Leaderboard

It is finally embarkation day. We started off at Biscuit Bitch a block over from the Moore Inn. I'm a simple gal so I got a Buttered Up Biscuit with maple peanut butter. It was pretty filling. We took an Uber to the cruise port. I had a code for a free first ride but didn't see anywhere to add the code. The ride was $10 plus tip. We chose to walk from the drop off point to the ship. It wasn't far. We checked out the Windjammer for lunch. We then went to the lava flow meet up where the bartender clearly did not anticipate making so many of the frozen Kraken drinks. He suspected correctly that a Caribbean cruiser was to blame. After muster we went to the spa raffle. Unfortunately a lot of people showed up and we did not win any prizes. The sail away party was a good time where we got to meet more group cruisers. It was fun today to see all the familiar shirts around the ship. It makes it feel like you have many friends. We got a little taste of the entertainment at the comedian's show. On the way out of the theater we stopped to listen to the piano player and stayed to see if our skills at music trivia were up to par. I should have jumped on a team. I knew the "hard one". It has been a other exhausting day. Thank goodness for a sea day tomorrow.

My son was exhausted from his early flight and coming from the East coast the 3 hour difference caught up to him so he went to bed. I saw the makings of a sunset through the overcast and found the deck 4 outer decks the only place to catch it. It was very cool and we had a strong wind so they closed the upper decks and helipad access. I grabbed this photo of the pool deck as I sought places to capture the sunset. Since I have the drink package my route between photo locations somehow included a bar along the path. Here is the Promenade as I made my way back down to deck 4. I am trying a new camera this cruise and decided to push the limits a bit to see what I could away with. This is a 1/3 second shutter speed trying to create some motion blur in the waves while hoping for a clear and steady picture of the ship. I think it turned out pretty good. Same trick looking aft. As the sun continued to set there were some lovely pastel colors presented in the mountains surrounding us on both sides of this passage between Canada to our North and America to our South. Combined with varying levels of cloud coverage it was very pretty. This was shortly after 9pm. Back inside I happened across "The Tavern" in the Boleros area on other ships. This is kind of a sports bar at times but also used for things like Karaoke. To the pub for a beer and some pub music. I ventured back outside and again did some experimenting with my camera. By this point the moon was out and combined with gaps in the cloud coverage it created some dramatic scenes. I ran into the @cookingyo s at the Schooner Bar and sat with them for a while. It was getting late and time for bed so I hopped in an elevator and made my way back to my cabin. Saturday already. Day one complete.

Day 1 - Seattle In the "things that make you go hmmm..." department, I noted the hotel ironing board was behind the cross bar to hang clothes on. You can't stand in front of it pass it under the bar (it hits your feet). It can't go over the bar (it hits the ceiling). Hmmm. Finally it's time to head down to the shuttle arranged by MEI Travel for the Group Cruise. On my way down the hotel hallway I passed a room and saw some luggage in the hallway with ship tags on them. Mind you this is the hotel before the cruise. I hope those people didn't leave thinking that just like on the last night aboard you put your luggage out in the hall and it is magically collected for you.

You must be an evil bot, too. They always stick up for each other ! ??

Explorer tags on them. I wonder if they are down at guest services asking about their lost luggage.

Muster complete sail away with the Solstice starting first and soon after we followed. Great views of downtown in the distance as we pulled out and turned into the harbor. Matt was... scoping of course! That's him at the railing with his iPad surrounded by several members of the Royal Caribbean Blog team. Some fellow blog readers approached me with an issue they were having with their travel router. They invited me back to their cabin to take a quick look. The deck 12 panorama suite tour they offered was too good to pass up. What an incredible view forward! That complete my son and I decided to do the Windjammer for dinner. It was empty and we had our choice of aft view seating. I decided we should check out the Peak-a-boo bridge where you can look down into the bridge. Just off Port Angeles we started a distinct turn back in the direction we had come from. I thought maybe there was a medical situation but it turns out our harbor pilot was getting off the ship. They turned the ship to give the pilot boat shelter from the wind to make it safer to approach and pick up the pilot. By this point we had overtaken the Solstice as we have further to go and were running faster to get there. If you look close you see the pilot boat waiting for the Solstice to approach and drop off her pilot as well.

