*Dead* Off to the last frontier (and back)! Oct 1-8 aboard the Encore in a 2-bedroom Haven suite.

[Grimix]

*Dead* because this is not a *Live* review. That ship sailed (literally) a week and a half ago!

 

Our story begins a little less than a year ago when we (Family of 5: 11 boy, 13 girl, 16 boy) had returned from our first NCL cruise (a 5-day Mexican Riviera in the Deluxe Owners Suite.) On this cruise we took my father-in-law it was his big-80 birthday cruise. We had such a great time that we talked about taking an alaskan cruise (this time without grandpa) as I was imagining using that glorious front balcony for Glacier Bay. I found a cruise late in the season (Oct 8th) that still had the DOS available. The price was about $5k more than the 2 bedroom suite, and I figured I could get my (twin) brother to come with us and pony up the 5k for his own bedroom in the Haven. A few months later my brother decided he didn't want to go so I reluctantly downgraded my cabin (slumming it!) to a 2-bedroom Haven cabin leaving a week earlier (Oct 1st) as it was about $1K cheaper than the Oct 8th sailing. Don't know why, but we changed, and were surprised that the TA was also able to give us pre-paid gratuities on that sailing, so another score! This was done 1 day before final payment (let's hear it for us procrastinators!) so I missed the early window for booking dinner reservations in the Haven. My wife was busy, so she didn't want to sit down to discuss dinner reservations (we upgraded to the FAS+ so had 4 specialty choices to make) and so I decided I'd leave them until we boarded and see how well the concierge can do it. (My wife is normally the type-A planner so I was a little nervous that things might not work out, and I'd be in the dog house for not planning enough... she lets me plan the cruises for some reason.)

 

So still 120 days to go, and every day you stare at the cruise count-down clock watching it slowly tick down. 21 days come and I eagerly log in at 9pm (12am Eastern!) to do my check in as early as I can! I'm greeted by Sorry, our web site is undergoing maintenance, please come back later! Doh! We go to sleep unchecked-in. I wake up at 1am because the dog was moving around. I decided to check if I could get check-in working. Sure enough the site was up so I headed down stairs to do the check-in. After about an hour (and watching the safety video 5 times) I had managed to get the us all checked in (9:30 arrival time, figured I could always go later if the wife wanted to, but heard they sometimes (rarely?) enforce arrival times.) and the site reported 100% check-in. I couldn't wait to get my eDocs just because it's the next step! You have to wait around 24 hours or so before them to become available.

 

More watching the slow count-down clock. Through FB roll calls I read of people getting their luggage tags. Others saying don't worry if you don't get them just print them from your eDocs. I kept checking, and my eDocs still weren't available 6 days after the site reported 100%. I tried a chat on the website asking if there was a problem. After they got my details they said I would need to discuss the issue with my TA. Yes I know my TA owns the booking, but it would have been nice if they could have told me if there was a problem... I sent an email off to my TA who said don't worry sometimes they take over a week to get the eDocs. She said they had my luggage tags and planned to send them with my eDocs when they became available. I worried about this for another day, when I decided I wouldn't accept this answer from my TA as I needed to know if something was wrong because they say showing up without your eDocs can delay your check-in. If you read my last review we didn't have a smooth check-in so I was hoping this one would be perfect. I sent another email to my TA saying I'd really appreciate if she could find out if there is an issue because I really don't want to keep worrying about it. She replied about an hour later that she had contacted NCL and they had 'expedited' my eDocs and they'd be sending everything out fed-ex the next day. I suspect there was some issue on NCL's side that they fixed when she called. I don't really think my eDocs were waiting in some queue to be processed a week after I checked in.

 

The next Monday we got a box full of TA branded goodies (some ducks for the kids, a couple of bags maybe for underwear, lanyards, and what I assumed were suit-case straps.) and our printed eDocs (e no more I guess...) along with our luggage tags! Things are getting real!

 

The last of this pre-cruise post is the saddest part of any trip; leaving behind the fur-babies. We had just lost our beautiful and sweet Akita girl a few months earlier in the spring, and I thought we would wait until after the cruise to fill our lives with another. (We already have 4 cats, but I'm more of a dog person. 🙂 ) The wife kept looking at the SPCA site, and there was one dog that was there for 6 months (of its 1.5 year life) and had been returned twice. Had all these warnings about no-other dogs, and teens only scaring everyone away. We went to see him, and he was a hyper-sweetie. We couldn't resist and took him home after the (mandatory) second visit (yet another thing daunting people from adopting him.) He's a handful, but I've been working with him and he's definitely 1000% better now, but still has a way to go! We couldn't trust him yet to be loose around the cats (although he hasn't shown aggression to them) so I had decided to drive him the 2 hr drive to San Jose and drop him off with my brother the Thursday before the Saturday we left for the cruise. (I had driven down the week earlier so he could see where he was staying spending the night, and hopefully not think he was being abandoned again...) So sad leaving him after only a little over a month, but I just imagine how happy he'll be to see us when we return!

For the curious 50% Australian cattle dog, 20% the 'dreaded' Staffordshire Terrier (also probably a detractor from adoption.) I did the DNA test. They told us he was a German Shepherd mix, the DNA says nuh-uh to that. Not even listed.

