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PhotoGal07

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  1. Good news! The last piece of luggage managed to make it's way back home just now! Only took 2 weeks.
  2. I would recommend figuring out where the crew smoking deck is. We had an Aft balcony suite on the Grand Princess and the view was amazing (I prefer aft of forward usually), but the crew smoking deck was a few decks right below us, and it was not pleasant having that smell routinely wafting up. It didn't ruin the balcony or anything, we still used it plenty, but we often found ourselves wrinkling our noses at the odor.
  3. We did a helicopter tour up to Bear Glacier Lake from Seward Helicopters that was out of this world (we did the 45 minute one with the landing). My favorite excursion was our trip out of Anchorage to hike on Matanuska Glacier where we got to actually STAND on the glacier and drink glacier water. But a close (CLOSE) second was Bear Glacier Lake in Seward. It was absolutely gorgeous, and getting to see the scope of the glacier from the helicopter was incredible. It's expensive, but OH is it worth it! My favorite pictures and video footage from our trip are from that flight.
  4. PhotoGal07

    Packing

    I never bothered with shorts. Pants and a t-shirt were perfectly sufficient. If you are run super warm, then maybe, otherwise it's a nice to have, and if you are worried about space it's easy to leave behind. For glaciers and such we found that hiking pants with a base layer underneath along with warm socks, a t-shirt and fleece jacket super helpful. I just got back from our Alaska trip with the kids, and have a whole section in my trip report on packing that you might find helpful:
  5. Normally I like doing land first and then cruise. But without knowing what covid protocols will look like, I would highly recommend doing sea first, then land, so that you have the negative covid test to board the ship out of the way and less chance of having a positive test prevent you from boarding. Princess and HAL are the two big Alaska tour providers. A few things to note: In Alaska itinerary is king. Pay attention to port call times even if they have the same itinerary. If you are coming in from the East Coast, earlier port times are more beneficial, and of course the number of hours you are in port can differ. Ship size is another thing to pay attention to. Smaller ships mean less people in port, and the ability to get closer to the glaciers. So you'll want to compare that as well. If the itineraries and ship size are still about the same, and you are trying to decide between them I would recommend looking at the room layout for the room you want, and the typical menus offered on each line. For our family of four I found the Princess menus to be slightly more appealing for our picky eaters than HAL. But since food is so subjective, your mileage may vary. I can't speak to the Sapphire, but we were just on the Grand in June and found it to be a very nice ship despite being a bit older. I did compare the Sapphire and the Grand when making our cruise plans, and I recall the itineraries were mostly the same which left me trying to decide based on ship features. They "seemed" pretty comparable for a lot of the things I looked for, both had the type of room we wanted, both had a covered pool, and were approximately the same size. Grand has The Crown Grill, and Sapphire has Sterling (both seemed to be equally "steakhouse-ey). The big difference I noticed was that the Sapphire had the thermal suites, and the Grand had the little Coffee and Cones restaurant with free soft serve, and then the for pay frappuccinos and ice cream sandwiches. If it had just been adults, we would have likely gone for the Sapphire for the thermal suites. But we had the kids so I picked the Grand with the Coffee and Cones, which seemed to be a big hit, as the kids went by themselves for ice cream every single day, and is still one of the things they talk about.
  6. I will say it was probably the most stressful vacation we have taken to date. Planning it felt so incredibly uncertain and anxiety ridden. Upon arrival there were clearly some issues from the tourism industry recovery along the way, hotels had inconsistent service, restaurants had limited menus, etc. One of our private tours was cancelled (whale watching on a smaller vessel, and the ship captain got covid), so we needed to rebook with another provider, and our flight on the way home was cancelled, and our bags were lost on the way back home. And of course the kids brought back a fun souvenir, covid. However, even with all that, we did manage to have a wonderful time and make some really amazing memories. My advice is to go with a solid dose of patience, and let the bumps just roll off your back. Have some back up plans researched for tours/excursions, possibly needing to quarantine, etc. You will still have a wonderful time assuming you don't go in expecting everything to be perfect, and are ok with the risk of covid (which is fairly large). If you go in determined to find things to complain about, or you get into that weird funk where suddenly you find fault with everything because you are in a bad mood, there will likely be plenty to find upsetting. But if you go in determined to have a good time, you will likely manage just fine. The scenery is gorgeous, the excursions are still amazing, and I didn't have to cook or clean.
