Cheapo Dad's Trip Report on the Majestic Princess (Maybe with few pictures added)...

[harryfat1]

So, what to do after lunch?  We are supposed to be docked here until 8 PM for an over 13 stay at the port we wanted to be in the least. 

 

After resting for a bit in the cabin, we decided to head back out to do the “nature trail” hike area around the cruise terminal.

 

For the few people that have read my previous trip reports, you will know I have a strong like for mooring lines.  Can’t resist them at every port stop.

 

Think there’s a fan club out there over at the RCI boards.  Not sure if there are any mooring line fans here on the Princess boards.  If so, this is from the first port:

 

 

 

By now the Radiance of the Seas is already gone.  The slot would be open until 6 PM when HAL comes in for 4 hours to shop and watch the tribal dance...

 

 

The shoreline area between two docks should have a walkway as I wouldn't mind exploring the trail if they had one

 

 

Or make a trail out for a mile or so down the other side 

 

[harryfat1]

Earlier in the morning, we took the green gondola ride.  Now we are doing the nature trail walk

 

 

 

 

It always gives me the warm fuzzies to see a bear warning sign 😜

 

I like how they need to warn people not to take selfies if they see a bear – guess everyone has their priorities…

 

 

 

 

Guess who took these pictures - Hint: it wasn't me...

 

 

 

[caribill]

35 minutes ago, harryfat1 said:

(Note: On a 7 day cruise, technically somewhere in day 4 is the halfway point.  For the sake of argument, we will assume the whale event was the half way point as that's the highlight of the cruise and also meant we are around the half way point of the trip report).

 

 

There was an episode of The Simpsons television show which showed the family on a cruise.

 

After the mid-point the Cruise Director sang a song about being at the mid-point of the cruise.

 

"Enjoy It While You Can" is a song sung by cruise entertainment director Rowan Priddis at the halfway point of the cruise. He was backed by Gary Ocean and the Motion.

 

 

Enjoy it while you can,

Ice sculptures, conga lines and working on your tan.

Enjoy it while you're here,

One week of glitz and glam instead of pain and fear.

In just a few days' time this boat pulls into dock,

And when it does you lovely people may be in for a shock.

Here you've made exciting friends, back home you'll all lose touch.

Here Hawaiian shirts are cool, back home, well not so much.

Back home you'll be too tired for making magic in the sack.

So eat buffet, and play and pray there's some delay on our way back.

Enjoy it while you can,

Here at sea we drink and frolic, back home that's called alcoholic,

Your futures are but parabolic

Enjoy it while you can!

[4x4bob]

10 hours ago, harryfat1 said:

Earlier in the morning, we took the green gondola ride.  Now we are doing the nature trail walk

 

 

 

 

It always gives me the warm fuzzies to see a bear warning sign 😜

 

I like how they need to warn people not to take selfies if they see a bear – guess everyone has their priorities…

 

 

 

 

Guess who took these pictures - Hint: it wasn't me...

 

 

 

The photos of the hiking trail reminded me of an event that occurred while we were hiking along the nature trail. 

 

A few years before the cruise the Wife Unit had purchased for me a bright orange vest that she wanted me to take with me when I went hunting out in the forest.  Her thinking was that it would be much easier to find me if I was wearing the vest instead of a full set of camouflage clothing.(AS if me, the descendant of vikings that crossed the ocean without a compass could lost in the woods) 

 

That vest was really warm so I brought it along in preparation for cold weather in Alaska.  Also I brought a long a light weight water proof wind breaker with hood in preparation for the mandatory light rain at 10:00 AM every day in Alaska. 

 

I was wearing both during our hike.  After a while it was getting a little too warm so I unzipped the wind breaker and let it hang open.

 

A woman walking towards us saw the vest and came running up to ask me why was I wearing a life jacket out in the woods?

 

Just as I started to answer the Wife Unit said "Don't you dare".  Hmm seems she has a keen understanding of my wacky sense of humor.

 

So I just showed the lady that it was a vest. 

Bob

[ijscheer]

Love the Bear warning line: "Don't Make Eye Contact"

[harryfat1]

22 hours ago, caribill said:

 

There was an episode of The Simpsons television show which showed the family on a cruise.

