plattwear Posted July 16, 2014 #1 Share Posted July 16, 2014 (edited) To start off I want to apologize for taking over two months from the time I returned from cruise to start this review. I had every intention of writing it right away for those going on the same cruise later on in May, June and July however, time got away from me. This cruise was a Christmas/Birthday/Mother's day gift for my awesome 76 year old mother. I am her 47 year old daughter and we are from Lufkin, Texas. She has said for years how she would love to go on an Alaskan Cruise some day. In September 2013 I went on a cruise to the Bahamas and was able to check something off of my bucket list (swimming with dolphins). When I got back I was determined to help mom check something off her bucket list as well. If I had it to do all over again, I would have researched the land tours and we would have went on a train tour of Alaska instead. Maybe someday we can go back and do that. This cruise was mom's second cruise and my fourth. This was our first cruise on Princess cruise line. Okay..enough of the background stuff. Let me get started. (I will warn you now.. I am long winded.... which also transfers to my writing... LOL) PRE CRUISE On Friday, May 2nd we drove to Houston Bush airport to board a plane to Seattle, WA. Mom is not a big fan of flying however, she did not get sick on the plane and handled it well. I booked a transfer to our hotel with SHUTTLE EXPRESS. On our way to find the pickup area mom had a small mishap on the escalator. One of her legs was caught between the suit case and the step. She was in a panic that she might fall. We avoided the escalators for the rest of the trip. Our driver dropped us off at our hotel-Quality Inn and Suites, just in time for us to check-in. We flew in a day early to see Seattle before our cruise and to elevate the stress of possibly missing the ship. After dropping our luggage off in our room and resting up a bit we decided to walk to the Space Needle area. I failed to mention that I booked this cruise in October 2013 giving me seven + months to research and plan everything. I wanted to surprise my mom in Seattle with a visit to the Chihuly Glass and Gardens. (right next to the Space Needle). We could actually see the Space Needle from our hotel and the walk was a few short blocks away. Mom loved the glass museum as I suspected that she would. I highly recommend it. One of the staffers took our photo for free and gave each of us a plastic card to use in a machine to send the photo to our email. We were able to keep the card as a souvenir. They took two different photos for us. I took over 700 photos on this trip. I will share some of them here in my review and also post the link to my pocket bucket for you to see more if you like. (I did not upload all 700 however) After touring Chihuly Glass & Gardens we walked over to the Space Needle. Mom thought the top rotated and that she might get motion sickness so she did not want to go to the top. She shopped in the gift shop while I went to the top and took photos. I keep thinking of the movie Sleepless in Seattle. Seattle is a beautiful place in my opinion. I really loved it! I have lived in Dallas, Nashville and Houston. I have visited other big cities such as Chicago, San Diego, Memphis, San Francisco, Orlando etc., San Diego and Seattle are by far my favorites. It showered for a short time while we were at the Space Needle however, it was done by the time we walked back to the hotel. Our hotel called a cab to take us to PF Changs in downtown Seattle for dinner. PF Changs is one of my favorite restaurants. We had $50 in free gift cards to use there. Mom enjoyed dinner here very much. We walked around a bit in the downtown area near PF Changs while we waited for the hotel shuttle to pick us up and take us back to the hotel for the evening. View of Mt Rainier from the plane. Edited July 16, 2014 by plattwear Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plattwear Posted July 16, 2014 Author #2 Share Posted July 16, 2014 (edited) Mom at Hotel in Seattle, WA Edited July 16, 2014 by plattwear Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plattwear Posted July 16, 2014 Author #3 Share Posted July 16, 2014 MOM and I at the Chihuly Glass & Garden View of the Space Needle from the Chihuly Glass & Garden Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plattwear Posted July 16, 2014 Author #4 Share Posted July 16, 2014 Beautiful Glass display at Chihuly Garden and Glass Free Photo from Space Needle I forgot to mention that you get a free photo to send to your email from the Space Needle as well. There are several backgrounds to choose from. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plattwear Posted July 16, 2014 Author #5 Share Posted July 16, 2014 Mom Shopping for flowers at the Pike Place Market - Seattle, WA Flowers we purchased for our stateroom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plattwear Posted July 16, 2014 Author #6 Share Posted July 16, 2014 Free Princess tote bag for each of us on our bed when arrived in our stateroom Stateroom P239 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plattwear Posted July 16, 2014 Author #7 Share Posted July 16, 2014 We were on the PLAZA deck in Stateroom P239 Our room was near the International Cafe and on the same floor as our dining room which was very convenient. This is a photo of the television desk and mirror area. First meal from the buffet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plattwear Posted July 16, 2014 Author #8 Share Posted July 16, 2014 Embarkation Day The next morning we had free