Edited October 12, 2023 by Grimix

[vacation44]

I remember reading your review last year and am looking forward to reading about this trip.

[justhappy]

15 minutes ago, Grimix said:

*Dead* because this is not a *Live* review. That ship sailed (literally) a week and a half ago!

 

Our story begins a little less than a year ago when we (Family of 5: 11 boy, 13 girl, 16 boy) had returned from our first NCL cruise (a 5-day Mexican Riviera in the Deluxe Owners Suite.) On this cruise we took my father-in-law it was his big-80 birthday cruise. We had such a great time that we talked about taking an alaskan cruise (this time without grandpa) as I was imagining using that glorious front balcony for Glacier Bay. I found a cruise late in the season (Oct 8th) that still had the DOS available. The price was about $5k more than the 2 bedroom suite, and I figured I could get my (twin) brother to come with us and pony up the 5k for his own bedroom in the Haven. A few months later my brother decided he didn't want to go so I reluctantly downgraded my cabin (slumming it!) to a 2-bedroom Haven cabin leaving a week earlier (Oct 1st) as it was about $1K cheaper than the Oct 8th sailing. Don't know why, but we changed, and were surprised that the TA was also able to give us pre-paid gratuities on that sailing, so another score! This was done 1 day before final payment (let's hear it for us procrastinators!) so I missed the early window for booking dinner reservations in the Haven. My wife was busy, so she didn't want to sit down to discuss dinner reservations (we upgraded to the FAS+ so had 4 specialty choices to make) and so I decided I'd leave them until we boarded and see how well the concierge can do it. (My wife is normally the type-A planner so I was a little nervous that things might not work out, and I'd be in the dog house for not planning enough... she lets me plan the cruises for some reason.)

 

So still 120 days to go, and every day you stare at the cruise count-down clock watching it slowly tick down. 21 days come and I eagerly log in at 9pm (12am Eastern!) to do my check in as early as I can! I'm greeted by Sorry, our web site is undergoing maintenance, please come back later! Doh! We go to sleep unchecked-in. I wake up at 1am because the dog was moving around. I decided to check if I could get check-in working. Sure enough the site was up so I headed down stairs to do the check-in. After about an hour (and watching the safety video 5 times) I had managed to get the us all checked in (9:30 arrival time, figured I could always go later if the wife wanted to, but heard they sometimes (rarely?) enforce arrival times.) and the site reported 100% check-in. I couldn't wait to get my eDocs just because it's the next step! You have to wait around 24 hours or so before them to become available.

 

More watching the slow count-down clock. Through FB roll calls I read of people getting their luggage tags. Others saying don't worry if you don't get them just print them from your eDocs. I kept checking, and my eDocs still weren't available 6 days after the site reported 100%. I tried a chat on the website asking if there was a problem. After they got my details they said I would need to discuss the issue with my TA. Yes I know my TA owns the booking, but it would have been nice if they could have told me if there was a problem... I sent an email off to my TA who said don't worry sometimes they take over a week to get the eDocs. She said they had my luggage tags and planned to send them with my eDocs when they became available. I worried about this for another day, when I decided I wouldn't accept this answer from my TA as I needed to know if something was wrong because they say showing up without your eDocs can delay your check-in. If you read my last review we didn't have a smooth check-in so I was hoping this one would be perfect. I sent another email to my TA saying I'd really appreciate if she could find out if there is an issue because I really don't want to keep worrying about it. She replied about an hour later that she had contacted NCL and they had 'expedited' my eDocs and they'd be sending everything out fed-ex the next day. I suspect there was some issue on NCL's side that they fixed when she called. I don't really think my eDocs were waiting in some queue to be processed a week after I checked in.

 

The next Monday we got a box full of TA branded goodies (some ducks for the kids, a couple of bags maybe for underwear, lanyards, and what I assumed were suit-case straps.) and our printed eDocs (e no more I guess...) along with our luggage tags! Things are getting real!

 

The last of this pre-cruise post is the saddest part of any trip; leaving behind the fur-babies. We had just lost our beautiful and sweet Akita girl a few months earlier in the spring, and I thought we would wait until after the cruise to fill our lives with another. (We already have 4 cats, but I'm more of a dog person. 🙂 ) The wife kept looking at the SPCA site, and there was one dog that was there for 6 months (of its 1.5 year life) and had been returned twice. Had all these warnings about no-other dogs, and teens only scaring everyone away. We went to see him, and he was a hyper-sweetie. We couldn't resist and took him home after the (mandatory) second visit (yet another thing daunting people from adopting him.) He's a handful, but I've been working with him and he's definitely 1000% better now, but still has a way to go! We couldn't trust him yet to be loose around the cats (although he hasn't shown aggression to them) so I had decided to drive him the 2 hr drive to San Jose and drop him off with my brother the Thursday before the Saturday we left for the cruise. (I had driven down the week earlier so he could see where he was staying spending the night, and hopefully not think he was being abandoned again...) So sad leaving him after only a little over a month, but I just imagine how happy he'll be to see us when we return!

For the curious 50% Australian cattle dog, 20% the 'dreaded' Staffordshire Terrier (also probably a detractor from adoption.) I did the DNA test. They told us he was a German Shepherd mix, the DNA says nuh-uh to that. Not even listed.

