Ketchikan

Ketchikan, Alaska Details Ketchikan is famous for its colorful totem poles, rainy skies, steep–as–San Francisco streets, and lush island setting. Some 13,500 people call the town home, and, in the summer, cruise ships crowd the shoreline, floatplanes depart noisily for Misty Fiords National Monument, and salmon-laden commercial fishing boats motor through Tongass Narrows. In the last decade Ketchikan's rowdy, blue-collar heritage of logging and fishing has been softened by the loss of many timber-industry jobs and the dramatic rise of cruise-ship tourism. With some effort, though, visitors can still glimpse the rugged frontier spirit that once permeated this hardscrabble cannery town. Art lovers should make a beeline for Ketchikan: the arts community here is very active. Travelers in search of the perfect piece of Alaska art will find an incredible range of pieces to choose from. The town is at the foot of 3,000-foot Deer Mountain, near the southeastern corner of Revillagigedo (locals shorten it to Revilla) Island. Prior to the arrival of white miners and fishermen in 1885, the Tlingit used the site at the mouth of Ketchikan Creek as a summer fish camp. Gold discoveries just before the turn of the 20th century brought more immigrants, and valuable timber and commercial fishing resources spurred new industries. By the 1930s the town bragged that it was the "salmon-canning capital of the world." You will still find some of Southeast's best salmon fishing around here. Ketchikan is the first bite of Alaska that many travelers taste. Despite its imposing backdrop, hillside homes, and many staircases, the town is relatively easy to walk through. Favorite downtown stops include the Spruce Mill Development shops and Creek Street. A bit farther away you'll find the Totem Heritage Center. Out of town (but included on most bus tours) are two longtime favorites: Totem Bight State Historical Park to the north and Saxman Totem Park to the south.

Deluxe Balcony and our first sea day

Here is what princess says about our deluxe balcony: Deluxe Balcony Spectacular Views from Your Room Choose this enhanced version of a Balcony stateroom with more space and a comfortable sofa bed. Enjoy a larger balcony with more room to view the beautiful scenery as you sail from destination to destination and take in the ocean breeze for a wonderful and romantic evening or morning. Approx. 233 to 279 sq. ft., including balcony Balcony with 2 chairs and table Floor-to-ceiling sliding glass doors Sofa bed Comfortable queen or two twin beds▲ Refrigerator Flat-panel television Private bathroom with shower 100% cotton, high-thread count linens 24-hour room service† Spacious closet Desk with chair Hair dryer & bathroom amenities Digital security safe. I am still hoping to be able to get some pictures downloaded but so far no luck. We had a busy day. I tried to blog when I got up at six with no luck. I am still getting a alphabet soup instead of a photo. I got Ken up so we could head out to breakfast. We went to Allegro and had a very nice breakfast. The fruit plate starter was amazing. All of the fruit was at the perfect stage of ripeness. But as usual the toast was cold, over cooked and hard. You can't have it all. Then we returned to our cabin and got ready for the Home Town gift exchange. Over 40 had signed up for this and the variety of amazing gifts was surprising. The idea was to bring a gift from your home area to exchange. Each gift had to be wrapped and had to be valued at between 10 and 15 dollars. I brought bags of Brookside blueberry chocolates. We got a variety of items from Minnesota . There were 3 candies and wild rice and span , all of which were produced in Minnesota.That was the first time we had taken part in that activity. It was a lot of fun After the gift exchange we went up to Deck 16 and collected blankets. We want to have them for viewing the glaciers from our balcony. better to have them now rather than find there are none left when we want them. As we waked around we could see people bundled up watching a football game on the big screen. They looked COLD. We also saw a display of pool animals so I had to take a pictur of them.

We went back to lunch and this time we have company. Well not really but there was a guy seated next to us. He was from Arizona and he told us he had not been home for 16 weeks. He cruises with Princess and said he had over 300 cruises. He asked if we went to the Captain Circle parties and said he would likely see us there. He never did tell us his name. We decided that a short nap was in order. I took time to hide 3 ducks and to check out the big sales. Because this is the final trip to Alaska for the Royal they are trying to get rid of stock. So many jackets and vests etc were on for 75% off Those of you who know me well know that resisting these bargains took all of the will power I could muster. So far I am winning but I do not guarantee tomorrow or the rest of the cruises. Our cabin was still chilly so I called customer services and reported the problem. After the short nap we went down to find a machine where we could print out our bill. I always check to see the charges. I was surprised to see that we were being charged for tips and we had already paid them, the same was true of shore excursions. So we got in line to ask for help to correct this. I was expecting this to be a big deal but much to my surprise it was fixed in only a few minutes. Next we went to the internet cafe to check on service and Ken's phone. That took a while but I think we learned a little. These teck guys are amazing and they do not appreciate that we old folks do not appreciate they way they fly from one step to the next thinking that we know what they are doing . This was the time when the repair people came to try to get the heat in our room. Two young men worked for over and hour and when they left they said it was rapaired. We were not entirely convinced. By then it was time to get dressed for dinner. This was a formal night. Ken wore his white dinner jacket and he was the best looking man on the ship even if I say so myself.I was disappointed to see how many people ignored the formal night dress rules. There were even people in jeans and sweats and ball caps.