Group Cruise Lava Flow Meet Up! Viking Crown Lounge Here is Matt scoping as the bartender prepares one of many batches of Kraken Lava Flows. This would be our second and third lava flow having introduced my son to them shortly after he arrived. Yum.

My son had landed while I was still at the hotel with his flight arriving early. He pulled into the port just after boarding started and he reported no lines, no people, never stopping, just a super easy check in and walk out to the ship. I had done a quick scope and just made it up to the pool deck when he boarded. To put the pier area in perspective, here is Seattle and the Space Needle from the ship. Celebrity Solstice beside us. At 1pm when I took this photo the cars in the arrival area where minimal. The gray building is the terminal. The corner closest is where Explorer guests entered and the corner furthest is where Solstice guests entered. The drop area is shared so have your luggage tags on and make sure to ask the porter which ship their cart is for. All in all a very easy embarkation.

Port of Seattle We arrived with quite a few other cars at 10:15am. It was pretty busy with two ships worth of passengers arriving. The terminal is used for both ships, Explorer on the left, Celebrity Solstice on the right. Typical boarding day routine. Show your passport and SetSail pass, go through security, show them again, find your line and check in. Suites/Pinnacle had a clearly marked entrance. Despite the passengers streaming in it was all very fast and efficient. No time to take any pictures before checking in. No line, walked right up to an awaiting agent who took my photo and gave me my SeaPass card. The typical medical questionnaire was done verbally. Have you been sick, had a fever, etc. Check in complete in record time it was off to the waiting area. There was no separate waiting areas based on C&A levels. This area is shared with the other ship and it was cozy. Typical stands set up to punch your card and sell you a lanyard. Fortunately they soon opened the doors to the ship and off we went. Boarding started around 10:40am. Best of all I beat @Matt ! (I had an unfair advantage, no kids with me)

