CatLadyFemme

Awww thanks so much 🥰

Yes!! First time I have seen a full on breach like that. Lots of spots and tail flukes too; there was a whole pod of them. This was from the deck outside of Windjammer by the kiddie pool. It was amazing.

Yesterday was a sea/cruising day, and we legit just rested. Three days of port adventures in a row did a number on us; I currently have horrific shin splints, worse than I have had since I was a tour guide in college in the early 2000s. Lots of rest and napping and book, with a delicious stop at Jamie’s. I brought water colors and keep meaning to use them, but just have been too tired. That long Covid life though. Glad I brought meds; wish I had also brought some KT tape too. it was formal night #2 (I’m sorry, “dress to impress” or whatever they are calling it now; also Lobster Night in the MDR), and again, while we didn’t go all out like we have before, we did dress up a bit. As we have a sunset whale watching cruise tonight (day 7) in Victoria that has us coming back after the MDR’a last seating, so we said our goodbyes, placed an order for today’s Mother’s Day brunch, and handed out the bonus trips to our waiter, assistant waiter, head waiter, and the chef in charge of the allergy food. Then we met up with our friends for some fun pictures before they headed to their dinner. We spent a little time on the balcony, had some other adventures, and then enjoyed our second to last night on board!

y’all are so nice! In Juneau, where I knew we would have decent signal and a way to order a cab in an emergency, we did a non-royal excursion. It was a tour of the AJ Mine (the only underground mine tour in Alaska!) and gold panning, through Viator. The mine has been shut down mostly since WWII, with much of the mill and other pieces being used for scrap. They tried to open it again in the late 80s, but milling was too expensive, and the state (rightly) would not let them use mercury mining techniques, as it would flow right into the water shed. Also! It was totally accessible; folks with wheelchairs were on it before us. It is shockingly hard to find accessible tours, so I really appreciated it. After going into the old mine, and then learning about the presses and the former town, from three different folks, we got to try our hand at some gold panning. Growing up in Colorado, I had done this on field trips as a kid, but MxCatLady was totally new to it! So fun, and we wound a few flakes of gold (and some cool mica flakes to take back too). As my (also nonbinary) love would say, there was gold in (they)/them/their hills! However, most importantly, WE SAW A BEAR. This is what MxCatLady wanted to happen most this trip! Back in 2018 when MrCatLady and I were on Explorer of the seas, I did see a bear off the train in Skagway, but MxCatLady and I had no luck in 2022. Just casually seeing this bear made their trip, and therefore, it made mine too seeing them so happy! Most importantly, they did not go running towards it to give it a hug! Sorry the pictures aren’t great; we were frozen in the spot as it looked at us, and we looked at it, and then only got pictures once someone clapped to make it go away. After returning to the ship and doing a later than usual dinner in the MDR (appreciate them fitting us in), we met us with our friends to catch up and hang out a bit. By this time, with the four hour time difference, Northern Lights pictures started filling up my social media timeline from all our Michigan people. I had never seen them before, and was going to be so upset if we missed them while here. Not to worry though, because look at we we saw (just through my boring phone camera 😞 So while I did NOT get to see or be touched by an octopus this trip, I’d say the bear and these lights were two amazing bucket list items for us. It really was a wonderful day, and we listened to our book in bed for a bit (we have moved on to Thud, also by Terry Pratchett). All in all, it’s been an amazing trip 💜

Also, some outfits for those following along for my ridiculous fashion. dinner night 3: Escape room: Train vibes: dinner day 4: Juneau mining tour outfit:

Yes and no. We mask both because I am immuno compromised and as part of our disability justice values. 💜

Yesterday, we were in Skagway. It was POURING. Wind too. I don’t mind the cold, or rain, but the cold AND being soaked is not my favorite. We had the 1pm train ride. Left the ship a little after noon, and then had to wait for a shuttle, and then wait in line to board again. One has to ask for the ADA lift, and several cars have it. Our car only had us a one other 3 person party; I think many people didn’t know they could ask for it. I also really appreciated each car had a bathroom. Our narrator Beth and tour guide Steph were both wonderful! Everything was absolutely gorgeous and I spent a lot of time on the platform taking pictures and just taking it all it. Waiting in the rain for a shuttle on the way back was rough. We were both completely soaked when we got back before changing for dinner.

