Its Going to Be Majestic - Live Review Princess Majestic Cruisetour - June 10-22

[Stealthdog]

Some views of Glacier Bay - you will see several glaciers, lots of interesting rocks formations, wildlife everywhere, and incredibly scenery.  Here are some random pictures of what you will see. 

[Stealthdog]

Mid afternoon the park rangers left the ship and the marine biologist picked up the narration.  The pilots for the bay left late afternoon.  Both the rangers and pilots had a small boat go up next to the ship as we were moving and climbed onto their ship. When the pilots left the ship played the love boat on the horns for the first time this sailing, which we have been waiting to hear. 

[Stealthdog]

Pics of the Wake View bar, Deck 16 aft on the other side of the World Market buffets.  Tons of seating (don’t sit in the buffet, get your food and move out to the Wake View), full bar and juice bar.  Every time we have been here, it’s almost completely empty.  

[arizonaperson]

@Stealthdog

loving your live from. Great description and photos.

[Stealthdog]

Dinner last night at The Catch by Rudy.  Hands down the best food on board.  If we do this again, we will just eat there every night.  After you sit, you are greeted with a glass of proscecco, a baguette, and spread for the baguette.  The table decorations and plates are all nicely done.  
 

The chef periodically stopped at each table to talk to the guests and make sure they were happy with the food.  This is the only place on ship we have seen this.

 

Appetizers I got the Tale of Citrus and Eric got the seafood sensation.  Both were great.  We both got the sea & shore and temperatures for the filet were perfect the first time.  Very nice flavors and clean.  Deserts were Rudis Artistic Face to Face and Chantilly Lace - again both fantastic.  We have zero critique about anything in the restaurant.  There are even nice views out the windows (to see our 15 feet swells lol) and because of the location we could hear the entertainment me from the piazza.

 

Highly recommend anyone going to Rudy’s if they have a dining package or want something other than MDR.  With their extensive menu you can go multiple times and not get the same things.  It’s probably tied with the Central Park restaurant on Royal Caribbean Oasis Class ships as our favorite specialty dining on a cruise ship.

[Stealthdog]

Day 7 events - slow day this morning so we will hit the gym and do our packing, before we get to the College Fjord this afternoon.  

[CruzeQueen2]

20 minutes ago, Stealthdog said:

Dinner last night at The Catch by Rudy.  Hands down the best food on board.  If we do this again, we will just eat there every night.  After you sit, you are greeted with a glass of proscecco, a baguette, and spread for the baguette.  The table decorations and plates are all nicely done.  
 

The chef periodically stopped at each table to talk to the guests and make sure they were happy with the food.  This is the only place on ship we have seen this.

 

Appetizers I got the Tale of Citrus and Eric got the seafood sensation.  Both were great.  We both got the sea & shore and temperatures for the filet were perfect the first time.  Very nice flavors and clean.  Deserts were Rudis Artistic Face to Face and Chantilly Lace - again both fantastic.  We have zero critique about anything in the restaurant.  There are even nice views out the windows (to see our 15 feet swells lol) and because of the location we could hear the entertainment me from the piazza.

 

Highly recommend anyone going to Rudy’s if they have a dining package or want something other than MDR.  With their extensive menu you can go multiple times and not get the same things.  It’s probably tied with the Central Park restaurant on Royal Caribbean Oasis Class ships as our favorite specialty dining on a cruise ship.

@Stealthdog I second that! Everything you said. My experience there was the same. Loved every morsel and went there twice. Thanks for all the great reporting in so many areas. 💖

[Stealthdog]

Information about the gym.

 

Its a really small gym (for a cruise ship with 4k passengers).  Every time we went, it was really busy - pre-breakfast and pre-lunch were the times we went.  That may have been peak times, I don’t know.  With the GPS tracking of medallions and the new technology, Princess could probably do a traffic meter for the gym like land based gyms are doing now to access on the app.  

 

They do a nice job with the layout of the cardio machines all facing out with great views off the starboard side.  All their machines are precor - ellipticals, treadmills, two types of bikes, and they have a couple row machines (I don’t know the brand for that one).  There were always free machines when I went.

 

The weights portion is tiiiiiinnnny.  They have one or two machines, a small area for benches with free weights, and I think one other station.  I didn’t take any pictures of that area because it was always packed and I don’t like to take and post pictures of people working out without them knowing.  If you want to get a workout with the weights unimpeded, you will need to figure out when the gym is sparsely used.  
 

They also have another room where they have their yoga mats and spin bikes.  This is probably where they do their group training classes.  We didn’t participate in any classes but they are included either limited or unlimited in packages.  Schedule and information on the classes below.  
 

It did seem like the staff did a good job keeping the area clean and there were great views while working out, but just be aware that it’s a small space and will likely be crowded.

[Stealthdog]

We went to the production show Encore on Day 6.  It was kind of an opera-like show.

They had a guest soprano perform with the production.  She had a few moments in the 2nd half where she was a little flat and it looked like she wasn’t pleased when she was leaving the stage, but it didn’t matter because she was really talented and the star of the show.  
 

