Just Back...Island Princess w/ Victoria pre-cruise and Seward post-cruise...FABULOUS!

[UTVOLS]

WARNING!

This could possibly be the longest review every recorded. If you are not feeling patient, please hit your computer’s BACK button and spare yourself the frustration of reading any further….or perhaps if you have nothing better to do this evening, grab an espresso or Red Bull and read on…..:D

 

BACKGROUND:

We are 4 University of Tennessee graduates, hence the name UTVOLS… our group consisted of my husband, myself, my brother, and sister-in-law. We are in our early 40’s. At the time, we had sailed HAL, Celebrity, Disney, RCI, and NCL, but mostly to the Caribbean. My brother and I are blessed to have parents who would take all 4 grandchildren for ‘Camp Gramma,’ so that we could travel together. Our father is a retired Army Colonel who flew helicopters in Vietnam and Korea, and so he said taking care of our children for almost 2 weeks would be a piece of cake. He refers to their time together as ‘Boot Camp!’ They are great loving grandparents!

 

5 months ago, we (my sister-in-law and I) made our first post on the Alaska boards with a request for the Alaskan ‘veterans’ to please plan our trip. We were CLUELESS in the greatest sense of the word! I chuckle now, thinking of how ridiculous those first posts were…we didn’t know a Fjord from a Glacier. We didn’t know if we wanted to sail HAL, Princess, or NCL or if we wanted a round-trip, northbound, or southbound. Heaven forbid we try to decide whether we wanted a port and starboard side stateroom. All we knew for sure was that we wanted to go to Alaska, that we wanted a balcony, and that we wanted to go without having to sacrifice our children’s college savings in the process.

 

Initially, when the ‘veterans’ began answering our questions, we felt as though they were speaking a foreign language. Then, one CC member who was not yet an Alaskan veteran contacted me on a different board with a private message. She had done extensive research but b/c she was not yet a veteran did not want to respond to my questions. This blessed individual began to wade me through the process. I am grateful for her patience and for her behind the scenes tutorials. I felt the freedom to ask many ignorant questions without the fear of public humiliation…. My public humiliation on CC would came later.

 

Within a few weeks, my SIL and I had virtually become ‘CopyCats’ of several well loved posters. Whatever they suggested, we booked. Our final decision ended up being the Island Princess sailing Northbound out of Vancouver, with 2 port side balcony staterooms, on the Caribe deck midship…cabin C418 & C420. Mii was instrumental in helping us choose our cabins as she was the one to give us an invaluable website on the complex balcony system of the Coral and Island Princess ships. http://mysite.verizon.net/res76zxu/princessbalconies/index.html Thank you Mii ! The cabins were perfect as were the balconies!

 

My husband and I wanted to visit Victoria and Vancouver pre-cruise, but found the flights into Seattle to be more affordable. Figuring out how to do the Seattle/Victoria/Vancouver jaunt, knowing that we would have a ridiculous amount of luggage containing a horrible amount of fleece, goretex, binoculars and all manner of suggested gear from this board was daunting in and of itself. One of my posts exclaimed that I felt as if I were trying to get to the moon in a helium balloon. There were far too many options to get to Victoria,….floatplanes and ferries, rental cars and speedboats! YIKES!

 

(With the help of several west coast posters and with NancyIL asking all of the right questions), we ended up deciding to fly into Seattle early on a Friday morning, securing our rental car and heading to Port Angeles where we would spend the night and catch the COHO car ferry Saturday morning. We would spend the night in Victoria, and catch the BC ferry to Vancouver out of Tsawwassen-SwartzBay Sunday morning.)

