Live from the Sapphire Princess, Aug. 4, 2012

[PescadoAmarillo]

Great LIVE FROM and very helpful. How did you map out your Skagway hike?

[geoherb]

We have the same Julian. I'll tell him hello tonight at dinner.

 

I mapped out our route in Skagway after checking with the people at the National Park headquarters. After going the the Gold Rush Cemetery and falls, we hiked along the road to get to the overlook then back to the trail that leads to the bridge across the water near the airport.

 

Last night’s formal night was about the same in terms of passenger dress. We enjoyed the Captain’s Circle Cocktail Party. The most traveled couple had more than 100 cruises/1,000 nights. The captain did a stand-up comedy routine. I’ve never seen one talk so much during the past passenger party.

 

One of our tablemates mentioned to our head waiter about smoked salmon. He delivered a plate for the table. I ordered the lobster and shrimp entrée. The shrimp were both larger and tastier than the lobster tail. We had a new waiter at our table. Our original waiter had to fly home to Mexico for a family emergency, according to what our other waiter told us. It will take a while to break in the new waiter. Service wasn’t as good as we had with our previous one.

 

We went to see the production show (Do You Wanna Dance) after dinner. It was OK. There was too much canned singing and even canned foot stomping and clapping. Tonight’s show is supposed to be new.

 

Thanks to info from the Alaska board, I knew about catching the city bus to Totem Bight State Park. We went to the library stop to catch it. I was glad we did, because many of the passengers who got on at the next stop had to stand up the whole way. We were able to see all we wanted to at Totem Bight and Potlach during the hour between our bus and the next one. I could see spending another hour if you want to take your time, especially if someone is actively carving at Potlach. We got to see an unfinished totem pole, but the carver wasn’t there at the time. The small museum displays at Potlach were also interesting.

 

After a quick lunch at the International Café, we walked back into Ketchikan. Our primary destination was Creek Street. A couple of years ago when we were here, the salmon were running. Today there were just a few of them. We did get to see a couple of harbor seals feeding in the creek.

 

The weather this morning was overcast but dry. It started raining after we ate lunch. Even with the rain, though, we’ve had a good cruise.

[geoherb]

Our trivia domination continued today. We won both morning and afternoon. For both sessions, we tied with other teams. In the morning, we were closer to tiebreaker answer than the other team. The two of us gave our prizes to the kids on that team. Our teammates kept theirs. In the afternoon, the host went through several tiebreaker questions. Either both teams knew the answer or both teams missed. After three questions, he ended up giving both teams prizes. We got the refrigerator clip magnets. If only I had written down Pekinese instead of Sharpei we would have won outright. But I guess it’s good that more people were able to win fabulous ship prizes.

 

We waited for sailaway at the Platinum, Elite and Suite Lounge at Skywalkers. The drink of the day was the Chairman of the Board. It was way too strong for us, so we ended up having our bar steward take them back to add some tonic and lime to ours. The special of the day was smoked salmon. I skipped it for breakfast today, so I was happy to see it.

 

The Sapphire was the last ship to leave Ketchikan. We followed Holland America’s Zuiderdam out. I always enjoy watching the guys cast off the lines. I did not hear any announcements for missing passengers or crew members today.

 

The new shortened show times made it possible for us to go the production show (Born to Be Wild) before our second seating dinner. This show is new. It’s also not that great. I miss the big scenery changes that Princess used to do. The big prop for this show is a pink car. Scenery is projected behind the car.

 

Dinner last night was the chef’s menu. I ordered the diver scallops as an appetizer. They’re delicious. My orange roughy was the best fish I’ve had on the ship. Our new waiter is still missing a bit. We ordered petit fours for the table the first night he replaced our first waiter and they did not come. Last night we ordered the gourmandises and he never brought them. He disappeared. I’m sure we could have gotten them from someone, but we had finished our after-dinner coffees and tea.

