Royal Caribbean Cruisers -- How Are Things Where You Are? (was "Routine" ​ 😁 ​day in lockdown... how was yours?)

[A&L_Ont]

I caught up from the last 9 days while watching a fire. Everyone here has been busy.

 

I have photos to come and things to share but that will come tomorrow.  Lucy will have to suffice for now. 

 

 

 

These line light hydrangeas are practically 10’ tall.  

 

 

The fire I was watching. 

 

[A&L_Ont]

@Ocean Boy I thought you’d like this lighthouse photo. Someone I know was fishing yesterday past Orient Point, along Long Island. I suspect you have probably seen it in the past at some point. 
 

[harryfat1]

To all the folks looking for line pictures, sorry to say that Alaska piers tied their ships way high and away from pedestrian walk ways so no really good pictures unless I grew wings to fly to each post.

 

 As per my previous post, you see how the Radiance is tied up far away from any passenger access in the rear. Pretty much the same story everywhere.

 

 

 

 

Only somewhat decent one I could find is Discovery Princess tied up in Juneau 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Ocean Boy]

3 minutes ago, A&L_Ont said:

@Ocean Boy I thought you’d like this lighthouse photo. Someone I know was fishing yesterday past Orient Point, along Long Island. I suspect you have probably seen it in the past at some point. 
 

The air was really clear today. Could see both Orient Point and Montauk Point, the tips of Long island, from the light house near where my dear friend T used to live.

[dbancroft]

We actually had a moon rise last night

[dbancroft]

We have returned back from the Oasis but everybody is sick. Wife oldest Daughter and son in law all tested positive for covid. Both grandkids were sick since yesterday we did not test them. So far me and my youngest daughter have tested negative but that can change anytime. We enjoyed the cruise averall and the casino was VERY nice to me this cruise. My time dining was a joke we had 7pm reservations and they were seating people from the no reservation line before us. We ate at my time dining only 2 times both were terrible. In line at 7pm seated at 7:40 both nights desert finally served at 9:45 what a joke. The only good meal was Teppanyaki on night one. We also had problems with cold food in the windjammer. And what does Royal have against vanilla ice cream? No vanilla ice cream in windjammer at dinner always chocolate , strawberry or coffee.

[Ozark_Kid]

2 hours ago, Sunshine3601 said:

Precious💕  how was Finnleys first night home?

How is your DD doing?

They all didn't sleep much.  SIL finally figured out how to wrap the baby and she slept a couple hours.  

All of her 6 cousins visited today.  (More pics coming.)  They are all doing much better now.

[ReneeFLL]

 

1 hour ago, harryfat1 said:

…Think the captain was worried about the ship tipping over as all the overweight people were leaning to one side on those whale sightings....

 

Really? I guess I could make a joke about short people, but I won’t. 🙄
 

53 minutes ago, Ocean Boy said:

The air was really clear today. Could see both Orient Point and Montauk Point, the tips of Long island, from the light house near where my dear friend T used to live.

She moved already? You must be so depressed. My condolences. 😁

[ReneeFLL]

34 minutes ago, dbancroft said:

We have returned back from the Oasis but everybody is sick. Wife oldest Daughter and son in law all tested positive for covid. Both grandkids were sick since yesterday we did not test them. So far me and my youngest daughter have tested negative but that can change anytime. We enjoyed the cruise averall and the casino was VERY nice to me this cruise. My time dining was a joke we had 7pm reservations and they were seating people from the no reservation line before us. We ate at my time dining only 2 times both were terrible. In line at 7pm seated at 7:40 both nights desert finally served at 9:45 what a joke. The only good meal was Teppanyaki on night one. We also had problems with cold food in the windjammer. And what does Royal have against vanilla ice cream? No vanilla ice cream in windjammer at dinner always chocolate , strawberry or coffee.

Good to hear y’all enjoyed the cruise, but sad about the sickness. Congrats on the $$$.

[Ocean Boy]

1 minute ago, ReneeFLL said:

 

Really? I guess I could make a joke about short people, but I won’t. 🙄
 

She moved already? You must be so depressed. My condolences. 😁

Well the house had not sold yet so I guess, technically, she still lives there. 27.5M is a huge price tag. She bought it for 17.5M

[George C]

2 hours ago, harryfat1 said:

Day 4 - Originally we were scheduled to go to Skagway but due to rock slides at the RRF dock, Princess moved many of her ships to other ports.  We were diverted to Icy Strait Point (ISP) instead of Skagway.  We had booked a bus tour to take us up to the Yukon area but that went down the drain. 

