Star Princes 6/13-6/25 12 day Alaska/Denali northbound review- TONS of pics...

[saxgirl84]

another seal seemed to be wondering what we were doing in his home...

 

 

still approaching the first glacier- hoping the fog lifts so we can enjoy the scenery

 

 

 

[saxgirl84]

we had the TV on and our balcony door open so we could hear the naturalist talking about the glaciers as we come upon them. Princess had left a map of Glacier by for us the night before, so we had that hung up on the wall so we could follow along. They were having technical difficulties with the sound system, so we came upon the first glacier without any commentary...

 

luckily, you couldn't miss the glacier- and the landscape was pretty distinct, so we knew when we were getting close

 

 

Reid glacier

 

 

 

Lamplugh glacier

 

 

 

[saxgirl84]

we finally got some commentary- and just in time to make the turn towards Johns Hopkins Glacier. We were informed that, due to the time of year, the seals were taking "cover" near the glacier with their new pups, and the ships were not allowed to go past "Jaw Point", so we would only be allowed to get within 2 miles of the glacier. The view was still amazing

 

 

closing in on Jaw Point

 

the Johns Hopkins Glacier "peaking" out...

 

2 miles away from the glacier, and it still looks Enormous!!!

 

 

 

the captain got as close as he could, and then rotated the boat, so everyone could see the glacier from their balconies, as until now, only the Port side had a view... (please keep this in mind when booking, if you want to stay on your balcony for glacier bay day... Port side has the view on the way in (when the commentary is going on...) and Starbord side has the view on the way out... our TA misled a few of the people in our group and they were quite upset that they were on the wrong side of the ship.)... we got to go around twice (they said the captain was "being generous" but I think it was more because the Norwegian ship that was ahead of us wasn't "done" at the next glacier, and we had to wait our turn...) and I got some great timelapse video of it (if I can figure out how to upload it from my phone, I'll share!)

[saxgirl84]

heading towards Margerie Glacier

 

 

 

and here's the Norwegian ship on it's way out..

 

a random (unnamed glacier I believe) that has receded

 

pretty big iceberg floating by

[cabart]

we finally got some commentary- and just in time to make the turn towards Johns Hopkins Glacier. We were informed that, due to the time of year, the seals were taking "cover" near the glacier with their new pups, and the ships were not allowed to go past "Jaw Point", so we would only be allowed to get within 2 miles of the glacier. The view was still amazing

 

 

closing in on Jaw Point

 

the Johns Hopkins Glacier "peaking" out...

 

2 miles away from the glacier, and it still looks Enormous!!!

 

 

 

the captain got as close as he could, and then rotated the boat, so everyone could see the glacier from their balconies, as until now, only the Port side had a view... (please keep this in mind when booking, if you want to stay on your balcony for glacier bay day... Port side has the view on the way in (when the commentary is going on...) and Starbord side has the view on the way out... our TA misled a few of the people in our group and they were quite upset that they were on the wrong side of the ship.)... we got to go around twice (they said the captain was "being generous" but I think it was more because the Norwegian ship that was ahead of us wasn't "done" at the next glacier, and we had to wait our turn...) and I got some great timelapse video of it (if I can figure out how to upload it from my phone, I'll share!)

Àmazing review. I went on this cruise a few years ago but after viewing your photos I am ready to book again. Thank you for posting.

[shredie]

Fabulous! I love Skagway. There's a little restaurant there that serves a most delicious halibut sandwich.

[saxgirl84]

Margerie is finally in our sites

 

 

 

 

if you look at the "splash" in the center of this picture, it was right after the glacier calved (you can see the brighter blue of the newly exposed ice)... the pic above was about a minute before.

 

 

closer view of the newly exposed part of the glacier -- we really lucked out on that, as we had just gotten rotated enough to see it as it was happening!

 

 

[saxgirl84]

Àmazing review. I went on this cruise a few years ago but after viewing your photos I am ready to book again. Thank you for posting.

