Sapphire 6/20 review...Part 2

Part 2 of my Sapphire 6/20 Review...looks like I need to add a 3rd...

Entertainment:

We heard the large production acts in the Princess Theater were very good, but we only went to one, the comedian Ralph Harris. He was absolutely hilarious, though I am certain many of the “elderly” crowd did not appreciate nor got the punch line on many of his jokes…but my DH and I were about to fall out of our seats because we were laughing so hard! (Forgive me if I’m wrong—but the group of older ladies sitting around us had frowns the entire show and kept asking each other what he was talking about) We also attended several of the trivia games, and made some great friends that we formed a regular team with…and we won twice!  (We are now the proud owners of 4 Princess Luggage Tags and 2 Luggage Straps). We also were chosen to play in the Newlywed Game…if anyone reading this was there, you know how embarrassing it was! We lost to a couple who had been married 50 years. It was all so fun! Princess Idol was a hoot…some really talented people on the ship…and even more not-so-talented, but of course, that made it even funnier. We frequented Club Fusion, and the house band Storm was fun, but we weren’t 100% certain they were actually singing and playing all of their music. They got the crowd going, though, and sounded good regardless. We went to the honeymooners get-together, and met several other couples also celebrating. Michelle of the Cruise Staff was fabulous…she hosted several of the events we attended, and she really is the best out of all of them! Alastair Greener was our cruise director, and we really didn’t see or hear too much out of him…he seemed very, very busy. We visited just about all of the bars and clubs at one point in time or another, but it seems like Skywalkers was generally dead, and none of the bars were ever really busy except for Crooner’s and the Lobby Bar….probably due to their centralized atrium locations.

Ports/Shore Excursions:

Ketchikan—We booked a floatplane flightseeing trip of the Misty Fjords independently through Island Wings. Highly, highly recommend them! $199 per person for a 2-hour flight…just amazing. I did get a little motion sick, though…so if you are at all prone to that sort of thing, definitely take some medicine beforehand! I also met fellow Cruise Critic member CruiseController on our flight…very nice!  We ran into her and her husband later on the tender into Juneau and again as we were searching for our baggage in Seattle. We also had a ship’s tour, the Adventure Kart Expedition, booked for this port but got a note in our cabin saying it was cancelled due to mechanical reasons…oh well. The shopping here is okay…but keep in mind that the prices went down as we went farther north through Alaska…they really try to get you here at your first port stop. The Celebrity Infinity, NCL Sun, and HAL Ryndam (I think?) were all in port with us this time, but the Infinity passengers had to tender in.

Tracy Arm Scenic Cruising—wow, all I can say is how gorgeous that area is. We were actually able to get very close to the Sawyer & South Sawyer Glaciers and it was just an amazing view. As we were leaving the area to sail on to Juneau, we crossed paths with the Diamond…the captains were tooting the horns…kind of an exciting addition to the trip.

Juneau—What an absolutely beautiful city! Fabulous shopping and lots of neat things to see here. We booked a ship tour, the Mendenhall Glacier and Wildlife Expedition. We loaded onto an ancient tour bus, and made the trip out to the glacier…a pretty magnificent sight. Don’t bother going up into the visitor center and watching the short video…we didn’t have nearly enough time to hike out to the glacier area because we spent way too much time in the visitor center learning next to nothing. After the glacier visit, the bus took us to a dock where we got on a ferry-type boat and went wildlife viewing. We immediately saw a humpback near the boat and it surfaced several times. Shortly after that, we saw a mother & calf humpback, and the calf breeched completely out of the water twice…just amazing! Bald eagles & sea lions everywhere…then the captain of the “sister ship” of our wildlife boat contacted our captain and let them know they were on a pod of orcas nearby…so we watched orcas for who knows how long…again, just completely breathtaking. Oh, a note—we had to tender into this port because the Amsterdam, the Coral, and the Star were all in port with us, and the tender situation was such a mess! People were giving out conflicting information, and even what was printed in the Patter was a bit confusing. We lucked out, however..we went to the Explorer’s Lounge early to wait for tender tickets, but our CD saw the large group of people gathering, and rather than have us wait, went ahead and sent us all out directly to a waiting tender boat. By the time our tour was over, the Sapphire was able to dock, which made things much easier getting back.

Skagway—A very small, quaint town with nothing but the White Pass train and a bit of shopping. We booked another ship tour, the Wilderness Sea Kayaking in Haines. Going away from the touristy Skagway to Haines was one of the coolest points of the trip. Haines only very rarely has a cruise ship in port (not even sure if any at all this season), and is very “native.” We boarded the ferry, which took about 35 minutes across the water, and met our guide, who is a year-round resident of Haines. His name was Ned, and he was most informative and very personable. Before meeting up with the rest of the kayak crew, he took us on a mini-tour around the town and adjoining Fort Seward. Not a whole lot to see, but it was so nice to see an Alaska town that is basically untouched by the seasonal tourist crowd. There is little to no shopping, and everyone was just so nice there. We met up with the kayak people down the shore and were outfitted with rain boots, life vests, and spray skirts to keep us dry, then we were given a short safety lesson in kayaking. They were 3-person, very stable kayaks, and my husband and I were matched with a nice guy from Tennessee here with his family. We had a blast, and although we got a good workout, it wasn’t terribly strenuous, and spent about 2 hours on the water before we ate a picnic lunch provided by the kayak tour. The worst thing about this trip—the Alaskan-sized horse flies. They were MONSTROUS…and they would bite right through your clothes and draw blood…they swarmed us the entire time, through town and on the water, and we all had several bites at the end of the day. Apparently bug spray doesn’t keep them away. The Sun Princess, the Ryndam, and the Sun were in port with us again.

Victoria—Definitely someplace I would like to come back and spend more time. Again, we booked a ship tour, the Butchart Gardens, Wine, & Chocolate tour. We went immediately from the ship to the tour bus, met our guide Ursula (very nice), and set out on a city tour before heading up to the Victoria Estate Winery. It’s such a beautiful city with so much to do, including a very vibrant Chinatown. Victoria’s Folkfest was also going on at the time, and it was a huge outdoor music festival along the waterfront. We arrived at the winery (beautiful) and tasted 4 wines with several delicious chocolate truffle pairings. Our winery guide gave us some very good information on the art of wine tasting and things of that nature. We decided to buy a bottle of their Madeleine Sylvaner to save for a future anniversary before heading back to the bus. Next, we went to Butchart Gardens…they were just as beautiful as everyone says. The rose garden was my absolute favorite…it’s such a shame they don’t allow weddings or wedding portraits there. By the time our tour was over, it was time to board the ship for the evening…I really wish I had a lot more time to explore there.

Hey, a great review! We must have been on the same Mendenhall glacier and wildlife quest tour as your wildlife experiences were so similar to mine. I absolutely loved Tracy Arm and passing the Diamond Princess with salutes!

Glad you had a nice honeymoon and I hope you have many cruises to come.