bobmacliberty

When my daughter went to the University of Kentucky, I quickly learned that y’all is singular, and all y’all is plural.

A few more Ketchikan pics before I lose 5g.

Happy hour has started. Kraken Painkiller in the Two70 Lounge with an amazing view.

The ship’s internet has been slow but has worked. We’ll see if that continues as we go further north. 5g at port works well.

Crab. Seriously. The octopuses (octopi??) get into the traps trying to eat the crab. They said they pull up an octopus every few days.

More pictures from around Ketchikan. And of course…sigh…

The Bering Sea Crab Fisherman’s Tour was excellent. I highly recommend it to anyone interested. We did see an Bald Eagle pick a hearing from the water. Beautiful.

Weather has been great so far. 64 and sunny right now in Ketchikan. Forecast still says rain for the rest of the week.

As we headed to our tour, we saw Radiance of the Seas pulling in from the north.

Good morning from Ketchikan, Alaska! Today, we will be taking the Bering Sea Crab Fisherman’s Tour, aboard the Aleutian Ballad. This is one of the boats from the TV show Dangerous Catch that nearly capsized. The ship has been retrofitted for tourist use. They will show us everything involved with crab fishing, but from much calmer waters.

A JS doesn’t get the use of the suite concierge. I’ve never used the Diamond concierge so I don’t know if that’s an option for you. We don’t have access to CK for breakfast and lunch in a JS…just dinner if space is available. That’s not a problem this week and we’ll probably eat there every night, other than one night in Izumi. We do miss breakfast and lunch there. We like the CK on this class of ship. It’s different not having the SL and CK in the same space. CK seems quite a bit bigger, and doesn’t seem full at all. Good for us as it allows for a to eat there every night. Food also seems a little better, at least so far.

We are sailing In a junior suite this week, specifically a category J4. It’s been a while since we’ve sailed in a JS…I think Oasis in 2018 was the last time. I want to compare an Oasis class JS (from memory) with a Quantum class JS. The layout of the two cabins is very different. The Quantum JS seems to be squarer in shape. What we like better about the Quantum JS: * split bathrooms. Very nice having a small water closet with toilet and sink, plus a separate larger bath with sink tub and shower. * Deeper balcony with enough room to face the ocean while sitting in an upright chair with an ottoman for your feet. I seem to remember having 2 loungers positioned sideways on the Oasis JS. * Lots of drawer space for storage. What we don’t like about the Quantum JS: * There’s no real couch. There’s sort of a 2 person platform in the corner with not much cushioning for your back or your bottom. * The desk has no drawers. This is a big deal for Micheline since this is her prep space for hair and makeup. She has to keep all of her beauty implements stored separately. * There’s no walk-in closet. There’s enough hanging space so not a huge deal. * The split bathroom idea is nice but each separate area is small with almost no counter top space. There’s also no trash can (or really room for one) in the shower/tub side. If I had to choose, I’d probably take the Oasis class JS. The Quantum JS is very space efficient, but the lack of a comfortable sitting area is the deal breaker for me, and the lack of desk storage is the big deal breaker for Micheline. We’ve been in a CLS the last couple of times we’ve sailed and once you’ve done that, a JS just doesn’t measure up. That’s probably influencing our opinion of our current cabin. We’re in a GS on Ovation next week so it will be interesting to compare them as well. Edit: Sorry for the large font. Wrote this using the Notes app and then cut/paste.

Anyone have any questions rations they want me to get answers to?

Not sure yet about the Alaska peaks but there was still snow on Mt Baker in Washington as we passed it leaving Seattle. Guessing it has snow year round.

From this morning. Is this early enough OB?

Numbers from the Top Tier event. Total C&A onboard is 1762: Gold - 1008 Platinum - 253 Emerald - 128 Diamond - 226 D+ - 160 Pinnacle - 31 Top cruisers (probably spelled wrong so apologies if it’s you or you know them): Angel Perez-Guillermo - 1915 points Rafel Sanchez - 1884 points Mr and Mrs Mostella - 1507 points

Very impressive achievement!!!

I wouldn’t be surprised to see you in the playoffs again. Hopefully this time in the AFC Championship game, and in Orchard Park rather than in KC.

Good morning, from somewhere off the northern coast of Vancouver Island. Edit: Keeps getting better

We are getting ready to leave for a 30 day trip centered around cruises onboard both the Quantum of the Seas and the Ovation of the Seas. I plan to post about the trip as often as possible, and as close to live as possible. Spotty Internet coverage may limit how often I can post, but I’ll try. No promises that I won’t disappear for a few days. I am Bob and my wife is Micheline. We are retired and live on Amelia Island in NE Florida, near Jacksonville. We’ve been on 13 cruises before so we’re not newbies, but also not the multiple cruises a year types either. We’re Diamond on Royal and will turn D+ after our first cruise on this trip. That will be important for both drinks and laundry on the second cruise. More to come on that. We travel from Jacksonville to Seattle tomorrow...Delta via Atlanta (of course). We’ll spend a couple of days in Seattle, staying at the Mayflower Park Hotel and doing many of the typical touristy things. I've been there a few times on business trips but it will be Micheline's first visit. We’ll then board Quantum of the Seas on September 19 for a 7-night Alaska cruise. This will be our first Alaska cruise and I’ve yet to meet ANYONE who’s done an Alaska cruise before and didn’t have great things to say. It will also be our first cruise on a Quantum Class ship. The itinerary originally included a stop at Icy Strait Point and an early morning cruise up Endicott Arm to see Dawes Glacier. Because of current problems with Quantum’s engines that limits her speed, ISP was replaced with Ketchikan and Endicott Arm/Dawes Glacier was dropped. No problem, we’ll have a great cruise anyway. When the ship returns to Seattle, we’ll make our way up to Vancouver. We’ll spend 4 days in Vancouver. We’ll stay at the Pan Pacific Hotel right above the cruise port. Lots to see and do in Vancouver. I've also been to Vancouver on business and again, first time for Micheline. We board Ovation on September 30 for the first half of her reposition from Alaska to Australia, stopping in Hawaii. This will be our first ocean crossing with so many days at sea. I'm not sure if we will be totally relaxed or bored to tears. I'm guessing the former. We'll find out. We’ll disembark in Hawaii after 9 nights and head to Kauai. We’ll spend 5 nights at the Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort & Spa. We love Maui and Oahu but have never been to Kauai before. We'll spend 5 short days on Kauai and pack in as much as we can...beaches, waterfalls, canyons, boats, helicopters. After 5 nights, we’ll reluctantly board a Delta flight from Honolulu back to Jacksonville. I’ll talk more about our specific plans at each location as we get closer to actually being there. Covid testing you ask? Yeah, that’s still a thing for us because…Canada (hello to my Canadian friends 😊). We’ll be doing eMed testing in Seattle and in Vancouver before boarding the ships. My worst nightmare is getting Covid during our Alaska cruise and testing positive in Vancouver such that we can’t board Ovation to Hawaii. That would REALLY suck. Insurance would cover the costs but missing out on the rest of this trip would be extremely depressing. Let’s hope for the power of positive thinking, and social distancing where possible. More to come...