 

Thank you! I got home and was looking at booking again! The only problem is, right now I'm unemployed (lost my job about 3 weeks before we left, and didn't want to start looking until we got home...) I was soooo tempted to book a 14 day round trip "repeat" of the cruise I saw listed, but my sister reminded me that I have bills to pay, so I didn't... but I WILL be back at some point in the not too distant future!

[saxgirl84]

Fabulous! I love Skagway. There's a little restaurant there that serves a most delicious halibut sandwich.

 

I think Skagway was my favorite port out of the 3... the others with me did not agree, as they though it was too "small and touristy" for their taste.

[saxgirl84]

 

 

you can see how far back (well part of the way...) the glacier goes...

 

the view from the other side of the ship

 

the weather did clear up, and made for some magnificent views!

 

[saxgirl84]

When we first started planning for this cruise I knew I wanted a balcony (I'm a bit claustrophobic, and I like to be able to sit on the balcony and read while I'm on a cruise as well).. lots of people told me to save my $$ and just book an inside, because you can just go out on the public decks for the scenic cruise days... on one of my trips to the bathroom (in my cabin..) during glacier bay, I looked up and saw the following picture, and was glad I had my own balcony!

 

 

 

back to the amazing views!

 

 

 

 

and a "stow away" looking for some food... (they repeatedly stated to not feed the animals, yet we still saw people with their hands out over the railings trying to get the birds to fly in..)

 

[Larry Barry]

thanks for sharing your pix and reminding us why we keep returning to Alaska!

[Camelia-]

Thanks! I found a ton of useful info here, so I like to try and "give back" when I can.

 

The tall drinks were "Alaskan Mudslides" not sure what made them "Alaskan" other than the cruise we were on, but they were tasty. And for a 2 for 1 deal, they were good.

 

The maps I had were from Amazon. One was just a map of SE Alaska, and the other came with a book I bought about cruising Alaska. princess also gives you a map of Glacier Bay the night before, which was helpful. I will see if I can find the links for Amazon for you when I get back home.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Do they have to be the same or could you have two different ones? Just curious..add me to the list of fans..love your wonderful pictures and information that you're sharing! Brings back pleasant memories..of the Star and of Alaska!!

 

Camelia

[saxgirl84]

Glacier bay was fabulous and very scenic. the weather was perfect- not too cold, sunny for most of the day, and very calm waters. Very relaxing day. We made it down to the wheelhouse bar again for happy hour-

 

 

then relaxed until dinner- the 2nd formal night of the cruise.

 

decided to get a bottle of wine to enjoy with dinner tonight (and the next night as well as it turned out...)

 

escargot for an appetizer

 

Lobster and prawns--- Delicious!

 

 

and dessert was a pistachio chocolate concoction that was super yummy!

 

we asked to have our picture taken with Robert and Louis since we were all dressed up.. those 2 were amazing all week!

 

[Tweedy]

and dessert was a pistachio chocolate concoction that was super yummy!

 

 

 

This has to be the best dessert... I could eat two (but I don't) it's so good.

[saxgirl84]

the next day was College Fjords day... since we were on a 12 day trip, I had planned on doing laundry at some point so I didn't have to pay to check 2 suitcases on our flights, so I chose to try and get my laundry done today, since we had nothing "planned" until 6pm when we were to arrive at the Fjords... I headed to the laundry room (I believe these are located on each floor, some have 4 of each washer and dryer, others only has 2 of each like ours...). the laundry room is open from 8am-10pm, and has detergent and dryer sheets available for purchase (or you can bring your own for much cheaper)... there is a machine that dispenses tokens to be used in the washer/dryer, however there were a few people in there that were using quarters, and it seemed to be working for them just fine...

 

I got to the laundry room at about 8:30 and there were already 6 people ahead of me in line, and only 2 washers/dryers (which were already loaded...) I had brought my kindle along, so I was prepared to wait around... it ended up taking about 4 1/2 hours for me to finish my load of laundry. (one guy had both washers and dryers occupied for about 2 hours of that time... ran 3 dryer cycles for each of his loads!)

