Rare hllwdcruiser Posted June 18, 2015 Author #51 Share Posted June 18, 2015 Still on the train and truly having a wonderful experience. Posting is getting difficult due to lack of cellular connection. It's so frustrating - I have so much to say, but so little time. I promise, once I am home, I will post more along with a boatload of photos. We went on the Tundra Wilderness Tour yesterday, booked through Princess. We upgraded from the Natural History Tour. We are so glad we did. Those who went on the NHT only saw a few caribou at the most. We saw three Grizzlies (one mama with twin cubs), 3 moose, one with her calf, one Artic fox, several ptarmigan, several dall sheep with their lambs, a ram and too many caribou to count. It was another beautiful, clear day and we were able to see Denali from numerous vantage points. I was worried that it was going to be a long day - but our tour guide was a great story teller and the time just zipped by. The "lunch" provided by the park is even worse than when Caribill wrote his trip report. The reindeer sausage has been replaced with a skinny slim Jim type turkey sausage, the cheese has been replaced by a processed cheese spread. There was also a really unappetizing bean dip. Included were two packets of crackers, a trail mix and some cookies. Steve and I ate a big breakfast (the buffet - totally not worth it - grab something at the Espresso and Breakfast Bar instead) and an early dinner so we did not buy a boxed lunch. Some people take a trip to Subway across the street the evening before the tour which I would definitely recommend - the box lunch offered by Princess was pathetic and expensive. A puny looking sandwich, chips and an apple for something like $14. The little shopping area across the street from Denali Princess Lodge has a liquor store, a convenience store, some restaurants, an ice cream shop and lots of souvenir stores. If you haven't bought your wine for on board yet, this is the place to do it. The convenience store actually has a few decent bottles of wine that were less expensive than the liquor store. Speaking off wine, we sat outside in short sleeves on the deck last night, enjoying a bottle with some new found friends. It truly is amazing to be outside at 11 PM and still wearing sunglasses. Earlier, while out on deck at the Base Camp Bar and Grill, we spotted another mama moose with twin calves. The trick up here is to keep your eyes peeled at all times. We really enjoyed the food and drinks at the Base Camp - we did not eat at the King Salmon. Most folks who ate at the pricier restaurants were usually on the Connoisseur Tour or other large all inclusive tours. Those folks also got the better rooms with the best views. Unfortunately, we were stuck behind a maintenance area, a room with no view and the sound of something like a compressor running all day and all night. The room was clean, though dated, and we really only used it to sleep and shower. The BIGGEST problem we found in both lodges is that there are no safes in the rooms. This means you must bring all your money, passports and valuables everywhere with you. Leaving them in our room was not an option - Steve just retired after serving as a Police Officer for over 26 years. He has witnessed too many hotel room thefts for us ever to leave anything unsecured. And do not believe you are immune on Princess - just do a search and you will find many incidences. Having to bring everything with us was particularly annoying on the TWT. You may want to think twice before you lug your MacBook Air (or any laptop) on one of these tours. I left mine home and am functioning on my iPad mini. We bought lightweight backpacks just for this trip and I also have a wallet on a string. I left my handbag at home. We are not on a Princess train but rather a HAL train. According to our guide we lucked out. We are not sitting at a table with strangers but rather we are in coach seats and we are all facing forward. The train travels at around 35 miles per hour and our guide, Sammuel, has been giving us a running commentary. He is theatrically trained and he has been keeping us entertained with wonderful tales and stories as well as giving us the history and pertinent facts along the way. There is a full bar with our fabulous bartender, Drew, which is extremely reasonable priced. We joined our friends for lunch downstairs on the lower level - it was edible and filled a need, but it was nothing to write home about. I did take photos of the menus. There is plenty of opportunity to get up and walk around and you can even travel from car to car. The car in front of us is borrowed from the Alaskan Railway for Princess and it has a great open air covered deck on top that you can stand out and enjoy the sights. It is so warm out - we stood outside in shirtsleeves with the wind blowing and still didn't feel chilled. I seriously need to wash our tee shirts ASAP once we get on board. The fire has been somewhat contained and we passed through Willow and Wasilla with no problem. However, please know that the highway between Anchorage and McKinley Princess Lodge, and MPL and Denali Princess Lodge is experiencing long delays due to construction. This construction will most likely continue throughout the summer If you are planning on booking excursions you may want to book later ones just to be on the safe side. We didn't have any trouble traveling on Sunday but some people missed their excursions on Monday due to delays heading up to DPL. Shortly, we will be boarding the Coral. Since I don't have internet minutes I will post when I can and answer questions. I will try to take the photos of all the menus - I know everyone wants to see them. We do have a huge data plan on Verizon so I should be able to post once I am in port. Please excuse typos and grammatical errors - I'm typing fast with a lot of interruptions! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare hllwdcruiser Posted June 18, 2015 Author #52 Share Posted June 18, 2015 (edited) Just found out we are not getting in to Whittier until 8 PM. We were supposed to be in at 5:30. The delay was due to having to reduce speed through the fire zone and having to switch conductors. I gather our conductor had already worked 12 hours and couldn't legally work any more. They are giving us free ice cream as compensation. Sail away was supposed to be at 8:30 - muster drill at 7:30. There are 500 passengers on board. I guess they are going to hold the ship for us. ;) Edited June 18, 2015 by hllwdcruiser Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluewater1298 Posted July 16, 2015 #53 Share Posted July 16, 2015 Enjoyed reading your post. I was wondering if you liked your cabin. Any noise or vibrations? We are booked in E736 on the Coral southbound next May. Would love to hear about your cruise! And any pictures of your cabin. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare hllwdcruiser Posted July 17, 2015 Author #54 Share Posted July 17, 2015 Enjoyed reading your post. I was wondering if you liked your cabin. Any noise or vibrations? We are booked in E736 on the Coral southbound next May. Would love to hear about your cruise! And any pictures of your cabin. Thanks! Thank you for reading along. I had hoped to have my final review up and posted by now but like so often, life intervened. E736 was what I was hoping for and more. The views were beyond amazing. We would often rush outside when we were in the cabin and would hear the naturalist mention wildlife on the port side - we were able to see all the way aft until they disappeared from view. Binoculars and a long zoom camera are a must! There were very few people who went out on the rear viewing deck, but yes, we often would walk out and find folks standing right at the corner of our balcony. It was not an issue for us - we are naturally outgoing people and soon made friends with the regulars. We took a cue from another couple and took our balcony chairs out to the back deck on some of the sea days. The sun was shining on us and the experience was magnificent! There were mild vibrations at times but it never woke us up or ever really disturbed us. We never heard anything from the Universe Lounge below. I have lots of photos (of the cabin as well) and will be posting a full review. We are on the road traveling right now so it won't be until the next week or two. I am hoping that uploading photos is more intuitive than in the past. I have tried before and failed so I may have to do some more research on these boards! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emeybee Posted July 17, 2015 #55 Share Posted July 17, 2015 If you kept track, would you mind telling me which night of the cruise had which dinner theme in the MDR? (i.e. Italian night, 50th anniversary night, etc)? If you happened to take pictures of the menus that would be amazing. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluewater1298 Posted October 24, 2015 #56 Share Posted October 24, 2015 Thank you for reading along. I had hoped to have my final review up and posted by now but like so often, life intervened. E736 was what I was hoping for and more. The views were beyond amazing. We would often rush outside when we were in the cabin and would hear the naturalist mention wildlife on the port side - we were able to see all the way aft until they disappeared from view. Binoculars and a long zoom camera are a must! There were very few people who went out on the rear viewing deck, but yes, we often would walk out and find folks standing right at the corner of our balcony. It was not an issue for us - we are naturally outgoing people and soon made friends with the regulars. We took a cue from another couple and took our balcony chairs out to the back deck on some of the sea days. The sun was shining on us and the experience was magnificent! There were mild vibrations at times but it never woke us up or ever really disturbed us. We never heard anything from the Universe Lounge below. I have lots of photos (of the cabin as well) and will be posting a full review. We are on the road traveling right now so it won't be until the next week or two. I am hoping that uploading photos is more intuitive than in the past. I have tried before and failed so I may have to do some more research on these boards! Would love to see pictures of your cabin if you have time to post them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hollon Posted October 24, 2015 #57 Share Posted October 24, 2015 10%? 20%? 