Island to Alaska with Pictures

[cworld]

After the incredible disappointment of the engine thingys, we walked up toward the front of the ship. (Interesting side note, between the engine thingys is a pretty awesome looking collection of pipe organ pipes. I bet those things could belt out quite a tune). As we were walking, one thing I noticed was a bunch of deck chairs stacked up. I noticed this in several places as we walked around the ship. The ones we saw stacked were the white plastic ones with the blue and white striped pads.

Please be gentle with me on this next, but…I think I saw about a hundred of them or so that had towels on them. I think it’s very inconsiderate of people to try to save stacked chairs for the whole day. No one was even around when we saw these towels. People should learn to just take their chances. Or just sit in their chairs until their tails rot. (Stop it. You didn’t see any saved chairs. There were never enough people around to even try to save chairs. There you go again, using a gratuitous reference to a controversial subject to try to stir up dissention. Shame on you…) I did see stacks of chairs, or chairs already out anywhere there would be a place to sit in them. There were never a lot of people sitting on the chairs. (I wonder if the weather had anything to do with it?)

We entered the covered pool area. This is another one of those, exercise type places that we studiously avoided. We did make a conscious decision, even before the trip, not to swim or use the hot tubs. We didn’t bring our bathing suits, and swimming in our birthday suits would have probably been frowned on. We decided that since we are both slightly undertall, we would forgo the pool areas. The hot tubs might have been fun in the evenings, but it was a long way from the pool area to our room. It just wasn’t in the cards.

BUT, the pools did look like fun. I remember from the SS Dolphin that the ships pool (I can’t remember if there was more than one) wasn’t the greatest. The Dolphins pool was, if I remember right only open when we were docked. If we were sailing the pool was empty. Not just of people but even of water. As with most cruise ship pools it was filled with saltwater. Even back then I didn’t like saltwater. (Dear Mrs. cworld, or Laughing husky, please feel free to correct me if I’m remembering this wrong, but please do it gently, I’m very sensitive.) Again, if I remember right, we did actually try a pool at least once.

The Island Princess pools looked nothing like I remember the pool(s) on the Dolphin. All of them looked like they would be very refreshing in the hot sun. The indoor pool looked inviting even in Alaska. If we would have brought our suits, I think I might have stuck my toe in just to try it out. I did notice that they were heated. There was steam rising off of them on cool mornings.

One cool thing about the pools was the shower. It took us a couple of days to figure out what that thing was. It looked a little like decoration. There was glass around this pipe thing. It looked really cool. We never actually saw anyone take a shower there, thank goodness, as most of the people on our cruise were in our looks category. (There were a couple of… maybe I better stop right there.)

The hot tubs looked great. A couple of times I wished we had brought our suits so we could have tried them out. They were always steaming and bubbling. The hot tubs got a lot more traffic than the pool. I don’t remember seeing more than 4 or 5 people in a pool at a time all week, but on a couple of occasions the hot tubs were pretty full.

I do have to say that the Lotus pool area looks fabulous. What a concept, an indoor pool on a cruise ship. Absolutely perfect for Alaska… I don’t know how it works in the warmer climates, but if I would have wanted to swim this week, this is where I would have wanted to be. I really enjoyed the décor. The gold statues, the thatch covered hot tubs, the beautiful tile work around the pools, the incredibly rich coloring used around the upper floor. It all worked IMHO. (Been there, done that) The setting was great. The only problem was the tinted glass. (Get real man. If that glass wasn’t tinted it would get to 300 degrees in there. I know, but do you know what that tint does to a photo? It will take me hours in Photoshop to get rid of it. You want some cheese with that whine?)

 

Note to Princess – Just a small question here. How much would it cost to make the glass on the Lotus Pools retract? It seems silly, I know, probably a waste of money, but … (never mind)

 

Another thing about this area is that it had the better chairs. It had the wooden recliners with a green covering. We sat in both, the wood and the plastic, and the only difference I noticed was that the wood chair was heavier. To tell you how thoughtful Princess is, there were also little tables between some of the chairs, so you could set down those overpriced drinks whilst you were relaxing.

