CruiszBug

Heading to early dinner before the Ice Show… but we are ready for the 70’s party!

Off the ship in Roatan today! Phoebe enjoyed people watching and a taste of Miami Vice in a pineapple!

My dad was stationed at Quonset Point! Did you go to North Kingstown High School? That was a fantastic place to be a kid in the 70's! Loved it!

I know, right? I was listed as "Ann Moore". 😉

OMG! When you posted this I realized I had forgotten this was FRIDAY! But then I realized, "Hey. I've only had coffee and Vegetable Yakisoba noodles today. Nevermind!" 😊Lent has been preserved. Now for dinner....

I HAVE THE HOUSE TO MYSELF! Does anyone else get giddy when this happens? Phoebe and nurse are at PT. Tom doing a few errands. And I have officially, almost-kinda, sorta, (except for dibbee-dabs) soon-to be finished PACKING! The big rollers are majestically standing tall without a hint of leaning... so well-balanced! The Vera Bradley duffels are stuffed, but not zipped JIK! I have time for a shower before they all get home and just had some of Costco's famous Vegetable Yakisoba Noodles as my first meal of the day. Starting to believe I could be ready to leave on time tomorrow!

@Lionesss BEAUTIFUL! I love sea glass.

Good morning K-Mart Packers! Thought I would be exhausted this morning from marathon packing last night... but instead I only got as far as moving everything to the living room. This was supposed to be me yesterday. Now I have saved the agony for today. @Lionesss Loved the pink pedi! I got mine done in "Ferrari Red" in honor of our new red Pacifica and our upcoming drive down to Miami. (I might need to use cruise control to resist the speed impulse.) Husband Tom has left to get our still un-named vehicle a buff and shine. Hoping to get inspired for a name on the way down. (Other vehicles have been Otto and Manwell for our two Scions which were an automatic and stick, respectively. Vader for our Jet Black Toyota Sienna..) Phoebe is still sleeping. Waiting for the nurse to arrive while I pour myself a cup of ambition.

Wowza! I'm just now catching up when I should be packing up... Only 4 bags packed so far 😲and "miles to go before I sleep", lol! Like others, we decided to come in a day early since we are driving down from North Florida (about 5-6 hours). Add to that Sunday will be Daylight Savings time. "Sweetheart? Wanna get up at 3 AM to drive down to Miami on Sunday? It'll be F-U-N!"... uhm, NO! So we will head down Saturday morning taking care to "Watch out for Motorcycles" as we pass Daytona Beach. Yes, it is Bike Week and hopefully we are leaving early enough to miss the motorcycle exodus on I-95 South from Bike Week in Daytona. Can't wait to board and meet all the personalities who are sure to be part of this group! We will be the ones pushing a little girl in a chair, who should have a huge grin on her face! See you there!

Spread Eagle....!😝

I swear I was holding my breath until you got onboard! Happy for you both! We'll be trying Solstice for first time in May!

That's it! I remember the discussion about only the segment from Australia being considered as Transpacific, until Hawaii got added. Thank you, kindly!

I see the Vaccination requirement... not a testing requirement.

No mention of testing in Australia? Guessing they will be tested onboard in Hawaii?

Agree with all others! This was a great review and I've enjoyed following your travels!

I think they have started doing just that!

I've purchased the KEY twice in the past. My favorite was when becoming Pinnacle on the Odyssey TA. No Pinnacle benefits made me perk up when I heard about the sale of the KEY on CC. Cancelled VOOM for about the same price. Didn't use the timed activities nor the show seating benefits. Just the early arrival and embarkation lunch plus the VOOM internet. Last day breakfast and escort never happened. That was due to the nightmare disembarkation for passengers and immigration for crew.

We have had that experience! Spoke nicely to the child and semi-nicely to his father (on a laptop in the far corner of the SL... who wasn't so nice), followed by the concierge. That seemed to work.

