My Golden Princess Cruise May 28 - June 4 2011

[Mike1435]

Instead of adding to someone else's post (which I already did) I'll just start a new thread here for a continuation of my cruise.

 

As a matter of fact I'll repost my first post in case you missed it and don't want to search for it!

 

My wife and I were on the Golden Princess cruise (date listed above). We did our own tour of Seattle on Friday and used the Sound Transit Light Rail to and from SeaTac airport to downtown Seattle. After finding the monorail and riding it to the end of the line we went up the Space Needle for some terrific views of the city. We took the monorail back to the mall and had a nice supper at a couple of the restaurants (a liitle here and a little there).

 

There was some kind of protest on Friday evening by high school kids dressed as Zombies that rode the same train we did back to SeaTac Airport station.)

 

The next morning we just rested at our motel and waited for the Shuttle to take us to the dock.

 

We got through the lines and boarded the ship around 2 pm and then we went up to watch as we left Seattle.

 

The only real excursion we did together was the White Pass train in Skagway, and my wife did a city tour of Ketchikan on Friday. We made the mistake of dressing for cold weather when we left the ship, but luckily we had one of those carry on bags on wheels to stuff the coats and gloves and sweaters into.

 

We enjoyed listening to the Midnight Cafe Quartet in the Piazza, and listening to Daniel Oliver who performed in the Vista Lounge one night and at the Promanade Bar.

 

Since we didn't get to see Pike's Place Market the week before we took advantage of the program where Princess took our bags to the airport and we found our own transportation to downtown Seattle. By using that EZ program (the name escapes me) we were one of the early groups to get off the ship.

 

We left the ship just before eight a.m. and were out of customs several minutes later. We caught a taxi fairly fast and he took us downtown to Pike's Place. We must've gotten there somewhere between 8:30 and 8:45.

 

We missed the fish throwing, but saw lots of vendors and the other shops in the complex. We rode the light rail down to SeaTac station again and was able to get to our gate in plenty of time for our flight.

 

We had a most spectacular vacation. It was our first cruise and our first time in the Pacific Northwest. I only wish our first cruise had been several years ago, that way we could've had several more cruises to brag about.

 

(and now, the part I left out.....)

 

 

I was trying to make my first post pretty short when I wrote it, but it came out kinda long anyway. In doing so, I forgot one of the biggest thrills my wife and I had while on the Golden Princess May 28 – June 4, 2011.

 

 

The ship had left Glacier Bay that Wednesday morning and someone was keeping a running commentary on the glaciers we could see, the National Park, and then the whales that some of us could see if we were on the correct side of the ship. Usually, we could just see the tail of the whale as it swam near the surface.

 

 

So, after lunch at the buffet and watching a movie on one of the ship's TV channels, my wife and I decided to try out a hot tub up on deck 16. This would this be our first experience in a hot tub, on or off the ship.

 

 

When we got up to deck 16 we could see the hot tub on the port side aft full of people. The hot tub on the starboard side aft was wide open. We chose the open hot tub which turned out to be warm. The people who had been in the other hot tub were leaving and one gentleman came over and told us the hot tub they were in was significantly warmer and we could enjoy it if we wanted to. We gathered our things and made the move over to the other hot tub.

 

 

We got settled in and started to enjoy the hotter hot tub. We then started talking about not being able to have any good sightings of any whales. We said it would be nice to see one playing in the water.

 

 

We no sooner said that than we saw a whale off the port side of our ship and maybe a half mile behind us. The whale was heading in the opposite direction of the ship. This whale made a low level jump out of the water not once, not twice, not thrice, but maybe six or seven times. (We lost count.)

 

 

I'm not sure how many people saw this whale, but I don't remember hearing any announcements from the people who were doing the whale watching earlier in the day.

 

 

Now, having related that experience I have to offer this disclaimer: The port side aft hot tub on deck 16 was hotter than the hot tub on the starboard side aft. It might be different on your cruise.

 

 

Also, I'm not sure that the port side aft hot tub had any hand in granting our wish to see a whale jumping out of the water. I don't think this tub has any magical properties, but I didn't think to test it out to be sure. If others wish to test this tub on this matter perhaps someone could set up a topic on Testing the hot tub for magical properties. If such a topic pops up I'll be watching the results.

 

 

Happy sailing to all of you.

[azdmelani]

haha, your disclaimer had me cracking up! Thanks for the review!

[jeromep]

My wife and I were on the Golden Princess cruise (date listed above). We did our own tour of Seattle on Friday and used the Sound Transit Light Rail to and from SeaTac airport to downtown Seattle. After finding the monorail and riding it to the end of the line we went up the Space Needle for some terrific views of the city. We took the monorail back to the mall and had a nice supper at a couple of the restaurants (a liitle here and a little there).

 

As you discovered the monorail doesn't go very far. It is a hold over from the Worlds Fair of 1961 which was the genesis of the Space Needle and the rest of the Seattle Center. I'm glad they have kept it running all these years, but it isn't a real practical form of downtown mass transit. I'm glad you enjoyed it anyway.

 

There was some kind of protest on Friday evening by high school kids dressed as Zombies that rode the same train we did back to SeaTac Airport station.)

