LIVE: Island Princess to Alaska and Back, June 19-July 3

[Colo Cruiser]

Enjoying the live! Thanks for taking the time to do it!

 

Not sure what's up with the Captains Circle Host and all the secrecy about the most traveled cutoff numbers. 🙄

Some of them take their jobs way too seriously.   ☹️

[Steelers36]

GeoHerb reported this in one of his first posts in regards to first formal night: 

 

I forgot to mention that our waiter at the end of the meal let us know it was formal night coming up tonight. He said they recognized not every one may have packed formal wear for Alaska, so as long as we were presentable, we would be welcomed. He added that jackets were not required for the men.

 

Now, why doesn't Princess just send this notice out to all customers after final payment so some might alter what they pack, while others can still dress to the max if they like?

 

[AF-1]

steelers36;  I totally get what you are saying;  good thing for these boards;  I pack based on things and tips I read from these boards

[MissP22]

1 minute ago, steelers36 said:

GeoHerb reported this in one of his first posts in regards to first formal night: 

 

I forgot to mention that our waiter at the end of the meal let us know it was formal night coming up tonight. He said they recognized not every one may have packed formal wear for Alaska, so as long as we were presentable, we would be welcomed. He added that jackets were not required for the men.

 

Now, why doesn't Princess just send this notice out to all customers after final payment so some might alter what they pack, while others can still dress to the max if they like?

 

Because people are much more likely to have a picture taken when dressed up than being casual.

It's all a matter of the dollars. 

[Steelers36]

56 minutes ago, MissP22 said:

Because people are much more likely to have a picture taken when dressed up than being casual.

It's all a matter of the dollars. 

I know that is the common perception - and there is truth in it.  But we prefer to have picture taken in nice clothes - more typical to how we look day-to-day.  To each their own.  I have noticed in the past year or so that Princess is promoting more casual portrait opportunities whereas it used to be all focused on formal nights.

Edited June 26, 2019 by steelers36

[voljeep]

3 minutes ago, steelers36 said:

I know that is the common perception - and there is truth in it.  But we prefer to have picture taken in nice clothes - more typical to how we look day-to-day.  To each their own.  I have noticed in the past year or so that Princess is promoting more casual portrait opportunities whereas it used to be all focused on formal nights.

Princess brain trust at its' best !!!  Brilliant !!!

[nematome]

You are so savvy with your liquor and wifi supply. Love it! 😍

[chubbypiggy]

Thank you for the inputs and suggestions.

 

Something unexpected came up and I cannot leave my hometown until the morning of August 17.  So I booked the August 17 Royal Princess 14-day cruise.  Back in 2007, I did a 7-day Alaska cruise from Vancouver to Anchorage and visited all the ports on the upcoming cruise.  During the last 5 years, I cruised Royal Princess 2 times.  The ship is really nice but personally, I found most of their food to be too salty. 

 

On my 2007 Alaska cruise, they served Alaska King crabs in the dining room. Is that still on the dining room menu?     

 

[geoherb]

The Voyage of the 26 Glaciers was wonderful. The boat holds about 300 passengers but there were about 200 on our trip. I was afraid that we’d see too much of what we’d seen yesterday in College Fjord. I was very wrong. We started off after leaving Whittier by going through the Esther Passage. It’s a narrow gap between an island and a peninsula. We saw a black bear along the banks, but it was too quick for me to get a photo. From there we headed toward Harriman Glacier. The ship was supposed to go up College Fjord a ways, but there were so many fishing boats that the captain decided to give us longer at the glaciers he could get close to. He steered the boat through a field of ice to get us right by Harriman Glacier. We then went to Surprise Glacier. It was calving fairly actively. I hope the videos I got turn out good. From there we went to Surprise Glacier, which was the most active, followed by Serpentine and Coxe. Along the way, we saw sea otters and harbor seals. The captain had received word from other boats about some whale sightings. We saw finback whales and minke whales. 

