Quantum & Ovation Plus - 30 Day Live (hopefully)

[bobmacliberty]

Good morning from the northwest corner of Graham Island, BC. We’re traveling south to Victoria on the ocean side of the island.  There is a noticeable difference as compared to our northbound trip to Ketchikan earlier in the week in the Hecate Strait on the east side of the island. That felt like cruising up a wide river. The waves today don’t appear to be large but they are long and rolling, cause the ship to roll a fair bit. Time for coffee. 
 

More to come…

[Jimbo]

On 9/19/2022 at 6:30 PM, bobmacliberty said:

We’re onboard!  Took about 25 minutes from taxi to ship. Could have been faster but the suite/key line took a lot longer than the regular line. 
 

Had lunch at Cafe Two70. Had the roast beef sandwich. As a Buffalo native, I’m required by law to say that it wasn’t very good. Same thing with any wings that I eat outside of Buffalo. Nothing compares. 
 

RipCord was free today so I gave it a try. Lots of fun but the video evidence shows that I need a lot more practice.

https://youtube.com/shorts/vQGGO1eiOPQ?feature=share

 

I think you did really well on the I-Fly !! When I did it years ago, the instructor really wasn't letting go and fly on their own...........Because it was a women that maybe weighed 95 lbs. I know she was afraid to let me go since I bet she was afraid she couldn't really help anyone if they got out of control.

On 9/21/2022 at 3:53 PM, TravelGirlinDallas said:

We LOVED that excursion, especially the eagles. Hope you enjoy!!

Amazing what throwing up fish in the air, the Eagles come in packs..........just not a few, I mean 100's.

On 9/21/2022 at 6:26 PM, bobmacliberty said:

The Bering Sea Crab Fisherman’s Tour was excellent.  I highly recommend it to anyone interested. We did see an Bald Eagle pick a hearing from the water. Beautiful. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Makes this tour good too is the interactions  you have with the crew.

10 hours ago, bobmacliberty said:

Icy Strait Point was just a so so port for us. We walked around the port area and decided to pay $50pp to ride the gondola to the top of the mountain. Nothing up there but a couple of view points, so it was a quick round trip. It started to rain just as we started down. 
 

The ferry passing the ship just before we disembarked. Must be very strange living in a place where you need a ferry or seaplane to get anywhere. 

 

Pics from the port area. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To really enjoy ISP you have to get away from the port on a tour, really there isn't much around the port.

[bobmacliberty]

59 minutes ago, Jimbo said:

To really enjoy ISP you have to get away from the port on a tour, really there isn't much around the port.

I think a whale watching tour would be the way to go at ISP. We’ve done whale watching tours in Hawaii, including one with a mother, her calve, and 2 males that were following her. The mother was teaching the baby how to breach and we had many breaches to photograph. I was in heaven. We therefore chose to skip a whale tour here. Ignore the background in these photos and pretend they’re in Alaska, not Hawaii. 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

[bobmacliberty]

So…Juneau. Overall, weather made this a pretty crappy port. Still, we were able to enjoy ourselves a bit. We decided to visit the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center and see what happens. We don’t like large group tours and especially getting on a bus with 50 other people. We figured that we’d taxi there and back, on our own timing, and probably for just a few bucks more than the shuttles. We got off the ship in a literal downpour with high winds. As a result, the port was a little chaotic. There was no obvious place to get a taxi and the 2 people that we talked to (who were selling shuttle/tour tix) said that taxis are few and far between. We ended up purchasing tickets for the “blue bus” shuttle to the visitor center. 
 

We walked to the bottom of the tram where we were to look for a man in a bright orange hat to board the bus. The bus leaves every 30 minutes at the top and bottom of the hour. We saw the bus driving away as we reached the boarding point. This is what we saw while waiting under a building overhang. 
 

