Alaska here we come , Ovation 22 -30 September.

[Traveler]

Several years ago, before we even started to cruise I had few business trips to Seattle. The office of the company I worked for used to be just adjust to the Pike market and I always got a nice office with panoramic view of the bay. Every Friday I used to watch the ships leaving the port going to Alaska while I had to stay and sometimes had to come to office during the weekend. I  said to myself one day it will be me over there, well, this day arrived. 

We went to many cruises during the last 10 years , many at Europe , Caribbean and some in Asia but Alaska was I guess just too far but always in the list. 

The plan, land in Seattle two days before the cruise, stay in downtown Seattle and board the ship on Friday. We will visit Juneau, Skagway, Sitka and Victoria. 

More to come.

[SweetPea]

Bon voyage! Safe travels!

[Sweety]

Have a safe journey.

[FireFishII]

Be prepare - my brother just got off a RC cruise last week to Alaska.  He had 2 of his land tours canceled - one due to weather and one due to a medical emergency on board.  I hope your cruise is able to hit all the ports with great weather. 

[Traveler]

We started our journey on Tuesday evening saying good bye and took train to the airport.

12 hour later  we landed  in Newark for a challenging 1.5 hour connection,  immigration went very fast although there were some lines but one of the suitcases took it time to arrive which push us to the not do comfortable zone. Lucky for us there were zero lines at security and our flight to Seattle was from the same terminal. We arrived the gate just when they started to board . Flight to Seattle took another 5 hours but it went smooth. When we landed the luggage came very quick and we walked to the train. The train  departures every 10 minutes and has enough space for luggage.  It cost 3 $ per person. It took us 6 more minutes to walk to the hotel , although it was uphill. Around 12 PM we arrived to the hotel to find that our room already ready which was nice.

We quickly got refreshed and went to catch something to eat in Pike market which is 10 minutes from the hotel. We went to the market grill , I got the Salmon sandwich which was very good.

We checked some other places in the market before going to the nearby Target to stock up.

We went back yo the hotel and decided to take some rest which we all know  with the Jetlag meaning sleep until the middle if the night

 

[Sweety]

Loving your blog. The salmon sandwich looks yummy 

[Traveler]

Day 0.1 Seattle.

The Jetlag is really hard  I think it was 3 am when we were already up trying to force ourself to sleep longer. I guess that what happens when you go to sleep at 4 PM ... we search for place to eat breakfast and decided to give Starbucks reserve roastery a try. We both not big fans of Starbucks (we are from a city that Starbucks decided to close there branches after failing to compete with many much better coffee places). But this Starbucks is different and it's open on 7 am :-). I would recommend a visit there for sure. Very good sandwiches and cakes. The atmosphere is also very nice.

From Starbucks we went down the Pike street to the market to taste the famous grill cheese sandwich in the market at Beecher , as we were quite full we shared one sandwich and it was very good

After the two  breakfast we had a one our boat tour out of pier 55 just to verify the cruise pier is there and ready for us. It was also nice to see the industrial port and the big cranes in action. 

 

Post the cruise to recover from the disembarking feelings we went to buy some last thing we forgot to bring for the cruise (mainly warm hats) and roam around downtown (no, we did not went to the needle,  as I have been there and my spouse doesn't care for the high places) . For late lunch and pre dinner we went to Japanosa resturant,  they have happy hour on everything until 5 pm and there food was just delicious. As you can see they don't serve half rolls like some famous venue in RC ship :-). 

 

We again  went to sleep quite early , suddenly I was woken up by my spouse saying hey , we are missing  the boat we need to go it's already 11:30 . It took me few seconds to understand that yes , it was 11:30 but PM ... The Jetlag strikes back 

 

[Traveler]

For hotel in Seattle we took the Kimpton Vintage , nice small hotel in the fifth Avenue 10 minutes walk from the market. It has happy hour every day with wine and beer but no breakfast which was OK by us as we wanted to tast something  different. 

[Matt]

Flying Tel Aviv to Newark and then another 5 hours to Seattle? I'm exhausted just thinking about it!

[SweetPea]

Those sushi rolls put Izumi to shame!

