Stealthdog

Departure day. 😔 We have a really late departure off the ship (1020) and then a 2 hour bus ride to our first lodge. I’ll get caught up with all the ship posts and pictures while waiting on board or on the bus to Kenai. @Fishbone the ship is mostly in ok condition. There are a few small dents here and there and we covered a few damaged spots with duct tape, but you probably won’t notice it. Have a great boarding and week at sea!!!

Final jackpot bingo time! Have some non refundable OBC left we have to spend.

Day 7 had another presentation by the Naturalist/Marine Biologist Mark. We have enjoyed these sessions because they are really informative. Todays session was climate and the ocean - it was interesting to hear the challenges and lack of knowledge of ocean terrain and how they try to measure water temperature and mappings. There are things we have been seeing but didn’t know what they were (or recognize that we didn’t know) and attending these talks/presentations have given us those answers. For example, reflective water at the glaciers is because it’s fresh water (salt water doesn’t reflect), or the different colors of water that meet and seem to have a barrier between them is because they are meeting with different temperatures and ph.

We went to the production show Encore on Day 6. It was kind of an opera-like show. They had a guest soprano perform with the production. She had a few moments in the 2nd half where she was a little flat and it looked like she wasn’t pleased when she was leaving the stage, but it didn’t matter because she was really talented and the star of the show. There was no tenor, so the show just seemed a little weird/off to us. In fact, outside of the guest soprano, only one of the other singers had a voice that approached a style you would expect at an opera show. I give Princess credit for trying something outside the box and doing something different - they just don’t have the cast to pull it off well. The costumes the cast wore were outstanding. That said, if you want to see the production and only want to commit to one night, go to the Fantastic Journey show - it’s much more polished. We did hear a lot of coughing and clearing of throats in the theater, so there is likely a virus(es) spreading on board. We expect that on every sailing so are breaking out our travel sized hand-sanitizers and avoiding the elevators, World Market, and other places where lots of people are constantly touching the same things.

Information about the gym. Its a really small gym (for a cruise ship with 4k passengers). Every time we went, it was really busy - pre-breakfast and pre-lunch were the times we went. That may have been peak times, I don’t know. With the GPS tracking of medallions and the new technology, Princess could probably do a traffic meter for the gym like land based gyms are doing now to access on the app. They do a nice job with the layout of the cardio machines all facing out with great views off the starboard side. All their machines are precor - ellipticals, treadmills, two types of bikes, and they have a couple row machines (I don’t know the brand for that one). There were always free machines when I went. The weights portion is tiiiiiinnnny. They have one or two machines, a small area for benches with free weights, and I think one other station. I didn’t take any pictures of that area because it was always packed and I don’t like to take and post pictures of people working out without them knowing. If you want to get a workout with the weights unimpeded, you will need to figure out when the gym is sparsely used. They also have another room where they have their yoga mats and spin bikes. This is probably where they do their group training classes. We didn’t participate in any classes but they are included either limited or unlimited in packages. Schedule and information on the classes below. It did seem like the staff did a good job keeping the area clean and there were great views while working out, but just be aware that it’s a small space and will likely be crowded.

Your photos looks amazing - can’t wait for our Denali part! Your own adventure looks like alot of fun and you are having a great time! Wanted to update you so you can start planning. There are free hot chocolates on deck - I saw crew handing them out a few times. I’m not sure if they are up there everyday, but on the scenic cruising days hot chocolates are there. You can also get flannel wraps to wear while on deck - pick them up where you also get towels for the pools/hot tubs. They are showing 1-3 movies per day on the big screens. I posted the daily patters/events on my thread so you see which days had which movies - your sailing may go in reverse order and even mix up the movies being shown. Ive been cold almost every day on the ship. With you getting accustomed to the colder weather in Alaska pre cruise hopefully you are already adjusted. Even so, when outside on deck you will want to layer.

Day 7 events - slow day this morning so we will hit the gym and do our packing, before we get to the College Fjord this afternoon.

Dinner last night at The Catch by Rudy. Hands down the best food on board. If we do this again, we will just eat there every night. After you sit, you are greeted with a glass of proscecco, a baguette, and spread for the baguette. The table decorations and plates are all nicely done. The chef periodically stopped at each table to talk to the guests and make sure they were happy with the food. This is the only place on ship we have seen this. Appetizers I got the Tale of Citrus and Eric got the seafood sensation. Both were great. We both got the sea & shore and temperatures for the filet were perfect the first time. Very nice flavors and clean. Deserts were Rudis Artistic Face to Face and Chantilly Lace - again both fantastic. We have zero critique about anything in the restaurant. There are even nice views out the windows (to see our 15 feet swells lol) and because of the location we could hear the entertainment me from the piazza. Highly recommend anyone going to Rudy’s if they have a dining package or want something other than MDR. With their extensive menu you can go multiple times and not get the same things. It’s probably tied with the Central Park restaurant on Royal Caribbean Oasis Class ships as our favorite specialty dining on a cruise ship.

Pics of the Wake View bar, Deck 16 aft on the other side of the World Market buffets. Tons of seating (don’t sit in the buffet, get your food and move out to the Wake View), full bar and juice bar. Every time we have been here, it’s almost completely empty.

Mid afternoon the park rangers left the ship and the marine biologist picked up the narration. The pilots for the bay left late afternoon. Both the rangers and pilots had a small boat go up next to the ship as we were moving and climbed onto their ship. When the pilots left the ship played the love boat on the horns for the first time this sailing, which we have been waiting to hear.

Some views of Glacier Bay - you will see several glaciers, lots of interesting rocks formations, wildlife everywhere, and incredibly scenery. Here are some random pictures of what you will see.

