Island to Alaska with Pictures

[cworld]

I’m going to apologize in advance. This is going to be short and sweet tonight. Mrs. c and I went to a “booster club” meeting tonight that lasted 2 hours longer than it should have.

 

Since this is going to be short, maybe I’ll just do a little cleaning up.

 

One of the many things I regret, is, as we left Ketchikan, I was distracted and didn’t watch our departure. I think in the future, I’m always going to make a point of watching arrivals and departures to and from ports. I just think it’s fascinating how the ship maneuvers, how things happen around the ship, and how people react to the ships movements, and just the scenery around the port. Ketchikan was the most scenic port of any of those we visited, and I’m sorry I didn’t watch it recede off into never, never land.

 

Another thing, out of Ketchikan, that I can’t believe nobody said anything about was the Skiiii-korse-kee twin motor-engine-rotor thingy whirlygig. You know, that helicopter thingy that was going up, and down, up and down. Turns out that it was doing the obvious thing that helicopters do in a forest. It was logging. Duh?

 

By the way, did I mention it was a beautiful day in Ketchikan?

 

While I’m regretting, I wish we would have started eating the murdered fishys and crab cakes at the Fish BBQ earlier, or I wish I'd have eaten more of them. I decided not to eat too much and ruin dinner.

 

Hey Carl, here’s a new rule for you – whenever someone shoves great food in front of you enjoy it. It may never come your way again.

 

Sorry this is not what you expected to see tonight. But I’ll get to the lumbering leviathans that lollygag lugubriously as they go locomoting by, before, well, at least before the first snow.

 

And yes, tee PATIENCE is a virtue.

 

Coming soon to a T-shirt near you…

 

Island to Alaska with Pictures

proudly teaches you

la PATIENCE

 

Or maybe

 

How do you spell patience? Island to Alaska...

 

Needs work.

[VinTek]

You could also do the same thing with the shows and daily happenings. While I’m dreaming I’d also like to see the menus posted. I know you already have them printed, why don’t you go ahead and post them? A lot of us new travelers are addicted to information on the internet and it’s my opinion that your web site could use some help in this area. You could be the industry leader in providing cruise information to your customers. What a great selling point. END OF NOTE TO PRINCESS.

 

Hi Carl,

 

Just discovered your thread and am having an enormously good time. A few years ago, when we sailed on the Sun Princess to Alaska, we asked our room attendant for a copy of the menu for a souvenir. Bless her, that day she gave us all the menus for the entire week that first day! I know that it doesn't give you the opportunity to pre-plan your meals before the trip, but it goes a long way toward giving you enough information to make a quick switch. Just plan your meals as Option A/Option B, and make your adjustments accordingly.

 

Regards,

Vincent

[cworld]

Back to the lumbering leviathans that lollygag lugubriously as they go locomoting by, watching. The night before, Dave, the dancer guy, not the No Worries guy, told us “I’ve never sailed through SnowPass without seeing at least one whale.” All Right. Really Cool. We’re going to see a whale. Dave also said that we’d get to Snow Pass around 5:00. The Patter said we’d get to Snow Pass around 6:00. It didn’t really matter. We were up on the deck watching for the lumbering leviathans that lollygag lugubriously as they go locomoting by, before 5:00, or we were up there to eat Fish BBQ, I forget which.

 

About 5:30, Carol, our dumpy naturalist, got on the intercom and started talking about Snow Pass and lumbering leviathans that lollygag lugubriously as they go locomoting by. (I don’t think she actually said lumbering leviathans that lollygag lugubriously as they go locomoting by, but she should have.) Carol, the naturalist, rambled on and on, occasionally pointing out fictitious lumbering leviathans that lollygag lugubriously as they go locomoting by. As soon as she would say I think I see a lumbering leviathan that lollygag lugubriously as they go locomoting by, she’d say, sorry, no, that’s not one. After a while, we quit listening to her, because she kept saying the same thing over and over and over…

 

 

Watching 200, or so, people searching for wildlife can be a funny thing. Look there’s something over here. Everybody runs to that side of the boat… The boat lists to that side, and nothing. About that time someone says they see something on the other side, everybody runs over there… Again the boat lists, and again nothing. This went on for the better part of an hour. I got bored after about 5 minutes and just watched them go back and forth, back and forth. Never seeing anything. Because, there was nothing to see. For the first time in recorded history, the Island Princess traveled through Snow Pass without seeing a single, lumbering leviathans that lollygag lugubriously as they go locomoting by… (that’s one record I wasn’t too happy about participating in.)

