Sequim88

Only done the Underground tour and yes it is real kitschy but still has some good history of Seattle - if you are interested. I got a lot out of the history since I have a deep interest as a native but visitors maybe not as much. No interest in ghosts so will pass on that. If doing the Underground then a couple blocks away don't miss the Klondike National Historical Park (Museum really). Free (donations accepted) and way more interesting especially pre-cruise any going to Skagway where the companion museum is located.

 

On the other hand if interested in Seattle history the old book by Underground founder Bill Spiedel called "Sons of the Profits (There's no business like Grow business") is a good starting place. Also Seattle Now & Then which might be worth visiting before any of the tours to get the lay of the land.

Done two and it is the best way to visit a lot of places. Take your floating hotel with you. Eager to try Fall TA (Westbound) sometime to have the sea days to recover on AFTER all the port-port-port hecticness. Trade off is late hurricane season and residual warmer water temps making for more storminess in Atlantic but we aren't susceptible to seasickness so not a big deal for us.

 

Only problem for us now is they are a huge commitment of time and new job means less vacation time (2 weeks vs. 4 weeks formerly). We usually figured a night or two pre-cruise and several post-cruise in Europe so needed at least three weeks. Now also considering Hawaii R/T from Vancouver BC - lots of sea days each way on those too.

I wonder if Carnival is hoping a lot of people will just get off in New Orleans so that they don't have to keep them on board for an unknown amount of time.

 

Would PVSA allow getting off? Hurricane/Port Closed loophole?

Big fan of Windy.com . You have to set all the sliders correctly and it's kind of geeky but gives a great picture of what's going on now and in the forecasts. Slider at the right side for altitude needs to be set to surface. Then selections at right for Winds, Temps, Clouds, Precip, Waves and Pressure. Another slider at the bottom for time frame - hour by hour - which can also be automated with the arrow/play symbol. Also at bottom right you can select which computer models (NAM, GFS, ECMWF aka European model) and units of measure (for C° and Kph).

We did our own land tour without a tour company needed. Took a lot of planning but it was great. Key to the planning was our copy of The Milepost which might also have ads for organized tours. We did NB cruise and rented car in Seward for one day then turned it in at the airport and immediately did a one-week rental there (much less $$$) then drove to B&B Valdez, then to Fairbanks for night, airplane to Barrow for night, back to Fairbanks and drive to B&B in Healy (near Denali) then drove to Anchorage for a night. Saw and did exactly what we wanted on our own schedule.

I did not see another thread for this - please pardon if duplicate. Sea-Tac taxi drivers have been doing occasional one hour strikes at Sea-Tac protesting driver restroom conditions and dispatch policies. This has made the Uber/Lyft/Wingz pickup area extra crowded as well as disrupting travel plans fr those intending to take a cab to hotel or port. Either plan alternatives or allow for possible delays. Times hit have been around 9-10am last Monday and yesterday (8/23).

 

Strike Details

If I ever thought there would be an issue I would bring the sheet(s) the pharmacist prints out with the prescription fill. Often there is a whole sheet of little "tabs" for the prescription details so I could cut them out to save a little space. Not a copy of the prescription but at least the details. Nobody is going to care about HBP or Type 2 D pills but could be an issue for pain meds. We've never even been checked after a cruise - even in Europe.

It's sort of a shame there isn't a shuttle to the Lewis & Clark National Historical Park at Fort Clatsop where Lewis & Clark (and the Corps of Discovery) wintered in 1805-1806. A very interesting bit of history and amazing that they endured the long rainy winter in the little cabins. It's so close yet so far away from Astoria proper. Then again there's not a lot to spend money on there so.... no shuttle. :(

Port Valet is a service of the Port of Seattle, who operate the cruise terminals. So in theory checking the luggage there is like a big long extension of the same process as at the airport - except with a truck ride in between. So the procedures for scanning items into the system and the hand off to the airlines should be the same. Meaning that since the huge majority of bags have no problem and are recorded something fell through the cracks (aka human error). Bags are matched to the boarding scan for the ticket they are linked to to make sure a bag is not boarded without the person it belongs to being onboard. But apparently the reverse match (or no match) is not done. Different airlines have different procedures for bag tracking. I've seen some of them hand scanning bags as they leave the cart and go up into the hold.

