Traveler

Day 0.1 Seattle.
The Jetlag is really hard  I think it was 3 am when we were already up trying to force ourself to sleep longer. I guess that what happens when you go to sleep at 4 PM ... we search for place to eat breakfast and decided to give Starbucks reserve roastery a try. We both not big fans of Starbucks (we are from a city that Starbucks decided to close there branches after failing to compete with many much better coffee places). But this Starbucks is different and it's open on 7 am :-). I would recommend a visit there for sure. Very good sandwiches and cakes. The atmosphere is also very nice.




From Starbucks we went down the Pike street to the market to taste the famous grill cheese sandwich in the market at Beecher , as we were quite full we shared one sandwich and it was very good

After the two  breakfast we had a one our boat tour out of pier 55 just to verify the cruise pier is there and ready for us. It was also nice to see the industrial port and the big cranes in action. 
 





Post the cruise to recover from the disembarking feelings we went to buy some last thing we forgot to bring for the cruise (mainly warm hats) and roam around downtown (no, we did not went to the needle,  as I have been there and my spouse doesn't care for the high places) . For late lunch and pre dinner we went to Japanosa resturant,  they have happy hour on everything until 5 pm and there food was just delicious. As you can see they don't serve half rolls like some famous venue in RC ship :-). 

 
We again  went to sleep quite early , suddenly I was woken up by my spouse saying hey , we are missing  the boat we need to go it's already 11:30 . It took me few seconds to understand that yes , it was 11:30 but PM ... The Jetlag strikes back 
 

We started our journey on Tuesday evening saying good bye and took train to the airport.

12 hour later  we landed  in Newark for a challenging 1.5 hour connection,  immigration went very fast although there were some lines but one of the suitcases took it time to arrive which push us to the not do comfortable zone. Lucky for us there were zero lines at security and our flight to Seattle was from the same terminal. We arrived the gate just when they started to board . Flight to Seattle took another 5 hours but it went smooth. When we landed the luggage came very quick and we walked to the train. The train  departures every 10 minutes and has enough space for luggage.  It cost 3 $ per person. It took us 6 more minutes to walk to the hotel , although it was uphill. Around 12 PM we arrived to the hotel to find that our room already ready which was nice.


We quickly got refreshed and went to catch something to eat in Pike market which is 10 minutes from the hotel. We went to the market grill , I got the Salmon sandwich which was very good.

We checked some other places in the market before going to the nearby Target to stock up.

We went back yo the hotel and decided to take some rest which we all know  with the Jetlag meaning sleep until the middle if the night 🙂
 

I think I know the main reason , the main reason , not like Hummus (which by the way was OK) that is being made from cooked chickpeas the Falfel is being made from non cooked, 12 soaked in in water chickpeas. I guess they are using for both the Humos and the Falfel precooked caned chickpeas ...  
I will add a recipe later 🙂
 
 
 
 
 

Day 1 - Seattle.
The Jetlag again to the best of us and we were woken around 4 am, after all its a cruise day.  We tried to force some sleep but at the end we just decided to pack and get organized. At 6:45 we did our way again to Starbucks Reserve to catch breakfast,  as you can see we really liked this place (and not many things open so early).

After enjoying our time there we went back to the hotel and booked Uber to the port. The Uber cost 37$ which was better than the 55$ which offered by the hotel. Around 10:15 we arrived to the  port and started the check in process. Everything was very fast compared to the horror stories I was reading about Seattle port. 10 minutes after,  we were waiting in the holding area to start boarding. They started boarding two minutes after with suite,  pinnacles and keys , we were next. The nice thing they done was locating the ship security gates outside the ship allowing many more swiping cards  stations, preventing lines in the ship entry. After boarding and completing the muster check in we went to eat our first lunch in 270, it was quite good. We continued to the music hall to use the pool table were we competing who was the worse in this game, I think I won. We then visit the WJ just to see it had huge lines so we decided to catch something in Ship&chips.  I thought it's extra money venue but apparently it was free beside the lobster. I took the fish sandwich which was good. We booked the north star which is free for port days and watch the nice view of Seattle. 




