Review Sapphire Princess and 7 Day Independent Land Tour

[Tyrkitty]

Larry,

 

Now that I can tell you have been on the Radiance as well as the Sapphire I would be interested in a comparison from you. As I mentioned before we are booked on a 31 day on the Sapphire next year and have sailed on the Serenade and the Radiance. Our only other experience is with Disney. Knowing this do you think we will be satisfied with the Sapphire.

I'm really enjoying your reports. I was very jealous of your pictures and commentary on Michelle with Island Wings. Our trip with her last week had to be cancelled due to weather. Guess that just means I have to plan another trip to Alaska.

[themerle]

Larry,

Your pictures and your review is great. I'm looking forward to more of your review. I'm going to Alaska in July for the first time and can't wait after seeing your photos! You might have mentioned this already, but, what kind of camera did you use?

[LarryF]

Larry,

 

Now that I can tell you have been on the Radiance as well as the Sapphire I would be interested in a comparison from you. As I mentioned before we are booked on a 31 day on the Sapphire next year and have sailed on the Serenade and the Radiance. Our only other experience is with Disney. Knowing this do you think we will be satisfied with the Sapphire.

I'm really enjoying your reports. I was very jealous of your pictures and commentary on Michelle with Island Wings. Our trip with her last week had to be cancelled due to weather. Guess that just means I have to plan another trip to Alaska.

 

We've never been on the Radiance, but have been on the Serenade which is virtually the same ship as the Radiance. It's a hard question to answer your question because everyone is unique and has their different priorities. The Sapphire is larger than the Radiance and I think I would prefer to be on a larger ship on a 31 day cruise especially in open waters as it may be more stable than smaller ships.

 

In my opinion RCCL has better entertainment and activities, but I give the edge on food slightly to Princess and the princess is more elegant and definitely has more space and areas for privacy. The Sapphire also has many more pools and Hot Tubs than the Radiance or Serende.

 

I am sure you will love your 31 day cruise!! I wish I had that kind of time...maybe in a few more years..

 

Larry

[LarryF]

Larry,

Your pictures and your review is great. I'm looking forward to more of your review. I'm going to Alaska in July for the first time and can't wait after seeing your photos! You might have mentioned this already, but, what kind of camera did you use?

 

I used a Canon XT SLR digital camera with the regular lens that comes wiht it, plus a 75mm X 300mm zoom lens that I already had with my old Canon Rebel 35mm camera.

 

I bought it about a month before the cruise and really never had time to get lessons, so most of my pictures were just in the automatic settings!

 

I am pleased with most of the pictures, but really want to learn how to use the manual settings for my next trip!

 

Larry

[rjscott]

Larry, great review. We'll be on the Sapphire late August, so I'm gathering info on both the ports and the ship from your notes.

[LarryF]

Larry, great review. We'll be on the Sapphire late August, so I'm gathering info on both the ports and the ship from your notes.

 

 

Glad to be of help to you. I'm hoping to post a lot this weekend and at least get to the beginning of our land trip before too long passes... so everone hand in there...

 

Larry

[cjnky]

Standing by tapping foot and waiting for next chapter! :)

[LarryF]

Standing by tapping foot and waiting for next chapter! :)

 

Boy, the pressure of getting this review out is making me want to go back to Alaska! LOL!

 

Someone needs to tell my boss to stop working me so hard so I can finish this review!

 

I am almost half way through the Juneau review, but it's getting late and will finish it in the morning. I promise I'll have it posted by noon!

 

Again, I'm hoping to at least finish up the cruise portion of the review by Sunday....

 

Larry

[themerle]

Larry

 

Thanks for the info on the camera. You did a great job taking your pictures even without lessons! I want us to get a new camera for our trip. I've been looking at lots of photos and seeing what kind of camera everyone is using. Thanks again.

[Solara]

Hi Larry,

 

:o I'm patiently waiting to hear about your land tour. Say hi to Amy and tell her to e-mail me. Donna

[MAGNOLIA1134]

Thank you so much for the detailed review. I'm going on the Sapphire next May 17. I'm looking forward to your next installment.

[LarryF]

Hello all,

 

To continue….

