Photos from Ketchikan approach

I took some photos during our approach using a Canon S880 pocket camera.

The view from the roof of the bridge. Captain Dino Sagani is on the bridge as he takes the 4 am to 8 am shift.

Looking back down the length of the ship (952 feet). A  few people are awake and on their balconies.

Early morning mists with boats at anchor.

We are alongside the quay

The cruise ship Norwegian Jewel is docking closer to the town

Two more ships would arrive later. It's about 6.30 a.m

On the dock, talking a walk

Here's a short video I shot when I got off the ship for the first time in Ketchikan.  I would be getting off again later in the morning to join a bear-watching tour.

When you get off a ship in port you will have your cruise card (room key etc) scanned as this gives the ship a record of who is onboard and on shore. This way when it comes time to sail later and you are not on board when you should be the ship knows exactly who is missing. They will page you by name just to make sure and although they may wait a little while (say 15 to 30 minutes) they have a schedule to keep and port fees to pay if they are late departing. They will sail without your sorry ass.

There are many youtube videos of people sauntering back to their ship as it pushes away from the quay. You are responsible for getting to the next port under your own steam and at your own expense.
If you are on a Princess excursion and it is running late for some reason then the ship waits for you.

As you are getting off there will likely be a photographer wielding a camera to take a photo of you with a couple of photographers in fancy dress pertinent to the port you are in-eg saloon gamblers or gunslingers in Alaska, maybe someone in a moose outfit or pirates in a Caribbean port. Good clean fun and you don't have to buy the photo when it is displayed in the photo gallery later.

Approaching Ketchikan

The UBD was ultimately followed by a karaoke performance before bedtime. I don't think we ate another morsel all night although there was plenty of opportunity as there always is on a Princess ship.

Bed was calling and again I set the phone alarm for 4.30 as I wanted to be up and ready to see the ship approaching Ketchikan, a little eye-candy town clinging to the mountains that sweep down to the sea.

Here would be our first landfall and our first excursion off the ship. On our previous Alaska cruise exactly a year prior we had sailed on Coral Princess and not knowing whether we'd ever be back this way again we chose some exciting excursions-kayaking in Canada on Bennett Lake, a scenic train ride on the White Pass railway back into Skagway, a helicopter landing on Taku Glacier in Juneau followed 30 minutes later by whale watching from a small boat with Harv 'n Marv tours.  In Ketchikan we took a floatplane tour over Misty Fjords. All of that cost $1600 for two (helicopter was $600 alone)

This time I wanted us to stay low and set our feet on Alaskan soil more instead of flying over it so I chose excursions that would keep us at ground level. Excursion videos will follow later.

In the wee hours of the morning the ship is at it's most beautiful for me. All is calm and there are no crowds. I head out from our aft cabin at 5 a.m to get my first coffee in the deck 5 Patisserie. Only staff are there and crew members step aside to let me get my coffee first, which is a nice customer service touch and appreciated as I need my coffee so I can get up onto the open decks to savor the early morning air and mists. At 5.30 I will take a seat and eat the fresh food from the excellent buffet.
The hot food has just been put out into the trays and I serve myself. A waitress from the Ukraine takes my request for orange juice (yes) iced water (indeed) and coffee (hell yes!)

A vast amount of bacon and fried potatoes is consumed as are many cold cuts including mortadella a passion of mine. Crispy bread rolls with butter are layered with bacon to become a bacon sandwich of the Gods. A little ketchup-why not? Live a little here!

The ship is mine to enjoy at this hour.

Up on deck, on the roof of the bridge, I put the camcorder to work...(video)

Princess Cruises' UBD

Before I get to our Ultimate Balcony Dinner I want to welcome readers from Russia and the Ukraine who have somehow found this blog amongst the many present on the web. Cruise ships to the Baltic make two day stops to St Petersburg and there are also American Cruise ships (Princess line in particular) who have sailings to the Black Sea and it's via cruise ships that I will discover Russia and Ukraine. My favorite bar waiter on my last cruise this past January was Vlada from Ukraine and she was a lot of fun. So welcome and I am glad you are here.

