bobmacliberty

Misc. thought two…using Cruise Critic on a phone sucks for several reasons. I usually use a desktop. Don’t know how you phone only people do it.

I’ll add a few misc. thoughts while I have a lot of time sitting on a train. The Loyalty Ambassador on Quantum is named Lisha and she is fantastic. I talked with her on day 2. Told her that we’d be D+ after our Quantum cruise and would get on Ovation 4 days later. Was that enough time for our D+ benefits to appear on Ovation?? She said probably no. It usually takes 1-2 weeks. However, she said she would email the LA on Ovation (a friend of hers) who could manually update our status for the Ovation cruise. I figured there was about a 50% chance that this would work and I was ready to have to have the same discussion again on Ovation. To my surprise, Lisha called our cabin on day 4 to confirm that the Ovation LA had replied and we were all set. I bought a ship model (we have one for every ship we’ve been on) on day 6 and told the clerk that I wanted to use my D discount. She looked at her computer and said that it actually shows me as D+! I’m now 99% confident that we’ll have no issues on Ovation, leaving 1% for a typical Royal IT screwup somehow. I was very impressed that Lisha not only took care of my concern, but also personally called to confirm. Great service!

Several ferries crossing Puget Sound in this area. Naval Station Everett

I hope to get a few good pictures from the train, even though the window is pretty dirty. Here’s a nice looking place to live near Shilshole Bay. And an early morning view across Puget Sound. Lots of little fishing boats out there that may not show up well in the picture. There’s Wi-Fi on the train and I’ve got 5g ultra wide band coverage. Gotta love the tech forward nature of the Seattle area.

Yes I did. It looked a lot like me in my cabin. It looks like you didn’t have a much better day either.

Good morning from beautiful King Street train station in Seattle. Project “Get Micheline to Vancouver” is a go. She’s feeling better and able to walk OK, so long as she doesn’t make any sudden twists or turns. Fingers crossed. 🤞

You would definitely do some pretty cool things with 360 footage.

I’m with you. I still have a Hero 4 but haven’t used it in a long time. I had all kinds of visions of using it when I bought it but even back then, my days of skiing and other action sports was long behind me. Did you ever get a 360 camera?

We’re going inland…all the way to Vancouver. Seriously, we live in a moderate flood risk area and our home sits a few feet above the flood zone. We should be OK. Hoping no one else sees any significant damage. Basement? In Florida???

I’d love to see you do a LIVE. I’m sure OB will be there as your human GPS.

I never wanted to take a bus to Vancouver. The train was always my first choice. I love relaxing on a train while watching the world go by and the scenery between Seattle and Vancouver should be beautiful. As you said, Amtrak wasn’t going to Vancouver and wasn’t giving a date when they would restart. Just sometime this fall. A flight would have worked but would have taken longer with airport transfers on both ends plus arriving early and dealing with security. I couldn’t find a rental car to drive across the border. I even looked at taking a seaplane since that’s a real (and exciting) option from Lake Union practically to our Vancouver hotel. But they couldn’t guarantee our luggage could go with us. We didn’t want to risk that. We settled for the Amtrak connecting bus, figuring we’d suck it up for 3 hours and have more time to enjoy Vancouver. Today WAS the first day that the train to Vancouver is running again so if there’s a silver lining to this whole ordeal, it’s that we’ll get to take the train now.

One word for GoPro users…tether. I’d shoot time lapse videos from my balcony with a small Gorillapod, but I never really trusted it. I would also attach a safety strap to the camera and tether it to the railing. If the GorillaPod didn’t hold, the whole thing would dangle from the tether until I got back.

