Grand Princess / San Francisco to Alaska / Take two

So I started this review 24 hours ago in another thread. Late last night I rearranged some of my Alaska photos on my photo hosting website. This in turn, removed ALL the pics from the original report. Arrrrrgh!!! I'll be starting over and continuing the story here, with a recap of the beginning of the cruise.

We are first time Princess Cruisers. I sailed on the Grand with my wife 8/29/16 to 9/8/16. This cruise was a present to the wife to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary. I'll do this report in segments as I have a lot of pics.

Highlight of the trip was Glacier Bay. More than a dozen staff members, including the onboard naturalist, said it was the clearest day they've seen the entire season. Pretty lucky for a September voyage.

Day 1 - Embarkation

We live 100 miles from San Francisco. My daughters (18 & 14) got the Bon Voyage Experience which allowed us to board by 11:15am.

First thing we did was go to the Lido deck and get a drink at the bar. We were the only ones up there and strolled around before any crowds formed. Next up was lunch in the dining room. After lunch we grabbed more drinks and went up to the room. Here's the Port of San Francisco from our balcony. On the right is Alcatraz and the Golden Gate is in the back left corner.

The girls left before 3pm and drove the car back home. Without the daughters around, the darling wife and I enjoyed our alone time together in the room. We apparently got lost in each others company as we celebrated our anniversary with some adult diversions. As a matter of fact, at one point I looked up from the bed, and we were literally in the middle of San Francisco Bay heading towards the Golden Gate. Holy crap, how did that happen!!! We were so distracted, that we didn't even realize the ship had left the dock. We later joked that If the cruise ship is a rocking, don't bother knocking, lol. Anyhow, we had a great laugh about the whole ordeal and promptly got our butts out onto our balcony. I've been under the Golden Gate bridge more times than I can count as I'm an avid fisherman and ply those waters a lot from private boats. But for my wifes sake, I'm glad that our private fun didn't cause us to miss the sail away entirely.

Westward side of the Golden Gate, leaving the city and heading out to sea.

Once out to sea, we promptly got our drink on. My drink of choice is a Vodka Tonic. The best Vodka on board I could find was Stoli Elit. The Elit + tonic was $9.95 and was covered under the AIBP. At the end of this report I'll share my drink totals, as I kept a running count of my consumption. After a few drinks, we went to the dining room for dinner. We had Anytime dining and never had to wait more than 15 minutes (about half the nights we got right in without any wait). Didn't take any pics of our dinners, other than our Balcony Dinner (sorry).

Stay tuned, more to come...

After the first nights dinner, we went to the casino. I believe we played in the casino on 5 of the 10 nights. I am 100% tables, the wife is 90% tables, 10% slots. There was even a craps table at the very back of the 1st photo (can't see it very well).

Saw an older lady hit an $8,000 jackpot on video poker on the last night. We didn't have that kind of luck, but our losses were minimal for the trip considering the time spent gambling. Eventually, day 1 came to an end and it was time for bed.

Did I mention this was a cruise to celebrate our 20th anniversary. Here is the Anniversary flower arrangement, which was delivered to our room on day 1. It lasted the entire cruise and everything bloomed out by day 10. Wife was very pleased.

We found this in our room. Who said there isn't a TV guide on Princess cruises?

To be continued…

Prior to our cruise, I had heard that the first two sea days were the roughest part of the trip. To be honest, I barely even noticed that we were on a ship during this supposed rough stretch.

Woke up on morning two and decided to see what this thing called 'International Cafe' is all about. Went down and ordered a large mocha frapaccino, while the wife got a coffee. We also grabbed a few donuts, a croissant, and an egg McMuffin. Everything was on point. I believe the below pic is part of the afternoon offerings at the International Cafe. Unfortunately, I didn't get pics of the breakfast offerings.

We went back to the room and finished our coffee on the balcony and watched the sea float by. We soon decided we neeeded to walk the ship, figure out where everything was, and get our bearings. Here's a few pics of the ship taken throughout the trip.

THEATRE

BUFFET DESSERTS

BRIDGE

BOW

UPPER DECK HOT TUB

Continuing our journey around the ship, I decided to take some pool pics. The only one I saw being used was in the atrium next to the buffet. We saw people in the outdoor jacuzzi's most days, as these were a more popular choice. The MUTS outdoor movie screen didn't get much love. I assume it was because of the outdoor wind/temps.

REAR/AFT POOL - ADULT ONLY

MID SHIP POOL WITH MUTS MOVIE SCREEN FROM 3 DIFFERENT ANGLES

POOL AT THE SANCTUARY

The pool in the atrium. Our most frequented bar is in the background. Just happened to be the closest to our room and the temps were comfortable under the dome. By the way, our room was A422 mid ship deck 12.

