My husband and I flew to Seattle the day before our ship was to set sail and spent the day sightseeing. we found Seattle to be a very clean city, very hilly, the sights interesting but was shocked at the amount of panhandlers in a lot of the city. that took us by surprise. The next day we took a cab to the pier and was surprised at how fast the entire boarding process took. from the first moment you are greeted by very pleasant, polite crew members and this was the norm for the entire week. entire crew goes out of their way to know you and make sure you have everything you need for a great trip! we were pleasantly surprised the jewel was the sister ship to the one we had sailed on before so we were familiar with the layout which made getting around easy from the start.

our stateroom was on the 11th deck mid and was perfect-had a balcony and a bathtub which I loved....also it was easy in the morning to go up one flight for that first cup of coffee! we enjoyed the food in all the restaurants-loved the Tsar, loved the steak house and the Italian restaurant. service in all was good food in all was good. we went on the behind the scenes tour of the ship and it was just wonderful-the ship was immaculate from top to bottom.......this is something I would urge everyone to do and it will really amaze you how hard everyone works, how clean things are......great......we did all the touring in the different ports-our favorites were the Taku Lodge in Juneau (float plane) and the train in Skagway....it is the scenery that captures you though.......you just can't believe how beautiful it is.

at every port the crew made getting on and off ship as effortless as it could be......and their photographers captured all the right shots-I always love bring them home as memories! a passenger became ill one night and the ship had to stop and the passenger removed....the captain made the announcement the next morning that we were a little behind schedule because of it and stated how passenger safety and well being is paramount and every person you talked to agreed and remarked how well this situation was handled.....in spite of the cold there were people in the heated pools every day having the times of their lives! when we returned to Seattle the discharge of passengers went smoothly...all in all, we had a wonderful time and are talking about the next one!