Thanks all for the well wishes. I won’t leave you in suspense any more. The sea day after our Juneau stop, Micheline started feeling very stiff. We often walk 2-3 miles at a time but we’re guessing that the 3 miles of hiking we did at the Mendenhall center followed but literally squeezing sideways into a school bus seat without moving for 20 minutes, combined with cold/wet conditions, too much bad (for you) food, too much bad (for you) alcohol, too much sitting, a very hard mattress, and not enough stretching caught up with her. She used to play tennis competitively and had problems where her hip would pop out. Her chiropractor would pop her hip back in and and she’d be good as new after a few days, but she could not move without severe pain until fixing her hip. She’s had some treatment and has been working with a trainer twice a week to strengthen everything, but she thinks her hip popped out again. She was stuck flat on her back in the cabin. If she moved at all…severe pain in her back (other muscles compensating). After a few hours, and realizing that it wasn’t going to resolve itself, we called medical. They eventually (took an hour when they said 20-30 minutes) sent a wheel chair to our cabin to get her. This was our first experience with a medical department on a cruise ship. Both the doctor and the nurse were fantastic. They gave her an intramuscular shot (i.e., in her butt) of a painkiller. The nurse had hip issues and was familiar with some stretching that we think popped her hip back in. They gave her a few days worth of muscle relaxers and some Naproxen pills for the pain. Both have helped tremendously but haven’t eliminated the pain. At least she could sleep last night. So our final 2 days of the cruise were stuck in the cabin and eating dinner in the Windjammer, where I’d eat quickly and then bring a plate to the cabin for Micheline. At least we could watch football on the cabin TV, although watching the Bills lose to the Dolphins didn’t help my mood. I managed to sneak out for a drink or two while she napped, but we left a lot of free Diamond voucher drinks unused. Ouch. We were supposed to board a bus this morning to Vancouver where we were to stay at the Pan Pacific Hotel. There’s no way Micheline could have survived a 3 hour bus ride. Instead, we are staying an extra night in Seattle at the Embassy Suites next to the King Street train station. She is staying in bed with a regimen of painkillers and muscle relaxers, plus some stretching where she can. She’s already feeling better and we hope that she can make the 7:45am train (better than a bus) to Vancouver tomorrow. If not, we’ll repeat the process one more day and target the morning train on Wednesday. There’s currently only 1 train a day that crosses the border. We are missing some sight seeing in Vancouver but we probably wouldn’t be able to do what we had planned anyway…biking through Stanley Park, visiting Grouse Mountain and the Capilano Suspension Bridge Park…since that would take physical exertion that Micheline couldn’t handle. The Pan Pacific Hotel in Vancouver has been very flexible with our reservations. That is greatly appreciated. Our primary focus is to get to Vancouver (in one piece and without pain) before our next cruise leaves on Friday. We fully expect that Micheline will be near normal in the next day or 2, based on past history. Sorry for the long story. More to come…

Finally got a chance to watch your intro videos Greg. Your Emmy Award winning skills are on full display! Fantastic job. I’m off Quantum and in a hotel for the next 4 nights so I should be able to enjoy the rest of your review in near real time. I’m going to take a guess in advance that CP 150 will be your favorite restaurant. Will you be choosing a favorite at the end of the review, or is that like choosing a favorite between your dogs?

Good morning from Pier 91 in Seattle. Our first cruise is over. All but the walking off and final dinging out part at least. We’ve had a difficult couple of days, including a visit to the Medical Dept yesterday. It shouldn’t be anything serious but rather than traveling directly to Vancouver today, we’ll stay a night in Seattle and go to Vancouver tomorrow (hopefully). I’ll explain more once we disembark and get settled. More to come…

I’m here for every word Greg! Will watch your videos a little later when I get better internet service. Cheers! Miami Vice, with Kraken of course. I’m guessing that Kraken will play a role in your review. 😉

I talked to the Diamond Concierge. She has no new info on the repair work. She only said that they wouldn’t make the crossing if it wasn’t safe to do so. 🤷‍♂️

Good to hear about the weather, especially Vancouver. We’ll be there for 4 days after the cruise. I’ll let you know what I learn about the engine work.

Good morning from near Tofino, BC on Vancouver Island. It’s very foggy out. I doubt the bridge can see more than 100 feet. The captain is again blowing the fog horn regularly. Our cabin is by the aft elevators and we can hear it clearly but somewhat faintly. I would not have enjoyed hearing that sound earlier this morning if I was in a bow cabin. Better safe than sorry. We are supposed to arrive in Victoria today at 5:00pm for a short stop. All aboard is 9:30pm. Not much happening in Victoria on a Sunday evening so we’ll probably just walk around a bit. Typical sea day stuff today. Lots of sales, trivia, and Bingo. None of that appeals to us so we’ll probably watch football (Go Bills!) and read. More to come…

I’m looking forward to your review. We’ve only done one specialty restaurant on this cruise…Izumi sushi (no hibachi on this ship). Not very good, both food and setting. We usually like Izumi a lot.

I didn’t ask for specifics. I’ll see if I can get better info tomorrow.

For those either on next week’s cruise or on the Quantum crossing, a bartender told me that the engine problem has been fixed. I’m not sure how much stock to put into a bartender’s word, but we’ve been a little early to the last 2 ports

Ken - Sorry to hear about Vicki. Ouch.

It’s become foggy outside. Captain blowing the fog horn every couple of minutes.

Yes. Sawdust all over the floor now.