Pearls of the Pacific Northwest-Stacey's Alaskan Cruise Review

Hello all, I'm BACK!!!

 

I returned from my Alaskan cruise just under two weeks ago, and have been delayed in starting this review due to working 11 days straight upon my return(gotta earn money for the next cruise LOL) but am ready to share my experience cruising the Pacific! (Spolier Alert; IT WAS FREAKING AWESOME!!!!!)

 

 

 

A bit of history on me for those new to my growing reviews: I am a thirty something(for a few more years at least) nurse, living in NYC, and I love to travel. I have done a LOT of solo travel,being single(or dating men who didn't wish to travel), both international land trips and cruising. In the last couple of years, I have taken a couple of trips with my mother, and some with friends to whom I have spread the travel bug.

 

 

 

 

I have just completed my 12th cruise overall, 4th with NCL-I know, I know, I am sure there are those who wouldn't consider me fit to breathe the same air as you elite platinum/diamond members, but I'm happy with my numbers just the same.

 

 

 

Which leads me right into my next bit…I tend to do more detailed, day by day, storytelling reviews, and I have a very dry sense of humor and LOVE sarcasm, and my reviews are filled with both, not as a way to be critical,but just to have some fun. I like to think that I tell my experiences as is, and show the positive and negative as they happen. I never go into any trip expecting perfection or disaster, and have both good and bad moments. If someone has cruised the same ship/itinerary and has had a differing experience, by all means, feel free to share, but I do not choose to debate my own. if you don't like it, there are plenty of other reviews out there. I do the review to entertain, relive my trip, and also to hopefully help my fellow type A travel planners out there gain some knowledge. I love reading reviews in preparation for my travels, but have grown to reading some that i have no immediate plans to attend simply because I've found them to be good writers. My hope is to end up as a bit of both.

 

 

 

 

I try to complete these in 3-4 weeks, have been successful some times,others not so much, but I do promise to complete as soon as humanly possible.I give myself no deadline this time, as I am working and doing my MSN online,so i don't want to pen myself in, but hope to finish before Thanksgiving LOL. Please be patient and know that I will finish, as I have with all(except one that I did complete and my old computer ate it, and I have yet the determination to go back and resurrect it two years later). The good news is, Alaska season is over, and my review will still be one of the most up to date even when finished:)

 

 

 

 

Anyway, enough of that…Onto the background of this cruise….

 

 

 

 

Alaska has been a cruise thats always been on the back of my mind, but never had the urge to really pursue it until last year. I was reading reviews on my then upcoming Breakaway trip, and came across jenseib's Alaska review, and happened to read it, which sparked my interest a bit more. Over my Christmas cruise, my mom expressed interest in going to Alaska, so the wheels spun a bit more.

 

 

 

We started to look into cruises for this fall and honestly were looking at trying out Royal Caribbean(gasp-I know my returning readers are probably in shock). At that time, their ship, the Explorer of the Seas had a better price than the Pearl or Carnival Legend,and the ship looked to have more activity. Since my mom refuses to try an inside cabin, we were looking at ocean view prices-balconies for Alaska on all ships rival Haven pricing in the Caribbean. Royal had a category of an interior window for a decent price, so we tentatively decided to go with that.

 

 

 

 

As I started to do more research,it was difficult-this particular ship and itinerary were both newer to Royal, so finding reviews were challenging. Also, some of the feedback from CC were expressing that the itinerary was weak(it stopped in two Alaskan towns and went to a different glacier) as well as our September timeline.

 

 

 

 

Some time went by, and then the first roadblock occurred. My mom worked as a private caregiver at the time, and long story short, her "employer" was playing loosey goosey with the IRS, which resulted in my mom owing a LOT to Uncle Sam. Needless to say, she no longer works for that family, but it also looked like Alaska was bye bye for this year.

 

 

 

 

Then, about a month later, I had an idea,and approached a couple of siblings, and one of them decided to pitch in and contribute to my mom's portion of the cruise along with myself, so plans were "almost" back on. I went back to my research,and found that prices were now pretty equal between Royal's inside promenade room and NCL's ocean view. With NCL offering the UBP, and what was being touted as a better itinerary, I placed the deposit down for an OC guarantee, which my PCC Joan told me guaranteed us a high category ocean view(i.e., no obstructed view). We also had $60 OBC-not a bad deal!

 

 

 

 

This was only my second time doing a guarantee, with my first coming up just a few weeks from then, on my Carnival Conquest cruise. Since Carnival had given me a halfway decent room within a couple of weeks of booking, I figured it would be no big deal with NCL as well.

 

 

 

 

So, with Alaska booked and ready, I didn't focus too much on it until after I had completed my spring cruise. Shortly after that, I booked our respective flights into Seattle two days prior and one day following the cruise,since neither of us had been there yet. I researched hotels, and even in May, prices were astronomical for the downtown/tourist area of Seattle(within a few minutes of the cruise piers). I'm ok with spending about $200 per night, though I try to get a bit less, but it was seriously about $220+ for a Best Western-3 and 4 star hotels were closer to $300.

 

 

 

 

We had stayed at Embassy Suites in the past and had good experiences, but the two ES in this area were either by the airport,which was about a half hour from downtown, or in a suburban town east of Seattle, with practically no public transportation.I hemmed and hawed a bit, and was about to just suck it up and book the Hilton in downtown when I learned about the light rail.

 

 

 

 

After a bit more research, I saw that most airport hotels had shuttles that would take you to the station, and the light rail would take you to downtown Seattle for about $3pp each way. It was about a 40 minute ride, which could be a deterrent to some, but after discussing it with my mom, we figured that we would rather stay at a known hotel for a better price and take the cheap transport in.

 

 

 

 

By the way, the airport hotels were still going for about $150-$180…..Seattle is NOT cheap, so plan accordingly.

 

 

 

 

With flights and hotel booked, the next step was the final payment, at which time I was told that our room was likely to be assigned(it had been a couple of months at this point). Unfortunately, this did not occur, but was told not to worry, there was still almost 3 months left, and the ship was almost sold out, so we would get our cabin at that time.

 

 

 

My PCC has been good to me in the past, and had no reason to doubt her, so i went on with life, studied and researched,planned excursions, and held out hope that the balcony prices would drop to a semi reasonable rate so that I could upgrade. July came and went,selling out that category,along with mini-suites and my hopes for that idea. In the meantime, I had been on our roll call here, which was probably the slowest roll call that I have been involved in to date. I searched for a did not find a page on the Big Blue site,so…one appeared.

