BTimmer's Almost Live Alaska 2024 Quasi B2B (8/24-9/11)

[Btimmer]

We enjoyed an early dinner of a Denver sandwich & poutine, and Angela had a buffalo burger at the Eldorado hotel

 

 

.  Both were yummy.

 

So far today we've logged over 4.5 miles of walking exploring this little town and the provincial park across the river.

[Btimmer]

Yesterday we flew from Dawson City to Fairbanks on a one hour charter flight on one of the oldest 737's still in service!  It started flying on January 25, 1983 for Aer Lingus followed by Air France and a number of other carriers before ending up in the AirNorth fleet.  It had the loud jet engines but a modern interior.  It's the oldest jet still in service that we have ever flown on.

 

 

After arriving in Fairbanks, we took an Uber to the Featherstone Vintage Automobile Museum which was a couple miles from the Westmark hotel.  This museum features 60 pre-world war 2 vehicles powered by electricity, gas, or steam.  Most of the vehicles are in running condition and are periodically driven! There were many brands that I didn't recognize. Accompanying the cars were displays of period correct vintage clothing (no reproductions!).  It was an excellently curated display and well worth the $18/pp entry fee.  I highly recommend it. I took around 100 pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We decided to walk back to the hotel and stopped by Costco for a hotdog and shopping.  Afterwards, about 1/2 way back on Illinois Street, we stopped in at the Blue Door Antique store which we have previously visited.  The proprietor is super friendly!

 

 

Back at the Westmark, we relaxed and did some laundry while watching on Apple TV on my phone the Seattle Mariners play the LA Angels.  We won!

 

We walked back downtown and enjoyed a really good dinner at the Thai House restaurant before returning to finish repacking and get our luggage ready for the 6:30am pickup.  Tomorrow we visit a dredge before driving by motor coach down to Denali where we'll spend a couple of nights.

Hot & Sour Soup

 

 

 

Edited August 31 by Btimmer

[Btimmer]

Today we visited Dredge #8 just outside Fairbanks.  We panned $25 worth of gold  which we had put into a necklace. I did see a moose just after leaving the dredge site.

 

Following a lunch break in Fairbanks, we drove down to Denali experiencing the beginning of the fall colors. 

 

 

our route

 

At the McKinley Chalet we checked in, and then enjoyed my birthday dinner at the Canyon steakhouse.  Tomorrow we do a tundra tour.


 

 

Balloons for the birthday boy

 

 

 

 

 

20 oz Ribeye (shared)

 

Baked Alaska

[Sea42]

6 hours ago, Btimmer said:

Today we visited Dredge #8 just outside Fairbanks.  We panned $25 worth of gold  which we had put into a necklace. I did see a moose just after leaving the dredge site.

 

Following a lunch break in Fairbanks, we drove down to Denali experiencing the beginning of the fall colors. 

 

 

our route

 

At the McKinley Chalet we checked in, and then enjoyed my birthday dinner at the Canyon steakhouse.  Tomorrow we do a tundra tour.


 

 

Balloons for the birthday boy

 

 

 

 

 

20 oz Ribeye (shared)

 

Baked Alaska

Happy Birthday!

[puppycanducruise]

Great pictures, looking forward to more.  Thanks

[Hogladyrider]

Happy Birthday.....what a great way to celebrate in Denali!

[SUESEABE]

[kirkc]

A little late following your travels. So glad to hear about the removal of the casino staircase. On the Rotterdam it makes the music venues very smoky as it acts as a conduit for the cigarette smoke from the casino. Will be happy to see it gone on the Rotterdam too.

[Haljo1935]

Happy Birthday @Btimmer 🎉🎁

[Btimmer]

Today we took the tundra tour and saw moose, caribou, ptarmigans, grouse Dahl sheep, a weasel, ravens, but no bears! The fall colors are certainly here!

 

 

 

 

Afterwards we watched the sled dog demonstration before walking 3 miles back to the Princess complex which is next to the HAL McKinley Chalet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We then ate snow crab at King Salmon at the Princess complex. Yummy!

 

[Btimmer]

We made it to Anchorage yesterday by train and had perfect views of Denali.

 

Our tour guide Hen was the best ever!

 

 

Today we rented a car and drove 4.5 hours to Homer Spit for a late lunch.  We'll stop by Seward on the way back to Anchorage.  We board the Grand Princess in the afternoon.  More details will be in my blog when I get it caught up.  This has been one of our busiest trips.

 

 

[Btimmer]

We've made it onboard the Grabd Princess.  We left Anchorage at 12 noon and were in our stateroom at 2:15pm including a 1/2 hour wait at the Whittier tunnel.  It was a cold, wet, & blustery day along the Turnagin Arm and Whittier. Yesterday was clear and sunny when we drove down to Homer.