Dinner was fun, the menu was fantastic and we are now at an assigned table next to people who we think will be great travel partners. One couple is from NFLD and on the other side of us is a watercolor artist.Both couples are so much fun to visit with.

I do not know if you remember me singing the praises of a waiter with a magical voice. His name is Emile and he will be our waiter.I recognized him from the world cruise and other cruises. I even send a video of him singing Its Time to Say Good-bye at the end of the cooking show just before we disembarked the world cruise. He seemed really pleased that we remembered him. He has been with Princess for more than 25 years. He asked if this cruise was to celebrate anything, we told him that we were celebrating 2 birthdays. He brought the Princess birthday cake and sang for us. This was picture night also we just may get this one if we like it. We have not gotten pictures in a very long time. . Then we walked to the other end of the ship, past all of the folks attending the champagne waterful and all of that fuss. Tonight's show was featuring vocalist Trina Johnson Finn. She did all songs of Whitney Huston. The music was too loud as usual but otherwise it was good. She had the crowd eating out of her hands. At the end of the show we headed back to the cabin. Much to our surprise and pleasure our room was warm when we arrived. We changed, put out the order for breakfast and called it a night. Of course I had to work on the blog before turning in. Tomorrow we are in Ketchikan.

Underway

I was up at 6 and I kept busy cleaning and packing. Dave came right at 10 and we were soon underway. The traffic was pretty good. There was a terrible tie up and an accident in the Langley area, someone died. But the snarl was with east bound traffic so we were not held up

The only really slow part of the journey was in the area of Hastings Street and Howe Street. There were 3 large ships in port and people seemed to be streamingfrom every direction headed to the cruise terminal. It was slow but once we arrived near the entrance traffic police helped and then as we went under Canada Place the Princess personel took over. Soon we were unloaded, said good bye to Dave and began our marithon treck to get to the ship. We were surprised to learn that there were 3 large ships in port and they all had to clear customs. Luckily the lines moved quickly and it took only an hour and 15 minutes and 4050 steps to make it to the Royal Princess . By now we were just dragging, more exercise in one hour than we had had in many years. We found our cabin. It is very nice but not as grand as we expected. I know we will enjoy the sofa, but the balcony is much smaller that the ones on Caribe deck. We hurridly put a few things away and headed for the dining room. It took awhile to find it and by then it was closed. That one closes at one on sail away days. We decided to head for the buffet but soon changed our minds. We were on deck 6 at that time and the buffet is on deck 16. There were dozens of people waiting for the elevators. We did a quick change of plans and headed for the International Cafe. It was full but not too full. We got a table right away and I went and picked up a nice meal for us both. NO COOKING. Then we returned to our room to find that our luggage had arrived and we could unpack. As usual we would have liked more hangers. Our stewards name is Ronoldo. He seems very nice, friendly and effecient. He brought us a few more hangers. After I unpacked I decorated our door and also decorated the inside a little .

Then I headed to the internet cafe and purchased wi fi for the 14 days. Getting it for half price is one of the perks for elites.As I was leaving the area I saw a lady with a marvelous piece of chocolate cake. It was 6 layers high and looked amazing. I had to stop and buy one for Ken, he is such a chocolate addict. He loved it. When I returned to the cabin I learned that Ronoldo had delivered a wonderful bouquet of flowers, thanks to our TA Kim. She is such a sweetie. We learned that the northward journey will not be through the inside passage, we will be travelling on the west side of Vancouver Island. Soon it was time for sail away and we were able to enjoy the sound of the Love Boat theme being played on the ships horns. I did a video, Hopefully I will be able to share it with you. We are both feeling pretty tired after such a long and busy day. We are going to go to dinner at 5 instead of 6. If we can stay awake we will go to the show after that. We had no trouble getting seated even though we were an hour early. I guess we now have a 5 o'clock reservation. It was a table for eight and people came at all different times but our amazing waiter was able to keep the courses coming and no one had to wait.The food was great as usual. I had a greek salad, a pina coloda cold soup, baked cod and then a blueberry crumble for dessert. It was good food and the people with whom we shared the table were very nice. We were the only Canadians. After dinner we came back to our cabin to take our meds and waited until it was time to go to the show.The show was called Bennie and the Rest. It was an Elton John impersonator. I was not impressed because he was so loud. He pounded that piano so hard that it made my ears ache. He really had the crowd singing and clapping so they did not mind the sound . So we are back in our cabin and ready to call it a day. Oh yes I hid three ducks tonight and I actually saw a man attempt to hide one. As soon as he stepped away I grabbed it. So now I can say that I found a duck.