breakfast at the hotel. Their free shuttle took us to Pike Place Market. Our first stop was the Original Starbucks to pick up a gift for my best friends daughter. (a coffee mug exclusively from this location) We had a little over two hours to tour the market. That is not enough time to see all of it but, we saw the places I researched ahead of time. My mother loves flowers. We enjoyed seeing all the flowers and shopping for a bouquet to take on the ship with us for our stateroom. Mom picked out a nice $5 one. I bought two extra unique looking tulips to add to the bunch. We enjoyed the flowers all week. We picked up a few souveniers at the market including magnents from Seattle Watercolors. We picked up some pastries to snack on later from LaPanier bakery. They have delicious French Macrons, Crossiants and other pastries. The smell as you walk in is just divine. If you do visit here, don't let the line deter you..it is so worth it. A healthier option but, just as delicious is Elleno's Greek Yogurt. I ordered the cookies & cream flavored yogurt. Mom tried the carmel apple flavor. Around 11am I called a cab to take us back to the hotel. The hotel has a $7 shuttle ride to the cruise terminal. Of course the line at the cruise terminal was very long however, it moved faster than I expected. I believe it took about two hours for us to get through the line and in our stateroom. While we are waiting to board ship we discover that one our our Cruise Critic Roll call members was right behind us in line, SeaDeck2 and her mom. It was so great meeting them. We saw them again several other times through out the week as well. After finding our room, it did not take long for us to meet our wonderful steward Rafeal. I requested a vase for our flowers and he did brought us one later in the day. While waiting for our luggage to arrive we decided to grab some lunch from the buffet. More on embarkation day tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mapleleaves Posted July 16, 2014 #9 Share Posted July 16, 2014 Isn't the Chihuly exhibit incredible? Love your photos. What did your mother think of it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plattwear Posted July 17, 2014 Author #10 Share Posted July 17, 2014 Isn't the Chihuly exhibit incredible? Love your photos. What did your mother think of it? Glad you like the photos mapleleaves... much more to come. Yes, we absolutely loved Chihuly Garden and Glass... it was beautiful. We watched a video about the designer, Mr. Chihuly as well while we were there. He is amazing and his work is awesome. Mom really enjoyed her surprise visit here. :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plattwear Posted July 17, 2014 Author #11 Share Posted July 17, 2014 After lunch we collected the Treasure Hunt stamps on the map for the Shopping Event drawing. Went back to our room and waited for the Muster Drill which was delayed due to passengers arriving late. Our bags arrived to our room by this time as well. My Cruise Critic roll call was suppose to have a Meet & Greet after the Muster Drill however, it was raining and cold outside where the first meeting spot was to be. Mom did not want to be outside in the cold. The other meeting spot was a lounge and another meeting or event was being held here, so we never did meet up with the others. We did meet another CC roll call member, Ginny Ray and her husband while looking for the others. They are a very friendly couple. We talked to them multiple times throughout the week. By this time we were tired and ready to go back to our room to unpack and rest before dinner. We chose Anytime Dining for the week and decided to have dinner at 7 pm the first night. Mom and I both enjoy meeting new people and ask to be seated with others every night. For the appetizer, I chose the Red Snapper Mojito which I did not like and it was replaced with the spring rolls with a great peanut sauce. Mom enjoyed her trio of melons appetizer. We both chose the Cream of Porcini Mushroom Soup, which I liked much more than mom did. My mother loves Grilled Salmon and I am really surprised she did not order it every night for dinner. She did order it the first night and seemed to like it. I ordered the Seared Basa Filet with Pineapple-Papaya Salsa, which was disappointing. I did not like the texture of the fish or the potato that was served with it. Our desserts were much better. I had the Orange Souffle and mom had the Hazelnut Ice Cream. After dinner we went back to the room to watch some tv and to go to bed early. Mom normally goes to bed around 9:30pm at home.. we did stay up past her bed time on this trip several nights. At 9:30pm on the ship however, it is 11:30pm or 12:30am back home. We were still adjusting to that time difference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plattwear Posted July 17, 2014 Author #12 Share Posted July 17, 2014 (edited) Red Snapper Mojito appetizer - the avocados were great..the rest not so much. Trio of Melons appetizer Edited July 17, 2014 by plattwear Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plattwear Posted July 17, 2014 Author #13 Share Posted July 17, 2014 Cream of Porcini Mushroom Soup GRILLED SALMON Seared Basa Filet with Pineapple-Papaya Salsa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plattwear Posted July 17, 2014 Author #14 Share Posted July 17, 2014 Warm Passion Fruit Souffle (not Orange Souffle as I previously stated in my review) HAZELNUT ICE CREAM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plattwear Posted July 17, 2014 Author #15 Share Posted July 17, 2014 In the middle of the night I noticed the boat was