KmomChicago

I need to also set up Port Valet if possible at this point for our 2 checked bags. Also need to complete Canada customs form today for room attendant to collect tonight. Also I prefer once a day room cleaning and later (4-7p) as I have been lying around lazily in the mornings in my peaceful solo interior room. Lastly my hands are super dried out from all the washy washy. I did bring a little Hyatt tube of lotion I grabbed from the hotel which helps when I remember to use before bedtime.

I was given messages to set up debark and ignored them so now we’re assigned Group 14, 8:20 am. Our flight is at 2pm so I’m in no rush. I decided to attend Captain’s Corner to Q and A the crew.

Went to GS and the Izumi res still was showing so GS agent canceled it even though Izumi is not open right now. Seems like that was harder than it needs to be. Only took 3 conversations over 3 day’s time for me. 😂🙄🤪 Royal Up lunch res apparently never happened though I signed something at Wonderland authorizing it. TTTT I really don’t care whether we do that or not as there’s still way too much food lying around all over this ship either way. I just don’t want charged as a no show for a res I don’t have and for a Chops lunch sized filet I won’t be served.🤔🧐😕🤨 And just now at Two70 Cafe apparently I left too much personal space in the line because a woman walked right in front of me without even realizing a fellow human was likewise waiting to request a breakfast burrito so maybe I am not as fat as I think. I am so tiny people are entirely unaware I occupy space in a queue. Either that or, maybe, rude. Or maybe I looked like I was trying to get my bearings and hadn’t decisively committed to my space in the queue. 🤷‍♀️ See this is all the stuff that I know will occasionally come with the territory. It mostly doesn’t really bother me too much. It’s part of the sitcom that is my life. Maybe more of a dramedy really so I try to frame as many of the scenes over on the funny side as possible.

I tried roller skating one day and they said you have to reserve in the app. So I tried and it told me the time to book for all remaining time slots had passed. In defense of the crew member, when I reported that back they penciled me in. I should have taken it as a sign. I’m roller disco era but it’s been literally decades. I went around the rink twice. Fell soft twice then hard once and stumbled out to change back into the blessed stability of my Stan Smiths. I do have travel insurance but don’t really want my cruise ruined by a broken wrist. I thought I would have muscle memory but it’s a bit harder and requires more calf strength and balance than riding a bike.

So you can book certain things on the app but then can’t cancel on the app. Graduate requested sushi. I thought I had booked this from home during a presale but it ain’t there. Only dinner on night 7, when we’ll be in Victoria, was still available. So I booked. Then the graduate learned about Wonderland and requested a change. I tried to cancel Izumi and the app said go to GS. I did and they said you can only do that during Izumi open hours. We just call them so we can do it or you can go to Izumi yourself but in any case, only when Izumi is open. There’s a fee if you cancel within 24 hours so it’s a bit frustrating to have to wait to cancel. Anyway I went there last night and cancelled but it’s still showing as an active reservation in the app. 🤬 Separately at Wonderland they talked us into Taste of Royal, a lunch event where you get different courses from different specialty restaurants in one meal. I signed something and they said I would get some follow up info and I have not, nor is anything showing in the app. 🤬

I’m not hungry; I don’t really need more keychains or the looks you get from all the other trivia players when you bogart too many keychains. I got a fairly decent night’s sleep after collapsing exhausted after Spectra’s Cabaret. I don’t need to invest any more time worrying about what to say in my job interview. I certainly could obsess about it retroactively but I can’t muster the mental energy to bother. I’m going to start the exciting process of packing up dirty laundry. But first s slightly grumbly post about the Royal app and status of certain activities.

Ok well maybe at home next week I will mess with it. Sorry about that.

I had a really long day yesterday so I was barely conscious for Spectra’s Cabaret but WOW! If you like Cirque type shows then make it a point to fit this in. Defied description.

Yeah, agree. I can’t get baba ganoush around the house so this is our big chance. Beautiful, as I assume it must be in all its iterations during the sunny season. I suppose the railroad closes and the whole route becomes impassable for a months-long period at some point. I can hardly stand December and January in Illinois. I don’t even comprehend living in these semi-polar regions in winter.

I see a black box. Is that what you see?

Let’s see if my pano will load for y’all.