The rangers had a presentation in the morning to give some hints on what to look for, a presentation in the early afternoon about the ranger program, and were available in the conservatory all day to answer any question about the bay, the wildlife, or any other questions you had. They were very accessible.

The seals were much harder to spot with the naked eye, but fairly easy with the binoculars. I counted about 18-25 of them together laying on the ice in front of the glacier. On the photo, in the center right is what looks like a long rock in front of the glacier. In front of that and to the right are a bunch of different colored shapes. That is the big group of seals and there is a smaller group to the left of them.

The sea otters are a lot of fun. We just started randomly seeing them before the narration even pointed them out. They are really cute to watch and my favorite - most look like small logs passing the ship. The closer they get to the ship, the easier they can been seen with the naked eye. They can easily be seen with binoculars. Most were on their backs, with their snouts up in the air, swimming part the ship, using their feet to steer and pedaling. The otters are much easier to spot in the pictures, even the ones with the seaweed. They were really fun to watch.

I’m going to post some of these Day 6 sailing pictures individually or in groups because without a laptop, labeling each is a little time consuming. Here is Momma and Baby Brown Bear along the beach line near the entrance to Glacier Bay. They are hard to capture with a phone camera, but they were easy to watch with binoculars. If you zoom in the picture (which was already zoomed in to take), you will see the two dark dots in the center on the beach. That is Momma Bear on the left and Baby Bear walking behind her.

We spent the first 20 minutes in the Conservatory, where we missed out on the goats. The Park Rangers were set up in the Conservatory and were doing questions and answers, providing other information, and selling merchandise. It was fairly busy in the conservatory, but because you could get to both sides (and it’s inside) that seemed like a nice place to view. We spent the rest of the time on our starboard (right side) balcony. Park Ranger Han was giving the narration and pointing out some of the wildlife. It was broadcast on the live TV so we just put on the TV and turned up the sound. When we got too cold, we stepped inside for a break. We were out there maybe 3 hours. Later in the day I ran up to Deck 16 to get some views outside on the port side as we were sailing through the straight. I was able to find space to take a few pictures on the outside deck whenever I went up. It started raining in the afternoon so it was wet for people outside watching. Our balcony room was protected because there was a balcony immediately above us, we could be out there and not get wet. Some of the balconies on the lower decks looked like people were getting rained on. Looking up from the balcony, i could see alot of people outside above the bridge area. During glacier bay it really didn’t matter what side you were on because the ship slowly turned and both sides got the same views, with a few exceptions - starboard got views of the mountain goats and brown bears as we were sailing in. Sailing through the icy straight port side was the better side with views of humpbacks and sea lions. Starboard got to see the pilot leaving the ship. Both sides got to enjoy the dozens and dozens of sea otters doing the backstroke past the ship. The Park Rangers say the best side to see the wildlife if Outside. You will have several options and it will depend on the weather what is best for you. We didn’t check out the Wake View Bar area in the back of the ship (deck 16), but I bet that was a nice spot too.

We walked through there today for first place time since Day 1 because the Park Rangers were set up in the Conservatory. The pool area was full of kids. I didn’t see any in the conservatory area, but the noise from the pool area was fairly loud. Makes sense since they can’t really use the outdoor pools because of cold temps.

It had drones. We really enjoyed the Fantastic Journey. But, like my other post, entertainment is subjective. All the cruise lines are starting to revamp their production shows to include creative production sets, drones, and other non-traditional production styles. I like it because it’s creative and unique, with technology included in the shows. Fantastic Journey was pretty good - there was one really talented singer and the rest were probably average or a little lower compared to other productions we have seen since COVID. The dancers were all good and entertaining. They use the whole stage and part of the theater aisles during some of their songs, which is fun for the audience. And the songs chosen were a good mix of age. The use of drones were fun - all the lights were white. I’ve seen production shows with multiple color drones. The illumination of the props, cast, and walls was also well done and added to the show. There were some confusing parts - the 2nd piece made no sense to me, and it looked like some of the performers were lip-synching. They had enough singers that they didn’t need that. Overall, it was a solid performance and in line with new productions we are seeing across lines. We like a good mix of traditional theater productions and these new ones.

Day 6 events

Glacier Bay was awesome today. We had sightings of the mountain goats (we missed them), sea otters, seals, brown bear, and all kinds of birds. Watching humpbacks and about a hundred sea otters as we do the icy pass now. Will post pics of this later today or tomorrow.

You mean this one? 😁

All of the bus and train excursions for the white pass appear to use step stools to help people up and down the stairs. We took a bus up and the train down. Depending on your tour, there may but a small amount of unpaved areas and stepping over train tracks. One stop we had on the train back down had an old town area that was optional that included steep inclines. Pics of the step stool and steps below. I’ll plan to post the full review of the tour Saturday on train ride up to Denali.

I don’t see anything for protein shakes on board. The international cafe only has coffees, teas, hot chocolate type drinks (menu below). I saw little smoothies glasses with what looked like vanilla and strawberry smoothies yesterday morning in the IC. The spa doesn’t have a cafe-like area for healthy eating/drinking. I’ll keep looking around, but I think they will have to bring their own protein powders(?) on board and add to either the juices from the juice bar or smoothie from IC.

I don’t think you had to buy the photo the cruise line was taking. It looked like people who waited in line for the puppies had people taking picture for them.

I /think/ I am mostly caught up. We had the White Trail and Bennett Lake tour yesterday, which was fantastic, but we took about 500 pictures and I need to organize and go through the photos. Today and tomorrow are both at sea, so I’ll go around the ship and take some pictures of areas and give some thoughts on the Casino, gym, indoor pool and conservatory, and the main piazza area. If anyone wants a photo or detail for anything specific on the ship, let me know. I’ll have tons of time today and tomorrow to look into it. Going to break for a while now because we are about to pass by the glaciers.