Guy Gadwa

After St. Paul’s, we headed over to St. Jame’s and Buckingham Palace to watch the changing of the guards. 

London - Day 2
Wow! Today was a non-stop busy one! We started the day taking the Tube to Victoria Coach station to catch our Best of London tour. This tour was good value. Very comprehensive, packed, and tiring! It was supposed to be a 9 hour tour but turned out to be 10 hours because London traffic was awful today. 
 
The day started off at Westminster Abbey. 

Then we headed over to St. Paul’s Cathedral and spent about 1.5 hours there. We went it and toured the main floor and the crypts. 
 
 

After settling in, but no napping, we decided to head out to explore the areas around our hotel. I posted some stories to IG (because I cannot post videos here). We ended up at Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus, and Chinatown. It was a great afternoon! But by about 5pm, everyone was starting to feel the tiredness so we ate dinner early and are calling it day. 
 




 
 

Backtracking a bit….
We landed at LHR pretty much on time. LHR was busy, we had to deplane from some random area abs were bussed into T3 because they did not have a gate for us. Luckily, it did not take long to wait for the bus because we were one of the first ones off the plane.
 
Because we have Canadian passports and both kids are over 12, we were able to use the e-gates at UK customs. That sped things up considerably. After that was baggage reclaim and that area was a disaster! Bags were literally all over the place just like what is seen on the news lately. My daughter even commented if we were supposed to search for our bags among the sea of bags. When we arrive at carousel 5, someone had already loaded them off and we found them along the side. That was a Praise God moment. Off we went happily with our two checked bags and thankful I won’t have to deal with fizzy hair like back in March.
 
Blackberry Cars estimated that it would take us 60 mins from landing to meeting them and it took us just a little under that. They send you a text with a link to track the driver about 15mins out. We waited about 10mins for them instead of the other way around. Our driver was professional and helpful. Overall, really impressed with this service from pre-planning right through to the end. We plan to use them again for Friday as long as we stay covid free 🤞
We arrived at The Savoy just after 9:30am. Had breakfast in Thames Foyer (which is beautiful) while we waited for them to finish up the rooms. Because we racked up quite a few points last year with Fairmont (due to staycations in Canada) we qualified for 5 suite night upgrades this year. This is another reason why we are at the Savoy. Those SNU expire by 12/22 if I don’t use them. Anyway, you cannot book a suite for 4 here so we originally booked a junior suite with a connecting King for the kids. Upon checking in, they informed us that because of our Accor status, they upgraded both our rooms to deluxe junior suites (still connecting) with ours being slightly larger than then kids.
 
Below you can see how they connect. There is a small entry way where you can see both rooms. Go one way and it’s our room, go the other way, it’s the kids. It is sort of the like JS/solo cabins on Quantum class ships how they connect family style but still gives you separate rooms if you choose to have it that way. 













Kids room. Also a Junior suite but slightly smaller and no extra powder room. Still way more space than they need. The Savoy also left them a small surprise on the table. It’s little things like this that I love about Fairmont. Hubby claims it’s like SC on land lol. 
 












 
Ending with a super funny story. While Hubby was trying to take pics for the kids room, they were in the way so we told them to get into the closet because the other room wasn’t ready yet. Well as that was happening, two guys rang the bell for our luggage. They brought it into the room for us and then proceeded to ask if we needed extra luggage racks. Then one opened the closet to check if there were any in there before we could warn him. Well, he did not find luggage racks but you can guess what he found. We all could not stop laughing! I tried to explain pictures for the blog thing but I think it was pointless. They were still laughing on their way out! 

I woke today with a message from Leroy wishing us a Happy 4th of July. I just have to get through my 24hr shift at the firehouse today and then I’m officially on vacation!

Some of you know that I am a huge fan of the Fairmont chain of hotels right? So when in London, it’s The Savoy. Waiting for our rooms to be ready so having some real food for breakfast.
 



 

Great news! We, and the bags have landed! Lol

Day ?? - I don't know I am lost....
The internet has been so bad I cannot post or work on the internet.  Last night it was so bad I could not see emails or websites.  The strange thing is I could still make WiFi Calls and was able to do Facetime with my son and the two boys (Standard Poodles).  The dogs were excited to be able to hear and see me.  Next time I need to get my son on his laptop so they will have a bigger screen to see me.  This morning is the first day I got out of bed before 10:30 am.  I got up at 7:00 am and went to the buffet for a fresh cooked omelet.  The breakfast was not bad.  I was working on my computer and about 8:30 am people started showing up and the internet went south.  it is better because I am able to load this blog and type in it.  I knew the closer we got to land the better it would get.
Left Right Center
Just a quick note.  We played the game Left-Right-Center today and had a great time.  There was about 15 people and we were very loud and had a blast.  We are playing it agian tomarrow.  Tonight I think it will be a lay in my bed and go to sleep early night.

Juneau
More rain on and off.  I'll be back next week on a different ship so I decided to make a game day decision and stay on the ship for this visit.  It wasn't conducive to going up the Mt Roberts tramway today or even walking around in the rain.

To be fair it didn't rain all day so I'm sure fellow guests have some awesome experiences today.

We docked at the pier that uses shuttle buses for the short trip to the downtown transportation area.  

