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Off to London!

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We flew from Houston IAH  to London Heathrow Monday night/Tuesday morning, arriving about 11:20 London time. We enjoyed our time and dinner in the Polaris Club before the flight. It wasn't at all crowded, nothing like the United Club. The flight itself was as pleasant as a 9-hour flight can be, with amazingly attentive flight attendants.  I read and watched a show, but skipped the dinner (since we'd had dinner) served about 10 p.m. We both managed to get SOME sleep on the plane, which helped us power through the rest of Tuesday. I crashed about 7:30 that night, but slept until 6:00 this morning!  Upon arrival, there was a long walk to go through Passport Control, but it was very efficient. Our checked bags arrived fairly soon after we arrived in Baggage Claim. We had a car service take us from the airport to the hotel, about an hour's drive. We're staying at the London Hilton Park Lane, which is near Kensington Park and in the Mayfair area. Our suite is very nice, on th...
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Last Sea Day and Taste of Royal Lunch

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We are back on Vancouver time now, on a foggy day. I hope we are able to see some more whales and possibly seals as we pass through the Inside Passage later this afternoon. The ship is sounding the foghorn. Last night in the Diamond Lounge, the man from Malaysia, Derek, wanted to get a photo with us and our concierge, Nikki (from Argentina).  We have enjoyed talking with both of them. We dutifully walked to earn our exercise minutes on our watches early this morning, then did a little packing. Charlie made a very short casino trip, as the machines weren't behaving for him today. Today's lunch was the Taste of Royal, which we've done once before, in 2024. The menu stays the same, featuring some of the best dishes from several of Royal's specialty restaurants, including some not on this ship. We managed to photograph every course except one of the goodies on the amuse-bouche plate, mini crabcakes with corn salsa, which we loved.  Everything was delicious! This time we man...
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Ketchikan, Take 2

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What a difference a day makes!  It was quite cold and drizzly in Skagway yesterday, and today in Ketchikan the weather is 72 and sunny!   This morning we were up early for our usual walk around the mostly empty decks 5 and 6.  We stopped in the theater to study this huge puzzle completed by passengers and crew on the nine-month world cruise on Serenade in 2023-24.  We recognized the artist, Eric Dowdle, because we worked many of his puzzles during the pandemic.  If you are able to enlarge the photo below, you can see more of the detail.  And here's another elephant for Sydney, this one displayed in the "art" gallery (snark intended) on deck 5.  Don't worry, Amanda, we won't bid on it. Later in the morning I was able to capture a photo of Charlie entering his home away from home, looking SO enthusiastic. You wouldn't believe that he actually had a very productive morning there today. We arrived in Ketchikan as we were having lunch at Chops Grille. ...
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Skagway - Thursday

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Let me begin by posting this video I intended to share yesterday.  The previous day we were startled to hear, "Oscar, Oscar, Oscar!" from the loudspeaker on the ship, because that's the "man overboard" signal. After we exchanged looks, the captain added that it was only a drill.  But we got to see the crew launch the rescue boat and motor around! (There are rescue boats attached to each side of the ship.) Yesterday for Happy Hour we went up to the top deck to the Vortex Lounge. We were the first customers, and Charlie asked the bartender if the bar still rotates. He assured us it did, but said it normally only starts moving around midnight. We confessed that, in that case, we would NEVER see it moving, so he obligingly offered to turn it on for us.  In the video, it looks like the photographer is moving away from me, but I'm actually rotating away from him. (Yes, we are easily amused.) Early this morning Charlie captured a video of this waterfall before we a...
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Leaving Sitka and Glacier Morning #2

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Yesterday we returned to the Centrum at Happy Hour to hear the very talented classical guitarist's first set. Royal Caribbean hires some excellent musicians!  We went to the Diamond Lounge after that and met a charming couple from Scotland who are celebrating their 59th anniversary on the cruise. The husband is originally from Dallas, though, so he and Charlie talked Cowboys football. For dinner, we returned to Izumi, where we still haven't tried quite everything on the menu. I repeated my favorites to start -- the chicken kara-age and the shrimp and veggie tempura. I had a spider roll as my main dish, but it's not one I'll order again. Not a lot of flavor! (Note to Sydney:  No spiders are involved! Veggies and crab legs stick out to look like spider legs.) We were up early for Glacier Day and again enjoyed the scenery, especially the waterfalls and the chunks of blue glacier ice floating by. Charlie took the first one at 5:49 this morning! It was a little foggier than ...
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Rough Ride to Sitka - Tuesday

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Beginning in the wee hours this morning, the ship was really rocking and rolling!  I'm sure some people had trouble with seasickness.  While I never felt nauseous, I did delay taking my shower until things calmed down enough that I wouldn't have to hold on with one hand and soap up with the other! We also skipped our morning walk for fear of staggering around. Here's our view today, on the port side of the ship (away from the town): As you can see, it's not sunny like last week's visit to Sitka.  It was raining lightly this morning, and we saw a lot of umbrellas as people exited the ship. The weather sealed our decision not to wait in the long line for the shuttle buses. They take about 15 minutes each way, according to Nikki in the Diamond Lounge. She referred to the initial surge to the buses as "the Hunger Games"!   Last night we enjoyed dinner in Giovanni's again. I had the chicken piccata that Charlie liked last week, and it was very good. He chos...
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Re-Embarkation Day-Sunday

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On Saturday night as we were going to bed, the captain announced an emergency stop in Victoria for a medical emergency.  Despite the time that took, we made it to Vancouver on time.  Sunday morning we enjoyed watching the approach to the port from our balcony.  Charlie was very impressed with the flawless parallel parking of the ship and took this photo: We felt very smug, as we didn't have to rush to exit our cabin or the ship with the other passengers.  A small group (about a dozen of us, including some jovial German guys) gathered in the Main Dining Room at 9:30 for the back-to-back cruising process.  We had to wait quite a while for everyone else to exit the ship -- apparently, there were some lolly-gaggers.  Finally, the Loyalty Ambassador led us off the ship, past a group of newly-arrived crew members who were boarding, and into the terminal.  Fortunately, all we had to do was step up to the camera at Passport Control, then we were led back to th...
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