Orange Yuzu

Amazing photos and thanks for sharing your experience!

We went out with Marv and Harv on June 11th and the whales were sleeping / slowly swimming and didn't breach. Probably because they breached so much here!!!

On 6/4/2023 at 9:16 AM, latebuyer said:

Can someone speak to which is more worthwhile to go to: mt. Roberts tramway or mendenhall glacier (i would go to nuggets falls).

We did both in 1 day but we were in port from 7 am to 7pm.

Mt Roberts Tramway, depending on how busy the port is and the weather like others say, may not be worth it and I would buy ticket the day of.  We hiked around and it was a nice hike with decent view and some wild life to take pictures of.

Mendenhall was nice and we took the blue bus. Bought the ticket the day of as well.  We hiked to Nugget Falls and took another smaller trail.

The family liked Mendenhall more.

11 hours ago, miagirl said:

So they are doing this as a lunch, not an evening meal?

For Sapphire Princess, it was done as a lunch during our sailing.

43 minutes ago, Pluto_fan said:

@Orange Yuzu Do you recall which night this was?  We're embarking on Sapphire Princess next Wednesday and will be keeping an eye out for this!

They offered crab shack during lunch time (12 to 1:30) at Sabatini's on Sapphire for the 2 sea days we had going southbound from Whittier. One of the initial first 2 scenic cruising days... I forgot which one... and the other right after Ketchikan before Vancouver.

Maybe @sirclean can confirm which of the 2 scenic cruising days they did crab shack.

2 hours ago, behappy11 said:

Looks delish. Any photos?

The popcorn shrimp and hush puppies was more hush puppies and not a lot of shrimp.  We got the Alaskan seafood chowder. And most of us paid extra and got our own buckets instead of sharing.

I didn't take pictures of the desserts nor the Alaskan seafood pot.

Menu on the sapphire princess.

1 hour ago, Stealthdog said:

It was awesome.  Gourmet donuts, dumplings, coffees, and smoothies.  They had more than a dozen different donut options.  Looking back into the kitchen area, they warm up donuts, dip the top into your chosen toppings, and then finish decorating it for you.  The line was a little long when we got there so we had a small wait.  Once you get your donut order it, it comes out quick.  Dumplings (which were awesome) take about 7 minutes.  

 

IMHO Jellyfish Donuts is a cant miss event if you stop in Ketchikan.

 

Pictured below are the strawberry cheesecake and salmon donuts.

 

 

Ohhh I'm so jealous. We are on Sapphire princess and were also in Ketchikan with Ruby and Majestic yesterday.  By the time we got back from excursions the jellyfish donut shop already sold out for the day!

DH is definitely sad about missing the salmon donuts.  He said he read about them in a book in his childhood. 

It was 7pm for us. The piazza was filled with people everywhere on all levels and on the stairs as well. We caught a quick look and then went to our dinner.

6 hours ago, AKStafford said:

Here's our pictures from:

26 Glacier Cruise~ http://akstafford.blogspot.com/2021/08/glaciers-7-31-2021.html

Spencer Glacier on the Alaska Railroad~ http://akstafford.blogspot.com/2017/08/spencer-glacier-via-alaska-railroad.html

Grandview Turnaround on the Alaska Railroad~ http://akstafford.blogspot.com/2019/07/grandview-on-alaska-railroad.html

 

Avis is the only rental car option from Whittier. I'd call them directly: https://www.avisalaska.com/locations/whittier/  (907) 440-2847

Thank for for sharing the beautiful photos @AKStafford! I told the DH about Spencer Glacier and float and he said he only wants to take one train this trip and we already met the quota with the skagway train to lake bennett!

I'm a train person and would love to be on all trains. Maybe I can try to sneak another train in.

I heard the drive from whittier to anchorage is one of the most scenic drives in the world!

12 hours ago, disneyochem said:

We’ve done a few things on a B2B in Whittier—the Spencer Iceberg Placer River Float, the Glacier Quest cruise, eating at a local restaurant and hiking to the Portage Glacier overlook.  We enjoy getting off the ship and doing something!

 

We really enjoyed the Spencer Iceberg trip even though it was just a float.  Absolutely beautiful scenery on the river and the train.  On the excursion, they will take you right up to an iceberg so you can touch it and get your picture taken.   
 

We like the Glacier Quest cruise rather than the 26 Glacier cruise—it’s shorter (get back around 5 pm) and goes to an area that the ship does not go.  The lunch served on board is yummy (veggie chili), there is a US Forest Ranger on board and you see wildlife.  It’s a nice way to spend an afternoon.  We loved the 26 Glacier cruise but we just found ourselves getting antsy to get back on board.  You get back in plenty of time (6:30 ish?).  My suggestion is to book directly with Phillips—much cheaper than through Princess (but it looks like it might be a Princess only cruise since it leaves so early in the am).

 

We personally haven’t done it but our kids have gone jet skiing and kayaking in Whittier. Lazy Otter is a great company that will work with you to customize your experience in Whittier.  My daughter and husband were very happy with the tour they provided.

 

https://www.lazyottercharters.com/
 

https://glacierjetskiadventures.com/

 

Edited:  we get the veggie chili but you also could chose the seafood chowder on a Phillips glacier cruise.

Seems like there are just more and more things we should do! Thanks for all the recommendation I heard the seafood chowder on Philips glacier is pretty delicious as well.

Thank you for sharing your experience!

Thank you @Glaciers!