rocking a lot more than I had ever experienced on a cruise. By morning when we decided to get up it was still pretty rough. I took motion sickness tablets and did not have any problems. Mom however, was sick the minute she got out of bed. I really did not want her to miss the shopping talk as they were giving away charms for our DI bracelets and prizes as well. I picked up breakfast at the International Cafe (very close to our room). I also went to the buffet area to pick up some yogurt for mom, as I thought it might be easy on her tummy. We did make it to the shopping talk however, mom did not last long and had to leave to go back to the room as she was dizzy and sick to her stomach. The nurse came by to give her a shot and told her to sleep it off for a few hours. She said by the evening mom would feel like dancing. Mom insisted I go back to the shopping talk and of course I did not win anything. I did pick up our charms. After a buffet lunch alone, I attended the Gemstone show (boring) and picked up a 2nd (different) set of charms. I went back to the room to check on Mom. Before the cruise Mom wanted to get the patch for sea sickness but, I read conflicting reviews on Cruise Critics regarding the patch. Since I had never needed one on any other cruise I had been on, I thought the motion sickness tablets would be enough. The problem was she could not keep them down long enough for them to work. I am glad the shot the nurse gave her worked as the vacation I had worked so hard to pay for would have been a complete bust. By the time we decided to get ready for our first formal night, mom was feeling much better (as the nurse promised). We went to the dining room at 6 pm and sat at a table with six other people. Our table mates were very friendly and we enjoyed talking to them. Dinner was much better on this night. Mom and I ordered mainly the same thing; Crab Meat and Monterey Jack Quiche (which I really liked), Shrimp Daniele for the entree, and for desert I had the Creme Burlee' which was excellent. Mom had the Oreo cookie crusted Peanut butter chocolate pie which she thought was excellent as well. Mom is a big fan of peanut butter. I was relieved that she felt better and could enjoy the pie as well. Mom wanted to see the movie Gravity which showing on the tv in our stateroom. Unfortunately, mom feel asleep before Gravity was over but, I told her how it ended. A note regarding the buffet. We ate the majority of our breakfast and lunch meals in the buffet. I found it very difficult to find a table that was not out near the pool area where it was colder. This is one complaint I have with the Golden Princess. The mini quiches served during lunch most days are very good. They were really one of my favorite items on the buffet. I do not recommend the Seafood Potpie however. I was not a fan at all. I do wish we would have attended more of the shows or comedians at night but, it just did not work at that way. I intended to watch some of the Movies out by the pool area also but, it was just too cold for us at night. It was nice and cozy in our stateroom with several channels to chose from showing movies. Day 2-Juneau next... (hopefully tomorrow) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plattwear Posted July 17, 2014 Author #16 Share Posted July 17, 2014 All dressed up for Formal Night Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plattwear Posted July 17, 2014 Author #17 Share Posted July 17, 2014 Crab Meat and Monterey Jack Quiche Shrimp Daniele French Vanilla Bean Creme Brulee Oreo cookie crusted Peanut butter chocolate pie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starlaker Posted July 17, 2014 #18 Share Posted July 17, 2014 Great review. Looking forward to the continuation. We are doing this trip in Sept. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Keith1010 Posted July 17, 2014 #19 Share Posted July 17, 2014 Thank you for your review. Keith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plattwear Posted July 18, 2014 Author #20 Share Posted July 18, 2014 You are very welcome Starlaker and Keith1010... I am glad someone is reading it :-D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plattwear Posted July 18, 2014 Author #21 Share Posted July 18, 2014 Day 3 Juneau Thankfully, Mom was feeling back to her old self when we woke up on Monday. The rocking of the boat had settled down quite a bit. We were able to enjoy breakfast from the buffet. I liked the breakfast better than the lunch. They did serve biscuits & gravy at the buffet on the GOLDEN Princess. This is a question I have seen several times on Cruise Critics. I did see them offered on two occasions, once with a cheese sauce type gravy and once with white gravy (no sausage). I noticed if the biscuits are not fresh, they are really too hard to eat. The one day that I managed to get a fresh one it was very good with the white gravy. The ship was scheduled to arrive at 12 pm in Juneau with our excursion through Princess to start soon after arrival. It was announced that the ship would be arriving an hour late. Mom and I spent some time on deck looking out at the ocean and taking a few photos. We did try the pizza (the one and only time on this trip) for lunch. I heard rave reviews about the pizza here on on CC. We tried the cheese and the pepperoni. Not bad for a quick lunch. We picked up desserts from the International Cafe as well. (tiramisu in a glass cup and the pistachio cup=both very good) Once we arrived in Juneau we were told our excursion had been delayed, not sure how long, at least an hour. Mom and I walked over to the Juneau Trading Co. to