hey all! Finally sitting down to catch up. On day 3, we did the escape room. It was…fine. More hectic and less story driven than the one I have done in person. We did it with 3 minutes to spare. I don’t know if it is would be worth doing again, unless you had a group that took up all the spots. The cross group communication was hard as MxCatLady and I didn’t speak the same language as the vast majority of the other folks, and that made it confusing. We stopped by the WJ to grab brunch. Not much for a gf veg; I ended up with potato wedges and melon. We stopped on the deck to eat outside, and saw so many humpback whales!!! It was AMAZING, including this beautiful breach. Totally magical! icy strait point was lovely! We had a great time walking along the shore, looking at snails and lots of different types of seaweed, plus the forest was so gorgeous. The cannery museum was…ok. If you’re not able to walk far, you’re not missing much, but there are some nice locally run shops. Very pretty area though, and meaningful that purchases support the local Tlingit tribe.

So far, yes. Apparently we are getting shuttles (busses, not tenders) to take us along the dock to the safer area in town. It’s tomorrow, so will keep you updated! Fingers crossed; we were set to do Skagway in 2022 when the rockslide hit and they changed our route. Would really hate for it to happen again, although of course, safety is paramount!

We did indeed swing by the LGBTQ meet up the first night. It was the usual; the two of us, plus our friends (queer trans man and queer cis woman) sat while the cis gay men sat separately, despite my invite to connect our two groups. We did find another queer cis woman to join us, and had a lovely time talking for hours, so worth while, if not still frustrated at the in group divisions. I tried both the Shirley sunset mocktail and the watermelon mint lime aid. Both were tasty but nothing to write home about compared to the blueberry mojito mocktail. Yesterday was the first sea day; we slept in, with MxCatLady catching some breakfast at WJ, before we headed to my lunch in the MDR. They just got cheese sticks (with ranch instead of marinara, as they had just eaten), while I had pre ordered the corn cakes (quite tasty, though not as much flavor as I had hoped), the chili with no cornbread (tasty but SO spicy and they brought it out without the listed sour cream and cheese, so I had to wait on those to make it edible), and some fresh fruit. A solid if not inspired meal. Then we just meandered around board, looked in shops, hid some ducks, took some pictures, etc. We had plans to maybe do something, but to be honest, we have both been so burnt out with work and the state of the world that we just rested and napped and listened to our book. Took a shower, shared our extra motion sickness patches with members of the group on the other site that had posted they were ill, got to participate in our first 9 person gift exchange (we still need to drop ours off! So fun!), and then got dolled up for dinner. Usually we go all out (trans Atlantic included tux and ballgown, flapper dress and pinstripe suit, etc.), but we went more low key formal for this cruise, and we’re still in the top 20% of fanciness I’d say. MDR dinner was fine. I just got a large butternut squash soup and crème brûlée as we were doing Jamie’s later. MxCatLady got calamari (not good; overdone), beef tenderloin (very good), and apple cobbler (delicious!). Our servers have been lovely. More chill time after and they took a nap while I read my own book, before we did a 9pm meet up at Jamie’s with our friends for a double date. It did NOT disappoint! The normie got the aranchini (everyone LOVED these), the burata (I also got a GF version; also absolutely delightful); a rocket salad, garlic mashed potatoes, short rib, salmon, carbonara pasta, shrimp pasta, and a small order of the truffle pasta; the only “ok” item was the salmon; folks raved about the others! I had the burrata with GF bread, the charred broccoli, the GF version of the truffle pasta, and the risotto. Broccoli and risotto were fine, pasta was delicious. Everyone got their lemon cheese cake and tiramisu to go, while I had half of a way too big scoop of raspberry sorbet before leaving. They had the cab and white zin, while we tried both the mocktails; the lemonade was excellent while the other was a little lack luster. After filling up on Jamie’s, we got into comfy clothes, enjoyed the waves, and finished our first audio book of the trip (Men at Arms, by Terry Pratchett, for those following along at home), and then to sleep for another day. also! My first time getting a towel penguin!!! Today you could feel the ship moving. Not a TON or as much as some tough patches I have been on, but enough that some folks didn’t feel well. I love feeling the boat rock slightly; it helps me sleep…but definitely bring patches or bracelets or something to help you on Alaska trips, as the sea tends to be a bit more emotional than on the Caribbean.

