gregma60

That is the exact ones I'm really thinking about. Are those neptune? -gregma

This will for sure be my first place to look. I'll have LOTS of questions! Just as I did with this (my first) cruise. Learned so much! Also learned from youtubers, but there are very few who actually cruise HA, they mainly vlog about the other lines. -gregma

You are exactly right. I think there were at most 3 times that we ever experienced a full elevator and never twice in a row. We used the forward bank 95% of the time, it's not that long of a walk to get to it. I know the middle aft bank had 3 of the 4 elevators OOS for a few days, but even that didn't really put too much stress on availability! Exactly what I was thinking. Didn't even think of the ratio of balcony vs non. That would indeed put more stress on those coveted public area seats. Again, not an issue at all with us as we had a HUGE balcony and used it often. -gregma

Thank you so much for the kind compliment! It is nice to know at least a few have found value in this. I very much overall enjoyed the cruise and the ship! Yes, there were what managers would call "opportunities", or "learning moments" :), but nothing even coming close to "ruining the cruise". Oh, I do have a bucket list 🙂 Panama Canal transit. Once it goes down to under 10k I might just do it. Yes, it would have to be in a neptune suite (or one of the corner suites on the ships that have those.) -gregma

After trip thoughts... Thought I would give my honest opinion. This was our very first cruise, our very first time to Alaska. Hits : Loved the Volendam, the small ship feel, being able to go from bow to stern without having to call a taxi. With the smaller ship, we could get closer to icebergs and more in glacier bay. Loved the promenade where you could walk 360 around the ship with no obstructions. With the limited number of Neptune Suites, the neptune lounge was never crowded at all! And breakfast in the pinnacle grill was only one or two couples also there. Dinner at the MDR was great! We had fixed early dining and never had a bad experience! No lines, our waiters were ready and waiting as soon as they saw us, and after our second day, they anticipated what we liked well! The waiters at the MDR were great at at least attempting to have gluten free options. What they did was go over the next nights menu and have her select what she wanted. Then the chef would attempt to make that gluten free. Everything except the dessert was exactly what she wanted and delicious! Our balcony was amazing and provided some fantastic views and pics. In fact if we didn't have balcony, there were many times we'd have to stand to see things outside. Misses: Even being a smaller ship the lido was always huge lines and very difficult to find tables. Of course most people would stay at a table for half an hour or more. Talking, reading books, on their phones, etc. Lunch in the MDR was horrible. It was our two worst experiences on the ship. After the abysmal service our one try, we only went back for a tea which was little better. My wife is gluten free and that was a huge challenge. There was twice during lunch my wife braved the lido and all she could have for dessert was jello. Our try at the burger joint on the second day, they were "out" of gluten free buns and instead suggested using lettuce as a "bun". Yeah, a cold, wet, slimy piece of lettuce to hold your burger. She got it on the lettuce and tossed the lettuce. She was sooooo disappointed! Heck, at Skagway the two small places we ate at had full gluten free options and plenty of gluten free buns and bread. Getting off the ship was at times a total mess. Depending on who was working the bottom of the gangway we went from kindly and orderly process to rude and chaotic process. Getting back on was worse than going through TSA at the airport! Thought I'd have to strip once! The MDR chef for most of the dinners could not do gluten free. It was for the most part meringue of some kind. He once though made her a gluten free chocolate souffle that was to die for! But even when asked, never again. Seats around the ship with water views were VERY difficult to get. We would see people camped out in them for hours reading or on their phones. In the 7 days, we would try the crows nest multiple times each day and only twice were able to get seats together with a good view outside. We would see the same people every day camped out and switching who is there many times. We figured those were the inside cabin occupants. Luckily we could go to our cabin to enjoy the beautiful scenery! Without one, it would have been very disappointing. So in conclusion. Did we enjoy the cruise? Absolutely!! Would we sail again? Perhaps. If the price is right, if it's a bucket list we would. Otherwise probably not. And looking at the trend for getting less for more, it's unlikely to happen. -gregma

Thank you so much for the compliment! I truly appreciate it! -gregma

Unfortunately, couldn't edit. Wanted to mention the debarkation process. Oh my. They called us at 8am to begin, and we were waiting for our cab by 8:17. It was amazingly fast! -gregma

