XBGuy

Ooh. Ooh. I know, I know. Enough to subsidize my passage fare. 😁

I am going to address this part of your post. Food photography is very difficult. In her previous life, Mrs; XBGuy worked as a chef for a company that offered commercial food service and retail consumer products. Part of her responsibilities was to assist in the photography sessions in which pictures were taken for labels and other marketing collateral. These sessions were in fully equipped professional studios. So, you know that they were using top-level equipment, and they lacked for nothing, A food stylist was also engaged to add additional artistic expertise. In an eight-hour day, their goal was to get two usable pictures. Compare this to somebody sitting in a restaurant with, at best, iffy lighting who pulls out their cell phone, aims and shoots. I agree with you that, as much as I enjoy them, many of the food pictures that are posted on Cruise Critic are not very good. My wife told me that "white things" were the most difficult dishes for them to photograph. That comment comes to mind every time somebody posts a picture of the Fettucine Alfredo they enjoyed in the dining room. I try to imagine that the actual plate looked much more appetizing than the picture showed. I then click the "Like" button.

I would like to amend the "Today in History" portion to add this. 1824 -- Premier performance of Symphony #9 by Ludwig van Beethoven. I'll bet that most Dailyites--even those who are not "into" Western Civilization art music--have some familiarity with parts of this monumental symphony. Two themes, in particular, made their way into popular culture. For U.S. based Boomers, in the 1960s when your parents turned on the "Huntley-Brinkley Report, you heard the opening theme from the second movement. The "Ode to Joy" theme from the fourth movement has been used in numerous movies. The first one that I recall was "A Clockwork Orange." Non-musical, but appropriate, on December 16, 1970 (200th anniversary of Beethoven's birth) in the "Peanuts" comic strip, Snoopy quoted Beethoven's words from the "Ode to Joy" recitative: Nicht diese Töne.

@Candycane10, the info I provided is probably bad. I did not realize that you were departing from Vancouver. I thought the Discovery Princess was departing out of Los Angeles these days. Please accept my apology.

Yes. Presumably, you are being transported by shuttle/taxi/Uber/Lyft from the Day's Inn to the cruise terminal. There will be porters outside the terminal building who will take your checked luggage. You can't miss them. They are the ones pushing around some pretty big carts. You will then enter the terminal building to check in and, subsequently, board the ship. Your luggage will be delivered to your cabin.

I am not familiar with the title "Reserve Manager?" Is he the manager of the Reserve Collection Dining Room or is he something else?

One of the Alaska cruise highlights for the XBGuys has become fish tacos at Deckhand Dave's in Juneau. Neither of us normally eat lunch. So, when we stop in Juneau we always have a light dinner. The French Fries are darned good, too. Fish Tacos and French Fries. Would that be fusion cuisine?

Thank you for posting the menu and the pictures. I very much look forward to visiting this venue some day.

I am a card carrying wine snob. The Princess policy for carrying on your own wine is excellent. A poster here on Cruise Critic once reported that he brought three cases on board. I don't know if that is any kind of record, but it is the most I have ever heard about. People have different reasons for bringing their own wine. All are good reasons. I agree that the wines currently offered on Princess are uninspired. There are a couple that I am happy to order, but bringing your own wine is a great way to supplement the Princess list. I agree with the above reports that a standard pour for a glass of wine is five ounces--five glasses per bottle. I am very surprised to read a report that Princess is stretching six glasses from a bottle. I understand why Princess is reluctant to let people walk off with the stems from Vines. I'm not sure that I understand why people might steal them. Wouldn't that be a pain to pack? However, I do understand that they might be concerned about breakage--they are fairly delicate. I can see a glass being knocked over by somebody having an animated conversation. OK, I can see this because I have done it. 😮

In 2018 the the first port stop on the roundtrip Los Angeles-Alaska cruise was Vancouver, BC. Since the next port (Ketchikan?) was in the U.S. we went through U.S. immigration prior to reboarding the ship in Vancouver. A few days later we were in Skagway, and during breakfast I met a lady who had what might be considered a sad but educational story. At the immigration check in Vancouver, her passport was confiscated. It seems that sometime prior to the cruise she had lost her passport. She, of course, reported that it was lost, but, then, she found it. Well, she thought her problem was solved. Wrong. Of course, her passport was flagged, and, when she tried to re-enter the U.S., the CBP officer had no option. He confiscated it, but he made copy that she could use on our return to Los Angeles. Yes, we did get checked again in Los Angeles even though we had not visited any other foreign ports after Vancouver. Here is the sad part. Since she no longer had a passport, she could not accompany her friends on the Skagway train trip.

The official policy really specifies only the embarkation port. However, there have been numerous reports here on Cruise Critic that there has been no problem a person to bring on a single bottle of wine when returning to the ship after a port stop. I, personally, have done so after stops in Alaska, California and Hawaii. (Tip: Be very careful of Decoy Merlot being sold in an ABC Store in Honolulu. I won't make that mistake again.) I have read numerous reports of people doing so in Europe. That being said, since the official Princess policy specifies only the embarkation port, it might very well be that ship's policy or the port's policy may not allow it. I would advise that you go ahead and purchase your wine. The worst thing that could happen is that it would be confiscated at the security station, but it would be returned to you at the end of the cruise.

