Mommypig

Because we are doing an excursion in Skagway on our return journey, we decided just to relax and enjoy the town, and do some shopping. The town is not very big so it is easy to walk to and get around. They do have some Smart Shuttle buses you can take, but with all the fine dining recently I felt I should say byebye to some calories.

There is a lot of the usual souveneiry stuff, especially close to the pier. I have to admit that I am not a fan of buying jewelry from Diamonds international, etc etc etc on any cruise. Buying from these chains does not benefit the local economy, and I am a big fan of buying local. But I wanted a whale tail necklace. I did glance in the windows of the big name shops, but did not find anything with any character to it. So I kept walking. Found a shop owned by locals and a lovely whale tail with gold nuggets on one fluke, and gold laced quarts on the other. A ammonite (sp) gem decorated the thingy where the pendant hangs on the chain. In another local shop found earrings and pendant of opal, sweet turquoise (very soft turquoise that can be worked with opal) and black onyx. In a third shop found gorgeous pendants with beaded chains carved by a local carver. The pendants are faces carved of mammoth tusk and walrus ivory. The beads were all semiprecious stones and hand carved walrus ivory. Truly evocative of Alaska through the ages.

So, did they count the puppies as you left? They didn't, like, check your purses or, say, large tote bags, if you happened to be carrying one, did they? No pat downs of puffy down vests, for example?

LOL! No, we weren't allowed to bring bags or totes on the helicopter. No room as you are really packed in there. I did get to sit in front this time both ways so had great view for photos.

Took a helicopter ride to the Mendenhall glacier and visited a sled dog camp. Rode around in a dog sled for a couple miles. Beautiful blue sky and fresh white snow made for a glorious experience. Then back to camp to cuddle sled dog puppies. There was a 12 week old litter, and an 11day old one. Such fun to snuggle! Back to Juneau for lunch and shopping.

Thanks for the live updates!!

 

 

 

 

You know we used to have issues too. Seems lately its been excellent, not sure if they are getting better meat, cooking it a different way ? Who knows all I can say is its been very good. Even the corn on the cob was good and I used to gag when I saw it all soggy.

I think the corn on the cob is good when fresh corn is available. But if it's frozen it is gross.

First stop Ketchikan. Very quaint little town and am very glad we will be stopping on the south bound cruise in a couple of weeks. We did the Alaskan Fishing and Wilderness Dining tour. My hubs really really really wanted to do this. I was a bit skeptical, but...that's what we did. It was interesting and fun except for the part where I was not fishing but tossing my cookies. Apparently I can ride in a 6 man skiff when it is going fast so all the bumps feel like they are coming from the same direction. But when cruising slowly, jigging fish off the bottom, in choppy water, even 2 Bonine won't work. I did catch a silver rock fish when we were jigging in a calm inlet, and by lunch time I had recovered enough to enjoy it. The fish was prepared at a wilderness beach inlet, by a restaurant called Fish House. Very good. But next time he can fish and I will shop.

Just had a mental picture of an orange life preserver with yellow mustard neatly spread over it. ;)

That's what the grandboys called it when I took them on a cruise a few years ago. It stuck and we have always called it the mustard drill since. 4 yr old was wondering when they brought the hotdogs..... Maybe it will become a cruise critic term like Stewart.

First sea day was a day of blessed rest. Got up early to go online in the IC, ate breakfast in buffet with hubs and a couple from Ohio. Did a little shopping and hubs went to the Alaska port lecture. Lunch in the MDR. Determined that Princess apparently has never been to Philadelphia based on the cheesesteak sandwhich. Just ate the meat and a caprese salad so I could enjoy the fruit tart, which was both tasty and nicely presented.

Took a nice nap, and showered and dressed for formal night (as formal as we were getting). Hubs did wear a shirt and tie, and I wore a lacy top with black pants with pretty flats. Since I will be in jeans or hiking pants the rest of the dinners that was pretty dang formal. Alaskan Salmon for dinner, and the raspberry mousse thing for dessert. Yum!

Watched Tomorrowland on MUTS (why yes I NEED three blankets) and hit the hay to be ready for Ketchikan excursion.

Had a lovely dinner with Dick and Jane. The gravadlax was soooo mild and lovely, the prime rib cooked to perfection (mooing the way I like it) and the flourless chocolate cake lovely as always. (I did not eat a roll or the potato and upped the insulin a tad so I could enjoy dessert). Aleeza and Daryl were very attentive waiters, and Arturo the head waiter stopped to talk to me about what he could do to help with my diet. Plate of steamed broccoli was ordered for every dinner, and he offered to review the menus with me the day before to see if something I really like could be tweaked.

Boarding in Vancouver was insane. Our shuttle arrived at 1 and it was so slow we were afraid we would miss the ship. They only had 11 out of 16 customs agents working and there were 2 large ships to process, the Grand and HAL Norddam. There was nothing to drink in the check in area where they made us wait. My husband told the port staff that I needed to have something to eat because my blood sugar was tanking (79 and falling) and I couldn't eat the protein bars I had without a drink. I don't like to use the sugar tabs without a protein chaser because it just causes a roller coaster effect of rise and crash. The finally said he could go out into the hall and to the little cafe and buy a soda. So my hero with the diet Pepsi saved the day. We did finally board at 3:30, enough time to stash the luggage, grab the life jackets, run to buffet for a little gnosh, and make it to the mustard drill. We will sail out of Seattle in the future.

OK, the last one went through. Will try doing short ones and see what happens.

My Dad is rebooking for spring. Although there was one possibility for him to make the ship, with the bad weather in the Vancouver area and the early departure of the ship at 4 instead of a bit later, the TA did think it was really dicey. The slightest delay and they would miss it. So they are rebooking for spring, and and they will be flying in a day or two early (which I had recommended from the get go, but what do I know. The TA said they would be fine).

Having a hard time posting for some reason. Don't know why. Keep getting an error.

Yes my father does have an actual passport. It was in the safe deposit box. He is legally blind due to advanced macular degeneration so he can't drive, and Vancouver is just a bit far from NJ to drive. He uses the passport card for ID when he flies in the US. He is just old enough to be getting wifty and forgot that both I and the travel agent had told him he needed it.

To tell you the truth I was seriously concerned when he booked this cruise. The Grand is so large, and so much of it looks the same that he would have a very difficult time finding his way around. He is also not very steady on his feet. My hubby and I had planned our trip over a year ago and the excursions we are doing are not things he would be able to do. Told him when he said he was coming along that he and his companion would need to do the ports on their own as he would not meet the physical requirements to do our excursions, and we weren't changing them because we can't afford to do this month long journey again.

Wow, sounds like your dad and mine are secret twins!!!

Lol twinkle toes! Must be because my DH calls me twinkle!

Haven't heard anything yet. Just went through Canadian customs. About an hour to go.

Agggggg! Got a call from my dad. Although I told him repeatedly that he needed his passport, not just his passport card, because they were flying to Vancouver from Newark, he showed up without his passport and they wouldn't let him on the plane. Told him repeatedly because he had to get a passport for his travel companion and he was balking at paying the extra money. Of course he called me when he got back home from the airport and I told him to get over to the TA immediately. Somehow I am seeing $$$$ flying out the window.

Currently waiting at SeaTac for the Quick Shuttle to run us up to Canada Place to catch the Grand. Spent 3 days tooling around Seattle; duck tour, Pikes Market, Mt Rainier,etc. two days of sun, one day overcast, and rainy today.

That is the best solution - northbound, land tour, then the southbound. Enjoy.

We leave today to fly to Seattle, will take a shuttle Saturday to Vancouver to catch the Grand northbound on Saturday on the Off the Beaten Path cruise/tour. Two weeks later, after the end of the tour portion we are sailing southbound on the Star back to Vancouver where we will spend a few days before shuttle back to Seattle to fly home.