Boy, all this walking around the ship is making me thirsty. A peach margarita sounds good.

We grab lunch at Alfredo's Pizzeria. Really good pizzas and worth multiple visits if you like pizza. After lunch we return to the room to chill on the balcony and do some reading. Out of nowhere a rainbow appears. In my 47 years, I have never had a rainbow appear to be so close to me. Where it entered the water was only a couple hundred yards from the ship. It literally felt like you could almost touch it. the pictures don't do it justice.

Next up Juneau

We wake up around 6am and go down to the International Café for Coffee and a quick bite, and bring everything back to the room. This turned into a ritual each morning. We go out onto the balcony to enjoy our coffee and immediately start spotting whales on our way to Juneau. We aren't due into Juneau until the afternoon, so we simply sit on the balcony for a few hours and take in the whale show. We saw at least 40 whales from 7am to 8:30am!!!! Very few people were on their balconies, so most missed them on the port side. There were even a couple that were within 100 feet of the ship. It was incredible. Did I mention how awesome the weather was?

VIEW FROM OUR BALCONY

Before we know it, we are pulling into Juneau

Did I mention that we had amazing weather on this trip. I literally could have left all the rain gear at home. I didn't get a drop on me the entire cruise.

Since we didn't have an excursion planned, we decided to hang out on our balcony, have a few drinks, and watch the herd of people leave the boat. In the first 45 minutes, we saw 4 people medically evacuated from the ship on stretchers. This would be a running theme at most ports.

So before the trip began, I had packed some duc tape in the luggage. The wife laughed at me and said it was a silly item to bring. Well, as fate would have it, the balcony wall wasn't secured properly and continued to bang, over and over, due to the wind. There was no way I was going to spend 10 days listening to that racket. Notice the duc tape on the wall in the background. Problem solved. Who's laughing now…

Eventually, we walked the docs and headed towards town for lunch and to do some shopping. The famous Red Dog Saloon.

To be continued

Haha - love the duct tape solution for the balcony wall. :D We just got off the Grand last week and also had the door between ours and the balcony next door rattle slightly. Being duct tape-less we took one of the sales flyers and folded it over many times and wedged it in where the door lock was. :cool:

Really nice photos Thanks

Really nice photos Thanks

You're welcome. Every pic in this report is from my smartphone. No touch-ups or photoshop. I wasn't sure how they would turn out. For whatever reason, I think the phone does it's best photos out in the sunshine. Some of the pics I took while standing in the shade didn't come out as well. Not sure why that is.

So the wife and I walked around downtown Juneau for a while before lunch.

We stopped at the Smoothie Soap store and bought a dozen bars of soap that have glacial silt in them. My wife and her girl friends have given positive reviews post trip. Went into 5 or 6 shops and picked up some gifts for friends and family. Saw this along the way, how cool would it be to have this guy in your front yard?

Next on the agenda was Tracy's Crab Shack. Although we've been to Juneau before, we've never eaten at Tracy's. We decided to split the King Crab Bucket and a large bowl of the Crab Bisque. The crab was delicious with massive chunks from the legs. The bisque was also awesome. The bucket also comes with biscuits and melted butter to dip the crab in. There was also some slaw which was average at best.

So we are eating our lunch and if you look at the pics, directly on the other side of where we are eating, is the water. I'm cracking my lunch and pushing the shells off the edge of the table so that they will fall into the water. I figure lots of people must do this that sit in these seats (push the shells off the edge). Just before we finish lunch I look over the edge of the table to see the water at the pilings, and there is a ledge that sticks out just below my feet. All of my broken crab legs & claws, are sitting on that ledge. Guess I was the only one who didn't get the memo as my shells were the only ones down there. They stuck out like a sore thumb and I should have listened to my wife when she gave me crap for doing it. Felt like Homer Simpson in that moment "DOH".

After eating, we walked back to the ship, and began several hours of drinking vodka on our balcony while watching people come back to the ship.

Coming next will be Skagway (day 5), and our ultimate balcony dinner.

Great photos, brings back memories. Will you be posting the "Princess Patters"?

Tracy's is the best.

I'm counting the days until our next AK cruise. Sadly, there are A LOT of days to count. On our Juneau port day, I know that after lunching at Tracy's, a slice of pizza will be about all that I'll be having for dinner. I'll bet that Mrs. XBGuy has a tuna sandwich from room service.

Tracy's Tip: Look for poultry shears floating around the tables. It makes cracking through the shells much easier.

