Sunday, May 26, 2019. Disembarkation Seattle

Sunday, May 26, 2019. Disembarkation Seattle

We awoke to see the Golden Gardens marina outside our balcony, across from the Smith Cove cruise ship terminal.  That view was eventually blocked as the Holland America Westerdam tied up on it’s berth.  

The dining room was open for breakfast, so we all met for breakfast and had a relaxing last breakfast.  Towards the end of breakfast, the dining room staff was anxious to get us on our way because the ship was getting turned over for the incoming passengers.  We had set our suitcases out the night before, and were down to just our day packs to lug around.

We made our way to the disembarkation lounges, and said our farewells.  There was very little delay on disembarkation, and no crowding around the lounges when we arrived. This was in stark contrast to the troubles we had encountered on disembarkation from the Ruby Princess at the end of our recent Hawaii cruise.  Perhaps it was the late departure time we had requested 10AM- the last batch, since we had no flights to catch.  Having a nice sit down breakfast was certainly preferable to the crowded and hectic buffet during the early morning hours.  

George’s au pair drove Franklin’s mobility van to pick the Hu family members, while Ciara picked us up so she could spend some of the Memorial Day weekend at home.  

After we got home and unpacked, we went for a hike at Fort Ebey.  As we walked the bluff trail, we saw the Star Princess headed back out of Puget Sound with it’s next load of passengers, headed back for Alaska.  

Over all, it was an enjoyable but brief Alaska cruise.  Dealing with Betty’s disabilities and coordinating with Ben’s brothers did present some unique challenges, but Princess Cruises did a very nice job of making things as easy as possible.  The ADA stateroom was surprisingly large and convenient, and the portside staff were always eager to help with Betty in her wheelchair.  Franklin’s battery powered blender made it possible for Betty to enjoy the delicious and constantly changing cuisine, and the dining room staff were always very helpful and respectful in dealing with the mess associated with  having to blend her food at the table and feed her.  

We did manage to walk away with 5 trivia wins and a pile of loot from the Wake Show drawings.  Most of the Trivia prizes were given away as souvenirs for Dave's family and other passengers, but we do have some Star Princess coasters to add to our collection of Princess ship coasters.

There were obvious compromises in the itinerary with the 5AM arrival at Tracy Arm, and 7PM arrival in Victoria.  We would recommend future travelers to carefully examine the itinerary to  note the times of arrival and departure.  We failed to do this because we had booked this on significantly discounted last minute standby fare deal.  We suspect the prime port call times were given to the larger and more profitable Royal Princess.  But we did see some spectacular sights in Tracy Arm, and did enjoy seeing the Butterfly garden, especially the monster Atlas moths.  

For those looking to book a round trip Alaska Cruise itinerary from Seattle, we would recommend finding an itinerary that includes a visit to Glacier Bay (infinitely more spectacular from the cruise ship than Tracy Arm, although the  passengers who took the optional excursion on the catamarans to the base of the Sawyer glaciers probably had a spectacular view) and one that arrives in Victoria during the early morning hours, so you have a full day to enjoy in Victoria.

As for our first experience as Elite level passengers, we did really have to push ourselves to get through the two coffee cards, and would have preferred to have been upgraded to a soft drink package instead, if that were a possibility. There was no way we would have gotten through the provided minibar set up in a week.  We’ll ask on our next cruise about trading the minibar for a soft drink package instead of coffee cards.  

We were a little surprised by how long it took to get our laundry back, but Ben’s shirts have never looked so good as they did coming back starched and pressed on hangers.  The laundry service will be especially handy on our long Rome to Singapore cruise coming up this winter.  It was also nice to be able to cut to the front of the customer service lines, but traveling with Betty also gets you a pass to bypass all the lines on Princess because they give first priority to passengers with disabilities.  

Saturday, May 25, 2019. Victoria, BC Canada

Saturday, May 25, 2019. Victoria, British Columbia Canada

We had breakfast together in the dining room and then spread out for our last day of activities for the cruise.  Ben and Janet, Dave and George, joined by Dino teamed up for the morning trivia, which we won handily with a score of 18/20.  The second place team had 15.  We won coasters, which Janet gave away to other passengers.  

Franklin had participated in the paper airplane toss, but missed the target.  He also did a Minute to Win It Challenge, which involved trying to get a balloon into a large paper trash bag without using his hands and not allowing it to touch the ground.  He was unsuccessful, but it made for some humorous video.  

We rendezvoused for lunch at noon in the dining room after Ben went for a short run on the treadmills.  We had our last trivia for the cruise but missed winning by 1 point.  

As the ship approached Victoria, we noticed a lot of sailboats in the Strait of Juan de Fuca.  It turns out that it was the Swiftsure Yacht race, a part of the America’s Cup series.  