 

After the mid-point the Cruise Director sang a song about being at the mid-point of the cruise.

 

"Enjoy It While You Can" is a song sung by cruise entertainment director Rowan Priddis at the halfway point of the cruise. He was backed by Gary Ocean and the Motion.

 

 

Enjoy it while you can,

Ice sculptures, conga lines and working on your tan.

Enjoy it while you're here,

One week of glitz and glam instead of pain and fear.

In just a few days' time this boat pulls into dock,

And when it does you lovely people may be in for a shock.

Here you've made exciting friends, back home you'll all lose touch.

Here Hawaiian shirts are cool, back home, well not so much.

Back home you'll be too tired for making magic in the sack.

So eat buffet, and play and pray there's some delay on our way back.

Enjoy it while you can,

Here at sea we drink and frolic, back home that's called alcoholic,

Your futures are but parabolic

Enjoy it while you can!

Awesome. Very nice.  Thanks for the video.

 

Simpsons are great.  I will steal this video for my future trip reports to use at the half way point.

 

Yeah, there's a lot of truth to the song as what you do on a cruise isn't reality - which I guess is why some people love cruises as to escape from the daily grind.

 

This trip report is definitely going downhill from now as we go past the parabolic...🤪

 

[harryfat1]

12 hours ago, 4x4bob said:

The photos of the hiking trail reminded me of an event that occurred while we were hiking along the nature trail. 

 

A few years before the cruise the Wife Unit had purchased for me a bright orange vest that she wanted me to take with me when I went hunting out in the forest.  Her thinking was that it would be much easier to find me if I was wearing the vest instead of a full set of camouflage clothing.(AS if me, the descendant of vikings that crossed the ocean without a compass could lost in the woods) 

 

That vest was really warm so I brought it along in preparation for cold weather in Alaska.  Also I brought a long a light weight water proof wind breaker with hood in preparation for the mandatory light rain at 10:00 AM every day in Alaska. 

 

I was wearing both during our hike.  After a while it was getting a little too warm so I unzipped the wind breaker and let it hang open.

 

A woman walking towards us saw the vest and came running up to ask me why was I wearing a life jacket out in the woods?

 

Just as I started to answer the Wife Unit said "Don't you dare".  Hmm seems she has a keen understanding of my wacky sense of humor.

 

So I just showed the lady that it was a vest. 

Bob

Next time when the wife unit isn't around, you can say, I'm getting ready for a Noah's Arc level of flooding as the climate change has been melting numerous icebergs and soon we will all be neck deep in water so I need to be prepared during our hike for a potential flood.  

 

Then ask her if she needs one for herself,  she can go to Dick's Sporting Goods as they have a sale this week...

[harryfat1]

8 hours ago, ijscheer said:

Love the Bear warning line: "Don't Make Eye Contact"

Exactly.  

 

I guess you are supposed to step back slowly but only look at the paws or something  as it gets ready to charge you.

 

On second thought, if you are taking a selfie with the bear, you won't be making any eye contacts as you are looking into the cell phone AND you are holding your arms out in the air to take the selfie so maybe that's not a bad thing as you are doing the 2 things they tell you to do...

[harryfat1]

So on the nature hiking we will go...

 

 

 

Looks like they are building an adventure course above ground for future cruisers to entertain themselves.  My bet is there will be a charge to do this

 

 

 

 

 

In the earlier YouTube videos, I had seen these Disneyland like trams were used to transport people to/from Hoonah but they weren't in use during our visit.  Just parked by the backlot

 

[harryfat1]

Zip line people

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

At 4:45, the area is has less people as Radiance of the Seas has left as they are only there until 3 PM and a HAL ship will come in at 6 PM. 

 

Although you wonder what’s the value of coming into port at 6 PM as you figure many people are eating dinner between 5 and 9 PM.  Guess the cruise line can make it sound good that they are offering you another port stop on top of the extra money can be generated with some excursions

 

 

 

 

 

This is the bridge the other pier uses.  So if your ship is docked where the Radiance was, you would be walking on this bridge

 

 

 

This would be the first building you see

 

 

Inside of the building where you can get help with tours and other info but now it's empty until until HAL shows up at 6 PM

 

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

At this point, my wife and my older son wanted to explore more of the side trails but the rest of us were getting bored so they went off to see the trails while the rest of us went back to the ship so these are her pictures.

