Purple Gallinule

Recently returned from B2B Alaska on Majestic Princess. Here are a few comments: 1. Alaska in the sun is one of the most beautiful places on earth. 2. Majestic Princess is a great way to experience Alaska. 3. Vancouver Cruise Terminal is an abominable place to embark. Lonnnng lines (2 hours), no priority embarkation for Elite/Platinum passengers, no water. 4. Reserve Collection (formerly Club Class) is worth every penny. 5. The crew works incredibly hard to make the trip memorable. 6. You do not get funnier or better looking when you try to max out your drink package. 7. The only way back to the ship at Icy Strait Point after an excursion is a long unnecessary (half-hour) walk through an area of shops to a gondola ride. 8. Who knew Whittier was so gorgeous? Our first ever sunny day there! 9. Who knew Avis in Juneau only rents TINY Chevy Bolt electric cars? At least it came with a short class from the friendly customer service rep. 10. The funniest thing on the trip was not the comedians. It was passing the ridiculous ice cream sundaes off as “Premium Deserts”. 11. I’ll always remember our gun-toting excursion leader in Hoonah.

First of all, YES I did do a search on this and did not find the answer to my question. So, here goes. We just finished a B2B Alaska cruise on Majestic from and to Vancouver. Each Saturday we received the complimentary minibar setup. I am assuming this is because it was two cruises. My question is: When you sail on a 14-day or longer cruise (e.g. full canal transit for 16 days) do you get more than one minibar setup? There is probably a simple answer, but I have not found it. We have two 16-day cruises booked. Thanks in advance for any help.

We get off Majestic tomorrow morning. We have had a great RC team for the past two weeks and we would not be averse to leaving something beyond the Princess Plus amount. I would appreciate an idea of what a fair amount would be for the waiter, asst. waiter, and hostess. They have really treated us well. Thanks in advance.

Our day in Hoonah began with so much promise. The sun was shining, breakfast in the Reserve Collection dining room was perfect, our excursion did not meet until 10:45am giving us plenty of time to take in the beauty of the area. We had booked the Birds of Hoonah excursion months ago. We are avid birders and there are not many (any?) other places that have official Princess excursions especially for that. The excursion tickets specified "Must be able to walk for one hour over uneven ground." No problem there as we do that on a regular basis on any birding field trip. Our guide, Hannah, was terrific. She knew where to go and had an idea of what would be there when we arrived. She made sure everyone was able to see all the birds, and just in case of bears (we saw 3) she was armed with a .45 cal pistol. So far, the excursion had lived up to expectations. Then we returned to the port and the day took a bad turn. We already knew we would have to tender to the ship (fodder for a different post), but we assumed we would be dropped off where we were picked up. NOPE!!!! Hannah pulled into a parking lot that led to the dock for the Celebrity ship in port. We asked to be taken back to our dock and were told that we had to walk all the way through the commercial area until we got to a free gondola that would take us where we wanted to go. No choice. And get this. After dropping us off, she drove to OUR DOCK to pick up folks for the next excursion!!!!!!!!! She told us she was sorry to leave us there, and we did not blame her for this ridiculous policy. It turns out it was all about getting us to walk through a long area of stores. By the time we got off the gondola and walked to our tender, more than a half-hour had passed. Needless to say we did not spend any money in those shops. It was more than a quarter-mile walk to reach the gondola, and then a line to board. There is no mention of this requirement on the excursion tickets or the excursion description. If you take this excursion, be prepared to walk farther to get back to the ship than you did on the excursion itself. And of course when we got back on the ship, the excursion desk was closed!

We are taking the southbound Majestic trip starting today. It is amazing how quiet the ship is today. It is more like the first sailings after the recent unpleasantness (COVID) when the ships were only half full. The room stewards are busy and have a team-like organization to get everything done for the new passengers. We are doing laundry and enjoying our balcony. This is the first time we have ever seen the sun in Whittier! It is so beautiful! Bon Voyage to all who are disembarking today. Hope to SEA you around on another cruise.

It is now 4:30pm and the captain played the Love Boat theme on the ships horn and then announced that we are heading for rough seas of over 15 feet. Yikes! it has been smooth sailing thus far. By the way, I loved the "Incredible Journey" production show last night. So did my wife, but the other couple travelling with us didn't care for it at all. Grumps! It was well done and lots of fun.

Here is a screenshot I captured off the Juneau Harbor Webcam this morning as we arrived.

Just a couple of comments about our day in Ketchikan. Rain very early gave way to a warm and beautiful day. We chased birds at a couple of parks and along Ketchikan Creek. The three best were Pacific Wren, Swainson's Thrushes, and two American Dippers along the creek by the small rapids. After birding, we went to the Great Alaska Lumberjack Show. This is our 4th time in Ketchikan, but we had never done this show. It was SO MUCH FUN!!! We had a great time and I recommend it for all ages. The concession stand was fun, too, because everything I bought cost $2 - popcorn, sodas, cookies, etc. There were four ships (or more) in port today, so the show was sold out. Tomorrow we are renting a car so we can go birding at Mendenhall Wetlands, and several parks in the area.