 

Come to think of it the process may be a little flawed (since it is relatively new) and communicating luggage tag numbers from the ship (where printed) to the port system as the tags are printed may not be getting done reliably or get communicated to the airline's system. The right cross checks might not be in the system to catch when someone misses a scan. Or if the boarding pass was so bad maybe the bag tags were also printed bad and had a scan fail that wasn't caught.

 

Hoping the OP's bags caught up with them.

Also close to the Boeing Factory in Everett is Paul Allen's Flying Heritage Collection and Combat Armor Museum. Kids might get a kick out of the V2 rocket they have. The WW II era tanks are pretty cool too.

 

The Chittenden Locks at Ballard are a great place with kids and on summer weekends lots of boats to watch pass through the locks as well as see if Salmon are doing the fish ladder. The underwater viewing windows are fun for seeing what's passing by as well as watching for hungry seals below the dam. If you visit then on the north side, next to the parking lot, the Lockspot Cafe incorporates (the two story section) one of the oldest houses in Seattle built by Johan Brygger in 1882 (finished in 1886).

Although it is upstairs the Wingz Over Washington flight simulator is accessible and they will assist in directing you via the exit route and elevator as well as boarding and then stow the chair out of the way during the (really short) ride. Pretty short for the price but very thrilling and a good "overview" of many areas of Western Washington.

 

Yes, some of the hills downtown are severe when going to/from the water. Crosswise a lot more level. Also more level south toward Pioneer Square. The Klondike National Historical Park museum there is excellent and very accessible with wheelchair.

Don't use the first elevator you may come to. The signs are confusing. Go INSIDE the parking garage towards the back and left to the other elevators as you might if parking a car in there. That will take you up to the market level.

On Oosterdam we attended a couple of the demonstrations. Free Never saw any "classes" offered or on the daily schedule. Worked a lot like watching the TV show where the demonstrator prepared a couple items. One session was about Salmon (since we were in Alaska). Intermixed with the live cooking was a video detailing the different types of salmon and their attributes. Living where we do we eat a lot of salmon and pretty much know our way around the fish but still learned a few tips. Second session was about chocolate and making brownies. Both were packed in the morning and when we walked by in the afternoon very lightly attended. When entering don't forget to look for the stacks of recipe sheets and sample of Cooks Illustrated magazine.

Got a two sheet mailing just yesterday with three of the page sides as charts of sailings that are Mariner special offers. I have not compared them to anything online. Lowest was a 7 nt Caribbean itinerary in an inside for $549 pp. It had both of our Mariner numbers on the cover page. Some nice prices on lots of different itineraries but not real far under what I would expect online. Too bad it will take another year to accumulate vacation time.

Our observation in June was the HAL and Princess process looked about the same. We arrived at 10:30 in the drop off area for cars (taxis have a separate lane) and gave our luggage to a guy with a cart who was color coded for HAL (Orange if I remember right, Princess was Yellow vests). Completed the health forms at the tables to the right as we entered the lower level of the terminal. Then up to security lines via escalators (or in our case elevator with the wheelchair). If I recall the divide for HAL/Princess was to two different security lines at the top. On the HAL side (right side of check-in area) after security we then went to the table to declare our bottle of champagne we were taking. Then to the seating for the waiting area (in our case the separate wheelchair area).

 

Here's the chaos part. If you arrive really early you get a seat to wait for a long time. If you come sort of early the area will be packed but you won't have to stand around waiting as long. Once they board suite people and wheelchairs my understanding (since were gone by then) is they start boarding according the order of the schedules sent out but not at the times listed. Basically boarding by decks until the waiting area is mostly cleared out. After that boarding is pretty much as you get there with no waiting around. So arriving after about 1pm it would pretty much be walk-on. Of course if you want to eat lunch in MDR this could be a problem.

 

About MDR lunch - on HAL we were told several times lunch was in the Lido Marketplace buffet and when we asked about MDR they all said they did not think it was available. But when we went there they were all ready for a bunch of guests. I heard a theory for the obfuscation that went since HAL HQ is in Seattle they sometimes host lunches for travel agents and other special groups in the MDR and sometimes it isn't available so better to tell people "no" and be wrong than to say "yes" and disappoint. It may work the same on Princess.

