Ken the cruiser

Good morning from just outside of Sitka, Alaska! Got up briefly again this morning around 5:15 am, to hopefully catch a glimpse of a beautiful sunrise over our first view of Alaska!

 
Now if we were cruising around Admiralty Bay in Antarctica, everyone would think this was a sleeping whale. But way up here, I’m not so sure. In any event, I’ll let you be the judge. For me, my vote is that it’s some type of marine wildlife. 😁
 

 
Then I went back to bed for a couple of hours, and here’s where we are now. The interesting thing is we’re only supposed to be sharing the port with the Quantum of the Seas today. However, the Nieuw Amsterdam is currently located near where we’re going to be docking in Sitka a couple of hours from now.

  
I guess time will tell if they are having issues or just slowing passing through the area. 🤔

Here’s a description of our excursion tomorrow, which I’ve got to say looks pretty awesome! 😁

And the weather looks like it’s going to be cooperating as well! But we will still bundle up and bring our heavy coats, especially since we will be cruising around on a boat looking for wildlife to start things off! 😁

Day 3 - May 2 - Sitka, Alaska

Tonight after a tasty dinner in the Reserve Dining Room, we headed to the Vista Lounge to watch an impromptu comedy show by Michael Wilson which was hilarious!

 
Afterwards we headed to the theater to watch the production show, Sweet Soul Music, which was very entertaining!

We then snuck out right before CD Sofie finished her closing remarks and got front row seats to watch the Yes/No Game Show in the Explorers Lounge.

 
Then it was time to head back to the cabin to chill and get ready for tomorrow’s arrival at Sitka!

3 hours ago, phabric said:

I have done that to get a seat, I bring a book to read to wait.  When the game show finishes I move to a better seats.

 

I have found, we go to the 7:30 show in the theater at one end of the ship, the game show is at 8:30 at the other end ship and by the time you get through the crowds, there are no seats available.  Some of the events timing is off.

We usually get to the early show around 30 minutes beforehand and play Gin Rummy until showtime using the little table in the armrest between us. We then leave just before the CD finishes his/her closing remarks which usually allows us enough time to beat the rush to the Explorers Lounge, and when necessary the Fusion/Vista Lounge.
 

I guess for this cruise we will need to develop a plan to get good seats for the lectures, if they continue to offer them in the Vista Lounge. But since we’ll be on the cruise for 3 legs, we should have it mastered by the time it’s over. 😂

7 minutes ago, Nikulai said:

I did get there early. It was bingo before so had to sit through Fortuna Luck for 15 or so minutes. 

That’s weird they would have their gambling events, bingo and Deal or No Deal at the same time. The Patter said it was the game show Survey It in the Vista Lounge from 1-1:45pm. In any event, hopefully you got good seats! 

We totally agree. It appears Deal or No Deal was scheduled for the theater from 1-2 pm, and we guess they didn’t want folks to come pouring in while that was going on. We’re also guessing, in hindsight of course, that a lot of folks stuck around after the 1 pm game show in the Vista Lounge to watch the lecture. Lesson learned if that scheduling scenario comes up again. We’ll be going to the game show to make sure we get a good seat for the ensuing lecture. 😉

22 hours ago, cheeseheads4ever said:

We have cruised Celebrity Cruises for about 15 cruises. We are looking to try Princess. How would you compare Princess to Celebrity?

We are low maintenance cruisers. Love balcony’s, drink packages. Always looking for a good deal. Not so much into specialty dining unless MDR food is bad.

Can you compare!

food

drinks

entertainment

service

Anything that Princess has that Celebrity doesn’t. Of course you would have to have sailed both cruise lines to know.

Any help would be greatly appreciated..

Rule #1 when thinking about trying another cruise line, don’t ask for comparisons with any other cruise line. But I will say this. Both Princess and HAL, and on rare occasions NCL, put more thought into creating their longer itinerary combinations than Celebrity with their cookie-cutter 4-11 day itineraries. 😁

One piece of knowledge we gained from the lecture was to check out https://happywhale.com/browse when looking for any recent whale sightings in a given area around the globe. In this example there have been two reported sightings in the past month where we are currently headed, Sitka, with a lot more sightings noted in the Inside Passage.

 
He also mentioned there is a potential for possibly seeing the Northern Lights tomorrow evening around midnight once we depart Sitka if the sky is clear. Here’s what NOAA is predicting for the next two nights. 🤞

Went to the afternoon lecture “Welcome to Alaska” given by Pete Griffin. He did a good job, although the way the Vista Lounge is setup with a very slight seating incline, we had a hard time seeing any of the three screens.

My hands were high in the air when I took this picture. Lesson learned: go at least 30-45 minutes early to get a good seat if a lecture is presented in the Vista Lounge. 

2 minutes ago, ba5eline said:

Sorry to hear it took so long for transport and check-in.

 

May I ask if you had to stand for most of this 90 minutes of check-in or were there chairs along the way?

You had to stand the whole time as there was no place to sit that I remember.

