Live From the Grand Princess, 22-Day Alaska B2B, Apr 30 - May 22

[Ken the cruiser]

After a relaxing breakfast, we noticed the sun was trying to briefly come out and the rain had stopped, so we decided to go for a walk around the local area.

 

 
We saw on the map where there were a few totem poles close by, so we headed off to find them, and we did! 😁

 

 

 

 

 
We then came across the remnants one of the Fort Seward barracks built back in 1903. We’re figuring the fort was built to help keep order up in Alaska once gold was discovered in 1898.

 

 
This tree was just starting to form its fruiting buds. No idea what type of tree it was though, but I’m sure the fruit will be tasty!

 

 

 

A crow, which there were plenty of, taking off from the top of a tree.

 

 

And the crows are quite the bullies too! Someone left some corn out for the birds to feast on. Of course, once again the elusive Haines Pigeons get no respect, even among the other birds. I know, it’s quite sad! 😂

 
Deciding not to deal with the attitude, off the pigeons went. But my guess is, they will be back as that corn looks pretty tasty! 😁

 

 

Then it started to rain, so back to the ship we went.

 

 

I imagine on a clear day, the mountains in the background behind Haines look pretty awesome!

 

 

Edited May 12 by Ken the cruiser

[Ken the cruiser]

Day 13 - May 12 (modified) - Haines, Alaska

 

 

 
While we were relaxing in our cabin, we noticed a Golden Eagle soaring around behind the ship just passing the time enjoying the scenery like we have been! 😁
 

[Ken the cruiser]

Since the afternoon turned out to be a relaxing one in the cabin, I decided to ask Windy what the “cloud” forecast was for the rest of our cruise. Right now, the forecast is for the clouds to disappear midday on May 14 (College Fjord) and be totally gone May 15 (Whittier).

 

 
The sky is also forecasted to be pretty clear on May 16 (Hubbard Glacier) and May 17 (Glacier Bay). However, the clouds are forecasted to reappear on May 18 (Skagway) and May 19 (Juneau). But then start to clear up again the rest of the way back to Vancouver!  But if we can just get 4 clear days in a row starting on May 14 (College Fjord), that would we awesome! 🥳

 

BTW rain was forecasted for the entire day in Haines today. But it turned out to be a pretty nice day other than being in the 40s with a constant 10+ mph breeze. 🥶

 

 

Edited May 13 by Ken the cruiser

[ljandiernp]

Ken,

 

I'm really enjoying your travel log, thanks for doing this! We are on the Grand starting the 29th and you're getting me very excited for this trip. I have two questions. One is about an event I'm seeing in the patter called "A Night at the Klondike." Do you know, is this a show?

 

My second question is about sail away. It looks like there is a sail away party on deck somewhere. Did you pass through and note if it was well attended or not? I was thinking about proposing to my CC thread for our sailing that we ought to meet up at the sail away. There is no M&G being planned. 

 

Thanks, Laurie

[Ken the cruiser]

I’ve been waiting all day for the mountain tops on the Chilkat Range behind Haines to be clear of clouds. Finally, around 5 pm they started to finally appeared! 
 

This photo was taken at 3 pm.

 

 
This one at 5 pm.

 

 
Then finally my final effort at 6 pm, right after dinner! 😁

 

 

I know, I’m easily amused! 😂

[Ken the cruiser]

1 hour ago, ljandiernp said:

Ken,

 

I'm really enjoying your travel log, thanks for doing this! We are on the Grand starting the 29th and you're getting me very excited for this trip. I have two questions. One is about an event I'm seeing in the patter called "A Night at the Klondike." Do you know, is this a show?

 

My second question is about sail away. It looks like there is a sail away party on deck somewhere. Did you pass through and note if it was well attended or not? I was thinking about proposing to my CC thread for our sailing that we ought to meet up at the sail away. There is no M&G being planned. 