Their information was not on it so I can't report on Facebook and say thank you to the person who hid it. It is smaller that the ones we are hiding . It is a small blue one.This is the first one I have found even though we have hid more than 50. Great fun!! I will try to figure out how to add pictures sometime in the morning but right now I have a date with the sandman. I was up at 6 trying to get the photos into the blog. What I have done is take them from the card and now they are on this computer but when I try to move them instead of the photo I get scads of printed numbers and letters in red and black instead of the photo. I will keep trying but for now there are no photos of yesterday.:-(

One More Sleep!!!

Well we are packed and all I have left to do is clean the house a little. Dave is coming in to water plants and check on things and He likes me and thinks I am a good housekeeper so I do not want him to be shocked should he open a door. That is how it is since I have become so passionate about painting. Everything else is on the back burner. It has been so long since I have blogged that I have forgotten most of the methods of doing things. This type is way too small. I hope it will magically become bigger when I actually post it. The other problem is trying to post photos. If I do not get it solved by 10 tomorrow morning this could be a blog without photos. v

Southward Journey

ITINERARY South Bound Sep 14 No Transfer To Ship Sep 14 Whittier 8:30PM Sep 15 Hubbard Glacier Scenic Cruising 3:00PM 8:00PM Sep 16 Glacier Bay Scenic Cruising 9:15AM 7:30PM Sep 17 Icy Strait Point 6:00AM 7:00PM Sep 18 Juneau 6:30AM 4:00PM Sep 19 Ketchikan 9:00AM 3:30PM Sep 20 At Sea Sep 21 Vancouver 5:00AM

Northward Itinerary

ITINERARY Sep 07 No Transfer To Ship Sep 07 Vancouver 4:00PM Sep 08 At Sea Sep 09 Ketchikan 6:30AM 3:00PM Sep 10 Juneau 8:00AM 9:00PM Sep 11 Skagway 7:00AM 8:30PM Sep 12 Glacier BayScenic Cruising 6:30AM 3:30PM Sep 13 College Fjord Scenic Cruising 6:00PM 8:30PM Sep 14 Whittier 12:30AM Sep 14 No Transfer From Ship

Almost Time to Sail!!

This trip was supposed to be a cruise to Norway and the Baltic in the spring  but as we all know Life Happens.

Ken developed a vision problem and the fact that it was not solved when it was time to make a decision on whether or not to travel we decided to cancel. His situation was such that we felt that because  the travel insurance states that you cannot have a situation requiring medical intervention and or a medication change  we would not be insured. All of you who travel know that travelling without insurance is a definite No No.

So now it is fall and our month long cruise to Europe has been substituted with a 14 day return visit to Alaska. We have been to Alaska a few times but the attraction is the fact that we sail into and out of Vancouver. There are no flights involved. Ken's vision problem has lessened and should the unthinkable happen we can make it back to Canada in a hurry. It would have been a lot more difficult to return from Iceland . So the insurance is up to date and my suitcase is sitting on the living room floor and it is almost ready to close.

Because Ken packs less than I do he will probable get the honor of carrying some other things that I plan to bring along.

One item is 48 ducks. The fad of hiding ducks around the ship for others to find and either keep or rehide is going strong. So having 48 to hide and 14 days to do the hiding will add to the fun. But since that are bulky they will fit nicely in Ken's almost empty suitcase. :-) 

When we travel we usually take candy treats for the staff along with a thank you note, thanking them for all they do. Guess who gets to have them in their suitcase??

We have read that Covid is rearing its ugly head so Ken needs to carry these as well. We are up to date on all of our shots but we will be extra careful and wear our masks

Those of you who follow us on our cruises know that we always decorate our cabin door. That helps to find your cabin LOL.  I discovered 2 round stretched canvases and decided to do two paintings of what might be the view from a porthole during scenic cruising of glaciers.  There will be a different one posted each of the 2 weeks. I will carry these to make certain they arrive safely.

Today I will make a list of the things I must not forget such as charging cables, laptop, meds, passport, extra card for the cameras, cell phone, glucometer, address book,

Oh yes all of the eye drops and some US funds.

I hope you will follow along. The cruise is from September 7th till 21st. I am really looking forward to being pampered by the crew and just plain relaxing.