Last day! Will post a follow up later tonight or tomorrow about our thoughts overall. Last day was a sea day, so not a lot going on. In fact the only real thing we did was attend the watercolor painting class for my wife which she loved, and the magic classes which I attended which was phenomenal! Otherwise it was spent on our verandah, a bit in the crows nest when seats finally became available, and music trivia. We won last time with a perfect score, but were two point off the mark this time. We also watched the last dance show which was mediocre. Just not polished. I'm one for being out watching the outside world, the beautiful ocean as it mesmerizes you, wondering of the vastness of it all, being curious where that distant ship is headed, hoping to catch a glimpse of a whale or a mermaid. Being stuck inside seems to me to be such a waste! They say cruising is all about the ports, for me it's all about the wondrous glory outside of the ship! For others it's about being entertained 20 hours a day inside. Luckily you can have it either way! We are now back in Vancouver, have 10 hours before our train leaves, so planning on visiting the science center and people watch. -gregma

Day 6 - Ketchikan Well, this is our last port day, our last day of running the jewelry gauntlet! We booked a cruise and seafood banquet which was due to leave 15 minutes after we docked at 11am. No worries though! So far we had been on the dock 15 minutes to half an hour early. The day started as always with a wonderful breakfast in the pinnacle grill. My wife had her gluten free eggs benedict with stewed prunes on the side, and this morning I had the usual fruit plate with a ham and cheese grill but instead of salsa and sour cream, I had hollandaise sauce. YUMMMMM! Wish I discovered that the first day. The poached eggs, the bell peppers, ham, taters. It was a delicious combo. The up to our room to get the backpacks and camera ready and watch the ship dock. Bow lines and port bow spring lines were easily managed. The stern line proved to be more elusive. They finally got the lead line launched and actually on the dock on the fourth try. I could tell the captain was not too thrilled, poor guy. We headed down to deck two to wait for debarkation, only to be met by a lady who was very gruff at insisting everyone clear the deck and wait in public areas until the announcement was made. Yikes! The guys on each other ports of calls were very understanding and pleasant. About 10 minutes later a very nice gentleman came to get us and we breezed right off the ship and to our awaiting motor coach. Unfortunately, there were two very late comers so we were half an hour behind. It's ok though, they just adjusted everything from the on. We got to the dock to board our catamaran and did some nature spotting before arriving at the resort. Then took a half hour leisurely walk though the old growth forest leaning about the fauna. Of course for us, it was our back yard, so nothing new. Still beautiful! Then back to the lodge where we were put at large tables with 6 to 8 people at each and a HUGE pots of food was dumped in the middle. Oh my! Everything was delicious, the dungeness crab, shrimp, muscles, clams, andouille sausage, red potatoes, corn on the cob, garlic cloves, pearl onions. We were the only table to eat everything by far! Talking about being stuffed with yumminess! After a quick boat ride back, then a pleasant motorcoach ride back to the ship, it was time to brace jewelry alley and spend some time on creek street. We only had two hours before all aboard. We were the only ship left in port as both princess ships had departed earlier in the day. Creek street wasn't too far away, so off we went. As we approached, you could tell it was in the middle of spawning season. Those of you who have spent time next to streams with spawning salmon know the smell of dead and decaying fish. We got to the upper bridge and looked down at dozens and dozens of dead fish on the floor of the creek and others queuing up to make it further upstream. There were hundreds of salmon! Some battered and bruised still going up, some barely moving being carried downstream, some fresh and eager to get upstream. And amongst all of this was a seal. Having a wonderful time doing some chasing and then relaxing while posing for pictures. We stayed and watched for about an hour, then went back to town for some ice cream and hang out at the dock while our wives got the free stuff. About an hour after that we were up the gangplank past security, and into the room to drop everything off before getting to our dinner table about 25 minutes late. Dinner was great as always. My wife had prosciutto and an olive caponada. She loved the prosciutto, but didn't eat the caponada, way too sweet. It tasted like sweet pickle relish. Her main course was petite beef tender which was perfectly cooked medium rare. Desert was a baked Alaska and as a bonus for not having flourless chocolate cake, the chef prepared a special gluten free chocolate souffle! Yummie! I had French onion soup which I loved, salmon which was awesome as always, pear strudel which was ok. The it was right to the theater to watch the comedy magic show. This was an hour of awesome magic! Being in the front row, we both were a part of many of the magic parts. Some of the best entertainment of all!! We were both exhausted, so right to bed. -gregma

That sounds so much better! Wish I would have thought of that! -gregma

My wife thanks you so much! She just gave me a "Woohoo!!!" -gregma

Been there, done that! In fact quite recently. It makes for a uncomfortable time for sure! -gregma