We docked on time, and within thirty minutes were making the long trek on the pier tthrough the controlled shopping area to the street. It is set up very similar to Cozumel with a pool in the center area surrounded by restaurants, bars and shops. You exit by the taxi and bus area and walk a couple blocks to the security gate to the street. A block later, we found the rep from Maya Chan who greeted us and had us sign a release and offered us a chance to cancel our reservation. There had been a storm recently that brought up seaweed, and their staff were working on it. We declined the offer to cancel, because I didn’t want to book another excursion at the last minute or hang out at the port or on the ship. Within ten minutes our taxi van arrived, and we shared transportation to Maya Chan with a couple other families. Maya Chan is not too far from the port and the town of Mahahual, but transportation in this part of Mexico is much different than others. Once you go south from Mahahual, the paved roads end and dirt roads begin. The roads are rustic and rutted and a whole lot of fun if you’re into that kind of thing. It parallels the beach, and there are lots of interesting things to look at until... *the smell* *flashback to the Indian sulphur salt at 150 CentralPark* *this smells like that tastes...only ten times worse!* *gag reflex* *is thiswhat they meant by seaweed?* As you pass the huts and various other things along the way, you notice the beach...there was a LOTof seaweed along the beaches! *is thiswhat Maya Chan smells like? Is thiswhat they gave a chance to escape through the refund?* We arrived at the small resort about 25 minutes later and were warmly greeted by Jane, one of the owners who is an expat for San Diego. She gave us a brief orientation and handed us off to one of the staff who took us ten feet to our palapa which was just right of the seating area for the bar/restaurant which had about 7-8 tables, a cooking area and a bar with a restroom in the back corner. Fantastic. *that smell? ...only a minuscule fraction of what it was, and we were used to it by then, so all is good!** From the bar, you could see they weren’t kidding about their staff clearing the beach of seaweed. They had huge piles of it with pathways to the water created. Three men were doing it with pitchforks and were re-defining the Spanish word, trabajo. I made sure and thanked them profusely for the hard work they were doing, and for their sake (and ours) wished Maya Chan had a back hoe or Bobcat until the first time I waded into the water. *there was more seaweed in the immediate ten feet from the beach than I could ever imagine* It’s not too think to walk through (insert gag reflex as it wraps around your legs up to your knees), and when you get to the other side, the water was pretty nice, but it wasn’t the clear blue-green of the Caribbean. It was clear, but the color of the bottom and surrounding seaweed made it brown. Water shoes are a good idea too, because it is a little rocky on the bottom. Thankfully, Maya Chan supplies those. After using the floating chairs for a while with my daughter, it was time for lunch. They prepared fresh flour and corn tortillas for tacos with several protein options including skirt steak, chicken, pork and sea bass with garlic butter. They had grilled and fresh cut onions, chives, tomatoes as well as pico de gallo, guacamole, frijoles and chips as well. It was plentifully served buffet style and you could go back as much as you cared to. The drinks were all really good. I had a rum punch upon entering, a margarita and a couple of beers. All of it is complimentary. Our palapa was palatial with five chairs, a couple of tables, a beach bed and a direct path to the water with beach toys on either side. They included water chairs, kayaks, stand up kayaks and snorkeling gear was available. After lunch, I felt the food coma coming, so I crashed on the huge beach bed. I woke up briefly at some point to find my daughter crashed on it as well. I had probably the best beach nap ever that early afternoon, and could have done another hour (I think I did two hours) if I didn’t mind leaving just in time to make all on board. We chose to leave at 2:30 to make sure we had plenty of time to get back instead. Maya Chan offers transportation as part of your package to/from the resort. I can’t emphasize how much I appreciated this because they have preferred taxi drivers who run the air conditioning and are trustworthy, as those can be issues with the taxi drivers there. I will do a comparison post to Nachi Cocom in a wrap up entry. We returned to the ship with plenty of time to spare and went to the Solarium for sail away. We had a late My Time Dining reservation that allowed us to get to the Amber Theater with plenty of time to use our ore-booked reservation for great seats at Blue Planet. They experienced some technical difficulties with the show which were quickly resolved, but it did not take away from the mesmerizing visuals and professional performances that show offers. It was an incredible show despite the glitch. After the show, we chose to skip the Quest and retire for the night.

And I can confirm that Twangster is not a robot. He is a nice human.

Is that @crzycatldy5 there on the right? Face looks a lot like her profile pic. smh. "Pretty good", he says. Sir, those are not merely "pretty good", those are stunning and gorgeous!

Sony A7 III. I made the switch as a long time Nikon shooter. Still getting used to it, but liking it so far.

Cabin Tour! Interior Virtual Balcony, Cabin 9601

Apart from possibly a few grandchildren you'll likely be half of the normal river cruiser age ? At least on the Rhine, Moselle or Danube cruises - not sure about the French ones. Personally, I've never done a river cruise but we regularly stumble across them when we do short trips by motorhome in the summer.

Inside stateroom. Perfectly sufficient. Balconies and Suites are nice, but can't justify the price difference. Having done OA, AL and HM, I didn't really feel detached from the sea. There are still some viewing opportunities and the ship has so much to offer that you don't feel detached from anything.