 

Thanks, Laurie

Funny you should mention “A Night at the Klondike.” We will be going it this evening in the Vista Lounge after the early show in the theater. I’ll let you know what it’s about after we get back to the cabin, as we are curious too.

 

As far as a Sail Away Party, the only reference I’m seeing on embarkation day is this one, which we did not pass through. Sorry.

 

Edited May 13 by Ken the cruiser

[Ken the cruiser]

Tonight after dinner, we headed to first watch magician Jason Bird, who was very entertaining!

 

  

  

We then went over to the Vista Lounge to watch A Night at the Klondike which featured the combination of a country western band mixed and the production cast dancers and entertainment staff initially performing and then inviting folks in the audience to come up and dance with them. It was a lot of fun and definitely recommend checking it out!

 

 

 
Then we headed over to the Piazza to watch Reuben DotDotDot from Australia perform on a pole, which was pretty cool!

 

  

 

 

 
Then as we were heading back to the cabin around 9:15 pm, we noticed we hadn’t left at our scheduled 8:30 pm departure time. Apparently there was a medical evacuation in which the patient needed to be flown to Juneau. In this particular situation, the ship wasn’t allowed to leave until the plane had arrived and they subsequently received word the patient was safely on the plane heading to Juneau.

 

We finally set sail around 9:30 pm with our next stop being Glacier Bay early tomorrow morning.

 

 

 

[Ken the cruiser]

Day 14 - May 13 - Glacier Bay, Alaska

  

 

 

Definitely not the fastest speeds cruising through the fjords. But at the same time, I was able to upload photos and text to my thread. 😁

 

 
This is the Northern Lights forecast for the next two nights.

 

 
But I think we’ll be out of luck seeing them because of the clouds overhead.
 

Edited May 13 by Ken the cruiser

[aussielozzie18]

9 hours ago, ljandiernp said:

 

 

My second question is about sail away. It looks like there is a sail away party on deck somewhere. Did you pass through and note if it was well attended or not? I was thinking about proposing to my CC thread for our sailing that we ought to meet up at the sail away. There is no M&G being planned. 

 

Thanks, Laurie

The sailaway party was on the main pool deck, adjacent to the pool.  The production cast performed a few dances in costume, then cruisers were encouraged to dance with the cruise director, assistant cruise director for about 30mins - to the YMCA, Macarena etc.  There was only about 15 of us dancing…

Edited May 13 by aussielozzie18

[aussielozzie18]

Watch out for those big sea gulls tommorrow whilst you are in Glacier Bay NP.  They fly close to the balconies and will even land on them.  I was chatting on our balcony whilst holding a pastry.  Not paying attention, one swooped in and took it…

[ljandiernp]

43 minutes ago, aussielozzie18 said:

Watch out for those big sea gulls tommorrow whilst you are in Glacier Bay NP.  They fly close to the balconies and will even land on them.  I was chatting on our balcony whilst holding a pastry.  Not paying attention, one swooped in and took it…

Jeez...gulls are the same the world over! Here on the beaches of RI it's not unusual to hear them referred to as rats with wings, especially the common ones. Laurie

[Ken the cruiser]

4 hours ago, aussielozzie18 said:

Watch out for those big sea gulls tommorrow whilst you are in Glacier Bay NP.  They fly close to the balconies and will even land on them.  I was chatting on our balcony whilst holding a pastry.  Not paying attention, one swooped in and took it…

Cool! That would make an awesome photo, but my DW won’t let me feed the birds! 😂

[WisCruiser2]

@ljandiernp (sorry to hijack thread, Ken) on a number of cruises where we've had an active Roll Call, we've met up for our own informal SailAway, often at the aft bar. Many folks wore Mardi Gras beads to recognize each other, at some there have been name tags, others not. You could float the idea to your Roll Call and see if there's any interest...

[Ken the cruiser]

We have arrived at Glacier Bay!

 

  

 
Lamplugh Glacier, as we were cruising by on the way to Margerie and Grand Pacific Glaciers. 

