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

[Ken the cruiser]

8 minutes ago, SECdawg said:

So having been to Hubbard, Glacier Bay, College Fjords, and Blackstone Bay, do you have a favorite glacier?

Each one had its own uniqueness. But I would have to say cruising around Glacier Bay with even partly sunny skies during the middle of the day (hopefully tomorrow) would have to top the list. The second would be College Fjord, with Hubbard and Blackstone Bay areas being nice places to visit along the way.

[cr8tiv1]

So why couldn’t your TA book it for you?  Well, there drops one more Elite perk.  

[Ken the cruiser]

18 minutes ago, cr8tiv1 said:

So why couldn’t your TA book it for you?  Well, there drops one more Elite perk.  

The Princess person our TA coordinates with said we couldn’t book any cabins on those “to be released on May 23” itineraries. Period. Our TA was told no twice, even though I posted snapshots in an email to her showing we could book cabins on the 2026 Solar Eclipse cruise. 

[aussielozzie18]

Interesting that Glacier Bay is the best for you.  I was thinking that your College Fjord photos in the sunshine were more stunning than our photos from Glacier NP on a wet, overcast day last week.

 

We forgot we had thermals in our suitcases and our outfit of choice on our balcony was our doonas 🤦‍♀️ when we cruised GNP.  It was beautiful but 🥶

[Ken the cruiser]

5 hours ago, aussielozzie18 said:

Interesting that Glacier Bay is the best for you.  I was thinking that your College Fjord photos in the sunshine were more stunning than our photos from Glacier NP on a wet, overcast day last week.

 

We forgot we had thermals in our suitcases and our outfit of choice on our balcony was our doonas 🤦‍♀️ when we cruised GNP.  It was beautiful but 🥶

I believe my operative phrase was “with even partly sunny skies during the middle of the day (hopefully tomorrow)”. The College Fjord was pretty awesome. But judging with equal weather conditions, even with only partly cloudy skies, Glacier Bay NP totally blows College Fjord out of the water! 
 

And we’re still hopeful that today will be prettier than the last two visits on this cruise. Here’s where we currently are.

 

 
Here’s the current westerly view out the aft from where we just came from.

 

 
And here’s the cloud forecast for around 2 pm this afternoon. Hopefully, that grayish area means partly cloudy. 🤞

 

 

[Ken the cruiser]

Victory! On our first phase of our 3rd visit to Glacier Bay on our cruise, we were able to finally see some blue sky as we approached the Margerie Glacier! 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 
Margerie Glacier

 

 

 
Grand Pacific Glacier

 

 

 

 

 
Both the Margerie (left) and the Grand Pacific (right) Glaciers.

 

 
If you look closely at the right side of this iceberg, there is a Bald Eagle perched on top of it!

 

 

And we’re off to the Johns Hopkins Glacier.

 

 

[Ken the cruiser]

The 2nd phase took us on a scenic cruise over to see the Lamplugh and Johns Hopkins Glaciers. Here’s where we made the turn from the Tarr Inlet over to the much shorter Johns Hopkins Inlet.

 

 

Looking back where we will be cruising after we see the two glaciers down this inlet.

 

 

Lamplugh Glacier

 

 

 

 
Johns Hopkins Glacier

 

 

 
As we were heading back out the inlet, we saw for the first time the Reid Glacier, which sits back aways.

 

 

Looking back on the Johns Hopkins Inlet as we were leaving.

 

 
Looking back down the Tarr Inlet

 

 

 

 
Just in case you were curious what the Glacier Bay map looks like.

 

 
Now we’re headed back towards the entrance which is a stretch as you can see.

[Auntiejo]

Magnificent photos! Counting down the days til I'm there! Thanks for taking us along.

[cr8tiv1]

I sure hope your phone has a ton of memory.  Glad you are enjoying this voyage so much.  I can "hear" it in your "voice".  Thanks for taking us along.

[Ken the cruiser]

And the blue sky just kept coming! 😁

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Ken the cruiser]

9 minutes ago, cr8tiv1 said:

I sure hope your phone has a ton of memory.  Glad you are enjoying this voyage so much.  I can "hear" it in your "voice".  Thanks for taking us along.

Actually, as soon as I post the photos, they get deleted! 😂

[Ken the cruiser]

And we’re off! Next stop is Skagway, Alaska! Here are some parting photos with bunches of blue sky still! 😁
 

 

 

 

 
However, way may have a Northern Lights show tonight starting around 11 pm based on the following prediction.

