Saturday, September 30, 2017- Disembarkation, Seattle

Saturday, September 30, 2017- Disembarkation Seattle

The ship slipped into Bell's Harbor and tied up in the early morning hours.  Room checkout time is 9:00 am and disembarkation began at 7:00 am.  We had to force ourselves out of bed by 8:00 am to go and have breakfast.  Janet was hoping to have one more pub dog at O'Sheehan's, but they were serving a breakfast menu which included a platter that was basically a full English breakfast, which we indulged in.  It didn't dawn on us until then how convenient O'Sheehan's would have been for Franklin and Betty since their room was on the same floor and less than 100' away.  

Disembarkation went smoothly, aside from having to wait forever for an elevator to take our luggage down to the disembarkation floor because all of the down-headed elevators were full of passengers and luggage.  We eventually hopped on a nearly empty up-headed elevator and then rode it to the top and then back down to the Promonade deck, which was where disembarkation took place.  

As we headed to the curb, we were intercepted by a NCL/Shuttle Express employee who said that they would match any airport fares offered by Lyft/Uber/Taxi.  So we were able to get them to lower their usual $25pp price to 2 for $30. They said we would have had to wait longer for an Uber or Lyft, but that wasn't true.  The Uber and Lyft rides were all just a few minutes out.  The Shuttle Express loaded up 65 passenger buses to capacity before dispatching them to the airport, so we ended up waiting for 15 minutes until 9:40 am for the bus to be loaded to capacity.  We still had a comfortable and easy ride to the airport, and discovered a part of the airport we had never been in before.  The Shuttle Express buses dropped us off in the parking garage, where there was a huge area dedicated to reception for cruise ship passengers and traffic.  We still had to walk all the way through the Terminal to where our Whidbey Sea-Tac Shuttle would pick us up, but we arrived with plenty of time to make our 10:30 pick up time.  

In summary, this was a very short cruise with a very limited itinerary, but it did give us a chance to spend some time with Betty and Franklin.  Franklin has been a real angel to help Betty so much, and he really has an appreciation for what she can and cannot do.  He does tend to allow her to try to do as much for herself as possible, even though it is sometimes difficult and painful to see her struggle.  Betty remains sharp as a tack and clever in figuring out how to overcome the disabilities her Parkinsonism have saddled her with.  We had an enjoyable time, but now as veteran cruisers, we missed some of the amenities that we have become accustomed to on our Princess cruises, so Princess will remain our default cruise line of choice.  Having spent nearly a week without seeing the sun was also not the most enjoyable part of this cruise, so we look forward to our upcoming Japan Cruise, where the weather should be much more to our liking.  

Regarding our "Perks", we learned that the $50 per person onboard ship credit can not be applied towards gratuities, and can't be spent in the casino either.  We ended up booking the Craigdarroch Castle and Victoria Highlights excursion to spend that onboard ship credit, effectively reducing the cost of the excursion from $80 per person to $30 per person.  The shipboard credit can only be applied to excursions booked while you are physically on the ship at the excursions desk.  If you book excursions in advance of sailing, you can't use your onboard ship credit to pay for them.  

The Ultimate Beverage Package, which has a retail value of $75 per person per day, would really only be a good deal if someone were an alcoholic who would reliably have at least 6-8 alcoholic beverages per day. While most of the cocktails were $11-12 each, and wine or beer was $6-8 each, the mandatory 18% beverage gratuity is based on the full $75 retail package cost whether you have 15 drinks or none, and it is collected up front before you even board the ship.  That was $13.50 per person per day.  We felt obligated to try to take advantage of the perk whenever we could, and did manage to explore most of the cocktail menu choices, but we would have enjoyed ourselves just as much without the drink package.  We could have saved ourselves from a few extra thousands of calories in alcoholic beverage consumption. We really wish they would just knock $500 off the room price, but that's not how they roll.  So if offered, take it, but you'll be on the hook for the $13.50pp/pd mandatory beverage service gratuity charge, so plan on having at least one or two drinks per day to get your money's worth.  If they offer a free beverage package AND free beverage service gratuity, then take it and have fun.  BTW- the Ultimate Beverage Package does NOT include any COFFEE drinks or fresh squeezed breakfast juices, so bring your travel thermos.  It does include soft drinks so we were able to sneak a few to Franklin and Betty.

The worst deal we got suckered into onboard was Norwegian's onboard messaging service.  Before the cruise, we were reminded to download the Norwegian iConcierge Ap to our smartphones, which trumpets the ability to stay in touch with others onboard through text messages and voice calling.  What they don't tell you is that the communications package is not free.  It costs $9.99 for the duration of the cruise.  That may sound quite cheap, and that's what Franklin and I thought, so we signed up.  However, the Ap only sends messages and calls if both the sender and recipient both have their Ap's open and phones on simultaneously.  So if you don't keep the Ap open and your phone on ALL THE TIME, it's totally worthless. Franklin and I each sent multiple messages and attempted to make calls, but the only time anything went through was if we were sitting across from each other at the dinner table with our phones out and on with the Ap front and center.  Princess also has the same messaging service, which is worthless because there is no sort of notification to the recipient that someone has sent you a message.  The big difference is that Princess doesn't charge anything for its service.  

A useful perk that we got was a free internet package.  We got 250 minutes worth $125. We've never used shipboard internet because it is crazy expensive and slow.  They don't charge by the MB, but run the clock whenever you log-in to the ship's internet via Wifi.  At first, we were very careful with making sure all non-essential email accounts were deactivated, and everything that had to be uploaded was prepared and ready to go from the moment we hit Log-in.  Then the moment you see that the email program has downloaded the last email, you hit Log-off, and then read your emails off-line. We found that we were able to download all our essential email, and upload my daily blog entry in less than 15 minutes per day.  We did not upload any photos via the ship's wifi.  Instead, because our ports of call were in US ports, we had AT&T cellular service while we were in Alaska, and were able to upload all our pictures when we were ashore.  Victoria was in Canada, but as soon as we left, we were back on AT&T as soon as we crossed into US waters again.  On the last day, we still had 90 minutes of unused internet time, so I guess we could have uploaded or pictures as well, and not worry about running out of minutes.  It did help that we could use our AT&T data in Icy Strait Point, Hoonah, and Juneau, and as we sailed through Puget Sound.  Perhaps on a more international cruise, we might have come closer to burning through our internet allowance, but that was certainly not the case on this cruise.

Friday, September 29, 2017- Victoria, BC

Friday, September 29, 2017- Victoria, BC

We awoke to find land out our starboard side balcony.  We had entered the Strait of Juan de Fuca and were heading past Neah Bay.  The water was calm but the Olympic Mountains were obscured by low clouds.  It looked like we had brought our Alaska weather back to Washington with us.  