 

The clocks moved forward one hour during the night. It was hard to get up in time for breakfast but we managed to make it with 10 minutes to spare before the dining room closed. It only took two tries for me to get edible eggs Florentine. I always order them well done. The first ones had yolks that were way too runny.

 

The weather has turned gorgeous. The seas are very calm. I only felt them once during this cruise around 4 a.m. on the second night. Sam saw a pod of dolphins early this morning from our balcony while I was asleep.

 

Bill and Cathy: Julian said to turn your cell phone on. He is looking forward to seeing you in about a month.

[Senor24]

Thanks so much for contacting Julian for us. (The last time he called we were at a funeral home & our phones were shut off). Congrats on the trivia. We've been involved in tons of tiebreakers over the year, and we win about 1 in 10. We can't handle the pressure. LOL

[debkaysmith]

Thanks so much for passing along our greeting to Ian- we had such a fun time with the whole crew. You're terrific!!

[geoherb]

We had a relaxing day at sea. The weather has been gorgeous all day long. After breakfast, I took time to walk around the deck several times. I’ve managed to get at least 12,000 steps in each day. We played trivia this morning with new folks and won. This afternoon’s trivia was tri-bond trivia. A woman from yesterday’s team and a woman from this morning’s joined us in getting all the answers right. We ended up in a tiebreaker with two other teams. Only this time, the tiebreaker was different. One representative from each team went to the front and had to give the answers to more tri-bond questions. The questions were three words or phrases and you had to give a word that related to each. For example, the first question was stink, time, and hydrogen. The answer was bomb. The tiebreaker was the first representative to get three correct answers the quickest. I managed to win on aged cheddar, the second Hollifield-Tyson fight, and a computer file.

 

We also did the backstage tour. I asked if the performers enjoyed the shorter shows. The dancer who responded gave the company answer that they enjoyed giving passengers the opportunity to see and do more activities by shortening the shows. Overall, I enjoyed the shows on previous cruises more than I did the three we saw on this cruise. The only advantage to the shorter format was that we did get in one show before dinner that we couldn’t have before. The theater has never been crowded. Even when we got there five minutes before show time, there were plenty of good seats.

 

The last lunch menu in the dining room was one we’ve had before. Both of us got the tilapia taco. It was good. I was tempted to ask for the children’s menu to order the spaghetti from it but I didn’t. We also enjoyed one last time at the Platinum, Elite, and Suite Lounge this evening. Tonight’s menu is my favorite—sushi and the Japanese slipper.

 

After a quick dip in the Oasis Pool, I came back to the cabin to listen to the naturalist as the ship heads through a strait. She had spotted humpback whales while we were at the pool. A nice woman let us see them with her binoculars. When I was in the cabin, the naturalist spotted orcas. I was happy to see them for the first time ever and got a few good photos of them in the distance. I discovered the sport setting on my camera that takes shots in quick succession. Now it’s time to start packing our bags. We’ll be leaving around 9:30 in the morning.

[Senor24]

Julian called us this morning from Vancouver. Thanks again for making contact with him for us.

[sunsetbeachgal]

Hope you had a safe and uneventful trip home...really enjoyed your Live from blog!!

[Putterdude]

Thank you for not honking on the way by this morning, however I don't know what you did to the ship, she was very late northbound this evening....instead of the normal 6:45 to 7 pm it was about 9 pm before she sailed by.

[geoherb]

We had a long day in Vancouver. I did not think we could check in early at our hotel (Sutton Place) but knew we could drop of our bags. But when we got there, the front desk clerk said our room would be ready in 30-45 minutes. We decided to go ahead and drop off our bags and see Stanley Park. We took our time and didn't get back to the hotel until over three hours later. Our room wasn't ready. I wasn't happy. After waiting 30 more minutes, the clerk moved us to another room that was ready.

 

The hotel wasn't anything special. It's an older hotel with some nice amenities trying to mask the age. We were paying for location, but I probably could have found something cheaper even though we got the Sutton Place through Hotwire.