 

Edited May 13 by Ken the cruiser

[Nattyg1723]

I love when GB is foggy and misty. It makes it seem so otherworldly.

[Solara]

Thanks for your live. Since you’ve been on the ship for a while now, I’d like to know your opinion on the condition of the Grand. 😊 

[Ken the cruiser]

Here is some of the scenery we passed along the way to the Margerie and Grand Pacific Glaciers.

 

 

 

 

 
A couple of harbor seals hanging out on a small iceberg.

 

 

 

 

 
Small chunks of ice from the Margerie Glacier.

  

 
The continually receding Grand Pacific Glacier where only a big rock wall remains along the water line.

 

 
A few photos of the Margerie Glacier.

 

 

 

 
I was lucky enough this time to take a photo when the glacier was calving! 😁

 

 
Lunchtime for the Black-legged Kittiwakes!! 😂

 

 

Now off we go to the Johns Hopkins and Lamplugh Glaciers.

 

 

[Ken the cruiser]

Here’s a map of Glacier Bay. The glaciers we will visit are in the two inlets at the top of the map.

 

 
Here are some photos as we headed down the Johns Hopkins Inlet.

 

 

Lamplugh Glacier

 

 

 

 

 

 
Johns Hopkins Glacier. We couldn’t get any closer due to the Harbor Seals are raising their pups near the glacier.

 

 
My harbor seal iceberg! 😂

 

 

Edited May 13 by Ken the cruiser

[Ken the cruiser]

1 hour ago, Solara said:

Thanks for your live. Since you’ve been on the ship for a while now, I’d like to know your opinion on the condition of the Grand. 😊 

As far as we’ve been able to tell, all is in great shape and we have no complaints so far. The couches and chairs are comfortable, not a lot of rust, and most importantly the food is quite tasty, both in the dining room and up at the buffet, when on occasion we’ve had to eat lunch up there on port days. 😁

 

[milogurd]

Looks like the Park Service Rangers are getting a ride home!

[Ken the cruiser]

This afternoon we went to another North to Alaska presentation provided by Nick Jans about the star of the book he wrote. 
 

 
 

 
Romeo, the friendliest wolf you would ever have the pleasure of meeting. 

 

 
And then we were off. Next stop College Fjord tomorrow morning!

 

 

Edited May 14 by Ken the cruiser

[ljandiernp]

9 hours ago, WisCruiser2 said:

@ljandiernp (sorry to hijack thread, Ken) on a number of cruises where we've had an active Roll Call, we've met up for our own informal SailAway, often at the aft bar. Many folks wore Mardi Gras beads to recognize each other, at some there have been name tags, others not. You could float the idea to your Roll Call and see if there's any interest...

Thanks for your suggestion; I like the aft bar and it will be quieter there. I'll float the idea and see if anyone's interested. I could not get any interested when I offered to set up and M&G. Laurie

[Ken the cruiser]

We just received our In Transit information for when arrive at Whittier day after tomorrow. The bottom line is there is no US Customs to deal, so we can stay on the ship until just before noon when we meet to go on our 26-Glacier boat tour! Yay!

 

 

 

[Ken the cruiser]

BTW the potential for seeing the Northern Lights just after we arrive at Whittier, Alaska around midnight tomorrow night is looking pretty good!

 

 
The sky around Whittier is also currently forecasted to be free of clouds tomorrow evening, especially to the east!

 

 
And with the Whittier sunset around 10:32, hopefully we’ll have quite the light show to watch after we dock around midnight! 🤞
 

 

 

[Ken the cruiser]

Tonight after our Formal Night surf and turf dinner, we headed to the theater to watch the production show Born to Dance! FWIW we have really enjoyed all three of the new production shows we’ve seen now twice on our cruise so far! 😁

 

 
After the show, we were off to the Vista Lounge to watch another new Laugh Lounge comedian, Todd Parker, who was hilarious!! 😂

 

 

 

Edited May 14 by Ken the cruiser