clarkg

Here are some more pictures...

The diver is in the middle. He didn't have tanks, but the air-hose the man in orange vest is rolling up. They used diving silver diving helmets that attached to the ring ournd the man's neck. I haven't seen this, up close and personal before. There were at least two divers down there. The captain said they were fixing and electrical problem.

The ceiling at the King Street Station in Seattle. For years this was covered up by a drop down ceiling that looked terrible. I'm glad they wised up and tore all that our so we can see the historical one. It's beautiful.

King Street Station with Safeco Field in the background. The bus leaves from this area. It has to turn around there. It involves some backing and forthing.

1 hour ago, Cruising-along said:

Thank you for posting your thoughts about your one-day cruise.  Your blog is great too, as are the photos!

I understand what you mean about how sailing out of Vancouver can be a major headache....the one and only 1-day cruise we've ever taken was years ago out of Vancouver and it didn't get off to a good start.  All their computers went down and we weren't onboard until between 4-5:00 😞  So glad it went smoothly for you!

 

One time it was three hours, a couple of times it was two, the worst was having to wait 5 hours to get on the ship, then when we finally did, the captain came over the overheads and said, "There are six hundred people still in line, we will be departing two hours late."

 

 

Just got back from a one day cruise that may have been the most fun overnighter of my life. I seem to, more and more, be taking Holland America. I'm only a One-Star Mariner, but I'm a lot higher than that on other cruise lines. I will post some pictures here, there will be more on my blog too.  http://clarkanddeb.blogspot.com/2019/05/2019-one-day-cruise.html

Just one of the dozens of Bald Eagles we saw out the train window on our way to the ship. It was hard to take pictures at that speed, so I have pictures of rocks mostly.

The NCL Bliss pulled up while we were at Canada Place. I've never been on this ship, but I've taken NCL a lot.

In my mind, the cruise doesn't start until the life boat drill is over.

38 minutes ago, Von & John said:

Thanks for the Sunrise  --  Hopefully you had a safe an uneventful trip home.

Thank you, we did.

Sunrise over Miami. Its the last day of the cruise and all good things must come to an end. Back we go to the snow.

19 minutes ago, Von & John said:

Approx 13 years ago, we spent a week in the Keys after our 7-Day Caribbean Cruise.  Picked the rental up in Miami & drove down.  Had a fantastic time!!!

That sounds like a great idea. So many islands to explore.

We toured Hemingway's house while we were in Key West.

The most stolen sign in the United States. This one was only four days old while we were there.

We had to stop and get some Key Lime Pie. It was delicious.

I didn't go in, but I loved the sign, especially the flags on either side. Conch Republic

The waves were drenching people as they stopped to do their selfies.

Bench at the Southernmost Cafe. Key West was my favorite stop. Next time I'll spend more time there.

Pretty much all there is to do at Great Stirrup Cay. I did see some zip lines under construction though.

The water was great, although a little on the cold side in February.

Obligatory sign picture.

It's a tender port which means you can get some great shots of the ship from the ocean. Just don't get the corner of the tender in the picture.

Costa Maya part 2

We were briefly caught by pirates, but we joined with them so they let us go.

My new Mayan mask.

One last photo op.

My mother-in-law, the ship and the shore.

I loved the building design they did for area.

Shop keepers were very friendly. The main thing to do in Costa Maya was shop.

There were also traditional Maya show.

Harvest Caye was hot that day, Even in February. I enjoyed it though, especially after a jumped into the pool.

An obligatory picture of the Belize sign.

My mother-in-law posing in front of the sign. There was a shuttle for those who didn't want to walk down the long pier. Even though it was hot, there were a lot of picture taking opportunities.

La Bistro restaurant. We went to three while on board, but this one was my least favorite. They've changed the menu since the last time I was there. I used to like it a lot.

Ships leaving Miami. We were one of the last to leave.

We had towel animals every night. I really liked that.

2 hours ago, kfnesq said:

Thanks for this!  We are boarding the Jade in about 31 days, this will help me live vicariously for a bit!

You'll really enjoy your cruise. I did put a what I would do differently at the end of the blog, just to give you some things to look out for.

Just finished my blog post. You can see it here...

http://clarkanddeb.blogspot.com/2019/02/caribbean-2019.html

My mother-in-law came with us on the trip. She lives in Tampa so she took us to Molly's for dinner. I highly recommend it.

So many fun looking ships went by us, my wife snapped this picture of one.

When I left Seattle area, there was 8" to 10" of snow on the ground. I sent this picture back home to my coworkers.

The Food:

I have to start by saying I'm not a foodie. I'm easy to please, normally, but the food on this ship, well, the food on the ship was simply amazing! The waiter kept picking up my completely empty plate and saying, "I'm glad you enjoyed your dinner." I loved everything I was served. I stole some tater tot looking things off the wife's plate, those were the worst things I tasted on the ship. But even they weren't bad and I ate them. I even tried foie gras. That was even good.