 

 

 

 

 

A handful of people joined, but still, talk was pretty slow on both ends. I asked if a Meet and Mingle had been arranged,got no reply, so I approached NCL and set one up for our first sea day-I have hosted a 1 official before on the Epic, and a couple unofficial on other ships, so I had no problem organizing it. On my Breakaway cruise, we had a gift exchange, so I threw that idea out there,and it caught on.

 

 

 

 

As August approached, the ship sold out, yet no cabin was assigned. I may or may not have stalked poor Joan and begged her to find a way to "just assign me a room" to no avail. She kept telling me to be patient, but I had re-read jenseib's review and had some outlandish paranoia going on at this point. (If you haven't read it, I encourage you to do so). Granted,her cabin debacle was of a completely different scenario than an unassigned guarantee room, but I somehow had it in my head that one of the following would occur:

 

 

 

 

1.The ship would be overbooked and we would have NO cabin

2.We would be put into an inside cabin

3.We would be put into an obstructed ocean view

 

 

 

Yes, I know.I'm crazy.

 

 

 

Then I made a follow up call that made it worse. I made my weekly call to check on the status, and my PCC wasn't in, so i got routed to a girl who was new. She was pretty flummoxed by my detailed questions, so she got a supervisor who did reassure me that I would have a cabin. When I asked about how to tag the luggage and top it off without an assigned room, I got this response:

 

 

"If you don't have a room assigned by the time you arrive at the pier, you'll need to go inside the terminal,check in, get your cabin number, and then return outside to drop your luggage."

 

 

WAIT A SECOND.

 

 

"OK, so you mean, my SEVENTY SIX year old mother and I need to drag ALL of our luggage inside the terminal and THEN back outside?!?!" I clarified in disbelief.

 

 

 

She paused. "Well, it's a very unlikely scenario.I'm sure you'll have your cabin by then."

 

 

 

"But wait-if we DON'T, that's what we have to do?"

 

 

 

She paused again. "Yes, you'll have to keep your bags with you until you check in."

 

 

 

$&^#$%^$#^(*%(*%^&*%#$@!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

 

New paranoia was ramped up x 1000. I was apoplectic at the thought that they expected ANYONE to navigate a cruise terminal, which is chaotic on an easy day, WITH LUGGAGE.

 

 

 

 

Now frantic, I consulted the cruise critic gurus, who responded in droves to basically tell me(politely) that I was crazy. Multiple people reassured me that such scenario would likely never occur,as porters had our cabin numbers even if we did not. They also said that the likelihood of being upgraded was higher the longer that the cabin went unassigned.

 

 

 

I didn't see how this was likely, as balconies had sold out long ago, but was a bit calmer. Well, not really, but I decided to keep my mouth shut until I reached the boat.

 

 

 

As the weeks turned to days, final preparations were made, and before I knew it, amidst yet another heat wave, vacation day arrived.

And so, with this backdrop, I now begin the story of my Alaskan cruise with…..

Day One-September 9, NYC-Seattle

 

 

 

My day began VERY early- 3am early(and it was 82 degrees!!!). I hadn't slept much, as I was doing final touches on packing the night before. I took one of those quizzes on Big Blue about my packing style, and was proclaimed to be an "Overpacking Procrastinator." I've never had one of those quizzes be more on target.

 

 

 

 

In my defense, packing for an Alaskan cruise is HARD. Reviews didn't help much, as people either recommended a lot of athletic outdoor wear, or super casual clothes. I knew it was predicted to be in the high 50's/low 60's with rain, but it was 70's in Seattle, and you never know what you will get on the ship. Plus add in that I usually change clothes for the evening on cruises, formal nights, shoes for even outfit….the struggle was real.

 

 

 

 

So, I'm going to digress VERY briefly to show you the picture of my packed suitcase…..

 

 

 

 

And give you a brief rundown on the clothes that I brought. Now, recall that I'm packing for multiple temperature scenarios and venues. These are the items that I, a non fashionista, non extreme athlete, non crunchy woman ended up bringing.

 

 

 

3 pairs of jeans

2 dress pants(brown and black)

2 pairs of capris(one white linen, one jean)

3 pairs of shorts(optimistic)

6-7 sweaters

4-5 thinner,long sleeved shirts

4-5 short sleeve shirts

3-4 dressy tops

3 skirts

1 dress

1 fleece hoodie

1 thin leather jacket

1 newly purchased Northface rainjacket

2 swimsuits and cover ups(VERY optimistic)

Sleepwear,underwear, and two pairs of exercise outfits(semi-optimistic about hitting the gym-the Conquest left me with a few extra pounds)

Two pair of ankle boots

Sneakers

2 pairs of ballet flats

3 pairs of heels

2 pairs of wedges

 

 

 

And that was pretty much it. I don't usually post my clothing list, but packing for Alaska is a common topic,and since I consider myself to be an average girl, I hope that this helps others out. Most of it was pretty spot on,as you will see.

 

 

 

By the way, we were T-3 days to cruising with still no room assigned.

 

 

 

Anyway, back to 3am…..

 

 

 

I had booked Supershuttle for a 7am flight that was really an 8am flight(I have trust issues-don't judge me) and they had given me a 15 minute timeframe of 3:55-4:10. I got ready, did my last check, said goodbye to my cat, and headed down to the lobby at 3:45.

 

 

 

As i walked to the security desk, I saw a woman standing impatiently by the guard. "Are you Tracy?" she snapped.

 

 

"I'm STACEY," I replied.

 

 

"Let's go, we are running late," she snapped, and took off through the front door.

 

 

 

I chased after her the best i could, dragging two suitcases. "Excuse me, are you Supershuttle?" I demanded.

 

 

 

"Yes, and you are late," she snapped again. "I tried calling you several times."

 

 

I replied that i had no missed calls, and informed her that i was 10 minutes earlier than the 15 minute window.

 

 

 

"They always tell you not to go by that, we can show up early. You're not our only pickup, you know. I could've left,especially since you didn't pick up your phone."

 

 

 

I stopped in the middle of the walkway and held up my phone,showing no missed calls, and insisted she check the number. Sure enough,she didn't have the correct phone number, but instead of apologizing ,she just bitched about the call center screwing it up.

 

 

 

Since she showed no intention of taking either of my bags, I asked her to slow down so that I could keep up. She sighed and rolled her eyes.

 

 

 

"You really should be down a half an hour early," she snapped again.

 

 

I told her that i've taken Supershuttle before, and its always been there within the window. I inquired as to why they would give a timeframe if they didn't honor it.

