Cheapo Dad's Trip Report on the Majestic Princess (Maybe with few pictures added)...

[harryfat1]

Yeah, tons of people walking around downtown area with 5 ships in port today

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More jewelry stores – Diamond International is the purple one on the right.  Could be a Bob’s 4X4 Jewelry on this block one day.

 

The scariest scenario for any husband is their spouse going in and out of these jewelry stores and after the 10^th one still singing the U2 Song:

 

 

 

 

Per the shuttle bus driver, these jewelry stores close up shop when the cruise season is over in October and the workers head back to the Caribbean.  Then once the Alaska cruise season reopens, so do the stores. 

 

It’d be interesting to come to Juneau in November to walk up and down these streets to have many of the stores closed as they just catered to the cruisers.

 

[harryfat1]

Alaska T-Shirt must be THE place everybody buys their Juneau souvenir as the place was packed to the rim instead. If you thought it was busy outside, inside the store was a zoo.  But we all have to get something for the folks back home so it’s time to suck it up and go inside to visit the uncle in prison (AKA shopping).

 

 

 

Yeah, much cheaper than ISP.

 

 

 

 

Lots of people gathering by the tram area.  Don’t know if they are trying to get on the tram or waiting for their tours to start.  

 

 

 

The kiosks are still open for business at 2 PM waiting for Bob's relatives' business

 

 

[harryfat1]

Few more pictures of the area before we head back on the ship.

 

 

 

 

Look, more lines...

 

 

 

WW II Memorial

 

 

 

Read the info here:

 

https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=77160

 

More shops here by the pier where Majestic is docked and the stores are a lot less crowded as other ships’ passengers are not going to come all the way down here as we have the last end dock

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

All right, VERY LATE lunch at 2:45 due to excursion activities and shopping

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In case anyone has questions on what condiments Princess buffet carries:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

After 4 o’clock, the Majestic Princess pulled away from the pier in Juneau as we headed south for our last port on this cruise in going to Ketchikan.

 

Here’s HAL Noordam and the 2 tenders from NCL dropping/picking up her passengers

 

 

 

 

Discovery Princess

 

 

 

 

Amazing how a large ship can just scoot sideways out as we were in the slot between these 2 ships just moments ago

 

 

 

On board photographers doing their thing (aka feeding crazy aunt in basement)

 

 

NCL's tender

 

 

 

 

 

I only see float planes in Alaska/Vancouver area.  Does anyone else know other regions where they have these float planes?

 

 

[harryfat1]

Given we didn’t have a sail away in Whittier and ISP, this Juneau sail away was our actual first time being on top deck to see the ship sailing off. Some people may not care but I like these photos of other ships in dock as we sailed off. 

 

 

Pick a deck chair - any chair

 

 

 

RCI's Serenade of the Seas

 

 

 

Juneau waterways are far from the Pacific ocean as with its inlets so there’s no wave to speak of in the water other.

 

 

 

 

 

Here's Handel's Water Music as we are sailing off in a river like smooth waters

 

 

[caribill]

On 10/4/2022 at 9:08 PM, harryfat1 said:

I assume from lack of comments that nobody is interested in state capitols?

 

Only the ones that cruise ships can go to.

[4x4bob]

On 10/4/2022 at 7:19 PM, harryfat1 said:

Yeah, tons of people walking around downtown area with 5 ships in port today

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More jewelry stores – Diamond International is the purple one on the right.  Could be a Bob’s 4X4 Jewelry on this block one day.

 

The scariest scenario for any husband is their spouse going in and out of these jewelry stores and after the 10^th one still singing the U2 Song:

 

 

 

 

Per the shuttle bus driver, these jewelry stores close up shop when the cruise season is over in October and the workers head back to the Caribbean.  Then once the Alaska cruise season reopens, so do the stores. 

 

It’d be interesting to come to Juneau in November to walk up and down these streets to have many of the stores closed as they just catered to the cruisers.

 

Forget Diamond International as a tourist trap, and read on.

 

You want to hear jewelry store scary, listen to this.  In Skagway the Wife was walking at a fast pace up and down the main street looking for the Broadway Jewelry Store. She had visited that store on 4 previous cruises and had called the shop before the cruise to make sure that they were still open.

 

So in May of this year Wife headed straight to main street as soon as the Discovery Princess allowed passenger to dis-en-bark  to starting looking.

