Live From Majestic Princess JB5 Denali Explorer Alaska Cruise Tour 6-2022

[Thrak]

46 minutes ago, Steelers0854 said:

I would love to but in typical cruise critic fashion they dont like photos from my DSLR so I can’t post them. These are all from my iPhone. 

 

haha we will try and swing in while we walk around the town. 

 

They usually have old fart piano players who are "interesting". We like them.

[Steelers0854]

pretty hard to beat t-shirt and shorts weather and this…..

 

[KLM3164]

21 hours ago, partybarbie said:

Thank you so much for your comments and pictures on Steve Kroschel's Wildlife Sanctuary. We booked it for our upcoming cruise.  If you have more photos, I would love to see them. 

We did the Kroschel tour last September and would recommend it. Here are a few photos from our visit. The highlight of the day for me was getting to bottle feed a baby porcupine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[partybarbie]

@KLM3164 Thank you very much! Really looking forward to this excursion. 

[Steelers0854]

We wandered around the town and eventually relaxed around the ship enjoying the beautiful weather until it was time for dinner.

 

 

 

Tonight we got the twice baked goat cheese soufflé (of course), the scallop and cucumber salad, and the beer and cheddar soup. All of them were excellent.

 

 

 

Our head waiter is amazing. Yesterday we asked about the pasta dish they used to cook in the dining room, the fra Diablo. We were curious if it was gone because of the pandemic or if they removed it entirely as we always enjoyed that dish. He wasn’t sure but said he remembered it still being done just before the pandemic and guessed it may eventually come back. Well tonight he specially made us a take on that dish with an olive oil base instead of tomato and it was delicious. To top it all off they made DW a version she could eat. Kuddos to you Francisco.

 

 

For entrees DW got the hanger steak with her own special sauce which she said was great. I got the pork belly and a small plate of the paella. Both unfortunately were terrible. It’s a tragedy to call what they served paella as it’s nothing like a paella and lacked flavor and texture. Even if you called it something appropriate like a seafood medley it still wasn’t good. Also the pork belly was a miss. It wasn’t rendered down, while they included some crispy skin with it the pork belly itself should have been rendered down and caramelized. The apple sauce was honestly they best thing on that plate.

 

 

 

 

For dessert they made DW her own special berry cobbler. I can’t saw enough good things about Princess when it comes to DW and her allergies. They always go above and beyond and get creative to giver her a wonderful meal. Our last cruise on carnival was so disappointing for a variety of reasons but their lack of interest in modifying dishes for DW to eat was the icing on the cake for us. Huge thanks to Princess and their wonderful kitchen staff.

 

 

 

Today we are in Ketchikan. Originally we booked a lumberjack show excursion but we ended up cancelling it. We wanted to relax today and give ourselves more flexibility. We arrive in port at 10am and all aboard is at 5:30pm.

[Steelers0854]

it’s a beautiful morning with shorts and t-shirt weather in Ketchikan!

 

 

Edited June 16, 2022 by Steelers0854

[arizonaperson]

Steelers0854- thanks for  the Live and the  photos. I’m enjoying following along.

[Steelers0854]

1 hour ago, arizonaperson said:

Steelers0854- thanks for  the Live and the  photos. I’m enjoying following along.

You’re quite welcome. I’m glad you’re enjoying g traveling along with us!

[Purple Gallinule]

When we were on the Majestic last September, they had Lobster rolls at the hamburger bar for $15. Do they still offer that? Thanks.

[Purple Gallinule]

I forgot to say that we will be on the Majestic starting on July 30th, and we really appreciate all the info that your "Live" postings provide. Thanks.

[Lucky TGO]

Hi Gregg,

I’m still following along and happy that your having a great time on this cruise!! 
Your Pal,

The Captain of The Rowboat,

Tony

[cr8tiv1]

@Steelers0854I appreciate your detailed descriptions of your DW's special meals.  I have a low sodium restriction (self imposed) and they always do a great job for me.  But I was wondering what makes her "special sauce" so special and yummy?

 

When a passenger complains about not finding anything to eat on Princess, I close my eyes and visualize all the great dishes they create for me.