By that time the cabin was ready so we unpacked and got organized. Still don't understand why they have power outlets only in one side of the bad , are they getting percentages from some marriage consulting organizations? 
For sail away we went to to deck 15

Although we had a nice view also from the cabin
For first day dinner we decided to go to the Solarium Bistro (you can understand by now, no CK access this time) the full meal was self service not like before were some of the dishes you needed to order. It was so so, I really wanted to catch the chef to explain him how to prepare Falfel and how to handle the Thaini , hint , you don't serve it raw. I still think it's not a bad option for first day. We went to check what we missed in the WJ, which was quite empty , they served some chops and had nice desserts. 


 
We went back to the room to take some rest before visiting the very packed casino. We called it early , as we were tired although next day is a sea day.

 

Day 0.1 Seattle.
The Jetlag is really hard  I think it was 3 am when we were already up trying to force ourself to sleep longer. I guess that what happens when you go to sleep at 4 PM ... we search for place to eat breakfast and decided to give Starbucks reserve roastery a try. We both not big fans of Starbucks (we are from a city that Starbucks decided to close there branches after failing to compete with many much better coffee places). But this Starbucks is different and it's open on 7 am :-). I would recommend a visit there for sure. Very good sandwiches and cakes. The atmosphere is also very nice.




From Starbucks we went down the Pike street to the market to taste the famous grill cheese sandwich in the market at Beecher , as we were quite full we shared one sandwich and it was very good

After the two  breakfast we had a one our boat tour out of pier 55 just to verify the cruise pier is there and ready for us. It was also nice to see the industrial port and the big cranes in action. 
 





Post the cruise to recover from the disembarking feelings we went to buy some last thing we forgot to bring for the cruise (mainly warm hats) and roam around downtown (no, we did not went to the needle,  as I have been there and my spouse doesn't care for the high places) . For late lunch and pre dinner we went to Japanosa resturant,  they have happy hour on everything until 5 pm and there food was just delicious. As you can see they don't serve half rolls like some famous venue in RC ship :-). 

 
We again  went to sleep quite early , suddenly I was woken up by my spouse saying hey , we are missing  the boat we need to go it's already 11:30 . It took me few seconds to understand that yes , it was 11:30 but PM ... The Jetlag strikes back 
 

We started our journey on Tuesday evening saying good bye and took train to the airport.

12 hour later  we landed  in Newark for a challenging 1.5 hour connection,  immigration went very fast although there were some lines but one of the suitcases took it time to arrive which push us to the not do comfortable zone. Lucky for us there were zero lines at security and our flight to Seattle was from the same terminal. We arrived the gate just when they started to board . Flight to Seattle took another 5 hours but it went smooth. When we landed the luggage came very quick and we walked to the train. The train  departures every 10 minutes and has enough space for luggage.  It cost 3 $ per person. It took us 6 more minutes to walk to the hotel , although it was uphill. Around 12 PM we arrived to the hotel to find that our room already ready which was nice.


We quickly got refreshed and went to catch something to eat in Pike market which is 10 minutes from the hotel. We went to the market grill , I got the Salmon sandwich which was very good.

We checked some other places in the market before going to the nearby Target to stock up.

We went back yo the hotel and decided to take some rest which we all know  with the Jetlag meaning sleep until the middle if the night 🙂
 

I think I know the main reason , the main reason , not like Hummus (which by the way was OK) that is being made from cooked chickpeas the Falfel is being made from non cooked, 12 soaked in in water chickpeas. I guess they are using for both the Humos and the Falfel precooked caned chickpeas ...  
I will add a recipe later 🙂
 
 
 
 
 

Day 1 - Seattle.
The Jetlag again to the best of us and we were woken around 4 am, after all its a cruise day.  We tried to force some sleep but at the end we just decided to pack and get organized. At 6:45 we did our way again to Starbucks Reserve to catch breakfast,  as you can see we really liked this place (and not many things open so early).

After enjoying our time there we went back to the hotel and booked Uber to the port. The Uber cost 37$ which was better than the 55$ which offered by the hotel. Around 10:15 we arrived to the  port and started the check in process. Everything was very fast compared to the horror stories I was reading about Seattle port. 10 minutes after,  we were waiting in the holding area to start boarding. They started boarding two minutes after with suite,  pinnacles and keys , we were next. The nice thing they done was locating the ship security gates outside the ship allowing many more swiping cards  stations, preventing lines in the ship entry. After boarding and completing the muster check in we went to eat our first lunch in 270, it was quite good. We continued to the music hall to use the pool table were we competing who was the worse in this game, I think I won. We then visit the WJ just to see it had huge lines so we decided to catch something in Ship&chips.  I thought it's extra money venue but apparently it was free beside the lobster. I took the fish sandwich which was good. We booked the north star which is free for port days and watch the nice view of Seattle. 




