Semi Live - Ovation of the Seas Alaska June 2nd - 9th, 2023

[wordell1]

This will be first Alaska cruise.  My wife and I are celebrating our 25th anniversary and this is our present to each other!  I am really looking forward to seeing an area of the country that I have never been to.

We are flying in 2 days early to Seattle and staying in the Marriot Waterfront and will have a whole day to explore.

[wordell1]

I spent today packing and making sure I have lots of layers and rain gear for Alaska.  It looks like temps between 40 and 60 degrees and wet on the long-range forecast.  We don't get a lot of those kind of days here in Texas so it will be an adjustment for us.  We are trying to pack light so that we can minimize the checked bags, but we will definitely need at least one for the bulkier clothing.

Unfortunately, a lot of my cruise casual clothing has a distinctly Carribean feel to them so I will need to do a little shopping before the trip.

[wordell1]

This will also be our first cruise on a Quantum class ship. We are booked in a balcony cabin on deck 13. 

Does anyone else think its weird that Ovation has a deck 13 but the Oasis class ships don't?  I'm not a "bad luck" person so I don't care but why leave them off one class and then have them on another?

We are doing MTD on this cruise although we are going to try Wonderland because my wife wants to.  I have low expectations based on what I have read but will give it a fair chance.

[JohnK6404]

Congrats on your anniversary and have an amazing time! Looking forward to your adventure as Alaska is on the short list!

[melmar02]

4 hours ago, wordell1 said:

Does anyone else think its weird that Ovation has a deck 13 but the Oasis class ships don't?  I'm not a "bad luck" person so I don't care but why leave them off one class and then have them on another?

My kids thought it was weird that Allure didn't have a 13 since Radiance and Liberty have it. 

[Xaa]

9 hours ago, wordell1 said:

This will also be our first cruise on a Quantum class ship. We are booked in a balcony cabin on deck 13. 

Does anyone else think its weird that Ovation has a deck 13 but the Oasis class ships don't?  I'm not a "bad luck" person so I don't care but why leave them off one class and then have them on another?

We are doing MTD on this cruise although we are going to try Wonderland because my wife wants to.  I have low expectations based on what I have read but will give it a fair chance.

Wonderland is good to do once.   I could eat 50 spoonfuls of the liquid lobster.  Also really liked the shrimp with the crusted noodles and the short rib was really good.  Beyond that it was really just part show part dinner.  One and done.

Oh yeah, the World is a really great dessert.  Yummy.

Thanks for bringing us along.

[twangster]

17 hours ago, wordell1 said:

Does anyone else think its weird that Ovation has a deck 13 but the Oasis class ships don't?  I'm not a "bad luck" person so I don't care but why leave them off one class and then have them on another?

Icon doesn't either.  I've stayed on deck 13 on Quantum class.  No bad luck followed, yet.  

[Neesa]

Congratulations! Thanks so much for bringing us along. Have am amazing celebration. 

Following....

[wordell1]

Vacation travel day is here!  We fly out tonight from Austin to Seattle direct on Alaska Airlines.  I paid a little extra for premium which is a little extra legroom, priority boarding, and free drinks.  The tickets were still very reasonable (Booked 6 months ago).  They have meals for purchase in advance that I also thought were reasonable.  This is my first time on Alaska.  I have heard good things. 

We arrive in Seattle at 9:15pm pacific and will taxi a taxi or Lyft to the hotel.  Hopefully the flights are on time.  We were able to get our packing to 2 checked bags and 1 carry-on - not too bad considering the warmer weather clothing required.

[wordell1]

Good morning from Seattle! We had a great flight and arrived on time. We didn't get to the hotel until after 10pm, which was late with the 2 hour time change.

Of course, we are now up early so we are heading out to explore.

Our room at the Marriott Waterfront is a corner room with great views.

[wordell1]

We were up early due to the time change so we walked over to Pikes Place Market. At 7am there wasn't much open but we did get some great French pastries and a Starbucks coffee to get the day started.

It was a good morning walk, with lots of climbing from the hotel.

[wordell1]

Closer to noon, we headed out again and went to the aquarium which we enjoyed.

From there we went back to Pikes Place which was much more crowded. I really enjoyed the variety of shops at the market.

