PandaBear62

I’m a little behind, as we have been busy! Day 3 Thank goodness for alarms….I set my phone to go off otherwise I would have slept late again. Maybe it’s because the room is so much darker than home and that lovely motion of the boat. I made it time for the first naturalist presentation at 9;15 with Tess and then headed to the piazza after at 10 to see Kelly White, who is doing the totem carving. I left to see the “Master Hair Class” at 11:30 in the spa. I only went because they were giving away a free haircut and I need a haircut! Of course, it was basically a sell for their products, which I was expecting, but they didn’t even give away the haircut. I shouldn’t have been surprised, because I also got a manicure the first day and was supposed to receive a free paragon treatment and didn’t get that either. Despite this, I did book a haircut, because I really needed one and price wise, at $79, it’s only about $19 more than I typically pay. They were really booked and had almost nothing available so I took the appointment today at 6:15 when I was promised I’d be ready for our dinner reservation at 7:20. Fingers crossed! I should also add at this point, one advantage of living in a really HCOL area is prices don’t seem so high when you are on vacation (have to find the benefits where I can). I then made my way back to the piazza for lunch at the cafe and then headed back to the theatre for the second presentation by Tess. As an aside, I love all the Alaska presentations. I will probably attend most of them. Following this, it was Bingo which Kathy and I again didn’t win, but we had fun. We are alternating buying a $39 pack and decided to share any winnings. We made our way back to our respective rooms by way of getting app support and trying to change around our Sabatini reservation, with a final stop for ice cream. After a very short rest, I got ready for dinner and headed out to my hair appointment. I arrived a few minutes early in case they were ready early, but that was not to be.

There wasn’t music last night. I will let you know if we’re they’re again and hear any!

Day 3 is the first formal night. Here are the menus:

The patters didn’t seem to load on my previous post (or at least it’s not showing up on my phone) so trying again.

Patters for Day 3

day 2 At sea I had been saying yesterday how really tired I was. Like exhausted. Very atypical for me. I woke up about 6 or 7 and went back to bed. About 8ish I heard my dh in the shower and figured I get up when he got out. Nope, I fell back asleep. That’s a long way of saying I didn’t wake up until 11am. So I went to the international cafe and had a coffee and then a small lunch there: a roast beef sandwich on a baguette, some shrimp noodle salad and a lemon cookie. It was yummy and I am pretty sure it will become a lunch favorite location. I get overwhelmed by all of the choices at the buffet and like the smallness of the cafe. Kathy and I made our way to the Princess theatre to see the Whales of Alaska presentation by Tess Juliana. It was good. We then headed to a lounge (Club Fusion) for Bingo. $39 for 6 cards for 4 games plus a scratcher (but not a winner, sigh). We had a terrible time getting the attention of a server to order a drink, so I finally just got up and asked someone to come over. I’m not shy I guess! No surprises, we weren’t even close to winning. Like someone won and the best we had was 2 in a row! We walked up to Sabatinis to see if we could switch around our reservation but no one was there. We’ll go tonight. We then headed to the International Cafe for a little snack to hold us until dinner I headed back to my room and ended up napping! We headed out for dinner. I had the Caesar salad, prime rib and ice cream for dessert. I was pleasantly surprised with the prime rib. So many places serve it wigh so much fat, you can’t eat it. This has a little bit not too much. The ice cream was excellent. After dinner my friends Kathy and Jan went to Adagios and played cards and had a drink. We had planned to talk about changing around our dinner at Savatinis and I remembered the speciality dining was just every other night. But that’s okay because we discovered Adagios. What a lovely bar. We’re thinking this could be a good place for viewing in Glacier Bay day. When it closed, I headed back to the room for the night. Tomorrow: another sea day.