[Traveler]

1 hour ago, Matt said:

Flying Tel Aviv to Newark and then another 5 hours to Seattle? I'm exhausted just thinking about it!

Actually used to do this route quite often,  not that bad , better than the 17 hours flights from Mumbai to EWR

[Traveler]

Well we found those two packages here which we never ordered , anyone know if it's the new C&A gift or someone thought we will be very very thirsty?

[Traveler]

4 hours ago, SweetPea said:

Those sushi rolls put Izumi to shame!

They also taste very well and cost 9-12 $ each...

[Traveler]

Day 1 - Seattle.

The Jetlag again to the best of us and we were woken around 4 am, after all its a cruise day.  We tried to force some sleep but at the end we just decided to pack and get organized. At 6:45 we did our way again to Starbucks Reserve to catch breakfast,  as you can see we really liked this place (and not many things open so early).

After enjoying our time there we went back to the hotel and booked Uber to the port. The Uber cost 37$ which was better than the 55$ which offered by the hotel. Around 10:15 we arrived to the  port and started the check in process. Everything was very fast compared to the horror stories I was reading about Seattle port. 10 minutes after,  we were waiting in the holding area to start boarding. They started boarding two minutes after with suite,  pinnacles and keys , we were next. The nice thing they done was locating the ship security gates outside the ship allowing many more swiping cards  stations, preventing lines in the ship entry. After boarding and completing the muster check in we went to eat our first lunch in 270, it was quite good. We continued to the music hall to use the pool table were we competing who was the worse in this game, I think I won. We then visit the WJ just to see it had huge lines so we decided to catch something in Ship&chips.  I thought it's extra money venue but apparently it was free beside the lobster. I took the fish sandwich which was good. We booked the north star which is free for port days and watch the nice view of Seattle. 

By that time the cabin was ready so we unpacked and got organized. Still don't understand why they have power outlets only in one side of the bad , are they getting percentages from some marriage consulting organizations? 

For sail away we went to to deck 15

Although we had a nice view also from the cabin

For first day dinner we decided to go to the Solarium Bistro (you can understand by now, no CK access this time) the full meal was self service not like before were some of the dishes you needed to order. It was so so, I really wanted to catch the chef to explain him how to prepare Falfel and how to handle the Thaini , hint , you don't serve it raw. I still think it's not a bad option for first day. We went to check what we missed in the WJ, which was quite empty , they served some chops and had nice desserts. 

 

We went back to the room to take some rest before visiting the very packed casino. We called it early , as we were tired although next day is a sea day.

 

[Matt]

1 hour ago, Traveler said:

I really wanted to catch the chef to explain him how to prepare Falfel and how to handle the Thaini

Every time I find falafel on a Royal ship it all ends the same

I appreciate them trying, but it's always disappointing.

[Traveler]

37 minutes ago, Matt said:

Every time I find falafel on a Royal ship it all ends the same

I think I know the main reason , the main reason , not like Hummus (which by the way was OK) that is being made from cooked chickpeas the Falfel is being made from non cooked, 12 soaked in in water chickpeas. I guess they are using for both the Humos and the Falfel precooked caned chickpeas ...  

I will add a recipe later

 

 

 

 

 

[Traveler]

You know the concept of hush party right ? So here they took it one step forward : Hush changing the clock ... 

[FireFishII]

1 hour ago, Traveler said:

I think I know the main reason , the main reason , not like Hummus (which by the way was OK) that is being made from cooked chickpeas the Falfel is being made from non cooked, 12 soaked in in water chickpeas. I guess they are using for both the Humos and the Falfel precooked caned chickpeas ...  

I will add a recipe later

I would love to see your recipe.  We have a family from the middle east that runs a restaurant.  I always love their hummus and Falfel. 

[Traveler]

1 hour ago, FireFishII said:

I would love to see your recipe.  We have a family from the middle east that runs a restaurant.  I always love their hummus and Falfel. 

Sure,  going to add it later , it's very easy

[Traveler]

Day 2 sea day.

I always thought  its good to start a cruise with a sea day (and end it with one), opportunity to tour the ship and relax.

