ceilidh1

Captain Circle invite

Retreat pool

Sitka is cloudy and overcast. Not sure if we will get off or not - don’t really fancy sitting on a packed shuttle bus for the 15 minute ride into town. We have been here a few times before and done the raptor centre, the small aquarium, and the town so might just stay on.

Sitka info

Dinner this evening was the first “miss” so far. Crab dip was bland/tasteless, banana rum soup was more like a banana smoothie and pork was really salty

Breakfast

We played bingo today - I bought the $29 package and also had 3 tickets for the snowball jackpot that we won at trivia. We didn’t win the jackpot but did win $328 on one of the free tickets! Woot.

The bartender and bar waiter at Princess Live are outstanding! I asked for the “best” margarita he could make and I got this with double Don Julio. We are sitting just across from the bar and each time I take a few sips he comes over and pours in another shot of tequila

Looking down from my balcony, anyone know what this balcony area is?

We didn’t get that close to the glacier and it was pretty early, so I’m sure a lot of people missed it! No matter how many times I see this scenery it never fails to take my breath away. Photos don’t do it justice at all.

Endicott Arm and Dawes Glacier

Getting to Juneau a little earlier than expected so hopefully wifi will be better soon and I can catch you all up on the day

Skagway tomorrow just got canceled. We needed to tender due to dock damage from landslide and weather forecast says it is too windy. Calling on Sitka instead. Kids are disappointed about missing puppies but no biggie

Wifi seems to be good enough to post text but not to upload pics so that will have to wait… At the glacier all morning then arrive in Juneau around 2:30pm. Weather right now is decent - a little overcast but no rain or fog and not too cold - I was able to sit out the balcony without needing a jacket early this morning

As to be expected, wifi is not great in the national park. The whole “no paper cup” concept seems to be throwing passengers for a loop at International Cafe this morning.

Slowly making our way into Endicott Arm for Dawes Glacier this morning.

If you know anything about me you will know how much I love Matt O as cruise director. Over the years he has become a good friend and we sailed princess just for him. He is no longer with princess so every time we sail it is bittersweet. No one compares. tThis evening we went to Liars Club and Guido from Italy was a very close Matt O. He is hilarious. Holly from Canada and Jase from Uk are also good. It’s weird not having a cruise director

Big issues with app this evening if trying to order drinks. I tried multiple times but could only get as far as “order placed” I thought it was just me but at one point during trivia there was a mini riot n princess live when someone yelled “hands up everyone still waiting on a drink in the app”. Lol. I thought I had beat princess and the premiere package- I got a virgin pina colada at the bar (for some reason you can’t order it in the app) and then ordered a shot of Zacapa (included in premiere) to put in. I waited and waited and eventually went to the bar. Sorry. No Zacapa. Best rum is kraken. Ugh. I give up

Hands up if you remember the days when Princess buffet was 24/7… We went up at 10:45pm. All closed up. Only food options at this time are international cafe or room service

One more observation: I’m a rule follower. Always have been. Always will be. I might not like the rules or even agree with the rules, but in my mind if you are part of a society that has rules you need to follow them to keep that society running. That’s just how I was raised and how I raise my kids. It is frustrating me to no end to see sign after sign after sign saying masks required or sip and cover and seeing 95% of people blatantly ignoring it. I have. I idea if masks are making a difference right now. I have no idea what the reasoning behind the requirement on the ship is but, at the end of the day, it’s the rule. Like it or not, it should be followed. That’s all.

Another observation: the staff are outstanding but are literally being run ragged. Not only are they doing bar service and table service, they are now also having to deal with app service. It certainly doesn’t appear that there have been any additional staff to deal with this and my observation has been that these people just do not stop! Today we had both a bar waiter and a food waiter trying to locate someone that had ordered on the app. They kept asking if I was the person. Nope. This seems so unfair on them. I’m sure that many of the technology enhancements have also affected their tips. In the past, when I have had the same waitstaff throughout my cruise, I have always tipped them at the end. Now I have different people every meal, I don’t do that.

I’m finding a lot of bars don’t have “all” the ingredients for some drinks. Today I waited almost half hour for the Strawberries on Fire as they had to track down strawberries. The other day, I couldn’t get the watermelon margarita as not only did they not have the upgraded tequila but they also had no watermelon.

Observation: Every bar I have been to over the past few days, I have heard people ask for something that they don’t have. I haven’t heard “complaints “ but for sure some comments. At the Wheelhouse just now, a guy asked what kind of Rye they had. Bartender showed him the one brand and the guy was like “that’s it? No thanks” and walked away. I feel like princess may be starting to falter with drinks - whether it’s a supply thing or yet another cut back, I’m not sure…

Dark n Stormy