Thursday, May 16, 2019

Cruising Alaska: Royal Princess in Glacier Bay


When I teach my Cruising Alaska classes I always save the Glacier Bay part of the presentation until the end. Like I've said before here on the blog as well, 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.

How can it not be when you turn on the ship's bridge cam on the TV first thing in the morning and see this?
Pinch me now.
Before I show off Glacier Bay, there are some things you need to know about the day:
  • Park rangers join the ship for the day. 
  • Since it’s a National Park you'll receive a map in your cabin, just like the maps you receive when you drive to a National Park.
  • They have makeshift ranger station set up onboard. You can get your questions answered, buy National Park items, and get a National Park passport stamp. They also have a Junior Ranger program for the kiddos.
Here's today's Park schedule.
  • There is a limit on how many ships can be in Glacier Bay on the same day. Today we had Norwegian Bliss leaving as we were heading in.
It may not be our ship, but it makes for a pretty picture.
  • Shops are closed for most of the day and 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.
  • The ship sends out a smaller boat to take photos.

Just like almost every single day I've ever been in Glacier Bay National Park, the day didn't disappoint. I'll just leave you with pictures of the beauty surrounding us today. There are just not enough words to describe it.

Want to know more about Glacier Bay and more scenic cruising? You can search using key words and come up with a slew of posts, but you can also check out my Cruising Alaska resources section here where you'll find the most recent posts.

Tomorrow we're off to a semi-sea day as we have some sea day time and some scenic cruising time in College Fjord.

May 16 Royal Princess Accident Update

I thought I'd update you on what's been happening on the Royal Princess these last few days since the tragic float plane accident in Ketchikan. If you missed my previous update, you can find it here.
  • We've now finished all three ports of Ketchikan, Juneau, and Skagway. We have Glacier Bay coming up today, College Fjord tomorrow, and then the cruise will end in Whittier on Saturday.
  • Most guests have now returned to enjoying their time aboard and ashore. The mood of the ship has lightened as people are going about their vacation. 
  • This incident has made many stop and think about the fragility of life. For the first day or two we overheard comments reflecting those internal struggles. As our cruise has progressed, those types of conversations have diminished. As passengers continue to learn more about the latest crash findings we're finding more people shifting their conversations to highly speculative talk about the details of the accident itself.
  • I continue to avoid the news, read anything online about the accident, or engage anyone in any conversation about it. We've had to pick up and leave an area more than once to distance ourselves from inappropriate comments. I understand people grieve in different ways, but in some cases I'm seeing it as more gossip and less grieving. One of the Encouraging Words Project notes I left yesterday said spread love everywhere you go. I found those words to be difficult to live by when a lady in the elevator shared some unsolicited and insensitive comments with me about the victims. While we no longer have family members of the victims onboard, I still find some of these comments and conversations to be disrespectful to them.
  • I have received many emails from people around the world expressing kind and supportive words. I do so appreciate them. I've also heard from people who have flown with the pilots and planes involved in the accidents. While they might not be currently aboard the ship, there are many people out there whose hearts are breaking over this incident.
  • So you know, I have been contacted by the media about the accident after they discovered my blog updates. I certainly don't want to be part of any perceived hysteria or drama over another cruise ship "disaster" so I told them all basically the same thing -  I'd be more than happy to answer any questions they may have via email and they were welcome to share blog update information for their reporting, but I was not interested in being on TV or having my voice part of a newscast. That ended any interest they had in my participation. While I'm more than happy to share a factual account, if they want someone looking for their 15 minutes of fame they are looking in the wrong place.
  • And most important of all...Personnel on this ship have gone above and beyond to make guests feel safe, validated, and supported. It has been extremely difficult for ship personnel. They too are wrestling with fragility of life thoughts, yet every day they put on a brave face to make sure guest needs are met first. Kudos to their professionalism, words of wisdom, and authenticity. Please keep them in your thoughts, too. While passengers will go home and resume their regular lives, this incident will imprint on the souls of the cruise staff. 
On a side note, thank you for allowing me to share my experiences with the tragic events aboard the Royal Princess. I will continue to blog throughout my trips, but hope I won't ever have to report on something so devastating again. I do apologize for getting a bit more opinionated in this update. As much as I like to be encouraging and supportive and think you should spread love everywhere you go, I sometimes find it hard when some of those around me seem to be doing quite the opposite. 