We had a really early morning due to the jetlag and we were hungry ( I will say it's because of the jetlag,  not because we did not eat for full 5 hours). As we did not want to wait for room service we went down to the promenade cafe just to find out it was also late for the 24/7 place. There was no one there , the attendeds left and put out all the cakes and sandwiches trays out for whoever want , this was first time for me.

The weather was chill but nice , not too much rain or wind so we could go outside for some fresh air. At 6 am we went to the WJ , we and other many people (after all for all the east coast people it was already 9 AM) when it was not opened we finally checked the app to find out the clock was changed and it's only 5 AM , no note in the room like always,  we'll still a newbie mistake,  shame on us , we should be demoted to emerald if not to gold . Later we went to eat breakfast at the D club , not a WJ morning person.

We decided to do some duck hunting and we did found one in the pub, he was without tag so we guessed he was drinking too much last night and lost his ID (or it was confiscated when they found he is under the drinking age ?) . 

The C&A event took place at late morning , only 7 pinnacles on board 

That was the quickest event ever , ended after 10 minutes only

We took lunch at MDR as it was sea day , food not bad and more relaxed atmosphere comparing to the WJ. 

Next we went to watch the love and marriage show which was funny specially thanks  the most veteran couple who was hilarious. I went to the casino , wow , I need to find my luck somewhere else , :-), I guess I will not get a "free" cruise this time. We took some nap (have i already said we love sea days ?). We decided to skip the MDR dinner  and went to the WJ , nothing special,  Indian food was good but overall all I can see the WJ food was downgrade a little bit. We had reservations for the show in  270 but the jetlag striked again so we missed it, after all we should get ready for our first port. 

[Matt]

27 minutes ago, Traveler said:

That was the quickest event ever , ended after 10 minutes only

Was there no one who reached a milestone, such as Pinnacle?

[Traveler]

Just now, Matt said:

Was there no one who reached a milestone, such as Pinnacle?

No , just top cruisers. 

[Traveler]

As promised a real Falafel recipe:

What you need:

2 cups of dried chickpeas/garbanzo 

1 chopped onion

Half cup of chopped parsley 

Half cup of chopped coriander

One spoon of sesame - optional

One tea spoon of paprika 

One tea spoon of cumin 

Half tea spoon of salt , you can add more if you prefer. 

Black pepper.

Two spoon of flour.

Optional one wet piece of bread. 

5 to 6 garlic cloves

Baking soda 

The chickpeas need to be soaked in water for 12 hours.

Wash and drain the chickpeas and add them with all the garlic , spices , bread to a food processor. 

Run the food processor until getting a rough paste,  if the paste is too dry you can add water.

Add the parsley, coriander , flour   sesame and  onion

Mix everything and put to rest in the refrigerator for an hour.

Just before frying the Falafel add the baking soda (optional).

The Falafel should be fried in 285 F 140C.

Create small to midsized balls (the mixture is good for 25 falafel balls) and fry several each time until they become brown/ dark brown.

Enjoy it with pita bread (maybe I will add how to do one at a frying pan) , chopped sald (tomato,  cucumber and onions), Thaini and Humos

 

[Traveler]

Day 3 - Juneau.

Today our first sea day  we arrived to Juneau at 1 PM. Breakfast was at the WJ , they have there a nice cook to orders ege which you ask for what you want and they give you this device which is vibrates when it's ready.

Before arriving Juneau we had very mice view of the inner passage,  which made me  thankful for heaving a balcony.

For Juneau we booked long time ago to go to the Mendenhall Glacier.  Unfortunately due to finishing all the quota for this year it was canceled.  Royal gave us 50 $ as a compensation which was nice of the. The alternative excursion we booked was the whales watching.  We had a nice weather so we hot to see a glimpse of the Glacier from the boat. We did see some whales  , not many pictures as I used the binoculars to watch them , but maybe I will extract some tails from the video I took. 

When we came back we went to check the famous Tracy crab place. It was packed with long line took us 40 minutes to get in. It was very tasty but not sure I will wait again that long for it. Back on the ship we were quite tired from the long day so we felt a sleep very quickly,  there is jetlag for you. 

