Yippppeeeee! So happy for both of you on your negative Covid test. It has to be a huge relief. Enjoying your daily posts, thanks for taking the time out of your day to let us travel vicariously with you to Alaska.
British - What a relief! We will be leaving on Wednesday, July 20 for the Inside Passage of Alaska with Silversea. The Tauck tour group will be on the same ship. We are getting tested on Tuesday late afternoon. We have been using the free kits and so far we have tested negative. Thank you for your postings and look forward to reading more. Have fun!
If you enjoyed Downton Abbey; you will love “A Place to Call Home” on the Acorn channel. Although I loved Downton Abbey, this was an amazing mini-series set in Australia. It’s very similar to Downton, only better.
and for those down-market, the show is also on PBS.
p.s. can anyone translate? "Thanks for your early food isles yo two." good wishes? great brain teaser.
ALASKA DAY 7
We left Fairbanks yesterday, now just 29 of us. We had to get up at 4-15am and have bags out fro 5 and leave the hotel at 6-15am to get to the airport for our flight to Anchorage, just 45 mins. We got a very clear view of Mount Denali peeping through the clouds, it looked incredibly beautiful. The bus driver we had earlier in the week collected us. It was very rainy weather heading for Wittier and the Royal Princess ship. We lucked out on the way because at our planned stop at the Alaska Native Heritage Museum, the rain eased and we were able to walk around the lake and view all the example traditional homes of the native peoples of Alaska. We could walk inside and see things like clothing and tools they used and some buildings had interpreters in them to explain life and everything on display. Inside there was a live singing/dance performance and display cabinets with clothing and beautiful crafts. I especially like the amazing intricately made basket ware. I’ve never seen such fine weaving that you almost need a magnifying glass to see the weaving.
As soon as we got back on the bus, it starter to rain again and continued all the way to Anchorage where we stopped back at the Mount Cook hotel for lunch. It wax apparently a traditional American fried chicken feast with mashed potatoes, corn on the cob gravy and biscuits. I can honest say I’ve rarely experienced fried chicken! My piece had a few scrapes of meat in amongst all the batter. Everyone thought it was good, to me, just not worth the effort and calories. The berry cobbler was sickly sweet. But this is all good, I’ll save myself for the ship’s food.
Our journey continued on to Wittier, where I am proud to say I was the one who spotted a moose browsing vegetation at the side of the road. Unfortunately the driver was not able to stop as there was some traffic behind us and it was a narrow road. My many Safaris really do help me spot wildlife anywhere these days.
Just before reaching Wittier, the bus entered the tunnel where there is a one way drive through literally straddling the rail lines for two and a half miles. We reached the port in torrents rain, scrambled into the Princess building and presented out passports, vaccination cards and Covid test results. We then walked through a series of tented walkway tunnels to reach the s. The rain was blowing sideways and we got wet and cold. At the end of the tunnel there were ship personnel with umbrellas for the last few yards to the ship ramp. Needless to say, they were useless in such extreme weather.
This is our first time on a big cruise ship. Of course we were overcome from the size and luxurious surroundings. We found our cabin number A 524 and are very pleased with its size, even the bathroom is only a little smaller than a typical bathroom I’m a British home and without the electric outlets too. We then found a letter on the desk telling us that on the final day, the ship would bo longer be getting into Port on the last day at 4am, but 9-30am. If our flights were earlier than 1-30 pm we were unlikely to make them. Yep, that’s us, our flight is 1-25pm. We contacted our TD who was unaware of this. He said he would speak to the embarkation officer but uterine officer would be too busy right now, so it might be a couple of days before he could get back to us. Yes, you might know we booked our own flights for this trip and they are non refundable. Mr. B was extreme stressed by this and after the relief of having a negative Covid test too.
So it’s 6-30am and last night we had a wonderful dinner on the ship. Wonderful service. We have found ourselves hanging out with 5 to 7 others on this trip, all the ones who we were drawn to at the Welcome dinner…the mask wearing crowd 😀 Princess now enforces mask wearing throughout the ship in public places, this is a recent change. Everyone else on our tour has been wearing masks since we lost the ‘Covid 10’ if you were to stand all of us in a row, I still could not say if I would recognize most of the other people on our tour, it’s really weird….