We had a hard time dragging ourselves out of bed since we stayed up past 2am watching "Into the Woods" in the Atrium.  Franklin called on the room phone and said that he was actually sitting on the floor watching the same movie.  Janet and I had breakfast in the buffet since we didn't get up until after 9am, when the Summer Palace dining room closed for breakfast service. They had eggs Benedict at the buffet, and you could pour all the Hollandaise sauce on that you wanted.  After breakfast, we returned to our stateroom to watch the ship make its way down the Strait of Juan de Fuca past Sekiu, and Port Angeles.  We saw the MV Coho making its way from Victoria into Port Angeles as it crossed our bow.  We approached Ogden Point and the cruise ship terminal for Victoria at noon.  

Janet and Ben had lunch at O'Sheehan's and had the Reuben sandwich and Pub Hotdog, which is garnished with crisp, smokey bacon and sauerkraut.  Just as we were finishing lunch, the ship was tying up at the cruise ship dock when the sun started to break through the clouds. We went out on the promenade deck and were nearly blinded by the sun.  Passengers all up and down the deck were marveling at our first sighting of the sun in over 5 days.  

We were told to meet in the Stardust theater at 1:15pm for our excursion.  It turns out that they have everyone sit in the theatre until buses for excursions are cued up on the dock.  Then they call out your excursion number and you are then free to leave the theater and disembark on deck 4.  Our tour was the third to be called.  

There were several buses headed to do the Craigdarroch Castle and Victoria Highlights tour.  We sat on the first bus.  Once it loaded up, the driver offered the reserved for handicap front seats to anyone who wanted them since there were no handicapped passengers, so Janet and Ben got to move up and sit right behind the driver with a panoramic view through the windshield.  The driver was entertaining and easy to understand.  

As we drove through some of the expensive waterfront neighborhoods, he was explaining that the real estate in Victoria is the second most expensive real estate in all of Canada- second only to Vancouver.  Some of the top floor condos were several millions of dollars, and the "average" 2000sq ft house in Victoria city limits was over $500K.  Of course, that's in Canadian dollars, but that's still expensive.  He had bought a home, but sold it a year later after the value had gone up 100K and now he lives in a buddy's yard in an RV, rent free.  

The driving tour was actually quite nice.  We have visited Victoria many times over the years, but he took us through parts of the city we had never seen before.  He did point out the narrowest commercial alleyway in all of Canada in China town- just 3' wide.  He said a Mel Gibson and Goldie Hawn movie motorcycle chase scene had been filmed in that alley.  He also mentioned that Professor Xavier's school for gifted mutants (X-men Movies) is located right in Victoria.  

Craigdarroch Castle was built in 1890 by coal baron Robert Dunsmuir.  He had come to Canada as a penniless immigrant working in mines.  He eventually struck out on his own and discovered the richest seam of coal on Vancouver Island and became an industrial giant, owning mines, railroads and ships.  He built the mansion on top of the hill to show off his wealth.  It was originally built on 28 acres.  However, he died before the mansion was completed, so he never really got to live in his dream home.  His widow lived there until she died.  Their 5 daughters had no interest in keeping the property because it was so expensive to maintain, and the widow never really liked living there because it was too ostentatious, so it was sold to a real estate developer who subdivided the 28 acres and raffled the mansion as a bonus to whomever was lucky enough to be drawn from the people who bought the subdivided properties.  

Tragically, the man who won the raffle (lucky ticket #13) was in business with someone who ended up dying in the sinking of the Titanic, and he ended up bankrupt.  The castle went into bank foreclosure, and began it's life as a variety of municipal and government functions, including a military hospital, Victoria College, offices of the Victoria School Board, and Victoria Conservatory of Music, before it was eventually bought by the Craigdarroch Castle Historical Museum Society in the 1980's.  

Since then, it has been undergoing painstaking restoration efforts to try to relive its glory days at the turn of the century.  Most of the rooms open to the public are furnished with beautiful and interesting objects from the era, with many objects having been hunted down from the auctions that took place when the family gave up the home after the widow had died. There is beautiful oak paneling throughout the house.  Despite all the lumber industry in BC, all the oak paneling arrived in 5 railroad cars from Chicago.  The building itself is built with sandstone from one of Dunsmuir's own quarries.  The building, unlike most of its era, has never burned down.  Robert Dunsmuir's sons had built mansions nearby, but they burned down over time.  Only one was rebuilt several times because it happened to end up being used as the Government House building.  

As far as mansions go, Craigdarroch is plenty ostentatious and would have been a very comfortable home, but not as nice as Pittock Mansion in Portland, OR, and certainly nothing to compare with the Hearst Castle in California.  However, the mansions we toured in Norway were absolutely stark and primitive by comparison.  Those Scandinavians could never be mistaken for a soft and pampered people.

We completed our guided tour by driving into downtown, dropping people off in front of the Empress Hotel that wanted to walk around downtown.  The wind had picked up to a 40mph gale, and since we have walked around downtown Victoria plenty of times in the past, we opted to stay on the bus, which saved us the 30 minute walk back to the Ogden Point cruise ship docks.  

We met Franklin and Betty for Dinner.  They had taken a shuttle, which Betty could just drive her scooter up onto.  This had dropped them off downtown, where they spent nearly 3 hours exploring the Royal Provincial Museum, getting their money's worth out of the cost of admission.  

Dinner featured Cajun BBQ, herb chicken and whitefish.  We ended up being seated in a corner of the dining room opposite from our usual corner, away from Alvin and Mohammad.  The service was terrible throughout the meal, leaving us wishing we had specifically requested to be seated in Alvin and Mohammad's station.  We'll know better next time.

There was no 7:30 show.  At 9:30, they had a Norwegian Pearl crew talent show, which showcased the talents of staff in the housekeeping, kitchen, and other ships' departments, other than the entertainment staff.  It was a bit like the Karaoke with the bad singers weeded out and some Filipinos dancing thrown in.  The weirdest talent was a male singer who belted out Whitney Houston with a great falsetto voice, but he dressed straight.  It seemed like he really needed to be in drag to pull that off.  By far, the funniest was the closing act by the cruise director staff.  They came on stage carrying metal water pitchers dressed in togas.  The music was a tract by Enya and the stage was shrouded in stage fog.  They walked on stage in a stately manner, like they were going to recite "Ode on a Grecian Urn".  But then, they all took a deep drink of water from their pitchers, and they began to spout water on each other like human Grecian statues.  They assumed several poses including one where one person sprayed out a stream kneeling behind one of the other men so it looked like the man in front was urinating all over the stage.  When they finished that pose, the Washy-washy girl ran out on the stage with her squirt bottle so the guy in front could washy washy before assuming his next pose. It was hilarious and a fun way to close the show.  

