Royal Princess Last Sea Day: August 30

Today is our last sea day and it was a full one. And a foggy one.

It cleared up for a while before it turned cloudy again.

While time changed last night and we lost an hour, we didn't mind much. We took our leisurely time getting ourselves going in the morning and didn't have anywhere to be or anything to do until afternoon. I attended another live Wake Show taping (yay to the energy of Matt O') and I hosted an afternoon tea in our cabin.

This afternoon tea was a special one. I had a passenger contact me a couple weeks back as she was prepping for her cruise. She and daughter were traveling together on a girls getaway. How fun is that? We were able to connect once on the ship and I'm excited to say I was able to interview both her and her daughter today during afternoon tea. Guess what? I now have a kids cruise expert. (Hi Emily!) We did some interviews about the kids club, cruising, and the Ocean Medallion, and some filming at one of the ship's portals. I'm pleased to say I'll be sharing the Princess cruise experience from an 11 year old's perspective - and her mom's. Look for more information coming soon!

We had dinner at Crown Grill tonight. I'll be doing a separate write-up on it - pictures and menus included - at a later date.

We also couldn't forget to get some quick packing in as we have to change cabins for next cruise. Thanks to booking super late, for this next cruise we have to move directly across the ship to the port side. Then the next cruise we move right back to this exact same cabin. 

Today's everything-isn't-always-perfect-in-the-cruising-world Public Service Announcement comes from our balcony where we have smelled someone smoking this week. And it just wasn't cigarette smoke. We had a couple days of weed wafting our way. We know it wasn't the folks next to us on either side (we can see the reflection in the glass) but we never could determine where it came from . As we learned last year on the Caribbean Princess (you can read about that smoking situation here) there really is nothing that can be done.

Tomorrow is our turnaround day in Vancouver, the start of our 19th Alaskan cruise, and the week my husband will be celebrating a milestone cruise - 500 days with Princess cruises. I'll be back tomorrow for one last live-from before I shift to creating and posting videos from the ship.

Royal Princess in Ketchikan, Alaska: August 29

Before I get started on today, I'd like to share a photo of last night's sunset. It was just so beautiful leaving Juneau.

I did have another foghorn alarm this morning. I decided it was time to rouse myself from bed, got on my slippers, and headed out to the balcony to get another picture of the white-out. I could see straight up into the beautiful starry sky but everything around me was fogged in. As dark as it was I figured I should check the time.

1:13 AM. 

Forget that! Off went the slippers and back to bed I went.

Once daylight arrived I again donned my slippers and headed out to take photos. It was an amazingly spectacular day in Ketchikan. I watched all kinds of boat traffic from the comfort of the balcony. Even caught a dog getting in on the action!

We made it to Burger Queen just as it opened at 11:00 today. Even with being some of the first folks there it was still an hour wait to get our burgers. While the plan was to hang out at the Arctic Bar in the meantime, we were taking a crew member (who wasn't a drinker) out to lunch and didn't want to make her uncomfortable. So we sat in Burger Queen, chatted, and caught up with the goings-on while waiting for our tasty burgers. To quote a line from the movie Pulp Fiction, "This is a tasty burger."

We have an early departure today because of the need to get under the Lions Gate Bridge in Vancouver not at high tide so after lunch we made our way back to the ship. Hubby and I headed up to the buffet to grab me a glass of ice and as we were walking, out of the corner of my eye I saw a piece of purple paper being put into one of the worker's wallets. At that same moment I heard the words ridiculously amazing.

I stopped and asked about it. Yep, he found it and thanked me profusely. What did he find? Something I left in the buffet, of course. 

He told me where he found it and I told him we're on for two more cruises and I'll keep putting them out every single day. He and his coworker were quite happy. And so was I.

Today's everything-isn't-always-perfect-in-the-cruising-world Public Service Announcement comes from room service. As I mentioned last night, we had formal night and we were ordering our dinner through the Ocean Now section of our TV so I could show viewers how the process works. While I don't have the video completely together yet, when I do I'll post it right here and you'll see why I'm not recommending you order a grilled cheese from room service. 

We have the Most Traveled Guest Cocktail Party tonight and tomorrow is our last sea day before the end of the cruise. So very glad we have two more weeks to go!

I've pulled the Princess Patters from this cruise off the blog and won't be posting any more of them. The more photos I have on the blog, the more I have to pay to have them stored (or maybe hosted is the word?). I'm more than happy to email updated Patters if you ask, but I won't be adding them here anymore. 

Want to find out more about what to do in Ketchikan and other Alaskan ports?
Check out my Cruising Alaska resources: