Alaska Cruise 2025 - Sea Day #5 (08/21/25)

It's the last full day of our cruise, and I'm a little sad.  We've gotten used to the routine of cruising, and we've been away from reality for the better part of two weeks.  Right now, we're one day away from San Francisco, and we're getting ready to go home.  Our bags are almost packed, and we're figuring out how to keep our big bags under the 50 lb. limit for the plane.  (Luckily, we have a hand scale that we can use.) With this being said, we'll end up going home, then getting ready for another cruise.

Right now, we have to pick up our pictures from the photography studio, and burn off our remaining onboard credits.  RQS will be going to a spa session, while I'll be buying a watch I don't need.  It's not the best way to spend money.  These are just the best ways we can think of to use these credits. 

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Given that my shipboard non-refundable credits were still over $200, I knew we had to burn off some of these credits quickly as this was the last day of the cruise. The first thing we did after a late breakfast was to go downstairs and see if a watch I wanted was available at a price I wanted to pay.  It was.  $95 later, the watch was being adjusted for my wrist, and we were off to the lounge for 45 minutes.  And then we were off to the Crab Shack pop-up restaurant.

On certain sea days, Princess turns its Crown Grille restaurant into a seafood joint (Crab Shack) serving a limited menu focused on crustaceans.  We weren't able to get reservations for the first Crab Shack pop-up on this cruise, but we got one for the last day of the cruise.  RQS compromised with me, and we ordered the Seafood Bucket for Two.  YUM!  Lobster, Snow Crab Mussels, Tiny Clams, and Shrimp - all cold, fresh, and Tasty.  I wasn't sure of how we'd have room for our last dinner on the ship.  But I knew that we'd find a way to do so.

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Around 1:30 pm, I noticed an email from JetBlue telling me that we could now check in for our flight.  When I looked at things, our assigned seats were gone.  This could be a great disaster for us, as I need to have an aisle seat, and RQS strongly prefers one as well.  So, I contacted our travel agent and found out that he was on vacation.  Yet, he took care of the problem and got us decent seats for the trip home.

At this time, I also found out that a charge made to RQS's account should have gone to my account.  So I had to trek to guest services to move the charge to my account.  At the end of the day, my credit balance was $0.03.  Not bad for people trying to use up both refundable and non-refundable onboard credits.

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Shortly after 7 pm, we went downstairs for our last MDR dinner.  As usual, no one ended up seated with us.  (This MDR was way below capacity, so we weren't surprised.)  I had a seafood cocktail (more like a salad with seafood) and the seared salmon.  Yum.  Too bad my stomach was still digesting lunch.  But we made sure to thank our two servers profusely, and give them tips before we left for the last time.  When dinner was over, I went upstairs to get things ready for tomorrow morning, while RQS went to the casino to make a donation.  

 

 

 

Alaska Cruise 2025 - Sea Day #4 (08/20/25)

  

The Pacific Ocean just after sunrise.  It's a beautiful sight, and something I'll have the chance to see one last time before reaching San Francisco.  Views like this are one of the many reasons to be sailing in a balcony cabin when taking an Alaskan cruise.

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Last night, while I was doing laundry, I met another cruiser in the laundry room.  We got to talking about current affairs, both of us being appalled by our current fascist regime's policy of hassling (or worse) anyone who doesn't look like a piece of white toast or have a white toast sounding name.  We wondered if the military would revolt (we didn't think so), and how people are acting out of fear.  I opened up about being TG, noting that I have filed for a European country's foreign birth registry.  She said that she has dual US and Mexican citizenship, and that she is trying to get Spanish citizenship, in order to be able to live in the EU if needed.

This morning, I started to think: Could I leave the US with nothing but the clothes on my back and get by?  30 years ago, I would have said YES! without a thought.  Today, I'm not certain of this, given my age. But I won't dwell on this question right now.  Instead, I'll sit and watch the ocean go by my balcony and stay relaxed until we get to San Francisco.

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The first thing we did after getting up was to go for lunch.  Yes, I pigged out with an appetizer, some soup, a burger and dessert.  And it was all yummy!  Then it was off the the atrium too see what was on sale.  As I write this, I have $322 in onboard credits - $172 nonrefundable, and $150 refundable.  Assuming that RQS burns off $75 of the nonrefundable credits in a spa session tomorrow, and that we burn off $140 at the Crab Shack pop up tomorrow, that means that I still have $113 to burn.  This means that I may buy a watch that I don't need to use up the remaining credits.  (Or, I could have Princess cur me a check for the remaining refundable credits.)  While we were still out of the room, we asked guest services about whether they have behind the scenes tours of the ship, as they do on some other ships.  All they have is a guided walk through the galley area, where one can see what goes on in the main kitchen.  Although it is something nice, it's not what I was looking for.  Yet, it paid to ask.