  7. I have a thread in the Princess forum, that I started about our trip, we did land and sea 11 days, and I have a detailed list of what was packed. It should help:
  8. Day 4: Helicopter Ride, Wildlife Conservation Center, and Boarding the Grand Princess! I feel like I've been writing up this review for ever, and we are only just now getting to the SHIP! Oy! We woke up at the cottage at Salted Root in the incredibly early hours of the morning (yet again), and headed out to explore the beach. It was amazing to be on that beach without another soul around. There were a few eagles soaring around looking for breakfast, and I took the kids out tidepooling where we spotted a few starfish. https://youtu.be/PyP31qLJ_d8 After that it was helicopter time! We packed up our suitcases once again, and drove our rental car over to Seward Helicopters for our flight over to Bear Lake Glacier. For anyone who has a chance to do this, I highly recommend it. This was by and far one of the coolest things we did. The helicopter ride was of course amazing, but Bear Lake Glacier was GORGEOUS. Getting to hike and play on Matanuska glacier was spectacular and if I could only do one thing it would be that, but this excursion was such a close second (and the scenery was way better). You get way more of an understanding of the true scope of the glaciers going over them in the helicopter, and flying over the bergy bits along the lake was so so very cool. After that it was time to return our rental car. We booked with PJ's taxis and tours to take us from Seward to Whittier. Renee took great care of us as she shuttled us the 2 hours to our cruise terminal. The words salt of the earth fit her to a tee. She was even kind enough to take us to a little hidden place right outside of Seward where the salmon were running. We hopped out, and watched for quite a while as fish after fish threw themselves upstream. https://youtu.be/vUYdQ_mfL7s We hopped back in the shuttle and headed over to the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center. The Conservation Center mostly just felt like a bit of a tourist trap, and overpriced for what it was. Still it was a chance for the kids to see some bears, wolves, and moose up close. Though the thing they were most excited about were the foxes (which we HAVE AT HOME!!!). I'm glad we did it because the kids enjoyed it, and it broke up the trip from Seward to Whittier, but I would likely not bother to plan a stop there if it was just us adults. After that it was back in the shuttle to head to the cruise port! We arrived in Whittier right around 2pm. There was no wait to hand our suitcases off to the porter, and we headed inside to get our medallions setup and all of our covid vaccinations/tests/boarding info all set up. We were in a suite for the cruise, but there was no Priority Check-in available, so we had to wait in line with everyone else (the horror). It was a fairly short line when we finally arrived, only 8-10 people, so not a big deal, but I did miss having an area away from the hustle and bustle and slightly more dedicated service while getting all our paperwork to board in order. I don't know how it usually works on Princess or what priority check-in out of the Whittier port usually entails, but on other lines it usually involves a special area with refreshments, and almost zero wait. It's possible Princess had that earlier in the day when the lines were longer, or that Whittier is just an odd port that's not really set up for that. But we made it through check-in, and headed up the gangplank to board the ship. We went up to scan our medallions again to enter, but there was of course a glitch with our medallions as we tried to actually board. I'm not sure what the issue was, but unfortunately we were stuck waiting on the gangplank for about 15 minutes while they sorted whatever the issue was out. There was a lot of radioing back and forth, a few phone calls. It was a bit annoying as we were SO VERY close to being on the ship and just wanting to get settled in our cabin, but having it just out of reach. Finally all was sorted and we were finally allowed on the ship. So bring your patience. Our cabin was D736, one of the vista balcony's on the port side. The cabin was well appointed and suitable for our little group of 4. I don't think I would want to have 4 adults in there, but for 2 adults and 2 children it worked just fine. The mini bar was all set up, along with a welcome plate of few desserts and canapes. Our room steward came in to introduce himself, and asked if there was anything from the mini bar we wanted swapped, and if we wanted our champagne (Of course! It's a vacation!). And everyone excitedly