Stay safe, stay healthy, and take care of yourselves and each other,
Deb

Wednesday, May 15, 2019

Cruising Alaska: Royal Princess in Skagway


Welcome to Skagway, Alaska, one of our favorite towns in Alaska. We love the old west kind of feel and we love that we feel like a local when we're here.
Part of the reason we feel like a local is because many of our visits are spent at one of two places: 

1. Starfire.
I've mentioned Starfire on this blog more than once over the years for being the best Thai food in Alaska. It's a place where the crew hang out and a place that does a quick job of take out. It even made onto my Top 5 Things to do in Skagway list. We frequent the place, well, frequently. Today we made a run to grab some food to bring back to the ship for crew. I gotta tell ya, the smell of the food on the trip back made me want to break open the containers and take a couple bites before turning it over to crew. (Don't worry, I didn't. But when the fried rice box popped open when I got off the shuttle I was close. I could smell it even more and had a visual on it. Restrain yourself, Deb, restrain yourself.)

2. Sweet Tooth Cafe.
I've also mentioned Sweet Tooth on the blog before as having the best patty melt in the world. It also made my Top 5 Things to do in Skagway list. I had another patty melt today and yep, it still is number one. I mean, just look at all those onions on it.

Being able to say, See you next week! or See you next year! to the folks working in those places and knowing we really will see them gives us a nice, comfortable, warm and fuzzy feeling.

Multiple times in the last couple years I've told hubby we need to cut Alaska loose. After next week's cruise we will have been on 17 Alaskan cruises with Princess. Kind of excessive. But here's the problem with saying no more Alaska...I come out of our inside cabin and out onto the Lido deck on my way to wherever and see all this magnificent beauty around me. Water and trees and mountains and clouds and sun and snow and it just takes my breath away every single time. And then I second guess that decision to stop coming to Alaska. 

Our first cruise ever was to Alaska 15 years ago for our 20th wedding anniversary trip. Now here we are, about ready to celebrate our 35th wedding anniversary, and I think I might want to do it in Alaska again. We were considering a cruise to Greenland to celebrate (now that's an expensive trip), but we both agree if we can make it work we want to come back - on this ship even - for a month long Alaskan adventure. Crazy, right? We'll see how it works out but we're both liking the idea.

Now speaking of ideas, Skagway has done something good in theory but dangerous in practice. They've lined up these metal shipping containers along the dock for passengers to walk through as they are leaving the port area. On a rainy day it's nice to have a covered area to walk through. 
It also helps keep the line leaving separated from the line coming back onboard.
But here's the problem. The floor looks to be be painted plywood pieces.

With the rain we're having here, those floors are slippery. For someone with mobility problems like hubby (and so many others on the ship) it is pretty darn dangerous. It's a slow walk for sure. And here is where hubby ran into another problem. When he's walking slowly, trying not to slip and fall, he wants to make sure there is something nearby he can grab if he starts to go down. Naturally it makes sense since he can only use the left side of his body for him to walk close to the left side of the walkway so he could grab the wall if needed. 

But check out the walls with all the windows cut into them. Windows with a caution sign attached to them. 

While hubby made it with no falls (and no cuts from sharp edges) I am a bit worried if we have rain here again next week. For someone without a disability it probably wouldn't be a problem - an able bodied person might not even notice how slick it is - but for us, something like that becomes an anxiety-producing situation. If it's rainy next week we're going to have to talk to the security staff guarding the walkway and tell them our concerns and see if they will let us walk around it. If they don't do something about the slickness of the floor, it's an accident waiting to happen. 

Some other things about today:
*We have Puppies in the Piazza at 5 today.
*Tracy's King Crab Shack didn't have any offerings at the Trident Grill.
*Crab Shack is tonight. (Maybe Tracy's is there? Have not a clue.)
*To celebrate 50 years in Alaska, Princess has now introduced McKinley "Mac" the Moose. You can purchase him in the shops (like Stanley the Bear) and today you could have your picture taken with Mac as you were getting off the ship.

*I left an Encouraging Words Project note and dollar in town at the Sweet Tooth Cafe and another one went into the Wake Show box. Matt has been reading them every day. THANK YOU MATT!!! I'll be coming to find you.

Want to know more about Skagway and other Alaskan ports? You can search using key words and come up with a slew of posts, but you can also check out my Cruising Alaska resources section here where you'll find the most recent posts.

Goodbye from Skagway. Tomorrow we are in magnificent Glacier Bay! 

Tuesday, May 14, 2019

Make a Cruise Ship No-Sew Magnetic Mailbox - Tutorial Tuesday

For today's Tutorial Tuesday we are making a no-sew magnetic mailbox for a cruise ship cabin door. I've made a magnetic cruise ship cabin door mailbox before that requires some sewing, but I've had requests for a no-sew version. So glue it is!

Looking for more sewing and crafting projects? 
Magnetic Mailbox No Sew Project for Cruise Ship Cabin Door

For today's project you will need:
Disclosure: Deb's Days is a participant in affiliate advertising programs designed to provide a means for me to earn fees by linking to affiliated sites. This means that, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a small commission if you click through and make a purchase. Your purchase helps support my work in bringing you new sewing and crafting content.

You can find the step by step how-to video for making a magnetic cruise ship cabin door mail box with no sewing involved right here:

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.