 

Pretty sad.

 

Here are some pictures of the Fish BBQ and the lumbering leviathans that lollygag lugubriously as they go locomoting by, watching.

 

http://homepage.mac.com/cktrent2/PhotoAlbum13.html

 

I got bored with the back and forth thing pretty quickly, and for a good 30 minutes, we just sat, sipped our Cokes, licked our fingers clean of fishy, and relaxed. Yes, I said relaxed. It was hard, but I accomplished it.

 

After about 30 minutes, Carol, the naturalist, quit droning. We waited a little while longer, and then sauntered slowly back to our cabin to prepare for dinner. I’m sure as soon as we got out of site, 7 pods or Orcas, 2000 seals, and 9 of the lumbering thingys came jumping out of the water, putting on the most magnificent wildlife show ever unleashed. However they were through before we got back to the cabin, because as soon as we got to the cabin, I immediately stepped out on to the balcony to check. Nope no whales. I was disappointed.

 

Next… Dinner is a riot.

[Mrs. cworld]

Next… Dinner is a riot.

 

 

No, my DH, Monday's dinner was "a hoot"! And if I remember correctly, the rest of our trip was "a hoot".

[ssapiers]

No, my DH, Monday's dinner was "a hoot"! And if I remember correctly, the rest of our trip was "a hoot".

 

Not being from Texas or Oklahoma... what's the dif from a riot and a hoot??

 

Bill

[cworld]

Not being from Texas or Oklahoma... what's the dif from a riot and a hoot??

 

Bill

 

Bill, and everybody else,

 

My dear wife is right. I should have used the word hoot. There's a story behind it that you'll hear about tonight, hopefully.

 

Until later,

SUSPENSE

[cworld]

Sorry, I've had to take a little time off. Getting a little burned out. I'll get something up tomorrow. I promise (and if you believe that I've got some land in florida I'll sell you).

 

Until tomorrow,

Carl

[BAMAbuddy]

Carl--

Joined your wonderful "groupies" and we're really savoring all entries. It took me a while to read all 17 pages, but now I'm absolutely hooked.:D We are going on the Diamond later in August and it'll be our first cruise. Obviously, we've learned a LOT just "listening" to everyone. Thank you thank you thank you. Don't feel pushed---it's obvious that everyone enjoys your renditions so much and always crave more. Take your time and we'll all have "patience' while we wait in "suspense"!

Thanks again

[cworld]

Chapter 14 – The Riot at Dinner.

 

Sean strode smoothly, confidently into the room. Just look at him, the confidence, the power, it just oozes off of him. My breath catches every time I see him. His steely blue eyes sweep the room, taking everything in, until they finally come to rest on me. I try hard not to shiver. Then almost imperceptivity, he gives me the signal. And it begins. I push the button to start the timer, and start counting. Forty-five seconds. Just about the time I get to ten, that slimy guy Vinny slitheres up to up Sean and asks “How many in your party, Sir?” I can’t wait to get my shot at Vinny. I won’t miss that one, but Sean, being the calm cool customer that he always is, answers, “How are you tonight, Vinny? I think I’ll just join the lady.” As he nods at me, and my knees go wobbly. Nineteen.

 

All heads turn and watch the elegant, supremely confident, ruggedly handsome Gentleman, as he walks purposefully toward me. Twenty-six. Then, out of nowhere, SHE, pops up. “Oh, Mr. Wright, you just must join us for a drink.” She smiles slyly, and pokes that oversized, ballooned-up chest of hers at him. Thirty-three. “Thank-you… Uh, Pamela, wasn’t it?” He says sweetly. I could kill him. Forty. “But I’ve got something I have to attend to just now, maybe later?” He moved on toward the rendezvous point, but I knew he wouldn’t get there on time. There was nothing that I could do, but hope he wouldn’t be hurt too bad. Forty-three. BOOM!!!!

 

Oh, Hi. Oops, sorry, I keep getting my stories mixed up. Back to the semi-real world...

 

Ding, Ding, Ding… Ring the dinner bell. Yawn… George is not talking. I’m not really hungry. The fishys are still weighing lightly on my stomach and heavily on my mind. (Should have eaten more.) But, it’s almost 7:30, so it must be time to eat. Being creatures of habit, (especially that eating habit) we got dressed and made our way down to the ethnically confused dining room.

