Alaska Photojournal – Coral Princess + DIY Land Tour May 28 – June 9, 2014

[Cruise_More_Often]

I'm glad you didn't let that one comment stop you from continuing your wonderful thread. Your photography is beautiful, and I'm really enjoying your narrative. So many reviews cover various ships, but the travelogue aspect of your review is so refreshing. I can't get enough Alaska.

 

Thank you for taking the time to write these posts. I appreciate the effort it's taking.

Edited June 24, 2014 by Cruise_More_Often

[AryMay]

AryMay, first off WOW! If you were using your SX50, it takes great pictures. I may have to rethink my next camera purchase.

 

I do have a couple questions though:

 

1] Do you remember where you were when you got the mountain reflecting in the lake? I have got to take that shot!

 

2] I can't find Emerald Lake on the maps I have. How far past Carcross is the lake, either in time or miles?

 

I know we may not see quite as much snow in September when we go, but I definitely am glad I have reserved a rental car now. Was your round trip 5-6 hours?

 

3] On the way out of Skagway, did you pass some grocery stores or somewhere we might be able to get something to have a picnic with?

 

You have my wife and me SO excited to do our trip. Thank you!

 

Both Laurel and I had a ball taking photos on this trip. We each had purchased new cameras in the past year...I had the SX50 and she had a Panasonic Lumix FZ200. For point and shoot cameras I thought they both did a remarkable job! The strong point of the SX50 is definitely the zoom. I often found myself using the viewfinder instead of binoculars! However...Laurel's camera did much better in low light conditions and there were times her photos were much sharper and crisper than mine. I would have a hard time deciding between the two if I were going to make the purchase again.

 

The photos I posted are just a tiny fraction of the ones I took that day. I live on the prairie and was overwhelmed by the beauty of those mountains!!

 

1) I can't tell you for sure where the reflection photo was taken but I can tell you that based on the time stamp on the photos it was 3 hours after we left the Avis office! We made several stops before getting there so take that into consideration. We were just lucky to have such sunny...and still conditions that day. I have photos from later in the day where there was a little wind and the reflections are broken up by the ripples in the water.

 

2) The turnoff for Carcross is at mile 65.6, the desert is at mile 66.9 and Emerald Lake is mile 73.1...all pretty close together.

 

Again, based on the photo times, it took us 5 hours just to get to Emerald Lake with all of our stops. Initially we planned to drive straight there and then make stops for photos on the way back, but since the weather was so perfect on the way, we didn't want to risk having it change.

 

With the stop at the cemetery and waterfall, it took us over 9 hours to get back to Skagway!

 

3) I don't recall seeing any store...but we weren't looking. We took along some snacks and then had ice cream at the general store...a perfect lunch! In hindsight I wish we had checked out the bakery in Carcross because I've read so many favorable reviews of it.

 

Again...thanks for reading. I hope you have an awesome time on your trip!

 

 

[AryMay]

That was an excellent Then & Now shot you took in Skagway. Taking Then & Now views is sort of a hobby for me. Before our cruise to Alaska a few years ago, I found some historic photos of Skagway. During our day there I went around and took current photos from approx. the same locations. I hope you don't mind if I post a link to it here. I thought you might be interesting in it:

 

I am thoroughly enjoying your review. Your photo and narration are outstanding.

 

Thanks for sharing...I really enjoyed seeing these! You did a much better job at getting your photos to match than I did! I must have looked like a fool standing in the middle of the street holding my iPad (with the old photo) trying to get my shot lined up! :rolleyes:

[AryMay]

I'm glad you didn't let that one comment stop you from continuing your wonderful thread. Your photography is beautiful, and I'm really enjoying your narrative. So many reviews cover various ships, but the travelogue aspect of your review is so refreshing. I can't get enough Alaska.

 

Thank you for taking the time to write these posts. I appreciate the effort it's taking.

 

Thank you so much. I debated about posting this review on the Princess boards, but knew there would be very little I would include about the ship. My photos are almost all landscapes and wildlife which I figured would apply to ANY Alaskan cruise.

[AryMay]

After dinner we once again skipped all of the evening entertainment options in favor of "balcony time" as we sailed away from Skagway.

 

Skinny waterfalls cascading down the mountains looked much more impressive once I zoomed in with my camera.

 

 

 

 

 

I would be curious to know what caused this distinct change in color in the water.

 

 

[AryMay]

A parade of cruise ships heading into the sunset...

 

 

 

We moved from our balcony to the front of the ship and were treated to the alpine glow on the mountains.

