DDaley

We stopped by the Seattle Aquarium after lunch, and tried out the Wings Over Washington ride at Miners Landing which I found here on the blog! Both were worth the money to me, the aquarium took about 1.5 hours to walk through and had tons of different exhibits and cool technology. They had active tides in several pools so it was cool to see how the fish constantly ride the current in the wild. The Wings Over Washington ride is like Soarin Over Caifornia at Disneyland and features only majestic Washington overhead camera views.

Made it to Seattle!! Dropped the bags at the hotel and walked down to Pike Place. Too bad we had to wear our jeans (packing troubles) and it’s such a glorious day. 73°F and sunny! Having some chowder at Lowell’s for lunch.

We are on our way! Waiting at the gate and treated to this looovely San Diego sunrise. We’ll be landing in Seattle around 11am and then will Uber to our hotel for bag dropping. Almost cruise day!

Safe trip to you, too!!! That would be awesome!

Update! Went with on-theme, iceberg blue nails. A color I never would’ve picked on my own but it felt right for Alassskaaa! Got another email asking me to bid on a RoyalUp this morning, those last minute cancellations must be pouring in! I haven’t bid on anything since the lowest option for a JS was $390 each and I can’t justify another $780 when I have spent so much on add-ons as it is. I think I would’ve been way more likely to bid if I got the double points in C&A, we are 9 points from Emerald so we still won’t make it after this cruise. Perhaps a last-minute 3 night from LA is in order this fall. Last day of work today and am overtasked by about 8 hours. Gonna be a long day but soooo close to vacation! Relevant meme:

Thank you!! I am tossing in my ski long underwear because then I can layer even more!

Packing I have been watching the weather in Sitka, Hoonah and Juneau for months and that whooole time they haven’t wavered on their predictions that it’s going to rain at least a few hours in each of our Alaskan stops. Because of this I got us each a pair of completely waterproof pants! They make a funny swishing sound when you walk but I will be happy to be dry, especially in Juneau where it predicts rain while we’re kayaking. We are trying to go with only a carry on suitcase (Away soft-sided) and a personal bag each. As it’s looking right now I think this might mean I have to wear my hiking boots on the plane which will be an amazing look. Don’t make me check an additional roller bag! I guess since it’s a non-stop it wouldn’t be too awful but I much prefer the single bag and suitcase for ease of getting around once we get there. I am going to try my best to cram it all in.. thinking I definitely should add an additional folded bag for my eventual Alaskan merchandise. Has anyone sailed Alaska recently and how did you find the weather? I am bringing sweaters and a rain jacket but should I consider my realll winter coat? I can’t decide! I am definitely bringing beanies, gloves and a scarf but will it be enough?

Excursions Like a few of you on these blogs, a @twangster Alaska cruise blog is what convinced me to book this one. He always said to have a hefty budget for Alaskan excursions and he was not wrong! (PS. Can we all get together and group-fund his photo server fees to see those beauties again?) We are spending ~$750 per person on our 4 excursions which is a far cry from $75 pp/per excursion in the Caribbean. I have seen prices rise crazily since I started booking these excursions a year ago. I got the zipline in Victoria for $106 each - currently $194, Kayak in Juneau for $207 each - currently $324. Just wild increases!! Sitka I had planned to head out to The Fortress of the Bear in the morning via public shuttle, but just found out Sunday they’re at visitor capacity limits and will close the venue on days the town passenger count exceeds 5,000… which of course includes our scheduled stop. Hopefully I see some in-the-wild bears to make up for it! Instead, I found a walking tour map of Sitka, so we will still cruise around and see the totem pole trail, possibly swapping the Raptor Center in place of the bears. We do have a private marine life tour with Sitka Adventures in the afternoon! I found this tour simply by Googling 'Sitka tours,' knowing I wanted to get on the water in this port. Captain Gary has great reviews, I am hoping he will cruise us by Rockwell Island as I am a sucker for lighthouses. Icy Strait Point I bought all-day gondola tickets to the top of Alice Mountain through the cruise planner + a small boat whale watching excursion through Trip Advisor. I settled for this similar excursion in two ports because I didn’t find much else we wanted to do here (once we got it swapped for Skagway) and I wanted a smaller boat than the tours offered through RC. More chances for me to spot otters and whales and bears, oh my! Juneau I have dubbed this day Glacier Day as we’ll be cruising Dawes in the early morning and kayaking on Lake Mendenhall in Juneau in the afternoon. Hopefully we’ll be getting a bit closer to the glacier than we did during this day’s earlier drive-by. I had originally planned to take the Blue Bus straight to the Mendenhall visitor’s center and hike to Nugget Falls but am so glad I booked this since everyone’s future Blue Bus tickets were recently refunded. They’ve also reached their max tourist limit for this season and guests will have to make their way to Mendenhall on their own. I thiiiink I might also get Goldbelt Tram tickets for after our excursion, it’s just so hard to say no to a gondola ride and scenic mountain vista! Victoria We are getting in to port at 5pm (!) so this will feel a lot like a third sea day. We booked a zip lining excursion through Royal since we have such little time in this port. The venue (AdrenaLINE Zipline Adventure Tours) isn’t even open after 5pm during normal operating hours so we couldn’t have done this one on our own if we tried. The excursion wont get back until 9:30pm so I have a note to try and remember to start packing on the previous night. Boooo. We booked iFly on our first cruising day, and I also snagged The Royal Society of Puzzles on Day 4 at ISP (after all-aboard so I wont feel like I am missing out on precious port time). We love playing video games so an escape-room-ish situation with puzzles sounds amazing. Entertainment bookings opened at the 6 week mark but the only show available before boarding is Starwater in the 270. We have it scheduled for night 1 since I figure we’ll be at our freshest! Who knows what a day in Alaska takes out of you?

