Ketchikan, Alaska with the Royal Princess

Before I start with today, I need to finish up last night's activities. We had the Captain's Circle Party. Being I was recognized for 500 days with Princess we were able to bypass the long line and use a different entrance, have special seats allocated just for us, and get drinks right away.

It wasn't long after this picture was taken when I told hubby we needed to promise each other something - if we ever got to those 2,000+ days like the others in the front row we would not be dismissive of someone at just 500 days. It was clear by the folks around us that we weren't at their "level". That they were better than us. I've written about this one-upness issue back in November. Although I don't know if the guy sitting on the other side of me was any better. He was a passenger looking for a seat, looked at my place card, wanted to know how many days I was celebrating, and told me he wanted to sit by me because then maybe everyone else would think he was a VIP, too. I guess we all need to feel special in front of other people.

After the party we went and sat outside for a bit. It was a beautiful night on the Horizon Terrace.

 

We even saw whales out there!

Now back to Ketchikan...

Our crew member gal still didn't have a workable schedule for us all to go out together so we headed out by ourselves. We knew we wanted Burger Queen like we did last week. We also knew from last week's hour wait they deliver to the Arctic Bar across the street.

I knew the bar would be interesting when we saw this t-shirt for sale inside. If I wasn't so full of joy and kindness and spreading love everywhere I go I would be pretty tempted to buy it. (Not really, but it did give me a giggle contemplating how it would go over if I wore it on the ship.)

When we found a table that had just been vacated by crew members I had yet another giggle when I looked at the cup left behind. The bloody Mary and Long Island Iced Tea were ours; the mug wasn't. The Arctic Bar is quite the cheeky place.

We drank for a while, then called up Burger Queen for lunch. They run the food on over to the bar when it's ready. I again forgot to take a pic of the burger as we ate it too fast. It was just so darn tasty. Here's their menu:

and their delivery guy...

Check out my 5 Things to do in Ketchikan if you want to know what to do in town that doesn't involve salty language.

All aboard isn't until 5:30 but we needed to head back a bit earlier to get a nap in before tonight's Most Traveled Guest party. We came back to more treats in our cabin for my 500th day with Princess celebration. We've had something arrive every single day. Wow.

Another great day with the Royal Princess in Alaska.

Tomorrow we have our last sea day of our cruise. Sad.

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.

Royal Princess in Juneau, Alaska

Sometimes I feel guilty when we're cruising and I decide not to get off the ship in port. It's like I feel this obligation to get out there and do something productive. I had contemplated going whale watching last week, but with me writing about the incident in Ketchikan the day prior I wasn't in the mood. I contemplated going whale watching today but I again didn't feel in the mood. I already had an amazing whale watching day in Cabo San Lucas this year anyway. (You can read about that day here.) Our crew member had a limited time to get off the ship today so we didn't go out to eat with her, either. 

Looking for ideas for Juneau? Check out my 5 Things to do in Juneau list right here.

There are a myriad of things we could have done today but we did absolutely nothing and I'm good with it. I figured it's my vacation and I can do however much or little as I'd like. This is our 17th trip to Juneau. I think it's just fine and dandy to stay on the ship. So what did I do with my time on board?

I sat by the Retreat Pool in the beautiful Alaska sunshine.

I looked at the trees from my lounge chair.

I watched the Mt. Roberts Tram go up and down the mountain.

I took a photo of my personal yacht for the day.

Had Alfredo's again. Wrote the blog. Will go to the Captain's Circle Party tonight. (We never, ever go to those things but since it's a milestone cruise I'll be recognized so we'll need to be there. Since it's formal night and we didn't bring formal clothes we'll do the best we can.)

A nice, relaxing, vacation day in Alaska. Tomorrow we're off to our last port of the cruise, Ketchikan.

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.