 

here are some pictures of the laundry rooms

 

 

 

there were 2 ironing boards in this room

 

 

 

 

it was so warm in that room because there were about 7 people standing around waiting on the machines... I finally volunteered to just take down everyone's room numbers and called people as it was their "turn" to use the machines... made it much cooler, and quieter in there, and I didn't mind sitting in there "guarding" everyones things... it was fun the rest of our trip running into those people in different places on the land tour and "catching up" :P

[saxgirl84]

thanks for sharing your pix and reminding us why we keep returning to Alaska!

 

no problem! I can now see why people come back for more! my sister did her honeymoon there a couple years ago, and was trying to explain it to me, but she didn't do it justice... I texted here from Skagway and asked her when WE were coming back! I am definitely hooked!

[saxgirl84]

Do they have to be the same or could you have two different ones? Just curious..add me to the list of fans..love your wonderful pictures and information that you're sharing! Brings back pleasant memories..of the Star and of Alaska!!

 

Camelia

 

they had to be the same thing... but if there are 2 of you, you could each order something and then "share"... we ended up doing that later in the cruise... it worked out well.

[saxgirl84]

laundry completed, bags packed to be set outside our door before going to dinner, we were now able to enjoy College Fjords- I had done absolutely no research on this area, and had no idea what to expect... We went out on the balcony around 5:30ish and saw a bit of wild life in the water...

 

 

and then we saw these 2 floating by...

 

one of them seemed to get spooked when he(or she.. not sure) heard someone on the ship yell "oh wow, look at the seal things on the ice..."

 

 

and the other decided to follow along

 

[saxgirl84]

and on to the actual star of the show...

 

 

another overcast/ foggy day...

 

still got some great views

 

 

 

 

[saxgirl84]

 

 

 

 

 

 

[saxgirl84]

 

 

 

 

 

[saxgirl84]

after dinner, we decided to head up to Skywalkers for our last night aboard, and enjoy the remainder of the night... it was a bit early for happy hour, but we ordered our first round and enjoyed he aft view

 

 

after about an hour, we decided to move to the other side of the lounge and watch where we were heading towards, instead of where we'd been...

 

 

just in time for Happy Hour (which was from 11pm-midnight each night in the Skywalker Lounge)

 

we were sitting there enjoying the view, and talking to the DJ - Rob who was giving us some great info about the area. Next thing we know, we're heading in towards the dock in Whittier! it wasn't even midnight yet!

 

 

finished our drinks and headed to our rooms, as we had to be up pretty early to board the train in the AM.

 

when I woke up, it looked very similar to when I went to bed only a few hours earlier... it was so crazy to never truly have darkness overnight!

 

Morning picture- the train is waiting for us!!!

[saxgirl84]

After a truly amazing 7 days aboard the Star Princess, it was now time to begin the 2nd leg of our awesome Alaska journey! we disembarked the Star and found our way onboard the Alaska Railroad train car, and found our table.

 

 

ordered some hot chocolate in a souvenir mug

 

 

 

said good by to the Star as we started to pull away from the station

 

 

 

we had to wait for our side of the tunnel to open (it is a one lane tunnel, shared by automobiles and the train, so it is only "open" at certain times... it only took about 10 minutes before we were moving... as we were waiting, I looked over and saw this receded glacier

 

[saxgirl84]

another view with a waterfall

 

 

 

after making it through the tunnel, and several miles north, we started to see the results of the forest fires that had been ravaging the area the week prior.

 

just south of Anchorage, we came across these trees, which were killed by salt water back in the earthquake in 1964.

 

 

then someone spotted this momma with her calf (you can barely see the calf's ears right near the momma's back leg..)

 

 

the train was traveling at around 40-50 mph at that time, so that was one of about 15 pics I snapped before she was out of site, and that was the only one that came out clear enough you could see what it was!

 

the Alaska railroad is one of the last manual railroads in the country, which means when a train has to "move over" for another train, someone has to get off the train and manually change the tracks, and then change them back when the other train has passed... I saw one of our conductors coming back up the track after doing this... we were going about 5mph at the time..

 

we were getting ready to pick up some passengers, and they were going to be boarding at our car, the conductor was waiting for us to stop to open up the stairs