 

After our bags were delivered to the room, we walked some more--down to see the Olympic torch and over to Gas Town. We stumbled across a Chinese street fair in Chinatown. That was interesting. We ate supper at the Thai restaurant across the street from the hotel. I think the food from the Thai food truck in Denali was almost as good.

 

We had a 5 a.m. wakeup call this morning so we could get to the train station. Unfortunately the station where the security guy had shown us how to buy tickets on Saturday wasn't open yet. He had pointed out the operating times for the train but failed to mention that station wouldn't be open. We finally got to one that was. The train ride to the airport was a lot cheaper than a cab.

 

Once we got to the airport, we learned to stand in lots of line. There was a line for doing the computer check-in kiosk, then a line for baggage weighing and baggage tags. We then had to take our checked bags to the line for them. After that was a line for checking our boarding passes, then a line for security. The final line was for U.S. Customs. It was the longest line. We made it through all the lines in about 90 minutes. I was glad we had gotten there early.

 

Our flights were uneventful. We did have a 30-minute delay in Minneapolis-St. Paul so they could change a tire on our airplane.

 

We had a great time overall in spite of the dreary weather during the cruise portion of our tour. I'll try to scan in the Patters and post them to a fresh thread later this week.

[kenmii]

We had a long day in Vancouver. I did not think we could check in early at our hotel (Sutton Place) but knew we could drop of our bags. But when we got there, the front desk clerk said our room would be ready in 30-45 minutes. We decided to go ahead and drop off our bags and see Stanley Park. We took our time and didn't get back to the hotel until over three hours later. Our room wasn't ready. I wasn't happy. After waiting 30 more minutes, the clerk moved us to another room that was ready.

 

The hotel wasn't anything special. It's an older hotel with some nice amenities trying to mask the age. We were paying for location, but I probably could have found something cheaper even though we got the Sutton Place through Hotwire.

 

After our bags were delivered to the room, we walked some more--down to see the Olympic torch and over to Gas Town. We stumbled across a Chinese street fair in Chinatown. That was interesting. We ate supper at the Thai restaurant across the street from the hotel. I think the food from the Thai food truck in Denali was almost as good.

 

We had a 5 a.m. wakeup call this morning so we could get to the train station. Unfortunately the station where the security guy had shown us how to buy tickets on Saturday wasn't open yet. He had pointed out the operating times for the train but failed to mention that station wouldn't be open. We finally got to one that was. The train ride to the airport was a lot cheaper than a cab.

 

Once we got to the airport, we learned to stand in lots of line. There was a line for doing the computer check-in kiosk, then a line for baggage weighing and baggage tags. We then had to take our checked bags to the line for them. After that was a line for checking our boarding passes, then a line for security. The final line was for U.S. Customs. It was the longest line. We made it through all the lines in about 90 minutes. I was glad we had gotten there early.

 

Our flights were uneventful. We did have a 30-minute delay in Minneapolis-St. Paul so they could change a tire on our airplane.

 

We had a great time overall in spite of the dreary weather during the cruise portion of our tour. I'll try to scan in the Patters and post them to a fresh thread later this week.

 

Geoherb - where can I find the Thai food trick in denali? Is it there everyday? Lunch or dinner??

 

Thanks!

[geoherb]

It's across the street from the Princess Lodge, toward the left-hand side of the row of shops.

[JohnBoy in NC]

We had a great time overall in spite of the dreary weather during the cruise portion of our tour. I'll try to scan in the Patters and post them to a fresh thread later this week.

 

Enjoyed your detailed review! Look forward to getting the Patters.

 

John in NC - Raleigh native. :)

[lucywestie]

Hi there GEOHERB,

 

loved reading your report. We are on the Sapphires last cruise of the season up there. Just had a question about your hike in Skagway. I tried working it out from what you had written but maybe you can provide a bit more info.

Just wondering how far from the ship, both in time and distance, it is to the Gold Rush cemetary. My wife and I are planning to do this when we arrive in Skagway.

 

I have sort of followed the route on Google maps using the Satelite view. Im going to assume its a pretty straightforward walk with not alot of twists and turns.