I tried to post this last night, but the internet was too inconsistent. We stayed at Vines awhile and then made a quick trip to the room. Our friends were at the Salty Dog eating so we joined them. The Captain announced a delay in departing. They are expecting maybe 8pm. Something maybe about provisions arriving late? I went to the spa to schedule a manicure. They were quite booked the next two days (both sea days). I was offered an 8am appointment…..no thank you! But they then said I could do it right then and that worked. Pricey, of course, but I knew that going in. But a nice manicure. I also discovered my app really wasn’t working. Not the usual the app is slow and crappy but the “app has lost all my info and won’t let me add it in again” problem. So we added a trip to guest services to figure that out, and now it seems to be working better. We ended up at dinner in the DaVinci room. We were told that we really should make reservations, rather than walking up. So I guess we’ll try. Our group is not “foodies”, so take my comments with that grain of salt. I also am bad at remembering to take photos. Here is the menu from the first night: I included the list of wines for the beverage package. We didn’t drink tonight….we had already had a few drinks and after a long day I just didn’t want more. So I’ll report later if the list is accurate. I had the garlic shrimp, which I enjoyed, and the risottto which was really good. For dessert, the soufflé. I’m not usually a fan of soufflé, but I ordered it because of the amaretto sauce. It was really good. The chocolate was light, not a heavy chocolate flavor….just yummy. No pictures except the risotto My husband went to the casino but I went back to the room for bed….I was tired. Couple of thoughts: We were told there were 3000 passengers aboard this cruise. Our room is nice (L103)-an obstructed ocean view. My husband likes a room with natural light. Good closet space. But, virtually no outlets! Tune in tomorrow for more!

correction: we ate at the Salty Dog Grill. I think the Iguana Grill is Carnival. After lunch we went to the muster station and checked in and then saw the spa. I plan to get a manicure and apparently if you book today you get a bonus. For the manicure it’s a paraffin treatment and a massage you get the longer one for the cheaper price. We then headed to Vines and sat by the window with a view of the Bay Bridge. I’d post the wine list but apparently it’s not accurate. The server noted he didn’t have wines that were listed and he had others not on the list. So you really have to ask. Lovely view of the Bay Bridge.

Day 1: San Francisco I got up this morning and ran around doing last minute tasks until we left to pick up my girlfriend and drive up to San Francisco. We decided to go to the pier and drop off my friend Kathy and I with the luggage and have dh then go to the parking garage. Huge mistake. The Embarcadero was so amazingly crowded and it took us over 30 minutes to drive the short distance to the pier. We are planning a Hawaiian cruise also out of SF and will go straight to the parking garage and walk our luggage the block or two. We dropped off the luggage easily and got in line. I thought the line w as long….at 11:30 it was basically at the sign for Pier 23 By 12:30 we were nearing the entrance to check in and the line had just about doubled. It looped back to the terminal. I’m not sure these pictures really show the true picture of how long the line is. There was a representative from Princess circulating around and he acknowledged that they were not enforcing at all the arrival times we signed up for. At 12:40 we were in the building, through security and in line for the next check in. At 1, we were on the ship. Yay!! I’m curious how long it will take our friends to board…..they joined the line about 12:30. Our room was available, so we dropped off a couple of things and headed up to the lido deck. We then went to have lunch at the Iguana Grill, which dh wanted. I had a sweet potato and black bean street taco which I enjoyed. Patter for today:

This cruise is rescheduled from 2020. We were planning on sailing from San Francisco to Alaska with another couple.. When we rescheduled, we ended up on this same cruise, but added another girlfriend and another couple. So now we have 7. There are lots of sea days on this trip, and we look forward to relaxing, playing cards, Code Names (we love that game!), etc, as well as the port days. My dh and I have previously sailed Princess from Vancouver, and then took a land tour. That was great, but the airfare to Vancouver and out of Anchorage, plus the extra time we spent in Vancouver made for a pricey trip. Because we are close to the San Francisco port, driving in and parking was a much better budget choice. I am trying to keep this cruise from being a budget buster for our friends. And given how bad airline travel is right now, I was really glad not to be facing a flight. Coordinating excursions for a group can be difficult at times and our group was no exception. We ended up with the following: Icy Strait Point: Some of us are on a ship excursion (Bears) and others plan to just walk around. Ketchikan: We have a car rental (mini van). We booked tickets to see the Lumberjack show and then will drive out to Totem Bight park. Juneau: Another van rental. We will pick up the car and drive out to Mendenhall Glacier. We then come back, park and have tickets for the Gaustinea mine. If the weather is nice, we’ll take the tram. If not, maybe the state museum. Prince Rupert: This was a change from Victoria. Since we were in Victoria 6am-noon, we couldn't’ do much anyway so this change wasn’t an issue. We decided against an excursion here, primarily due to cost and distance. For example, the Wilderness Jetboat Adventure is $309 and 5 hours. But the jetboat adventure part is 35 minutes, a hike is 30 and a dinner is 60 minutes. The other 3 hours was travel time. So instead we plan to walk to the city museum and have a drink at the Crest hotel. I looked into options for getting to the terminal, as we are somewhat local. A limousine was considered, but we ended up booking parking at the pier. Two cars for the 10 days was about $400. We would have needed a Mercedes sprinter to handle our group size and luggage, which required a 4 hour minimum, so would have been over $1000 both ways. This is the first cruise I’ve been on where we are local, so I am excited about not having to travel both ways. This is our itinerary. There are lots of “at sea” days and that is okay with us. We plan to relax, play cards, play games, drink and just generally enjoy our time with each other. I will admit I am a little nervous about this cruise. I’ve heard such negative things on these boards about Princess and it’s such a big deal for me that my friends enjoy this trip! Packing If you have no interest in packing, just skip this part. I am typically someone who packs a 21” carry on roller and a personal item tote. For this trip, we were driving to the port, so I could realistically bring whatever I wanted. However, I know myself, and I don’t like being overwhelmed by clothing choices when I travel. I also don’t mind doing a quick load of laundry, especially with a cruise with as many sea days as this one. While I adore dresses for warm weather trips, I didn’t take any on this trip, with the exception of one as a coverup for my swim suit (not sure if I’ll use the Enclave or hot tub, but want to be prepared in case I do). My bags were a Travelpro rolling carryon and a Kipling Sasha tote. Bottoms: 1 pair black ponte knit slacks 1 pair floral pants (black and navy) 1 pair of black joggers 1 pair of black and white lightweight pinstripe pants 1 pair dressy black pants Tops black and white stripe long sleeve tunic Black and white polka dot ¾ sleeve blouse Blue and black sleeveless floral sleeveless blouse Red short sleeve swing tee Blue short sleeve swing tee Black ¾ sleeve swing tee Gray ¾ sleeve tee Royal blue short sleeve tee 2 “dressy” tops (one in varied blue tones and one with green and black shades) Misc Clothes Swim suit swim cover up Underwear Bras socks Cold weather clothes Soft fleece like gaiter Magic gloves Black pashmina 2 pairs black tights 2 under tees (performance wear) Outerwear Black very lightweight ¾ sleeve open cardigan Lightweight windbreaker with hood A down jacket (not that great of quality, but used it on last Alaskan cruise) black ponte knit casual blazer Shoes Sneakers May jane style sneakers Arch support slip on shoes (think skechers style) Dress flats Misc iPad mini Kindle Electronics cords and chargers Games (Code names, cards, Left Right center) Toiletries Umbrellas OTC meds such as bonine, ibuprofen, etc

I have completed check in for a cruise in mid July. The app shows three boarding groups times (early, mid and late) but says there no groups available. Is this typical? I assumed once I was checked in I could choose a boarding group. Does this mean I have to keep checking, or is there a certain date when boarding times open up? Thanks

I will bring extra cash.....probably $50 for dh and I for the our waiter and cabin host/hostess. $30-$40 for assistant waiter, especially if he is the one bringing our drinks. I tend to be a picky eater, and like to do things such as having 3 appetizers and no entree for dinner and other such things (which embaress my husband, who is about as low maintenance as they come). I also always ask for an extra blanket or two from our cabin host (I need to sleep under "weight"). I'll also bring extra cash for room service (although we don't typically use it, but just in case) and for bar servers, if we end up going to a bar and have the same server. On my two most recent cruises (Disney), the servers didn't seem to stay the same. In the 18 months before Covid, we sailed on Carnival, Princess and HAL and we did have the same bar server and we were treated well, so we gave some extra at the end. I figure some people either don't want to tip extra, or really have a much tighter budget than me. We are certainly not wealthy, but have a little room for extras, so we do so. Now if the service was really poor, I wouldn't tip extra. Maybe that will happen some day, but so far, it hasn't. I appreciate being pampered and want to show it.

Nope, no email in spam anytime since I updated my rental back on Feb. 3. While my email did say call in early March to confirm the dock we were arriving at, when I changed my reservation in Feb., I was told "great, we already know your dock", so I didn't need to call. We are in Juneau from 7am to 9pm, so we do have time, it's more the principal of not being contacted. I am going to have to think how we organize our day, to make sure the timing works. We were actually docking at Dock A, so the reason I went with a car rental is because is was SO convenient.

Please see posts above. Apparently, since I contacted Juneau car rental February 3 they changed their policy and didn't bother to update their current customers. Panda

Well, that is super frustrating! I booked February 3. We are a group of 7, and honestly, for all the extra effort, I would have just had everyone book a ships tour. I am so sorry I shared inaccurate information and feeling pretty unhappy with Juneau Car Rental for not bothering to contact their current customers. I had no reason to check the website, as I booked a mid-sized car last fall and called Feb. 3 when more people joined and changed to a van. Panda