 

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

 

It was another early morning for me as I got up about 6:00 a.m. so I could watch us come into the Port of Juneau. A peak through the curtains let the great sunlight spill into the room! Wow, it was going to be another sunny bright day in Alaska! I quickly threw on several layers and made my way to the Sun Deck to snap pictures as we came into Juneau. It was a beautiful morning with temperatures in the mid 40’s. It was fun to watch us dock as the captain had to maneuver the ship between the HAL Zandam and NCL Star cruise ships. I’ve never seen a ship parallel park before! :confused:

 

Amy slept a little later this day as we didn’t have to meet our shuttle van from Harv and Marv’s whale watching until 9:00 a.m. Oh, I forgot to mention that Sunday night before we went to bed, we set our clocks back one hour as Alaska is 4 hours behind EST and we got an extra hour of sleep!

 

We did our same routine with breakfast about 7:45 a.m.; however, I added a smoked salmon and cheese omelet to my normal breakfast fare. It was delicious! I must say that all the crew in the Horizon Court was very efficient. It was hard to find a table each morning and each crew member was helpful finding one for us. They cleared tables as fast as they could, sometimes while you were still eating! They also were great in bringing handicapped and elderly people’s trays of food to their tables.

 

After breakfast we went back to the room to pack our backpacks for our day of whale watching and hiking at Mendenhall Glacier. As we were going to be out on a small boat we brought all our layers including wool hats and gloves as well as our cameras and pair of newly purchased Zen Ray Binoculars. I read about the Zen Ray Binoculars on one of the cruise critic postings. Amy thought I was crazy when I bought them. But she changed her tune when we started using them in Alaska. She hardly ever let me use them! It was one of the best purchases I ever made. We really loved them and highly recommend them. They are very strong 10X50 glasses and we were able to see so much wildlife with so much clarity, it was great! Do not go to Alaska without a good pair of Binoculars!

 

We left the ship at about 8:30 a.m. No argument with the photographers this morning as I walked right up in front of the camera and gave the goofiest smile I could muster and told everyone to have a great day!! :D

 

Our meeting place to take the van for Harv and Marv’s tour was in the parking lot of the Mt. Roberts Tram building. It literally is about a 2 minute walk from the ship. We were a little early, so we grabbed a hot chocolate from an espresso stand and walked around a few of the gift shops; yes the same type of gift shops you would find in any Caribbean port!

 

Our van showed up a few minutes before 9:00 a.m. and there was just one other couple that joined us on the van. They were sailing on the NCL Star and were very nice. They were from England. So it was only going to be a total of 4 of us on the boat! Wow… two days in a row now with great weather and only 4 of us on the tour!

 

The van driver’s name was Stan and he has lived in Alaska all his life. He gave us a great tour on the way and told us a lot about Juneau. The van ride took about 20 minutes.

 

We met Marv on the dock; although his name is really Pete. I can’t remember Pete’s partner’s name, but they have been best friends for their entire life. They alternate who will be Harv and who will be Marv each year! :confused:

 

Our boat was large enough to hold 8 people comfortably so it was very roomy for just the 4 of us. I would guess the boat was about 15 to 20 feet long. It had an inside cabin that sat the 4 of us and the Captain very comfortably. We had our own binoculars, but they had plenty of extra binoculars for us to use as well. You could swing open the front door and there was a small 3 or 4 foot area to stand on or you could go out the back door on to about a 6 foot area; both great for watching the whales and taking pictures. Lunch was not served on this tour, but they had crackers, chips, candy, sodas and water for refreshments. By the time we boarded, the skies were sunny with no clouds and the temperature was about 60 degrees. Once again the layers came peeling off!

 

Not long after we got started we spotted a bald eagle sitting in a tree which was a nice treat. It was slow going at first to find any whales, but after about 30 minutes we spotted our first one and then it was almost non stop for the next two hours of seeing whale after whale! Pete was always in constant touch with other boats in the area as they all shared information with one another as to where they spotted whales or other wildlife.

 

I took so many photos I came close to using 1 mg. of memory! It was just so fantastic to first see the steam come out of there blow holes and then they glided so smoothly in the water and then finally dove down to the depths of the water, not before showing off there tail (cannot remember the technical term) before they went down. We also saw sea lions lounging on a buoy. One of the sea lions was playing king of the hill and not letting other sea lions in the water to get up on the buoy. They were all barking at each other and it was fun to watch them.

 

I wish we could have seen one of the whales breach out of the water, but it was great just to be so lucky to see all the whales we did. We really enjoyed our time with Pete and loved our tour with him. I didn’t give Pete a big hug like Michelle, but did give him a good tip for making the day so special for us.

