Star Princess North to Alaska! Sept 10 2016

[Bimmer09]

The only thing Carol didn't like about the park was the number of men seemingly with nothing to do and nowhere to be that were hanging out there. If they were homeless it wasn't obvious as they didn't have shopping carts loaded up with their worldly possessions as we see in San Francisco. They weren't panhandling either. I tried to allay her misgivings but she wasn't happy to just sit on a bench and relax. The city, with a population of 300,000 has 19 homeless shelters.

 

So we walk on and meet some residents out for a stroll

 

 

Cool mural

 

 

Across the street is the Egan Center.

 

 

A super-cool mural!

 

 

There are some big nasty clouds in the sky so we aren't going to stray far

 

[Bimmer09]

The rain doesn't come. We have decided to stay near the Egan anyway and enjoy the people watching. The temperature is pleasant in the mid 50's.

 

 

There's a Starbucks on the ground floor of the office building seen at the center, close to the Egan. Further back the brown building is the Captain Cook Hotel where we had canceled a room for today as a place to nap and bathe. The 6 plus hour excursion rendered that pointless and over-extravagant.

 

Carol has found a good bench

 

 

In the distance the Hilton Hotel

 

 

 

In good time we return to the Egan to collect our carry-on luggage

 

 

At this time on a Saturday the people joining the Star in Whittier are long gone as boarding runs from noon to 7.30 or so. I would be sitting up at Tradewinds with a Guinness. She sails around 8pm and there is one dinner seating as I recall from our Coral trip now 5 years ago but still fresh in our minds. Princess livery trains will be returning from pre-cruise tours to Denali and Fairbanks. Someday we will be on one of them.

 

In the meantime we have a plane to catch...

[Bimmer09]

Ted Williams airport is close to the city. It is small but beautiful. Our bus driver directs us to the luggage room for cruise ship passengers. We show I.D and have our bags. A painless and efficient check in then through the TSA Pre security line and onward to our gate. We are two hours early for our flight which is fine.

I've had my last cigarette for the next 9 hours, enjoyed outdoors.

 

We pass the two hours with our iPads (Carol) and my laptop where I am tweaking photos in Lightroom (edits that had to be done again when I got home and started this almost 6 weeks ago to the day)

 

Sandwiches for the 7 hour flight were hard to come by but I foraged and found a Starbucks that met our needs.

 

Wildlife is one of the main reasons to visit Alaska

 

 

 

 

It was with a sigh that we left Alaska behind on the runway. The only redeeming feature is that we were traveling at 550 mph towards a sleeping, unsuspecting cat back in Chicago. You can stand at the doorway with your luggage and point to a map of Alaska and show the cat your Princess boarding pass (which she will sniff) but the cat doesn't quite get it. She sees us going out hundreds of times and usually we are back in a few hours. For 8 days now when the key has turned in the door it was neither of us turning it but instead our cat sitter. She hides from him in the boxspring of the bed. As far as Little Snowy is concerned we have gone for good and her life has taken a downward turn. She'll soon get an uplifting surprise!

 

 

The night passes hour by hour and I am awake most of it. We land in Chicago at 5 a.m

 

 

I began this on September 18th an hour or so after petting the cat.

 

Thanks to all who have read this far and especially to those who have commented along the way. The response has kept me at the computer each day.

 

Our next cruise, in fact our next two, are not on Princess but on Celebrity and I hope you'll tune in for reviews of the Reflection and Eclipse, unless we cancel the latter due to getting tickets for the Wagner Festival in Bayreuth, Germany.

The chances are good that we will sail the Eclipse to Norway next August.

 

I hope to see you all again in January!

 

THANK YOU! .....BYE BYE!! (Captain Tuvo)

[cdngrl]

thank you norris!

i know how much time blogging takes, i can't imagine the extra added time for your beautiful photos. i appreciate all your work for us.

what will you do with your spare time now that you are done showing us alaska?!

[Bimmer09]

thank you norris!

i know how much time blogging takes, i can't imagine the extra added time for your beautiful photos. i appreciate all your work for us.

what will you do with your spare time now that you are done showing us alaska?!

 

Plan a cruise to Norway maybe?

 

I have a blog that I have to get back to and a slew of TripAdvisor hotel and restaurant reviews to write, to add my my 126 already published.

 

Work, an opera season, twice weekly drives over to Michigan....the 75 days until our next cruise will pass quickly!

 

I'm glad you followed and enjoyed the review. Visit me on the X one in January if you can.

 

Cheers!

 

Norris

 

[Beachiekeen]

Wonderful review, I enjoyed it so much. I have already gone back and read your other Alaska reviews also. They were all helpful and have me so excited for our cruise next year. I wish now I had read them before we picked the Coral but as that ship leaves Vancouver on my in-laws' 50th wedding anniversary which is the purpose of the cruise, it does seem like the right choice. Thank you also for the wonderful photographs. I know I will revisit all of your Alaska reviews between now and June.

