Live From Majestic Princess JB5 Denali Explorer Alaska Cruise Tour 6-2022

[Steelers0854]

It took around 3 hours to make the trip down and we got in around 1pm. Our driver, Taylor was another standout. She is from just north of Fairbanks and gave a wonderful narration in our way down with a lot of local insights. Kuddos to Taylor.

 

 

We are staying at Captain Cook. Our rooms wouldn’t be ready until 4pm but they had a room where we can store our bags in (the carry one we had) until then. We were really hungry and had early dinner reservations at Haute Quarter Grill which was recommended to us by a friend. So we only wanted something small and quick. The hotel had a restaurant called Fletchers which was surprisingly empty that we went to.

 

The food was excellent. We got the seafood chowder which was good but not as good as last nights at North Fork. We also got the blackened halibut tacos which were amazing. Just spicy enough, perfectly cooked and not dry at all and had a delicious sauce on them.  DW ran into some more issues, she got a salad but could only do oil and vinegar and then they forgot her chicken breast so that resulted in another 20 minute wait for that to come out.  But all in all the food was good and we would recommend it.

 

 

 

 

Since checkin wasnt until 4pm we putter around the downtown area and walked in and out of stores.  Taylor, our wonderful driver had recommended an ice cream place and boy were we glad we found it (like 5 blocks from our hotel so perfect location).  DW was so excited to see, and confirm with the staff, that she could eat an ice cram cookie sandwich.  This folks is almost unheard of with her allergies.  She said it was the most amazing dessert she has ever had.  I had a small taste of the cookie and this was better than most cookies I have eaten, it was great!  I got a scoop of Yukon gold ice cream with toffee coated potato chips.  Yea you read that right and boy was it delicious.  The chips retained their crunch and it was amazing!  Plus all that for $12 with a tip, it was a good deal in my opinion.

 

 

 

 

By the time we got back to the hotel it was 4pm and we could pickup our packets.  We headed in and this is where the wheels fell off the bus, but briefly.  Our friends got their packet no issue but our room apparently wasn’t ready.  They said check back in 30 min.  So we hung out in the lobby and checked back in 30 minutes, no room and no estimate on when it would be ready, they said there is nothing they can do and we could always complain to the hotel front desk ourselves since they don’t work for the hotel.  This is incredibly frustrating.  So we had to go to the hotel front desk (you get the packet and room keys at a separate area with a Princess contractor not a hotel employee) and had a discussion with them.  They got us room keys (not sure why we had to do this if there were clearly keys available) and we walked again over to the Princess desk to get our packets and luggage tags.  Also one other note, the hotel does not have any laundry facilities, so make sure if you need to do laundry you do them at teh lodge before getting here.

 

So we headed up to the room.  They will bring your luggage to your room within the next few hours.  We also had down pillows in the room which DW cannot do and asked them to swap them out for us.  We headed to Haute Quarter Grill for our dinner reservation.

 

Ill just start this by saying this was hands down the best meal we have had while in Alaska.  Absolutely everything was delicious and DW got a great meal.  We had a half pound of King Crab for $35 (full pound was $79 and you got 2 sides with it) as a starter and it was excellent, perfectly steamed and flavorful and came put piping hot!  We also got the seafood chowder which was the best we have had on this trip.

 

 

 

For entrees DW got a filet with French fries, which she said was a perfect medium and had a port Demiglaze that she said was rich and flavorful.  She also said the fries were perfectly cooked and delicious.  I got the blackened prime rib (end cut) and it was one of the best Prime Rib’s I’ve had in a long time.  The blackened spice did not overpower the meat and the sauce that came with it i could have licked the plate.  Also ordered was the Jambalaya that had tons of seafood and a lovely spice to it and the catch of the day, a halibut that was the best halibut we have ever eaten.

 

 

 

 

 

One person in the group opted for dessert and got the berry cobbler.  It also was exceptional and had a sugar cookie type of topper on it.  All in all everything was amazing and everything we saw around us made us wish we were here longer so we could come back and try more.  Also the service was absolutely outstanding.  Drinks were ordered and delivered with lightning speed.  I would honestly come back to Anchorage just to eat here.