I would ask anyone who reads this to use the comments link. You must have questions (that's not an order, more a supposition, especially about cruising on big white ships as only a small percentage of humans have experienced it.)  I won't shoot you down in flames, although I am armed to the teeth with sarcasm and ridicule.

To my Australian readers...Gidday! Both Carol and I had/have many friends/relatives from Australia and I will see that great country from the deck of a ship someday. Now that you are here I certainly will throw another shrimp on the barbie (Barbecue for non-Australian speakers).

We are all in this boat (Earth) together and the sooner we get to know each other the better-so write a comment or just say Hello and tell me where you are from....(hope I don't sound like a stand-up comedian with that).

$100, charged to your cruise account gets you an unforgettable experience known in cruise shorthand as the UBD. Ultimate Balcony Dinner where two waiters from Room Service come to your door and begin the two hour process of feeding you great food and drinks without you have to leave your cabin or wash any dishes. The menu has already been chosen and the courses are brought one at a time when you are ready for them. The food is cooked to order (a la minute) in the ship's galley which is also feeding thousands of other passengers their nightly repast. Ships have gigantic spotless stainless steel kitchens with a couple of hundred staff.

The two energetic room service beavers busy themselves with laying starched tablecloths, napkins, silverware and glasses. A centerpiece of fresh flowers arrives with a champagne bucket with a half bottle of NotVeuve Cliquot. The ship's newest photographer-Jessica  from South Africa- shows up and poses us 20 times while all this is going on. A calm Alaskan sea is the backdrop.

Finally we are invited to take our seats. A Mohito arrives and liberates my taste buds. Carol has a Club Soda with lime. Canapés prepare the palate for what may follow. While we are eating the team wait outside our cabin door until needed again.  Alexandra from Ukraine will check to see if we need something pouring. Empty plates are removed once I have licked them. The courses are described on the video which follows. All the while there is 950 feet of ship at our backs, feeding and entertaining the rest of the 2600 passengers. Bands are playing, photographers are busy shooting thousands of Formal Night photos as people are dressed up and smelling good, waiting for the Captain's Welcome Aboard speech in the Piazza. He will be introducing the Officers of the various departments once the Champagne Waterfall has run it's course.

People play in the Casino, people play cards in a bar, people dance in that bar. Some folks are swimming in the many pools ( it was a 70 degree F day), some are shopping, some asleep. The ship is a hive of activity but we are supremely relaxed and enjoying a great meal. Good food, good service and Good Golly Miss Molly.

Money well spent- you can't get a meal like this on land with stellar personalized service. Even if they were just to bring us drinks and some peanuts we would be having the time of our lives in this relaxed setting. 70 degrees, no wind on our sheltered balcony. Clean clothes. Nowhere to rush off to.

The scenery....calm, narrow waters off the British Columbia coast.  The 4 men up on the bridge keep us safe and free to indulge ourselves in the blissful moment. A  humpback whale jumps out of the water 400 yards behind in our wake. Magic moment!

Steaks and lobsters come to our cabin and are met with a blaze of flashing stainless steel silverware.

Then there is dessert....... (video)

Eat your greens....don't forget the beans and celery... (F Zappa)

It's on lazy sea days with the ship gliding along on calm waters that you can find yourself watching men carving fruit and vegetables for your delight and amazement. It's a very 1st World thing to do. Vegetables are plentiful-some people think they grow on trees, but that would be fruit. The guys from the Philippines who have the carving skills would probably  put the vegetables in a pot and feed their family a delicious soup if in their home country but here we like to look at them and marvel at the artist's skill. We'll have soup later too so it's win-win on the cruise.

Although I spend most of my time on a ship on deck enjoying the sun/cloud/rain (we are on an Alaskan cruise after all) I do walk inside to get from point A to B from time to time and certainly most of my meals are taken indoors (most, but not all as you may see later).

The social hub of the ship is the Piazza where entertainments are almost non-stop. You may walk through and see a juggler, a unicyclist, some strongmen, balancers, magicians, dance lessons, a band and such and stop for a moment or two to enjoy.