Janet and Ben wandered down to the Bliss lounge to see what the participation cards were good for.  Each activity was worth between 3 and 5 punches on an activity card.  40 points would get you a T-shirt, 30 points a Norwegian water bottle, 20 points playing cards, 25 points a Norwegian pen, 15 points a Norwegian Frisbee, and 5 points a luggage handle or can cooler.  We then stopped by Franklin and Betty's room to say goodbye since we may not end up seeing them on disembarkation.  

Ben managed to try a vodka martini-shaken, not stirred, and found it to his liking. The savory flavor of the olives provides a nice contrast to the super sweet drinks that Janet has tended to like. 

Sad as it may be, we emptied our 3 drawers and shelves back into our suitcases to prepare for disembarkation tomorrow.  The ship cast off just before midnight.  Our bus driver from the tour earlier today said that for a cruise ship like ours, the port charges about $30K to dock.  So they cast off before midnight to avoid having to pay another $30K to stay overnight.  When we awaken tomorrow morning, we should be tied up at Seattle's Pier 66.

Thursday, September 28, 2017- At Sea Day

Thursday, September 28, 2017- At Sea Day

The ship continued to roll through the night as the ship slipped out of SE Alaska and into the international waters off the west coast of the Queen Charlotte Islands.  We awoke to find the ship surrounded by gray, although visibility was probably out to 2 miles or so.  Ben spotted some more small porpoises swimming after bait on the surface looking out from our balcony.  It is hard to get motivated to get out of bed when it is gray and yucky outside, so we slept in until 8:45 when Franklin and Betty called our room to say they were headed to the Summer Palace for breakfast.  

We joined them shortly after rolling out of bed and into our clothes.  Dining in the Summer Palace is easier for Betty and Franklin because in the buffets, someone has to stake out a table to park Betty at first.  Then Franklin makes a buffet pass to get food for Betty to eat.  Then he makes a second pass to get his own food.  When it's crowded, that can take quite a bit of time.  Also, if Betty then spots something on someone else's plate that interests her, someone has to make another run to the buffet.  Service was a bit slow this morning.  It appears that Janet's omelet order somehow got lost, so that delayed her breakfast until they could resend the order.  At least it came out piping hot out of the omelet pan.  

We didn't have much on our itinerary for today's day at sea.  There was a paper airplane contest that Franklin and Ben both entered.  There were about 40participants, so they took groups of 10 and ran 4 heats.  You had 1 minute to construct your paper airplane on the stage.  Franklin and Ben both went with a standard design, hoping to do some aerodynamic fine tuning, but 1 minute wasn't really enough time to tune your plane.  It was amazing how bad some of the planes were- fluttering straight down to the ground or even flying backwards, but there were a few well made and balanced planes that soared across the lounge.  Most planes spiraled or darted straight at people in the lounge, so there was some potential for putting someone's eye out.  Franklin and Ben's planes only made it halfway or less because they were both nose heavy, but at least they weren't the worst.  The winner ended up being a cheater because he not only didn't sign up in advance, but he brought pre-made and tested planes with him.  When the gal who ran the contest explained he had to make a new plane, he did, but flew his pre-made planes in the actual contest.  Oh well, since there was no prize, it was not a high stakes contest and everyone could get their participation card signed, even if they didn't actually make an airplane.  

Ben and Janet stopped by the guest services desk to inquire about our stateroom balances. There is a separate tally for "Balance" and "Non-Refundable Stateroom Credit".  During the first day, when we were being charged port taxes for drinks, we could see the "Non-Refundable Stateroom Credit" going down appropriately, but then the "Balance tally started climbing each day, presumably because of the daily gratuity charge.  Well, it turns out that the "Non-Refundable Stateroom Credit" or onboard spending money can't be applied towards the gratuities, so you have to actually spend that on ship services and merchandise.  We elected to use that to pay for an excursion in Victoria to see the Craigdarroch Castle, which was something Janet wanted to see anyway.  We haven't seen it before in our travels to Victoria in the past.  

Before we knew it, it was time for lunch.  This time, we decided to try the buffet for variety.  We were able to find a table for Betty's scooter, and with the 3 of us helping, getting food and drinks for everyone wasn't a problem.  While we were there, Alvin, one of our regular waiters from the Summer Palace stopped by and asked if there was anything we needed.  That was sweet of him, and the first time anyone in the buffet had asked us if there was anything they could bring us.  You'd think he was following us around the ship.  While there is such a wide selection of foods in the buffet, sometimes its hard to beat a hot dog and potato chips for American comfort food.  

Since it was a slow afternoon, Ben headed to the gym, which was not busy at all.  Only 2 out of 10 treadmills had people on them.  They have nice treadmills that are equipped with USB ports, Bluetooth, and TV's that actually work.  After a quick shower, Ben took a soak in a hot tub, where he met a nice couple of Chinese Americans visiting from New York.  They had taken some cruises from New York, but lamented that they weren't very exciting, so they decided to do this Alaska cruise.  They were a little disappointed that there wasn't more of Alaska to see, but were primarily attracted to this itinerary by the price.  They were already planning on returning to do a Vancouver based Princess Alaska cruise in 2-3 years.  

We met Betty and Franklin for dinner in the Summer Palace, and were seated just outside Alvin and Mohammad's station with another server, but Alvin came by with Franklin's lemonade just as we were being seated.  Hard to beat that level of service.  Ben had a New York strip steak, Betty had the grilled salmon, Janet had veal with noodles, and Franklin had pork loin.  We had a delicious calamari appetizer before our salads, and dessert was a moist and delicious Opera cake.  Betty ordered a hazelnut bar, which looked like a solid hunk of fudge covered in chocolate.  

The stage show was a "Legends in Concert" tribute show with Michael Jackson, Tina Turner and Elvis impersonators.  They all did a pretty good job, and the Norwegian Pearl production dancers and singers filled in between the Legends numbers and provided back up vocals and dancing.  

When we returned to our rooms, we were saddened to find disembarkation instructions on the bed, along with tomorrow's program for our day in Victoria.  We have to turn our clocks back an hour, so maybe we'll be able to get up earlier for breakfast tomorrow.  

We headed out to O'Sheehan's at 11pm for our nightcap, and split an order of chicken wings and Coney Island hot dog.  Both were quite good.  The hot dog is not the same you find in the buffet, but a real gourmet hot dog topped with tasty chili and mustard.  We then sat down in the Atrium to watch "Into the Woods" on their big screen.  Then it was time to retire for the night. 

Wednesday, September 27, 2017- Juneau, Alaska

Wednesday, September 27, 2017- Juneau, Alaska

We awoke to find the ship already tied up to the dock in Juneau.  The ship is tied up directly across from a parking garage that features a large life size mural of passengers on an ocean going vessel from the 1800's all looking back directly at us.  Our cabin balcony was facing the dock, so it was like all those people were looking into our balcony.  

