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Monday, 11 April 2011

How soon can I go again?

Embarkation – Fairly smooth but I was glad we were there early. Bon Voyage, wheelchairs, and “regular folks” go in 3 different lines. Since we were on a single credit card it was a bit cumbersome. The next day I got a note asking me to stop by and provide a credit card – turns out dd’s boyfriend got listed as the “owner” of my cc and I was just a “user.”

We had a nice lunch with friendly wait staff and enjoyed being onboard early and getting settled. Our 2 main bags showed up quickly, other 2 took longer. Out of our extended group (10 people) 2 rolling duffle were seriously damaged between the street and the room (one pull handle broken off, the other had a wheel broken.)

Sea Days – We were in Caribe 731 (starboard aft) with sil next door. The balcony is narrow enough that we couldn’t gather there, but we could get 4 across with the door open and sip wine. Probably much better on warmer cruises; for this one I think an oceanview would have been better – bit more space. The location was good – down a few flights for Promenade or morning coffee at Explorers – up a few flights to the hot tub, gym, and buffet. The starboard side gave us some nice views heading north. The trip south is further out, so no views from either side.

Ports – Victoria - We did the Butchart Gardens High Tea Shorex and enjoyed it very much. The bus driver was knowledgeable and entertaining. The gardens are lovely and tea was great, although not necessarily better than the tea onboard. We chose Butchart thinking that it would be an easy spot for mil, however the gardens are in an old quarry so dh and I got lots of exercise pushing the wheelchair up hills and holding it from careening down.

Ketchikan – Our fly-fishing trip was cancelled the day of, due to high water in the river. Since it was cool and drizzly we weren’t too upset. Most of our group was doing the Misty Fjords, but it was booked, so dh and I just hiked around town. Fun seeing the salmon “swimming” up the ladder. Lots of hills, but after a few days on board we were ready to burn some calories. Asked a policeman for food recommendations and got good ones. We split a terrific burger and shake at Burger Queen, just past the tunnel. It was excellent! Then did some shopping – GREAT prices on fleece vests and other outerwear – probably because it’s near the end of cruise-ship-season. Then on to the Crab Cracker in Salmon Landing for chowder. There was a wait for tables, so we sat at the counter. The guy working the counter was fast and friendly. We asked about the local beers on tap and he poured us several ounces of each to taste. That was actually plenty of beer, but since he was so nice, we ordered two beers and two bowls of chowder instead of splitting one of each as we’d planned. The chowder was thick and delicious.

Juneau – We did the Orca Enterprises whale watch. Capt Larry drove, but a younger guy, Jeff, was the main guide and was very good. Lots of humpbacks and eagles with entertaining commentary from Jeff. The sun was shining and it was a wonderful day. When we got back to Juneau it was back to cloudy so instead of heading up the tram we just walked around town. Some good little museums and lots of fun stairs and pathways.

Skagway – We did the Princess Train and Glacial Lake Kayak trip. It was an early start (7:15 on the pier), but the White Pass train ride was stunning and we had a good time kayaking on a lake up in Fraser BC. Then we had a bus ride down with a knowledgeable local driver and got to pull over a see a bear hanging out around a goat he’d been working on for a few days. We were back in town early afternoon and were thinking of grabbing lunch at the Glacial Smoothie (recommended both by the bus driver and the kayak guides), but decided to hike up to the Lower Lake first. The guides had said it was a short (half mile) steep (500’) climb, but once up there it flattened out and there was a 2.5 mile loop around the lake. So we figured we’d hike first and eat after. They were right about the short steep, but the “loop” was a serious boulder scramble for quite a ways. Fun, but only because we’re in good shape and hike quite a bit. There were some fabulous views and quite a variety of colorful toadstools along the path. When we finished, we went for Afternoon Tea on the ship and loved it. Because tea had been going awhile we got put at an empty table and all the waiters came with their trays of sandwiches (loved the smoked salmon and the cucumber ones!), scones, pastries, and cookies. After about 5 minutes, another couple was seated and back the waiters came. After the 3rd couple was seated we were feeling fat and happy. Others had complained that the got a single sandwich, cookie, etc and the waiters never came back. Guess it pays to go after the rush.

Endicott Arm – Tracy Arm got passed up – the explanation was that there were too many ice chunks flowing out on the ebb tide. The captain came on and explained that we were going to Endicott instead but, really, he thought it was nicer than Tracy Arm. It sounded odd; we thought he should have spun it a bit differently (conditions are favorable today to do something we don’t often get a chance to do. We get to cruise Endicott instead of Tracy Arm…) Anyway, we found it lovely and enjoyed more eagles than we could count, lots of seals on the ice floes and a stunning glacier.