The circular Piazza on Princess ships can be three decks high and there are shops and cafes, Passenger Services counters, wine or martini bars, Future Cruise Sales offices and the like branching off from it.
There are comfy chairs on the lower level (deck 5 usually) and above people stand at the safety railing to look down upon whatever is happening below-in this case I was on the third level, using zoom to get close-ups of the carvers.

(video)

We'd be doing our own vegetable carving-but with a knife and fork sometime later as we had booked an Ultimate Balcony Dinner while we were sailing what I anticipated would be calm waters. I booked it soon after boarding and discussed timing and menu with Alexandra (from Ukraine) from Room Service the day before.
Although there is boundless tasty food included in the price of your ticket we opted to spend the $100 tariff for a private meal on our balcony. Not an everyday experience.

More on that later!

In the meantime on a lazy day we retreated to our reserved loungers in The Sanctuary which is an adults-only restful place up high near the front of the ship. Serenity Stewards were there to pamper us or leave us alone-the choice being ours. Naps can (and will) be taken there.  Some photos to follow no doubt.....

Sea Day

A sea day is a day at sea (simple!) so no docking in a port in other words. The ship on the sea, self contained and prepared to feed you and entertain you all day long. The shops are open as is the casino.

I get my wake-up call (automated via the phone) at 4.30 or 5 a.m so that I can be up before the sun and the rest of the passengers. It's me and the stewards vacuuming the public areas, now empty.
By 5.30 I'll be ready for my 2nd cup of coffee and a meal in the buffet. The hot food starts at 5.30 so I have the place (and the bacon) to myself. A waiter brings me orange juice and coffee and iced water as I dispatch some cold meats, bread rolls, bacon and potatoes, some cheeses, maybe some mushrooms and scrambled egg....the list could go on and on but I am due in Sabatini's for breakfast #2 at 9 a.m with Carol who is still sleeping.

Horizon Court buffet at the stern of the ship-before the breakfast crowds

The sun eventually illuminates the back of the clouds and we have daylight so I move outdoors with the video camera. I have nothing planned for the day while Carol has a lecture at some point in the morning, I think on Alaskan wildlife. After breakfast she will no doubt want to walk the Promenade deck and fill her lungs with sea air. She has already read the daily ship newspaper-the Princess Patter and with a highlighter I brought for her, has marked out various events she wants to participate in. Some of our planned excursions will bring us face to face with critters she will hear about in her lecture. Bears, whales, eagles and the like.

(video)

After dinner

After a delicious feast in Sabatini's it was time for a stroll on deck to take the night air (we put it back later) and stare out into the darkness as the ship sailed along. We had bypassed the "welcome aboard show" in the Princess Theater which is an introduction to the Cruise Staff who take care of entertainment and events as well as some of the featured acts for the week ahead-singers, jugglers, mind readers, illusionists, comedians and such. The Cruise Director runs the show and introduces himself-Billy Highgate by name.

One of the events on tonight's calendar was karaoke in the Club Fusion lounge and we like to go along and listen. Passengers with good bad and ugly voices get up and entertain their fellows for fun.
The audience is kind and supportive. The singers vie to qualify for Princess Pop Star-a contest to be held on the last evening. Good clean fun while enjoying a drink.

Club Fusion

There was a boisterous family group of 16 who were there to party and dance. One of them-Erin- had a very good voice and instantly became our pick for Pop Stardom.

Eventually it is time to go home. No waiting for the valet to bring the car, no fear of DUI and a Police record, no umbrellas needed-we just left the club and got in an elevator and rode it up 3 floors to our cabin.

The bed was turned down, the extra pillows Carol had chosen from the pillow menu were in place.

A last beer of the day was enjoyed on the balcony with the sound of the wake in our ears and some chocolate-covered strawberries in our stomachs.

Sleep......

First night on board

(video)

We usually celebrate our first night on a Princess ship with dinner in one of the specialty restaurants. On the Diamond there are two of these, as is the case on most of the fleet; Sterling  Steakhouse and Sabatini's, an intimate Italian eatery. Sterling Steakhouse is a pop-up restaurant in that it makes it's home in the evenings in a sectioned-off area of the Horizon Court buffet, whereas Sabatini's is a stand-alone room.  Upon boarding we had called and made a reservation for Sabatini's.

