Cruising Alaska on the Golden Princess - Skagway

Today's plan in Skagway was to meet up with a crew member from another ship. We blocked out our whole day to make sure we could make it happen. She's on the Ruby Princess and they are in port with us today. We were looking forward to treating her to lunch and delivering some of her favorite snacks to her. Unfortunately, she wasn't able to go off the ship today. We even tried to arrange for someone to take them to her but security frowns a bit upon that. Neither of us have sailed yet, so until one of our ships pulls away from the dock I'm still holding out hope we can get them to her.
(Update: After much waiting and patience and convincing, we were able to get a security supervisor to take it from us. Hope she gets it.)

The Ruby is so close yet so far

We've been to Skagway a lot so we weren't too worried about missing out on an excursion.

We've done the train ride.

We've done the Streetcar tour.

And just take a look at what we've done in Skagway since I started the blog:

• You can find out about last week's dogsledding here.
• You can find out about the Yukon Suspension Bridge trip here.
• You can see Skagway in black and white photos here.
• You can see their wildflowers in bloom here.
• You can see the beauty of the area here.
• Here's the best Thai food in Alaska.

While we were waiting to find out if our gal could join us, we stopped at the place with the best darn patty melt ever, The Sweet Tooth Cafe.

Just look at how the onions and meat and bread and cheese are all melted together. Oh, my.

And look at dessert!

Of course I stopped in at the the quilt shop. I always spy quilts I'd love to make but the price tag of the kits always gives me sticker shock. I liked these quilts the best.

We meandered back to the ship mid-afternoon and I'm hanging in Skywalkers doing some writing.

Nice view from up here.

On the way up I did see another leak on the ship. Technically, they aren't leaks I guess. They are drips from the ceiling. (I don't want you to think the ship has a hole in the hull and is leaking!)

Here is the link to today's Patter.

Off to Juneau tomorrow.

Cruising Alaska on the Golden Princess - Glacier Bay

Glacier Bay day is always special. And always spectacular. Rain or fog or sun, there is nothing like it. It is what I consider pretty much the best day of any Alaskan cruise.

There are some things to know when scenic cruising in Glacier Bay:
*Park rangers join the ship for the entire time. For us today, that was from around 9:00 am – 7:00 pm.
*Shops are closed for most of the day.
*The casino is closed until after the rangers leave the ship.
*Limited activities are happening around the ship during the day – the focus is on the park.
*No paper cups, straws, or napkins are allowed in any of the venues.
*Since it’s a National Park you can go to the makeshift ranger station onboard and get a National Park passport stamp. They also have a Junior Ranger program for the kiddos.

*Rangers give presentations during the day and also do commentary from the Bridge.
*There is a limit on how many ships can be in Glacier Bay on the same day. We were lucky enough to see the Coral sailing by us. We waved hello to our crew member buddy on the ship. (Not really, but I did send him the picture of his ship.) 

Today turned out to be a nice day for calving and a nice day for the sun.

Want more Glacier Bay pictures? I've done many posts about Glacier Bay over the last seven years of the blog.

• You can see my photos from last week here.
• This is the day in Glacier Bay where someone needed a Coast Guard rescue. It was also the only time we had such a huge chunk of ice fall that we felt it on the ship.
• Here is the day we saw a bear while traversing Glacier Bay.
• This is the day of the birds in Glacier Bay.
• This is the day when we saw lots of breaching whales when leaving Glacier Bay.
• Rainy Glacier Bay day is here.

A few other random thoughts about today…
Hubby had rock fish chowder from International Café for lunch. He said it was delicious.

For those wanting to know about the Escape Room, signups were this afternoon. When I mentioned it to hubby he gave me the no way look so I didn’t try and find out any more.

The laundry rooms here use a machine to dispense tokens. The only way to pay for them is through your cruise card.

Leak update – I ran across two more leaks today. And I’m not even purposely looking for them! One was on the starboard side between the entrance to the Princess Theater and the elevators. The other one was on outside the port side glass elevator on our deck (Caribe). That’s four leaks I’ve seen in three days. Some have towels and some have buckets collecting the water. Again, I’m not actively looking for them so I’m guessing yes, there looks to be a leaking water problem on the Golden.

Tomorrow is our first port, Skagway.

Here is the link to today's Patter.