Thanks for all your replies I have tried many different preps for seasickness and yes the side affects are almost as bad as the problem I still love cruising and have always gone midship , the bonnie prep is new and may try to percure it over the net as it is not available here in Oz thanks once again

I use bonine because the withdrawal effects from the scopolamine patches is worse than seasickness for me. I also take ginger gum with me, made by seaband. Even on the bonine sometimes an extremely rough sea will give me problems, but the ginger gum handles it pretty well.

We also try for a midship cabin. Suites may be very nice, but comfortable is important too. Best is midship on the lowest balcony deck available for us, but sometimes price puts us in a less preferable spot. We actually did a guarantee balcony on the world cruise because the difference between a guarantee and a specific BB was about $14 grand. Sooo that's a whole lot of excursions and sodas.

Also bring some of your favorite remedy for sunburn. cVS currently has 3 oz packs of aloe vera gel. When I got badly burned in Bora Bora the only thing on the ship was a Clinique product that cost around $30.

LOL! :D So true! I was scouting all over Catalina once to find pantyhose since there had been an unfortunate pantyhose malfunction the night before. You would think a town like Avalon would have that, but it took me forever to discover a small supply in an even smaller drugstore. (You guys would not relate. Well, maybe you would. :p)

I always carry some of the Jergens self tanner and just go bare legged. Just enough color to not be screaming white.

I've cross posted this on our Oct 2015 cruise to Hawaii and Tahiti. I believe it's important information since the mosquito borne illness

Chikungunya is becoming quite a problem in the tropics including the Caribbean.

(Sorry for the spacing of the paragraphs below, having trouble with computer)

 

I had a great deal of fun reading Pescado Amarillo's blog regarding her extensive cruising on Princess ships and was struck by a couple of paragraphs on her visit last December to Tahiti and the seriousness of Chikungunya a mosquito born illness. I've copied the following paragraphs where she encourages the use of repellent containing DEET. Her comments are in bold lettering below. It's DEET's on the top of my list of things to bring on the cruise.

 

 

"I keep meaning to mention, but haven't given it its due, especially based on the apparent seriousness of it, but Chikungunya is becoming quite a significant issue in French Polynesia (and many other tropical parts of the world). G was covered with mosquitos on the ATV tour when we were in the fields surrounding the Moorea agricultural school. Luckily, he does not appear to have any bites. We met a passenger in the Pacific Princess (a blog reader) who contracted Chikungunya part way through her cruise, possibly due to the large mosquito population at the Le Meridian Tahiti. Symptoms include joint pain and stiffness, muscle pain and fatigue (all of which cause us to wonder just how we would know, since those are daily things by this point in our winter), headache and fever. Death, though rare, does occur, and this Tahiti newspaper headline about nine deaths in the past ten weeks greeted us yesterday:"

 

(There was a newspaper picture here with the caption in French regarding mortalities. it didn't

show up on my cut and paste hatchet job, and I can't read french, sorry.)

"I report this here not to cause undue alarm but to offer the reality of the seriousness of the situation. I have always been attractive to mosquitos (stinging insects...spiders) and don't leave the ship without DEET on, using so much that I've developed a rash from that. Still, a rash is preferable to Chikungunya. Since we also will be traveling in the Caribbean in February, it is simply a fact of life for me for the foreseeable future. "

 

Thank you Pescado Amarillo for sharing your travels with us, I devoured every word.

We visited a travel doctor prior to our South American trip last winter and she mentioned both malaria and chikungunya. While there is medication available to prevent malaria, nothing exists for chikungunya.

In addition to DEET she recommended treating our clothes with premethrin or buying bug repellent clothing. We invested in some from Exofficio and spraying some. I prefer the Exofficio bugs away clothing. They rinse out and dry fast, and no bugs.

Just updated my Sprint phone to the international roaming plan. It's free and texts and 2G data speed are included free and voice calls are 20 cents per minute. You can pay extra for 3G data if you want to. We used to use the Tmobile Simple Choice plan when traveling internationally, but since Sprint added the international feature we just use Sprint. Tmobile doesn't work in my home but Sprint does.

We found this very helpful on our last long cruise. Not all countries participate because they use different platforms. But when they do it is nice to call home.