 

The drive to Port Angeles was spectacular and I must have said a thousand times … ‘I LOVE THE EVERGREEN TREES!’ So many varieties! Sequim was having its Lavendar Festival that weekend, so all of the farms were having tours and the lavendar was in bloom everywhere. We enjoyed Olympic National Park and spent the night at the Red Lion within walking distance of the CoHo ferry. We caught the 8:20am car ferry to Victoria on Saturday morning and arrived in Victoria’s Inner Harbor around 10 am. What a glorious sight to enter Victoria from that direction with the Empress Hotel and Parliament Bldgs in full view! Victoria could EASILY be proclaimed as a highlight of our trip, although the highlights are so numerous. We toured around town, driving each and every street to get the lay of the land and stopped by the Marriott Inner Harbor around 12 noon to see if perhaps we could check in and park the car. To our surprise, our room was ready, and we had received a complimentary upgrade to a corner room with a deluxe city view.!!!! The room was floor to ceiling windows on 2 sides, and we could see the Parliament building and the Empress Hotel!!!! We parked and did a walking tour, picked up Canada souvenirs, ate fish and chips, and drove through the city park where they were setting up for their annual Luminara Festival. Then we headed to the Beloved Butchart Gardens around 4:30 taking the scenic drive around the coast. By the time we got to Butchart, it had begun to shower lightly. When we got out of the car, we were immediately handed a clear bubble umbrella which made the touring of the gardens even that much more fun! Because of the dreary-ness, the flowers looked that much more spectacular! It was fun to go through the gardens in our own little bubble, and we got a great kick out of watching grown men and boys 'twirling' their parisols as they strolled amongst the blossoms! We also sat on the bench beside the ‘bronze boar’ and watched how many people gave into rubbing its snout for luck! Many were tempted, few declined.

 

We ended up not staying for the fireworks, although their employee insisted that they would go on. The clouds seemed low enough that after the first few fireworks, we felt sure that smoke and clouds would cover the majority of bursts and felt that our time would be better spent in our 'upgraded deluxe city view room!' wrapped in bathrobes.

 

We found the people in Victoria to be truly amazing! They are among the most pleasant, mannerly people we have ever encountered. We loved this WHOLE portion of our trip. Thank you to Budget Queen for insisting that Victoria is more than a Day Trip. We were glad that we had stayed the night!

 

Stay tuned for Vancouver….

[NancyIL]

Welcome back - and what a great beginning to your trip report! I'm looking forward to reading more. :)

[mii]

I want to welcome you back also. i am certainly glad that that site helped you. I cannot take credit for that site however it was constructed by a fellow Princess cruiser whose name is Tom. He has not been on lately. I know he had to have spent hours and hours constructing that site and I am truly glad that it helped you. I have that site on my computer as a favorite.

 

I really wish that Cruise Critic would put that site as a "Sticky".

 

Looking forward to your next chapter of your cruise.

 

Marilyn

[UTVOLS]

Vancouver... Rain, Rain, Go Away!

 

 

Sunday morning, we played around Victoria a bit more and headed out to catch the mid-morning ferry to Vancouver. Arrived in Vancouver to downpours, so we toured the city by car...We saw Stanley park multiple times jumping in and out when there was a bit of a break in the weather. We checked out the entrance to Grouse mountain and Capilano Bridge which we will do on our next trip back.

 

We watched Holland America's Ryndam depart under the Lions Gate bridge and were sympathetic toward the few people who stood in the rain for sail away. We met up with my brother and SIL at the Marriott Pinnacle that evening as they had flown in from Texas that day. We returned the rental car just across the street from the hotel which was priceless! For those contemplating renting a car, we considered it to be invaluable during the first leg of our journey! We had the freedom to go where and when we wanted to with a fortress of belongings in the trunk. It was an extra blessing considering the tremendous amount of rain we experienced.

 

Monday morning, we awoke to Rain, Rain, Rain again. We had contemplated doing the Trolley tour but instead opted to head over to the pier. From the Marriott, the cab ride was $4. The conceirge called for a TaxiVan for the four of us. The distance to the pier would have been walkable but dragging our luggage train through the rain was less than appealing. We found it quite humorous that our tip outweighed the cab fee by 3 times!

 

We began embarkation just prior to 1:00 and were quite impressed by the efficiency of the process. We enjoyed lunch in the Dining room and by Sail Away, the Sun burst through the clouds and proclaimed that for the remainder of our trip, we would be blessed with such grand weather that toward the end of our week, I would begin to feel quite guilty that our weather had been so glorious.

 

 

The Island Princess

 

We enjoyed the Island Princess, although we would not give her as high of marks as the other lines we have sailed. I think the other lines just fit our tastes a bit better. I will agree with those that have posted that as far as Alaska goes, they did an exceptional job. We did love Dr. Eley's lectures and his commentary.