8 minutes ago, XBGuy said:

 

I am not familiar with the title "Reserve Manager?"  Is he the manager of the Reserve Collection Dining Room or is he something else?

Yes, he is the manager of the Reserve Collection Dining Room. 

2 minutes ago, hobo1937 said:

Which dining room served Reserve Collection lunch? 

The Da Vinci Dining Room, Midship, deck 6, starboard side.

1 hour ago, arizonaperson said:

@Ken the cruiser

Thanks!,

just my curiosity. It’s so much better when somebody is actually on a ship to ask these questions. Another CC poster said they got diet Dr Pepper on Regal Princess this year,but again I’ve just never heard of it on Princess,but it very well could be a new thing or varies from ship to ship. So just taking an informal poll and if you don’t have time, not a problem.

I know there would be a lot of happy people if Dr Pepper was available and if diet Dr Pepper was available they’d probably be happy too,but I just don’t think it is available on Princess.

I just checked at the Explorers Lounge and they do not serve Dr Pepper, but they do offer root beer.

45 minutes ago, cr8tiv1 said:

For those who are interested:  

 

Have you found/had contact with the "mysterious" concierge on the Grand?  Who is s/he?

 

Who is the Assistant Manager in the Reserve Collection MDR?  

 

It's been sooooo long since I've been on the Grand.  Tell "her" that I miss her.

 

Thanks

Just found out the Reserve Manager is Toru. 

19 minutes ago, Paula_MacFan said:

@Ken the cruiser I'd love to hear any feedback or insight you have into the new features mentioned in this post, specifically the Voyage to the Stars Northern Lights theater presentation.  Thanks!

 

 

I’ll definitely post any information we may hear about it. The lecture we’re going to this afternoon is called “Welcome To Alaska”. It will be interesting to see if they mention this new program. I would hope so.

12 minutes ago, cr8tiv1 said:

For those who are interested:  

 

Have you found/had contact with the "mysterious" concierge on the Grand?  Who is s/he?

 

Who is the Assistant Manager in the Reserve Collection MDR?  

 

It's been sooooo long since I've been on the Grand.  Tell "her" that I miss her.

 

Thanks

The suite concierge is Rehana, and no, we have not heard from her yet. As far as the Reserve Manager goes, we’re heading there in a few minutes for our initial visit, as we went to the Crown Grill last night and Sabatini’s for breakfast this morning.

For those interested there are 2700 guests and 1100 crew onboard this 8-day cruise. With a double-occupancy capacity of 2600 guests, I’d say the Grand is a pretty full ship! 😂

Thanks everyone for your insights regarding the SkyTrain! Sounds like a valid option for many travelers, even though we’ll probably still stay at the Fairmont Hotel at the airport and then use the Princess airport-to-ship transfer for $29 pp, if we ever cruise out of Vancouver again.
 

The biggest “low stress” perk we see for us, remembering we usually go on longer 21+ day cruises, is that they take our large suitcases when we check in at the Princess airport-to-pier transfer location at the airport and don’t have to deal with it again until we get on the ship. 😁

39 minutes ago, arizonaperson said:

Just curious if any of the bars onboard are offering diet Dr Pepper or regular Dr Pepper? My opinion is -they don’t ,but if you could check a few of the bars for me and ask only if you have time. Just trying to take a poll of what ships may or may not have it.

From what I was able to tell from the app, they offer Coke and Diet Coke, Sprite, Ginger Ale, tonic water, soda water, and Red Bull. When I visit a bar this evening, I’ll try to remember to ask about Dr Pepper.

25 minutes ago, catgirl411 said:

Do it. The SkyTrain works very well.

If I might ask, how do two people in their 70s get 2 large suitcases along with a carryon bag on and off the Sky Train, and where is the luggage stored on the ride over?

25 minutes ago, catgirl411 said:

Have you ever done the Sky Train from the airport to the port? It’s fast, cheap and easy and avoids the downtown traffic.

Definitely an option to consider if we ever book a cruise out of Vancouver again. 😉

Briefly woke up around 5 am and peaked outside as it was starting to get light.

 
Also noticed the Ruby and Noordam were following us and that we had just left Johnstone Strait.

  
Went back to bed for a few minutes and decided to get back up to watch the sunrise! 😁

1 hour ago, Alaska05 said:

There will be 3 in port (Edge, Koningsdam and Sapphire) so it will be busy at Canada Place.  Good thing we are staying downtown the night before.

That sounds like a very wise decision! Hopefully by then the folks at the Vancouver cruise terminal will have a better handle on the checkin process. But then, this was pretty much the start of the Alaska cruising season, so some organizational issues had to be expected. In our case it was the perfect storm, when you add in the traffic issues associated with the downtown construction going on at the same time.

22 minutes ago, Alaska05 said:

What is the site you use for the ships position that you posted

Cruise Mapper

https://www.cruisemapper.com/?imo=9104005

I usually do an internet search using “<ship name> current location” and then look for the Cruise Mapper link.