 

 

Several taxis came and went while we waited but I think they were all going to the airport. When we finally got on the bus, all of the seats were soaked and all windows were fogged over. The driver gave what was probably nice tour commentary (“off to the right you’ll see a building with columns…”)  but we couldn’t see a thing. 
 

Coming back was worse. A large crowd gathered under a small tent area waiting for the return shuttle. It became clear that there were more people waiting than seats on the bus. As the bus appeared, people walked out of the tent area into the pouring rain and jockeyed for position where the bus would stop.  Everyone stood in heavy rain while we waited for the bus to empty. No line, and no one there to keep people organized. Everyone was eventually able to board with many people standing in the aisle for the 20-25 minute trip. I actually would have preferred standing as this was a painted school bus where Iiterally couldn’t get my knees behind the seat in front of me. Not at all adjusted to accommodate grown ups. 
 

I imagine that the Blue Bus is much better in normal weather. And I heard that all excursions were cancelled which probably added more crowds to the visitor center. Still, I don’t think we’ll be using the Blue Bus again. The competitor Glacier Express seemed to have more busses running (two came while

we waited for our return bus) and fewer people on each bus. 

[bobmacliberty]

The good news at Juneau is that the rain almost completely stopped while at the visitor center and the clouds/fog cleared enough for us to take the short hikes to both photo point and Nugget Falls. We also spent a few minutes reading about glaciers in the visitor center, which was educational. The Mendenhall Glacier has receded a LOT in the last several decades. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We got back to the port area around noon and decided to go to the Red Dog Saloon for lunch and a duck fart (Google it).  They had a fun piano player there who was playing while we ate. We did some shopping, dodging the rain between stores, and found a few nice things in a native owned art store. Everywhere you looked, there was water steaming down the surrounding mountains. 
 

Edited September 24, 2022 by bobmacliberty

[Kathscof]

13 hours ago, bobmacliberty said:

Icy Strait Point was just a so so port for us. We walked around the port area and decided to pay $50pp to ride the gondola to the top of the mountain. Nothing up there but a couple of view points, so it was a quick round trip. It started to rain just as we started down. 
 

The ferry passing the ship just before we disembarked. Must be very strange living in a place where you need a ferry or seaplane to get anywhere. 

 

Pics from the port area. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m sad you didn’t get into hoonah!  A while ago I read that the gondola ticket included the tribal dance presentation, did you get to that too?

[bobmacliberty]

32 minutes ago, Kathscof said:

I’m sad you didn’t get into hoonah!  A while ago I read that the gondola ticket included the tribal dance presentation, did you get to that too?

The gondola ticket DOES include the tribal dance presentation. We did not go. It was offered twice but we weren’t proactive enough to plan around those times. 

[bobmacliberty]

Wi-Fi on this ship sucks. 
 

That is all. 

[Kathscof]

10 minutes ago, bobmacliberty said:

The gondola ticket DOES include the tribal dance presentation. We did not go. It was offered twice but we weren’t proactive enough to plan around those times. 

 

It was pretty neat!  Maybe next time.....we had to book it back from hoonah to get to the second showing....good thing that it is still included (we just bought tickets on their own) 

 

wifi....our May trip was bad too,  it I don’t think it’s the ship, it’s the satellites and the location of the ship.....so I just assume Alaska sailing internet is awful no matter what....

 

 

[bobmacliberty]

1 hour ago, Kathscof said:

wifi....our May trip was bad too,  it I don’t think it’s the ship, it’s the satellites and the location of the ship.....so I just assume Alaska sailing internet is awful no matter what....

I expected a poor Internet connection. What I didn’t expect was constant disconnects from the ship’s Wi-Fi, meaning the Royal app won’t work and I need to constantly log back in. I don’t think that’s satellite related. 

[bobmacliberty]

The sea was angry that day my friends, like an old man trying to send back soup in a deli. 

 

 

 

[Jimbo]

@bobmacliberty When you were in Ketchikan, Did you see any Salmon in the Salmon Ladder on Creek Street? Or is it to late in the season to see that?

