Live From - 5/22 and 6/1/15 Golden Alaska

This morning we are tendering into Juneau, so I expect a ton of people and lots of ships. We have an early excursion, Whale Watching, so we have to meet in the Princess Theater at 0745 for tendering ashore. One of the advantages of an early excursion is the priority tendering you get. In terms of numbers of tenders as well as in line. It is overcast this morning. High anticipated in the upper 60’s, but I doubt it’ll be that warm on the water.

Yesterday was a beautiful day in Haines, not too hot, not too cold on the river. The warm weather has really brought the river levels up high. We did 700A, the Haines Wilderness River Adventure. But first we hit the HC for breakfast, a first for us on this cruise. My two standards, scrambles eggs and French toast, we met. Both were really good. I hate oil soaked toast and cooked to death scrambled eggs, but these were done right. Very nice start.

We wandered around Haines, got some water at the market, went to the park and visitors centers, took pictures of local sites, basically killed time waiting for the excursions to start. The bus ride with Mark to the launching site was a lot of fun and 91 curves in the road. He really personalized the trip as we drove by people’s houses including the Schnabel’s construction yard (Gold Rush) on the highway out of Haines. Grandpa just had his 94th birthday, so apparently his cancer is under control and he survived chemotherapy. Mark’s stories and descriptions of various buildings and landmarks as we drove up the road really brought home that small town feel. A graduating class of 20, with 14 going on to college, a friend of his has been building a house alongside the road for 5 years now, milk at over $6 per gallon, gas at over $4 per gallon (and they are happy about that compared to a year ago). Everyone loading up their vehicles and trailers, then heading to Juneau on the Alaskan Maritime Highway System for an overnight foraging trip to Costco! 6 months worth of supplies in two trips a year. The personalization made it feel special, like we were just swapping stories.

Javier was our boat captain. 2-150 horsepower outboard jet drives on a flat bottomed, aluminum boat that probably seats around 20 passengers. Once up on plane this thing probably will go through inches of water, and we did hit several sticks, logs and the motors hit stuff as well as we went upstream through the various river channels. We saw two sitting female bald eagles on their nests, a mother moose and calf, and a yearling moose. A bunch of trumpeter swans, some ducks, but no bears – which seeing as how they are nocturnal and no salmon were running, I did not expect anyway.

The entire ecosystem is just absolutely gorgeous. From the overflowing river to the green of the bush, to the flowering wild roses, to the green tips of the Sitka Spruce, everything was vibrant and alive. Hard to believe that only 3 weeks ago there wasn’t hardly any water in the river and no green on the trees.

The eagle nest were pretty cool. Some were larger, older, than others, some were abandoned. The Murches were back this year after two eaglets last year, but Lucy and Ricky had not come back after their failed attempts two years ago. (Yes, they name all their eagles.) The mother moose and calf posed long enough for us all to get some great pictures. The Calf was about 3 weeks old. The yearling was a bit more camera shy, disappearing into the bush quickly as we slid past.

It was a really good and fun excursion. Ally had a blast. She’d never done or seen anything like this before. Never seen an eagle in the wild, or a moose, or rode on a jet boat.

After we got back to the room, it was 2 hours of downloading video, photos, charging batteries and showers. What ever happened to the days when we just ran out and did things, on a whim, with no backpacks, shoulder bags, first aid kits, emergency phone numbers, cell phones, action cams, still cams, bottled water, etc.

We had early reservations at Sabatini’s last night for dinner. I really like the new menu. Unfortunately, Ally tried new things that she really didn’t like and Judy’s choices were so-so. On the other hand, I really enjoyed my selections and the service. We had a coupon from our TA, so we had to at least use it since it was not exchangeable for credit.