We had dinner after naps just as the ship was approaching Victoria, and then we disembarked for our excursions.  The ship arrived in Victoria at 7PM. Our excursion was scheduled to depart at 7:20PM, but it took a long time to disembark the ship, so we ended up leaving the dock area at 8PM.  The driver was entertaining and informative, but our first stop at 8:45PM was at the butterfly garden.  By then, the sun was setting and it was getting dark rapidly.  The butterfly garden was nice, but it seemed like most of the butterflies were sleeping.  They did have some interesting insect displays, including a large colony of leaf cutter ants with see-through burrows in plexiglas boxes.  There were also some huge cock roaches and beetles.  The most interesting specimens were the Atlas moths, which were the size of birds. 

The Butterfly Gardens were just around the corner from Buchart Gardens, but by the time we got through the turnstiles, it was well past night fall, and the gardens were quite dark aside from pathway lighting and some accent lighting.  It gave you an idea of the scope of the gardens, and we were able to walk through them in under an hour, but you really couldn’t appreciate the flowers because it was so dark.  The water fountain did put on a colorful lighted display, but there were no fireworks.  When we had signed up for the excursion, we weren’t aware that we would be arriving after sunset, so that was a disappointment.  

The buses got back to the ship right at 11PM.  There was a huge line at the International cafe, which was the only food venue open at that time.  The soup gets put away at 10pm, and they had largely sold out of their sandwiches except for a few ham and tuna sandwiches.  Ben used the last of his coffee card punches on a decaf mocha, while Janet converted some of hers to hot chocolates for Dave and Franklin.  

The week did go by quickly. We will sail past Whidbey Island and our home in the dark on our way to Seattle’s waterfront.  The ship will not have to go very fast to make it the last 81 miles by morning.

Friday, May 24, 2019. At Sea from Skagway Alaska to Victoria BC

Friday, May 24, 2019. At Sea from Skagway Alaska to Victoria British Columbia Canada

It was especially hard to get up in the morning after setting our clocks back an hour.  The weather has clouded over and the winds have picked up, generating white caps and 8-10ft swells.  

We had breakfast in the restaurant this morning.  Dave, George, Franklin and Betty had a 4 top.  George said he had knocked on our door but we were still asleep.  Janet and I sat at a 2 top waited on by Theodore, our regular main Amalfi evening dinner waiter.  Janet spotted the dorsal fin of a female orca passing as the ship made it’s way south along the Queen Charolette Islands.  

As we got back to our room after breakfast, we were relieved to see our laundry had finally been completed, with Ben’s suit and slacks pressed and hanging in the closet, dress shoes newly polished, and shirts nicely starched and ironed.  Underwear, socks and other items were laid out on the bed for easy sorting and putting away.  

We won the morning trivia after teaming up with a first time cruiser Dino, who had sat by himself before we invited him to join our team.  We had entered into a two way tie, and had to have two tie breakers to determine the final winner.  That got us aluminum Princess water bottles, which we gave to Dave to pass on as presents for his daughters.  

We went to see the end of the Culinary demonstration and saw that they had rolled a crew talent show in with the Culinary demonstration.  We then got the whole family together for lunch in the Portifino dining room.  Everyone was eager to grab a nap after lunch before our afternoon activities.  

Janet and Ben attended their first Princess Grapevine wine tasting, which is complimentary for Elite members and $9.50 for everyone else.  They demonstrated a California Robert Mondavi Chardonnay, and a Dashwood Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand for two white wines.  These were followed by a Duckhorn Merlot Decoy (USA) and a Zolo Mendoza Argentinian Malbec for reds.  We then finished with an Errazuriz, Late Harvest Sauvignon Blanc dessert wine, which is allowed to freeze on the vine before it is crushed and made into wine.  This made for a very sweet and fruity dessert wine.  

There was commentary for each wine by the Sommeliers that staff the dining rooms.  Each was about a 1.5oz pour, so we were pleasantly buzzed at the end of the program and had learned a little more about how to best appreciate these wines which are considered middle market wines that can be consumed on any occasion.  It was a nice perk thrown in for the Elite status Captain’s Circle level.  

We then got changed into our formal wear and headed off to afternoon trivia, which was won by a team that has probably won as many trivia games as us.  We seem to take turns winning on this cruise.  For the afternoon trivia, George joined us as well Drew, a newly trained cardiac nurse who was sitting alone and joined us.

We met up with the family for our last formal dinner of the cruise, which featured broiled lobster. Everyone went light on the appetizers and sides because we also had specialty dining reservations in the Crown Grill for 9PM.  We could do a progressive Surf and Turf evening that way.  The lobster tails were from New England lobsters, served over risotto, and were very tasty. 

After our early 5PM dinner seating, Ben, Janet, Franklin and George attended the Captain’s Circle cocktail party. Janet was able to order a pair of Moscow Mules, while Ben explored a new martini on the Menu called the Vesper, apparently inspired by another 007 character.  Franklin ordered sprite and mixed it with some red wine for his signature beverage.  George was sticking to Diet Coke.  The most traveled passengers were a couple from Kent who had completed 980 days at sea.  They looked like they were in their 80’s.  

