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Seeking Nanook. Serenade of the Seas Double Glacier! May 1 - May 8, 2022


twangster

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40 minutes ago, twangster said:

Yes.  Serenade’s return on May 8 represents a separate arrival into Canada since the ship leaves Canada, visits the US then returns.  Every arrival to Canada, including for any Canadians on board, requires ArriveCAN.  

But you needed that to board, not just needed when you disembark a week later. 

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1 hour ago, smokeybandit said:

But you needed that to board, not just needed when you disembark a week later. 

Yes.  It is a requirement to board because the ship comes to Canada.  No one can board a ship that stops in or ends in Canada without completing ArriveCAN.  It doesn't matter that we start in Canada.  

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9 minutes ago, twangster said:

Yes.  It is a requirement to board because the ship comes to Canada.  No one can board a ship that stops in or ends in Canada without completing ArriveCAN.  It doesn't matter that we start in Canada.  

So technically you're presenting your disembarkation ArriveCan at the time you board.

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37 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

So technically you're presenting your disembarkation ArriveCan at the time you board.

Correct. It’s for arriving into Canada when the cruise ends.  

ArriveCAN first asks for your embarkation date and ship name.  This date has to be within 72 hours.  It later asks for the date you arrive in Canada and offers dates beyond 72 hours.  

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Morning of day 2 and Voom is pretty slow.  

Ship is good.   A few minor restart issues but nothing that’s worth reporting   Crew is happy to see guests again and they have been great.

We turned North out of Vancouver into the British Columbia Inside Passage   Soon after the sun set so most of the passage was in the dark with the lights of Vancouver Island on the port side.

Morning saw rain and low clouds but still beautiful.   We’ve dropped off our pilot about a couple of hours ago and we are emerging from the inside passage into the open Pacific.

I will be coming back to this if Voom improves, otherwise I’ll update once we are in a port with cellular.  

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Voom remains a challenge for uploading photos but I've managed to get some up.

I've updated some of the earlier post and added pictures.

Let's go back a bit and start with a cabin tour.  Cabins were stated to be ready at 1pm but they opened them up twenty minutes early.  SeaPass cards outside on the cabin doors.


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Unlike some of her sisters, Serenade has shower doors.

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This is a corner aft balcony.

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After dinner I went to Vintages for a drink and awesome views.

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My cabin TV wasn't working very well with some of the channels breaking up but I managed to grab this position report before the signal really crapped out.  (they replaced my TV so all is well now). 

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Apple maps from my iPhone with my TV acting up:

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After this I retired to my balcony to watch the lights on Vancouver Island sail past in the dark.  It was very peaceful listening to some music with my earbuds while sipping on some Crown and Anchor wine.

The Captain did announce we will return through the Inside Passage and our transit will be in daylight for some of the way back.

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Day Two - British Columbia Inside Passage

Early up with my body still on Eastern time.  Sometime around 5am.  It was rainy and dark.  Typical Pacific coastal weather. 

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As it got lighter it was pretty spectacular despite the overcast and rainy conditions.  Pictures don't do it justice.

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We caught up to that HAL ship and followed it throughout the night.

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Day Three - Sitka

Time change the morning of day three at 2am.  We are now in the Alaska time zone.

Arrival scheduled for 8:30am.  MDR breakfast hours are 7am to 8:30am and the WJ opens at 6:30am.  

Progress report at 5am:


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Typical Alaska weather... wet and overcast.  Here at 5am it's bright enough to read a book outside and getting brighter every minute.

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Voom is still pretty slow, that last photo was reduced down to 342kB and took over a minute to upload.

As expected there were some seas last night given that weather system Northwest of us.  I woke up to the night table drawer sliding open and closed. The ship is handling it pretty well.

Temperature outside is 45°F.  

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Thanks for posting about the internet speed. We're flying out of Vancouver at the end of our southbound in a few weeks and will need to test before we fly. It seems like we may need to schedule tests at the airport instead of relying on the ships internet with an emed test.

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1 hour ago, melmar02 said:

Thanks for posting about the internet speed. We're flying out of Vancouver at the end of our southbound in a few weeks and will need to test before we fly. It seems like we may need to schedule tests at the airport instead of relying on the ships internet with an emed test.

We're in the same position. We have to test before a flight out of Vancouver this month. The day before is a sea day, so I expect Voom to not cooperate.  We have an evening flight, and have scheduled an excursion that brings us to the airport.  Since we need to test before we leave the ship, we are going to do it in our cabin once we have cell data before we leave.  Requires getting up all the earlier, but it may be our only choice. 

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Twangster, can I ask if you are using Voom Surf or the faster Surf & Stream on your cruise?  

Given the spottiness of the connection and the seemingly consistently slow speeds, I'm curious which version you are using and what future cruisers might expect.   If you are using Surf & Stream I'm really worried about that paying for that option, while if you are using Surf I'm wondering about how fast Surf & Stream might be in comparison.  

Much appreciated.   

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1 hour ago, Buzzard said:

Twangster, can I ask if you are using Voom Surf or the faster Surf & Stream on your cruise?  

Given the spottiness of the connection and the seemingly consistently slow speeds, I'm curious which version you are using and what future cruisers might expect.   If you are using Surf & Stream I'm really worried about that paying for that option, while if you are using Surf I'm wondering about how fast Surf & Stream might be in comparison.  

Much appreciated.   

Surf and Stream.  It’s Alaska.  It’s always this way.  

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19 minutes ago, twangster said:

Surf and Stream.  It’s Alaska.  It’s always this way.  

I'm wondering if there's really any meaningful difference in speed between surf and stream given your experiences with it.    I mean if Surf really is slower than Stream, is there really any ability for things to get even slower than you've had with Stream?   Makes an old school dial up connection seem lightning fast... 

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3 hours ago, Buzzard said:

I'm wondering if there's really any meaningful difference in speed between surf and stream given your experiences with it.    I mean if Surf really is slower than Stream, is there really any ability for things to get even slower than you've had with Stream?   Makes an old school dial up connection seem lightning fast... 

There won't be any streaming but if you want simple text messaging absent of sending photos it does work for that.  If that is the case then Surf is all you need.

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Not long after turning inland towards Sitka the seas settled down and it was time for breakfast.  

One nice attribute of Radiance class is lots of glass such as here in the Schooner Bar where we got our first glimpses of the mountains on the way into Sitka sound.


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Still pretty rainy at times and overcast yet still very beautiful.

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During a break in the rain we were treated to some magnificent views.

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The weather radar wasn't friendly today but that's Alaska.


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The pier is about 5 miles from downtown.  There is a free shuttle that runs every 10-15 minutes.  The shuttle drops off in downtown Sitka.  Last return shuttle is 30 minutes before all aboard time.

The Raven is very symbolic in Alaskan native culture.  These two were fighting over a small discarded liquor bottle. 

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In between waves of showers that passed through I managed to take some pictures of "downtown" Sitka and the general area.

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My plan was to walk through the National Historical Park lined with totem poles but I kept seeing another line of showers heading our way so I ducked into Bayview Pub right across the street from the shuttle bus stop.

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The Beast Burger - Elk, Boar, Buffalo and Wagyu beef topped with wild boar bacon.

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