DAY 9 - LAST DAY

The thing that we talked about today was the fact that we have had the last 3 days be aboard ship and how everyone has enjoyed the relaxation available to everyone!  It was the perfect way to end the cruise.

We were all feeling a little melancholy today but all agree that it has been the “trip of a lifetime” according to Cameron.  We are going to remember this for a long time and for all the best reasons.  Being able to share this experience with our entire family has been a dream come true for the Commodore and me.  The experiences and laughs will amuse us for years!

Another good day for our trivia team!  We won!!  Another gripping drama with a tie-breaker question and we prevailed!  We now own Princess travel wallets!  Hooray!

Speaking of trivia……we had a little bit of a rough time yesterday with one of the cruise staff named “Drake”!  He’s a bald pipsqueak with huge horn-rimmed glasses that are as big as his attitude!  He accused the trivia audience of being drunk, having too much trivia and being uncooperative!  Brian got really irked and left and went to the Purser’s desk to write a comment card on Drake’s attitude.  Later in the day Drake stopped Brian and me on our way to the elevators to “explain” his style.  I told him he took all the fun out of the game and was incredibly rude to the audience.  He said that was his “style” and we just didn’t understand.  He also said he had no other complaints.  He will get plenty of feedback when we all fill  in our end of cruise surveys. 

Drake had heard that Brian had called his boss but what he didn’t know was that Brian had called for a different reason!!  Haha!

Poor Theresa had a close encounter with some crazy Oriental women at the photo gallery.  They were apparently put out because T had Amy with her and felt that it was a "cut" in line.  T tried to explain that she and Amy were together but the women would have nothing of it and became very loud and aggressive.  Poor T and Amy finally got their business done but after Amy left the women came back with a third woman and pointed T out and said "that's the rude woman"!!  What a terrible thing to happen on the last night.  They were probably hitting the brewski's too hard!!

We’ve had great service from nearly everyone onboard.  Our dining room waiter was wonderful as was his assistant.  Gerardo and Mio.  The dining room captain, Marcel, and a buffet stewardess named “Meow” from Thailand who has spoiled us rotten!!  Great people who genuinely enjoy what they are doing.  Our room steward, Stewart, who flies home to Bulgaria tomorrow was patient and kind to all of us and worked around all our messes!!  A true hero!

The Commodore and I will be back on this ship in March of 2014 and I hope that many of these wonderful folks will either still be here or back here from their vacations.  Crossing my fingers that Drake get assigned to the SS Minnow.

We are one of the early groups off tomorrow and then we will find all our luggage to make the trip back to the East Bay on our hired bus. 

Thanks for following along and giving me some of your time.  It’s appreciated.

XOXOXOXO

M

DAY 8 - SEA DAY

We had to give back the hour we gained a few days ago last night.  The kids, of course, don’t let things like that affect them so most of them slept till 11 am this morning!  Their hours have been pretty wacky so a good catch-up was what was needed.

The Commodore and I were up fairly early and headed out to breakfast where we met Kevin who was already out and about!

We met for trivia at 10:30 this morning and there was quite a large crowd.  Hope you are ready to receive this news…….we won……yes, you read that right….we won!!  Our team has finally achieved stardom!  We are now the proud owners of Princess carabiner clips!!  Life is good!  Also, we had to answer two tie-breaker questions!  There was just no denying us this win!!

The kids entered a paper airplane flying contest in the atrium but no one hit the target…boo!  They still had a great time.

One of the biggest hits on this cruise for the kids has been the ice cream area on the 14^th deck. I can’t even imagine how many times the kids have made that trip!  Paradise.

Another one of the characters we’ve encountered is a woman who calls herself “Scooter Sue”.  She’s probably in her 70’s, big blond hair, very “zoftig” with a New York accent you can cut with a knife!  She’s at every trivia and always demands some attention from the cruise staff.  So, she arrives this morning on her scooter and parks it where she usually does……right in front of the stage.  Then she dismounts and strolls over to the table where her team usually sits and begins to move heavy furniture around to suit her teammates!!  We were dumbfounded to see what a “Scooter Sue” could actually achieve!  We really wanted to call it a miracle but,  sadly, she left the room back on her scooter.  I guess she has short-term miracles when it suits her!  That must be it! 

The afternoon flew by with lectures, games and then getting ready for our second and last formal night.  The boys all got into their tuxedos again and looked incredibly handsome.  Dinner was the whole group of us in the Michaelangelo dining room but one of our tables was not quite ready and I am sure we made those diners quite nervous when we ALL showed up to sit down and they were trying to order dessert!  What a mess!  Fortunately, there was a table nearby that the kids used until their regular table became available and then all hands on deck to help the kids move over.  Everyone kept apologizing but, in the end, we all had a lovely dinner and that’s what really matters.