I agree, you need to head back to Alaska! Tell hubby we said so. 😁 -gregma

I've seen that all over and it seems to be a growing trend. Unfortunately, I think now you only get two groups of people. Those who go over the top with yelling and threats and those who choose to just take what they get. I've always been to respectfully say something and if they still refuse I'll write a letter later and never return. There are restaurants to this day I won't step foot in because of events that happened even a decade or more. And I'm much more vocal to my friends about avoiding the place. When and if they eventually close, they will blame the economy or some such when it was more than likely poor service. I'll never get over the fact that two places can be close together, one flourishes, the other goes out of business. They will have lots of excuses, but those who tried the failing business knows it was because of rude staff, poor quality food, or a combination where the one that flourishes has stellar service and/or great quality! -gregma

That's a great idea! Unfortunately, with my 90d, that's only possible shooting in live view with the mirror locked up. I still prefer using the viewfinder. My wife also just said she prefers having quick cringes rather than putting in the SD cards to find 15000 pics all at once! Lol -gregma

I know, it's like a lot of things now a days. Depends on who you ask, what the time is, what the outside temperature is, and perhaps whether the moon is waxing or waning! -gregma

Sorry for the lateness all! Loooong days. Day five! Glacier bay. Pinnacle Grill for breakfast! They made my wife awesome gluten free pancakes and she also had bacon. She said the pancakes were delicious! I had classic eggs Benedict which was cooked perfectly, and a great fruit plate with cottage cheese (about 3/4 tablespoon 😁) One story to tell. It wasn't us, but thought I'd share. There is another couple who has always been at the opening of the pinnacle grill with us. Starting the second day, they asked the gentleman maitre d if they could sit at a table on the opposite side where there are no flowers on the table. Of course they could he replied and whisked them to the table they wanted. This morning a lady came to replace him shortly after we were seated before this couple arrived. When they did, the lady gave them a choice of two tables next to us. They asked to be seated in the same location because of the flowers. Her reply was that they could remove the flowers from one of the two tables and that would be fine. They again explained that there were other tables next to these two that had flowers and pointed a short distance away to the other table they had the morning before. Ignoring them completely, she directed them to a table next to the two that didn't have flowers on it and declared that's would be just fine for them. I could tell the exasperation in the couples voice ad they relented and just sat where they were directed. I felt so bad for them! I really wanted to say something, but it really wasn't our place. I'll talk to them tomorrow if they decide to return. After breakfast, we went up to our stateroom, got the good camera, bundled up, got the backpack, the secondary camera and headed to the bow. Boy was it brisk out at 8:30! We got a great spot on the port bow and got set up. We were just entering glacier bay and the ranger started talking over the loudspeaker! Unfortunately pretty much every time he was dispensing information, there was a group right at the bow that needed to loudly share tales of the large amount of alcohol they imbibed the night before, what they didn't remember, it was their 100th day at sea, etc, etc. Everything except listening and learning. We only caught a word here and there from the ranger for the next hour before we got to the Marjorie glacier. That was between diatribes given by the main partier of the group next to us. Didn't matter, I was at that point about 1500 pictures snapped at amazing sites! I'm sure my wife who will have to go through each snap at home picking out the 1 in a hundred that actually had something of interest. I had the Canon on burst mode and I swear I could hear her cringing every time she heard the shutter clicking at 10 frames per second as I caught a splash in the water that was probably nothing! Once Marjorie came into sight things changed! We got so close I think one could have hit it with a thrown stone. Yes we were like a mile away, but it's massiveness made it seem like you could reach out and touch it! The blue ice was incredible, the large cracks just begged to break away causing large chunks to fall away. Although we have several glaciers in WA state where we live, they don't come close to equalling the pure beauty! We stayed in place for about an hour, then the captain slowly turned the ship to give the starboard side an hour to gaze into it's alluring beauty. At this point we had been on the bow 2 hours, so we decided to head to our stateroom to see what was on the other side of the valley while the starboard side faced Marjorie. We called room service, and had three of the most delicious pea soups either of us had ever had!! My wife needs the recipe. She's not a great fan of pea soup, but this she would eat until every last pea had been consumed and they went extinct 😁 We just hungout on our verandah until our friends arrived at 2pm for another "tea time" the concierge setup for us in our stateroom. I originally was going to say no, but I figured they would go over the top for a private one! Care to guess the outcome? First, I had let them know there would four of us. One gluten free, the other 3 not gluten free. What they delivered for us 4. 4 pots of barely lukewarm water. 4 Bigelow darjeeling teabags 1 round stack of finger food which had the following: 1/4 strip smoked salmon sandwich on gluten free bread. 1/4 strip spicy curry sandwich on gluten free bread 1/4 strip of egg salad on gluten free bread 6 macaroons 1 small strawberry Panna cotta 3 flourless chocolate bites with caramel spread 2 prawns 1/2 of it went uneaten. Not a lot to talk about for the rest of the day other than the daily $5 charm which was the same one as last time. Dinner was the Gold Gala dinner. My wife had the grilled asparagus which good, escargo which was very good, pan seared arctic char which was outstanding!! And panna cotta (the gluten free dessert). I got the shrimp cocktail which was.. well what can you say about that..., the escargot which mine had some sand or grit which took it down a notch, the arctic char which was also amazing and the cheese plate (which wasn't nearly as good as the one at the pinnacle grill, but was ok. Not much else to report. Tomorrow is our last port of Ketchikan. Forgot to point out a couple of things. First the weather was absolutely gorgeous! In fact the ranger said the weather was so good we got a very rare site of a mountain (could hear the rest because of the tribulations of a beer course from the group next to us.) Second, we were the only cruise ship allowed in Glacier Bay that day! -gregma

