ScooterScott22

Agree with @Skid about the buffet style except for the entree, but we were on Ovation not Anthem. I’m guessing they are similar. One thing to note about the pasta that was on the entree list. If you ordered that they told you to serve yourself that off the Buffett too. All other entree dishes were prepared and served from the kitchen. We tried it since we had done everything else at least once and it was fine. It was included in our dining package. Having tried it I would say we would we would not choose it again if we were charged or on a shorter itinerary.

Since I was up by 4:30 most mornings, I was often up and out of the room. A number of times deck 15 was not an option due to the pressure washing and I went up to the solarium only to find that inaccessible also. It was possible to sit in the indoor pool even though it was earlier than the pool hours stated in the cruise compass. When I would return later, usually around 7, it would be open but i never found a specific time that they opened the doors. The cruise compass stated the solarium hot tubs opened at 6:30, did you find that is when they opened the area for public access.

Two of our drivers mentioned that the tides are pretty extreme. In Juneau our driver said this spring the difference from low tide to high tide is 26 feet over the course of the day. The other driver in Skagway mentioned the old Pier at Dyea was built over a mile log to accommodate the tides changes.

Thanks for the great pics and all the information. It was fun to follow along while sailing with you, would have loved to say hi and even though it was never certain, we might have crossed paths at some point. I was up early most mornings and probably walked past you one of those days or on the bridges wings. My son has been following some of the threads and was also looking for you too, but a couple days in the club became more important!

We had the UDP as part of the suite and utilized that more than Coastal Kitchen for dinner. We only did 2 dinners in CK of the 11. Lunches were also more commonly Not in Coastal Kitchen, but the ratio was closer with 4 being in CK. The food was fine, my wife was not as big of a fan of Coastal. For us the number of specialties and options at each venue allowed us to enjoy different items, even if we doubled up on one location. While I respect it may not be feasible to have the UDP and it seems just doing CK would be fine but if you have the option personally i would opt for the greater variety with the dining plan.

My son and I did the class on Thursday morning and he wasn’t hungry since he had a late breakfast. He didn’t eat any and the staff offered it “to go”. We made a California hand roll, tempura shrimp roll and two shrimp nigri. I ate most of mine and we sampled some of his. No one brought anyone with them for pics or observation, everyone was participating. The offer to take it with us might just be because we knew the maitre’d pretty well by that point of the cruise and even had dinner in Izumi the night before. So they might have been offering since we were known to them.

The itinerary was just released this week while we were sailing. It is a Tokyo, Russia and Alaska trans - pacific ending in Seattle. We talked to a few people, besides us, that have already booked. Anyone else on the 2 year plan for this one? I’ll bump this in probably a year and a half when it is more reasonable to find out who is going.

Yep, typo, should have been 2021. I can always say I am not use to putting “2” as the third number for the year but it really is I don’t want to wait another two years to do that trip.

We are in the last days of the Ovation Alaska sailing and visited the next cruise desk to do a placeholder at minimum. Apparently they just announced a few repositioning cruises for this ship in spring 2012. We booked one that looks sort of interesting. Would like to do both but don’t think we could get enough time off to accommodate a 13 and 14 night b2b. According to the agent it sounds like those will out very soon.

The morning coffee might be the thing that is throwing off that equation. I’m not saying the views are bad in two70 but there might be better spots in the morning. With the time change, early docking times and the fact that it is light at 4-something each morning, it has been easy to be awake and taking pics before anyone is really serving. IMHO the views to the side and forward coming into Icy Straight Point, Sitka and Hubbard glacier have been better. The aft views are not bad, just better as we sail out, so two70 may not be ideal. So far, in the morning, the Solarium has been one of the better spots. We are fortunate enough to have the Grand Loft Suite on the starboard/aft and while we have pics and seen great views from all the balconies more pics have been taken from the side, in the morning specially. I’m up again at 4:30 as we sail into Juneau and this morning the aft views are a little better than the other days. Sorry for chiming in on the live blog, it’s just early and we are moving probably less than 10 knots so there is time to kill. Below are the starboard and then the aft pics I just took with the phone.

Not sure if anyone is still watching during the conference finals. Since we are Blues fans and on the Ovation in Alaska wanted to share that we have not seen any feed up here with the playoffs. Had to stream the game and the lag is pretty bad. Hopefully the Caribbean has either more places to watch sports and/or better VOOM service.

Yea, it has been easier to find some of the wildlife. This morning there were a number of Dalls porpoise all around. For those traveling later in the season keep on the lookout. They appear to be about the size of the spinner dolphin in Hawaii but have a darker back and light (almost white) side.

Since your cabin is port side I’ll share the view of the sunrise from our starboard side balcony this morning. The aft balcony was not as impressive but I can see we are much close to land on the port side from there. Hopefully you can find some wildlife with being so close.

Ok, this is like “Where’s Waldo?” We dropped in on the Cruise Critic meet and greet, since my wife was following this cruise on there. One of the attendees took the mic asked if @twangster was in the room. Only response was - the sound of crickets. He made a few quite complementary remarks about your photos that you have shared and remarked he is looking to run into you. Based on the pics you shared of sailing under Lionsgate I think I have might have a photo of you, if you were wearing dark pants and a grey Hoodie.

Thanks, we will keep an eye out. Saw some yesterday morning on the Starboard side, also around 0900.

We used Global Entry while boarding Ovation in Vancouver yesterday and it was very nice to by-pass the much longer queue for standard screening. At customs we were directed to a separate lane and done with the agent very quickly. The whole thing probably took less than one minute after entering that area. Not sure how many other ports have the customs on the front end but if the ease of this is any indication of how it is on the back end it is well worth it. The bad part is customs screening was the last step before boarding the ship so it doesn’t change much until you get to that point.

Via MarineTraffic.com Ovation is underway. Any word if people can Disembark tonight?

It seems we have 4 parties traveling on this cruise from the forums. Hopefully everyone has some sort of internet access for this one, and that it is fully, or near fully, functional since there will be the live blog from the famous @twangster. Wishing everyone a safe weekend of travel to Vancouver. (Personally it is now less than 24 hours until our flight.)

We will be sailing along and following at the same time (as long as the Internet holds up).

It looks like he posted that about 10 months ago. Likely changed since he did respond to the roll call for next weeks initial Alaska. Sorry for chiming in but we are one week out so i’m getting excited.

Someone on another thread had the best comment, wish I could take credit for this “Amster- Dam!” https://www.citynews1130.com/video/2019/05/04/cruise-ships-collide-at-vancouver-terminal/

Thanks for clarifying the term inside passage. So with that detail in mind, is the passage area east/northeast of Vancouver Island too narrow? From Vancouver will the ship sail out west/southwest and around Victoria to the open ocean to go north. It is understandable on the return to Seattle to go that route.

We are now in the single digits to sailing her and are very excited. While I will be happy to share, @twangster will be on our sailing so expect tons of great info even if I never post one thing. Quick question about size of the ship. The larger ships have issues under Lions Gate Bridge in Vancouver so the arrival and departure times have to coincide with low tide. That applies to other ships as well as Ovation. The question is someone mentioned she is too large to sail the inside passage. Is that true? The graphics/maps show her going that way. Yes, I know that is not fact and ships can change their route but it seems odd. The beam doesn’t seem to be that much larger than the others sailing that route. So is there another factor?

Welcome, glad to hear we have another onboard. Ill be honest we haven’t checked.

I get it. I guess 34 - 13 = we get a 21 night cruise not an 11 night. Yea!!!!!!