Yes Solarium Bistro at night is a hybrid. Most of the entrees are complimentary but there are also some up charge options. Appetizers and desserts you grab yourself and actually it looked like some of the included entrees were sitting there in tapas sized portions as well, but I didn’t want to be rude and they said they bring the entrees. 🤷‍♀️ The servers want to help as they are obviously bored out of their minds. Solarium is very poorly attended at night but well staffed. Most tables are empty. Skagway was very cold as well. I forgot to grab our hats and gloves and our ears were about icicles just walking back from the train (which is right there in port) to the ship.

I didn’t order any such thing and I was pleasantly, surprisingly delighted to discover it. Since I am tearing through the packets, my room attendant who I met first day and have never seen again, is replacing them daily without my asking. They can tell a lot about a person by emptying the trash!! I have not sailed RCI to the Caribbean since 2018 so someone else needs to answer that about other sailings. We didn’t have this on Oasis back then.

Thoughts on our Juneau shore excursion which was salmon hatchery and Mendenhall. I realize there are extreme views on matters of ecology and I want to say I am mostly a MODERATE. Remember when there were a lot of moderate viewpoints around and extremism - in either direction - was way out on the fringe? Back then, most everyone mostly ignored extremists - on both sides. Because they were dismissed as being out of touch with reality. Crazy or stupid. You may not agree with my moderate thoughts on these topics, but I can assure you I am neither crazy nor stupid and I have had to debate these topics with extremists on both sides. There’s no easy or perfect solutions to these issues so don’t try to dumb-splain to me why your extreme view is the “correct” one. It isn’t. Neither is my moderate one. We’re past that point. I am not always a huge fan of certain types of livestock farming methods but, given the harsh conditions of survival in nature, and the way salmon naturally complete their life cycle out there shortly after spawning, I think I feel pretty much okay with what I learned at the hatchery. I want to research it more but I think the human intervention makes sense. I feel better about harvesting adult salmon near the end of their natural lifespan than some other animals. Mostly what I enjoyed about the hatchery is that it interests me. It sparked a desire to learn more about something that feels important and significant to me personally. I think they call that inspiration. I am inspired to learn more about salmon farming. As for Mendenhall I would recommend going early if you can. Lots of buses. You only need a few minutes there to snap photos unless you enjoy just basking in the view, but doing so with a thousand of your closest friends may not make it a real meditative sort of experience. There’s the obligatory visitor center with a 15 minute video and displays about how the glacier is melting/receding. It’s fine but nothing you can’t learn elsewhere and have probably already heard 50 times before. Pretty likely most of us already know it’s receding and that’s why we came to see it now. I was kind of wondering what will happen to this US Forest Service site once the glacier is gone. I assume the site will remain as it’s still an interesting and pretty section of the Tongass National Forest. People will view the snowless valley across the lake and then be shown a video of the time lapse retreat and finally disappearance of the ice. Nature will endure and replace one phenomenon with another as primary producers convert minerals from the bare rock and summers’s abundant sunshine into the foundation of new soil, and in 50-100 years it will be hard to imagine anything other than evergreen forest ever occupied the space.

My little in-room coffee shop.

Ha! Well it’s a sea day en route to Victoria BC late tomorrow so should be lots of fun activities. I’ll have to see if there’s some more music trivia but I’m not sure what to do with all these incredible keychains. I had a beer at Tracy’s on shore while teen worked through the heap o’ 🦀. I liked the way it went down so I ordered one in the Bistro while I was on my hummus and baba ganoush. Since we didn’t order entrees, we were already on baklava when it arrived!! As you can see it’s unopened so it’s actually in my little cooler-not-a-fridge (it says that) in my room.

Due to my interview I barely slept last night. Very long day. Watching Spectra’s Cabaret in Two70 then directly to slumber.

Whoops forgot pic. Baklava and strawberry panna cotta.

Solarium Bistro desserts. That’s all, didn’t get an entree as I ended up with a bit of teen #2’s crab. 2 pounds is a lotta crab.

Solarium Bistro dinner apps.

This is the most effort I ever see this kid put into anything. The cost was $79 and change total. Not bad really. It’s a lot of crab. And we are in Alaska.

Teen#2 wanted 2 pounds of snow crab with their budget rather than one of Alaskan king.

Waiting at Tracy’s. With four or maybe 5 large ships (Norwegian Encore is here now, not sure whether Bliss left) in port, it seems we weren’t the only ones with this idea. Glad it’s a nice sunny warmish day in Juneau.