Big 50 on Crown Princess and Also Skagway

I wake and open my eyes and realize I am in my 50s!  What when did this happen, how did this happen... I can't be 50.  But darn it I am.  I am the same age as Princess!  But I feel GREAT!  And what a great way to celebrate -- on a cruise -- on a Princess Cruise.

And to boot Princess ran a promotion this year that if you too turn 50 or are celebrating your 50th Anniversary and sail during the month of this event you are given a $50 on board credit.  Yeah, we will use it tonight to dine at the Crown Grill.

Bernie heads down to get coffees and when we open the door this is what I see.

Seems a little gremlin was out early this morning decorating our door.  We later found out it was Mark (our favorite waiter) who came here just after midnight and did it.  Sneaky bugger... but so sweet.

He later sent me a lovely bouquet of roses.  We love Mark and we always say he is our family!  And we mean it!

We have already arrived in Skagway early this morning (5:30).  It looks like a beautiful day and darn it I am ready for it.

I shower and get ready... and Bernie gets trigger happy with the camera snapping shots of me doing my hair so I play it up.

We have to see Claudio as today is his birthday too.  I always like to say we share the same day, but one of us is two years older.  I will let you guess.

We always love sailing with Claudio.  What a sweet man and we are pleased to see he is on board with his wife and two children. Tonight his wife is planning a lovely dinner for just the two of them. The Captain's wife will babysit.

We head ashore and boy it is HOT and it is still early.

Our plans today are exciting.  You see the Star Princess is in port too.  The waiter we had on the Royal this year for a month is on the Star now.  Daniel Guevara even sailed with us to South America on the Star quite a few years ago and he remembers us from that voyage.  When we sat at his table on the Royal it was like seeing an old friend.  It was so hard to say goodbye to Daniel in February.  But we kept in touch on Facebook and when we realized we were going to be in port with him we arranged to meet and spend the day together.  Since he will be working breakfast service we agreed to meet him at 11 just at the gangway.

We have about an hour to kill before we meet up with him so we walk towards town. There is a shuttle that you can take and buy a day pass for (sorry didn't get the price) and is located right outside the secure area at the pier.

There are also some areas here to buy some private tours.

We just walk towards town and enter the White Pass Railway Station.  Bernie picks up a souvenir for his little great nephews.  I take note that they have a ticket booth here so you can book it directly with them when you arrive.  Cost is $122 (a bit cheaper if you buy ahead of time $119) per person and you will need your passport cause you enter Canada.  The White Pass Railways website is here.  

here is the museum

The other great thing you can do is visit the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park on 2nd Avenue, right beside the White Pass Railway Station.  The museum is free, it has a great free museum tour, then watch the movie then head out with a guide for a short walking tour, again free!

But for us we just wander the main street and boy it is HOT HOT HOT in fact we seek out the shade cause it is too hot in the sun. 

We stop in a store that I love and I buy myself a small gift of earrings and matching pendant in silver.  All the stuff in the store are made by locals and it is such a great souvenir and present.

The Star is located at the pier closer to town along with a Holland America ship. 

We see Daniel right away and big hugs and kisses.  So lovely to see him again.  He quickly fills us in on what has been happening in his life for the past six months since we seen him.

We let Daniel decide where we would go to eat.  Off to The Station which is a restaurant/pub and well it looks like the crew like it here cause it is full of crew. Everywhere we turn we see crew from one of the four ships in port.  It is nice cause some of the crew from the Crown are visiting friends on the Star.  

At first we couldn't get a table inside so we asked to let us know when one was available and we got drinks outside, but after fifteen minutes in the sun we are way too hot and go stand inside and wait a bit longer till our booth is ready.

We have a great pizza with some cheese bread and it was very good.  Now time to walk it off.

Daniel hasn't been to the waterfall and cemetery.  Here is a link to a map.  Go to the last page for details on the Gold Rush Cemetery.  The map is great with other hikes we have done too.  The Upper and Lower Dewey Lake Trail blog.   Then the Yakutania Point and Falls blog.  

We decide to walk beside the tracks and enjoy seeing the views, the trains and quite a few houses with beautiful gardens.

You come across the cemetery first, make sure to read the information about the cemetery.  Note there are washrooms there too.  

Continue up the trail and follow the sign to the falls.

You will hear it before you see it.  

We need to get Daniel back to the ship for 3 so he can wash up and get ready for his shift so we start to head back to town.  We are so hot and sweaty and as we walk we come across a Filipino restaurant the Golden Nugget where I say "hey I be they have halo halo"  and yes they do.  So we order one each and enjoy that cold yummy treat.

Big hugs and kisses to say goodbye and we decide to head back to our ships too.  And as soon as I enter the cabin I am surprised with another gift.  Ashwin has delivered a bottle of champagne and a box of Norman Love Chocolates.

