Live From the Sapphire Princess! (29 April - 10 May)

[HaveDogWillTravel]

Good morning glacier bay! Absolutely stunning day !  That helicopter excursion looks awesome!  In Skagway we did the bus up to Yukon and the white pass train back down. Our tour bus picked up at the ship and met us at the train when got back down and drove us back to the ship. Canada checked our passports when we got up there and when we got back to town US checked them again. Non US citizens were told to have their vaccine cards out too. 
 

When we went through the longest of the 2 tunnels the train passes thru we saw incredible frozen waterfalls. Huge ones! So many of them as well. It was truly magical. I am sad to say I didn’t get any pictures except for the memories in my head. I’ve never seen those before. This is about 8-9 days earlier than when I normally come and I’m amazed at the difference a week or 2 makes. 

[Buckeye10640]

58 minutes ago, Drdarkknight said:

So the people checking passports say you need it but customs never asked for it. We were really surprised because we are both Canadian and we know that a vaccine record is no longer required to go to Canada. I think maybe the tour company hasn’t updated their notes yet? 

Thanks, I did some research after I read your post and came to the conclusion there is no proof of vaccine  requirement for a US citizen.  Also re-checked our excursion company site - Chilkoot Tours - and they mention only that passport is required. Still, we will bring them with us. Thanks. 

[AlibearNS]

Interestingly, we’ve noticed all our guides and drivers on our Princess tours have not been locals and all seem to be from the same handful of US states. Although enthusiastic they struggle if you ask a question not on script. One of our drivers/come guide said to bear with him if he messes up the dates or names as it’s a lot to learn and his first tour. At Liarsville we stumbled into a quiet area where all the bake staff were chilling. We had a good laugh with them when they asked where we were from and then told us where they were from - only one guy was Alaskan. And the guy from Arizona was feeling the cold!!!

So, curious now, I had a chat with one of the seasonal workers.

All guides work for Carnival Corp and a recruiter company. They recruited in Idaho, Arizona, and at least 2 other states but not being from the USA I forget the names. Maybe Míchigan? They recruit mostly Mormons and they do their commercial drivers licence training at home before coming out. At the end of the season they get a very low cost HAL cruise!

After cruising Alaska in May last year post COVID with few tour options due to lack of guides, I’m in two minds about this. It’s great to have so many tours up and running again and they’re doing a fantastic job, adding to the local economy and cruise experience but, if you want a truly authentic Alaskan experience I’d suggest hunting out private tours if any available. Saying that, Princess tours are a lot of fun!!!

[EDVM96]

This is why we cruise.

 

[PacnGoNow]

7 minutes ago, EDVM96 said:

This is why we cruise.

 

Glacier Bay?  Stunning!

[EDVM96]

3 minutes ago, PacnGoNow said:

Glacier Bay?  Stunning!

Margerie Glacier and Mount Fairweather, Glacier Bay National Park

[Purple Gallinule]

1 hour ago, EDVM96 said:

This is why we cruise.

 

Amazing! I am really hoping for a couple of sunny days in June. Yeah, I know. But a guy can hope, right?

[billco]

Captain’s Circle Party 

 

 

[AlibearNS]

Just now, billco said:

Captain’s Circle Party 

 

 

Was it good? We missed it. Too much fresh air, fell asleep!

[EDVM96]

Same here. If this party is divided into 2 or more events - just don't go anyway. Too many Gold + Elites

Edited May 7, 2023 by EDVM96

[Drdarkknight]

Going to bed early was absolutely the right call as it made waking up at 6am for Glacier Bay relatively easy. We hit the buffet by 6:30am to find it…closed? That was weird. It was about a ten minute wait before it opened up and we had to actually flag someone down to bring us drinks, despite the restaurant being nearly empty. 

 

We ate quickly and went up to Skywalkers for the 7:30am Rangers Chat, which was informative albeit short. Then we started the lap routine we had started at Hubbard Glacier. Deck 15 then down to 7, warm up and resume. It was windy and overcast to start but when we hit deck 15 for the second time at 9am it was gorgeous and sunny! Being the psycho Canadians that we are; we ordered cold alcoholic drinks and sat down at the bar. It was so sunny and hot my husband ran down our jackets to the room. While he was gone I noticed we were really close to a cliff side so I went to take a picture and there was a glacier coming right into view! 