I’m so sorry for the loss of your fur baby, but glad you offered a home to another dog that needed that love you had to give.

I am looking forward to your 💀 trip review😉

[Grimix]

Same day turn around from my brother's and I have one more day of work before we head to the airport on Saturday to catch a 1pm flight direct from Sacramento to Seattle! I'm sure those of you who still do it, but that last day of work just seems to drag, and drag, and drag! Finally I got to set my out-of-office email and I was officially on vacation! If you remember my wife is the real planner, so she had already set aside baskets of folded laundry she planned to take, all we needed to do was put it in the suitcase. Weather forecasts said mostly 50's and rainy, but Glacier Bay had snow forecast. If you remember from last year my wife has a packing problem. Unlike many here she 'needs' choices and is very concerned about the layering and weather requirements for Alaska. My wife keeps asking me how many bags we're each allowed on the airline, and I know I'm in trouble... I said maybe we can get it all in 3 large suitcases. She gave me a look, and I went away to pack away my electronics go-bag. It has every type of cable known to man, several batteries for charging on the go, a ton of AC adapters, and usually a couple of Apple TVs (which I decided to leave out for this trip). 

 

When I go back upstairs to our room my wife has our 2 large suitcases laid out on the bed, a medium suitcase, a carryon, a garment bag, a duffle bag (for checking overnight bags and stuff that don't play well with the TSA) and 3 carryons for the kids. *OUCH* Then the remarkable happens. She's been putting the laundry baskets of clothes in the suitcases, when she realizes she still has a laundry basket left and no room in ALL of these suitcases. She decides to not pack a whole laundry basket of stuff! Amazing! Finally nearing midnight everything is zipped up and I load the car so I don't have to worry about doing that tomorrow. (This photo was taken the next day!)

 

 

After a Christmas-eve-like sleep we now have to wait as the hours slowly tick by waiting for 11am our planned departure to the airport. We load the kids up after checking everything is in the car and head out for the 30 minute ride to the airport. 

 

We have about an hour to our flight (SMF is an easy airport so plenty of time!) Our normal routine is I drop the family off at departures and then park the car and head back. I help bring the house of luggage to the check-in desk. I ask to show my id as I need to park the car and get back. The checkin attendant says oh, when's your flight? I tell her the time, and she says as long as I'm back by 12:30 I should be fine (or what I heard.) Fine, that's 30 minutes in the future. She also says the daily lot (where I normally park) is full and only economy is available. I like the daily lot because for a like $2 a day I don't have to take a shuttle, I can just walk back to the terminal. The economy lot requires a shuttle. Even the economy lot is extremely full (not sure why everyone is traveling this weekend...) and finally find a space, wait for the shuttle, and finally board it. While on the shuttle my wife says she's waiting in the lounge having a drink before the flight. By the time the shuttle gets back to the terminal it's already 12:30 and I get a text from Alaska Air that boading has started. I text my wife that boarding has started. I have clear & TSA Pre-check (via credit  card) so it didn't take long to get through security, but I was worried about missing the flight since the attendant had said (what I thought was 12:30) We had upgraded this flight to the premium economy for the 4" and free drinks (was $14, that 4" is amazing...) When I get to the gate they're already board the next to last boarding group. When I get on I see my family isn't there. I quickly text my wife that she needs to get the kids and board. She apparently thought I was going to stop by the lounge on the way to the plane, and I was thinking I told her they were boarding and that she would start boarding. Simple misunderstanding but it put me in the dog-house for the flight out. Nothing a drink or two couldn't fix! It being a short flight we only had time for one... 

 

The "Happy" family ready for a week of adventure!

 

Make sure to look out the windows on the flight into Seattle! Beautiful! Mt Rainier I believe.

Edited October 12, 2023 by Grimix

[Magsthecapp]

So excited to read this, we leave on Sunday! Just what I need to get through one more day of work!

[cruiseny4life]

2 hours ago, Grimix said:

 

I'm so ready for your review! I, too, remember yours from last year. It was great! Love your storytelling and sense of optimism. Plus, your dog is the cutest! Since you've already cruise I won't wish you a great cruise, but I do hope it was fantastic! Can't wait to hear all about it. 

[laudergayle]

Oh my goodness, I totally forgot what packing looked like for a family of 5.  And, you had me a little worried when they were still in the lounge.  I once made my DH and I miss the plane out to a very important and expensive event.  I’m still hearing about it.  Wishing you a safe and adventurous cruise.  

[Grimix]

3 hours ago, vacation44 said:

I remember reading your review last year and am looking forward to reading about this trip.

Never lives up to the real thing, but I can look back at it in a couple years and remember something about the trip!

[LauraAnneC]

I’m already enjoying your review. Thank you for posting. Looking forward to the rest of it!

[Grimix]

3 hours ago, justhappy said:

I’m so sorry for the loss of your fur baby, but glad you offered a home to another dog that needed that love you had to give.

 

She had a good 12 year run. Wish it could have been more! This has been my background images for a longtime...

[Grimix]

1 hour ago, Magsthecapp said:

So excited to read this, we leave on Sunday! Just what I need to get through one more day of work!

You'll have a great time! I'm glad I can help keep you occupied during the slow time before vacation!