[Barky]

Ahhhhh relief. ;) Now I don't have to obsessively check for updates but I will have to patiently wait for January which I will happily do. I can't not have a Norris ramble to read.

 

Your narrative and incredible pics are fabulous. I just wish you both were retired so you could travel more and we could have more rambles to read.

 

Thank you so much for all the hard and time consuming work you put into you reviews. It is much appreciated. Barb

[PurpleTraveller]

Thank you for another exceptional review. I have enjoyed every moment travelling through Alaska with you and your photos are inspiring. I now wait for January and your next review with great anticipation. It's a good thing that I am planning for my next cruise to the Baltics on Crown Princess next June to keep me occupied in the meantime!

[Boats07]

Norris, many thanks for a great read. Will miss checking on it daily. Loved the beautiful pictures. We just returned home from our 11 day tour to Ireland.

Will be on the Star next August after the land portion.

Safe travels!

[Ladytainn]

Thank you for a fantastic review, I just booked a cruise on the Star to Alaska with the Denali land tour and found your review, so helpful and now I'm even more excited than I was.

 

 

 

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[Deck Chair Queen]

I meet up with Carol who had got off the bus earlier to save a walk and we look at a musk ox again

 

 

 

I do love venison

 

 

Hay is their Lobster tails

 

 

 

Here I am at last! Are there any muffins left? This is Deck Chair Queen aka Carol or Guidebook Carol. I'm making a very late appearance as my life is insane when not cruising and I fell way behind in reading this review. I caught up tonight while watching the Cubs lose (White Sox fan here so not heartbroken). It's so gratifying to see you all reading and enjoying Norris's epic. He works very hard on these and you should see the growing load of camera equipment he takes along on these trips. For me they are not only a great memento but also an introduction to the 90% of the ship I never see. As some of you know, all I am interested in doing on a ship is finding a quiet place to read and stare at the water, outdoors weather permitting. My path on the ship is quite circumscribed; the cabin, the Sanctuary, the entertainment and dining venues, and I have recently added the gym to keep up my very slow daily treadmill work. I don't sunbathe, shop, gamble, drink, or look at the "art" on auction. I eschew the buffet. I also don't rise before dawn (my real life is lived under the tyranny of the alarm clock). So thanks to Norris for the stunning photos of the dawns and the nooks and crannies of these marvelous ships. As for the sour faces you will see from me in some of these photos, just remember that I never know when he's shooting me and I'm not constantly grinning like an idiot :-) Thanks to all of you for following along and for your kind and friendly comments. We will find out whether or not we have Bayreuth tickets in January (we apply every year and in 2013 we hit the jackpot after only five years of applying, which is amazingly short) and then will plan our cruise for next summer/fall. But in the meantime stay tuned for the Caribbean cruise in January. This one will be very special for me as my mother was Jamaican and I spent all my childhood summers visiting my grandmother in Kingston. I have not been back there for about 50 years. And I am told by a genealogy buff in my family that we have family buried at Falmouth as our family was in the shipping business for generations. It should be amazing.

Edited October 30, 2016 by Deck Chair Queen

[Jasperdo]

Getting to the end of one of your amazing reviews is almost as sad as debarkation day on a cruise ship. Your photos, detailed text, and dry humor (or is it humour?) is always a joy. Can't wait for your next review in January. Give us a wave over here on the Princess board when you start it so we can follow along.

[morbihan]

Loved it Norris. Thank you so much.

 

I had a look for Norway for us and we can sail from Southampton. Celebrity I think.

 

Busy looking at offers in the Daily Mail. Cunard have some BARGAINS! I do love the Saturday paper.

[Bimmer09]

Wonderful review, I enjoyed it so much. I have already gone back and read your other Alaska reviews also. They were all helpful and have me so excited for our cruise next year. I wish now I had read them before we picked the Coral but as that ship leaves Vancouver on my in-laws' 50th wedding anniversary which is the purpose of the cruise, it does seem like the right choice. Thank you also for the wonderful photographs. I know I will revisit all of your Alaska reviews between now and June.

 

The Coral is a great choice. We picked her 5 minutes before going to a TA...but that's how that review begins so no need to go into it deeply here. She impressed enough that we were on the Crown a few months later. The Anniversary will add some icing on the cake.

 

I'm glad you were tempted to read the old reviews of Coral and Diamond as they cover a lot of different excursions. We go to the same ports but the excursions are fresh and exciting.

 

Thanks for following along for the past 6 weeks!

 

Norris

[Bimmer09]

Ahhhhh relief. ;) Now I don't have to obsessively check for updates but I will have to patiently wait for January which I will happily do. I can't not have a Norris ramble to read.

 

Your narrative and incredible pics are fabulous. I just wish you both were retired so you could travel more and we could have more rambles to read.

 

Thank you so much for all the hard and time consuming work you put into you reviews. It is much appreciated. Barb

 

Barb, hopefully we will get to enjoy our retirement by taking more trips and if we still have the cruising bug I'll get to share the adventures on CC.

