Grand Princess / San Francisco to Alaska / Take two

[4hunters]

Fantastic review, Knot! We boarded the Grand the day you guys got back and did the same trip. I'm definitely jealous of the weather you had. We had clouds most of the trip, but it wasn't really cold which was nice. Looking forward to the rest of your review. :)

[Solara]

So the afternoon arrives and we bid our goodbyes to Glacier Bay and head towards Ketchikan. About an hour after leaving Glacier Bay, the Captain announces that we will be making an emergency stop to drop off a sick passenger. I don't remember the name of the port where we docked. You could only see trees and it didn't look like a heavily populated place, but what do I know. Maybe someone who was on this trip will remember. Anyway, this delayed us for about 90 minutes.

 

We were on this cruise too! Great pictures. The emergency stop was at Icy Strait.

[gp1oseg]

We got off in Aug and are going again in Dec quick question in Aug the air conditioning was on freezing in explores lounge and Vista lounge and outside weather was cold.is the inside still freezing? WE Had to wear jackets at night

 

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[TheCalicoCat]

 

Plus, all those sea days are good for exploring the ship, being lazy, and for us, getting our drink on.:D

 

I can appreciate that. We are doing a 14-night cruise to AK next year & I am looking forward to the sea days & getting my drink on.

[knotgillty]

Fantastic review, Knot! We boarded the Grand the day you guys got back and did the same trip. I'm definitely jealous of the weather you had. We had clouds most of the trip, but it wasn't really cold which was nice. Looking forward to the rest of your review. :)

Thanks 4hunters. It sure was a fun trip. More review & pics will come in a few hours.

 

We were on this cruise too! Great pictures. The emergency stop was at Icy Strait.

Hoooray, a fellow shipmate. Thanks for remembering Icy Straight. I couldn't for the life of me remember where it was that we stopped to let a passenger off the ship for medical reasons. Seems like we had a lot of medical evacs this trip. Saw 4 in Juneau, 1 at Icy Straight, 1 in Ketchikan in the morning, & 1 in Skagway in the evening.

 

 

We got off in Aug and are going again in Dec quick question in Aug the air conditioning was on freezing in explores lounge and Vista lounge and outside weather was cold.is the inside still freezing? WE Had to wear jackets at night

Depends on where you're at. The areas with doors nearby that go outside, were coolish. Didn't notice it anywhere else.

[RNGALNG]

Thanks RNGALNG. Sending some good mojo your way for better weather & better viewing on your next trip. Happy to see that at least one person will get benefit from the beach balls.

 

We actually left our beach balls on the balcony when the cruise was over. Hopefully they left them for the next passengers, but I doubt it.

 

Out trip on the Grand was our second time around. Each time we saw and did different things. The Grand trip was after Labor Day two years ago and the first was about ten years ago in July. It's definitely a trip at least once in a lifetime. We would love to go again, maybe be at the start of the season.

 

As to the balls. When checking out on the website, I had to choose how I wanted the 2 -$6.88 beachballs shipped. Did I want the $6.00 slow service or the $97 overnight? Since we don't cruise again until January, we thought it a good bet to use the slower service!

[knotgillty]

Once again, we are up bright and early and get our morning fix at the IC on deck 5. We watched the ship dock from our balcony, and then watched the initial rush of passengers leave the ship. Yet again, they wheeled a passenger on a gurney into a waiting ambulance.

Ketchikan was the port I was most looking forward to. Not because of an excursion, but because it has one of my favorite stores. If you missed it earlier, I'm an avid fisherman. Salt, fresh, lakes, rivers, or streams, it doesn't matter. I like it all. Anyhow, on Creek Street is a store called Soho Coho. It's owned by a guy named Ray Troll and 90% of his art, trinkets, and shirts are fishing related. More on this later.

 

I took this picture as we were pulling into port. It would be an omen of sorts during our coming duck boat tour.