 

 

We got back to the hotel and god bless them our luggage was in our room and the feather pillows were gone and replaced!

 

Tomorrow we leave around 9:30 and make a stop at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center on our way to Whittier.  We love the show Dr Oakley and she visits this place often so we are excited to check it out.

[gdlamberth]

I've been down as early as 0715 or so.  No hours posted as best I can tell

 

[TVlife]

Steelers, Thanks for all the details about your cruise tour. I was glad to read you all tested negative for the per cruise test. Did you have to have a test before the land tour too (not sure if your tour started before the new requirement)?  Also, do you know of anyone that did test positive before boarding the cruise?  We are still on the fence on whether we are going to go on our cruise tour at the end of July. I am relieved that we won’t need a test to fly back to the US from Vancouver.  Just to sure we want to take the risk of testing positive before we get on the ship. 
Hope you are continuing to have a great trip!

[Steelers0854]

1 hour ago, TVlife said:

Steelers, Thanks for all the details about your cruise tour. I was glad to read you all tested negative for the per cruise test. Did you have to have a test before the land tour too (not sure if your tour started before the new requirement)?  Also, do you know of anyone that did test positive before boarding the cruise?  We are still on the fence on whether we are going to go on our cruise tour at the end of July. I am relieved that we won’t need a test to fly back to the US from Vancouver.  Just to sure we want to take the risk of testing positive before we get on the ship. 
Hope you are continuing to have a great trip!

yea we did test before we left for the land portion. I believe we were the first cruise with this requirement. But no one ever asked to see it at any point. In fact they said we wouldn’t even be able to board the coach to Anchorage without our test results but again no one has ever asked for it. I’m sure it’s checked as part of the onboarding process to the ship just interesting no one has asked up til now. 
 

yes we know of a handful of people that tested positive at the Mt McKinley lodge but just by third hand information. 

[Steelers0854]

Just Breathtaking. 
 

[clueless2]

We did a train straight from Mt McKinley Lodge and it was a long trip.  Started a couple of hours late (the train was late).  Also had to wait for quite a while at a pull over so another train could pass the other way.  As you can see I think it was 8 or 9 o'clock before we got on the ship.  Luckily they checked us in on the train and we just walked in.

[disneyochem]

Thank you for your report.  I have celiacs (but fortunately I can eat diary) so can relate to the issues/challenges your wife faced.  I always carry gf bread, peanut butter and honey for a quick meal.  
 

Last summer, hubby and I did a four week DIY trip in Alaska.  I was worried about the availability of safe food on our trip.  I ended up carrying gf backpacking meals.  Surprisingly good!  Has your wife ever thought about bringing these?  Lots of options—curries, stews, vegan.  Just add boiling water and you get a pretty good meal.

 

 

 

 

[oldfashioncruiser]

2 hours ago, clueless2 said:

We did a train straight from Mt McKinley Lodge and it was a long trip.  Started a couple of hours late (the train was late).  Also had to wait for quite a while at a pull over so another train could pass the other way.  As you can see I think it was 8 or 9 o'clock before we got on the ship.  Luckily they checked us in on the train and we just walked in.

We did the same land/sea cruise many years ago but I forgot what time we arrived at the ship.   Rather disappointed we get there so late.  But we did love the train ride.  Taking our family this time and my son just asked to see the itinerary.   His only comment about the late arrival was that we are getting screwed out of 3/4 of day one's drink package.   I never thought about that but they really should allow us to have a couple free drinks on the train.   

Enjoy the rest of your cruise.  Thanks for sharing with us.

[Cali Viajera]

Steelers, did Denali and Mt.McKinley lodges have laundry facilities?

[Steelers0854]

45 minutes ago, Cali Viajera said:

Steelers, did Denali and Mt.McKinley lodges have laundry facilities?

Yes both of them sure did. So I would recommend doing it there if you can. 

[Steelers0854]

 

We got up and headed for caffeine. Snow City Cafe was just down the street and they had a much shorter line and great coffee compared to the place in the hotel.