 

We had chosen Anytime dining which we liked the freedom of, but disliked not getting to know a regular server. The food was good, but we were a bit disappointed with the service. Several of our servers were exceptional, others seemed downright grumpy.... I suppose the upside of Anytime dining was, that once we found the waiter that we really liked, we made reservations for that same table (#95 by the window w/ Dennis and Ferdinand each evening, thereafter) They were like finding a needle in a haystack to begin with though.:o

 

We got to know our head waiter, Marius from Romania quite well. He was a young fellow who lived in Vancouver and saw his wife every two weeks for 6 hours...On the first day at lunch, we ate in the dining room and were surprised that we were not required to 'sanitize' before entering. :eek: When we mentioned it to our Asst. server, both he and the server were SHOCKED and immediately went to speak to Marius, the Head Waiter. Marius promptly retrieved a container of hand sanitizer and explained that Princess had begun cost saving measures and that they were not requiring sanitizing unless asked specifically by a passenger. Needless to say, VERY few of our meals were eaten in the Horizon court from that point on. YIKES! Far too many unsanitized people touching those TONGS!!! ha

 

Anyway, maybe Marius thought we were a comical bunch, maybe because we were his age, or perhaps because we took an interest in his life, each evening he sought us out and had the Chef make a special appetizer for us. One evening, he also had the Chef make several Thai entrees for us after we had mentioned how much we loved Thai food. It was crazy how many of the servers came by our table just to get a whiff of our dinners that evening!

 

We attended Dr. Eley's lectures whenever available and felt wonderful knowing that we were actually learning something about mammals, glaciers or wildlife, etc. So many of our vacations have been self indulgent where we just laid on a beach and watched entertaining shows in the evening. Not that there is anything wrong with that...we just felt more productive during this vacation.

 

The layout of the ship is easy to figure out. The promenade especially nice, but we found the upper decks that were surrounded by blue wind guards to be unpleasant.

 

The majority of the folks that worked at the Customer Service Desk were fantastic with the exception of one fellow that we nicknamed 'Dr. No!' We later discovered that in the Official Princess Room Handbook that #10 on Princess' list of customer service guarantees is that they never say no....We got a chuckle over it. :rolleyes:

 

Our room steward, Manuel was wonderful, although we never saw him. He made sure that we had an egg crate on our bed, provided us w/ robes and extra pillows, and was efficient beyond belief. He had servicing his rooms down to a science and we were grateful for that.

 

My hubsand and I were generally in bed early and up early so we cannot comment on the 'NightLife' onboard although my brother and SIL attended a few comedians and the first night's variety show. I don't recall any raving reviews from them.

If anyone has specific questions regarding the ship, I'll be happy to try and answer....:)

 

 

Stay tuned for....

 

"WHALE HO......!

There She Blows!"....

 

 

 

[UTVOLS]

Welcome back - and what a great beginning to your trip report! I'm looking forward to reading more. :)

 

Thank you Nancy...

I would have given up long before the final payment was due had it not been your 2 years of hard research prior to my landing on the Alaska board...

 

You are a blessing!

[UTVOLS]

I want to welcome you back also. i am certainly glad that that site helped you. I cannot take credit for that site however it was constructed by a fellow Princess cruiser whose name is Tom. He has not been on lately. I know he had to have spent hours and hours constructing that site and I am truly glad that it helped you. I have that site on my computer as a favorite.

 

I really wish that Cruise Critic would put that site as a "Sticky".

 

Looking forward to your next chapter of your cruise.

 

Marilyn

 

 

Mii,

Don't sell yourself short!:)

Although Tom did the work, YOU were the one that provided us with his website.

 

As I stood on our balcony, many times I pondered the complexity of the Island's balcony construction. I also wondered how many folks were disappointed if they didn't know what to expect....covered, uncovered, partially covered, full view, etc.

 

Our fully covered, mid ship with adjoining balcony to my Brother and SIL's balcony was PERFECT and just what we wanted! Thank you!

