Cathy Drew

If you are at all particular about what products you use, I recommend bringing your own.  

Looks great so far. Awesome photos. ?

That's 238 lucky kiddos on your cruise! My 14 year-old son would love that cruise! 

Housekeeping items...
O3b internet is back!  While in Alaska Ovation used the old legacy satellites.  Now that we are staying within range we are using the newer O3b satellites.  Yay! I asked the hostess at Coastal Kitchen about Junior Suite access for dinner.  It's accommodated on a space available basis. NFL coverage.  Two stations added to the channel line up.  Channel 40 and 41 have East/West games.  Channel 40 is labeled Sunday/Monday/Thursday.  Channel 41 is Sunday only.  Early games Jets/Patriots and Ravens/Chiefs.  Late games Texans/Chargers and Saints/Seattle.   We changed time last night.  Current time is 4 hours off Eastern time.  We change time again tonight.   By the numbers (of guests):
Australian 367 Brazil 27 Canada 860 China 41 Germany 91  Great Britain 41 Ireland 18 Israel 15 Mexico 70 New Zealand 55 United States 2,588  Children on board 238

Day Three - Sea Day
We have a gentle swell coming at us broadside from the West.

This is basically what my view will be for the next five days.


Not bad.

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.

Back to the ship around 1:30pm in time for lunch and a picture of the ongoing loading of supplies for the long repositioning cruise.

With no luggage to load they could devote the entire day to loading cargo and supplies.
Some sail away drama as four returning guests were missing.  You know what that means... pier runners!
As it turns out some of these guests are a few doors down from me.  I saw security knock and then enter their cabin looking for them.  They were documenting everything with their body cameras.  On a another cruise I learned the process they follow that most of us never see when guests are late returning to the ship.   The security officers stayed outside the cabin waiting for instructions to retrieve passports and wallets from the safe.  Those would be left with the port agent at the pier should the ship leave without the guests.
 
We waited for them and left 70 minutes late. 
A dock worker played the Sax as we pulled away from the pier.


Finally underway now following the NCL Joy that should have been long after us.

Future of Flight and Boeing Factory Tour
Meeting in the theater we eventually led out to our bus for the ~45 minute drive North to Everett, WA.  
They don't allow cameras or phones on the factory tour but you can use them in the tour entrance building and outdoor observation deck.  

Historic Paine field where many wide body Boeing jets have taken their first flight after leaving the factory assembling building to the left and the paint building near center across the runway. 

There are over 30 finished planes waiting for delivery to their future airlines.

The gray planes are refueling tankers for the Air Force.  The white planes with their wing tips turned up are early 777X test planes.  The 777X will release next year, it's currently in development.  The plane uses extra long composite wings for increased lift but to fit in at existing airports the last 11 feet of the wing turn upward on the ground so they can fit at normal gates.

Another early model 777X clad in the green protective vinyl coating that is applied during the assembly process to prevent dings and scratches on the factory floor. 

The two paint buildings where all wide body jets made here are painted.

Inside the tour building they have some displays including a full size 747-8 tail.  

Up close you realize just how massive it is.

The next generation of the popular wide body 777 will be the 777X. 

Tail section of fuselage from the inside.

What the wall of the plane looks like without the decorative panels we all see when we fly. 

This 787X has been clad with a body wrap graphics instead of using paint.  Paint adds significant weight that is carried like cargo.  By reducing weight over the lifecycle of a plane airlines can save money. 

Free lockers are provided for personal items since nothing is allowed on the tour.  The factory tour consisted of a bus ride over to the factory assembly buildings  We walked through a tunnel to a freight elevator where we went up to an observation floor overlooking the factory floor.  It's amazing to see so many very large wide body jets being built.  First up was the 747 and 767 assembly lines.  Next we went to the 777 assembly line.  Pretty mind blowing.  Unfortunately no pictures.  The tour lasted 90 minutes before we were bussed back to the tour entrance building.  

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.

Wow!  I thought you were skipping the blog this time!!!  So excited that you are blogging. 
This is one of my Top 3 bucket list cruises.  Cannot wait for the pics on this one.  No doubt it will be beautiful!  Happy sailing!

Cabin Tour!
Deck 12 standard balcony - 12552.







View aft.

View down to the sea.

View forward.