 

 

 

The last tiny bit of glow before the sunset.

 

 

It was 11:15 pm when I took one last photo of the day from our balcony.

 

 

Coming up next...a beautiful day in Glacier Bay.

 

[Mishmell]

Really gorgeous photos. I leave in two days and can only hope for a glimpse of what you have captured. Thanks for sharing.

[PelicanPoint]

Really enjoying your photo journal. We will be doing a Land tour next May/June and also cruising on the Coral Princess. You have given us additional ideas on what to do.

 

Sharon

[Tyskie]

Your review will definitely be bookmarked! Wanted to do a DIY like we did in Hawaii. Your review will convince my DH :D

 

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[AryMay]

AryMay, I am really enjoying your review very much. I am using it as research for our trip Southbound in September. Thanks to you, we are planning on renting a van in Skagway. I think we may go up to Emerald Lake. There will be 8 of us, and I can rent a vehicle a lot cheaper than we can do an excursion.

 

I certainly hope we see at least as much wildlife as you have.

 

Keep it coming.

 

Thanks for reading!

 

As long as you have someone willing to drive it certainly is a cheaper and more flexible way to spend the day. Hopefully you will have great weather. After our all day rain in Juneau it was wonderful to see sunshine and blue skies!

 

Make sure you get Murray's Guide before going...it is like having a guided tour for free! :)

[AryMay]

Really gorgeous photos. I leave in two days and can only hope for a glimpse of what you have captured. Thanks for sharing.

 

I'll bet you are excited! Have a great trip!

 

Really enjoying your photo journal. We will be doing a Land tour next May/June and also cruising on the Coral Princess. You have given us additional ideas on what to do.

 

Your cruise will be during the same time as ours. No salmon yet, but the snow covered mountains were absolutely beautiful.

 

Your review will definitely be bookmarked! Wanted to do a DIY like we did in Hawaii. Your review will convince my DH

 

I found it so helpful to read other trip reports when doing our planning. Hopefully mine might be of some help to you. Hawaii is on our "maybe" list...but the planning seems overwhelming to me...and I just cringe when I think about the long flight. We'll see. Alaska wasn't a priority to me either but after seeing it I can't imagine a more beautiful place!!

[brookeinmn]

Thanks so much for the review and pictures. I'm considering purchasing the Panasonic FZ200. Did you use any filters with it during the trip? Any other pros/cons about this camera?

[AryMay]

Thanks so much for the review and pictures. I'm considering purchasing the Panasonic FZ200. Did you use any filters with it during the trip? Any other pros/cons about this camera?

 

My friend, Laurel, is the one with the Panasonic camera. (I was using mostly a Canon SX50.) I will ask her...or even see if she can answer your post directly on this thread. I know she really likes the camera. :)

[poolwife]

Love, love, love your review. I love the way you write in such a personal way about your experiences. Really enjoy the pictures also. Even though I have been to Alaska 5 times I still am hoping to go back. Being I have done a land tour a couple times, we are trying to do a 10 day round trip next May. Just thought it would be nice to stay on the ship for 10 nights; maybe more relaxing.

 

Can't wait to see your Kenai Fjords pictures. That was definitely a highlight of our trip in June, 2012.

 

 

This was one of my best whale pictures from the Kenai Fjords cruise. We went on Major Marine and really enjoyed their trip and the buffet they served for lunch. We left at 11:30 and came back in at 5:30. Had great weather and saw a glacier.

 

 

Also, got a few pictures of this cute little otter.

 

 

If you ever go back to Alaska, rent a car and go to Homer. Here is one picture of the Homer Spit. It is a little hazy. You can go out to the end of the spit and go halibut fishing or a kayak tour or just have fun sightseeing like we did. The views of those mountains on the other side of Kachemak bay are just gorgeous when you are standing on the spit or even on the shore.

 

 

Besides all of your great pictures, my husband I loved your sea lion picture with the fish in his mouth. Amazing you caught that shot.

 

Thank you again. Look forward to you finishing your review.

[2batongirl]

Thanks so much for the review and pictures. I'm considering purchasing the Panasonic FZ200. Did you use any filters with it during the trip? Any other pros/cons about this camera?