Your strategy is perfectly understandable. I assume that as @suzyed reported you place an online order with Total Wine and arrange to pick it up at the Fort. I have a similar strategy when I restock Mrs. XBGuy's stash of Chardonnay. I will place an online order, then. when I meet my brother for our once-a-month breakfast down in his neighborhood, I drop by the Total Wine store in Brea and pick it up. You are quite correct. The makers that I cited are low-volume producers and are not widely distributed. Many of the wines that I buy are Direct to Consumer (DTC). I am on about 30 mailing lists. I regularly buy from about a dozen of them, I occasionally buy from some of them, and I have never bought from a handful of them. I have seen some of these labels in wine stores (including Total Wine), but that is highly unusual. California has the most lenient laws regarding wine sales and wine shipment. I am very aware of the advantage that I have. I'm inclined to agree. Happily, BYOB is usually an option. However, the corkage fee at most restaurants in my area is not nearly as reasonable as Princess' $20. That sounds interesting. There is a very active poster on a wine-oriented board in which I regularly participate who lives in Victoria, BC. He has made us aware of the Canadian regulations that prevent him from enjoying many of the wines that we discuss, On the other hand, we enjoy his reports on BC wines to which we have no access. I trust his palate, and, when he reports that an Okanagan Valley Syrah is excellent, I am a bit disappointed that I will probably never taste it. I have enjoyed our conversation very much, @Steelers36. I hope the moderators do not consider my epistles to be "thread hijacking." Maybe someday we will meet on a Princess ship. I will be happy to share, say, a Carlisle Zinfandel with you, and I look forward to trying a Niagara Icewine.

Thank you. I have read about wine skins, here on Cruise Critic. I have another carrier that works fine for one or two bottles when packed in a suitcase with my clothing. When going on a cruise, I am usually taking at least seven, or so, bottles. So, I have a separate tote that works quite well. I think the Princess wine policy is terrific and the corkage fee is quite reasonable. Like you would not even consider trying to circumvent the fee. When I put my wine tote through the security scanner, an agent usually intercepts it and opens it up to verify that it is wine. He/she then usually directs me to the "wine table" where I sign the chit for the corkage charge. I have never had a case where the wine table was unattended, like some others have reported. If that does happen, I will be happy to pay the corkage fee at the restaurant. We do not "walk off" when disembarking. We pack our bags and leave them outside our cabin door the last evening of the cruise. Since we have consumed all our wine, the tote is used for packing the few items--toiletries, some clothes--that we wanted to use after our luggage was picked up. It works well. So, I guess, I use it in a fashion similar to your 22" Rollaboard.

@Steelers36, I have heard the rationale that Princess shipboard meals do not merit pairing with what might be high quality wine from my collection. Let me explain why I will continue to bring my own wine. We drink wine, every night. At home a few days ago we had leftover turkey sandwiches. I opened a bottle of Quivet Cellars Syrah and Mrs. XBGuy opened a bottle of Rivers-Marie Chardonnay. (Mrs. XBGuy is an "All Chardonnay, All the Time" person.) We both enjoyed our wines and felt that we had a terrific dinner. We don't eat sandwiches every night. In fact the leftover turkey was from a breast we grilled in the back yard a few days earlier--very tasty, but, certainly nothing extravagant. I had a Clarice Pinot Noir with that. If my Princess meal is not particularly distinctive, then there is a good chance that a bottle of Mending Wall Cabernet Sauvignon can improve my appreciation. (Yes, I know that I am in a California wine rut. It's my rut, and I like it.} The present Princess wine list is quite uninspiring. It would not take very long to go through the handful of wines that I would like to try. So, that seems to be another reason to bring my own. I just celebrated my 76th birthday. and I have a pretty big inventory of wine. The goal is to not leave wine for estate disposition. I can't be taking off a week or two in which I am not reducing my inventory. 😂 On thing that I should add is that I live within easy driving distance of the port. It is very easy to toss my wine tote into the car, drive to the port and drag it onto the ship. I agree that transporting wine on a commercial airline is a royal pain. So, I can certainly understand why having to fly to the port would discourage people from bringing their own wine.

I shake my head every time I see the question "Is <fill in the blank> worth it?" The short answer is always, "Yes." You will be able to experience something new. That will benefit you. One of the commonly stated benefits of travel is to learn from new experiences. To those who have offered that the whale watching excursion they took was not worth it because all they saw was whales swimming and blowing, but they did not see any whales breaching, I, again, shake my head. By happy circumstance we humans do consider many natural habits of wildlife to be entertaining. I will grant you that viewing a breaching whale is exciting. However, keep in mind that whales breech when they want to. They are not looking for a cue from the Acme Whale Watching boat that indicates that all the paying passengers have their cameras ready, and, so, now is the time. In nature, the wildlife are doing their best to survive, not put on a show for tourists. To those who are looking for a show, I would suggest that they visit Sea World. You can see performing wildlife there. Also, as @mcrcruiser has indicated there are limits as to how close whale watching boats are not allowed to steer up to a whale. If a whale surfaces next to a boat, that is fine. It is also a fortunate happenstance. You may make the argument that it is more likely that a whale will surface close to a small boat than a large boat. That may or may not be valid. However, my wife and I have see whales popping up right outside our cruise ship (a pretty big boat) balcony in Hawaii (a mother and a calf), Alaska and, most surprisingly, the Los Angeles Harbor. Again, all fortunate incidents.