Oh what a treat.  I am so lucky and blessed to have so many great people in my life.

Here some pictures of the chocolates inside the box for which I opened once I got home.

For those that stayed on board the following was happening:

• On the tv is the presentation by Libby Riddles and also Michael Modzelewski's presentation run all day.
• Table Tennis
• Morning Trivia 11:15
• Scattergories 12:30
• Charades 1:15
• Woman in Gold Movie in Explorers
• Basketball Free Throw
• 60 Second Frenzy 3:15
• Afternoon Tea 3:30-4:30
• Discovery at Sea Trivia Discover Space 4:15

Barb and Craig's Alaskan Cruise on the Coral Princess - Episode 3B

After Barb and Craig did their land tour of Alaskan they got to enjoy seven glorious days on the Coral Princess.  

They boarded in Whittier and sailed to Southbound to Vancouver, visiting Skagway, Ketchikan, and Juneau.

Here is the podcast.

Skagway June 4th

Last week this is the lookout we walked to

We dock early and we are at the same pier with the Celebrity ship behind us, a Holland America ship is with the Star Princess at the other pier.  It is overcast and looks like we might get some sprinkles too.  

Bernie heads to the coffee bar to get me my latte and his tea and he placed the coffee card with a  dollar tip on the bar for Sanoi to punch and take and then he saw Mark the naturalist and walked over to say hi for a few minutes.  When he came back he got his drinks and left realizing he had left his card he went back but Sanoi had said that there was no card there just the dollar tip.  Looks like another passengers decided they needed the coffee card more than us and walked off with it.  Thankfully we had used up most of the card except for about five punches.  

Sanoi was a sweetie and offered to take care of us but it isn’t her fault but our own stupidity.  We have two other cards in the cabin so we will survive.  But we learned a lesson. 

Don’t know if I had mentioned but last cruise Bernie had a man ask to take his photo and the man had put his binoculars down and when he came back for them someone had taken them.  Wonder what is wrong with people that they would take what is not theirs.

We head up to the Horizon Court and get a good breakfast in to fuel up for our hike. 

We are off the ship and I am dressed in layers, yoga pants, short sleeve top, my fleece and a wind breaker but I soon have to pack away the fleece as it is too warm for it as I start the hike.  We head towards town and right when you get to 2^nd street turn left and cross the railroad tracks.  A short distance away is the entrance to Lower Dewey Lake Trail and also Upper Dewey Lake Trail.  Our goal is to do the Upper trail.

But even going up the Lower Trail is a moderate hike and is about a mile long.  At the junction sign follow the trail north across several wooden footbridges to the Upper Dewey Lake Trail.  The trail climbs steeply through a series of switchbacks.  This is an all day hike with a climb of about 3,100 feet plus the amount to get to the start of the trail so around 3,500 feet.  You definitely want to wear appropriate footwear.  Runners could pass if very dry climates but hiking shoes are certainly better as you need the traction on the variety of surfaces you will climb. 

The trail is very strenuous and depending on the time of year can be very wet.  We encountered snow at the top end of the trail and very muddy sections.  We made it very close to the top but had to turn around about a half a mile from the lake as it was just too wet and hard to get around.  We did make it to the top of the tree line so we can say we did that! 

picture taken from ship, we walked to the top of the tree line and over to the meadow

In all it took us about five hours to climb up and back down with a short stop for a break.  Coming down was harder than going up as we had to continually look down to see where we could put our feet safely and I often required Bernie’s hand to assist me with big steps down.

We did it but I can say at the end we were  so tired!!!   We walked back into town as Bernie wanted more fudge from the Alaskan Fudge Company and I promised Michelle from the cruise staff a cupcake from Sugar Mammas as she is stuck on the ship today.  We had one each too as we figured we earned it!

My knees are killing me as we hobble back on board.  We head upstairs to grab a burger and some salad and then I am back in the cabin for a shower and I crawl into bed and I warn my man that Vickie needs a nap or she will not be a happy cruisers. 

We end up eating dinner late in the Savoy dining room in Na’s section with Sandudee.  It is quiet in here tonight as we didn’t leave Skagway till late (suppose to leave at 8 but due to late passengers we left only at 8:45, lucky passengers as it is a short trip to Juneau). 

Tonight’s Production show is I Got the Music and we meet up with Mark and we sit together and watch the show.  I get a few more shots of the performance…. Remember you can take pics of the show but no flash and definitely no video.

The dancers and singers get off in Vancouver soon and they are excited to be going home but are very busy getting things ready for the hand over. 

Even after the show finishes we sit and chat with Mark and once again we are not in bed until midnight.