I can’t post more photos right now, got to sort the memory on my phone, but I’m keeping it turned off while I’m on the ship….more later
British
It wax apparently a traditional American fried chicken feast with masked potatoes, corn cobs, gravy and biscuits. I can honest
say I’ve rarely experienced fried chicken! My piece had a few scrapes of meat in amongst all the batter. Everyone thought it was > good, to me, just not worth the effort and calories. The berry cobbler was sickly sweet.
You better stick with Beef Wellington and Sticky Toffee Pudding (and avoid the midwestern US, since that is as classic a meal there, as Beef Wellington is in the UK). My parents were from Iowa so I've had the meal you described hundreds of times growing up. One of my favorites!
Edited - Hopefully just typos - mashed potatoes and corn on the cob. If they served corn cobs, then that would be something.
Isn’t that funny! My iPad now recognizes how often I write Mask and and Covid and auto corrects any words thst seem I, going to say those….anyway, corrects
I am enjoying reading about your adventures. If you have a chance can you post a picture of your cabin and bathroom? I'm rather persnickety about cabins and wish to compare it to what we normally have on river boat tours. Thank you!
And the food. Please keep posting about the food on board.
The cabin looks quite comfortable, especially the little living room area. My husband would have an issue climbing in and out of the shower/tub, however. I wonder if walk-in showers are available.
Thank you. I appreciate you taking the time to oblige me. I've ordered two glasses of wine and a charcuterie board to be delivered to your cabin!
Ok. This is our first cruise. Here are our personal impressions so far.
We have had two meals. One in Allegro that our TD booked for us all last night. I had smoked salmon appetizer, then my entre was green vegetable risotto, I love risotto, it was ok, a bit bland. Mr B had garlic shrimp then ciopino, fish stew, it was good, desserts were good. This morning we had a served breakfast….fresh fruit platter, good, eggs Benedict, not salty thank goodness but the hollandaise sauce was split. What we do like is the great service.
We have walked around the ship this morning, going to a light hearted lecture on Geology and glaciers in Alaska, then walking around more and so far the daytime experience is not our thing. You are constantly being stopped for up selling and raffles, free prizes etc We attended one of these prize things to see what it was about and it was a lot of crazy people screaming when they won something. I did not whoop with joy when my ticket was called and I got a collapsible water bottle. It is all totally hilarious but not for us. We walked into a jewelry store and purely for fun I tried on a bracelet. All the stuff was so gaudy, I thought it was fake stuff, but sure enough, the bracelet was $18,000.
All this could get pretty boring after a few days. I am sure I will pig out on the food, but that’s not a good thing..I can’t imagine what my dr would say if I came back looking like a lot of the passengers. I’m no lightweight but by golly!
We checked out the spa, way too expensive.
I really should say, this is my first day and I could easily change my mind. It is nice to put our feet up after a week touring on land and some very early starts. So this afternoon, we will go to the Art auction we got talked into😂😂😂and then do what we came to do, see some glaciers! 😀
Love your take on Alaska and now the cruise scene, as we're headed there next year right about this time. After seeing your photos, some of the mud and gravel, I realize my usual sneakers just won't do, so must query you on walking shoes! Thank you SO much for all of this! It's very fun to travel along with you and the Mr....
mazalea, check out Merrell hiking shoes. They make a solid shoe many outdoor people like. I bought a pair and love them. I wear them in inclement weather at home and take them anywhere I travel. You don't feel rocks, pebbles, or cobblestones like you do while wearing sneakers. They make both a low cut and a boot cut (over the ankle).
British, the recommended gear list for this trip had silicone gloves and liners. Have you found them necessary? Do you have them? Do you wish you did (if you don't)? Please let us know what the temperature was like on the Glacier. Regular winter gloves be okay or the recommended gloves? Just curious. Have you used your other camera yet? Wondering if I should pack two lenses or not.
If "up selling" means being harangued to purchase additional tours or packages, I would not like that either. Are there times when the Tauck guests have portions of the lounges or dining rooms to themselves? There is no need to answer this right away.
