Island to Alaska with Pictures

[ricktalcott]

One of the weekly favorites was “I’m a Lumberjack and I’m OK”. It was a silly song about lumberjacks, so when I started to talk about lumberjacks, it was the first thing that came to mind. I haven’t thought about the words of the song, only the title.

 

Note to Carl:

 

I'm a Lumberjack

SOURCE: Bob Pfeffer

SOURCE'S SOURCE: Monty Python's Flying Circus

COMMENTS:

TEXT:

D G6

I'm a lumberjack and I'm OK

A D

I sleep all night and I work all day

(He's a lumberjack and he's OK

He sleeps all night and he works all day)

I cut down trees, I eat my lunch

I go to the lavat'ry

On Wednesdays I go shopping

And have buttered scones for tea

(He cuts down trees...)

(He's a lumberjack...)

I cut down trees, I skip and jump

I love to press wild flow'rs

I put on women's clothing

And hang around in bars

(He cuts down trees...)

(He's a lumberjack...)

I cut down trees, I wear high heels

Suspenders and a bra

I wish I'd been a girlie

Just like my dear papa

(He cuts down trees...)

(He's a lumberjack...)

As per http://www.metrolyrics.com/lyrics/62661/Monty_Python/Im_A_Lumberjack

 

Rick Talcott

[cmash95]

ok we have gone through what twelve pages and we are still in ketchican. no offense but at this rate we wont be done with the cruise till oh christmas. and I am going on the 28th of august. I really do hope we are done by then.

btw thanks for the patters do you happen to have menus? I know what you and the mrs ate each night would be nice to know what was also on the menu.

thanks

[flashdog_1]

I love that you posted the words to the song. I have no idea of the tune, but I can just hear it going thru Carl's brain as he waited for the show to begin.

 

i've been away a couple of days, dealing with hurricane Dennis, you know, and I must have missed something. Was someone getting on you cworld for being negative?

 

if so, to the rest of us: can't we hyperbole when we hear it? or tongue in cheek? lol I find it refreshing because you know he's going to apologize in a minute.

 

I find that if I'm starting to let life get to me, I remember that maybe Carl has written another epistle. I go to the site and voila! My cares are taken away for a few minutes.

 

i feel like a lurker. I've never been on princess. I think I found this thread under new posts and got hooked. Our roll call is talking about it, too.

 

Carl, yes, i want to know what you had in the dining room (we know about the hamburgers and the smoked salmon already). Lots of cruise for the food, you know. Let's hear it. You may make a convert out of me. And if the thread's participants are getting under your skin, just know that you are amusing me.

 

For the rest of us, remember the slogan:

 

PATIENCE

 

Good things come to those who wait

 

 

Yeaahhhhh CWorld

[cworld]

Was someone getting on you cworld for being negative?

 

Phyllis, no I'm just paranoid. You guys are great. Thanks again for your support.

 

 

cmash95, I don't have any menus. I'll try to give you a flavor of what I remember was on the menu, but that may not be much. And I hope to finish soon, but like you, at the rate I'm going now, it will be after August. I'm going as fast as my little fingers will type.

 

Rickalcott, Thanks, I new the song pretty well, but never all of the words.

 

See you all tonight.

[cruisingbug]

Hi Carl -

 

I hadn't been able to catch up for a while, so I've read about 7 pages today - I think you've progressed about 24 hours in your cruise, so I guess I'm still in the thick of it!

 

Just a few of my own observations - although I agree with most of your opinions, I thought the captain's book signing thing was silly. He's the captain, who's driving the ship while he's signing books??? Seemed beneath him to sit at a table like that. I guess it's to replace the one-on-one you used to get with the Captain's welcome cocktail party, which seems to be disappearing on all the lines.

 

I agree with you wholeheartedly about the Curtain Up show. The costume changes onstage were just awful, and the set and backgrounds were grim.

 

I wonder why you didn't use some of the $500 to buy some binoculars since you were going on the Ketchikan tour, and might need them to spot wildlife...maybe that's why you didn't get to see any??? We also noticed a HUGE temperature difference in Juneau between being on the water and being on land, as well. T-shirts on land, gloves and jackets on our whale-watching.

