WetPenguin

Oh and to add insult to injury there was another Princess Cruise that arrived later and was able to see all of Glacier Bay and passed us on the way out. 😥

I now understand the maritime law but one mistake Princess did was not explain well is why we still had to babysit the boat after all the wilderness passengers came aboard and then transferred to another boat and were on their way but Sapphire had to stay till the tugboat arrived even though US Coast Guard is onsite. Think Princess could have explained / communicated better… doesn’t change anything but helps better understand the situation vs just saying waiting to get released by the US Coast Guard.

Yeah it’s cause another ship Wilderness Explorer caught on fire and we (Sapphire Princess) needed to rescue that ship and on top of that we had a medical emergency on-board which required a helicopter airlift — two exceptionally rare events to happen at once!

Yeah cruise can be cheap but flights right now are crazy! We would need to fly into the ports so that’s additional cost.

I agree that Glacier Bay is beautiful we got almost all the way up before we had to turn around and then spent the whole day just waiting on the US Coast Guard stuck in Glacier Bay so we did get to “enjoy” the beauty of Glacier Bay just didn’t see any of glaciers at the very end of the route.

12 hours ago, SightCRR said:

You can search youtube to see what G/B is like. Several miss it for various reasons (weather etc). Our first trip we stood out in the cold rain. Wouldn't do that now. I wondered about if you could file a claim with UnCruise for one seventh of the cruse cost. That wouldn't help with travel but may help a little. Not sure if the UnCruise got to see G/B before fire but I think that they will get their fare refunded. 

sightcrr. 

This is an interesting angle on the liability part sure that the passengers on Wilderness Explorer got some comp but wondering by extension they also own Sapphire Princess comp too 🤔. I know there’s nothing on Princess side as they are just doing what they need to do but in the case of causing accidents the usually the driver causing the accident is at fault. Wouldn’t even have a clue where to file grievance. 🤷‍♂️

Was on the Sapphire that got half-way up Glacier Bay but then turned back and due to a series of extraordinary circumstances ended up missing out on Glacier Bay entirely 😭, did see College Fjords the next day so not a total lost. 🫤

It’s a big let down to be so close and miss out on a “bucket list item”. 💔

It was a bit surreal to have the ranger still do his talk and say that he’s sorry we missed out seeing the glaciers but he kept saying the glaciers will still be there in the future while also mentioning the glaciers were actively retreating/receding 🤔.

FWIW, they did try to sell up College Fjords as the “hidden gem” of Alaska and a much more beautiful destination.
 

So after seeing College Fjords is Glacier Bay is just more of the same but with bigger glaciers? 🤷‍♂️ In other words didn’t miss out much?

QUESTION:

Curious, if you had a choice would you book the same cruise again or book something else and just let it go as one of those things in life that’s “just not meant to be”. 😞

Alaska cruise is not cheap. Unfortunately, don’t have infinite budget and infinite time and there’s lots of other places to also to cruise out there.

What to do? 🤷‍♂️

37 minutes ago, mtnesterz said:

Here you go:

Great to be part of a rescue but the Coast Guard kept the Sapphire there all day and they missed seeing the Glaciers. (They also had a helicopter evacuation.)

 

Yup, only got half-way and turned around and then also had a medical emergency helicopter 🚁 lift (two rare events altogether) — suffice to say a very eventful day. They evacuated the Wilderness Explorer onto the ship w/ luggage into the Savoy dining hall. They stayed only a little bit to be placed on another ship, but still had to be on the scene by the Coast Guard (not sure the maritime rules but required to stay on scene till released even after all the Wilderness Explorer guest and ships all left - we babysit the ship till the tug boat came). 

Amazing scenery none the less, so if being rescued not a bad place to do it. 

Yeah we totally missed Glacier Bay 😭, so trying to make the most of the remaining trip at College Fjords today. Oh and if anyone curious yeah you can get AT&T service while sailing along the Alaska coast (it’s spotty and only open areas — ie: deck 7 next to the windows - crooner’s bar).

Happy sailing 🚢!!!!

On 5/29/2023 at 1:41 PM, Rick&Jeannie said:

And...there are a number of carriers that don't allow their phones to be a hotspot from a WiFi signal, only cell data.  Or maybe it's just certain models of phones even on a carrier that does allow it.

iPhones can’t share the wifi signal as they don’t have two wifi antennas to do this and only certain Android phones are able

to do this. If sharing a wifi signal than using a Windows PC or just getting a travel wifi router is your best bet.

We have the bering sea crab fishermen's tour 🦀 in Ketchikan on Friday 6/2 with a 70% chance of rain. 🌧️

Wondering if should cancel since still have time? Anyone have experience going on the tour in the rain still enjoyable? TIA!

Have a trip coming up on Sapphire Princess sailing to Alaska. 

Traditionally, wifi on Princess hasn’t been great and even worse for Alaska but I saw that Starlink is now available on Sapphire so curious to hear recent experiences.

If it’s adequate for streaming was thinking of bringing a Roku w/ travel router and getting the single device wifi package.

Thanks!

As I understand Uber/Lyft are not “technically authorized to drop off there. Also heard coverage (ie: available drivers) may not be too great with wait times.

Can always try and then have the bus as a fallback.