Posts

Leaving Sitka and Glacier Morning #2

Image
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 ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Rough Ride to Sitka - Tuesday

Image
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...
4 comments
Read more

Re-Embarkation Day-Sunday

Image
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...
3 comments
Read more

Whales!

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!  
5 comments
Read more

Saturday -- A Sea Day

Image
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...
3 comments
Read more

Prince Rupert, British Columbia

Image
Alert the media!  We got off the ship in Prince Rupert!  We docked in this town of about 12,000 on Kaien Island early this morning.   We were out on our balcony to watch the ship tie up to the dock.  We are docked next to a fish processing plant, so we got to see fish being hauled up and loaded onto trucks. If you look closely at the first photo, you can see long ladders that the fishermen use to climb down to their boats. We watched a woman climb up wearing big yellow rubber boots -- not for the faint of heart! We exited the ship about 9:30 and enjoyed walking around the port area in the beautiful weather.  Port Rupert is known as Canada's Wettest City, and the crew had told us to expect a rainy day here, but it's in the mid-70s and sunny.  We toured a few shops and also stopped at a big Safeway for a few provisions. The portside area is known as Cow Bay, since a would-be dairy farmer brought a herd of cows here on a barge before there was a dock, in ...
4 comments
Read more

Ketchikan, Alaska

Image
Yesterday afternoon we docked in Ketchikan about 3:00.  As we approached, we got a good look at the Ketchikan International Airport.  We watched several planes land and a ferry arrive to unload cars and trucks headed to the airport. When we docked, there were FOUR other cruise ships already there.  That was a factor in our decision to once again remain onboard the ship.   It was another beautiful, sunny day, so we have been fortunate. We were amused at the "heat advisory" on the weather app, due to the 76-degree weather expected.  It was the first day we've been comfortable in short sleeves this trip. We walked around on the top deck to capture a couple of photos of Ketchikan. Dinner was at Izumi, which we again had all to ourselves. In addition to our favorite appetizers, the dumplings and the tempura shrimp and veggies, we enjoyed a couple of rolls. Today we're in Prince Rupert, British Columbia, but I'll write a separate post about it. I appreciate your ...
1 comment
Read more