 

 

We disembark from the ship and find our tour operator. Today we are going to take a duck boat tour for a drive around town, and then a launch into the ocean. Here is our ride.

 

 

After a drive around town, it's time to get this baby wet. Here we are at the top of the launch ramp just prior to driving into the water.

 

 

Here we are after splash down, looking out one of the duck boat windows at some boats in the harbor.

 

 

The duckboat operators have an agreement with the sea planes. The sea planes buzz just overhead on landing so that the duck boat patrons can look up and see them overhead. We had 4 or 5 go overhead. This one didn't and was off to the side.

 

 

As you can imagine, these duck boats are not as maneuverable as a standard boat. In fact, when they are under power moving forward, they have a difficult time going into reverse, and the turning radius in the water is ridiculous. Add this all together and we almost had a collision with a plane. I can see the headlines now, 'Cruise ship duck boat tour turns tragic'. Anyway, the float plane decided not to buzz overhead, but instead tried to land and motor on by. The duck boat we were on wouldn't go into reverse because we were moving forward too quickly. The whole scene played out in slow motion as the duck boat operator tried to slow his vessel. The plane saw us long before we saw him and he should have used better judgment. I'm sure if things had ended differently, the plane would have been found at fault. Long story short, we averted a collision and the rest of the ride went smoothly. Our duck boat operator was pretty angry afterwards. No zoom used here, just point and click.

 

 

One other cool thing on this tour was that we had salmon jumping in the water around us. They were everywhere, even in the water surrounding Creek Street.

 

More to come from Ketchikan, stay tuned.

[knotgillty]

As to the balls. When checking out on the website, I had to choose how I wanted the 2 -$6.88 beachballs shipped. Did I want the $6.00 slow service or the $97 overnight? Since we don't cruise again until January, we thought it a good bet to use the slower service!

That's nuts. Good choice on the balls.

[knotgillty]

After the Duck Boat Tour, we stroll around Ketchikan. It's late in the season and all the stores are having amazing sales. With only a few weeks of cruise ship visits remaining, they want to get rid of their excess inventory before the cold claws of winter take their grip.

 

Here we are on Creek Street trying to improve our Selfie game (so says our daughter regarding this picture).

 

 

 

We had a bear encounter. The darling wife panicked and froze in place as the bear reared it's ugly head. Thankfully I've been trained in what to do when a bear approaches. I started yelling at the top of my lungs, and making myself look as big as possible, waiving my arms, and jumping up and down. I did a great job and saved my wife, I felt like a hero! I then looked around and everyone in the shop was staring at me with their mouths open, I felt really embarrassed. We quickly left the store.

 

 

 

Here we are looking down into the water along the docks of Creek Street. I knew I should have brought my fishing gear with me on the cruise ship.

 

 

 

The schools of salmon were looking to mate. Spawn till you die seems like a good motto to live by.

 

 

 

As you can see, these fish are in pretty poor condition. They are in their last stages of life and will soon die and rot on the stream bottom. Did you know the salmon, and the rainforest in Alaska, are interconnected? When salmon die and decompose, they release nitrogen into the water. All of the streamside trees absorb this nitrogen, which helps them to grow stronger. The streamside trees have root systems that reach into the water. These root systems are sometimes used by the salmon when spawning, or by the newborn fry as safe haven, when heading back to the ocean. So the trees and the salmon work together in a never ending cycle. Enough education, more salmon.

 

 

 

Next, we came up to Dolly's place. I begged my wife to let me go inside. She said I had done enough spawning on this trip, so we skipped Dolly's and continued on to Soho Coho.

 

 

 

Stay tuned…

Edited September 29, 2016 by knotgillty

[Herfnerd]

Really loving your pictures!

[XBGuy]

Regarding the bears. It's funny I met my brother for breakfast, this morning, and this very topic came up. I told him that in my working days when I travelled to Anchorage, just about every person I met had a bear story. Not terribly surprising. 100% of them liked to fish. Bears like to fish. Meetups are almost inevitable.

