Cabunit

Staff there told us that the best snorkeling on site was at the north end in front of the pavilion.  Enter the water via North Beach (third beach from the landing) and snorkel north around the point with the pavilion on it.  We have had everything from "meh" to good viewing there.  Lots of rays one time.  Can be cloudy if there is chop.  Enjoy!

Wildcat provides an excellent list of things to try.

FWIIW, I spoke with a Princess Rep about this sort of problem once and she advised that changing browsers was the first thing to try.  In this specific case (YMMV), Safari was preferred over Firefox.

I would also add doing a reboot of the iPad to the list of things to try.  And making sure that your browser apps are up to date.

Based on the typical route and timing for the Discovery Princess, the opportunities to see any villages will be few.  On the morning of the day you arrive in Juneau you may be able to see Kake in the distance on the starboard side.  When you leave Skagway in the evening you will be able to see the town of Haines on the starboard side.  As noted above, you may be able to see some piers related to Bartlett Cove, Gustavus or Icy Straight Point on your Glacier Bay day.  Depending on the route taken, Metlakatla may be visible on the port side after you leave Ketchikan.  Others are passed during the night. 

We have done half a dozen BtB cruises.  For what it is worth, here are our experiences:

1.  The process on each turnaround day has been different - no two the same.

2.  We have been mustered ashore for a number of hours and at the other extreme we have spent a few minutes in a bar to get our new identification.

3.  Read and head the letter you get with care, but be ready to have the actual process vary from what was written.  Regardless of what the letter says, bring something to amuse yourself with for a couple of hours.  Life happens...

4.  Find out in advance what the ship's policy is about in-transit passengers accessing their cabin when new passengers are not allowed into their cabins.  If they allow you through the doors, try to do so when new passengers aren't seeing you.  Or have your in-transit pass in your hand and your "elevator speech" about why it is OK ready.  If they don't allow you through the doors, then carefully plan when you are going to leave your cabin after the ship is cleared. 

5.  If your ship has passenger laundries and you wish to use them, turnaround day can be a good time.

6.  If you want to be first in line to sign up for limited availability activities, this is your chance.

7.  Some ships have a general announcement to crew right before new passengers are allowed to board.  Listen if you get a chance - it can be interesting.

8.  Finally, we have had nothing but good vibes from the crew when we were BtB.  Every BtB passenger makes their lives just a little bit easier. 

Of possible interest:

https://skagwaynews.com/2023/02/10/landslide-mitigation-tests-anticipated-by-april/

2 hours ago, azbirdmom said:

Thank you for the picture azbirdmom!  One possible correction:  I think the second receptacle from the left is Chinese, not Australian.  This would make sense based on the Majestic's previous service.  Perhaps a knowledgeable person could confirm?

So I think what is pictured (L to R) is a Schuko (European), a Chinese(?), another Schuko, and a North American type B.

Cheers!

Hopefully someone with recent experience and/or photographs will add a post.  My fallible memory is that the Majestic had both 110V North American type B receptacles and 220V Schuko type F receptacles.  If your devices are 220V or dual voltage and have Europlugs, you might already be good to go.  Otherwise you will probably need some sort of adapter.

In addition to the HiFi store mentioned above, true luggage stores often have significant displays of adapters.  I would have to believe that downtown Sydney or The Rocks would have stores with adapters. 

We have seen adapters in some ship's stores, but I would hesitate to rely on that source

Enjoy your cruise!

Do take Dave's recommendation seriously.  And if you are even moderately tall or large, try a "concert" size ukulele.  The instruments on the ships are usually "soprano" size.  Moving to a larger size made a significant difference in my enjoyment of the instrument.

IMHO the single most important word regarding clothing for Alaska is layers - the topmost of which should be a hooded weatherproof shell.  We too have experienced 40 degree swings in 8 hours and even snow one time at Denali in July.

One other thought to add to beg3yrs excellent post:  Think about what will be hardest to obtain during the trip and focus on that.  You can get t-shirts and sweatshirts to add layers everywhere.  Will you be able to get a good pair of "mudder" shoes in the gift shop?