 

Rating for the pools and hot tubs – B might have been an A if we had actually tried either.

 

Again please don’t flame me, but, there must have been at least 7 kids on our cruise. SEVEN, count them seven, it was awful… They were everywhere. Every time you looked up, there was another kid. Don’t tell anyone, but they were even in the “adult” pool, and never, not once, did I see any Princess employee say one single word to these kids about being in the wrong pool. What kind of parent brings a kid on an ALASKA cruise? Don’t they know this is an old fogy ship. This is not a place for children. Children should be seen and not heard.

OK Reality time. We didn’t see a lot of kids. There might have been more than 7, but there weren’t more than 50. They were never a problem. I did see some unsupervised in a hot tub one day that I thought needed a little supervision. But overall the kids weren’t a problem.

 

I better let you enjoy your evening, so until tomorrow…

[Kaylas Mom]

Carl,

 

Did I miss the detailed blow-by-blow on how you spent the lost luggage money?????????

 

Cathy

[cworld]

Kayla's mom,

 

No, we haven't done the shopping thing yet. It'll probably sneak in over the weekend. That is if it keeps raining in Oklahoma.

 

Carl

[Kaylas Mom]

Argh! Does that mean sometime later in your "novel" we're going to find out that the luggage doesn't show????? I can't take the suspense!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

LOL!

 

Cathy

[laughing husky]

Hi CWORLD and Cruising Bug....Yeh, thats is the camera.....That was a good treip wasn't it.....and yes, the Dolphin didn't have water in it when it sailed...I had forgotten about that, but you are absolutely right.....and it was very small in comparison to the ships of today.....That was our first cruise and I remember telling my husband we should walk around outside at night so we could see the stars.....so....we went out on deck and low and behold....what we saw was the lights of 526 ships all going in the same direction as we were........That was pretty funny.......anyway....keep cruising....and keep writing.....

[marcruiser]

:)

 

Keep on going, this is great. We, too, are going to celebrate our 25th anniversary with a cruise; but on the Coral Princess, the Island's sister ship, I think.

[sunprincess]

Cworld - Happy Belated 25th. This is a long & detailed review. When I read about your needing coke I LOL. I am addicted to diet coke. Usually will bring a couple of 20 oz. bottles to get me started. Being Elite now they have it stocked & waiting for me in the frig :) I always get the soda card, great bargain for me. I ask for the giant tumbler though (told you addicted). In the mornings I would always be able to get diet coke at the pool bars(near Horizon Court). Need at least 2 to start my day.

[cworld]

On we go. As we were walking down the deck, we came to the Island Princess sign. So, being the first timers that we are, we have to stop and get a picture under the sign. Snap, Snap. Stand by a minute let me move back here a little, snap. Hey, dear, don’t you think that’s enough? Sigh, OK lets go.

 

Hey, what’s this? It looks like a stairway, I wonder where it goes? Maybe it's "a stairway to he-vun" (hear Led Zeppelin playing in the background). Maybe to a hidden area where there is less than fully clothed sunbathing… (Did I say that out loud? NO, good.) Will you just stop and go up the stupid stairs. Clomp, clomp. Look, by golly, it’s the Sports Deck.

 

There were a couple of cool things up here that again, we saw today, and, being that we are boycotting anything even remotely resembling exercise, we never saw again. #1 The Olympic size chess set was pretty cool. #2 It was interesting to watch people play basketball inside that net. And #3 I wish we had come back and tried the shuffleboard. I love to play shuffleboard, but never get to do it. After about 7 minutes and 20 pictures we climbed back down the mystery stairway, mystery solved. (For all of you who didn't think I could do it, I toured a whole deck in just one paragraph.)