 

http://mysite.verizon.net/res76zxu/princessbalconies/index.html

[UTVOLS]

My brother and SIL were lucky folks to be with...My brother won a free spa treatment from the spa raffle on the first day and there was something magical about my SIL being on the balcony. Whales would suddenly begin to appear. The evening that we spied our first humpback, we were so overcome with glee that we all started shouting 'Whale Ho!' and 'There She Blows' and all manner of whale terms!!!!

 

I think we were all so excited because we weren't really sure what we were looking for and when we saw it, there was NO mistaking what it was. It was a blow! And she sure did blow. Even from what seemed a great distance away, those giant bursts of 'smoke' appear, followed by a back, and quite often a tail! It was spectacular! Our binoculars came in really handy, and I was fortunate to actually see one whale breech just after my husband had passed the binoculars on to me. Surprisingly, they were in focus and the whale just happened to be in my sight.

 

There was something very incredible about our first sighting being on our own, on our balcony, without assistance from anyone who pointed it out! It was just a wonderful experience.:p

 

One afternoon, we were in the Cardroom playing Scrabble and one whale literally almost kissed the ship below where we were playing. My SIL was the first to spot it and scream... There was not a lot of game playing after that. There was also a stelllar sea lion that approached during that same time and was so close that we got a great glimpse of his whiskers. Several other humpbacks appeared with one giving a display of smacking his fins and tail against the water. Later that day in his lecture, the naturalist, Dr. Eley, made comment of the exceptional displays of those whales.

 

We had so many sightings from our ship that a whale watching excursion was probably not necessary....however, the whale watching excursion we took was phenomenal...but more on that controversial topic later....you will have to wait until our Juneau day to find out which company we went with...and I promise you, you will be shocked!:eek:

 

As for the next installment....

 

Ketchikan, The Day After the Accident:(

[dinojude]

I'm waiting for the next installment ---

[UTVOLS]

I'm waiting for the next installment ---

Thank you...I was hoping that someone was reading;) .

[qiangf2]

Thank you...I was hoping that someone was reading;) .

 

That would the last thing you should worry. ;) Just need to concern how to keep up with the demand from the audience. :D

 

Thanks a lot for posting your experience. It is great to know you had a good time there

[UTVOLS]

Ketchikan- The Day after the accident:(

 

 

Our first port was Ketchikan and we were booked with Michelle of Island Wings for a flightseeing tour of Misty Fjords. When we disembarked at 7:30 am, the skies were a glorious blue w/ almost no clouds. My husband had received an email that morning asking about the plane crash and had we been yet, and he was a wise man not to mention it to me. I am a fearful flier as it is, and he would have never gotten me on the plane had I known.

 

We were under the Raingauge promptly at 7:45, but it was close to 8:00 when Shoshana picked us up. She was very animated and described life in Ketchikan etc. never mentioning or hinting at what had occurred the day before. We were greeted by Michelle and Terri at the plane who appeared to be deep in conversation when we first approached. I was incredibly impressed w/ the spotlessness of the plane, as well as with the professionalism of Michelle, Terry, and Shoshana. Now, I am even more so, that I can reflect back on what those three were under the weight of. You would have NEVER have known that such a tragedy had occurred in such a close time period by their mannerisms and professionalism.

 

When we jumped in the plane, Michelle said that unfortunately we would not be going into 'Misty' Fjords that day...we would have to go into 'Sunny' Fjords and for that she would have to charge double...

 

I can almost cry now thinking about what we experienced, the perfection of how clear it was, the blessing of no turbulance, coupled with the awe of now knowing that less than 12 hours before, 5 people had lost their lives in that beautiful place and what a different day it had been for those people and for the town of Ketchikan the day before. I feel sure that the Lord had given Ketchikan and its people the sunny, glorious day that we had, to lift their spirits and to let them know that the sun does come up even after such a tragedy.

 

Michelle said that normally visibility is around 10 miles and on that day, we could see parts of British Columbia that were 90 miles away! She said that our particular day had been a 12 on a scale of 1 to 10.... A day that those pilots were well deserving of.