 

Although I wished they had connected the path between the two piers along the water front as that area would be a nice stroll

 

 

 

As the path doesn't connect, you come to a dead end soon and must loop around

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

One well-advertised complimentary food service on board the Princess ships is their Pizzeria – Alfredo’s on the Majestic Princess. They renamed it Gigi on the Discovery and put it on a different deck with some outdoor seating as well as indoors but not sure how popular outdoor seating would be on an Alaska cruise ship while she’s sailing at 20 knots in 60 degree weather.

 

My younger son and I wanted to try it out so we went to Alfredo’s for a “pre-dinner” snack at 5:30. The in-laws are not pizza fans so they went to deck 16 to try the Asian Noodle place. 

 

That is why they have the Noodle place for the Asian market as the younger generation Asians will eat pizza but the older generation will be at the Noodle house.

 

 

My wife and my other son came to join us shortly after we sat down and we shared one pizza and one pasta dish.

 

Nice ambiance to sit by the piazza.  The whole place has a specialty restaurant feel to it with an extensive menu book and serves salad/dessert (although we didn't order any) but there's no extra charge for it

 

 

 

 

The pizza was very good and I can see why many people gave Alfredo high praises.  The crust is the best part.  Much better than the RCI’s Sorrento pizza. 

 

But what do I know about pizza in being born overseas and living in California – neither of which are well known for pizzas…😜

 

[harryfat1]

Guess nobody cared to ask about the difference between Alfredo’s deck plan on Majestic versus Gigi’s on Discovery but they are on different decks and with optional outdoor seating on the new setup.

 

Here's Alfredo's on deck on the Majestic.  All enclosed on deck 6:

 

 

Here's Gigi's on Discovery Princess, one deck higher on deck 7 and note the outside dining options:

 

 

 

 

After Alfredo’s, it was time to go back to the cabin to rest and shower and get dressed for dinner.

 

Looking out, we saw the HAL Eurodam has arrived by 6 PM and taken over the pier that the Radiance of the Seas had occupied earlier. Other than shopping and maybe gondola to the top, not sure what they can do at docking at 6PM as many people are either in middle of dinner or about to start dinner, there’s not much to see at the ISP compound. Perhaps an after dinner stroll around the beach area and watch the tribal dance at 8 PM.

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

Made our way to MDR at the usual 7:20 slot and let’s play “Spin A Wheel” to see what table number we will get for tonight’s dinner…Ding, Ding, you lose.  You didn’t get the table 352 again.

 

Yeap, seems like we are only getting table #352 every other night.  Got it on days 1 and 3.  Day 2 was a last-minute made-up table for 6.  Tonight, at day 4 is a new table yet again.

 

They told me at the podium that they gave away table 352 to another party but since I prefer Noel as our server, they will assign us the other table where he also covers. 

So I guess we will have sat in every table within his service area as we play musical table nightly. I already made my opinion known how Princess is bad in their dinner implementation in previous posts so let’s just move on.

 

Tonight’s menu as well as various food pictures:

 

 

 

 

 

Can't see - give me a closer shot

 

 

 

Too far

 

 

In your face food pic

 

 

 

 

 

 

The other day, both my wife and the boys liked the mocktail, Strawberry on Fire.  My wife wanted to order another one for dinner.  But the version they brought her from whatever bar near the MDR is very different than the Strawberry on Fire previously. 

 

This version is BAD.  No strawberry flavor at all and it’s like drinking tabasco juice.  YUCK!

 

Good version delivered to the cabin the other day:

 

 

Bad version at MDR:

 

[harryfat1]

After dinner, we went to the Princess theater to check out the Ventriloquist show.  To say it’s bad is an understatement.  As my son said, he has never been to a show in the past where he didn’t applaud out of politeness, but this guy is just not very good.  Guess it was luck of the draw where we didn’t get a very good rotating entertainment act that week, but I hope other sailings have better options.

 

 

After the show, not much to do other than meander around the gift shops (visit uncle in prison) and look at the photos we have taken so far on the cruise (feeding crazy aunt in basement) as the piazza entertainment isn’t to our liking.

 

 

Just about then we really missed the 70’s & 80’s party from the Royal Promenade of the RCI ships as those fit our demographics better.