Thanks for doing a live blog. I will be doing the 12 day med/greek isles on vision next year which is a VERY long way off. I will live vicariously through you. We are going to Europe for the first time this summer (first viking river cruise in france) andrea the med next year, but looking at oasis or harmony for 2020, so i will enjoy your ship comment a's well! Jane

Cruising today! Had some time to kill at the Egan Center so wanted to provide information about trace l from Anchorage to Seward. We purchased train tickets for the Alaska Railroad from Anchorage to Seward through Royal Caribbean for $125/pp. We we were told to report to the Egan Center in downtown Alaska by 11:30 AM and that they open at 8:00 AM. We decided to get here early because we thought we could get our train seats since they are 'first come, first serve". This was not accurate! We arrived at the Egan Center around 8:30 and were one of the first one's there. Signs direct you to a large room where they take care of checking your luggage, check passports, Sail Pass and credit card. Since we were early we got through this pretty quick and was straightforward. We got train tickets #6 & 7, not sure if that's just so they know how many altogether OR if is used to prioritize seating...guess we'll see when we get to train depot. I was able to temporarily check my heavy backpack while we went around the corner to Kaladi Brothers for a latte and oatmeal cranberry cookie. It's two blocks away on the corner of G and 6th Ave. After my latte we went around the corner to check out a huge mural behind city hall. From Kaladi's walk across 6th on G and make a left right after City Hall. When you get to the parking lot look back over your right shoulder you'll see the mural which outlines the history of Alaska. Thanks go to Howard, our Uber driver from the hotel to the center, for telling us about the mural! We were back at the center by 9:30 and typing this as we wait for our 11:15 shuttle to the train depot. At the center they have stations to recharge devices, free wifi, water dispenser and tables and chairs where you can wait (and update your blog). The folks from RC and Alaska Railroad are here to answer questions and are really, really nice people! Next update will be from the ship!!

After we checked in we went to the Market which is a few blocks away from the hotel. It is a neat place but a little too chaotic for my liking. We pre-purchased City Passes which allow you to visit 5 attractions for a lower price, now $89. We went to the aquarium today. It is small but laid out nicely. It takes around an hour to check everything out. We were also going to do the harbor cruise today but the timing didn't work out for us. We have 9 days to use the passes so we will add it to the list of things to do after the cruise.

We are traveling on a budget so I decided to ride the Lite Rail to the hotel. You have to do quite a bit of walking to get to it from the airport so it is not a good option for people with limited mobility. It did just cost us $3 a person though and took around 45 minutes to get to the Moore Inn where we are staying. It was also a bit of a hike from the train station to the hotel too. I was glad it wasn't too hot today. The Moore is a neat historic building with a theater at street level. It is basic though. There is no air conditioning so we get a lot of street noise from having the windows open. I like this place though. There are even euro rooms with a shared bathroom if you want to go really budget but we weren't that cheap.

And she's scoping too! Follow her on Periscope ?

T minus 2 days. Bags packed. Boarding pass printed. SetSail pass printed. Luggage tags ready. Check, check, check and check. I think I'm ready. Amazingly I don't feel like I forgotten anything, which means in about 10 hours at 35,000' I will remember exactly what I forgot. Such is cruising. For the flight to Seattle tomorrow I have a 6am departure. I had plenty of choices of flight times all day but I chose 6am so I could visit something in Seattle I've always wanted but haven't been able to yet. The Chihuly Garden and Glass exhibit at the base of the Space Needle. I'm a sucker for blown glass so I'm looking forward to this as a pre-cruise excursion. I'm flying with Delta, my favorite airline since I am heavily vested in it's frequent flier program. At 13,500 Skymiles this may be the cheapest round trip flight I've booked using frequent flier miles. A direct flight was available departing later and arriving at nearly the same time but at several thousand more miles so I chose a connection in Salt Lake City given the early time of day plus day before cruise booking. Connections don't bother me since I've flown a bunch. Loyalty pays - I've been upgraded to first class on both segments. Not bad for an 'award' ticket. My son is joining me on this cruise flying in from the East coast. With a Friday to Friday cruise itinerary it meant an extra day of vacation for him so another day on top of that to fly in the day before was a problem. He doesn't get that much time off at this point in his career. He elected to fly in the day off the cruise, something I tend to avoid. Flying from the East coast the time change is working in his favor. Fingers crossed. I booked my cruise through MEI Travel and added the official hotel for the Royal Caribbean Blog Group Cruise when it was offered oh so long ago. Time flies, it's almost cruise day! Shout out to Jacki York at MEI Travel for proactively checking each and every sale over several months to verify I had the best price. Our cabin on this cruise is an interior with virtual balcony. A full balcony cabin was nearly twice the price, per person of course. I did an Alaskan cruise last year on Celebrity with a balcony. One Alaska lesson I learned last year was that good excursions can be pricey. Alaska excursions are well worth the price in my opinion to experience Alaska however adding up the total cost of a vacation experience on my second Alaska cruise I chose to spend money favoring excursions that were my second choice from last year over the cabin so interior virtual balcony it is. Basically by booking an interior cabin we got our excursions 'included' compared to the cost of booking a balcony. Excursions this time around: Juneau Skagway (The description read much better when I booked it!) Victoria Booked during various sales it definitely pays to book excursions early and watch sales. Most of them have increased in price over the months since booking. I booked our excursions with enough time for us to self explore before or after as weather permits. Alaska here we come! With that it's time to close my laptop and pack it, else I might forget it in the morning at oh-dark-early when my ride arrives to carry me to the airport.