 

And to the person who asked for menus - they don't give out menus like they do Patters. I don't know if you can even get them on request. I do wish that they'd at least print in the Patter the theme for the night that's printed at the top of the menu, like "Captain's Welcome Dinner" or "Italian Night" or "Alaska Night" so you have a slight clue the night before what's on the menu for the next day.

 

Anyway, keep it coming Carl.... I'm up to Day 5 in my review, hoping to finish before it's more than 2 months after the cruise. :)

[Joy2Day]

In honor of Joy2Day, maybe we should put off talking about the bag until she gets back.

 

 

Or, maybe not.

 

 

Thanks for waiting for me. I was on the longer Saxman tour and enjoyed it. I share your disappointment with the available documentation of the totems there.

[cmash95]

must be another change. We sailed on the Grand two summers ago and my daughter asked for a copy of the menu and each night got one. She said she was in culinary school( which she was at the time.) and the waiter gave her one each night. I think I read somewhere that they will sell them to you if you ask. not sure, i was hoping to get her copies again as well as buy her the princess cookbook, They didn't have that item out at the time and she kept asking the waiter how they prepared several of the dishes. She really enjoyed the chilled soups. Oh well.

[tee_wrecks]

Having been born to 2 transplanted Okies, lived my formative years in Kansas, then bounced around and ended in Colorado where I'm a devout big 12 football fan and hope that someday we have a team here, let me say this:

 

Dang, you sure use some high-falutin words for a Okie.

 

All seriousness aside, I glanced at this thread once before our cruise in June and found it hysterical but for some reason didn't return much. Mea Culpa, Mea Culpa, Mea Maxima Culpa.

 

Great stuff, lots of the same experiences we had on our Dawn Princess cruise though I deigned to resist waxing so poetic (as if i could) in my review. Loved the part about the iced tea having been there and done that. You really want to get the pit viper treatment, start asking your server for glasses of ice water with a lemon slice to drink in the dining room! Just try getting your server behind that strategy!!!

 

Anyway, I'm about halfway through and envious of your following and your pics. In about 7 to 10 days my review and pics can be viewed on my website (assuming my web monkey gets off his duff and gets them posted) at www.wcbeanphoto.com

 

Keep the yuks coming and never forget.....IN BARRY WE TRUST.

[flashdog_1]

must be another change. We sailed on the Grand two summers ago and my daughter asked for a copy of the menu and each night got one. She said she was in culinary school( which she was at the time.) and the waiter gave her one each night. I think I read somewhere that they will sell them to you if you ask. not sure, i was hoping to get her copies again as well as buy her the princess cookbook, They didn't have that item out at the time and she kept asking the waiter how they prepared several of the dishes. She really enjoyed the chilled soups. Oh well.

 

I had the same experience on Celebrity. first thing i asked my steward was if he would get me the menu each day since my son was (and still is) in culinary school. but mine are of Celebrity, so i can't help you on Princess menus. just thought I'd ad that the menus I've seen in webshots show a very nice menu, but a smaller number of choices than we had on Celebrity.

[cworld]

OK, I think that last night I got all of that confession junk out of my system and we’re ready to press on.

 

The Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show or as we would call it in Air Traffic Control language TGALS… (And you have to pronounce it phonetically Tee-gals, better leave that one alone or I’ll be confessing again). TGALS started out with a, choose your favorite lumberjack team exercise. Jane our “mistress of ceremonies” divided up the 20 of us in to 2 teams. One to root for the American Lumberjack Team (wimps) and one to root for the dominating manly man Canadians. We practiced rooting for our team “YEAH” and rooting against the other team “BOO”. I was enthralled. This might be fun with 200 people, but it’s pretty lame with 20.

 

The TGALS hostess, Jane introduced the teams. There were 2 no name, no neck, no count, worthless, couldn’t cut down a tree with a hacksaw, lumberjacks that made up the “Alaska’s frontier lumberjack” team. (Although I think one was from Texas, and the other from Michigan or something like that.) And then Jane introduced the greatest, the proudest, the incredibly strong, the HEEP BIG MEN, those Paul Bunyons of the Great Northwest, Canada’s own “PREMIER WOODSMEN” , Bill and…., and…, the littlest lumberjack in history…. the shrimp of shrimps… baby face of baby faces… our hero (ahhhhhh) Casey from Wisconsin, (and if I remember right Bill was from New York Citygetarope). OK, scrubbies, here’s your team, root for them. yeah

 

I gotta throw in one question here. How come I always get picked to root for the little guy? Huh? Why is it that I’m always on the bad team? Huh? Doesn’t anybody like me? Don’t answer that. Do I smell bad? How would you know? Am I marked as a bad person? Probably. Why’s everybody always picking on me? STOP IT. You’re confessing again. (OOPS)

 

The TGALS show (isn't that like redundant, all over again, the The Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show show?) began. There was wood chopping, wood cutting, wood splitting, wood climbing, wood rolling, wood… you get my drift. I guess they did to wood what lumberjacks do to wood.

