abbydancer2003

Two things. It's not just Carnival, other CCL lines also have it. And the cap is on Alcoholic drinks - you can drink 50 coffees a day if you want, at least on Princess.

We were on a 5 night Cabo cruise on Princess a few years ago. The highlight was at 3am on the night before Cabo there was an in cabin announcement telling Miss so-and-so of cabin such-and-such to call Guest Services. Went on every 10 minutes for about an hour. Eventually the announcement said she was found. I heard she was found passed out in a crew elevator. It was President's weekend. Over 400 kids. Last time I do that.

We bid a move up to Aqua and got it. We were in concierge, so it was a pretty minimal amount. We loved Blu. We were also able to change our cabin from an A1 to an A2, which they didn't have to do.

We were originally in Concierge on our cruise last week. We got an email (right after our move up to Aqua) say the lunch information would be in the cabin.

Day 8 Disembarkation day. Happens at the end of every cruise sadly. We set the alarm for 7 am to have a final breakfast in Blu. Which we did. I finally had the blueberry pecan pancakes, and they were as advertised. After breakfast we said a fond farewell to the team there, and I did promise to come back and see them in two weeks. We then headed to the Tuscan Grill to wait for our last batch of luggage. They called us around 9:15 or so. I wanted to wait a bit to leave, but Glen was eager to go. We headed to the midship gangway, and there was quite a line. An office soon came by and lead us to the front gangway. That had a much shorter line and we were soon off the ship. First stop in the terminal was baggage claim, and we quickly found our bags. We were then shepherded from there to another area with 6 lines, and a worker directing us. Once we reached the front, a Canadian official took our customs form and looked at our passports. And that was it for entering Canada. We took our bags and headed up the ramp by the entrance to the garage. From there we walked along Waterfront (the street) over to our hotel. It’s about a 6 minute walk. Easy without luggage, but a bit of a slog with. Of course at 9:30 our room wasn’t ready, so we checked our suitcases, and got access to the lounge (all my years of traveling for work back in the day is very convenient in a Marriott). It was about 9:45 I think and we had lunch plans at 11:45 with some former business associates who I always enjoy seeing when I’m here. We were meeting them at Tap and Barrel, at the Convention center. Before heading up to the lounge, I stopped at the concierge desk to see about what to do today. Ann had recommended taking the free shuttle to Grouse Mountain, or the Fly over Canada attraction. I got information for both and we thought maybe we’d go up to Grouse. We headed to the lounge, where Glen read, I worked on this and read. At about 11:25 we packed up, and went back to the lobby. Still no room, but we checked our backpacks and went towards. lunch. Halfway there, I got a call from the Marriott that my room is ready. We’ll of course get the key when we get back. (Also the food vouchers). Tap and Barrel is mostly a patio restaurant and we met them on the patio. We had a lovely lunch, until it started pouring. Our table was mostly under an umbrella, but it was a little wet for Glen and our friend Tammy who were on the outside. We moved all the chairs over, and continued chatting. A little bit before 2pm, we said goodbye and until next time. We went back to the hotel, and there was a line, as a bus had just emptied out. I went to the Elite line, and was helped soon after. For some reason, we’d been given a high floor view room with two double beds. I asked about a king, and the agent went to the computer and gave us a king corner room on the top hotel floor. We went up and we have a gorgeous view of the water and the city looking west. I then popped out my laptop and started working on my assignment due today. I got one ungraded exercise done, and then we decided to do something. Because of the rain and the clouds, we decided to skip Grouse Mountain. Instead, we thought we’d try Fly Over Canada. That’s an attraction in Canada Place that gives an arial view of Canada - that’s pretty much all I know. I looked that their website and could get tickets online for 6pm. (It was now about 3:45). So instead we decided to walk over there. They have two shows, and we could get 5pm for the one about climbers, but we wanted the original one. First he said 6:30, but then said they had two tickets for 4:30. So we got those (a little more expensive than the online ones. Since it was after 4 we, went upstairs to get in line. At about 4:25 they started processing people, which meant you went to the green screen to get your picture taken. We passed, and got in the line to enter the theater. At 4:30 we were ushered into a room. They announced that the whole thing would take about 25 minutes. In that first room, we watched a 6 minute film presentation featuring characters doing things (example: First Nation person hiking, little girl in fields playing, etc). After than you were lined up in numbered lines and they gave a short safety video. If you’ve been to Soaring in either Epcot or DCA, you know what this is. After the video we finally entered the attraction. I’m not sure I can do it justice, but here goes. You’re in a seat in a row of them, and when the show starts they lift up into a screen that surrounds you. It runs about 7 minutes and it’s as if you’re flying over Canada. I think in September of 2023 we’re doing Quebec to NY on Princess and this did make me glad I booked it. If you couldn’t really follow google it, or Soaring Disney, hopefully someone has something on You Tube or something. We finished around 5, and watched the Niew Amsterdam push out. Before the show we’d seen the Eclipse and the Serenade go. Glen asked about going to the Spaghetti Factory, but I pointed out it was only 5. So back to the hotel we went. We ordered some of the silly appetizers that you get because the lounge is closed (I keep feeding back that they should let you pick any under a certain dollar value or just give you cheese and crackers or something. Nope, you have to pick from their choices. I then went up and finished the first of two modules due today. I figured I’ll do the second in the airport tomorrow. At about 7:15 we headed out. We decided we might as well go to the Spaghetti factory again. We walked over, waited a few minutes and were seated. About the only interesting thing was that when the server came over, her tray slid and dumped a glass of water on the floor and on Glen. Not a big deal, she came back with a cloth and all was well. It was a nice dinner. Walked back after dinner, watched some game shows on CTV (including one where contestants pull jugs out of a structure - Jenga I guess) and then to bed. Home tomorrow, and final post of this trip.