It is just a perfect weather day today. 65 degrees, but feels warm in the sun.

We have reservations tonight at Anthony's Pier 66 which is across the street from our hotel.

I'm really happy that I decided to add an extra night to our precruise stay so that we could spend a full day here in Seattle. 

[wordell1]

I woke up this morning to the Norwegian Sun at the cruise port across from the hotel.

We will need to take a short ride to the Royal Carribean terminal which is a little north of this one.

The Marriott is well situated and the room is comfortable and has great views. As much as we like to complain about the cutback in service on cruises, I notice it more at hotels. These days, there isn't much difference between premium hotels like Marriott, and budget hotels. You get a room, but there's not much more to it. Service on Royal is much better.

[wordell1]

The Seattle Pier 91 terminal is a hot mess of confusion.

We arrived around 10:15 to see both Ovation and Celebrity Solstice in port. It looked like both had just started letting the bulk of passengers off.

The drop-off area is a narrow driveway between the 2 ships. were thousands of people trying to make their way out to the taxi/ride share pickup area. Which is out of view to the right of the attached picture.

Our rideshare was trying to drop us off in front of the terminal (to the left of the picture). It was very confusing as to where to drop bags, and there were so many departing passengers that it was almost impossible to find. The area is where the blue tent is at the bottom of the picture.

We were able to figure it out and board and it was easy once we made it into the terminal.

I heard from a crewmember that they have had some issues with getting luggage off to the staging area. 

we will definitely be getting off early using self carry to avoid the mess.

[wordell1]

Once on, we had drink at the North Star Bar to celebrate. Great views from this bar.

[wordell1]

I was able to get a reservation for the North Star. It was actually pretty easy as I don't think many passengers were looking at it.

Definitely fun, I may try again later in the week.

[Ampurp85]

I love how that one crew member seems to hate being in your photo.

[twangster]

Love North Star Bar.

On nice evenings with the longs days of June sailing through Alaska it's often a great place to watch Alaska sail by.

[twangster]

It's cruise day!

I have some friends on board.  I'll be following along with you.

 

[wordell1]

This is our first time eating in the MDR with the new menus. For night one, I was pleasantly surprised. The meal was good all around.

The menu was "welcome aboard". I had the crab cake, the prime rib, and the key lime pie. All were very good. I especially liked the key lime pie.

[wordell1]

Late sunset tonight. View from. Our balcony. There is also a full moon.

It's definitely the main point of the cruise, but we have had great views since leaving port.

[wordell1]

Bumper cars are fun!

I really liked the SeaPlex. It's really a great feature of the Quantum class. This ship is really well designed for Alaska cruises with lots of indoor space that stll have great views.

As I am writing this, we are lounging on a 2 person chair/bed in the Solarium. 

 

[wordell1]

One thing I see as a definite improvement on Ovation (all of Quantum class?) Is the pub. The Amber Oak pub is typical of the pubs on Royal ships, with 2 notable improvements.

The biggest is that there is food! One of the great features of a good pub is the ability to get pub food while you drink. Most pubs on Royal do nit have even a basket of pretzels available.

The second is TV's. I was able to watch the Premier league FA cup final this morning. Ovation doesn't have a Playmakers so the pub makes a good substitute.

We went around lunch for a few beers and had some of the appetizers. Both were good and only cost $4. This is the pulled pork nachos and pretzels.

[wordell1]

[twangster]

1 hour ago, wordell1 said:

One thing I see as a definite improvement on Ovation (all of Quantum class?) Is the pub. The Amber Oak pub is typical of the pubs on Royal ships, with 2 notable improvements.

The biggest is that there is food! One of the great features of a good pub is the ability to get pub food while you drink. Most pubs on Royal do nit have even a basket of pretzels available.

The second is TV's. I was able to watch the Premier league FA cup final this morning. Ovation doesn't have a Playmakers so the pub makes a good substitute.

We went around lunch for a few beers and had some of the appetizers. Both were good and only cost $4. This is the pulled pork nachos and pretzels.

Plus Sorrento's is right next door if you feel like a slice. 

So much to love about this class.  

[wordell1]

MDR review - night 2 "A Taste of France"

I ordered the French onion soup, the beef tenderloin and the warm apple cobbler.