I certainly sympathize with your problem, but I'm still not comfortable with the idea of injections at the table. I imagine you will discuss this with your table mates ahead of time so there will be no surprises. I have a relative who is needle-phobic in the extreme. She would likely take one look and then vomit at the table before passing out. She has a terrible time with doctors, and forget the dentist. Obviously, it's a matter of balancing needs, yours and the other diners. I hope you find a solution that works for everyone.

Thank you shreddie,

I am not a needle phobe fortunately, with 5 or more shots a day and countless lancet sticks, but I am a serious dental phobe so I do understand your relative's situation. I certainly wouldn't want to be the cause of her fainting or vomiting at the table, and I don't want to faint or vomit either, which is why I am trying to be proactive and see how I should proceed.

As a potential table mate I would only request that if you do inject at the table - please be sure that if there is any bleeding from the injection site that it is properly handled. Blood transferred from a finger or hand to a salt shaker - that is totally unacceptable! And, you probably do not want it on your clothes either.

 

 

 

For you as a new insulin user there is another very good option in the event of a low before dinner is served that you may not know about. There are commonly used glucose tablets intended for use when a blood sugar "low" is experienced. They work more quickly and efficiently than food or juices, and provide a controlled amount of glucose. They can be purchased from drug stores and in many other stores selling OTC meds.

 

 

 

How many a person takes will vary (ask your diabetes caretaker). They are chewable and about the size of an alka seltzer. Easy to carry a few in a pill bag in a pocket. Remember, a stalk of celery will not help prevent or treat a low, in fact most veggies won't. An available snack is a great idea - but be sure it is one that will help should a low hit. These are great to take on tours or other places where blood sugar lows may be an unexpected issue, particularly as you learn your own body's reaction to insulin care.

Thank you Wander,

I already have the tablets, and they are useful in slowing done a rapid fall in blood sugar, but can cause a spike so i generally follow them with a small package of nuts to try to even it out. Both rapid rises and rapid falls are giving me some issues as I learn to this this new normal. I also have some meal replacement bars to carry on tours.

As for bleeding at the injection site, I give the site a swipe with the alcohol pad after the shot. I also carry sanitizing wipes in my kit. That being said, my fingers always look like hamburger these days from all the testing.

There are some givens and some unknowns that we have less control over when traveling. Carry a roll of hard candy such as Lifesavers, (NOT sugar free), in your purse or pocket.

 

 

 

Simple sugar, such as apple juice, soda, hard candy or even a sugar packet or 2, sprinkled under the tongue will suffice for 20-30 minutes after taking your medication.

 

 

 

Foods containing fat, even if they are nice sugary cabs, will have delayed digestion. Amylase in your saliva begins digested simple sugars immediately, then right into your blood stream.

 

 

 

When we go on tours, and not sure about when we'll be eating again, as long as we've had a nourishing breakfast, and for us that would be at least 15 grams of protein, then we can snack on a packet of crackers and cheese or a sealed piece of beef jerky, for example.

 

 

 

Certainly conferring with the Maitre'd is something to do after embarkation as well as making dietary needs known via online Cruise Personalizer :)

Thank you for your suggestions. I have already gotten some glucose tablets and some packages of nuts to carry to carry in my day pack, plus some meal replacement bars for excursions where I won't necessarily have any control over timing.

I need to try to even out the roller coaster. Being too high is no picnic either.

I have always given my shot at the table. Discretion is the key. You can give the shot under the table cloth without any seeing it. Those who have not experienced low blood sugar do not realize how severe and frightening it can be.

 

I say do it and do not let it spoil your cruise. Remember that being diabetic just means that you are too sweet. Diabetes is a controllable disease, not a communicable disease and also not a death sentence.:D

Thank you for your understanding. The quickly dropping blood sugar following the shot can really make me feel awful, break out into a sweat, get nauseous, and become VERY cranky (hence the term "HANGRY") if I don't eat shorty after, about 5 minutes. Kind of like Betty White on the Snickers commercial, but if you don't quit talking to me I am gonna barf on your shoes. I am still at the stage where it is like a roller coaster, complicated by inhaled steroids needed occasionally.