 

It was a little after noon, so we decided to dash down and try a bite of pizza. We better eat now, because there won’t be anything available after the movie. Or there won’t? This is a cruise ship. There is food available 29 hours a day. Yes dear, but don’t you think we need to try out the pizza. How am I going to have any credibility when I write my book about this cruise if I don’t try the pizza? Who’d ever believe anything I said again if… Just shut up and eat.

 

Going to the pizza place was a major event. We are not thin crust pizza people (reading pizza people is easy but try saying it outloud a couple of times,...see what I mean...tickles the tounge doesn't it). While I was a young lad, some time in the last century, (boy, that's painful to write) in Oklahoma City, most restaurants served thin crust pizza. The last one that specialized in thin crust pizza went out of business 20 years ago. Yeah, you can get thin crust pizza from Pizza Hut, or some other pizza place, but what’s the point. I had my first thick crust pizza about the time I was 18. A new pizza place came to town. It was called Godfathers. It had pizza that was about 1” thick with the toppings smothered in cheese. I resisted going to Godfathers for a long time. Thick pizza, with cheese on top of the ingredients, what kind of pizza is that? YUCK. Finally, some girl dragged me to Godfathers, a new love affair began. No, not me and the girl. But, me and thick crust pizza. I LOVE THICK PIZZA. My favorite pizza is UNO’s. They fill up an iron skillet with crust and toppings and cheese, YUM, YUM. So it’s with much trepidation that I led my lovely wife up to the pizza counter. And oh by the way, I hadn’t told her it’s thin crust pizza yet.

 

We walked over to the pizza counter. It was interesting to just stand there and watch the chefs work with the dough. They would work it until it was almost paper thin. It was almost unbelievable how they could take that small dough ball and work it in to a 20 inch or so pizza. YOU COULD ALMOST SEE THROUGH IT. (I’m not gonna like this.) I think we both ended up ordering cheese. (I'm not gonna like this.) It only took a second or two and here you are, two plates with a big (really big) slice of cheese pizza.

 

We walked over to one of those tables around the pool area. (I'm not goona like this.) I take a hefty bite, because that's the only kind of bite I can take.

 

 

And drum roll please...

 

 

(if I was obsenely mean, I'd stop right here. I am obscenely mean, but I won't stop right here.) it was good. It was good. IT WAS GOOD. It was really good. The crust just melted in my mouth. It wasn't dry like I expected it to be. The chefs didn't dry out the edges, which is what I never liked about thin crust. There wasn't anything special about the sauce and cheese, but they were in just the right proportion. Did I mention the pizza was really good? It was so good that every day that we ate lunch on the boat I made an excuse to get a piece of pizza, and sometimes 2.

 

Rating for the thin crust pizza – G for great

 

Note to self – the pizza incident should tell you something about trying new things. Sometimes new things are great.

 

After we ate the pizza, we popped in to the Horizon Court, just to see what lunch looked like. It looked, to me, like too much food. This cruise is gonna kill me, if I’m not careful. I'll probably gain 50 pounds this week. As we walked out, this being formal night, I asked one of the servers what was for dinner. (I used to be a boy scout, I plan ahead.) He said he thought since it was first formal night that it would be “Lobsters”. NEWS FLASH... Carl has died and officially gone to heaven. All the lobsters you can eat. This is gonna be great. I'll bankrupt this place.

 

STOP SIGN. Reality check time.

 

You aren’t planning to eat in the main dining room tonight, and they may not serve lobster in the Horizon Court. (For all of you out there that are wondering… we had decided ahead of time to only do one formal night. And since I didn’t have my suit, (it being lost somewhere Vancouver and never, never land) we had decided to go to formal night later in the week, that is if I got my suit.) Surely they’ll serve Lobster in the Horizon Court if that’s what there serving in the main dining room. Surely, Surely…

 

We’ve eaten lunch, we’ve toured almost everything outside, we’ve eaten, we kinda have a plan for supper, the movie starts in about an hour, maybe we ought to go by the shops and just peak at what’s available (remember the $500.00) before the movie.