There was no tenor, so the show just seemed a little weird/off to us.  In fact, outside of the guest soprano, only one of the other singers had a voice that approached a style you would expect at an opera show. 
 

I give Princess credit for trying something outside the box and doing something different - they just don’t have the cast to pull it off well.  The costumes the cast wore were outstanding.  
 

That said, if you want to see the production and only want to commit to one night, go to the Fantastic Journey show - it’s much more polished.  
 

We did hear a lot of coughing and clearing of throats in the theater, so there is likely a virus(es) spreading on board.  We expect that on every sailing so are breaking out our travel sized hand-sanitizers and avoiding the elevators, World Market, and other places where lots of people are constantly touching the same things.

Edited June 16, 2023 by Stealthdog

[Stealthdog]

Day 7 had another presentation by the Naturalist/Marine Biologist Mark.  We have enjoyed these sessions because they are really informative.  Todays session was climate and the ocean - it was interesting to hear the challenges and lack of knowledge of ocean terrain and how they try to measure water temperature and mappings.  There are things we have been seeing but didn’t know what they were (or recognize that we didn’t know) and attending these talks/presentations have given us those answers.  For example, reflective water at the glaciers is because it’s fresh water (salt water doesn’t reflect), or the different colors of water that meet and seem to have a barrier between them is because they are meeting with different temperatures and ph.  

[Stealthdog]

Final jackpot bingo time!  Have some non refundable OBC left we have to spend.

[gottagoacruzn]

Hey Stealthdog, over on the Alaskan page, you should give your two cents to Discoing gd, he's a Floridian like you, an he's not to sure about goin to Alaska, an needs some talkin to. 

 

 

 

 

[Stealthdog]

Departure day.  😔

 

We have a really late departure off the ship (1020) and then a 2 hour bus ride to our first lodge.  I’ll get caught up with all the ship posts and pictures while waiting on board or on the bus to Kenai.  
 

@Fishbone the ship is mostly in ok condition.  There are a few small dents here and there and we covered a few damaged spots with duct tape, but you probably won’t notice it.  Have a great boarding and week at sea!!!

[Stealthdog]

All checked out of the room and in the Symphony Dining Room, for about a 2 hour  wait for disembarkation.  Below is the departure information.  The College Fjords are very close to Whittier, so we actually got to and docked at Whittier before midnight, so shouldn’t be any delays in early disembarking for people with early flights.  

 

Looks like first transfers to Anchorage Airport is 610am.   Not sure how long it takes to get to the airport.  

[Stealthdog]

Last night we had our Balcony Dining experience.  There was a little bit of confusion with Room Service.  They told me dinner time was 6pm and they would be setting up the balcony at 530pm.  What they didn’t tell me is they wanted me there at 530 for the setup - I just assumed they would go in and set up the balcony.  We strolled up at 555 to 2 room service attendants waiting for us.  
 

Setup was really quick - a square table with table cloth, some nice roses, and the standard plating.  The experience comes with a fixed menu, half bottle of Prosecco, and 1 other drink per person.  We had crab cakes, goat cheese salad, surf & turf, and deserts.  The food wasn’t as good as Rudys, but still pretty good and it was more about the experience.

 

It ended up being perfect weather (perfect enough) - high 40s and sunny.  As we had our meal, we listened to Mark the Naturalist  narrate our passing through the College Fjords and watched the glaciers (and a few Black Bears).   We couldn’t get a clear picture of the bears on our phone, but they were on appropriately named Bear Beach.  Eric was quite happy with the experience.

 

if you are going to have the balcony dining experience there is no better day to do it than the scenic College Fjord sailing.  I packed the menu - will post it separately later.
 

This is Alaska.  This is why we are here.

 

Edited June 17, 2023 by Stealthdog

[CruzeQueen2]

@Stealthdog Thanks for sharing so much about your cruise, JC. I also LOVE College Fjord glacier viewing the most. You chose a great day for that dinner. Your pictures of the dinner look amazing. I love seeing how they set it up for you - ON the balcony.

 

We had a balcony breakfast, but chose to eat it inside. The breakfast selections were good. 

 

Have a fantastic time on the rest of your travels through Alaska. The weather you have today looks wonderful.  You have been most generous to share your reporting with us all. I enjoyed sailing along with you. Thank you again and again.

[Purple Gallinule]

We are taking the southbound Majestic trip starting today. It is amazing how quiet the ship is today. It is more like the first sailings after the recent unpleasantness (COVID) when the ships were only half full. The room stewards are busy and have a team-like organization to get everything done for the new passengers. We are doing laundry and enjoying our balcony. This is the first time we have ever seen the sun in Whittier! It is so beautiful!

 

Bon Voyage to all who are disembarking today. Hope to SEA you around on another cruise.

[Stealthdog]

36 minutes ago, CruzeQueen2 said:

@Stealthdog Thanks for sharing so much about your cruise, JC. I also LOVE College Fjord glacier viewing the most. You chose a great day for that dinner. Your pictures of the dinner look amazing. I love seeing how they set it up for you - ON the balcony.

 

We had a balcony breakfast, but chose to eat it inside. The breakfast selections were good. 