We took our cocktails from the Captain’s Circle reception to the Explorer’s Lounge afterwards to watch some of the Marriage Match gameshow, which is always fun to watch, but you really don’t want to be the ones on stage because it can be embarrassing.  

We then went for our second dinner at the Crown Grill with Betty ordering Copper River sockeye salmon, and everyone else ordering beef.  Dave and George were drawn towards the 32oz monster Porterhouse steaks, while Franklin stayed in his comfort zone with the New York Strip Steak, which most closely resembles the steaks that Madison House serves.  Ben and Janet stuck with the Filet Mignon, which was excellent.  

We closed the evening with Franklin’s last Karaoke night.  He has managed to become a bit of a Karaoke celebrity among the cruise staff and Karaoke regulars on this cruise. 

Tomorrow, we arrive late to Victoria, BC. It’s odd that this itinerary gets us into the port after 6pm.  It’s a good thing it stays light later this time of year.  We’ll probably see the garden lights come on around the time they round us up to take us back to the cruise ship on our Buchart Garden excursion.  

Thursday, May 23, 2019. Skagway, Alaska

Thursday, May 23, 2019. Skagway

 We awoke as the ship’s thrusters began causing the bow to vibrate while backing into it’s berth on the Railroad Dock.  There are now 3 cruise ship docks in Skagway.  There is a spur of the White Pass Scenic Railway that goes right to the Railroad Dock.  We could see the Disney Magic tied up at one of the other piers, and the Holland America Westerdam on the third dock.  

We had a quick breakfast in the Buffet before disembarking and boarding the train for our 3 hour scenic railroad ride.  The White Pass railroad has a few itineraries.  The one we selected goes from Skagway to the summit and then turns around and heads back to Skagway.  It does cross the Canadian border, taking us about 3 miles beyond the border, but there is no train station there as the train simply takes a loop branch that feeds it right back.  Since we couldn’t actually get off the train we didn’t require our Passports.  There were some other passengers who did end up spending some time in US Customs and Immigration because they had taken itineraries that took them to the end of the line, which is in Fraser BC.  They had brought birth certificates, which did allow them to return to the US, but didn’t have passports.  We ended up playing Trivia with this couple later in the day.  

The train did have a car that was equipped with a wheel chair lift. There were about a half dozen passengers that were in wheelchairs and scooters including Betty in that car.  We transferred Betty into a bench seat by the window for better viewing during the trip.  The scenery was quite spectacular, looking like the Canadian Rockies when you drive through Kamloops, only even bigger and with lots more snow at the tops of the mountains.  We spotted several small Sasquatch planted along the route including one holding a stick of dynamite at the entrance to one of the railroad tunnels. Janet spotted a gorilla in a tree and there was also a rattle snake perched on a rocky outcropping- fake of course, but a source of humor and amusement.  The Sasquatches, true to their nature, were very hard to capture on film.  Nobody was successful in getting their picture.  

The trip was pleasant and easy.  Today was really the first day we encountered rain in Alaska.  For the most part, it was a light drizzle, but it was nice that we were inside the train for the rainy part of our cruise experience.  When the train returned to Skagway, we disembarked downtown to walk through the shops and historic sites, before walking back to the ship, which was just a 15 minute walk from downtown.  The only thing really strange was when we went to retrieve Betty’s wheel chair to put her back in it, someone had poured a bottle of water onto her wheelchair seat, soaking the pad that was on it.  There was a mentally disabled passenger who was sitting right next to where we had parked her wheel chair, who seemed amused when we discovered that the seat was soaking wet.  We removed the pad and fortunately, the seat under the pad was dry.  Back on the ship afterwards, we used a hairdryer to dry out the pad cover so that Betty could use it again.  

Ben and Janet did an afternoon trivia, tying for first place with one other team, but this time losing on the tie breaker, which was How many official languages does Spain have.  Well according to Wikipedia, Spain has one official language- Spanish aka Catstilian.  But if you look up “Languages of Spain”, there are four other “Co-official” languages, so you I could say they have 5 official and co-official languages.  They did ask what animal is most closely related to humans based on DNA.  From our Viking Cuba cruise, we learned from the lecturer on board that the Bonobo is most closely related to humans, although most people wouldn’t be able to tell a Bonobo from a Chimpanzee.  They both are over 99% matches to human DNA. But we went with the safer answer of Chimpanzee because the Bonobo DNA was only sequenced in 2003, and these trivia answers are usually drawn from old data.  And that did turn out to be correct.  We did get tripped up on what the smallest country in Continental Asia was.  We the answer was Singapore.  We’ll certainly get that answer correct after our Rome to Singapore cruise this winter.

Everyone needed a nap after returning from Skagway, and had a hard time waking up for afternoon activities and dinner.  We did end up meeting up in the dining room for our 5pm seating, but several were a little late because it took a while to get back started up from their naps.  