Cruising Alaska on the Golden Princess - Yakutat Bay and Hubbard Glacier

Today was the day of the:

• Drunk Walk. Hardly anyone could walk straight.
• Privacy Sign City. Cabin after cabin on our deck had their privacy signs out a good chunk of the day. 
• Ginger Ale Cafe. The most requested drink at the Piazza bar was ginger ale. 
• Clothes Hanger Symphony. The clothes hangers, empty and full, danced and made music as they bounced along the clothes rod.

All the open decks were closed and seasickness bags placed in the restrooms. The waves were high and the winds strong. Last night the Captain had told us we would see a bit more chop in the seas, but at the noontime update he told us the storm was worse than expected. How much worse? We’ve been experiencing 70 mph winds.

My plan was to hang out in Skywalkers today to do some writing, but even I, the iron stomach girl, felt a little queasy. Our cabin at the back of the ship is not fun, so I imagine up on deck 17 to be even worse. So the Piazza it is. We snagged the coveted corner spot tucked behind the bar but next to the window. Out of everyone’s way and a great place to look at the wild waves.

Being down here gave me the opportunity to take a look at the coffee menu. Here is the link to the menu.

I also noticed the sugar/cream/stirrer station is not at the bar like usual, but in a separate spot away from the beverage line. Pretty smart.

I was able to be around for the fruit and vegetable carving. Look at that bald eagle.

Crab Shack was today – during the day. Other ships have it happening in one half of the Horizon Court in the evening, but here on this ship it is held in the Crown Grill from 12:00-1:30. Even though it is happening at lunch time it is still $29 each. We didn’t go.

Today was also Yakutat Bay and Hubbard Glacier scenic cruising day. We were delayed getting into the bay because of the weather, but once we got there the seas calmed down. We've had some amazing weather when cruising Yakutat Bay in the past and this afternoon wound up being okay after all. Here are some photos for your viewing pleasure, all taken through the windows of the Piazza.

The most exciting part of our viewing came as the ship was turning to leave. A huge, top to bottom face of the glacier dropped into the water. Unfortunately my camera was turned off when it happened. But it was huge.

Want more photos of Yakuata Bay? Check out the great views from a few years ago here.

Tonight is formal night and the Captain’s Welcome Aboard party. The champagne waterfall is set up and they are serving champagne, mimosas, and orange juice. We didn’t make it to the show last night and won’t make it tonight. We’re turning into boring cruisers.

Tomorrow is Glacier Bay. Crossing fingers for great weather.

Here is the link to today's Patter.

Cruising Alaska on the Golden Princess - Embarkation Day

In 2002 I took a picture when we were in Whittier of something that looked like a hotel. Here's that picture from 16 years ago.

On all of our subsequent trips to Whittier I've looked at that building and wondered about it. Wondered if it was a hotel or bed and breakfast or somebody's home. Well, it's a hotel. It's the hotel we stayed in last night, the Inn at Whittier. It was nice staying so close to port for a change. All we had to do is walk just a bit and we would be on the ship. 

Our room

The view at breakfast

Embarkation at Whittier should be super easy. Everyone has to come through the tunnel at Whittier to get here. All cars, coaches, and even the trains share the one lane, one way road. You can find my most recent picture of the inside of the tunnel here. It opens for traffic heading out of Whittier on the hour and to Whittier on the half hour. Just time your walk to coincide with no one coming into town and you should be good. Easy peasy if you beat the train passengers. And with no customs to go through (that'll happen after disembarking in Vancouver) it should have been even more easier peasier. But it wasn't. There were two dozen folding chairs in the waiting area for about a dozen of us independent travelers another 300 train passengers. It was a bit of a mess. We all stood in line for close to half an hour before they opened the check in line around 12:30. They really needed that line open before folks started piling off the train.

We headed to the buffet for a quick bite before going to the cabin. As reported by someone else, there is a dripping water issue. At least there was in the middle of the Horizon Court where they had a bucket near the pastry section. Not just a slow drip, either. That's the only drip I've seen so far but I haven't wandered far.

We are in an interior cabin on the Caribe deck, C737. We just booked this cruise a couple weeks back for a rock bottom price so we won't be complaining too much. Although I might be tempted to say something about that dirty Q-tip hubby found in the nightstand drawer. Yuck.

I left hubby to take a nap (after he washed his hands, of course) and I am camped out up in Skywalkers. Such a pretty view of Whittier from up here. The rain has stopped and the sun is out. 

Muster Drill is at 7:45 pm tonight and All Aboard is after that at 8:00 pm. Tomorrow is our first scenic cruising day with Yakutat Bay and Hubbard Glacier on the itinerary.

Here is the stack of today's first day papers, including the Patter.