[Traveler]

This really annoyed me , Royal prompting many programs to save the environment and the wildlife bit then decide to promote a fur store ??? Really Royal ? 

[asquared17]

i've never seen macarons in the WJ before! (perhaps i live under a rock )

[Traveler]

1 hour ago, asquared17 said:

i've never seen macarons in the WJ before! (perhaps i live under a rock )

You are right they rare as lobster at day 1

[Traveler]

Day 4 Skagway. 

I know I am behind but had some good reasons (excuses  excuses) . Internet not the best on the ship as expected from Alaska cruise and its not much better once in port. My Tmobile Internet is very poor , like back to the noisy modems days. 

Today we had a very late excursion (good holiday excuse ) so we started by just walking to the city. Although the port is very near by due to the avalanche last year they force you to take shuttle bus for a one minute drive to the pier end. After that we just walked to the "town" we visit some souvenirs shops (expensive as expected) and walk around enjoying the view.

We walked back to the ship to get ready for our excursion. We went to north star, hoping to tide it again and as we expected , although fully reserved no one came. We actually had almost 20 minutes private north star experience for ourselves.  Always try the ports day for such activities .

Our excursion was a ride on the road to the white pass summit, gold fever and Salmon dinner. The ride on the road was nice and we had several stops to take pictures. 

We went over to the Canadian side were we had to show our passports. The immigration officer  went on the bus and took a quick look on the passports , did not bother to look on  our passport,  I guess he knew I following @Lovetocruise2002 blogs and might thought we are star class .

we had a 10 minutes stop at the Canadian side before heading to the US (the US immigration officer did not even bother to go on the bus).

 

Our next stop was the gold panning experience , what do you know we found 5 grains of gold , now for sure we can upgrade our next cruise.

Following the gold penning we had the lunch/ early dinner which contains salads, rice , BBQ chicken and fresh grilled Salmon (as many as you want) it was very tasty.

We returned to the pier at 4:50 , 10 minutes before all aboard to wait in a very long line to the shuttle. The line was quick and we went on the ship on the last minute. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Traveler]

Ice cream cost money in the WJ. Remember it use to free ? 

 

[Ampurp85]

I heard about this costing ice cream and it was argued that it was gelato, but this says ice cream. 

[Traveler]

1 hour ago, Ampurp85 said:

I heard about this costing ice cream and it was argued that it was gelato, but this says ice cream. 

In RCL terms , Gelato is ice cream which you can charge for . 

[Traveler]

RCL logic - my timing queue for peoples that followed RC recommendations and reserved ahead of time - 30 minutes.  Queue for non reservations- 5 minutes,  guess which line we choose ... #beingPunishesForDoingTheRightThing

[Traveler]

 

Day 5 Stika .

We arrived early to the port (which did boy prevent for keep sleeping or at least trying). We did not jad special excursion for today just to go and visit Stila on our own as it seems easy place to do so. We went fir a quick bite and a coffee in the diamond club, I happy to say the coffee machine was working perfectly during the entire time.

We went down to the pier to catch the complimentary shuttle bus to "down town" Stika , it took around 7 minutes and the driver share some information about Stika. We arrived to the shuttle center and took some nice pictures from the nearest view point, there was a queue there but we successfully took some photos. 

We started doing our way to Stika national park , it's taken around 15 minutes in a very nice sidewalk which takes also to a boardwalk with a view over the water with many birds and other animals (we saw few seals and what we decided sea otters) 

 

The national park center is the star point for easy round trips inside the forest that contains also many impressive totem poles polls. We spend 40 minutes there before starting our way back to the town center.

Now who said tree Ents dose not exist ?

 

We passed by the place were the salmons come to spawn , unfortunately for many of the is also the place they come to die , let's just say we skipped the Salmon chowder for lunch. At that time it started to rain and it never stopped, not heavy rain just annoying one. We decided it's a good time for lunch and we went to the small Russian restaurant that call Pelmeni , they serve Russian dumplings ( this is more like tortellini or some may know it as Kreplach) they serve it with or potato or meat topped with vinegar, hot sauce and sour cream. They cost 9 $ for a plate which is one of the best deals in town.