After dinner everyone split for shows and casino!  I went to see a comedian named Kevin Hughes (very funny) and ran into Eddie, Theresa, Kevin and Lisa!  Don’t know where the rest of them went but I think Amy and Brian probably came back to their room since Amy was paged by the Kids Club during dinner.  She had to get Mason because he got “urpy”.  Probably a bad French fry! 

Eddie and Kevin both awoke this morning thinking this was our last day so they were quite happy to find out it wasn’t!!!  That a great gift when you are having fun and don’t want it to end!

The sun came out today and the seas are just slightly choppy.  I miss the beautiful green trees of Alaska already.

Nighty nite!

OXOXOXOXO

DAY 7 - TRACY ARM

We had a VERY early start today!  We were warned!  The ship crossed the bar into Tracy Arm at 5a.m. this morning and we were up to watch the whole thing!  We saw a few icebergs as we entered the waterway and they became more numerous the farther we got in toward the glacier. 

Stewart the steward had opened the balconies so we could walk back and forth and duck into our staterooms to get warm!  Brian and Amy are right next door so they came to watch from our cabin since Mason was having a good old ‘sleep’ this morning!  He finally woke up at nearly 10 am.  It takes a lot of energy to keep us all amused!

The rest of the gang popped in and out all morning and the ship was able to get very close to the glacier and we had the most fabulous views!  Brian saw a big chunk ‘calve’ off the glacier during his trip topside.  There wasn’t much wildlife to see but I did catch a glimpse of a seal in the water.

The trip to the glacier took about 2 and a half hours and then we turned the ship around to give everyone aboard a good view and to get in position for the return trip.  We crossed the bar to exit Tracy Arm at exactly 10 am.  So many beautiful vistas, two glaciers, a multitude of waterfalls and hundreds of blue icebergs.  What a beautiful morning!

The rest of the day was taken up with various activities.  We continue to come in second for trivia and are losing heart!  There was a fascinating lecture about the brain that we all attended and really liked.  Another art auction that we skipped!  More donations in the casino for some of us, although Brian was up quite a lot!

Theresa, Lisa, Sydney and Cally went to Zumba class and enjoyed it very much.  The boys spent a lot of time on the basketball court. 

In other words, there weren’t many activities that didn’t have a Christiansen in attendance!

Tomorrow is a sea day and we are now turning our thoughts to the end of the cruise on Monday. 

We all had dinner in the Italian Restaurant called Sabatini’s this evening and the food was very delicious!  Most of the gang took off after dinner to go see a comedy/magic act!  The kids really love the shows!

We have to give back an hour of time tonight so I predict that most everyone will be sleeping in tomorrow!!

XOXOOXOXOXO

DAY 6 - SKAGWAY

Wow, three ports in three days!  This port was pretty terrific and we had the best weather of all the Alaska ports today.  Not a drop of rain and it was warm enough to go out in just shirtsleeves!

When we docked at 7 this morning there were wisps of fog hanging over the water and the little town.  It was quite beautiful.  We were in no rush to disembark since our tour wasn’t until early afternoon.  We played trivia at 9am and fell apart!!  Good grief we need a little luck and a lot more brains!

Our excursion this afternoon was to the sled dog mushers camp and we’ve been looking forward to this one.  We were picked up dockside and driven about 10 miles out of town and then we ran out of pavement so we were on dirt roads until we reached the entrance to the camp.  At this point we were transferred to huge vehicles that would take us the rest of the way into the beautiful forested hills.  We went through a gorgeous rainforest where the ground is covered by 2 feet of sphagnum moss!  Even in a large noisy vehicle you could still “feel” the silence.  Prior to getting on the vehicle we crossed a small river tributary on a homemade bridge and we could have walked across on the backs of all the salmon that were there!  What an amazing time of the year to be here with all the salmon running back to their birthplaces!  We were told today that they actually “smell” their way back to their natal waters!!  Amazing Mother Nature!

Once our vehicles made it to the musher’s camp we saw four four-wheeled carts all ready to go and attached to each of the carts were about 14-16 yelping dogs!  They were apparently very happy to see passengers because they love pulling the “sleds”!!  We boarded the carts that held 6 passengers and then we were off!  We were pulled around a track for about 15 minutes and the dogs really acted like they were enjoying the whole thing!  My Mason story for today is that he quickly learned the names of the lead dogs, Proof and Spider, and was directing them nearly as well as our musher/driver!!