 

We got on our bus and left promptly at 9:30am. It was an hour drive to the Alaska Wildlife Conversation Center. We had just over an hour here, but I think you. You can easily spend half a day here. It was cool to see all the different rescue animals that otherwise would have been left out in the wild.

 

 

We had to promptly leave at 11:50am because there is a one way tunnel that goes south at the bottom of the hour and north at the top of the hour. So if we missed the window we would be waiting an hour to catch the next window. Interestingly enough the train uses the same tunnel to get into and out of Whittier.

 

 

We made the time slot and literally were at the dock on the other side of the mountain. The tunnel was very interesting, very rough and narrow. It was a fun experience.

 

We got to the port at the same time as 5 other buses and the train so it was busy. This is where we ran into issues, unfortunately due to the bad decisions by 2 port workers. We got to the entrance and were directed to the priority line. We waited. And waited. And 45 minutes, moving about 30 feet (not even half way through the line) later the same lady that directed us to the line came and told us to move to a different line that we are in the wrong line. Wait. What?  It was clearly marked as the priority line. The people behind us were platinum and elites. Apparently what had happened was they put a tour group into the priority line and they had done nothing in the app beforehand so they had to photograph, scan passport and upload vaccine info for everyone which is why it took so long. We never were told why they had them in the priority line but they then tried to put us in the still very long general boarding line. None of us we’re having this since we had just waited 45 minutes and if we had been in the other line to begin with would have already been on board. Finally a port security officer was wonderful and walked us up to the front of the line. Problem solved.

 

It was now almost 2pm and we headed to our room to drop our bags and to Alfredo’s. On our way we swung by our luster station to scan our medallions and watched the safety video on our phones. DW loves the gluten free vegan pizza at Alfredo’s and says they have the best salad dressing. We also got a margarita pizza to share. We didn’t want to eat too much since we were eating dinner at 6:20.

 

Fun fact for today: each room steward has 16 rooms.

 

We walked around the ship. It’s like being home again, so familiar with some new fun and interesting touches being the Majestic compared to the other Royal class ships.

 

We found a spot up front and relaxed til it was almost dinner time while doing a load of laundry ($6) as well.

 

We met our dinner team and DW got the salad and the chicken tonight. Both of which she said were good. I got the salmon and shrimp appetizers and the seafood stew. There are 4 of us in our group. While I do my best to take photos I may miss something’s or for the sake of brevity if we get the same dish may not repeat myself. I don’t like to be overly intrusive in taking photos and documenting our time here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the reasons we love Princess so much is that they have sorbet (real sorbet, some lines will call it sorbet but put dairy in it). So For dessert it was raspberry sorbet for her, I got a cheese plate and we also got a creme brûlée cheesecake. 
 

 

Edited June 12, 2022 by Steelers0854

[Steelers0854]

sorry all, one of tomorrow nights menus got into that last post at the bottom. Sneak preview I guess lol. Until next time, we will see how the internet goes these next 2 days.

[Thrak]

Realized my wife's sister and her family are on this cruise. (None of them do CC. Back when they were booking I asked my wife's sister what ship they were on and she had no idea as her son did all the booking. I can't imagine not knowing what ship I was going to sail...) They did the land tour first. I noticed a pic of crème brulée above. We just sailed Royal Princess - 12 days Alaska - and it was never on the menu. As it's my "go to" desert I was disappointed. My wife was also unable to get ice cream at dinner. It was only offered at MDR lunch for some bizarre reason. Hope everybody has a great cruise.

[Thrak]

Where is the best spot for glacier viewing on Majestic Princess?  (My wife's sister is texting her and asking. We've never been on that ship so...)

[milogurd]

22 minutes ago, Thrak said:

Where is the best spot for glacier viewing on Majestic Princess?  (My wife's sister is texting her and asking. We've never been on that ship so...)

Anywhere outdoors. The ship does 360's so all can see. If you've been on the Royal, the Majestic is the same deck plan.

[Thrak]

20 minutes ago, milogurd said:

Anywhere outdoors. The ship does 360's so all can see. If you've been on the Royal, the Majestic is the same deck plan.