The last time I boarded Ovation in Vancouver I arrived at Canada Place to board at 9am.  I had a long wait inside a small waiting area so this time I left my hotel around 10:15am and took the Skytrain to Waterfront station for all of $3.12 USD.   From Waterfront station I walked over to Canada Place.  I knew the routine from last time, down to the P2 parking deck to drop luggage, back up to Hall C to check in (agent with tablet for a 30 second check in), down one level to security and US Customs to pre-clear back into the US.  This time my timing was perfect, they were just beginning to board as I reached the waiting area. 
First stop on board was to re-code my previous Wow band to my account and into the Diamond Lounge to finish some work.  Entering the DL requires the use of a SeaPass card which I wouldn't get until cabins were ready later but with a Wow band on my account I used it to enter the DL which I had to myself for over 30 minutes until someone else with a Wow band joined me.    
I saw a blog post about Ovation starting to use the new Royal app  so I tried the old Royal IQ app and found it still working.  Then I tried the new Royal app and sure enough it worked too. 
Shortly after 1pm the announcement came that cabins were ready.

Hilton Vancouver Airport
Free shuttle from the airport. I don't recall booking a Junior King Suite but that's what they gave me.   Separate sitting area from the bedroom.



Bedroom.


Bathroom.


I walked over the the Richmond Center shopping mall and their food court for dinner.  

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.    

Well, Viator emailed and my Sitka tour lost the brewery.  Apparently the brewery has decided no tours this year.  The local tour operator is offering a town bar in it's place, but I don't need to pay for a tour to visit a bar.  
Consequently I cancelled this tour and will make my own beer sampling event in Sitka.  

Finally the 2019 Alaska cruise season is beginning and so has the single digit dance!
Looking back I always put off an Alaska cruise despite all the good things I heard over and again.  Now I can't get enough.  This will be my fourth cruise to Alaska and hopefully it will not be my last.   Why did I wait so long to cruise to Alaska?  
Itinerary
Day              Port of Call                                        Arrive       Depart
1                   Vancouver                                                            5pm
2                   At Sea
3                   At Sea
4                   Icy Strait Point (ISP)                           9am        8pm
5                   Sitka                                                      7am        6pm
6                   Hubbard Glacier                                  8am        11am
7                   Juneau                                                  7am        9pm
8                   Skagway                                               7am        8:30pm
9                   Endicott Arm and Dawes Glacier     7am        12pm
10                 At Sea
11                 At Sea
12                 Seattle                                                  6am

source: CruiseCharts.com
The Ship
This is a special cruise in many ways.  This will be Ovation's first cruise to Alaska and the first time a Quantum class ship visits Alaska.  It will be the largest cruise ship ever to visit Alaska edging out the NCL Bliss by a small margin.  It's a repositioning itinerary unique for this season, starting in Vancouver and ending in Seattle.  There are two glaciers on the itinerary, Hubbard and Dawes.  The itinerary includes two ports not normally on Royal itineraries from the South - Sitka and Icy Straight Point.   It's eleven nights compared to the normal 7 night Alaska cruise.  This will be the earliest in the Alaska cruise season for me, beating out my previous early Alaska season cruise by several weeks.  
Hubbard Glacier is pretty far North and it's not normally on Seattle based itineraries.  Sitka is infrequently on Royal itineraries.  Icy Strait Point is a favorite port for me and usually only found on Royal's North or South one-way Alaska itineraries.   
When considering any Alaska cruise paying attention to the times in port is important and Royal has planned some awesome times in each port on this itinerary.
Ovation is a "cold weather" ship which should pair very well with Alaska.  The ample sized indoor pool will be great for families leaving the beautiful Solarium for adults to enjoy the sweeping views forward as we sail the Alaskan inside passages.  Combined with the sweeping views aft from Two70° and this is shaping up to be a fantastic Alaska cruise experience.
Pre-Cruise Plans
I fly to Vancouver with a connection in Salt Lake City arriving noon the day before the cruise departs Vancouver.
I found a nice but inexpensive hotel near the airport with a free airport shuttle.  Vancouver features a train system that will allow me to reach downtown pretty easily while saving substantially by not staying downtown.  
Once settled I plan to visit downtown and may even head out to the Lion's Gate Bridge Sunday evening to watch Ovation arrive being the largest cruise ship ever to visit Vancouver harbor. 
Cabin
I normally scale back my cabin to Alaska so I can splurge on excursions but Ovation changes the math.  Quantum class ships have a much higher balcony cabin count relative to interior or ocean view cabins.  Because of the balcony cabin ratio on Ovation the marginal price difference to book a balcony was small enough to motivate me to spend a few extra hundred dollars and book a balcony plus it's eleven nights.  In years past an interior cabin was less than half the price of a balcony so the savings basically paid for the excursions.
Consequently this year I am in a 2D ocean view balcony on deck 11 forward port side.  On these ships I like being close to the pool deck so I can take the stairs and my cabin is a few steps to the elevator lobby.
Specialty Dining
None planned.  My travel agent did throw in one specialty dinner so I'll probably visit Jamie's based on an Anthem cruise where I really enjoyed Jamie's over all the other options. 
Excursions
To experience Alaska you need to get out of the ports and see Alaska.  To this end I always plan a healthy Alaska excursion budget and this year's excursion budget approaches $900 per person.
When I booked this cruise I grabbed a bunch of Royal excursions as place holders while I looked at all options.  Several cruise planner sales occurred and I was able to save hundreds by cancelling and rebooking my excursions.  With those price drops I couldn't find many cheaper options and all things being equal I always prefer booking excursion through Royal in case of itinerary changes.  I did find one Viator excursion in Sitka that looked interesting so I booked it outside of Royal.
Icy Strait Point (ISP)
With Royal gaining access to Glacier Bay in future years I thought a fly over Glacier Bay National Park would be a great way to look forward to a future visit by ship.