When the ride was over we were transported down the hill so we could spend some time talking to the mushers about the Iditarod and all the other races that go on in the winter.  Then it was time for the cute stuff!! The puppies!  There were 8 week old pups that we could watch and 2 week old puppies we could hold.  Two other dogs were in a holding area since they were due to whelp in 1-2 days.  Very nice trip!

Kevin and Lisa opted for a walking tour around Skagway and they had a great time exploring all around the town.  Del did pretty much the same and also enjoyed her day.  Jim and Kevin got off the boat this morning and found someone to take them over to the town of Haines which is the eagle capital of Alaska!  I haven’t had a chance to talk to them about their day but Jim did text me a gorgeous shot of a bald eagle!!

Back on the ship at about 5 pm and time to get ready for dinner.  We had a nice meal in the dining room and we always love Italian night since they make some scrumptious pastas! 

The trip is now seeming to fly by!  We only have three full days left and time seems to have accelerated. 

Tomorrow will be an early rising day since we will enter Tracy Arm at 5am to begin a five hour scenic trip down the fjord and back out again.  It is such a narrow passage that only one ship at a time is allowed.  There are also shoals that must be crossed to enter the area so the tides must be just right.  Lots of logistics for a large ship in a small space!

Found out tonight at dinner that our waiter remembers us from the Emerald Princess last Sept/Oct.  It sure is nice when that happens!

All for now…….

XOXOXO

DAY 5 - JUNEAU

We had an early arrival in Juneau this morning and were at our anchorage just across from the downtown area.  There were five very large ships in port and I guess ours drew the short straw because we were the only ones tendered to shore.

No worries since we were going to be here more than 13 hours and we had a tour planned so our seats on the tender were assured for a certain time.  We all had early breakfast and then suited up for our day in the Alaska State Capitol!

Our tour was out to the Mendenhall Glacier and we met our bus just at the transit plaza in front of our tender dock.  All 20 of us signed up for this tour so we were a miniature version of Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey.  All we lacked were some animals!

We opted for bus #2 to keep our group together and after a delay of about 20 minutes while we waited for stragglers (NOT ours!!) we were off!  Mason had one of the front seats right behind the driver so was in a great spot to assess everything.  An older gentleman was boarding and started a small conversation with Mason and after answering his age he’d had enough so after the next question Mason said “Who are you, anyway?”  Needless to say, we all cracked up!  The old gent was a good sport and called himself “uncle Claus”……..Mason was unimpressed!

As we were driving out to the Glacier Park our very nice bus driver was giving us a running narration about the things we were seeing and Mason was amazingly riveted to every word and agreeing with the driver!!!  He was making comments like “oh, yes, I see that” and “I think that’s right!”  Hysterical.  At one point the driver mentioned McDonald’s and Mason told him what his favorite meal was.  After our self guided tour around the Glacier Park we returned to the bus to find that the wonderful driver, Jeff Stein, had gone to McDonalds and bought Mason his favorites!!  What a kind and wonderful thing for him to do and we were all so impressed and grateful!  Kudos to a very nice man!!

The weather started out foggy, misty and rainy!  Boo!  By the time we did our two hours at the glacier and got back into downtown Juneau there was glorious sun shining!  We all went in different directions for a lunch in town and walked through the shops.  Same T-shirts and sweatshirts as always.  Also the bags of chocolate moose and bear droppings!!

After lunch we headed back to the ship and got onboard at about 4 pm.  Just in time to come in second, again, in trivia.  This has got to stop!!  We took a shot at another musical trivia but also came in second!  What’s up with that?

It was a wonderful day and everyone got to see the glacier up close and take wonderful walks around the park.  We saw lots of salmon, saw where a bear had laid down to eat a salmon and watched a porcupine in a tree!  That was enough wildlife for me!  Glad the bear had gone elsewhere to digest his fish dinner!

The grandkids are having such an amazing time!  They love being on the ship so much that they start moaning just a bit when they have to disembark for a tour.  Once they are out and about they enjoy themselves but they are always first to suggest it’s time to go back to “our ship”!  They are all so well behaved and it’s a real joy to the Commodore and myself to run into our kids all over!  This whole trip is one of the best things we’ve ever been able to do for our children and their children and it makes us proud and blessed.

Tomorrow is our last port and it’s Skagway.  Part of our group is going out to see a “Musher’s Camp” and we’ll see what dogsledding is all about.  I hear we are going to get to see some puppies which will please the little ones.  We have a long day in Skagway so we’ll also stroll around the town and stop for a drink in the “Red Onion Saloon”.  Let’s hope the sun we had today will follow us for tomorrow!

Bedtime!

XOXOXOXOXOXO