 

We were fortunate to see a sleeping black bear that we buzzed over and woke up, and he lumbered around after we swooped in for a second look and lots of dahl sheep and mountain goats. We had a glacier lake landing in one of Michelle's favorite spots that she said she had not seen in quite some time. As I reflect on that stop, I recall her heading off for a moment where she sat and seemed to be in deep thought and reflection. I now know what she must have been thinking about. I wish I could describe for you the beauty and awe of Misty Fjords...It is something that words nor pictures can describe. It is like seeing the Grand Canyon for the first time and afterward when you try to recall or re-live it in your mind, you just can't get it back. When we booked the excursion, I could not have imagined anything being worth that price....it was!

 

On the way back, my brother was flying co-pilot and chose the funniest upbeat Celtic music to listen to! I'm sure that it lightened Michelle's heart.

 

When we had safely landed, and I was done with a potty break, my husband let me know about the accident...On our way back, Terri and Shoshana, together, drove our group back to the ship, and we asked them about the accident. Shoshana no longer had the brave face on that she had prior to our flight and let us know that the pilot flew out of their dock and that they saw him daily. At that point, rescuers had not been able to get to the plane and they were still hopeful that someone had climbed out. They had heard that the pilot had supposedly hit a 'squall' of weather that come and go literally within minutes. With Ketchikan being soooo small, they felt like they had lost a family member. With the accident having been the day before, we certainly had a more humble and grateful spirit about each and every blessing that came our way. Although we took nothing for granted prior to, we certainly had an additional perspective of thankfulness afterwards.

 

From there, we spent the day touring the town and shops along Creek street.

 

When we got back on the ship, we went to one of Dr. Eley's lectures and as we were leaving, I overhead a group of 8 or so talking about the crash and so I asked if I could eaves-drop. They were a group of 12, who were traveling together and had all chosen different excursions for the day. 2 of their group happened to be w/ us on Island Wings, several others had done miscellaneous excursions, but this one woman and her father had booked the 8 am flight w/ the company that had had the accident. They had booked the excursion through Princess and were never notified that anything was amiss, so that morning, she and her father had arrived on the pier, walked up to the rep. who was holding their excursion flight sign and gleefully exclaimed that they were there for their flight. The rep. told her that the flight had been cancelled and she asked 'Why, did not enough people sign up?'...At that point, the rep. said that there had been an 'unfortunate incident'. The woman did not press the issue as she scurried off to find another company that had space available for she and her father. It was not until she got back onboard that afternoon, that she learned the details.

 

That evening, in our stateroom mail, we had a letter from the captain explaining the situation and offering prayers and thoughts and notifying that all future excursions w/ that company had been cancelled.

 

Next Up....

Any guesses of who we whale watched with? and the Banning of UTVOLS:eek: !

[UTVOLS]

That would the last thing you should worry. ;) Just need to concern how to keep up with the demand from the audience. :D

 

Thanks a lot for posting your experience. It is great to know you had a good time there

 

Thank you Dave! I feel honored that you are a reader. You are one poster that I have respected your advice and input here on the boards...:)

[NancyIL]

Next Up....

Any guesses of who we whale watched with? and the Banning of UTVOLS:eek: !

 

I'm loving your report! WHAT...YOU were banned?!?!?!?!?! :eek:

[qiangf2]

Thank you Dave! I feel honored that you are a reader. You are one poster that I have respected your advice and input here on the boards...:)

 

UTVOLS, really enjoyed your trip review! I found the best of the best is your experience of getting to know CC and learning to plan the trip with the help of this board. It echoes my experience as well. When I started planning our last trip, I just happened to find this board last July. When I tried to ask question, a lot of warm hearted fellow CCer's advised us to find out what we wanted first. But my biggest problem back then was I didn't even know what we wanted. :D:o. I am sure many of us who first came to this board shared the similar experience as well.

[UTVOLS]

I'm loving your report! WHAT...YOU were banned?!?!?!?!?! :eek:

 

Nancy, You crack me up!:D

[UTVOLS]

UTVOLS, really enjoyed your trip review! I found the best of the best is your experience of getting to know CC and learning to plan the trip with the help of this board. It echoes my experience as well. When I started planning our last trip, I just happened to find this board last July. When I tried to ask question, a lot of warm hearted fellow CCer's advised us to find out what we wanted first. But my biggest problem back then was I didn't even know what we wanted. :D:o. I am sure many of us who first came to this board shared the similar experience as well.