 

 

And it looks like it might be clear tonight along some of our path to Skagway. We will just have to wait and see if we get a NL call from Guest Relations, as we have an early excursion tomorrow and won’t be staying up late tonight.

 

 

[Ken the cruiser]

Here is our wildlife excursion scheduled for tomorrow.

 

And it looks like it’s going to be another chilly morning. 🥶

 

 

[Ken the cruiser]

Day 19 - May 18 - Skagway, Alaska

 

 

 
Sunset as we leave Glacier Bay for the last time this cruise, and what a beautiful day it turned out to be! 😁

 

 

[Ken the cruiser]

Then the real sunset made its appearance about 9:30 pm! 😁

 

[TM]

Spectacular photo.

[Ken the cruiser]

We have arrived in Skagway, Alaska!

 

Edited May 18 by Ken the cruiser

[Ken the cruiser]

We definitely had a fun time on our excursion today, especially when it came to seeing Bald Eagles up close through a telescopic lens! 😁

 

Our ferry that took us to Haines for our excursion.

 

 
Another beautiful day in Alaska! 
 

 

 

 

 
Harbor seals on our way into Haines!

 
 

 
Haines, Alaska

 

 

 

 
A Bald Eagle was hanging out at the pier as we arrived!

 

 
Juvenile Bald Eagle

  

 
Bald Eagle seen on a tree with a telescopic lens!

  

 

 
Brown Bear scat!

 

 
Crane Fly

 

 
Another Bald Eagle on a tree limb seen through a telescopic lens.

 

 
Nearby Bald Eagle nest

 

 

 

 
Dahl Mountain Goat

 

 
Another Dahl Mountain Goat

 

 
Bridge they use to count salmon as they come up the stream to spawn.

  

 

 

 

 
Where we had a tasty bag lunch.

 

 

 
Some waterfalls on our cruise back to Skagway.

 

 

 

 
Skagway pier rock slide area from the summer of 2022.

 

 

 

Edited May 19 by Ken the cruiser

[sboh]

Thank-you for posting these pictures. I’m sailing on the Coral next May and this is the excursion I’m thinking of taking. I’ve been to Skagway before (have done the train and a helicopter landing on a glacier) and was looking for something different and I love the scenery in your pictures. I also use my iPhone SE, how did you take the pictures with the telescopic lens?

[Ken the cruiser]

1 hour ago, sboh said:

Thank-you for posting these pictures. I’m sailing on the Coral next May and this is the excursion I’m thinking of taking. I’ve been to Skagway before (have done the train and a helicopter landing on a glacier) and was looking for something different and I love the scenery in your pictures. I also use my iPhone SE, how did you take the pictures with the telescopic lens?

The tour guide brought powerful spotting scopes that they setup to look at a particular animal, such as an eagle or goat. You can then take pictures through the viewing end. Most of the time the guide was kind enough to take them for me. But if you have the patience and steady hand, some folks were doing it on their own as well. BTW in the tour description above, it did mention there would be spotting scopes. 
 

This was another cool cruise we went on in Haines when we docked at Skagway. The details and photos are at post 191.

 

 

Edited May 19 by Ken the cruiser

[Ken the cruiser]

After another tasty dinner in the Reserve Collection Dining Room, we went to watch another new production show called Stardust, which we also really enjoyed! 😁

 

 

 
Afterwards, even though there was Majority Rules in the Explorers Lounge and The Marriage Match Game Show in the Vista Lounge, we headed back to the cabin to watch sail away. 
 

 
Our next stop in Juneau tomorrow morning around 6:30 am.

 

 
However, we’re kind of glad we don’t have anything planned for tomorrow as it looks like it’s going to be a wet, windy, and all around chilly day! 🥶

 

 

[Ken the cruiser]

Day 20 - May 19 - Juneau, Alaska

  

 

 

[Ken the cruiser]

We have arrived in Juneau, Alaska!

 

[Ken the cruiser]

Since we’re relaxing in the cabin today while docked in Juneau on this chilly overcast day with the rain coming, I thought I’d check out our final excursion in Ketchikan tomorrow afternoon, which we’re hoping is as awesome as it sounds.

 

 

[Ken the cruiser]

And we’re off after a relaxing but rainy afternoon in Juneau.

  

 
There were a lot of these flying around today. I wonder if it had anything to do with the 4 cruise ships in port today! 😂

 

 

Next stop Ketchikan, Alaska tomorrow around 10 am!