Cheapo Dad's Trip Report on the Majestic Princess (Maybe with few pictures added)...

[harryfat1]

Technically this is not a number on the map (maybe it’s TT?) but here’s a famous salmon statue that shows the direction the salmon go to spawn (upstream).

 

 

 

 

 

So crossing over the bridge, along the walkway, you soon come across the infamous “Married Men’s Trail” where legend has it is where the various Married Men sneaks up at night time to visit the brothel at creek street.  We walked up that trail back in 2009 and it was fairly steep to go up but the sign said the trail was closed so we didn’t try it this time.

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

#11 – Fish Ladder. They built this to help the Salmon out.  This area is extremely popular as all the tour shuttles drop off their people here for photo opts.  Remember this sourdough tour as we will see them later on

 

 

Since we were lucky enough to visit during salmon season, we saw a lot of salmon action.  Think we stood there for at least 10 minutes taking various pictures and videos.

 

 

 

 

 

So you are wondering - what is the guy talking about?  I can't see any salmon.  Yeah, hard to tell from the dark waters but in live video below, I will show them moving and it'll be more obvious.

 

This next picture, I will point out the salmon in the picture.  Later on when we go to another area where the water is more clear, they will be much more obvious

 

 

From the video you can see the movement of the salmon

 

 

If you are REALLY serious about catching salmon spawning, you can be THAT GUY and bring your serious camera hardware and stood there forever trying to capture the perfect shot.  Heck, I’m just keeping the photos for myself and CC upload, so good enough is good enough until CC pays me more for my efforts...

 

 

 

[4x4bob]

9 hours ago, harryfat1 said:

#11 – Fish Ladder. They built this to help the Salmon out.  This area is extremely popular as all the tour shuttles drop off their people here for photo opts.  Remember this sourdough tour as we will see them later on

 

 

Since we were lucky enough to visit during salmon season, we saw a lot of salmon action.  Think we stood there for at least 10 minutes taking various pictures and videos.

 

 

 

 

 

So you are wondering - what is the guy talking about?  I can't see any salmon.  Yeah, hard to tell from the dark waters but in live video below, I will show them moving and it'll be more obvious.

 

This next picture, I will point out the salmon in the picture.  Later on when we go to another area where the water is more clear, they will be much more obvious

 

 

From the video you can see the movement of the salmon

 

 

If you are REALLY serious about catching salmon spawning, you can be THAT GUY and bring your serious camera hardware and stood there forever trying to capture the perfect shot.  Heck, I’m just keeping the photos for myself and CC upload, so good enough is good enough until CC pays me more for my efforts...

 

 

 

WOW.  You posted: "So good enough is good enough until CC Pays Me More for my efforts"

So, how does the payment rate go?  Is it by length of Post or by the amount of photos submitted?

Inquiring minds want to know.  😁

Bob

[Essiesmom]

2 hours ago, 4x4bob said:

WOW.  You posted: "So good enough is good enough until CC Pays Me More for my efforts"

So, how does the payment rate go?  Is it by length of Post or by the amount of photos submitted?

Inquiring minds want to know.  😁

Bob

I think it’s by the number of ‘likes’ the posts get…

[Essiesmom]

On 10/10/2022 at 1:14 PM, big_schots said:

Thank you for taking the time to write up an informative and entertaining cruise review.  You are a true CHAMPION of the everyman, average cruiser.  I’ve enjoyed your reviews for the past 7-8 years.  Even though probably only 7% of a cruise ship is suites, Cruise Critic gets around 70% of the truly detailed reviews from people sailing in suites, and who have the highest loyalty ranking on the cruise line.  I enjoy those reviews and appreciate the amount of work that goes into them but have a hard time relating to much of their trip reports.  They don’t always represent the where/what a regular cruiser experiences.  Your reports are a wealth of knowledge/ideas for less experienced cruisers, and I have directed a few “newbie” cruise, less affluent, friends to your reviews because of that.  I, like you, place a premium on entertainment, and know that RCCL does entertainment right, especially on those Oasis class ships.  But, Princess still does have a solid product.  Keep up the great work, and I always look forward to your next installment.

And 70% of the questions about cabins/facilities are asking about suites, higher cost cabins.  As if they want everyone know they sail in suites.  EM

[cr8tiv1]

This is my OCD moment.  I stood over the bridge and took videos and multiple shots with my phone (or was it a point and shoot digital camera?).  When I had the time, I searched and edited until I finally got one (1) shot that was keepable.  

