Sort of live from the Crown Princess

[abbydancer2003]

8 minutes ago, mom says said:

Out of curiosity,  are all 3 dining rooms open? Are they doing the Gastro pub at night?

 

We will be on the Crown in 2 months.

Da Vinci and Bottecello  are open.  Michelangelo is not.  If that's the one in the Wheelhouse, no.

[abbydancer2003]

Crown D3

 

Today is Juneau and a sea day morning and afternoon to evening port visit.

 

We met Beth and the girls for breakfast, they did get there earlier than we did.  After breakfast, we went up to my mom’s room and hung out, something we do a lot.  

 

We arrive in Juneau at 2, and Beth and co had booked a 3:15 whale watch tour.  We were thinking of taking my mom to Tracy’s Crab.  

 

We did meet for lunch a little early.  It was pub lunch only today, but Club Class had it.  I had the ploughman’s lunch to start, without ham or pate (basically cheese, bread and a pretty good chutney.  For the main, the choices for what I like were limited, so I had lamb curry (I liked the older menu so much better).  I finished with a trifle, which was good.

 

By the end of lunch, we were arriving in Juneau.  Mom went back for a while and Beth and co headed out to the dock to get off for their whale watching tour.

 

At about 2:30 I went downstairs to check out where the gangway was.  There was a very long line around deck 7, going back to club fusion.  I talked to an officer there,  He told me it would probably clear in about 20 minutes.  I used the ladies room and it was much shorter by then.

 

After about 30 minutes, we got mom and headed down.  On the way, we stopped at guest services to see if we could get a card key for mom’s room so that she doesn’t have to get up to open the door.  They said they couldn’t give us card keys, but we could set it so our medallions could open the door.  That’ seemed good, so now we can all get in with our medallions.

 

I realized I’d forgotten my phone, so I told them to go on ahead while I got it.  They were off the ship by the time I got back.  We walked a bit, but mom said she wasn’t hungry, so we scrapped Tracy’s.  We walked as far as the mount Roberts tram, and dropped her off to wait for us to shop.  We went to the drug store, but they close early on Mondays.  Mom needs some Neosporin, and Glen needed Lactaid, so we found another about a 15 minute walk.. Glen decided to go there, and suggested I go back to  keep mom company.  I stopped at Alaska Fudge, and I bought some more of their nut, white chocolate and caramel clusters, as well as some dark chocolate and almond for my mom.   When I got back, she said she’d talked to a gentleman from he ship who sat down next to her for a while. And chatted.  After a little while Glen got back, and we went back to the ship.  Two crew members helped her up the ramp, one took her walker and the other helped her.  She was impressed.  

 

We dropped her at her room, and told her we’d be back in a few minutes to take her to the elite lounge.  Around 5:30 we took her up, but the lounge was very cold so we only stayed a little while.  Soon after we went back to her room, We dressed for dinner, and went to Explorers to dance to the duo that was previously in the wheelhouse.  After that was Beatles trivia, which I wanted to do, but the rest didn’t want to wait until after 9 for dinner, so we did the first few songs and left when they said they were going to dinner.

 

Dinner was nice as always.  I had banana rum soup (their chilled fruit soups are usually good and a lighter choice), and coq au vin (pretty good).  Dessert was a sort of deconstructed carrot cake that didn’t look like a carrot cake, but was pretty good.

 

Following dinner, we went to mom’s room to play a round of Scattagories, a family favorite.  After that back to our room and bed.

 

 

[abbydancer2003]

I have not abandoned this!!!!

 

Crown day 4

 

Today was Skagway, and we had tours.  Because Beth and co had an all day early tour (they were on the trip to the CarCross in the Yukon - a tour we’d done in 2018 and really liked.  When we went, it was train to Frasier Canada, and then bus to Yukon and back.  Because the railroad wasn’t doing all their routes - just to the summit and back, their tour was totally by bus.

 

Our ship was parked at the Broadway dock.  Previously, it’ was always the railroad dock, but that’s mostly closed.  The Celebrity Solstice was down at the end of the railroad and tendering.  

 

We had breakfast with my mom and then hung out in her room until about 11:15.  We were told to be at the end of the pier at 11:40, so I figured that would be about right.  By 11:45,  we arrived at the end of the pier, and discovered that the train was right there.  A worker noticed us there, so she told us to get immediately onto one of the two back cars and for my mom to leave her walker by the car and they’d put it in.  We entered the last car, and by noon, the walker was in the back and the train left.  There was a narration of the various Yukon gold rush sites, and info about the train.    The whole trip took about 3 hours.  