[Grimix]

2 hours ago, cruiseny4life said:

I'm so ready for your review! I, too, remember yours from last year. It was great! Love your storytelling and sense of optimism. Plus, your dog is the cutest! Since you've already cruise I won't wish you a great cruise, but I do hope it was fantastic! Can't wait to hear all about it. 

Unfortunately it is in the past. I'm on my original groups roll call FB group so now I get to see all the things I got to see the week before, and be reminded I'm no longer on the boat... At least you still have a TA to look forward to! I've got nothing else scheduled yet...

[Grimix]

1 hour ago, laudergayle said:

Oh my goodness, I totally forgot what packing looked like for a family of 5.  And, you had me a little worried when they were still in the lounge.

Yes, it's quite the haul! Last year with grandpa we had his suitcase, walker and wheel chair as well... I still fit everything but I think I used are top of the roof cargo box as well!

[Grimix]

1 hour ago, LauraAnneC said:

I’m already enjoying your review. Thank you for posting. Looking forward to the rest of it!

Thanks! I can some times be slow to posting as I do have the pesky work thing... and I just lost a whole pre-day cruise update just before I ready to post so now I'm a little depressed about having to redo it. 🙂

[LauraAnneC]

Now I’m a little depressed because I have to wait to read it! 😟🤷‍♀️

[cruiseny4life]

14 hours ago, Grimix said:

Unfortunately it is in the past. I'm on my original groups roll call FB group so now I get to see all the things I got to see the week before, and be reminded I'm no longer on the boat... At least you still have a TA to look forward to! I've got nothing else scheduled yet...

I'm definitely a wee bit worried about after the Transatlantic. We have nothing planned. I have to confirm with my boss - she might be allowing me to go negative (like 2 weeks negative) in my vacation time, instead of not paying me for the Transatlantic time. Somehow this year I was able to finagle five weeks of vacation when I'm only allowed two. I'm worried what 2024 is going to look like - kind of hoping she's just going to make me go unpaid so my vacation time accrues. I need a vacation! Of some kind in the next six months....so yep, I'll be in your boat (not sure the pun's intended) on December 1st. 

[Grimix]

We safely arrived in Seattle! Contrarily enough, an absolutely glorious sunny day in the mid 70's! My wife told me every time she comes to Seattle it's beautiful and sunny. I told her she should talk to the chamber of commerce and see if they would pay her to move here. After grabbing all 1,243,981 bags off the conveyor we went to the curb to request our Uber to the hotel. Because of the large amount of bags I decided to splurge on the Uber Black ($90) as I didn't want to have to worry about fitting all of them and the five of us into an Uber XL ($60) with the potential of having to get a second Uber XL if everything didn't fit. It was a great choice! 5 minutes after clicking confirm (and one minute after I flagged down the wrong black Uber, my bad! Check the license plate!) our giant Suburban stopped at the curb. The great driver loaded all our luggage into the back (and well deserved his generous tip!) and took us to the hotel pointing out sites of interest along the way. My wife commented once again how beautiful and sunny it was and that it always was that way when she came to Seattle. The driver asked her to move here. (Great minds!)

 

We arrived at our destination the Marriott Waterfront I had booked a few months ago. We're Marriott people so when we had originally planned on going with my brother I had booked one of the 1 bedroom suites (was probably 'cheap' at the time at only $900 or so... but we would have had to get two rooms otherwise...) After he canceled we decided to just do it economically. I have the Bonvoy Amex card which has a 'free' 85k point night a year. As luck would have it I had one from last year that expired Oct 1st. Since we arrived Sept 30th I made it just in time! (Procrastinators unite!) Bonus, I received another 85k free night the next day! I think the room was around $400, but exactly 85k points. We chose this hotel because it's right across the street from the pier. When we checked in the clerk offered us an upgrade to a water balcony view if we were willing to give up our (standing) high floor request. Duh. Yes please! (I'm platinum with Marriot (credit card), the wife is Titanium, but we were only platinum this trip since I used my night...)

 

We decide to drop off our luggage (I had loaded it onto a luggage cart, when a bellhop saw me he offered to wheel it to our room. I didn't want to deny him his chance at a tip so I let him, although I don't mind doing it, and would have done it myself to save a little cash for the on-board service!) at the room, and there she was! Our beautiful ship!

 

... from last year's cruise, the Norwegian Bliss! She was due to sail out this afternoon to make room for our ride which would be arriving in the wee hours of the morning to let all the sad sailors off to their dreary existence...

Edited October 13, 2023 by Grimix

[Grimix]

Ooo! Forgot a story that's a hark-back to last years trip! We need to go back to airport day for this one... If you remember (if you don't I'll tell you) my son has a favorite stuffy in the form of a loaf of French bread he affectionately and originally (?) calls Baguette. (My family LOVES bread of all types, and it wasn't uncommon to see them have a plate full of it and nothing healthy...) Last year as we were going up the gangway to board the boat he starts wailing. We find out he just realized he had left Baguette at the hotel lobby where he had put it down while we awaited our Uber. A whole scene happened messing up our arrival to the Haven and our room, and involved the manager of the hotel who graciously offered to drive the stuffy to the pier (and offered again after my wife told him the wrong pier in LA and he realized he was at the wrong one and still drove it back to us) and the butler who walked my wife and son back off the ship to complete the reunion. I was all proud of myself this time since we were going to be staying across the street so if he forgot his baguette we could simply cross the street and retrieve it. We mentioned to many times, however, that he needs to be careful with his stuff, and not leave them around. So of course as we almost get to the airport the wailing begins... This time Baguette didn't even make it out of the house... Baguette had to wait to see the pictures this time because I'm not missing my flight out for a stuffy!

