Live from the Sapphire 8-1-10

[rdsqrl]

Sounds wonderful so far. The fish barbecue in particular sounded lip-smackin' good! This must be a special Alaska-only thing?

I'm glad you didn't lose Sam forever on that hike. I feel like there's a significant backstory debate behind your understated "His version of the experience differs . . . "!

[scopewest]

Enjoying reading about your cruise!

[geoherb]

We're off the ship and waiting for our plane in the Seattle airport. Getting off the ship was the easiest time ever. We took the self-disembarkation route. After a nice breakfast in the dining room, we went back to our cabin to collect our bags and were able to walk directly off the ship. Our official time to meet in the Explorer's Lounge for self-disembarkation was 7:50, but breakfast lasted a little bit longer. By the time we got to the ramp, the security woman let us leave.

 

Apparently a lot of other folks snuck off the ship early, because there were lot of people waiting for luggage that had yet to be unloaded. No one who had their luggage taken last night was supposed to be off the ship yet. But it did not worry us. We were able to breeze past them and through Customs without a wait.

 

We caught a cab to the airport instead of one of the shuttle buses. The cost worked out to be about the same. I did not know if my brother or his wife would be able to meet us, but we weren't able to get in touch with them.

 

The weather was perfect for our three Alaskan ports--sunny and warm all three days. Our luck finally ran out during our sea days on Friday and Saturday. It was cold, foggy, and drizzly both days and also last night in Victoria. But we stayed on the ship there and went to our normal dining assignment. It was great to have one last dinner with the couple from Toronto.

 

We missed the creme brulee the night we went to the Chef's Table, so I asked David, our head waiter, for it for our last night. It was as delicious as I remember. I also ordered the osso bucco. We had a different senior waiter the last night but the same assistant. He did not really seem all that interested in getting it for me, but she said she thought it was possible. And it turned out to be delicious--much better than the New York strip steak Sam ate.

 

The other couple showed up on the second formal night, sans children. We had a great time without the interruption of the kids.

 

And on the last afternoon trivia, we finally won. We teamed up with our tablemates and a guy they had played with before. I thought it was a fairly easy set of questions, but we only managed 17 right out of 20. We had two more correct answers--but chose wrong ones to write down. We tied with another team and guessed closer than they did to the number of passengers the assistant cruise director had at his muster station. We guessed 600, which he said we a little bit high, and the other team guessed 421, which he said was way too low.

[Paradisefound619]

Geoherb- Great review of your cruise! We were on the Golden on the day that you passed her in Tracy Arm! I thought it was pretty neat and got some great pictures of the Sapphire since I was out on the lido deck. We were able to stay by the Sawyer Glacier for a long time, however, the haze made it more difficult to see and my pictures didn't turn out that great. The weather was beautiful though for journey through Tracy Arm.

 

Let me know if you would like any of the pictures I took of the Sapphire while in Tracy Arm. My e-mail is: jandracek@gmail.com

[Colo Cruiser]

Thanks for the live.

[ship101]

Thank you for the live. It is always interesting.

[stretchcruz]

Thanks for sharing!!!

 

Heard from the honeymooners who were on the same cruise as you...My friend (her son was the honeymooner) said they enjoyed it, took a seaplane ride which they enjoyed immensely, and they went kayaking which they thought was "only" OK until they saw a mama bear and 2 cubs while on the way back to the ship. They got upgraded to a balcony which they enjoyed but couldn't use all of the time because there were smokers below and next to them, but they were grateful and able to enjoy it just the same. They liked the cabin and had Anytime Dining, which being young folks they really enjoyed. They were surprised at the cost of drinks onboard....said they spent $70 for the soda card, they each had 2-3 drinks per day and once had wine with dinner, and said the bar bill was "outrageous". My friend paid for the honeymoon cruise as a wedding gift, and said that her son is very frugal, so perhaps it wasn't as bad as his perception! They said they loved Victoria, but she didn't ask what they did there....they called her from the airport this morning.

[geoherb]

We're back home after three flights, all of them delayed. Our luggage missed the connection in Charlotte. U.S. Air is supposed to be delivering it today. I'm going to work half a day this afternoon, but it sure did feel good to sleep until 10 after getting home at 1:30 a.m.

 

We met several honeymooners on this cruise. One couple ate with us at the Chef's Table, but they were an older couple and probably not your friend's son and daughter-in-law. We met another couple who had been upgraded from an obstructed view to a balcony. But I they did not mention being honeymooners.

 

I gave up soda, but we had our share of drinks and corkage fees for wine. Overall, though, we did not spend too much on board. It helps to have the onboard credit from having put down a deposit on our last cruise. We have booked the Island Princess for Christmas. It's going to the Panama Canal--a partial transit roundtrip from Fort Lauderdale.