 

The “Mafioso’s in training” were out in force tonight, at least that’s what they looked like. Black jackets, white shirts, black ties. Probably have Walther PPK’s under those jackets. Anyway, the head Mafioso, asked us if we wanted to join a group or dine alone. (Alone in this place. Every table is 6 inches from another table. There’s no dining alone in here.) Since it was still sunny outside, we asked if we could get a table by the window. The “Don” looked around the room, summoned one of his henchmen, and told him to seat us at table, 31A (At least I think it was 31A.) It turned out that table 31A was just about perfect. It was on the side of the ship away from the sun, about at the halfway point of the dining room, and right in a window. Outstanding

 

For you who have never been to the Bordeaux Dining Room in the Island Princess before, the windows that look outside (don’t all windows look outside? No, silly, some windows look inside.) sit, I’m guessing, about 5 feet above the waterline. So if you get a table by the window, you get the feeling that you’re skimming right on top the water. Very cool. It’s a totally different perspective from either the balcony or any of the outside points on the decks. It always looks like the ship is really booking (traveling really fast) whenever you look out of these windows.

 

The henchman left, and we were introduced to our servers for the night. I do remember their names they were, ugh, mmm… Hey dear, what were those names again? Yeah, that’s right, Zoltan and Nicholai. They were from one of those former Yugoslavian countries. They didn’t smile. (Very Serious, Comrade.) Zoltan/Nicholai, started going over the drink menu with us… listing wines, drinks from the bar… I stopped him, and said, “Just water and Iced Tea.” He looked at Mrs. c, and she said “I’ll have the same.” If looks could kill Zoltan/Nicholai would be on trial for multiple homicides today.

 

Note to Princess – would you please, PLEASE, remind your dining room servers that not everyone in the world drinks alcoholic beverages. I know your servers make a lot of money on the automatic tips that are added to the unfree beverages served in the dining room. But for us guests that don’t drink, it is unnerving to have a waiter treat you like you have two heads, just because you don’t order a drink. Just go try this. Go to one of your dining rooms and order iced tea to drink, and just see how you are treated. For us it wasn’t pleasant any of the six nights we tried.

 

Nicholai and Zoltan left to do whatever it is that they do, and about that time another henchman sauntered up with another couple to sit at table 31B. They were seated and we promptly began to ignore them as much as we could. I noticed (again using that special talent that I’m so richly blessed with) that Nicholai and Zoltan came rushing up to the table as soon as this mystery couple was seated. N/Z really fawned over these mystery guests, as they took their drink orders. Iced tea, and something raspberry, if memory serves. N/Z hurried away and promptly returned with both our and the mystery couples drinks. About now I’m thinking “Who are these people and who do I have to kill to get that kind of service?”

 

This mystery couple didn’t look very special. He was probably in his late 30’s and she was a little younger. Both were a little undertall, not too much, but a little. She was blonde, and he was dark headed. Nothing special. Neither one was particularly good looking. My SPYDAR alarm started chirping. If these guys weren’t already working for someone, I might just have to talk to them. My recruiting quota was down a little bit for the year, (but I’m not supposed to tell you that, am I?) so I was on the prowl. Time for a little reconnaissance.

 

I started judiciously sizing them up. Hmmm, no visual identifying marks. No obvious ethnic heritage, not too tall, not too short. Might work.

 

About that time, Mrs. cworld, piped up… “Weren’t y’all at the Lumberjack (TGALS) show today?”, “Why, yes, we were” the missus responded (OK now I remember, she was the one I talked about earlier, that was from the north. Go here http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=4190246&postcount=300) “I remember now" the missus said, "you’re the people from Texas, right”. “NO. Oklahoma.” Then she said, “Isn't Oklahoma part of Texas?” Or something like that.

 

And so was born a beautiful friendship.

[cworld]

I'm sorry, I was working on tonights edition, and it was boring, bad and overall needed a lot more work. I promise to post at least one and hopefully 2 sections tomorrow. Hopefully we'll get to Juneau by Thursday.

 

Also, BAMAbuddy, welcome to the party. Roll Tide, since you don't play Oklahoma again for a while.

[joyride]

Well Carl, our Alaska trip finally starts day after tomorrow. We fly out from San Francisco Wednesday night 8/3 direct to Anchorage. After a side trip to the Kenai Penisula, rafting down the Kenai River Canyon on Friday - we will board the Island Princess Southbound this coming Saturday.