poked around the room, marveled at the huge balcony we had to enjoy, and the kids squabbled about who would get the pull out and who would get the upper berth (it was decided that they would compromise and alternate each night). Here's a quick video tour of the room: https://youtu.be/q71MUfdcE7g Here is a picture of the upper birth pulled down for the evening: Since we had the complimentary specialty restaurant the first night we called and made a reservation for the Crown Grill for dinner. Knowing everyone was tired from all of our previous days, I asked for the earliest reservation we could get. The woman on the phone said that while Crown Grill officially only takes reservations starting at 5:30pm, we could make our way there at 5pm, and they would likely be able to seat us. After that it was time to quickly tour around the ship. We signed both kids up for the kids club, walked through the casino and art gallery, found Coffee and Cones (the kids were thrilled to discover they could get soft serve here whenever they wanted), and the International Cafe (which my husband was delighted to discover would have amazing hot chocolate and plenty of desserts available). Dinner at Crown Grill was very enjoyable, though there was just WAY too much food. For appetizers H ordered the Black Tiger Prawn and Papaya Salpicon (the standout appetizer of the meal) and the Shrimp Bisque, and I had the Lobster Cake and shrimp bisque. The kids and I each ordered a filet, and H ordered the Bone in Strip, and we ended up with the creamed spinach, asparagus, fries (for the kids), and mashed potatoes. The problem was that I'm the only one in the family who eats spinach, but we still ended up with 4 servings of spinach, and 4 full servings of mashed potatoes despite 2 kids who wanted the fries instead, and 4 full servings of fries despite adults that weren't really going to eat them. I felt awful about the amount of food that went to waste. We also ran into a small problem where they put parsley on the fries much to the horror of our two picky eaters. We simply asked for it without the next time we dined at the Crown, and they easily accommodated, but it meant that the fries were considered inedible that first night. The one thing I will point out was that the meat was not cooked quite right. We all prefer medium rare, and 3 of the steaks were definitely medium. It wasn't a big deal, and it wasn't worth sending it back, but if we had been paying the upcharge I would have been a mildly annoyed. Everyone enjoyed the special salts they provided to season the meal. We all agreed that the smoked applewood salt was by far the best. For dessert we had the Triple Chocolate Treasure, the Warm Chocolate Mousse Trifle (without the grapefruit), and the Salted Caramel Creme Brulee Cheesecake (another standout of the meal). After that we headed back to the room to unpack, shower, and fall asleep. The various shows, and ship activities would have to wait.
  9. It was much the same on the Grand. The Crown Grill has the crab cake, king salmon, and prime rib 12 and 18 oz. for an upcharge ($5/$10/$10/$15 respectively) , and there was salmon offered most nights in the main dining room, with various sauces/sides, the Alaska-style fish soup made an appearance, along with salmon gravlax, and cod, and a blueberry cobbler/crumble dessert. I did have the salmon one evening, and it was well-prepared, and the blueberry cobbler was enjoyable.
  10. I agree the benefits do seem a bit hit or miss. I will say that for the most part the things that were missed were fairly unremarkable for us. I don't think we ever got the fruit bowl, and the sheet to order canapes tapered off after the first couple nights (I think I'm one of the few who actually enjoy canapes), but honestly there was so much food, it wasn't a big deal. Most of the other in-room perks for us were all there (mini bar setup, bathrobes, little orchid plant, bathroom amenities, welcome treats and champagne, etc). I think the only thing I really noticed was the lack of priority check-in. We waited in line with everyone else (the horror). It was a fairly short line when we finally arrived, only 8-10 people, so not a big deal, but I did miss having an area away from the hustle and bustle and slightly more dedicated service while getting all our paperwork to board in order. I don't know how it usually works on Princess or what priority check-in out of the Whittier port usually entails, but on other lines it usually involves a special area with refreshments, and almost zero wait. It's possible Princess had that earlier in the day when the lines were longer, or that Whittier is just an odd port that's not really set up for that.