I've been waiting for a while. Sometimes, I wondered if I would ever get there. Watching everything about the Symphony launching while I was stuck doing a lot of work that I hate and working through the difficulties of life in miserable Scottish weather. Finally, it is nearly here. 10 days until I board the Symphony of the Seas!!!!!! I am Joe. I have enjoyed following Royal Caribbean Blog for a while now and have been posting on the forum for around a year now. This is my first time doing a LIVE blog, having been inspired by CruiseLifeRick when he did his CC LIVE thread on Symphony's inaugural in April. I am also going LIVE on CC, but ultimately would love to share my adventures with the RC Blog as well, especially as many of you are US based and may wish to hear about either the Med or Symphony herself when she arrives to Miami in November. I come to you from Glasgow, Scotland, a city well known for it's friendliness: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpnUurJvGWs (disclaimer: Don't watch if you have no sense of humor, take things too literally or hate any use of strong language). This will be my 13th & 14th cruise; my 6th & 7th Oasis Class cruise and 2nd B2B. This will also be my 5th & 6th cruise around the Med and my 4th & 5th from Barcelona. There will be one first - my first time on Symphony! Having sailed all 3 sister ships, I am very excited to see everything new that Symphony will have to offer. I am hoping to try both Playmakers (wings!) and El Loco Fresh which are new dining venues on SY. Please give any other suggestions of things to try. All welcome. I'll be back with more soon!

Starting August 3 Netflix airs their original movie Like Father starring Kristen Bell, Kelsey Grammer and Seth Rogen. Personally we are not Seth Rogen fans, but do like Kristen Bell. We have never sailed Harmony so for that reason alone, we'll watch it. https://www.netflix.com/title/80174897 https://youtu.be/_bfqsNh6U7c

That's the one!! I can't wait to watch this movie. Also, I was following a live blog that same week that that @Matt and others were on the GC. The couple got married on board and made comments here and there about certain things being closed off. Thing that makes me most excited is that they said they mentioned several times in the blog that they heard Kelsey Grammer (or his baby, can't remember now) next door to them. They (the live blog couple) were in 1724 that week. I didn't give it much thought at the time but after watching that trailer, I wonder if Kelsey Grammer filmed/stayed in 1722 next door. If so, that's our room in March! Maybe I'll see it on TV ?

Love the moon pics !

Cool pictures! What new camera are you using on your trip? Looks a good one.