 

[Julia’s Journey’s]

On 10/9/2022 at 8:36 PM, travelin.sisters said:

…has finally caught up with the rest of the party before the cruise ends & sheepishly wanders in to the potluck late, carrying a few random offerings inspired by the wonderful posts in this delightful thread…

 

 

…the love boat dream did not need improving or updating IMHO but the version on the Majestic certainly looked more appetizing than this thing on the Sapphire…

…your photo of the condiments in the buffet reminded me of the consternation among passengers & confusion to the crew when they served hotdogs with no mustard available (how unamerican)…we were not only the Sapphire’s return to service cruise but also her first on this side of the world (her current stops in Hawai’i will be her first even though I was told she has been to more ports than any ship in the fleet)…like the Majestic she shows the marks of being built for the Asian market, the first time I got in an elevator & looked to see what floor our destination was on I couldn't tell what button to push because it was only in Chinese…

…here is a mooring line for your collection (mostly taken for the cat to scare away any rodents)…

…I am surprised at your troubles with getting the same table each night as we have succeeded on the Grand, Majestic & Sapphire this year. The Grand & Majestic were nowhere near full, but the Sapphire was 80+%. Also on every Princess ship since we started telling them about our food allergy issues, the head waiter (now restaurant manager) has take over checking our orders & even bringing the menu the night before incase anything needs to be modified for our needs…

 

If my SO gets that love boat dream for dessert it will be a heart broken unloved dream, not sure why they had to change it from the original with the great base to what OP posted😳

SO tells them to hold the red stuff and put chocolate sauce, same with the cheesecake, hold red dots and sauce 😬

 

Agree with OP, love the princess product but over the lack of entertainment, they really need to bring back the shows like they had previously where we had 2 good shows nearly every night and both had a early and late audience. They also used to have fun bands and dancing in the plaza at night.

[Julia’s Journey’s]

Harryfat1,  thanks for the great review, all caught up and awaiting the rest.

[harryfat1]

13 hours ago, 4x4bob said:

WOW.  You posted: "So good enough is good enough until CC Pays Me More for my efforts"

So, how does the payment rate go?  Is it by length of Post or by the amount of photos submitted?

Inquiring minds want to know.  😁

Bob

 

11 hours ago, Essiesmom said:

I think it’s by the number of ‘likes’ the posts get…

Haha, yeah, sorry, in my 87 page contract with CC, there is a Non Disclosure Agreement (NDA) whereby I can't discuss the compensation package as CC pays various reviewers on a different scale so any leak of info will be a major disruption to future contributions of reviewers.

 

Yes, part of the pay scale is based on a number of "likes" we can garner from our trip reviews.  So to borrow the phrase of every YouTuber - please like and subscribe - as Cheapo Dad needs $$ to pay for his brand new Samsung phone that he barely knows how to use.

 

 

[harryfat1]

10 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

This is my OCD moment.  I stood over the bridge and took videos and multiple shots with my phone (or was it a point and shoot digital camera?).  When I had the time, I searched and edited until I finally got one (1) shot that was keepable.  

 

Very nice.  I don't have the patience to stand for a long time to try and find the one perfect photo.  I just overwhelm the readers with lots of mediocre photos instead - quantity over quality...  

[harryfat1]

7 hours ago, Julia’s Journey’s said:

Harryfat1,  thanks for the great review, all caught up and awaiting the rest.

Thank you for the kind words and glad to have you as a current reader. Lots of pictures and reading info to catch up.

 

Call me Harry. 

 

Harryfat1 is my screen name as I used to be Harryfat as that was my screen name from the 90s here on CC but I stopped cruising for awhile after the boys were born and stopped reading CC.  Then when I came back, I forgot my login info but back then I was using the ancient email from AOL (you know you are old when you had AOL email address). So CC was sending their login authentication to an AOL email I no longer have as they used to charge $$ to have AOL accounts. That meant I couldn't get back to my old "Harryfat" account.

 

So I had to create a new login name and just added a "1" to the end... 

 

[harryfat1]

After more than enough salmon pictures, we made a right on Park Avenue from #11 (see the sourdough shuttle leaving as well) to get to:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

#12 – Ketchikan Creek.  Just the upstream part of the creek where at the bottom is where the famous houses on stilts are located.  We will get there later as we wrap around.

Anyway, you see some people fishing by the creek as the same sourdough tour stopping there:

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

It was easy fishing by the creek as there were literally hundreds of salmon swimming in the water:

 

 

 

 

They let couple of tourists from the sourdough hold onto the catch for photo op

 

 

The dude actually caught this himself

 

[harryfat1]

#13 – Bridge crossing gets you to #14 Hatchery (kind of weird back entrance) and then #15 Park area

 

 

You have to walk around the fence to get to the park

 

 

 

 

 

Part of the free downtown shuttle that makes a loop around the area if you don’t want to walk or if the weather is bad.

 

 

#16 – Totem Heritage Center – If you are interested in looking at more totem poles, you can go there to check it out

 

 

 

[travelin.sisters]

1 hour ago, harryfat1 said:

 

Haha, yeah, sorry, in my 87 page contract with CC, there is a Non Disclosure Agreement (NDA) whereby I can't discuss the compensation package as CC pays various reviewers on a different scale so any leak of info will be a major disruption to future contributions of reviewers.