We are eyeing the Spencer iceberg float. That seems very fun.  The hike is definitely an option. Do you recommend one over the other?  We are in port for so long I think we may have time to do all!!!

2 hours ago, Kathscof said:

Not much help, but last year we went out of Seward and did the Kenai Fjords tour to the glacier and we got closer and had longer than the excursion from the boat did when we went to Hubbard.  I know its looking at the same stuff, but you could possibly save your money from the ship excursions and do the 26 Glacier tour and get possibly a better experience.  I know that there are places to visit and places to stop and take pictures on the various roads in and out of the area, have you considered renting a car and going to the places that the one way tours stop?  

1 hour ago, Coral said:

I actually liked 26 Glacier cruise and would recommend it. You still have time to walk around Whittier (it doesn't take long).

Thanks!!!  I'll keep 26 glacier cruise on my list then.

Quick search shows no car rental avail on that day (7th). I'll look harder. Driving on unfamiliar roads and accounting for the one way tunnel is semi stressful 🫠

Hi fellow cruisers,

We are heading to Alaska for B2B on Sapphire Princess May 31 - June 14.  Currently the only avail cruise excursion from Princess on turnaround day is the 26 Glacier Cruise.

We are hoping with 2 days of scenic cruising before and 2 days of scenic cruising right after Whittier, we can go out and stretch our legs a bit.

Any recommendation for other tours / things to do in Whittier / Anchorage without a rental car? Would be great if we can do a Glacier Hike but I believe Matanuska is too far.  We are also interested in other hikes / wildlife conservation centre.

All the tour companies I've seen offer one way transfers with tours.

The cruise gets to Whittier around 12:30 AM and leaves at 8:30 PM.

Thanks in advance!

Following your journey as well! We will be on the Sapphire in June for Alaska and can't wait. First time on grand class ships. 

On 1/13/2023 at 1:23 AM, cr8tiv1 said:

 

We had the sea bass at the Crown Grill in October.  When did they start charging more for Sea Bass?

On 1/13/2023 at 6:23 AM, justafem said:

I'm assuming it was charged as a second entrée as they stated they'd both gotten steaks also.  

Yup this. We got gluttony and ordered 2 entries each.  😉

We had 1 dining experience at Crown Grill at Regal this past October because we got a free voucher and found the steak not as well prepared (much more overcooked) as the main dining rooms. We also paid extra to have the sea bass and that was decent.

Not sure if they are trying to make me be healthier on the cruises.  Smoothies and more fitness classes, maybe. Desserts... most definitely not😆

Oh thank you for sharing this. I thought I was going insane with the website going in and out when I try to book.

The Alaska cruise we were eyeing also went up 400pp for the black Friday sale as compared to the love boat.  The ship is already very full though. But at least more rooms opened up for reservations vs guaranteed assignment.  Fingers crossed for price drops or other perks before final payment.

DH won the egg drop on our last cruise with Regal in October and they gave us a Princess water bottle and a drawstring bag.  😄

Has anyone received any correspondence or used Bonjour Provence Tours recently? I booked a tour on their website and have follow up questions but haven't gotten responses in a few days.

They seem to have great reviews on TripAdvisor and some mentioned here as well.

Thanks in advance.

7 hours ago, MarcsSharon said:

Up date..yesterday my original flight showed up at the original price and I was able to pick seats…whew. Also got copy of email sent to Princess to credit my trip with $/250 stock credit aaaannnd, I got my credit for the doomed Crown cruise. Good day in regards to all things Princess.

 

That's awesome!!!

8 hours ago, hapster85 said:

When you say your flight was cancelled, do you mean cancelled by the airline? If so, EZAir well rebook you on another flight, but it will take a while. With so many changes by the airlines, EZAir concentrates on departures in the next couple of weeks. Does the cancelled flight still appear in your Personalizer? If so, you're good to go. Don't touch it. Your price is guaranteed.

 

It was 3 months after American cancelled our return flight before EZAir booked us on another one. Final payment happened in between. The cancelled flight still showed in the Personalizer until they booked a new flight.

My cancelled flight is no longer part of the personalizer... fingers crossed maybe some miracle will happen.

9 hours ago, MarcsSharon said:

I am in same situation..flight canceled but same exact flight still shown..only triple the price. I have spoke with ezair twice and each time told it will work out in 3 to 5 business days. I do have printout with original price. My final payment is due on July 22, without flight info worked out I will be forced to cancel cruise. No way I’m paying $800 plus for one way from Florida to Quebec:(

 

That's re-assuring.  Fingers crossed.

I'm willing to wait 3-5 days and see what's up.

I hope none of us will have to cancel our cruise.

Similar story here. My MIL's flights got cancelled for no reason by AC according to Princess and the flights are not until October!!!  I thought they are only cancelling July and August flights.

Now I'm scrambling to figure out what's going to happen because it was ezair flex and we didn't do early ticketing. The same itinerary (same flights too so why did they cancel) are 1000+ more.

Conspiracy theory is that they promised the tickets for too cheap so they are now backing out. 😅

On 2/13/2022 at 1:51 PM, KLM3164 said:

If you enjoy flowers you can purchase a flower arrangement for your cabin when you board the ship. I got this idea from someone else on CC and I’m planning to do this on our next cruise. I was told you can purchase the flowers at the Guest Services desk and they have different arrangements to choose from. We also like to use our OBC to purchase shore excursions before we sail. 

Ohhhh this is an awesome idea. 😍