🛳️ Live (hopefully) from Crown Princess May 12 - 23

[milogurd]

2 hours ago, Coral said:

When my instructions said "gondola" - I was like "what"? It was nicely done! And I hate heights.

 

We only had Radiance in the Seas with us. Though I have to say all the cruise passengers stayed in ISP and very few made it to Hoonah. I spent very little time in ISP as I was busy the entire time.

 

I didn't get pictures but there was definitely a cool jungle park (not sure the correct word) - sort of like Capilano bridge items along the gondola ride. A lot of people were doing zip lining. I know you have been here before several times. It was just weird to see this from the gondola.

 

Teresa is a sweetheart. My friend had to cancel and she made a point of saying something to me about him.

The "jungle park" is the Tree Top Adventure Park & Ropes Course. You can walk around on the ground below the course along a path through the trees.

https://icystraitpoint.com/tour/adventure_park/

 

[RNRcruisers]

Fabulous trip report! Your pictures are amazing. I have been to Alaska three times and now want to go again!

 

[nini]

@Coral Thank yo so much for the beautiful photos, especially of the whales. We have seen the bubble netting a couple of times and it is incredible to watch.

[Thrak]

7 hours ago, Italy52 said:

@Coral, thanks for letting me know about the arrival and gondola situation.  Teresa had told me that we would be using the far dock so I figured we would be using the gondola --- we will be there when the Quantum is in town.  I always wondered how ISP would be when a big ship is in the same time as us, I guess I will find out.

 

We visited ISP last year at the same time as one of the "behomoth of the seas" type ships. It was our first time there and my wife was really looking forward to the stop. It was a horrible mess. Very disappointing. I sincerely hope your experience is better.

Edited May 17, 2023 by Thrak

[Thrak]

17 hours ago, Coral said:

Dinner:

 

 

 

 

 

Wow! I have never seen Chile Relleno on a Princess menu before. Did you see anybody having it? I have to wonder how well they make this dish given some of their other "interesting" interpretations of food.

[TexasJam]

17 hours ago, Coral said:

Someone from my Roll Call had booked with Greg Garcia, owner of Gee Sea Hun tours:

http://geestahuntours.com for a morning tour.

 

I already had whale watching this morning and called him about an afternoon tour. The time between tours was tight and Greg said he would "make it work". He had text Capt Casey last night to make sure the hand off would work out. I walked off my whale watching tour and Greg was at the pier with his van and the 2 from my roll call who did the morning tour. We dropped those 2 where they wanted to be dropped off and I was the only person on my afternoon tour! I am sort of surprised he didn't cancel on me but he went out of his way to show me his Hoonah! 

 

Greg is a retired Alaska Wildlife Trooper and loves the area. He gave me a tour different than any other tour I have gone on in Alaska on any of my trips to Alaska. I felt like I saw "wilderness Alaska" in Chichagof Island area. I didn't take a lot of pictures as we were looking for wild life and they are quick. The wilderness area was mostly brown that we drove through and Greg indicated in 2 weeks ago or so it would be all green. Greg knows all the locals. Every time we passed a vehicle - we would stop and talk about what was going on that day (sightings of wildlife, etc...). We saw deer, bears, eagles and even whales on this trip.  He was flexible and always looking for wildlife. At one point, we saw 2 bears at one stop (totally different directions). One was a bear that was probably a year old - we kept looking for the Mom and I think I spotted her to the right in my pictures. The other bear was across Long Island. I wondered if we would see bears because the salmon were not running but Greg made sure we found them. I have no doubt later in the season would present an entirely different tour as the terrain would be more green and with salmon running there would be more bears. I was pleased with this tour. It was so different than any other tour I have been on.

 

Just booked this tour for July after our Glacier Wind.  Thanks for the recommendation!  We are very excited!! 

 

 

[Coral]

2 hours ago, TexasJam said:

Just booked this tour for July after our Glacier Wind.  Thanks for the recommendation!  We are very excited!! 

 

 

It is definitely a different tour. You couldn't ask for a nicer guy who was determined to find me some bears. You see parts of Alaska that most tourists will never see. I kept thinking "does this guy know where we are" as there are no signs anywhere (well a few, but very little). He knows that part of Alaska inside and out. He has actually worked in a variety of areas in Alaska. Great stories.

[Coral]

3 hours ago, Thrak said:

 

Wow! I have never seen Chile Relleno on a Princess menu before. Did you see anybody having it? I have to wonder how well they make this dish given some of their other "interesting" interpretations of food.

Nope - sorry!

[Coral]

5 hours ago, nini said:

@Coral Thank yo so much for the beautiful photos, especially of the whales. We have seen the bubble netting a couple of times and it is incredible to watch.

I really wasn't planning on taking pictures. I would love to see the pictures of the people with the real cameras on board who were really taking pictures. I just used my iPhone and only took a few pics and was lucky to catch a few things.

