Bob_KY

Duck Fart -  Kahlua, Bailey's Irish Cream and whiskey, layered.

I've done two trips through Alaska, and both were loop trips.  My next one is definitely going to be a southbound out of Seward.  I really love all the ports and glaciers seen on that cruise.  I think that both Seattle and Vancouver have wonderful sightseeing options for before or after your trip.  Both are really fun cities.  @Bob_KY I also did the Bike and Brew excursion and had a great time, but what I really want to know is what is in that Duck Fart Shot?

$$$$$$$$$$$

I gotta vote for the southbound/northbound route. Yes, smaller older ships but if you think this will be your one and only trip to Alaska, go big or go home and that includes doing a land tour to Denali. 
 
The only reason I’d consider the RT on a quantum class is that the teens would probably enjoy the ship more than a vision class. However, this is a port intensive trip and in my opinion the ship is more so the means to get me to each port. 
 
The smaller ships can also get into places the bigger ones can’t. 
 
Plus…….you can take the glass top train from anchorage to Seward and that’s a must do! 

Wow.  I started to stress about within 3 days before set sail, have a negative COVID-19 test.  NOW...  I achieved fully vax status on 3 March.  Cruise is 31 October,  which means my booster becomes due during the cruise.  I need some bourbon..  ?

Wow.  I started to stress about within 3 days before set sail, have a negative COVID-19 test.  NOW...  I achieved fully vax status on 3 March.  Cruise is 31 October,  which means my booster becomes due during the cruise.  I need some bourbon..  ?

Wow.  I started to stress about within 3 days before set sail, have a negative COVID-19 test.  NOW...  I achieved fully vax status on 3 March.  Cruise is 31 October,  which means my booster becomes due during the cruise.  I need some bourbon..  ?

Wow.  I started to stress about within 3 days before set sail, have a negative COVID-19 test.  NOW...  I achieved fully vax status on 3 March.  Cruise is 31 October,  which means my booster becomes due during the cruise.  I need some bourbon..  ?

Wow.  I started to stress about within 3 days before set sail, have a negative COVID-19 test.  NOW...  I achieved fully vax status on 3 March.  Cruise is 31 October,  which means my booster becomes due during the cruise.  I need some bourbon..  ?

Transferred my Alaska Solstice to Celebrity Equinox, July 2022.    Excited.  Thanks Michelle. MEI!

Transferred my Alaska Solstice to Celebrity Equinox, July 2022.    Excited.  Thanks Michelle. MEI!

My parents were recently on Celebrity Edge and the strangest thing they saw was empty elevators.

It's hard to say it like this.  Worst cruise I have been on (even worst than the one where I hid from my MIL for 3 days by staying in my cabin ?) ....but I mean...it was still a nice cruise....but could have been better...I suppose people will say "it is the best of a bad situation" and I suppose that's relatively accurate.
It was a royal pain in the posterior having to swap mask on and off, go to some shows and you could take it off, then the next day, you can't take it off.  I traveled with a 10 yr old, so kept getting kicked out of places we settled for live music or an activity.  The only thing that was consistent...was the casino was jumping.  Mostly I bet because it was the only place you could consistently relax mask free.
Ship was only about 1/3 full, so most places felt empty and actually a little sad at times.  Pool deck was also jumping (because you could be mask free).  Windjammer was straight forward, stick you plate out, they put food on it....you ask for more because you wanted 2 pieces and you get a dirty look (so typical) and we only went there once for a light snack. ?
Honestly If Royal had announced just 2 days earlier the whole "Everyone now has to wear a mask" I would have cancelled, but with the amount of notice given, everything was already in motion for the trip....kennels, PTO, testing.....so we sucked it up.  And Royal I bet knew that most people would end with the same conclusion.
The real highlight though was having Air2sea booked 5 first class seats get 'over sold' and have to fly out and back without 'checked in' prior to arriving at airport and standing around in lines to get seat assignments. 
Testing Antigen 2nd round to fly back was a cluster IMO.  They put a QR code in the stateroom, I accessed it, went to a page, it asked me a couple questions and asked how many people in my party....and then said you have an appointment.  So go to the appointment and the people running it are like "You need to download this QR code and app on each person's phone and setup 5 different appointments"...I"m like "i have one phone, one internet package and 3 kids....."....so they huffed/puffed and set it all up while we stood there and ultimately got testing.
Then they email the results.  I wasn't permitted use my yahoo.com email address that everything royal goes to that I can easily access from my phone.  NO I have to use a real domain based email per 'policy'.  Which is something that I can't readily access from my phone for security reasons (and then they didn't say "oh we will send print outs to your room") so I had to stress about that for several hours while trying to hack my personal email account from a cell phone on the worlds WORST internet only to then find out "ohh yeah, we will send the results to your room"
Obviously it all worked out....but the process could have been a lot smoother considering they have been doing it a little while now.