We attended the early showing of “Born to Dance”, the first Princess Theatre production show for this cruise.  The cast was excellent, although one of the male dancers looked a little on the heavy side.  But that didn’t stop him from leaping directly into a splits on the stage.  Lots of Russian talent amongst the dancers.  The vocalists were also quite good.  Janet and I have seen this show many times on various ships with various casts, and this cast did a good job.  

We then headed to the Vista Lounge for an encore performance of the Magician couple.  They did several mentalist type tricks, and while none of the other magic was anything we hadn’t seen before, the humorous interplay between the husband wife team did make the show unique.  We couldn’t help but compare this couple to Remington Steele, because the wife is clearly the lead magician and showman, with her husband filling in a secondary role.  

We finished up the night with Franklin’s Karaoke.  This time, there were many more entries, including an 8 year old cutie singing a song from Frozen, and a couple of duets, including Franklin singing a song from Grease with a blond gal he apparently met just today at lunch, who was one of the last girls to get up to sing on the first night of Karaoke.  

Our clocks go back an hour tonight.  Good thing we don’t have any early excursions tomorrow, being our second day at sea.  Ben is hoping his suit and slacks return from the cleaners in time for tomorrow’s second formal night.  He had turned them in for pressing after the first formal night.  

Wednesday, May 22, 2019. Tracy Arm Fjord and Juneau

Wednesday, May 22, 2019 Tracy Arm and Juneau

The sun sure rises early at these northern latitudes.  By 5:15am, the sun was working it’s way across the top of the fjord that is the Tracy Arm.  The scenery is very similar to Norway’s fjords, but the Tracy Arm does become quite narrow as the ship worked its way towards the head of the fjord.  There are lots of cascading waterfalls and a few side glacial valleys that drain into the Tracy Arm, but there are no little Norwegian villages or farms in these valleys.  There were lots bits of scattered ice flows that became more and more dense as we made it up to the bend where we could see the North and South Sawyer Glaciers that formed the Tracy Arm. The ship stopped adjacent to Sawyer Island, about 4 miles short of where the South Sawyer Glacier meets the water. At this point, the ship disembarked 2 catamaran loads of passengers for an optional excursion that would speed them to the base of that glacier, while the Star Princess turned around and then headed for Juneau.  We imagine the passengers on the catamarans did get a good look at the glaciers, but we didn’t book that excursion because it was not wheel chair accessible.  They probably met up with the ship in Juneau, which was 45 miles to the north.

It seemed like the best place to view the Tracy Arm was on the deck that is above the ship’s bridge.  This is accessible by going all the way forward on deck 14, and then up about 5 steps.  Since there were four of us brothers, we were able to muscle Betty in her wheelchair up that small staircase, so she could enjoy the view, but she needed to be bundled up in her warmest clothes and wrapped in pool blankets and towels.  

There was sporadic narration by the naturalist, who ended up reciting several quotes by by various explorers in describing similar glacial fjord scenes, but from New Zealand and Chile, rather than specifically Alaska.  We did manage to spot a few mountain goats way up high on the granite faces above us with binoculars, and a couple of harbor seals in the water, but no bears or other animals aside from an occasional sea gull. 

Oddly enough, right at the point where the ship did it’s spin around, there was a hunk of ice on which a harbor seal was resting, and next to it on the ice was an obvious stain of blood.  Someone had speculated that maybe a seal had a miscarriage, or another seal had been injured and hauled itself up on that same hunk of ice because the seal that was resting on the ice looked perfectly happy.  

After the ship did its about face, we had breakfast in the buffet and then a long nap.  Janet and Ben got up for the 11:15am trivia, and got a middling score, missing the win by 2 points.  We had second guessed a few answers, so had at least entertained the correct answer for most of the questions, but just didn’t land on the right ones.

We had lunch in the dining room, but found that the rest of our party had seated themselves on a 4 top, so Ben and Janet sat separately on a 2 top.  While they sat down later, they ended up finishing up first.  

The ship docked in Juneau at 12:30PM and there were long lines for people to get off for their excursions.  We booked a gold mine tour, which ended up a nice small group tour because there were only about 16 people who had booked this excursion.  They had a small bus with a wheel chair lift in the back, and Betty was the only wheel chair confined passenger, so that was manageable. Franklin had a hard time believing that you could tour a mine in a wheel chair, but aside from the gravel parking lot, the excursion was accessible for Betty.  This was a mining tunnel that was actually originally part of a gold ore processing plant, and not really a gold mine.  The gold ore was mined a few miles away and carried by a railroad to a point above where this current “mine” is.  The ore was then dumped into a huge crusher, which then dumped the crushed ore down a chute to the processing plant, which further crushed and screened the ore, and then separated out nuggets from high grade ore mechanically, and then dumped the tailings into the channel.  This “mine” was actually the tunnel that carried the ore on a big conveyor belt from the upper crusher to the processing plant, so it was only slightly sloped, and big enough to drive a truck into.  They built a elevated walkway where the conveyor belt was, and that was how we went into and out of the “mine”.  We did see examples of equipment used for hard rock mining over the ages from the late 1800’s to the present, with narration by an interesting Tlingit who had spent most of his life as a miner.  He did operate a pneumatic drill and scoop, for which we had to don ear plugs.  It was similar to the Queen Mine tour we had taken in Arizona, and a silver mine in northern Idaho, but without the train rides.

