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When a group "takes over" a table that I was using by myself, I just pull up a chair, sit down, and start eating.
"Oh, sorry. Didn't notice that you had joined me."

Day 4 - Sea Day
Quick update on position and conditions.  Temperature around 72°F and some sun today (yesterday was overcast).  Calm seas with a gentle swell from the West.  

Our position on day 4.

Voom holding up well, 4Mb down, 2Mb up.
For these sea days I'm basically working much like I would from land.  I'm holding back from posting a lot until we get to Hawaii.  There is a lot going on around the ship.  Enrichment talks continue.  Shows are going on.  Bumper cars are bumping, North Star is doing it's thing.  Weather getting warmer with each passing day as we sail South, supposed to be high 70's tomorrow.  Time changing 1 hour each night.
Next update in a day or maybe two.  

I noticed that too for Black Friday sales in 2017

Is it just me, or did it get shady in here all of a sudden? ?

After dinner I caught a sunset over the Olympic Mountains.  

Always beautiful.

Following the Joy out towards the Pacific.

I seem to gravitate to the North Star bar.

Solarium at sunset.

Dinner in the Solarium Bistro. 

Dinner is part buffet style and part full service for entrees.  Order your main entree then grab your own appetizers from the buffet.  I was able to use a Diamond happy hour drink for a glass of wine. 
There are two items, Lobster Tails and Lamb Chops that cost extra.  Other than those extra cost items the meal is included in your base cruise fare.

The New York Strip is not of my favorite cuts of meat but in the name of the blog I thought I'd sample one here.  Not bad as New York Strip steaks go.  

All in all a nice "free" dinner experience as an alternative to the MDR.

Day Two - Seattle
We arrived early at around 5am. A low cloud cover hung over the city like a fog.

They had a lot to load onto the ship.  While we loaded passengers and luggage in Vancouver we didn't load any other supplies or fuel in Vancouver.  Instead that would be done today.  The cruise goes on past Hawaii to Sydney.  I suspect they have loaded as much frozen and non-perishables as they could to minimize having to re-supply everything in Hawaii.  Instead they'll take on perishables and fresh fruit there but much of the frozen supplies and beer/wine/alcohol would be brought on in Seattle.

The end of day one turned into night.

North Star was running on a walk up basis so why not?
I didn't realize it until later but I caught the reflection of the monitor with the North Star logo in this shot.


Hard to see in this photo but the night sky was full of stars.


The North Star Bar remains a favorite with incredible views and it's lightly used at night.   
Earlier on my way to muster a crew member stopped me in the hall and said he recognized me. I had to do a double take but saw it was Monaj from the North Star bar. He remembered me from May as I was often at or near this bar taking in the majesty of Alaska.  So happy he is still on!  That's him facing the other way taking care of another guest.  Really nice guy and great bartender.

Unfortunately it's nearing the end of the Milky Way season in the Northern hemisphere but I did catch the dipper from my balcony.  

Vancouver is a great embarkation port and a beautiful city.




The last time I was on Ovation they were building the Fish and Ships restaurant on deck 14 by the pool.  This time it was open so I tried the basic fish and chips that included in the cruise fare.  It's small but a good snack size.  If you want a full meal I'd order two.  

I didn't know Vancouver had dry dock facilities for smaller ships.

As sail away approached the upper decks grew more crowded.

With that our sail away commenced and we headed towards the Lions Gate Bridge.





As if there was any doubt we cleared with ease and made our way into Burrard Inlet.




It's a very pretty sail away leaving Vancouver.



I enjoyed some balcony time taking in the scenery.

These pictures don't do the majesty of it all any justice.

Cabin Tour!
Deck 12 standard balcony - 12552.







View aft.

View down to the sea.

View forward.

Time to bring you all up to speed, or at least up to date.
It's Day 3 here on Ovation but now that we've entered into our sea day phase I have some time to play catch up.  Unlike some other users who post in this section of the forum, I chose not to start this thread one year before sailing.  
Ten nights Vancouver, BC, Canada to Honolulu, HI.
Day 1 - Vancouver
Day 2 - Seattle
Day 3 - 6 - Sea Day
Day 7 - Cruising Napali Coast
Day 8/9 - Overnight in Maui
Day 10 - Kona
Day 11 - Debark in Honolulu
I flew into Vancouver the day before on September 19 and stayed at the Hilton Vancouver Airport.  It's significantly cheaper staying out by the airport compared to downtown.  I thought about going over to the Lions Gate Bridge for Ovation's arrival into Vancouver but low tide was around 4am when it would pass under the bridge so I stayed in bed.  
I'm not going to post everything in real time for this cruise but will drop in from time to time to post or show some pictures if anything interesting comes up.    

Nope.  But I've found fantastic prices during other sales, and even weird price drops between advertised sales.  I'm not worried about it.