 

Then again, maybe we’ll save that topic for tomorrow. And yes, unless another flu bug strikes I’ll post tomorrow. (No baseball)

[cworld]

Hey, moderator. I've been looking at all of these posts that have "LONG" in the title when there is a trip report. You might want to change my title and add "VERY LONG." Or "UNBELIEVEABLY LONG" or "NEVER ENDING" or something like that.

 

It's probably hard to believe that my only intention when I started this was to write a small trip report. This thing is getting out of hand. I'm not complaining (sounds like it), no I'm really not, this is fun.

 

As Emril is fond of saying... "my brain just exploded." (Yeah, and you need to clean up the mess. Here here's one paper towel, that's all you'll need.) I've got a idea for another contest. The "come up with a better name for this trip report contest." (Maybe you ought to think about coming up with a better name for this contest.)

 

Is anyone interested?

[Hornet]

I'm still with ya cworld. And...................I really like the pizza too. I especially like the vegie pizzas.

 

Can't wait to hear about shopping. And...........I really like to shop.

[Hornet]

Yes - "The Never Ending Story" would be perfect (or was that already taken?) Then you'll have to write forever to keep us entertained and you'll never have any free time again.

[wtevrfltsurbt]

How about "Carl's ludicrously loquacious litany of cruising":D

 

What did I win?

Just kidding, love the posts.

Hey, moderator. I've been looking at all of these posts that have "LONG" in the title when there is a trip report. You might want to change my title and add "VERY LONG." Or "UNBELIEVEABLY LONG" or "NEVER ENDING" or something like that.

 

It's probably hard to believe that my only intention when I started this was to write a small trip report. This thing is getting out of hand. I'm not complaining (sounds like it), no I'm really not, this is fun.

 

As Emril is fond of saying... "my brain just exploded." (Yeah, and you need to clean up the mess. Here here's one paper towel, that's all you'll need.) I've got a idea for another contest. The "come up with a better name for this trip report contest." (Maybe you ought to think about coming up with a better name for this contest.)

 

Is anyone interested?

[prophotogirl]

Keep going! I just imagine I'm on a cruise with you!

[Mrs. cworld]

How about, "DH, you are boring.....zzzzz" :p

[wtevrfltsurbt]

ROFL:D

How about, "DH, you are boring.....zzzzz" :p

[cworld]

How about, "DH, you are boring.....zzzzz" :p

 

 

Don't think that's would help get people to read this. Besides, I you seem to find time to read me every day.

 

Your loving husband.

[cworld]

I want to apologize. I promised more stuff tonight, but I've got two thoughts going through my head, and I can't seem to be able to get them to come out right. I promise to get them both done tomorrow and post at least one.

 

In the meantime, let's play the game. We're still looking for the best (meaning something that would draw interest) name for this thread. We've got IMHO one good entry, and one bad entry (sorry dear).

 

Until tomorrow.

[cworld]

We jump on those super fast elevators, and down we go, down into the bowels of the ship (doesn’t that sound gross). We come out on deck 6, because that’s where the shops are.

 

TIME FOR SHOPPING…

 

 

But before the shopping…

 

I'm afraid I contracted a case of shoptus intereuptus. (In the immortal words of Gomer Pyle, Surprise, Surprise, Surprise.) For some reason I just can't get motivated to write about shopping. So I thought I'd catch up on a couple of things I promised to talk about but forgot.

 

#1 - Personal Choice Dining

 

I really don't know how to rate Personal Choice Dining. I think it's a good thing, but I also think it's ruining the cruise industry.

 

Did I hear you right? Did you say “RUINING THE CRUISE INDUSTRY”?

 

Yes, it’s not a typo. I really did say “ruining the cruise industry”.

