July 1 to Alaska - Last Minute Questions

[Quinte]

A couple of last minute questions as I pack for our trip next week:

 

I hope to workout a few times and like a protein shake afterwards. If I bring my own protein powder, is there somewhere on the ship to get a shake made?

 

Gloves and hats: I see these on packing lists, but are they really needed? This question is for anyone who gets "real" winter ;) We are from the Toronto area and also spend time in Ottawa so we "get" winter. We are going on a glacier helicopter trip, but just the Pilot's Choice Glacier Helicopter Explorer so not a huge amount of time on the ice.

 

Thanks,

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Yeh, if I were you I'd be asking the same questions. I don't start wearing gloves until sometime after Christmas, usually. I'll be interested to hear the answers.

[Quinte]

Another one I though of is how does the internet acces onboard work? I couldn't seem to find anything in my cruise documents about it. I'm bringing my own laptop so I can download photos each day.

 

Thanks,

[Threechicks]

The weather in Alaska is unpredictable. I was there last July and was very glad that I had a hat and gloves for a canoe trip out of Skagway. Friends have been there at the same time of year and enjoyed 80 degree weather. A hat and gloves take very little space. I would take them. I live in Newmarket so understand your remarks about "real winter".

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Internet: you go to the computer room and sign up for an account with the techie there, including a plan. It starts at about $60 for some number of minutes. Then you ask the techie how the wifi is in your particular cabin. He may know, then you can go and test it. If it's not good, you will have to find a public spot with good reception. Then of course, the reception will vary depending on where the ship is. A good recommendation is to write long emails or postings in Wordpad or Word, then paste them into your browser or mail app--that way you won't lose a long piece of text if it doesn't work.

[poss]

I absolutely agree with what Threechicks said, i.e. we're for sure taking hat and gloves (and scarf) since they don't take up much room.

 

Threechicks: Is the canoe trip you mention the Glacier Point by Speedcat excursion? I'm having a tough time deciding between that one and the Eagle Preserve float trip. (I have a separate post on this.) I suspect the Glacier Point might be the more spectacular scenery, but we hate being real cold. And I suspect the Glacier Point might be colder (but not necessarily?) I'm also wondering which is more likely to have fewer mosquitoes; I swell up with golfball-size, long-lasting, horribly itchy-hurty bites. In short, if your canoe trip was the Glacier Point one, I'd be appreciative of any input. Did you love it? If you're good enough to reply, maybe you can reply on my other post so as not to clutter OP's thread with extraneous info. Thanks!

[jina]

Re: shakes, we've learned that the motto at the bars is "if you bring it, we will blend it". So for our last 2 cruises (Voyager and Mariner) we have "lifted" fruit from our rooms and La Veranda and brought it to the bars for fresh fruit smoothies. In fact, this last Mariner cruise a few weeks ago, we asked our stewardess on day 1 to make sure we always had lots of bananas and fresh strawberries in our room which we would bring to the bars. Our favorite bar for smoothies this last cruise was Observation Lounge but we've also had great smoothies at the Pool Bar and down at Horizon lounge. We joked about bringing ground flax next time so we can get some more fiber - I'm sure they'd be totally find blending you up a protein shake. The milk at the bar is whole fat (and they have cream) but you can put in a standing order at one of the bars to make sure they have lowfat or nonfat milk if that's what you prefer. Also, I think the fruit juices they had this last cruise were cranberry, pineapple, orange and tomato. We tended to put pineapple juice in our smoothies.

 

Re: hat and gloves, we are converted weather wimps (now live in California but grew up in New York and Chicago) so we were very happy to have our hat and gloves. I think we only used them once or twice (when we were viewing Hubbard Glacier and the Tracy Arm excursion as it gets pretty chilly and windy) but was well worth packing, for us as we got the best views and photos outside.

[Elwinnie]

will you be on the Coral Princess July 2 S.B.?

[Quinte]

Thanks for the quick feedback on the shakes, gloves and internet. Gloves/hat and protein powder are now on the packing list!

