Ken the cruiser

All is good. Our son checked his account and the new FCD was posted today, which is a good sign they were all posted. Once we receive feed back from our other family members as to the status of their FCDs, we will be happy. But thanks for the feedback, and if we run into any issues, we’ll definitely talk with the manager/supervisor.

Day 8 - May 7 - Sea Day cruising through the Inside Passage

And we’re off. Next stop is Vancouver BC day after tomorrow after we continue to cruise south through the Inside Passage. This is the first “sunset”, if you want to call it that, that I have been able to take a photo of so far this entire cruise! 😂 After another tasty dinner in the Reserve DR, we headed to the Vista Lounge to listen to a hilarious comedian, Lamont Ferguson, at 6:30:pm. Then we headed to the theater to watch another new production show called Born to Dance, which was fun to watch! 😁 Tonight’s game show in the Explorers Lounge was Majority Rules.

When we asked the FC rep if she could print out the orders, she just shrugged her shoulders and said she couldn’t. As far as the Northern Lights go, you’re probably right in that the nights will continue to get shorter the farther north we cruise from here on out. But at least now we know there is a “just in case we get lucky” signup sheet at Guest Relations! 😁

Here’s a “Heads Up” we just encountered when trying to purchase FCDs for family members that are not on our cruise. We had originally read on a Cruise Critic thread a while back that we could purchase FCDs for other friends/family that are not on our cruise as long as we had their Captains Circle number. Basically, the Future Cruise person we talked with onboard today said Princess was phasing that “option” out and was reluctant to proceed with purchasing them for us. When we finally insisted she at least see if the “computer” rejects the FCD requests for the family members in question, she successfully processed all 6 of them and our credit card was subsequently charged for each one. But now we have to wait to hear from those family members to make sure an FCD was actually posted to each of their accounts, or at least got the notification email that should have been issued with the purchase. For us we’ll just use the Princess App to purchase our FCDs before we get off the ship to make sure the 1 year expiration date is as far out as possible.

I’m glad to hear your embarkation went smoothly through the Vancouver port terminal. We’re currently on the Grand Princess cruising on an 8-day itinerary similar to yours, only we embarked on April 30 and it was a total nightmare that took us over 90 minutes to wade through the check-in process. So I was curious how you made it through the terminal so effortlessly. Then I checked and only 2 HAL ships were in port your embarkation day, the Noordam and yours, both HAL ships. In our case there were 3, the Grand and the Ruby, each with around 2700 guests, and the Noordam. I guess after our Apr 30 fiasco, the terminal management staff got together to figure out a better way to process folks through the terminal. BTW guests on all 3 ships processed through the same 6-line security section. In any event, have a great cruise and the weather has been great! That is until we got to Ketchikan today! 😂

Had a good time on our 2-hour excursion. We wouldn’t say it was loaded with wildlife viewing options like the one in Sitka, especially since it was pouring down rain a lot of the time. But we still saw a good variety of wildlife for this area. A couple of Glaucous-winged Gulls hanging out watching the world go by. Bald Eagle nest Bald Eagle flying overhead There were a few Dall’s Porpoises having lunch in the area. Along with is Humpback Whale. Black-legged Kittiwake Bonaparte’s Gull Then it was time to head back to the ship. It appears the Zaandam has docked behind us, which you might notice is a tad smaller than the Grand! 😂

We have arrived in Ketchikan, Alaska! It was a pretty cruise into port. But the closer we got, the darker the clouds and the chillier it got reconfirming that we will definitely be wearing our cold-weather clothes on our 2-hour wildlife cruise this morning! 🥶 But on the bright side, we did see a humpback whale right next to the downtown shoreline while eating breakfast at Sabatini’s! 😁

7:30 and 9:30 pm, except for embarkation day when there is only one 9 pm show.

No luck, due to the clouds coming back. But it was fun hoping! 😁

Here’s the excursion we will be going on in Ketchikan, which the weather right now looks like it’s going to be a little wet and chilly, but hopefully a lot of fun looking for wildlife! 😁

Day 7 - May 6 - Ketchikan, Alaska

After a very tasty Surf and Turf dinner at the Reserve Dining Room on Formal Night, we headed to watch Comedy Magician Kyle Marlett. Then we were off to the Vista Lounge to watch the very funny Marriage Match Game! 😂 Then when we got back to the cabin and looked out over the balcony, we saw that the sky was clearing to the north of us as we continue to cruise south! 😁 Then add in the increased potential for the Northern Lights tonight Well, let’s just say are fingers are crossed the sky will continue to clear up! 😂

For those interested, here’s a map showing the solar eclipse path on Aug 12, 2026.

Correct. The 45 minute timespan listed in the Patter is referencing the sign-up window for booking a slot for the planetarium show the next day. BTW get there early, as it is a popular show with limited reservation slots as there isn’t a lot of space inside that dome on the stage, especially when you have to lay on the floor to watch the Northern Lights show on the ceiling. The actual show runs about 15 minutes with an additional 15 minutes before the show for explaining what’s going to happen.