 

We then boarded the van and Stan took us to Mendenhall Glacier. The ride to Mendenhall was only about 10 minutes. Once there we saw a ranger outside the visitor and center and told him we wanted to find an easy hike. He recommended we take a path that would lead us down to the water and we could hike along the water to a large waterfall much closer to the Glacier. He told us that usually the hike was very muddy and sometimes too muddy to hike, but they had a lot of dry weather recently and there was very little mud at all. It was the perfect hike for us as it was mainly flat and took about 25 to 30 minutes to get to the waterfall. This was our first Glacier on the trip and it was so exciting to see all the blue ice on the Glacier and all the ice in floating in the water. You can literally walk right up to the waterfall and could even stand underneath it if you wanted a really cold shower! It was very powerful and roared as the water came cascading down the mountain. We stayed there for about 30 to 45 minutes and just admired the beauty of the gorgeous weather and the incredible scenery. We watched a canoe with about 10 people in it paddle a few hundred feet in front of the Glacier and they really gave us a good perspective of how high the Glacier was. It was also a neat Kodak moment!

 

When we made our back up toward the visitor center, we asked the ranger where we could get the shuttle bus back to town and he pointed to a covered area across the parking lot. There were a number of people standing there. When the bus pulled up, it was very confusing as to whether this was the bus we were supposed to take. Some of the first people that boarded were loudly told by the bus drive, “wrong bus.” Not sure if the bus driver even spoke English! When we boarded, we didn’t have tickets like some of the other people and I told him we were going downtown and asked him if this was this right bus? He just pointed his finger for us to sit down. I asked him how much the fare was to which he pointed to a sign that had the amount (can’t remember how much it was). We decided to go straight back to the ship as we had not had lunch and it was about 3:30 p.m.

 

Once on the ship we dropped our stuff in the cabin and went to lunch at the Horizon Court. They were serving fried shrimp in the buffet along with all the other items, so we loaded up on the shrimp and took our plates to the outside pool. We added a slice of pizza to our plate and then ate like we’d never eaten before! We had really worked up quite an appetite after whale watching all morning and hiking at Mendenhall Glacier most of the afternoon!

 

After lunch we went back off the ship to walk around Juneau a little as we had spent no time in the city at all. We didn’t venture to far as we were pretty exhausted. Amy bought a few gifts in one of the gift shops and we were back on the ship within an hour. As it now became my routine, I donned the bathing suit and went to the aft pool Jacuzzi. There were always interesting people in the Jacuzzi. Today was no exception. There were two couples I met; one was from Dallas and the other from Southern California. We were all having a great conversation about our Alaska experiences when a very intoxicated very heavy set guy decided to splash his way into the Jacuzzi! I really mean a big splash! :eek: I had seen him around the ship on a few other occasions and he always had a drink in his hand and couldn’t walk a straight line. If he wasn’t so pathetic it would have been funny listening to him talk about how poor his family was and how they had gotten this trip free. He finally got out and joined some others to play shuffle board and it was a hoot to keep watching his bathing suit fall down to his knees:eek: , to which he was totally oblivious!

 

I came back down to the room and took a nice 1 hour nap as Amy sat out on the balcony and read her book. We made our way to dinner at about 8:00 p.m. The nice thing about personal choice is you do not have any timeline to meet and can go to dinner when and wear you want and can either dine alone or join others. We never once had to wait for a table the entire trip. It was Italian night and we ate in the Sante Fe Dining Room. At our request we were seated with two other couples. One of the couples was from San Diego and the wife looked to be about 20 years older than her husband! The other couple was Asian and very quiet. We had a delightful dinner with them. We were sitting by the window on the Port side and had great views as the ship as we sailed out of Juneau. We passed lots of waterfalls and snowcapped mountains; not a bad way to enjoy dinner! As I may have mentioned before, we are not big fans of Italian night as we really didn’t see anything on the menu that appealed to us, so we both ordered from the everyday menu. We both had the Shrimp Cocktail appetizer which was very good. Amy had the grilled Salmon which she enjoyed. I had a Caesar Salad which I usually get for my salad dish and find it to be very tasty. I took a chance and ordered the steak from the every day menu. The last time I did this on a previous Princess cruise, the steak was very thin, way over cooked and tasted like shoe leather. This time the steak was cooked just right, but was very thin. It was the kind of steak you would expect to get in a Golden Coral type restaurant. So it wasn’t great, but it was tasty and I did eat it all, so I guess I can’t complain too much! Amy had a delicious soufflé for dessert and I had rum raison ice cream and it was yummy.