I just got home today from my August 7 Adventure of the Seas out of Bahamas.  It was great to be on a ship again.
I heard we had 1,000 passengers.  The ship never felt crowded. Masks were mandatory for venues unless marked otherwise. Some venues were vaccinated only. (My understanding is Only kids under 12 were unvaccinated)
it was great to walk into CoCoCay after noon and be able to find a front row seat at the beach…I actually plopped down in the second row figuring the front row was taken!
shows were not crowded.  I did find out if you booked the headliner for his first show you couldn’t go to his final show.  I imagine it was to avoid additional commingling if guests for contact/exposure purposes.
windjammer-you had to be scanned in and they scanned you out.  I asked on the way out as to why and she said “contact tracing”.  Well after that I scanned in, grabbed breakfast, scanned out and ate elsewhere.  Yes, you scan into shows too….idk how they determine who exactly to contact trace , but I figured I could easily avoid the “windjammer nonsense” by scanning out quickly!  Subsequent visits to windjammer they did not say contact tracing, they just said “necessity”.
LOVED LOVED LOVED 2 days at CoCoCay.  The “kids” and hubby did the empty water park and then bellied up to the pool bar on day 1. 2nd day hubby and I went to the beach and the “kids”did the pool bar and then the floating bar at Chill island.
(my “kids” are 18, 20,22,29)
Very easy to get loungers poolside.
birthday dessert-we had a celebration onboard and they can no longer do anything “big” but they did carry a slice of cake with a lit candle and our 2 waitstaff and dining room manager sang with us.  I can’t believe they had a lit candle! I was ecstatic !
royal up.  Nice idea, doubt I’d do it again.
I did go from junior suite to owners suite.  Bonus was suite lounge from 5-8(as shown in the cruise compass) but it was actually from 4:30-8 for complimentary drinks.  YEAH!   So this was a nice benefit.  Also breakfast at Giovannis. 
The owners suite on Adventure was beautiful BUT it’s right below the pool deck-so party at pool deck at 11:00pm, sing along to the song!  Dragging and pounding of chairs and whatever occurred at midnight/1am (not bad for me I’m a late night person) AND at 7am.  Room attendants or others  were slamming doors as early as 6:30am.  (Stateroom 1292 on deck 10)
why I wouldn’t do it again.  I could have spent that money on other items. I really don’t spend a lot of time in the stateroom.  So for me, it was nice, but I doubt I’d do it again.
casino allowed 4 players at the 3 card poker.  And it was limited at other tables too.  It was nice to not be packed in and there weren’t too many smokers, so another benefit! (Mind you this is the first time I’ve actually engaged in long term play-usually I walk through, find it crowded and Smokey and keep moving)
main dining room was very empty.
easy to get off the ship. We could go have breakfast and we were told to wait in our stateroom to leave (no herding in a theater!)
most seemed to mask as they were required. Some lady was at guest services loudly complaining that more than 4 people were getting on an elevator. I was guilty of inviting a party of 3 to join hubby and I.  My own family is a party of 6-so IDK if she saw 6 and assumed it was just rule violators?  Whatever, with so few people on the ship there was no elevator nonsense of packed elevators and “long” waits.
below are pics of main dining room 5:30 seating and Chill Beach-sorry they are out of order. It shows how much space there was.
my “kids” enjoyed this cruise.  They understood the pluses of reduced capacity (no wait at water park, a lot of room in the CoCoCay pool bar, not crowded at silent disco) but they also realized they were fortunate to make friends within the “limited supply of people their age” 
 
 
 
 

I firmly believe the lack of the Windjammer for dinner is adding extra demand for specialty dining.
Essentially people that were gonna eat at WJ are now skipping MDR and just booking specialty.
I have no real evidence to back this up, just a gut feeling.

Just boarded the Ovation, when we tried to make reservations for dinner we found out that almost all the venues were booked for the whole cruise. We were able to get in but not at the times we would have liked and not at the mix we would have preferred. The restaurants are all operating at reduced capacities.

My recent RoyalUp bid was accepted after my original documents were created. 
If that happens, be sure to verify that your seapass card and luggage tags have your new stateroom number on them.

One key thing is if you're on prescription medication, always pack a couple extra days of meds just in case.

My only problem with that is that I am on an upcoming cruise, but due to security reasons I don’t talk about things like that until I get back ? I’ll keep holding out on hope!

Try https://myrx.io 
my local pharmacy offers rapid testing for travel. Free if on Medicare or Medicaid. $65 for others.  Plug in your zip code to find participating pharmacies.

The Concierge Lounge is no more.  It was removed during the dry dock that just occured.
There is now an official Suite Lounge within the Viking Crown Lounge on deck 14.