 

One note - the train, to be at the end of the broadway dock, had to be split to keep Broadway street open, so before leaving they had to join the two halves.  At the end, we stopped at the train yard to attach an engine to the back, because in disembarking, they also had to split the train, so an engine had to pull the back cars back.  

 

Also, the first time we did the train in 2007, at the summit, they moved the engine to the end for trip back down.  They also asked people to switch sides.  Now, the train goes around a loop so that you are on the other side on the way back and the engine is still in front.

 

We were at the back of the train at the end, so closer to downtown.  Rather than walk back to the ship, we decided to see if we could get a late lunch in town.  We found the visitors center, so I went in and asked about fish and chips.  Since they were park rangers, all they could say was that there was fish and chips in most restaurants, but they couldn’t say which was best, etc.

 

We wandered down the street and found the Bonanaza grill which got good reviews on Google so we went.  My mom and Glen had fish and chips and both said it was great.  I had a grilled cheese with marinated tomatoes and a tomato dipping sauce.  I removed the tomatoes, and didn’t use the dipping sauce (which I think was marinara) and it was good.

 

While walking there, we saw the Klondike Doughboy store, which is basically a food and fry bread store that I’d read was really good.  I also looked for a pharmacy/grocery where I could pick up the stuff Glen didn’t get (because he didn’t see the text in time) in Juneau.  We agreed that I’d go to the grocery and mom and Glen would meet me at the Fry bread place.  

 

I went to the store, and did get the stuff I needed (at about 33% more than at home) and then went to the Fry bread place, where mom and Glen were wait.  About then we got a text from Beth that they were back. So we agreed to meet at the Fry Bread place.  

 

I got the Fry Bread, and it was pretty much fried dough dipped in cinnamon sugar, sort of a dough nut or churro.  Good, though.  A few minutes later, the rest of the party showed up and we leisurely walked back to the ship.  Both Beth and Lily brought me a doughnut from CarCross Trading Post.

 

At about 5:30 I went up to Skywalkers (Glen wanted to relax) and texted Lily to see if she wanted to go with me.  She met me up there and we had banana drinks.  She had the dirty banana, and I had the clean banana I invented on the Discovery (no chocolate, with simple syrup substituted to get the right sweetness level.

 

After that, back to the room to dress for dinner, and then hanging around.  We did go to dinner around 8:15.  I had Peach Bellini soup, steak with Tuscan sauce and finished with a peach flame.  There was a different flambe type dessert every day, and since I don’t each chocolate it was often a good choice for me.

 

After dinner, another game of scattegories and bed.  We all suck at Scattagories.

 

 

[abbydancer2003]

I don't know if anyone is actually following this, but in case at some point someone wants to hear the rest, I'll post it all tomorrow.  

 

Thanks.

[abbydancer2003]

Crown D5

 

Today is Glacier Bay and the replacement port of Icy Straight.

 

We got up in time for breakfast.  The patter said we’d arrive at Margerie Glacier around 9:30, but it didn’t look like it from the view out the window.  Beth and Co joined us right before it closed, so we enjoyed it with a view of the approach to the glacier.

 

After breakfast, we put on our warn clothes and went outside.  We noticed people on the top of the bridge, so we figured out how to get there, and went up.  We started texting the family about it but texts didn’t go through.  The Grand Pacific is sad, as it’s retreated significantly since our first visit in 2007, and no longer has ice in the front view.  (You can see it up the hill though).  Margerie still looks good though.

 

At some point I tried calling my mom’s room, but no answer.  I tried.  

 

Once the ship rotated and the glacier was falling out of view, we went back to mom’s room.  No-one there, so we texted and then watched the start of the sailaway from Margerie.  After a few minutes the family came back, and we spent the rest of the morning watching the glaciers as we turned to head out of the bay.  The scenery was stunning, and everyone enjoyed it.  As we were watching, Glen mentioned that some potato chips might be nice.  For grins, I went to the app, and ordered some.  They came pretty quickly and everyone was happy.  

 

As we left, we went down for lunch.  I had another one of their great fruit soups, and then potato latke’s.   Not quite my grandfathers, but pretty good.  For dessert I had trifle.

 

After lunch we stopped by the room.  The wine tasting was at 3, but Glen didn’t want to go so we skipped it and relaxed a bit as we went to Icy Straights.  

