justKirbo

I laughed at the jokes on this thread, but I have to say, I would have complained as well. I dislike smoke and try not to walk by smoking areas for that reason. I'd be mad as all get out to be on my (non-smoking) balcony and have to smell someone's smoke.

(But the jokes on here were funny.)

On 10/4/2022 at 4:57 PM, bobmacliberty said:

Biker mentioned, in one of the CC threads somewhere, the glass floor staircase between deck 14 and 13 on Ovation (all Quantum class??). We never noticed it on Quantum and almost missed it on Ovation. It’s definitely a

long way down!

 

Coming down from deck 14:

Looking down through to deck 5 below:

Looking up from deck 5:

We took these same two shots when we were on the Ovation last month. 

Took some time to catch up (last I checked in was about page four!). What a fun trip! I was scared there for a bit (your wife's hip) but it all seems to be working out great.

also, going back even further, I've been a fan of Dolly Parton's since I was a kid and saw 9 to 5 so I always knew I Will Always Love You was her song. When Whitney had such a huge hit with it, I remember Dolly being interviewed and the interviewer asked, "Are you upset that Whitney has a bigger hit with it than you did? [For a few years it was Dolly's signature song.]" And she responded with, "Oh, yes. I cry all the way to the bank." She's a national treasure.

Looking forward to the next leg of your trip. Thanks for taking us along.

3 hours ago, Aquahound said:

I just returned from a cruise on Ovation out of Seattle.  Yes, you do still need to test prior to the cruise.  It's due to the stop in Canada.

We were probably with you! Just got off yesterday and had a perfect time. I hope you enjoyed your cruise as much as we did.

Looking forward to reading along on your travels.

We just got off the Ovation yesterday. We had a fabulous time with glorious weather, though I hear that's about to change.

We really enjoyed the Ovation and have booked the Quantum for next year.

Happy Anniversary!

I'm very sorry for your loss of Jiko. 

We board on Friday and are so ridiculously excited for our first post-COVID cruise. Thanks for taking us along on yours. (And I hope our exit is better than yours but I'm guessing it'll be exactly the same.)

Love all the pics of Mt Rainier. 

Following along. We board the Ovation in two weeks and we're on the Quantum next year. Looking forward to  your review.

11 hours ago, Tree_skier said:

Dutch Bros is defintely on the agenda for before we hit the road….  This motel coffee is abominable. We’re at a Red Lion.  This stuff is undrinkable.  

 

Fun Fact: Dutch Bros coffee, which is a central Cali institution and favorite of everyone i know, was founded right here in Grants Pass, OR.  I tell all my central CA friends that and they are surprised.  They think it is a local chain.

I didn't realize they were also in CA. I was pretty sure they started in Grants Pass but I thought they were only in OR and WA.
I think we've been to the one you took the picture of. We used to stop in GP when driving to CA.

Hit up Dutch Bros for morning coffee. They have at least one if not more in Grants Pass.

Love your intro and I'm happily following along. We get on on 9/9 and I'm pretty excited.

You both look AMAZING on formal night.

Thanks for the great report. I appreciated and loved reading along.

10 hours ago, bjlaac said:

Finally the amount of the daily charge has also gone up disproportionately from the $2.50.  The average household income in 1980 was around $21k compared to approximately $100K today (last published number is $97,000for 2021). 

I'm curious where you're finding the average household income of $100k. Everywhere I look I'm only finding about $70k (I do see the same $21k for 1980 though). Thank you. 

I'm so sorry you were treated so poorly at the Solarium Bistro. That's truly awful.

Thank you for your wonderful report. I'm getting very excite for our upcoming Alaska cruise reading about yours.

I love your style. You and Mx look fabulous.

On 8/15/2022 at 2:27 AM, Concretemanstan said:

Without sounding like a pessimist, you HOPE you can board Voyager on Sunday.  You could be asymptomatic and test positive.  The question is would you be for or against testing if that happened?

We are sailing in about three weeks to Alaska and have to test. We don't want to test positive so we'll be masking for sure for the two weeks prior. I work in the schools, so it'll be rampant there and we'll be as cautious as possible leading up to the cruise. 

I'm good with testing. Honestly, I caught something nasty on a previous cruise and wish testing for other crud were possible since folks don't mind sharing their germs.

Love the update! My husband grew up in Ballard and we met while at UW. Seattle's a great town, glad you're enjoying it (and I hope you're all rested by tomorrow).

Did your friend name her dog Turbo after the Kraken player? I love him and hope he's able to have a full season this year (the hockey player, not the dog, though I'm sure the dog is lovely).

4 hours ago, ckrobyn said:

I don't weigh in on here very often anymore.... but I am going to add my 2 cents.

