Yesterday I went to a all day training class on Azamara and Celebrity cruises. Velma, Hoover, Bob and John also attendend the training. I found it educational as we went in groups from class to class every 45 minutes. They gave us alot of goodies and fed us like on the ship. Inbetween class they had shorbet and little finger desserts. Also we had breakfast; lunch and finger food at the end of the day. They gave us all certificates with our names on it for going and they drew names and some of us won little prizes with the cruise line logo on it. I did not know anything about Azamara before yesterday and I would love to go on that ship. If they have any specials I might do it.

Bob's Alaska Trip--the port stops

The excellent weather we experienced in Glacier Bay followed us for our next three days for our port stops at Skagway, Juneau and Ketchikan. At each stop the locals commented about the wonderful weather that we had brought.

Skagway: After two nice days of cruising glaciers and scenic shoreline, it was nice to arrive in Skagway for the first of our three port stops. The stay in Skagway was the longest of the three ports (5 AM to 8 PM). Skagway was a center of activity for the thousands that participated in the gold rush of 1898 and many of the shore excursions reflect this.

Many of the passengers opted to take an trip on the historic and scenic White Pass railway which parallels the trail used by the prospectors who trekked to the Klondike in search of fortune. Many others roamed the town in search of shopping opportunities since many of the stores that operate in the Caribbean and Mexico also have outlets in Skagway.

Skagway is a great location for hiking so we skipped any formal shore excursions and wandered into town. Our first stop was the visitor center of the Klondike Gold Rush National Historic Park where we obtained free tickets for the first of the hourly ranger-led guided walks. These tours last about 45 minutes and are very informative.

After our tour we stopped by the Skagway Convention and Visitor Bureau information center and had a nice chat with a fellow that recommended a hike to Lower Dewey Lake in the hills above town. The trailhead was a short distance away, just across the railroad tracks. The trail began rather steeply so we ascended the half mile to the lake slowly. When we got to the lake the trail leveled out and we continued around the lake with lovely views at each turn. We met a few people hiking that recommended that we not try to circumnavigate the lake as part of the far side of the trail required scrambling over rocks and boulders. We decided to press on and found the route manageable, even for us old farts. It was worthwhile because of the different views of the lake and the waterfalls that we encountered. Our 3 ½ mile hike took us just under 3 hours to complete.

We returned to the ship for a light lunch and decided that some time in the hot tub would be therapeutic for our well exercised legs. The Diamond Princess has an adult pool on Deck 15 which tends to be quieter than the main pool areas. A small pool is heated to a comfortable 90 degrees. Two hot tubs are heated warmer and have lots of nice jets. It is a little tricky to find as you need to enter the area through the spa on deck 15 or via the Sports Deck (deck 16).

Juneau: One of the key attractions here is the Mendenhall Glacier located about 12 miles north of town. Although ship excursions go there, it is cheaper and more flexible to catch the shuttle bus from the cruise dock. This allows you to spend more time at the glacier. The shuttle costs $14 round-trip and leaves every ½ hour. The glacier can be well viewed from the visitor center. It has been receding for years leaving the large Mendenhall Lake at its base. A ranger set up a table with a large piece of perfectly clear glacial ice for visitors to observe. The picture to the left shows the glacier with the lake and the visitor center in the foreground.

After looking around the visitor center we embarked on a hike to visit waterfalls and to get a different view of the glacier. This was a pleasant hike, less strenuous than the one above Skagway. On our way to the bus we noticed a kayaker and two canoeists paddling on the lake; this is something that we would like to try on our next visit.

We returned to the ship in time to hear a lecture by Libby Riddles, the first woman to win the Iditarod sled dog race. In the early 1980s she had some disappointing finishes in the race and decided to take a few years off to breed her own team of dogs. In 1985 she was successful and won the race. She described her adventures in this grueling and dangerous race.

Ketchikan: We found Ketchikan to be a very pleasant and friendly town. We wandered past a small but brightly blooming park and past several totem poles on our way to Creek Street. Historic Creek Street is a boardwalk built above Ketchikan Creek with lots of shops and a bordello museum. From Creek Street we took the tram up to the Cape Fox Hotel, then took a scenic walk back down the hill past the salmon ladder (too early for the salmon run). Back on Creek Street we made our only purchase of the trip, two cookie cutters, one shaped like a moose head and the other shaped like a salmon. I had hoped to visit Totem Bight State Park to observe their collection of totems but that will need to wait for our next visit. Our dining companions enjoyed the Lumberjack Show very much.