I know in the summer of 2021, when the Millennium/Summit were sailing out of St. Maartin they moved the lunch because the ship left at 10pm. The idea was that people wanted to fly in day of the cruise to avoid having to get the St. Maartin authorization, or possible test twice.

Day 7 Sigh, final sea day. I’m trying not to think about packing. Last night, we gave back the hour that we got last Sunday night. So back on Pacific time. But we powered on and got up at 8 pacific for breakfast - after all, there’s only one more day. I tried my bacon Bennie again, but since I needed a restroom stop right before the food came, we think keeping it warm caused the eggs to go past poached. It was still good though. I also had a side of one piece of French toast. That was nice. After breakfast, we decided to head up to the sky lounge so I could write and look at the pretty scenery . We pretty much did that for the entire morning. I did get a latte from the bartenders there, and had a nice conversation with them. We headed down at about 12:30. Dropped the laptop, etc, and headed to lunch in the dining room. There was a short line, and we were seated at a table for two. I had chilled blueberry soup and fried chicken with coleslaw (which was hot) and Johnny cakes. Also French fries. The Johnny cakes were little cornmeal patties. The waiter dropped them off and then disappeared. I ended up flagging someone down to get some ketchup. Glen had a salad and Pad Thai. For dessert I had key lime pie, which was quite good, and I think he had ice cream. After lunch, I went to do my penultimate casino run. I quit when up about 4.00. I’m a heavy gambler. I did notice I now have some casino points. I have no idea what that means, or what it’s worth. After that back to the room for a bit. We watched the end of the Rise of the Planet of the Apes, which I’d seen in a theater when it came out. Anything with Andy Serkis is good. After that we decided to get dressed for dinner and listen to Madelena play. We also decided to purchase a future cruise, which we will book with a full deposit, so that we can move it to a cruise later in 2024. While we enjoyed their performance, we found several songs that weren’t really danceable. We did the ones we could, including trying to fold a 4 wall foxtrot into the round dance area. (Dance floors about the size of half a baseball court I think). It was fun. After that, time to book the new cruise. We told the guy we wanted a short cruise, far out with a fully refundable deposit. He decided we went the Ascent. So he kept selecting dates that we didn’t have available. Glen said maybe we should book something we might take, and I’m like, uh no - we don’t have time for anymore first half of 24. Anyway, we settled on something and asked for the worst balcony available. No way we’re doing it, so why waste a room that someone else wants. Partly why I don’t do suites as holding - I know they’re in demand. Following that, we went to see Rock City, a new apparently production show. Basically the band in the back, singers and dancers in black doing a variety of rock songs. Similar to to Princess’s Rock Opera I guess, which everyone raves about but I’m not sure why. It was good, but not that special in my opinion and featured Carmina Burana, which last time I checked was not a rock song. I asked Glen which was better and he said he didn’t remember enough of of Rock Opera to comment. At the end of the show, Dave brought out Captain Leo, who arrived on stage with about 50 of his staff. He said a few words, thanked us, we applauded them and then he left, as did we. We went back to the room to start the most haded part of cruising - yes packing. We pulled out the suitcases and loaded up most of our stuff. At about 8:30 we decided we were close enough, and headed down to Blu. We were hoping that it would be clearing out by the time we go there, but it was pretty busy. We wanted Made and Sein’s section so they seated us on the far sofa, which is the one part with no window view. I wasn’t too impressed with the menu, so I asked for the kids menu (I know there’s a steak on there). Made then asked if I also wanted the main dining menu. Yes, please! I ordered the short ribs from the main menu. They were really good, and really hot. I’m not sure how that worked since the kitchens aren’t the same, and aren’t particularly close. I really appreciated it. After that we went back, finished packing and put out the bags. I then ran down to the casino to finish my OBC. Finished, leaving me with 2.30 odd cents left. Back to the room and to bed for the last time in our room.

I got off the Eclipse this morning. I had a lot of non refundable OBC. After we finished spending what we were gonna spend (specialty dining, bang trim, etc) I went to the casino. I could load even multiples of 50.00 from my OBC. I got a slip with the amount (50.00 or 100) which I put into the slot machine. I'd usually cash out as soon as I was ahead, although sometimes when I was down about a dollar or so. I was able to get cash for all of it. I know on both the Summit and Equinox, I was able to directly load the machine from my account in any amount. The employee at the cage told me that that's the new system, but the Eclipse is on the old system. She didn't have any idea when it would be updated.