 

To me, ISP is Alaska version of Falmouth.  Artificially created port just for cruisers. The port is know for 2 items - zipline and whale watching. Maybe 3 if you care to ride the $49/pp gondola at top of mountain.

 

Many people opted to just walk around the port shops looking at $130 jackets and kept on walking.  Yeah, no typo.  There's a ONE in front of the next 2 numbers.

 

 

As this is a RCI based thread, I should at least mention something RCI related.  Radiance of the Seas is docked next to us but she left way early before 3 PM.  Then HAL took her spot at 6 PM.  Not sure if it's even worthwhile to get to port at 6 PM but guess cruise companies feel the need to have an extra port day to get more revenue.

 

 

$49 gondola takes you way up the mountain

 

 

Free gondola takes you for a 4 minute ride instead of walking through the woods to do more shopping and food places.

 

 

There is a nice paved walkway to the town of Hoonah but there's nothing to see there but the scenery on the way was pretty.  

 

The highlight of the day was seeing whales from the walkway as they swam by.

 

 

 

 

 

Whales

 

 

 

 

We did a cruise from Hawaii to Vancouver about 20 years ago then ship was going to Alaska , half way between Hawaii and Vancouver the gift shops charged from shorts and T-shirts to jackets etc.

[harryfat1]

1 hour ago, George C said:

We did a cruise from Hawaii to Vancouver about 20 years ago then ship was going to Alaska , half way between Hawaii and Vancouver the gift shops charged from shorts and T-shirts to jackets etc.

We encountered a wide range of temperature during our one week cruise.  At the glaciers it was in the 40s but by Ketchikan, it was close to 70 with some people in t-shirts outside.  At night when the ship was sailing at 20 knots and it's 55 degrees outside, you will feel the wind/cold.

 

Don't think people are dressed for the luau

 

 

[Coralc]

4 hours ago, harryfat1 said:

Had to quote myself to find out where I last left off on our Alaska cruise upload from few days ago.  Never caught up with bad wifi signal on day 3 onward.

 

Now that we are home, here are some more pics that I couldn't upload from days 2 and 3. More glacier pictures than an average person cares to see...

 

For $279/pp, you can take a boat excursion that comes to the ship to take you closer to the Hubbard Glacier.  Too rich for my blood.

 

 

Calm waters of Glacier Bay

 

 

 

Everyone was on deck trying to find wild animals. Funny to see all the people run to the starboard side when it's announced something there and then run back to the port side when another announcement of something spotted on another side.  Guess that replaces the tread mill exercise for the day.

 

Think the captain was worried about the ship tipping over as all the overweight people were leaning to one side on those whale sightings....

 

 

 

So I'm blind as a bat and I can NEVER find whatever animal the park ranger announced over the PA system during the whole day we were there.  Everyone else gets all excited when something is announced.  I can't see a dang thing in the sun fighting for elbow space.  So just aim at the basic direction of what people are pointing and take a picture to hope for the best.

 

I believe that's the mountain goat that was mentioned but I couldn't see it until after coming home and looking for it on a laptop... 

 

 

 

As we had all day at Glacier Bay, we were roaming from station to station to see what each area offered.  The park ranger got all excited over couple orcas right in front of the ship while we were there.  I have never seen75 year old grandmas run so fast to fight for spot to take pictures. I never did sees the orcas in person myself but my older son got a picture of it through the window.

 

 

 

Few more glacier pics:

 

 

 

 

 

Awesome Glacier photos! Did it calve at all while you were there? Hubbard did a couple of times when we visited, but we always seemed to be walking the other direction. 

 

We would hear the crack! and the crowd noise and turn to see ripples in the water. 

 

The orca photos are cool. All the terrestrial wildlife were still in hibernation or lost in the snow last time we were on an Alaska cruise. We never would have been able to see a mountain goat in the snow, so it is nice that you sort of spotted one. 

[Coralc]

4 hours ago, harryfat1 said:

To me, ISP is Alaska version of Falmouth.  Artificially created port just for cruisers. The port is know for 2 items - zipline and whale watching. Maybe 3 if you care to ride the $49/pp gondola at top of mountain.

 

 

 ISP, Falmouth and Costa Maya are all fake cruise ship towns/ports. They are only open when a ship is there. When Grandeur hit the pier in Costa Maya and was stuck for 4 days, passengers were quite upset that the port shut down on day 2. No restaurants, no drinks, shops all closed. 

[harryfat1]

36 minutes ago, Coralc said:

Awesome Glacier photos! Did it calve at all while you were there? Hubbard did a couple of times when we visited, but we always seemed to be walking the other direction. 

 

We would hear the crack! and the crowd noise and turn to see ripples in the water. 

