Cruising Alaska: Royal Princess in Juneau

I've been struggling about how to begin today's post. I didn't sleep well last night as my mind was wandering quite a bit in regards to the deaths on our ship. I'm guessing my feelings are similar to others aboard here. We haven't received any new updates from the Captain and I expect we won't as it's now all over the news. I'm purposely avoiding reading or watching anything about it. We have plenty of passengers talking about it and I'm trying to avoid listening to those conversations as well. I don't think predicting or speculating serves any purpose so I won't be wading into those weeds. I've said this before, but I'm a just the facts ma'am kind of ma'am so I'm sticking to the experiences happening onboard. (If you didn't see it, I did publish a timeline of what we as passengers were told. You can find my Royal Princess Accident Update here.)

Since today is a new day on an Alaskan cruise and we have plenty of folks sailing on the Royal this summer who are interested in knowing about the experience, I feel like I need to press forward.

It never ceases to amaze me just how lucky I am to live this life when I'm on a cruise ship with snowy mountains nearby.

We were at Franklin Dock today and passengers were allowed to disembark close to 10:30 am. We were originally scheduled to arrive at 8:00 am but because of yesterday's delay we weren't able to make it. I wasn't sure if our dock would change from the original schedule because of our late arrival but we were scheduled for Franklin, and Franklin it was. If you are sailing to Alaska and you want to see where you are docked or how many other ships in any Alaskan port, my go-to website is claalaska.com. Just click on 2019 schedules.

I had considered going whale watching today, but I'm just not in the mood. We'll be back next week so if I feel like it then, I will. So today we just decided to stay onboard and take it easy today. We've walked 10 miles in the last four days and while that may not seem like much, hubby's cerebral palsy body, my rheumatoid arthritis joints, and our minds and souls need a bit of a break. 

Today's view from the Horizon Terrace, our favorite spot on the ship.

If you want to see things available in Juneau, as well as information on other ports, I do have an entire section of the blog dedicated to cruising Alaska. Check out my Cruising Alaska resources here.

Tracy's King Crab Shack foods were back onboard today. Today they had seafood chowder. While hubby is a clam chowder fan he isn't a seafood chowder one. And I definitely don't do chowder. I guess we'll have to see what type of food we have from Tracy's tomorrow.

I want to mention something I forgot to share the other day. On the Royal Princess you will find almost every crew member telling you hello, good morning, good afternoon, or good evening. Like every single one. From cabin stewards to deck attendants, waiters to maintenance crew, and everyone else in between. I do believe this is the friendliest crew at sea.

And speaking of friendly...shout out to cruise director Matt O'. If you've read my blog for a while you know I drop those Encouraging Words Project notes everywhere. Like really everywhere - multiple years worth of leaving encouraging words and money behind. And you also know I've complained again and again about cruise directors not "getting it" when I drop them in the Wake Show box. Well, no more.

Check out a clip of today's Wake Show with Matt.

Hubby says I need to go give Matt a hug for helping send those positive vibes out into the world. Personally, I think hubby really wants to give him the hug - I think hubby has a man crush on him.

See you tomorrow from Skagway.

Royal Princess Accident Update

As people are looking for more information about what is happening on the Royal Princess in regards to yesterday's plane crash in Ketchikan, Alaska, I thought I'd update you on what we know so far.

• Monday afternoon after our all-aboard time, an announcement came over the speakers in our cabin. We assumed it would be the standard passenger services desk call looking for those passengers not yet onboard. But it was the Captain with the sad news that one of Royal Princess' float plane excursions to Misty Fjords had been involved in an accident and that a second plane on an independent tour also had Royal Princess guests on it. He said there was a collision of the planes and the condition of the passengers was unknown. We were all asked to contact family and friends to let them know we were okay and that a care team was available onboard for those who would like to use it. We also learned at that time that our planned 3:15 pm departure from Ketchikan would be delayed.
• Around 6:00 pm we saw passengers and crew with luggage being disembarked and driven away in vans. We later learned the crew members were going with the families to provide support while ashore. 
• After the last of the families left, the Captain provided an updated announcement. When he came over the loudspeaker, the entire ship froze in their tracks. We were on the Lido deck and every single person stopped what they were doing and listened intently.
• The Captain announced that nine passengers from our ship on the Princess excursion were rescued but one was still missing. He said on the other plane, four Princess passengers from our ship as well as the pilot had died. Counselors are available for passengers and crew. He also said the ship will arrive in Juneau at 10 am instead of the scheduled 8 am. Princess excursions are being rearranged, and if passengers were booked on any flightseeing excursions during the rest of the voyage they can ask for for a full refund if they wish to cancel. 
• We attended the Most Traveled Guest gathering Monday evening. The Captain understandably was absent from the gathering. Considering the solemn mood of the ship, several passengers scheduled to attended opted out. We held a moment of silence during the gathering. 
• Sometime Monday night/early Tuesday morning we received a letter in our cabin:

• For the most part, passengers have been amazing in their level of respect being shown during this time. This ship, full of thousands of people, has a subdued tone. Lowered voices, slower pace. We did overhear some inappropriate speculative conversations last night. We just had to removes ourselves from the area. And already a this has kind of ruined my trip has come up. But otherwise we all have heavy hearts.
• Our Internet has been spotty the last 12 hours or so. If you have friends or family you are concerned about, we will be in Juneau from approximately 10 am - 9 pm so I would recommend calling them on their cell phones during that time.

I'll continue to provide updates here on the blog as they become available. I don't do social media - no Facebook, Twitter, etc - but I have heard from others there is quite a bit of misinformation out there. I can't worry about that, but I can report straight from the ship. Let me know if you need anything from me. I'm more than happy to help if I can.

Tuesday afternoon:
We haven't received any new updates from the Captain and I expect we won't as it's now all over the news. I'm purposely avoiding reading or watching anything about it. We have plenty of passengers talking about it and I'm trying to avoid listening to those conversations as well. I don't think predicting or speculating serves any purpose so I won't be wading into those weeds. I've said this before, but I'm a just the facts ma'am kind of ma'am so I'm sticking to the experiences happening onboard.