They cut it with axes big and sharp

They cut it with chain saws that had a loud bark.

They cut it with a smile, they cut it with a frown

They cut and cut until it all fall down.

 

And they said I’d never be a poet.

 

There were several competitions that involved lumberjack stuff. The coolest one was the pole climbing. Our Casey was primed and ready. He slithered up to that great big pole, as boldly and proudly, as a 5 foot nothing guy can and BANG, their off.

 

"Casey the entry from the rapidly losing Canadian squad takes a big lead as they go up the pole. At the half way point Casey, our hero, is leading by 10 feet. Casey climbs like a monkey, shimmering up a tree in search of bananas. Casey throws his rope at the red marker, when he touches this marker he can start down the pole. Casey throws with all his might, and… misses. He has to throw again, and this time he hits the mark. Casey starts down, but while Casey was missing the mark that cagy American veteran has already started down and just edges our hero out by about half a tree length." It was that kind of day.

 

This was kind of the trend for the poor Canadian team. They lost so bad that after a while Jane quit keeping score, and we started booing.

 

The competitions were pretty cool. It was interesting to see it in person. HOWEVER, the between competition, Jane and the boys had small little skits they tried to threw in. These skits were not very good. There was one bit with a chair that one of the competitors carved between events. During the banter with Jane, this competitor used some language that both my wife and I felt was inappropriate. It really detracted from the overall show.

 

Note to the Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show – You have the makings of a great show. The theater is well laid out. The competitions are pretty good. Overall we enjoyed your show, except for the little intermission bits. You might want to work those. It seemed that you were just trying to stretch the show, not add to the adventure. I would suggest you try a little history, a little real lumberjack demonstration, stories about Ketchikan or the Great Alaskan Wilderness, something other that what you did on May 7th. Some of the jokes and skits you had were offensive, and I hope you have already changed them.

 

Rating for TGALS competition – A

 

Rating for TGALS entertainment – D- no F

 

Phew, after that I need something sunny and light. Which described the weather in Ketchikan the day we were there. Have I said that before? Well if I haven’t, it was absolutely gorgeous. (Hear the Karen Carpenter sing - Not a cloud in the sky, got the sun in my eye, and I won’t be surprised if it’s a dream.)

 

Gotta go, the pictures for tonights screed are located here:

 

http://homepage.mac.com/cktrent2/Alaska_2/PhotoAlbum12.html

[Joy2Day]

Having been born to 2 transplanted Okies, lived my formative years in Kansas, then bounced around and ended in Colorado where I'm a devout big 12 football fan and hope that someday we have a team here, let me say this:

 

QUOTE]

 

With all respect due, all I can say is "5 downs against Missouri" way back when. Imagine me driving down I-70 in St. Louis screaming "But that's the fifth down" at the top of my lungs. At least I didn't have a tiger tail hanging out my trunk.

[tee_wrecks]

Having been born to 2 transplanted Okies, lived my formative years in Kansas, then bounced around and ended in Colorado where I'm a devout big 12 football fan and hope that someday we have a team here, let me say this:

 

QUOTE]

 

With all respect due, all I can say is "5 downs against Missouri" way back when. Imagine me driving down I-70 in St. Louis screaming "But that's the fifth down" at the top of my lungs. At least I didn't have a tiger tail hanging out my trunk.

 

There there, Joy. We all know that if Mizzou had been given the extra down by the zebras(nudge nudge wink wink) they would have declined to take it, pointing out the mistake.

[tee_wrecks]

Having been born to 2 transplanted Okies, lived my formative years in Kansas, then bounced around and ended in Colorado where I'm a devout big 12 football fan and hope that someday we have a team here, let me say this:

 

QUOTE]

 

With all respect due, all I can say is "5 downs against Missouri" way back when. Imagine me driving down I-70 in St. Louis screaming "But that's the fifth down" at the top of my lungs. At least I didn't have a tiger tail hanging out my trunk.