 

The owner had moved her location so it was challenge to find the shop. Then my hopes were dashed when she saw the shop sign hanging underneath another business sign. 

 

As we walked into the shop the owner took one look at the Wife and called out a loud welcome back and ran over and gave her a big hug.

 

Then the owner looked at me and said you know where the Husband chair is. 

Well you know the story.  Husband carries no cash, he is married. 😪

 

So, after a visit like this, when we return home, we are on a Kraft Macaroni and Cheese diet for two weeks as we try to get our check book back into some type of balance. 

Bob

[harryfat1]

6 hours ago, 4x4bob said:

Forget Diamond International as a tourist trap, and read on.

 

You want to hear jewelry store scary, listen to this.  In Skagway the Wife was walking at a fast pace up and down the main street looking for the Broadway Jewelry Store. She had visited that store on 4 previous cruises and had called the shop before the cruise to make sure that they were still open.

 

So in May of this year Wife headed straight to main street as soon as the Discovery Princess allowed passenger to dis-en-bark  to starting looking.

 

The owner had moved her location so it was challenge to find the shop. Then my hopes were dashed when she saw the shop sign hanging underneath another business sign. 

 

As we walked into the shop the owner took one look at the Wife and called out a loud welcome back and ran over and gave her a big hug.

 

Then the owner looked at me and said you know where the Husband chair is. 

Well you know the story.  Husband carries no cash, he is married. 😪

 

So, after a visit like this, when we return home, we are on a Kraft Macaroni and Cheese diet for two weeks as we try to get our check book back into some type of balance. 

Bob

At least your wife bought something she liked. Think of it as a souvenir. Better than spending all that money and she doesn't like it...

 

Given you guys are the VIP customers, at least they could do is offer you something to eat/drink while she spends the money you have yet earned.🤪

[harryfat1]

Few more pictures of Juneau area before we head back to the cabin

 

 

 

 

I like the pattern on the water as the ship sails away

 

 

Float plane flew over us

 

Not exactly flying like an eagle but it'll do for this song

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

The family ordered more drinks for the balcony but I don’t think I had any.

 

My wife ordered her strawberry on Fire this time from the app so she got the “right version” to take down to dinner with her

 

 

 

 

 

I don’t think we did anything else that afternoon other than just sat outside for a bit to rest as we walked a fair amount that day. Showered and dressed for dinner.

 

One picture from the balcony before heading off to dinner.

 

 

By day 5, the my time dining software/MDR podium workers started to see a pattern that we are eating at 7:20 nightly and requesting on table 352.  So they assigned it to us again and for the rest of the cruise.  That’s total of 5 nights in the same table and 2 nights at another table. Shouldn’t have to play musical table if we prefer to dine under the traditional method.

 

 

[harryfat1]

Oh, I forgot to mention that early in the afternoon while we were on the balcony, the captain came on the PA system admonishing some late returning cruisers as they missed the 3:30PM “All Aboard” deadline for us to sail away at 4 PM as scheduled.

 

Maybe they were still on the “original” itinerary scheduling thinking the ship is sailing at 5 PM from Juneau or after the long stay at ISP the day before, they just thought they have all day in port.  Maybe got wrapped up in shopping (visiting uncle in prison).

 

As far as I know, there’s no Senor Frogs at Juneau keeping them partying like the classic pier runners in Nassau/Cozumel.  Maybe they got caught up in the Red Dog Saloon?

 

Whatever the reason, the captain wasn’t very happy about it over the PA system. He made sure to let everyone know that the ship MUST leave by 2:15 PM on the next port in Ketchikan in order to make it back to Vancouver by 3 AM to beat the high tides.  If we missed that window, the ship won’t be allowed to go into Vancouver until after 1 PM when the tide is low enough for the Majestic Princess to sail underneath the Lions Gate Bridge.

 

Of course, the 1 PM arrival for any cruise ship is deadly as many people like us have early flights home so that would put hundreds of passengers’ flights at risk if we missed the deadline.

 

So it’s basically the captain’s warning that he’s sailing for Vancouver at 2:15 tomorrow – with or without you

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

No menu photo but you can get that elsewhere. We weren’t really hungry at dinner time as we ate lunch around 3 PM earlier today.