My wife ordered the Caesar salad, the Spring pea and asparagus risotto, and the cheese plate.

I enjoyed everything that I ordered. The beef tenderloin is my favorite thing from the old menu and it was just as good as I remember. My wife enjoyed her salad and the risotto but felt that the cheese plate was lackluster.

Service was good but I definitely notice that both nights, the waiters and assistants were very busy. There was little time for any interaction. They were friendly, but noticeably rushed. It didn't affect any service,  but I could see how it could. We are on MTD dining, but that is what we typically do so the comparison is still valid.

We will see how the rest of the nights go.

[wordell1]

It us 10 pm ship time and the sun is just now setting. We roll back 1 hour tonight to line up with Alaska time. 

We have been blessed with outstanding weather so far, hopefully our luck will hold.

Sitka tomorrow.

[wordell1]

Must be a medical emergency because a Coast Guard helicopter just came right past our cabin and landed on the bow helipad. This is almost 11 pm ship time.

 

[wordell1]

[twangster]

Hmmm.  This class has a winchpad.  They can't take the weight of a helicopter landing on them, it wasn't designed for that.  

[WAAAYTOOO]

Completely uninformed opinion here....but I am guessing that it must be quite an emergency for them to send a helicopter to the ship.  #1, they are never that far from land on an Alaska itin and #2 what @twangster said about the ability of a helicopter to land on the ship.  An aerial recovery is incredibly difficult and dangerous.  I pray everyone is ok.

[wordell1]

I confirmed with a crewmember this morning that it was a medical emergency and that the helicopter did not land but used the winch to load the passenger.

 

[wordell1]

Waiting to depart it Sitka. We are taking the shuttle into town and doing a do it yourself tour.

Here are some pictures of the Alaskan coast as we came in to Sitka. The last one is the port.

[wordell1]

We took the free shuttle into town and then took a 20 minute walk to the Raptor center. We wanted to get there early to avoid the crowds and were almost the only ones there when we arrived.

This was well worth the $15 admission. We were able to see multiple bald eagles up close and learned a lot about the birds. This is a great center and they rehab and release a lot of birds. The ones you can take photos of are not able to be released.

There was also a short nature trail that lran along a river up to a small waterfall.

[wordell1]

We left tbe raptor center just as the first tour bus arrived. Mission accomplished!

We the walked over to the Sitka National Historic Park. There is a visitors center with lots of information on the native amaricans who lived in the area before the Russians and then Americans came.

 There are some easy walking trails that show lots of different torem poles and different topography along the way. You can walk all the way out to the site of a battle between the native amaricans and the Russians.

We came in from the back side so we ended the hike at the visitors center. This was highly enjoyable as we got to see some really pretty forrest areas as well as river and coastal areas all in one relatively short hike.

[wordell1]

We then walked back into town passed the docks.

We ate at a pretty good place for burgers or halibut fish and chips.

There was some cool architecture and shopping in town as well as some good street food options.

We shopped a while and then went up to the castle before getting the shuttle back.

My app tracked us at 6 miles walked for the day.

Total cost for thus excursion was $30 for the Raptor center, plus lunch.

[twangster]

I have an app that can remove wires and mesh fences.  

I hope you don't mind I modified your photo.  

 

 

[wordell1]

1 hour ago, twangster said:

I have an app that can remove wires and mesh fences.  

I hope you don't mind I modified your photo.  

 

 

Wow, that is awesome. I will humbly accept any help or advice on photography you wish to give.

[wordell1]

Dinner last night was "A Taste of Asia"

I had the chicken and cabbage dumplings, theshrimp pad thai, and the royal chocolate cake. I missed taking a picture of the dumplings.

My wife had the spring rolls, the teriyaki salmon, and vanilla ice cream.

Again, the food was really good. No complaints on anything. The restaurant was less busy tonight, maybe people tired from the excursions or just didn't like the menu.

There are alot of Asians on this cruise. There is a large group from Malaysia on a tour.

 

[wordell1]

Woke up early today (6am) and these are a few shots from our balcony as we head towards Skagway.

I am ignoring @Mattadvice and doing 2 excursions. We are doing the White pass railway at 8am and the dog sled excursion at 2.