Monday - First Sea Day

We had the ship mostly to ourselves on our early morning walk, so I can give you a bit of a ship tour. First up, here are some photos of the Solarium. The decor is very similar, if not identical, to that on Jewel of the Seas.  

 


Like the Jewel, there is a central atrium called the Centrum:

The Schooner Bar has the same nautical theme as on every ship, but this one is especially detailed, with beautiful wood.


This figurehead, known as The Swedish Nightingale, was formerly a figurehead on a 19th century ship. 





On today's morning walk, the figurehead gave me a duck!

Past the Schooner Bar is the Safari Lounge, an event space with pool tables and a gathering area for music and presentations.  We had to take a couple of elephant photos for Sydney.


We went to the Top Tier Event mid-morning, and we were surprised to learn that we are among the 38 top cruisers!  I guess that explains why the Diamond Lounge hasn't been crowded at all.

Here's a look at the Diamond Lounge:

For lunch yesterday we went to the Main Dining Room and scored a table by a window.  We both had Caesar salads and the Royal chicken sandwich. Charlie also wanted to try their version of key lime pie.


The dining room is as elegant as on other Royal ships:

After lunch, we both needed LONG naps, for some reason.  We went to the Diamond Lounge for Happy Hour, then to Izumi for dinner.

Our favorite Izumi beverages

Tempura shrimp and veggies

Pork dumplings

Firecracker shrimp

Chef's special roll with fried sashimi

Now we have just docked in Sitka at 11:00 a.m. on Tuesday. We are probably going to stay onboard, as there's a bus ride to get to the town itself, and there's not a lot in Sitka besides souvenir shops.  But there is gorgeous scenery all around, so we should have some photos for you tomorrow.  Thanks for your comments!

Comments

  1. PatrickAugust 11, 2026 at 11:23 AM

    The Izumi food looks fantastic, but the Schooner Bar might be my favorite part of the photos! It looks like it should be full of people in navy blazers with brass buttons!

    ReplyDelete
  2. RachelAugust 11, 2026 at 2:05 PM

    Izumi is always good! Love the ship tour.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ice Skating and Sushi

Image
Yesterday afternoon, we went to the ice-skating show, which was Tarot-themed. Costumed skaters portrayed the Lovers, the Empress, the Joker, etc.  We were as impressed with their skills as we were with the skaters’ on the Wonder in March. Lots of fancy spins, lifts, and jumps! Charlie told me that our ship (Voyager, launched in 1999) was the first in Royal Caribbean’s fleet to have an ice performance rink. There are servers who bring you drinks, so Prosecco it was!  We had reservations at Chops Grille for dinner, and we enjoyed our meal as the sun set. We both tried the appetizer crab cake (not as good as Charlie’s), the lobster bisque (okay), then petite filets with baked potatoes and asparagus. Once again, we failed to capture a pic of the excellent chocolate cake with ice cream.  As I mentioned yesterday, ship’s time moved ahead another hour, but so far we’re adjusting all right. We did have some loud noises overnight from the pool deck on the deck above ours. It sound...
Read more

And We're Off Again!

Image
Our highly anticipated trip this time is a month long, as we're taking back-to-back cruises from Vancouver to Hawaii, then on to Sydney, Australia! Royal Caribbean is repositioning Anthem of the Seas for the summer season Down Under.  Yesterday morning at 6:15 a car picked us up to head to the airport.  An hour later, we were through Security and settled into the airport lounge.  We had worried a bit about the government shutdown's impact on TSA and/or the airport itself, but at that hour, at least, all was well.   We tried to pack lightly for this month-long trip, but we didn't attempt to carry on everything. Here's Charlie's luggage: And here's mine: In Charlie's defense, his shoes are bulkier -- I only packed a pair of sandals in addition to the shoes I was wearing -- and he packed a good bit of handy stuff for the cruise ship that we'll both use. The flight to Vancouver went smoothly, although we were a little late leaving. Consequently, our "br...
Read more

Day 8: Kusadasi, Turkey

Image
Last night was Lobster Night, and Celebrity did not disappoint.  We started with shrimp cocktail (me) and a crabcake (Charlie).  Then our server brought us each TWO lobster tails.  The photo shows only one, because we forgot to take it before diving in.  Baked potatoes weren’t on any of the menus, but we asked and got them.  Our server also insisted on bringing the lamb chops, and Charlie enjoyed one of them.  For dessert we shared baked Alaska, not pictured since a white dessert on a white plate isn’t that pretty.  But it was tasty! Crabcake This morning we sailed into Kusadasi after the sun was up, so Charlie took photos from our balcony. Fort and lighthouse Pigeon Island We met our tour guide, Leeza, in front of this caravanserai dating from the 1600s, when it served as a roadside inn, with animals housed on the ground floor and travelers above them. Now it’s used as an event space. Sculpture by a local artist  Our first stop was for a traditio...
Read more