30%? We've been told different percentages from locals, but all I know is we are now in the elite club of viewing Denali, in full, without a cloud in the sky. Words nor photos can capture its magnificence. We still cannot believe our luck. A few months back I posted a query on the Alaska Boards, "If I do not Fly will I regret it Forever?" Well, of course I got in depth responses from our Alaska experts, Budget Queen, Maple Leaves et al. The gist of their responses were, "yes, if you don't fly, you will regret it forever." So with no mind to our bank account or pocketbook we bit the bullet and booked the Base Camp Tour with Glacier Landing with Talkeetna Air Taxi. QUOTE] You were truly lucky to see the mountain without a cloud in the sky. It took us three days to get that lucky and were glad that we'd spent the time in Denali to be able to get the rare chance. I could not stop taking photos! Your flight-seeing trip with TAT sounds like the flight of a lifetime. We used them as well after getting similar suggestions and, although our weather was not good enough for a landing, was a truly wonderful experience with views that we wouldn't have otherwise witnessed. Enjoy your trip. I was lucky enough to be there for 2 1/2 weeks for my trip and can't wait to get back! Do you have any pictures you can post? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hollon Posted October 24, 2015 #58 Share Posted October 24, 2015 Thank you for reading along. I had hoped to have my final review up and posted by now but like so often, life intervened. E736 was what I was hoping for and more. The views were beyond amazing. We would often rush outside when we were in the cabin and would hear the naturalist mention wildlife on the port side - we were able to see all the way aft until they disappeared from view. Binoculars and a long zoom camera are a must! There were very few people who went out on the rear viewing deck, but yes, we often would walk out and find folks standing right at the corner of our balcony. It was not an issue for us - we are naturally outgoing people and soon made friends with the regulars. We took a cue from another couple and took our balcony chairs out to the back deck on some of the sea days. The sun was shining on us and the experience was magnificent! There were mild vibrations at times but it never woke us up or ever really disturbed us. We never heard anything from the Universe Lounge below. I have lots of photos (of the cabin as well) and will be posting a full review. We are on the road traveling right now so it won't be until the next week or two. I am hoping that uploading photos is more intuitive than in the past. I have tried before and failed so I may have to do some more research on these boards! Sorry, I'm a little behind, do you have pictures of your cabin? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluewater1298 Posted January 10, 2016 #59 Share Posted January 10, 2016 E736 was what I was hoping for and more. The views were beyond amazing. We would often rush outside when we were in the cabin and would hear the naturalist mention wildlife on the port side - we were able to see all the way aft until they disappeared from view. Binoculars and a long zoom camera are a must! I would love to see pictures of this cabin. And also would like to know how big the balcony is. It looks like it may be smaller than others. If you have any pictures, my email is chanderj @ bellsouth. net Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emerald18 Posted January 11, 2016 #60 Share Posted January 11, 2016 (edited) Were you ever able to post pictures or a review? Would love to see Patters and menus from a 2015 cruise if you have them. Will be on the Coral SB this June and haven't found any Patters more recent than 2014 and only a few reviews from 2015. I LOVE reading everything I can find... these boards are so helpful! Edited January 11, 2016 by emerald18 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare hllwdcruiser Posted January 11, 2016 Author #61 Share Posted January 11, 2016 I do still plan on posting - thanks for still following along! To make a long story short - I lost all my photos off my memory card. To say I was horrified would be an understatement. It has taken a while but I now recovered all the photos on a thumb drive which I can hopefully download onto an external site. I will try to get to them this week - thank you all for your patience. I do have photos of the cabin, aft balcony etc. The ones of the menus didn't come out very well but I will try to include those. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emerald18 Posted January 11, 2016 #62 Share Posted January 11, 2016 I do still plan on posting - thanks for still following along! To make a long story short - I lost all my photos off my memory card. To say I was horrified would be an understatement. It has taken a while but I now recovered all the photos on a thumb drive which I can hopefully download onto an external site. I will try to get to them this week - thank you all for your patience. I do have photos of the cabin, aft balcony etc. The ones of the menus didn't come out very well but I will try to include those. So sorry to hear about the memory card but glad to hear that you managed to save your photos! I know how awful it is when you lose photos. Had a laptop stolen years ago and some family vacation photos that I thought were backed up weren't, so they are gone forever. Ugh. I'm looking forward to seeing your pics and hearing about your cruise when you are able to post it all! Thanks so much! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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