By that time the cabin was ready so we unpacked and got organized. Still don't understand why they have power outlets only in one side of the bad , are they getting percentages from some marriage consulting organizations? 
For sail away we went to to deck 15

Although we had a nice view also from the cabin
For first day dinner we decided to go to the Solarium Bistro (you can understand by now, no CK access this time) the full meal was self service not like before were some of the dishes you needed to order. It was so so, I really wanted to catch the chef to explain him how to prepare Falfel and how to handle the Thaini , hint , you don't serve it raw. I still think it's not a bad option for first day. We went to check what we missed in the WJ, which was quite empty , they served some chops and had nice desserts. 


 
We went back to the room to take some rest before visiting the very packed casino. We called it early , as we were tired although next day is a sea day.

 

We started our journey on Tuesday evening saying good bye and took train to the airport.

12 hour later  we landed  in Newark for a challenging 1.5 hour connection,  immigration went very fast although there were some lines but one of the suitcases took it time to arrive which push us to the not do comfortable zone. Lucky for us there were zero lines at security and our flight to Seattle was from the same terminal. We arrived the gate just when they started to board . Flight to Seattle took another 5 hours but it went smooth. When we landed the luggage came very quick and we walked to the train. The train  departures every 10 minutes and has enough space for luggage.  It cost 3 $ per person. It took us 6 more minutes to walk to the hotel , although it was uphill. Around 12 PM we arrived to the hotel to find that our room already ready which was nice.


We quickly got refreshed and went to catch something to eat in Pike market which is 10 minutes from the hotel. We went to the market grill , I got the Salmon sandwich which was very good.

We checked some other places in the market before going to the nearby Target to stock up.

We went back yo the hotel and decided to take some rest which we all know  with the Jetlag meaning sleep until the middle if the night 🙂
 

Day 1 - Seattle.
The Jetlag again to the best of us and we were woken around 4 am, after all its a cruise day.  We tried to force some sleep but at the end we just decided to pack and get organized. At 6:45 we did our way again to Starbucks Reserve to catch breakfast,  as you can see we really liked this place (and not many things open so early).

After enjoying our time there we went back to the hotel and booked Uber to the port. The Uber cost 37$ which was better than the 55$ which offered by the hotel. Around 10:15 we arrived to the  port and started the check in process. Everything was very fast compared to the horror stories I was reading about Seattle port. 10 minutes after,  we were waiting in the holding area to start boarding. They started boarding two minutes after with suite,  pinnacles and keys , we were next. The nice thing they done was locating the ship security gates outside the ship allowing many more swiping cards  stations, preventing lines in the ship entry. After boarding and completing the muster check in we went to eat our first lunch in 270, it was quite good. We continued to the music hall to use the pool table were we competing who was the worse in this game, I think I won. We then visit the WJ just to see it had huge lines so we decided to catch something in Ship&chips.  I thought it's extra money venue but apparently it was free beside the lobster. I took the fish sandwich which was good. We booked the north star which is free for port days and watch the nice view of Seattle. 




By that time the cabin was ready so we unpacked and got organized. Still don't understand why they have power outlets only in one side of the bad , are they getting percentages from some marriage consulting organizations? 
For sail away we went to to deck 15

Although we had a nice view also from the cabin
For first day dinner we decided to go to the Solarium Bistro (you can understand by now, no CK access this time) the full meal was self service not like before were some of the dishes you needed to order. It was so so, I really wanted to catch the chef to explain him how to prepare Falfel and how to handle the Thaini , hint , you don't serve it raw. I still think it's not a bad option for first day. We went to check what we missed in the WJ, which was quite empty , they served some chops and had nice desserts. 


 
We went back to the room to take some rest before visiting the very packed casino. We called it early , as we were tired although next day is a sea day.