 

I have totally enjoyed reading your detailed, interesting and sometimes humorous review (except for the dead fishy stuff, it really bummed me out). After 2 months of enjoyable pre-bedtime reading, it seems that I will be off to Alaska never really knowing if you got your luggage. Well, stuff happens, and I will just have to get over it.

 

I was wondering if there was just one quick thing that you just MUST tell me before we are off on our adventure? One little tidbit or hint that will make our trip the absolute best trip ever?

 

I'll check back Tuesday night to see if you have something. If not, that's OK too because I know we are going to have an excellent adventure!

[cworld]

Joyride,

 

I’ve thought about your question all day. I hope this will give you what you are looking for. But as usual I can’t do anything quickly.

 

First let me say, that there was no one thing that jumped out and defined our cruise. It was more about the whole experience. Let me illustrate that by telling the following story.

I want to introduce you to my Granny. Granny was born sometime in the mid 1880’s in Oklahoma Indian Territory. Nobody knew just exactly how old Granny was. There were no records of her birth. Her parentage was a little nebulous, and during those times, not a lot of things were written down.

 

Granny lived in to her 90’s, and lived with us for a while when I was younger. I learned a lot about history, not from Granny directly, but from learning about her life. Granny was not one to talk much about her childhood, but from what my Grandmother says about her, it wasn’t very glamorous.

 

Like I said Granny was born in Oklahoma Indian Territory, just for a historical perspective, Oklahoma didn’t achieve statehood until 1907. When Granny was born, Indians weren’t the people that ran the casinos or were controversial team names. They still took scalps. Indians were still at war with the United States. Granny survived, but her parents didn’t.

 

Just think about the things Granny saw as she grew up.

 

1. The automobile – cars weren’t mass produced until the early 1900’s. Most people still traveled in covered wagons. No one owned a car. Roads were just where the ruts were the deepest.

 

2. The Telephone. When Granny was a teenager she didn’t use a telephone, much less a cell phone. They hadn’t reached Indian Territory. The telephone was invented in 1876, and wasn’t in general use until later in the 1900's.

 

3. Indoor Plumbing – Where Granny grew up, very few people had indoor plumbing. Some of the houses in the bigger cities were being retrofitted with a form of plumbing, but most people still used outhouses.

 

4. Airplanes – The Wright Brothers first flight happened around the time of Granny’s 20th birthday.

 

5. Air conditioning – Central heat and air were yet to be invented. I can’t imagine living in Oklahoma in the summertime without air conditioning. It’s going to be 100 degrees here today, and it’s about 72 where I am right now. How did they do it?

 

6. Electricity – Granny probably didn’t live in a house with electricity until she was at least 30.

 

I’m sure if I thought about it, I could come up with hundreds of things that Granny didn’t have, that we take for granted. But Granny didn’t complain. She never said a lot about her early life. She was a tough little lady, who had been tempered by a difficult life. But just think about what she saw in her life. From covered wagons to a man walking on the moon, in one lifetime. Really amazing.

 

All of that brings me to this… Be very thankful for what you have, and what you are able to do. Enjoy it. Think about the times we live in. For the first time in recorded history everyday normal people can travel thousands of miles from their homes, and just for fun, get on a ship, travel hundreds of miles, for no other purpose than for sheer enjoyment. We don’t have to row. We don’t have to work the sails. We just eat, drink and be merry. How absolutely lucky we are.

 

So, what can you do? Take time to look around and take in the majesty of creation. Sit on the balcony or out on the deck and soak in the sights. Pet a dog, smell a flower. Smile at those who are providing you this great adventure, and mean it. Thank them.

 

While thinking about this today, I read several threads where people were complaining about the service they received. “Princess no longer makes your salad at the table, Princess doesn’t make towel animals. I had to wait in line at the pursers desk.” I wanted to say “waaa, waaa, waaa.” But then I remembered some of the thing I’ve written, and I scolded myself. We take an awful lot for granted.

 

I couldn’t end this any other way but to mention a great old song by Mac Davis. Here are the lyrics. I hope you'll think of them as you enjoy your great adventure.