[Steelers0854]

4 hours ago, Purple Gallinule said:

When we were on the Majestic last September, they had Lobster rolls at the hamburger bar for $15. Do they still offer that? Thanks.

they sure do. They actually ran out on Glacier Bay day around noon lol. Guessing they didn’t defrost enough lobster ahead of time. But you can easily get one every other day. 

 

3 hours ago, Lucky TGO said:

Hi Gregg,

I’m still following along and happy that your having a great time on this cruise!! 
Your Pal,

The Captain of The Rowboat,

Tony

Tony, I think you may be confusing me with someone else. At first I thought it was just a typo but I’m not Geegg 😎. But I’m glad you’re enjoying the posts!

 

2 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

@Steelers0854I appreciate your detailed descriptions of your DW's special meals.  I have a low sodium restriction (self imposed) and they always do a great job for me.  But I was wondering what makes her "special sauce" so special and yummy?

 

When a passenger complains about not finding anything to eat on Princess, I close my eyes and visualize all the great dishes they create for me.

It’s only special because it doesn’t have butter and the sauce with everyone else’s dinner has it. But when we were on Carnival a couple months ago she got nothing. Dry chicken, dry steak. No options just, this is what we can do. Not doing that again!

[CathySun]

On 6/13/2022 at 11:34 PM, Steelers0854 said:

unfortunately we only saw they had the laundry rooms we didn’t actually go in. The other posters are right and Thrak was spot on with the prices. 

 

other posters were correct as well. We paid for everything until we hit the cruise ship. 

 

 
I grabbed this photo at the bar in the Hollywood pool deck. I’ll try and get some more detailed info for you. 
 

Appreciate it!

 

[enfuego4cruising]

On 6/14/2022 at 7:20 PM, ghgeckos said:

Do you know if they have the wine makers dinner? 

We sailed on the Majestic this past April and they did indeed have the winemakers dinner,  hosted by the impeccable Maitre D'  Neville Saldanha.

[LCW]

On 6/13/2022 at 1:09 PM, Steelers0854 said:

It’s not looking promising today. 


 

 

 

 

 

 

Yes it is. masks are required at all times when in doors unless you are eating or drinking. People generally are wearing masks while walking around indoors. I only see a couple of people not. However once you’re sitting down, even if not actively eating or drinking, it seems the masks are optional (against the policy but this seems to be the going trend).  Sorry smoke doesn’t do well with my allergies so I steer clear of the casino so can’t report about that. But you can sit at any bar and freely drink. They did not do the Captains Champaign toast/waterfall. That’s about the only change I have seen. 

I may have missed it earlier....Did you have to wear a mask during the land portion (buses, trains, etc)?  

[Steelers0854]

4 hours ago, LCW said:

I may have missed it earlier....Did you have to wear a mask during the land portion (buses, trains, etc)?  

half way through our trip when we were told masks were required onboard it also included Princess transportation beginning in Anchorage. But this wasn’t mentioned again and not enforced. About half of us wore masks anyway. YMMV though since this change happened right in the middle of our tour. 

[Steelers0854]

it’s a warm beautiful morning at sea. the internet is very slow (This one photo just took 3 min to upload) today so next major posts probably won’t happen until tomorrow when we reach port. 

[ghgeckos]

I too want to thank you for the review of the dinning room. My DH is enjoying seeing all of the special food. Did your wife have to preorder the day before so the chef could prepare the food. He hasn't cruised in a while and that is what Princess had him do years ago.

 

Great review of the ports, I'm taking a solo trip on the Majestic next month and really enjoy your perspective.  Is the pool in the Hollywood Conservatory still maintained as an adult only pool while in Alaska? I enjoyed the peacefulness of the area in the mornings on a previous cruise. 

[Steelers0854]

1 hour ago, ghgeckos said:

I too want to thank you for the review of the dinning room. My DH is enjoying seeing all of the special food. Did your wife have to preorder the day before so the chef could prepare the food. He hasn't cruised in a while and that is what Princess had him do years ago.

 

Great review of the ports, I'm taking a solo trip on the Majestic next month and really enjoy your perspective.  Is the pool in the Hollywood Conservatory still maintained as an adult only pool while in Alaska? I enjoyed the peacefulness of the area in the mornings on a previous cruise. 

 

Yes she orders every night at dinner for breakfast, lunch and dinner if she is eating in the dining room for those meals. 
 

the Hollywood Conservatory is only adults only after 10pm. 