Finally, if you are going Northbound then don't despair if you forget something.  The ports have stores with outdoor gear.  Ketchikan has an excellent outdoor store right on the main pier. 

3 hours ago, echoshipmate said:

How recent was your cruise and what ship, please? We are on 3 b2b's on Discovery starting next Sunday. Thank you so much for the current situation, knowing it could/might change at any moment.

Doug

 

We were on the Crown Princess.  The turnaround day was 5/28.

For what it is worth, we were just on a B2B to Alaska out of Seattle and we did not have to get off the ship or go through immigration on turnaround day.  We chose to stay onboard and for us it was as if it were a sea day.  We had the run of the ship.  They gave us a little card that said we were in-transit, but nobody ever asked to see it. 

If by "traditional" you mean as practiced by the Royal Navy or US Navy, then the answer is "no - not even close."  It's primarily a form of entertainment that draws some of its content from the borders of the military ceremony.  As noted above, a few volunteers are lightly abused with food and a food fight may break out.  But the bulk of the passengers can claim to be shellbacks without participating in anything.  All in good fun. 

I am not an expert, but it is my understanding that the Staff Captain (second in command) is usually fully qualified to become the master of the ship in an emergency. 

Were any shore excursions offered for Transit Guests, or was going ashore completely "on your own"?

If anyone on the 9/19 sailing is doing a Back-to-Back from the 9/12 sailing a report of your experience during the turnaround day would be much appreciated!

I spoke with a Princess rep today about the B2B situation via chat.  His points (my words, not precise quotes) were:

1.  Yes, B2B folks will have to disembark to be tested.

2.  Whether B2B folks will have to pack up is a ship level decision and we will be advised when we are on the ship.

3.  This is as of today.  We should closely monitor the Princess web site for any changes.

On the Majestic Club Class dining is in the Concerto Dining Room, deck 6, port side.  On the 8/1 cruise the only extra offerings we were aware of were an additional entrée at dinner.  Hopefully they will bring back the pasta. 

For anyone who was also waiting, we received our statement from the cruise Wednesday morning.  And it is totally accurate.

Has anyone received their end of cruise statement yet?  We have not.

All emergency contact information is filled out - no empty fields.  We're all green in the app.  There isn't any place to enter emergency information in what is left of the cruise personalizer and TA reports there is no way to enter the info via TA site.  It appears that there is some sort of disconnect at Princess. 

Yesterday we received another nag message from Princess telling us to enter our "Emergency Full Address", however there still isn't any place to do so in the app - and we are green/completed for our emergency information.  Sigh...

I just got off the phone with Princess.  I have information but nothing that I consider to be a final solution.  Our Missing Immigration Notice message asks for 4 pieces of information.  Two we could enter in the Medallion App and one could be entered in Polar by Princess or a travel agent.  The one that was asked for but could not be entered was "Emergency Full Address."

I first talked to a regular customer service rep.  They understood the problem but could not fix anything as no field existed for entry of that information in Polar or what is left of the Cruise Personalizer.  They put me in queue to talk to an Ocean Navigator to ask about the Medallion app. 

The Ocean Navigator didn't appear to understand what "Emergency Full Address" meant.  She said that our status on Medallion was all green (except for the health info we can't enter yet) and that there was nothing that needed to be done.

When I go into the app now and try to access the emergency information section I just get the eternal "Loading" message so I can't confirm.

Bottom line:  I'm not satisfied that all is well, but it appears that there is nothing to be done except waiting.  I hope that this is just an old-system auto generated message that wasn't perfectly undated.  Otherwise we may all end up in the reject line at the pier.

Has anyone been able to get through to them on the phone?  Did they have an answer?

Your TA or a Princess rep might be able to give you up to date information, however last time we sailed on the Pacific Princess in Club Class it was anytime dining - we just wandered in whenever we wished.  FYI, Club Class dining at that time was in the area of the main dining room immediately to one's left after the entrance (aft of the Club Bar).  There was no separate entrance.

Thank you for all the replies. The excursions to Skagway are all booked up as well - not even taking wait-lists. We are looking into Mountain Flying Service.