;)

The reports are great, KG.

This is a fun and entertaining review [emoji3]

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Great review, thanks!

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Great photos, brings back memories. Will you be posting the "Princess Patters"?

Tracy's Tip: Look for poultry shears floating around the tables. It makes cracking through the shells much easier.

 

The reports are great, KG.

This is a fun and entertaining review [emoji3]

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Great review, thanks!

Thanks SBG. There's more to come...

Skagway Day 5

Once again, we are up early, and make our daily visit to the International Café for Coffee. I'm feeling a little spry this morning and decide to get a shot of vodka in my coffee. We go back to the balcony to watch the scenery and chill on the balcony. Here we are as we pull into port.

The morning water was glassy and beautiful. We are finally docked. Across from us is a ship from the NCL fleet.

Skies are overcast, but we don't get any rain. We have a 90 minute excursion planned at 9am which consists of a shuttle ride up the mountain. We did the White Pass Train ride a few years back, so we decided to go up the other side of the canyon this time in the shuttle. The driver provided commentary the entire time regarding the gold rush and local history. He stopped on the side of the road 4 or 5 times for photo ops.

More to come from Skagway…

After the shuttle excursion we got dropped off in town and walked around and checked out the sights and sounds. The Red Onion

We didn't go into this building, but it sure looked cool. It gets the award for best exterior in Skagway. Is it just a tourist store or something else? Anybody know?

I believe this was next door to the Red Onion. Pay for play was popular during the gold rush. I'm told in today's dollars, the charge to sleep with one of these gold diggers would be equivalent to $1000 per customer.

More to come from Skagway. Stay tuned…

We didn't go into this building, but it sure looked cool. It gets the award for best exterior in Skagway. Is it just a tourist store or something else? Anybody know?

Arctic Brotherhood Hall

http://www.arcticbrotherhood.com

http://www.alaska.org/detail/arctic-brotherhood-hall

Arctic Brotherhood Hall

 

http://www.arcticbrotherhood.com

 

http://www.alaska.org/detail/arctic-brotherhood-hall

Thanks for the info. Very cool. The last link says there are almost 9,000 pieces of driftwood on the front of the building. Very impressive.

We continue walking around Skagway and check out the trains that are parked downtown. As I was sitting outside, waiting for my wife to finish shopping, this one let out a mighty burst of steam.

Anyone know what the red train car is called in the above pic? I know it is used to remove snow, but it must have a technical name. It's one bad ass looking piece of machinery. If you are looking for gold, and you don't know where to go, just follow the arrows.

So my lower back started acting up on me while we were in Skagway, and we decided to head back to our room, grab a light afternoon bite, and drink some vodka on the balcony. Do you have a standard balcony on an upcoming cruise? A couple of 36 inch beach balls pack flat in your luggage and make a killer foot rest. Blow them up to about 80% capacity and you're good to go. A thrifty Idea for those who have a standard balcony. It's nice to put your feet up after walking around half the day. Here's a little chill time on the balcony.

After 3 vodka tonics, and a heavy dose of mother nature outside our balcony, my back feels much better. On this trip, we spent as much time on the balcony as we did outside the room (not counting leaving the ship at the ports). Luckily for me, it's a 5 minute round trip to leave the room, get a drink, and come back to our balcony. Time for another?

Prior to the trip, I preordered two 14-piece boxes of Godiva Chocolates ($25 each). When we redeemed the first one at the onboard botique, we were told they didn't have them in stock. They said we had to take the 10 piece Norman Love box instead. Wife wasn't happy and when she's not happy, nothing good happens. We ate the first box of Norman Love chocolates, but while visually stunning, they didn't taste as good as Godiva. We didn't want to redeem for a second box, so we had them put a $25 credit on our shipboard account.

 

Wife wasn't happy and when she's not happy, nothing good happens.

Not good.

I know your pain. :(

Skagway Day 5

 

We are finally docked. Across from us is a ship from the NCL fleet.

 

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Love seeing this photo! I can see the balcony on the NCL Sun where I will be sitting next May aiming my camera your way!

Thanks for your review! Your pics are beautiful and love reading about your trip.

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Anyone know what the red train car is called in the above pic? I know it is used to remove snow, but it must have a technical name. It's one bad ass looking piece of machinery.

It is called a rotary snow plow, and it is steam driven. The fins you see radiating from the center bite into heavy snow pack and shoots it out a funnel at the top. It is typically used when smaller snow plows can't get the job done.

Here is a photo of a similar machine working one of the passes on the D&RGW Railroad in Colorado.

Thanks for your review! Your pics are beautiful and love reading about your trip.