Trip Report- Coral Princess Aug 14 Southbound Whittier-Vancouver, Plus DIY Seward

[zammis]

rkacruiser: yeah I am ok being a dancing queen with others, but not by myself! 

 

BTW- totally forgot to mention the pod of whales that followed along side the ship sailing away from Juneau- we had whales riding 100ft from us- we could watch them breaching, diving etc FROM THE DINING ROOM.  Just amazing! Of course by that point my phone was back in the room charging, but it was an amazing dinner show. 

 

Day 9- Ketchikan

 

As we are on Coral Princess. we got the short straw today and had to tender into Ketchikan. Mom left the scooter behind (they were very good about parking it near the re-boarding area though so it was was easily retrieved for her when she got back. ) She and BF did the Duck Tour in Ketchikan and had fun. HSB was all about seeing bears, so she went out to the wildlife preserve and indeed saw the. She said it was something like a whale watch in that they had observers feeding the tour guide info as to where the bears were.  Himself and I had fun wandering Ketchikan-  wegot over to Creek Street, did some shopping and visited Dolly's House (the shower curtain was pretty funny... hint, those aren't flowers!)

We had not realized quite how far a walk Creek Street was from where the tenders docked, but luckily we found the free downtown shuttle map and, once we reached the water end of Creek Street, were easily able to catch a ride up the hill to the Totem Heritage Center. The creek by the center was FULL of salmon- one fisherman hooked a good-sized one from the bridge, but eventually lost it. I swear the creek was more fish than water, there were so many of them. 

As we finally entered the Totem Heritage Center,  we lucked out as a private tour was just finishing and one of the docents at the center was giving an interesting talk on the story of one of the poles right as you come in. We spent about an hour here but it was interesting.  Nice clean bathrooms too!

We took the shuttle back downtown and got on the line at 3pm for the tenders- we made it just in time as the line started to get really long while we were loading. It ended up that due to construction traffic we were supposed to leave at 4:30 and it ended up being 5:30 due to delays. 

 

We watched the "On the Bayou" show that night at the early, before dinner time and we all really enjoyed it. Much higher production values than I'm used to from a cruise ship show, that's for sure! And some moments were really over-the-top fun. 

 

Another seafood dinner and we were ready to have a day OFF tomorrow!

 

 

[zammis]

Day 10 SEA DAY

 

Wow we were all ready for a lazy day!  

HImself and I slept in and had a brunch at the buffet. I checked out the  "Outlet sale" but nothing I was interested in. Then another wine tasting (the $9.95 one) scheduled for two pm. I guess I'm lucky to have a "less refined" palate because I enjoyed these wines more, and based on the price point, I knew they'd be in the ten-12 dollar range per bottle for when we got home. Score! We had a fun couple sit with us from Oregon who were really into wine, so all in all good conversation.  (These headwaiters were also less chatty, though I decided this time to just taste when I was ready and they could catch up with me!)

 

Feeling a little happy we went back to the cabin to get things packed- they requested bags BEFORE dinner, so I at least wanted to get the main bag handled. We enjoyed some scenic whale watching from Mom's mini-suite balcony going through the strait between Vancouver Island and the mainland. It was gorgeous scenery (again), but what they say about it getting better the farther north you go is true. Also our weather luck had definitely run out as it was blustery and somewhat rainy.  I'm still never going to get tired of seeing whales RIGHT THERE though. 

 

Followed that up with finishing off some wine we'd brought and having some hot tub time in the indoor pool area.  Then just enough time to change for our last dining room dinner. I was a little surprised they still do a baked Alaska parade, but they did and we had some and it was pretty good!  (No gluten free version but I ate around the cake anyway)

 

Not too many pics today- fighting off those end-of-cruise blues!

 

Tomorrow- Vancouver and flight home!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[zammis]

Day 11- Vancouver and flights home

 

Disembarkation went very smoothly. We had just enough time for a dining room breakfast (HSB had an early flight back to Salt Lake City, so we did a last meal with her. ) Service was.. less than great, but obviously we're getting booted off so I'm biased.  

Once off with our bags, I go looking for the baggage service- apparently they aren't doing that this year and I didn't get the memo- and most people at the port had no clue either. Oh well! Luckily,  I remembered about the Pan Pacific Bell Desk- we were able to check the mountain of stuff there, and keep it to small day bags to explore Vancouver a bit. 

 

By this time it's 11am, and its bucketing rain. We need to back at the bell desk by 2:45pm to pick up our bags, otherwise we'll get charged another fee, so our timeline is set. 

 

We decide against the Sun Yat Sen Chinese Garden in buckets of rain, and instead grab a cab over to Granville Island Market. 

Mom and I love markets, and this one was crowded but not a disappointment. It was a great choice for a rainy day- we got to eat a wonderful lunch, some yummy baked goods (including gluten free options), shop for some artisan things, and generally poke around.  Mom got this cinnamon thing the size of a dinner plate; if you are familiar with Publix "flying saucers", they make ginormous ones at Granville Island Market. 

 

Himself bought a small photograph of two otters that spoke to us, and I got some stickers and additional goodies to give as gifts. 