Day one! My friend from yesterday was kind enough to pick us up from the Maxwell Hotel and drop us off at the port. There was a little chaos with no porters being near the accessible loading zone, and then getting lots of different answers about where to go for a wheelchair, and them being super backed up with wheelchair pushers (plus some total Karens being SO rude to staff), but I will still say Seattle is the best U.S. port for embarking and disembarking. Overall, people are super nice and it was very quick. As we got onto the actual ship, my former student/D&D friend and his partner who we had only met once before happened to be right behind us! Both sets of us did our muster station check ins, and MxCatLady and I swung by the MDR to make sure my celiac disease/gluten “allergy” (it’s not an allergy as much as an autoimmune condition, but allergy is the best language to use for safety across language barriers) was in my file, and to see our table, as I had emailed a few weeks ago to ask from a quieter, out of the way two top to reduce overwhelm/overstimulation. Everything looked good, so we all went up to the Solarium with me doing a little tour guiding as we went. I love being on the same ship, and we have also sailed Anthem, so things feel very familiar, which I love. MxCatLady and I started off our cruise with virgin blueberry mojitos (yum!), and I grabbed some salad from the solarium bistro while MxCatLady went in for mashed potatoes and baked ziti. After we started getting too warm around 1:45pm, we said goodbye to our friends and headed towards our stateroom, which thankfully, was open early! MxCatLady is SO good to me an unpacked all four suitcases, setting up our home away from home for the next week. After many years cruising and learning here too, we bring magnetic hooks to hang lanyards, ear defenders, my robe, etc.; an over the door shoe rack for glasses, belts, scarves, gloves; a blanket for sitting on our balcony; an inflatable mattress pad (this time, we are tying a double one for the first time); a plug that is NOT a surge protector and allows two plugs (my heating pad and their CPAP) and three USBs; and a collapsible bucket our steward filled with ice for us so we can fill my ice packs. He was also kind enough to grab a vase for the flowers, and holy cow does that elevate the experience of our stateroom. I feel vintage cruise vibes, ala Phryne Fisher or High Seas. Yes please! Then we sat on our balcony for our sail away. We have the early seating for dinner, and knowing where our table was meant we could skip the chaotic line. Night one is always a big complicated with allergies. I was trying to get the spinach artichoke dip with veggie dippers (as the chips are not GF; this ship has no Johnny Rockets, so no GF fryer on board!) and a cup of the tomato soup. The soup came through (though tasted like tomato sauce?), but the dip turned into a plate of cooked carrots and broccoli. Which isn’t the worst thing ever, but I can imagine would be disappointing for some. Nothing on the mains menu was GF AND veggie (the stuff portobello caps have couscous in them, and it’s hard for them to do something different in the spot), so I asked for the veggie curry of the day with rice and raita. It’s not on the menu, but they ALWAYS have one, and it’s usually pretty good as the crew eat it. Today was no exception. For dessert, I did a dark chocolate custard (doubled checked to make sure no gelatin). I had a Shirley Temple, and then some Earl Grey tea with dessert. Conversely, MxCatLady ordered off menu. They had the crab cakes (delicious!), then prime rib (solid; it was very good but not amazing), and the key lime pie (also “solidly good”), accompanied by the bread basket (fresh and tasty), a virgin blueberry mojito, and also Earl Grey tea. I also placed orders for MDR lunch and dinner tomorrow. Not great options, so I asked for the soup at dinner to be served as a meal size, and then we are going to meet our friends at Jamie’s late night around 9pm. I am so looking forward to that! On our way out, one of the head waiters stopped us. It was Bing Bing, who we met in 2022 when we were last on the Quantum. She was working in Wonderland and helped set up a lovely meal for us that met my dietary needs, and we also gifted her one of the unicorn ducks we were hiding…and she remembered us! I love when things like this happen on Royal, it makes it feel just that more special. Now we are on our balcony with the blanket, just enjoying the waves and the sun beginning to set. The plan is to swing by the 10pm LGBTQ meet up in Vintages, and then I may need some more pain meds, as my body is still pretty cranky from yesterday’s tide pooling. Food pictures are not uploading…are folks interested in seeing them? If so, I can putz around. Otherwise, I won’t worry about it!