 

At about 3:10 Lily texted and offered to go with me, but they’d charge her, so we didn’t bother.

 

At about 5, Beth texted that they were in line to get off the ship and were in the Casino.  We got our stuff together and met them.  It took a while to get off, which was a little annoying as our time was short.

 

First thing we did was talk to a local rep about the up the mountain gondola.  The problem for us was that it was 50.00 per person, and we didn’t have time to do the hikes, or zip line down, etc.  With 6 of us, it would be 300.00 and wasn’t worth it for the time we had, basically up and down.  So we took the free one to the bigger port area.  

 

We also didn’t have time to go to Hoonah, so we wandered around the main building for a while.  The building is U shaped, with museum stuff at the end s and the cannery museum at the bottom of the U.  The sides were shops.  

 

We all wandered around for a while.  I noticed a long line at the donut shop and decided not to tell the people there that the donuts were only OK.  Fresh mini donuts dipped in a flavored powdered sugar.  Oh well, it’s a fundraiser for the community.

 

After getting our fill of that, we stopped in the small cemetery in town.  Most interesting thing there was that the graves had coins left all over them.  Maybe it’s Tlinglet  tradition.  There was a line for the gondola bark, so we decided to take the 15 minute walk back.  That was through the woods, and the adventure park there that looks abandoned.  

 

We arrived back at the ship around 7:30.  We dressed for dinner and then met the family.  I started with beer/chedddar soup, a hanger steak and finished with the flambe of the day, cherries Jubilee.

 

After dinner, back up to mom’s for the usual Scattegories and then bed.

 

[abbydancer2003]

Crown D6

 

Today was the 2nd full sea day.  Originally, it was Ketchikan.  The clocks went back to Pacific last night, but family said they wanted breakfast so we sucked it up and got up at 8am Pacific time.

 

At 8:30 I texted Beth about the time.  She asked if it was 7:30, I said nope 8:30. I figured they’d miss breakfast, but they beat us there.

 

After breakfast we decided to go to the IC, have some tea and coffee and watch the towel folding demonstration.  About 2/3 of the way through, we got phone notifications that QE2 had died, so we decided to go up to Beth’s room and watch BBC.  At about 11,Lily said they were in their room and we could watch there.  Much more comfortable, so up we went.  We watched until lunch time.

 

For lunch I had a salad and then beef goulash.  I don’t remember what I had for dessert.

 

After lunch, we went back to moms to watch the scenery, and then to have the what I’m calling the low tea there.  We’d set up afternoon tea again, but this time, just scones and tea.  It was very nice and not too much food.

 

After that, Glen and went down and got ready for dinner.  At about 6:15 we headed to explorers and participated in famous faces trivia.  We knew we were going to leave early so we didn’t take it too seriously.  There was a woman next to us who also had to leave early so we helped each other out.  T

 

If you haven’t seen this game, they show a covered up head shot of a celebrity and reveal pieces at a time.  The number of points you get depends on how quickly you can identify the celebrity.  We weren’t very good at it at all.

 

Midway through, we headed to the wheelhouse for the band, 2 Cool Dudes.  Turns out tonight it was 1 cool dude, just Fiona (the female half of the band).  Apparently her partner passed out in the steam room and burned his arm.  I spoke to her, and they are planning to leave early October, but she’s not sure if it will now be sooner.  I wish him well.

 

Following that we met the family for dinner.  Because this was formal night, it was a tough one for some of the family, including me.  I started with the Alaska berry soup, as did most of the family, and I had the Beef Wellington.  I don’t actually like the filling between the meat and the pastry, since it has pate, so I remove it.  It works for me.  For dessert, it was back to the flambe choice, this time pineapple.

 

After dinner back to our increasing creative, and thus amusing Scattegories game.  Following that, we decided to go to the Casino.  We took Ellie with us, since she’s 21, but her card wouldn’t work to play.

 

I was going to leave some money in my bank for tomorrow, but I asked at the cage when the casino would be open.  Turns out it closes for good at 11 am, so I cashed out.  After that bed.  Tomorrow is the last full day.  It’s a sea day during the day, and Victoria in the evening.

 

 

[abbydancer2003]

CrownD7

 

Today is our last full day of the cruise.  We got up for breakfast, sat down and got a text from Beth that they were slow getting up so it would be just us.  By the time we got the text, we were already at our table for 7, so we just ate there by ourselves.  