 

I'd rather sail Majestic. We haven't been on that ship but I think we'd enjoy the Hollywood Conservatory area. There is also a pool in that area. I don't use the pools but my wife does. I think they really blew it with the pools on Royal. I'd also like the noodle bar instead of the Lido deck pizza. (Hopefully they did something to change the horrible setup of Princess Live. It was extremely poor as a venue for trivia on Royal.)

 

There are actually quite a few differences between Royal and Majestic but I understand what you meant. I'm wondering if the small public area up on Sun Deck might be a really good area for glacier viewing. Depending, of course, on the weather and whether or not a zillion people had the same idea. I'm betting a lot of people never even discover that area.

 

We actually got very good glacier viewing from our balcony on Royal. They totally screwed up the commentary though and it didn't come through the TV. A lot of people were peeved to find they were piping in music instead. They did apologize later but it didn't help at the time. It was our 4th time to Glacier Bay so we didn't get too excited about the missing commentary.  We had absolutely GORGEOUS weather.

Edited June 13, 2022 by Thrak

[Steelers0854]

the internet has been expectedly horrible. It’s taken me 3 tries and about 30 minutes just to get to the tread again. I’ll save the main posts until we hit cell coverage again. 
 

We are loving the Hollywood Conservatory to get the best views. It’s warm, protected, you can clearly hear the naturalist and it’s very comfortable with good views. It’s raining now so not the best for cameras so the balcony may be the absolute best place currently. 
 

hope to get more out soon. Having a great time!

[Thrak]

51 minutes ago, Steelers0854 said:

Having a great time!

 

Wish we were there with you. If we were, I'd probably try to find out who you are. I remember at one Cruise Critic Meet and Greet I yelled out, "Who's Renmar?".  It worked out well and we have sailed with him and his lovely wife and even spent a few days at their home after another cruise. We met them for lunch after our recent Alaska cruise and will most likely sail with them again. Sometimes you meet the nicest people cruising. They are the second cruising couple from Canada that we met on a cruise and have continued to correspond with and cruise with.

[Steelers0854]

[Cruisencatlady]

Great review Steelers!  I'll be boarding the Majestic in August for the inside passage north.  Thank you for the tips about restaurants in Anchorage.  Do you mind posting the Patters?  I'm interested in activity times to be able to plan ahead.

 

Susan

[Thrak]

Text from wife's nephew. He is not at all happy about people smoking pot on the balconies.

[Steelers0854]

3 hours ago, Thrak said:

 

Wish we were there with you. If we were, I'd probably try to find out who you are. I remember at one Cruise Critic Meet and Greet I yelled out, "Who's Renmar?".  It worked out well and we have sailed with him and his lovely wife and even spent a few days at their home after another cruise. We met them for lunch after our recent Alaska cruise and will most likely sail with them again. Sometimes you meet the nicest people cruising. They are the second cruising couple from Canada that we met on a cruise and have continued to correspond with and cruise with.

That would of course be fantastic. I have been following your posts for years and would enjoy meeting up. Always nice to connect with folks on the board. I also one day hope to connect with Pam, because I’m pretty sure she is more myth/legend than reality 😉

 

48 minutes ago, Thrak said:

Text from wife's nephew. He is not at all happy about people smoking pot on the balconies.

 

oh his that’s horrible!  We haven’t had any of that thankfully!

[Steelers0854]

We headed to the Hollywood Conservatory after dinner for sailaway. It’s the perfect place since it’s enclosed with big windows looking forward. We stayed there for a couple hours before calling it a night.

 

Here are the ships officers:

 

 

The cabins on the majestic have some interesting features. The light in the closet area is always on but on a motion activated sensor. So when you get up in the middle of the night it’s a shock to the system to have this extremely bright light turn on. Another feature is a night light under each night stand that is also motion activated. These are also pretty bright and would be more than enough light on their own, but that closet light is just obnoxious.

