Live! From the Tahitian (end of May)

[jebush]

Hi. Just thought I'd update some of you that are waiting to come on the Tahitian now that she's in Alaska. I'll try to check back within a couple of days and if there are questions, will do what I can to find them out.

 

Embarkation in Vancouver: very smooth. We arrived early but couldn't get on until 11:45. So no reason to show up early. They do you're documentation first and then wait - nice to do it this way as you then KNOW everything is A-OK!

 

Formal nights: 2nd, 6th, and 13th (all days at sea, obviously). The rest are "smart casual."

 

We just left Ketchikan - it's an early departure (leave at 2:00), so if you have things to do, do them quickly! I won't go through stores - they're much what you can read about elsewhere. Weather was ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL. No rain (those that have been to Ketchikan know this to be unusual!).

 

Food - to our minds - has been better than expected/better than past Princess cruises (mind you, the last Princess cruise was 3 years ago!).

 

No problem requesting an egg foam mattress once on ship. Likewise, we bought and brought on board a couple of bottles of wine at Ketchikan (we normally bring on more from home, but since we were flying from the US into Canada and Canada only allows 1.5 litres per person, we didn't bring much). So if you want wine and don't want to pay the high costs out of Canada, buy a few bottles in Ketchikan - there's a nice (but small) wine store in one of the small 'shopping centers' (sorry - I should have paid attention to the name of it - but it's the furthest south on Front Avenue).

 

Here's one we didn't know about: theydon't have Sabatini's and Sterling's open every night! Each night, only one is open (same staff, I'm guessing). So we didn't get the night we wanted in Sabatini's because that night, Sterling's was the only one open.

 

This is an older crowd than we've seen before, so if you're young of heart, you'll have lots of places to yourself!

 

That's all for now. Any questions? I can't promise how quickly I'll be able to respond, but will try to do it a couple of times throughout the rest of the voyage.

 

IT'S BEEN FABULOUS! Small ships is the way to go!

 

Jeff

[chrysalis]

Thanks alot for the "live from" reports.....we look forward to hearing more from you as we anticipate being aboard in July.

 

Enjoy your cruise....it sounds great.

[Colo Cruiser]

Thanks for the post. Enjoy. :)

[whale-watcher]

thanks so much for posting...I look forward to reading about the itinerary; less than 4 weeks to go for us!

[WeRockChalkKU]

If you can - please post if they will have self debarkation and how early that can be. We're wanting to set up a post cruise tour that will then take us to the airport.

 

One person from our roll call wants to know if there is a 24hr food court or at least an evening meal there (other than the pizza and alternative restaurants)and if room service offers things from the dining room menu or if it's just sandwiches.

 

Enjoy!!!!

[Seal]

Love the ship--been on 3 times in 18 months--just cancelled the 8/7/ Alaska--would have been our 3rd in 6088--

 

Smooth Sailing

 

Nancy:D

[senior lady]

I have a friend on board, She was "Irishjayne" on your roll call

 

So if you see Jayne say hi to her from Karen

 

Glad your having a great trip.

 

It's been yrs since we were on a small ship. I'm not sure I could do a small ship again. So will be anxious to hear all about it.

[benandbe]

Anxiously awaiting your future posts as we are sailing on the July 10th cruise. Very interested in learning about tenders and such... and of course any tidbits of wisdom. Have a great time.

[Grego]

Great thread for those of us that are booked on this ship later in the summer.

 

I had the formal nights pegged to the dates you stated. Makes all the sense in the world to have them on the "at sea" days like the other voyages.

 

It will be interesting to see how close you are able to get to the glaciers once in Glacier Bay. Since it is a smaller ship, you should be in tighter than the others depending on the weather and calving activity.

[chrysalis]

Anxiously awaiting your future posts as we are sailing on the July 10th cruise. Very interested in learning about tenders and such... and of course any tidbits of wisdom. Have a great time.

 

Not meaning to hijack this thread, but please join our roll call and meet others sailing with us on the July 10th cruise......follow this link.....

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=556564&page=13

[7seven7]

Thanks Jeff

 

Your comments are very interesting. Can't wait till July. So glad you are enjoying.

 

Janet

[teachermandoug]

Keep up the live reports, Jeff. We're on the next cruise,

June 12 so this answers many questions. Also makes it

more exciting.

[scotty2]

Loved reading your posts so far. Can't wait to read more of your comments and impressions. Thank you

[JWJs]

Thanks for taking your time to write and post your report. Sounds like a perfect cruise so far.:) I didn't realize the Tahitian Princess is only a 670 passenger ship. How's the ride?

[renroc13]

Thanks for the post...

[renroc13]

Thanks for the post. We get on when you get off. We are on the June 12th sailing. Glad to hear you are happy with the food and the ship. Was a little concerned about prior posts.

 

Thanks

Sue

[LoriPhil]

Please let us know if the small ship is "bouncy" in more open waters. We are very interested in the itinerary but being very prone to motion-sickness, I was a bit concerned about the motion I could expect on a smaller ship.

[harleysmama]

It is so exciting to hear about your trip being the first on this itinerary. We are also booked on July 10th and am looking forward to it more with your comments so far.

[IrishKathy]

Hi Jeff,

 

Thanks for posting. I have two questions. Could you let us know where would be a good place to hold our M&G, preferably in one of the bar areas? Right now I think we have about seven couples.

 

Secondly, is the buffet open for dinner every night? And I don't mean just for pizza, but a regular dinner. What are the buffet hours from approximately 4 PM to 9 PM. I'm sure there are going to be nights when we won't want to sit down for a whole formal dinner and eating in the buffet will be fine.

 

Thanks for checking these things out for us.

 

Kathy

[wwinfl91]

Thanks for starting and keeping up with this thread. We are going to be on the Tahitian for the July10th cruise so we have a vested interest.

 

Here is a Yahoo web site I set up for our cruise but that is open to anyone intestered in this cruise.

 

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/tahitianalaska71008/

 

Have a great next cruise.

[margord]

Thanks for posting.

[whale-watcher]

Just checked the webcam...looks like you are having some nice weather for Glacier Bay.

[Bucky3]

Thanks for your "live" posts! We are also most interested in the water conditions on this small ship. Would love to do this itinerary. Enjoy!

[FOXTROT]

Jebush thank you for the review. We just got off the ship 2 weeks age. We did 3 weeks on her. To answer some one elses question the ship does move a little. The reason is they don't fully extend the stabilizers. Would you please tell the band Rhapsody that the couple that dance to them for 3 weeks said hi. They are a very good band & we miss not dancing to them.

[wwinfl91]

Silly question Foxtrot, "why don't they extend the stabilizers fully???"

 

Thanks