 

HEY HONEY, LOOKEE HERE---- Carl’s finally done it. He's going over the edge. He’s blown a gasket. The brain pans gone kaput. He’s lost it. He’s gone bonkers. He's had the big one. No wonder he had problems writing this.

 

I know, I know Personal Choice dining is the happening attraction. It’s what all of the mid-priced cruise lines are going too. It seems to be catching on everywhere. But my question is, is it good for the cruise industry?

 

Personal Choice Dining is taking away one of the major reasons for cruise lines to exist. One of the reasons I decided to return to cruising is, at least once each day we would have a FABULOUS MEAL with OUTSTANDING SERVICE.

 

I know it was a long time ago, but my memory of the SS Dolphin “Scourge of the Sea” was that dinner was the crowning feature of each day. Each night we would go congregate in the dining room and wonder what marvelous delights would be coming our way tonight. After the first night, our servers were pouring our drinks as we sat down. For us “tea totalers” the iced tea hit the table soon after we did, and the glasses never got more than half empty all night. Almost every night the Captain was sitting at the Captains table, and numerous officers were in attendance. This was the highlight of the day. It’s why we went cruising.

 

Let me interject here that I’m not criticizing the servers in the Bordeaux Dining Room on the Island Princess. They do a good job. I’m just saying that they are dealt a losing hand. They are hindered from giving outstanding service by PC dining.

 

Let me give you an example of what I’m don’t see happening with PC dining.

 

We used to have some friends, (not that there not still our friends, it’s just that we moved) that went out to the same restaurant every Sunday for lunch. They were always seated at the same table, with the same servers. Before our friends would even be seated, their drinks were being served, their chips and queso were coming from the kitchen, and their server was standing there ready to serve them in any way he could. The people who worked at that restaurant knew our friends. They knew them well. They knew each family members names. They knew what they liked and disliked on the menu. They even knew that the Mrs. took 2 limes in her tea.

 

That’s the level of service we all dream about and expect when we cruise. It’s a level of service that you can’t get when you dine at a different table with different servers every night. The servers don’t have a chance. They never get to know that I’m always thirsty and want some kind of drink in front of me as soon as I walk in the door. They don’t learn my name. I think that’s a big thing. I’m a big shot (you got the big part of that right). I like it when people call me Mister. Yep, that’s me. MR. BIG SHOT. That’s what I think of when I book a cruise. I want to be treated like a big shot all of the time. Yes sir. Your right ,sir. Whatever you want, sir. Can I bring you something, sir. How was your day, sir. Here's your Coke, sir. Can I refill your tea, sir.

 

SERVICE!

 

 

Usually when I see a major complaint on this board it’s usually in one form or another about one thing. Poor service. Service in the dining room wasn’t good. There are kids in the adult pool? Why doesn’t somebody do something about it? Why did they let that guy in jeans into the dining room at dinner? Or we can’t get full room service in our cabins anymore. All of these things revolve around a declining level of service. I think I’ve said something about this before, but I think that PC Dining is just another symptom of the death of great service.

 

Yes, it’s convenient to eat whenever you choose. And no, I’m not talking about doing away with alternative dining. I do think that’s a good thing.

 

I can hear you saying, come on Carl, next time just choose first seating and get over it. And you’re probably right, I’m a first seating kind of guy. But it’s my blowhard opinion that PC Dining and the great level of personal service don’t mix.

 

 

My rating of PC dining - C

 

What's this you give PC dining a C, and you say it's ruining the cruise industry. Yep, we did enjoy not having to eat at a set time every evening. BUT, service suffered. Tea glasses never got refilled. I was never called by name. I expected better.

 

Enough of that…

 

On to shopping.