We finished our cruise with a leisurely day at sea before disembarking in Vancouver. The disembarkation process was very well organized. Our luggage had been transferred directly to the comfortable coach for our 3 ½ hour ride to Seattle airport for our return flight.

Observations on the Diamond Princess cruise: The food, entertainment, ship activities and service met my expectations for a moderately priced cruise; in fact I was very pleased. (I was less satisfied with Princess earlier this year when we had sailed on the sister ship Sapphire on a Mexican Riviera itinerary. I suspect that the Sapphire voyage had been ‘dumbed down’ a bit in consideration of the 'sun and fun' passenger mix that cruises that itinerary.)

About half of the passengers on this cruise were first-time cruisers (probably typical for an Alaska itinerary). The age mix was pretty diverse and a few hundred kids were aboard.

I very much enjoyed our dinners in the main dining room. There were lots of choices and the taste and presentation were very good. Our waiter did a great job with his food recommendations and with the delivery. The wine list had several choices under $30/bottle and those that I tried were very good. Formal nights are more casual in Alaska with most men wearing suits or sport coats; very few tuxedos were observed.

One disappointment was lunch in the buffet. The layout of the serving area contributes to a very chaotic flow of passengers and the food choices didn’t seem as good as on other ships. However this wasn’t a problem for me as I enjoyed both the pool-side hamburger grill and pizzeria. We also had a very nice lunch in the main dining room on sea day.

This is a large ship at 113,000 tons with a passenger capacity of 2600. The resulting space ratio is comparable to that found on Holland America and Celebrity and is actually much better than that found on the newest Princess ships. Except for the lunch buffet, I never felt crowded.

Overall I was very pleased with this Princess cruise experience and would recommend it to others looking for a moderately priced cruise. The Princess UB5 Cruisetour provides an excellent itinerary for seeing both the interior as well as the traditional cruise ports. Weather in Alaska is unpredictable and we were very fortunate to have clear weather for our Tundra Wilderness Tour in Denali, for cruising Glacier Bay and for our three port stops.

Bob's Alaska Trip--cruising the glaciers

The cruise portion of our journey began when we boarded the Diamond Princess about 6:30 PM on Saturday May 30. After a quick unpacking we had a nice dinner. Since we had sailed on a sister ship (Sapphire Princess in January) we were quite familiar with the ship’s layout and further exploration wasn’t required. Late that evening there was a short "welcome aboard" show featuring a good comic.

We had a balcony cabin on deck 12 on the port side. I downgraded by one category to obtain a port side cabin. After sailing, I now feel that the side of the ship is irrelevant. The room was relatively small by modern standards. The balcony, connected by a sliding glass door, had room for two chairs and a small table.

College Fjord: we set the alarm early so that we could experience the cruise through College Fjord. On a southbound itinerary you visit College Fjord early in the morning (6 to 9 AM for us). This relatively narrow waterway lies within Prince William Sound south of Whittier and Anchorage. While cruising this inlet it is possible to see up to 8 glaciers at one time. Some of the glaciers spill into the water (tidewater glaciers) while others stay up in the valleys of the mountains (valley glaciers). Most of the glaciers here are named after east coast ivy league schools.

Unfortunately we awoke to a heavy cloud cover. The best view of the glaciers is obtained from the front of the ship. We selected a viewing location at the front of deck 8 (another good viewing area, though more exposed, is on one of the upper decks, just above the bridge). Relatively few passengers were out for this early morning viewing opportunity.

Photographing in the heavy overcast is quite a challenge, especially for someone with no photography training. I just kept taking shots and hoping for the best. Unfortunately most look like ‘black and white’ photos. Photoshop brightens them up a bit.

As the ship departed the fjord we had a snack from the buffet, then proceeded to enjoy the remainder of our first ‘day at sea’. There was a naturalist onboard who provided lectures and occasional commentary from the bridge over the ship PA system (and TV channel 35). Her lecture in the morning covered marine mammals (otters, orcas and humpbacks). Her afternoon lecture discussed the bald eagle. Her lectures were interesting and informative. They were reasonably well attended but there were more people in the casino than in her lectures.

That evening we had our first "traditional" dinner, early seating in the main dining room, and we met our dining companions. I always request a table for six. One couple was older, perhaps mid-70s, on their very first cruise. They were celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary that occurred earlier in the year. They really loved the cruise. I found it sad that they hadn’t tried cruising 20 years earlier. The other couple had just sailed the northbound itinerary as part of a back-to-back 14-night cruise. They were able to provide us some useful information about the ports. Our waiter was very experienced and very professional. He worked very well with his assistant and all of our meals flowed perfectly.