 

I brought back all the Patters if anyone has a question. I already listed the movies they showed in the Princess Theater on another thread. Someone asked about MUTS. I did not miss it. We have never watched a whole movie on other ships with MUTS. We prefer the quietness of the adults only pools, especially the one by the spa since it stays shady. The water was great--warmer than it was on our Caribbean cruise in March.

[stretchcruz]

The young honeymooners were Ryan and Ainsilie....'got married in Maryland last Sat....they both have southern accents and are cute as buttons! 25 years old, she is blond, he's got a hint of red hair.

 

I agree about the MUTS...hate it! Too noisy....love the adults only pools....and on Princess the covered one used to be adults only but they changed it....do enjoy the Lotus when the weather allows!

 

We're looking forward to our Alaska cruise in May...I've printed out some of the things that you did for my husband...he has always said that only "old" people do Alaska.....gosh, I guess we're old!!

 

Hope you got your luggage!

[lilacbirman]

Geoherb- Great review of your cruise! We were on the Golden on the day that you passed her in Tracy Arm! I thought it was pretty neat and got some great pictures of the Sapphire since I was out on the lido deck. We were able to stay by the Sawyer Glacier for a long time, however, the haze made it more difficult to see and my pictures didn't turn out that great. The weather was beautiful though for journey through Tracy Arm.

 

Let me know if you would like any of the pictures I took of the Sapphire while in Tracy Arm. My e-mail is: jandracek@gmail.com

 

Paradise...can I also take you up on the offer for pictures of the Sapphire in Tracy Arm? We passed on July 21 but still would be a cool to have some pics. I'm at lilacbirman@gmail.com :)

[Raze]

I brought back all the Patters if anyone has a question. I already listed the movies they showed in the Princess Theater on another thread. Someone asked about MUTS. I did not miss it. We have never watched a whole movie on other ships with MUTS. We prefer the quietness of the adults only pools, especially the one by the spa since it stays shady. The water was great--warmer than it was on our Caribbean cruise in March.

 

Was there a passenger or crew talent show while you were on board?

[geoherb]

I don't see one advertised. I never went to karaoke, so perhaps some of the cruise director's staff performed there to get things started.

[wowsmom]

Geoherb, it was neat reading your account of the cruise since we were on it too. Good to hear you didn't lose Sam. We spent a while in Skagway looking for my husband and older son - somehow they passed the store we were in and kept going for a few blocks. Not fun having no idea where they were!

 

We missed lunch in the dining room on embarkation day due to finding our car had a flat tire when we left the hotel in Seattle. Thankfully, we found a Firestone tire place that could fix it for us quickly.

 

Never did make it to trivia....and I saw none of Tracy Arm, because I was still sleeping. Oops. I do think my husband took some pics, but I haven't looked at them yet.

 

I never saw a crew show advertised either....I know last year we attended it, but don't know if it was in the patter or if our waiter told us.

 

We had anytime dining and there was a young couple at the table next to us on Friday - don't know if they were the honeymooners mentioned above.

 

Oh, and I think you made a good choice staying on the ship in Victoria. We had booked a double-decker bus tour - which ended up being "if it wasn't foggy, you'd see this" etc. Oh well...the driver did try to be funny and did his best.

[southpawsdakota]

After reading your review about renting the car in Skagway we are thinking of doing this. Right now we have the train booked but with the car we can do our own thing. Were you able to get a map to see intersting spots along the way? AND did you stop any place to do the panning for gold that you would get with the train ride? AND, (so many questions) were you stopped at the border going into Canada? Any other suggestions you have please post.

Thank you.

[southpawsdakota]

Oh, another question. How far from the pier did you have to go to get the car and how did you get there?

Thanks

[Assateague Island Princes]

If you are renting a car, order Murray's Guide (google it) for the minimal charge (I believe it was $3 or $5) it was WELL worth the cost. It gives you a milepost by milepost guide of what you are seeing and passing as you drive along. Gave us a great deal of information that we would never have known on our own by just driving by. BTW - Murray is actually "Yukon" on the Alaska boards (Ports of Call section of CC). We rented a car in Skagway on our May 31st sailing of HAL's new 14 day itinerary. It was by far my DH's favorite "excursion" - stopped when and where we wanted, spending as much time as we liked with whatever caught our fancy. Saw two bears right next to the road eating dandelions, and as others have said, scenery was spectacular!

Yes, you go thru customs at the Canada border. Just hand over your passports - they ask if you've got any "contraband" in the car, and what you are traveling for (ie-business, pleasure, etc.) and you're on your way. They were also kind enough to tell us there were many bears seen that day along the road, so we had a bit of a "heads up" to keep scanning the scenery.