 

After breakfast we headed up to mom’s for a while, and found everyone else there having a room service breakfast.  Beth said that the RS breakfast for the mini-suite didn’t have any good gf options, just an egg sandwich without the bread (isn't that ham or bacon and eggs?) , so they went to the full suite for that RS breakfast.  Apparently Becky or someone wanted two eggs, and thus got two full plates.  We were offered it, but passed, since our lunch was at 12.

 

At about 11:50 we headed up to Sabattini’s for our most traveled passenger lunch.  We waited for a bit in line, and were then welcomed by Vanessa the “Event and Loyalty Manager”. (New term for Captains Circle host).  Following that, we had our picture taken with the captain, and then were escorted to a table, where we sat with 2 other couples, one of whom we’d seen many times on the dance floor.  The conversation was pleasent.  There was a scallop starter, and then a choice of beef, fish, or pasta.  For dessert they had a chocolate mousse thing, so I asked for something else and got a raspberry mouse, probably from the main dining menu.  It was good however.

 

After lunch, we headed to the dining room to join the family.  We had coffee with them, but didn’t need a second dessert.

 

After lunch, we went back to the room and started our least favorite part of a trip - packing.  We did that, and Glen headed to the gym for a workout.  I went back to moms room and at 5, we (me, Beth and her kids) went to Friday night services.  It was us, and a couple from Florida.  Not quite a minion (what is technically required for a jewish service - there was a Northern Exposure episode about that), but we did most of a service.  It was pleasant, and there was a lot of challah for 5 people (remember 2 of our 5 are gluten free).

 

After services, we headed out to see Victoria.  There was a shuttle to downtown for about 15.00 per person, or a cab for about 20.  Beth and kids decided a cab was the way to go, since it would take about 30-40 minutes each way to walk, and they wanted to be back at the ship by dinner time.

 

Since the cab wouldn’t hold all of us, we gave them some ideas of what to see and we headed to fisherman’s wharf.  We were there in May for lunch, but decided it would be nice to see.  This time we walked around all of it, including the houseboats there.  We also stopped for ice cream and headed back to the ship.  We did note that all the flags were at half mast for the Queen. 

 

We went back and continued packing - Glen asked what time the bags had to be out, and I said all it said was after dinner - since people could be out late, there was no specific time.

 

At about 8:10 Ellie came by to tell us dinner was at 8:30.  She asked for a tip, so Glen told her to buy a particular stock.  (I”m not sure she got it).  

 

At 8:30 we all went to dinner.  Our normal waitstaff wasn’t there, because of the late port, they go with a smaller staff.  Both us and my mom were planning to tip tonight, so we took their tips and said we’d be at breakfast and give them.

 

For dinner, I started with a Watermelon and Feta salad, followed by a Strip Loin steak with Yorkshire pudding.  For dessert, the flame dessert was one of my favorites Cherries Jubilee!

 

After dinner, last game of Scattegories,   We said goodbye to Beth and the girls because they had a borderline flight in the morning. Ours (and Lily’s) were all afternoon, so we had our luggage out in the last group (Beth did early walk off).  

 

And our bags went out and we went to bed.

 

[Smokeyham]

On 10/15/2022 at 12:01 AM, abbydancer said:

After services, we headed out to see Victoria.  There was a shuttle to downtown for about 15.00 per person, or a cab for about 20.  Beth and kids decided a cab was the way to go, since it would take about 30-40 minutes each way to walk, and they wanted to be back at the ship by dinner time.

Hello,
Can you advise how the tickets for the shuttles to downtown Victoria work?  Do you have to buy them in advance or on board the shuttle?

Also, were there taxis waiting at the pier or did you have to call for one?

Thanks.

[abbydancer2003]

6 minutes ago, Smokeyham said:

Hello,
Can you advise how the tickets for the shuttles to downtown Victoria work?  Do you have to buy them in advance or on board the shuttle?

Also, were there taxis waiting at the pier or did you have to call for one?

Thanks.

Not sure where you pay for shuttle - either on it or just before you board, but you don't have to buy them in advance.

And there were taxis waiting right nearby, also as you walk off the ship.

 

[Smokeyham]

1 minute ago, abbydancer said:

Not sure where you pay for shuttle - either on it or just before you board, but you don't have to buy them in advance.

And there were taxis waiting right nearby, also as you walk off the ship.

 

Very helpful!  Thanks!