Grand Princess NB cruise tour 7/18-8/1/15

[mimmy52]

Sunday, July 19

At Sea

 

Last night we decided to leave a light on in the bathroom and crack the door so we wouldn't be stumbling around if we had to get up during the night. I got up at least twice because suddenly the light from it was bright. At first I thought Jo kept leaving the door open, then I realized the ship's movement was regularly swinging the door open. Closed it and solved the problem.

 

We'd also decided to leave the curtains cracked so we'd know when it was morning. What were we thinking? Around 6:00, the sun rose to just the right spot to shine in my eyes. It must have hit Jo too because she woke up and went to the balcony. She said it was beautiful, and it was, but brrrrr. Quite a contrast from yesterday when we were baking on deck. I threw on socks and a hoodie and grabbed the camera.

 

 

[mimmy52]

The Princess Patter for the day.

 

 

 

 

 

[mimmy52]

Since we were awake, we went to Horizon Court for breakfast. This is apparently the only picture I took of Horizon Court.

 

 

Because of the illness on board the previous cruise, servers were dishing up the food. You were not allowed to serve yourself. It was this way for the first two days. A good precaution, I thought. The buffet was extensive, four kinds of eggs plus omelets, pancakes, waffles, pastries, fruit, meats, etc. You get the picture. A waiter brought juice/coffee/tea to the tables.

 

Jo was eager for the casino, shopping, and bingo so we split up. She's been on a number of Caribbean cruises, but it was the first big ship for me. I toured the ship.

 

The Piazza

 

 

 

The International Café

 

 

The Internet Cafe

 

[mimmy52]

Da Vinci Room. Yep, just like Michelangelo Room.

 

 

Sabatini's

 

 

The Vista Lounge

 

 

The adult pool aft

 

[mimmy52]

 

The ship was rocking. On the ship cam today, the waves were referred to as moderate, but it seemed enough to bother some people and it made walking a bit of a challenge at times. I love the rocking motion, especially when it's time for sleep. It's what I imagine how a baby's cradle would feel.

 

The outdoor area of Horizon Court.

 

 

Self service Laundromats. There were two on our deck, deck 9.

 

 

 

 

It cost $2 in quarters for each machine. I don't know how much it cost if you needed detergent.

[mimmy52]

The pool at The Sanctuary. Water from the pool had sloshed all over the shady side and was seeping into the indoor area.

 

 

 

 

This was a snug little spot but I can't remember if it's aft on deck 14 or deck 15. It would be a great place to sit if you didn't have a balcony.

 

[mimmy52]

The One 5 Lounge

 

 

 

When I got back to the room, Jo had left a note that she was going to the 10:30 talk. I checked the Patter and saw it was billed as the Alaska Shopping Spotlight Show so I decided to join her and see what it was like. Donny did disclose the all the stores he was promoting had sponsored the talk. That is Jo's cup of tea, but for me it was boring and I left after 15 minutes.

 

I watched the ocean for a while until it was time for the vegetable carving demonstration in the Piazza, which I found very interesting.

 

The carvers are being introduced. The chef on the end with his arms up was a real character and made things fun.

 

 

One of the creations

 

 

And others

 

[mimmy52]

 

 

One of the chefs had carved large radishes to resemble flowers (not the ones in the picture) and then passed them out to the ladies. I had mine on the table next to me and a latecomer reached out her hand to grab it. I thought that was a little nervy.

 

Jo and I met up again a little after noon. She said the shopping presentation had just ended (so glad I didn't stay!) so she didn't get to play bingo at all. We went to Horizon Court for a quick lunch. The food in HC was mostly so-so, but there were small cheese tarts today that were delicious.

 

After lunch we headed to the Princess Theater for the Lumberjack Show. I really enjoyed it. Lumberjack Rob told us about his life and how he started lumberjack shows, then there was an axe throwing competition between members of the audience who were formed into two teams.

 

 

They all made it to the third round, but then the smallest woman participating was the only one who scored a bulls eye.

 

The winner!

 

 

The cruise director joked about how when Rob saw this small person, he immediately could tell she'd be good at throwing an axe.

[mimmy52]

Jo went to take a nap and I stayed for naturalist Sandy Schemp's talk. Her topic was the Wonders of Alaska Wildlife. Her slides moved from the smallest of animals to the largest with a quick bit about birds at the end. Someone else took the stage then for a showing of a DVD and what seemed as though it would be a sales talk, so I left.

 

It was funny watching the kids in the pool today. Because the ship was rocking, they'd let the waves in the pool wash them onto an area in the front not normally under water. Then they'd jump back in and do it again.