 

We finished up at the market around 1:45pm, grabbed a taxi to the steam clock to get a taste of Gastown, then walked from there back to the Pan Pacific in off and on rain. I would have liked more time but it wasn't to be. 

 

Back at the hotel there's just enough time for a round of bathrooms and Starbucks before grabbing our bags and getting two taxis to YVR- one with people and a scooter and one with STUFF (and one person).

 

As a note- they have these handicapped accessible cabs in Vancouver where the scooter or wheelchair can just roll in the back and be secured with belts. This made it VERY easy with Mom as we didn't have to disassemble the scooter!  (and having the scooter for the market was a MUST. )

 

Getting to the airport was an adventure- there was apparently an accident  on the main road there, so we had to detour though tons of traffic- felt right at home (Metro DC). 

 

Luckily we had plenty of time until our 7:30pm flight- which turned out to be two hours late taking off- we were on a weather hold and stuck on the plane.  Making our connection through SFO was interesting, but the good news is we all made it back to Dulles on the same flight, in one piece and with all our bags. Yay!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[zammis]

Final thoughts:

 

- I really want to explore doing an RV rental trip out of Anchorage. 

- The Seward part, in terms of wildlife viewing, was absolutely the best.  If you're pondering one of the Kenai Fjords boat tours and you have the time, do it! 

-Coral Princess was a great ship for scenic viewing, the food was pretty good and the entertainment was also pretty good for our needs. (We all like to hole up and read or play board games usually, so this was "stepping out" for us!)

- I really wish we had been able to dock in Ketchikan- Mom did her Duck Tour on the walker, but really couldn't do much else. Being able to drive the scooter form the dock would have really improved her options. 

- I wish we had spent the night in Vancouver, despite the cost, and had flights out the next day. We were all a bit thrashed getting home and here I am, a week later, just starting to feel normal again. It would have cost more but it would have made getting back into the swing of things much much easier. 

- If you aren't  a wildlife photographer, or you don't have a great camera or a lot of practice with your cellphone, you might miss out on just taking in the experience. I wanted some good pics, but there were times I was much happier to not try and just take it all in. It was less frustrating!

 

If I were going to go again, I'd be sorely tempted to do a  back to back just to make things easier with flights. Or maybe a week up, week there for DIY, then a different cruise back? (you know, if I'm dreaming). 

 

 

Thanks for reading, hope this was helpful and entertaining!

 

 

 

 

[rkacruiser]

1 hour ago, zammis said:

We watched the "On the Bayou" show that night at the early, before dinner time and we all really enjoyed it

 

This is an excellent show; it was more enjoyable, and different, than what I expected.  It's guest friendly that Princess offers the show at 3 different time periods that day.  I attended the last one and the Universal Lounge was still packed.

[rkacruiser]

1 hour ago, zammis said:

another wine tasting (the $9.95 one) scheduled for two pm.  I enjoyed these wines more, and based on the price point,  We had a fun couple sit with us from Oregon who were really into wine, so all in all good conversation.  (These headwaiters were also less chatty, though I decided this time to just taste when I was ready and they could catch up with me!)

 

I attended this wine tasting as well and agree with your thoughts, both about the wines and the Head Waiters leading it.  The table companions with whom one sits at these events sometimes can add to my enjoyment of the activity; yours must have done so, too.

[rkacruiser]

1 hour ago, zammis said:

I was a little surprised they still do a baked Alaska parade, but they did and we had some and it was pretty good!  (No gluten free version but I ate around the cake anyway)

 

 

Me too.  That is an event on HAL that has "bit the dust".  I described the dessert to a couple of my tablemates who had not tried it.  They ordered it and enjoyed it.  And, I also thought it was pretty darn good.  I really enjoyed the food in the MDR of Coral Princess.  

[rkacruiser]

1 hour ago, zammis said:

they requested bags BEFORE dinner

 

In the future, don't stress about this "request" which was written in such a way when I read it that it was close to being a "requirement".  Naturally, to help the crew responsible for getting the guest luggage collected and taken to the marshalling area for sorting/organizing as early as possible is a good thing to do if you can do so.  I put both of my bags outside my stateroom's door shortly before Midnight and they both found themselves at the Vancouver airport where I was able to check them in for my flight.  (Alas, however, one of the two "chose" to spend two extra days in Vancouver before returning home.)

[rkacruiser]

47 minutes ago, zammis said:

Or maybe a week up, week there for DIY, then a different cruise back? (you know, if I'm dreaming). 

 

That's what I did and I'd recommend it.  7 days on the Westerdam, Vancouver to Seward, followed by 10 days ashore, then the Coral Princess cruise.  

 

Your strong recommendation of a Kenai Fjords tour is one that I also support.  It's hard to put it into words, but the experience was "different" than visiting such an area on a cruise ship.  The community of Seward itself deserves a day and overnight visit, I think.  And, that is on my list of if I am able to visit Alaska in the future.

 

Just a great review of your cruise and your on-shore experiences.  It helped me to re-live mine on Coral Princess through your words and photos.  Thank you very much!