niksmom630

A few last minute photos….

- the pub was a popular spot. Entertainer there was great, although ridiculously loud, so carrying on any kind of conversation was impossible. Opt for the seats just outside the venue…. Best of both worlds 😎 

small bites menu

5 hours ago, Juls44 said:

Thanks! I put on the patches last night and we board today! Hoping this helps! 

Hope you have a great cruise! 

Following up with a couple final comments and tips…

Debarkation is about as much as much fun as embarkation. Add the Seattle airport to the mix. We walked out of our cabin at 8 am (group 8  and we had put out one bag.
 

again the snaking lines throughout the ship (warning to those that think self debark is the way to go) 

the baggage claim area is very tight and small…I had to use my  “find my” tracker to locate my bag, which was in the wrong numbered area. Then,  left the terminal and the taxi line was long. Uber/shared rides are a 7-10 minute walk, so we opted for the taxi line. 
 

my SIL told me it was $60 fixed fare, but our driver charged us $70, and then dropped us off at arrivals, so we had to schlep our bags upstairs to bag drop. 
 

security lines for NON TSA precheck showed a 20 minute wait time. I made it through in 5 , but then the terminal walk was a bit lengthy. It took 2 hours 15 minutes from cabin to gate. 
 

nothing like Florida departures…. So allow plenty of time. Youngest daughter was flying air Alaska and had to take two separate shuttles to their gate.

13 hours ago, Coralc said:

I'm sorry you are feeling under the weather. All of your photos and narration have been wonderful, and very much appreciated! For some reason, that photo of the fuzzy headed baby seagull is really cute! ☺️

thanks, @Coralc. Looks like it’s making its way though the team, daughter #2 got the yucks last night 🥹 

- The elevators are ridiculously slow on this ship… we did a lot of stairs….

strangely enough, it seemed elevators would just park on certain floors and never move 🤷‍♀️

- there is only one ice cream/frozen yogurt 

station. It’s always crowded, but the lines move quickly. 
 

- the service on this ship, and the crew are top notch 💕 

- food in the MDR has been at tad hit or miss… some nights have been great, sone just meh…. We did not do any specialty dining on this sailing 

Sunrises and sunsets are the highlight of most  cruises. 
 

this is the closest to one I’ve seen this week

Following up with final thoughts, tips and random info…

11 minutes ago, Jimbo said:

That's what happened to us on the last 2 days of a 14 night Greenland Cruise last September 2023.......turned out to be Covid.  Nasty Cough/ sore throat and little fever. First time either my a Wife or I ever got the Covid, and it had to happen on a cruise.

 

Did you take  a test for Covid?

No, but I’ve had Covid twice.
 

Never felt like this before. Feels more like the flu…but covid and the flu can be pretty similar, or so I hear🤷‍♀️

in any event, I’m not going to ship medical when I’m debarking tomorrow. I can wear a mask on the plane and figure it out when I’m stateside 

Everyone started lining up to get off at 4:30 today, despite several announcements to NOT  line up. 
 

left the cabin to grab a water and wine for the balcony and it’s like a ghost town now… 

since I’m still feeling a bit under the weather, I decided not to get off the ship…. The port times here and not lengthy enough to do anything, really…, plus ( I’m told) it’s abut a 20  minute walk into town…. 
 

guess this is the closest to Canada I will get, here…

Some final pics coming up… what a difference a day makes…the water is like glass today 

I’ve been MIA for the last two days, as DH and I also managed to catch the “yucks”  as well.

Not sea sick related, just a nasty cough and then a fever. We’ve been

hiding out most of the last two days. I normally pack medicine for every possible ailment, but somehow I forgot cough medicine. 🤦🏼‍♀️
 

our littlest guy is still under the weather (honestly I’m thinking Noro) 

both the parents have been sea sick but otherwise ok. 

Been a tough ending to this trip. Not often that I feel ready for a cruise to end… 🥺
 

13 hours ago, Jimbo said:

I just think a Radiance Size Ship or smaller is so much better for ports in Alaska. Just to many people on those large ships trying to get on and off the ship in those ports. Almost always turns into a huge mess.

 

We were last in Alaska on Infinity on Celebrity which is the same size as Radiance Class ships and had no problems at any of the ports.

100%… we were on infinity. Spain and Portugal. And had zero issues. This is only my second Quantum class sailing and that was post Covid, so at 50%  capacity and Caribbean stops as well…  

1 hour ago, Juls44 said:

Hi! We leave Friday for this exact cruise and I am loving following along on yours ! Only my second time cruising and I am so worried about getting sea sick 😞  , bought some patches but appreciate any other advice to help! 