 

At this point the captain had started his turn so my husband and I went for a lap around deck 7. We saw a lot of sea otters and got a look at another glacier before heading back to deck 15. We ordered more drinks and we’re about to continue our laps but when we walked over to the side to see there was Margerie Glacier coming into view! We stayed put and got some pictures and even saw some calving. 

 

I will say we both preferred Hubbard Glacier. Nothing wrong with Glacier Bay, we just felt Hubbard was more impressive. You can’t beat the weather today though. It was just gorgeous out. I didn’t think I’d get a sunburn in Alaska! 

 

At noon we went down to the International Dining Room for lunch. It was pretty good. I had the mozzarella sticks, aglio e olio spaghetti and potato latkes, with some ice cream for dessert. When the waiter brought my latkes he stressed that they were vegetarian, which I found odd. But then I realized everything I’d ordered was vegetarian and he probably thought I was one. Oops. 

 

We did another walk around the promenade deck before heading back to deck 15 until 3pm. We went down to Explorer’s Lounge for 3:15 to play Taboo. It wasn’t totally what I expected (I thought it would be set up more like a game show or trivia) but it was a blast. There was a group of 12 of us divided into six groups and we did two rounds. My husband and I won by two points! The game is definitely easier when you play with someone you know. Since you can’t use specific words you can at least say things like ‘what do we have in our kitchen that’s new?’ 

 

We got ready for our second formal night and then went to good old Vines for a drink before dinner. We tried out Pacific Moon tonight and had a seat right by the window. This was the quickest service by far! It was also one of my favourite meals of the trip. I had the crab and artichoke dip, seafood deviled eggs, cheesy tortellini, surf and turf and we split the pistachio dome for desert. 

 

That meant we arrived at the evening’s show with plenty of time to spare. Tonight it was The Voices of Tricia Kelly and by now the boat was really rocking. We haven’t really felt it like this since Hubbard Glacier so even though I was expecting it, it was a bit of a jolt. In any case, Tricia Kelly is an amazingly talented singer and hilarious to boot! I really enjoyed her. 

 

We rushed from her show to Explorer’s Lounge for the Marriage Match show. My husband wanted to put our names down and we were picked for the ‘newlywed’ category. It was part embarrassing part hilarious. I’ll get over it haha. We received a great prize at the end so it was certainly worth some mild humiliation. 

 

We went back to Vines for a bit and they offered to store our sparkling wine for us until we wanted to drink it. We checked out the White & Gold Party in the Piazza for about ten minutes but ultimately left. There was movie soundtrack trivia at 10:30 and I’m a huge movie buff. Normally I’d pick a special ship event over trivia but, to be honest, I’m tired of hearing the same songs at every party. 

 

We made the right choice because movie soundtrack trivia was so fun! I tied for first with 27/30 and would have had 28 if I wasn’t an idiot who messed up Back to the Future of all things. I lost the tie breaker question but that was okay; we had a great time and a great end to our day! 

 

 

[SleepyBunny]

The band (Topaz) is very talented and clearly know how to get a crowd dancing - but I agree that the same songs are coming up again and again. I would love to hear them take on other hits to expand their repertoire.

[HaveDogWillTravel]

The seas have been wonderfully calm this whole sailing. An occasional bit with a few swells is all we’ve had to disrupt it. 
 

My tour guides for my Princess excursions have been excellent. Of course Amy with Birds of Hoonah in Icy Strait was born and raised here. The driver for the Mendenhall Glacier was from Atlanta while the driver for our Skagway Yukon Expedition was from Florida. Both have been coming up seasonally for a while and we’re great.
 

Today we hired Michelle Martins Taxi for a 5 hour tour of Sitka. We will stopped at the grocery store for a picnic lunch and head outside of town for some walks and vistas. Then we will do the Bear Fortress, the Raptor Center,  the rainforest in the national park and the Old Sitka historic site. The cruise prior is a bit out of town and we will get picked up and dropped off at the ship. 
 

Again the weather is cooperating with us. 

Edited May 7, 2023 by HaveDogWillTravel

[AlibearNS]

6 hours ago, Drdarkknight said:

Going to bed early was absolutely the right call as it made waking up at 6am for Glacier Bay relatively easy. We hit the buffet by 6:30am to find it…closed? That was weird. It was about a ten minute wait before it opened up and we had to actually flag someone down to bring us drinks, despite the restaurant being nearly empty. 