Thank you! I contemplated this but even if I bought all three as dinners, it saves exactly $6 total so I figure the extra $6 is worth having the dining times I want ahead of boarding. haahaha I understand completely! Now I am worried about being so full midday that we won’t make it back out for dinner. Could be a perfect Jamie’s lunch/WJ dinner night combo I think!

Please feel free to add any pics or sailing anecdotes as we go! This is the first vacation I have actually started packing a week in advance for, I am usually a day-prior packer but we are sooo ready to go, too. Even excited to see a little rain, anything better than sticky humidity!

Thank you for confirming my original thought! If I could just get the 150CP garlic bread in place of the Ultimate Garlic Bread I would give in and pay it. I am now seriously considering this idea! $21 makes it all sound a lottt more worthwhile. And I could try the Truffle Tagliatelle for @asquared17! haha

We are heading out on our first Alaskan adventure in less than a week! I booked this cruise last June, two months before getting married/going on our honeymoon to Greece and somehow at the time, all I could think was “we’re going to Alaaaaska!” The days have flown by and suddenly this once-mystical seeming month of September 2023 is upon us and we’re finally going to get to see some majestic Alaskan scenery before all the glaciers melt completely. I am most excited to sit out on my balcony and see waterfalls streaming down mountains, and check things off my Alaskan wildlife checklist (which includes a bear, eagle, otter and whale)! Itinerary This 7-night sailing makes four port stops. We were originally slated to visit Skagway on Day 4 but got it swapped for ISP due to the (un)available dock space in Skagway after a landslide last year. I was so sad since I had White Pass Railroad tickets at an amazing price, I so wanted to ride it after seeing it on an episode of Mighty Trains on Smithsonian channel. Guess it means we’ll just have to make it back to Alaska again in the future! (PS. Where my Mighty Cruise Ships fans at??? Best show on TV) Day 1 - Monday - Departs Seattle, WA Day 2 - Tuesday - Cruising Day 3 - Wednesday - Sitka, AK Day 4 - Thursday - Icy Strait Point, Hoonah, AK Day 5 - Friday - Dawes Glacier & Juneau, AK Day 6 - Saturday - Cruising Day 7 - Sunday - Victoria, BC Day 8 - Returns to Seattle Who’s Going - my husband (Adrian) and I (Daryl) Cabin Back slumming it in an Ocean View Balcony on the 12th deck (12254). Alaska is wayyy pricier than the Caribbean so I couldn’t swing a JS this time as it has been consistently priced about $2k more than our balcony. I need that money for lavish excursions!! Pre-Purchases As usual, I had to stalk the DBP for awhile before purchasing, we finally got it at $62.99, the lowest price I have seen since the pandemic! I am guessing sales aren’t great on our sailing since others on September dates have reported $68 as the sale price. We have two specialty dinners booked at Izumi and Wonderland on nights 2 and 4. I am still thinking about adding Jamie’s on night 6... should I give in? It just doesn’t seem worth $49 each. We ate there on Navigator but that was back when it was priced around $32 which seems more reasonable for the fare. I can’t wait to see what Wonderland is all about! I am sure it’s a one-and-done, but figured we have to try it out since it will be the first ship we’ve be on that has it as an option. If all else fails, at least we’ll finally get to taste The World as a consolation prize. We have a two-device Voom plan this time, we will see how speeds compare to sailing in the Caribbean. I am going to try my best to keep the live-ness up on this blog! Pre-Cruise We are flying in a day early simply because it’s a Sunday and my husband and I will already have the day off. There were about 5 safe options that could’ve gotten us up the coast from San Diego on the morning of embarkation but since neither of us have been to Seattle, getting to see a new city was a bonus! We used A2S and got the tickets for $120 each on the day booking opened, now my Google flight tracker says the same exact flight costs $838 per person!! We’re staying at the Holiday Inn Downtown because it’s close to the Space Needle and was one of few hotels available because of 2 large Seattle conferences that start Monday. I booked it last October so I have to assume people trying to find a hotel right now are scrambling. Everything I want to see seems walkable from this location! While in Seattle we are planning on seeing Pike Place Market, walking the waterfront, riding the Wings Over Washington ride (one of my favorite DCA attractions is Soarin’) and visiting the aquarium. I have Space Needle tickets booked for embarkation morning at 10am, mostly since it should be a lot quieter than the alternative options on Sunday afternoon. This is also nice because I was planning on riding the North Star first thing on boarding to see the city but it’s still broken down and will be until Quantum’s next dry dock. Feel free to ask any Quantum/Alaska itinerary questions. Having sailed only Freedom, Oasis, Navigator and Brilliance we are so excited to try out this new (to us) class of ship! Of course these boards/RCblog have proved valuable in getting me up to speed on Quantum class so I would love to help out future cruisers any way I can. Been watching this countdown since it was in the mid-400’s!! Ahhhhh!