We met Franklin and Betty in the Summer Palace dining room for breakfast, which was sparsely seated.  We sat down after 8:30am, so we were probably at the tail end of the breakfast serving period.  The service was much quicker, and our waiters were very attentive- a contrast to our first breakfast in the Summer Palace.  The breakfast foods are the same as in the buffet, but they are served with nicer presentation, and you are much less likely to take way more food than you can eat when a chef plates it for you.  Our waiter actually left me with a small thermal carafe of coffee, so I could drink as much as I pleased without bothering him for any refills.  

After breakfast, grabbed our rain gear and headed down the gangway into the rain and into Juneau.  The cruise ship dock in Juneau is right downtown, with all excursions situated within a short walking distance.  We didn't see any seaplanes at the seaplane base, but there was a very low cloud ceiling, so all flight operations may have been cancelled.  There is a tram that carries passengers from the waterfront to the top of Mt. Roberts, which disappeared into the clouds.  There was probably close to zero visibility up there.  It was moderately windy and the rain was on and off.  Janet and Ben walked through the lobby of the Alaska Federal Credit Union, which has a very nice collection of Tlingit wood carvings on display for free.  We also walked through several galleries filled with Native American arts.  Janet's sister Terri would have been beside herself trying to figure out which wall carving or bent-wood cedar box to buy.  There were museums for the City of Juneau and the State of Alaska that we walked by, but passed on paying admission to see things that you can buy in the galleries.  We did walk around the Governor's residence, but they didn't seem to offer tours.  You can just walk right up to the door, where a small sign just says "Governor's Private Residence".  We didn't ring the doorbell and run off, but don't think we weren't tempted.  

Franklin and Betty had concentrated their efforts on the jewelry stores around the waterfront that offered freebies like a gold bracelet and free charms.  Much of the rest of Juneau lay up moderately steep hills, so they chose to stay on the flats where Betty's scooter could navigate without too much trouble.

It was steady rain now, so we made our way back onto the ship by 12:30pm.  Franklin and Betty had just been seated in the Summer Palace, so we joined them for lunch.  Janet tried a shrimp burger, which was a strange invention in which a bunch of intact shrimp were formed into a patty, and then made into a burger.  It wasn't terrible, but the texture and taste didn't really come off as what you'd expect in a burger.  They did have popcorn shrimp appetizers that were quite good. Janet wished she could just get a large basket of the popcorn shrimp for an entree. 

Ben and Franklin had fried chicken with curly fries, which were pretty good.  We also had what they called Atlantic Chowder, which was a pretty tasty seafood chowder, ostensibly built around Atlantic salmon.  

Betty had ordered a shrimp penne pasta dish, but it turned out to be way too spicy hot for her.  She has had a real hard time struggling with the symptoms of her Parkinsonism and side effects associated with her treatments.  There's a knife edge balance between being too stiff to move, and getting involuntary facial grimacing and twitching. You can tell she is really putting up a good fight to maintain her independence, but it is painful to see how hard it is for her to even do a simple thing like take a sip of water or tea.  Getting a spoonful of food to her mouth requires tremendous determination, effort and strategy, but she manages to pull it off.  She shows a great deal of inner strength and determination that probably speaks to how she managed to raise all 7 of us.   She managed to eat a half cup of the chowder but didn't fare so well with the pasta. Fortunately, they did offer a flan for dessert, which Betty was able to demolish. 

After lunch, we toured Betty and Franklin's handicap accessible stateroom, which has a special accessible bathroom.  We were astounded by how much larger the room and bathroom were than our balcony stateroom.  There was plenty of room for Betty to drive her scooter around and the bathroom was just like what you'd find in a modern day hospital patient room, with a no-threshold entry, sit down shower and room to get a scooter or wheel chair next to the toilet.  No banging your head on the wall in front of the toilet in that room.  It was a very comfortable and functional room for someone with special mobility needs, and it was nice to see what a good job Norwegian did in designing a handful of cabins on the ship with such accommodations.  

Everyone had an afternoon nap, although Franklin did manage to take a trip into a hot tub for a nice soak despite the misty rain and 50 degree weather. 

We got together in the Summer Palace for an early dinner at 5pm so that we could see the 7:30 show.  We were seated in the same corner with Alvin and Mohammad, who have provided excellent and consistently courteous service, accommodating Betty's special requirements.  They offered escargot on the appetizer menu tonight, but instead of serving them on a dimpled tray where each escargot is in its own bath of garlic butter, these were served swimming in a sweet wine reduction mushroom gravy poured over a fluff pastry biscuit.  The gravy was too sweet to my taste, and you had to do a little hunting to separate the escargot from the mushrooms.  Betty seemed to relish each of the escargot, although it was difficult to get them past her dentures and down the hatch.  There was a beef barley soup that was mediocre consisting of a clear beef consumme that had hard bits of vegetables and barley in the bottom of the bowl.  The entrees included roasted leg of lamb, flounder, teriyaki beef and chicken Parmesan.  The lamb came out with the same sweet wine reduction that the escargot were swimming in, so that was a bit of a disappointment, but it did come with some really good potatoes au gratin.  For desserts, Ben and Franklin both opted for an English Cherry trifle, which came out in tall cocktail glasses with the red cherry, strawberry and jello on the bottom topped with lady fingers and heavy cream on top.  They looked interesting, but did require some effort to make all the layers work.  Janet and Betty opted for the more conventional coconut soufflé, which came out very hot with a separate ladle of sauce for the top.

We had no trouble finishing dinner, then getting cleaned up in our rooms and meeting up again in the Stardust Theatre for the 7:30 show, featuring "Angels", the French acrobat couple who had been introduced during the first night's show.  We were surprised that the theatre wasn't very full.  The way the Stardust Theatre is arranged, there are no outside aisles along the wall, so people tend to sit closer to the center of the theater, leaving the side wings largely empty. However, that means that any late arrivals have to climb over all the people seated hear the aisle to get to the remaining empty seats, which is annoying.  The drink of the day was something called the Bahama Mama, which Janet took quite a liking to because it was very sweet.  

"Angels" did put on a good show with whimsical choreography and music reminiscent of the Circ Du Soleil shows.  The French couple (Jeremie and Eleanor) trained in a Kiev circus school. There were lots of slow motion lifts and poses by the pair, while the woman did a dream sequence in a suspended ring to open the show while her partner lay in a bed the whole time.  They did do some nice areal silk dancing together.  The male looked like a young and not-so-beat up Daniel Craig while the female was pretty and athletic in appearance.  They did a very professional show with very simple stage effects.  Strength, flexibility, grace, and beauty - totally awesome, oui.