 

Guess who took which pictures?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back to our table 352

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

We went to the comedy show afterward.  Easily the best entertainment we saw the whole cruise. The guy was funny in being politically incorrect.  Too bad we couldn’t see his first show as dang Princess only had him for one show at 9 PM the first night.

 

You must go past the shops before entering the theater on deck 7 - think those are Bob's chairs as he waits for his wife to shop on the ship

 

 

 

 

As Princess had no night time activities that appealed us, after the show, we just got few  bottles water from International Cafe and went back to the cabin and called it a night.  We had walked another 7 miles in total today.

 

Last picture of the day with sun already set at 10:30

 

 

 

Let’s end the night with couple funny videos as we are on the comedy theme from tonight.

 

 

 

 

 

This concludes day 5 of the trip report as we head for the home stretch.  One more port in Ketchikan with some pictures and then days 7 & 8 will be short (well, short by my standards at least).

 

As always, appreciate everyone for reading along and contributing to the report.

 

[4x4bob]

On 10/5/2022 at 11:00 PM, harryfat1 said:

After 4 o’clock, the Majestic Princess pulled away from the pier in Juneau as we headed south for our last port on this cruise in going to Ketchikan.

 

Here’s HAL Noordam and the 2 tenders from NCL dropping/picking up her passengers

 

 

 

 

Discovery Princess

 

 

 

 

Amazing how a large ship can just scoot sideways out as we were in the slot between these 2 ships just moments ago

 

 

 

On board photographers doing their thing (aka feeding crazy aunt in basement)

 

 

NCL's tender

 

 

 

 

 

I only see float planes in Alaska/Vancouver area.  Does anyone else know other regions where they have these float planes?

 

 

On your Caribbean Cruise you will have a good chance to see some float planes.  We were heading across the harbor on a tour boat and I watched a float plane take off behind our boat.  Now don't ask me when or where because it was back past yesterday I sure don't remember that kinda info.  Just remember watching the plane. 

Bob

Edited October 8, 2022 by 4x4bob

[harryfat1]

4 hours ago, 4x4bob said:

On your Caribbean Cruise you will have a good chance to see some float planes.  We were heading across the harbor on a tour boat and I watched a float plane take off behind our boat.  Now don't ask me when or where because it was back past yesterday I sure don't remember that kinda info.  Just remember watching the plane. 

Bob

Huh.  I never noticed any float planes in the Caribbean ports. I will look closely for them in the future.

[harryfat1]

Day 6 – Ketchikan

 

Here’s the usual daily schedule insert:

 

 

 

As discussed previously, we lost 3 hours on our scheduled stop at Ketchikan due to high tides in Vancouver by day 8 so we had to leave town by much earlier than the original schedule.  That caused some grieve within our sailing’s roll call as people had originally booked excursions that ends at 4 PM.  With the original schedule of 6 PM departure (or 5:30 all aboard as those are typically 30 minutes prior), a 4 PM excursion end time would leave you plenty of time to walk around town and even visit the uncle in prison (AKA shopping).

 

However, with the revised schedule of 2:15 “All Aboard” per the schedule above, that 4 PM excursion obviously must be cancelled and they would need to find replacement excursions.

 

As I mentioned yesterday, the Captain is under pressure to sail away at 2:15. So that's appropriate for the Queen's song - except this is from the TV series "The Magicians".  I rate it as one of the best Fantasy TV series out there - like Harry Potter for adults that also sings. Just skip to the 1:25 mark to start the song:

 

 

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

Finally sunshine for the first time this whole cruise as the bright sky greeted me outside at 6:47 AM as we approach Ketchikan harbor.

 

 

 

 

The drawback of narrow cabins of these cabins is that the back feet of the chairs sometimes get caught on the balcony door railings and that makes opening the door difficult

 

 

 

 

Ketchikan airport

 

 

Also the warmest day of the cruise per the TV weather

 

 

[harryfat1]

We docked around 7:20 and it’s time for breakfast

 

 

 

 

For breakfast today, the fam wanted to sit at the dark wood section so here we are.  More crowded on this section of the buffet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

After breakfast, time to go back to the cabin and organize the backpack to get off the ship to explore our last port of call.

 

Hovercraft:

 

 

As everyone can tell, this was by far the best weather day we had the entire cruise. Alaska weather is a crap shoot.  Depends on how lucky you get in any given sailing.