At this point in time, I believe it is up to the individual to protect themselves and not rely on the "perceived" health status of others. By perceived I mean that although everyone is tested before boarding, we all know that people are catching covid after they test and then boarding with it, or they have covid but haven't yet tested positive (this happened to my daughter and she finally tested positive on day 5).  So what I mean is,  it is up to the individual to protect themselves, and wear a mask. I have zero issues wearing a mask in an indoor crowded space and will do that on my b2b in November. I am relying on myself to stay safe onboard.

Agreed. My kids start college a week after our upcoming cruise so we've all decided we'll mask up while on the boat as we don't want them getting sick and missing first days of college. We realize it's still a risk since we'll be maskless in the dinning rooms, but we're ok with a little risk.

3 hours ago, foxgoodrich said:

I guess I'm having a hard time figuring out why a simple test would cause outrage and stop people from cruising.  It's just not a big deal to me and certainly won't make me cancel my cruises or change to Carnival.  The whole purpose of testing is to identify people with active virus and prevent them from boarding and spreading it, and I don't see that protocol as such a terrible thing.   Of course there will be a few people so early in the process of developing active virus that they won't test positive yet and are allowed to board, but to me, testing is just a tool used to prevent or reduce the size of outbreaks on ships.  I don't mind it.

 

 

 

 

Honestly, I have zero issues with testing and wish they could test for more stuff before a cruise. 

On 8/5/2022 at 3:46 AM, DragonOfTheSeas said:

 

look at what was just on the other side. One guy that was passing by referred to it is the American embassy.

 

 

Reading this and drinking some coffee and this post made me snort said coffee. That's pretty funny.

Thanks for the great report. Loved all of your pictures and stories.

I hope your covid is a mild case. 

13 hours ago, Husky1987 said:

Yay!  Love your reviews....

 

Welcome to my city, I hope it treats you well.  You're staying in my old stomping grounds around the UW...I have a feeling you'll find plenty of vegetarian/vegan/GF choices around there.  I'm sure it has changed a lot since I was there for four years in the mid-80's (hence my screen name), but University Way ("The Ave") used to be full of good food choices.

 

Have fun!!!

Our twins start at UW next month. Go Huskies!

Congratulations on your wedding! This is my first time getting to read along to one of your reviews and I'm excited for it. We'll be getting on the Ovation next month. 

(Also, I have a Zia tattoo as well.)

Travel R, I have really enjoyed this review and your writing style. Thank you for taking the time to share it with us. We're on the Ovation in a month and our itinerary and ship is different, but you've gotten me quite excited. 

I found a TA that I used for our DCL cruises and when tragedy struck, they were amazing. I won't travel again without using a  knowledgeable and dependable TA. I don't care about the kickbacks, I care about what happens in an emergency. My mom died on a cruise and the TA we had was amazing. We were in Europe when it happened and it would have been so much worse without them behind the scenes helping us out (along with the folks at Disney).

I use a TA now that I met on a previous cruise. She is incredibly knowledgeable and gets back to me so quickly. Sure I could do it all. And sure, I don't get a kickback from her. But she's there if I need her. I use her for peace of mind. I lose nothing by using her and I know she's working on my behalf whenever I need it. I'm happy to let someone get the  commission from my booking.

We're looking at a different cruise on this boat so I hope we get loads of pictures from you!

And I really hope all your flights go smoothly. Looking forward to reading along.

I'm enjoying your review and writing. We're not on this cruise but instead doing the Ovation out of Seattle in a few weeks. Thanks for doing this.

14 hours ago, Ozark_Kid said:

Thanks!  I am glad you enjoyed it and thankful that you took the time to post that you  checked it out.  That is what makes it worth the time.  

I am curious,  did you find the review by a general search or under the Live Cruise Reports section.   Also, will this be your first cruise to Alaska?  

Please try to remember to try a Doughboy in Skagway and don't share it with someone.   They are big but so good! 

If you have any questions feel free to post.  

We have been on several cruises but I believe the Alaska cruise will always be one of most memorable.   Hope you enjoy it too.

I was going to say I found it when searching for Ovation posts but below you mention that "Rare" thread and I actually think I found it there. You linked it in there, I believe.  I honestly didn't even know there was a Live Cruise Reports section, so I know I didn't find it there.

This is indeed our first Alaskan cruise. We've done Panama Canal, Transatlantic, Mediterranean, Pacific Coast, Caribbean, Mexico, but never Alaska. We're all looking forward to it.

We will indeed try Doughboys on your recommendation. They look like what we'd call Elephant Ears, which are oh, so nummy.

Again, thank you for this thread. I read all 29 pages. Felt as if I got to know a bunch of you ;)