  11. Generally the mini bar is the following (though as the above poster mentioned it's subject to change based on availability): 2 Crown Royal 2 Sky Vodka 2 Dewars 2 Beefeater Gin 2 Dos Equis Beers 2 Tonic Waters 2 Coke 2 Diet Coke 2 Sprite 2 Perrier 2 Water As mentioned above, you can swap things out, alcohol for alcohol or water/soda, and water/soda for other types of water/soda. I believe you could also swap out the booze for wine or a coffee card, but I have not heard of anyone doing that lately, so I don't know if they are still doing that, but those seem to be going by the wayside. Your mileage for swapping for those items may vary. Upgraded bathroom amenities seems to be hit or miss. I believe it's supposed to be the spa brand of shampoo, conditioner, shower gel, hand soap, and lotion. We had all those things in our suite, so perhaps it was just covid supply issues messing the occasional bathroom amenity up. There used to be bath salts as well, but most people have reported that they are no longer providing that, and indeed we did not have any provided in our suite in June. Some posters have asked their room steward for those, and it usually seems to be provided upon request (though obviously it's not a guarantee). I did not notice an upgraded turn down service, so I've no idea what that refers to (nor did it really matter overly much for us). Room was tidied up, bed was nicely made up, and the pull out sofa/pull down berth for the kids were both always made up in the evenings and stowed away in the mornings. It is possible our sheets were changed out every day, and I didn't notice.
  12. Day 3: Train to Seward, Marine Tour of the Kenai Fjords, and a VERY Bright Night We woke up bright and early at 5am (luckily we were all still very much on East Coast time) , and made our way to the train station in Anchorage to board our early morning train to Seward. We were particularly excited about this train ride, as it's supposed to be one of the most scenic train trips in the US. We stood in the line to get our tickets, and grabbed coffee and hot chocolates from the little coffee stand in the station while we waited for the train to start boarding. We booked the gold star service, and were assigned seats for the first car on the train. I was a bit worried that the kids would be bored, but between getting up to get breakfast, the unlimited hot chocolates, going to the observation deck, and the gorgeous scenery and regular wildlife and waterfalls that we passed, the kids were quite content. Breakfast was good and filling. The kids and DH all had the scrambled eggs, and I had the biscuits and gravy. Everyone enjoyed getting up to go to the dining car, and the whole restaurant on a train experience. The bar service in the gold class was also wonderful, which meant I got to enjoy a mimosa or two during our travels. Along the way we managed to spot a couple moose, many mountain goats and eagles, and more stunning scenery than one could possibly believe. It felt like we were all constantly amazed at whatever new vista was around the corner. I truly expected us to start getting bored of seeing mountains and waterfalls, but we never did. I do wish that we had been in the second car rather than the first. Often times the kids narrating the train ride would point out an animal or other notable point along the route just as we were passing it. If we had been in the second car, we likely would have had a couple extra seconds to spot whatever animal or landmark, which can make all the difference. I believe there is a spot on the Alaska Railroad ticketing website to make a request, and if we ever do this again, I'll be trying to request the second car. Upon arrival in Seward I had expected that I would gather the luggage with the kids and send my husband to walk over to Hertz to pick up our car and meet us. I was overjoyed when I saw the shuttle van waiting at the train station, and realized they had specifically come just to pick us up! Great service! We got our rental car, and immediately headed over to Hotel 360 to park and board our boat tour through Major Marines. I had seen many reports talking about how amazing the 6 hour tour was, but with the train ride, I figured everyone would be too tired to do the longer boat tour and remain in good spirits. The shorter tour seemed to be the right call, as it was towards the end of the ride as we were approaching the dock that the kids started getting antsy. I was also a bit nervous about the potential for seasickness, and the 4 hour tour is notable for having calmer waters. I was a little bit sad to miss the extra hours that go further into Kenai Fjords National Park, but if the 4 hour tour was good enough for Obama when he visited, it would likely suffice for our family too! The boat trip was wonderful, and we saw a TON of wildlife along the way. We spotted sea otters hanging out in the water within minutes of leaving the dock, along with eagles, puffins, sea lions, and whales. My advice if you are coming from the train is to grab a sandwich to take with you on board. We were a little anxious about time/finding parking so we didn't do that, and while there were snacks on board, it would have been nice to have a more full lunch to keep us fueled during our long day. Luckily we had a bigger breakfast on the train so we were able to make do with a few things like granola bars and fruit snacks to tide us over till dinner. For the boat ride we found having our base layer underneath our pants, a sweater, and our fleece and jackets (along with hats and gloves) to be sufficient. It was cool and overcast, and rained a small bit during our outing. We did have a few swells, that started to turn our daughter a bit green around the edges, but between the dramamine she took before the boat left, and going outside immediately once her stomach started to bother her, we managed to avoid the motion sickness. After that it was over to our cottage rental through Salted Roots. The cottage at Salted Roots was very pretty, clearly geared for the instagram crowd, though slightly less practical for our family of four. However despite that fact, the scenery around Miller's landing Lowell Point where the cottage was was spectacular. We made a homemade pizza in the little kitchen for dinner, and enjoyed the amazing views the cabin had to offer before turning in. Tomorrow is a helicopter ride and we finally board the Grand Princess!