 

We ate quickly and went up to Skywalkers for the 7:30am Rangers Chat, which was informative albeit short. Then we started the lap routine we had started at Hubbard Glacier. Deck 15 then down to 7, warm up and resume. It was windy and overcast to start but when we hit deck 15 for the second time at 9am it was gorgeous and sunny! Being the psycho Canadians that we are; we ordered cold alcoholic drinks and sat down at the bar. It was so sunny and hot my husband ran down our jackets to the room. While he was gone I noticed we were really close to a cliff side so I went to take a picture and there was a glacier coming right into view! 

 

At this point the captain had started his turn so my husband and I went for a lap around deck 7. We saw a lot of sea otters and got a look at another glacier before heading back to deck 15. We ordered more drinks and we’re about to continue our laps but when we walked over to the side to see there was Margerie Glacier coming into view! We stayed put and got some pictures and even saw some calving. 

 

I will say we both preferred Hubbard Glacier. Nothing wrong with Glacier Bay, we just felt Hubbard was more impressive. You can’t beat the weather today though. It was just gorgeous out. I didn’t think I’d get a sunburn in Alaska! 

 

At noon we went down to the International Dining Room for lunch. It was pretty good. I had the mozzarella sticks, aglio e olio spaghetti and potato latkes, with some ice cream for dessert. When the waiter brought my latkes he stressed that they were vegetarian, which I found odd. But then I realized everything I’d ordered was vegetarian and he probably thought I was one. Oops. 

 

We did another walk around the promenade deck before heading back to deck 15 until 3pm. We went down to Explorer’s Lounge for 3:15 to play Taboo. It wasn’t totally what I expected (I thought it would be set up more like a game show or trivia) but it was a blast. There was a group of 12 of us divided into six groups and we did two rounds. My husband and I won by two points! The game is definitely easier when you play with someone you know. Since you can’t use specific words you can at least say things like ‘what do we have in our kitchen that’s new?’ 

 

We got ready for our second formal night and then went to good old Vines for a drink before dinner. We tried out Pacific Moon tonight and had a seat right by the window. This was the quickest service by far! It was also one of my favourite meals of the trip. I had the crab and artichoke dip, seafood deviled eggs, cheesy tortellini, surf and turf and we split the pistachio dome for desert. 

 

That meant we arrived at the evening’s show with plenty of time to spare. Tonight it was The Voices of Tricia Kelly and by now the boat was really rocking. We haven’t really felt it like this since Hubbard Glacier so even though I was expecting it, it was a bit of a jolt. In any case, Tricia Kelly is an amazingly talented singer and hilarious to boot! I really enjoyed her. 

 

We rushed from her show to Explorer’s Lounge for the Marriage Match show. My husband wanted to put our names down and we were picked for the ‘newlywed’ category. It was part embarrassing part hilarious. I’ll get over it haha. We received a great prize at the end so it was certainly worth some mild humiliation. 

 

We went back to Vines for a bit and they offered to store our sparkling wine for us until we wanted to drink it. We checked out the White & Gold Party in the Piazza for about ten minutes but ultimately left. There was movie soundtrack trivia at 10:30 and I’m a huge movie buff. Normally I’d pick a special ship event over trivia but, to be honest, I’m tired of hearing the same songs at every party. 

 

We made the right choice because movie soundtrack trivia was so fun! I tied for first with 27/30 and would have had 28 if I wasn’t an idiot who messed up Back to the Future of all things. I lost the tie breaker question but that was okay; we had a great time and a great end to our day! 

 

 

We agree, Hubbard is the most impressive! But the weather yesterday was so amazingly warm and Margerie spectacular. People back home are saying I should frame some of my photos. They were taken with my phone ha ha but the light was excellent.

With you about the rocking. It was going some last night but all good.

Enjoyed watching you in the game show. We came 30 minutes early and I think got the last two seats at the back! People come for the trivia before and stay put for the big game shows. I think that’s a good plan. There were crowds standing at the back.

Our dining in the Savoy was still super slow with lots of apologies. It was about 40 mins to first course but now I’m allowed to drink again it didn’t feel too bad and we don’t mind eating slowly. Those waiters work incredibly hard. The waiter we had in Juneau had just flown in - a 26 hour journey - and was straight to work! 

[nini]

Agreed, Hubbard Glacier is still our favorite!!!

[EDVM96]

Sitka Sound. What a nice Archipelago. And with us came the good weather said the locals (again).