I would be interested in a method to improve communication between Shoreside, Shipside, Port Operations. Including feedback to their guests. Twice now we have disembarked to get on our transfer back to the airport with our special needs daughter. Cold misty weather in Bayonne (Adventure) and Seattle (Ovation). Shoreside tells us its booked. Guest Services tells us its booked. We get off the ship and leave the terminal and not only is it not there, it is not coming. Was never ordered. Security will not let us back into the terminal to keep our daughter warm while we figure out a solution. I have no way of contacting the concierge or Guest Services to help us! I would like to see an escort be a ship's officer (Guest Relations?) who can walk us all the way out until it is verified we have a seat on an accessible shuttle. This communication disconnect is where we have experienced much ball-dropping on Royal's part.

That is awesome! Definitely arranging accessible taxi!

@martincath Thank you! I did not know that about the changes to the Expo line... All 4 of us rode it in May 2019 to the Waterfront station after getting off the Amtrak Cascades train. We rolled our luggage dolly and the wheelchair right on just like Canada line. Did not block or obstruct anyone. The only reason I was thinking of the SkyTrain is because it is familiar. Are the taxis accessible? Our daughter's wheelchair does not collapse... Appreciate the timeline info, as well! We'll do our best to make it an early arrival. We were spoiled that last time. They gave us our own car. We were directed to go in and go left. Then the other passengers were told to go right or go up the stairs. So that was cool! We only had one other lady with a cane with us. So maybe that was their accessible car?

Yes, but we are arriving in Vancouver via Ovation of the Seas from Hawaii and our Celebrity Solstice Alaska cruise leaves from Seattle... Yes, it confused us also? This voyage was booked while the PVSA was relaxed for Alaska cruising. Someone should have noticed it was reinstated back in April, I believe? I might have considered Radiance since it was the exact same cruise length. But returning home from Vancouver would require a change in flights, since we could not have made our flight time in SEA-TAC. Plus Seattle has the added benefit of Port Valet, which is helpful to us. Yes, we are staying at the Pan Pacific when we disembark Ovation. I was going to rent an SUV or a minivan to drive to Seattle, but it became cumbersome and fraught with potential delays. Plus the expense for a one-way transfer was high. When searching Amtrak Cascades there was only the 5:45 PM train that was doable on the day of disembarkation. But would have been hard on us and our daughter. (Arriving at 10:10 PM and then getting to our hotel.) When the 6:35 AM train showed up in the schedule for the next day when we embark Solstice I jumped on it. (We plan to take the Expo Line on the Sky Train to the Amtrak Station.) The last time we rode the Cascades train was the inaugural Alaska 11-Night Ovation Glacier cruise. We rode it north with 31 bags. They put us in our own car with a nice British woman. Thank you again for your insight and knowledge. It is appreciated!

Although we knew about the PVSA, what we did not know was that a B2B cruise on the same ship is considered a single voyage and would result in a violation of the law. That nuance escaped us. (And Royal. And our TA.) Our original cruise on Ovation was from HNL to Vancouver. Then from Vancouver to Seattle. We had return flights in place at a decent time and price on American from SEA-TAC and were trying to keep as much of our original plans in place as possible. Added to the mix that Royal was giving me a very short timeline to make a choice or risk both cruises being cancelled. Radiance was never mentioned to me. They told me I could add on the Australia to HNL leg or cancel one segment to avoid the violation. However, flying to Australia is way too far and too much extra time and expense for us on such short notice. The reason we really wanted to use Amtrak Cascades train, is that it works best for transferring our special needs daughter and luggage. Originally there was only the evening train which arrives in SEA at 10 PM. When I saw the 6:30 AM train had been added, I booked it. We are familiar with them. They do not limit our luggage. Plus we do not have to get off with our bags when crossing the border. If we weren't traveling with our daughter in a non-collapsible wheelchair, our choices would have probably been different. Thank you to everyone who had input on this! It was helpful in our decision-making. Although not easy travelling with her, it is so worth it! Seeing her smile at the different places she has gone erases any difficulties along the way.

😄LOL!

We took light rail from SEA-TAC to our hotel in Pioneer Square. We were 4 people and 31 pieces of luggage. So it is doable with baggage if you are organized.