Always a smile from the host.  This is a morning photo as one of the best suite perks is exclusive use of this restaurant for a leisurely breakfast  with maybe only 3 other tables occupied depending on when you go. Neapolitan and Opera songs play quietly in the background and the service is the best to be found on the ship .

This restaurant on some ships is on Promenade deck (7) and only has a couple of windows looking out to sea. On newer ships it is high up at the stern (deck 16 ) with a full wall of windows with fountains and outdoor tables outside. It is the place to eat at a relaxed pace and ease into the day.

I tend to take photos of rooms when they are unoccupied to show the room to it's best advantage and to avoid taking pictures of people eating and invading their privacy. Long shots on deck are a different matter. Many room shots will have been taken between 5 and 6 a.m on my morning walks.

Beautiful images of Italy adorn the walls

It's in Sabatini's that I usually order my first bottle of wine. As I don't drink it all at one meal it is held for me and can be retrieved when I ask for it during my next dinner in any restaurant on the ship.

It costs 2 to 3 times what the same bottle would cost on land. You can bring your own wine aboard and pay a $15 corkage fee if you bring it to the table. This would save you money but I already have enough luggage to drag around with me and haven't thought of leaving time to visit wine stores before embarkation.

The first night on board is always a celebration. You have arrived and passed through all the lines and checkpoints. You've had your photo taken by security-when you return to your ship in port and they scan your card they can see a photo of the cardholder on a monitor, thus maintaining security for ticket-holders only. You've made your calls for restaurant reservations, ship tours and the like. The luggage is under the bed, the clothes hanging and the small items placed in drawers. The mini bar spirits have been changed out for 10 bottles of Beck's beer in my case. We have met our room steward and advised him of any needs we might have-as suite passengers we can order dinner in our room so we have him bring us the menus each morning so we can plan.

With all that squared away the vacation at sea can begin!

A cruise ship is often described as a floating hotel. It is-but how many hotels (outside of Las Vegas) have 4 or 5 bands playing at various times during the day and night? How many hotels have 4 swimming pools, a day spa, a small hospital, a very small morgue, a wedding chapel , a couple of rooms just for kids, half a dozen jacuzzis, an outdoor movie theater with a 30 foot screen, an ice cream parlor, a fast food burger joint, a buffet, an Italian restaurant and a steak house, multiple bars including a martini one with a pianist, a cigar bar, clothing and cosmetics shops, a casino, 4 big rooms with live entertainment including singers and dancers and a live 7 piece band, dance lessons, fruit and ice carvings, bingo, trivia games, card rooms, stand-up comic shows, jugglers, acrobats and balancers, laundomats on all passenger decks, a portrait studio, mini-golf and shuffleboard, a small basketball court, video games, a library, a business center, a kitchen that feeds over 3,000 people a day, multiple times, it's own bakery operating 24/7, it's own recycling plant and it's own power station producing 66 million watts continuously......the ship is a diesel/electric which means that some of it's 6 engines are diesel and their job is to drive generators to make electricity which powers the ship and the hungry "hotel" above.

It's a hotel with maybe 20 elevators, 17 or 18 floors and it's motoring along at 25 mph!

When you wake up each morning the view outside has changed while you were sleeping. You didn't have to move a muscle to get there. You slept like a baby and when you wake up, making the bed is out of the question. There is a young man from Thailand, named Wee who is just dying to do that for you!

Time to eat.......(video)

Sailaway

The Bon Jovi concert on the MUTS screen (Movies Under the Stars) was soon interrupted by the call to Muster Drill over the ship's P.A. system. This is a safety drill and attendance is mandatory.

For me it involved returning to our cabin to join Carol. Lifejackets are stored there and are to be carried with us to our Muster Station. Staff are nearby to guide you to the fire escapes . In our case we had to go down 3 flights of stairs to Club Fusion on Promenade deck.Upon entering our room keys are scanned to record our attendance. Several hundred people file in and take their seats. The Captain talks about safety over the P.A and then we are shown how to put on the lifejackets. This simple exercise could save our lives in an emergency so we take it seriously, as should you if you cruise.

