ihaoan

our original itinerary scheduled Ovation to dock there on 8/22, and the app still shows that to be planned

it appears that RCCL may still be using their scheduled pier, the RRA, which is south of the affected pier and not closed but from which passengers must be tendered to the small boat harbor so that they don't transit the closed pier

any confirmation from recent cruisers of the past 2 weeks?

on 8/11, this statement was made on a travel website: "Royal Caribbean said its Skagway itineraries will operate as scheduled. "

https://www.travelweekly.com/Cruise-Travel/Princess-tweaks-more-Alaska-cruises-Skagway-dock-closure

does anyone have definitive information on Ovation's status there?

On 8/8/2022 at 11:02 PM, nemrac917 said:

I have a question regarding the dolphin encounter at Chankanaab.  On their excursion page, they have a timeframe listed of 3h 30min.  Is there a time limit on how long you can spend at the park after the actual dolphin encounter is completed?  Can we spend all of our port time there?

our experience in March this year was that the buses picked us up at the port and transported us to the park, about a 15 minute ride, then picked us up 3 hours later and transported us back to the port

during that 3 hours we had time in the water with dolphins and manatees (which was awesome), enjoyed a complimentary lunch, and spent time swimming at the beach and snorkeling

hope you enjoy your excursion. we loved it!

22 hours ago, foxrunner said:

2) Our flight out of Seattle is at 10:00PM. We will have checked luggage and are looking for ideas of what to do both for the day and if you know of anywhere to safely store our luggage while we visit Seattle.

port valet? they take your luggage the night before you disembark and you don't have to worry with it until you get to your home air terminal

we wish we could make use of it but we are flying out early the next day, which is outside of the window of availability

while on Adventure of the Seas in March, had no issues making wifi calls and texts through voom on an at&t phone, no extra charges and it worked great on voom surf.

Your mileage may vary.

I have no experience with this excursion, but have been to Grimsey Island aboard a small ship out of Dalvik (3 hour trip each way)

Having experienced that mode of travel, flying would probably have been preferred by most who were onboard (high winds and sea, most were seasick).

Lots of puffins on the cliffs northwest of "town".

The arctic circle monuments (2 of them) are classic photo targets.

A very cool place, very friendly and helpful residents, and I hope to return some day.

But not much to do there compared to Akureyri, which is a very cool place also.

Grimsey is laid back and great for watching/photographing birds.

Akureyri is not a big city, but more "civilized", with more sights to see and things to do.

And I am envious of your sailing! What an awesome itinerary!

7 hours ago, Bob_KY said:

"study lyrics of wash your hands"

oh boy, this made me LOL and i'm very glad I didn't have soda in my mouth!

now THAT'S funny!

23 hours ago, SebagoSue said:

We are looking to book this cruise also and I am wondering if we should book port or starboard.  Did you come to any conclusion given what you saw of the route? I would want to book the land side for the the majority of the cruise. Thank you. 

Ovation has only made one voyage to Alaska this season and is currently entering the inside passage for the second time this season, completely different routes/itineraries for each, so there is not a wealth of historical data to explore.

My take is that it will be a wash either way, no matter which side you are on, but I've never been there before.

I will defer to experienced cruisers.  

@twangster?

On 5/11/2022 at 10:37 AM, Toby said:

Which brings me to my next question.  If an Alaskan excursion enters into Canada then returns to the US would one need a new ArriveCAN form completed for a Canadian port of call or cruise termination port?

you took the words right out of my head

we sail out of Seattle and must complete ArriveCAN before getting on board the ship

on cruise day 4 we arrive in Skagway , drive to the Fraser, BC customs station on the way into the Yukon, then back onto the ship at Skagway

3 days later, on cruise day 7, we visit Victoria

must we enter information prior to boarding in Seattle, again before arriving at Fraser, and again before arriving at Victoria?

"no more than 72 hours before entering Canada" (twice)...plus before getting on the ship

it is all very confusing

16 minutes ago, BB1 said:

How did you find a ride when you disembarked and the app said unavailable?  I don't remember  rides available at the port.

a mad search on the web from the terminal parking lot! 

we disembarked at 7:30 and spent a couple of hours getting coffee and roaming around downtown before walking back to the terminal to board the shuttle at 10am

in March, we pre-booked uber from IAH to the cruise terminal on boarding day ($75, 2 passengers) but no such luck when we returned, the app said not available.

But, I didn't try pre-booking ahead of time.

We had to use Galveston Limo's shuttle to IAH, which cost twice as much as the uber coming to the terminal.

Next time I will try pre-booking uber.

17 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

Some of those marine tracking sites might have historic tracks with that level of info in their premium membership offerings.

yes, for the level of detail that was desired, a premium subscription is required

but, mission accomplished! 

it was a bit disappointing when matching the route with the itinerary (not as much daytime inside passage time/mileage as hoped for), but a future cruise on a smaller vessel may remedy that; Ovation is a big ship

though not our first cruise, this was the first we ever booked and it is a group cruise with many friends, so...it is what it is and we will have a blast anyway; we are still excited

1 hour ago, SpeedNoodles said:

You can always follow a sailing on marinetraffic.com to see what route she's taking this week.

Thanks for the suggestion! That will suffice nicely.

I'll watch for sailings of the same itinerary.

Can anyone here provide detailed route information for Ovation sailings out of Seattle up the inside passage and back?

Marine chart detailed route information is what is requested, not just general information.

Can anyone suggest a known source of such information?

Does anyone have a gps track of this journey on board Ovation that they would be willing to share?

we were very bummed about the cancellation of the train excursions into Canada but chose to independently rent a jeep for the day instead (not through RCCL)

diyjeeptours.com also known as Alaska Green Jeeps

on a March sailing on Adventure in the western Caribbean, Voom surf was great, good enough to make wifi phone calls back home

not to hijack the thread, but we're also booked into the Mediterranean pre-cruise and plan to use the light rail and the monorail from SEATAC to Seattle Center, then uber or walk the remaining blocks, depending on weather

thanks for the heads-up about their shuttle to the terminal

I just checked prices for Voom and an excursion in Juneau (August sailing)

both had been placed in the cart some time ago, but not yet purchased

sale price today saved me hundreds of dollars over the previous cost in the cart, so I removed both and made the purchase

very pleased with the result

our experience in March...

uber did a fantastic job taking us from our hotel near IAH to the cruise terminal on the morning of embarkation, including additional stops at Target and a coffee house, about $75

but they would not pick us up at the terminal after disembarkation; we used Galveston Limousine's airport shuttle from the terminal to IAH, twice the cost of uber

and another angle from a video capture, also 3/18

+1 for Maya Chan out of Costa Maya; all inclusive and the family and staff are top rate, though this isn't booked through Royal Caribbean.

But know that last week a storm blew in sea grass everywhere along the coast of Costa Maya; all of the beaches were affected.

At Cozumel we booked the dolphin (and manatee) encounter at Chankanaab and it was awesome.

On Adventure this week, Cruise Compass was always in our stateroom waiting for us when we returned after dinner each evening.

They were not present in the racks in the hallways.

here is a photo of the new terminal from Adventure, 3/18

IAH to cruise terminal last week via uber was about $75 morning of sailing, great service 

picked up at 6:30am, made a couple of intermediate stops (Target and Red Light Coffee Roasters), and was dropped off by 8:15am

Staff served portions in Windjammer on Adventure this week

My app experience varied using 2 different phones.

I keep the app updated on both phones but the app on one phone stopped showing food menus, while the app on the other phone still showed them.

I uninstalled and re-installed the app on the phone that had quit showing the menus, and they came back.

Strange but true.