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Around 6 pm, we had to get ready for the last formal night of our cruise.   I forgot where I put my tie, so RQS was ready before me.  We got more photos taken, and then went to another specialty restaurant (the Crown Grill) for surf and turf.  RQS had the lobster tail, while I had the veal chop.  Yum!  As usual, we were ready to pass out after eating, so it was back to our cabin to get a start on packing, and to watch some TV before going to sleep.  (You'll never know how quickly one can fall asleep until you watch a 50 y/o episode of The Love Boat!)

 

Alaska Cruise 2025 - Prince Rupert, BC - Port Day #4 (08/19/25)

 

Prince Rupert, BC.  Independent excursion providers such as viator.com and shoreexcursionsgroup.com have no options for tours at this port. It's a town where there's no "There" there. We have a half-day port stop in Prince Rupert only to comply with the US Passenger vessel services act.  It could be worse - especially when we had a nice walk while in port.  At the time I write this, one 4-day Bermuda cruise from the US East Coast is being diverted to Saint John, NB to avoid a nasty storm. 

We have visited all of the ports we planned on visiting on this cruise.  Yet, it's hard to believe that this cruise will be over soon, and we will soon be in San Francisco, flying back to New York and reality.  After this last port stop, it will be 2½ days of uninterrupted cruising, followed by a return to our more hectic pace of life. 

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Unlike other port stops on this cruise, we had no plans to get off the ship here, as there were few things to do.  Our main plan for the day was to do some laundry and relax during the day.   However, RQS needed to replace her cane, so we trekked off the ship to find a store where she could replace it.  Luckily, there was a shopping mall nearby, where she could buy a cane.  Even through the Walmart in town was permanently closed, there was a pharmacy and surgical supply store in the mall where she could buy a cane.

Prince Rupert is not a port where one goes for exciting excursions. It's charm lies in the fact that the port is a place where one can get off the ship and have some quiet time walking around the cruise terminal district before cruising onto the next port of call.  There are a couple of museums in walking distance of the cruise terminal, as well as a supermarket and a shopping mall where people can buy non-tourist related goods.  It's not a port for everyone. Yet, we enjoyed the time we were able to get off the ship and stretch our legs.

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The afternoon came, and our ship left port for one last time before reaching San Francisco.  RQS decided to take a nap, as she had walked over 2½ miles today, and was a little tired. 

 

 

Alaska Cruise 2025 - Ketchikan, AK - Port Day #3 (08/18/25)

 

Ketchikan, AK - The gateway to Alaska.  The last time I was here, I didn't take the opportunity to visit Creek Street.  This time around, I made sure that I had the chance to see it. 

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The day started by us waking up early and going back to the bed to rest for a while.  Then, we got dressed and went to the main dining room for breakfast.  There were already 6 other people sitting there, and we broke into conversation with 3 of them.  (Of the 3 we didn't speak with, 2 were not native English speakers, and 1 was on the spectrum.)  It was a pleasant and lively conversation about cruising in general, 1 person being a former travel agent. All too soon it had to end.  RQS and I had to make it to the staging station to take the shuttle to the Alaskan Lumberjack Show.

As expected, there was a little confusion in the theater when our group was called to go outside.  No one knew where to sit, and we (like others) were scattered across the theater and had to make our way to our group as it was leaving the theater.  But we made it OK, and got onto the shuttle which would take us into the heart of town for the show.

The Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show is a competition between two 2-man teams competing against each other.  There is a bit of humor thrown into the narrative, but it is simply a friendly timber sports competition.  Everything one might have seen lumberjacks do in their work 100 years ago, one would see today in competition. These are skills which this show preserves for posterity as entertainment. 

 

After the show, we walked over to Creek Street and visited Miss Dolly's House.  Dolly, a former bordello owner kept her business running until prostitution ended in the 1950's.  However, the house itself is shown mostly as it was when Dolly passed - as an old woman who chose to stay in town when others of her profession left.  When done with Miss Dolly's, we walked along Creek Street and explored the area. Then we went for lunch at a local shop.  It started to drizzle (no surprise here - Ketchikan gets over 240 days of rain each year), so we decided to take the local free shuttle back to the ship and rest for a while.

