Seas2mountains

We played Tri-Bond trivia this morning and got 16 correct. The winners got 17 correct. So close! For general trivia, we were one of four teams with 12 correct answers out of a large crowd but the winners had 14-15 correct? It is fun with evening trivia at 7pm in Henry’s Pub as some players are under the influence and say funny things. We got 9 correct and the winners got 11 correct answers.

Here is a drink I tried at the Latitudes party. It is called a Black Forest cocktail or martini? It was so sweet that I could only take a few sips. I could not find it on any drink lists. The expresso martini tastes much better.

Thank you. It’s more difficult to accept seeing that the two cruise ships before ours made it in just fine today. As soon as we turned, the fog started lifting as it wasn’t constant but more intermittent. There may be more to the story here but I’m sure it’s easy to blame the weather as I know there is a risk with sailing near the glaciers but it feels to me like the Captain gave up too quickly today. People who were awake early on Tuesday saw the thick fog but today was much lighter fog. It’s very frustrating as this is a big part of what makes the cruise amazing.

As we approached Hubbard Glacier, it started to rain lightly and got foggy. A few minutes ago at about 2:30pm, the cruise director said the pilot had been on the ship for about an hour. He said the pilot and captain made the decision to turn around due to the fog. 😢 You can see on cruise mapper that Brilliance of the Seas somehow made it in before our ship. We are going to the spa to nap on the heated lounge chairs. It’s the first NCL spa ever to not have chair hogs so far. 😁

It’s cloudy today and the rain has stopped for now. The captain said the pilot for Hubbard Glacier will be picked up at 1:30pm which is about an hour from now. The cruise director reconfirmed this in a later announcement and said we would be at the glacier by 2:45pm. It’s too slow on the wifi to post daily uploads so I will add those when I can.

I know! I liked the list of ingredients, too, and did not expect it to be so bitter tasting. Thanks for giving me a good excuse to drink more. Now I can say it’s for “research” purposes. 🤣

I did switch over to Decoy Cabernet during dinner which is my favorite red wine on the P+ list. I have had a peach Bellini on this cruise at Spice H2O and also enjoy getting it at least one time. What is your all time favorite drink? I have been having a daily Matador at Henry’s Pub since trying it on this cruise thanks to your recommendation. 😀

I forgot to mention that I did try the Negroni Mediterraneo when at Onda last night. The waiter and wine steward both warned me that it was bitter tasting and was not a customer favorite. They were absolutely correct as I could only take a few sips. The big round ice cube made it look better than it tasted. My husband also did not care for it and could not save me from the alcohol abuse of not drinking it. 🤣

I’ll see if I can find it on a drink menu for the price. We have Free At Sea Plus which gets us P+, two additional specialty dining meals, basic Wifi for both of us and $50 off excursions for the second person.

After dinner, we went to Spinnaker for sail away. We looked at the gangway and saw it was being removed at about 7:25pm and cruise port employees were walking to their cars. Engines were on before 7:30pm and we left about 20 minutes early as is normal in previous ports. We watched dolphins or other marine mammals and saw a glacier on the starboard side as we got closer to the Gulf of Alaska. We actually saw some patchers of blue skies which was really exciting. It’s 11:30pm now and it’s finally getting a little dark. A few minutes ago when we moved to the Atrium, we saw families outside playing shuffleboard. Here are some views from Spinnaker including the glacier.

We had a really nice dinner at Onda earlier this evening. We were the ONLY people there for our entire meal with the exception of people coming to look at the menu and to make reservations. We loved our food so much tonight that we will use two other speciality dining meals here on this cruise. My husband ordered Yellowtail Crudo for the appetizer which is like a ceviche and Ravioli filled with beef short ribs for the entree. I ordered the beef short rib with polenta appetizer which was more like an entree size portion and was excellent. My husband loved his appetizer and entree. I ordered the salmon with broccoli and lentils for the entree and would order it again as it was perfectly prepared. We got spinach and mushroom side dishes to share. As the appetizer portions are so large and the food is so good, we could barely finish our entrees so we could not think about dessert. They told us we were welcome to return later for dessert.

Yes, each bar seems to have certain drinks they specialize in making. Henry’s Pub has been the one I found to make an assortment. Here are the types of coffee available in the vending machine. It’s $2.45/cup and not covered by packages similar to wine vending machines on other ships. The Starbucks on the Spirit is not a full service one like exists on some other ships. You can’t order all drink options such as iced teas.

Expresso Martini. Thank you @YVRteacher for the suggestion. It was yummy and like drinking dessert, too. 😀 My husband who isn’t a coffee drinker says it reminds him of the only coffee drink he likes a Mocha Frappuccino. I’m going to try one of the many suggested by @bluesea777 next.