Dining – We were in Anytime Dining and it worked out fine after the first night. Not sure what happened, we got there around 6 and ended up waiting almost an hour and a half. We had a big group so I don’t know if that was the problem, of if they lost track of us. My brother in law went to see what was going on and came back saying “Ah, the value of a liberal arts education.” When he saw the maitre d’ was from Italy so he spoke to him in Italian. We got seated immediately with profuse apologies. He said to come between 5:15 and 5:30 the next night. We were not able to make reservations before 8pm for any night. Someone heard that there was a fairly large group of Germans (80 or so) and they had a standing reservation for 6pm. Don’t know if that was true, but we had no problems the rest of the trip either going at 5:30 or waiting and going at 8.

The wait staff ranged from good to excellent. Based on a hint from this board, I asked for a plate of vegetables instead of bread. The head waiter came over to see exactly what I wanted (lightly steamed, crudités???) and said he’d have it the next night. From then on I was presented with a large bouquet of fresh vegetables (asparagus, carrots, celery, bell peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, and olives on ice!

Activities – We tried the spin class and found it pretty weak, but the gym had nice equipment and the guys said to come between 1 and 4 to avoid crowds. We went to MUTS one afternoon but couldn't see well (poor angle to the screen), couldn't hear well (folks yakking in the area coupled with peer sound quality_ and it was cold). I can see it as a good option for nighttime in a warm clime. We had a good time with the line dancing (my dh was amazed to discover it was just like the high impact aerobics class he loved in the 80s), the trivia (although we weren’t nearly as serious as the other teams) and the ballroom waltz class. A slight sour note the last day when a friend said they were charged $25 each for a wine tasting they’d been told was $9.50. We had too; I just mistook it for a wine purchase. We asked about at the purser about the wine tasting and were told we could sign up when we went to dinner, which we did. They brought the slip to the table and we must have been confused about which slip we were signing and thought the $125 (5 for wine club) was for several bottles of wine at dinner. Since we had no idea that there were two different tastings with two different prices, we weren’t on the lookout. Some other friends went to both wine tastings and never realized until the folio printout that they weren’t both $9.50. I guess it’s easy to sign without carefully reading the slips.

Shows – I didn’t get to many, but the ventriloquist (Dan Horn) was outstanding – very funny and technically superb! The Princess Dancers did a couple of shows – I only saw Cinematastic, but enjoyed it since it had music from movies I really like (Flashdance, Dirty Dancing, Fame). The string quartet in the Atrium before dinner every night was fabulous. A comedian, Carlos Oscar, just didn’t strike me as funny and I didn’t care for his delivery. He kept talking as if someone was trying to interrupt him (no, wait, wait, listen, let me tell, wait…) About half the audience seemed to find him funny, though. We also enjoyed the Princess Pop Star finals. Of 7 finalists, 3 were from one family (grandma, grandpa and grand-daughter). The grandpa came in first and the granddaughter was 1 vote behind him. Clearly some musical genes in that family!

The Chef’s Dinner was delicious and very interesting. We also got a tour of the Bridge (my sil is friends with the head of the Port of SF) and that was fascinating. An officer gave a talk the following day in the theater about ship operations that was apparently very good, too.

Debarkation – After organizing all the other folks in our group, I forgot to put our own luggage tags on. I figured that all the untagged bags would be in one place, but was basically told that I’d have to wait until everyone was off to see what was left. Fortunately, we have a big red duffel and were able to spot it just by walking through the different areas. So, make sure you get your tags on!!! Otherwise it was an easy departure. We were “assigned” to the princess theater, but since mil needed a wheelchair, we were told to go to the Atrium instead. When they called our group we raised our hand and they brought a wheelchair and took us off. D was a bit late due to traffic, but just to the left of Pier 35 (facing the water) is a large area with benches and tall flagpoles. There’s also an hourly parking lot right across the street in the triangle formed by Embarcadero, Bay and Kearny, which makes an easy loading spot.

Overall - All in all, I give this a big thumbs up. Some family members didn’t do this cruise because of the extra sea days, but I really enjoyed have the down time to ease into vacation and wind back down again. Dh really enjoyed having his handheld GPS along – both entertaining in the passage and helpful wandering around town. It was definitely fun to see how fast we were going at different times. We also brought a wireless indoor/outdoor thermometer and some handheld radios – very helpful for finding each other for meals, after naps, and such.