 

Jo went to a presentation on gemstones, and I fell asleep until she got back. Tonight was formal night, so we took our time getting ready. By 6:30 we felt we were as presentable as we could make ourselves and went to the Piazza to get a good seat for the Captain's champagne waterfall.

 

Waiting for champagne

 

 

We were served free champagne and delicious chocolate lollipops.

 

Jo and ML all dressed up

 

 

There wasn't a long line of people waiting to participate in the waterfall pour, so Jo convinced me I should do it. She took a picture but all you can see is my sleeve.

 

That's me behind the Maitre D'. If you look closely you can see my sleeve.

 

 

You don't really get to pour the champagne yourself. The Maitre D' puts your hand on his wrist, then he pours. I was going to buy the professional photo of this, but I could never find it. Jo saw it one day and put it aside, but when we went back for it, it had been moved and we never found it again.

 

We had dinner in the Michelangelo Room again. There was a line waiting, people leaving their names to be called when a table was available, but when I said we were willing to share, we were seated immediately. Naturalist Sandy Schemp and her assistant were seated with us, and we had a very interesting discussion.

 

I had risotto cakes for a starter. Can't remember what the sauce was. They were good.

 

[mimmy52]

For my entrée, I had the standard grilled salmon that was available every night. It was good, but not outstanding as I'd expected. The presentation doesn't look too great because I had eaten half of it before I remembered to take a picture.

 

 

For dessert, Jo and I both chose the Norman Love Raspberry Chocolate Heart, and it was delicious.

 

 

We had just walked out of the Michelangelo Room and were passing the bar when someone sitting by the window spotted whales. We rushed over. There were quite a few whales and we saw tails. I didn't even try for a photo. They would have been out of sight before I got my camera out, not to mention I'd have to lean over someone's drinks on a table. But it was a thrill seeing them.

 

Tonight instead of seeing Do You Wanna Dance in the Princess Theater, we bundled into warm clothes and went up to watch Movies Under the Stars which tonight was Cinderella. There were more people watching than I expected considering the chilly weather, but there were even kids in the pool. (There were always kids in the pool.)

 

 

 

There were lap blankets on the chairs but most of the chairs were already saved. We managed to find two and dragged them together.

 

 

For a while there was a table of noisy people near us who didn't bother to lower their voices even after the movie started. We were happy when they left. I'm glad we had the MUTS experience, but it was not one I wanted to repeat unless the weather warmed up considerably.

[GreySkies]

Loving all the pictures. I'm going on the Grand in a few weeks and can't wait. Can you remember why the Gravadlax (gravlox) weren't good?

[mimmy52]

Loving all the pictures. I'm going on the Grand in a few weeks and can't wait. Can you remember why the Gravadlax (gravlox) weren't good?

 

I think we were too unsophisticated to realize that meant it was raw salmon. Someone who likes it would probably feel differently about the taste.

[mimmy52]

July 20

Ketchikan

 

When we stepped out onto our balcony this morning, this was the sight that greeted us.

 

 

 

 

The balcony furniture was wet from rain and it was still raining slightly. It rained off and on all the while we were in Ketchikan.

[mimmy52]

The Princess Patter for the day.

 

 

 

 

 

Inside the Patter was a four page port guide to Ketchikan that had a little information about the town and tours and a map on the back that showed where a few things were. There was also a "shopping spotlight" with a list of Princess sponsored stores and a map to the stores.

[mimmy52]

I had reserved a walking tour of Ketchikan with a Tlinget guide and Jo had signed up for the Deadliest Catch tour. After breakfast at Horizon Court, we went to deck 5 to leave, getting our room keys scanned as we left. We were at dock 4, the farthest from town.

 

Leaving the ship

 

 

It was a little chaotic since everyone who had reserved a tour was congregating on the dock looking for the person holding their tour sign.

 

 

Right after I took the photo, the rain started coming down in buckets, but everyone seemed to take it in stride. We put up hoods and umbrellas and some sought shelter in a canopy near the ship. The walking tour was a small group of nine. Our tour guide introduced himself as Joe Williams, repeated his name in the Tlinget language, then took us under a shelter to do more of an introduction to himself and the town.

 

Joe was an informative and humorous guide.

 

 

We learned about the Tlinget culture (Joe is from the Eagle tribe). We learned some of the history of Ketchikan and Joe would contrast the present day town with how it was years ago. He said he had three generations worth of knowledge about Ketchikan.

 

This is a picture Joe took of our group and posted to his Facebook page, Wheretheeaglewalks

 

 

We had to walk through the tunnel to get into downtown. In this picture, we've already walked through it.

 

[mimmy52]

It was early and the streets were almost empty, a huge contrast to how they'd be in just a short while.