May 29 – Skagway

Well so much for an early night.  After seeing the show – which was amazing we went for drinks with friends in Wheelhouse and we didn’t get back to the cabin until midnight.  What happened next has never happened before in all our cruises.  The couple next to us were having a big argument, well he was screaming at her.  It did not sound good at all, it actually sounded violent and we both grew concern for the safety of the woman.  We decided to call the front desk and when we did they took the cabin number and then we know they called the cabin next to us as we could hear the phone ring.  Front desk called us back and they said they had called them and that they will quiet down.  We told them that yes it was now quiet next door as it seemed that someone had left the cabin.  Even though this resolved the situation I was disappointed that security did not come to their cabin to address it as I did state that it sounded really bad.  In the end it stopped – and this is the first time we have heard them this cruise, and hope whatever was happening has settled down.

We dock early Wednesday morning but we sleep thru the docking and the announcement that we are cleared to go ashore.  We slept in until 9 am and got dressed and made our way to the Horizon Court for a quick breakfast.  I had an omelet made to order, took only about three minutes and was very good. 

It is another beautiful day here in Alaska.  We can’t believe how great it is and this is the third time in Alaska in May and every time it has been stunning.  Today we choose to wear shorts and t shirts as yesterday we were way too hot.  We did bring a light wind breaker too but it stayed in the bag the entire time.  In fact as we went about the entire day all we heard was how hot everyone was and how they wished they had brought more summer clothes.

So we left the ship and decided to do two less strenuous hikes.  We walked towards town (note there is a shuttle you can take for a small fee right from the pier) and then we walked along 1^st avenue and turned left at Main and went around the airport to a pedestrian bridge that goes across the Skagway River.  We turned left from there and traveled along the trail to Yakutania Point.  In all it was about a 3 km walk from town return.  Great views from the lookout down Lynn Canal towards the Chilkat Mountains, there is even a picnic table if you wish to have a nice little lunch. 

When we left the lookout and we got to the bridge we thought why not keep walking along this side of the river to see how far it goes.  We walked and came across a pet cemetery and continued for about a half hour but the trail was not passable as the river had caused areas to be blocked by large puddles that made it impossible to cross unless we got wet.  But I believe later in the season it would be fine.  So we back tracked to the pedestrian bridge and back towards town.

We walked along Main street all the way north to Alaska Street where you encounter the Railway Station.   We walked along the gravel road towards the Gold Rush Cemetery.  There is a great write up of the characters buried here, make sure you read to learn more about Skagway.  We continued from the cemetery to the Lower Reid Falls.  The falls was beautiful and running very fiercely.

We are tired, but now we have been hiking for over three hours we are in need of food.  We stop in and get an ice cream and sit on a bench on the main drag and watch many familiar faces go by, chatting with a few of them about their day.  But we need more of a meal and we head into the Skagway Brewing Company.  The food was okay but the service was very poor.  Had to keep asking for things like water refills, fork/knife, napkins.  Our bill came and they had entered my bloody mary drink but there was only a $0 amount next to it.  We pointed this out to our server and she corrected the bill.  Then we paid and she didn’t bring us back the right amount of change but $5 less than it should of.  So we told her she is missing $5, but not to worry that that would be the tip.  Don’t think I can recommend this place at all.  

You can certainly find better food elsewhere and the loud music (played only the Stones, which we like but not for an hour continuously) that it is hard to talk. 

Last year when I was here I visited a store where I bought some earrings and I really wanted to go back.  I found it easily, it is on the main drag of Broadway and it is called Sevigny Studio Art and they have really great art pieces, jewelry, pottery and great service.  You can find their website at www.katiesevignystudio.com   I bought two more pairs of earrings from local artists.

Then of course I had to head to Sweet Mammas for some cupcakes.  We picked up four and brought them back on the ship.  I love cupcakes and the ship does have cupcakes but they are not that good, more dense and the ships’ icing is well not that great and certainly not butter cream.  But sweet mammas’ cupcakes are to die for.

We are back on board and a quick coffee in the coffee bar chatting with a great waiter Sanoi from Hawaii and a few other passengers.

We have dinner reservations tonight in Sabatinis at 7:30.  There is a bunch of things going on tonight here is just a quick list of what is going on.

Dinner was very good at Sabatinis tonight.  I started with the calamari, then a nice salad and the veal chop – cooked perfectly as my entrée.  Dessert for me was Artisan Cheese and washed down with a bottle of wine from the Okanagan of BC. 

Movie:  Zero Dark Thirty.  North to Alaska with Skagway Entertainer Steve Hites, Small Group Jazz in Club Fusion, Evening Gallery Auction, The Princess Singers are performing in the Atrium some Motor City songs, Jeff Warren in Crooners tonight performs Stage and Screen the Best of Broadway, North American TV Theme Song Trivia, Hawley magic performs in the Princess Theater, and movies under the stars is showing Les Miserables.