Pearls of the Pacific Northwest-Stacey's Alaskan Cruise Review

[sunbird21]

When we arrived, it was actually sunny out, and we made our way to the immediate viewing point of the glacier.

 

 

 

 

We wandered down the paths to the left of the parking lotto get some more pictures, then head back to the visitors center, which is located on a cliff. there are several trails surrounding the area, and signs marking each trail and difficulty. The Nugget Falls trail is popular and goes right to the waterfall, and it accessible-but there is also a very short trail that gets you a decent look as well-I think it was called the viewpoint trail?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anyway, as we walked towards the visitors center, we noticed some restrooms right there with minimal line, so we took advantage of that.

 

 

 

As I came out a few minutes later, I noticed a sizable crowd outside staring at the cliff. No one was making a move towards the restroom, so something else had to be going on.

 

 

 

I asked a woman standing near me, and she pointed to the cliff. "There are a couple of bears up there!" she said excitedly.

 

 

 

WHAT???

 

 

 

Well, of course I had the camera out and was scanning the cliff rapidly, but I must have been looking too high at first. Then I glimpsed the bear much further down-as in, RIGHT OUTSIDE the visitors center.

 

 

 

I immediately raised my camera, and then heard several gasps.

 

 

 

I looked up-AND THERE WAS THE BEAR AND THREE CUBS, JUMPING DOWN FROM THE CLIFF AND STANDING IN THE MIDDLE OF THE PATH!!!!!!

 

 

 

The crowd immediately cleared the way as the bears sauntered in between us,crossing the gravel, and climbing down the hill on the other side.

 

 

 

Well, of course I was racing to the guardrail and managed to get there about .02 seconds before everyone else. Somehow, my fingers gained some control as I snapped half a dozen shots of the mama bear and her cubs strolling across the grass and edge of the lake towards the people standing down on those trails.

 

 

 

Of the shots I took, these were the best. No, they won't be in National Geographic anytime soon, but its my proof that I SAW A BEAR!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I tried to estimate the likelihood of getting back to the other trail to get closer shots,but figured that it was unlikely.

 

 

 

 

Instead, I gleefully showed my mom the shots I did get and we were thrilled that we had a significant wildlife sighting on day 1 in Alaska!

[sunbird21]

Then we head down the shorter trail and got some pics by the waterfall.

 

 

 

 

Iceberg, right ahead!!! (Sorry, couldn't resist).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As we were walking back, I saw some people on a boulder taking pictures away from the glacier. Thinking that there was another bear sighting, I handed my mom my purse,grabbed the camera, and hoisted myself onto the boulder.

 

 

 

No more bears, but I did get a good shot of this guy…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All in all, not bad sightings for the day!

 

 

We wandered back to the visitors center and inside for a bit before it was time to meet the bus.

 

 

As we were waiting, I ran into one of the roll call group members,who had also seen the bears. She wan't on our tour, but was on the whale/glacier combo and awaiting the ride out to the whales.

 

 

 

I wished her luck in her whale spotting, but at that exact moment, my cold was in HIGH gear,and it had started to rain lightly, so I wasn't in any shape to go on for much longer. Thus, any whale tours would've been a waste for me-at that point.

 

 

 

On our ride back, Fred was on a roll with his jokes,though they were more personal by then. He offered to drop anyone who wanted off in the downtown area, so we took advantage of that. He told us it was about a ten minute walk back to the place where we had started the tour.

 

 

 

We thanked and tipped him. He was a nice tour guide!

[sunbird21]

We did want to see the shops, but I was desperate for some stronger cold medicine and tissues at this point. A few souvenir shops yielded nothing, so we asked and were directed to a general store down the street.

 

 

 

Oh,this place was heaven at this point-basically a full sized grocery store. I stocked up on giant boxes of tissues, Dayquil, and even Flonase, which my mom insisted would "dry me up" (it didn't,which I knew it wouldn't).

 

 

 

Outside, I downed the Dayquil and we explored the street. As I had been told,several stores were selling off souvenirs and jackets at pretty cheap prices-basic windbreakers were about $25.

 

 

These are the bear-safe garbage cans on the streets...

 

 

 

 

We did go into the Red Dog Saloon, a famous bar for Juneau, but since it was kind of crowded, we opted not to get a drink. I usually don't like to buy drinks when I have a package on the ship,even if ours was included (gotta love NCL's perks).

 

 

 

 

When we reached the port village, it was dusky and the ship buses were lined up, so we were on our way back to the Pearl pretty quickly.

 

 

 

It was still early as related to all aboard time,so there was no crowd getting back on the ship,which was nice.