Ah ha! Looks like I need to take screen shorts of my pictures to keep them small enough to post. Please enjoy a few pictures to go with the above!

Not sure why photos are being funky and uploading as black! Sorry 😬 Today we started by being picked up by my bestie from week one of college (circa 2002). They took us to Kerry Park first to get a lovely view of the city, and then we headed to Pike Place. MxCatLady had never been, and while I have been multiple times, I have always pined over of the flowers and never gotten any. However, I read you can bring them on board and your steward will give you a vase, so that’s my plan. We also got some hot masala chai (yum!), lavender and blackberry flavored apple cider (also yum!), truffle sauce and balsamic pearls and various flavored pepper jellies (which the truffle shop was nice enough to put in my box to ship home), and MxCatLady got some orca pictures and a Sasquatch hoodie, while my bestie got a moon phase hoodie. The two of them put me on the viewing platform to recover some spoons, and picked up some fresh fruit and vegetarian cheeses to have picnic. We then piled in the car, and headed to Alki beach. They have an accessible ramp down to the rocky beach, and we got to look at lots of types of seaweed, grabbed some rocks, dipped my toes in the pacific, and made friends with some crows. Once properly chilled, we headed back to the hotel for our little picnic, and said good bye until they take us to the pier tomorrow. Next, a nap was in order, and now, I am noshing on vegan Thai food (this one from Araya’s Place) while we repack for the ship. Boarding is at 11am, and we cannot wait!

Our flight was fairly uneventful; we watched the Disney movie Wish, which was super good and fairly apropos given the current climate. All luggage made it, I didn’t lose my hoodie at the airport, and we took an Uber to our hotel. We are at the Stay Pineapple Maxwell Hotel nearish to the Space Needle. MrCatLady and I stayed at the one in University City previously; this one is similarly fun/funky, and has better rooms (imho). Really lovely amenities! No, we have no idea why pineapple, nor if they know it is a sign for swingers 🤷🏻‍♀️ Yesterday, we did some delicious gluten free and tree nut free baked goods from Nutflour, an all GF bakery. Oh my gosh y’all! Other than the meh lemon bar, everything is so amazing and delish. We then took a 5 hour nap. Long Covid is an experience. Ooof. For dinner, we got a 6 pack of GF vegan tacos from Mas Veg. Today, my close friend drove up from rural Washington. We shared vegan Thai from Kati Thai, adventured around Capitol Hill, and got fried cheese curds, a mezze platter, and a mead flight at A/Stir, an all gluten free restaurant and cider/cocktail bar. I love being able to be safe! Our day was finished with time from a friend from middle school. I love the seating options in the lobby of the hotel! Tomorrow, we are connecting with my best friend from college, and going tide looking, and to pick up flowers to bring on board. until then…

Glad we finishing packing last night; it was a rainy morning and the UberX I ordered turned out to be a Toyota Prius, so opted to only bring only my cane and not my walker. We had a very smooth check in at DTW and made it through to our gate with plenty of time to spare. For those wondering, we are using KN95s for mid risk situations, and FloMasks with SipValves on the plane to stay hydrated over the 5 hour flight. Here is to an easy flight and adventure to our hotel.