 

Bugeaters??????

[Joy2Day]

 

Bugeaters??????

 

Oh no! I'm a transplanted Mizzou fan stuck in Herbie Husker Land. My mom worked in the Mizzou Athletic Office while she was pregnant with me. So my Tiger Spirit is congenital. I hate to see what happens when Big Red threatens to reign again.

 

And I've traveled with a KState-er on both my Alaskan cruises. Since we're family, I have to put up with her. :-)

[cworld]

BOOMER SOONER

 

Just had to slip that in. Can't have the Big 12 North taking over without some reminder about who is really the Big Red.

 

Hey, Joy, welcome back. Now I can really put the petal to the medal, quit monkeying around and get on with the story. (Yea, right)

 

tee_wrecks, welcome and welcome back. And yes, Barry for King.

 

crusinbug, didn't buy binoculars, I had a big zoom lens on my camera. And yes the binoculars were in the missing bag.

 

I want to apologize in advance. Unless it rains a bunch in OKC today, I'll be tied up all day (not literally, well at least I'm not planning to be literally tied up). Hopefully I'll get some time tomorrow. Until then in the immortal words of me.

 

Patience

 

Ha, Ha, Ha, I kill me.

[Joy2Day]

BOOMER SOONER

 

Just had to slip that in. Can't have the Big 12 North taking over without some reminder about who is really the Big Red.

 

 

 

Sshhhh! Don't let those Husker Hounds hear you say that.

 

 

M-I-Z!!!!!! Z-O-U!!!!!

[cruisingbug]

must be another change. We sailed on the Grand two summers ago and my daughter asked for a copy of the menu and each night got one. She said she was in culinary school( which she was at the time.) and the waiter gave her one each night. I think I read somewhere that they will sell them to you if you ask. not sure, i was hoping to get her copies again as well as buy her the princess cookbook, They didn't have that item out at the time and she kept asking the waiter how they prepared several of the dishes. She really enjoyed the chilled soups. Oh well.

 

I know that they did have the Princess cookbook for sale on our cruise - they had tattered copies out on the dining room tables during several meals. Maybe would have sold better had they not looked like they'd been previously used. I remember someone at one of our tables (we had PC dining so different each night) asked about a menu and they didn't have any to give...although maybe things are different on the Grand.

 

And to flashdog - I remember that we got "souvenir" copies of our Celebrity menus six years ago - little miniature versions, with recipes - although some of the menus they hadn't served on our cruise. I think they cost $15-$20 at the time.

 

As I think Cworld mentioned, I don't know why the menus have to be such a deep dark secret - as I'm sure cworld knows, Disney's menus are all over the Internet. It WOULD be MUCH easier to plan for the week, especially considering that they have these surcharge restaurants on ships now, if you knew what was coming up what night.

[zachnlucy]

Thanks Carl for adding a grin to my day.

[margord]

Keep them coming Carl. We really are enjoying. At this rate I will have something to read all the way up to my Alaska cruise in July 2006.

 

Marilee

[Mrs. cworld]

M-I-Z!!!!!! Z-O-U!!!!!

 

What's up with that spelling?? At least Okies don't misspell OU!

[tee_wrecks]

What's up with that spelling?? At least Okies don't misspell OU!

 

Yeah, ain't spellcheck wunnerful?

[Joy2Day]

A person who settled homestead land in the western United States before it was officially made available, in order to have first choice of location

 

Hmmm ..... Of course, half the residents of Missouri can't pronounce the state name correctly. :-)

[luv_jeeps]

Carl,

 

Thanks for the great reading material. :D

T- 27 days, and impatiently counting.

Geoff

[cworld]

I'm sorry everybody. I'm working very hard to get something done, but everything is getting crazy right now. Baseball ends Sunday, and I will have more time to devote to finishing this after it ends. I will try to get something up tomorrow. I'm about half way through the next post. But for tonight.

 

PATIENCE.

 

I know that's getting old, but we'll put the petal to the metal soon.

 

Carl

[flashdog_1]

Carl i found some menus on the forum, entitled Menus? and also a link in a review at the beginning of the Princess forum.

 

Island Princess Alaska 5/14-5/21/05 Review - In Parts

 

cruisingbug