 

Undoubtedly, there are some who find this blog bordering on hyperbolic. I can assure you that although i may not repeat everything verbatim, it's 100% grounded in truth. 
Let me provide an example. 
Let's say one of us (i won't say who) was snoring last night. So one of us (again anonymously) went into the guest room. 
I woke up to this gem.  (Yes, email for non urgent communications during the night. Batman has worked night shift for years. If it's urgent, we have overrides for calling and text).
 

Day 1 - Seattle.
The Jetlag again to the best of us and we were woken around 4 am, after all its a cruise day.  We tried to force some sleep but at the end we just decided to pack and get organized. At 6:45 we did our way again to Starbucks Reserve to catch breakfast,  as you can see we really liked this place (and not many things open so early).

After enjoying our time there we went back to the hotel and booked Uber to the port. The Uber cost 37$ which was better than the 55$ which offered by the hotel. Around 10:15 we arrived to the  port and started the check in process. Everything was very fast compared to the horror stories I was reading about Seattle port. 10 minutes after,  we were waiting in the holding area to start boarding. They started boarding two minutes after with suite,  pinnacles and keys , we were next. The nice thing they done was locating the ship security gates outside the ship allowing many more swiping cards  stations, preventing lines in the ship entry. After boarding and completing the muster check in we went to eat our first lunch in 270, it was quite good. We continued to the music hall to use the pool table were we competing who was the worse in this game, I think I won. We then visit the WJ just to see it had huge lines so we decided to catch something in Ship&chips.  I thought it's extra money venue but apparently it was free beside the lobster. I took the fish sandwich which was good. We booked the north star which is free for port days and watch the nice view of Seattle. 




By that time the cabin was ready so we unpacked and got organized. Still don't understand why they have power outlets only in one side of the bad , are they getting percentages from some marriage consulting organizations? 
For sail away we went to to deck 15

Although we had a nice view also from the cabin
For first day dinner we decided to go to the Solarium Bistro (you can understand by now, no CK access this time) the full meal was self service not like before were some of the dishes you needed to order. It was so so, I really wanted to catch the chef to explain him how to prepare Falfel and how to handle the Thaini , hint , you don't serve it raw. I still think it's not a bad option for first day. We went to check what we missed in the WJ, which was quite empty , they served some chops and had nice desserts. 


 
We went back to the room to take some rest before visiting the very packed casino. We called it early , as we were tired although next day is a sea day.

 

They also taste very well and cost 9-12 $ each...

Well we found those two packages here which we never ordered , anyone know if it's the new C&A gift or someone thought we will be very very thirsty?

Actually used to do this route quite often,  not that bad , better than the 17 hours flights from Mumbai to EWR 🙂

Those sushi rolls put Izumi to shame!

Flying Tel Aviv to Newark and then another 5 hours to Seattle? I'm exhausted just thinking about it!

Day 0.1 Seattle.
The Jetlag is really hard  I think it was 3 am when we were already up trying to force ourself to sleep longer. I guess that what happens when you go to sleep at 4 PM ... we search for place to eat breakfast and decided to give Starbucks reserve roastery a try. We both not big fans of Starbucks (we are from a city that Starbucks decided to close there branches after failing to compete with many much better coffee places). But this Starbucks is different and it's open on 7 am :-). I would recommend a visit there for sure. Very good sandwiches and cakes. The atmosphere is also very nice.




From Starbucks we went down the Pike street to the market to taste the famous grill cheese sandwich in the market at Beecher , as we were quite full we shared one sandwich and it was very good

After the two  breakfast we had a one our boat tour out of pier 55 just to verify the cruise pier is there and ready for us. It was also nice to see the industrial port and the big cranes in action. 
 





Post the cruise to recover from the disembarking feelings we went to buy some last thing we forgot to bring for the cruise (mainly warm hats) and roam around downtown (no, we did not went to the needle,  as I have been there and my spouse doesn't care for the high places) . For late lunch and pre dinner we went to Japanosa resturant,  they have happy hour on everything until 5 pm and there food was just delicious. As you can see they don't serve half rolls like some famous venue in RC ship :-). 

