DDaley

Our towel animal farm has started 

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?

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?

It took us about 2 hours as we did a private tour for our group of 6. Our guide was excellent! It is a city in “ruins” so uneven footing. 
If you have any hesitation, I’d highly recommend doing a private tour where you can go at your own pace and not feel stressed to keep up with a large cruise ship tour. 
We booked with Ephesus Port Tours and it was VERY affordable and quite a bit less than Royal’s tour. 

Thank you!!
portside for lunch is on my schedule for day 2 or 3 (yes I even wrote up a little excel spreadsheet with our shows, and various other activities we want to make sure to do)   And I am very excited about breakfast on the balcony, for sure- staring at the ultimate abyss and playmakers was nice- but I think this may be a bit more relaxing, lol.  Have any of you done deck 14 balcony? I know there is a little over hang, but for my very pale little family, that may actually be a good thing if it blocks the sun a little! 

Been there, done that. Once I get behind it becomes a lost cause for me.
Driving to the port might spoil you, lol. Enjoy the lack of flying!
I can be at PC in an hour... I'll take a couple dozen soft pretzels and a few cheesesteaks (you pick the place, anywhere will be better than what I get here). 😁

Ok, I'm gonna try this blog thing again. We sailed Oasis in January to PDCC\Cozumel\Roatan\Costa Maya, and I attempted to "live blog". I think I posted about 4 times and it was like two days later every time, which by then I forgot all of the details of my days, so it wasn't a very good report.  SO I will try this again. For one- we will have more than one Wi-Fi plan, so that will make it easier on me not having to fight the kid to use the log in, lol.   This will be the same trio as the last trip, Myself, wife (Lisa) and 11yo Son (Chase). Wife has a Deluxe beverage plan, I have a Refreshment package (I'll be celebrating almost 2 years sober on this trip) and the boy doesn't drink much other than water and some juice, so he's going ala carte. 
This will be our first cruise out of NJ, and really excited to NOT be flying in. We live in South Philadelphia, right near the famous cheesesteak places and the Italian market (you may know this from the famous Rocky running scene-before the run up the steps) We are still going back and forth about getting there, I'm 99% sure I'll just drive but we have weighed the option of the train-but at the end of the cruise, I'm just going to want to get in and go.  As for the cruise itself, we are doing the Port Canaveral\PDCC\Nassau run that seems to be the most common run from Port Liberty. Our last time on Oasis we had a boardwalk balcony and actually really enjoyed it, when I booked this one right after the previous one I picked another BW Balcony, but picked the very last one in the back- hoping for a nice view of the water and the aqua show (noise doesn't bother us). I then transferred the reservation to a TA, my first time using one.  She got in touch with us a few weeks later to inform me that OV Balconies were available and would be about $200 more total for the three us to upgrade, so we jumped on that, moving to Deck 14, port side Aft with an ocean view balcony- we appear to be directly below the mini golf, which I assume won't cause much noise from above.  This will be the first time any of us have had an ocean balcony, so that adds some excitement. Ok, I've laid the ground work and bored you enough, I'll update with excursions and other plans we have made as we get closer to sail time!  Oh- last time we didn't do much on the ship other than Aqua show and Ice show, so this time we will be doing a lot more of the other stuff like comedy shows, headliners, game shows and such...I may even do a little Karaoke!   Excited to bring you all along for our little journey. 

Hi all, was on the Harmony this past week for a 7 night Eastern Caribbean sailing. Arrived home less than 24 hours ago, from the cabin on Harmony to my apartment in Glasgow it was about 22 hours worth of travel so definitely tired. But it was a great trip.
I'll review the trip in it's entirety, but to give some context first - this cruise came about as my sister was working in a Summer camp in America for 2 months, and the opportunity to go on a Caribbean cruise after she finished came up. I didn't have my summer vacation booked so I figured why not. On this one, I travelled solo for 4/5 days, visiting Boston, New York & Miami before finally meeting her for the cruise.
Itinerary was as follows:
August 21st - Fly from Edinburgh to Boston August 22nd - Full day in Boston August 23rd - Amtrak from Boston-NYC, dinner & evening in Times Square August 24th - Fly from LaGuardia to Miami August 25th - Full day in Miami August 26th - Embark Harmony of the Seas August 27th - Perfect Day at CocoCay, Bahamas August 28th - Sea Day August 29th - Charlotte Amalie, St Thomas (stayed on ship) August 30th - Philipsburg, St Maarten August 31st - Sea Day September 1st - Sea Day September 2nd - Debark Harmony/fly from Miami-JFK, overnight to Edinburgh September 3rd - Arrive back in Scotland Most definitely a packed 2 weeks, lots of fun had! Next up is the day by day blog/review.

Possible help for your new legally blind friend, but first a story:  I’ve been wearing hearing aids since my early 30’s - genetic thing.  Four years ago when hubby and I went to the movies he got me the “new and improved” hearing device from the ticket guy to hear the movie better.  Hubby listened to how this updated model worked.  He got it programmed and slapped that sucker on my head. After a few moments of the movie I decided to make the sound even stronger, so I moved the switch by the ear. Now I’m starting to hear odd stuff - like “he touches her hair and she smiles.”  WTH, maybe this movie is trying something different by explaining verbally what is happening.  After 20 minutes, hubby grabbed it from head and messed with the volume.  Ten minutes later I feel like I just need to turn the volume up, so I messed with the volume again.  The movie goes back to explaining what it happening.  Later in the car I told hubby that I enjoyed the movie but found it a bit painful to have to hear what was happening when I could plainly see what was happening.  Was the movie people trying something new?  Hubby said he could hear it coming from the head phones so fixed the problem but I turned the problem back on, so he figured that’s what I wanted.  Apparently, I kept turning it from the hearing impaired mode to the legally blind mode.  
My point is:  Royal might have something to enhance your new legally blind friend’s experience!  You should check. 

Day 41
The options for shows opened up at 42 days and so I booked all of our shows. Now I am curious as to whether or not the blind gent will want to go to the shows🤔. But I would rather err on the side of caution and book everyone.
We have:
Day 3: OceanAria 7:30pm
Day 5: Blue Plane 10pm
Day 5: Comedy 11:30pm
Day 7: Mammia Mia 2:15pm
Day 7: BLADES 7pm
I had made a spreadsheet of dining times. I have to reconfigure the venues and possible times now that I know what time the shows will be.
 

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?

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!

 

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?

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?

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?

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?

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!

 

IVE BEEN SUMMONED 💃🏻😆💚
i actually quite enjoy the option to get lunch aboard but it typically doesn’t work out for us since we are sun seekers and i am loathe to sacrifice the time midday for a specialty meal. 
however alaska is a much different climate and to me this sounds like an excellent idea!!!!

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!

 

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!

 

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

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

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! 

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!

 

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!