 

Here's the strange part. Roughly half the people who told me these stories said that their strategy was to try to be as big as possible and make noise. Interestingly, the other half said their strategy was to be quiet and look as small as possible.

 

"What kind of bears?" he asked.

 

"Mostly, browns, I think"

 

His response was that getting big and noisy is the correct strategy for browns, and getting small and quiet was the correct strategy for grizzlies.

 

Is that true? I don't know, but he said it with great conviction. My personal plan is to not go to bear places.:D

 

Oh, the other thing I learned from my Anchorage visits is that if a bear is standing on his hind legs--like in the stuffed display in your picture--that is a dominance display. If you just back off, you're, probably, going to be OK. If it is on all fours running at you, you are going to die.

 

Again, I'm sticking with my don't go to bear places plan.

[knotgillty]

Really loving your pictures!

 

Glad you're enjoying the review Herfnerd

[knotgillty]

His response was that getting big and noisy is the correct strategy for browns, and getting small and quiet was the correct strategy for grizzlies.

 

Is that true? I don't know, but he said it with great conviction. My personal plan is to not go to bear places.:D

 

I'm with you, bears are best viewed from afar. If they can run toward you, faster than you can find safety, you're too close.

[knotgillty]

We finally reach the end of Creek Street and walk into Soho Coho. My inner nerd comes out and I want to buy everything in the store. The wife brings me to my senses, puts me on a leash, and we have a look around. After all was said and done, I purchased 6 shirts, a bitchen flask shaped like a fish that will find a home in my boat, a calendar, a refrigerator magnet, and a killer print I'm currently having framed for the home.

 

I took pictures of some of the shirts on the wall, in Soho Coho. Feel free to skip to the end, as for most, this just probably isn't your thing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[knotgillty]

 

 

 

 

 

[knotgillty]

 

 

 

 

Here's some of the booty that I pillaged, laid out on the bed in our cabin

 

 

All that shopping made me thirsty. My favorite bartender Joseph hooked me up with a monster raspberry margarita after we got back onboard.

 

Next up Victoria

[notentirelynormal]

Can you post a link to part 1 please?

[knotgillty]

Can you post a link to part 1 please?

I asked the moderators to delete part 1. Everything, including part 1, is including in this review. I started over from the beginning. Hope you are enjoying the review.

[knotgillty]

Day 8 was a sea day. We pretty much drank & sat on the balcony reading all day. It was a lazy day. We got dressed up for dinner tonight. Here we are getting in a few drinks at our favorite bar before dinner.

 

 

There was a balloon drop near the end of the cruise.

 

 

On Day 9 we pulled into Victoria. I didn't have any interest in taking a bus into town. I literally went past this Canada sign, walked into the only gift shop on the pier, and walked directly back to the boat. My wife got on a bus & went into town for some shopping and sightseeing.

 

 

Can you guess what I did for the rest of the day? If you said sit on the balcony and drink, you are a winner. From my balcony, I could see the boats in the below picture. With my binoculars, I followed their trolling lanes as they trolled for salmon, back and forth along the jetty. I watched up close as several were being caught & landed. It was a wonderfully lazy day.

 

 

My wife went into Victoria

 

 

The day quickly came to an end and soon we were leaving Victoria. Reality was quickly setting in that our cruise was almost over. I hate that feeling. The last day was another sea day and we pretty much did the same thing we did on every sea day. We sat on the balcony with a good beverage and watched the sea or read.

 

A couple of random thoughts on our cruise. I can't remember if it was Skagway or Juneau, but as we were pulling away from the port, in the dark of night, once again that voice came over the loudspeaker announcing we had another medical evacuation and that we would be turning back to port. We had just left, so it was only a slight delay. The ambulance was waiting upon our arrival.