Some lines have their passengers assemble on the open decks to stand in the heat/cold/rain without lifejackets to watch a demonstration by someone who knows how to put on a lifejacket-hopefully that person would be standing right next to you to help you if the ship caught fire... (good luck with that)

Once muster is over the ship can leave port and now you are free to enjoy yourself.  For us that meant standing on top of the ship's bridge with the warm wind in our hair. We would be sailing under the Lion's Gate Bridge on our way out of the harbor. The Zuiderdam remained at the dock for a later departure. (video)

Once beyond the bridge the ship can increase speed which is a maximum of 22 Knots or roughly 25 mph. The Captain can pass control of the ship over to the navigating computer that steers her in open waters. There are always two officers monitoring the computer and two deckhands scanning the sea with binoculars while the ship is in motion, which it would be for the next 36 hours until we reached our first port, Ketchikan, in Alaska. We were sailing the Inside Passage so land was never far away.

We took a walk on the Promenade deck...

This deck, deck 7, runs most of the way around the ship but when you get towards the bow a set of stairs leads up to the deck above (deck 8, Emerald Deck) and that brings you to a covered deck overlooking the bow of the ship, a design unique to some Princess (and P & O) ships.

Looking towards the bow

The mountains and islands on the coast of British Columbia

Even though we had complimentary canapés and champagne delivered to our cabin at sail away we had an invitation to attend cocktail hour (5 to 7 p.m) in the Skywalker's Lounge which is high up on the ship behind the funnel. It is open to Suite, Platinum and Elite members of the Princess Captain's Circle which is like a frequent flyers club for loyal cruisers. Munchies are served each evening. This would tide us over to dinner at 9 p.m in Sabatini's, one of the two specialty restaurants onboard where there is a fee to dine. It is much quieter than the Main Dining Rooms which are serving hundreds of passengers in 2 sittings, the first one of which begins at 5.30 p.m. At home we never eat before 8 p.m so we opted for Anytime Dining where you eat in an MDR when you want, before 10 p.m.

The view from Skywalker's looking aft, 3 hours after leaving Vancouver.

Onboard Diamond Princess

Once we had repacked our suitcases for our cruise we called the hotel Bellhop to come fetch it. The hotel would deliver it to the ship which is a great perk when staying in the Pan. Now we could just mosey down to Princess check-in to get our boarding cards ( like a credit card which acts as a room key and one' s means of payment on the ship- for drinks, photos, shopping and the like.)

Now it's time to pass through security which is less stringent than an airport. Then-as we have Priority Boarding as Suite Passengers we board the ship. Maybe a 30 minute process all told.

Carol puts her feet up on our balcony

On Princess Cruises (unlike many others) your room is ready for you upon boarding. Your luggage will follow later and be left outside your door. On some cruise lines you have to walk around the ship
or take your carry-on bags to the buffet which can only complicate your lie for an hour or two. Then they announce your room is ready.

Once on board you are free to roam the ship and eat whatever you can find. We had a quiet lunch in one of the main dining rooms (MDR) which is only open for 90 minutes on embarkation day. We hadn't eaten in 4 hours and didn't want to set a new cruise record for abstinence.

The ship will sail at 4 and as it was only noon we had plenty of time to do our embarkation chores; hanging up our clothes, making Specialty restaurant appointments ($25 a head to dine), booking a relaxing adults-only space for the week for $115 each (The Sanctuary and aptly named). I booked myself on an Ultimate Ship Tour (UST) for $150 to be taken on our last sea day as we sailed towards College Fjord in Alaska and I booked us a private dinner on our balcony-UBD-Ultimate Balcony Dinner. Once all that had been accomplished I enjoyed a beer from our free mini bar set-up (a Suite perk) and joined Carol in the shade of our balcony.

Here are some shots of the cabin

Seen from the bedroom

The bathroom will appear in a video soon.  It was two separate rooms-one with a big multi-jet shower and a jacuzzi tub and the other a toilet and sink room so two people could do different bathroom-things at once. Two doors- one to the living room and one to the bedroom.

