Monday May 28 - Ketchikan

We dock very early in Ketchikan but we are sleeping and don’t even notice when we dock.  I throw on some clothes and head just down the hall to get my latte and bring it back to the cabin.

This morning Jasper Moosejaw our mascot is on the morning show.  I video taped it so will put it up on Youtube and link it here. 

We decide to head to the International Dining room for breakfast and just squeak in before it closes the door at 9:30.   I get to see Irma and introduced her to Bernie and gave her a kiss from Ciska, we catch up and promise to come back and say hi again.

A quick stop in the cabin to grab some items and we are off the ship quickly and walking around Ketchikan.  The weather is amazing, couldn’t of picked a better day.  When closer to the water we encountered a breeze, but when we were inland a bit the sun was very hot. 

We walk over to Creek Street and check out a few stores, I buy a lovely long sleeve t shirt with a Haida design on the front.

We climb up a few stairways, Ketchikan’s answer to the stairmaster.   I want to visit the Totem visitor park which is accessible by a free shuttle near the pier but can easily be walked to as well.  It took about a half hour to walk there. 

Entrance is $5 per person and you can learn more about the Native People of the area and also the totems that they put up and what they represent.  They have numerous totems that are on display and preserved.  Well worth a stop at if you are interested.  And certainly something you can do on your own as well.

We head back towards the pier and stop in to buy some fudge.  Definitely a treat for us as we love the stuff but rarely eat sweets at home, but heck we are on vacation.

Back on board around 1 pm, all aboard is 1:30 and of course there are quite a few people that are late.  I don’t think I actually stated but there are 1800 first time Princess cruisers on board.  That is a lot!  So I am guessing many of them may not be fully aware of the all aboard time, which is always a half hour before the actual sail away time.

We did head right to the International Dining room when we came back on for lunch.  Since it was 1 pm the dining room was full and they said as soon as we entered “table for sharing” which we don’t mind doing but our only stipulation is that it not be a table of 8.  Six being the maximum cause any more than that it just gets too difficult to hear others at the table.  But they don’t have this and we say we will wait then.  But they shuffle us to an area to wait and we wait but we feel bad when they open up a new area just so we can get a table.

I had the mozarrella cheese sticks to start and Bernie has the clam chowder and then for our entrée we both got the fish taco which had a nice serving of fish in one tortilla with a bit of slaw and lime/garlic sauce and cilantro.  Very good dish.

Now this is what was weird, as we are sitting there the dining room is busy, but of course this is normal.  With the ship sailing at 1:30, everyone comes back on and they are hungry.   It was a lovely meal.

We want to head up for sailaway and so I grab my camera and a jacket and head up top.  Now one thing we have noticed is that you are affected by the weather temperature differently depending on where you are on the outside decks.  At first we went to the main pool area and up to the sun deck and it is windy and it is a little cool on the starboard side.  But if you cross over to the port side where there is more sun it was rather nice.  Then we headed aft to the back pool area on deck 15 and we laid down in the lounger and it is HOT, certainly no need for a jacket, in fact I got a sunburn on my face and chest.  There were numerous people in the pools and even quite a few sunbathing in their bathing suits.

We both are struggling to stay away, and considering we were up late last night we decide to head back to the cabin and have a nap.  Well that nap ended up being a three hour sleep.  When we wake we both comment “well I guess we needed it”.  And we both do feel refreshed.

But it is now 7 pm and if we are going to do dinner we better get a move on.  Now the dilemma is where to go to dine.  We always take anytime dining, in fact we choose Princess because of their great anytime dining option.  We have never liked fixed dining but prefer the variety of dining a different times in different locations and with different people.  Now on the Diamond there is a choice of four different dining venues for anytime dining.  Pacific Moon, Santa fe and Savoy, and also Vivaldi which has fixed seating for 5 pm, but turns anytime at 8 pm.

At first we head to Savoy to see if we can sit in Sandudee’s section but when we get there we are told sorry but they can’t accommodate us but that Vivaldi can.  We said no problem and decide in the end we want to go to Horizon Court so we can eat quickly and head to trivia. 

Horizon court is not very busy and they have quite a few Asian inspired items.  We take as seat near the back deck as it is quieter but it is so quiet that not a single wait staff, even though they are walking around us, asked us if we wanted a beverage or cleared our plate. 

We discuss this and how we notice so far today we have felt that it is almost like we are bothering the wait staff, first at lunch with requesting a table for six or under or for two.  That the wait staff, including the head waiters at the door were annoyed that people were dining in the dining room for lunch.  Then again tonight with trying to get into Savoy and them sending us to another dining room.  Then again tonight in Horizon court where we are ignored.  We thankfully know this is not the norm with Princess but we do say considering how many first time cruisers there are we do hope that they don’t feel the same way cause we want them to keep sailing.  So far this has been the only hiccup we have noticed but nothing serious.

Brett the cruise director is doing a movie poster themed trivia in Explorer’s Lounge and we meet up with friends and try our best but well we just don’t know our movie posters as well as we thought.  But I love this kind of trivia and I am so impressed at how much Brett is out there with the passengers and doing this kind of thing.

Sarge the comedian is in the Princess Theater tonight with three shows.  We catch the 10 pm show and it is busy in there and he is funny, but that is all I will say…. We have seen better and we have definitely seen worse – Sarge is good with his observation humour just don’t understand why there are so many jokes about farting, shitting, and getting things stuck in your butt. 

It is now 11 pm and the ship is dead, not sure where everyone is – the crowd on board is relatively young but I guess they are spread out.  Superfly is playing in Club Fusion, there is a George Michael concert in Explorers, Wheelhouse had a band, there is Movies Under the Stars too.