The prosciutto appetizer was a real taste treat, everyone gets one. The bread and breadsticks, fantastic. I had the burrata (creamy hand pulled mozzarella) with thin slices of tomato, olive oil, balsamic. Pretty good. I’ve had better, but at a very authentic and expensive Italian restaurant in DC run by a little old guy from Sicily. He adds prosciutto to the dish along with basil. But this was good. Ally had the artichoke soufflé, she was being adventurous, liked the flavor, but did not like the texture at all. Judy had the fried calamari, which was really good, nice and crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside.

For the pasta course, Ally and I had the short rib penne, and it was the highlight of the meal. Ally was going to lick her bowel clean, but decided to use the bread instead to soak up every little drop of that stuff. Judy had the manicotti and while good, just didn’t compare to the short rib penne.

For the main course, I had the veal chop. I’d never had a veal chop before, and this was really good. The sauce was incredible. Judy had the shrimp, and although it was really good, the first bite into the first shrimp tasted fishy, so that was a downer on the rest of the dish. Ally bravely tried the lobster 3 ways. I know when I was a teenager, I did not like lobster and she doesn’t either. But at least she tried something different.

Judy had the cappuccino Crème Brule, which she really enjoyed as the best bite of the night. I had the chocolate journey dessert, which was absolutely gorgeous and tasty. Very nicely done.

After dinner we went to the show, Words and Music, and then crashed, hard. Days of getting up early and going to bed late caught up with all of us. And the fact that this morning is an early morning, we just crashed.

BTW, this is the first time we’ve been in the Golden rear minis on Emerald deck. And we can hear the banks playing in Vista. First time we’ve ever heard bands in Vista. Not loud enough to bother us, but loud enough to hear.

So this morning is whale watching. We are going to try and have lunch at the Twisted Fish and go buy about 12 pounds of fudge. Tonight is an interesting night as they are trying something completely different. There is a Klondike Party in the Piazza, but also a Klondike Midnight Sun Campfire party at Outriggers. Sort of an Alaskan version of a Deck party? Don’t know. Michael Wilson, comedian and impressionist, is on in the theater, Fury is on in Vista, MUTS has concerts all night, and for those that are on board around 1000, Libby Riddles is making the rounds of the ships and presenting a lecture on her Idatarod victory.

That’s all I have time for. Time to get some breakfast and head out for the day.

Later…

The jet boat excursion sounds awesome. :D

We are doing the same itinerary in July...Our confirmation said we would be tendering in Juneau and Ketchikan, but if I understood you, you will not have to tender. Also is Donald Hellstern the Naturalist on board all summer, I had read on a post by someone else that Michael Modzelewski was going to be on the Golden...We sailed the Golden last summer on a 7 day and we had Michael. He was great but was hoping for a different person this year.

For anyone who is interested, there is a a calendar of Alaska cruises that will tell you which ship is in port and where it is scheduled to be docked or at anchor. You can see the whole summer season here http://claalaska.com/?page_id=318

Charles:

Thanks for doing your live. I like your style. I'm planing to do a live on my August Alaska cruise on the Golden.

Has the code RED been removed? I was schedule for a BVE on Friday but it was cancelled for ship cleaning.

Thanks again for all of us on CC for doing your live.

Tom:D

Libby does a fantastic lecture...she usually has one of her old sled dogs with her....if you see her, tell her Bonnie says hello. We are good friends....:)

Libby does a fantastic lecture...she usually has one of her old sled dogs with her....if you see her, tell her Bonnie says hello. We are good friends....:)

I enjoyed her visit too. Disappointed that she didn't bring a dog with her. I told her how impressed I was with her response to children. I had a student who wrote her a letter (a very, very, very long time ago) and she wrote back. Now that is people skills.

I'm enjoying your review! When we found out that Golden is leaving us for another part of the world, we decided to book one last cruise, so will be boarding her in July. We'll be on your second itinerary, I believe.

i am really enjoying your live thread... feels like I am right there

 

I can confirm that the lead singers do sing. I know quite a few lead singers and they do sing. They take it very seriously and go to great lengths to take care of their voice. I am sure they would be happy to hear all the great things you said about the shows.

