Because of where we live a Coastal Cruise or an Alaska Cruise is always a good choice. And, as I said in my title, despite the weather this one was one of the best.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
From the time we were dropped off at the terminal until ready to enter our room was a very short time. As Canadians we had to pick up our Medallions at the desk and it was seamless.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
5 out of 5
We had three meals in specialty restaurants and four in the MDR. We visited the buffet a couple of times for snacks as well as the International Cafe for lunch a few times. We had made reservations prior to sailing and had no waits getting to tables. Service times were a bit longer than in the past, but never too long and we were dining with friends so conversations we good. If we had wanted to go to the shows, the dining times might have been an issue, but since our wives only wanted to see one show and were a bit late for it, there were no complaints.
Onboard Activities
4 out of 5
We did the trivia for which there were different hosts each time. One of the hosts was loud and self absorbed so no fun to sit through. The questions were the toughest we have ever had on our trips. It was a bit too cool and often windy and raining to do much outside and the one day the weather was really good was San Francisco where we spent a lot of time in town, but back on the ship we ate outside (I had the lobster roll and enjoyed it) and saw many in the pool and sunning themselves.
Entertainment
4 out of 5
The stage show my wife saw as okay, but the best performance was from one of the cruise directors, Christo, who did a guitar extravaganza. If I was only rating that one show it would be at least 6 stars.
Children's Programs
Our children did not sail.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Generally very good. We met our room steward and he asked if we needed a night time turn down and we said no. He did the room in the morning after learning we were pretty consistent with our morning schedule and it was done the last 5 days before we returned to the room in the morning. We had many different waiters and they were fine, but very busy. I think they now have more table to cover. Our two main servers in Vines were excellent and fun to chat with as they took our wine orders. Adrienne and Shiv deserve high compliments. We were surprised that Vines was not open on the last night and so although we had planned to tip them, we could not find them.
Ship Quality
4 out of 5
Very clean and well maintained. I struggle with the noise from the central area while trying to enjoy wine and conversation in Vines or a late coffee from the International Cafe, but this is the situation on most of the ships.
Cabin / Stateroom
4 out of 5
It was unfortunate that we only got sit outside briefly as the weather was uncooperative, but found the cabin quite comfortable. We choose a mini-suite because of the couch for reading when in the room. The door was a bit sticky to open, but not enough to complain to the steward about. We did find, after 2+ years of not travelling, the supplies in the bathroom were not as luxurious as in the past. We had one bar of soap at the sink and liquid soap for the shower. Neither of us used the bathtub other than to step in to shower. Storage space for clothes was plenty. The plug ins were both European and North American. I did not take adapters, but was happy I had taken a small extension plug for night time plug ins. There were USB ports on one side of the double bed. We had an issue one night with a light over the couch flashing on and off in the middle of the night for which the solution was to take a card out of the wall so no lights would be able to come on. We think the issue must have been a bulb because the next morning we told the cabin steward and he said her would look into it and the problem went away.
Ship tip
Enjoy! We never got to the noodle bar, you try it and report how it was. Try to use the stairs as much as you can. It helps burn off the excess calories you will ingest.
We love this port. We no longer do excursions, but a walk along the waterfront to Market Street and then into the downtown area with a return to the ship walking in a loop was good, specially because the weather was sunny with a temperature very inviting for the day.
Pouring rain, but having been there before and loving beer, we did the walk about 3km to the Astoria Brewing company and enjoyed their libations and some snacks. The walk back in the rain was manageable as there was little wind. We had planned to UBER or taxi back from the pub and found that a) there is no UBER there and b) they have two taxis and there was a two hour wait, thus the walk back.
We always enjoy Victoria and while it was cloudy there was only light rain for our walk into the city and browsing the stores we enjoy. We had a nice stop at a pub before heading back to the ship.
We kept our baggage with us and walked off the ship in minutes. Onto sky train which is a block from the port, then bus, then ferry and then home. Easy and no customs to go through.
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