 

 

 

By this time, we had reached the van, and she opened the doors, looking at me expectantly. "You should know that we can come at anytime," she insisted.

 

 

 

"Sorry, my mind reading capabilities aren't working this early," I snapped back. I rolled my bags to her feet, and left them for her to put in and climbed in the van, verbalizing my opinion of her as a did so. Some of the other passengers must have had a similar experience, because they laughed.

 

 

 

As the driver got into the car, she turned back to me with another remark."You know, your bag is over 50 pounds, you're going to have to pay an overage fee."

 

 

 

"I actually weighed it last night, and it was 41 lbs, thank you," I replied.

 

 

 

"Ma'am, I've been lifting bags every day for 4 years. I know when a bag is too heavy,and yours is too heavy," she barked.

 

 

 

Seriously, it was too early for this crap. "I'll take it up at the airport," I replied,

 

 

 

"Well,I'm just letting you know," she stated snottily, as she started the car.

 

 

 

One guy near the front replied, "Lady, it's her problem-can we just get to the airport?"

 

 

 

I was hoping that this wasn't an omen for the trip.

 

 

 

Thankfully, we only had one more pickup, and the streets of Manhattan were fairly empty. We made it to JFK in just under an hour,which meant that I had three hours to spare.

 

 

 

Unfortunately, I had prepaid my Supershuttle-and pre-tipped. I'll certainly never do that again.

 

 

 

As I rolled up to the Delta curbside, it was empty,and I was able to check in smoothly. By the way-my bag weighed in at 39 lbs, thank you very much Supershuttle guru.

 

 

 

I walked into the terminal(T-4) and found it to be VERY empty.

 

 

 

 

I made my way to security and was through in about 15 minutes. The TSA peeps were pretty cranky, and had to keep yelling at people who would leave their bags on the table-the part that doesn't move-before the x-ray machine, and walk away. My barrette set the nudy scanner off, so I had to get a pat down.

 

 

 

Once that was done, I walked downstairs, where all of the shops were, and found it to be..pretty dead.

 

 

 

 

My only food option looked to be McDonalds, so i joined THAT line. At least there was plenty of open seating in the middle of the terminal, so I sat down and read my iPad and went online a bit,until the stores started opening around 6. The I got my usual flight snacks, and found a NYC tumbler for my contribution to the gift exchange.

 

 

 

With that out of the way, I took the long walk towards my gate(Terminal 4 is quite long) and got about halfway when I saw that one of the XpressSpa branches was open. I decided a massage was necessary to begin my vacay relaxation, and hopefully pre-settle my flight nerves(before I could realistically take my pre-flight meds).

 

 

 

It was quite heavenly, and I do recommend them,even if they are overpriced, but it is a very soothing oasis in an otherwise tense environment.

Enjoying your review...keep it coming.

Soon it was time to make my way to my gate, and I had to take said meds.

 

 

 

I've gone into detail on other reviews about my flight anxiety, so i won't dwell on it here-you can read the intrigue and mishaps in other reviews, hahaha. Suffice it to say that Xanax is a beautiful thing and it's very necessary for me.

 

 

 

However-it does have its flaws,one of which is that it totally zones me out for the rest of the day. I happened to have a sister med, Valium, from a medical procedure that I had earlier this summer, that I planned to try on this flight. It's quick acting,like Xanax, but it wears off after about an hour.Since my mom had pretty much told me that I was NOT going to be sleeping in Seattle on our first day, I decided to try it. I had hoped that it would get me through takeoff(my worst part) and wear off enough for me to chill on the calm part of the flight. If we hit turbulence? Well, that was what Delta Comfort free drinks was for.

 

 

 

 

Ah, Delta Comfort…Delta's version of premium economy, economy plus, or what have you. Yes, there's the added legroom, which a 5'2 female certainly needs-but it does have the free drinks, power outlets, priority boarding, and FREE DRINKS. It was pretty reasonably priced, at only $50 extra RT. I thought it would be a good bargain for a 6 hour flight.

 

 

 

With Valium properly downed, I texted my mom,who was just leaving for her airport-since she was flying from Phoenix,she had a much shorter journey, but our flights were due within 15 minutes of each other. Just then, the gate agents started asking us to form lines based on our boarding zones. Unfortunately, the SKY zone was right in front of a bathroom, which pissed a lot of people off.

 

 

 

Thankfully, Valium was starting to kick in as my zone was called, and I made my way onto the plane. I entered the cabin door and saw my seat, 18D,literally in front of me.

 

 

 

The flight attendant, Vicky, was pleasant and immediately showed me the seat, offered to help put my carryon away, telling me that I would need to store my purse for takeoff,but that she wouldn't take it just then. She seemed pretty nice.

 

 

 

As I settled in, I fell in love with the seat. Seriously, check out this leg room!!

 

 

 

 

The other row across from me certainly had more,but neither row could complain. The woman who sat next to me had some space between her and the exit door, which theoretically would give the window seat in row 19 more legroom, but it was a bit squashed looking.

 

 

 

 

Our exit door window was small, but we had a clear view out of the window on the other side of the aisle.as well as the window in THAT exit door.

 

 

 

 

Vicky did the obligatory exit row speech to us all, and showed us that our personal entertainment system was stowed in the armrest. We also had pillows and blankets throughout the Delta Comfort section. I took out my iPad and phone before surrendering my purse to her and myself to the Valium cloud as we rolled to takeoff.

 

 

 

Valium worked! I got through it peacefully, and managed to rest for a bit. I woke up as Vicky came around offering a basket of goodies-crackers,pretzels, cookies,etc, very similar to how they offer it at JetBlue. I got on my phone and purchased the wifi package, and spent the next couple of hours reading my iPad, tracking both of our flights, catching up on mitsugirly's review, and attempting to watch a movie that I downloaded.

 

 

 

By the time drink service came around(I think I missed the first one) the Valium had completely worn off, and I was wide awake. Since it was early, I went for a Bailey's and coffee.

 

 

 

 

Vicky had returned my purse to me by that point, and I laid it by the bulkhead(several inches away from our feet) but my seat mate gave me a look and shook her head. I didn't understand why that spot was bothering her,as it was in no way impeding her path to the restroom, but I wasn't going to argue anymore today, so I sort of shoved it under the front of my seat.

 

 

 

I think they were selling some type of breakfast, but I declined, as my snacks were sufficient. I did take a second Baileys and coffee later in the flight,though.