Day 6. Today is Ketchikan, where once again we have no plans. At 8 am our alarm went off and we decided to skip breakfast. I tried to sleep some more, but really couldn’t so at 9 I got up and decided to go to the Elite continental breakfast. I made it with a few minutes to spare, waving at Anastaia (hostess at Blu) on my way over. I had some pastries, fruit, coffee and OJ. I talked briefly with one of the concierges. If I understood her correctly, I think they’ve merged Concierge and Captains club on the ship. I know if you go to the atrium on Deck 7, there are two desks, and they both say concierge. After breakfast, I went back to the room to see if Glen was awake. He was, and decided to go to the buffet for some oatmeal. I went with him, and grabbed a table, thinking I would just have some more coffee, but he soon came back saying it looked dreadful, so wanted to go just get a cappuchino or something at Al Baccio. So down we went. We found a table, and he went to look at the food choices. He ordered a cinnamon roll and cappuchino. I ordered a latte. The drinks came, but not the cinnamon roll, so he asked again. After he asked for the 3rd or 4th time (I lost count), he went back and saw there was one left. Finally he flagged down a server who ran and got it. I hope it was good. Turns out this was the first of several minor issues throughout the day, all of which got resolved. After that we went back to the room, which was made up, and Glen relaxed while I went to the casino. I played a bit, then decided to go back up. Realized I’d left my cruise card in the machine so back to the casino I went. I put the card in my pocket and headed back up to the room. Once near the room I realized I’d lost my neck lanyard. (It uses magnets to keep it closed, and the magnets had started separating occasionally). So I tried to retrace my steps. First stop elevator bank. I stayed there for a while until I was sure it wasn’t in whichever elevator I’d used (I knew it was one of two). Then I retraced my steps back to the casino. Not there, and I asked the workers if they’d seen it. Nope. They suggested guest services. So I went there next. Nope not there, but they did offer to punch my card for me. Last time I did that, it broke the card, and they explained that the contract (or whatever you call it for the electronics in it) ran around the edge of the card, so it’s easy for them to be broken. They said they’d call if it showed up and to check later. So I went back to the room and grabbed Glen for lunch. On the elevator to the room I was joined by Florin, who is the retreat manager. I mentioned that I’ll be back in a couple of weeks and in a sky suite, so he gave me his business card. I’m not quite sure what to do with, since I can’t go to him for anything on this cruise, and he’ll probably forgot the conversation and give me another one next time. There was a short line when we arrived at the dining room. Apparently they are loading from both sides now. There were a bunch of couples there, and they asked if anyone wanted to share. We were willing to, but nobody else was, so she seated all the couples ahead of us, and asked us to wait. A few minutes later a couple and two woman walked up who were willing to share. So we got a table for 6. We were with two longtime friends who had a 2:45 tour (it was about 1:20 when we sat down) and a couple from Wales. It took a few minutes to order, and then quite a while for the appetizers to arrive. I ordered fried mushrooms and beef bourguignon. Glen ordered pork ribs for his entree and I forgot what he started with. After the appetizers, a head waiter came by and told Glen and the other person that they were out of pork ribs and what would they like instead? The both ordered the Udon noodles. It then took another little while for food to come out, and I think it was just after 2pm when it did. The two ladies ate their entrees, but left before dessert. Glen said the noodles were good but they were ramen noodles, not udon. Still good though. Next stop was guest services to use OBC for additional tip. We filled out the form, and put our specific servers in the dining section. We were told that dining goes into the pool, and the only specific people you can tip are butlers and room stewards. We left the tip on anyway, but will give our servers some cash tomorrow night. It was about 3 by the time we were able to go ashore. We had no plans, so just decided to walk around and maybe scope out the town for our September cruise. Our first stop was a coffee place, but it seemed to be closed, so we went to the one next door. It turns out that it was the same place we used to park at and drink and use the wifi before they made it unlimited. We walked through the little mall it was in, and noticed several empty stores. I don’t remember what was there before. After that, we decided to go to Creek Street, and see if there was anything there that my mom would enjoy. It was a nice walk, but now there are just restaurants and gift shops for the most part. There was apparently an old house (maybe brothel) that you could tour, but otherwise just gift shops. So, no compelling reason for her to schlep out there. We then walked back along the water. At one point we passed the lumberjack show, so no I know where it is. My current thinking for the family cruise is the duck tour. We went back to the ship and relaxed for a bit before dressing for evening. At about 5:30 we went down to the lobby, and one of the bands was starting so we did some dancing. I also went up to the Martini bar and got my Candy Apple Martini. They asked me if I minded a shot glass, since I was going down stairs with it. Not a problem. After the band fished we sat with our drinks and I went back to guest services to see if my lanyard showed up. And they had it! Yay. It’s now safely stored in our room. I also went to Cellar masters to see about the wine asked about earlier, and as I posted last night, they have it. We then decided to go see the show. It was a vocal group called Legacy and they all met while touring with a show called Motown. They did Jackson 5, Beatles, Kansas, Bruno Mars and a few others. They were good, and we enjoyed it. Then Dave came out and did his usual talk, plus he did, sadly talk about disembarkation (note: a late checkout means 9:15am not 1:00 pm). After the show, I wanted to go back up to the room to grab something. Once there, I realized our laundry, sent out on the last day to do it (yesterday) was not there. So I called guest services, and they said they’d call our room steward and call us back. We waited until 8:30 and then went to dinner. In general, not unique to Celebrity, guest services rarely calls back when they say they will. And I’m still waiting for some laundry from a Star Princess cruise in 2010, so missing laundry makes me nervous. Also, our luggage tags were there. On the survey, I’d asked for a late departure group, since we’re going to a hotel and our room may or may not be ready. Instead, I got a midrange tag, for an 8:30 meet time. I figured I’d deal with that after dinner. We went to dinner. I’d mentioned to Made that on Thursday, the only thing on the menu that appealed was the wedge salad, and he said he would ask if I could have it on Friday. When we were seated, he said he’d go check with the chef. He came back and said the chef would make it for me. I also love tomato soup, so I ordered both. Glen asked about their other soup, the roasted plantain with green chilis. Made said they were jalapeño, so he wasn’t sure, so Made said he’d give him a small one, along with the caesar he wanted. Glen was going to order veal scallopini, but Made said it was basically a salad with some veal, so he opted for stuffed shells and I ordered the chicken in Phyllo dough. For dessert Glen had the no added sugar Citrus Roulade and I chose the poached pear. Both were good. Neither of us, however chose the Baked Alaska. Since I don’t like chocolate, I never have it. At about 10 we got back to the room, and the laundry was there! So Celebrity 2/2 and Princess 1/2 on laundry resolution. Following that, I went back down to the casino, along with the luggage tags to use up some more OBC. I quit when I was up 1.00. Following that, I went to guest services where they switched the tags for the last group. One more problem solved. The previous day, we’d started watching Apollo 13, so we decided to finish it. Glen then mentioned that if I was planning to shower, I’d need to use the bar soap, because the shower gel had not been replenished. So I called guest services yet again. (They must be tired of me). I asked if they could bring some shower gel. About 20 minutes later a housekeeping person showed up with a couple of the bottles of it. After the movie, showers and bed. Sadly the clocks go forward tonight so we’re back on Pacific time. In summary a day of problems, but all were resolved. Well done, X.