Our next stop was the Spinnaker Lounge for a 1969 tribute show.  This was put on by the Norwegian Pearl production singers and dancers.  They were backed by a live band, and for variety, they threw in some TV commercials on a screen including an Alka-Seltzer commercial featuring the claymation "Speedy", and one for Green Giant Vegetables.  Janet discovered a new drink that she saw someone order called a mudslide.  This drink is made with rum, Kahula, coconut liquor and chocolate syrup, and it tastes just like a milk shake.  Needless to say, she discovered a new favorite cocktail.  It was like having another dessert.  

After the 1969 tribute show, another band came on in the lounge with two vocalists, brass (trombone, trumpet), sax, drums and keyboard to do live Motown hits.  They invited people to use the dance floor, but we didn't see anyone out there dancing.  

After we finished up our mudslides, we retired to our stateroom for a quick break, before heading back to the Spinnaker lounge for "The Liar's Club" gameshow.  4 ship's celebrities included the piano bar singer,Jim, K-von (the comic), George (singer from the second night's show), and Gio, the cruise director.  For the game, they present an obscure word, and then each celebrity tries to convince the audience they know the meaning of the word, and then the audience votes on which they think is the real meaning.  The words ended up being "Bumfiddler" (to desecrate a legal document with scribbles), "Tittup" (the rhythmic bouncing of a horse's gait), "Fulfahrt" (to proceed full speed ahead with abandon), "Pakapoo" (aboriginal lottery or raffle), and "Trion" (the fig leaves worn by Adam and Eve).  Of course, most of the made up definitions skewed to the crude lowest common denominators of the colloquial sounds within the words, but often, you can guess the correct meanings because they seem to have no dirty meaning or are just not very funny.  We had seen the "Tittup" and "Fulfahrt" words in prior Liar's club games on our Princess cruises, so we knew those answers right off the bat.  But there were no prizes, other than the knowledge that you might have guessed the right answers.  Again, no high stakes scoring on Norwegian. 

By that time, it was 11:30pm.  Franklin was busy with his Karaoke friends, having quite the night.  Janet was played out, but Ben made a midnight O'Sheehan's run for another mudslide with some chicken wings and cheese cake.  They were showing the movie "Man of Steel" on the screen in the crystal attrium.  

The ship had set a course to the west of the Queen Charlotte Islands again, so we were back in the open Pacific.  The ship was back to rocking, perhaps a bit heavier than on the second day of the cruise.  Time to go to bed.  

Tuesday, September 26, 2017- Icy Strait Point and Hoonah Alaska

Tuesday, September 26, 2017 Hoonah/Icy Strait Point

We awoke to see the clouds had lifted enough off the sea to reveal islands out our balcony view.  We had turned northeasterly out of the open Pacific and into the Chatham Strait, in SE Alaska.  The waters were noticeably calmer, and the ship was not rolling like it had been most of yesterday. We sailed just to the west of Admiralty Island National Monument, which appeared to be made of many fjords carved out of a volcanic coastal mountain range.  They appear densely tree covered.  The clouds shroud the tops of the mountains, but so far, no visible glaciers or snow.  There are lots of tiny bits of rock poking out of the water off some of the points, and this area looks like an ancient inhabited version of the San Juan Islands.

Ben managed to wake up without a hangover, despite his best efforts to get his money's worth with the drink package last night.  That included a glass of red wine with dinner. During the 7:30 vocalist show he had a scotch and ginger ale cocktail, and for the 9:00 comedy show, we ordered White Russians, in honor of the Big Lebowski.  Then during the Karaoke he had something called a Rebellious fish=vodka, Passos Passion fruit liquor, triple sec and prosecco, the drink of the day, and a Mai Tai.  Then it was Irish coffee at O'Sheehan's for the midnight nightcap.  That's the most booze Ben has had in an evening since forever.  Today's drink of the day is called "The Painkiller"= Pusser's rum, pineapple & coconut.  A souvenir Tiki cup is an extra $6.

We decided to try breakfast at the Garden Cafe since it took quite a while for our breakfast order to be served in the Summer Palace. It was still very crowded, but there was a good selection of breakfast items.  There were two egg cooking stations for omelets and eggs cooked to order, which seemed to work well.  Seating was still a problem, but since it was just Janet and I, we were able to snag a two-top just as another couple had finished.  The waiters don't seem to do anything other than clear tables as quickly as they can.  On Princess, the waitstaff always made sure we never went without coffee, tea, or juice in the buffet dining room.  The selection of teas on Norwegian is limited to Lipton regular, Lipton green, and Lipton breakfast, all of which were inferior in quality and taste to the broad assortment of Bigelow and Twinning teas, including Janet's favorite Bigelow Earl Gray, offered in the Princess cruise ship dining venues. The quality of the foods was good, and they even had grits for Ben, who likes grits and bacon with his breakfast.  

As we finished eating, we saw Franklin coming out of the buffet, so we followed him back to where he and Betty had managed to snag a table.  Betty was looking and feeling better this morning, now that the seas had flattened out. We decided to rendezvous at O'Sheehan's at noon for lunch before the ship ties up in Hoonah- Icy Strait Point at 1pm.  We then retired to our room to watch our cruise up the Chatham strait.

We did meet Franklin and Betty in O'Sheehan's, and it's a good thing Franklin and Betty grabbed a table early.  Ben and Janet got there a little after noon, and by then, the wait for a table was 40 minutes.  We had pub fare including Irish stew, shephard's pie and fish-n-chips, all of which were pretty good. Janet and Ben ordered Guiness (what else do you order in a pub?) but it was in a can, and it was not so good as fresh draft.  The ship docked at Icy Strait Point while we ate lunch.  

The Indians have really outdone themselves in making this cruise ship port.  The new cruise ship dock is state of the art and has nice well lighted and covered gangways that are not at all steep.  It was easy getting Betty's scooter ashore and back.  There is a gravel nature trail that loops around the point about 0.25 miles along the beach and then through some old growth forest.  The visitor welcome center is very modern, spacious, well lit and has architectural nods to the Salish culture.  There are banks of iPads that guests can use to book tours and shore excursions on, and there are very nice, modern and clean restroom facilities.  Janet even snuck off with a bit of their nice soft 2-ply toilet paper because the ship's cheap single ply TP is hard on the nose and her nose began to run a bit in the rain.

When we first arrived, we could see rain pouring down through the restaurant's windows.  As if on cue, a bald eagle positioned himself in a tree right at eye level on the shore across from the ship.  By the time we finished lunch and grabbed our rain gear, the rain had largely turned into an intermittent drizzle, so it was not unpleasant at all to walk along the nature trail and then through the Cannery museum complex, which was a short walk down a gravel path which then became a nice wooden boardwalk along the waterfront.  The world's highest zip line ride (1330') originates high on a mountainside overlooking Hoonah, and terminates right next to the visitor reception center.  When the zip riders come in, they make an alien buzzing sound that catches your attention.  Some seem to be coming down turned around sideways and even backwards in their harnesses.  Once the riders are unloaded, the harnesses are then pulled back up to the top of the mountain along the same zip lines, but empty.  

The cannery museum complex was kind of like San Francisco's Fisherman's wharf, with restaurants and numerous gift shops and stores.  There were a few rooms with old cannery equipment set up as exhibits, and a hall with exhibits on Alaska history, and the history of Hoonah as well.  It seems that all old cities have a great fire in their history, and Hoonah is no exception.  Several women were smoking fish under the boardwalk when one of the canvas walls fell and caught fire.  It didn't help that the villagers stored drums of gasoline under the boardwalk as well.  The entire village burned to the ground.  The chief of the clan, to whom the women belonged to, felt an obligation to compensate all the other clans who had lost everything in the fire, so he gathered what was left of all his clan's ceremonial relics, and then burned himself with all the clan's relics to atone for the fire.  Pretty harsh.  

In addition to shops and restaurants, there are even more vendor booths for land excursions both inside the complex, and in the parking lot near the exit of Icy Strait Point, which is where a road links Icy Strait Point to the actual city of Hoonah, which is a 2 mile walk from the cruise ship dock and Icy Strait Point complex.  We found an ATV tour operator that had tours available for about $50 less than the cruise ship's advertised price, but this didn't include the zip line ride.  There was a fleet of old school buses painted blue with signs telling which excursions they were going to, such as "Bear Search", "Zip Line Mountain ascent", and "ATV Adventure" that drove back and forth along the road.  There is a dance theater near the parking lot as well.  They put on Native American dances at 3:30pm and 7:30pm.  

Most of the gift shops were advertising big sales because the Norwegian Pearl is the second to last cruise ship to visit for the season.  The Norwegian Jewel will arrive in 2 days, and after that, the whole Icy Strait Point complex gets boarded up until next summer's cruise season begins anew.  There was a crab shack out on the pier selling Alaskan king crab legs for $29 each, and they had an Alaskan King crab Bloody Mary cocktail featuring a king crab claw for $18.00. Half a Dungeness crab was $18.00.  Boy, we sure have it good living on Whidbey Island where crab is plentiful during the summer for the catching.

Franklin and Betty were ready to head back to the ship after touring the Icy Strait Point complex.  Ben and Janet took the 4 mile hike into Hoonah to see the real village.  The first mile was nice wide concrete sidewalk, which lead to the ferry terminal just outside town.  Then it was narrow and cracking municipal sidewalks for the last mile, leading into a typical small SE Alaskan Native American fishing village.  The yards were filled with fishing paraphernalia and vehicles in working and wrecked condition, and the houses were a ramshackle collection of buildings of various ages and construction.  They did have an amazing hardware store on a pier jutting out over the water that had everything from nuts to soup, and everything in between.  You could get a bear rifle, a new dishwasher, and a 24 pack of cold Bud Light all in one stop. We ended up walking to the center of town, which is around a tree containing an eagle's nest. There was no resident eagle in the nest at this time of year, but it's funny that it is situated right in the heart of town, across the street from the High School.  There is also a working marina in the heart of town filled with fishing and crabbing vessels.  Huge crab traps are piled up in various places around town.  The Native American residents of the town are quite a contrast to the tourist hoards that pour off the cruise ships.  It's no wonder they built the Icy Strait Point complex to try to maintain a zone of separation.  There is a guard posted at the entrance to Icy Strait Point who limits traffic into and out of the complex. The locals who work in the complex have to park their cars along the bushes  on the side of the road leading into Icy Strait Point.

It began raining in earnest so we turned around and hiked back to the ship.  We were glad to have packed full gortex rain gear for this trip.  By the time we got back to our room, we were exhausted, and our feet were dead tired.  Ben's Apple Watch clocked nearly 18,000 steps.  We rested up for a bit, and then gathered enough steam to head to the Indigo restaurant for dinner.  This is a smaller, more contemporary themed venue that is complimentary.  It offers the same menu as the Summer Palace main dining room, but with a different ambience.  We found the service to be much slower, and it didn't seem like the servers and waiters worked in teams like they did in the Summer Palace main dining room. We ended up skipping out as soon as we finished our entrees to catch the 7:30 stage production show.  We planned on raiding the buffet for desserts after the show anyway.  

We met Franklin and Betty in the theater.  We ordered the cocktail of the day, "The Painkiller", and also got a Pepsi for Franklin.  The production show team put on a good show with dancing and singing starting with some Billy Joel hits, then working through some Pop including Neil Diamond, Donna Summer, Whitney Houston and ending on a medley of ABBA hits.  The costumes and vocals were all pretty good, although one of the female leads needed her mike turned up for a few songs.  The stage decor was very simple and basic.  Princess cruises seems to invest a great deal more in production values for their shows.  Still, it was a good show and a great way to wind up the day.  After hitting the buffet for desserts, we headed to our room, too tired to consider another night of karaoke madness.  

Monday, September 25, 2017- At Sea Day

Monday, September 25, 2017 At Sea Day.

The ship rolled throughout the night as it cruised west of Vancouver Island northward.  When we woke up at 7am, all we could see out our balcony was gray fog and rolling seas with a 3-4' swell.  It was surprising that the ship was rolling as much as it was, because the sea conditions looked pretty calm.  The stabilizers on the Norwegian Pearl didn't seem to be doing a very good job of neutralizing the rolling.  We have certainly been in much heavier sea conditions on Princess cruise ships with a lessor degree of roll.  

Perhaps I was being a little hard on the Norwegian Pearl's balcony stateroom comparison yesterday.  Since the Pearl's last remodel, they have added some modern and welcome electrical upgrades.  There are easily accessible 110VAC outlets that are wide enough to accommodate normal US electrical devices.  There are also USB charger ports built in on the underside of the bedside lamps, and on the wall panel under the TV.  

All our recent Princess rooms have hidden outlets behind the TV's which are very difficult to access, and the outlets are crowded very tightly next to each other so that only the narrowest 3 prong plugs can be inserted side by side.  We have been in the habit of bringing special extension cords to access these power outlets on Princess ships to give us enough outlets to charge all our iDevices.  There is a single 2 prong 110v shaving outlet high above the mirror in the bathroom marked "Shaver only".  I did bring a short specially constructed extension cord to allow us to plug in our two Sonicare toothbrushes and nightlight into it.  It would be nice if all cruise lines would integrate night lights into their cabins.