 

 

 

Towards the end of the flight, mountains were visible out the windows. Pretty much my whole row was standing in the space in front of our seats, so I took advantage of the opportunity and stood up too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The women across from me were going on the Royal Caribbean cruise that I was looking at originally, so we chatted about cruising a bit. My seat mate joined in, although she didn't speak much English, and said she was going to Alaska as well. She was actually flying to Anchorage that day.

I snuck in a few more photos of my seating area,and the plane. As we approached Seattle, my seat mate and I both thought we saw Mt Rainer, and were taking pictures through our tiny window.

 

 

 

 

The guy in the row behind us piped up and informed us that that was actually NOT Mt Rainier, but Mt Hood.

 

 

 

Vicky was nearby and told us that Rainier would be out the opposite side, so a few minutes later, she encouraged us to walk over to the other exit window, and I got this picture…

 

 

 

 

Seattle was close!

 

 

Sure enough, we had to sit down a few minutes later as we began to descend, and before I knew it, we had landed. I turned my cell on and my mom had texted me that she was at baggage claim, had her bags, and was sitting by the carousel that would be for my flight.

 

 

 

The final advantage of my seat was that i was one of the first few people off the plane, and I made my way through Sea-Tac to baggage claim. It seemed like a pretty well organized airport.

 

 

 

Sure enough, I found my mom and we were excited to get the show on the road! It didn't take too long for my luggage to arrive, but we weren't too sure where to get the airport shuttle. Luckily, a porter was nearby and gave us easy directions. We pretty much had to go up one flight,across a skybridge,down a flight, and there was an island where all of the airport shuttles circulated.

 

 

 

Easier said than done, as we had four bags between us,but we managed. Once we got to the island, I saw a phone bank,so I picked it up,saw a code for each hotel. I dialed Embassy Suites, and was told that a shuttle would be there momentarily.

 

 

 

True to their word, the green and white van was there less than 10 minutes later, and we were on our way! Our driver was pretty chatty(then again, maybe I'm just too used to New Yorkers) and was giving us the run down on how to get into downtown,what to see,etc.

 

 

 

It was about a 10 minute ride to the hotel,and Washington was pretty green looking. Thankfully,it wasn't rainy that day.

 

 

 

The hotel had a pretty impressive looking lobby.

 

 

 

 

 

Upon check in,I was informed that they had a room ready,so we were pretty happy. All of the rooms at this hotel were in a square and faced the interior lobby, so there wasn't a location that was better or worse than another. I had had the option to "choose a room" via the app the day before,which I did, not really caring where it was. The front desk agent had said that that room wasn't ready, but I told her it didn't matter and that i would happily take the one that was.

 

 

 

We were on the 7th floor for this stay,and the suite was pretty much a typical Embassy Suites set up…

 

 

 

 

 

 

We got settled,unloaded our purses a bit, and headed back downstairs to catch the shuttle back to the airport,where the light rail was located. The shuttle would take you anywhere within a 5 mile radius, which included a mall that was about a mile away with several restaurants and a Target across the street.

 

 

 

We had the same driver back to the light rail(shocking) and chatted some more. He left us off at the same spot that he picked us up at, where we kind of reversed our previous moves-we had to take the elevator up a flight and walk down a different skybridge, which led us to the light rail station.It was pretty easy.

 

 

 

 

They had automatic machines to buy your passes, and several people looking baffled. This is where living in NYC came in handy, as the machines worked pretty much identical to the Metrocard system. (They are also pretty simple to follow if you can read basic instructions, which seemed to present a challenge to some of the folks in line). We did have a pleasant surprise that my mom's ticket was only $2 roundtrip,thanks to the senior rate, so the total for two "all day" passes was a whopping $8. Sold!

 

 

 

There was an escalator to the platform, but no machines to swipe your tickets through as we got on. We waited for someone to come by and scan them, but no one ever did.

 

 

 

Like I had read,it was about 40 minutes to the main downtown stop, Westlake Center(or about 11 stops) but it was mostly outdoors,so you could see the suburbs as you went by. Once we arrived at Westlake Center, we looked for something to swipe "out" with out tickets, but no, we were just turned loose. Interesting.

OK, my apologies, but my Photobucket account is going haywire and not allowing me to post next photos-so unfortunately, I will leave you hanging for tonight, but will be back to finish day 1 tomorrow evening:)

Yay, a review from Stacey!! Not that I have been stalking or anything...nope, haven't been doing that at all.....

Now,from Westlake Center, you can get a monorail that takes you to the Space Needle area, but we were saving that for the day we returned from the ship. We follow dthe exit signs and found ourselves outside. They had signs pointing towards Pike Place Market, so we found that easily a few blocks away…down a pretty steep hill.

 

 

 

 

It was a bit windy, so i was chilly, but the sun was out,so i hoped that it would warm up. There were several stores and cafes along the way, and it was pretty clean looking. There were also a lot of people running/biking, so I guess the athletic reputation is accurate!

 

 

 

Once we found the market, it was truly sensory overload-street performers, vendors, fresh produce, fish, food,flowers,stores-you name it, it was here. We just picked a direction and started walking,checking everything out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had wanted to get lunch/dinner, but didn't see anything that was appealing. We are not seafood's, which was looking to be unfortunate,as it was a seafood heavy themed area.

 

 

 

 

We did stop at this cheesecake stand and get these cute cheesecake pops. I tried to find the Original Starbucks, and Google told me it was at the corner of 1st and Pike.When we got there, it was a nice looking Starbucks, but wasn't quite what I pictured.

 

 

 

 

I knew we were close to the Waterfront area, and I figured that there would be more variety of restaurants there, so we stopped at an information stand, and the guy pointed us down some steps "through the Gum Wall" and said we would be there. Since I wanted to see the Gum Wall anyway, I was intrigued.

 

 

 

 

 

So, we climbed down a staircase and headed into a darkened alley full of people and found… the infamous Gum Wall.

 

 

 

 

If you don't know what this is, it's pretty self explanatory. Its an alley where hundreds of people stick there gum for infamy. It's pretty gross, but it's a landmark all the same.

 

 

 

 

 

After taking our pictures, we walked downhill some more,found another staircase,climbed down-with my mother crying out, "We're going to have to walk UP all of these hills, you know"-and crossed a street to find the Waterfront.

 

 

 

 

 

With the Aquarium to our right, it seemed like most of the action was to the left,so we walked around in hopes of finding a non seafood restaurant. We stopped at a few stores, browsed several menus, but then decided to try this two story restaurant by the Great Wheel as it was in the sun.

 

 

 

 

As we headed back there, my phone rang, and I recognized Joan's number.