We then got to pan some of the mine tailings for gold flakes, and everyone managed to come up with about a half dozen gold flakes in the bottom of our miniature pans, which were 6” in diameter.  We did get to do the panning in a warmed trough, so our hands didn’t get cold.  The tour then concluded with a stop in the gift shop, where you could buy a vial full of gold flakes for $5.  We had each probably only managed to pan a few fractions of a cent’s worth of gold, so we’re glad we didn’t have to do that for a living.

The weather in Juneau was unbelievable- sunny and in the 70’s, like a really nice Seattle summer day.  

We were returned to the ship by 4:30PM.  George had taken an Uber to a creek a few miles down the Gastineau channel from where the mine tour was.  He tried some fly fishing but only saw a single fish, and it wasn’t interested in biting anything George was casting to it.  So he too had returned to the ship about the same time.  We all had dinner together in the dining room which offered Surf and Turf or King Crab legs.  Of course, we ended up ordering both for Ultimate Surf and Turf.  These prawns were the ones that were nearly as large as a small lobster tail, and tasted like lobster as well.  The fillet mignon was quite good, and the King crab legs were a nice supplement.  There were just 3 leg parts on the entree dish, along with a few potatoes and asparagus spears.  

After dinner, Ben and Janet won an ABBA trivia which not only required naming song clips, but also knowing some ABBA band trivia and identifying some album covers, which was extremely hard.  We don’t think anyone got more than one album cover correct.  One looked like the ABBA band members in an art gallery with a short man in a Napoleon hat looking at a painting behind the band with his back turned to the camera.  We guessed correctly that it was the album cover for “Waterloo”.  

We finished up our evening with a Vista Lounge show put on by their duet that normally plays in the atrium- a South American keyboard/guitar player and a Russian violinist.  George was teasing Franklin that he needed to get hooked up with the cute Russian violinist, who happened to be quite talented, as well as attractive.

The ship pulled out of Juneau shortly after sunset at 10pm.  Tomorrow we arrive in Skagway, our last Alaskan port of call.

Tuesday, May 21, 2019. Ketchikan, Alaska

Tuesday, May 21, 2019. Ketchikan

We woke up to find the sun already up by 5:30am as the ship sailed past rustic fishing lodges and huts with makeshift docks and boat houses on rocky shores.  As we approached our final berth in Ketchikan, one of the more unusual sights on the water was a tiny recreational travel trailer of no more than 22 feet, floating on a raft not much bigger than the trailer, anchored a few hundred feet from the shoreline.  That’s a real Alaska redneck house boat.  

There was a big rush at the Horizon Court buffet as everyone wanted to get breakfast before getting off the ship for excursions that started as early as 7am.  Our excursion to the Saxman village and Totem park was scheduled to start at 7:20am.  We were able to find a table for all of us, including Mom in her wheel chair to sit in.  As crowded and busy as it was, it was still much easier to find a place to sit and get our food than on the Norwegian Pearl under similar circumstances.  

It was low tide when the ship docked, so the gangways were pretty steep.  Fortunately, Princess has strong Filipino men who are more than happy to lend a hand to assure a safe transfer of wheelchair passengers on and off the ship.  

We had booked an ADA ticket for Betty on the Saxman Village and Totem park excursion.  They had two charter buses going to the Saxman Village.  One was equipped with a full wheelchair lift halfway back on the passenger side with a tie down station. Betty was the only passenger who actually could not climb the stairs into the bus, so she was the only passenger who used the lift and was strapped into the tie down station.  It’s a good thing we have had some experience with Franklin’s new mobility van with using wheel chair tie downs and seat belt extenders.  Our driver was also our guide. She looked like she could have been Native American, but was actually a BYU student from Sacramento who attends BYU in Idaho working as a bus driver and guide during the Alaska tour season.  She had an assistant dockside to help with operating the wheel chair lift, but it was a good thing we were along to help with the process.  

As the tour bus was driving through downtown Ketchikan from the cruise ship docks, we drove past a carved bald eagle statue facing the down town, but as you approached it from the cruise ship docks, you were presented with the raised rear end of the eagle with it’s tail feathers raised, and a face painted under the tail.  The locals call it the moon over Ketchikan. 