 

After dinner we made our way to the Princess Theatre for the 10:15 p.m. show. Tonight’s billing was a singer named Michelle Murlin. She has performed on Broadway in Cats, Les Miserables, and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. She was really good. We very much enjoyed her performance. She was accompanied by the Princess Orchestra led by David Pitchfork and they did an excellent job as well. I highly recommend this show especially if you enjoy Broadway tunes.

 

For some reason we had a little extra energy after the show and had drinks with our friends Donna and Mike in the Crooner’s Lounge and listened to the piano tunes of Ron Coleman. It was a relaxing way to end the evening.

 

Tomorrow we would be in Skagway and as the ship gently rocked me to sleep, not in a million years would my dreams ever conjure up the incredibly beautiful journey that was ahead of us….

 

To be continued….

 

Larry

[xanadu seeker]

I am leaving NB on the Island Princess on Monday. I appreciate your journal and will revise my packing list to be less "smart casual" I am glad to have the extra space for regular clothes. But your cliff hanger on this last entry has me so looking forward to your next entry.

 

Great reading, thanks,

[ladysheri]

We met Marv on the dock; although his name is really Pete. I can’t remember Pete’s partner’s name, but they have been best friends for their entire life. They alternate who will be Harv and who will be Marv each year! :confused:

 

 

I wonder if this is a little like the Dread Pirate Roberts situation from Princess Bride (the movie)...perhaps at one time there were real people "Harv & Marv" but they sold/moved on and the name was the best part of the business so they just kept it and played the parts. Kinda cute.

 

BTW...thanks so much for your review and pictures. We did the opposite (SB) of this trip last year and it has been fun to read about your trip this year and relive some of our experiences. Also, very seriously considering doing it again next year, perhaps NB, and it is fun to consider new Alaska adventures we haven't had yet. Misty Fjords tour looks absolutely stunning.

[LarryF]

I wonder if this is a little like the Dread Pirate Roberts situation from Princess Bride (the movie)...perhaps at one time there were real people "Harv & Marv" but they sold/moved on and the name was the best part of the business so they just kept it and played the parts. Kinda cute.

 

BTW...thanks so much for your review and pictures. We did the opposite (SB) of this trip last year and it has been fun to read about your trip this year and relive some of our experiences. Also, very seriously considering doing it again next year, perhaps NB, and it is fun to consider new Alaska adventures we haven't had yet. Misty Fjords tour looks absolutely stunning.

 

Thanks for your comments. Misty Fjords was just beautiful.

 

I was going to ask Pete about the history of Harv and Marv, but I just go to excited over the whales to remember to ask him!

 

Larry

[jessinphilly]

Larry, when will we get the rest of your post. I can barely tear myself away to go to a movie tonight with my dh!! We leave in about 2 weeks, but I leave on Friday to start my journey to the west coast! Tying up all loose ends and want to hear about the rest of your magical tour ;)

[cjnky]

If you aren't a professional writer, you SHOULD BE!!! You had me rollin' with the "parallel parking", photographer (glad you found your manners with this one ROFL!) :D, and the "Big Splash"!!

 

Now I'll sit here and anxiously await Skagway! :)

[qiangf2]

After breakfast we went back to the room to pack our backpacks for our day of whale watching and hiking at Mendenhall Glacier. As we were going to be out on a small boat we brought all our layers including wool hats and gloves as well as our cameras and pair of newly purchased Zen Ray Binoculars. I read about the Zen Ray Binoculars on one of the cruise critic postings. Amy thought I was crazy when I bought them. But she changed her tune when we started using them in Alaska. She hardly ever let me use them! It was one of the best purchases I ever made. We really loved them and highly recommend them. They are very strong 10X50 glasses and we were able to see so much wildlife with so much clarity, it was great! Do not go to Alaska without a good pair of Binoculars!

 

We left the ship at about 8:30 a.m. No argument with the photographers this morning as I walked right up in front of the camera and gave the goofiest smile I could muster and told everyone to have a great day!! :D

 

 

Larry

 

Thanks a lot for the great review!

haha..I felt being arrested everytime the photographers block the only pathway and you have to politely participate the photo ops.. BTW, I didn't know they also have 50mm glass. I think I will make do with my 10x42 for now..