Weather, yes, hit or miss. We heard on arrival that there had been no rain for ages, but that is not usual. Tauck stresses to expect rain….more on this later
Shoes… I brought Merrell low cut waterproof laced shoes this trip. Let me stress, that so far there has been little walking on the tour but there is standing about, for instance, at the homestead on damp grass for at least 45 minutes. Other times, like the Native Heritage Village, you don’t have to walk round the lake but you would miss most of the village home examples etc
Kfn…you don’t get asked about excursions, but going to art auctions, wine tastings, special exclusive six couple only dinners, wrist watch events, jewelry events…..more later on this too
Tauck areas of lounge….no What our TD has done so far is book an early time group of tables at a restaurant, if you want to go, you can, if you do, you must be on time because the deal Tauck has with Princess is that they will release the tables to the general public about ten minutes after the allotted time.
Apparently, there are around 2000 people aboard, on a ship that normally has 3,500 and yet it seems to be pretty crowded. There have been several times already that when the elevators open they are full, example, one time, it got to the third elevator being full, so we just got in anyway. Oof you are having to be somewhere at a certain time, you have to allow for that. Ship is so big, for example, our room is on floor 12, most things are on 5, 6 or 7. So that is a lot of stairs. In fact, on reflection, we have had to do more walking on the ship than on land so far, especawjen you don’t know your way around.
So continuing on….we went to the art auction, a very slick operation, it was not well attended. The company is supposed to be the largest Art dealership in the US based in Miami.There were six people running it, five South Africans and a Namibian, interesting to talk to. Most of the art was not our thing, maybe about 100 paintings. We liked one of an elephant but no seriousness to buy it, but again for fun, I asked about the reserve price and the artist. We stayed for about six lots. There were enticements for free give always and I won a lovely evening bag which happens to match the outfit I was going to wear that evening, 😂 so after another lot, we left.
We were supposed to get to the Hubbard glacier at 3pm. It was rainy, foggy, and lots of floating ice. By the time it got to 4-30pm, the captain got on the intercom and announced there was too much ice, we never saw the glacier, just a murky outline of land and a few tiny pathetic icebergs…..by this time, we were both thinking, wow, we are so glad we took the Patagonia trip! So we had a relaxing late afternoon in our cabin, feet up, reading.
Dinner was 6pm, a formal night, we dressed up, new handbag in tow which held a tissue and my Princess Medallion
lanyard instead of it being round my neck. Our TD had reserved the same restaurant where we had a group of tables in a quiet corner alcove again. We try to go for the tables with two, which gives us a bit of separation from others. Our TD was in a smart suit. Our group varied from dressing up a bit to looking as if they had not bothered at all. There was a group of three missing, we hoped they were ok, but had mentioned they might have dinner in there room as they had a big suite.
Food….appetizers we had, pate and crab cake. Entree, My B, lamb, a bit over cooked for him, he likes it medium rare, choice never asked. Me, duck a la orange, absolutely cooked so much I could hardly put my knife through the scraggy piece I got. It was disgusting. Mr. B wanted me to send it back….I never do that ever since years ago we met someone who had worked on a cruise ship and told me when people send things back, the chefs quite often throw it on the floor or toss it around to each other before they cook the steak a bit more or whatever…and that was on the QE 2. Desserts were of course delicious and the service faultless. My glass of wine was lovely too.
After dinner, we rushed to a show, missing the first five minutes or so, we sneaked in the back and saw a very slick, Mr B would say over produced show of opera type singers with some classic pieces thrown in between James Bond themes. The singers were excellent and the women's gowns absolute gorgeous. We thoroughly enjoyed it.
British
9:04AM
". . . 2000 people aboard, on a ship that normally has 3,500 and yet it seems to be pretty crowded. There have been several times already that when the elevators open they are full, example, one time, it got to the third elevator being full, so we just got in anyway. . . . "
Yes, you are correct. Considering there is a mask mandate, few are wearing them including a woman wearing oxygen nasal cannula that got in a crowded elevator….now whether she had Covid or whether she was just an idiot, I’ve no idea.
Comments
So glad to hear you made the Covid cut. Enjoy the rest of your journey. Let us know the covid percentage on the tour when you know.
Yippppeeeee! So happy for both of you on your negative Covid test. It has to be a huge relief. Enjoying your daily posts, thanks for taking the time out of your day to let us travel vicariously with you to Alaska.