I didn't video it on the Diamond so am using some footage I shot on our previous Princess cruise on the Crown Princess. Same design and decor. (video)

Once we had settled in and Carol was busy reading her Princess Patter which is a daily listing of ship events to keep us entertained, I took a walk up to the pool deck to get my first beer of the cruise under my belt. Juan from Mexico was the first bar waiter to come to my table and he would remain a constant source of cold crisp Beck's beer during my week onboard.

Next up...sailaway from Vancouver

Embarkation morning

We passed some time sitting outside in the sun that Saturday morning just watching the world go by.
The hotel is the only one on Canada Place where the ships tie up so 5,000 passengers getting of would be replaced with 5,000 getting on. There was an endless parade of tour busses picking up or disgorging new passengers.

The clock was ticking towards our anticipated transfer from the hospitality of the hotel to the hospitality of the ship.

The ship from our room on the 19th floor. She would be unloading the trash from last week's cruise and storing 2 week's worth of provisions to feed us and then the following week's return cruise from Whittier, Alaska.

Our stateroom was the one to the right of center on the 2nd complete row down, with no cabins below us. The promenade deck is the lower one with the lights on just above the name of the ship.
That is deck 7 and we are on deck 10, known as Caribe Deck.

On the other side of the pier, Holland America's Zuiderdam, also bound for Alaska.

Seen from our room

Here's some video before we joined the ship....

My ship has come in...

Saturday, August 18th 2012.

I was on the streets with a coffee in hand by 5.30 a.m. The only other people on the streets were sleeping n doorways and on benches. The sun wasn't in the sky yet but his light was thanks to the curvature of the Earth. Big wide streets which had been teeming with people 5 hours before, now all abed.

The ship was supposed to dock at 7 but, knowing ships as I do I figured she'd appear around 6 and be going very slowly-no last minute slamming on the brakes here. 113,000 Tonnes, 2600 passengers and over 1,000 crew and not one seat belt.

So after half an hour of just slowly moseying around the empty streets I was back at the Pier where the Pan Pacific sits in it's prime location at Canada Place, notable for the 5 white sails on the roof.

She made no sound but I sensed Big Ship approaching and girded my loins (whatever that means) and raised my camcorder. I didn't have to wait long.... (video)

Once she was in position she reversed back into the dock. There are cameras at the stern and an officer with a walkie talkie to help in this process as the Captain is about 900 feet away. He steers the ship from a Bridge Wing which sticks out from each side of the ship for a better rear view.
(video)

While the Diamond was reversing into it's berth on the other side of the dock a Holland America ship called Zuiderdam was coming in head first. The two ships disgorged almost 5,000 passengers who now needed taxis and shuttle buses to the airport after they passed through Canadian Customs. So on turnaround day the area in front of the Pan Pacific is a hive of activity and later the Anime Festival visitors would arrive to add to the crowd.

That would be after breakfast and we had a complimentary buffet to enjoy in the Pan on the open lobby level.

Five Sails video

Here is a video of our dinner in the excellent Five Sails restaurant in the Pan Pacific Hotel.

They (whomever they are) say you eat with your eyes first-so tuck-in!

Alaskan Cruise August 2012

This is intended for two groups of people-those who have cruised and those who haven't cruised and my apologies if I am missing a demographic along the way. You know who you are.

My first experience of cruising came out of the blue back in 1985 when a friend who had just joined a Royal Caribbean cruise ship as a musician/singer called me up after just 4 days into the job. He called me from Jamaica and said "do you want a job playing drums on a cruise ship?" I said "yes"without hesitation and celebrate that fact every day of my life since.

Luckily, back then, I could play drums after a fashion and was gung-ho to travel. I had been teaching drum students in my home-a cottage industry even though there wasn't a cottage for miles as I was in London, England (not the other one) living in leafy Dulwich, a neighbor of Mrs M Thatcher.

I spent a total of 44 weeks at sea in 85 and 86 before coming ashore to live in the USA. I was on the ship that helped Royal become the 2nd biggest cruise line in the world, behind #1 Carnival corp. That ship was the Song of Norway. Royal has become the Cruise Industry Trend-Setter over the years.

I took a couple of cruises with Carnival as a passenger-Caribbean including Grenada, San Juan and Venezuela in the very early 1990s and then forgot about cruising for almost 20 years during which the industry grew in terms of number or ships and lines and the size of the vessels.