 

We headed to the M-Lounge (free for platinum and above elites I believe) as they were just putting out the evening snacks. We sampled the fare, had some of the complimentary (unfortunately non-alcoholic, but those would come soon!) drinks and headed to our first destination: The Space Needle. I've done this MANY years ago, but none of the kids, nor my wife have. I'll back up a bit.. When planning this trip my daughter actually looked up Seattle and was VERY emphatic that she wanted to go to the MPOP (Museum of Pop Culture I believe) That was essentially the only thing she wanted to do. My wife wanted us to do the iconic Space Needle. (I was happy just going to dinner and getting on the boat in the morning, but you should know many families are not democratic, and ours definitely falls into that category!) I told my wife the space needle is pretty expensive for what it is so she did some research. She found the City Pass which lets you do several attractions with a discount. We decided to go that route a chose the Space Needle, for pre-embarkation day, the Aquarium for embarkation day, and the MPOP for post debarkation day. We'll now go back to the present and continue with our story...

 

We walk the (mostly) up-hill mile to the space needle. My daughter complained the whole way about having to exercise. She is vehemently opposed to it. As we turn to head up the hill we see our old ship sailing away. Bon Voyage Bliss!

 

 

We were about 45 minutes before our reserved time, but they let us get in line anyways. We decided to enjoy the lines while we could since we were going to be staying in the Haven (there are still plenty of lines, but they tend to be shorter. 🙂 ) My wife has a signficant fear of heights, and my youngest has inherited it... He did not want to go up in the elevator to the top of this monstrosity! He kept trying to get out of it, but we said if your mom is doing it you're doing it! 

 

Winding our way through the line that looks down on the gift shop we finally get to the elevator that zooms us up to the top. We take in the elevator to the top where the wife enjoy an adult beverage hundreds of feet in the air, and we all take in the gorgeous Seattle view.

 

Backlit pictures aren't the best, but you can see we timed this trip at the perfect time for sunset views!

 

As you can see my son overcame his fears and actually loved the whole experience! 

 

We head down back to our hotel but decide to stop for something to eat before we turn in for the night. My wife is a vegetarian (the only one in our family, and outside bread I'm convinced my daughter is a carnivore...) so we both love Italian (I am 1/4 Italian, so I know she loves at least 1/4 of me...) We see a little cafe called Limoncello. We decided to give it a go. I believe my wife had raviolis, but I had their gnocchi dish, and hate to say their gnocchi is better than mine... My wife compares restaurant gnocchi (how many times can I type that word?) to mine, and although I almost always win, this time I did lose. (Although the sauce I use might have evened the score. It's a Mario Batali recipe. Might not be a good person, but he makes a good sauce!) Highly recommend this restaurant!

 

 

We make it back to the hotel and dock where we will be tomorrow. It looks so lonely with it's boat buddy!

 

 

Time to hit the sack and wake up to begin the real adventure tomorrow!

[Grimix]

Wahoo! Wahoo! Cruise day is here! The best part of the Marriott Waterfront is waking up to your cruise ship beckoning you to board! I'm sure you've seen many of these pictures, this looks almost identical to the Bliss'! You can play spot the differences!

 

 

The wife and I go down to enjoy our free breakfast for giving Marriott tons of money. The kids want to stay in the room and enjoy their parent-free electronic time. The buffet was pretty good; custom made omelette was a up-charge that my wife availed herself of.

 

Are plan was to hit the Aquarium (bout a block to the left of the Encore in this picture) when it opened at 9am, and then board. I decided we should wheel our luggage across the street on our way and drop them off with the porters before walking the aquarium.

 

I don't think that even shows all the bags!

 

I see a sign that says baggage drop off with an arrow pointing right so we all start walking that way. Halfway through the pedestrian traffic which seems to be going the other way a porter will a full cart says we're going the wrong way... Apparently the sign, like the cake, is a lie. Or maybe because we were dropping it off so early they were taking bags on the left side of the terminal. We wheel our bags there (already Encored tagged!) and leave them in a line with a bunch of porters who are just grabbing bags from the line and putting them on a conveyor belt. Saved me having to pay a porter to load my bags since we just put them in line and walked away like everyone else.

 

We spend an hour in the aquarium. It's not too large, but the kids love a good aquarium, and this one is fun. They have some sea otters, seals, a giant octopus (My wife the animal lover isn't a fan of zoos, but she talked with one of the staff near the Octopus exhibit and they said they only keep an octopus about 8 months after which they release it back and catch a new one. So unless you are a frequent visitor you'll see new and different octopi (looking for an excuse to use the plural!) each time!

 

 

I liked the ring of Jelly fish...

 

 

And here endeth the pre-cruise updates as after this we walked over to the terminal to board the ship! (I'll call it boat and or ship. I know it's supposed to be ship, but boat makes it sound more fun!)