  13. This is what we've done as well. At this point our children are 9 and 11 and know the rules. We started when they were little with places like McDonald's, then upgraded the usual chain restaurants, and have moved up from there. They know to use "restaurant manners", that napkins go in laps, quiet voices are required, and how to order politely from and thank the waitstaff. When they were little, sometimes they would start to fuss, and one of us would occasionally have to excuse ourselves early and escort them back to the room while the other had things boxed up, but that was a long time ago. They know that they will not be allowed in the specialty dining restaurants if they are ill-behaved. One of the things we DO still do with them is dine early so that we are in the specialty dining room right when it opens. We do this for a few reasons: First off, our children are better behaved earlier in the evening. I know that bringing them to a restaurant for a meal starting at at 7:30pm, will likely mean they are going to get tired earlier into dinner service and tired kiddos are not nearly as well behaved. Second, dinner service is usually a bit faster right when the kitchen opens, which means we are able to get in and out before they get impatient. Third, I assume that diners who are more likely to be put out by seeing children will eat later in the evening, so I do my best to make sure that we are eating at a time when one would naturally expect to see kids. Kind of like taking them to a matinee instead of an evening show. We literally just got back from our cruise, and we found that if they were starting to get a little antsy towards the end of the meal we would either send them to the buffet or the soft serve ice cream for dessert, or just let them go back to the room while we finished our entree and ordered dessert. It worked great, gave them them a small amount of independence, and allowed my husband and I to linger over our meals or a glass of wine. We will of course always respect restaurants with age minimums (DCL has one of those), but as long as we are not breaking rules and the kids are able to comport themselves well we'll continue to dine in specialty restaurants.
  14. This tends to be how we are as well, even pre-covid. I like using the RC to see what other people are doing in ports, get excited about the trip, but our vacation time is dedicated family time. We don't dine with others, we don't partake in a the various ship crawls etc. We'll of course chat people up if we're sitting in the theatre or a lounge waiting for something, but we primarily use our vacation time to be in our own little family bubble. We have a limited time with the kids before they're off doing their own things and have busy lives of their own. We're determined to make the most of it.
  15. Day 1: Flight from the East Coast and a Stay at the Anchorage Embassy Suites Despite my reading and worrying about the potential for a last-minute flight cancellations our flights heading to Alaska went smoothly (unlike our flights home!). We live just outside of DC, so we flew out of Dulles Airport in VA via American Airlines, with a two hour layover in Dallas, then on to Anchorage. Unfortunately our first flight was at 7am. Luckily we have TSA pre-check (a godsend if you fly even semi-regularly) and we live 20 minutes from the airport. So we only had to leave the house by 5:15am. The flight to Dallas was uneventful, nothing of note to import. We had a two hour layer, so once we hopped off the plane and got our bearings we found our way to our terminal we stopped at Smash Burger for a quick bite. During these days of long travel and multiple time zones, the timing of meals tends to lose all meaning. We were up at 5am, and the kids had already had breakfast, so we can call it lunch if you like, but local time was 10:30am. Regardless the burgers and fries filled everyone up. We spent some time in one of the waiting areas that had lots of charging stations, and we were all able to charge up our devices while we waited for our flight to be called. A quick stop at one of the airport convenience stores for candy bars/chips/etc for the long plane ride, and we were ready to board our flight. The flight to Anchorage was long (6.5 hours), but the kids handled it well. Thank goodness for the invention of the Ipad. We arrived in Anchorage at 3pm (which felt like 7pm our time). We had no trouble getting a cab for the 4 of us and our 3 suitcases (1 large, 1 medium, 1 carry-on), and heading to our hotel the Embassy Suites in Anchorage. I really like Embassy Suites for family vacations. They are spacious enough that we are not stepping all over each other, and the included breakfast and evening reception are helpful on busy days. Overall the stay was fine. Beds were comfortable, and like most Embassy Suite rooms the separated living area with a pull out couch worked well as a place for the kids to sleep. The