 

Hey Mister

Where you going in such a hurry

Don't you think it's time you realized

There's a whole lot more to life than work and worry

The sweetest things in life are free

And there right before your eyes

 

You got to Stop and Smell the roses

You've got to count your many blessings everyday

You're gonna find your way to heaven is a rough and rocky road

If you don't Stop and Smell the roses along the way

 

Before you went to work this morning in the city

Did you spent some time with your family

Did you kiss your wife and tell her that she's pretty

Did you take your children to your breast and love them tenderly

 

You got to Stop and Smell the roses

You've got to count your many blessings everyday

You're gonna find your way to heaven is a rough and rocky road

If you don't Stop and Smell the roses along the way

 

Did you ever take a walk through the forest

Stop and dream a while among the trees

Well you can look up through the leaves right straight to heaven

You can almost hear the voice of God

In each any every breeze

 

You got to Stop and Smell the Roses

You've got to count your many blessings everyday

You're gonna find your way to heaven is a rough and rocky road

If you don't Stop and Smell the Roses along the way

 

You got to Stop and Smell the roses

You've got to count your many blessings everyday

You're gonna find your way to heaven is a rough and rocky road

If you don't Stop and Smell the roses along the way

 

 

And above all, HAVE FUN.

[cworld]

Well Carl, our Alaska trip finally starts day after tomorrow. We fly out from San Francisco Wednesday night 8/3 direct to Anchorage. After a side trip to the Kenai Penisula, rafting down the Kenai River Canyon on Friday - we will board the Island Princess Southbound this coming Saturday.

 

I have totally enjoyed reading your detailed, interesting and sometimes humorous review (except for the dead fishy stuff, it really bummed me out). After 2 months of enjoyable pre-bedtime reading, it seems that I will be off to Alaska never really knowing if you got your luggage. Well, stuff happens, and I will just have to get over it.

 

I was wondering if there was just one quick thing that you just MUST tell me before we are off on our adventure? One little tidbit or hint that will make our trip the absolute best trip ever?

 

I'll check back Tuesday night to see if you have something. If not, that's OK too because I know we are going to have an excellent adventure!

 

About the other stuff in your post. Yes we did get the bag, and I hope the dead fishy stuff didn't bother you too much. The cannery was interesting, and the BBQ was great. Have a great trip.

Carl

[zachnlucy]

Very nicely put, Carl. It's funny that I read this today. This weekend I was talking with my 20 year old son about my Grandma Krebs who was born in 1899, and the things she witnessed during her life. Actually I was comparing her stamina and remembering her going down a big slide in Six Flags during the late 60s (when she was in her late 60s), with my total lack of stamina this past weekend at Six Flags in St. Louis. AND I'M ONLY 48! I bet she's in heaven just laughing like heck at her poor overweight out of shape granddaughter. :)

[cworld]

Yes, I said friendship. Funny how these things happen. We started talking about the TGALS show, and the next thing you know, by the end of the week, we’re going steady. Well maybe not going steady, but we as the week progressed we started spending a considerable amount of time together, but like any relationship it didn’t start out that way.

 

This whole going steady thing was a major accomplishment for us. We’re not really outgoing people. I know, you are probably thinking “there he goes again”, but it’s true. I’m reasonably outgoing (duh), but Mrs. c is painfully shy. It’s a little unusual for us to reach out and try to get to know people, especially people from Nu Joiesee. But get to know them we did, eventually.

 

Zoltan/Nicholai interrupted our conversation and took our orders. The menu was a little exotic for my tastes, I think it had Lamb, and Beef Wellington, and some other yucky things. I also wasn’t very hungry after the fishys and all, so I ordered the steak and baked potato (real adventure food). Mrs. c ended up with Beef Wellington, I think. Nicholai and Zoltan were more attentive than the servers were earlier in the week. I quickly discovered why. Mrs. NJ was pretty “high maintenance”, if’n you know what I mean.

 

Insert apology here - - Please Mrs. NJ, if you read this, or if anyone else reads this and sees themselves, I apologize for any insult. I don’t mean it that way. I mean high maintenance as a term of endearment. I guess at some point in our lives we’re all a little high maintenance.

 

I must say that other than the conversation, dinner was pretty uneventful, but the conversation was fun. Mr. and Mrs. NJ both worked in New York City (get a rope). They lived in Nu Joiesee so that they could have property with a little breathing room. New York City and the whole northeast fascinates me. I’ve never been to NYC, but have been to Boston and DC. While flying home from Boston this year, we could see NYC. We must have flown for an hour before we could no longer see residential areas. It was absolutely amazing. It was interesting to see just how much Mrs. NJ didn’t know about the Midwest. And listening to their accents was a hoot.