Day 5 Today was Juneau, and our only all-day port. We were docked when we woke and when I looked out the balcony it all seemed different. My first thought was maybe we were somewhere else in town, but then, as I looked around I noticed the familiar landmarks, but most were on my right, ie behind the ship, instead of left, ahead of the ship. Also behind us was a Princess ship. My aha moment finally hit (before coffee even!). Before this trip, I’ve only been here on Princess. And we docked at the end of the pier. Celebrity is at the front. (Which now that I think about it a local vendor told me that’s where we’d be almost 3 years ago). Once again we had breakfast in Blu. Our plan for the day was to wander around, and to visit Wings Airway/Taku Glacier company. When my sister and I booked our Alaska cruise in 2019 for 2020, we booked the flight seeing/ glacier lunch tour directly with them. Easy to do, and a lot cheaper than the ship. It’s now been moved twice. They’ve always offered a refund, but we decided they needed the money probably. More than we did. So, we kept moving it. It was always my plan to stop in and say hello, but about 2 weeks ago, my sister broke her foot, so I had to ask about access. So after breakfast we gathered our stuff, and headed out. I noticed that we were much closer to them than when on Princess. We walked over to their office and I met Samantha, who runs the office and has been in email contact with me for two years. We discussed the tour, and she put in notes that we may need accessibility help. After that we wandered around, and I went to my favorite candy shop and bought some fudge and taffy. Glen found a bookstore called Alaska Robotics, We thought it might have robotics, but it was just books and games. They had all the Catan variations, including a dice game that I’d never seen, as well as some varieties of Fluxx. Glen decided he couldn’t resist and got a game called Exploding Kittens. Can’t wait to play it with my nieces. Did I mention they have 3 cats? We walked down to the Ruby Princess, mostly to gauge the distance from there to Tracy’s Crab Shack. In September, we’re here in Princess with my mom who has some mobility issues, so we wanted to see if she could walk it. We decided that, with assistance, she could. After that we went back to the ship. We relaxed in the room and went up to the buffet. We were able to find a seat and had a random selection of things. For dessert, they had bananas foster, which is one of my favorite things. I got some and then went over to the ice cream counter to have her put some vanilla ice cream on top. She did and it was very good. After lunch, we headed to Al Baccio for a post lunch coffee. After that, up to the room to watch the rest of a League of their Own. I’d forgotten that the Woman’s Baseball League lasted until 1954, so about 10 years. We then dressed for evening and headed up to the sky lounge for the pre recorded music and to watch the sail away. The music wasn’t great (sometimes there are odd choices) so around 7 we decided to go get a pre-dinner cocktail. I did however, have a nice conversation with a couple of the show singers who were up there. I asked what they do after their contracts - American Idol, the Voice or the Bachelor. That sparked a fun conversation. We arrived on deck 5 around 7 and the show was just starting so we decided to do that. The show was a singer named Ann Martinez, who does shows in Vegas and solo concerts I guess. She was good, and told amusing stories about her life. At the end of the show, Dave introduced the band so by the time we were done it was a little past 8. Our reservation at Murano was at 8, so we were a little bit late, which was fine since they were a little bit later. Use were seated at a two top against the back wall, which I liked. Our server was Fernando and he asked if we’d been on the Eclipse before. I said in 2019. He thought he recognized me. After we ordered - Pastry wrapped pear and Frisee salad for Glen to start and lobster bisque and frisbee salad for me, which was interesting since I don’t actually like lobster. I was curious about it though, because I know a lot of people who love it. It was OK, but I don’t think I’ll order it again. For the entree, we split the chateaubriand. At some point Ferrnando came back, and said “were you in suites?” Well, yes. Turns out that, having just looked at my thread from 2019, he was our assistant waiter. We finished with the grand Marnier soufflé, and it was amazingly light and airy. Following that, back to the room. A nice day in the books.

Hi. I’m in cellar masters and the person there tells me they do have it. I told him to save a bottle.

Thanks for all the info. It was quite interesting. I had no idea. Because of the last minute planning of this, and the cancellation of May, as well as my two follow up cruises, I did little or no planning for this one. If I ever go to Sitka again, will definitely go to the park and maybe the Raptor center. We did enjoy the few sites we saw, though. My first Sitka visit was supposed to be in 2007, on a 2000 passenger Princess ship with tendering. We'd scheduled a walk excursion. Unfortuately cancelled due to weather. Oh well, someday I'll have a nice time there.