There was a ranger from the U.S. Forest Service on board to narrate about the wildlife and the geology of the sound. They served a tasty smoked salmon chowder right after we boarded. It came with slaw, some fruit candy, a York peppermint patty, and a roll and cheddar cheese. They had coffee, tea, and water included with the excursion. There was a bar on the lower level serving glacial ice margaritas and other drinks. I had an Alaskan amber beer. Later in the afternoon, they served warm chocolate chip cookies. I had been smelling them but couldn’t figure out what I was smelling. We had assigned seats for the lunch, but most people pretty much wandered around the boat to the outside viewing areas. They opened the lower front viewing area only when the ship slowed down. Otherwise it would be too windy for people out there when the boat was going nearly 35 knots. 

 

The group of sea otters is called a raft of otters. We saw a couple of them. The view is so much better from the small boat than from the Promenade Deck. Near the end of the excursion, we stopped by a colony of black-legged kittiwakes. There are 10,000 of the birds nesting in the cliffs near a waterfall. I tried to get a good video of them in flight. 

 

Our excursion got back to port right as a train was getting in. I managed to beat most of the train passengers to the security checkpoint. I went to the solo travelers meeting at 7. I wish I had known that they were closing the dining room 30 minutes before the muster drill. I would have skipped the meeting. But I did find a woman who is a potential trivia teammate. She’s a retired high school history teacher who has traveled extensively, including to Australia for Elle’s trivias. 

 

The dining room menus and shows will be the same this week as last. The schedule will change slightly since our second formal night will be Sunday instead of Monday. 
 

[geoherb]

I ate dinner tonight in the Bordeaux Dining Room. The couple from the L.A. area who are doing back-to-back cruises as well were at my table along with two couples who joined the ship today after doing the land portion. I missed the show since I was forced to go late. I guess I could have skipped dessert, but I think I enjoyed the flourless chocolate cake more than I would have a comedian. He'll be on later in the week. Tomorrow's show is The Secret Silk. I can skip it again after hearing the reviews of my tablemates from the first cruise. I'll have breakfast in the dining room then go to trivia and then my rollcall's meet and greet and then the martini demonstration. I'm going to try to be one of the seven tasters at the end of the demo instead of one of the shakers during it. I'll miss afternoon trivia since I want to be out on the deck while we're near Hubbard Glacier. Thursday night is our first formal night with the champagne waterfall. Do people still want me to post photos of the Patter activities? They're pretty much the same ones we had during the first week, just probably in a different order.

 

Chubbypiggy: Yes. Crab legs were on the menu the night we were in Juneau on the first cruise. The order of menus will probably change since we'll have our second formal night on Sunday instead of Monday. But I'm already planning to order them again.

[ceilidh1]

2 hours ago, geoherb said:

The Voyage of the 26 Glaciers was wonderful. The boat holds about 300 passengers but there were about 200 on our trip. I was afraid that we’d see too much of what we’d seen yesterday in College Fjord. I was very wrong. We started off after leaving Whittier by going through the Esther Passage. It’s a narrow gap between an island and a peninsula. We saw a black bear along the banks, but it was too quick for me to get a photo. From there we headed toward Harriman Glacier. The ship was supposed to go up College Fjord a ways, but there were so many fishing boats that the captain decided to give us longer at the glaciers he could get close to. He steered the boat through a field of ice to get us right by Harriman Glacier. We then went to Surprise Glacier. It was calving fairly actively. I hope the videos I got turn out good. From there we went to Surprise Glacier, which was the most active, followed by Serpentine and Coxe. Along the way, we saw sea otters and harbor seals. The captain had received word from other boats about some whale sightings. We saw finback whales and minke whales. 

There was a ranger from the U.S. Forest Service on board to narrate about the wildlife and the geology of the sound. They served a tasty smoked salmon chowder right after we boarded. It came with slaw, some fruit candy, a York peppermint patty, and a roll and cheddar cheese. They had coffee, tea, and water included with the excursion. There was a bar on the lower level serving glacial ice margaritas and other drinks. I had an Alaskan amber beer. Later in the afternoon, they served warm chocolate chip cookies. I had been smelling them but couldn’t figure out what I was smelling. We had assigned seats for the lunch, but most people pretty much wandered around the boat to the outside viewing areas. They opened the lower front viewing area only when the ship slowed down. Otherwise it would be too windy for people out there when the boat was going nearly 35 knots. 