Over the years, sitting by the fire outdoors, I would regale Carol with tales of life at sea. Even though I was part of the ship's crew I was able to mix and mingle with the passengers and ate with them in the formal dining room so I had a good impression of the fun they were having on the islands which were Cozumel, Jamaica, Grand Cayman and Labadee (Island of Haiti)

Carol is a good listener.

So it was in 2011 when we decided to cancel a week in Munich as it was Oktoberfest and our favorite hotel was booked, Carol said "let's go to Alaska on a cruise!"

I set about looking into doing just that. I looked at Royal Caribbean and Holland America, two cruise lines that I was familiar with from the past. I didn't think of Carnival as they have no reputation in cruising Alaskan waters unlike the other two. I went to their websites and also found cruising's greatest resource-Cruiscritic.com. There was no Web back in 1985. CC has 1,000,000 members (free) and that includes me. If anything happens on a cruise ship you will find out about it here....

Cruisecritic.com

There are at least 200 cruise ships at sea 365 days a year, seldom a rest. Like airplanes, the ships are run constantly day in and day out, unless maintenance is needed. There are a couple of hundred more not at sea, but rather on the rivers of Europe and Asia (China mainly). Many options for those seeking relaxation and adventure. People like us!

We decided to let a Travel Agent help us and we made an appointment to talk to one in Chicago.

Just before we left I was surfing cruises and came upon a ship I liked the look of and an itinerary that would have us start our adventure in Alaska (Anchorage) and a week later dock in Vancouver, Canada- a city we had visited before and were fond of. The ship was called Coral Princess and Princess Cruise Lines was the operator. So in the Travel Agent's we focused on that.

I found in the interview that I was more knowledgeable re the ship and Alaska (from reading) than the TA but we told him what we wanted and he held a cabin for us. When I got home and looked at the deck plan of the ship I found out that the cabin reserved had no balcony which was #1 on our wish list. I sent the TA an e mail and thanked him for his time and picking up the phone and calling Princess direct I booked exactly what we needed.

The cruise on the Coral Princess was Carol's first and exceeded both our expectations. That was August 2011 and in January 2012 we took another Princess cruise on the Crown Princes to Aruba and Curacao. Another home run! So August 2012 we wanted to return to Alaska and take the cruise in the opposite direction- from Vancouver to Alaska (Princess' own port of Whittier, 65 miles South of Anchorage.)

If you are someone who has never cruised I hope that what follows will give you a flavor of the experience and make you think about booking a cruise. Seasoned cruisers may find themselves realizing that it's time they added some Alaskan fridge magnets to their collection.

In looking back on my two Alaskan cruises since August 2011, I preferred the Vancouver to Whittier one as it left the glaciers until the end of the cruise rather than right at the beginning.

One important thing- get to your ship on time as they won't wait for you! In our case "on time" means  the day before she sails but if you can only fly/drive in on the sailing day, leave yourself a few hours of a cushion as delays may occur. Weather is always unpredictable and airlines are not the Swiss Railway!

The first step one our cruise was to get a seat on one of these things with a ticket that said Vancouver.
Canada is a foreign country (unless you are Canadian) so you will need a Passport and you won't get on your ship without one.

Boarding tickets for the ship and tags for your luggage will already have been made available to you through Princess' web site. You can book your excursions (more on those later) in advance without being charged and your tickets will be waiting in your stateroom which is what your cabin is called.

This is part of the immigration line at Vancouver airport which is one more reason why you want to allow for delays in getting to your ship. Once you get to the Border Control agent don't say anything that will delay things further. No "jokes" about the hand grenades in your suitcase. Everyone carries those in these troubled times. The last  words you should ever utter is something along the lines of "hey, do you know Wayne Gretzky?" You'll be holding up the line forever and the beating you'll receive as you wait for a taxi will be fully justified.

If you are cruising after landing look out for uniformed people holding up signs that say things like Princess Cruises/Royal Caribbean Cruises/Holland America cruises and so on. You will already have paid them for your shuttle to the port. We take taxis as we are there a day early.