 

 

 

Upstairs,we found another towel animal and treat in our cabin,as well as priority disembarkation papers for Skagway.

 

 

 

I thought I had taken a separate photo of the rabbit, but apparently not. Anyway, there's a sneak peak of our turndown service towel animal as well-our collection so far!

 

 

 

 

We also noticed that our phones were still working on the ship, so we did a little catching up with people for a bit.

 

 

 

I will digress here because I am getting into a hot topic for Alaska cruises-cell service.

 

 

 

My mom has Verizon, and I have a little no name company in NYC that has unlimited everything for about a third of the price of Verizon(and others). it works just as well,except I can't send picture messages for some reason, and of course have to purchase my own phone upgrades. In either case, both of our phones worked on embarkation day but switched over to maritime communications(i.e., ROAMING) that night and the next day. Then it flipped back once we were about an hour outside Juneau.

[sunbird21]

We hadn't really eaten since lunch, so we decided to try one of the main dining rooms for dinner,which would be our first time doing so. I'm not sure why we chose Summer Place over Indigo, but we did.

 

 

 

It was not crowded at all, and we were escorted to a window table, which was pretty to watch Juneau lit up and the Princess ship sail away.

 

 

 

We both decided on the spaghetti carbonara,skipping appetizers.

 

 

 

Well, the good news is that the service was pretty good,although there weren't many people in there. The bad news was, the spaghetti was DISGUSTING. And it's pretty darn hard to ruin spaghetti.

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you want to simulate the taste of this, open a can of tomato sauce and heat it up. Then pour in a pint of salt and stir. Mix in some meat. Then pour another pint of salt in.

 

 

 

Do this, and you've got the idea of what our spaghetti tasted like.

 

 

 

We really tried to choke it down, but after a few bites, we couldn't. This dish would send a CHF-er into immediate crisis.

 

 

 

Finally, we gave up and signaled so to the server. of course, he offers due something else, but again, we declined.We did get dessert this time.

 

 

 

I got the chocolate volcano cake, which was wonderful. Yay, NCL!

 

 

 

 

It was just after 8:30 at this time, so we went upstairs to Spinnaker for a beverage(or two). The "Who wants to be a Bazillionaire" game started at 9, so we watched that while enjoying our Bailey's and coffee. I noticed that a lot of people were ordering mudslides this evening, which seemed an odd drink for Alaska, but ok. I wasn't going to argue, so I tried one on my next trip to the bar.

 

 

 

Whoa. NCL may have been off on some of their dinners-or my taste buds were off due to cold-but their drinks were sublime. it was the best mudslide EVER. No wonder they were selling like water!

 

 

 

 

After the show had ended, I was pretty exhausted, though I think it was all cold at this point. However, we did have an EARLY excursion the next day, so it wasn't so bad going to bed early.

 

 

 

Even though it was after 10, the ship hadn't left the port.

 

 

 

Back in our cabin, Anthony was at it again-2 towel animals a day 2 days in a row!

 

 

 

 

Also, since I was now a silver(climbing that Latitudes ladder) we got chocolates at night. I had missed them on NCL cruises, and my last Carnival cruise(only platinum gets them now-sigh).

 

 

 

So, with my third dose of meds, I collapsed, praying that my energy would increase and symptoms would decrease for our LONG excursion the next day.

[sunbird21]

OK, in interest of fair disclosure, I got behind schedule this week when I started to feel under the weather again. Long story short, turns out I have an ulcer, so I've been waiting for the meds to kick in and trying to adapt to ulcer friendly foods while it heals…which is basically vegetables and water. As you can probably see from my food posts, that has NOT been going well.

 

 

Anyway, I do have Skagway and Glacier Bay written, but need to upload photos, will probably get it by next weekend hopefully.

 

 

Boscodog Thank you!! I would ABSOLUTELY plan on this cruise, and in 2018, if you are planning NCL, they are sending one of their newer ships, with more bells and whistles, so there will be more to do on the sea days!

 

 

 

NancyL2 Thank you!!! I'm glad you are enjoying!!!

 

 

 

Gannk Thank you, I'm glad that I am entertaining you!! It's probably not as lively as some, but it was a relaxing cruise, and beautiful itinerary-well,despite my cold LOL:)

 

 

Cruisermom2nick Thank you!!! Love your handle!!!

 

 

Josieallen Thank you!! I hope you continue to enjoy!

 

SenatorsFan Hi Heather!!! I'm happy to have you along!! How is your cruising going?? Yes, I would rather have a great FA than shuttle driver, but it was a rough start at an early hour…luckily service quality kept improving!!

 

Dporter Thank you!! Hope you enjoy!!