British - What a relief! We will be leaving on Wednesday, July 20 for the Inside Passage of Alaska with Silversea. The Tauck tour group will be on the same ship. We are getting tested on Tuesday late afternoon. We have been using the free kits and so far we have tested negative. Thank you for your postings and look forward to reading more. Have fun!
Love the clothes -- straight out of Downton Abbey!
We were 39 we are now 29. Almost all were not masking and several had been coughing all trip
If you enjoyed Downton Abbey; you will love “A Place to Call Home” on the Acorn channel. Although I loved Downton Abbey, this was an amazing mini-series set in Australia. It’s very similar to Downton, only better.
Yes, so that show a few years ago on Netflix. DVD loved it
Another fan of A Place to Call Home. The first series I watched on Acorn. I like both series equally. The 50's clothing is great.
and for those down-market, the show is also on PBS.
p.s. can anyone translate? "Thanks for your early food isles yo two." good wishes? great brain teaser.
Grace before meals in Oz speak. (not to be confused with Saygrace, the Australian singer Grace Sewell.)
Alan, are those the correct "words" or just the phonetics?
British - Do those cars and dresses remind you of your youth?
ALASKA DAY 7
We left Fairbanks yesterday, now just 29 of us. We had to get up at 4-15am and have bags out fro 5 and leave the hotel at 6-15am to get to the airport for our flight to Anchorage, just 45 mins. We got a very clear view of Mount Denali peeping through the clouds, it looked incredibly beautiful. The bus driver we had earlier in the week collected us. It was very rainy weather heading for Wittier and the Royal Princess ship. We lucked out on the way because at our planned stop at the Alaska Native Heritage Museum, the rain eased and we were able to walk around the lake and view all the example traditional homes of the native peoples of Alaska. We could walk inside and see things like clothing and tools they used and some buildings had interpreters in them to explain life and everything on display. Inside there was a live singing/dance performance and display cabinets with clothing and beautiful crafts. I especially like the amazing intricately made basket ware. I’ve never seen such fine weaving that you almost need a magnifying glass to see the weaving.
As soon as we got back on the bus, it starter to rain again and continued all the way to Anchorage where we stopped back at the Mount Cook hotel for lunch. It wax apparently a traditional American fried chicken feast with mashed potatoes, corn on the cob gravy and biscuits. I can honest say I’ve rarely experienced fried chicken! My piece had a few scrapes of meat in amongst all the batter. Everyone thought it was good, to me, just not worth the effort and calories. The berry cobbler was sickly sweet. But this is all good, I’ll save myself for the ship’s food.
Our journey continued on to Wittier, where I am proud to say I was the one who spotted a moose browsing vegetation at the side of the road. Unfortunately the driver was not able to stop as there was some traffic behind us and it was a narrow road. My many Safaris really do help me spot wildlife anywhere these days.
Just before reaching Wittier, the bus entered the tunnel where there is a one way drive through literally straddling the rail lines for two and a half miles. We reached the port in torrents rain, scrambled into the Princess building and presented out passports, vaccination cards and Covid test results. We then walked through a series of tented walkway tunnels to reach the s. The rain was blowing sideways and we got wet and cold. At the end of the tunnel there were ship personnel with umbrellas for the last few yards to the ship ramp. Needless to say, they were useless in such extreme weather.
This is our first time on a big cruise ship. Of course we were overcome from the size and luxurious surroundings. We found our cabin number A 524 and are very pleased with its size, even the bathroom is only a little smaller than a typical bathroom I’m a British home and without the electric outlets too. We then found a letter on the desk telling us that on the final day, the ship would bo longer be getting into Port on the last day at 4am, but 9-30am. If our flights were earlier than 1-30 pm we were unlikely to make them. Yep, that’s us, our flight is 1-25pm. We contacted our TD who was unaware of this. He said he would speak to the embarkation officer but uterine officer would be too busy right now, so it might be a couple of days before he could get back to us. Yes, you might know we booked our own flights for this trip and they are non refundable. Mr. B was extreme stressed by this and after the relief of having a negative Covid test too.