 

Vickie

I remember taking a backstage tour on either Princess or RCI and the tour leader said that the only time the lead singers might lipsync is when they are understudies. They pre-record the real leads just in case.

Charles:

 

Thanks for doing your live. I like your style. I'm planing to do a live on my August Alaska cruise on the Golden.

 

Has the code RED been removed? I was schedule for a BVE on Friday but it was cancelled for ship cleaning.

 

Thanks again for all of us on CC for doing your live.

 

Tom:D

Salt, pepper, condiments and menus are back!

That's good news.

Great to hear! :)

It’s going to be one busy day. Tendering in Ketchikan, the Lumberjack show, Platinum Studio and Italian night, plus anything else we can dig up to do.

But let’s recap yesterday first. Juneau was misty, cloudy and occasional light rain – but a perfect day for whale watching. Things started out very slow, and wet, but picked up later in the morning after the whales had their morning coffee. This was tour 610A. Always wanted to whale watch, but we always did other things and Ally gave us the perfect excuse to just do it. Large catamaran whale watching boat with enclosed lower deck, half enclosed, half open upper deck. We went north to start out and cruised by a Stellar Sea Lion ‘haul out’ location on the rocks. Not a rookery, but a place they haul out to purge their systems of nitrogen before heading to the rookery. Probably several hundred sea lions draped all over 300-400 yards of rocky shore line. Several bald eagles in the area as well. We headed south seeing occasional blows in the distance and then things picked up quite well. At one time we have two cow-calf pairs within 300 yards of the boat, with one pair surfacing and diving in tandem about 100 feet away – missed the twin fluke money shot! The best part was that the calf decided to entertain us and sort of played on the surface for about 10 minutes. Putting half its tail vertical out of the water, slapping the water with its forward fin, waving at us, giving us the eyeball. Pretty cool. After about 3 hours and several gigabytes of digital data, we headed back under clearing skies.

The Crown, the Star and us were in port. Why we had to tender, I have no idea. Only 3 ships docked, a ‘dam’ ship (Osterdam), the Crown and the Star. After feeding Allyson breakfast, she started wilting around noon, so we had to find her something to eat, but being a spoiled and picky teenager, she didn’t know what she wanted. We passed a Vietnamese street food cart in Juneau with a bunch of crew gathered around eating. Meat on a stick! But Allyson didn’t want to try that, so we opted to head over to Alaskan Fudge, buy a bunch of different fudges and head back to the ship so she could pick whatever she wanted from the buffet.

Judy was wiped out, having hardly slept at all the night before despite our early crashing, and stayed in bed while Allyson and I fended for ourselves. Dinner was really good. We ate with a couple from California. This time Allyson liked the food she ordered. I had the Garlic soup, smoked salmon and crawfish appetizer, ossombuca pinwheel pasta and can’t for the life of me remember the main course. The smaller portions are wonderful as one can enjoy the entire menu with no wheelbarrowing at the end.

After dinner we window shopped in the Piazza. She really liked a very nice cologne – which was listed at $115 per bottle! Ran into Shannon, her new friend and ended up going to the comedian together. Michael Wilson is a comedian and impressionist and was very, very good. After the comedian we hit Princess Pop Star Heat 2, which I normally avoid like the plague, but happily the singers were pretty good and one complete standout – Lelani – who will be in the finals against another girl and they are both fantastic voices. Tough selection, but great entertainment.