Janet and I had been to the Saxman Village before to see the totem park, but this excursion included a tour inside their longhouse with a short dance presentation.  It was interesting to note there were two blond women who were tribal members who participated in the dances, as well as a preschooler and a barely toddler.  Their costumes were beautiful and they did try to teach us to say Hello, how are you doing, and I am doing fine in Tlingit, as well as thank you, but I think we failed basic Tlingit.  The most interesting part of the visit was the explanations of the symbols and purposes of the totem poles.  

We were very fortunate that it did not rain on us the entire time we were in Ketchikan, and later in the afternoon, the sun actually broke through the cloud cover, making for a beautiful and scenic afternoon cruise as our ship left it’s berth at 2:30 in the afternoon.  After the Saxman Village excursion, George did a sea kayaking excursion, while Franklin and Dave went on a souvenir shopping spree, walking to Creek Street from the cruise ship dock, which was a couple of miles distance.  They did manage to pick up a few freebies in the tourist shops courtesy of coupon books.  Janet and Ben took Betty back to the ship and gave her a shampoo and shower.  

Betty and Janet got their naps in while Ben did a lap swim in the fitness center pool, which is an adult only pool.  

Janet and Ben did the afternoon trivia, scoring an average score, 4 points off the winners.  We had entered everyone’s names in the Wake Show drawing with the question of the day, which was what is the left side of the ship called?  Answer=Port.  Franklin’s name was drawn, and he won a DVD of a Discovery Channel show on ultra high speed photography.  Not only that, but we had learned that last night, he had attended the late Showtime performance and had won a prize live at the end of the show because he had shouted out the answer to the Wake Show question first and was seated in the first 3 rows of the theater, so he won double prizes for the same Wake show question.  

Today’s Wake show question was how many Senior officer’s pictures are on display on deck 5. We put in everyone in the drawing again and tonight, George’s name was pulled, so he got to win something.  We’ll see what his prize is tomorrow.

We used a specialty dining voucher tonight and had a 5 course Italian dinner in Sabatini’s. Doing Mom’s meal was a little more challenging because of the way the courses were arranged, but they did bring us a nice teapot of hot water to mix and dilute things with, and some of the foods she could almost eat without blending, but not quite.  She insisted on eating bread rolls and some prosciutto, which ended up getting spit out partially chewed into Kleenex.  It was a challenge to try to keep her place setting from looking too messy.  The food was well prepared and the servings were generous, but there was little wow factor for the specialty dining.  Their desserts were the best part of the meal as they offered a Chocolate Journey dessert and a few other fancy desserts not available elsewhere on the ship. 

We had to rush a bit to see the second showing of the Comedian in the Vista Lounge.  Janet and I had seen him during our recent Hawaii cruise, and even his second show had similar material, but the improv aspect kept it fresh.  We then saw a new magic and comedy act by a husband wife team called Brent and Sarah. Having a team of magicians was unique, although their magic tricks were things we all had seen before in other acts. The married couple aspect did inject some fresh humor. Sarah reminded us of the Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, while Brent played his role like Brent Spiner’s  Star Trek Lt. Cmd. Data’s character.

Our itinerary has us arriving in Tracy Arm for scenic cruising at 5am, which seems a bit contrived because who wants to wake up at 5am to see a fjord?  We are scheduled for “Scenic Cruising” from 5am to 9am, with narration by the onboard naturalist on the open decks, with our arrival in Juneau at 12:30PM.  That will mean our excursions won’t start until pretty late, but the ship doesn’t leave Juneau until 10PM.  It’s a good thing daylight hours are so long in this part of Alaska.

Monday, May 20, 2019- At Sea, Seattle to Ketchikan

Monday, May 20, 2019. At Sea, Seattle to Ketchikan

We met for breakfast in the Portifino dining room.  This dining room is situated midship by the Atrium with its 2 panoramic elevators in addition to the 4 normal elevators.  Only Portifino is open for breakfast service.  Both midship dining rooms are used for anytime dining during the dinner hour. 

George was feeling under the weather with a headache and upset stomach, perhaps from the rolling seas through the night.  He got dosed up with Tylenol, scopolamine gel and Dramamine, and was able to join us after breakfast at the morning naturalist lecture about Alaska wildlife.  That turned out to be more of a port talk advertising his favorite excursion activities.  

Next was morning trivia, which we did not do so well on. The winning score was only 13/20, and we had managed only a 10/20.  

We then attended a talk by one of the captains from the Most Deadly Catch Discovery Channel show.  One of the boats featured on the second season was nearly capsized by a rogue wave. That ended its career as a full time Bering Sea crabbing boat, but it was remodeled into a boat specifically to serve the tourist industry as a floating fisheries demonstration boat.  Again, this talk turned out to be just a big advertisement for the Crab Fishing Excursion.  

Dave and George both wanted to get trinkets for their girls, so we attended the Princess Shopping show, but didn’t end up winning any of the prizes that were tossed way over our heads by the very strong armed host who managed to get prizes back to the 10th and 12th rows.  We also didn’t win any of the raffles, so that was a waste of time. 