 

In the meantime there are two cruises on X to plan for and we're each holding an FCC for a future Princess one. Check the X board on January 23.

 

I'm glad you clicked on this review and stayed with it until the end.

 

Thanks for the many compliments along the way!

 

Norris

[rgmacm]

Thank you so much for the detailed review and great read! We are going on this cruise next Aug. and I have taken detailed notes of so much you have said.

As we decide between a Princess transfer to Anchorage or an independent line, I had a question about Egan... I tried to find it on googlemaps and the only thing that came up was the Egan Convention center - which seems to be a block away from the Hilton you mentioned....so could very well be the Princess Egan...

Are these one in the same? Does Princess have a section of the convention center as their own or is "Egan" just a popular name and the PRincess location is something totally different?

Then...is there a place there (at Egan) to print boarding passes?

Thanks!

Edited October 30, 2016 by rgmacm

[jlf1]

Norris,

 

A final thank you for your wonderful review. I'll be checking in on Jan 23.

 

Judy

[dforeigner]

What an awesome review. Thank you very much.

[CruzinNoony]

Hi Norris,

 

We just got off the Star (on Wed.) and I have been trying to catch up with your review. But, I'm only on page 31, so thought I should just go ahead now and post. We LOVED the captain!!! OMG, he is so out-there! In Nanaimo, BC, (one of our ports) there is a cannon in town that they shoot off at noon when a ship is in port. Well, guess who shot off the cannon. Yes, you guessed it! Captain Tuvo. He called bingo a few times, had a question and answer session in the piazza, came into the dining room at breakfast time and greeted people table by table, just to name a few things that most captains don't ever do. We loved the cruise (B2B 17 days) and thought the crew was fantastic. I think the fact that the crew was so happy had lots to do with the captain and his good nature.

 

Thank you so much for your excellent review and great pictures! I'll be looking forward to your next review!! Meredith

[Auntiejo]

Thanks, Norris, for another entertaining review. You never let us down!

[Kauai Kid]

Norris,

Thanks so much for sure a great review. Not really a review but certainly great entertainment.

Mark

 

 

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[Lucky TGO]

Thank You Norris I totally agree with Kauai Kid. I hope someday we meet on a cruise so I can shake your hand and thank you in person. :)

Tony

[Bimmer09]

Thank you so much for the detailed review and great read! We are going on this cruise next Aug. and I have taken detailed notes of so much you have said.

As we decide between a Princess transfer to Anchorage or an independent line, I had a question about Egan... I tried to find it on googlemaps and the only thing that came up was the Egan Convention center - which seems to be a block away from the Hilton you mentioned....so could very well be the Princess Egan...

Are these one in the same? Does Princess have a section of the convention center as their own or is "Egan" just a popular name and the PRincess location is something totally different?

Then...is there a place there (at Egan) to print boarding passes?

Thanks!

 

The Egan Convention Center is the same one-a block from the Hilton, 3 or 4 blocks from the Captain Cook Hotel and right across from the park with the flowers.

 

Princess books a cavernous space in the summer on the lower level and use it twice a week...usually Saturday and Wednesday this past season for the ships sailing from Whittier to Vancouver. They also have a desk in the Captain Cook the day before a cruise and luggage can be sent from there to the ship, which is what I did when we sailed the Coral.

 

I don't recall there being computers to print boarding passes. Hotels have them and so does the ship so we've never needed to ask.

 

I would encourage anyone else who has a question to ask me here. If I know the answer I'll be happy to help-which is what CC is all about.

 

Thanks for your question! And thanks for reading my "stuff".

 

Norris

[Bimmer09]

Norris,

 

A final thank you for your wonderful review. I'll be checking in on Jan 23.

 

Judy

 

Judy it's always great to have your enthusiasm along on my epics and I thank you for your continual input.

 

You always respond well to my photos and that helps me to keep trying harder to take good pics. I have an interest in photography since getting a worthy camera and it's becoming a passion now. I've been taking notes from some really good photographers (who are good explainers) on Youtube and am on Amazon and Youtube daily looking at Canon cameras and lenses with a view to getting better pictures consistently. I'm not looking to get into debt though so won't go bonkers just yet. There are some better lenses within my reach though and some better cameras. With that said the camera I use is well respected by these pro photographers and even though I have had it for 4 years I still haven't used all its features or potential. So I could get away with a lens upgrade.

 

I'd be thrilled if you showed up in my Reflection review-such a stunning ship design that I am eager to experience again.

 

See you January 23!!

 

Norris

[Bimmer09]

What an awesome review. Thank you very much.

 

Ah! a new name....thanks for responding and for the compliments!

 

I hope you'll check in again in January.

 

I am very partial to the Celebrity S Class design. Eye candy!

X provides a great relaxing cruise experience.

 

I'm glad you stopped by to let me know you were reading along.

 

Cheers!

 

Norris