**Golden Princess May 14, 2011 - Vancouver To Seattle**

[jbeb]

Happy Friday to all! Just wanted to say good bye for the week. Off on the Mariner for a week long cruise to Mexico!!! We cannot wait to get away.

 

Till next Sunday....

 

Katherine and family

Color me envious! I am in retail and between call out sicks and grouchy harried shoppers... I'd rather be cruising! Thank goodness I am working. I'd be mighty bored without the diversion. A bonus is it pays for our vacations.

 

Happy Thanksgiving and enjoy you hard earned time away,

Jan and Ed

[LEtue]

Jan and Ed, I hope you have a Happy Thanksgiving too :)

[LEtue]

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

 

Talk to you next week :D

[Jolie214]

I am so happy to join you all on this cruise. Monday is our second wedding anniversary and this is a surprise for my husband! I have been to the Caribbean a number of times, so I am really excited to try something new.

 

It is suppose to be 85 here in Florida tomorrow, so Alaska should be a welcome change come May. I miss snow.

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

By the way I am another Mary! :)

[jbeb]

I am so happy to join you all on this cruise. Monday is our second wedding anniversary and this is a surprise for my husband! I have been to the Caribbean a number of times, so I am really excited to try something new.

 

It is suppose to be 85 here in Florida tomorrow, so Alaska should be a welcome change come May. I miss snow.

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

By the way I am another Mary! :)

Welcome to our happy band of cruisers! We live in snow country just a few short miles from Tahoe. We have a shovel... prefer to cruise!

[kath00]

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

 

Talk to you next week :D

 

Hi all,

 

We are back from the Mariner of the Seas Thanksgiving cruise! We had a wonderful time and the children LOVED their first cruise (thank goodness). We were blessed with warm weather and calm seas and the ship was just beautiful. We saw the Sapphire docked next to us in Mazatlan and got some great pix as it was sailing away! I can't wait to be on her in May before the Golden Alaska cruise.

 

I am also thrilled that my daughters LOVED the cruise because that means they will really enjoy Alaska as well! And now it looks like my mom will join us too.

 

Katherine

[LEtue]

I am so happy to join you all on this cruise.

:)

 

Yay! Glad you're officially joining us :D Alaska is a special cruise destination!

 

We are back from the Mariner of the Seas Thanksgiving cruise! I am also thrilled that my daughters LOVED the cruise because that means they will really enjoy Alaska as well! And now it looks like my mom will join us too.

 

Katherine

 

That is great news and I'm glad you enjoyed Thanksgiving on the Mariner. I used to love to love it when my kids were still in school and we cruised at Thanksgiving :D

[LEtue]

So as you can tell I'm back from Texas. Just want to let everyone know that airport security is the same as always. I noticed no changes and experienced no delays - at all!

 

Glad to back to some warm weather but I miss them all already :(

[crazycatlady0]

Booked!

 

I'll be on this sailing with my partner and my parents :)

 

I'm 29, partner is 30, and I won't reveal my parents age :)

 

This will be my second trip to Alaska, and my second time on Princess. I love Alaska, and I love Princess, so i figure it should be a pretty good time!

 

Can't wait!

[LEtue]

Booked!

 

I'll be on this sailing with my partner and my parents :)

 

I'm 29, partner is 30, and I won't reveal my parents age :)

 

This will be my second trip to Alaska, and my second time on Princess. I love Alaska, and I love Princess, so i figure it should be a pretty good time!

 

Can't wait!

 

Welcome! This is going to be a great cruise and I hope you stop by and chat often :D

[jauyeung]

I just wanted to say hello to everyone. I just booked this yesterday and now I can't pull myself away from the boards. It's our first Alaska cruise and I'm doing alot of excursion researching because it sounds like for Alaska sailings, most people reserve everything early!

 

My first detailed research is for Salmon fishing in Ketchikan because that's a big thing we want to do. Anyone ever heard of Ken from Northern Charters? Anyone thinking about using them/him also?

 

For Skagway, Whitepass seems like the must see/do and Juneau I want to go whalewatching and see Mendenhall. But that research will be next!

 

I'm so excited and just wanted to introduce myself. :D

[LEtue]

Hello and welcome!!! Alaska is a wonderful cruise destination and you are going to love it :D

 

I haven't done any fishing in Alaska so I can't comment on Northern Charters. You should post on the Alaska board (in the ports section) because I am sure that someone here has experience using them.

 

My cabin mate and I are doing a whale watch excursion in Juneau with Harv & Marv's. You have the option to be dropped off at Mendenhall glacier on the return to town so maybe you'll be joining us!

[kath00]

Hi to all the newbies! I too am very excited about this trip, especially since we are going B2B with the Coastal Cruise on the Sapphire. Being on the Mariner this past month made me realize how good it is to sail without kids ;). So we will have the best of both worlds -- a quiet week without them and then when the kids join us for this cruise to Alaska, we will be ready for the chaos. :D

 

Are you all booking excursions on the Princess website already??