It was tasty. There are also many food trucks around selling different chowders, crab sandwiches and hot dogs.

I think from all our 3 Alaskan stops Stika is the most beautiful . 

We had enough of the tain so we catches the shuttle back to the ship. Dinner was at the WJ we found several good things there Today we finally got to see Spectra. As always story line was not that important but they really took advantage using all the equipment and technology of the 270, impressive

 

[SweetPea]

I'm sorry i am very behind, but you're posting some amazing pics!

[DDaley]

So did you not need a shuttle ticket to get off the ship and go to town in Sitka? We didn’t find out we needed one until we got there (we sailed two weeks ago on Quantum) and had to wait 3 hours waiting for our number to come up. 

[Traveler]

1 hour ago, DDaley said:

So did you not need a shuttle ticket to get off the ship and go to town in Sitka? We didn’t find out we needed one until we got there (we sailed two weeks ago on Quantum) and had to wait 3 hours waiting for our number to come up. 

Oh , no , just went off the ship and got on the shuttle,  no issues at all. Maybe they increased the number of busses or we were the only ship in port.

[Traveler]

Day 6 - Sea day

The evening arrived and we left Stika , some people saw the north star light the night before but we missed it. We started to fo our way to the pacific we comes with its price. The sea was angry my friends "like an old man trying to return a soup in a deli" was not sure it was because we used all our drinking vouchers , too many honeymooners on the ship or just lots of waves . I liked it has its making me sleep very fast but I also like air pockets while flying so I am not a good example. 

We started the morning in the WJ for a quick bite following the captain corner,  sorry no new information about Nexus project nor about the loyalty program. It was interesting as always.

We participated in one trivia , before taken our first drink of the day . 

We skipped lunch only took Pizza and spent some time in the casino as it was also the ladt day its going to be open , it was better that time and I could take some money off the room charges. 

Today was the dream production in the theater, it was like a dream as we slept most if it. Today we finally went to the MDR , got a really good service and enjoyed the food.

This is melon and Avocado salad , free cruise to whomever find the Avocado 

The quest was today , just the quest not the crazy quest as it seems the PG version of it , although some new tasks. Our group came second, shame. Finally first day we used all the drinking vouchers,  good for us. We also had time to take our pictures as it was dress to impress night (although I quite sure I did not impressed anyone) . Time to go to sleep 

 

[Traveler]

Day 7 - Victoria.

The sun rises over our last cruise day. We slept finally until 8 but it's only because my spouse came under the weather , we quickly checked its not covid and I went to bring some food from 270. After a while she felt better and we went to pick our pictures (finally we remembered to pick our free pictures) I must say the photographer on the Ovation are doing better job than other ship  , or it's just the diet we done before the cruise ).

We did not know if we want to visit Victoria or not,  after all its only in the itinerary due to the John's act , a filler like Nassau... We decided to go anyway and wow , it was a very good decision. The city is very beautiful with European filling and many interesting building. It was also a sunny day which is also a plus. We took the shuttle (15 $ for all day use) although you can walk (around 15 - 20 minutes). The shuttle dropped us near the beautiful Empress hotel 

 

From there we walked over the Government st ,on the way we did some whales watching excursion,  this time we got to see more than their tails.

We came to the local Chaintown which we decided it's a good time to eat lunch.

We found a nice resturant with lunch offers and got ourself noodles and a combo dish . Both were very good. The resturant name is Fan Tan caffe.

We did our way back in a parallel street

We went to the parliament house and decided to call it for today and took the shuttle back to the port . And no we did not eat the Poutine, not before the yearly checkout:-)

 

Hey what do you say can I work on the ship ? Here is my own first towel animal thanks to the cruise director program that explained how to make them 

Tomorrow  leaving the Ovation 

 

 

 

[SweetPea]

I know you're probably home now, so thanks for taking us along! I enjoyed all your pics so much and your commentary. 

[Matt]

Caught up on the rest of your cruise. Looks like you had a great time. Hope the trip home wasn't terrible