SpeedNoodles

I’m on Ovation now. We got close to the glacier, and the captain spun the ship fully around twice. We had a great view from our balcony cabin.

They didn't specify, and I'm more into pho than Ramen, so I'm not sure.

Ok, finally finding a little time to hook up the keyboard to the iPad and update! Days 1 and 2 - pre cruise: We flew out of Terminal 2 at the Mpls/St Paul area on Wednesday afternoon - my husband is terrified of flying, but we had a very smooth flight and his drugs lasted almost long enough. We’ll have to get another dose into him before landing next time - landing is not his favorite part of the flight! We grabbed an Uber from SeaTac and scored a very entertaining Uber driver for the drive to our hotel. We stayed at The Inn at El Gaucho in Belltown on 1st Avenue. I’ll add some photos in a bit (they are on my phone, I have to add them separately). It was nothing short of wonderful. It’s a small, 17-room, boutique hotel with a very laid-back, friendly atmosphere. The only drawback that I could see is that if you cannot navigate two flights of stairs it’s not for you, as there is no elevator (there is a luggage elevator but it can hold no passengers. Even the staff just loads the luggage on and walks down the stairs to meet the elevator). The evening front desk maven is Lee (fondly known by those who stay frequently/live there as Mama Lee). She is a wealth of information, and extremely welcoming. Each night in the beautiful lobby they have complimentary wine, which we took full advantage of. We will likely not consider staying anywhere else when we visit Seattle again in the future. It was a reasonably close walk to Pike Place (4-5 blocks, but who’s counting after wine?) On Wednesday night (after some wine, of course) we walked 2 blocks away and had dinner at Kaarage Satsuma - Mr SpeedNoodles had Kaarage Chcken and Setsuna fries - I had ramen. Everything was pretty amazing, at a good price, and filling. We then walked down to The Crocodile (home of grunge) where we had tickets to see Har Mar Superstar. As a side note, Har Mar Superstar originated in the Twin Cities and performed in his home town of Owatonna a week before we sailed, which is very close to our house, but we decided to just see him in Seattle. Prom Queen opened for him, and she was fabulous. On Thursday we got up and walked down to Pike Place Market, had some breakfast, then walked down and jumped on an Argosy Locks Tour cruise. It leaves out of the area next to the big Ferris wheel, goes north and takes you through the locks and Lake Union. I highly recommend this tour as well - it was the second time we’ve done it and it’s always enjoyable and informative. We had some drinks and appetizers at Pike Brewery, did a little shopping (Metzger’s Maps, The Purple Store, and Robot Sloth were of particular interest to me), went back for happy hour and then just had dinner in the El Gaucho restaurant below the hotel, then turned in for the night. The Inn at El Gaucho : "Wine" lobby Kaarage Satsuma: Karaage Chicken: Ramen: Plate that I wanted to steal, but didn't.

It would just say we already had the maximum devices, tell us to log off ( without telling us how, lol).

Disregard, I figured it out (log off.com).

I'm trying to switch from one device to another but I have no idea how to log off the first one. Anyone know the trick?

Our ship has been sold out for over a month, but several people from my sailing reported that their bids were accepted last Friday. But since I didn't get an acceptance email then I'll assume rejection. And that's ok.

I'm still waiting for my rejection email ... 3 days until sailing.

I plan the cruise, although Mr SpeedNoodles does let me know where he'd like to go. He plans the pre-cruise stuff (so in this next instance he has all sorts of things planned for our time in Seattle pre and post).

I'd LOVE to do this. The cruise I can afford. I can probably get the time off from work. But the flight! Oh my! Long and expensive!

I second this!

Ok you guys, I'm SO excited. Mr. SpeedNoodles and I have not been on a vacation for 10 years (yes, you read that correctly). We've had time off from work, hauling the hounds to dog shows, but those are work. Lots of fun, but lots of work. This year is our 25th wedding wedding anniversary, his 50th birthday, we found a hound(s)/house sitter, and we are READY TO GO!!! I'll focus this blog mostly on the ship, since there's no way my photos of the scenery will do any justice of it, and Twangster did a superb job on his. Hats off to him - they were absolutely incredible! I don't know that I'll be able to post daily, but I intend to do the best that I can. We will have 36 hours in Seattle before we get on the ship, so we're super excited about that! Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick .....

It may be for certain suite classes - my refrigerator had nothing in it on my Mariner cruise. But, yes, you can ask your stateroom attendant to remove the items.

While I wasn't on an Oasis class ship, when I was on Mariner there was almost nobody playing golf at anytime I walked by (and I did almost nothing but walk the ship the entire time I was on it because I couldn't sit still for more than 5-10 minutes anywhere, and I didn't have a balcony so I didn't want to be in my room). On the one full sea day there were some people playing, but nobody was waiting.

I learned a lot from watching cruise packing/cruise tip videos on YouTube! You may find that useful as well. Sheri at Cruise Tips TV has some excellent videos on her channel.

The only really good nights of sleep I've had in the past 2 years were the 4 nights I spent on Mariner with that bed and those pillows. But pillows/beds are such individual things.

I didn't have a balcony on my last cruise and I decided that I just can't do a cruise without it. When people say "you never spend any time in your room anyway", that may be true for some. And in a room without a balcony, that's true for me. But if I have a balcony, I actually do spend more time in my room, on the balcony, relaxing away from everyone else. So it's really a personal thing.

I've spent a dime or two on Billy's site 😁

I travel with Ex-Officio undergarments - they are easily hand washable and dry super quickly (because they are actually designed for travel/camping). 2 pairs will work for any length of trip, if you so desire.

Yep, I've found the sales to be pretty similar - but always check - once I caught an excursion at $130 when every other time it's been on sale for $163 (when not on sale it's over $180). I also got Chops during one sale at $33pp (for dinner, not lunch) when the sale price is typically much higher. I tend to check prices several times a week on all of my purchases/cruises, even if they aren't listed on sale (because, yes, I have just that much time).

The sale that Matt posted isn't going on for your sailing: " The Splash into Savings sale runs between June 6 – 10, 2019 and is valid on sailings from June 12, 2019 – December 30, 2019. "

I figure when there are choices between reef-safe and regular (and there aren't difficult to find these days), why not just choose reef-safe if you're going to be in the ocean, regardless of requirements.

Mine was just applied to my cruise planner - 15 Days to go (if anyone is keeping track of the average time ahead of sailing). Oh, and there's only 15 days until my next cruise!!!! WOOOHOOOO!!!!!!!!

But you can't fly with a passport card, which limits options of getting home if something happens on an island 🙂 When I renewed our passports we got them back in under 5 weeks - I was shocked how quickly they took care of it.

Someone forgot to tell IT to shut down the ability to book cruises to Cuba - they're still available to book.