 

Speaking of “was a hoot”, somewhere during the evening my dear wife, the apple of my eye, my one and only, the only girl I dream about… anyway, Mrs. c when talking about something said “It was a hoot”. Mrs. NJ erupted wondering what “It was a hoot, what does that mean”. She had never heard the term. We were incredulous. Everybody must have heard at some time in their lives, someone say something was a hoot. But not Mrs. NJ. (I think she lived a sheltered life, but don’t tell her I said that.) So for the rest of the cruise for Mrs. c and I everything was “a hoot”.

 

What a hoot.

 

We were pretty boring at dinner food wise. Salads, shrimp cocktail (you’d thunk we’duh had enough shrimps by now, but nooooo.) I might have had the soup. I had soup one night and it was very good. The rolls were just as good as ever, and finally the entrée’s were served. One thing that jumped out at me every night, was that the food in the Bourdeaux Dining Room wasn’t particularly hot. In fact the baked potato wasn’t hot enough to melt butter. The steak was warm, but not hot. Again it just made me feel that we were getting mass-produced food that had been kept warm until it was time to serve it. Which of course we were, but good restaurants make you feel like your mass-produced food was individually prepared. Again dinner was OK, but nothing special.

 

Rating for a cold baked potato – F or, if it was supposed to be a delicacy, still F

 

PS. I’m not complaining, I ate it all, I’m just reporting.

 

Isn’t cruising a great thing? I’ve been thinking about this all day, with my answer to Joyrides question and all, I got a little nostalgic. Here we are 6,000 miles from home. We meet some people who are from a far away place, and in a short period of time, we become friends. It’s so not us. When we vacation at that great big former swamp in Central Florida, we are always go, go, go. The only time we stop to talk to people is whenever we are in line. We certainly never make plans to see them again. We went to Swapville in December, and ran in to some friends we had known for years. Did we arrange to meet for dinner? No. Did we make plans to even see them again? NO. We did the cheek peck thing, talked for 5 minutes, then when the alarm clock in our heads went off signifying that we were getting behind, we moved on. (They were even more scheduled than we were.) But here on the cruise, what did we have to do? Nothing. We enjoyed a leisurely dinner, talking to our new friends. How Cool!

 

After dinner, we said goodbye to Mr. and Mrs. NJ, thinking we’d probably never see them again. I’m happy to say we were wrong.

 

After dinner, we stopped by to see if Dave, the No Worries guy had any update on the bag. He told us that he had just received a notice that they were going to ship it to Juneau in the morning, and that we should have it by noon. (Fat chance.)

 

We had planned to finish the evening watching “Phantom” on the TV, but it had already started, and either somebody doesn’t know how to lip sync, or the sound and the video wasn’t matching up, we decided to skip “Phantom”.

 

Another beautiful sunset on the balcony and Day 3 comes to an end.

[Mrs. cworld]

Like my DH has already said--RELAX--take time to enjoy your cruise--take time to talk to the people sitted at the table next to you or at the same table. Mr. and Mrs. NJ were very interesting to talk to for several reasons: (1) Their lifestyles and backgrounds were so totally different than ours. (2) Mrs. NJ worked in the WTC and had it not been for a doctor's appointment on 9/11, she might have already been at work. (3) They seemed really amazed that we had been married for 25 years and seemed really interested in stories about our kids. (4) Like all of you dear readers, Mrs. NJ fretted and fretted that one of our suitcases was lost. I could go on and on.

[jeannieq]

I've really enjoyed your travelogue and had to comment on your story about Granny. My dad was born in 1919, the year the first trans-atlantic flight took 54 hours. He started flying in 1939 and retired in 1979 as a 747 captain. Think of the changes that he saw in aviation alone. By the way, our Alaska trip was probably my favorite cruise and it is so much fun to relive it through your stories.

[FloridaTourist]

Thanks Carl. I've been away for the last 3 weeks. Glad you didn't get to far ahead of me. My cruise on the Island Princess is not till June 06....see if you can make this last till then. Shouldn't be much of a problem at the rate you are going.

[cworld]

OK. Petal to the metal time. We went to bed. We slept. We woke up. We showered and dressed. Whohoo.. (I just went through 9 hours in just 5 short, small, nondescript, easy reading, sentences, aren’t you proud of me?)

 

We went to breakfast. Same song 3rd verse. Moving right along… Man, there goes another hour, I’m on a roll.