 

 

luvs2beachit Aww, thats a great handle too…I'm glad you like them!! I have one more on the horizon after this(well, Horizon's sister LOL)

 

 

Cincicruisers Thank you!! It's a little slow going, but I think I'll be done by my deadline of Thanksgiving:)

 

OK, that will do me for tonight…off to another LONG week of work, and arguing with my second job that chose NOT to compensate me for the extra visits that i did at the rate that was agreed(arg). Final payment is due in 8 days-can't be fooling around esp. after I literally worked myself into the ground this month!!!

 

(This aft balcony had better be worth it…)

 

Stacey

[mitsugirly]

Subscribed and caught up. #mustseewhales :D

[sunbird21]

Yay, glad to have you!!! Love the hashtag, builds the suspense :)

[SenatorsFan]

Hi Stacey.:) I'm enjoying your Alaska pictures and those of the Pearl are bringing back some good memories, too.

 

Funny about Deal or no Deal; I was picked on my Sky cruise and won $102.00. That same cruise I also won at Bingo but only $33.00 as I had to split it with 2 other people. I'm never that lucky and haven't been since. :D

 

Unfortunately I am in drydock at the moment as far as cruising goes. My MIL is having health issues and understandably, my DH doesn't want to be at sea and get a call. I really do hope we will be able to cruise again soon. :( Until then, I'll enjoy your review and Mitsugirly's next too. :)

Heather

[josieallen]

Such a great review so far!

 

 

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[mitsugirly]

Yay, glad to have you!!! Love the hashtag, builds the suspense :)

 

 

Stacey...my suspense is about to bust...just saying... :D

[bunnyette]

Stacey...my suspense is about to bust...just saying... :D

 

 

Me too! Please don't abandon us!

 

 

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[sunbird21]

Hi all,

 

I'm so sorry- I haven't abandoned you. I am in midst of a health issue the last couple of weeks-stomach symptoms not resolving well, so I've been to multiple doctors/tests/ ED visits. Add my flight level anxiety (and I'm a nurse, go figure) and only eating soup, turkey sandwiches, and cereal( and NO COKE or coffee) for 2+ weeks...... I am barely dragging myself to work these days. I was finally started on multiple antibiotics today and am hoping to start feeling better in the next week or so....I will finish this, I promise, but just need to knock this out a bit[emoji4]

 

 

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[dporter]

The best cure is another cruise!!

 

Feel better!!

[bunnyette]

Please look after yourself...your "fans" are thinking of you.

 

 

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[mickev99]

Do what you need to do get yourself better. We will still be here.

Michele

 

 

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[SenatorsFan]

Poor you. I hope you'll be feeling better very soon. I'll be here when you come back. :)

Heather

[mitsugirly]

Hi all,

 

I'm so sorry- I haven't abandoned you. I am in midst of a health issue the last couple of weeks-stomach symptoms not resolving well, so I've been to multiple doctors/tests/ ED visits. Add my flight level anxiety (and I'm a nurse, go figure) and only eating soup, turkey sandwiches, and cereal( and NO COKE or coffee) for 2+ weeks...... I am barely dragging myself to work these days. I was finally started on multiple antibiotics today and am hoping to start feeling better in the next week or so....I will finish this, I promise, but just need to knock this out a bit[emoji4]

 

 

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I hope you feel better soon. No Coke???? Gasp...I.would.die! Just saying...

 

I've been keeping myself busy, with another cruise, while I wait on you to return to your review. :p ;) Just returned today and will be starting my own review. Hopefully you'll recover soon and I can continue reading yours. :)

[gannk]

I'm checking in to see how you are feeling! I hope all is well by now!

 

 

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[ladygal4.4]

Merry Christmas' Eve to you! Just a note to let you know I am loving your Alaskan cruise review and hope that you are feeling much better by now. But if not, rest! Take care of yourself. And know that a fellow nurse is thinking of you! :) Johanna

[mickev99]

Hi girl! Just checking on you, worried that we haven't heard back. Let us know if you're feeling better!

[Seany527]

Hoping you come back to finish :)

[mitsugirly]

She is doing fine and I have talked to her. She had a few bumps in the road over the last few months and she plans on returning with a finished review to post very soon. She thanks everyone for their concerns. :) I personally can't wait to read more too.

[Boscodog]

Glad to hear Stacey is OK. I have been checking in on this review every so often and wondering what happened to her.

 

Stacey - I see you are gong on a cruise soon and wishing you a wonderful trip.

[QJKM]

I'm subscribing and hoping to get the rest of the review as well!

[welove2cruise2014]

Any updates???

 

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