Darwin's Theory applies.

 

Reminds me of a sci-fi story I read years ago about a city sized building a couple miles tall. They had a problem with people jumping off so they installed a diving board at the edge. That alone, it was said, freaked out 80% of potential jumpers enough that they went back. Painted on the board was the phrase "Think of this as evolution in action" which deterred another percentage. The rest found out there was an automated net system a few floors below.

Apparently it isn't about how you look normally, just how you look without anything added.

 

The pupils of the eyes are a key geometry factor in facial recognition scans and glasses can obscure them. There are a bunch of measurements that are ratios of various distances between points on the face and how they compare to each other. As evidenced lately at six test airports (and later all international flights) when boarding people are being scanned which can be linked to their passport photo measurements as a positive biometric ID. Partly to track international visitors that have left the country and partly to make sure US passport holders are the real owner of the passport.

Based on a suggestion here we ate breakfast at Maggie Bluffs when our son and his family dropped us off for the cruise. The kids (ages 5 & 7) really liked the banana bread french toast. If weather is nice they have a lot of outdoor seating. We got there as they opened but they got busy really fast.

You should take a look at Tim & Courtney's Chops dinner photos in this review:

 

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It used to be said (last time we were on RCCL) that the steak in Giovanni's was equal to (or some said better) than steak in Chops. Other than the dry aged ones probably. Still true, or close? Last time we went Giovanni's was (if I recall) $20 and Chops was $35. I suppose Giovanni's is at least $25 now perhaps??? Can't find price on the web site and can't make a fake reservation without being booked.

I was thinking about whole ship charters the other day. I told my wife next time there is a G20 meeting they should charter an appropriate sized cruise ship and and head out to International waters. Plenty of room for the principles and all their staff and press but nada for protesters. ;) People still talk about the Battle of Seattle in 1999 - and the cost.

Is this a change for Royal? Last time we cruised RCCL (2012) liquor delivery to the cabin was not possible. Their rules for in-cabin alcohol were pretty draconian. One thing we found very nice recently on HAL. We had a bottle of Canadian Whisky waiting when we arrived. We like a nightcap in the cabin so if this is now possible we can skip the rum runners on next RCCL cruise.

Local to locals question... How is Safeco situated for wheelchair parking spots (and accompanying actual seat)? Other fields (like Target Field in Minneapolis) behind the top row on a level there were rows of chairs that could be removed to move the wheelchair into the spot. Work the same for Mariners games? We are considering taking in a game this year (last year was too busy moving in) and found out a couple weeks ago the Sounder works really well for us to get downtown if they are running.

Going that direction should be relatively lightly loaded too.

 

"name that vegetable,"

LOVE that idea. We have to try it next time we stop at H-Mart (another Asian market in the burbs).

I've often wondered why they couldn't install some 6 to 8 ft high barriers just inside the fence to deflect the blast upward, over the thrill-seekers heads.

Probably an international airports rule or convention (like FAA in USA) that restricts obstacles on the landing path that might obscure the visual approach slope indicator lights on final approach. That runway is fairly short and constrained by the ocean at one end and the mountains at the other. Having sat on the beach and watched the KLM 747 approaching (no longer in service) it was clear they were coming in very low to use every inch. Landing really is not the issue for planes as the engines are not blasting like takeoff. The unique thing at Princess Julia is the big jets need to wind up the engines pretty fully before releasing the brakes to get enough speed to get airborne AND climbing/turning enough to miss the mountains. Hence the beach blast. Maybe a hydraulic jet blast deflector controlled by the tower for takeoffs?

 

I view the fence riding as being similar to people running with the bulls in Pamplona or wing suit base jumping. There will always be risk taking thrill seekers. The middle of the beach was plenty close enough for me thank you when a 767 was taking off. :eek:

Don't forget to claim your free cruise.

 

HAH! :') That's so good! I suppose that'd be a walk on cruise on a Washington State Ferry - eastward of course.

 

Another person I've missed from years ago is RevNeal who posted a lot on the HAL board. I was very happy to learn from a member search I just did he is doing great (as of one year ago) but is so busy with his ministries (including a podcast heard by over 80,000 teens and young adults) that he as dropped out of the cruise critic world... just for now we hope.