[poss]

Chiquita-Jina: You are a genius. We'd never thought of the fresh fruit idea. Our room fruit always just sat there day after day. Don't much like fruit plain, but sure do love it in drinks. Thanks for the groovy idea.

[sevenseassailor]

Quinte,

We are also on July 1st cruise with you. Stop by cabin 968 and say hi.

Rick

[Wendy The Wanderer]

My question is, surely they would have fresh fruit in the bars?

[Quinte]

Quinte,

We are also on July 1st cruise with you. Stop by cabin 968 and say hi.

Rick

 

Excellent! I will try to do that. We are in 739. I'm travelling with my Mom - she's rather petite and blonde and I'm rather tall and have dark hair so we should stand out a bit ;)

 

What excursions are you going on?

[NJBelle]

Hi, they do have fresh fruit - just got off Mariner and saw it myself. Not sure I would be hauling fruit around since it is so easily available. By all means, take your protein powder, but assume that they will have the fruit at the bar.

 

Best, NJBelle

[cruiseej]

Gloves and hats: I see these on packing lists, but are they really needed? This question is for anyone who gets "real" winter ;) We are from the Toronto area and also spend time in Ottawa so we "get" winter. We are going on a glacier helicopter trip, but just the Pilot's Choice Glacier Helicopter Explorer so not a huge amount of time on the ice.

 

Based on our glacier landing trip, you won't need hat and gloves for a glacier helicopter trip. It can be cold on the glacier, but you won't be outside that long.

 

But I strongly encourage you to bring hat and gloves. There is a lot of scenic cruising on this trip, and it's a pleasure to be out on deck, not inside the Observation Lounge at times -- but if the ship is moving at speed, it's windy and cold on deck even if the outside temperature isn't Toronto-winter cold! ;) I found I stayed out when others scurried back inside after a few minutes. You'll want to be outside your morning in Tracy Arm and your morning at Hubbard Glacier; you'll want to be outside sailing out of many of the ports. Are you doing any boat excursions? Tracy Arm? Whale watch? Sea Otter Quest? Again, the more time you can spend comfortably on deck, the better, and a good hat and gloves are key.

 

A rainproof cap is a plus, in case it's raining or misty. And don't think a baseball cap will do -- you're moving on the ship of the smaller boats, and unless you want to keep one hand on your head, a baseball cap won't cut it. Before our trip, I picked up a $10 fleece-line cap with ear flaps that snap under the chin (Lands End Adult Weatherly Earflap Hat) which is absolutely not the height of fashion, but made me incredibly happy on this trip. Having my ears covered by a strap under my chin which prevented the cap from flying off made it perfect for standing outside in strong wind. Best $10 investment I made to prepare for this trip!

 

Another one I though of is how does the internet acces onboard work?

Internet: you go to the computer room and sign up for an account with the techie there, including a plan.

 

For what it's worth, I've never gone to the computer room or talked to a techie to set up my account; you can do it yourself simply by firing up your computer and launching your web browser -- you'll be taken to a web page to create your login, choose your rate plan, and begin using the Internet. The tech guy in the computer room is good to have available if you have problems getting online, but I never have. (Maybe it's because I'm a Mac person; I just expect things to work!;)) Definitely, definitely follow Wendy's advice about doing your prep work -- writing text, preparing photos -- offline before you connect, both because of the cost per minute online and because of the sometimes very slow connections. Don't plan on uploading a lot of photos to online sites, because the speed is usually too slow to support large uploads.

 

-- Eric

[MsBatt]

That's exactly how the computer thing worked on our cruise last week; signed up online after finding a paper in the computer area explaining all of that. I did get my blog posts done as a word document to save time, and even tho the access was slow, we had pretty good connections at sea, tho none in most ports.

 

I wore my gloves and hats when outdoors on excursions, glad I brought them.

[sevenseassailor]

Andrea,

Don't list of excursions in front of me but taking several. I'll call you and maybe we can meet for drinks. See ya soon.

Rick