[wtevrfltsurbt]

cworld,

I have to agree with you about PC dining its great and its awful. The cruise industry has adopted the "Burger King" mentality, "Have it YOUR way" and IMO it taking the magic and the majesty out of cruising. The upside is that more people are spending their vacation dollars on cruising which means bigger/newer ships, itineraries and more amenities than before. The downside, people now think they CAN have it their way regardless dresscodes, rules, shipmate courtesy and generally being intollerant of anyone who does not think, act or behave as they do. i.e. rude and reckless:( Rules and guidelines make for a more pleasant experience for everyone in the longrun, but with mass market vacationing it's a thing of the past.

[cworld]

After that my little diddy, wife’s title for this post might be appropriate.

 

OK, I’ve led you on long enough, let’s go shopping.

 

We walked in to the Calypso Cove shop. Mrs. cworld bought 2 post cards and a magnet. We looked at sweat shirts, t-shirts and coats. We left Calypso Cove.

 

Then we went to our cabin and got ready to go to the movie.

[Perley1]

You didn't spend the $500?!

[AmyinGA]

That must have been a very expensive magnet!

[margord]

Oh my, tell me you didn't give the $500 back.

[cworld]

We hustled around and walked up to the Princess Theater. This is where the movie “The Aviator” was showing. OK, a good (hopefully) movie to pass a couple of hours, since we don’t have anything better to do. We walked in to the theatre and picked some seats near the back.

 

We always sit at the back in the middle at movie theatres. It’s a tradition. I’ve never liked sitting on the front row, or even in the middle. It’s always the back. After we lighted, I went in search of COKE (the liquid kind, you evil minded people). It was time again. Almost desperation time, I was starting to twitch. I found a bar and had them fill our Coke decanters that we had brought along for just such an occasion.

A few people were already in the theater, but oddly enough most of them were sitting toward the front. What’s up? As more people came in we started looking around.

 

The Princess Theater reminded me a little of my High School. We had a theater that had kind of the same set up. 3 sections of chairs divided by 2 aisles, a large stage in the front, light canisters hanging from just about everywhere. I even think the curtains were the same color. The chairs in the Princess Theater were pretty comfortable except for the tray thing. The room was nice, but not particularly lavish. I wasn’t impressed, but I wasn’t disappointed either.

 

Rating for the décor of the Princess Theatre – B-

 

Right at 1:30 the movie started, but right before the movie started the ceiling opened up and down came this space ship thing. I guess it was the projection equipment, it was huge. It hung down from the ceiling at about the 10th row from the back of the theater. If you were sitting in the last 2 or 3 rows, in the middle of the theater, you couldn’t see all of the screen. Now for you experienced cruisers this may be a normal thing. But for us nubies, it was unexpected. We got up and moved over to the side of the theater, so we could see the whole screen.

 

Then the fun began. What can I say other than…

 

Note to Princess – You’re probably waiting until the Island goes in to dry dock to add M. U. T. S. Bad idea. You need to do something about the projection equipment on the Island today. It’s not very good. I don’t know if it just needs a tune up, but I suspect that it needs to be replaced altogether. We watched “The Aviator” on the Island in the Princess Theater on May 8, 2005, and the projector had problems. At times the color would go away. At times the color would be off register. Never did it present a clear picture. If I would have paid to see a movie and this happened, I would have asked for my money back.

 

Rating for the projection equipment in the Princess Theater – F

 

We sat through the movie and after it was over decided we would probably have to rent it to really enjoy the movie. The projection was that bad.

 

After the movie we walked down to the pursers desk to find out about the missing bag. Dave (Mr. No Worries) said that he hadn’t heard anything yet, and that he would call as soon as he heard something. No Worries…

 

Yea, right.

[Mrs. cworld]

Don't think that's would help get people to read this. Besides, I you seem to find time to read me every day.

 

Your loving husband.

I have to read your musings every day to keep you on the "staight and narrow".

 

Your loving wife

 

P.S. You might remind your readers that we both absolutely hate to shop. So it was a real chore for us to think of something to buy with our insurance money.