So, flying in a full day earlier allows one to take delays in one's stride. We were able to sit back and enjoy the 25 minute cab ride down to Vancouver harbor as our hotel was right where the ship docked.

The rounded white building to the right of center is the Pan Pacific Hotel and we were on the 19th floor overlooking the water.

We got to our room and looking out the window I saw the Royal Caribbean ship Radiance of the Seas casting off her lines, preparing to leave...

North Vancouver as the backdrop as the Radiance heads towards the open sea

I have a friend from my days in Northern Ireland and London who has been living in Vancouver since 1977 playing in an Irish band called Killarney. On my previous visit to Van in August 2011 I had gone to the bar he was playing in (The Blarney Stone) to surprise him but when I got there I was told he was on a break. Seeing the bar packed with drunken sardines I decided to withdraw and surprise him another time.

In the interim I had made contact with him. He was no longer in the band so I didn't have to endure the Blarney Stone and escaped having to listen to Irish music which is my least favorite. He had been playing a residency in the B.Stone for 29 years and it is burned into his psyche.

So I had arranged to call him once I was settled in at the Pan Pacific. He lived in North Van so would take 30 mins to get to the Pan once he got the go signal. When I called him from the pier outside the hotel and told him I had arrived he said "I can see you". I looked across the street and even after 35 years recognized him. It was my old friend Terry.

It was a mid-80s day and there was an Anime festival taking place in the hotel so hundreds of young people in fantastic colorful costumes were milling around -a bit surreal but Terry and I were soon oblivious, sitting by the water catching up after all these years. After a couple of hours I brought him up to the room to meet Carol.

Terry declined our offer of dinner in the hotel's 5 Sails restaurant but joined us by the pool for a pre-dinner drink.

Yes, that's grass growing on the building nearby

We parted ways after an hour by the pool and will meet again next time we sail from Vancouver.

Now it was time to eat!

A great view accompanied a stellar meal.

Arctic Char I believe

Scallops on a cauliflower puree

Lobster Tortellini

Seafood platter

It was dark by the time we arrived at the espresso and Sambuca course...

After dinner a stroll through Gastown, an area filled with restaurants and bars right by the hotel.

It was still 80 degrees and the streets were packed with tourists and locals. My plan was to be up early in the morning to watch our ship return from Alaska-it was sailing South from Whittier that week and would turn around in Vancouver and retrace it's steps.

So I wanted to be in bed by midnight so I could be up again by 5 a.m. to see the Diamond Princess for the first time.

If our trip had ended that evening I would have been happy. Beautiful weather in a beautiful city by the water. An old friendship affirmed and a delicious memorable dinner-but our trip was about to take on a whole new excitement as in the late morning we would step aboard a beautiful ship that would take us in comfort on a great adventure!

Returning home

It was just a short break-left home Monday morning and returned Friday afternoon but it was a great little getaway from work and the over-familiar.

We saw Meijer Gardens for the first time, experienced Bay City and saw many fine ships sail through the Soo Locks. A relaxing drive up the Lake Superior coast was the icing on the cake.

Now we woke in Charlevoix with 300 miles still to go but it was a beautiful day for driving.

We arrived in town the night before too late to buy fudge but Carol remedied that in the morning and also bought some fresh made to order sandwiches from a cafe. We imagined a lunch in the open air somewhere along the way.

If you haven't visited Michigan yet...well maybe you should. It has more than it's fair share of natural beauty, especially near the lake that bears it's name. Inland though there are hundreds of lakes and forests and the further North you go it gets more hilly and there is even skiing in the winter. Wineries and vineyards abound. It also has the most pleasure boat registries in the USA as you are never far from water. It has I believe more lighthouses than you can shake a stick at which is a pretty  impressive number.

I took a morning walk on the beach 40 yards from our room.

Another stroll by the waterfront, aided by a double espresso

Small town America -I love it.

Love it -or leave it, and we had to leave it as home was calling. First we would have to fuel-up and that meant a visit to a small mom and pop breakfast joint.

Simple fare-bacon, eggs, potatoes and we were ready for a six hour drive.... (video)

Next trip? An Alaskan cruise with bears and glaciers, sailing from Vancouver!