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darin2

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  • Posts

    75
  • Joined

About Me

  • Location
    Warner Robins, Georgia
  • Interests
    computers, forensics, cruising
  • Favorite Cruise Destination Or Port of Call
    Skagway

darin2's Achievements

Cool Cruiser

Cool Cruiser (2/15)

  1. We did one renewal and two new ones at the end of last year. It was 3-6 weeks for all three coming in at 3,4 and 6 weeks for regular passport service.
  2. Embarkation was interesting, and not what we expected. We had 11am check in time. We had done our ArriveCan app and printed the barcode. We did rapid NAAT covid tests at Walgreens the day before flying and printed those results out as well. We got the Pier 91 around 10:20am. Dropping the luggage was easy and there were people there to help with this. We walked straight into the main building on the bottom floor. It was about half full and they had not opened up the check in on the 2nd floor. The only priority access I saw was handicapped persons. No one at any point ever asked for our ArriveCan info or inquired about our arrival time. In about 20 minutes they opened up the check in and people started going up the escalators. At the top you go through a security check and x-ray of your carry on items. After that they direct you to a line to check in. That all went very quickly, less than 15 min, and we were directed to an area where people were waiting to go onto the ship. Around 11:30-11:45 they finally opened up boarding for Star and Suite guests, but EVERYONE just went out to the boarding area, and they never checked or asked anyone. It was really very unorganized. The last time we embarked from Pier 91 with Carnival they sat you in a number sitting area. They called your number and everyone in that area boarded at one time. Anyway we were having lunch in the Windjammer by 12, and it was practically empty. Again no one every asked or checked the ArriveCan or our check In time. We were in a standard balcony cabin, room 10136. Our cabin had plenty of room for three adults and four large pieces of luggage. The balcony is a must when cruising in Alaska. The first thing I tried to do was book our specialty dining meals. We had the three dining package, and they had already booked the first day at 5:30. I was unable to book Wonderland at all in the app for any day. After struggling with that I went Izumi and the gentlemen there helped me book all our meals for the week. We ate at Wonderland, Izumi, Chops, and Jamie’s Italian. All were very good, and had outstanding service. Highlights were Jamie’s lasagna and brownie, Izumi molten lava cake and beef teriyaki bowl, Chops ribeye and thick bacon, Wonderland fried branzino and The World. The MDR had really good food and variety, for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. They also bring around little extras light strawberry smoothie for breakfast and strawberry ice cream with dark chocolate at lunch. All of the shows were first come seating with no reservations except a new show, Starwater in the Two70 venue. The entertainment was kind of hit and miss. We liked the comedian and some of the singers. The sequins and feathers show was okay, but really nothing special. One of the best shows was Andy Elton, tribute to Sir Elton John. We also really enjoyed Starwater in the 270 venue. It was one of the highlights of the cruise. I will say the 270 venue is built so that many people cannot see what is happening because some of the performance areas are lower and there may be difficult to view. There are allot of high end shops on this ship, most of which we could not afford to purchase from. The ship was very weird in that there wasn’t really a Royal Caribbean store. They had a really small RCCL store area, and the rest of it was them putting racks of clothes or watches out into the Royal Espalande area for “sales” everyday. So basically you are trying to walk through this area, which is usually crowded, and it’s full of merchandise that should be in a store. Very weird. The cruise director was Mike. We barely saw or heard from Mike. We saw him 5 min before a show started and sometimes on the intercom. I didn’t see him interacting with guests much. He did participate in a few of the gameshows. Our last cruise to Alaska on Carnival we had Lee and he was a blast. I guess Mike was okay, but we weren’t impressed. The food was pretty good. The Windjammer was hit and miss, but pretty consistent of what you would think for buffet food. It had a good variety and we ate breakfast there most mornings. After about four days we stopped eating breakfast there, and ate mostly at the MDR or specialty restaurants. I had the refreshment package and found I liked trying different drinks. The MDR was good and we found the service was very good. We tried the pizza and we all thought it was great for cruise ship pizza. We went into the Solarium Bistro a few times, but didn’t really see the variety of things we wanted to eat. I was disappointed that Café Promenade did not have more offerings. It was much smaller than what I thought it would be, and is basically just a small walk up counter with a few offerings. I had really looked forward to eating at the Harp & Horn pub. They had a menu, but said that weren’t offering any food. One of the biggest issues I had was Internet, TV, and activities. I know you don’t come on a cruise to watch TV or surf the Internet, but basically had 3 sea days and very little activities at night. The Internet just plain out sucked, and there were a few days that we had no Internet.. Sometimes you would go hours with no Internet and most of the time it was just really slow. We had the more expensive surf and stream package. I was on a much older ship 5 years ago in Alaska and it worked fine then. I’m not sure the problems but they printed in the cruise compass that they were having issues. The TV had several news channels, maybe 3 other channels and that was it other than cruise line related stuff. I just thought there might be a better variety. The activities after 9pm were few and far between. Maybe karaoke or a game show a few nights, but mostly nothing but music in bars. We were use to having late night comedians, crafts, ice carving, and other game type activities. We enjoyed playing air hockey at the Seaplex. They offered laser tag and bumped cars. The bumper cars were always at times during shows in the evenings so we never go to do those. My wife and daughter also did the free Northstar in Skagway. They liked that. They did the paid, $30, iFly experience and they really had a blast. The weather was outstanding for this trip. Each port day was 55 to 65 degrees with no rain and it was mostly sunny. It did rain on a few of the sea days, but that was not an issue. Sitka – We did the best of Sitka tour through RCCL, which included three different stops and they dropped you off in town if you wanted. We did the Fortress of the Bear, Alaska Raptor Center, and totem. We thought the raptor center was the best. You basically just walk through the Fortress of the Bear on your own. The bears were very interactive. They drop you downtown afterwards if you want, so we did some shopping and then took a shuttle back to the ship. We had docked at the new pier a few miles outside of town. I will say the tour process was very organized and the new port terminal was nice. Skagway – We did the White Pass Rail tour through RCCL. I highly suggest this in May, as you will. Still see lots of snow at the top of the mountains. Afterwards we went shopping and walked around town. Don’t miss the dough boy for a quick treat. $3 per person transfers from boat to town and back if you need them. Juneau – We did the Harv & Marv whale watching tour booked privately. This was about a 4hr tour that picked us up right near the gangway getting off the ship. We saw five different whales and got some good pictures. This is our second time with Harv & Marv and we highly recommend them. Due to only being in Juneau for 6.5 hours we could do little else but the girls got in a little shopping near the pier. Victoria BC – We didn’t do a tour or get off the ship. Disembarkation was pretty easy. We used Port Valet which provided us with our luggage tags and Delta boarding passes the night before we got off the ship. We took a tour to the Chihuly Gardens and Space Needle, which lasted two hours. Afterward they dropped us off at the airport. Unfortunately my wife, daughter, and I got COVID right at the end of our cruise. We tested when we got home and were all positive. Our Facebook group for the cruise had about 20 people who also tested positive after the cruise. This is our 3rd Alaska cruise. The first two were on smaller ships, and I think that might be the way to go in Alaska. Maybe something gets lost in the mix on these bigger ships. Don’t get me wrong, the ports were all great and we had a good time for the most part, just a few stumbles. I think if we do an Alaska cruise again we may fly into Alaska and cruise southbound.
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