Thank you. I hope you enjoyed your time in Seward. Yes, me too and hoping we have a great viewing of Hubbard Glacier. The forecast isn’t good for Icy Strait Point and Skagway but I’m hopeful for a good weather day in Juneau and Ketchikan.

Great photos! Thank you for sharing! I also had fun watching some birds dive deep into the water in one of their displays. I can’t remember what bird it was but I had no idea it would dive so deep.

While we were finishing lunch at 1pm, it was announced that all staterooms were ready. We got everything unpacked by 1:30pm and noticed that it had stopped raining. We took advantage of the time to get off the ship to walk around Seward. We were able to walk for about an hour and get back on the ship before the rain resumed. We decided it was time to go to the hot tub. I think the week with cool weather has us acclimated so it didn’t feel cold getting in or out of the hot tub. And it wasn’t due to alcohol as we had one glass of wine with lunch. It was easy to get off the ship and get back on while new passengers are embarking. It’s another reason why I love Seward. There is one outdoor shower on the port side of the main pool area that we have been using as it has an adjustable water temperature knob so you can take a hot shower on the pool deck to rinse off the chlorine without freezing. We still always shower off in our room but getting the chlorine off the swimsuits helps to avoid fading especially when we can’t wash them. We are now listening to Nature’s Rhythm in the Atrium before dinner All aboard time is 7:30pm with sail away at 8pm. In Seward, people are slow to embark compared to other cruise ports. We will see a bunch of people embark when the NCL chartered train arrives which should be soon. Until then, the ship seems a bit empty. My husband enjoyed being on the balcony watching an otter play around.

Yes, we really enjoyed going there last June. I do recommend it, too, but we won’t go back this year. Thank you for the suggestion.

Bar servers from the Bier Garten came to Spinnaker at about 10:45am to take drink orders from all B2B guests First drink for me is a favorite and was supposed to be a ‘66 Gin by Norwegian with club soda but it didn’t taste like the ‘66 gin or had too much club soda. Oh well. Husband likes Jack and Di (Diet Coke).

We are still hanging out in Spinnaker while waiting to get hungry for lunch. An announcement was made at 10:45am to warn the crew that embarkation would start at 11am. There have been some new passengers embarking but we saw a lot of crew coming in with several large suitcases. While waiting, the eagles entertained us a bit as they were flying and hanging out in the area. My husband has gone to the fitness center as he remembered to keep his workout gear in his backpack. I’m still hoping the rain will clear so we can walk around in Seward. Here is a photo of a window washer and the Eagle.

Thank you. We do have a different muster station and did plan to get our cards scanned.

There was someone washing the windows in Spinnaker when we arrived this morning even though it is raining. We have seen the window washers out every day we have been in a port.

After packing, my husband assisted our current room steward to get our suitcases moved to the new stateroom. Our room steward, Joel, has been wonderful and we were lucky to have him for the first half of the cruise. He will depart today for a two month vacation and will return to the Spirit in August to begin another contract. He and others we have encountered on the Spirit seem really happy to be on this ship and it definitely shows with their great service and kindness. Those who are on until September or later are also excited about going to Hawaii. My husband did tip the room steward on day 3 to thank him for keeping the room clean and making sure we got everything we needed. After that day, Joel had our room cleaned earlier in the day. My husband did tip him again and you are in good hands if Joel is your room steward. We are content with the change to one time per day cleaning. As we tend to tidy things up when we know the room steward may be in the room, we can now leave things where we want them once he has been in the room. We departed our stateroom about 8:15am and everyone was supposed to be out of the rooms by 8:30am. As we were too late to go to the dining room which closed at 8:00am, we went to Garden Cafe. We have been eating in Onda as it is a quiet overflow space. We got our new keycards before 9am as was requested of us to do that before 9am but we do have to wait until all staterooms are ready which we think will be about 1:15pm based on the time they were ready in Vancouver which was at 1:11pm. They asked all guests to disembark at 9:15am and asked again about 9:25am. At 9:30am, they called about 10 names asking them to disembark. While we made restaurant reservations using our old room number but need to stop by to ask if the reservations are moved to our new room number. Here is our view in the nice elevated and angled space in Spinnaker. With the prediction of rain all day and having been here a year ago, we will stay on the ship but will try to come back again next year.

Day 8 daily in PDF (Day 1) NCL Spirit Day 8(1).pdf

Daily Day 8 (1) Looks like Lorenzo ended his contract as Diego is on for guitar this cruise.

Good morning from beautiful Seward. We had a nice evening listening to B12 and watching the silly Battle of the Sexes game show. Most areas seemed quiet as people must have gone back to pack or to go to bed early. We are excited for 7 more days. Wow, that’s a good amount of drink suggestions! Thank you! Now off to pack to change rooms. We are on the same deck but change sides.