 

The group of sea otters is called a raft of otters. We saw a couple of them. The view is so much better from the small boat than from the Promenade Deck. Near the end of the excursion, we stopped by a colony of black-legged kittiwakes. There are 10,000 of the birds nesting in the cliffs near a waterfall. I tried to get a good video of them in flight. 

 

Our excursion got back to port right as a train was getting in. I managed to beat most of the train passengers to the security checkpoint. I went to the solo travelers meeting at 7. I wish I had known that they were closing the dining room 30 minutes before the muster drill. I would have skipped the meeting. But I did find a woman who is a potential trivia teammate. She’s a retired high school history teacher who has traveled extensively, including to Australia for Elle’s trivias. 

 

The dining room menus and shows will be the same this week as last. The schedule will change slightly since our second formal night will be Sunday instead of Monday. 
 

Thanks for the positive feedback! We will be in Whittier next month on our B2B and just booked this! Previously we have either gone into Anchorage or found a hike to do, so glad to hear the 26 Glacier Cruise is worth it!

[Paula_MacFan]

23 hours ago, geoherb said:

I felt sorry for those with early seating traditional dining. They missed the best viewing last night.

 

 

I can't imagine going all the way to Alaska to see beautiful scenery, then being more concerned about a meal in the MDR than actually viewing it.  

 

I am enjoying your trip report as we have a cruise next year on the Island.  Thanks for taking the time to do it.

Edited June 27, 2019 by Paula_MacFan

[aprilsp88]

On 6/25/2019 at 6:51 PM, brucedodge said:

Hello Geoherb,

 

Enjoying your live.

 

Assuming Joey is leading Phoenix Rising, could you ask him if he knows his future schedule with Princess.  He and his group are the best!  

 

Bruce

 

Phoenix Rising is one of my favorite band💃! They should have a facebook page so their fans can follow them.

[geoherb]

Internet problems this morning. My laptop would not log on. It got hung up on the initial screen and then would not let me log off. By the time I finally logged off successfully, it had eaten away 160 minutes. The internet manager restored them. He said that the internet had been down and to always use the log off button or go to logoff.com. There was no log off button since it never connected fully, and logoff.com was not working for me. But it was a quick fix for him to restore the missing minutes. The internet is still very slow this morning. Downloading my hometown newspaper was taking less than a minute. Today, I canceled the download when the estimated time was over 15 minutes and not getting any better.

Today’s forecast is for partly cloudy skies. Those partly cloudy skies are dense fog so far this morning as of 9:15. I’m hoping the clouds lift a little by the time we get to Hubbard Glacier this afternoon. Sunset last night was a remarkable 11:21. Sunrise this morning was 3:52. I kept my curtains closed and was able to sleep until 5:30.

 

Good news with my onboard account. I wondered how it would work with my refundable onboard credit. They charged things against it on the first cruise after I ran out of nonrefundable credit, but it’s reappeared now. My nonrefundable consists of the amount I had to prepay for my excursion yesterday plus small refunds on the port fees and taxes on each cruise ($20.14 and $17.47). 

 

I played trivia with the woman from the solo travelers meeting last night and two couples from Iowa. We placed second with 17 out of 20 points. We should have had another point if they had listened to me about one answer, but that wouldn’t have been enough. The winning team had a perfect score. 

 

The Cruise Critic gathering was well attended. Thanks to Purple Pirate for organizing it. The cruise director, entertainment director, customer services director, and guest relations manager attended. They had small carafes of peanuts on the tables and a waiter came around with cold hors d’ouevres. It was nice to get thanks from some people who had been following my posts on the northbound cruise.

 

I went to the martini demo again. This time, I did not have to shake it for a martini, but I was one of the seven people picked to taste the seven martinis poured in under 30 seconds. We had to dance to YMCA. I had the lavendertini. It was tasty. I liked last week’s Skyfall martini better, but this one was less work. I ate lunch in the dining room with a couple of women traveling together from California and a couple who travel all the time. They were among the 80 passengers doing the back-to-back cruises with me, but this was the first time I met them. They have rented a room from a friend to use as their permanent address, but they don’t have a home. I played carpet bowling after lunch, then passenger feud. Both were fun ways to meet new people.
 