 

Here are couple of old pictures from our 2 previous different RCI cruises with 70s party:

 

 

 

Princess entertainment is just a bad fit for us. Maybe some people enjoy it but it’s not our style of entertainment.  We want things cranked to a higher level – what?  You never heard of Rocker CPAs?  Maybe in another 20 years I might appreciate Princess style.  Or maybe not. 

 

Think even after I’m in my wheel chair, I will have my grandkids push Cheapo Grandpa out on the Royal Promenade to do the “Y-M-C-A” dance.  Except by then I will have arthritis and my arms will lock up and I will be doing the “Y-Y-Y-Y” instead as my arms will be up and can’t move down so I’ll just be doing the Y letter for the entire song…🤪

 

OK, time to crank up the volume of the sedate Princess atrium to have lively rock/disco music to kick it up a few notches:

 

 

You must watch at least one minute of the video to see how much the big guy in the middle of the video is into the song. 

 

 

 

OK, since Princess doesn't have a 70's party, we will create our own party.

 

Let's kick it off with the Kings of Disco:

 

 

Gloria is next

 

 

 

Earth, Wind and Fire:

 

 

 

ABBA:

 

 

Tell me how you feel:

 

 

OK, K.C.  Tell me how you like it

 

 

 

All Righty, Time to finish up the the Ultimate Disco EVERYBODY knows...

 

Side note, you gotta watch this video.  Super funny

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

No pictures outside that night.  Maybe I was tired as per the phone app, we walked 7 miles that day around ISP/Hoonah. 7 miles isn’t that far when you compare how much one walks at Disney theme parks but it was certainly the most we walked on this cruise.

 

We didn’t have to go far to the next port as ISP isn’t very far from Juneau.

 

After the virtual disco party, let’s close out the night on something mellow:

 

 

  

This concludes day 4 of the trip report.

[harryfat1]

Day 5 – Juneau

 

Daily Scan

 

 

 

 

Item worth noting: 

 

Originally the Majestic Princess was scheduled to be in Juneau for a long day starting from 6:30 to 5 PM but few weeks prior to sailing, I saw online on the Princess web site that our itinerary time got cut such that now we have to leave 1 hour earlier at 4 with all aboard at 3:30.

 

 

And then we lose 3 hours of time in next port at Ketchikan just so we can get back to Vancouver at 3 AM instead of 7 AM. No explanation from Princess corporate on why the schedule changed.

 

After discussing with some folks on the Alaska board, we came to conclusion that it was due to high tides by time we made it to Vancouver on day 8 that we must sneak into the port at 3 AM to beat the rising tide at 7 AM as the Royal class Princess ships are too tall to safely go underneath the Lions Gate Bridge in Vancouver.

 

I have read the reverse has been true as well where the ship may delay in sailing out of Vancouver if sailing time conflicts with high tide and the ship has to wait at the cruise terminal for a low tide time frame to sail out.

 

None of this explanation was given by the brilliant people at Princess HQ.  We only got the conformation from the captain of Majestic Princess as he explained why we had to leave Juneau earlier.

 

People from our roll call had to cancel their 3^rd party excursions as they were banking on the ship sailing on the official published schedule.  By then it was hard to find other excursions as some were fully booked since it was in August and both Juneau and Ketchikan were full with 4 plus ships there daily.

 

So the moral of the story is if you have these one way sailings on the large Royal Class ships, check your itinerary on your Princess account as they will change the ports/time import there but you may not receive an email.

 

[harryfat1]

Early morning today as we need to get off the ship early since our day was cut short.

 

The ship was already docked by 6:17 AM.  Per Captain’s announcement later on, he commented that we had to dock in the middle of the night as they had to transfer someone off the ship on a medical emergency to fly that person back to Anchorage to receive treatment.  Sounds serious.  Hope that person is fine.

 

 

NCL ship anchored in middle of the harbor area and had to tender her passengers in since all the berths were occupied

 

 

 

As I get older, I need to start thinking about buying travel insurance that covers medical evacuation as I understand some of these medical bills are crazy high. 

 

Anyone has good experience/recommendation on what’s good out there?