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When dinner time came, we went to the main dining room and sat at our usual shared table.  Our dinner reservation was for 7 pm, and no others were at our shared table by 7:30.  So we ordered our food, and had a nice meal.  Since our waiter, Marco, had time, he asked us some questions about how we felt about cruising on Princess.  We mentioned that this is our favorite cruise line, and explained why.  Then, he asked whether we had cruised on Carnival, and we said 'no'.  He asked why, and we noted that they have a completely different target demographic, and he agreed with us.  Marco is a waiter who loves his work, and his professionalism and personality comes out in every meal he serves to "his" cruisers.

It was nice to have a pleasant conversation with Marco.  But I think the relatively empty dining room gave him the time and freedom to do so.  We would have loved to know more about his life, but he was slightly too busy for us to consider that conversation.  And it was just as well, as there are some things that are best not known.  With that being said, we want Princess Cruises to know how good a waiter Marco is, and that we'll be sure to write about him in both post-cruise surveys and in emails to Princess' corporate offices.

 

Alaska Cruise 2025 - Juneau, AK - Port Day #2 (08/17/25)

 

Juneau, AK, the 49th state's capital.  And we had a shore excursion scheduled to take us to the Mendenhall Glacier.  It was raining out, and I wasn't that interested in going out, as I hate going out in the rain.

But first....

RQS and I got up early, so that we could reach the meeting site by 10:30.  We had breakfast in the buffet, and were out the door by 9:30.  

When one gets of the ship at the pier we were docked at, one has a 10 minute walk to the center of the tourist district.   And we had to do it in the drizzling rain.  Both RQS and I were glad that we brought rain gear with us.  Once by the tram, we had 45 minutes to kill.  So we hung out across the street from our meeting place, in a relatively dry place.

Eventually, we crossed the street to find our tour guide.  Although we did so, we had to wait an extra 15 minutes in the rain before the bus arrived to take us to the glacier. Our driver was a man with a beard that would qualify him to be a member of ZZ-Top. Once on the bus, the driver talked about life in Alaska, and about how he home-schooled his daughter as a single parent. (I'd have loved to find out more, but it would have been way to impolite to ask.  Let's say that this 15 y/o daughter knows how to hunt, skin and tan an animal's hide, and cook the meat from that animal.  Father and Daughter meet the definition of the self-reliant frontier people that people associated with Alaska.

   

We reached the park, took some glacier pictures, and then hung out in the visitors center until our bus returned to take us back to town.  If the weather had been better, we would have walked to Nugget Falls.  But that's something we'll do if we ever get back to town.  Arriving in the center of Juneau, we decided to get some grub at Tracy's King Crab Shack.  Yum!  Although the food was expensive (this is Alaska, with its high prices), it was good. After lunch, we walked back to the ship with a couple of pit stops for souvenirs. We picked up some snacks for us to eat, a book on pre-statehood Alaskan bordellos, and some venison jerky for TCL.  Once on the ship, we decided to rest for a while....

Dinner time came, and we headed downstairs for dinner.  Although we requested our usual shared table, no one came to share it until we were being served our main course.  This didn't stop us from having a nice conversation with the people who ate with us.  And then, we were off to the main theater to hear Trenyce perform.

Trenyce is a singer who got her start on TV's American Idol show.  Even though she came in 5th, she has made a career out of her singing.  Tonight, she sang songs made famous by Diana Ross and Whitney Houston - and she made them her own, while performing them in the style of the original artists.  This performance made up for last night's lackluster show.  

All too soon, it was time to go to bed - and we did just that. 

 

Alaska Cruise 2025 - Glacier Bay - Scenic Cruising Day (08/16/25)

 

Glacier Bay.  It's a national park where only two cruise ships are allowed to enter it on any one day, and we are on one of those ships.  It's a place where nature has been allowed to run wild, and I am grateful that I have the chance to see it before global warming ruins it.

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One thing I've noticed where RQS and I differ greatly is in our sleeping habits.  If I wake up, I tend to stay awake.  If she wakes up, it's easy for her to stay asleep.  This is not usually a big problem, as I will often go into another room and do my thing.  But when it's in a cabin, it's something else.  I have to find ways of doing my thing without disturbing her. And that can be tricky when we have an inside cabin.  Luckily, we have a balcony cabin for this cruise, and we'll be able to see glaciers without leaving the cabin if we want to do that.

Around 9:15, we went to the buffet for breakfast.  Not much to say about that, save we were on the opposite end of the ship from where the Park Ranger was scheduled to give a talk about Glacier bay.  By the time we reached the theater, there were almost no seats left, and we had to walk to the front row to find seats.  Of the 2 presentations we have seen this cruise, the park ranger's presentation was the best. After the presentation, we walked back to our cabin and watched Alaska glide by from the comfort of our balcony for a while. 

 
After lunch, we moseyed up to the lounge where the park ranger was talking.  She noted several things about Glacier Bay park that made the cruise a little bit more interesting: Why the color of the water can be a shade of aqua, how fine glacial silt can be, what causes icebergs to calve from glaciers, etc. Even though what she said was interesting, I found it relaxing to see Mother Nature in her majesty.  All too soon, the park rangers were dropped off at the entrance to the park, and our ship started on its way to Juneau.

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Dinnertime came, and we sat at our usual table with some people we ate with before. Although it was noisy, we were able to enjoy a good meal and good conversation.  Unfortunately, I took a chance with another Indian chicken dish and struck out.  Such is the life of someone who gambles with food.  At least, the creme brulee was good. 

Later on was the stage show.  It was a 30-minute song and dance extravaganza, where the performers sang (and danced to) music from around the world.  One problem: more than half the numbers stunk. One of the decent tunes was an abbreviated version of Iz's "Somewhere over the Rainbow" / "It's a Wonderful World" medley. The men performing "Nessun dorma" and the woman doing Alicia Keys' "New York" did a great job on their tunes.  However, the show was ruined for me because the cast ruined "The Girl from Ipanema" and "Mas Que Nada", both tunes I've loved from childhood.

With that being said, it was another good day in the great white north.

 

Alaska Cruise 2025 - Skagway, AK - Port Day #1 (08/15/25)

 

As I start this entry, it's not even sunrise yet and I captured the above image on our way into Skagway.  It's very much like cruising in the Norwegian Fjords, yet very different at the same time. Both places are filled with rugged beauty. But in Alaska, one also comes to see the wildlife here.  I'm not much for whale watching. But I am interested in seeing the salmon go upstream to spawn. And Alaska has much of that at this time of year, and we'll be seeing the salmon run in a few days.

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Skagway was the gateway to the Klondike gold fields, many miles away in Canada.  It has a rich history, yet now exists for the summer tourist trade.  In 1997, I took an Alaskan cruise out of San Francisco and visited the Alaskan ports of Skagway, Sitka, and Ketchikan, as well as viewing the Hubbard Glacier. This time, I wanted to make sure I got to Juneau and Glacier Bay. (Note: Glacier Bay will be tomorrow's destination.) And I was glad to be able to do so this time around.

The Lynn Canal (not an actual canal) is beautiful at this time of year, with calm waters and snowy mountains on both sides.  It's a wonderful setting for cruises going in to and out of Skagway.  For years, the only way to reach Skagway was by ship.  Now, it is one of a small number of towns able to reach the mainland by land. Today's shore excursion, The White Pass & Yukon Railway runs on tracks laid to reach the gold fields over 100 years ago.

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After a forgettable breakfast in the dining room, we left the ship to look around Skagway before our trip on the White Pass and Yukon Railroad. (WP&Y RR)  This railroad is 125 years old, and it is an amazing feat of engineering for its time.  Built for the Klondike gold rush, it was built by many laborers who rushed to Alaska in hopes of getting rich quick.  (Only a mall percentage of the people who made it to the Klondike ever made enough money to be rich, and an even smaller number of these laborers kept their wealth after leaving the Klondike.  (Note: Frederick Trump, the Orange Snowflake's grandfather, owned the Arctic Restaurant and Hotel, an establishment that offered fine dining, lodging and sex in a sea of tents. Read into this what you will.) The WP&Y RR has an interesting history, and it is the main reason I had to visit Skagway again.

Around noon, we walked over to the waiting area for our excursion, and before we knew it, approximately 600 people were waiting for the train.  We didn't get moving until 1 pm, but RQS later said the wait was worth it - there were some spectacular views on this route.  (Both of us think the Flam Railway in Norway has more awe inspiring views. Sadly, we will not be back in Flam anytime soon.)  Although we got some good photo opportunities, we couldn't capture the views properly due to 2 things: (1) It's impossible to do some of these views justice because they could never be reproduced on a large enough screen, and (2) the train was moving too quickly for us to set up shots properly.  We were back in town by 3:30 pm, and on the ship by 4 pm.  

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After a couple of hours passed, we got ready for dinner.  When the clock struck 7, we went downstairs for dinner and asked for a table waited on by our favorite waiter.  This meant we'd be at a shared table, opening us up to new people and new conversations.  And we were not disappointed.  We met a nice couple from California with whom we had a great chat. It was a nice way to close out a long day.