Tricia’s Travelogue

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...

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 ...

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...

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...

Last. night at dinner we had a front-row seat for a whale show!  There were dozens swimming alongside the ship, some of them up to 12 feet long!  They kept coming, over about 15 minutes. Needless to say, all the other diners were soon clustered around the windows (and our table) to watch, too.  Charlie managed to capture a short video. There's a brief glitch in the middle, but keep going!  

Today I just have a few photos to share, as it's a sea day.  It's nice not to be spending part of the afternoon packing up to head home tomorrow! Yesterday afternoon we started Happy Hour in the Centrum Bar area, because a really good classical guitarist we've heard a couple of other times this week was playing there.  He did a wonderful medley of Beatles' songs that we especially enjoyed -- along with other Boomers. We had dinner in Chops Grille, but chose options you've seen before.  Charlie was able to enjoy a little casino time afterwards. This morning on our walk, we had to get one more photo with the Swedish Nightingale, as the Schooner Bar was deserted at that hour. About 10:00, we tried to go to the Diamond Lounge while our room was being cleaned, but they were auctioning art in the Vortex Bar and the noise was unbearable. Nikki, the concierge, told us that she counts everyone who is upset about being unable to enjoy the lounge during the art auctions and re...