 

We had a laundry fiasco in Skagway. We went to do laundry on deck 12 and the token machine was not working. We picked up the laundry room phone and had someone there shortly. I was then escorted to another laundry room, on the entire other side of the ship, to buy tokens, and then back to our initial laundry room to start the washing. Well as fate would have it, we needed to run the dryer twice as the contents were still damp and had to make the long walk to buy more tokens. But like my wife said, if that's the worst thing to happen in our day, then it was a good day!

 

Prior to the trip, I had been following a website which indicated that the probability of Northern Lights in Juneau would be high while we were there. We looked outside around midnight but didn't see anything and went to bed. The next day I was talking to our bartender and he said he and some staff went outside around 2:30 am and the sky was ablaze in glowing colors. Wish I could have seen that and gotten some pics.

 

We had anytime dining. Half of the nights we walked right in, the other half we had a 15 minute wait. This was never a problem, and was actually nice, because there was a bar right next to the dining room on deck 5 where we could have a seat & a drink while we waited.

 

Our room stewards inability to ignore the 'do not disturb' sign was disturbing. He came in at least a dozen times while we were there and the sign was displayed. I voiced my concerns on the post cruise survey.

 

We used the Princess at Sea app on our phones. We used it to see what was happening each day for onboard entertainment. It also was incredibly handy to be able to look up what charges have accrued on your shipboard account.

 

Lastly, we had the All Inclusive Beverage Package. Every day we got coffee & Frappuccinos at the International Café. Every day we got bottles of water (regular & supersize). Every night after dinner we ordered double espressos. And then of course came the alcohol. We came out way ahead.

 

My phone is a Samsung Galaxy Note 4. It has a stylus/pen that slides into the phone itself. One of its many uses is the ability to quickly and easily write on photos. This allowed me to keep track of every alcoholic beverage I had on the trip by simply putting a check mark on a photo, each time I got a drink. Took all of 10 seconds and kept track of the running total. The photo used for this purpose, just happened to be a picture I took on the first day, of our favorite bartender.

 

Looking at all the check marks below, I had 4 margaritas, a baileys & hot chocolate, and 3 martinis. The 70+ remaining marks were Vodka tonics. I don't know whether to be proud, or embarrassed, but I thought I would share. The premium vodka tonics I order were $9.95 each. Even without all the coffee, waters, and espressos, I ended up on the positive side of the equation. My wife didn't keep track of her intake, but I figure she broke even on the AIBP.

 

Seems like I had a ton of drinks, but I only got truely drunk on one day, which was the last sea day. Most days, the drinks were spread out over a 12 hour period with breaks inbetween. Here is Joseph Gomes, preparing to deliver me another vodka tonic.

 

 

Disembarkation went smoothly and we were home by 1pm.

 

Well, that's a wrap. Hope you enjoyed the report.

Edited September 30, 2016 by knotgillty

[Sacto Rick]

Great review! We followed you on the very next cruise. Though we had pretty good weather, you guys really got lucky. Glacier Bay was much colder and on off rain when we were there. It was still wonderful though.

Great pictures too.

[RBAlbany]

Thanks for the review.

[macsford]

Thank you for your review , I enjoyed every day with you .So glad you have lots of good memories.

 

I hope that you get to do it again.

 

You also gave lots of information for my bucket list trip, a long way from UK.

Sandra

[notentirelynormal]

....

Edited September 30, 2016 by notentirelynormal

[XBGuy]

 

Our room stewards inability to ignore the 'do not disturb' sign was disturbing. He came in at least a dozen times while we were there and the sign was displayed. I voiced my concerns on the post cruise survey.

 

 

 

 

 

Wow. That is completely unacceptable.

 

Thankfully, we've never experienced that, before.

 

Excellent and very entertaining report, KG. Thank you.

[Mary loves to travel]

We were on the same cruise with you, and as you said, everything was fantastic. Best weather, smooth oceans, beautiful sights, whales galore! Ship, food, service all excellent.

 

Great pics, thanks for sharing [emoji4][emoji4]