Day 4 Today was Hubbard Glacier. We stared with breakfast in Blu, today was bacon and eggs for Glen and a cheese omelette for me. We were seated next to a couple from London, and had a very nice chat with them through breakfast. I mentioned we had tickets for the Warner Brothers studio when we’re in London. They said it was fabulous, but did tell us we were staying rather far away (we know - we based the hotel on getting to Southhampton). After breakfast, we were on approach to the glacier, so we went back to the room and got our jackets and headed to the top decks. Hubbard Glacier is, I think, one of the longest glaciers in the state, and it was spectacular. We spent a couple of hours watching it and trying to see the harbor seals the naturalist said were there. I guess he had better binoculars than we do. We stayed around the top decks until the ship turned so that our balcony was facing the secondary glacier (Valerie glacier) heading toward Hubbard. Xavier, our room steward was cleaning the room, so we headed to the balcony. On his way out, he stopped and chatted for a while. He said he might be moving to the back of the ship, so may be my steward in three weeks. We’ll see. It was around 12:30, so we decided to go get a coffee and then lunch in the dining room. At Al Baccio, Glen looked at some of the pastries, until I pointed out that we were going to lunch in 20 minutes. So coffees only for us. We went to the dining room for lunch, and there was a line of about 20-30 people. Shorter than some of the line I used to see on the Princess coastal so we joined it. It was only about about a 10 minute wait, and we were seated at a table for two next to a table for two with one person. He was from Australia and we had a nice conversation with him during lunch. Glen had broccoli and cheese soup and some sort of fish. I opted for a wedge salad and meatloaf. It was good, For dessert, I ordered a passion fruit and lemon mousse, and Glen opted for Maple Pecan pie. They brought my mousse, but they brought Glen a cheesecake because they were out of pie. Then a few minutes later, they brought out a piece of the pie and we split it. After lunch, I went to the casino for a few minutes to burn my OBC. Glen went upstairs. After that, I went to the sky lounge to work on my thread and try to do some homework. Wile I was up there, one of the cruise staff was doing some games so I listened to the Yes No game, and 80’s music trivia. If playing, I would have done OK on the trivia. After an hour I went downstairs, and decided to watch a bit of TV. It just happened that a movie was starting on the movie channel, I saw part of the cast list, including America’s favorite murderer - O.J. Simpson. I googled the cast and it turned it was the Towering Inferno, a movie I enjoyed back in my childhood. So we watched it. After that, we went up to the recorded ballroom music, and did some dancing. Then when wandering around downstairs, we decided to see most of the show, which was Broadway. As usual, mostly shows that weren’t very big, although they did do one of the few songs that I think should be banned from ever being preformed in figure skating - Memory from Cats (My Heart will go On from Titanic is another). It was the typical X Broadway show - a few good songs and lots of irrelevant ones. Following that, we headed to dinner. We were seated in Made and Seen section, in the window section. Dinner was nice, as we had views of mountains and small glaciers coming down them throughout. Glen did point out that on this class of ships, Blue has the best views. For dinner I had two starters - the eggplant tapenade (Made said it was like a ratatouille (he was right) and butternut squash soup. Glen had the kale Caesar salad (Kale, a green that should have stayed a garnish in my opinion). We both had the ribeye steak for dinner and it was quite good. On this ship Blu has very good steaks in general. After dinner, we were heading to the stairs, when we heard the house band playing a very good west coast swing, so we danced to that, plus a few more til they finished. After that we danced to the band that followed them and called it a night. Back in the room we watched the first half of A League of their Own. (I highly recommend it).

I didn't see any at the port. I did see some taxi companies with tour signs at the drop off. Glen heard someone ask a local about taking at taxi and the local said that he could call a cab company use them if they answer the phone. Sorry I don't have better information.

Yeah, I said to Glen maybe next time we'll see some of the not in town center things. It was a bigger town than I expected, though.