 

The orca photos are cool. All the terrestrial wildlife were still in hibernation or lost in the snow last time we were on an Alaska cruise. We never would have been able to see a mountain goat in the snow, so it is nice that you sort of spotted one. 

Same calving story as you folks.  You stare at it forever until your eyes are blurry and then walk away to get a drink and you hear a small thunder roar and turn around to see water ripples from far away...

 

Too much ice at Hubbard Glacier to get very close.  I was surprised we got as closed as we did as you can literally see lots of ice next to us. The captain must not be worried. Glacier Bay had no ice field but no calving either but makes for better photo op.

 

I couldn't see the goat live in person but I kept looking for it as the ranger was saying over the PA system - "over at the 3 o'clock position , at the green flat area, you will see a mountain goat".  Then every one scrambles to look for one and maybe 8 people will see it and say "Oh, yeah, right there". 

 

Then there's the 90%+ of rest of us blindly aiming our cameras and cell phones at the big old mountain asking, WHERE? WHERE?  Ah, forget it, just take a dang picture of the whole mountain and find it when I get home with a computer (don't cruise with my laptop).

 

Hubbard Glacier area:

 

 

 

Lots of ice near the ship

 

 

 

Glacier Bay (less ice in water):

 

 

 

Edited August 15, 2022 by harryfat1

[harryfat1]

40 minutes ago, Coralc said:

 

 ISP, Falmouth and Costa Maya are all fake cruise ship towns/ports. They are only open when a ship is there. When Grandeur hit the pier in Costa Maya and was stuck for 4 days, passengers were quite upset that the port shut down on day 2. No restaurants, no drinks, shops all closed. 

We took the shuttle to Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau and the driver said after the cruise season is over (May through September), all the jewelry stores near the water front closes shop and the workers go back to the Caribbean.  No locals buys stuff from there. 

 

 

Can't go on a cruise without seeing these guys...

 

Juneau version:

 

 

Ketchikan version:

 

Edited August 15, 2022 by harryfat1

[brillohead]

40 minutes ago, Coralc said:

 

 ISP, Falmouth and Costa Maya are all fake cruise ship towns/ports. They are only open when a ship is there. When Grandeur hit the pier in Costa Maya and was stuck for 4 days, passengers were quite upset that the port shut down on day 2. No restaurants, no drinks, shops all closed. 

 

The "inside the gates" area of the port, yes.... but if you go into town, there are all kinds of restaurants and bars up and down the beach. 

[brillohead]

2 minutes ago, harryfat1 said:

Can't go on a cruise without seeing these guys...

Boy, ain't that the truth!  Unbelievable that there are THAT many people spending that much money on jewelry while on vacation to keep that place in business for so dang long!

[Coralc]

17 minutes ago, brillohead said:

 

The "inside the gates" area of the port, yes.... but if you go into town, there are all kinds of restaurants and bars up and down the beach. 

Duh.  They all have actual small towns outside of the cruise ship "town". 

Edited August 15, 2022 by Coralc

[aussielozzie18]

10 hours ago, Sea Dog said:

 

I want to watch it too. I will tell you that if you have Disney Plus the National Geographic documentary is incredible as it uses mostly actual video footage of the rescue as it was happening. Here is the trailer:

 

I second the recommendation to watch the doco.  It’s superb.

[Coralc]

37 minutes ago, brillohead said:

 

The "inside the gates" area of the port, yes.... but if you go into town, there are all kinds of restaurants and bars up and down the beach. 

Sorry. Lost my edit options. With regards to the Grandeur Costa Maya passengers, I think it was just more disconcerting to them, that they were unable to enjoy the port amenities, while stranded. And not realizing that it was not an "always open" sort of cruise port option. 

Edited August 15, 2022 by Coralc

[aussielozzie18]

My “kids” are at the end of their week’s holiday in Hawaii.  Every day was a highlight for them.  On their first full day, they had a Jeep and drove to the beaches on the North Shore

 

and went to 

Nu’uanu Pali lookout.

 

 

[aussielozzie18]

The beach at Waikiki photographs well anytime of the day.  

 

 

 

 

[brillohead]

For anyone who has been on a Royal ship this year....

 

[aussielozzie18]

Being first timers, they did the popular activities like walking to Diamond Head, booking timed tickets to snorkel at Hanauma Bay and this morning after being talked into it by their gdad, they did the Outrigger Canoe ride off the beach.  They got absolutely drenched and had to stand up to surf the waves in but had an absolute blast.

 

 

 

They left it too late to get tickets to Pearl Harbour but there is always next time.

Edited August 15, 2022 by aussielozzie18