 

We got up and headed down to the dining room for breakfast. DW got toast, which today appears to have carrots in it, we thought that maybe for breakfast they did they to make it sweeter?  She also go hash browns and sausage. I skipped breakfast this morning. We will be back at noon for lunch as DW ordered in advance.

 

 

 

We went straight to the Princess theater for a presentation by the naturalist on Glaciers and then another presentation on Alaskan Native people. Both were really well done and we enjoyed them.

 

One note on the Medallion app. If you have an iPhone and have turned on iCloud’s Private Relay service you will have to turn that off for the app to function correctly. I could go into detail as to why but I think the app uses WebKit and the service essentially acts like a VPN and therefore blocks most of the functionality. The internet is almost useless at the moment which again is to be expected given our location. Hopefully it improves as we travel south. The app itself appears to be down this morning as well. It won’t locate shipmates, you cannot order anything etc. also our phones seem to continually drop the Wi-Fi connection forcing you to manually reconnect to the network.

 

We arrive at Hubbard glacier at 3pm and we will pickup our pilot.

 

We went to a couple of other activities and before we knew it it was lunch time. DW had a salad and I got the prawns and Thai hot and sour soup. Both were excellent.

 

 

 

For entree I got the red snapper and DW got the chicken korma. We honestly didn’t know what korma was when we ordered it. Turns out it’s very dairy forward but they didn’t even bat an eye and the chef made a special version for DW. Had we been on Carnival they just would have said order something else. I know I keep saying it but this is one of the reasons we love Princess so much, they take such good care of DW and don’t force her to eat bland food that’s easy on them.

 

DW said her korma was one of the best things she has eaten on a ship, I tried a bite and it was exceptional, bold rich flavors and you can tell they took care in preparing it. The snapper was delicious, perfectly flaky.

 

 

 

 

We sat in the Conservatory and watched as a dreary day became even more dreary as we approached the bay to pickup our pilot. We haven’t had any legit rain yet but it’s been a heavy mist for several hours. Looks like our run of good weather luck has run out. It takes us about 2.5 hours to reach the Hubbard Glacier so here is hoping for a little clearing between now and then.

 

There are 2267 guests on this sailing with 1154 crew.

 

[Steelers0854]

It definitely cleared up as we approached the glacier. While it was still cloudy and drizzly we were treated with a nice view of the glacier itself it’s just unfortunate that we couldnt see the beautiful mountains behind it.

 

We had balcony cabins on opposites of the ship so we move from the conservatory and bounced between the balcony’s depending  on which side he had facing the glacier. This turned out to be a great strategy as we had perfect, private views.

 

Before we knew it, it was time for dinner. So we headed down to the dining room.

 

 

 

DW ordered the chicken and bok choy soup, and a salad. I got the fruit salad and the crab cake. This is where we ran into our first allergy slip up. As DW was eating the soup she noticed there was a hard boiled egg in it. Nothing on the menu indicated it contained eggs and the server seemed equally surprised. She hadn’t gotten through much of the soup but it had been enough unfortunately to make her sick later on that evening.

 

 

 

 

For entrees DW got the beef tenderloin (with a special port sauce she could eat) I got the duck and shared the lamb with our regale companions. Everything was great tonight. While the duck skin could have been crispier (it was pretty chewy) the flavor was delicious with the sauce and it was nicely cooked. The lamb also was delicious. DW loved her tenderloin, as did the rest of the table, and she also enjoyed her port sauce they made her.

 

 

 

 

 

For dessert DW got the same chocolate pana cotta like dessert with cranberry sorbet. I got the hazelnut bar and we also got the berry cobbler and caramel cheesecake. Needless to say there wasn’t much left as it was all delicious.

 

 

 

 

 

 

After dinner we walked over to the crown grill bar and sat and had drinks and listened to the guitarist play before calling it a night.

 

We have glacier bay tomorrow. We pickup the park rangers at 9:15 and get to the glacier around 1:15. We are hoping for better weather. When we were here in 2013 it was raining and foggy and you could just barely see the glacier. So 🤞.

 

[clueless2]

Make sure to try to get a wake view leaving Glacier Bay. We had a great sunset leaving.  This was in late May.