So far I haven't been able to get a common answer. The neptune lounge consierge said more than likely they would. A lady at the excursion desk said no. -gregma

4th day. Might actually get to post this on the same day! Lol. The day started bright and early with room service breakfast arriving at precisely 6am. We both kept it simple with an American breakfast, oj, v8 and coffee. We were finished by 6.30am, then right down to the 2nd deck to disembark. No waiting, we were the 2nd couple off the ship. It was a bright and crisp day with low hanging clouds, but the promise of nice weather to come. We walked the short distance to the train cars and waited to get scanned. Unfortunately, they canceled our luxury car ride due to lack of passengers, so we were on the regular cars. Cone to find out they needed 10 seats to be sold in order to run that car and only 4 seats were taken. Poor luxury car made the trip empty. We decided to take the last car so my wife could take clear pictures out the back and it was a great idea!! BTW... Bring bug repellent!!! And if you do, like we did... Don't leave it on the ship. Before the train lady got there with some, we were both surrounded by clouds of bugs. Literally hundreds! She said they get really bad, and they do bite... Once we were well sprayed down, it was much better. I can't speak highly enough for the train ride. The seats were actually quite comfy and the scenery beautiful. Still a low cloud bank, but that only added to the mystery of the surroundings. One point we got to actually see part of the 1898 trail that thousands of potential millionaires used to lose everything they had if they even made it. It was literally less than 3 feet wide! And it was bidirectional as well. I could not even begin to imagine all those people with horses and mules along that narrow path! After we made it to the summit the train looped back and we were soon back into town. I love trains, and this will without a doubt be the top of the memory stack for the rest of my time on earth! Walking through town things looked a lot like Juneau, jewelry store after jewelry store. I really had no idea that the main reason people cruised to Alaska was to buy a hundred dollar pendant for three hundred dollars! Lol We got hungry with all the no thank yous given at each store entrance and settled at the Skagway Brewing company. I just had to have some spruce pine tip beer that saved the lives of many prospectors. My wife had a reindeer hotdog with chili and I had the fish and chips. Everything was top notch!! In fact the fish was some of the best I ever had!! And the pine tip beer was surprisingly good! 4.5 out of 5 I rated it on untapped. We next took the Blue Line bus out to the cemetery for 10 bucks and spent time looking at all the grave sites, then a short hike up to Reids falls. So beautiful and so peaceful. Just like cherry falls back home. We walked down, called the bus then back to town to finish walking around before heading back to the ship. Once back on board, it was up to the crows nest for some lemonade with glacier ice, a couple of mocha's and relaxation before heading back to the stateroom to get dressed for our anniversary dinner at the Pinnacle Grill. It was our 5th anniversary, and our friends 30th anniversary. Best dinner of the cruise so far! Caviar was as good as I've ever had, filet mignon cooked perfectly, lobster cooked perfectly and buttery smooth. Yum, yum yum!! After dinner, we got changed into comfy clothes and the wife dragged me to music trivia... Yay... Lol. Actually, we were the only ones that got 32 points out of 32 and scored a couple of HA Alaska pins! It was pretty late, so a quick trip to pick up our first 5 dollar charms which cost 15 dollars (still not sure how my wife managed that, something about upgrades? LOL) Back to the stateroom, then right to bed. Long day tomorrow at glacier bay! -gregma