Had it for a while now. As mentioned above, TSA Precheck is great. At port of Miami, a worker was walking around the baggage claim calling out for "Global Entry". We responded and were led to the front of the same line as everybody else............it worked, but awkward. Port Everglades had a dedicated line, but it is not always manned. One time last year at FLL(off the Indy T/A), there were workers calling for Global Entry to go to a specific line that was very short. It depends sometimes on which terminal you dock at(FLL) So far(a year and a half or so) it has saved us a few hours of waiting here and there. I like it.

So I'm sitting in the Baltimore cruise terminal waiting for someone to cancel on the Grandeur which is overbooked so I'm assigned a cabin and allowed to board. We purchased 2 guaranteed cabins and a reserved cabin in a group. One guaranteed cabin assigned a room number weeks ago. The other wasn't assigned and confirmed still "guaranteed" as late as 2 days before sail date. During check in were notified of an overbooked cruise and we need to wait for a cancellation (not just a no show) in order to to get cabin. RC has our $ for months. There were dozens of avail cabins in all categories when we booked. Just tried to save couple bucks with "guarantee". To say we're frustrated is an amazing understatement. How often does this happen? What's the policy on guarantee and overbooked? Is this how RC treats passengers? New to this experience after a dozen cruises on other lines. SSSSSSSS

What about KISS or Ozzy Ozbourne ???????????? I hear they are doing tours. Lets spice it up a bit, come on.

We arrived at the port at Coxen Hole on time and disembarked to singing and dancing in the pier that was damaged by the MSC Armonia a few weeks go. I’m amazed that ship didn’t suffer huge damage like the Part of the dock where it struck did...lots and lots of rocks around there. We worked our way through the small, controlled port area to the street where our excursion reps were waiting for us. We waited a few minutes until our driver, Mark arrived and took us to the SUV the company we booked with uses. My oldest has had a life goal to hang out with sloths. So, you google “sloths.” Daniel Johnson Monkey and Sloth Hangout will come up. It’s in Roatan! So, I booked it using Messenger to their Facebook page. There are several options that include island tours, snorkeling, shopping, sampling food and others. We chose the island tour and a stop at a popular local restaurant for some great food. Durin the island tour that included some history and stories about the island, we stopped for some street Food that included the local delicacy of fresh cut mango with salt, lime and vinegar. Woah....it was awesome! From there, we headed over to the monkey and sloth hangout, and waited a few minutes to be matched with a guide to take us to the animals. They are all there near a really nice snorkeling spot on the other side of the entrance where there were a male and female sloth entertaining people amidst several large cages containing spider monkeys and a couple of a couple species of parrots including the island bird the macaw parrot. The staff would pick up one of the sloths and place them on your shoulders. They immediately hug you and wrap their legs (with very long, sharp claws) around your waist. Be ready for a poking feeling...yes, they stop when they feel secure. I can only describe holding a sloth as being like holding a very sweet little baby with soft fur and a calm disposition. Sloths eat the leaves of the crecopia, a tropical tree. It has low nutritional value which cause the sloth like low metabolism. As a result of eating the leaves, sloths will consume some insects as a secondary part of their diet. Following our time at the Hangout, Mark took us to a shore side restaurant called Conch Fritters that tourists don’t frequent. I suppose it’s like going to a restaurant in the US called Hamburgers... It’s a beautiful setting with several menu options including the local beer, SalvaVida. The food is fresh and range from conch fritters to chicken fingers. I chose the coconut shrimp and had a fantastic meal. Soon, it was time to return to the ship where we boarded about 1:30 in the afternoon, local time which was 2 hours behind ship time. All on board was 4:30 pm, so we returned with time to spare. The excursion lasted about four and a half hours. After naps and dinner, we donned our flapper wear or fedora and headed to Deck 4 with our secret passes to the Prohibition Party hosted by the assistant activity manager who did a great job role playing the “proprietor” of the “tea” establishment. We had fun drinking our “tea,” eating snacks, dancing and listening to jazz. Overall, the day was one of the best I’ve had on a cruise. More pics and attempts at drunken time lapse coolness at @dunkelbier_jay...