do some shopping. Once we walked back over to the excursion waiting area we were told to stay in the area but, they were still not sure when our excursion would begin. My first choice was a whale watching tour in Juneau however, mom wanted to see the Glacier Gardens with the upside down trees. This was her trip so, I really wanted her to see what she wanted to see. I booked the Mendenhall Glacier, Tramway & Rain forest Garden JNU-130 (not realizing that Rain forest Garden and Glacier Gardens are NOT the same thing). I should have booked JNU-330 instead and we could have bought our Tram ticket separately. Anyway, around 2:45pm we finally boarded the bus for our excursion. Our first stop was the Rain forest Garden. Since it was very early Spring, we did not see any flowers blooming other than Skunk Cabbage. The lady who runs the Rain forest Garden is very nice, she served delicious apple muffins and tea. The rain forest part itself is very scenic. We were provided with a paper guide for the trees and plants. They were marked with a numbered marker corresponding with the paper guide. This was interesting however, as I said the flowers were not blooming yet. Our time here only lasted about 30 minutes. The next stop was Mendenhall Glacier. Juneau was unseasonably warm this day. As advised we dressed in layers and the bus ride was hot too (the air conditioner was not working real well). As you will see in my photos, the jackets and bigger coats came off. We both really enjoyed Mendenhall Glacier and walked down to the lake as close as we could get. They had it roped off where you could not walk up to the glacier. I noticed a sign with something about a "nesting" area. We opted not to walk down the trail as we do not move fast enough to walk a mile or two and back in the time allotted. I do wish we would have walked partially down the trail however, as a few people from our bus saw a bear and a porcupine. The visitor center here is very nice and we spent time inside looking out at the glacier. One of the staffers spotted mountain goats on the mountain and he helped us find them in the telescope. Next our bus driver took us back to town and dropped us off in the shopping area. I had a list of stores I wanted to visit. One of the things I failed to do in Juneau was use some of the great coupons in the free coupon book. With us flying home after the cruise we really did not have a ton of room for purchases anyway. I ended up ordering stuff after I got back from two stores. I was looking for the Glacier Silt Soap at the Glacier Smoothie Soap shop.The shop was not open yet. The man doing construction on the shop gave me the name of two stores in Skagway where we could purchase it. House of Russia was another great shop where I purchased the Matryoska doll ornaments and key chains. Right next door is Caribou Crossing, which has items that are made in Alaska. Mom and I both enjoyed this shop. Somewhere we picked up a second (different) free coupon book with awesome coupons for cheap souvenirs as well. We had time to shop at Alaska Shirt Company and Alaska-Juneau Mining Company before we went to ride the tram. The tram ticket came with our excursion and we were told we could use it whenever we wanted to. That was the last thing we did going back to the ship. The scenic view from the tram of Juneau and the ship port area was really cool. The guide on our way down gave us a lot of cool facts about Juneau. Once we arrived at the top, mom and I were really too tired to do much walking around. We did check out the gift shop and enjoyed the view of Juneau from the mountain. We made it back to the ship with plenty of time to spare (about 8:30 ish). It was 9 pm when we entered the dining room for dinner (12 am our time!). This was my favorite night because our waiter Arthur was awesome. He was so fun and friendly. We both ordered the King Crab Leg appetizer. I was so happy King Crab was on the menu as it is one of my things to eat. Arthur brought us both an extra serving each after he served us our soup. (just because he knew how much I enjoyed them) Because we were so late to dinner, we were seated at a big table by ourselves. I ordered the Cock-A-Leekie soup which was not bad despite the crazy name. For an entree, once again we ordered the same thing, the Surf and Turf. This was hands down one of the best entree's we had all week. The Bearnaise sauce for the steak was excellent. For dessert mom had a Rhubarb layered cake type thing that I did not take a photo of and can not remember the exact name. I ordered the heart shaped Princess chocolate cake. After all that food we should have ran a marathon around the deck. We felt like we already had with all the shopping & sight seeing so, we were happy to hit have our heads hit the pillow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plattwear Posted July 18, 2014 Author #22 Share Posted July 18, 2014 MOM AND I AT RAIN FOREST GARDEN MOM AT MENDENHALL GLACIER ME IN FRONT OF MENDENHALL GLACIER Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plattwear Posted July 18, 2014 Author #23 Share Posted July 18, 2014 MENDENHALL GLACIER MT ROBERTS TRAMWAY VIEW OF THE GOLDEN PRINCESS FROM THE TRAM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plattwear Posted July 18, 2014 Author #24 Share Posted July 18, 2014 Enjoying our King Crab Leg Appetizers Surf and Turf ARTHUR the Great Waiter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KirkNC Posted July 18, 2014 #25 Share Posted July 18, 2014 Thanks for the report! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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