 
We again  went to sleep quite early , suddenly I was woken up by my spouse saying hey , we are missing  the boat we need to go it's already 11:30 . It took me few seconds to understand that yes , it was 11:30 but PM ... The Jetlag strikes back 
 

Day 0.1 Seattle.
The Jetlag is really hard  I think it was 3 am when we were already up trying to force ourself to sleep longer. I guess that what happens when you go to sleep at 4 PM ... we search for place to eat breakfast and decided to give Starbucks reserve roastery a try. We both not big fans of Starbucks (we are from a city that Starbucks decided to close there branches after failing to compete with many much better coffee places). But this Starbucks is different and it's open on 7 am :-). I would recommend a visit there for sure. Very good sandwiches and cakes. The atmosphere is also very nice.




From Starbucks we went down the Pike street to the market to taste the famous grill cheese sandwich in the market at Beecher , as we were quite full we shared one sandwich and it was very good

After the two  breakfast we had a one our boat tour out of pier 55 just to verify the cruise pier is there and ready for us. It was also nice to see the industrial port and the big cranes in action. 
 





Post the cruise to recover from the disembarking feelings we went to buy some last thing we forgot to bring for the cruise (mainly warm hats) and roam around downtown (no, we did not went to the needle,  as I have been there and my spouse doesn't care for the high places) . For late lunch and pre dinner we went to Japanosa resturant,  they have happy hour on everything until 5 pm and there food was just delicious. As you can see they don't serve half rolls like some famous venue in RC ship :-). 

 
We again  went to sleep quite early , suddenly I was woken up by my spouse saying hey , we are missing  the boat we need to go it's already 11:30 . It took me few seconds to understand that yes , it was 11:30 but PM ... The Jetlag strikes back 
 

Day 0.1 Seattle.
The Jetlag is really hard  I think it was 3 am when we were already up trying to force ourself to sleep longer. I guess that what happens when you go to sleep at 4 PM ... we search for place to eat breakfast and decided to give Starbucks reserve roastery a try. We both not big fans of Starbucks (we are from a city that Starbucks decided to close there branches after failing to compete with many much better coffee places). But this Starbucks is different and it's open on 7 am :-). I would recommend a visit there for sure. Very good sandwiches and cakes. The atmosphere is also very nice.




From Starbucks we went down the Pike street to the market to taste the famous grill cheese sandwich in the market at Beecher , as we were quite full we shared one sandwich and it was very good

After the two  breakfast we had a one our boat tour out of pier 55 just to verify the cruise pier is there and ready for us. It was also nice to see the industrial port and the big cranes in action. 
 





Post the cruise to recover from the disembarking feelings we went to buy some last thing we forgot to bring for the cruise (mainly warm hats) and roam around downtown (no, we did not went to the needle,  as I have been there and my spouse doesn't care for the high places) . For late lunch and pre dinner we went to Japanosa resturant,  they have happy hour on everything until 5 pm and there food was just delicious. As you can see they don't serve half rolls like some famous venue in RC ship :-). 

 
We again  went to sleep quite early , suddenly I was woken up by my spouse saying hey , we are missing  the boat we need to go it's already 11:30 . It took me few seconds to understand that yes , it was 11:30 but PM ... The Jetlag strikes back 
 

Day 0.1 Seattle.
The Jetlag is really hard  I think it was 3 am when we were already up trying to force ourself to sleep longer. I guess that what happens when you go to sleep at 4 PM ... we search for place to eat breakfast and decided to give Starbucks reserve roastery a try. We both not big fans of Starbucks (we are from a city that Starbucks decided to close there branches after failing to compete with many much better coffee places). But this Starbucks is different and it's open on 7 am :-). I would recommend a visit there for sure. Very good sandwiches and cakes. The atmosphere is also very nice.




From Starbucks we went down the Pike street to the market to taste the famous grill cheese sandwich in the market at Beecher , as we were quite full we shared one sandwich and it was very good

After the two  breakfast we had a one our boat tour out of pier 55 just to verify the cruise pier is there and ready for us. It was also nice to see the industrial port and the big cranes in action. 
 





Post the cruise to recover from the disembarking feelings we went to buy some last thing we forgot to bring for the cruise (mainly warm hats) and roam around downtown (no, we did not went to the needle,  as I have been there and my spouse doesn't care for the high places) . For late lunch and pre dinner we went to Japanosa resturant,  they have happy hour on everything until 5 pm and there food was just delicious. As you can see they don't serve half rolls like some famous venue in RC ship :-). 