[BlueSapphire]

Larry - I'm on the June 23rd south-bound sailing of the Sapphire and I've been hunting for reviews of the first Sapphire Alaska sailings of the year. I was so happy to read your reviews - you're an excellent story teller! I'm so excited about the trip and it's great to get some teasers of what to look forward to. We also booked w/Harv & Marv - can't wait to see some whales! We are doing a 7-day independent road trip before we sail, so we leave Saturday and I may miss the last entries of your review, but I'll be checking daily until then!

[LarryF]

Hello all,

 

To continue…

 

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

 

I woke with a lot of anticipation of today’s drive on the South Klondike Hwy. to Carcross and Emerald Lake. It was an early morning for me as is so typical when we cruise. I just don’t want to miss anything and I love watching the ship coming into port. Once again, we were blessed with a beautiful day with sunny blue skies! There were four ships in port including two NCL ships and one Holland America ship. Skagway is a very small city and it was nice to know that we would be driving out of town to avoid all the crowds. We wanted to be one of the first to get to Avis car rental so we ate breakfast around 7:30 a.m. with our usual healthy breakfast fare. It was in the 40’s so we wore several layers and packed water and snacks in our backpacks for the long drive. We left the ship about 8:00 a.m. It is about a 10 minute walk to get to downtown Skagway, but we caught a shuttle for $1 each. The shuttle ride takes about 3 minutes and dropped us off very close to the Avis office.

 

We were the second people there to rent a car. We were promptly waited on by a representative who was very nice and informative. There were 3 young ladies working in the office and we found out that they normally work for Avis in Seattle, but were transferred to Skagway for the summer and Avis pays for their boarding and other expenses. It’s a great set up for them and I sure wish I was that young again and could take advantage of that kind of deal!

 

She offered us a map and we told her we already had a good guide to use and she said, “you must have Murray’s guide.” There were now several other renters lined behind us and all of them said they had Murray’s guide as well! :) The process was very quick as we were out the door about 10 minutes after we had arrived. It’s good that we arrived when we did, because the line was out the door by the time we left.

 

During the past year I had asked the question on these boards and read many replies as to whether it was best to take the train or drive the South Klondike Hwy. We had several friends that had taken the train and told how great the scenery was and there were so many compelling posts confirming how wonderful it was taking the Train into the Yukon. There were equally numbers of post with compelling reasons to drive. Ultimately, I decided to do the drive for budgetary reasons ($85 to rent a car plus gas versus $200 for the rail tour) and the fact that we could stop any where along the way at any time we wanted appealed to me greatly. I also knew we would come back to Alaska another time and could take the train then. Friends that had taken the train thought we were crazy to drive saying that I would miss the scenery while driving, but many posts on these boards led me to believe otherwise. The others were right.

 

So, we loaded up the car and began our drive as Amy kept close tabs on Murray’s guide and commentary. Before you get out of town you can take a gravel road to a cemetery that is famous for the graves of Soapy Smith and Frank Reid. There was a tour going on when we got there, so we sort of tagged along and learned the history of the cemetery. At the back of the cemetery we took a short trail to a nice picturesque water fall. The views from the base of the cemetery are beautiful and two trains with lots of passengers passed by while we all waved to each other. It was a cool picture to shoot the train against the snow capped mountains background.

 

Back on the road we began our ascent to the summit and the scenery started building after each turn in the highway. The highway is a two lane well maintained road. There are many pass lanes all along the way to Carcross and beyond. I had the impression that the road was going to be a scary winding road with hairpin turns, but that is not the case at all. It was a very safe road with no dangerous areas.

 

 

On two occasions in my life I have been blessed to witness the greatest miracle in life as I watched my two children take their first breath of air as they were being born. There are very few other times in my life when I have experienced that same type of euphoric feeling. I feel I have been lucky enough on a few vacation trips to experience what I called a perfect day. Shortly after passing the U.S. Customs building on our left and as our rental car with it’s 4 cylinder engine groaned to make it to the crest of a winding uphill road, we rounded the next bend and our nice ride into the Yukon wilderness turned into a magical journey into a fantasy land that even the greatest movie directors would be hard pressed to re-create. Snow capped mountains; glowing snow covered frozen lakes and rivers against the deepest blue skies you’ve ever seen… I was given one of those precious perfect days!