 

 

 

[bobmacliberty]

15 minutes ago, Jimbo said:

@bobmacliberty When you were in Ketchikan, Did you see any Salmon in the Salmon Ladder on Creek Street? Or is it to late in the season to see that?

 

 

 

We didn’t see any salmon in the ladder, but we did see several dead fish along the edge of the creek. Either they didn’t make it upstream, or they washed back downstream after they spawned. There were also a couple of seals in the creek catching fish. 

[Luckynana]

2 hours ago, bobmacliberty said:

I expected a poor Internet connection. What I didn’t expect was constant disconnects from the ship’s Wi-Fi, meaning the Royal app won’t work and I need to constantly log back in. I don’t think that’s satellite related. 

Your pictures are beautiful, Bob!  Thank you for sharing.  Sorry your internet is so awful...☹️

[bobmacliberty]

They just called an Alpha-Alpha-Alpha for a cabin down the hall from me. Hopefully nothing serious. 

[bobmacliberty]

1 hour ago, Luckynana said:

Your pictures are beautiful, Bob!  Thank you for sharing.  Sorry your internet is so awful...☹️

Thanks Maryann. I hope you have a great cruise next week!

[Sunny Pearl]

21 hours ago, bobmacliberty said:

Internet has been pretty bad and there’s little cell service for the last couple of days. I’ll post pics from ISP and Juneau when I can. Juneau started out miserably with rain and strong winds. Everyone was soaked. We made it to the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center and the rain miraculously let up for a couple of hours. By the time we caught the bus back to the port area, it was pouring rain again. We had lunch and a duck fart at the Red Dog Saloon. Pics to follow, eventually. 

Duck FARTS are the best!  Did they put the sawdust back on the floor in Red Dog?  Last pictures I saw in 2020 was gone😕

- Sunny, in Jacksonville, FL

[Sunny Pearl]

5 hours ago, bobmacliberty said:

Wi-Fi on this ship sucks. 
 

That is all. 

Yes it does. Hopefully Elon will get those Starlinks hooked up soon and it will get better😄

-Sunny, in Jacksonville, Fl

[Sunny Pearl]

Bob, maybe you could watch the OSU game because the weather is so bad.

GO BUCKS!!!!!!

 

- SUNNY

[jmh2006]

33 minutes ago, Sunny Pearl said:

Bob, maybe you could watch the OSU game because the weather is so bad.

GO BUCKS!!!!!!

 

- SUNNY

Yes, Go Bucks!,

 

[bobmacliberty]

54 minutes ago, Sunny Pearl said:

Duck FARTS are the best!  Did they put the sawdust back on the floor in Red Dog?  Last pictures I saw in 2020 was gone😕

- Sunny, in Jacksonville, FL

Yes. Sawdust all over the floor now. 

[bobmacliberty]

It’s become foggy outside. Captain blowing the fog horn every couple of minutes. 

[bobmacliberty]

For those either on next week’s cruise or on the Quantum crossing, a bartender told me that the engine problem has been fixed. I’m not sure how much stock to put into a bartender’s word, but we’ve been a little early to the last 2 ports  

[DaKahuna]

1 hour ago, bobmacliberty said:

For those either on next week’s cruise or on the Quantum crossing, a bartender told me that the engine problem has been fixed. I’m not sure how much stock to put into a bartender’s word, but we’ve been a little early to the last 2 ports  

 We were early in almost every port on Quantum with the engine still being repaired.

 

 Do you know if the one that was fixed was the one they took down for maintenance or the one that broke down? 

[bobmacliberty]

7 minutes ago, DaKahuna said:

 We were early in almost every port on Quantum with the engine still being repaired.

 

 Do you know if the one that was fixed was the one they took down for maintenance or the one that broke down? 

I didn’t ask for specifics. I’ll see if I can get better info tomorrow.