While I railed about the toilet compartment being so tiny, both it and the shower compartments do have sliding glass doors that isolate them from the sink area.  The Princess staterooms use a fabric shower curtain, which gets the job done, but the Norwegian shower enclosure is larger and roomier.  However, brushing against the shower curtain in the Princess bathroom isn't as bothersome as hitting your head while on the toilet in the Norwegian bathroom.

This is an at sea day, as we cruise north past the Queen Charolette Islands. We didn't have much planned so we had a sit-down breakfast in the Summer Palace.  They did have two variations of eggs Benedict on the menu- the classic and one with smoked salmon.  Both ended up with overcooked eggs, but Janet was lamenting the absence of eggs Benedict on the Crown Princess breakfast buffet during our Norway cruise.  The eggs Benedict was her standard go-to breakfast item on all our earlier Princess cruises.  We ended up missing the morning general trivia, and went to attend the "This is Alaska" presentation in the theatre.  We learned that Alaska is the only state name that can be typed all from one row on the typewriter keyboard.  That might turn up as a useful trivia tidbit at some point.  The rest of the presentation showed video of glaciers, whales and bears with sale pitches for the ships' paid excursions to let you get closer to these attractions.  None of the videos showed what it would be like to take the excursions in pouring rain and 40 degree weather, which is the forecast for Icy Point Strait and Juneau when we get there.  It was not nearly as interesting or useful as the destination expert lectures that Princess offers on its ships to prepare passengers for upcoming ports of call.  

We decided to try the Lotus Blossom for lunch.  This is an Asian fusion restaurant that is complimentary, except for the teppanyaki tables and sushi bar.  Their menu featured pot stickers, steamed or fried, noodles fried or in broth, and fried rice.  We got there at noon and we were told they were full, but could take a pager and be notified when a table was ready.  It took about a half hour, but our pager was soon buzzing and we were seated.  The service was decent, but the food was not very good.  Ben wanted to order ramen, but the closest they had was a bowl of rice noodles with BBQ pork in broth.  The broth was about as memorable as instant ramen broth, and the BBQ pork floating in the soup was so dry, it was not really edible. The pot stickers were pretty forgettable, as were the stir fried noodle and fried rice dishes.  Still, we didn't end up hungry, but we won't have to go back there again.  

Franklin was eager to get in a hot tub, while everyone else was more in a mood to nap.  The sun burned its way through the gray for a brief moment, but we were soon plunged back into the sea of gray.  There was a salsa class, but we didn't really feel the inspiration to go get sweaty on a rolling stage.  The last dance class that Janet and Ben did together was too crowded and not much fun, so Janet dug into a paperback book she brought, and Ben took a nap.  Then while sitting on the uncomfortable sofa looking out the balcony, Ben spotted a school of dolphins jumping through the swells towards the ship.  We dashed out onto the balcony to see them jump through another swell as they headed directly at the ship.  They soon ended up behind the ship's wake, but as we looked out over the grey horizon, we soon saw a large whale breech and make a huge splash at the edge of the gray horizon.  We then saw several other smaller purposes or dolphins splashing around on the surface.  Some seemed to be chasing bait around in tight circles, splashing their dorsal and tail fins on the surface.  Others seemed to run parallel to the ship, although the ship quickly overtook them. 

We managed to gather up enough steam to head to the Crystal Atrium for the 4pm afternoon general Trivia quiz. We teamed up with three young people from Oklahoma and New York City, but out of 20 questions, we managed 14 right answers.  The winner had 16, but grading was on your honor, and there was no prize at all.  So much for life altering prizes on Norwegian for trivia quizzes.  We didn't feel so bad about missing the 9am trivia quiz after that.  We did use our beverage package to have a round of alcoholic drinks.  Janet ordered a Moscow mule, hoping to get it in a copper mug, which we had seen earlier on the cruise, but alas, unless you pay another $9 for a souvenir copper mug, it comes in a plastic solo cup. Ben asked for a Canadian Club and ginger ale, but the closest they could come up with was a 7 & 7.  

After trivia, we retired back to our room to rest up our brains until dinner at 5pm in the Summer Palace dining room.  We met up with Franklin and Betty, and were seated at the same table as yesterday day, and had the same waitstaff with Alvin and Muhammad.  Fennel salmon and Pot roast were the featured entrees, and sushi was available as an appetizer.  Janet had noticed the sushi chef busy preparing lots of octopus Negeri behind the sushi counter at the Lotus Blossom at lunch.  We'll, it so happens that he was making sushi rolls to be served at tonight's dinner as appetizers.  We were happy to get to try their octopus, ebi-maki and tuna rolls at dinner for free since you have to pay extra to have them at the sushi bar.  The salmon and pot roast were both excellent, but poor Betty, as well as many other guests, were feeling a bit sea-sick.  Ben's appetite was off as well, but he was able to eat most of the dinner and dessert.  His dessert was a raspberry chocolate mousse cake, which was very good.  

After dinner, we headed to the theatre for the 7:30 vocalist show, which was pretty good.  George Solomon looked a tiny bit like a young Leonard Nimoy, and had a wide vocal range.  He did a number of tunes from any styles of music, and put on a good show.  Ben gave Betty some scopolamine gel and ondansetron for her sea-sickness, and she appeared to sleep through George Solomon's show.  Franklin ended up tucking Betty in for the night after that, and then joined us for the K-Von's comedy act at 9:30, which was pretty funny.  He is half Iranian and half Scottish.  He had a lot of fun with that.  

After K-Von's show, we headed from the front of the ship to the aft, where Karaoke was starting.  Franklin had signed up to be the 7th singer, so we ordered up drinks and hunkered down for the show.  There were two women who did a good job on Linda Ronstadt and Gretchen Wilson songs.  There was a guy from North Carolina who did two decent country western songs, and a guy from New Mexico who did a decent rendition of ZZ-tops.  There was a large group from Idaho, that went up and did several really terrible renditions of various songs, and a totally tone deaf guy who attempted a Motown song that was actually painful to listen to.  Franklin did Billy Joel's "The Stranger" and he did a pretty decent job of it.  It wasn't the best, but it was also far from the worst.  

https://youtu.be/vBCYvq4GZaE

Fortunately, the last singer was one of the women who did a nice rendition of "Crazy for You", which was a nice way to end the show.  

Franklin linked up with Dante again, while Ben and Janet headed to O'Sheehan's, where they split Jamaican jerk chicken wings and a Reuben sandwich, both of which were quite good.  This took us to after midnight, but we have to turn our clocks back an hour to get on Juneau time tonight.  We arrive at Icy Point Strait tomorrow at 1pm.  The captain says to keep an eye out for whales as we enter Icy Point Strait.