[Steelers0854]

17 hours ago, enfuego4cruising said:

We sailed on the Majestic this past April and they did indeed have the winemakers dinner,  hosted by the impeccable Maitre D'  Neville Saldanha.

you’re correct there was a miscommunication when I asked the first time. They just apparently didn’t have enough people interested this cruise to have it. They also said they had 3 chefs tables this week. 

[Steelers0854]

It was an incredible day in Ketchikan today. It was borderline hot out. We got a quick breakfast at the buffet and headed out. We were in berth 4 and this had a good distance to walk to get to the main part of the port area. But it was such a nice day the walk felt good. They had a free shuttle and for the moment the line was short (more on that later). So we started walking and going in and out of shops a long the way.

 

We had 4 ships in port with us so it was busy but no overly so. We picked up a couple of things, shirts hats etc. after a couple hours of walking around and relaxing we headed back to port. As we got to our ship the line of people for the shuttle going back the way we came was HUGE. There must have been 150+ people in line.

 

We got onboard and headed to the buffet for lunch. DW made herself a taco salad and I got a burger.

 

We sat and enjoyed the beautiful day and view and read a book the rest of the day. Before we knew it, it was dinner time.

 

 

 

DW got the crispy tofu and the berry soup. They actually brought her the wrong one (you can see the cream in the photo) but we caught it and they corrected it. I got the escargot and the salmon. Both of which were delicious.

 

 

 

 

 

For mains of course we all got the lobster. DW got the chicken breast. Lobster was perfectly cooked and had great flavor.

 

 

 

 

For dessert I got the pistachio dome which was of course delicious and DW got a blueberry mouse which she said was excellent along with the mandarin sorbet (her favorite one thus far).

 

 

 

 

After dinner we hung out in the piazza and then went to the marriage match game show. It was a lot of fun. The poor Newley wed couple (13 days in) had no idea what they were in for but they were good sports. Afterwards he headed to the cabin where we found the dreaded luggage tags waiting for us on the bed.

 

[Steelers0854]

It was a lazy morning. We got up and out just in time to make the 10am cooking demonstration in Princess Theater. Following that was coffee with the Captain. Capt. Tuvo is a delightful, personable and very engaging captain. Most of the time e I could hardly tell you who the captain was and never paid much attention beyond what their announcement said. Capt. Tuvo on the other hand leaves an impression and is a warm and genuinely happy person.

 

After that it was time for lunch. DW found honey BBQ chicken breast and some fried potato wedges along with grilled veggies. It was pub lunch today and I grabbed a piece of fried fish, scotched egg and some brisket amongst other items. The buffet has impressed every day on this trip.

 

 

We relaxed around the ship before our dinner tonight at the Crown Grill.  MDR menus for tonight are first. 

 

 

 

crown grill menu

 

 

 

Dinner started off with bread service with a sourdough type roll and a gooey mozzarella center.

 

 

DW got a salad for her starter. We got the onion soup, tiger prawns, and lobster cake.

 

 

 

 

 

We all got filets for our entree. One got the surf and turf. I forgot to get a picture with the sides. They aren’t served family style like a traditional steakhouse but they will give you as much of anything you want directly on your plate. We had the mushrooms, baked potato, creamed spinach and asparagus. All of them were very good.  They also serve you 3 salts (pink Himalayan, an applewood smoked, and a black salt). The appplewood smoked salt was fantastic. 

 

 

Major shout out to our awesome head waiter from the MDR, Frederico. He came to the steakhouse to ensure DW was being taken care of and brought with him her special dessert the chefs made her for the evening. The level of service on Princess is just above and beyond.

 

For dessert we got the chocolate trifle, the triple chocolate treasure, and the caramel cheesecake. All of the desserts were out of this world. I had my doubts about the chocolate journey option, but they were right all the flavors worked.

 

 

 

 

 

Overall the meal was very good, much better than what I remember in the past. The salts they served with the steak were excellent and a nice accompaniment. 

[Steelers0854]

It’s a dreary morning in Vancouver, but the temperature is mild. 
 

 

[wblotner66]

Enjoyed you write up. So which nights were the formal night? Just trying to make sure I don’t have specialty restaurants selected those nights.