks are crowding the Spinnaker Lounge windows and top deck railings to see. That will be a nice experience upgrade, and we believe it will make the trip quite different from the previous ones. What will also make a huge difference in experience is that we will receive all the perks of being a Haven passenger except access to the Haven area itself. (I think this is by far the better deal on this ship…)
So our cruise dates in 2024 are June 10-17 — originally scheduled due to Mom’s birthday on the 17th, but we’ll celebrate our anniversary (on the 8th) instead. It’s this trip: 7-day Cruise on Norwegian Jewel Alaska: Hubbard Glacier & Skagway from Vancouver, British Columbia
We are excited about both trips, and as on the trip last fall I have volunteered to organize the Cruise Critic Meet & Mingle event and another event or two. That was a lot of fun. Our youngest daughter has decided to come along with us and will be experiencing her first sailing as an adult. I imagine we’ll select different excursions in most places — she’s said she may do like last time and just take advantage of free stuff. She’s in an inside room on deck 5, so we’ll have plenty of space to choose to spend time together or to be apart, depending what each person wants at any given time.
Let the planning and saving begin!
and then