The good, the bad, and the UGLY of embarkation day. GOOD: We left our hotel (SEATAC Marriott) and arrived at the Cruise Bus area at the airport by 8am. We were lucky to be on the first bus to leave for Vancouver. They said that enough folks had checked in that we did not have to wait any longer and we left the airport right at 9am. The drive to the border was almost exactly two hours and going through customs only took 15 minutes for the whole bus. We did have to get off, but there were restrooms inside that we took advantage of. The driver said it would be an hour to the port, but he got us there in 50 minutes. He said they would take care of the luggage and all we had to do was go check in. UGLY: From bus to boat as TWO HOURS AND 4 MINUTES!!!!!!!!!!!!! There was NO accommodation made of those of Elite status. Princess touts priority boarding for elites. In this case we were told "We don't do that anymore!" We were also put through the lines with the folks boarding the HAL Konigsdam. We had back and forth lines for Princess check-in, security, and customs with literally thousands of passengers from both ships. We got off the bus at 12:05pm and got on the ship at 2:09pm. We have been on over 20 cruises (18 with Princess) and NEVER had anything that would remotely compare. BAD: Elevators on the first day. Enough said! GOOD: Met our friends who were already on board for lunch. Had a margarita to calm ourselves. Had some very nice Mexican fare. DW had her fave peanut butter cookies. GOOD: Our bags were already in the room. How could they not be? BAD: Watched the safety video twice and it still does not have us checked off. The muster station was crowded with folks who do not know how to use a Medallion. GOOD: Manuel, our room steward. UGLY: We now know just how spoiled we were on all those cruises right after the restart that had no more than half occupancy. Boy it is crowded out there at every turn. Well, it is time to turn on the Stanley Cup finals and cheer for DW's Golden Knights. Do yourself a favor and sail out of anywhere but Vancouver!

They tell us our "luxury motorcoach" trip takes about 4 hours. I think they allow that for the border crossing. We decided after last summer's trip to Vancouver (a real hassle) that we would simply fly Southwest to Seattle and use the Princess transfer. The hotels around the Seattle airport for Friday night are much less expensive than what we paid last July in Vancouver, too. Who knows, we may get home and say "never again" to the transfer, but at least they guarantee we will make the departure. It is our sixth Alaska cruise, and just one more experience to partake in. 🙂

The 26 Glacier Cruise is great! I know you will enjoy it.

We will be on the Majestic on June 10th also. We are doing a B2B, going on the southbound on June 17th. We are happy you are taking this on and we will try to contribute to the thread as we go. This will be our third cruise on Majestic and it is our favorite ship. We finished packing today and will fly to Seattle on Friday. Then we take the Princess transfer from SEATAC to the ship on Saturday - a new experience for us!

Finished packing today and head for Seattle/Vancouver for the northbound trip on Friday. We are finally getting close enough to get some semi-reliable long range forecasts. We are still trying to decide how to spend our day in Whittier waiting for the southbound cruisers to join us. Our weather here in Colorado has been a mirror of the cool rainy days they have been having in Juneau.

We will be waiting for you on the 17th. We sail on the 10th and stay on for the trip south. Almost finished packing. Can't wait.

We always bring extra AA and AAA batteries and an extension cord. Not all our "stuff" is rechargeable!

Well, here is another view on the Sabatini's breakfast. We have had suites and Club Class (now renamed Reserve Collection - RC) We always eat in the RC dining room, but when we got our first suite we tried Sabatini's. We did not feel it was anything special. We are always treated so well by the RC staff and by having all our meals there, they really get to know us. Suite passengers also eat their meals in RC (or can if they want to). Maybe now that ships are sailing at full capacity we will change our mind about breakfast. We will have to wait and see when we have our suite on our Panama Canal cruise. But that is what cruising is about. Choices - none terrible! Bon Appetit!

Amazing! I am really hoping for a couple of sunny days in June. Yeah, I know. But a guy can hope, right?

Thanks, especially for the screenshots of eBird checklists and the description of the field trip. We will be doing this trip on our southbound trip in late June. We are looking forward to meeting Amy. It looks like we will add a few birds to our Skagway-Hoonah county list!!!

Who is the cruise director on Majestic now?

We are sailing on Majestic Princess on June 10th and I would like to look up who the ship officers and cruise director will be. Does anyone know a site I can visit to find this information? Thanks.

We are sailing B2B to Alaska in June. When we get to Whittier we have the same cabin for our return trip. The schedule says we sail at 8:30pm. Can anyone tell me what time we would have to be back on board? Is it like a port-of-call where we need to be back 30-60 minutes prior to sailing? Thanks.