I leave my Kindle and a bag (taking anything else of value). I also don't go too far because I will get violent if someone takes my book/ereader

Wait...a Hallmark movie that isn't a Christmas movie? I thought they all were, 365 days a year (because EVERY time I check the channel guide, ANY time of the year, it's a Christmas-themed movie.)

I leave my Kindle and a bag (taking anything else of value). I also don't go too far because I will get violent if someone takes my book/ereader

Hate to say it, but unless you like waking up super early or can sleep through construction, the room I’m in is a bad idea.  The amount of vibration this morning while we docked at CocoCay was quite surprising. 
We got up later than we wanted and decided to go to the wedding first, then pool (as opposed to pool before the wedding). 
Weather today was warm, but windy and mostly cloudy.  I don’t mind since it makes for more comfortable outdoor conditions.

 
The wedding took place near the straw market, facing the ocean and ship. Great venue and view as well.  

I don’t believe that they will give OBC or any kind of refund for a price drop after final payment anymore (for US bookings).  That used to be possible but to my knowledge, there are no refunds of any kind after final payment.  If the price of an upgraded cabin falls below what you paid for your room or you want to pay to upgrade if an upgraded cabin is available, they will usually allow that - in other words, they will gladly take more money from you - but no refunds as far as I know.

There is always a way... ?

Odyssey pre-cruise dinner...my vote is obviously for La Bamba on that one!! I will see you all there. 
As for Tequiztlan, I think that would make a great pre-cruise meet up for Allure 03/14/21. @emsff02 you need to YOLO and book that one! ?

Today we took a trip out to the Everglades for an airboat ride to see some alligators. We had a great time. The boat tour was over an hour long on an airboat. If you have not been on one of these, they are loud, and hearing protection should be considered.
Johnny decided to ham it up a bit

For those who aren't aware, the Army corps of engineers did attempt to drain the Everglades by digging a series of canals with the hope of reclaiming the land. They.Did.Not.
Here is one of those canals

 
We had a visit by some birds.
 
Finally!! we saw an alligator!! 
 

 
Following the bout tour. There was a brief show with one of the guys on Gator Boys on Animal Planet.
I'm just gonna carry this guy out he says, 

 
Then this craziness. 
 

 
This guy wasn't impressed, he was kinda sleepy

Later that evening, we ate dinner at one of my favorite places. It’s called The Boiling Crab. They are mostly in California, which is where Heather discovered the place when out there for work. She took me to one in Las Vegas when we were there and I was hooked. It’s a Louisiana crab boil type place. Very tasty and very messy. It’s awesome.
Bibs are absolutely required.
 
First up were Oysters

 
Well, what’s left.....
 
Time for the main event snow crab, 

 
Followed by shrimp, with corn on the cob and red potatoes.

 
the aftermath.......
 

Time to get caught up here. Following our Target run, we headed back to the beach. As New Yorkers, we are used to crummy weather, so we weren’t going to let that ruin our beach day. There weren’t too many people out. Johnny and I had fun playing with the waves. He had a blast getting hit by them with me.
Lydia on the other hand was terrified of the waves and had the worst day ever


We went back to the hotel pool and all was right in her world.

You know you are in south beach when people do their Target runs in their Ferrari 488

Following breakfast we cheked out the beach briefly. It is very windy today, and the surf is moving.
Lydia was not happy with me here......I thought it was funny.

Debacle in Miami
So laaaaaaate last night we made it to Miami. On a suggestion from @MotleyCruiser we picked up our rental car from Sixt. Quite and easy process. They didn't have the vehicle class we originally booked to Upgrade!! The salesman said I had a choice between a Chevy Tahoe, or a GMC Yukon, I told him it didn't matter to me. "I'll give you the Yukon, its a more reliable vehicle" he says. I didn't have the heart to tell him, you know, they are the exact same car, just a different badge on the front.....EIther way it is a nice car. Unfortunately this is where the good times end.
So this is where it pays to research, research, research. Heather, through work uses Hilton based hotels for points etc. So we picked The Gates Hotel South Beach, which is a Double Tree. Normally we have good results with these hotels. We knew that we would pay more because its right off the beach so we were okay with that. Heather got her online check in notification which allows her to pick her room. We pick on on the eigth floor which overlooks the pool area etc. Perfect, off we go to the airport.
We pull into the hotel and surprise, there is no onsite parking. You have the privilege of valet parking for $42 a day.....ugh.....its South Beach....fine.......
We go up to the desk....Oh the room you requested is not available.....You can have this one, it still overlooks the pool area towards the beach....Okay fine that works.....We head up to the room to this.... 
What in the actual...........
So back down to the desk we go. New room, which thankfully was clean. The hotel did make good. They removed the nightly "resort fee" and gave us 50% off our first night stay. Feeling a little better now.
The beds were actually comfortable.
Breakfast.......$25 dollars for a continental breakfast buffet per person, oh if you want hot things like eggs? Thats another $6.
No thanks...Went to Denny's