We grabbed a quick lunch in the Crown Grill which was hosting the Pub lunch, featuring some mediocre fish and chips.  In the past, Janet and I had decided to pass on the Pub lunches because they just aren’t that special, but because it was situated right outside the Princess Theatre, we did it just because we were a bit crunched for time and it was convenient.

We discovered that you can get regular drip coffee for free with the coffee card outside the buffets, but they sure act as though they don’t want to pour any more coffee than is absolutely necessary, making you hand over your card, and not offering refills.  That was a little odd.

We did stop by the International cafe and got some of their featured espresso drinks to get a start on using our coffee card punches.  Janet donated one of her punches to Dave for a Mocha Latte, and she had a Chai Tea drink, while Ben had a Tiramisu to Go and a Salted Caramel Latte during the course of the day.  

After lunch, we went our separate ways for the afternoon.  Ben got in a work out, and Janet got some reading done on her books.  We then got dressed for our first formal night. 

Janet and Ben did the 4:15PM trivia by themselves as none of Ben's other brothers was too interested.  George just showed up briefly and realized he needed to get changed for the formal night, so he didn’t end up sticking around and playing.  As it turns out, Ben and Janet managed to win that trivia, and got string bags for their effort.  

Dinner featured jumbo prawns and medallions of tenderloin.  These were good, but the prawns were not the giant lobster tail like prawns that Janet and I have had in the past, and the tenderloin did require a steak knife, rather than just a fork.  But there was the Chocolate Journey Hazelnut bar dessert.  

We attended the vocalist’s program staring Sonia Selbie was an energetic and fun program with some pop songs spanning the 50’s to the 2000’s, which in her British parlance, she referred to as the “Naughties”.  She did a very unique arrangement of Meghan Trainor’s “I’m All About the Bass” song that harkened back to the style of Judy Garland that was very unique and entertaining.  Ben and Janet loved it, while George, who apparently is a Meghan Trainor fan, hated it. She also did a very good Annie Lennox tribute.  

Franklin did the 7PM ballroom “Jive” class instead of seeing Sonia Selbie.  

Ben and Janet joined a couple from Texas on the 50’s and 60’s music trivia, but were a long ways from winning that.  The 50’s and early 60’s are just not our bag.  Most of the songs were had not hit #1 on the charts, but most were top 40 hits at some point. There was only one Beatles song, zero Motown songs and zero Elvis songs.  The winning team did manage to score 17/20 so someone is good in that era.  Just not us.

Our clocks go back an hour tonight. Tomorrow, we arrive in Ketchikan early in the morning.  We have to be on the dock for our Saxman Village excursion by 7:30AM so we’ll be off to bed early, and will probably grab a quick breakfast in the buffet.

Sunday, May 19, 2019- Off to Alaska on the Star Princess

Sunday, May 19, 2019- Off to Alaska on the Star Princess

We are off on another cruise.  This time we are sailing out of Seattle on the Star Princess for a 7 night round trip to Alaska with Ben’s mother Betty, three of his brothers, Dave, Franklin, and George, as well as Janet.  Price drove us down to the Cruise terminal.  Seattle has two cruise ship terminals.  Our prior Norwegian Cruise Lines Alaska cruises all departed from the Bell Street cruise terminal, which is attached to the Bell Street Convention Center on the Seattle Waterfront at pier 66.  Princess cruises actually sails from a different cruise terminal called the Smith Cove Cruise Terminal at Pier 91, which is several miles north of the tourist Seattle Waterfront, next to the Shilshole Bay Marina.  The cruise terminal is well designed and efficient.  We encountered no delays or real lines during our check in and boarding process.  We were scheduled to board at 1PM based on our stateroom location.  We arrived at 12:30PM and had no troubles boarding directly.  Betty’s disabilities gave her the same front of the lines priorities that our Elite Captain’s Circle status got, so she, along with Dave, Franklin and George, all boarded without delays as well.

We stopped by our stateroom B222, and found that our room was ready for us, with a fully stocked mini-bar and a baggie of Elite bathroom amenities, which include a mini loofa sponge to use in the shower, shower cap, chap stick, soothing “linen mist” sprayer, Emory board and a gel eye mask.

This is our first cruise as Elite status members.  We will swap the minibar for two coffee cards, which are good for 15 espresso and specialty coffee drinks each for the duration of the cruise.  We will each have to make sure to have 2-3 specialty drinks a day to get our money’s worth since the value expires at the end of the cruise.  Ben won’t have trouble getting through 2-3 espresso drinks a day, but Janet doesn’t drink coffee. They do have a variety of Chai Tea and other iced beverages that she can have instead.

We met Betty, Dave, Franklin and George on the Lido deck for lunch and just did the Pizza and poolside grill.  The poolside grill on the Star Princess is back to the basic grill with hamburgers and hot dogs, not the more upscale Salty Dog Gastropub that they had on the Regal Princess, or even the Ruby Princess.  