Edited October 13, 2023 by Grimix

[Grimix]

We showed up around 10:30 I believe, and there was only a short line. Both doors were open, and we saw a Haven inside the door on the right, but I thought I had read we needed to stay in the line until we got through the doors. After about 5 minutes we were through the door and headed to the right. They whisked us right away to the Haven lounge to check in (I think we could/should have walked through the right door, but there wasn't much of a delay.) Boarding had just started so people were already getting on the ship. I presented the documents, and they had to snap pictures of the kids (because the online check in did not like any of the pictures I took of them.) We then followed the other Haven guests up the gang way and onto the service elevator that would take us to the Haven. We were escorted to the Horizon lounge (I gazed longingly at the bar as we passed it wondering if I'd have enough time to get our embarkation drink before the concierge gave us the Haven spiel. Our concierge was Lyster, and he did make himself visible throughout the cruise. Stopping by tables in the restaurant and such. He told us the standard things about the Haven and did emphasize that the common areas of the Haven were for Haven guests only, and we could bring guests to our cabins, but not to the facilities. 

 

Our cabin was already ready so we decided to head there and check it out! We met our Steward Emmanuel who was great. Never saw him in our cabin, but we always saw the results. I saw him many times in the hallway and he always greeted us by name! The kids wanted to hang out in the room while mom & dad went to get our embarkation cocktail! If you remember I had punted on making reservations for dinner so thought it best to turn the corner and talk with the concierge before everyone else boarded and managed to get through the lines. We booked Los Lobos for the first sea day at 5:30 so we could make the early showing of Choir of Man (which we also booked), Wednesday (Glacier Bay) we booked Cagney's 5:30, Thursday Ketchikan the wife and I booked Onda at 8, and finally on Friday (Victoria) we booked Q at 5:30. About an hour later my App was updated with all the new reservations. Everything came in within 30 minutes of what we asked. So if you're in the Haven don't sweat your dinner reservations!

 

The sleeping arrangements: Mom & I in the master (we paid!), youngest son in the pullman of second room, eldest son on the bottom bunk of the second room, and daughter slept on the couch made into a bed magically each night and turned back into a couch magically after breakfast!

 

 

For those interested in the second bedroom this is what it looked like (sorry, don't have one without it made up this way!) Through that door is the second bathroom (for the kids.) This room was left this way. The steward only put the couch in the living room back and forth. (My kids wouldn't have wanted this room made up anyways!) The ladder does kind of suck for getting into the bathroom as the door bangs on it. Because of the way the dresser is located in the room (not shown) you can't put the ladder on the other side.

 

 

 

Cheers! I'm drinking a greyhound, and think the wife did a Prosecco mimosa...

 

 

We hung out at the Haven bar talked with the bartenders and other Haven guests and decided it was time to eat lunch.As Haven guests the American Diner was complimentary on sail-away day. We did not take advantage of this on our last sailing and decided it would be nice to try it. I warned the wife about the negative reviews. The kids loved it, especially the mozzarella sticks (I know that will make cruiseny4life happy...) this was probably the most diverse meal my sons would have all week. After this they were strictly kids menu (by choice) with buttered pasta for the youngest, and chicken fingers for the eldest. I decided I had to try the milk shake after hearing such rave reviews. The server made sure to let me know it wasn't included (they probably get tired of people complaining so let them know first!) It was a milk shake... I think I had French dip, and the wife had some salad and some sides. It was ok. Wasn't blown away, but I think putting it in the Denny's category isn't far off... Not something I'd waste a specialty dinner on, but...

 

 

Picture says I did have it! And I think we switched to vodka sodas for lunch.

 

 

We were in cabin 18110 port side. Had a great view of Rainier from our balcony while in port! Look at all that rare Seattle sun! (The weather for the trip was pretty great! You never know what you're going to get going to Alaska this late in the season, but we won the lottery, just not the 1.8billion dollar one...)

 

 

 Nothing to do now but sail away!

 

The non-large balcony cabins do not have a large balcony. You can look down and see the large ones that are also longer because they go around the bathroom. In the small balcony cabins the balcony stops where the bathroom begins. When I had booked this cabin they wanted 3k more for the large balcony. I love a big balcony, but not $3k more big balcony unless it was attached to a large cabin (read DOS.) About a month before sail away the small balconies were sold out and the large balcony (they had one or two left) had dropped to $50 less than I paid. You know how that goes... I could have paid to upgrade to the better cabin, but since it was less I couldn't pay to get the better cabin so was out of luck. I would have gladly paid them $50 to move me to the cabin they were selling for $50 less, but that's not the way things work... Either way we didn't spend too much time on the balcony do it worked out great for us! (My son does enjoy drinking out of wine glasses because he thinks he's being fancy...)

 

My wife dancing on our balcony while the sun begins to set!