 

 

One of our stops was at the Chief Kyan Totem, a replica since the actual is in a museum.

 

 

And we saw the Chief Johnson Totem, also a replica. Joe talked about each totem.

 

 

[mimmy52]

We walked to Creek Street with other stops along the way. During the time we were with Joe, he gave us a lot of information.

 

 

 

 

We saw salmon here, but Joe only counted six and I couldn't see them very well.

 

 

We stopped at Dolly's House, and one of the "girls" came out, spoke to us briefly, and told us what a great guide Joe was.

 

Joe took this picture at Dolly's House

 

 

[mimmy52]

More of Creek Street

 

 

And our tour ended here at the other end of Creek Street

 

 

The Raven Stealing the Sun Totem

 

 

If anyone is looking for a restroom near Creek Street, there is one in a museum right next to the Raven Stealing the Sun Totem. I think it was the Tongass Historical Museum, but the restrooms are right inside the front door and you don't have to pay and enter the museum to use them.

 

After the tour ended, I continued walking around Creek Street.

 

 

[mimmy52]

I decided to take the funicular up to Cape Fox Lodge and look around.

 

The funicular

 

 

From inside the funicular. It's still a rainy day.

 

 

As you enter the Lodge from the funicular, there's a beverage counter on the right. I stopped for hot chocolate and sat for a while and looked at the view.

 

The seating area at Cape Fox Lodge

 

 

There are also displays of artifacts. Out back there are more totem poles.

 

 

 

The lodge looked like an interesting place to stay. There seemed to be a lot of checking out and checking in going on while I was there.

[mimmy52]

Instead of taking the funicular down, I walked the Married Man's Trail. Could it possibly have been a secret from the wives that their husbands would take this trail down to the brothels? (Even barring the fact that back then there wouldn't have been a sign and stairs.)

 

 

The start of the trail, behind the lodge.

 

 

Going down.

 

 

 

I went to the salmon ladder, but between the rain and the foliage, it was mostly obscured. Plus there didn't seem to be any salmon.

[mimmy52]

Creek Street was my designated shopping area. I wanted a Ray Troll t-shirt, so I went first to Soho Coho. The Troll designs are so funny.

 

 

The one I bought seemed appropriate. It says, "Southeast Alaska: As close as you can get to actually living underwater."

 

After a few more purchases, I headed down to the area near the main docks. I had to get the iconic Ketchikan photos.

 

 

The liquid sunshine gauge. It would have been filling up today.

 

 

 

Originally I had intended to take the shuttle to the Totem Heritage Center, but it was getting late and I didn't think I could fit it in. So I strolled back toward the ship. The jewelry stores along the dock were jam packed. Joe had pointed out a set of stairs that led to a public street (that also turned out to be stairs) where we could get a good view of the Grand Princess.

 

[mimmy52]

Back at the ship, the fog, or mist, is still with us.

 

 

I got in line to get back on the ship.

 

 

Back on my balcony, I could see that the line to get back on had more than doubled.

 

[mimmy52]

Jo was already in the room when I got back. She is a fan of the Deadliest Catch and said the shore excursion was fantastic. The Aleutian Ballad was docked close enough that they could walk, and it has been fitted with bleacher type seats. Jo took some photos.

 

 

I think that's the Coral Princess in the background.

 

 

That is one scary looking fish.

 

 

They sailed to a place where there were a lot of eagles. Jo said it was great getting to see so many.

 

[mimmy52]

They learned about fishing in the Bering Sea and about the various sea creatures they caught and how they were caught.

 

 

 

We had time for lunch in Horizon Court, then watched sail away. Goodbye, Ketchikan.

 

 

[mimmy52]

When Jo went to the art auction, I went to sit in the aft cozy spot. It was crowded today. I realized I could have the same view from my room, so I went back and prepared a spot. The balcony furniture was wet, so I opened the door, moved a chair and a table over, and watched from inside.

 

 

I enjoyed watching the passing scenery.

 

 

 

 

At one point I heard oohing and aahing and went out. The man on the balcony above pointed toward whales. Wow! I saw some blows but no tails but whales are exciting. I finally called our steward to see if we could get the balcony furniture dried off, and within minutes someone was there to take care of it.

 

Jo came back later having also gone to the presentation on gemstones. We had a reservation at the Crown Grill for 6:00. One of the incentives for this cruise, in celebration of Princess's 50th birthday, was a comp dinner at a specialty restaurant. There had been a card in our mailbox notifying us that we had a reservation at Sabatini's on July 24 (the last day of the cruise). We wanted it sooner and Jo preferred Crown Grill. It was no problem to change. We talked to the person in charge at the Crown Grill, showed her our card, and she switched our reservation.