My Favorite Meal

We lucked out and got a table by the window. Met some really nice people from Ottawa. We hit it off so well we ate dinner together the rest of the cruise.

Enjoyed reading your blog & the pictures.

Thank you.

Just read your review. Sounds like you had a great time. But just FYI, the Neptune Lounge isn’t for long time cruisers. It’s for Neptune Suite and Pinnacle Suite customers. It’s more than food and alcohol, although the alcohol isn’t free. There are concierges in there who will arrange anything you’d like as well as solve any issues you may have without standing in line . They have little parties in there too . It’s a nice perk

 

 

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Thank you so much for clearing that up. I thought it was like the diamond club on RCCL.

The Ship:

The ship was clean and the bed comfortable. I've been on some bad beds on cruise ships, but this one was excellent. The storage in the room was enough, but we were only on there 4 days. Others were going on a 21 day through the Panama Canal. It would have been tight had we packed for that.

Holland gives you movies and things other cruise lines make you pay for. That was a plus.

The Entertainment:

We had the music row on this ship. Deck two had all sorts of music venues from classical, to blues to oldies, and they pulled it off great. Evening entertainment was awesome. The morning had computer classes and cooking classes. I've been to most of the computer classes on other ships. I did get to some cooking classes, but other than those, there wasn't much going on.

We are looking forward to reading your review, thanks!

We have been out of Canada Place four times and have never had a problem. Sorry to hear you had a long line! :rolleyes:

After lots of hit or miss cruises out of Canada Place, we figured out the trick. We go on the ports web site and figure out how many ships are in port. If there are three or more, we book a different day.

Thank you for your review and pictures.

Sorry about your friend having cancer.

Thank you. He's such a nice guy. This is his second go round with it. This time is worse from what I can tell.

Canada Place is beautiful. I remember one time we got off one ship, walked across and got on another. Actually we've done that twice now as I recall. There is a lot of one day cruises you can take from Seattle to Vancouver, then get on longer cruise going South.

Our room was in the perfect location. Right by the elevator but far enough away to not hear the noise of the stairwell. We booked a guaranteed balcony, so we weren't able to pick out our own room. The only thing that would have made it better would have been on the port side of the ship so I could watch the California Coast. This cruise it didn't matter, the coast was fogged in.

Our room steward, Victor, is amazing. All smiles and very helpful. We met him right away.

Top of Canada Place

For sail away we were all over the ship. The wife was getting a little exasperated with me. "What, we're moving again." I wanted the best view and when the ship changes direction, the view changes.

Going under Lion's Gate Bridge

The review itself will be here on Cruise Critic

There is also a blog that goes with it... http://clarkanddeb.blogspot.com/2018/10/fall-coastal-cruise-2018.html

The wife and I took the Nieuw Amsterdam down the coast from Vancouver to San Diego.

Leaving out of Vancouver can sometimes be a challenge. One cruise it took us four hours just to get to up to security. The line stretched out of Canada Place, across the front of the hotel, down along the sidewalk and halfway down the ship that was parked there. This time it was a breeze. It took less than an hour to get from the parking lot and on to the ship.

It was just the wife and I this time. Our friends were to busy to come with us, and after having to cancel two cruises this year, I wasn't about to cancel this one.

I do like the decor of Canada Place. A weird thing happened. A lot of people came down to watch the ship leave. Groups of them were staring at this ship, and us. A little girl was waving at us, Deb waved back, the little girl giggled, then a minute later she was waving again.

Hi Clark,

 

Thank you for your review and posting. :) Great sense of humor you have as well.

 

I'm curious as we will be parking at the dock in Seattle in September, could you tell me which parking lot you used and just a bit about the shuttle? They take all your bags and you still have to check in with them or do the bags go to a 'special spot'? Sorry but it's been about 20 years since my last cruise out of LA. There's five of us so am just curious about parking/walking aspect since two of my party can't walk far at all.

 

Thank you in advance for your help.

 

Teri

The parking for Pier 91 in Seattle is just north of the terminal. The parking lot has a shuttle but it doesn't go far. If you're leaving out of Pier 66 then Bell Street Parking is just across the street from the pier. I would call in advance, since parking there is limited.

Thanks for sharing!

 

I was on that sailing with my mom. My first time cruising without my kiddos! We had a lovely time as well.

 

I'm another one disappointed about the lack of Coastal cruises next year. They are my favorite for an easy trip since we live near the port.

I'm sure glad you enjoyed it. It's so easy to just drive down, park the car and hop on the ship.

Victoria, I'm told, is the 2nd most English city in the world, behind London. How do you measure that? I'm sure Liverpool would have something to say about what makes a city English or not.

We found the trick into getting into Victoria from the pier is walk over to Fisherman's Wharf and take the water taxi into town. $6 Canadian each way.