 

 

 

Our aft inside stateroom room is probably the biggest and nicest we have had on any ship.  We love the arched doorway. It, however, does not have European outlets; just US 110v and USB including one USB port on each side of the bed.  While the ship is 26 years old and the decor reflects it, our first impressions are positive.

 

 

Bathroom

 

Shower. 
 

The ship has no public front facing interior viewing space unlike the majestic or all of the HAL ships.  😞

Covered central pool

 

We ate our first meal in the Lido and it was good.

 

[Btimmer]

At just before our scheduled departure time of 8pm, the Captain announced that we would stay in port until 5am tomorrow as there is a major storm.  We will skip the call at the Hubbard Glacier proceed direct to Glacier Bay and the current plan is to spend additional time there.

[oakridger]

@Btimmer Oh darn! I hope your ship can avoid any unpleasant seas from the storm.  Glacier Bay is great, but Hubbard Glacier is very prone to impressive calving.

 

Wishing you a wonderful day in Glacier Bay!

 

~Nancy

[Btimmer]

Today in Glacier Bay at the John Hopkins Glacier

 

we saw seals and a sow and two cubs.

 

 

 

[Btimmer]

After our visit to Glacier Bay on the Grand Princess, our conclusion is that the Princess ships that do not have an interior front facing public area are an inferior way to do scenic cruising compared to HAL ships.  We ended up using a port side aft lido window seat for our vase of operations.  I could duck outside to the Horizon pool area for unobstructed photography.  
 

Other than that, the Ranger programs are the same.  
 

Edited September 7 by Btimmer

[akeka]

12 hours ago, Btimmer said:

After our visit to Glacier Bay on the Grand Princess, our conclusion is that the Princess ships that do not have an interior front facing public area are an inferior way to do scenic cruising compared to HAL ships.  We ended up using a port side aft lido window seat for our vase of operations.  I could duck outside to the Horizon pool area for unobstructed photography.  
 

This is why we decided against Princess in favor of HAL for an Antarctica cruise next year.

[Btimmer]

4 hours ago, akeka said:

This is why we decided against Princess in favor of HAL for an Antarctica cruise next year.

Good choice!  We've done Antarctica 3 times on HAL (Zaandam & Oosterdam), and all the trips were fabulous.

[Btimmer]

We're at the Princess Circle cocktail party and the following composition of guests was given by the FCC.  We're sailing completely full with  2,528 passengers.

 

1,757 first time cruisers (very high!)

338 Gold

139 Ruby

145 Platinum

94 Elite

 

 

[0bnxshs]

On 9/7/2024 at 8:22 AM, akeka said:

This is why we decided against Princess in favor of HAL for an Antarctica cruise next year.

We've done both HAL and Princess Antarctic cruises and thoroughly enjoyed both, not missing 1 bit due to the lack of the Crows Nest viewing advantage as we were on Sapphire Princess, which still had Skywalkers which provided views comparable to the Crows Nest only from the back of the ship as well as the promenade that wraps around the very front of Sapphire (giving the ship the look of having lips, so to speak).  All captains will do 360° turns at points of interest and you generally can hear the commentary throughout the ship.

 

One thing I can say is that each and every Antarctic trip is uniquely awesome and we've been several times (after believing we'd only ever get to go once).  Whether you go via an expedition cruise or cruising only cruise, the lines and ships put great effort into presenting Antarctica in an unforgettable experience and you'll find that you hate wasting time sleeping for what you might miss.

Edited September 9 by 0bnxshs

[Btimmer]

I've updated my daily blog through yesterday's final port call in Ketchikan.  It can be found at https://timmer2024ak.blogspot.com

 

Today is a sea day with very little program activity.  Earlier this morning at breakfast we passed a large pod of humpback whales and a half hour ago there were dolphins. We've positioned ourselves up in Club One 5 with comfortable port side chairs.

[Hogladyrider]

@Btimmer  thanks for the update, just enjoyed reading it while having my first cup of coffee of the day.

 

I so enjoy following along your adventures!

[Btimmer]

Disembarkation today was fast and easy.  We were off the ship in under 5 minutes before 8am.  Canadian customs was a breeze.  We did the express version and carried our luggage off and caught the Skytrain to the Vancouver airport where we are waiting for our standby flight to Seattle.  It was a good trip and we look forward to doing it northbound perhaps next year.

[cunnorl]

 Thanks for taking us along. I have enjoyed your travels. Safe travels home.

Until the next time.....

[Btimmer]

We set two records on this trip:  we flew on one of the oldest 737's in service from Dawson City to Fairbanks (a 31 year old 737), and today we flew our shortest flight ever (28 minutes from Vancouver to Seattle).  We were in Seattle before noon and fully unpacked by 1:30pm.  I'll do one more post to my blog comparing the two companies Alaska cruises.