 

Katherine

[jauyeung]

Hello and welcome!!! Alaska is a wonderful cruise destination and you are going to love it :D

 

I haven't done any fishing in Alaska so I can't comment on Northern Charters. You should post on the Alaska board (in the ports section) because I am sure that someone here has experience using them.

 

My cabin mate and I are doing a whale watch excursion in Juneau with Harv & Marv's. You have the option to be dropped off at Mendenhall glacier on the return to town so maybe you'll be joining us!

 

Thanks! I'm looking at Harv and Marv's too! I've read so many great reviews about them today. If we end up booking with them, we might have our Juneau portion all set. King Crab Shack, Whales and Mendenhall! Are you doing anything else while at that port?

 

 

 

I'm wondering whether we should do Salmon fishing anymore because I found out it takes 4-5 hours and that's practically all the time we'll have in Ketchikan. I'm afraid we'll feel like we missed out on totem poles or something or the other. Anyone have any thoughts on this?

 

I called Ken to ask questions and it sounds fun and it's a great price. With 2 of us it's cheaper than Princess' salmon excursion and if we have 2 others from our cruise to join, he can lower it. Anyone interested?

[jauyeung]

Hi to all the newbies!

 

Are you all booking excursions on the Princess website already??

 

Katherine

 

Hello! I'm definately looking at Princess excursions but most likely will be booking independent vendors if the price is better. I've found out that some are the same company and cheaper if you book directly with them. On the Alaska boards, I seem to be reading posts about how people have booked so and so for their M/2011 cruise already.

 

I guess I'm also wondering, are these early bookings the norm or are those posts just early planners?

[LEtue]

Are you all booking excursions on the Princess website already??

 

Katherine

 

Katherine, the shore excursions are available already for our sailing and you can access them through your cruise personalizer on the Princess site :D

[LEtue]

Good morning everyone. It is 40 degrees here this morning so it's feeling a lot like Christmas :eek: :D

 

How's the weather where you are?????

[kath00]

Morning Linda!

 

We are in the mid to high 60s again after a cold spell last week when we were in the 40s! :eek: That's unheard of in San Diego. Now the doors and windows are open again and the kids are frolicking outside.

 

Today is a special day because we are getting our puppy today! We have to pick her up from the airport in about 3 hours. I am so antsy and excited I can hardly contain myself!

 

Katherine

[Jolie214]

Linda, I am in Florida too, all I have to say is Brrrrrrrrr!

[LEtue]

Linda, I am in Florida too, all I have to say is Brrrrrrrrr!

 

I know!!! I can't remember a year when it has been this cool so early....and I have been here since 1982 :eek:

[LEtue]

Morning Linda!

 

Today is a special day because we are getting our puppy today! We have to pick her up from the airport in about 3 hours. I am so antsy and excited I can hardly contain myself!

 

Katherine

 

OMG I had forgotten about your new puppy! Post pictures so we can see!!!

[LEtue]

Hello! I'm definately looking at Princess excursions but most likely will be booking independent vendors if the price is better. I've found out that some are the same company and cheaper if you book directly with them. On the Alaska boards, I seem to be reading posts about how people have booked so and so for their M/2011 cruise already.

 

I guess I'm also wondering, are these early bookings the norm or are those posts just early planners?

 

From past experience Alaska excursions are a bit different and none of the independent operators that we have used in the past are the same as the ones used by the ships. I'm sure there are exceptions but so far I have found any.

 

I reserved excursions for Margie and I - even in Juneau where we have Harv & Marv's reserved. Always good to have a back up and Princess uses Allen Marine (which also gets great reviews). We have found that it is so much easier to book through Princess - as long as the excursion is similar and about the same price. Pay nothing now and change your mind later (up to the day before port arrival) :)

 

Still need to find out if Margie wants to stop at Mendenhall though. She is in the middle of a big move so this will have to wait for now....

[LEtue]

I just wanted to say hello to everyone. I just booked this yesterday and now I can't pull myself away from the boards. It's our first Alaska cruise and I'm doing alot of excursion researching because it sounds like for Alaska sailings, most people reserve everything early!

 

My first detailed research is for Salmon fishing in Ketchikan because that's a big thing we want to do. Anyone ever heard of Ken from Northern Charters? Anyone thinking about using them/him also?

 

For Skagway, Whitepass seems like the must see/do and Juneau I want to go whalewatching and see Mendenhall. But that research will be next!

 

I'm so excited and just wanted to introduce myself. :D

 

jauyeung, I saw your post on the Alaska boards and you could take the train from SEA to YVR and save some serious $$$. I checked and the fare from Newark is only $301 RT on American. Maybe we'll see you on the train :D

[kath00]

OMG I had forgotten about your new puppy! Post pictures so we can see!!!

 

New picture! She is sooooo cute. Here's Ginger on day 1:

 

[LEtue]

New picture! She is sooooo cute. Here's Ginger on day 1:

 

 

OMG, she is just too cute!!!! I know you just love her already :D

 

Thanks for posting the picture. It is great to put a face to a your posts :)