Here is a 4K video of our morning in Tracy Arm and seeing Sawyer Glacier.
 

Here is the 3 minute time lapse of the trip.

The rest of the trip out was pretty spectacular.


 
As we approached the entrance shared with Endicott Arm heavy rains started again which was pretty fortunate timing.  
 

Much to my surprise Radiance of the Seas appeared and passed us.  You think these channels are very tight but she passed us with ease and well away from us.
It's not too often you get to take close up pictures of a ship in fjord like this. 

I headed back to my aft balcony to take in the retreat back down Tracy Arm with an aft view.  I also needed to warm up.  I was chilled to the bone.

Soon enough the Sawyer Glacier appeared in the distance.
To be clear, the ship doesn't get very close to the glacier which is beginning to recede into the mountains where the ship can't get into.



Bring binoculars or a telephoto lens on your camera.

More sights from our journey into the Tracy Arm.

I always find it striking when the ship is in such close proximity to the towering mountains all around us.  This is so different compared to Caribbean cruising.

The thing about Alaska weather is that it can change in a heartbeat and thankfully today it did.


Plenty of waterfalls on both sides.




With the improved weather the helipad saw more guests.


Glaciers are cool and all but the sights in these arms is breathtaking.  It's not just about seeing a glacier, the trip up Tracy Arm is worth the price of admission on its own.

I set my time lapse on my balcony and headed forward to enjoy Tracy Arm

It started raining pretty good and with the wind channeling down Tracy Arm towards us combined with our forward motion it was raining sideways.  At just 4°C the rain felt like ice pellets which explains the low turn out on the helipad.

It was pretty miserable and cold.

Despite that I was determined to photograph the experience. 




We turned deeper into the arm and continued on our way while the wind and rain was merciless.  

Day Four - Tracy Arm/Sawyer Glacier & Juneau
Last night the Captain announced we would return to the Pacific briefly before entering the Alaskan Inside Passage on our way to Tracy Arm and after that Juneau.  Our arrival to begin the trip into Tracy Arm would commence at 5am. 
This entrance off the Inside Passage is common to both Tracy Arm and Endicott Arm which is featured on many Seattle based cruises on Quantum and Ovation. 


To the right or starboard is the way to Endicott Arm.

We will be going straight and turning left into Tracy Arm.

It was of course raining making picture taking not the best.

As we turned I noted the distinct shape of another Royal Caribbean ship behind us.

Radiance of the Seas.  I assumed Radiance would be heading into Endicott Arm. 

The shuttle bus back to the ship was loading as I walked up so I hopped on.  
By this point it was raining pretty hard so a lot of people held back at the cruise terminal.  I took advantage of that to beat the crowds back on to the ship.
From my balcony I heard an incoming helicopter.  USCG was checking us out.  The rain had subsided.

Across the water I could see the occasional water spout indicating whales were in the area.

Of course Eagles were circling overhead as well.

I also spotted this Harbor Seal poking around the docks of the local marina.


Juvenile Eagle.


Quite a few Eagles, to the point I stopped taking pictures.

The seal over by the docks was still hanging around the area.

The rain passed and the sun tried to poke through briefly.

However that was short lived and another large wave of heavy rain moved in as we departed.  That pretty much ended any pictures.

Thank YOU so much for the opportunity to get you the right fit!  We are excited to help you with your travels!! And we are always here to help --- Fee-Free!!!  

I just want to Thank and @Beci Jennifer and MEI-Travel.  They quickly resolved my issue and i am now fully booked for December and want to thank them for there excellent service and reaching out to me.

Day 6 - Geriatric Cruise
Ok,  I am not a spring chicken but there are times on this cruise I feel like I am on the wrong cruise.  The last two nights there we two different times.  Two nights ago it was a Twist dance competition.  Out of everyone on the ship they picked three couples to do the competition that were all over 70 and could hardly dance.  Last night was worse.  They had a game "Love and Marriage".  This is a game with three married couples answering questions.  They started out asking for the couple they have been married the longest;  they got a couple married 55 years.  Then they went for the newlyweds.  The newlyweds they got have been married 4 years and dated 5 years.  And to top it off they were somewhere in their late 60's.  Then they got the middle marred couple;  they had been married 50 years.  To Be Fair...  this cruise is not young but it is not that bad just at times it feels that way.  There are lots of younger people but they seem to stay away from the nightly shows and gathering.  I know when I take a 14 day cruise in April I will be with retired people.
Wait and Wait and Wait then Frustration
The internet has been very good until yesterday.  I am hoping it is because we were in the middle of the Atlantic.  I am back to the internet of 1993 where you type the page you want then go to the kitchen and get a snack and you were excited if the page was up when you got back.  Today (day 7) it seems to be a little better.  Hopefully it will continue to improve as we get closer to land.

Near the harbor I spotted some Eagles in the trees so naturally I had to stop and take some photos.






This stop threw off my timing and it started to rain down pretty good.  Fortunately I had my raincoat on but the last five minutes of this walk was pretty miserable.  Totally worth it to get some nice Eagle photos.

After the next rain break I ventured along the nature trail into the forest.  There are more totem poles spaced out along the trail.



Weather radar showed a larger line of showers heading our way so at this point I decided to start heading back.  It was about 20 - 25 minutes to the shuttle bus stop from here.