 

I just cannot describe the beauty of this frozen wonderland set before our eyes. Any doubts about renting the car and driving flew out the window. In fact as we pulled over and walked out on to the snow covered frozen tundra that showed no sign any human had ever set foot on this spot, I felt a little sorry for those people stuck on the buses zooming by as all they could do was watch us as Amy and I started throwing snow balls at each other! :)

 

I don’t know if the road gets busier later in the season, but there were very few cars on the road and we saw more Princess and HAL buses than anything else. I could go on and on and on about the incredible scenery, but it’s something you just have to do yourself to really grasp the vastness and beauty of British Colombia and the Yukon. Murray’s commentary and mile by mile description is incredible. After stopping constantly to take in every view we stopped in Carcross for a bathroom break and to walk around the booming metropolis! Not! It’s a quaint picturesque little town. We walked through the Carcross information center. I got a Hazel Nut Ice Cream Cone that was really good. They had a lot of Alaskan made handcrafts and clothing for sale.

 

From there we drove 10 miles to Emerald Lake. Just as seen in the many pictures I had downloaded on line, the lake was an incredibly greenish blue color that was just beautiful. While my main objective was to see Emerald Lake, I never imagined how incredible and beautiful the drive in BC and Yukon was going to be, so viewing Emerald Lake was just icing on the cake of an incredible drive!

 

We drove back to towards Carcross and decided to stop at Spirit Lake Lodge for lunch. I thought I remembered reading somewhere that the service was very slow at this restaurant, but wasn’t sure, so we gave it a try. When we pulled up to the restaurant there was a Princess bus parked in front. As we entered the restaurant, I was thinking about leaving, but saw no one waiting, so we proceeded to go in. There are two rooms in the restaurant and the back room was filled with all the bus passengers. We were seated in the front room fairly quickly and had our order taken in a decent amount of time. It appeared the only staff at the restaurant was a husband and wife team. I had a cheeseburger and fries which was very tasty and Amy ordered a special that included soup, sandwich and pie. The soup was a vegetable beef, the sandwich ham and cheese, and the dessert was a mixed berry pie. It was all very good. While we were eating another bus load showed up with dozens of passengers and they formed a line and were served pre-packaged sandwiches and chips in sort of a buffet line along the register area. :eek: There were other customers in the front room who had not ordered yet or had not been served their food and it was obvious the bus passengers were the first priority at this point. After 15 or 20 minutes, most of those customers walked out of the restaurant and were not happy campers! When we were done with our meal, it was also apparent we were not going to get our check any time soon, so rather than get upset I grabbed a menu and calculated what we owed and left money for the meal plus tip on the table. While the food was decent, I wouldn’t recommend going to this restaurant unless you can confirm that no buses will be stopping there.

 

On our way back I still just could not get over the incredible beauty of the sites. It seemed like we were literally in another world. I found an area about 50 yards off the road where there was a 10 - 15 foot high by 75-100 foot wide rock formation in the middle of snow. I just had to climb on those rocks, so I ventured out into the snow in what initially was about ankle deep and became knee deep as I finally reached the rocks! I am just mesmerized by snow as I was raised in the south my whole life and have never been around snow most of my life. The view from the rocks was worth the trek and climb and it would have been a perfect place to have a picnic if we had had the forethought to do so. The temperature had now reached the high 50’s or low 60’s and was just perfect!

 

It was about 2:30 p.m. and with about a 2 hour drive to get back to Skagway, I climbed off he rocks and we started heading back. I was so happy with the day I was beside myself and couldn’t imagine how things could get much better, when all of a sudden right there in front of us on the left side of the road was a baby black bear just walking on the road! I had been so enamored with the scenery I never even thought about seeing wildlife and was so shocked when we came across the bear!

 

There was a turnout about 20 feet in front of the bear, so I pulled into that spot. The bear began to walk off the road into a bushy area and we thought he was gone, when he then climbed a small tree and started eating leaves. We stayed there for about 30 minutes while I emptied the memory in my camera with shot after shot! I became the hero of the day as I flagged down cars and buses to see the bear. It was funny to see the passengers giving me a “thumbs up” sign as they jumped over each other to get pictures of the bear!

 

We would go on to see many other bears over the rest of our trip, but seeing that first bear was something really special!

 

We made our way back to Skagway about 5:30 p.m. There is only one gas station in town that we found very easy. The couple that had rented their car right before us was filling up their car and we excitedly compared notes and talked about each of our experiences on the drive! Unleaded gas was $3.87 per gallon :eek: , but as long as we had driven we only used 4.5 gallons of gas and paid a little over $17.00 to fill the tank up! We then turned the car in to Avis which took no time at all.