 

Hi, this is Laurel, who traveled with Arymay. I own the Panasonic FZ200 and LOVE IT:D. I only used an ultraviolet filter on it all the time. When researching last summer to buy a new camera for our 6 week trip to Glacier Nat. Park, the Canadian Rockies, Vancouver, Vancouver Island, and the state of Washington, I vacillated back and forth between the Canon SX50 and the Panasonic FZ200. I read tons of reviews of both, as well as comparison reviews by photo experts. The Panasonic only has a 24X optical zoom and a 48X digital zoom. What drew me initially to the Canon SX50 was the 50X optical zoom, until I investigated more. According to the experts, the Panasonic has "the Best" lens out there, the Leica lens. Even when I zoom the lens lets in tons of light. I have not used it much in manual mode, but it can be used like an SLR camera. I use the Intelligent Auto setting, video setting, Creative setting, and many different scene settings. My favorite scene settings for the spectacular, sweeping landscapes up in Alaska was the "Panorama" scene. People who have scene my photos from the Canadian Rockies say they look like a postcard. Actually, last summer we bought a postcard of my favorite place, Moraine Lake, in Banff National Park and my photos are much better:)!! So, as far as I am concerned, the "only" down side might be not as much zoom as Arymay's Canon SX50. However, when we have compared our pics, my clarity and crispness wins out. If you buy the Panasonic, you won't be disappointed. (We also bought a Panasonic DMC-T55 waterproof camera for our snorkeling pics on our Southern Caribbean cruise in Dec. with Arymay & her husband and love it.) We used the waterproof camera on our rainy days in Juneau and trip to Seward, which really came in handy. Hope this helps!

[2batongirl]

Goodbye to Juneau!

 

 

In looking through the Princess Patter, there were things we probably would have attended if we hadn’t had such a long day. I was sorry to miss these…but you can only cram so much into a day. Here is what caught my eye in the schedule: Iditarod champion, Libby Riddles spoke in the Princess Theater at 4:30 pm. Her talk was replayed on the cabin TV later, but we were just too tired.

 

The production show “On the Bayou” was in the Universe Lounge at 7:45 pm and again at 9:45 pm. We weren't done with dinner in time to make the first showing…and too tired to go to the second. I've read it is a good show and I wish we could have seen it. It did surprise me that this wasn't the entertainment on the second formal night.

 

Our activity was the usual…sitting on the balcony. The beautiful waterfall cascading down the mountain was entertainment enough for us!

 

 

Thanks to the naturalist’s recommendation, we knew that there was the possibility that we would see whales as we sailed out of Juneau…and we did.

 

 

Around 11 pm Bob decided it was time to call it a night…but just had to have one more look from the balcony.

 

 

Laurel was also seeing the last views of the day but was dressed a little more appropriately. (This photo is one of those crazy memories that will always stick with me from the cruise!)

 

 

Still light…and so beautiful…at 11 pm at night!

 

 

Next up...Skagway & driving the Yukon highway.

 

We travelled with Bob & Arymay. Kent and I did stay up at watch the Iditarod champion Libby Riddle's lecture on the stateroom TV at 10:30. It was really interesting, especially since we were planning on taking the Seavey's Iditaride tour in Seward and Jeff King's Husky Homestead tour at Denali National Park. After studying the Iditarod race in our reading book with my 4th grade students in school, it was really cool to hear more about it first-hand. It was also televised on the TV at 7:30 that evening, but we were not back on the ship yet.

[2batongirl]

 

I'll bet you are excited! Have a great trip!

 

 

 

Your cruise will be during the same time as ours. No salmon yet, but the snow covered mountains were absolutely beautiful.

 

 

 

I found it so helpful to read other trip reports when doing our planning. Hopefully mine might be of some help to you. Hawaii is on our "maybe" list...but the planning seems overwhelming to me...and I just cringe when I think about the long flight. We'll see. Alaska wasn't a priority to me either but after seeing it I can't imagine a more beautiful place!!

 

We WILL get you to Hawaii with us, Arymay & Bob!!!!! Can't imagine doing it without you two:D!!!!!

[leeives]

Thank you so much for all your effort on this travelogue. My husband and I have booked a northbound cruise on the Coral next May/June, and are finding this incredibly helpful and exciting!

[brookeinmn]

Hi, this is Laurel, who traveled with Arymay. I own the Panasonic FZ200 and LOVE IT:D. Hope this helps!

 

Yes it does help. Thanks so much for the reply. You should check out the You Tube channel of Graham Houghton. https://www.youtube.com/user/ghough12 He has tons of useful videos on the FZ200. He even wrote an expanded user manual. I think I will order mine tomorrow so I have some time to play with it before the cruise!

[AryMay]

Love, love, love your review. I love the way you write in such a personal way about your experiences. Really enjoy the pictures also. Even though I have been to Alaska 5 times I still am hoping to go back. Being I have done a land tour a couple times, we are trying to do a 10 day round trip next May. Just thought it would be nice to stay on the ship for 10 nights; maybe more relaxing.