Any water is included up to the 1 liter bottles that are $6 each. Remember, anything $11 or less is included. -gregma

Day 3. Well, our day sure did start out with a surprise! Clocks were to be set back an hour, so an extra hours sleep! Or so we thought... Late that night were were both awakened to a loud clacking. Not quite sure how to describe the sound, but my wife just suggested (imagine someone shuffling a large deck of metal cards.) I jumped out of bed, turned on all the lights to see what was broken. Looked towards the head and noticed the wall clock (yup, our stateroom has a wall clock) speeding head 11 hours to reset an hour earlier. We both watched in amazement as it happened. And each minute gave a noticeable loud click. About a minute or so later, the clock was at 1am! Unfortunately, we were both wide awake, so we watched some TV to relax before my wife fell back asleep. I tried, but was fixated now on that click every minute (never noticed it before that event.) so much for getting an extra hours sleep! Lol 7am came way too fast and we got dressed to eat breakfast at the pinnacle. My wife had the veggie fritatta with a side of bacon and I have corned beef hash with poached eggs. The fritatta was all egg white and delicious! The corned beef hash was ok. After breakfast we retired to our rooms and lounged on the verandah to whale spot. Water wasn't like glass as we sped along at 19 knots making good time. I soon spotted a coast guard cutter paralleling us which we easily overtook. I then noticed our engines idle down and wondered whatever was up. As we silently drifted along I saw the medium sized tour boat come into view. Our cabin is port side. It was then I remembered the Tracy Arm Fjord tour. That's what was going to come alongside to pick up the tour passengers. We watched it slide beside us and make contact. About half an hour later the filled to capacity boat separated from us as our engines came to life and we started our way to Juneau. Around 11 we headed to the lido for a light lunch before debarkation for our mine tour at 1:30. We were able to find a great table for four right next to the windows. Around 11:30 they opened up a few sections and we grabbed some meat and cheeses. Oh my how yummy!! Great blue cheese for sure. About 11:45 they opened the rest of the buffet stations and all of a sudden there had to be huge lines that suddenly appeared! Debarkation was supposed to be 1pm, but we had finished docking at noon, so we headed down to deck 2 to see if it was ready yet. Not quite so we lined up and 5 minutes later were given the all clear. A short walk up the ramp and we stepped our first steps on Alaska land! I know Alaska is beautiful, but we live in the pacific northwest and to be completely honest, there is really little difference. No offense to Alaskans! We had about 45 minutes before our tour bus was to pick us up, so we looked down the main Juneau street... OMG! Jewelry store next to jewelry store next to jewelry store. As far as you could see! Soon we were aboard our mini bus heading to the largest mine in Alaska! We had an amazing day walking deep into the inactive mine shaft, watched them actually drill the hole for dynamite. Our tour guide had worked the mine years ago and had been mining for over 35 years. What a great character! We then "panned" for gold found our gold flecks, and headed back to town. Once in town, we walked the jewelry gauntlet being asked over and over to come in for our free charm, or free pendant. My wife's went into a few of them, and got the freebies, but it was a very hard push to upgrade it, or hey, you really need a beautiful ring to go along with it, etc. I was reminder of being in a Jamaica market. We found a very nice local gift store that was owned by locals and got our obligatory fridge magnet and Christmas ornament! Then it was time to head back to the ship for our 5pm dinner. It was a challenge getting back for sure! Lol Dinner was just terrific! We both started with delicious seafood deviled eggs, and I also had a wonderful French onion soup. I had a perfectly cooked salmon and my wife had a tender and awesome gluten free veal cutlet! Dessert was mixed fruit crisp and I had a chocolate torte. Yummy to both and another great dinner! Not much happening after dinner. Wife soaked in the tub for an hour and I relaxed on the balcony writing yesterday's review and enjoying the scenery! What a wonderful day. Lots of activity and learning in the day, lots of relaxing and nature in the evening. -gregma

To be honest, after sharing small bites between the four of us, we wouldn't have wanted a second. We didn't finish what we had. -gregma

Thank you so much! I truly appreciate your huge compliment! -gregma

Oops!! You are of course totally correct, they have a vista on the navigator decjk! -gregma