[Safety Squirrel]

1 minute ago, geoherb said:

I played trivia with the woman from the solo travelers meeting last night .....

 

Have been following your review and have a question for you.  Is the 'solo travelers' meeting listed in the daily??  If not, where would I find out about solo travelers meetings?  Sailing on September 16th on the Island through Panama Canal.  So far, roll call is not very active.  Hoping that it gets more active as final payment was June 18th.  

 

I am glad you are enjoying your cruise and sailing on the Island.  It is nice to read a positive review.

[brucedodge]

5 hours ago, aprilsp88 said:

 

Phoenix Rising is one of my favorite band💃! They should have a facebook page so their fans can follow them.

April,

 

I agree, but I've never found them on Facebook.  We love to dance, and in many, many cruises, they are the best we've seen.  Joey is a hoot, they seem to know every song written, they know songs by dance type, and their songs don't last forever.  They play for whoever's there. not for themselves.

 

I hope Geoherb can find out how to contact Joey, or find out their future Princess schedule.

 

Bruce

[geoherb]

My martini from the demo was a violetini. I asked one of the bar servers what was in it, and she did not know. She said the most popular were the basic gin martinis, vodka martinis, lemontinis, and the chocolatetini. 

Hubbard Glacier is spectacular. It’s the largest glacier we’ve seen at six miles across the face. We could see just half of it. The other three miles were hidden around a corner. The naturalist said that a couple of times in the past few decades, the glacier has advanced enough to join the land across from it at the corner and form a lake behind it. When the dam burst, the wall of water rushing out killed harbor seals and dropped their bodies 500 feet up the mountain. It will be interesting to talk to the people who went on the small boat excursion closer to the glacier. You can see the little boat in the photo below. It got a lot closer to the glacier than we did. The naturalist said they were a quarter of mile from the face, while our ship was a mile away. It looked like they were a closer. I moved around the ship to get the best view of the glacier, starting at the front of the ship on Deck 10, moving down to the Promenade Deck as the captain turned the ship and to the other side when he turned it again, and finally to the back deck at the aft on Deck 8. Once again, it was never too crowded, especially down on the Promenade Deck.

I stopped by the Platinum, Elite, and suite cocktail event. It was not crowded either, with two couples leaving as I got there and just one other passenger there. He was enjoying the steak tartare. I did not try it. I dressed for the formal night in a dark shirt and tie. There were very few men in tuxedos. Maybe 20 percent wore dark suits and another 20 percent wore sports coats, some of the latter without ties. My new tablemates seem nice. They’re a couple from Louisiana celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary, a recently retired Marine and his wife from San Diego, and a single woman from Maryland. She had been visiting her relatives in Anchorage before the cruise. I tried two menu items I did not have last week: the crab quiche and the leg of lamb. Both were good. I also had two menu items I had last week that were tasty enough to order again: the pesto pasta and the hazelnut chocolate journey. I skipped going to see The Secret Silk. Tonight’s entertainment features the comedy and magic of Garry Carson.
 

[geoherb]

15 hours ago, Safety Squirrel said:

 

Have been following your review and have a question for you.  Is the 'solo travelers' meeting listed in the daily??  If not, where would I find out about solo travelers meetings?  Sailing on September 16th on the Island through Panama Canal.  So far, roll call is not very active.  Hoping that it gets more active as final payment was June 18th.  

 

I am glad you are enjoying your cruise and sailing on the Island.  It is nice to read a positive review.

 

I’ve seen the singles and solo travelers meeting listed for most nights. I don’t think they’ve been well attended. One problem is timing. The meeting time isn’t consistent. It always conflicts with one of the fixed seatings. Tonight, for instance, it’s too early for those with the first seating traditional dining. Last night’s meeting was during second seating.
 

[CruzinNoony]

I was happy to hear how much you enjoyed the "26 glaciers cruise" in Whittier.  We are also booked on that on our turnaround day.  Did you make the top 40 on the southbound?  I would be interested in hearing the numbers of this sailing.  Thanks again for all the time you are devoting to your "live from".  Meredith

[geoherb]

Happy Friday! It’s my last day of viewing glaciers on this cruise. They’ve been spectacular. Margerie Glacier this afternoon in Glacier Bay was so different from just four days ago. It helped that the captain was able to get us closer than we were then. There was a stream churning out from underneath the glacier. I kept expecting an iceberg to shoot up from that spot. The ranger doing commentary has been quiet. The one we had four days ago was quite chatty. We saw orcas yesterday afternoon near Hubbard Glacier. Today we saw whales as we entered Glacier Bay. There were also sea otters popping up occasionally, but nothing compared to the raft of sea otters we saw on the small boat cruise.