 

Can't wait to see your Kenai Fjords pictures. That was definitely a highlight of our trip in June, 2012.

 

 

This was one of my best whale pictures from the Kenai Fjords cruise. We went on Major Marine and really enjoyed their trip and the buffet they served for lunch. We left at 11:30 and came back in at 5:30. Had great weather and saw a glacier.

 

If you ever go back to Alaska, rent a car and go to Homer. Here is one picture of the Homer Spit. It is a little hazy. You can go out to the end of the spit and go halibut fishing or a kayak tour or just have fun sightseeing like we did. The views of those mountains on the other side of Kachemak bay are just gorgeous when you are standing on the spit or even on the shore.

 

Besides all of your great pictures, my husband I loved your sea lion picture with the fish in his mouth. Amazing you caught that shot.

 

Thank you again. Look forward to you finishing your review.

 

Thanks for taking time post your photos. Your whale picture is really amazing...were they bubble feeding? My timing was really off when we did our whale watching tour...I ended up with so many "back" photos and very few good "tails"! I was also sorry that we didn't get to see any of the whales breech.

 

I agree with you...the Kenai Fjords tour was the highlight for me as well. We got to see so much wildlife...up close...and I loved that they would stop the boat for us to get photographs.

[shanb]

Both Laurel and I had a ball taking photos on this trip. We each had purchased new cameras in the past year...I had the SX50 and she had a Panasonic Lumix FZ200. For point and shoot cameras I thought they both did a remarkable job! The strong point of the SX50 is definitely the zoom. I often found myself using the viewfinder instead of binoculars! However...Laurel's camera did much better in low light conditions and there were times her photos were much sharper and crisper than mine. I would have a hard time deciding between the two if I were going to make the purchase again.

 

 

These are the exact cameras I am trying to decide between for my upcoming Alaskan cruise! Thank you for your helpful comments! Could you tell me if you often used the full zoom range (50X) for the wildlife photos you took? I am worried that any hand shake will impact photos when zoomed that far! Thx

 

 

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[Tyskie]

I have a Lumix although not that model. It has an "anti-shake" setting that was helpful with the zoom, however my zoom isn't 50x

 

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[AryMay]

These are the exact cameras I am trying to decide between for my upcoming Alaskan cruise! Thank you for your helpful comments! Could you tell me if you often used the full zoom range (50X) for the wildlife photos you took? I am worried that any hand shake will impact photos when zoomed that far! Thx

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

 

Most of the wildlife photos were taken using the full zoom. I think the motion of the ship (or train, or boat, or plane, etc.) caused me more problems than my hands shaking. My best piece of advice is just take LOTS and LOTS of photos knowing they won't all turn out.

 

Since most of the Alaska photos are taken outdoors there was usually plenty of light. The SX50 runs into trouble when you are trying to zoom in low light...in those conditions the FZ200 does much better .

 

I also used Picasa to crop some of the photos to get them more close up...certainly not software with the capabilities of Photoshop...but easy enough for people like me to figure out! :rolleyes:

[AryMay]

Thursday, June 5 - Glacier Bay

 

No port stop today...but not a day to sleep in either. At the end of every cruise Princess provides each cabin with a "Log of the Cruise" and according to this publication the ship entered Glacier Bay at 5:52 am and the park rangers boarded at 6:08 am. Other facts...the temperature was 52º F and there was a cloud cover.

 

I was awake and ready for the day!

 

 

 

 

During the time in Glacier Bay we sailed past several different glaciers. Knowing that it would be hard to remember which photo was which glacier, we used a map that was delivered to our stateroom the night before. As the ship would approach a new glacier, we would take photos of the location on the map. Anal? Yes...but that's just us.

 

 

So I am fairly confident the following photos are of Reid Glacier!

 

 

[AryMay]

As the morning progressed, we started to see more and more blue sky peaking through the clouds.

 

 

The National Park Service rangers were doing a commentary from the bridge as we sailed through Glacier Bay which could be heard on the open decks and also Channel 41 of the stateroom TVs.

 

 

Their commentary matched what we were sailing by on the port (left) side of the ship. Knowing this would be the case is what convinced us to switch our original cabin booking from the starboard side to the port side of the ship. (It was a good choice.)

 

Glacier Bay is a "dead end" so the starboard side did get to see all of the same stuff on the way out, but by then the rangers had quit giving their commentary.

 

Next up was Lamplugh Glacier.