 

10 whole hours. At this rate I’ll be done next week.

 

Since I got 10 hours done, I think I’ll retire for the evening. (Really, I got a late start, won’t get finished with anything substantive until tomorrow. But I did finish 10 hours. Well, maybe.

 

Thanks for your PATIENCE and as Emeril says “See ya’ tomorrow, everybody."

 

PS. Floridatourist, If I'm not done by OU-Texas, I'll probably just have to quit. New job starts around that time.

[Gayle2]

cworld-

You are NOT allowed to quit until we get the whole story! You can't leave us hanging!!!!!!!!

[cworld]

First things first. I want to apologize for the problems Cruise Critic is having with their boards. I have become convinced that they are my fault. From my observation, CC has problems mainly around the times I usually post, so I, using that absolute power I’ve been granted, have deduced that CC’s problems are my fault. So if in the not to distant future I suddenly disappear from site, it’s probably because I’ve been banned by CC for causing their server problems. (Yeah, right… I the immortal words of Russell Casse from the movie “Independence Day”. “Hey boys, I’m back”)

 

Back to Alaska. Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, So I lied. I couldn’t possibly let things go that easily. It seems I’ve left out a couple of totally insignificant, but fairly interesting details about the early morning hours of May 10, 2005. Small little insignificant things like the boat sinking as we arrived in Juneau.

 

We arrived in balmy Juneau Alaska fairly early on the morning of May 10, 2005. It was another gorgeous day in southern Alaska. In fact the day we were in Juneau Alaska, Juneau Alaska shattered the record for high temperature for Juneau Alaska on that date. The Juneau Alaska airport recorded a high temperature of 74 degrees, breaking the previous record by 4 degrees. Breaking a record high temperature by 4 degrees is quite unusual. Usually, high temperatures are broken by a degree or two. Not four. Impressive. And it’s all because we were there. What other explanation could there be. Mr. and Mrs. cworld come to town and Alaska gets the most beautiful weather that they’ve had in all of recorded history. Aren’t we somepthin’?

 

WARNING. Unless you have an iron constitution you might want to skip the next two paragraphs.

 

(Before you read this next paragraph, you absolutely must turn on your old Victrola, or your Itunes, or your CD player, or your 8 track, or whatever you play music with and play Neil Diamonds version of “Brother Love’s Salvation Show” I’ve included the lyrics at the bottom of this, but it’s better if you actually hear the music. I’ve got to find a way to podcast this stuff.)

 

Attention… Attention… The church of what’s happin' now network calls out to all 2,000 of you beautiful, wonderfully ordinary people who, through no fault of your own, were almost divinely blessed to travel with that wonderful man. Why, he’s the self-effacing, the shy, the modest, the meek, the most humble feller a person could know, Mr. C is such a timid person that he won’t even allow us to use his full name. What a wonderful time he provided for your Great Alaskan Adventure, in May of this year. How special you must have felt to have been so close to his humble presence. Just think about what he brought to you. The blue skies, the perfect temperatures, all brought to you by him. Amazing. It would only be fitting if you immediately dug deep in to your pockets to help him in his next noble cause. He doesn’t ask much, just whatever very large gift you can spare. He needs all the help he can muster so that he can bless another small group of unfortunate brethren who have never had the awesome opportunity to be in THE PRESENCE. We here at the network, hope to raise this gift quickly so that we can broadcast the magical plans for his next Great Alaskan Adventure to all of the called both great and small. We hope to draw a large portion of the family of true believers to his next Great Alaskan Adventure, but we need your help. Just one very large gift will go a long way, so please won’t ya’ help him today? (Practicing my televangelist speech writing skills. Gonna need a new job in a few years. Maybe this will get cruisebie off of the hook, at least for the cruise. But you still owe me most of the $2 mil.)

 

You know, I’d probably be through with this if I didn’t take two hours to write things like that last paragraph.

 

Back to semi-reality… If you check the weather for Alaska every day, like I do, you’d see that Juneau Alaska hasn’t reached 70 degrees since May. Just look at the Weather Channel forecast for today’s weather.

 

August 4, 2005, Thursday: Cloudy with periods of rain. High 58F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall around a quarter of an inch.

 

When we booked the trip to Alaska, that’s what we expected the weather to be. Cloudy and cold. Isn’t that Alaska? Doesn’t it snow every day in Alaska? Again we didn’t do a lot of research. We did know that it was supposed to be nice while we were there, but we had a distorted perspective of what Alaska really is.