I would bring a few things to try, ginger tablets, sea bands, meclazine…. Unless of course you’ve used patches before and they work for you. 
 

my son in law isn’t doing so well, and was able to get Meclazine from guest  services  but it doesn’t seem to be working for him. 🤢 

Hope you have a wonderful cruise! And calm seas….😎

1 hour ago, Ozark_Kid said:

Just caught up.  Thankful I found this!  Your photos are bringing so many great memories of the ship and the ports. We loved the Halibut fish and chips at the Skagway Brewing Co. Did you try a Doughboy in Skagway?

While in Seattle did you go to the glass museum? 

We had this booked for June 21st but had to cancel 😞.   

Enjoy the rest of the adventure and keep the pics coming!

Glad to hear the young one is getting better. 

agree, Skagway brewing co. Is a must do. I’m not even a huge fan of fish, but it was very good. 
 

my SIL went to the glass museum, but we did not. She loved it! 
 

sorry you had to cancel- hope you get another chance soon. This has been one of my top favorite cruises…. Despite the cold weather 🥶

Passed Quantam this morning…

looks like a Solarium kind of day…

1 hour ago, barbeyg said:

Poor sweetie!  Hoping the vomiting has stopped, and he is on the road to recovery. 🙁

he seems to be on the mend, thanks!!! 😔 

23 minutes ago, Glide_Path said:

Hope the little one is feeling better... and a calmer sea for all.
Sounds like your tour booking agent has been pretty responsive so far!

 

Was getting off the ship a mess at Sitka only, or has been a mess at every port?

a mess at every port so far. 
 

one thing I didn’t notice until today is that our booking itinerary shows an arrival time in Juneau of 1 pm. 
 

but then the app shows this:

people started lining up on deck 4 at 12:30. Then the cruise director announced that people needed to vacate the line and be seated in a venue. But the line just kept reforming. We were watching it on the navigation channel from our stateroom. 
 

strangely, no other port stop shows a different or ANY gangway opening time. 
 

so, when I booked the Sitka tour, I expected to walk off at 10 am or thereabouts, and make our 11:00 tour. (Including the 10 minute bus to city center) 

in fact, we didn’t make it off until almost 11 am. The line snaked through the esplanade. Then to the stairwell down to three, then winding through the entire casino before the last flight down to deck 2. 
 

then the line for the bus to downtown Sitka was ridiculously long. We were lucky they pushed us to the 11:30 tour, and even then we were 5 minutes late. 
 

moral of the story is to allow your plenty of extra time if you are booking a non RCI excursion. 
 

the esplanade line to debark in Juneau didn’t disappear until about 2:15….

Correction from previous post … our whale watching tour was 4 pm. Anyway, long story short, we had to cancel it completely. 
 

Again, this was an independent excursion not booked through Royal. Originally the tour was to end at 7:30, which left a full hour before required all aboard time of 8:30 pm. 
 

but because we were late arriving, they bumped the earlier tour up a half hour, which then pushed our tours starting and ending time up. 
 

and then that left only a half hour window between the tour end and required boarding time. Too close for comfort for me. Thankfully the tour operator was understanding and even refunded our fare. 
 

the seas are very rough today. Hoping this settles down soon…. It’s almost impossible to walk around. Royal Esplanade was pretty deserted this morning…

Things have been a bit chaotic the last 24 hours, so I’m definately behind in reporting….

we had a great tour in Skagway yesterday… But when we boarded after, learned that our littlest guy, the 10 month old, who was at Adventure Ocean, puked….🤮 🤢

well, you can imagine how that went …. 🤦🏼‍♀️ 

AO said he needed to go to ship medical or he wouldn’t be cleared to return. Poor little guy couldn’t keep anything down. had to be COVID  tested ( negative) …. Then the parents were grilled about everything he’d eaten and where…since they now suspect food poisoning 😬
 

we had whale watching tour booked for 2 pm today, but only the 3 year old was booked on that with all the adults. the plan was for the little guy to go to AO. 
 

The story continues….

port was hopping today 

I think there were 5 ships in? Tracy’s is on the right …. Amazing king crab….also had the beer batter fried shrimp. 

the line to get in will look intimidatingly long…or at least it did today. Maybe 30 people deep. But somehow it works. 
 

you order your meal…. It takes maybe 5-10 minutes to prepare… the seating is long picnic tables… people rotate out pretty quickly. 
 

also highly recommend the draft Alaska Brewery beers served on tap 🤗

the views today are really almost indescribable. The photos just don't  do the views justice. 
 

the floating ice absorbs the color of the sea

The thing about Alaska weather is that no one really knows what it will do……

the forecast for the entire week has been sketchy, yet we’ve had great weather 🤷‍♀️ 

today we had a few brief rain showers… but not the washout that the weather channel predicted…nor the near perfect day apple weather predicted… so, best to just be prepared for any outcome 

11 hours ago, A&L_Ont said:

Just caught up and enjoying your Alaskan adventure.

Thanks, Andrew! @A&L_Ont And thanks for the tip 😎 

It was 10/10

Balcony views….

Dawes