blackout curtains kept the room nice and dark, and we were all able to get a solid nights sleep. The lobby is cute and looks the part of a rugged Alaska lodge, and the kids loved the fountain.Check-in was easy, and we were offered two complimentary bottles of water which was a nice touch. We were all pretty exhausted by this point, so we hung out in the room for a bit until the restaurant downstairs opened so that we could grab a quick dinner.The hotel restaurant and bar service staff were very sweet and helpful, and were probably the biggest standout during our stay. We stopped there for a late (for us) dinner right when they opened at 5:30pm. There was a limited menu, but plenty to choose from, and the staff went above and beyond to engage the kids and make sure they were happy with what was brought to them. We all had dinner, and then we went back up to the room, trying to keep our eyes open and stay up as long as we could before crashing around 7/7:30pm. Clearly adjusting to the time change was not going to happen tonight. Day 2: Covid Tests and Glacier Hike! We all woke up around 4:30/5am the next morning, and started working on getting our Binax E-med covid tests done since we were now officially within the window for antigen testing. It was a bit annoying to get through all the registration pages, and navigating to the video call where the health care worker watched you open and take the test, but we managed to get all four of us tested. All negative! Check. Our plan for the day was a trip to Matanuska Glacier for a hike, and this hike was truly one of the highlights of our trip. Our guides for the excursion were due to pick us up at 8am, so while we were running the tests, we also went down in shifts to grab breakfast and fuel up for the long day. The continental breakfast was exactly what you would expect, fruit, scrambled eggs, breakfast potatoes, sausage, biscuits, muffins/bagels etc. None of it spectacular, but it did its job. We booked our hike with Greatland Adventures, and they were wonderful! Van pickup at our hotel was right on time. The excursion ended up being our family, and one other couple for a total of 6 people, plus the two guides. Our guides introduced themselves and got us on the road for our 2 hour drive out to Matanuska Glacier. We had a quick stop at a little convenience store/rest area in Palmer to use the restrooms and grab snacks/drinks. Once we arrived, we got our tickets, and drove over to the start of the glacier trail. We got our helmets on and hiked a bit of a ways over some of the rock, and even before we got to the ice part the views were amazing. After a quick 10 minute walk we were nearing the actual ice, and that was when the "crampons" or cleats came out for us to wear. The cleats gave a couple of some of us a bit of trouble, and we had to stop and readjust them a few times along the way, eventually resorting to zip-tying one of them to get a better fit, but our guides were prepared for it all and handled it with aplomb. Each time stopping, offering their backpack for us to sit on while they helped adjust, and reassuring us that we could take as much time as we needed to make sure things were put to rights. We always felt safe, and they did a great job of making sure we were comfortable, even when the terrain was steep or troublesome. I was a bit worried about our kiddos keeping up on the hike (they are NOT hikers at home!), but it was paced perfectly, with the only whining about being tired and feet hurting occurring at the very end when we were already in sight of the van. So if you have kids around the same age, and are concerned, I will say that you will likely be ok even if they are not super outdoorsy types. The highlight for the kids was of course finding a small stream of glacial melt, and filling up our water bottle to drink glacier water (something they are still talking about). For us adults, I think it was the amazing views, and the thrill of actually getting to walk on a glacier. Overall, it was a fantastic experience. On our way back we stopped off at a small restaurant with an overlook of the glacier that was very charming. The restaurant had burgers, fries, a pasta dish (which could be made with just butter for picky eaters), and all the food was very good. Lunch is included with the excursion, with the exception of alcoholic beverages which you can purchase separately. We took our time with lunch, and were encouraged to order whatever we wanted, then hopped back in the van for the ride home. The van ride home was pretty quiet, as most of us were pretty exhausted from the day. We stumbled back into our hotel room, and we were all still pretty full from our large lunch, which to us, almost functioned more as dinner. We managed to stay up for a bit longer before crashing once again. Tomorrow... a glass domed train ride to Seward, and a boat tour of the Kenai Fjords!
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