During our voyage there were three production shows featuring four singers and ten dancers. All were extremely well done. One quirk of the ship is that the main showroom capacity is less than one half of the ship capacity so that each production show is shown twice one night and repeated the following night. This seems to work fine although a few of the passengers were disappointed that there was not unique showroom entertainment each night.

Glacier Bay: The second day of the cruise spent much of the day in Glacier Bay. Only one or two cruise ships are allowed to enter Glacier Bay each day so Princess is fortunate to have permits for all of its ships sailing on one-way itineraries.

Our day began memorably with Princess’ Ultimate Balcony Breakfast. Although the weather was clear and sunny, it was a bit chilly to eat on the balcony so we enjoyed this meal inside our cabin. This meal was one of the best that I have experienced on a cruise and probably deserves a complete posting of its own but I will just hit the highlights. This meal costs $32/couple and consists of a half bottle of French champagne plus seven plates of food. Two plates include an assortment of fresh fruit with two types of melon, mango, and lots of ripe berries. Two plates include a huge portion of smoke salmon with a brioche roll and herbed cream cheese. Two plates include a wonderful crab quiche along with some crab legs. One plate includes sweet pastries. When the head waiter was marketing this breakfast he indicated that you are just being charged for the champagne; the food is actually free. We saved the champagne for later and did our best to consume the food. I enjoyed this meal so much that I ordered it again later in the cruise. The presentation was outstanding and the food was great; it is definitely well worth the minor cost. For those not sailing in the balcony cabins, the meal was also offered in one of the main dining rooms.

About 10 AM the ship entered Glacier Bay and picked up three rangers from the national park service. The bay is surrounded by many high snow-covered mountain peaks, some reaching 15,000 feet. Chunks of ice, some small, others huge, float in the water. Twelve glaciers reach the water and others can be seen in the mountains. The ship motors slowly past the scenery and takes several hours to reach the Margerie Glacier, perhaps the most scenic in his area. The rangers stayed onboard during our visit to the bay. One gave a lecture in the main showroom while the other two set up a display station on one of the upper decks. They were available during the day for questions and one provided some commentary from the bridge.

Glacier Bay is the destination where having a balcony cabin is particularly worthwhile. We had a beautiful sunny day that warmed to about 70 degrees. We could enjoy the scenery from our balcony while listening to the ranger commentary that was broadcast on the television. When we arrived at the Margerie Glacier the captain positioned the ship so that the glacier was visible from the port side of the ship; 30 minutes later he swung the ship 180 degrees to offer the same view to the starboard cabins. The Margerie Glacier extends 250 feet above the waterline and goes down another 100 feet below the water. It was interesting to be on the 12th deck, nominally 12 stories above water, looking up at this massive glacier.

Everyone hopes to observe a major glacier calving with a huge segment of ice falling into the water. Unfortunately this is relatively rare but we experienced several minor "sloughings" of glacial ice. However we frequently heard loud cracks and rumbles, the glacier teasing us with the possibility of a major calving.

About 3 PM the ship pulled away from Margerie Glacier and headed back towards the sea. We dropped off our rangers and headed towards our first port, Skagway.

Bob's Alaska Trip--the land tour

We have just returned from our Alaska Princess cruise tour, the new UB5 itinerary featuring the Diamond Princess cruise. This cruise tour included one night in Seattle, a flight to Anchorage, a bus to the Mt. McKinley Princess Lodge (2 nights), a bus to the Denali Princess Lodge (2 nights) and a train ride to board the Diamond Princess in Whittier.

I was thoroughly impressed with the organization of the land tour. Everything operated seamlessly. For example, we had packed two suitcases with "cruise only" items. These were collected by Princess at the Anchorage baggage claim carousel and they were waiting for us in our cabin when we boarded the ship five days later. At the airport we were given info packets about our hotel that included our room keys. This was repeated for our second lodge and we obtained our cruise cabin keycard before leaving the train in Whittier.
Our trip began with one night in Seattle at the Doubletree SeaTac (see my May 25 post). We enjoyed a nice day, a great dinner and a good night sleep. The following morning we caught the hotel shuttle back to the airport for our flight to Anchorage.