Day 3 Actually starting this at the end of the day. Breakfast in Blu, Today I tried my modified eggs Benedict. I use bacon, as I don’t like ham. I had a starter of watermelon and that. Glen had pancakes with a side of bacon. Not quite the same efficiency as yesterday, but close enough. (We had to order juice - first world problem). When the food came, I got 1/2 of a muffin with Benedict. It was correct and the egg wasn’t over done, which can happen a lot. After breakfast I went back to the room to watch MSNBC and the 1/6/21 hearing. Midway through Xavier came in to do the room, so I tried streaming it from my laptop in the library. I missed some of it due to internet issues, but watched what I could. During all this, we arrived in Sitka, along with the Ovation of the Seas, one of Royal’s Quantum class ships, with just under 5,000 guests. This will matter in a few minutes. We waited until the hearing concluded, and then, around 12:30 or so, decided to head into town. The pier is about 5 miles from the pier. The port provides shuttle busses. I was hoping that by waiting over 90 minutes there wouldn’t be much of a wait. Wrong - when we got to the dock area there was a Disney style line for the buses. Fortunately they were coming reasonably frequently, but it still took 30 minutes to get on the bus. It was about a 20 minute ride, and we were dropped off by the Public Library and a Community building. We first walked along the water behind the building, and noticed that the line to take the shuttle back went all the way around the building. I was hopeful that maybe by the time we left, it would be shorter (silly me). First stop was an ATM for Glen to get cash. We exited from the back of the bank onto one of the main streets. Mostly shops and a few restaurants, but there was the cathedral. St. Michael’s Cathedral in Sitka is a Russian Orthodox Church, and one of the main sights in town. We stopped in. It’s very elaborately decorated and lots of icons of saints. Very ornate as well. They layout was similar to a church near home where I’d attended a Greek Orthodox wedding a few years ago (church was Russian, but close enough for them). After that we wandered around for a while. We looked at a few restaurants but nothing appealed, so we decided to try the restaurant in the biggest hotel in Sitka, called the Westmark. Wait was an hour and half, so we passed, and decided to go back to the ship after stopping at the local fudge shop. Turns out they only had chocolate flavors so I passed, since (gasp) I don’t like chocolate. I did buy some huckleberry caramels. We then got in line to go back. The line now went around the building and down half a block. We discussed redoing finding food and coming back later. Glen suggested the tamale stand, but I don’t particularly like them, and we live in California, where tamales are plentiful and good. So we stayed in line. We spent it chatting with a family on the Ovation. They had to be on a 4pm shuttle while we had until 7:30. I wondered if someone on the Ovation showed up around 4, expecting to get right on would be screwed, or we’d see pier runners. The line was about 40 minutes. I suspect that if we’d spent the afternoon on the ship, and maybe tried to go in after lunch we might have had a better experience, but based on what I did and saw, I can now check Sitka off. Maybe also if we hadn’t been there with a 5000 passenger ship, I might have enjoyed the town more. We did however, buy some Claritin so it wasn’t a total waste. After dropping our stuff, we went up to the buffet, but by that time lunch was over, and it was pizza and pasta. (Point to Princess on that, they run lunch until after 4pm). This started our sweet eating frenzy, sort of. Glen had a cookie and I had some ice cream. He wanted a Red Velvet cupcake, though, so down to Al Baccio for lattes and sweets. Then back to the room for a while. We decided to brave the recorded ballroom again, so dressed and headed up. We did dance a few, and got a thumbs up from Dave, the cruise director. When that ended, the bad was starting in the grand foyer so we went to the passport bar. We were able to dance a couple of songs, but when the played the waltz, we didn’t because the floor was too crowded for us. At about 8:15 we decided we were hungry enough for dinner, so we went to Blu. It was a little crowded, as all aboard was 8pm, so lots of people eating later. We asked to be seated in Made’s section and said we’d be willing to wait, but there was a table in the corner of the back room along a sofa, and we were seated there. It was away from others, and quiet. I started with the baked brie, one of my very favorite appetizers (I asked if on my next cruise, which is in a sky suite, I could come in early for a snack of baked brie. I think I can. Glen started with a white gazpacho soup that he said was good. For entrees, I had cabernet glazed short ribs, which were excellent. Once I finished, I realized that it was supposed to have green beans, but I didn’t care. Glen ordered the steak salad, which was a steak alongside a salad. It was a thin steak, which can sometimes be a bit of a problem, but he said it was cooked perfectly. For dessert I had cherries Jubilee, making this my favorite dinner in Blu, and Glen had the panda cotta, no sugar added dessert. We had a nice conversation with Sein, our lovely assistant waiter. She’s from Myanmar, and was impressed that I knew it used to be Burma. After dinner we went back to the room and watched a stupid world war 2 movie from on Demand. Sitka in the books, and I’m not sure I need to go back, but I’m glad I was there.

I got one too.

Or this week. I had Covid 2 months ago and am still wearing a mask. Very few are.

