Monday, May 20, 2019

Royal Princess in Glacier Bay, Alaska


Welcome back to Glacier Bay, the best day on an Alaskan cruise. I could repeat some of the same things I've said about Glacier Bay, but I've already done that several times over. Instead, I'll provide some links to some of my past blog posts in case you'd like to learn more.
Instead of saying anything new about Glacier Bay let me spend today catching up on some of things about the Royal Princess. I was planning on doing a trip wrap-up from last week, but just realized we'll be losing our internet today. That's one thing I've forgotten to mention about Glacier Bay. In my experience, the internet will be out for the day. So I'll hold the wrap-up until later and I'll instead get out some random info I haven't shared yet.

*Like I said yesterday, the OceanCompass app has done a great job of locating hubby around the ship. There is also another app we are using, OceanNow. This app lets us order things around the ship. Last night I used it to order room service. My cheeseburger made it to the cabin in record time, 20 minutes. Usually if you call room service on formal night you're on hold that long. While the menu is very limited, it did the job. At 2 am this morning while hubby was snoring and I couldn't sleep (probably because I slept most of yesterday away) I was looking through the app and found room service wasn't an option. So it seems the hours are limited, too. 

We've also been able to order fries while sitting out on the Lido deck, and attempted to order a drink with the app in Crooners on the last day of last week's cruise. (Your first drink through the app is free!) Crooners was open but it wouldn't register on the app. It gave me other options of places around the ship I could go to get a drink, but not Crooners. The server said he could still get my drink for free anyway, but when we checked the bill we were still charged. The Passenger Services desk was a zoo because it was the last day so I didn't even bother with standing in the huge line. The app is still showing a free drink so I'll try it again this week.

Other things you can order with OceanNow are pizza on deck, spa products, Ocean Medallion accessories, and even a robe, hangers, and ice for your cabin.
I'll post new Medallion videos once I get home. The MedallionNet here is better than the Ruby but worse than the Caribbean Princess. It's not fast enough to watch any videos, let alone upload them.

*The library was stocked with new board games last cruise. Like boxes and boxes of brand new games all nicely arranged and ready to be played.

*Also at the library, I left my Cruising with Confidence book in the library (this one right here, but the paperback version) like I've been doing on ships lately. I put a book label on the inside cover stating it is donated by the author (me) and asking them to return it the ship's library when they are finished reading it. But like has happened before, it wasn't returned at the end of last cruise. I know that's the chance I take, but I'm paying full price for my own book (no freebies or discounts for this author here) so that many others can read the book - not just so one passenger can take it home and keep it. 

*I've been leaving Encouraging Word Money Pockets all around the ship and also in the Wake Show Box. Cruise Director Matt O reads the Wake Show ones every single morning. After months of cruising where they were only read four times in total, it is exciting to see someone embrace their purpose and believe in the power of positive and supportive ideas, thoughts, words and actions. Way to go, Matt O for helping send those good vibes out into the world! 

*We went to Sabatini's the other night for dinner for the first time. Since I don't like Italian food we've always skipped the place. As I found out, it's not all pasta. 
A couple weeks back on the Ruby we tried Share for the first time and said it was going to replace our Crown Grill visits. Now we're in a quandary. We might want Sabatini's to be the Crown Grill replacement. It was really, really good. After so many mediocre visits to Crown Grill on so many ships across the fleet, eating at Sabatini's and Share have been like a breath of fresh air. I'll do a write-up on Sabatini's at a later date so keep an eye out for it. In the meantime, if you get a chance to try Sabatini's on the Royal Princess, do it.

It's almost 7 pm and the internet is back so let's get back to Glacier Bay...We had spectacular weather today and we even got much closer to Margerie Glacier today than last week. Double score! Pictures? Oh yeah, I've got 'em.

Want to know more about cruising Alaska? 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.

Off to Skagway tomorrow.

Sunday, May 19, 2019

Royal Princess Cruising to Hubbard Glacier


We've fallen into a predictable morning routine on the ship.
*Hubby leaves the cabin before 6 am to get some coffee and some oatmeal.
*I sleep until he calls the cabin a couple hours later to let me know where he is sitting in the buffet. (Side note - the Medallion's Shipmates section on the Ocean Compass app does an amazing job of pinpointing where he is on the ship. I can tell he is in the Piazza right this minute .)
*I take my shower and join him for breakfast and we make our plans for the day.

Today I was lucky enough to catch a rainbow off the back of the ship. It's barely visible above the horizon.

*Then after breakfast we go about our day.

Except today after breakfast hubby headed out to do his thing and I headed back to the cabin to have a little lie down. I was pretty tired so I planned on just a little rest before heading back out for the day. 

And I fell asleep. 

I woke up to go to the bathroom, came back to my little twin bed, and saw that hubby was sleeping in his twin bed. I checked the time and it was 2:00. Oh. My. Goodness. (That's what a dark inside cabin will do for you.) I turned on the bridge cam to try and keep myself awake, hubby headed back out, and I again somehow fell asleep. 

I woke up to a knock on the door. More treats for the 500 day celebration.

The bridge cam was still on the TV.
The time was 3:30 and we were almost at Hubbard Glacier. Yikes.

Just in the nick of time I made it outside to capture the glacier. Our go-to spot is the Horizon Terrace at the back of Horizon Court. Who wouldn't want to sit in these empty, comfy seats on the Horizon Terrace?
The Captain turns the ship around so everyone can get a good view no matter which side of the ship they are on. We didn't get as close as we have in the past. There was a heavy ice flow today. Plus, I'm wondering if the size of the ship made a difference, too.

Here are some other highlights of our time there.
 
 Tomorrow we're off to Glacier Bay.

Want to know more about cruising Alaska? 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.