 

 

 

I stopped walking as I answered, and motioned for my mom to wait.

 

 

 

She greeted me,apologizing that we still didn't have a room, saying that "I've never seen it go this late,I'm going to call my supervisor and check." I was in the midst of apologizing for bugging her,when she gasped. "You have a room!" she exclaimed.

 

 

 

I held my breath.

 

 

 

"OMG, they put you IN A MINI SUITE!!!!" she screamed. "You've been upgraded to a category M3(I think thats what she said), I don't believe this!"

 

 

 

"ARE YOU SERIOUS?" I screamed back. "Wait a sec-just checking, it has a balcony?"

 

 

 

"Yes, it's a mid-ship mini suite,on the port side with a balcony!" she said. "I have never seen this before. This is incredible!"

 

 

 

 

I was literally jumping up and down, right there in the middle of the boardwalk. My mom had been saying , "What, what?" and then was trying to get me to calm down, looking embarrassed at my reaction. Oh, wait until she heard!

 

 

 

Joan gave me the cabin number-11542-and I was repeating it as my mom ran to some stand and asked for a pencil to write it down. I was thanking her profusely while apologizing for being a PITA the last few weeks. She was laughing and reassuring me that she was "getting nervous too, but didn't want to say anything."

 

 

 

 

Once I hung up, and continued to jump up and down, my mom asked, "Do we have a balcony?"

 

 

 

"We have a MINi SUITE!!!" I exclaimed.

 

 

 

My mom has only been on two cruises, so she looked confused. "So does that have a balcony?"

 

 

 

"Yes!" I cried. I explained that the mini suites were larger, had larger bathrooms, and with it being a midship location, this was a HUGE upgrade from an ocean view. I silently thanked the guarantee gods and the people on the message board that had reassured me weeks before.

 

 

 

 

We made our way to the restaurant, I think it was called Fisherman's Wharf, and got a seat on the upper level right by the Great Wheel. I decided to be brave and try the fish and chips, while she stayed with a hamburger. Our waiter quickly assessed that she wasn't a huge eater, so he actually offered her the child size cheeseburger-which was still large.

 

 

 

I was on my phone searching for photos of a mini suite to show her when I came across a Youtube video of our exact room,so I played it. Were we in for another surprise…the bathroom had a TUB!!!!

 

 

 

I love me some warm baths, and missed them on cruises. An Alaskan cruise with a tub? Perfection.

 

 

 

 

And here I thought my best cabin was going to be on my upcoming Vista cruise….

 

 

 

 

We ate our meals and squeed and bragged about our awesome cabin to be,and then I headed over to the Wheel. My mom, who does not like heights, stayed behind to relax.

The Wheel was $14pp, and the line was short, so I was on quickly. There weren't many people, so I had a glass car to myself. The guy who escorted me on told me where a button was "in case of emergency" but I'm sure it was for those who panicked and needed to get out quickly.

 

 

 

 

 

I had taken my mom's Nikon Coolpix camera, which I have used to get some decent pictures. In fact, most of the better photos in this review are probably from that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm not afraid of heights, but there was a moment as it crept to the top and the car was swaying that i felt a bit unsettled. I managed to distract myself by finding the Space Needle and snapping a dozen photos of it.

 

 

 

 

I also captured the Royal ship in port.

 

 

 

 

Luckily, the unsettled feeling went away as the car passed over the top and began to descend. In total,we made about three rounds before being let out.

 

 

 

Once I was done, we began the walk back to the light rail, as fatigue (and jet lag for me) was quickly catching up. Unfortunately, the walk back was NOT too pleasant. They weren't kidding about those hills.

 

 

 

 

We did find our way back to the light rail, and were pretty zonked through the 40 minute return ride.

 

 

 

We called for the shuttle at the same courtesy island at the airport, and were picked up quickly. It was about 6:30 at this point,halfway through the evening manager's reception.

 

 

 

 

Once back at the hotel, the lobby had a good amount of people enjoying the free drinks,but there were still a lot of places to sit.

 

 

 

 

We scanned the appetizer section, and found…not much. A few veggies and ranch dressing, a couple of chips, and that was it.

 

 

 

 

At the bar, the "special" was a Tequila Sunrise, some Bud Light, and some VERY cheap alcohol and wine.

 

 

 

 

I had the "special" with rum instead of tequila(we don't mix well, tequila and I) and my mom had some white wine. It definitely wasn't the best drinks in the world, but it was free, we were tired, and we did have the UBP in a couple of days.

 

 

 

We each had two drinks before heading back to the room and pretty much collapsing. I set my alarm to be able to get started on our last minute addition excursion for the next day.

 

Stay tuned!!!

cbtravel1 Thank you for your compliment!!! I hope you continue to enjoy:)

 

Michelle hi again!!! Thank you for patiently waiting:) I know it's off to a slow start but it'll be a good wait I hope!

 

I know it wasn't a huge update tonight but I wanted to finish out day 1…should be back by end of week to update next couple of days.

 

In the meantime, hope everyone is enjoying the cat fight on TV tonight!

 

Stacey

Stacey's back! :):) I can't wait to hear about this trip and see your pictures!

Sorry you started off with that horrible shuttle driver, how rude. At least you had a good flight attendant and the meds worked for you. :p:)

When you have time, keep it up, please.

Heather

following

Love reading your reviews! Am really looking forward to reading this one.

Great review

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

Hi all!!

 

OK, I warned you that there would be a bit of a delay-I just finished a 13 day stretch of work,which followed an 11 day stretch upon my return from the cruise,with one day off in between. I collapsed pretty much most of the last two days, but did manage to get a bit more written!

 

This will be a crazy month,as I am trying to get some extra $$$ to pay for an exorbitantly expensive cabin as a solo for my next cruise, and final payment is in early November, so please be patient-I promise this will be finished by Thanksgiving,if not before- the end result will be yet another review!

 

In the meantime, please enjoy my next installment:)

Day 2-Saturday September 10,2016-Seattle

 

 

I have traveled to Europe a few times and had some jet lag issues for the first day or two, but found it to be worse when I came home. Somehow, i didn't factor in that traveling west was basically like returning from Europe with regards to the jet lag factor. And this did NOT play well with my usual awake-at 6:30-circadian-rhythm.

 

 

In other words, I was wide awake at 4am. As in, there was NO going back to sleep.

 

 

 

I got up and read for a bit, and then took myself to the hotel gym, since I told myself that I would NOT gain any weight this cruise. Surprisingly, at 5am, there were two others there as well. I did take advantage of the hot tub afterwards.

 

 

 

Embassy Suites, if you don't know, has a full breakfast each morning with pancakes, omelets, made to order eggs plus pastries, cereal, fruit, etc. They started serving at 7, so we got ready and chowed down while I scheduled the shuttle to take me to the rental car lot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When we were researching what to do in Seattle, I found out that Washington had a sizable wine country, and one area in particular, Woodinville, had over 100 wineries about 30 minutes outside the city. Of course, there are guided day trips, but with those being at least $80pp, I looked at car rentals for the day and found some good deals via Priceline-only $45 for the day.

 

 

 

 

We originally planned to do this the day we returned from the Pearl, but then I had a Genius Idea, and after some more research, we ended up planning the Woodinville day for today.With this plan, I would pick up the car at the airport today, and I would return it downtown in Seattle tomorrow morning after dropping my mother off at the cruise pier(with the luggage) and walk the few blocks to meet her. Then I found out that Alamo would actually transport us from the downtown site to the pier, which was even better!

 

 

 

 

I had originally thought about using either Seattle Express(Seattle's version of Supershuttle) to transport us to the pier, or downloading the Uber app on her phone to get the first free ride, so this was a win-win for going to the wineries, transport to the pier, and even having some freedom to go to the stores on our own and pick up last minute items.

 

 

 

 

The shuttle took us to the rental car lot, which was about a half mile from the airport, and looked like a terminal in itself. Inside they had several different kiosks for each agency and an informalion booth.

 

 

 

It took about 20 minutes to get to an agent, but they processed everything smoothly. My mom was concerned that they might not rent to me without car insurance-because, duh, no car in NYC- but they just sold an extra "everything's covered no matter what" package for another $30. All in all, not a bad deal. The weird thing was at the end, when instead of taking us to a car and doing the walk around, she gave me a map, told me to go to the third floor of the parking garage, look for the section labeled mid-size cars, and "go car shopping."

 

 

 

I must have looked baffled, but she explained that all of the cars had the keys in them, and we just had to pick one out and go.

 

 

 

I was thinking that this set up must be way too easy for car thieves, but ok. We found the level and had about 10 cars to choose from. We chose a Hyundai Elantra, mainly because that's my mom's car,so she was at least familiar with it.

 

 

 

Then the real test came. I have not driven(minus a few scary stretches in Ireland last year) in over two years, so I was a bit hesitant as to whether or not it would be like driving at 16 again. I took my time crawling out of the garage,where they had all sorts of scary barriers preventing said car thieves from running off with their inventory. The guard zapped my paperwork and some barcode on the car, and we were off!

 

 

 

I need not have worried-by the time I made it onto the freeway, the 405 I believe, it was like I had never been without a car. It also helped that Seattle traffic was crawling at that point. What was about a 20 mile drive took 50 minutes until we were at the first winery, Chateau St Michelle.

 

 

 

 

Parking was a bit disorganized here, as they were having an outdoor concert as well.Once we parked the side with gravel, we navigated our way through the crowds to the wine tasting room.

 

 

 

We had picked this winery to start because they advertised a Riesling flight, which is a wine that my mom likes. I had some type of red flight.

 

 

 

 

Both were ok, nothing to rave about, so we finished quickly and headed across the street to Columbia.

Columbia's wine tasting room was more decked out than the crowded, cellar like room at Michelle, but the prices-OUCH! We just had a glass of wine each here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Since we had a long drive, we didn't want to venture too far away, so we just went around the corner where there were about 5 more wineries. We managed to get to two more, one resembling more of a store atmosphere, and the last one more of a bar atmosphere. That one had appetizers as well, so we had a bit of food for the last wine tasting. They were just about to close up(they all seem to close around 5) but the two girls running the bar chatted with us about our travel plans and what life was like in Seattle. they were pretty cool, and it was surprising to find out that the cost of living in the greater Seattle area had skyrocketed in the last decade-one of the girls quoted apt rents that were within a couple hundred dollars of mine!

 

 

 

 

 

So…I guess that Seattle is out as a possible future home, then! (Not that I'm really looking, but looking to settle down in the next few years, and realistically, NYC isn't cost feasible-but a discussion for another time).

 

 

 

Once we finished here, my mom did the driving on the way "home" (I guess she didn't care for my driving) and we returned to the hotel area, Tukwila, much more quickly than the drive out there.

 

 

 

 

We went to the Target that was about a mile from the hotel to pick up a few items that we chose not to pack(regular sized toiletries, hangers, and,despite my frequent protests that it would be confiscated, a travel iron) and to look for a raincoat for my mom. No luck on that, but we did get everything else. There was a VERY large mall across the street, so we wandered around there and found a decent one in Sears on sale for $40.

 

 

 

 

Upon our return to the hotel, we packed our new purchases and our poor luggage was really strained. It was then time for the evening reception, so we went downstair, in hope of better appetizers/snacks than the night before. Unfortunately, it was more of the same…cheap liquor included.

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the large couch areas was open, so we took our free drinks and paltry snacks and settled there for a bit,looking up movie times back at the mall. I found out that the AMC at the mall also had an IMAX, and the movie that we wanted to see was playing on it, so we decided to head back there for dinner and the show.

 

 

 

Around the mall were several restaurants, as well as outside, so if you stay in this area, rest assured, all of the comforts for home are nearby. We ended up at Olive Garden mainly because we knew we liked the food and didn't want to search around before the movie.

 

 

 

The service was pretty good, and they actually had IPADS at the table that you could order from, and pay…but we still had a server, too. Kind of interesting, but it was a good experience, and we finished just in time to get to the theater.

So…what movie were we seeing that just opened at the beginning of September??? Any guesses??

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now, why would someone who is petrified of flying to the point of needing to be drugged watch this, especially prior to another cross country flight??

 

 

 

Well, it was a story I was interested in, based in my current hometown, it had Tom Hanks, who, in my opinion, has yet to be in a bad movie, and I had plenty of Xanax for the ride home, which was over a week away.

 

 

 

The theater was pricy, though-$35 for both of us to see the IMAX version, but TOTALLY worth it-it made the movie even more lively.

 

 

 

I won't spoil the movie for those that haven't seen it yet(LOL) but it was AMAZING-very glad I did see it,even if I did close my eyes at a few parts. I loved the closing line, that's all I'll say.

 

 

 

Afterwards,it was almost ten, not terribly late but my poor body was still on East Coast time,so I was beyond exhausted as we drove back to Embassy. I was hoping that this would resolve soon, as I didn't want to be completely off my clock during the cruise.