 

Ah, sounds just like Seattle.

 

The only real excursion we did together was the White Pass train in Skagway, and my wife did a city tour of Ketchikan on Friday. We made the mistake of dressing for cold weather when we left the ship, but luckily we had one of those carry on bags on wheels to stuff the coats and gloves and sweaters into.

 

My wife and I are on the Golden in a month and it looks like we aren't goign to do a lot of planned excrusions either. In fact our plans look nearly identical to yours. We are going to do the White Pass & Yukon round trip and probably the tram in Juneau, and after that we'll probably just walk the towns and have our own adventure. I'm glad to hear that you did minimal formal excursions and still had a good time. The rolling duffel or carry on was a pretty good idea. We'll have to keep that one in mind.

 

We missed the fish throwing, but saw lots of vendors and the other shops in the complex. We rode the light rail down to SeaTac station again and was able to get to our gate in plenty of time for our flight.

 

Once you see a dead fish thrown in the air from one vendor to another you've seen them all. Pike Place is a very interesting place, even if it is a bit touristy.

 

We had a most spectacular vacation. It was our first cruise and our first time in the Pacific Northwest. I only wish our first cruise had been several years ago, that way we could've had several more cruises to brag about.

 

(and now, the part I left out.....)

 

 

I was trying to make my first post pretty short when I wrote it, but it came out kinda long anyway. In doing so, I forgot one of the biggest thrills my wife and I had while on the Golden Princess May 28 – June 4, 2011.

 

 

The ship had left Glacier Bay that Wednesday morning and someone was keeping a running commentary on the glaciers we could see, the National Park, and then the whales that some of us could see if we were on the correct side of the ship. Usually, we could just see the tail of the whale as it swam near the surface.

 

 

So, after lunch at the buffet and watching a movie on one of the ship's TV channels, my wife and I decided to try out a hot tub up on deck 16. This would this be our first experience in a hot tub, on or off the ship.

 

 

When we got up to deck 16 we could see the hot tub on the port side aft full of people. The hot tub on the starboard side aft was wide open. We chose the open hot tub which turned out to be warm. The people who had been in the other hot tub were leaving and one gentleman came over and told us the hot tub they were in was significantly warmer and we could enjoy it if we wanted to. We gathered our things and made the move over to the other hot tub.

 

 

We got settled in and started to enjoy the hotter hot tub. We then started talking about not being able to have any good sightings of any whales. We said it would be nice to see one playing in the water.

 

 

We no sooner said that than we saw a whale off the port side of our ship and maybe a half mile behind us. The whale was heading in the opposite direction of the ship. This whale made a low level jump out of the water not once, not twice, not thrice, but maybe six or seven times. (We lost count.)

 

 

I'm not sure how many people saw this whale, but I don't remember hearing any announcements from the people who were doing the whale watching earlier in the day.

 

 

Now, having related that experience I have to offer this disclaimer: The port side aft hot tub on deck 16 was hotter than the hot tub on the starboard side aft. It might be different on your cruise.

 

 

Also, I'm not sure that the port side aft hot tub had any hand in granting our wish to see a whale jumping out of the water. I don't think this tub has any magical properties, but I didn't think to test it out to be sure. If others wish to test this tub on this matter perhaps someone could set up a topic on Testing the hot tub for magical properties. If such a topic pops up I'll be watching the results.

 

 

Happy sailing to all of you.

 

Super, super cool. I'm so excited for our upcoming cruise on the Golden.

[Wormy53]

Thanks for the review - loved the hot tub story!:D I can remember my first time to the Pacific Northwest. I thought it was green here in Missouri, but it truly is GREEN there! (Guess that's why it's called Emerald City?!!)

 

Alaska will always have a big place in my heart. The BIGNESS of the place just kind of blows you away. The wildlife is spectacular. When we were in Seward once, there was this sea otter lying by the dock. I honestly thought it was fake (put there for us tourists ;)) until he opened one eye then rolled over into the water. Too cool!:D

[cruzinwithprincess]

You should put this on the Member Reviews section. A lot of people would enjoy the reading. :D

[PrincessNancy]

Love it, you made me laugh...my DH and I will definitely be getting in the port side aft hot tub for our cruise in September. Will let you know if we spot a whale!;)

[srpilo]

Nice !!! :)

 

 

 

 

Now that you've enjoyed the first, beware of "CA" (Cruise Addiction), but if you come down with it don't fret, there are "CA" meetings you can attend (think 12 step) onboard your next Princess cruise :D

Srpilo

[smilepak]

Thanks for good info. I am going on it this coming week!

 

 

How was the weather during your trip?

[caribill]

There was some kind of protest on Friday evening by high school kids dressed as Zombies that rode the same train we did back to SeaTac Airport station.)

 

 

Jun. 10th, 2011 | 02:04 pm

 

Goooooood Afternoon Seattle Zombies!!

 

The zombie apocalypse is upon us! All over Seattle you can find zombie hordes at various events for the next three weeks leading up to the biggest zombie event of the year, The Red White and Dead party! We will breaking the world record again for the third time this July 2nd! Time to break out the bloody zombie outfit and join the horde for another great zombie season.