Day 2 - Maybe I'll get caught up tonight. Today was the first of 2.7 sea days. My definition of a sea day one where you can have lunch in a dining room. On this cruise, there are two full sea days, A third day is Hubbard Glacier, so scenic cruising only, and then Ketchikan arrival is 2:00 pm. So lunches available both those days. The clocks went to Alaska time last night, so we did get an extra hour to sleep. We set the alarm for 8 am but were up a few minutes before that. We dressed, and headed to breakfast in Blu. This was the second time I’ve had breakfast in Blu. (My sister and I ate there with friends we’d run into on the ship earlier. We were in a Sky Suite, they were in Aqua, so we had breakfast together). It was quite the production. We were seated and with in a few minutes of that, assistant waiters came by with coffee, water, a tray of juice and smoothie choices and pastries. Martin, one of the waiters took our order. I ordered French toast. The menu said it had muddled berries, but there was no sign of them on the plate. I’m sure I could have had them bring some but it was still good. When we left for breakfast, Glen realized he didn’t have his room card. He went back, but couldn’t find it, so after breakfast we headed down to guest services to get him a new one. There was a line there, so we joined it. It was pretty well organized, actually. There was a separate area for people with credit card issues, and a representative was walking the line to see if he could help. For example, the people ahead of us only wanted to know if their tour time was in Pacific time or ship time ( they seemed far more confused than I thought possible). He told Glen he had to stay in line, which we expected. It took maybe 20 minutes, and then we went back up to the room. My plan for the morning was get the chapter that was due Sunday done before lunch. We relocated to the sky lounge, and I completed the last exercise, but I still had the lab that gets turned in to do. So, I went on to cruise critic and started my second post for boarding day. I hadn’t charged my laptop since leaving the hotel on Sunday and I was getting the messages that the computer was about to shut down, so I moved to the room. I’d left the laptop partially open, so when I came back, my post was gone. Going forward, I’m writing in a text window and cutting and pasting when ready. I plugged the laptop in and started again. About 15 minutes later Glen. came down with all my stuff. We decided (well, mostly I decided) that at 1:00 we’d go to the Captain’s Club officer toast, stay for 15 minutes, and then get lunch. So at 1 we headed up. We walked the line of officers standing there. To be honest, Captain Leo looked like he wasn’t old enough to be a captain. Glen commented that, and Captain Leo said it was the mask. We sat down, and were offered some drinks and appetizers. I miss the nightly cocktail reception. At about 1:10 the captain spoke, thanked us all for being on the ship, etc etc. We left when they did the most traveled passenger presentation, so we could do lunch. Honestly, I thought 1pm was a stupid time, as it cut right in the middle of lunch time. We made our way to the dining room, and got there with about 5 minutes to spare. We did say we would share, but I think we were the last in. It was, I believe, Glen’s first time in the main dining room. I started with mozzarella sticks (I’ve ordered them in Luminae before), and Glen started with a salad. He had duck teriyaki for his main, and I had the entree Cobb salad. Both were good, and Glen liked that it was variation from chicken teriyaki. For dessert we both had strawberry shortcake. It wasn’t exactly a short cake, but it was a good strawberry cake. Our Blu waiter Made came by to say hello. At one point I looked over at the waiter station and realized there were at least 10 or more waiters there. Never seen that before. The next thing we wanted to go to was a future cruise presentation on the Galapagos. So we spent the afternoon going between room and events. The Galapagos presentation was interesting. We’re actually booked on the Xpediation with the Macchu Pichu extension late next year, so it was useful. The talk was centered on the Flora, but the wildlife pictures were great, and we appreciated the explanation of the Peru extension. When she mentioned the current sale, I noticed that it was higher than what we booked at last year,. I’d decided that I wanted to try to attend my class on Zoom. However, I got the time change backwards (happens rarely, but it does happen). I thought my 6pm class was at 7 our time, but it was at 5. I, of course, figured it out at 6:30. Oh well. So, blissfully unaware I was missing class, we decided to go to see the movie at Celebrity Central. It was Luca, the Pixar movie about a sea monster boy who wanted to go to the surface. I’d seen part of it on a plane, so I enjoyed the whole thing. From there, we went to the theater to see Topper. We got there as the Captain was onstage introducing the staff. It was pretty much the same as the last time we saw it in October. I might be done with it. After that, dinner. We were seated at a table near the window block, but still, I was happy to see, in Made’s section. I started with a spinach salad with goat cheese dressing, Glen had a tomato salad. Mine was good, but the dressing was very rich so I only at part of it. We both had the lamb shoulder in phyllo dough. It was good. When we’d walked in the woman at the next table had the strawberry soup as appetizer. For her entree, she had a steak, which I didn’t see on the menu. She said it was from the kids menu. Good to know. I knew there is a Luminae kids menu, but good to know I can get a steak if nothing else appeals. The soup looked good, so I had that for dessert. Glen had the phyllo dough fruit cup. Both were good. After dinner, back to the room where I finished the lab that was due Sunday. Turned it in and now I’m caught up. Two more due next Sunday, but I’ve got time. We tried to find a movie to watch, but the TV on this ship isn’t great Although, I haven’t checked if there’s on demand movies (found it today). So we gave up and went to bed. Tomorrow - Sitka. Finally.

If you go back to the email confirming the bid, there's a link there to view or modify. There might be a better way, but that worked for me. For this cruise it was pending for a while, and then about 10 days before I got the email that it was accepted. There were a lot of Aqua rooms available a couple days before my bid was accepted.

Thank you. We are on that one too, and I'll be live reporting that one too. I'm on with my sister and some friends.

Yes, Made and Sein were our team both nights. They are great!