 

 

 

There was a crowd of teenagers in the lobby upon our return celebrating something, but thankfully it didn't carry upstairs, and we crashed pretty soon after we reached the room.

 

 

 

Up next…Cruise Day at last!!

Great review so far! :)

Day 3-Sunday,September 11- Seattle Sailaway!

 

 

 

Cruise day!!!

 

 

 

Unfortunately, my disoriented clock woke me way too early again, so I made another gym run by the time my mom was up.

 

 

 

The pier in Seattle was doing staggered boarding, and we had chosen 11, although from prior experiences, i knew it wasn't something that was enforced too strictly. I wasn't in a rush, since the Pearl didn't have the coveted Vibe passes(and I'm not sure how popular they would have been on an Alaskan cruise). So, we took our time and went downstairs to print out our luggage tags, now that we had a cabin, and then hit the breakfast line that was just opening up.

 

 

 

 

 

They had a TV in the lobby,and I was surprised that it was showing a sports game in Europe instead of the news, being it was 9/11 and all, but it had a large group of people following it excitedly.

 

 

 

I was in the omelet line , which was already busy, but waited patiently as people before me ordered their eggs, and then the side dishes from the second cook. Just as I finished ordering my omelet, the guy in front of me completed his order of sides and received his eggs. Instead of leaving the line, he stopped and asked one of the cooks, "Hey, where do you guys get your eggs from?"

 

 

 

I didn't think too much of it as the cook answered, but then the guy continued by asking other random questions about how the hash browns were prepared and such. I would have thought that he was questioning for allergy purposes had he not already had some on his plate, but then he started chatting about recipes-I kid you not- with the cook. He was having a grand old time, yukking it up, while myself and the 6 people behind me were shooting him the death glare.

 

 

 

At one point, the cook shifted his eyes towards me apologetically, and served my omelet, and acted like he was going to ask what I wanted on the side. However, Loudmouth started to tell a story about some steak that he had at some restaurant downtown the night before, and was asking the cook if he had been there.

 

 

 

I looked behind me as three other people got into line, and the woman behind me rolled her eyes and made the "hurry up" gesture. I quickly said, somewhat loudly, "Oh, he's not waiting for me," so that people wouldn't think I was an accessory to the delay.

 

 

 

The guy looked at me, and seemed to get the hint, and FINALLY left the line.

 

 

 

Thankfully, I had the rest of my food within seconds, and we chowed down our last free meal. Well, until we got onto a ship full of free food and alcohol, that is.

 

 

 

Wow, I sound like a trashed pig, don't I? Just kidding- I really don't over do it, but I do tend to prefer NCL's food over Carnival's-my opinion only!

 

 

 

I was scheduled to return the car at 10, but we figured that we might run into traffic,based on yesterday's highway patterns, so we collected our voluminous bags and checked out. My mom was hoping that we would find a drugstore,as she needed to get some calcium tablets that Target didn't have. The front desk agent thought there was one near the mall, so we circled around that area for a few with no luck. I used my GPS on my phone, but there were only a few Walgreens listed, and none along the way except for the downtown area.

 

 

 

 

We headed towards downtown, figuring we might see it along the way,or have a chance somewhere to get to it.

 

 

 

Luckily, the drive was pretty quick, and we found the exit to the car rental easily. The directions were pretty clear, and we were at the garage on 3rd St in no time. Like the airport, it was kind of a weird setup-one large garage for multi companies,and you exited the ramp based on where your agency was. Alamo was on the 4th floor, I believe.

 

 

 

 

An agent guided us to pull up behind a row of cars, and we got out, asking about the shuttle to the pier. The guy smiled,"That's me! Just give me your bags and we'll get going."

 

 

 

Well, THAT was easy, except-what about the return process? My mom helped him gather out luggage while I got into a line with about 4 people ahead of me at a tiny kiosk with one person. I wasn't too stressed, as we were VERY early, but our new friend waved me away as soon as he loaded our bags into his van. He approached some other guy with a portable scanner, and said that he wanted to get us to the boat quickly, so the guy quickly scanned the barcode on the car and handed me a receipt.

 

 

 

As we got into the car, I thanked our driver, but reassured him that we weren't in a hurry-that we actually wanted to try to find the Walgreens on our way to the pier.

 

 

 

He laughed, and said he just wanted to get to the pier to pick up some return fares, which made sense. He was going to take us to the Walgreens, but then got a call that someone was waiting at the pier. Instead, he told us how we could walk there after we dropped our bags off.

 

 

 

It was only about a 5 minute ride to the pier, and it was already packed. Our driver then entered a competition for curbside parking involving horns, swearing and gestures that would make any NYC cabbie proud. As he let us out, we were swamped by a family of five that was diving for seats. The driver actually had to yell at them to stand back and let us get our stuff out. One of the women started yelling that they had been "waiting for hours" (it was barely ten a.m.) and that we "weren't going to let their van get away."

 

 

 

Umm…we don't want the van, chick. We are trying to get OUT, if you hadn't noticed.

 

 

 

Meanwhile, another group of people were approaching and trying to ask our driver if he would take them. This set off the first group, who amped up their hysterics even more.

 

 

 

The driver was clearly pissed, and I didn't blame him. If this is what it was like after disembarkation, I had better plan ahead for next week. There was no organized taxi line, just crowds of people standing on the sidewalk of a pretty busy city street. Technically, our driver was working for the rental car companies, but I had guessed form his earlier conversation that he did something like Uber on the side-although those are scheduled rides, so it didn't quite make sense why he was mobbed, but whatever.

 

 

 

He managed to get all four of our bags onto the sidewalk-barely- and I gave him a tip, and left him to deal with his prospective passengers. Just as we started pulling our luggage, I spotted a porter with a dolly.

 

 

 

I went up to approach him, and he held up his hands. "We're not supposed to take any luggage," he said.

 

 

 

What?!?!?!

 

 

 

I asked him where we were supposed to take the bags, as the only other porter like people around had the same outfit on as this guy. He just shrugged and pointed to the lengthy line on the sidewalk leading into the terminal.

 

 

 

OK, wait a second. I did NOT go through a month of stressing about this situation only to deal with it because the port was disorganized. I asked him again, firmly, where we were supposed to drop off our luggage, because I was NOT taking it inside the terminal.

 

 

 

The guy still stared at me blankly.

 

 

 

At that point, I just decide dot approach someone else, telling my mom loudly, "I guess this guy doesn't want any cash today, so let's go over to someone else."