 

I talked with one man who did the small boat excursion at Hubbard Glacier. He raved about how wonderful it was. It would take an awful lot of onboard credit for me to be willing to spend that much on a two-hour excursion. The five-hour one from Whittier was pricy but worth it considering the length of time and what we got for our money. Now I need to find someone who did both, but maybe no one did that.

 

I ate lunch in the dining room before we got to Margerie Glacier. I had two different things: the pappardelle with chicken and the sole. Both were good. Last week I had the beef tortellini and vegetarian stuffed pepper. I’m planning on ordering new things tonight as well.
 

[geoherb]

6 hours ago, CruzinNoony said:

I was happy to hear how much you enjoyed the "26 glaciers cruise" in Whittier.  We are also booked on that on our turnaround day.  Did you make the top 40 on the southbound?  I would be interested in hearing the numbers of this sailing.  Thanks again for all the time you are devoting to your "live from".  Meredith

 

Remember to fill in the “Best Price Guarantee” form for the 26 glacier excursion. I received a $23.10 credit for doing so. It’s not a lot of money, but better than paying full price. I haven’t received an invitation for a top 40 event on this cruise. On my first cruise, I received the invitation on the first full day of the cruise. It’s now the second full day of this cruise. I always write down the numbers at the Captain’s Circle party and will report back on them. Our party will be Sunday night after our day in Juneau. The ship leaves at 3:30 that afternoon.

[tothemall&beyond]

On 6/25/2019 at 2:17 AM, aprilsp88 said:

I don't think Princess calls the house band Phoenix Rising. Actually, the house band never has a name, they're always referred to as Princess house band. At least on all the cruises we've taken.

 

Phoenix Rising is a great band. I think they have one singer/keyboard, one guitar, and one drummer. Really enjoy their music. A lot of people dance to their music.

The bands on Princess always have names. They are not house bands for a particular ship - they are bands who are contracted as part of the entertainment staff (just like the Crooners performers). The Princess Orchestra is always generically called just that.

 

[tothemall&beyond]

GeoHerb:  As always, absolutely loving your live reports. So detailed that I can envision everything. Your photos are beautiful, too. Thanks for sharing all of it. And yes, I would gladly come back to Alaska. It's been 11 years since we were there. We went on the first southbound of the year and it actually snowed in Anchorage. As South Floridians, we loved it! My DH wouldn't be able to break away from work in August since we are taking 3 weeks off in the fall (bringing the Sky across)- but I could be a third wheel... LOL.  

[geoherb]

I received the invitation to the top 40 this afternoon, a couple of hours after writing my last response. It’s going to be a cocktail party on Monday evening. The Captain’s Circle hostess said she likes to alternate between doing a luncheon and a cocktail party because some people prefer one over the other. I guess it’s good for those doing back-to-back cruises to always get at least one of their preferred events. Once again, she said there were between 45 and 50 Elites on this cruise. I’ll get the exact number on Sunday night at the Captain’s Circle party.

 

The solo traveler and I joined a family for trivia this afternoon. We were a strong second place, just one point out. We should have tied—if only we had not changed one correct answer to something that was wrong. We missed getting notebooks, which are my least favorite prize. They had the Alfredo's at Sabatini's today during lunch. I missed it. 

 

There were two small boats in Glacier Bay with us. The smaller one was named the Baranof Dream. The other one was the National Geographic Venture. 
 

[aprilsp88]

4 hours ago, tothemall&beyond said:

The bands on Princess always have names. They are not house bands for a particular ship - they are bands who are contracted as part of the entertainment staff (just like the Crooners performers). The Princess Orchestra is always generically called just that.

 

Usually Princess Orchestra will stay onboard longer, right? I wonder why they always play Jazz, any particular reason?