 

 

Dave,

We Southerners (I am currently living in NC, but the moving truck comes on Monday to move us to GA), are not always 'the sharpest knives in the drawer'....and I am not too proud to laugh at myself and ask the 'dumb questions'....One of my favorite posts was when SEABEE asked me 'Who was gonna be watching our trailers when we were off in Alaska?' My response was 'It was our dawgs we were concerned about and if our barefeet would git frost bit in the cold?' My light hearted humor was eventually what would get me in trouble on these boards and get me banned for 10 days....:o

 

So you perfectly lead me into my next installment...Thank you!

[UTVOLS]

Whale Watching and the Banning of UTVOLS....

 

I am not sure exactly how to approach this sensitive issue. That being Whale Watching and/or Banning.....:o I will repectfully request grace and mercy from the moderators that they will not remove this post because of it's contents.

 

I will first give a bit of history for those who weren't around in March 2007. I became quite a reader of previous posts and quite frequently used the 'Search' mode to answer my questions. For a newbie, however, there is something very addictive about creating your own thread and having others reply to it...especially when you get a response from one of the 'celebrities' on the board.

 

Anyway, I began to do a search on anything that had to do with whale watching and there was one particular individual (who I will not mention his name out of respect to the moderators), who gave what I felt like was fair, unbiased advice. Little did I know at the time that this person had been banned indefinitely for what I believe was advertising. Well, I am one to root for the underdog and because I was the one 'who had out-ed him' as being banned, I felt responsible to go to bat for him. In an effort to be humorous, but also for the sake of justice, I became a bit too 'loud'.:o There were a few other individuals at the time who were also posting that were possibly 'on Spring break' and created quite a disturbance here on the boards....I believe the regulars were all having heart-attacks, because the boards weren't what they used to be. :( Anyway, I ended up being banned for a period of 10 days and returned a more quiet, more respectful poster, I hope. Enough said....

 

Well, in my rooting for the this one particular poster, I learned that he also ran a Whale Watching business of his own. I was just at the point of booking my excursion with him when we learned of my husband's job transfer. Things became quite hectic with house hunting etc and I almost canceled our whole trip prior to the final payment because it was an awful lot to manage. That is when my precious SIL took over control of booking our excusions and planning out all of the details to which I am truly grateful. Anyway, to the shock of many of the readers who followed the Spring rantings of myself about whale watching, we did NOT go with the banned whale watching individual I supported at the time, but because my Brother and SIL felt best that we go with a larger company.....:eek: Gasp! Shriek!.........We ended up whale watching with none other the Captain Larry and Orca.

 

Okay, everyone....catch your breathe....There are a few who will need to pick themselves up off of the floor.;)

Sorry Nancy...yes, I am a traitor, but now the boards will have both of our opinions on these two companies.....:cool: and you know all of the details anyway.

 

So......Enough about the banning....on with the WHALE WATCHING!!!!

[Toyz711]

sorry, but this is just too funny!!!!:eek:

you review/report is great, but now you have me hook!! quick what happened next.....?

[UTVOLS]

sorry, but this is just too funny!!!!:eek:

you review/report is great, but now you have me hook!! quick what happened next.....?

 

 

Toyz, I was holding my breath for you to respond!!!:p

Those were some crazy days, weren't they?....And I know I caused you to blow a fuse or two on occassion..... will you accept "the olive branch"?

 

and whatever happened to our friend who was livin' life in the ..... ......?

Wonder if she ever got into Canada?;)

[Toyz711]

haven't heard. i have been meaning to ask sakedad if he met her. she hasn't posted since she go back. i would guess she was dropped like a very HOT potato!!!

i am very glad you had a great trip. it's amazing to go up there.

[NancyIL]

Anyway, to the shock of many of the readers who followed the Spring rantings of myself about whale watching, we did NOT go with the banned whale watching individual I supported at the time, but because my Brother and SIL felt best that we go with a larger company.....:eek: Gasp! Shriek! We ended up whale watching with none other the Captain Larry and Orca.