 

 

 

I don't know if it was this statement, my subtle flash of a $20, or watching my mom pull her 360 wheel suitcase by the top handle(she refuses to pull the retracting handle up like any other person), but he came after us and sighed. "Fine! I'm NOT SUPPOSED TO DO THIS," he declared "but I'll take them."

 

 

 

He loaded all of the suitcases onto the dolly(and the $20 into his pocket) and scampered off.

 

 

 

I still had no idea who actually was supposed to take the luggage, as I hadn't read anything unusual about Seattle's porters, or if it was an elaborate performance for some money(which, if it was, I mean, come on-all porters know that they are going to get something. Chill), but I didn't feel like hanging around to observe. We walked over to the terminal line, debated going in now, and decided to just head for the Walgreens and come back in a bit. As I said, we were pretty early, well before our scheduled timeframe-although i know we could've gotten in at that time if we wanted to hang around the terminal for a couple of hours.

Instead, we ducked through the crowd to the elevator that our driver had pointed out earlier. It led to a skybridge across the street, which led to Elliot St. If you take a right when you exit the skybridge, and walk along this street, it will eventually lead you towards the Pike Place Market area.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The walk was a bit dicey at first, had to cross an entrance lane to the highway overhead, and we walked a block or two past most of Seattle's homeless before the street turned more touristy. To our left were the streets that went uphill(sharply). We continued along this street(which was now Western Ave) with my mom whining, I mean, asking how much further away the Walgreens was. It was about 1/4 mile, not bad, but I was holding off on telling her that we had to climb uphill.

 

 

 

Then, thankfully, we passed a small park overlooking the water, and I suggested that she wait there for me and I would go to Walgreens. She happily agreed, also noting that we could see the ship from there.

 

 

 

So I took off, able to walk a bit quicker, although climbing the hill did set me back a bit.

 

 

 

 

 

Once i found the Walgreens, I went in, found the calcium, and grabbed yet a few more items. At the register, the cashier asked me if I wanted a bag.

 

 

 

Um, yes, I do-I have five items here and a 10 minute walk. I kind of gave her a look as I said yes, and she proceeded to tell me that they charged for bags "as does every store in Seattle."

 

 

 

Well, this isn't true, as evidenced by my purchases at target, Sears, etc. etc. but I didn't really have a choice, so I paid and received a paper bag with no handle. Lovely.

 

 

 

I also inquired about using the restroom only to be told that "it wasn't open to customers." That was also a first for Walgreens.

 

 

 

In any case, there was another Target across the street that met my needs (and also seemed to be giving away bags to their customers) and I headed back downhill. I found myself in Pike Place Market again, and cut through the cobblestone street to the right, where I passed the ACTUAL original Starbucks, with a lengthy line outside.

 

 

 

 

The street did lead to the park where I had left my mom, and we headed back to the ship.

 

 

 

 

 

On the way, we passed an Old World Market store that she wanted to go in-she now wanted to get her own thing to contribute to the gift exchange, so we looked around for a few and she settled on some cute bookmarks and wine charms.

 

 

With all that, it was still not 11am by the time we reached the pier, just to give you an idea on the distance covered.

We found that there was minimal line entering the terminal, but about 30 or so people ahead of us in the security line that moved quickly. The only weird thing was that they wouldn't allow anyone to use the stack of gray bins(think TSA bins) to put their bags in, and we all had to put our stuff directly onto the dirty scanner belt.

 

 

 

 

Once that was done, we had to go up an escalator, where we found a very crowded terminal. Of course, they tried to direct us to the desks to fill out the "are you sick" forms. Knowing better, I grabbed two forms and got in line, and we filled them out in line.

 

 

 

 

It was then that we noticed the average age of most of the other passengers shifted more towards my mom's than mine, and there were not a lot of couples, families, or kids in general. No complaints, just observing it being unusual, as all other cruises that I have done have been pretty mixed across the board.

 

 

 

 

Despite the lengthy line, it still only took about 15 minutes to get to the counter. During this time (about 11:15) they called the first groups to board the ship.

 

 

 

 

At the counter, they handed us Group 17 boarding cards and we registered without much hassle, although we were overloaded with our stuffed purses, shopping bags, sick forms,etc.

 

 

 

When we finished, we walked over to the side and found a couple of chairs to sit. They were already calling Group 14, so we didn't sit for very long before we took our embarkation photo and were following the crowd onto the ramp.

 

 

 

There weren't a lot of people, but everyone was moving V-E-R-Y S-L-O-W-L-Y. It probably took longer to walk up the three levels on the gangway than it did to wait after registration.

 

 

 

I did attempt to take a few city pics in line-that should tell you how slow it was.

 

 

Instead of ending at the entrance to the lobby, the gangway let us out onto the promenade deck of the ship and had us walking the length of it before we had to get our first "washy washy" and scan our cards.

 

 

Finally, we entered the lobby entrance at 11:50( I checked). The Pearl had a pretty lobby, though smaller than others I had seen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We decided to make an attempt to head to our cabin to unload our purses bait, which they usually let you do if you are quick about it. The elevator wait was lengthy, but we managed to get to the 11th floor, and found the belts pulled across the entrance to the rooms.

 

 

 

 

 

Daredevil that I am, I ducked under, with my mom squawking that we were going to get into trouble. We made it to our cabin, 11542, just in time for one of the stewards(not ours) to catch us. I put on my sweet face and begged to be able to "just empty our bags onto one shelf." It worked, though the guy stood in the doorway the entire 90 seconds that we did so, so we barely had a chance to look at the room before we were pressured to leave.

 

 

 

At least our shoulders weren't breaking anymore. We headed up one flight to the buffet, since it was close. We scanned the offerings and kept walking back to the Uptown Grill. I had recalled their burgers being pretty good on the Breakaway, so I figured it was a safe bet.

 

 

 

The aft eating area was much less crowded than the buffet, so we got our food and found a table in the semi sun. It was in the mid 60's, cool when the wind blew but sunny.

 

 

 

 

I also spotted the bar, so I decided it was time to break into the UBP.

 

 

 

The drinks were good-sadly, I can't say the same for the burgers. Granted, I did get hooked on Guys Burgers on Carnival, but these were quite dry. We nibbled on them a bit before giving up and walking around the outside of the ship.

Edited October 23, 2016 by sunbird21

I managed to get some photos of the activities on the back of the ship, and some more skyline pics.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Starboard side jogging track

 

 

 

 

Bar overlooking the front of the pool

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The pool area was very tropical looking, and deserted.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

About halfway down the side, the announcement came on that cabins were ready,so we ventured back to really explore the awesome upgrade.