So it’s 6-30am and last night we had a wonderful dinner on the ship. Wonderful service. We have found ourselves hanging out with 5 to 7 others on this trip, all the ones who we were drawn to at the Welcome dinner…the mask wearing crowd 😀 Princess now enforces mask wearing throughout the ship in public places, this is a recent change. Everyone else on our tour has been wearing masks since we lost the ‘Covid 10’ if you were to stand all of us in a row, I still could not say if I would recognize most of the other people on our tour, it’s really weird….
I can’t post more photos right now, got to sort the memory on my phone, but I’m keeping it turned off while I’m on the ship….more later
You better stick with Beef Wellington and Sticky Toffee Pudding (and avoid the midwestern US, since that is as classic a meal there, as Beef Wellington is in the UK). My parents were from Iowa so I've had the meal you described hundreds of times growing up. One of my favorites!
Edited - Hopefully just typos - mashed potatoes and corn on the cob. If they served corn cobs, then that would be something.
So masked potatoes...is that a covid special? Uterine officer eh; some ship!...British, sorry, but you are making this way too easy. 🙄
Isn’t that funny! My iPad now recognizes how often I write Mask and and Covid and auto corrects any words thst seem I, going to say those….anyway, corrects
British,
I am enjoying reading about your adventures. If you have a chance can you post a picture of your cabin and bathroom? I'm rather persnickety about cabins and wish to compare it to what we normally have on river boat tours. Thank you!
And the food. Please keep posting about the food on board.
In certain parts of the country the saying is, "You can have (insert food of choice) prepared any way you want as long as it is fried!"
Kfnknfzk. These pics are for you, I
wish I had taken a photo when we first came into the cabin when it was pristine.
British,
The cabin looks quite comfortable, especially the little living room area. My husband would have an issue climbing in and out of the shower/tub, however. I wonder if walk-in showers are available.
Thank you. I appreciate you taking the time to oblige me. I've ordered two glasses of wine and a charcuterie board to be delivered to your cabin!
Ok. This is our first cruise. Here are our personal impressions so far.
We have had two meals. One in Allegro that our TD booked for us all last night. I had smoked salmon appetizer, then my entre was green vegetable risotto, I love risotto, it was ok, a bit bland. Mr B had garlic shrimp then ciopino, fish stew, it was good, desserts were good. This morning we had a served breakfast….fresh fruit platter, good, eggs Benedict, not salty thank goodness but the hollandaise sauce was split. What we do like is the great service.
We have walked around the ship this morning, going to a light hearted lecture on Geology and glaciers in Alaska, then walking around more and so far the daytime experience is not our thing. You are constantly being stopped for up selling and raffles, free prizes etc We attended one of these prize things to see what it was about and it was a lot of crazy people screaming when they won something. I did not whoop with joy when my ticket was called and I got a collapsible water bottle. It is all totally hilarious but not for us. We walked into a jewelry store and purely for fun I tried on a bracelet. All the stuff was so gaudy, I thought it was fake stuff, but sure enough, the bracelet was $18,000.
All this could get pretty boring after a few days. I am sure I will pig out on the food, but that’s not a good thing..I can’t imagine what my dr would say if I came back looking like a lot of the passengers. I’m no lightweight but by golly!
We checked out the spa, way too expensive.
I really should say, this is my first day and I could easily change my mind. It is nice to put our feet up after a week touring on land and some very early starts. So this afternoon, we will go to the Art auction we got talked into😂😂😂and then do what we came to do, see some glaciers! 😀
Love your take on Alaska and now the cruise scene, as we're headed there next year right about this time. After seeing your photos, some of the mud and gravel, I realize my usual sneakers just won't do, so must query you on walking shoes! Thank you SO much for all of this! It's very fun to travel along with you and the Mr....
mazalea, check out Merrell hiking shoes. They make a solid shoe many outdoor people like. I bought a pair and love them. I wear them in inclement weather at home and take them anywhere I travel. You don't feel rocks, pebbles, or cobblestones like you do while wearing sneakers. They make both a low cut and a boot cut (over the ankle).
British, the recommended gear list for this trip had silicone gloves and liners. Have you found them necessary? Do you have them? Do you wish you did (if you don't)? Please let us know what the temperature was like on the Glacier. Regular winter gloves be okay or the recommended gloves? Just curious. Have you used your other camera yet? Wondering if I should pack two lenses or not.