 

Okay, everyone....catch your breathe....There are a few who will need to pick themselves up off of the floor.;) Sorry Nancy...yes, I am a traitor, but now the boards will have both of our opinions on these two companies.....:cool: and you know all of the details anyway

 

Well, Deb - I WAS rather surprised about the change of plans - but I explained to a friend that it was one of those "over your dead body" kind of things! ;)

[UTVOLS]

Juneau and WhaleWatching w/ Capt. Larry

 

Before I start with this portion of my review, I hope that anyone who reads this will take it as 'my opinion'....and 'my perspective of my experience'...we all have our likes and dislikes and my hope is that as I approach this controversial topic that has become a hot bed of debate here on the boards, that this thread will not become a forum for who's the better tour company and who should be chosen as the Winner of the Best Whale Watching Company in Juneau. There are plenty of other threads that have faught that fight....please respect this review as the way I had my experience.....:o

 

Thank you....Love and Peace to all who venture on.....

Enter at your own risk......

 

Juneau....

 

First to say, that we had a great experience Whale Watching. We saw a wonderful amount of bubble net feeding w/ a group of about 9 whales participating, we saw the mother and baby that have been reported this season very close to the boat and were amazed at how Captain Larry IS the Whale watching Guru that he is proclaimed to be on CC. He knew exactly where to go, how long to stay, and where we would find the next exciting experience. I believe with all of my heart that the whales know the sound of his boat and that they can sense that he is there. We were in places that no other boats were and after we had been there for a while, other boats followed Capt. Larry's suit. At one point when we had watched bubblenet feeding over and over and over in this prime spot, Capt. Larry decided to head off somewhere else and we all looked at each other like "He's got to be crazy! Why is he taking us away from this?" That's when we arrive in this other spot, and we sit and watch this single humpback manuever around a bit. So we're waiting and all of a sudden the mother and baby humpback come within 40 feet of the boat! Almost to greet Capt. Larry....At that point, there were no other boats to be seen. Crazy! That man knows his stuff! So if you want the whales, he's your man.....

 

Now, as far as the rest of the operation.....We arrived at their office an hour and a half early to check in because of some negative comments that we had read on the boards. The office is actually quite large and Carol runs the place. Carol originally worked with us putting us on Capt. Larry's boat at our request. We were then passed on to two young men to sign paperwork and have additional questions answered. Carol continually had to come over and correct the answers that the young men gave us and when we left we were unsure if things would go off without a hitch or not. Our greatest concern was that we would be on Capt. Larry's boat and that we would see some whales. Those things were accomplished with great success.

 

 

We were shuttled to Auke Bay in a new bus by Carol's daughter Pam who gave Juneau history and commentary along the way.

On our boat, Pam's daughter Sheila was the helper, snack server, etc. Our snacks consisted of about one chunk of cheese, two crackers and a Capri Sun each. I believe there was some peanut butter and a bit of meat but it all disappeared so quickly off the platter, that I cannot say with certainty. We were on the Odyssea with 30 additional passengers (I counted in case I needed to report to anyone;) ), but never felt cramped. In the lower cabin, there were seats for everyone and there were windows that could be opened and closed. There was an outside deck to the rear approx. 10 x 10 and a larger outside upper deck. There was plenty of room for sufficiently seeing the whales. There were many folks poised with tripods and cameras, and in my opinion everyone was very generous in sharing the space.

 

Here's my take on the Capt. Larry...

When we boarded, he sweetly greeted us ...Capt Sean who drives another boat also accompanied us as our naturalist onboard and he did an excellent job of explaining the habits, etc. of the whales. They had miniature plastic versions of the whales that he used for demonstration. He was wonderful in his knowledge and caring of the creatures. He and Capt. Larry had a sweet repore' with each other, but Capt. Larry is a very quiet man. Capt. Sean did the majority of the talking and cutting up and Capt. Larry found the whales...and he did a GREAT job of that. Whenever we asked a question of Capt. Larry, he graciously responded and was very easy to talk to, BUT he is not an outgoing, 'cut up' of a man. But we were not there to be entertained by Capt. Larry, we were there to see the whales. When we left, my brother and I specifically went to the front of the boat and thanked Capt. Larry, and he was precious one on one. He told us about how he loved those whales, and we told him how we felt like the whales knew who he was....I believe that I saw a tear in the old guy's crusty eyes. I think that WE got the BIG picture. We could see beyond the snacks, and the disorganization of the office and a bit of unprofessionalism here and there, and we saw the relationship between a man and his whales....sappy, huh?