The Klondike party in the piazza really wasn’t. Not sure what the rules were (music and dancing were pre-ordained and scripted line dances were prohibited?!?), but when given lemons, we make lemonade. So picture this. In the Piazza proper, Sam, Kim and Meghan are trying to stir up interest in dancing. Ally and I join in, me dancing with Sam, then Kim, all trying to dance to a ‘klondike’ themed Lots of Fun session. Some free style, some square dancing, some just being silly. Walter, meanwhile, starts dancing with a few women in the deck 5 elevator lobby. Pretty soon he’s got 20 women line/Zumba dancing in the lobby and we all are mirroring that group in the Piazza. And it’s one of those make it up as you go. Soon the women in the elevator lobby are starting to shed sweaters, and getting DOWN! And Walter just keeps collecting more and more women in his group. It gets hilariously fun and funny.

We got so enthralled we missed the start of the midnight sun party on deck 14 aft. That was more of an informal music session with Robert Ondras. We left there and headed for Slywalkers to see Jamie (shhhh, so I sneaked Ally in….). And it was still happy hour. Ally and Shannon started dancing, while I was discussing cruising with Jamie. Around midnight though, I had to play the bad guy and tear Ally away. I wasn’t going to let her stay out late without talking it over with Judy first.

So a fun day and a fun evening for sure.

Now for the Patter. It is sunny outside and we arrive in Ketchikan around 1100 to tender ashore. We only have the Lumberjack show to go to, but we have to find our way to the shore on our own. So we’ll get in line early to get ashore. We also need to get some water and scope out the shopping. Can’t stay ashore too long as we have a 1600 Platinum Studio appointment for the three of us and its Italian night in the dining room.

We are going to skip Zumba this morning, as well as line dance class. Hey, its my vacation! Tonight the orchestra is having a couple of Jazz sessions in Explorers. Dan Horn, the ventriloquist, is headlining in the Theater – and he’s really good – and its Rock and Roll night in Vista.

Lots of fun tonight – e’ya all later…

That's too bad about tendering. :(

Just talked to the Captain’s Circle lady. There are 2759 passengers on board. 185 elites, 348 platinum, 208 ruby, 563 gold and 1455 blue cards. The cutoff for the most traveled party was 320 days.

A couple of misc items. Ran into some of the dance troupe in the elevator late one night. Geez are they young! I just had to compliment them on their timing and execution of dancing on this cruise. They are really in sync and put that little extra something in every step that just makes it very special. And I just had to tell them that the ‘Heard it through the grapevine’ number in Motor City was the best I’ve ever seen. They got introduced to Ally as well, and she just loved talking about stagecraft and choreography and costuming with them. We still have British Invasion to see and it’s a visual treat with all the different costumes and costume changes that occur. I think Ally will like that one the best.

The ship feels like home. When we first sailed the Grand Class, as opposed to the Coral or Sun Class, we hated it. Now we love the originals (Grand, Golden and Star) and even enjoy the super-grands as well. We’ll hopefully be on the Emerald as she moves to Australia in 2016. We are really enjoying our dining experience as well. (This is the first cruise in a long time we’ve eaten so much in the main dining room. Judy and I have to get back into our dancing mode so we can use up some of these calories we’re consuming.) The staff and crew are really friendly and we’ve bonded to several of the crew already. Its great seeing Jamie and Sam again. After 51 days together on the Ruby, we got to know each other quite well, and besides Judy doesn’t throw lingerie at just anyone! Service, and our room steward Imam in particular, has been outstanding. In fact, when I talked to the CC lady this morning, I said, no complaints, period, its been great! (She hadn’t had her coffee yet, so that was a good thing.)

It’s going to be interesting in the next few years as Princess transitioning a lot of their fleet to Asia/Oceana as opposed to the Med. Who would have thought that next year Asia and Australia would have 3 sun classes, 3 Grands and 1 super grand basically resident and the newest ship would be deployed to Asia, not Europe or the US. That’s one heck of a fleet commitment.

You guys sound like the most awesome grandparents ever! Do you want to adopt my kids and I?:D Seriously, thanks for the live updates - I just did a little 3 day coastal on Golden and LOVED the ship - and must agree with you about the dancers/singer...by far the best group I have seen on all of my cruises!