 

Princess should stop here more often. It's an unusual stop for Princess ships. The 7 day Voyage of the Glaciers never stops here.

 

I like this place.

 

[AlibearNS]

1 hour ago, EDVM96 said:

Sitka Sound. What a nice Archipelago. And with us came the good weather said the locals (again).

 

Princess should stop here more often. It's an unusual stop for Princess ships. The 7 day Voyage of the Glaciers never stops here.

 

I like this place.

 

Our first visit. I liked it too. Loved Fortress of the Bear! Fingers crossed for the Northern Lights tonight!!!

[EDVM96]

Are Northern Lights predicted tonight ?!?

[AlibearNS]

49 minutes ago, EDVM96 said:

Are Northern Lights predicted tonight ?!?

Yes and tomorrow night according to University of Alaska web page. Captain says 50 50 chance tonight and hoping for wind to reduce cloud cover. We’re leaving the bridge cam on tonight as he’ll announce if they show 🙂

[dalsnibba]

https://www.gi.alaska.edu/monitors/aurora-forecast

May 7, 2023

Universal Time

HIGH(++) ACTIVITY

KP INDEX: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

 

 

 

https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/products/aurora-30-minute-forecast

 

Edited May 8, 2023 by dalsnibba

[Drdarkknight]

Hello, Sitka! As a fan of the movie The Proposal, I was very excited to visit! Since all I really wanted to do was see the town we decided to do the Taste of Sitka food tour. 

 

That didn’t start until noon so that meant we got to sleep in! We didn’t get up until 9:30am and went down for breakfast at the International Cafe. Because the pier is a distance away from Sitka’s downtown we had to take a complementary shuttle and we’d be meeting our tour there. Since we had to go into town on our own anyway we decided to just head in early to walk around, since we’d have no time at the end. 

 

We walked off the ship to another day of gorgeous weather. I had to take my coat off almost immediately because it was so nice out. T-shirt weather in Alaska! Catching the shuttle was decently well organized and it was about a twelve minute drive to downtown Sitka with great scenery along the way. 

 

We had about an hour to kill so we walked around downtown and the waterfront and bought some souvenirs for family. We went back to the shuttle drop off shortly before noon to meet our tour. And then we waited another 50 minutes! It turns out our tickets had a time thirty minutes early. And yet we were still waiting until the bitter end for people to show up. It was also a much bigger group than I was expecting: 24 people. I thought it was only 12. 

 

Our guide, Michelle, was the first Alaska-born person we’ve met this whole cruise! She’s part Tlingit and part Irish which I guess is pretty common for the Sitka area. Apparently it was a huge base during World War 2! Despite the hiccups at the start the tour ended up being fantastic. I had no idea Sitka was such a foodie town. We started off by taking a bus to Harbour Mountain Brewing Company, where we tried three beers. My favourite was the stout! I NEVER like stouts! We bought a pack of four ‘road pops’ and then we were back on the bus. 

 

The group was next dropped off at Mean Queen to try some oysters along with a champagne toast. I wasn’t a huge fan of the oysters - I prefer east coast - but it was still a fun and unexpected stop. We next walked to an art gallery where they had set up a long table and had many food items ready for us to try. Because of our group size it would have been a logistical nightmare to take us to all the various establishments, so they brought the establishments to us. We tried: reindeer sausage with duck prosciutto, Brie and caramelized onions; mac and cheese reindeer sausage; halibut ceviche; clam chowder; pelmeni; Dungeness crab; blueberry sea salt; and salted caramel ice cream. My favourites weee the reindeer sausage, ceviche, and pelmeni. 

 

We finished off with blueberry vodka shots and halibut nuggets at Bayview Pub. It was a great tour but I will admit we both left feeling a bit hungry. While the number of dishes is huge the portions sizes were quite small. Having done food tours in the past we ate a light breakfast which was a mistake in this case. Doesn’t mean don’t take it - just means eat a big breakfast before to tide you over. 

 

We had time to kill before the last shuttle so we stopped at Alaska Pure Sea Salt afterwards for a salt tasting (we bought the spicy hot pepper and alder smoked) and a tasting of local Alaskan hot sauces made of kelp! We caught a shuttle shortly after 3pm and decided when we arrived back at the pier to stop in at Halibut Point Crab & Chowder for a pint and a small order of chicken wings since we had an hour left before all aboard. I can’t say I’d recommend the wings but in fairness that’s not what they are known for. They were super salty. 