 

I can also see why so many folks either love their experience or don't. We had an exceptional day, but I understand that it was rare. If our expectations had been where they were from reading the posts prior to this season...I would have expected Capt. Larry to hang the moon, and I would have been disappointed. The week prior to our departure, an unflattering thread popped up about Capt. Larry which caused us to lower our expectations...probably to where there should have been to begin with. If we had not had any commentary on our boat, I would have been disappointed, but it would have been hard for Capt. Larry to drive the boat, fix the snacks, and find the whales all at the same time. It takes complete concentration to be the Whale Whisperer. After reading that thread, I was actually ready to cancel the whole whale watching excursion all together and go ziplining, but now I am glad we didn't.

 

Anyway, after we completed our tour, Captain Sean asked us not to get off of the boat and 'announce' our experience to those standing on the dock as they might not be as fortunate in their experience as we had been. I thought that was wise advise. As we exited, several folks waiting asked how it had been. I said not very good and that we were headed back to the office to get a refund.

 

We left Auke Bay and were delivered to Mendenhall Glacier around 3. Because we were the only group being left, the driver dropped us off and asked when we wanted to be picked up. We went and viewed the Glacier from the view spot and then we saw the waterfall to the right of the glacier. Through the binoculars, my husband saw some folks walking around it, and so we decided to do the same. Off we go, and then I realize....someone on CC said we should do this!!!!! and we were doing it!!!! Funny! And we thought it was our bright idea. Anyway, we got right up to the waterfall and it blew with such force!!!! It was a neat perspective seeing the glacier, its icebergs, and the falls up close. I would suggest doing this. It takes about 30 minutes to reach the falls although the trail was flooded in one area about 6 inches deep and we scaled a rockwall to the right side to get around it. Close to the falls, you must climb over a larger portion of rock and then cross a wet spot on stepping stones, but once there, it is a 'feather in your cap' and well worth it! While we were out there, we realized we were not going to make it back to our pick up spot in time, and so we cell called the office and asked if they could delay our pickup.....No problem... we made it back to the Salmon Bridge...saw salmon heading up stream which scared us to death, because we heard them before we saw them, and then we were picked up precisely at the spot and time that they said. Kudos.

 

We returned to the boat just shortly before departure time, exhausted but thrilled with our day.

 

Next up....

 

5 plates of Crab legs and Could we possibly break the Dress Code:eek: ?

[Toyz711]

very good way of putting it...

he is in constant watch of the weather, currents..as well as watching the whale's movement (and being responsible for 20 to 40 passengers). he can't do it all. isn't sean a dear, really good with people. i think that is why they put him with capt larry, they make a good pair. i agree with him being the whale whisperer. when "spot" splashed our boat, he was laughing...sean said that spot was capt larry's wayward son. he has this personal connection with the humpbacks. i though my trip with them was great...your's was outstanding. i did get up close on a trip out of hawaii, had 2 males running under our boat. they came up right beside the boat at one point, but not long enough to get a good view.

they just need to find a way to do a remote computer hookup so they can answer the emails when the snow keeps them away from the office.

i am so thrilled for you and so jealous of you, at the same time:eek:

[NancyIL]

Great review of whale watching, Deb. But -I'll stick with the guy with the crab dip.

[sharp_cruiser]

Thanks for such a great report so far! Both informative and entertaining.

 

I just booked yesterday w/ Orca Enterprises for next June! So early I know!!! How do I determine or request to be on the boat w/ Capt. Larry himself?

 

Thanks for your honesty and advice too, regarding "expectations." With the entire Alaska vacation, it seems very easy to expect the best experiences at each and every turn. I am trying to be realistic and I am sure many of my experiences will even exceed those expectations!

 

Can't wait for more!