LOL, I did the same thing! If that were me, I believe the last thing I would do is sign into a Blog to complain and ask questions. I think I would be raising holy hell at the port! LOL

Customs is a fairly straightforward and painless process when departing a cruise ship. At the end of the cruise, you have the option to leave your bags outside your room the night before departure to be carried off for you and picked up in the terminal before going through customs, or to carry them off yourself. This is matter of preference/whether or not you are able to manage your bags down escalators and ramps. If you do decide to leave your bags in the hall, there are luggage tags that will be delivered to your room with an associated number that you will need to attach do your bags. Along with your luggage tags, customs declarations forms will be delivered. Here you fill out some relevant information such as countries visited and US destination, as well as a listing of items purchased abroad. This form (along with passport or identification) will need to be shown to the customs agent. When you go through the line to approach the customs agent, make sure you have this form in hand. You only need one form per household. When you approach the agent after waiting in line with your bags, you will hand over your form and ID to inspect. They may ask a question or two - but beyond that, you're off! No strip searches or bag searches (at least in my experience!)

Chihuly is my favorite artist. I look forward to going there after the cruise.

My wife and I have been on allure and oasis. We didn't like allure but loved oasis. I know they are the same ship but the staff and other passengers just made the whole experience. I guess the planets were aligned just right or something. We are doing Oasis again this september. We don't have kids and I feel all the newer ships with slides and stuff just attract more families and more kids on the cruise (no offense), so we prefer the less updated models.

Hey, Jane - Unless you really want to cruise with the water slides, I would say there is no reason to pay extra for Harmony. I personally don't think there is any difference between Allure and Oasis, so if O is cheaper, I say to with it. The big shows are Cats on O and Mamma Mia on A if that matters. As a rule, airfare is cheaper to Orlando than south FLA but as you say, then there's the transfer. I think you will really enjoy the O class. There is so much to do !

Enjoy the group cruise! Following along here but really wish I could have joined in. One of these days my plans to attend an RC Blog GC will actually work out!

I grabbed some lunch and headed back for my turn at the Space Needle. It was about an hour in line snaking slowly up towards the elevator for the rise top the top. There is a security checkpoint you have to walk through but I had no issues with anything I had with me. This is the area near the elevators where I finally made it to after crawling along, inch by inch waiting for the one elevator to carry guests up and down to the top. Just prior to this point is a photo station. The photo is free to download. They take your picture against a gray background and later, in the gift shop you can choose one of six backdrops and have a link emailed to you to access your photo. This is included at no additional charge. Built in 1961 the building and elevator appear to be set in this era. It took just 400 days to building the Space Needle. They are renovating the upper observation deck, replacing wire 'cage' with glass panels for a better view. It's under construction now but mostly complete. Here is the elevator ride up and down. They have set up a display to compare the old caged feel versus the new glass panels they are installing. There used to be a knee wall where now the glass extends down to the floor for a much more open feeling with great views. The inside is being renovated as well. This is the line waiting to go back down. Not nearly as long a wait as it was going up. I'm very glad I did both Chihuly Glass and the Space Needle but I would choose an earlier reservation next time. The crowds seemed to be growing bigger as the afternoon progressed.

We rode the Monorail to the pre-cruise meetup. It is $2.50 and it took us to the Space Needle/Chihuly Gardens and Glass/The Museum of Pop Culture. We will visit those next week using the City Pass. It was nice seeing everyone in person but we were super tired from our pre-cruise lack of sleep and day of traveling. It's time get some shut eye so we are rested to explore the Explorer. My first impression of Seattle is that it is a very artistic city. I like it here.

We flew Southwest to Seattle. Since it was my niece's first time flying we got the early bird check in for better boarding status. We did get decent numbers but we had to circle in Chicago due to weather so with our 45 minute layover turned into us being some of the last people on the plane.

Cozumel pics...

I'm planning on doing a live(ish) blog so you can check it out vicariously through me!