 

Have a fantastic time on the rest of your travels through Alaska. The weather you have today looks wonderful.  You have been most generous to share your reporting with us all. I enjoyed sailing along with you. Thank you again and again.

No problem - I’m a compulsive planner (and worrier).  So I hope this information is helpful for anyone out there planning their own trip.  The breakfast spread looks great!

[Stealthdog]

11 minutes ago, Purple Gallinule said:

We are taking the southbound Majestic trip starting today. It is amazing how quiet the ship is today. It is more like the first sailings after the recent unpleasantness (COVID) when the ships were only half full. The room stewards are busy and have a team-like organization to get everything done for the new passengers. We are doing laundry and enjoying our balcony. This is the first time we have ever seen the sun in Whittier! It is so beautiful!

 

Bon Voyage to all who are disembarking today. Hope to SEA you around on another cruise.

Enjoy the 7 day southbound!   The Symphony Dining room is a madhouse right now and completely full.  The servers keep trying to take my coffee cup away and I have to keep swatting at them.  They have coffee, teas, and water stations in here for guests waiting for their disembark.  Also, a lot of the seating spaces have outlets on the baseboards (probably used for vacuuming) so you can charge your phone while waiting.

[cruzrbachoua]

55 minutes ago, CruzeQueen2 said:

@Stealthdog Thanks for sharing so much about your cruise, JC. I also LOVE College Fjord glacier viewing the most. You chose a great day for that dinner. Your pictures of the dinner look amazing. I love seeing how they set it up for you - ON the balcony.

 

We had a balcony breakfast, but chose to eat it inside. The breakfast selections were good. 

 

Have a fantastic time on the rest of your travels through Alaska. The weather you have today looks wonderful.  You have been most generous to share your reporting with us all. I enjoyed sailing along with you. Thank you again and again.

Do you have a copy of the balcony breakfast menu? 

[CruzeQueen2]

13 minutes ago, cruzrbachoua said:

Do you have a copy of the balcony breakfast menu? 

@cruzrbachoua I 'm pretty sure it is listed on the website. Sorry I don't have a hard copy to share. Basically, the balcony breakfast is a plate of smoked salmon roses, with cream cheese, capers, etc and toasted bread - I think they were english muffins, not bagels. Main course was quiche, with salad, and bacon. Lovely melon filled with berries and whipped cream on the side. Pastries that we requested were almond and chocolate croissants. Fresh squeezed OJ and a small bottle of bubbles. Coffee, tea of course. We thoroughly enjoyed our balcony breakfast, inside the cabin. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

[Stealthdog]

Left the ship around 1030 and walked right through the very small port building to our bus waiting for us.  Luggage will be split - half going to Fairbanks and half following us from lodge to lodge.  
 

We had separate instructions (posted below) on how to identify the luggage that we don’t want with us for the lodges.  Put all of our shoes, dress clothes, and dirty clothes from the ship in them.  

 

Next stop, Kenai Princess Lodge!

 

Edited June 17, 2023 by Stealthdog

[Stealthdog]

In Skagway we did our only Princess cruise line tour - White Pass and Bennett Lake.  It was a full day event - 1.5 hour bus ride from Skagway to Carcross, and then the ~4 hour train ride back to Skagway.  There are all kinds of variations of this type, including full train up and back.  
 

We had our meet up in the theater and waited for our tour (200A) to be called.  Because tending was slowing down exit from the ship, the tours starting with the rail had priority for the tenders because the trains run on time and won’t wait.  After we got off the tender it was about a 10 minute walk to the pickup point for the bus.  
 

I’ll split the tour into the 2 phases/posts just to make the posts smaller and easier to read.  Below is a map of the pass - both the bus and rail portions follow the same route (roughly) and you could often see the road when on the rail, and the railroad when you were on the bus.  We did not get this map until we were on the rail portion.

Edited June 18, 2023 by Stealthdog

[Stealthdog]

The bus ride from Skagway to Carcross made several stops along the way - one stop for Canadian Customs (Fraser BC) to check passports (we did not get off the bus) and two stops we got off the bus to get pictures, including the border between Yukon and BC.  
 

The bus did have a bathroom on if you need it.  We sat on the right side of the bus, which seemed to be the better side to get views.  The left side was often the base of obstructed terrain and the ride side often had the nice views of the mountains and the rail.  
 

One of the stops we made had views of mountain goats up the side of a small mountainous area, which we could see with binoculars, but couldn’t capture with the phone camera.  
 

Both stops were flat terrain, walking on a combination of dirt of paved areas, so really no issues with mobility.  At Carcross, we got off the bus and had some time to explore the small little train area.  There was a small building that showed a 10 minute video about the White Pass, some small gift shops and little stores, a cool bridge with views of old log cabins, and the train station.  The whole area is fairly flat, but you may have to step over train tracks or other small obstacles to move around.  
 

I think we had about 45-50 minutes at Carcross before boarding the train which was plenty of time to check out the stores, explore the small area, and watch the video.

Edited June 18, 2023 by Stealthdog

[gottagoacruzn]

Did you see the Carcross desert, emerald lake & etc?