Thanks so much for sharing with us all your very interesting adventures.. We will be on the Golden in August, our second Alaskan cruise and now with all your helpful information I can't wait to go back...

You mentioned earlier that you renewed your vowels for your anniversary is there anything special that you could share with us for our Golden Anniversary. It is in June, but timing didn't work out for us to cruise until August, I'm thinking of renewing our vowels and would appreciate your suggestions. Thanks

It sounds like you had a wonderful day. Your whale watching adventure sounds amazing. It is always nice when they decide to play for us.:):):)

How was the tendering in

Ketchikan? Never had to

before. Where did tender

let you off? By Tongass

Trading Post or at the end

of town, close to Dock 4?

Do you know about what

time you didn't need tickets?

Thanks.

Please take your wife dancing so that you can ask Joey (Phoenix Rising) where he will be next.

Thank you,

For anyone who is interested, there is a a calendar of Alaska cruises that will tell you which ship is in port and where it is scheduled to be docked or at anchor. You can see the whole summer season here http://claalaska.com/?page_id=318

Thank you for posting this. I must be missing something :confused: as I cannot figure out how to decipher the codes after the ship name. I tried looking at the port codes and ship codes from that website and it did not follow??? I was looking at the Golden Pricess for August as an example and could not figure out how to tell Tendering from Anchor vs. Docking, etc..

What can I use as a secret agent decoder ring? Anyone know how to figure this out? Or is there another site that has the port load info including dock assignment or tendering?

Happy Cruising!

Mark

Just talked to the Captain’s Circle lady. There are 2759 passengers on board. 185 elites, 348 platinum, 208 ruby, 563 gold and 1455 blue cards. The cutoff for the most traveled party was 320 days.

Thanks for taking the time to find out post this interesting info. I am always curious, it is definitely backwards from the Transatlantic I took last year! :)

Glad that you have had a great cruise!

Happy Cruising!

Mark

We lost that hour last night that we gained earlier in the trip. Restless night while I was transported 30 years in the past - more about that later. So its not quite bright eyed and bushy tailed this morning, but boy does that coffee taste good. The weather this morning is overcast with some wind kicking up white caps. Nothing too drastic for sure.

Ketchikan was fun, but with 4 other ships in port (Star and Crown) along with two of the ‘dams’, you can imagine how crowded it was. But the tendering process on the Golden was smooth and quick. They even set up an elite area in Crown Grill and took us down to the excursion tenders to get us on our way. On the other hand, the lumberjack show, while still a lot of fun, just paled in comparison to the last one we attended. But Ally, seeing it for the first time, really enjoyed it. It was a short day in port, shortened even more by our 1600 Platinum Studio appointment.

The Platinum Studio was fun and interesting. Made so by David, the artist on board, and make no mistake, what he does and what he attempts to capture by camera is not just simple photography. The angles, lighting, expressions, settings and moods he was able to capture in just the few raws that I saw were really, really impressive. This was not a simple walk down the gang plank, pose, snap, “next!”, process. We have an appointment tomorrow to go over the photos. From the few I was able to see – can’t wait!

Dinner was Italian night, one of our favorite theme nights. And the Head Waiter’s Penne did not disappoint. Easily the best course of the night. Ally’s fettucine Alfredo was flavorless beside it. For about the 3rd night in a row, I had a braised dish, the beef brasato and Judy had the mahi-mahi. Both were really good. And like the shows, after the trip to Vegas, I have a new appreciation for the MDR food. Think about it for a minute. I went to Vegas and three of us had dinner on the stratotower. Cost was over $300 for the three of us. Great view, good company, great service, good food. Unique, once in a lifetime experience. Contrast that with sailing down the inside passage, watching snow capped peaks glide by, with the occasional Orca or whale siting, a fantastic view, good company, great service and good food. And we’re getting this entire experience for about the same price as a dinner in a fancy Las Vegas restaurant. Room and board included! With entertainment. So in the overall course of things, we’re definitely cruising for her birthdays from now on.