 

That night we went to the Haven restaurant and enjoyed the great service! I did not enjoy my steak as much. Was cooked medium/medium-well and wasn't a great cut of meat, but whatever I'm on vacation and we has a bar to get to! The kids settles into our room for an hour or two of electronics while we went back to enjoy the Haven bar. I swear that bar is like Cheers. The minute you show your face they're calling you by name (on the second meeting!) So friendly, and great to talk to! (Later I would sometimes sneak through the bar because I was in a hurry, and didn't want to not be friendly with them...) We enjoyed several cocktails and enjoyed talking to several couples/individuals we would later see around the ship and in the bar. The bar is one of my favorite parts of the Haven. Yes they serve drinks (and they are the best on the ship), but they are so friendly there, and you meet so many people there who become 'regulars.' because it's such a small community. Most of the people we talked to were great as well. Just having fun! You could probably do the same at other bars on the ship if you hang out there enough, but this bar was about 30-40 feet from my cabin. You also see them in the dining room just upstairs. If you like the people you meet that's great; if you don't it might not be so great. There were some (most) we loved, and a couple that were on the other side of the spectrum. 🙂

 

We didn't close down the bar this night since we were so tired from the days activity, but we got close. We headed back to our cabin to get some sleep for our first day at sea! It may have been the drinks (spoiler it wasn't!) but the ship had started rocking and rolling by the time we got into bed. I'd heard it can get choppy heading up north, and sure enough it was. I barely felt the ship movement on our Cabo trip, but I definitely felt it here! Luckily I don't get seasick! I'll end this day here before I accidentally lose the whole post!

[Grimix]

Sea day! Woke up to an overcast ocean, not too rough, but things were really moving last night! Things are a little smoother today. We headed off to the Haven restaurant for our first sit down breakfast. One downside of having kids with you is that the Haven restaurant only has 2-tops next to the windows with the beautiful view! As a family of 5 we were a row away, and had to always be looking over people. Small hardships I know! I ordered the steak and eggs, and the steak wasn't better than last night. Probably should have pre-ordered the filet as has been suggested here. The eggs were great, and I enjoy the French press coffee and orange juice. The kids go the the buffet on the side of the restaurant and come back with a plate of bread and pastries. We notice my daughter hasn't touched her bread. This sets off alarm bells as carbohydrates rarely last more than a few seconds on her plate... My wife asks her how she feels, and she if feeling sick. Apparently my daughter did not get my seasick-immunity! Luckily the wife has a supply of zofran she takes with her. The daughter heads back to the cabin, breadless to take her medicine with the wife. She also takes some as she says she was feeling a little queasy. No one had this issue on our last cruise that's how you know things were moving a bit!

 

After the rest of us finish breakfast I go to the concierge to see if they have any seasickness pills available. (My wife brought some, but figured she'd make them last, and maybe they have a different med) I tell them it's for my daughter (my mistake) and she says they can only give them for 17 year olds and older. I probably should have not told them who they were for, and just taken them back to the room. My wife is a physician so she's aware of the risks. Either way I go back empty handed (but return later in the day getting some for my wife.) The zofran must be working since the daughter had finished her plate of bread! We decide to head off to explore the ship starting on the pool deck. After we walk around we head to the galaxy pavilion to see what's up. This was new to us since the Bliss didn't have one! We looked around and asked the attendants there if we need a reservation. They said no, you can just come any time and get an hour of play or pay per game. (They do have an unlimited pass, but I wouldn't recommend it as an hour was more than enough for all of us.) They said you do need reservations for the escape room. My kids love those so of course we wanted to get a reservation. A day late and most of the slots were already booked. We managed to snag a 5pm slot on Friday before Victoria. Let that be a lesson! Make your reservations for the escape room if you're interested on embarkation day! We left the pavilion planning to come back and play an hour later since we were still in explore mode.

 

We walked down through 6/7/8 and had seen a bunch of the ship, but what the kids really wanted to see was the soft-serve machine. We headed back up to the buffet, and fought our way through the masses to get to a machine (which luckily unless like other stations rarely had lines) and make our cones. The insanity of the buffet is one reason we do the Haven. Your tolerance might differ, but my wife loves animals more than people (which is why she chose human medicine and not veterinary; she can handle losing humans but the cute animals...) Speaking of which a group of animal shots came from our pet sitter. He's expensive, but he always sends pictures of the animals, and my wife feels good leaving them with him.

 

The first two are a 'bonded' pair siblings that my wife brought home when I told her she could have one more cat... And she says I don't listen to her!

 

After exploring we headed back to the cabin to relax, but not without visiting our favorite neighborhood bar for a drink. By this time they were asking us if we wanted a can of sprite-zero or Diet Coke as we got them and brought them back to our cabin to horde in our mini-fridge. I think our butler had brought us BLT's today. My daughter is bacon cannibal (see what I did there? Bacon eating pig?) it's her favorite food group. Unfortunately she is scared of the vegetables (The L & T) they put on them. Once removed she ate probably a whole sandwich by herself. It was basically our lunch (sans wife) since we were still full from the large breakfast we had earlier (it was a theme of the cruise...)

 

I have to go walk the dog so I'll finish the rest of our first full day later. Up next is Los Lobos, captain's party, Choir Of Man, and maybe more bar!

[laudergayle]

39 minutes ago, Grimix said:

Luckily the wife has a supply of zofran she takes with her

You know, I had never heard of or used Zofran.  Last January an ER doc prescribed it to me for a gastro issue.  I never did take it…wasn’t needed.  Fast forward several months, and by happenstance I threw it into our cruise med bag.  OMG what a godsend when hubby and I got norovirus on that cruise.  Now…we also don’t travel without.