Sunday, September 24, 2017- Day 1 Embarkation Seattle

Sunday, September 24, 2017

Embarkation, Seattle

Our journey began with the Whidbey Sea-Tac shuttle from Oak Harbor.  It is nice to be able to sit back and let someone else do the driving to Seattle.  Unfortunately, the Whidbey Sea-Tac shuttle only runs to the airport, but there are many alternatives to get to the downtown cruise ship terminals from the airport than from Oak Harbor.  We took the shuttle that left Oak Harbor at 8:15am, and arrived at Sea-Tac at 10:30am.  We then followed the signs to the pick up area for Ap based ride sharing, which includes Lyft and Uber.  We decided to try Lyft because Ben had not used the Lyft ap before, and was able to get coupons good for $5.00 off his first 3 rides within 21 days.  It looked like all of the ride share vehicles at Sea-Tac were Priuses.  It took less than 5 minutes from launching the Lyft ap for the driver to show up in the pick up lanes.  The trip to the cruise port was pretty straightforward and ended up costing $35 including a $5 tip.  A conventional cab from Sea-Tac to downtown would have been $45. 

The Norwegian Pearl was docked at the Pier 66 cruise terminal, right in the heart of the Seattle waterfront.  Off to the north, closer to Magnolia, we could see the Emerald Princess and Oosterdam docked at a separate cruise terminal.  

Weather in Seattle was ideal- sunny with beautiful blue skies punctuated by a few fluffy clouds.  The temperature was in the 60's and very comfortable.  Mt Rainier was visible beyond the Seattle skyline.  

The check in and boarding process was much improved over our prior experience 4 years ago.  There was a bit of a cue to get through the security screening, but there was no extended sitting around and waiting to get processed at any point in the process.  We had arrived at 11:30, and the ship was scheduled to begin boarding at noon.  It turns out, they were able to begin boarding passengers earlier.  Franklin and Betty were in boarding group 1 when they checked in at 10:30.  

We were aboard the ship by noon ran into Franklin and Betty in the Garden Cafe, the main buffet, which was open for lunch.  All of the ship's passengers seemed to be crammed into this space because the passenger cabins were not ready for occupancy until closer to 2pm.  

The buffet was very crowded, and it was difficult to get around to find a place to sit.  It reminded us of our prior cruise on this same ship, and it was not one of the better aspects of the prior experience.  We've not encountered similar crowding on our Princess Cruises.  The dining rooms seem to have better traffic flow, and seem a whole lot less crowded.  The food was pretty much of the same caliber as we have seen on all our prior cruises, and there was a decent selection in the buffet.  They had hand scooped ice cream and frozen yogurt in 6 different flavors- a step up from soft serve in vanilla, chocolate or swirl.

Part of our cruise package included what Norwegian calls their "Ultimate Beverage Package".  This includes wine, beer, cocktails, soft drinks and spirits up to $15 value in the dining rooms, bars and theaters.  It does not include espresso coffee drinks, or coffee outside the main dining room, so Ben's decision to leave his coffee travel thermos at home ended up premature.  Norwegian also seems to nickel and dime passengers where-ever possible.  Although the drinks are inclusive, you have to pay a mandatory 18% service and gratuity charge for the drink package.  That 18% is based on the full retail package price of $75/day per person.  That's $13.50 per person per day, even if you don't drink anything in actuality.  On top of that, when the ship is in a port of call, there is an additional port tax that is also tacked on.  That amounted to less than a dollar per drink, but it is irritating to have to sign for that charge on top of the drink and gratuity tab.  Ben had a beer at lunch and we also had several soft drinks, which were excluded from the port taxes.  

Our room was ready shortly after we had finished lunch, so we headed down to our stateroom.  The Norwegian Pearl's balcony rooms are nicely decorated with modern and functional fixtures, but the room is noticeably smaller than the Princess standard balcony rooms.  The closet has only 4' of hanging space (vs 8' on Princess) and there are only 3 drawers in the entire room for organizing clothes.  There are only a half dozen open shelves that we crammed our clothes into, but we will have to do some digging around to find what we need.  

There is a sofa, which can fold out into a bed, but it is uncomfortable, and eliminates a nightstand.  The mini bar fridge is locked and stocked so you can't put anything in it.  Princess gives you a dorm sized mini fridge that you can do what you please with.  The Princess balcony room has a desk with drawers and a comfortable chair where you can sit and type. Aside from the uncomfortable sofa, the only other seating in the room is an even more uncomfortable stool that looks like a trash bin with a padded lid.  

The balcony is serviceable, but noticeably smaller than the Princess standard balconies, just big enough to accomodate two chairs and a tiny coffee table.  You would not be able to lay out on a lounge chair on this balcony.  Still, it was very pleasant to sit on the balcony and watch the sail away from Pier 66 and out of Puget Sound.  In the distance, we could see the Emerald Princess pull out of her slip and follow us in pursuit.

The bathroom is serviceable, but the toilet is in its own compartment with the wall 16" in front of the toilet bowl, so if you have long thighs, your knees will be up against the wall in front of you, and if you lean forward at all, your head will be banging on the wall as well.  The toilets in the Princess Cruiseship bathrooms are angled into the bathroom area so that while you can't isolate them from the sink with a sliding door as on the Norwegian ship, you also have much more room to do what you want on the throne without running into any walls.  

We took a walk-about to tour the ship and found that while the ship had been renovated in 2016, it was still pretty much the same ship we sailed on in 2013.  The Blue Lagoon has been changed to O'Sheehan's pub, still open 24/7 in the atrium at mid-ship for midnight munchies.

The carpets were new, but retain the extremely useful feature of having fish embedded in the carpet pattern that are swimming towards the front of the ship.  It is so easy to get disoriented in the corridors, so knowing which way is towards the front of the ship at all times is great.

We met Betty and Franklin for dinner in the Summer Palace main dining room at the aft of the ship.  We were sailing past Whidbey Island as we dined, and when the waiter Alvin asked us where we were from, we could just point out the window and say "That's our island right there".  Prime rib was the main feature, but there were many other choices available, including New Zealand Hake Fillet, which Betty ordered.  The desserts included a pistachio creme Brûlée and lava cake, both of which were good.  We had wine by the glass with our dinners, despite the port tax charge.  We were informed that the port taxes would disappear once we got into international waters after 9:30pm.  

We attended the 7:30 stage show, which was a potpourri of acts that will be featured during the cruise, including the production show team, a pair of dancing acrobats, a male singer, and a comedian.  Some of the hotel and ship's staff were also introduced.  We'll have to see how their full length shows turn out, by the previews looked promising.  

After the show, we made a final tour of the buffet dessert offerings, and visited Franklin and Betty, who were checking out O'Sheehan's, and having a plate of nachos.  Franklin was going to help get Betty to bed, and then participate in the 10pm Karaoke in one of the lounges.  We were pretty exhausted by then, and retired to our stateroom for showers and bed.