 

Yes, part of the pay scale is based on a number of "likes" we can garner from our trip reviews.  So to borrow the phrase of every YouTuber - please like and subscribe - as Cheapo Dad needs $$ to pay for his brand new Samsung phone that he barely knows how to use.

 

 

if CC sends a post cruise survey, I will be sure to rave about how wonderful Cheapo Dad is as a cruise reviewer

[harryfat1]

21 hours ago, travelin.sisters said:

if CC sends a post cruise survey, I will be sure to rave about how wonderful Cheapo Dad is as a cruise reviewer

Thanks for the compliment. I believe many people reading your current cruise report will be raving about your contribution to the forum as well.

 

At the end of the day, as cruise review writers, we hope to pass on whatever cruise info we have experienced to future cruisers so they can all enjoyed their vacations.

[harryfat1]

OK, I'm assuming most people didn't download the PDF version of the Ketchikan walking tour map, so I have traced in blue on where we have walked so far.

 

We started from the lower left hand corner and now walked almost to the opposite corner and now will turn south back to the cruise dock area:

 

 

 

Now we make a right on Deermount Avenue to go past the residential part of Ketchikan

 

 

 

Looking at the map to see where we are

 

 

Making a right on Steadman Street.  Saw another tour bus drive by

 

 

Some sort of police action going on as various sirens were going off as couple of police trucks (not police cars as we are in Ketchikan and not regular metropolitan city) were whizzing by

 

 

 

We are now back to where the cruise ships docked

 

 

[harryfat1]

#23 – Creek Street.  The official sign of the area.  This is probably the most iconic area of Ketchikan with the colorful houses over the creek. No other area of town is as famous as this area

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

Looking back at #22 – Stedman Street Bridge

 

 

 

Interesting to see maintenance workers down beneath working on the support beams

 

 

Earlier on, I couldn’t get a clear picture of the salmon swimming but they can be easily seen at this section of the Creek.  Yeah, even an inept fisherman like yours truly might be able to catch a salmon or two if I cast a line right over the bridge

 

 

[harryfat1]

#24 – Dolly’s House.  Various workers trying to persuade people to pay admission to see the historical place using adult suggestive language. A tad uncomfortable if you are traveling with a family as the workers (ladies in green and purples dresses) our front are trying to imitate a prostitute in getting people that walks by to go in for a $10/pp tour

 

 

As there are various shops on Creek Steed, time to visit the uncle in prison (aka shopping)

 

 

 

 

 

Oh, yeah, a lot cheaper than what ISP was selling their jackets.  Although the range of sizes are more limited at Creek Street as maybe more people buy them here.  For $5 more, you can get the similar jackets at other stores in Ketchikan.  

 

Regardless, as we all need to buy some sort of souvenir for folks back home, this is the port to load up

 

 

For the Star Wars fans out there

 

[harryfat1]

This is the funicular that you could ride to the top of the lodge.  Another way to get there for free is walk the "Married men's trail" we skipped few posts ago.

 

We did the walk back in 2009 and got to the top of the hill and then took the funicular down.  There is a cost to go up but coming down is free but it was not operating the day we were in town. 

 

 

Most shops

 

 

 

After buying whatever souvenirs we wanted, we made a full circle back at #25 where we were earlier

 

 

 

Chinese Restaurant

 

 

No idea.  Not taken by me...

 

[Coralc]

15 hours ago, harryfat1 said:

Looking back at #22 – Stedman Street Bridge

 

 

 

 

 

Interesting to see maintenance workers down beneath working on the support beams

 

 

 

Earlier on, I couldn’t get a clear picture of the salmon swimming but they can be easily seen at this section of the Creek.  Yeah, even an inept fisherman like yours truly might be able to catch a salmon or two if I cast a line right over the bridge

 

 

 

Harry, are they Chinook Salmon? 

Edited October 13, 2022 by Coralc

[harryfat1]

5 hours ago, Coralc said:

 

Harry, are they Chinook Salmon? 

Good question.  Sorry to say I don't know my salmon types.

 

Per this site, there are 5 types of salmons in Ketchikan:

 

https://www.experienceketchikan.com/types-of-salmon.html

 

[Coralc]

1 hour ago, harryfat1 said:

Good question.  Sorry to say I don't know my salmon types.

 

Per this site, there are 5 types of salmons in Ketchikan:

 

https://www.experienceketchikan.com/types-of-salmon.html

 

Thanks! That is very interesting. Especially how their appearance changes when they are spawning. 

[harryfat1]

As we headed back to the pier area, we wanted to get some smoked salmon as that’s what the many of the stores were selling. 

 

The prices are the general stores for the pre packaged smoked salmon were not cheap and only 4 or 6 ounces.  So we headed back to the salmon specialty store we saw earlier that had better pricing and we got some there to bring back as gifts for folks back home

 

 

 

 

 

Walking to the salmon specialty store