[caribill]

2 hours ago, harryfat1 said:

And then we lose 3 hours of time in next port at Ketchikan just so we can get back to Vancouver at 3 AM instead of 7 AM. No explanation from Princess corporate on why the schedule changed.

 

 

After discussing with some folks on the Alaska board, we came to conclusion that it was due to high tides by time we made it to Vancouver on day 8 that we must sneak into the port at 3 AM to beat the rising tide at 7 AM as the Royal class Princess ships are too tall to safely go underneath the Lions Gate Bridge in Vancouver.

 

 

This is because science has not evolved to the point that tides and their times can be accurately known until within a few weeks of embarkation day.

[4x4bob]

9 hours ago, harryfat1 said:

Early morning today as we need to get off the ship early since our day was cut short.

 

The ship was already docked by 6:17 AM.  Per Captain’s announcement later on, he commented that we had to dock in the middle of the night as they had to transfer someone off the ship on a medical emergency to fly that person back to Anchorage to receive treatment.  Sounds serious.  Hope that person is fine.

 

 

NCL ship anchored in middle of the harbor area and had to tender her passengers in since all the berths were occupied

 

 

 

As I get older, I need to start thinking about buying travel insurance that covers medical evacuation as I understand some of these medical bills are crazy high. 

 

Anyone has good experience/recommendation on what’s good out there?

Take a look at MedJetAssist.  I will be up front with you in saying it is a tad expensive. But over the years several CC members have used it with very good results. We have the card in our wallet when we leave home as the advertisement goes.

Bob

[harryfat1]

20 hours ago, caribill said:

 

This is because science has not evolved to the point that tides and their times can be accurately known until within a few weeks of embarkation day.

Yeah, I understand we can’t forecast tides months/years out and due to the size of the Royal Class ships not able to squeeze in underneath the Lions Gate Bridge in Vancouver during high tides. 

 

I was hoping Princess would at least notify those of us who were impacted by the change in port times ahead of time.  Many people, including myself, on our roll call never received an email from Princess.  Even the people who got the email didn’t know why the schedule was changed.

 

We only knew after I posted the question on CC and Martin, the Canada resident expert, provided the explanation that it had to do with the tides.

 

There must be a group of people who 1) Not on CC roll call 2) Never received the Princess email on port time changes 3) Didn’t think to check their cruise itinerary on the Princess cruiser personalizer page few weeks prior to sailing to print the itinerary. 

 

If they fall into all 3 categories, they wouldn’t know of the port changes until they got to the ship and might need to scramble to make tour changes if they booked with an independent operator.

 

I think at the minimum, Princess should have an asterisk on the south bound itinerary for the entire season with a disclaimer “Due to unforeseen tidal conditions, your port time is subject to change for your sailing.  Please check your cruise itinerary regularly to ensure the estimated port times will be applicable on your sailing”. 

 

That way at least people will know to check their itinerary frequently and understand why they need to cancel their tours.  We had some upset cruisers on the roll call that had to cancel their Ketchikan tours without knowing why. Originally, we were supposed to be there until 6 PM.  But the revised departure was moved up 2:45, that messed up a lot of people’s plans.

[harryfat1]

13 hours ago, 4x4bob said:

Take a look at MedJetAssist.  I will be up front with you in saying it is a tad expensive. But over the years several CC members have used it with very good results. We have the card in our wallet when we leave home as the advertisement goes.

Bob

Thanks for sharing the info. I'll check them out for my future cruise next year.

 

My biggest fear is the medical evacuation cost as I have read some crazy high numbers of people having to chart special plans to get home. 

[harryfat1]

Per the Alaska cruise port schedule, the Majestic Princess is to be docking at the Franklin Dock:

 

 

This is a test to see how high you are on the anal scale – you first look at the schedule to see how many ships are in town with you that day AND you looked up where Franklin Dock is on the map ahead of time so you know where you will be when you get off the ship. 

 

Raise your hand if you typically do this for all the ports. Yeah, you are pretty anal…

[harryfat1]

Breakfast time:

 

As before, no salmon on display. Must ask for them.

 

 

Got another bowl of congee today.  Figured I get something warm as we head off the ship.

 

 

 

 

My standard breakfast stuff.  By day 4, you start to figure out what you liked or disliked from the earlier days and settle into a routine

 

 

Pastries and donuts for those that like them