Going on a bear hunt to shoot pictures has always appealed to me in ISP so these are my two excursions for this day leaving lots of time to explore ISP on my own.

Sitka
The raptor center in Sitka sounded like a great way to see some birds including (hopefully) some Eagles.  Throw in a nature walk and it sounded like a winner.

Having hopefully seen bears by this point, I thought beers and bears sounded pretty good so I found this Viator option in Sitka. 

Juneau
Visiting Juneau I have always watched the float planes coming and going but always found something else to do.  So this year I am going to continue my small plane obsession and see some glaciers from the air in a SeaPlane.

Skagway
Glass blowing has always fascinated me and having done many of the other must do Skagway activities this year is going to blow.  I figure what better way to find a keepsake memento from an Alaska cruise than on a glassblowing activity leaving me a lot of daylight to explore Skagway on my own.

Internet
I bought Voom Surf and Stream on sale for $11.99 per day.  Given the 11 night duration this was more economical compared to buying it on board with my Crown and Anchor discount and waiting until day two. 
While Ovation uses the newest O3b satellite platform I'm not sure that is going to help North in Alaska where O3b has "limited services".


source: www.ses.com/our-coverage
A Royal O3b enabled ship has never ventured this far North into the limited services area so I'm not sure what to expect from Voom.  If the ship switches to conventional satellite internet I know from past experiences that can be hit or miss at times while cruising Alaska.  Consequently this may not be a live blog and I might have to finish and post pictures once home.
With that the count down continues...  more to come.

Pre Cruise Day ?
Travelled from Brisbane to Sydney by plane. 1 1/2 hour trip. Went by train from the airport to the hotel. 
If you ever get on a cruise in Sydney, the Holiday Inn Old Sydney is a great place to stay. Close to the port, the city  and  a very comfortable sleep.
We were upgraded to a Harbour View room, so got a view of Ovation coming into the port this morning.

Pre Cruise Day ?
Travelled from Brisbane to Sydney by plane. 1 1/2 hour trip. Went by train from the airport to the hotel. 
If you ever get on a cruise in Sydney, the Holiday Inn Old Sydney is a great place to stay. Close to the port, the city  and  a very comfortable sleep.
We were upgraded to a Harbour View room, so got a view of Ovation coming into the port this morning.

Day before vacation 
was a busy day cleaning, finalising packing and taking the animals to their holiday resort. Trying to get the cats into their cage for transportation was fraught with danger. We have the scratches to prove it.

Day before vacation 
was a busy day cleaning, finalising packing and taking the animals to their holiday resort. Trying to get the cats into their cage for transportation was fraught with danger. We have the scratches to prove it.

Day before vacation 
was a busy day cleaning, finalising packing and taking the animals to their holiday resort. Trying to get the cats into their cage for transportation was fraught with danger. We have the scratches to prove it.

Have a great sailing @Cathy Drew!  I'll be following along from Harmony!