Eric’s Blog

There aren’t too many photos from this day. The ship was at sea and steaming up the west coast towards Alaska and the Inside Passage. We spent the day sleeping off the alcohol we’d imbibed the day before, relaxing, and exploring the ship.

We had breakfast in the main dining room each day. Most people head for the buffet, but that’s not our style nor is it our favorite place to eat. The main dining room has table service and you can order anything you want and as much as your heart desires. I think I ate Eggs Benedict every morning except for the last day and I have no issue with that. Adrianne got the French Toast and it was so thick, it was more like French Cake.

Exploring the Ship

Ovation of the Seas was much larger than the last cruise ship we were on, Freedom of the Seas. This one was built specifically for cruising to Alaska.

The ship was gorgeous. It’s like living in an all-inclusive resort. The stateroom is like the hotel, the main concourse or Royal Esplanade is like the mall. There are shops including the duty free shop, an art gallery, places to sit and people watch, bars, restaurants, a pizza shop, two coffee shops, a two-story lounge area at the back of the ship with a 270 degree view, and at the other end, a two-story performing arts center that houses comedians, musicians, and major productions that would rival Las Vegas shows.

The ship also has a rock climbing wall, a surfing simulator, an observation pod that rises up above the ship while underway and in port for viewing, and iFly skydiving simulator, a spa, and the Seaplex area for sports fans where you can play basketball, tennis, go rollerskating, or drive bumper cars.

You can learn more about our ship here:

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/cruise-ships/ovation-of-the-seas

Oh What Luck, You Found a Duck!

Another thing that we did while exploring the ship was to hide a few rubber duckies that we’d brought with us. Apparently, it’s a game that some cruise passengers started a few years ago and it’s really taken off. There aren’t many rules, you just hide a duck where people can find it. It’s not allowed to be in any of the shops, the hot tubs, or the pool, and it can’t be in an area that would be unsafe for anyone to retrieve it. Then, people find it and either take a photo with it, and re-hide it, or they can keep it. We hid two ducks and found one ourselves. We re-hid that duck in a different location and noted that someone else found it after we’d hidden it. It’s something cute that the kids get all excited about. By the end of the week, it was neat to see some of the collections that people had with them.

The Inside Passage

The Inside Passage is beautiful. This area is the only place in north America that has fjords. There are steep mountains on either side with a deep water channel for ships that can pass through. This is located in the south eastern part of Alaska near the panhandle. This allows ships access to some of the port towns of lower Alaska.

The pictures and videos of the area don’t do it any justice. As I’ve said in previous posts, you just have to experience the natural beauty of Alaska.

While we’re were transiting the Inside Passage, I was sitting on our balcony and I kept hearing a noise I couldn’t figure out. It was whales coming to the surface and blowing out a breath before taking a new one and diving back down. There must have been at least 60 whales in the same area at one time. There were flukes of whales diving back down deep, and even one playful baby Orca that breached out of the water and fell back in on its back while I was watching.

Back To Our Room

After exploring and before dinner, we went back to our room and found that our attendant had been there and left a towel animal friend. We had a rabbit, then he left after a few days and we got something else, but that’s a post for another day.