 

As it was now late in the day we decided to not walk around the shops in Skagway and walked back to the ship. It’s only about a 10 minute walk to the ship from Downtown and we walked with a couple from Alabama and enjoyed conversing with them on the pretty walk to the ship.

 

Once back on the ship, it was time for a nice hour long nap! After the nap I showered and changed for dinner and went to the Internet café to try to download some pictures to email back home. As a Princess Platinum member, I was given a credit of $75 to purchase 150 minutes of internet time. The way it works is that $75 is posted to your account, but a $75 credit is also posted to your account which makes it a wash. If you use more than the allotted 150 minutes, you are billed for that on your account. As I had already dumped my photos from my memory card to my laptop there was no way for me to download pictures on to the café’s computers. They have a slots you can place your memory card into to download pictures, but do not have USB ports where I could use my thumb drive.

 

We were going to eat dinner in the Vivali Dining room, but it looked like there was a line, so we went over to the Sante Fe Dining room right next door and were seated right away. We were seated at a table of 6 as we requested to dine with others, but after several minutes no one else had come in and we went ahead and dined alone. Unfortunately my note taking for meals was not very good for the last three nights of the cruise. I do remember that I had the Caesar Salad and the Crab Legs for dinner. The crab legs were excellent! Of course it was ice cream for dessert and I think it was butter pecan, my favorite! Amy had Halibut which she very much enjoyed.

 

Tonight’s billing in the Princes Theater was a magician by the name of Jeff Peterson which didn’t sound very appealing so we went to the Explorer’s lounge with our friends to see a hypnotist named Steve Baynor. We had seen Steve before on previous Princess cruises and really enjoy his shows. You never know what people are going to say or do under hypnosis. His show this night was not quite as good in the past as it appeared only 2 people really seemed to be hypnotized. In past shows there have been as many as 10 or 12. But the show was still enjoyable and I recommend seeing him.

 

Well, today obviously was just a great day. Sleep came very easily even though the Alaskan summer sky remained light at 11:00 p.m. Snapshots of snowy mountain tops, frozen lakes and rivers floated through my head while I had a funny feeling that tomorrow was going to be a special day in Glacier Bay….

 

To be continued….

 

Larry

[SleevesEnd]

To be continued….

 

Larry

 

Larry, thank you so much for taking the time to write your wonderful review. I keep checking the boards to see if the next "installment" is in! We leave for your exact trip ... only backwards ... next Saturday. You've got me chomping at the bit to get there already! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

[cjnky]

VERY enjoyable reading - as always! :)

[Winedogs]

Larry-

 

Thanks for the beautiful pictures and the review. My husband and I are in the planning stages for a cruise on the Coral for June 2 2008 with an independent tour precruise. Your reviews are giving me lots of ideas for our trip.

 

Thank you

 

Debbie

[Tyrkitty]

I am so enjoying your reports and am so jealous of your weather! We came southbound the following week and had a lot of drizzle and Mist. I know we need to go back to Alaska, but am kidding about canceling our trip next year on the Sapphire. Since you have just been on her though, I'm wondering what you thought of the beds. There is another thread going on right now about Princess and the terrible beds. Maybe it depends on the ship. You keep taking naps during the afternoon, so I'm assuming they can't be too bad! :)

[LarryF]

I am so enjoying your reports and am so jealous of your weather! We came southbound the following week and had a lot of drizzle and Mist. I know we need to go back to Alaska, but am kidding about canceling our trip next year on the Sapphire. Since you have just been on her though, I'm wondering what you thought of the beds. There is another thread going on right now about Princess and the terrible beds. Maybe it depends on the ship. You keep taking naps during the afternoon, so I'm assuming they can't be too bad! :)

 

 

I guess my wife and I are just two of the most non-picky people in the world. This was our fifth cruise on princess and have cruised 10 other times on RCCL, NCL, HAL and CArnival and have never found a bed I couldn't sleep on. I honestly don't remember any bed being any different on any of the cruises. None of the beds have been high quality like you might find in Ritz Carlotn or W hotel, but they all have been adequate.

 

As much as some people complain about the coffee, pillows, beds and food, I'm not sure why they even go on cruise ships!!

 

I found the beds on the Sapphire very comfortable. I never had a problem falling asleep for a nap or for the evening.