 
We again  went to sleep quite early , suddenly I was woken up by my spouse saying hey , we are missing  the boat we need to go it's already 11:30 . It took me few seconds to understand that yes , it was 11:30 but PM ... The Jetlag strikes back 
 

Day 0.1 Seattle.
The Jetlag is really hard  I think it was 3 am when we were already up trying to force ourself to sleep longer. I guess that what happens when you go to sleep at 4 PM ... we search for place to eat breakfast and decided to give Starbucks reserve roastery a try. We both not big fans of Starbucks (we are from a city that Starbucks decided to close there branches after failing to compete with many much better coffee places). But this Starbucks is different and it's open on 7 am :-). I would recommend a visit there for sure. Very good sandwiches and cakes. The atmosphere is also very nice.




From Starbucks we went down the Pike street to the market to taste the famous grill cheese sandwich in the market at Beecher , as we were quite full we shared one sandwich and it was very good

After the two  breakfast we had a one our boat tour out of pier 55 just to verify the cruise pier is there and ready for us. It was also nice to see the industrial port and the big cranes in action. 
 





Post the cruise to recover from the disembarking feelings we went to buy some last thing we forgot to bring for the cruise (mainly warm hats) and roam around downtown (no, we did not went to the needle,  as I have been there and my spouse doesn't care for the high places) . For late lunch and pre dinner we went to Japanosa resturant,  they have happy hour on everything until 5 pm and there food was just delicious. As you can see they don't serve half rolls like some famous venue in RC ship :-). 

 
We again  went to sleep quite early , suddenly I was woken up by my spouse saying hey , we are missing  the boat we need to go it's already 11:30 . It took me few seconds to understand that yes , it was 11:30 but PM ... The Jetlag strikes back 
 

Ahhhh….so this is a controversy similar to those of us who know ONLY Coke…no matter what the actual brand might happen to be.  ….not that any civilized person drinks anything OTHER than Coke, of course….🤭

Royal's pro tip:

 
SweetPea's Pro tip: Don't drink and Zazzle your own Duck Tags after watching the movie The Help:


Oh, you didn't think we were Duckers, did you?
Yeah, good call. We're not.
Let's just say this turned into a series of "It seemed like a good idea at the time." 
I know what i was thinking, partially anyway.  I was 🤔 that I'm going to have a hard time getting Batman to leave the room. Hiding ducks would give us an opportunity to explore the ship.
I've since come to learn the error in that logic.
Because we all know exactly what's going to happen here. 1) i will bring some with me from Point A (our stateroom) to our next destination to hide while trying not to hold up Batman too much or 2) Batman will tell me, "Yeah, you have fun with that. I'll meet you back here when you're done. If you see our guy, get me some more Coors Lite on your way back. Thanks. Love you. Mean it. "
But now I'm committed and we're just going with it ... And by "we," clearly i mean "me" here. 
Obviously, Batman knows about the ducks. 
He's not seen the tags.
I can predict the conversation once he begins packing for us. I'm wondering if i should foretell it now to see how accurate it turns out to be?
Oh i should? 
Fine. 
Undoubtedly, it will start with ... "you're an idiot." (I think that's a given and by now well-established).  Followed by 'the font on the front is too small, but maybe that's a good thing" And finally, "who the hell is SweetPea? You're Batgirl."
Now i feel i have to explain that last part. Batman has always been Batman. I don't know why.  He just is. One cruise about a dozen years ago when we were sailing with Batman's family, Batman's sister announced in a booming voice, "GOOD MORNING, SweetPea!" (For the record, it was about 2pm).  She did this in a quiet but crowded outdoor bar. It was a smaller ship with the same crew grabbing a few drinks at the same bar at the same time every day.  My "Norm!" became "SweetPea!" when i would arrive.  No one knew my given name that cruise. Everywhere i went it was "SweetPea!" The end.
But my point is ... that is NOT what Batman calls me. 
Also, for the record, i do not eat Pork Roll, and I'm not sure what i was thinking with that helpful piece of advice, but those stupid tags were like $70 & I'm not changing them now. (i can almost hear @OCSC Mike's eyes rolling .... 😆)
 

Loving your blog. The salmon sandwich looks yummy