[Coral]

7 hours ago, milogurd said:

The "jungle park" is the Tree Top Adventure Park & Ropes Course. You can walk around on the ground below the course along a path through the trees.

https://icystraitpoint.com/tour/adventure_park/

 

Thank you! I was too tired to look it up last night. I didn't even notice it until the return.

[Coral]

Princess Patter for the day and breakfast menu:

 

[Coral]

Today was Skagway and I considered flight seeing over Glacier Bay. I wanted a landing and the pilot I was going to go with had already taken his skies off of his plane. 

 

I decided to go with Chilkoot Charters and Tours and had Jennifer as a guide. I did the. Yukon Klondike Adventure which was an all day bus ride into the Yukon. I have done the train multiple times, bus multiple times, rented a car multiple times. Decided to go with Chilkoot. We had 5 of us from our CC roll call onboard this bus. I know several other from our roll call did other tours with them. Jennifer was excellent.

 

https://chilkootcharters.com/yukon-bus/

 

BTW - it was probably 70 degrees F today.

 

Here are some random pics:

 

 

 

 

[TexasJam]

15 minutes ago, Coral said:

It is definitely a different tour. You couldn't ask for a nicer guy who was determined to find me some bears. You see parts of Alaska that most tourists will never see. I kept thinking "does this guy know where we are" as there are no signs anywhere (well a few, but very little). He knows that part of Alaska inside and out. He has actually worked in a variety of areas in Alaska. Great stories.

That’s what I want to see!!  Again, thanks for doing this report.  Looking forward to your reviews of the remaining ports. 

[Coral]

More Yukon pics:

 

[Coral]

Yukon again!

 

[Italy52]

@Coral, another picture-perfect day for you.  Nice that you were able to go on your excursion with some familiar faces from your CC group.

 

Where are you tomorrow?  In looking at our itinerary, it is a little different from yours. Are you in Juneau with Adventure Bound?

[Coral]

Lunch, animals and some of the dog cart rides:

 

[Coral]

My favorite - Emerald Lake. I love this lake so several pics. I have a panoramic but I have not been able to post them on CC for some reason.

 

[Coral]

4 minutes ago, Italy52 said:

@Coral, another picture-perfect day for you.  Nice that you were able to go on your excursion with some familiar faces from your CC group.

 

Where are you tomorrow?  In looking at our itinerary, it is a little different from yours. Are you in Juneau with Adventure Bound?

OMG - the weather is so perfect. Actually - a little too warm! I now wish I had done that flight to Glacier Bay. Oh well, another time.

 

We all packed winter clothing/rain gear as the forecast when I packed called for snow in Canada and rain in Alaska. And then it changed before we got here!!!!

 

Tomorrow is Juneau/Tracy Arm with Adventure Bound. I have 3 people from my roll call going with me. 10 hour boat trip for me so I am not sure when I can post pictures. All I have is (2) iPhones for cameras so hopefully the battery lasts long enough 🙂 

[gottagoacruzn]

21 hours ago, Coral said:

Dinner:

 

 

Oh Coral, is that a dirty Banana, I see?

[Coral]

Just as a last minute follow up - Chilkoot is a great local company. Their vans hold 25 people I think. They do combination train/bus or bus tours into the Yukon. Their guides are great. They stop at all the right stops. I had a great day today. Here was my ship docked at Broadway dock today. I have only ever stopped at RR dock.

[Coral]

2 minutes ago, gottagoacruzn said:

Oh Coral, is that a dirty Banana, I see?

The non-alcohol version of it 🙂 It was so good after being out all day!

[miagirl]

34 minutes ago, Coral said:

It is definitely a different tour. You couldn't ask for a nicer guy who was determined to find me some bears. You see parts of Alaska that most tourists will never see. I kept thinking "does this guy know where we are" as there are no signs anywhere (well a few, but very little). He knows that part of Alaska inside and out. He has actually worked in a variety of areas in Alaska. Great stories.

Thank you Coral!  I cancelled my Princess excursion and just booked with Greg, this sort of tour is exactly what I hoped to find.  I'm also traveling solo so your advice and experiences mean a lot to me.

Thanks for sharing!

[gottagoacruzn]

3 minutes ago, Coral said:

The non-alcohol version of it 🙂 It was so good after being out all day!

It sure is, first time I saw it, wow

 

5 minutes ago, Coral said:

Just as a last minute follow up - Chilkoot is a great local company. Their vans hold 25 people I think. They do combination train/bus or bus tours into the Yukon. Their guides are great. They stop at all the right stops. I had a great day today. Here was my ship docked at Broadway dock today. I have only ever stopped at RR dock.

Could you see where the rockslide is?

[PurpleTraveller]

Thank you so much for posting your gorgeous photos! Your weather looks spectacular and I really hope we have some good luck and get similar weather for the June 2 cruise. Hope you enjoy the remainder of your cruise!