CREW: I've heard that a number of the crew from Harmony have moved to Symphony. I'm hoping that they will still be there and that I will see some familiar faces from last year. The Captain is scheduled to be Captain Rob Hempstead from the USA. I've heard a lot of fantastic things about him and cannot wait to sail with him. I am also excited at having a Captain with an accent that I can completely understand. The Cruise Director is scheduled to be Michele Scarpato from Italy. I am quite passionate about the CD role myself and always love to see what they have to offer. On my Harmony B2B last year, we had 2 CD's across the 2 weeks, one was fantastic and the other was not. I'm hoping that Michele is great. The Activities Manager will be Margot Van Erck who I have also heard great things about. Also keeping fingers crossed that it is a good CD Staff. Please tell me about any other great crew members on SY. ITINERARY: I will be on a 6.30am flight from Edinburgh to Barcelona on Friday 29th. Spending 2 days there and then embarking SY on July 1st. We will be in port with the Vision of the Seas on July 1st as well. Always great to see another Royal ship in port. Hopefully I won't be too forgetful and don't board Vision instead. Here is the trip in a nutshell: June 29th - Edinburgh to Barcelona & afternoon in Barcelona June 30th - Full day in Barcelona July 1st - Embark Symphony (not Vision ) July 2nd - Palma July 3rd - Marseilles July 4th - La Spezia July 5th - Civitavecchia July 6th - Naples July 7th - Sea Day July 8th - Barcelona Turnaround day July 9th - Palma July 10th - Marseilles July 11th - La Spezia July 12th - Civitavecchia July 13th - Naples July 14th - Sea Day July 15th - Disembark/Fly to Edinburgh and then back to Glasgow For this one, I plan to get off at Naples both times (love the pizza and plenty to do), possibly once at La Spezia (nice town, Cinque Terre nearby) and at least once at Marseilles to practice my semi-fluent French. Also getting off at Barcelona . Not planning to get off at Palma (been there, done that) or Civitavecchia (Rome is too far away and not a fan of Civ itself). I'm on for 2 weeks, so plenty of time to enjoy the ship. Honestly doing this cruise for the ship and not the ports.

This is indeed rare. I hope it all works out to your benefit. I have never ever heard of this happening at the terminal. There must be some extraordinary explanation - not that this makes you feel any better, I'm sure. Keep the faith. Maybe you can bunk with the cap'n.

Oh No! I hope they gets your situation resolved quickly. I have never heard of that happening at the terminal. I know that I would be a basket case about now if that were to happen to me. ?

I would say all of the above is great advice but to SSSSSSS, since they are actually in the terminal, I'm so sorry and hope this works out for you.

The train ride to Seward last year was amazing. Hope you enjoy it!

Day 1 in Anchorage Spent all day yesterday getting to Alaska. We flew 1st class on American from Philly to Phoenix and arrived a few minutes late but just in time for the PHX -> ANC flight. Flight was full so we didn't get the upgrade.Arrived in sunny Anchorage at 9:30 PM. When we got our bags we looked outside and the hotel shuttle just happened to be there (Crowne Plaza not far from the airport). Flights and Crown Plaza all paid for with points and a little $$. Grabbed a bite at the hotel and when we went up to the room at 11:00 PM still bright and sunny. We are here 2 nights before getting the RC train mid-day tomorrow to Seward. I can't stress enough how important these blogs are. Already have to give credit to Twangster for seat selection on plane. We sat on the right side and my wife was complaining that I got her a window instead of an aisle seat. That is, until we started the descent into Anchorage and the views were amazing! Some pictures from the plane blow. We are heading to the Visitor Center first and then walk around downtown for a little while. Hoping to find a good, inexpensive place for seafood this evening.

Love seeing another person live blogging from Alaska this coming weekend! It's easy to spot me, here's a photo for reference

Most companies have insurance against this sort of thing in the first place.