I believe it’s referring to the actual site of Ephesus being strenuous, more than the Basilica or House of Virgin Mary. The entire site is quite a walk, with a slight incline and some uneven footing and stairs throughout. It took us just over an hour to walk the length of the city ruins (at the pace of the tour guide, not us) and there is no shade to be found, so it’s pretty exhausting if you’re going in the summer. It was so awesome and definitely worth the heat!

Yep, that’s what I was going to say. We did this in San Juan; dropped off the bags around 10am and then didn’t actually check in until around 3-4pm after we’d walked around town.

I don’t even have to do that! I make a note of the change and move the email into my travel folder. I wont download my boarding pass until after check in 24 hours prior to departure. If they changed it after that, the changes would be reflected on my digital boarding pass without any additional effort from me, too.

Oh weird, my Seattle flight has changed around 3-4 times since booking and I got an email notification from A2S every time! Maybe it’s airline brand-specific? Another one of the Royal email mysteries.

Unfortunately I don’t have those answers for you, I used A2S on a previous trip and everything was fine so I have had no need to contact them. Several members here have reported being offered alternate flights after cancelations and trip delays but I personally can’t speak on that! I am pretty sure there’s a phone number, a quick google turned this up specific to making claims so I think you should be able to access them directly.

As soon as I booked through Air2Sea I was able to go on the Alaska site and choose my seats even though I didn’t pay until final payment, months later! I actually saved money on my flights booking through A2S. I recently paid the $120 each for our flight from San Diego to Seattle (price locked from A2S, booked the day the date was available) and it’s currently listed at $593 each!!

Holy cow, I’ve been hot in San Diego but the highest it goes is 90. I’ve also been excited it currently forecasts rain on all three of our Alaskan port stops! Invested in a fine pair of waterproof pants

I am late but I so love that you took the duck boat tour in Boston! I lived in MA for a few of my elementary school years and loved going on field trips to Boston and Plymouth Plantation. As an adult, I’ve been back to visit family several times and I finally got my duck boat ride years ago on my 31st-ish birthday. Even though I am way too old, the operator let me “drive" too because I said I had been clamoring to go on one since I was a kid! Your beautiful pics are making me think I need an East Coast/Canada cruise in my future!

Yep, it was $20/day when I sailed last October, I had been convinced it was only $18!

Seconding shoreexcursioneer.com. I have had ships not dock at the port and in other instances suddenly change my itinerary before departure and I have been able to cancel or replace my purchased excursions very easily. Their customer service responds only 1-2 hours later! Also, every time I book with them I get some money back in my “digital wallet” which I can use on future excursions. This knocked my Mendenhall Glacier kayak for 2 down to $404 from $550! I have successfully used this company 3 times and successfully cancelled/been refunded 3 additional times. Easy!

Like this cool animated one I got yesterday for my birthday!? Funniest part to me is they must know I’ve already purchased the DBP, Voom, excursions, dining for this sailing yet they still offer these “discounts” “for my birthday.” Then there is Celebrity, who I have never sailed with, offering me actual discounts on fares!

Love that you’re doing it up for her Golden! I agree that you can’t go wrong with Freedom. It was recently Amped so the pool deck actually looks newer than Allure and I agree that I would choose the ship that had water slides over one without any day! I also agree that you should save sailing an Oasis class for a future 7-night cruise when you can take better take advantage of everything it has to offer. My only brush with OA class was only 4 nights and I barely scraped the surface!!

Maybe you could bring a folding camping pad? They weigh almost nothing and could be clipped via carabiner to the exterior of your carry on bag or rolling suitcase, thus not taking up valuable real estate.