 

Cheers

Pete

[mintjulip123]

We had a long day in Vancouver. I did not think we could check in early at our hotel (Sutton Place) but knew we could drop of our bags. But when we got there, the front desk clerk said our room would be ready in 30-45 minutes. We decided to go ahead and drop off our bags and see Stanley Park. We took our time and didn't get back to the hotel until over three hours later. Our room wasn't ready. I wasn't happy. After waiting 30 more minutes, the clerk moved us to another room that was ready.

 

The hotel wasn't anything special. It's an older hotel with some nice amenities trying to mask the age. We were paying for location, but I probably could have found something cheaper even though we got the Sutton Place through Hotwire.

 

 

I have been following your reviews this past week. Thanks for taking the time. I also got the Sutton Place for Sept. on Hotwire I guess it will have to do for one night.

[geoherb]

Just had a question about your hike in Skagway. I tried working it out from what you had written but maybe you can provide a bit more info.

Just wondering how far from the ship, both in time and distance, it is to the Gold Rush cemetery. My wife and I are planning to do this when we arrive in Skagway.

It's basically a straight shot except for a turn to get over a couple of blocks. You'll be following the Klondike Highway. There are signs as you get close to it. There are sidewalks along that portion of the streets and the highway, but it's a dirt and gravel path as you turn off toward the cemetery. I enjoyed the history aspect of the cemetery, but the waterfalls were the main attraction.

 

The total distance is about two and a half miles each way. We came back the long route--stopping by the Jewell Gardens and then heading up Dyea Road to the overlook. There aren't sidewalks on that road, but the shoulder is wide. It would have been more pleasant if it hadn't started raining again after we left the gardens. Thankfully our ponchos kept us dry. There's a neat bridge over the water near the airport. Unfortunately Google doesn't have great resolution in its aerial photo of Skagway, so it isn't possible to spot the trails that go from Dyea Road down to the bridge. Our total hike was about eight miles. according to my pedometer.

 

Even if you don't want to go to the gardens or the overlook, you should take time to walk over the bridge.

[geoherb]

I have been following your reviews this past week. Thanks for taking the time. I also got the Sutton Place for Sept. on Hotwire I guess it will have to do for one night.

I should have read more of the reviews on other websites. I was expecting five-star luxury. We did not have much problem walking with our luggage up Burrard Street. It's about seven blocks from Canada Place. It was much easier in the morning since it's downhill from the hotel to the waterfront.

[Smokeyham]

 

Our cabin is great. The deluxe ocean view is really a balcony without furniture. Our cabin steward said he would leave the door unlocked for us but to use caution while the ship was in motion. We also have to close the drapes at night so that light from the cabin doesn’t interfere with officers on the bridge. The balcony is the size of the Caribe Deck ones—half covered and half uncovered. The people beside us booked their cabin on purpose. He wanted to be directly in the middle of the ship.

 

 

I don't think we have new mattresses in our cabin, but our TA requested the egg crate pads for us. The beds are comfortable, but nowhere near as comfortable as the beds at the Captain Cook.

 

Thanks for posting this information about the CC Cabins. In our group we'll have two of these cabins, and we were really hoping that they would have access to the balcony when we are in the protected areas for Hubbard and Glacier Bay.

[mintjulip123]

I should have read more of the reviews on other websites. I was expecting five-star luxury. We did not have much problem walking with our luggage up Burrard Street. It's about seven blocks from Canada Place. It was much easier in the morning since it's downhill from the hotel to the waterfront.

 

I agree, hind sight is a wonderful thing. I am sure glad I didn't pay anymore for it. I was hoping for a treat of a luxury hotel to start off our adventure. When I contacted the hotel to ask about queen sized beds, I was told yes that is possible but for a charge, I asked about a king- and again, yes for a charge. Pretty much because I went through Hotwire, they were really not interested in accommodating us at all. I did ask if they would manage to keep my luggage until the room is ready and they said they could do that... wow!

 

Live and learn.