Try 2 on the rest of the day. First stop was our room to drop our backpacks. For Glen, this is his first time in a regular balcony (he’s been in suites and a short time in an infinite balcony. He’s been in Princess balconies, and I pointed out that these are bigger, since they have a couch. We dropped the bags and met Xaviar, our friendly room steward. Our first stop after bag drop was Cafe Al Baccio, one of our favorite places. Because it was still early there were plenty of seats, and we enjoyed our first lattes of the cruise. While there, we watched the safety videos on my phone. I checked off both of us, but when Glen went back to his phone, his wasn’t done, so he did it. We then went to the Ensemble lounge for our muster checkin. Noticed (which I already knew, the the Eclipse still has Michaels club - which is fine for my next cruise, the retreat lounge on the Equinox reminds me of an airport lounge snack area). We saw Murano and decided to have dinner there one night. There were two crew members and one couple there, so the second crew member took us to the specialty restaurant booking area between the Ensemble lounge and the back restaurants and we got the date and time we wanted. We then looked at Blu and headed to the upper decks. I told Glen we should see the Persian Garden since that’s an Aqua perk. We went there, and one of the staff members offered to give us a tour of the spa and gym. We took her up on it, and saw everything. Of course we got some sales pitches. Our answer to everything was that we’d think about it. I also asked what they’d charge for trimming my bangs, since they desperately needed trimming. At the end of the tour, we found one of the hair dressers and she said 25.00 but she’d do it for 20 if I did it now. I had nothing else to do, so I let her do it. They look pretty good, although at the end she suggest that I come back for a hair do on the night of our specialty dinner (we’d told them we were celebrating our anniversary (actually would have been the day after the cancelled cruise, so we decided we could do it now). I don’t think I’ll go back and do that. Following the spa and gym tour we decided to see if the room was ready. It was, and our luggage arrived soon after we did. Glen unpacked his luggage while I started my assignment due yesterday. It was at that point he saw the greatest disadvantage to the room. There is very little storage. On Princess, there’s a closet area by the entrance to the room. There’s enough room to place two large suitcases on the floor, and a chest of drawers. This ship has two storage compartments above the bed, and a small set of drawers as part of the desk unit. Glen took the above the bed area and gave me the drawers, since he can reach the storage above the bed and I can’t. Once he unpacked, we decided maybe we should have lunch, and a hot dog sounded good. So we went up to the mast grill and had hotdogs. We shared fries, and then I finished with a strawberry soft serve. After that, another walk around the ship. We ended up at the Solstice deck, which is 15 or 16 at the front of the ship. It’s what will probably, if they ever revolutionize this ship, become the retreat sundeck. We hung out there for a while, and then went back to the room. I did some computer stuff and unpacked my suitcase. We watched the spillway from the balcony and then, after dressing for dinner (we dress up a little bit). At about 6:30, we went to the Sky Lounge for the recorded ballroom music. It turned out it was rather like elevator music. We did a couple of dances, and then Glen left a note at the DJ booth saying that there is much better current music. He gave some examples and signed it “The ballroom dancers in 1650”. We don’t expect anything from that. Since the music was hard to listen to, we decided to go back to Al Baccio for another coffee. Glen ordered a vanilla soy latte. He got his latte and decided they’d left the vanilla out. He asked our server about it, and Noah (server) explained that it was made with vanilla soy. I think Glen was expecting a soy latte with a shot of vanilla. Noah took the drink back, popped in the shot and all was well. We had some time before the house band started, so we decided to get a drink. First stop was the martini bar. It was busy, but not as crowded as I’ve seen them pre pandemic. We looked at the menu, Glen decided he didn’t really want a martini, so we went to the Passport bar on deck 3. We had very friendly servers, and Glen tried a Singapore sling. The X price was a lot less than at the Raffles hotel in Singapore, which is over 25.00 US. At 7:45 the band started and it appeared that they’d be a jazz band. So we decided to take a walk around the deck before dinner. At about 8:05 we headed in for dinner, and heard the band doing more danceable music. We were seated promptly at the back of the restaurant. The area was nice but in the middle of the bench was a seam between bench sections so we asked to move to the next table. We were able to do that, and enjoyed dinner. I started with Asparagus soup, followed by the baby spinach salad. Both were very good. Glen was happy with his calamari appetizer. We both had the filet mignon, and Glen said it was the best he’s ever had. It was seriously excellent. For dessert, we both tried the Dulce de leche Catalina, which was really a dulce de leche creme brûlée. It was also quite good. The service was great, the food was great, so we were very happy with our first experience in Blu together. (I’d been in Aqua once before). After dinner we were going to take a walk outside, but we got back to the room and decided that we were both tired, so I wrote the previous post, and went to bed. Day 1 is a wrap. Sea day tomorrow.

So I just spent a while talking about the afternoon. The battery almost died, so while moving it I lost the entire post. Grrr, I'll redo it later.

Boarding day at last. We woke up, dressed and headed down to breakfast. Turns out that the hotel is a lot more busy on weekends in July than on weekdays in May, so there was a 10 minute wait. So I left Glen down there and went up and finished packing. The 10 minute was just about that, and we had our final "Canadian breakfast buffet". Whatever that means. Pretty much standard hotel breakfast buffet actually. After breakfast we went back to the room grabbed our bags and walked down to the port. In prior years, we'd shlep our bags down the side of the car driveway into Canada Place, but yesterday, during our tour, we saw the elevator to the ships. So we went in through the Convention center. As we walked through the garage, we saw a luggage drop for the Serenade of the Seas. We kept walking into the building. We then saw some lines of people, with nothing really indicating what they were for. We asked the port workers there and they said to hang on. Then they said everyone going to the Eclipse, to move forward into the garage. We went with them and found the luggage drop. After the luggage drop, they sent us upstairs to do check in. It was actually pretty fast to get to the front, but then we hit a problem. I'd printed my covid test, but Glen was planning to use the Navica app. The cellular coverage was not good, and he had some trouble getting in to show the test. It took about 5 minutes, I did ask if necessary that they could test him there, and they said yes. Once he logged in to the port wifi, he was able to show his results. We finished the checkin. Two things from this. 1. If you possibly can PRINT your test results. 2. Be prepared to have your picture retaken. She didn't like either of ours so they were redone. Following that, they sent us downstairs to go through security. It took total no more than 7 or 8 minutes. And after that - US customs. When we got to customs, there was a global entry line. To use it, though, you have to have your card. And yes, they look at it. When we got there there were two people in wheelchairs having their picture taken and signing things. So I thought perhaps it was only a shorter line. I then noticed they didn't have US passports, so I realized it was problem access assistance and GE. This was confirmed when our processing simply the customs agent scanning the passports and saying have a nice trip. From there, it was to the ship. At the entrance to where you went to the gangway was the ubiquitous Celebrity crew members with water for you. We passed. And as we walked onto the ship, several crew members were at the entrance clapping. I've had this happen on both Celebrity and Princess and I have to admit, I could get used to it. I probably shouldn't, though, because it will eventually wear off. And with boarding I'm going to stop for now as the 3 days of little sleep are catching up with me. Sea day tomorrow with morning items to finish my labs due tonight, and finish this Sunday post.