We went to see Dan Horn last night. Great ventriloquist. Funny, funny act. The hopped down to 50’s and 60’s night to dance for a while. After 50’s and 60’s night we hung out with the cruise staff for a while. It turns out Cat, our JACD from the Ruby cruise in 2013, was on the Star in port today, and Sam got a chance to meet with her and tell her that we’re on this cruise. So great to hear that she’s still in the fleet and still doing well. We chatted for a while then headed up to Skywalkers – and thence got transported 30 years in the past. You see, I avoided Ally’s question the night prior of allowing her to run loose by using consultation with Judy as a requirement, and of course, Judy just let me dangle in the breeze. So now I’m faced with a decision I haven’t made in 30 years. Not really a choice. She’s almost 18. She has a job, BUT SHE’S MY BABY!!!!! (Women will never understand the agony that men go through over their protective nature of daughters or granddaughters!) So we cut her loose, went to bed and gave her a 0100 curfew. She made it back before curfew, safe and sound. And then I was able to go to sleep….

Today is the last formal night of the cruise with the highlight being the Most Traveled Luncheon in Crown this afternoon. Love the luncheons. Have been to a couple of cocktail parties, and one other luncheon, so we are really looking forward to this. And, according to the numbers, we just barely made the cut on this one!

Lots of stuff to do in the Patter for this day at sea. We have Zumba at 0930, thank goodness for that extra 30 minutes. We have a fruit and vegetable carving demo, a lecture on Alaskan wildlife, an egg drop challenge, spelling bee, bingo, trivia, art auction, line dance, ballroom dance, an Orca lecture, a Bigfoot hunt with the cruise staff, grapevine wine tasting, arts and crafts and McFarland USA as the afternoon movie in the theater.

Tonight we have Jesse Hamilton (vocalist) in the Princess Theater, Michael Wilson in Vista, the Marriage Match Game – we will try and do that and see if we can embarrass Ally as well as the MC.

But basically, that’s it from here…e’ya all later…

Thanks so much for sharing with us all your very interesting adventures.. We will be on the Golden in August, our second Alaskan cruise and now with all your helpful information I can't wait to go back...

You mentioned earlier that you renewed your vowels for your anniversary is there anything special that you could share with us for our Golden Anniversary. It is in June, but timing didn't work out for us to cruise until August, I'm thinking of renewing our vowels and would appreciate your suggestions. Thanks

our renewal of vows ceremony on the Grand in 2011 was one of the most moving experiences together. It was very well done. Almost the entire cruise staff showed up, the Captain officiated, and it was very nicely done. I would not hesitate to recommend it to anyone.

Please take your wife dancing so that you can ask Joey (Phoenix Rising) where he will be next.

 

Thank you,

I'll see if we can't stop in tonight...

How was the tendering in

Ketchikan? Never had to

before. Where did tender

let you off? By Tongass

Trading Post or at the end

of town, close to Dock 4?

 

Do you know about what

time you didn't need tickets?

 

Thanks.

The tender docked at the one to the north of tongass, as the end of the cruise ship docks. Our tendering was easy being elite, they had us meet in Crown and then put us on the excursion tenders to get us quickly in port.

don't know when they no longer required tickets as we were off the ship right away. But as always, the important thing is to get there early, get the tickets and get ashore. Early morning tendering is lighter and easier than late morning tendering when everyone is awake and anxious...

Glad you enjoyed your Haines tour with Javier. We had him last year, and he was not the smoothest on the microphone. "The river's a foot lower than yesterday, so I can't talk too much now as I don't want to get us stuck." "Wow, the current really changed since yesterday, you're lucky I have (however many years) of experience driving boats, or we'd be stuck." "It rained a lot last night, so the river is a foot lower." (Huh?)

Love the live posts you're providing. Hope they're as much to write as they are for us to read!