we did a 6 day land tour first then the 7 day cruise. We enjoyed most of the land portion. Our tour guide Jacob and bus driver Penny were excellent. Very knowledgeable of Alaska and Jacob even stopped at grocery stores since our hotel rooms had refrigerators. I would say the only portion of the land that I did not like and I think it would be better was the last day before boarding the ship. We left Talkeetna (lovely place) and headed towards Anchorage where we had our covid test then on our own for lunch. Afterwards we headed towards Seward to board the ship BUT before that we stopped at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center. We were to be there about an hour and 15 minutes. The majority of the land guests were sitting at the picnic tables within 30 minutes, ready to go. Everyone that I talked to would have preferred to skip the zoo (what we called it) and instead head right to the ship. we didn't get to the ship till 5pm I think they did that to space out people boarding but after having lots of days sitting in a bus and moving from hotel to hotel, we were ready to get on the ship as soon as we could.

Boarding process was fairly easy. The Jewel is a beautiful ship and small enough for us to enjoy. If you like lots of activities, a bigger ship would be better. Of course it was not like a Caribbean cruise where you are outside alot, but people were still able to enjoy the hot tubs and pools. The shows that we saw were EXCELLENT! We saw all BUT Velvet and the Mentalist show. The ones we saw were top notch. we also got a huge kick out of the juggler, Dan Bennet. The service on the ship was great, everybody smiling and willing to help and to take care of you. We enjoyed Cagneys, and had the tenderloin. We did talk with 2 other couples that did not enjoy their steaks ("ribeye a little tough") and (porterhouse not good) was their comments. Although I do have to say one couple was from Kansas and the other Texas where they are used to great beef!! The Japanese place, Teppanyki was our other specialty dining. It was great also in our opinion. We also heard guests rave about the Brazilian specialty restaurant. We were a little disappointed on the day we were cruising Endicott Arms and Dawes Glacier. It was written in the newsletter and announced several times that we would be at the Glacier around 5:30pm. I understand that could vary some but we didn't get to the Glacier till 6:30pm so we missed it since we had reservations for 6:30 at Cagneys. Our ship was not completely full otherwise I think Ketchikan shuttle might have taken longer.