Good morning all! Day two is over. Overall kind of a hit and miss for the day. It was a sea day, so I thought it would be relaxing. Not so much. There is something to do every minute of the day until 9pm. Whew. Breakfast started out in the pinnacle grill at 8am. Since my wife is gluten intolerant, she ordered an eggs Benedict with a slice of tomato instead of the English muffin. Normally when she orders this they just cut a slice of raw tomatoe. Here they lightly grilled the tomatoe giving it a much better flavor! She loved it. Myself, I ordered the "dungeness" eggs Benedict. Being from WA state, I of course thought it would be covered in crab. I was sooooo disappointed! Luckily I looked close and realized it was just what they called one with no meat and only asparagus... Lol! After breakfast, all of us headed for the shops and browsed until lunch. Next we lined up for lunch in the mdr at 11:30am. Boy did the line get long! By noon it was way past the elevators. Maybe 100 odd people? This was when there was a rather disappointing thing happened. We were the second group to be escorted to a table. The gal took off like a shot and was halfway across the mdr before she realized with my cane I couldn't sprint to keep up. We did manage to get close enough for me to request the same table we had for our second lunch the day before, the waiters were awesome! She turned around laughed at me, said "no", then turned back and rushed us to a table at the very back. I wasn't too pleased at being laughed at or being dismissed like that, but we did enjoy our lunch and left. While my wife was looking at the shops, I brought up the navigator app and sent a comment about the experience with the name and time. I really expected nothing, but at least I let them know. After lunch, my wife headed right to her painting class which she had sooooo much fun and friends of ours and I went to the crows nest to hang out until tea. So very relaxing, not many people, just enjoyed the water and watching three cruise ships passing us on the way back. We headed back to the mdr for what I heard was the best high tea of all the cruise lines! We had gone to many in Victoria, Canada and Seattle, so were really looking forward to it. We really sold our friends. When we got there about 30 minutes the line was already past the elevators and growing! We waited about 1/2 hour until we finally made it to the front and were seated at a table for 4. There was one tray of stuff, so we waited a bit and when they came with the tea, I asked if we were going to get our own small tower of stuff. After all there were only two small bites of each type. No, was the reply. Only one to a table. So a table for two got one, a table of four got one and I guess had to figure out who got what as if we split it, there wouldn't be a tiny mouthful of each type. To be honest it was one of the worst we had. Finger sandwiches had hardly any spread. Imagine one sandwich cut into 6 slices. That's the portion. And if you got near the edge of the bread which we did there was only a hint of what was supposed to be on it. What I think was supposed to be a scone was so dry, our friend tried dunking it in his tea and it was still too dry to eat. So, our allotment of one cup of tea done and about 3/4 of the food and we got up so others can have a shot at it. When we left, the line was twice as long! We decided never again for high tea. After that, I went to the room to take a nap while the others went for a wildlife viewing event. Not long after, they came back after being smoked out by a couple of smokers. They did get to see some Orcas spouting though!! Next was our 5pm MDR dinner with our great waiters! They are so nice and jovial! About halfway through, the dining room supervisor came over and asked to speak to me. I got up and we went to the side. He said they got my comment and he was personally going to have a talk with the staff involved and get it straightened out. I told him that I very much appreciated that and I hope it could be a teaching moment. He again apologized and I returned to my table. After dinner, another gentleman came up to me and introduced himself as the maitre de and wanted to apologize for what happened at lunch and assured me thats would never happen again. Wow, they really do take the comments seriously!! I was quite pleased! Next was the captains toast followed immediately by humanity. Captains toast was really funny!! The humanity show was very nice. Not over the top, but had two really awesome dancers and four pretty good dancers. It was well worth the time and I would recommend it completely! Right back to our cabin to lounge a bit on our balcony when started seeing spouts! There were two medium pods of Orcas alongside the ship, and at least one humpback about 300 yards away. Got a great view of the tail once. Of course the camera was still packed so no pics. The pods soon were left behind and we went back inside for a well deserved sleep! Overall there were several missteps and a couple of challenges, but nothing that would dampen what a great time we were having!!! Couple of side notes. Later in the evening we went to the neptune club to enquire about a whale watching tour for the following day, and the lady there said the maitre d was looking for me to apologize for lunch. I wondered if the entire ship staff knew! Also, despite what I've heard at least our cabin walls are not metal. There are metal ribs about every 6 foot, but that's it. Bathroom door and front door. That's it. So, all of our magnets are on the doors! Lol -gregma