 

For this stop, we didn’t book any excursions as Ketchikan is an easily walkable town as long as you are able to navigate some hills.

 

The Majestic Princess was assigned dock #4 per the Cruise Calendar. 

 

 

You know you are anal when 1) you actually looked at the port calendar to see what ships are in town that day 2) you looked up on the map where is dock #4 in Ketchikan.

 

For extra bonus anal points 1) you emailed Ketchikan tourism bureau to ask about the free bus system after reading about it in the brochure they sent to you 2) actually watched YouTube videos on taking the free bus from dock #4 to downtown and what’s at various stops.

 

Yeah, I don’t know anyone that anal either…

[harryfat1]

Anyway, as in Juneau, the Majestic Princess was assigned a faraway pier on the west side so you either have to take the free shuttle bus that the city provides or you will need to walk it.  Since it was a nice sunny day, we decided to walk along the water front.

 

Few more pictures of the area.

 

Lots of activities at the Ketchikan harbor.  No way you will see any whales by the shoreline here like in ISP

 

 

Another HAL ship in town

 

 

 

While I was at the balcony, saw a worker inside the lifeboat doing some maintenance on it

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

Walking on Sunshine:

 

 

 

 

More tour kiosks waiting for Bob's relatives

 

 

 

There's a big gift shop right by dock #4.  If for whatever reason you can't make it to town, you can do your shopping here (visiting uncle in prison)

 

 

[harryfat1]

Various signages to tell you where you are - pier #4

 

 

Pier #4 is on the west side - called Newtown

 

 

 

 

 

At the center part of the town, there’s “The Rock” statue.  This wasn’t here back in our previous Ketchikan in 2009.

 

 

The famous rain gauge.  It typically rains between 140 to 160 inches in Ketchikan and they typically only have 100 sunny days a year.  We were lucky to be there on a rare sunny day

 

[travelin.sisters]

On 9/3/2022 at 11:53 PM, harryfat1 said:

As it was still rainy and cold, time to head indoors on deck 17 and into Hollywood Conservatory which is at the front of the ship.

 

 

 

Whoever designed this area definitely got a lot of feedback from Chinse folks overseas.  The typical Princess design of paid adults open air sanctuary on the other Royal class ships would be a total failure in Asia.

 

Besides the iffy weather in Asia (too cold or too hot), overseas Asians are not going to pay $$ to sit in the sun as they have different perception on being tanned. They would line up for the $18 lobster but not paid for the sanctuary as Princess has designed for the other ships.

 

So by having the Hollywood Conservatory to be all indoors and then having no extra charge and an indoor pool to boot, one can argue the Majestic Princess is best Princess option for sailing to Alaska. Sure, the Discovery is newer than the Majestic but the Hollywood Conservatory with its indoor venue to watch the glaciers can’t be beat.

 

Although do note that the chair hogs (Alaska version of pool hogs in the Caribbean) come out in full force during glacier days and they camp out forever so if you want these seats, come out early.

 

Indoor pool area. The few times I have been through here, there are kids swimming here as outdoor swimming isn't as popular in Alaska.

 

 

View of Whittier but imagine what it looks like looking at glaciers from here:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you have the time and the money, go ahead and sail with Princess around the world - literally.

 

 

 

Alaska voyage in Chinese on the wall - but north bound only.

 

 

 

Various interesting topiary and musical instruments in the area:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

View of the port area from the front of the ship:

 

 

 

thank you for sharing all the Majestic photos, I took so many but never figured how to share them in a way that seemed accessible to someone that had never been ...I really appreciate the way you include the deck plans...great memories of being on the Majestic in January thanks for your detailed, amusing & informative report

[travelin.sisters]

On 9/5/2022 at 10:22 AM, JF - retired RRT said:

AFAIK Princess never made you go to muster on the Promenade deck. Been cruising on Princess since 2013 and always went to the muster station inside, i.e. theater, Crown Grill, etc.

BTW: you don't have to watch the video first. On our April cruise, we walked by our muster station on the way to our cabin and checked in with them before we got to our cabin.

We actually had to line up on the Promenade deck on the Ruby Princess & practice putting on our life vests on my first Princess cruise in 2015. It was a pretty miserable experience standing outside in a line waiting for everyone to arrive so that they would begin & I was glad when that changed.