gatorguy56

Thanks for posting this link!

This is the exact reason I don’t eat in the buffet. I saw on the news today that buffet staff on the Grand were gloved (I don’t remember if they also had on masks) and serving the people what the people would point to.

A few years ago we were on an Alaskan cruise and made four new friends at our dinner table that week. One night near the end of the cruise, one man at our table would see the shrimp cocktail every night on the menu and asked our waiter, can’t i get fried shrimp on this cruise?  The waiter conferred with the head waiter and he was brought a small plate of fried shrimp a little later.  The next night was formal night and as we were eating our entrees the head waiter brings to our table a ginormous platter of beautifully fried shrimp!  We ate our fill and asked the waiter to take it around to other tables in our area.  The head waiter got a VERY handsome tip that night 😂

Thanks!

If the stock is held in both husband and wife’s names, do both get the stock obc ?  What if it is in just one of their names (my husband gets the military obc and I don’t)

Probably not in the salmon ladder.  We saw them in mid July (they ran early that year) and in early August.

There are five types of salmon so I’m not sure if or what they might have late in the season.  That’s one reason to get there early.  They serve it until they run out that day.  Perhaps they catch some of the larger, deep water salmon that late.

We love Ketchikan (we’ve been there 4 times and are going a 5th time in September).  We’ve always done it on our own. You can catch the public bus by the pier and it will drop you off at a number of locations in the city.  We like to go up Creek St. and work our way back to the pier.  I think Creek St. has the best prices if you want to pick up things made in Alaska.  If the salmon are running you can walk upstream along the creek to the salmon ladder (we found it quite fascinating).  There is a funicular that will take you up the hill to a restaurant/coffee place.  Working back through town there is a nice national forest discovery center.  We like to wind up at The Alaskan Fish House for awesome fish tacos (we get there about 11:30 as it gets really crowded). A short walk and you’re back at your ship.

https://exclusivealaska.com/our-restaurant

We’ve been to Alaska on the Star, Sapphire and Grand.  We slightly prefer Sapphire and Grand because they have Alfredo’s.  We love having pizza there at least a couple of times during the cruise.

I think it depends on the port where they stock their supplies.  We sail from west coast ports and it has always been Crystal Geysers.

Is it ok to use an essential oil diffuser in a stateroom?

Even with early reservations at Alcatraz it would be a tight squeeze to make it to the theater in time for the play down on Market Street especially considering you need to store luggage first.  The ferry takes awhile getting out to the rock.  Also be aware, sometimes the ship is late getting into port.  Our last trip returning to San Francisco we were were about 5 hours late.  We had an emergency medical evacuation the day before off the Oregon coast and it put us behind our original arrival time.  It was pretty chaotic getting off the ship.  

In Alaska we’ve been on the Star, Grand and Sapphire.  We did the California Coastal on the Golden.  She had just come out of a three week dry dock and was spiffed up.  We had no issues with her.  We also did a northbound Glacier Bay out of Vancouver on the Sapphire.  We love the Grand and will be sailing on her this fall on a 10 day Glacier Bay out of Vancouver.  As far as Alaska cruise special moments, it would be our first sea day out of Vancouver.  We were up early sitting on our balcony with coffee and it was magical.  We hope we get to relive it this fall.  I’ll sail Alaska anytime on any Princess ship.  Since we live on the west coast we go there as often as we can as we don’t care for warm weather ports.

ETA is Now 9:20-9:30 (it is currently 8:23 am)

There was a helicopter medical evacuation at sea today on the Grand. It won’t be into SF until 9:00 am on Sunday, Sept. 30, 2018.

We are going on Princess cruise #7 in the last 5 years. We have no complaints but then again we’re not real picky. We can always find something we like. We’re not big on the buffet. Don’t like the mass of people hovering over the food and then trying to find a clean table can be a pain. We love the IC and Alfredo’s and then there is always the Trident Grill. I guess the old adage is true, you can’t please all of the people all of the time.

I'll be going on the Grand later in September. Do you remember the names of any of the movies?

Tiramisu shots! They usually just have them on embarkation day and Italian day. They are my favorite thing from the IC.

Long term cruise parking is available through Parking Panda website for $18 a day. It is about 2 blocks from the cruise terminal and located at 80 Francisco St. We have used it a number of times. You can pull into the passenger drop off in front of the ship to drop off your passengers and baggage, drive to the parking garage and walk back to ship. It is very organized pulling into Pier 27 and getting back out to park.

We love the room service lunches on Princess. Hubs usually gets a triple deck club sandwich, salad and cookie and I get the lasagne al forno, salad and cookie. Also the roast turkey sandwich was really good. And I’m not talking deli meat here. Lovely thick slices of roasted turkey. I love being waited on!

Laurie

In ten cruises I’ve had two inside cabins. That was only because someone else paid for the trip. I hated it because I get claustrophobic. We always book balcony rooms. We use them all. The. Time. I need a safe place to escape and read when I’ve peopled too much. We cruise to escape our hectic daily life and love leisurely solitude and fresh air of a balcony.

Forgot to tell you, the Embaradero isn’t the only way to the pier. A native to SF gave me instructions and what to do off the bay bridge. I think I have them saved on my computer if you need them.

We’ve been to Alaska four times in the last six years, twice on the Grand. We went to Glacier Bay twice and Tracy Arm twice. We loved both for different reasons. Our first time we didn’t see much calving in Glacier Bay but we saw a lot last year. September is late in the season so you won’t see salmon running which could affect how many bears you see. We’ve seen big horn sheep, dall’s porpoises, salmon, seals, bears, eagles (but not each on every trip). We’ve seen whales every trip.

We drive about 3 hours to SF and park our car two blocks away (pre-reserved and pre-paid on Parking Panda). You can pull into the pier and drop off your luggage before parking. I always check online to see what is going on that day in SF to see if I need to avoid any areas. We usually arrive at the pier about 10:30 and have checked in and eating in the main dining room by lunch. Let me know if you have any questions.

We stayed in A633 last year and had no problem with noise. The nearest pool is the Terrace pool and we’ve found it isn’t used all that much. We would book a room again there as it was so convenient to our favorite area of the ship.

I also highly recommend the small boat excursion in Tracy Arm. We got very close to both the north and small glaciers and very close to Icy Falls (we could feel the spray from the observation deck. We had an excellent Naturalist on board.

In Skagway we took the train to the pass. We took the first train and sat in the very last car. We were able to get some great photos off the observation platform.

In Ketchikan we enjoy going to Creek Street and the salmon ladder if the salmon are running.