 

Ultimately, we absolutely loved Sitka. I don’t think we’d do an Alaskan cruise that didn’t visit Sitka at this point. We’d love to just spend a full day wandering the town and all of its shops and food trucks. What a pseudo-hidden gem of a place. 

 

After getting ready for dinner we headed up to the pool deck to watch Movies Under the Starts because I am powerless before ABBA and Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again was playing. I didn’t realize they put cushions on the seats not including some rather big comfy pillows. It started off relatively nice but dipped in temperature quite quickly. We made it through about 70 minutes before we had to go inside. Also - my mistake in one of my earlier posts. They do have popcorn it just doesn’t come out until about 5:45. 

 

At 6:20 we went down to the International Dining Room for supper. The head waiter was right in the centre making penne arrabbiata, which was cool. I had the seafood antipasto, arancini, striploin steak and the soufflé. It was just okay (minus dessert). I’ve realized by now that the beef tenderloin here is fantastic but the striploin has a ton of fat you need to cut around. My husband felt he left half his steak on the plate after cutting out the fat. 

 

Then it was to - you guessed it - Vines. We had bought a packet of playing cards in Juneau so we cracked those out tonight.  At 9:15 we went to the theatre to see Funch: Soul on the High Seas. He has been the resident pianist at Crooners this whole trip. We’ve been meaning to check it out but we’re always busy but I know from experience that Crooners also gets pretty packed before the entertainment. In the nicest way, I’m glad we didn’t take up seats at Crooners. He is very talented but it is not our style of music. That being said, I enjoyed most of his performance, especially Luther Vandross’ Dance with my Father. 

 

One thing to be said about Funch - he is living his best life on this cruise! We have seen him everywhere! We’ve seen him on the pool deck, in the elevator and at port. He’s definitely getting everything he can out of this in his downtime and that’s amazing to see. He’s also a super nice guy. 

 

We went back to Vines to watch the Rock and Roll Party in the Piazza. We were hoping Topaz would have new songs and we were rewarded! They really are a very talented band, it’s just the repetition we were getting tired of. We had a great time and a great end to one of our favourite days on this trip. 

[AlibearNS]

 

 

Looking through my videos of Fortress of the Bear in Sitka. Friends back in the UK are convinced it’s a person in a bear suit, ha! First time posting a vid here; hope it works!

BTW, high activity and clear skies forecast tonight!!!!

 

[HaveDogWillTravel]

I used 

Michele Martin 

Martin’s Private Tours

(907)738-0619

for a private tour and had a great time. 
We started by going north of the cruise pier to Old Sitka historic site. Very beautiful place and I got to practice my new birding skills I learned from Amy on my tour in Hoonah. 
 

Then we went south of town driving along Silver Bay. Simply stunning. We stopped for some photos and there were a couple of guys in the water diving for scallops. They said there were a lot!  Unfortunately the road to Blue lake was closed so we didn’t get to do that. 
 

Next stop was fortress of the bears. That was amazing. I will definitely come back here again. They take in orphaned cubs. They stock the mountain fed ponds in the enclosures with salmon during the season so they can hunt like in the wild. They train them to do basic actions like stand, open (mouth), show each paw in order to do basic health care without having to sedate them. They also know how to sign More. They do that to get more apples or other food. 
 

We went to the raptor center and I liked it but don’t feel the need to go back. A golden eagle swooped over the those bald eagles and the bald eagles started vocalizing. That was really interesting to hear and see. 
 

We went to Sitka national historic park. This is easy to get to from the shuttle drop off. I will definitely come back here. Great small museum  and lovely rainforest trails. 
 

We drove across the bridge to get a view of Sitka from across the bay. 
 

It was exactly what we wanted to do as I’d never been here before. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 8, 2023 by HaveDogWillTravel

[AlibearNS]

Beautiful weather sailing into Ketchikan this morning!!

 

[szizo]

On 5/6/2023 at 7:05 AM, Drdarkknight said:

So the people checking passports say you need it but customs never asked for it. We were really surprised because we are both Canadian and we know that a vaccine record is no longer required to go to Canada. I think maybe the tour company hasn’t updated their notes yet? 

Which tour company was this? Did you book direct or thru Princess.  I specifically asked about that and was told I don't need it for my May 13th excursion