 

thanks for your stories…you have such an inviting way of writing.  

[Grimix]

15 minutes ago, laudergayle said:

You know, I had never heard of or used Zofran.  Last January an ER doc prescribed it to me for a gastro issue.  I never did take it…wasn’t needed.  Fast forward several months, and by happenstance I threw it into our cruise med bag.  OMG what a godsend when hubby and I got norovirus on that cruise.  Now…we also don’t travel without.

 

thanks for your stories…you have such an inviting way of writing.  

My wife was ED (They prefer that because they are more than a room, I prefer ER because ED... well it has another meaning...) She swears by it! The sublingual dissolving ones are best because you can't throw them back up. We had some pills our last dog was prescribed (same medicine folks!) which we gave to our daughter when she caught a stomach flu earlier this year. She took it and then almost immediately regurgitated it. My wife and I both go NO! Don't waste them! Finally managed together the next one to stay down! They are gold!

[laudergayle]

8 minutes ago, Grimix said:

My wife was ED (They prefer that because they are more than a room, I prefer ER because ED... well it has another meaning...)

🤣 thanks for the chuckle.

[Grimix]

So we're back in the cabin getting ready for our Los Lobos dinner. I will note that when I checked my app for the reservation time it said 5:15. I found this strange as I thought 5:30 was the earliest reservation. No problem. We decided we're not going to be our traditional late selves (usually 10-15 minutes late for everything!) and get ourselves to the back of the ship where Los Lobos is located. We come from California so are accustomed to good Mexican (missed it during our exiled period in upstate New York while the wife did her residency and before we moved back. Their Mexican was horrible out of the can type stuff for the most part!)

 

At 5:!5 on the dot I go up the hostess and say we have reservations for 5:15. She says they don't open until 5:30, I say our app says 5:!5, but we can wait. I'm guessing the concierge slipped us in there to give us a spot which is why we had that weird time! There is a party of 20 we heard coming from some of the waiters so we want to get in before they do... I'm sure they're fun, but when parties of 20 drop into a restaurant chaos soon appears! We go to the A-List bar just outside Los Lobos and have a vodka soda (yay drink packages!) and let the hostess know we're there when they're ready. She comes and gets us at 5:30 and we sit down at a nice table in the back with a view out the aft windows. The wife starts with a skinny Margaritta (which she says is NOWHERE near as good as good as the ones made in the Haven. She actually doesn't finish it because she says although it says fresh lime juice it didn't taste like it...) I asked to see a wine list to make use of my premium + beverage package. The waiter tells us the premium + wines are all on the left. We order our food (I did the carne asada which was good, but I was still full from breakfast and BLT sandwiches. We don't normally eat this earlier! I get a bottle of the French Pinot Noir (#403) and it was really good! (Remember this as it will come back to bite me at Cagney's!) 

 

The captain's cocktail party was at 7:00pm in the horizon lounge, and my wife like to get a picture with the senior officers. We got out of dinner just after 7pm and hurried over there as we had Choir of Man reservations at 7:30pm! Tight windows! I felt a little bad snapping a picture and running, but that's better than eating and dashing right?

 

 

We hurry down a couple floors to the Theater on deck 7. We had reservations and sat in the Haven seats. Not the best seats (Off to stage right, mid), but they're easy to get, and more than good enough. My daughter is loving theater shows lately, and Six on the Bliss last year was one of her favorites. Strangely enough she was not too excited about this show, I suspect because she said 'all this is just a bunch of guys singing in a bar?' I told her Six was just a bunch of women whining about their husband, and they didn't even have a bar to make it fun. She didn't see the irony in that I guess. I myself was REALLY looking forward to it since I had heard almost all glowing praise of the show on here. (A couple of people didn't like it, but the vast majority seem to love it or think its the best show on NCL.)

 

I wanted to go on stage and have a beer, even if it is only Heineken (a beer sold as high class, but really isn't. Give me a good Coors Banquet (not lite, that's for ... (Cobra Kai fans know what goes there!)) if I'm not going to drink a 'real' beer. My youngest also really wanted to go on stage (not drink a beer.) I didn't see any other kids up there but my son, the wife and I all went up.

 

 

The show was FANTASTIC and lived up to my high expectations. My sons and wife also loved it. My daughter insisted on not-liking it even though I believe she actually did.

 

 

Apparently this was their last week onboard. I guess they're switching casts when they come back on. So I would encourage you to see the show if you get a chance! Feel sorry for the last Alaskan cruisers who don't get to see it!

 

After this we the kids went back to the cabin for some down time before going to bed, and the wife and I once again almost close down bar. We had so much fun talking to our new 'friends' (One couple lives in Tahoe an hour and a half from us so we got their info as we head up there several times a year) and the Espresso martinis are a great pick-you-up! I ordered my first in a non-martini glass because I really think the Martini glass is one of the worst designed pieces of glassware. It is design to spill the drink and get you to buy more. After my first one I saw that the Haven was stocked with 'Coupe' martini glasses! These have the triangular shape, but there is a cylindrical rim above the triangle. A much better engineered glass! I allowed the coupe glass for the rest of the cruise.

 

We headed back to get some rest before our first port Day in Juneau!