Alaska Cruise, Day 2, on the Golden Princess, May 2011

At sea
A restful day at sea as we head north into the Inside Passage and on to Juneau in the morning.

The sea isn't very rough but the stabilizers are on most of the time because of the light chop. Weather is damp and gray with temperatures in the low 50s. It's a good day to read, relax, get to know the ship and nap a bit. Most of the time we can see land, far away snow-capped mountains with cliffs along the shore.

At noon today we were half way to Juneau. So far we have gone 450 nautical miles since we left Seattle. We had breakfast in Donatello Dining Room. It has waiter service and everything is cooked to order. Lunch was in the International Cafe in the Atrium. Very good choice of soup, salads and sandwiches and best of all great coffee and French pastries. Excellent food. Tonight is "formal" night and we don't dress up. Dinner was in the Crown Grill Steak House. Excellent as always. And well worth the $25 per person cover charge for the peace and quiet and fantastic service and food.


"Hamilton" on the life preserver indicates the ship is
registered in Bermuda.



This pink flower is a ceiling light in the four-story atrium.
The blossom is huge, about 12 feet across.


We have been reading the Alaska Cruise Handbook by Joe Upton. It came with a handy fold out map of our route. There's a mile-by-mile numbering system in the book and on the map that Princess uses as well so we can follow along when announcements are made on board. When we get to Glacier Bay National Park Rangers join us on the Golden Princess to answer questions and point out interesting things via the ship's loud speakers and TV channels.

Tonight we must set our clocks ahead one hour -- we will be in the Alaska Time Zone.

Alaska Cruise, Day 1, on the Golden Princess, May 2011

Embarkation Day, Port of Seattle, Pier 91
We've sailed on eight cruises before this one. Sailing out of Ft. Lauderdale, Cape Canaveral, and New Orleans. Embarkation is often a frantic rush under the best of circumstances. But we have never experienced one as unpleasant and uncomfortable as Seattle's.

And that's saying a lot when you consider that the dock in New Orleans was a temporary setup -- Princess was testing the New Orleans market with a few winter cruises -- and both the embarkation and disembarkation were conducted in tents. Big, circus-size tents. And the process was handled smoothly and quickly. The Port of New Orleans really came through for Princess; the Port of Seattle didn't care to. When Pier 91 opened a few years ago all the reports said there were some serious service problems. It seems that it hasn't gotten any better.


Seattle's Skyline from Pier 91

Once we got to the part of embarkation that Princess handled, everything got better fast. Helpful people led us through the process and soon we were in our cabin on Dolphin Deck 9. We arrived in the cabin at 12:30 and by 1:00 we had our bags. We were unpacked before muster drill at 3:00. Our cabin steward is Constantine and he appears to be very polite, and efficient. And friendly, too.

The Golden Princess is in great shape and looks beautiful. Launched in 2001, it had a major dry dock refurbishment in 2009. New dining features were added and the cabins and public areas were given new carpets, wall treatments and drapes.

We pulled away from the dock at 5:00 about an hour late. The captain must have been waiting for a group with a delayed flight. We headed north through a slightly choppy sea. We had our dinner in the Horizon Court Buffet.

Alaska Cruise (one day before) -- A Sunny Day in Seattle

We now have all our luggage and it's a sunny, warm day in Seattle. The TV news says it's the first day this spring to reach 70 degrees and by the look of the streets and parks lots of Seattle folks took the day off.



We took a taxi to Pike Place Market and it was shoulder-to-shoulder in there. We found a cafe in the rear of the marketplace and saw Celebrity Infinity docked at the downtown cruise ship terminal.





This is our ninth cruise and the first time that we have had to fly to the cruise port. In the past we have taken the car and spent a night or two on the way to the ship. Flying adds another complication to the adventure and especially to the packing for the trip.

Alaska Cruise (two days before) -- Fly to Seattle

Billy D. picked us up around 8:30 A.M. and took us to the Pensacola airport for our 10:30 flight to Dallas.

All our flights were uneventful and on time. The good news: American upgraded us to first class, from Dallas to Seattle. The "other" news: they lost our luggage.

The luggage clerk at SeaTac assured us, via her scan code machine, that the bags were coming on another plane and would be delivered to our hotel in the middle of the night. At the hotel we confirmed this by computer and hoped for the best -- very glad we had added an extra day to our itinerary.

Coming in from the airport we were upset about the missing luggage but couldn't help noticing the sunshine and clear skies. No Seattle rain today.


The hotel was good and the front desk clerk told us our room had a great view of the space needle.


And it did.

After a night of fitful sleep, I called the front desk at 5:00 A.M. and learned our bags arrived at 3:00 A.M. All three of them. What a relief.

Alaska and the Inside Passage

White Pass & Yukon Route Railroad, Skagway

Glacier Bay National Park
Glacier Bay National Park official site
Glacier Bay NP Wiki

Juneau
Juneau Travel and Visitors Bureau
Mendenhall Glacier Wiki
Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center
Radio News Updates from KINY AM 800, Juneau
Newspaper -- Juneau Empire
Weather

Ketchikan
Ketchikan Visitors Bureau
Newspaper -- Ketchikan Daily News
Weather

Seattle
City of Seattle site
Seattle Convention and Visitors Bureau
Seattle Cruise Ship Port
Sea-Tac Airport
Pike Place Market
Space Needle
Newspaper -- The Seattle Times
Weather

Restaurants Near Our Seattle Hotel
The 5 Point Cafe
Little Red Bistro
re:public Restaurant & Bar
Two Bells Tavern
The Hurricane Cafe
Zeitoon Cafe & Bistro

Seattle Area Scenic Day Trips
Drives in the Cascades
Go-Washington.com, Seattle Drives
Mount Rainier National Park
Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument
Seattle One-Day Drives
A thread on Cruise Critic

Skagway
Skagway Visitors Bureau
White Pass & Yukon Route Railway
White Pass & Yukon Route Wiki
Newspaper -- The Skagway News (twice monthly)
Weather

Victoria, B.C.
Tourism Victoria
Victoria Harbour Cruise Ship Port
Newspaper -- Victoria News
Weather

General Information
State of Alaska Tourism Site
About Glaciers
Princess Cruises
Pacific Northwest Artist, Doug Cranmer, more

Map of the Inside Passage Cruise

Maggie the Cat in Charge

Joey Playing with His Catnip Sock

Signs of Spring -- At Last

A few days ago I saw some color in the hedge. Today there were lots of blooms on this one bush. Soon the whole front yard will be full of blooming azaleas. Many different kinds.

Next Cruise: Alaska

Mendenhall Glacier near Juneau. Click on image to enlarge.

We don't like to be far from home during hurricane season but late spring-early summer is a fine time for us to be away. And go on a cruise. This time it's on the Golden Princess for a tour of Alaksa's Inside Passage.

The cruise is seven nights, round trip out of Seattle. On it we visit Glacier Bay, Mendenhall Glacier, Skagway, Juneau, Ketchikan, Alaska and Victoria, BC. And there's a ride on the White Pass & Yukon Route Railroad up into the mountains outside Skagway. A bonus will be the opportunity to see a little of Seattle before and after the cruise.