Dawn Princess 6/13 review Part II

[tee_wrecks]

Part II-The ports

 

Kethikan-In my last post I said I had no problems with Princess. Well, that's all about to change. I'm not sure if this is a problem indigenous to Princess or who determines which ships dock and which ones don't, but tendering is a real pain in my *** especially since we're only in Ketchikan for a short time. DW and I devoted our off ship resources to our post cruise excursions thinking we could spend some time shopping and seeing the ports of call. Here, that strategy was somewhat short circuited by the tendering process. I suppose if we'd had a full 12 hours here like the other ports it would have been okay but we're scheduled to sail at 2:30. The whole process of getting folks off the ship first that booked early excursions is a great plan and for what it is, the process works well. Problem is you're trying to get 2000 people to shore using 4 lifeboats which hold 150 at a time. Do the math! We finally hit shore about 11:30 and were told to be in line to tender back no later than 1:00 to avoid a lengthy wait in line. By the time we got our phone calls done to check in with family and dog sitters it was noon leaving us 1 hour to see Ketchikan. Walked over to Creek Street to photograph the place. The weather cooperated giving us overcast skies which serves to saturate the colors of the houses and shops on the boardwalk, also saw and photographed some nice flowers, but we had basically no time to do much else. If anyone knows why Princess chooses to spend such a short time in this port, please let me know. This was our first disappointment of the trip. Spent some time on the bow as we sailed north from Ketchikan. Saw the first humpbacks of the trip though not much chance to photograph them. Dinner in the dining room, strolled around the Promenade deck seeing the sights for an hour, absorbed the glorious sunset. Watched a movie on the laptop then headed to the Lotus pool area for some midnight hot tubbing. Second complaint is that at no time during the trip were all the hot tubs open. In fact, the Lotus area has 3 hot tubs and at no time were all 3 open at the same time with a couple of days seeing all 3 closed. Full day in Juneau tomorrow so off to bed.

 

Juneau-Once again I was up before sunrise per Budget Queen's recommendation for whale viewing. Didn't see even a spout though the sunrise was quite nice. Watched the ship dock and tie up then went for a quick nap before having breakfast in the Horizon Court and heading for the public Library to check e-mails and communicate with family. To our surprise we have pretty good cell phone coverage which we didn't expect. Shopped our way back to the ship where we dropped off the laptop and had a leisurely lunch before heading back to shore for more shopping. (Searching for something gold and shiny for the DW's birthday/Mother's Day/30th Anniversary present) After clouds and drizzle in Ketchikan, the weather changed and it was HOT in Juneau. All the shopkeepers were complaining about the heat. DW did manage to find some jewelry up to her exacting standards though once again we were a bit put off by the high pressure sales techniques. Sail away was uneventful, we had a nice supper in the dining room where we had requested a table for 2, walked the Promenade deck for a while then headed for the Vista Lounge to see the 10:30 comedy show. About 10:20 some folks jumped up and ran outside. I followed to see what all the hubbub was about and was treated to the sight of 8 humpback whales passing the ship, one being no more than 100 feet off the starboard rail. Now I'm excited!! Skagway in the morning.

 

Skagway-Enough already, I've found the flaw in my strategy. By the time we got to Skagway we were able to price compare having seen the same merchandise displayed in the same ways in Ketchikan and Juneau. Of the ports, Skagway was my least favorite by far. Once again it was HOT. We set off in searh of a place to check e-mail. If we seem a bit e-mail obsessed it's because we have a special needs child and to maintain our peace of mind we like to stay in touch with her as much as possible so don't flame me for being tied to technology. As nearly as I can tell there are 3 options for internet access in Skagway and I was unable to connect at any of them. The first option, Cruise Ship Services, was dismissed out of hand. All the crew members head there to call home on the phones and use the computers for e-mails and the cloud of cigarette smoke wafting out the door made me want to cross the street to stay away. Next we headed for the public library only to find out that it wouldn't open for 3 more hours. Our third choice, Glacial Smoothies, has Seaport Cyber but they don't sell access cards so if you haven't signed up for that service you're out of luck. We checked with Starbucks to see if they were a T-Mobile hotspot with wireless and were told "No, but if you sit on the bench outside the hardware store you can sometimes get their wireless signal." I'm not big on pirating other peoples' signals but we even tried that with no success. Needless to say, no e-mails here and no cell phone service either for the first time. Hot, frustrated, bored with Skagway, we decided to go back to the ship for lunch and to re-evaluate our strategy. We did stop at the Ivory museum which was marvelous, and the White Pass museum which was also terrific. These two museums were the saving grace for Skagway in my opinion. Other than that it was a waste of time for us. If I had my choice I'd much rather have spent the short port day here instead of Ketchikan. Also, if I do this cruise again I'll be sure to plan shore excursions in Skagway. As I said earlier, this was the flaw in our strategy. We grabbed burgers and hot dogs at the Balcony grill and decided to spend the afternoon reading and napping instead of going back to town. Sail away was another non-event and once again the sunset was glorious. Part 3 coming up covering Glacier Bay and College Fjiord.

[CruiseIsGood]

You obviously didn't see my Skagway pictorial. :D

 

http://community.webshots.com/album/349548764ZRDUWO

 

(It's a joke)