We walk along the promenade deck and sit and people watch for a bit.  We try twice to speak to someone in Sabatinis about making a reservation, but the first time it was taking too long and we needed to see the show, and the second time we stood at the host station and no one came by for over five minutes so we left.  I guess we have to call the dine line. 

Time for bed, Juneau tomorrow.

Saturday May 25, 2013

We arrived at the pier around 11:30 and made our way with our bags to the baggage drop off.  Key was to find the right spot to drop off the bags as there were three ships in port.  We dropped off the bags, and made our way back out to the street and two blocks away to a restaurant where we met up with Connie and Derrick who we have sailed with a few times.  They were in town for a few appointments so we took the opportunity to see them and catch up.  

After lunch we decided to try and board.  It was just before 2 pm and with three ships in port the line for security was longer than normal but it moved continuously and took about 15 minutes to clear security.  Now we wanted to test the wine policy so we purposely brought on three bottles (one more than is allowed without paying the corkage) to see what they are doing at the Port of Vancouver.  When the bag carrying the wine was scanned we were directed to the table just off to the side where we had to show them our wine and they took our cabin number down and we signed a receipt for the $15 corkage fee.  Note you are allowed one bottle of wine/champagne per person to consume in your cabin.  Over that amount you are automatically charged the corkage fee no matter where you consume it.  They took one of the three bottles and put a stamp on it which identifies that we paid the corkage.  So if we take that bottle to dinner we don’t have to repay the corkage.  However if you take one of the other bottles that we didn’t pay corkage on to the dining room we would have to pay corkage.  Seems reasonable to me and I don’t mind, I am just glad Princess allows us to bring wine on.

After security it is customs and again another long line but this moved swiftly too and we maybe spent five minutes in this line.  Then the customary health form, and then we went to the check in counters to get our key card, which took maybe two minutes.  We walked up the gangway and were on!  In all the process took a little longer than normal because of three ships.  Please take note that none of the delays were Princess’ fault but had more to do with not enough security screening and custom agents, and three ships in port.

Once we arrived in our cabin – P330 our bags had arrived.  Sure helped dropping them off early and then coming on board later.  

I should say that we originally booked an inside for this cruise but about a month prior to sailing the price dropped and because of the fare type we booked we couldn’t get a rebated amount but we were able to upgrade to an obstructed oceanview for the same amount we paid.  In the end we were upgraded to an unobstructed oceanview cabin on Plaza deck very close to the art gallery and down a hallway that is a dead end.  It is a great room with a large window and much more space between the bed and cupboards and it is very very quiet.

We meet our cabin steward Sherwin and put in our requests for a few items that we will need, like the top sheet, extra pillows, and extra towels.

Muster was suppose to be at 4 but an announcement was made that they were delaying the muster because of late boarding passengers, and that we would be departing later too.  

So we head out to explore the ship and who do we run in to but Steve the Bar Manager who we have sailed with a few times.  Then Peter John the Captain Circle Host sees us and comes over fast for a big hug.  Oh it is so nice to see him again.  Then we turn around and who do we see but Mark Harris who was the Naturalist on the Hawaii cruise on the Star last fall.  He tells us he just got on 7 days ago and he is on until September.  We loved his lectures and trust me that is saying a lot as we have only come across one other lecturer (Jay Moore) who we enjoyed seeing the rest we couldn’t stand.

As we head up to the Lido deck a bar staff comments to us that he remembers us from the Star Princess in the fall.  We don’t really remember him but we are glad to see him again and we catch up with who is on.

The crowd on board seems really much younger.  There are a few large groups sailing from different parts of the world and it is fun to share this cruise with them.  For many this is their first cruise, and many don’t speak English.  There is a large group from China and we are impressed when they announce the Muster Drill information in both English and Chinese.

The Muster drill is finally held and we attend and yes they scanned all the cruise cards of those that came.  It is nice to have the drill just one floor above ours, certainly made it much easier to return to the cabin afterwards.

As I was saying there are quite a few first time cruisers, and in fact when we walk down most of the hallways all we see is blue cards, and gold too.  We later find out there are only 81 elites, and the most travelled only has just over 500 days.  Boy that isn’t much as we are use to days in the 1,000s.  We do qualify for the Most Travelled Party, we are #10 on the list.

Sailaway is held outside as the skies cleared and we actually had a lovely sunny evening which made for one of the most beautiful departures ever from Vancouver.  There is sailaway party on the Lido deck and we are impressed to see Brett Siborne in attendance.  I say this because for the past six cruises the Cruise Director has not been there.  But I know Brett loves the interaction with the passengers and he is really hands on and it shows.  We don’t hang around the party much mainly because the band – Superfly – is really not to our liking at all, to the point we can’t handle even listening.

Dinner tonight is going to be in the dining room.  At first we try to find where my friend Sandudee – Junior Waiter is and he is Savoy Dining room and we say hi to him but his station is full and we promise we will be back another night.  Instead we head to the Sante Fe Dining room and we are given a lovely table by the window.  Our servers – sorry I forgot their names – but they are a married couple from the Philippines were amazing.  We ordered a bottle of wine and I started with the ricotta/leek tart, then the salad and for my entrée I had the Basa Fillet.  

After dinner we decide to try and catch the Welcome Aboard Show in the Princess Theater. We get a seat up front as we came in kind of late.  It is busy but not full.  Again we are impressed to see Brett there and he really did a great job introducing the ship and welcoming so many first time cruisers on board.  The Princess Dancers and singers performed as well as Sarge the comedian who we thought we had seen but as soon as he came out and started talking we realized we had never seen him before.  We really laughed hard at his show and we look forward to his full show on Monday night.

After the show the ship is dead, really dead, I thought everyone had gotten off!  It was only 11 pm but it was hard to see anything or anyone around.  So we decide to hit the hay.