 

Needless to say the weather was again wonderful in Juneau Alaska. I promise that’s the last time you’ll hear me say that. (Fingers crossed)

 

The Magnificent Island Princess pulled in to the dock at Juneau right on schedule. The Patter said the Island Princess would pull in to her berth at 7:00am. And ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, precisely at 7:00am the Island Princess nestled up to the dock in Juneau. NASA wishes that they could be this on time. We were up early enough to watch the Island Princess make it’s final approach to the dock. Some of the pictures I snapped as we pulled in are here.

 

http://homepage.mac.com/cktrent2/PhotoAlbum14.html

 

What to say about Juneau Alaska? Where the town of Ketchikan was picturesque, Juneau was not so picturesque. Where the dock area of Ketchikan made the town more beautiful, the dock at Juneau didn’t make the town of Juneau more beautiful. I’m not saying that Juneau was not pretty, it was. But our first impression was that we parked at a dirty looking oil taker dock. Not a modern day cruise terminal. We felt a little second rate. A little later in the day, we found out that we really were second rate.

 

Truthfully, coming up the channel to Juneau Alaska, and seeing the city snuggled up against the mountains, a small bit of fog coming off the trees, a little cap of snow on top, it was a nice introduction to Juneau. But the dock kinda took away from the experience.

 

Rating for the weather in Juneau Alaska on May 10, 2005 – P

 

Rating for the dock where the Island Princess parked – D for dirty.

 

OK. Now I’m through with all of the stuff I left out, except for the personal stuff that you don’t need to know about, and we’re ready to move on to our excursions in Juneau Alaska.

 

What a hoot.

 

Brother Love’s Salvation Show

 

Hot August night

And the leaves hanging down

And the grass on the ground smelling sweet

Move up the road

To the outside of town

And the sound of that good gospel beat

Sits a ragged tent

Where there ain't no trees

And that gospel group

Telling you and me

 

It's Love

Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show

Pack up the babies

Grab the old ladies

Everyone goes

Everyone knows

Brother Love's show

 

Room gets suddenly still

And when you'd almost bet

You could hear yourself sweat, he walks in

Eyes black as coal

And when he lifts his face

Every ear in the place is on him

 

Starting soft and slow

Like a small earthquake

And when he lets go

Half the valley shakes

 

It's Love, Love

Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show

Pack up the babies

Grab the old ladies

Everyone goes

Everyone knows

Brother Love's show

 

Sermon

 

Take my hand in yours

Walk with me this day

In my heart, I know

I will never stray

Halle, halle, halle, halle, halle, halle, halle

 

 

It's Love, Love

Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show

Pack up the babies

Grab the old ladies

Everyone goes

Everyone knows

Brother Love's show

Amen

[Mrs. cworld]

Nope, my DH, that was not worth waiting for.

[cworld]

Dear, you forgot the Ha, Ha, Ha.

[tee_wrecks]

Back to semi-reality… If you check the weather for Alaska every day, like I do, you’d see that Juneau Alaska hasn’t reached 70 degrees since May. Just look at the Weather Channel forecast for today’s weather.

 

Eau Contraire, Mon Frer.....When we stepped onto the docks in Juneau on June 16, the birds were singing, the skies were blue, children were laughing, tourists who left their t shirts and shorts home in the lower 48 were sweating...

 

That afternoon it reached 82 degrees. There were fans protruding from every possible orofice of every building trying to move air and the locals were whining and moaning non-stop about the heat and how it was so miserable in Juneau. Same thing in Skagway the following day.

 

Personally I believe it was Tee who arrived bearing fantastic weather, but that's another story for another time.

 

Happy to announce that ALL the pics are posted on the website which is fully functional. (FINALLY....bad web monkey...bad monkey)

 

Peace, Out...(Oh yeah....Hook 'em Horns)

[luv2travel2beaches]

Ok Cworld. Since you are the bearer of such beautiful weather everywhere you travel would you mind booking a cabin on the January 15th Star Princess to the Western Caribbean. We would really like some nice weather at that time of year. We will be leaving the cold and icky Kansas weather and you and Mrs. CWorld could arrange to leave the icky dreary January Oklahoma weather and come with! Think about it and talk it over with the Mrs.

 

P.S. we are making a stop at mouseland prior to our cruise. We just have to have a dose of mouse ears and fireworks since we will be in Florida!