We had heard that the Star Princess was being reassigned to the P&O line at the end of this Alaska cruise season, and were worried that it might be a bit run down, but aside from some rust stains on the exterior, the ship is in really good condition with fresh carpets, and elegant decor that is visibly in really good condition.  The room furniture has the larger flat screen TV over the mini fridge and there is still the shelf under the TV and electrical outlets behind the TV, which were missing on the Ruby Princess.  The desk also had a full set of drawers on each side of the desktop- a welcome finding.  The drawers are much more useful than the cabinet that we had on the Ruby Princess.

There are a few other changes that we have noticed between the Star Princess (Grand Class 2600 passengers) and the Ruby Princess (Crown Class 3080 passengers) that we were on for our Hawaii cruise.  The most notable, which impacts Betty the most, is that the Princess Theater only has wheel chair and scooter accessible seating at the very back and top of the theater.  The Ruby Princess had seating accessible on the main floor via access on Deck 6, albeit limited.  On the Star Princess, the Deck 6 access forces everyone up a flight of stairs, and then back down some stairs to get to the front seating area.  

We had our mandatory Muster drill at 3:15PM.  George and Dave have a stateroom immediately adjacent to ours (B226), although there is no pass through door between these two staterooms.  They have the same muster station as we did, and we saw them after we entered the theater and moved to sit together with them.  Betty and Franklin are in a wheel chair accessible room, which is huge, and has a partially obstructed view over the top of the tenders out to the horizon.  Both beds had enough space to park a wheelchair next to the bed, as well as two chairs and a small coffee table.  The bathroom is fully ADA compliant with a sink that you can roll the wheelchair under, and a nice big open shower and toilet stall with a fold down shower chair and plenty of hand rails and grips.  It easily had the same square footage as a mini suite, or deluxe balcony if you included the square footage of the balcony with the interior.  On a dollar per square foot basis, Franklin and Betty got an absolutely unbeatable deal. They are situated at the lobby for the forward elevator banks, 3 decks lower (E303).  They had a different Muster station, presumably one that is wheel chair compatible. 

Dave and George spent some time exploring the ship while Ben got in a quick work out at the fitness Center as the ship headed north past Magnolia and Edmonds.  We met for dinner at 5PM.  We have assigned seating for this cruise so that we will always get together and be served by the same wait staff each dinner for the duration of the cruise.  Most of us had the Prime rib, which was tasty and an enormous portion.  Janet had the Curtis Stone mussels, while Betty had a custom blend of baked potato soup and Alaskan cod, courtesy of Franklin’s battery powered blender. She managed to eat all of the blended meal, as well as half of the creme brûlée dessert.  One minor problem to note was that the Amalfi fixed seating dining room was located aft of the aft elevators, but only 2 of the 4 elevators actually reach the dining room level.  This created a big bottleneck for people trying to reach reach the dining room.  Betty and Franklin always had a long wait at the elevator before and after dinners.

We attended the 7PM Showtime Comedy featuring Robbie Printz, who we had seen during our recent Hawaii cruise. While much of the act was the same, there is enough improvisation based on audience interaction, that it is fun and entertaining even the second time around.  At the end of that show, the Cruise Director, Matt Baker, who had opened the Robbie Printz act with a harmonica jazz bit with the rhythm section of the Princess Orchestra, pulled out a bag of Princess prizes with an Aluminum water bottle, wine bottle stopper, notebooks, and coasters- basically all of the Princess trivia prizes- and simply gave it to someone sitting in the front row for sticking around until the end of the comedy show and his announcements about the evening’s activities around the ship.  We would have had to have won five or six trivia games to have ended up with that loot.

After that show, we had planned on getting Betty ready for bed, since at Madison House, she normally retires at 7:30PM, but she said she was not tired. So she joined us at the "I’ll Take Trivia for 100" game show.  We competed as a team of six and called our team “Who Knows?”. We managed to win the game in the end, missing only one clue (Who wrote Surf’n USA and Good Vibrations- we guessed The Beach Boys, but the answer was Brian Wilson, of the Beach Boys), and betting our entire winnings on the final round.  The category was “It Takes Two” and the question ended up being “What year anniversary would you celebrate with a pearl?”  Since Janet and I just had our “Pearl” Anniversary, we knew it was the 30th, so that went well.  We have no idea how close any of the other teams got, but we all left with Star Princess coasters.  But it was fun to start the cruise with a solid Trivia win.

Dave got Betty to bed and we met to watch Karaoke, which is what Franklin lives for.  He and another woman, Victoria, were the only two singers for the first 15 minutes, but eventually a handful of other singers signed up and did a few songs.  One was really quite good, a Texan who did a Frank Sinatra song.  It was a very small audience, but everyone was there supporting a friend on stage, so it was entertaining enough.  Franklin wasn’t the best, but thankfully was also not the worst, and he did have good stage presence and interactions with the Cruise staff and audience, which will probably make “Franklin the Karaoke Guy” a thing before the end of this cruise.