If "up selling" means being harangued to purchase additional tours or packages, I would not like that either. Are there times when the Tauck guests have portions of the lounges or dining rooms to themselves? There is no need to answer this right away.
We were there june 25 th tour. No rain at all and in the mid 70s everyday no warm clothing worn. Hit or miss I guess .
Weather, yes, hit or miss. We heard on arrival that there had been no rain for ages, but that is not usual. Tauck stresses to expect rain….more on this later
Shoes… I brought Merrell low cut waterproof laced shoes this trip. Let me stress, that so far there has been little walking on the tour but there is standing about, for instance, at the homestead on damp grass for at least 45 minutes. Other times, like the Native Heritage Village, you don’t have to walk round the lake but you would miss most of the village home examples etc
Kfn…you don’t get asked about excursions, but going to art auctions, wine tastings, special exclusive six couple only dinners, wrist watch events, jewelry events…..more later on this too
Tauck areas of lounge….no What our TD has done so far is book an early time group of tables at a restaurant, if you want to go, you can, if you do, you must be on time because the deal Tauck has with Princess is that they will release the tables to the general public about ten minutes after the allotted time.
Apparently, there are around 2000 people aboard, on a ship that normally has 3,500 and yet it seems to be pretty crowded. There have been several times already that when the elevators open they are full, example, one time, it got to the third elevator being full, so we just got in anyway. Oof you are having to be somewhere at a certain time, you have to allow for that. Ship is so big, for example, our room is on floor 12, most things are on 5, 6 or 7. So that is a lot of stairs. In fact, on reflection, we have had to do more walking on the ship than on land so far, especawjen you don’t know your way around.
So continuing on….we went to the art auction, a very slick operation, it was not well attended. The company is supposed to be the largest Art dealership in the US based in Miami.There were six people running it, five South Africans and a Namibian, interesting to talk to. Most of the art was not our thing, maybe about 100 paintings. We liked one of an elephant but no seriousness to buy it, but again for fun, I asked about the reserve price and the artist. We stayed for about six lots. There were enticements for free give always and I won a lovely evening bag which happens to match the outfit I was going to wear that evening, 😂 so after another lot, we left.
We were supposed to get to the Hubbard glacier at 3pm. It was rainy, foggy, and lots of floating ice. By the time it got to 4-30pm, the captain got on the intercom and announced there was too much ice, we never saw the glacier, just a murky outline of land and a few tiny pathetic icebergs…..by this time, we were both thinking, wow, we are so glad we took the Patagonia trip! So we had a relaxing late afternoon in our cabin, feet up, reading.
Dinner was 6pm, a formal night, we dressed up, new handbag in tow which held a tissue and my Princess Medallion
lanyard instead of it being round my neck. Our TD had reserved the same restaurant where we had a group of tables in a quiet corner alcove again. We try to go for the tables with two, which gives us a bit of separation from others. Our TD was in a smart suit. Our group varied from dressing up a bit to looking as if they had not bothered at all. There was a group of three missing, we hoped they were ok, but had mentioned they might have dinner in there room as they had a big suite.
Food….appetizers we had, pate and crab cake. Entree, My B, lamb, a bit over cooked for him, he likes it medium rare, choice never asked. Me, duck a la orange, absolutely cooked so much I could hardly put my knife through the scraggy piece I got. It was disgusting. Mr. B wanted me to send it back….I never do that ever since years ago we met someone who had worked on a cruise ship and told me when people send things back, the chefs quite often throw it on the floor or toss it around to each other before they cook the steak a bit more or whatever…and that was on the QE 2. Desserts were of course delicious and the service faultless. My glass of wine was lovely too.
After dinner, we rushed to a show, missing the first five minutes or so, we sneaked in the back and saw a very slick, Mr B would say over produced show of opera type singers with some classic pieces thrown in between James Bond themes. The singers were excellent and the women's gowns absolute gorgeous. We thoroughly enjoyed it.
I believe they call that an incubator!
Yes, you are correct. Considering there is a mask mandate, few are wearing them including a woman wearing oxygen nasal cannula that got in a crowded elevator….now whether she had Covid or whether she was just an idiot, I’ve no idea.