Mt. McKinley Princess Lodge: after a 3-hour bus ride we arrived at our first lodge. This is located about 100 miles from the entrance to Denali National Park. The closest town, Talkeetna, is about a half hour away. The lodge boasts an outstanding view of Mt. McKinley, North America’s highest mountain. Unfortunately the mountain is seldom visible because of persistent cloud cover. We arrived on a rare day where it was at least partially visible, a bright white triangular peak barely discernable above the white clouds. We arrived at the lodge about 5:30. After dropping our stuff in the room we returned to the main lodge where we enjoyed sitting on the wide deck in very warm sun (about 80 degrees) staring out at the mostly obscured mountain.

The resort consists of 460 rooms arranged in two-story buildings that are scattered around spacious grounds. Rooms were large but not luxurious, generally like a Sheraton 4-points in quality. A large lodge building had a nice deck, a large indoor seating area with views toward the mountain, the upscale restaurant, tour desk, a ranger station, and a room where various lectures were presented. We attended three interesting lectures on wolves, Alaskan bush pilots and the salmon life cycle. The casual restaurant was roughly equivalent to an Applebee’s with prices about 50% higher (as is typical in Alaska where almost everything must be shipped in). Overall I was very pleased with this lodge.
I had planned to book a river raft trip but decided to wait to see the morning weather. We awoke to a steady downpour that continued all day. My back-up plan was to take the shuttle bus into Talkeetna ($10 RT) and we spent a few hours. exploring At the visitor center we saw a really interesting film about climbing Mt. McKinley (this climb is for experts, not amateurs!). We had an excellent bacon cheeseburger at the West Rib Pub.

Denali Princess Lodge: where the first lodge was spread out and tranquil, the Denali Lodge somewhat resembled an army barracks with lots of activity. There are 432 rooms also arranged in 2-story blocks but the buildings are much closer together here. The room was small, similar to a Holiday Inn Express. On a positive note, the lodge is only a few miles from the entrance to Denali park and a free shuttle operates frequently. Another positive is a small village of restaurants and shops just across the street from the lodge. The lodge includes upscale and casual restaurants as well as a pizzeria with surprisingly good pizza.
After lunch we took the shuttle to the park visitor center to view their exhibits. While there we noticed a moose just outside so went out to take a few photos. The moose wandered around for a while, then left. Another highlight was touring the sled dog kennels and seeing a short demo of the dogs pulling a sled around a gravel track. A 21-second video of the demo can be accessed by clicking the link at the bottom of this posting.

Early the next morning (6:40 AM) we boarded a ‘school bus’ for the Tundra Wilderness Tour. The bus is driven by an experienced naturalist who provides an interesting commentary as the bus travels 60 miles into the park. The bus stops for all wildlife sightings and the bus windows drop for improved photography. In addition to sighting several moose, caribou and dall sheep, we were fortunate to see a grizzly bear and a wolf. The cruise tour includes a shorter tour (called the Natural History Tour). Based on many reviews on cruisecritic.com I upgraded to the TWT ($60/person additional). It should be noted that the wolf and bear sightings were beyond the point where the NHT ventures. The TWT upgrade is only available on the land tours that include 2 nights at the Denali Princess.

Train to Whittier: Princess promotes the train ride as a scenic experience. However the journey was more than 10 hours which is a long time to spend on a train. The first four hours from Denali to Talkeetna were moderately interesting but the final six hours to Whittier seemed to take forever. It might have helped if the weather was better. For me, the train was not a highlight.
The journey ended at the cruise dock just after 6 PM. Clearing security took about a half hour and we arrived at our cabin to find our main suitcases already there. Thus began our cruise adventure to be documented soon.

At Glacier Bay aboard the Diamond Princess:

Link to the sled dog demo:

Bob's Alaska Trip--currently in Juneau headed south

I haven't been able to update due to intermittent internet service and general lack of spare time.

The land tour was interesting but involved lots of time in transit. More on that later.

Glacier Bay: We had a fabulous day in Glacier Bay. This is one destination where a balcony is definitely worthwhile. The weather was unusually warm and the sky was blue. This was quite a change from the near constant rain in the interior of the state. The naturalist and ranger commentaries were broadcast on the TV so we could sit on the balcony and still hear the commentary. The scenery is amazing. Princess offers an "Ultimate Balcony Champagne Breakfast" via room service. Great food--wait for the pictures to be posted when I get home.

Skagway: 4 cruise ships disgorged 8000+ passengers into this small town. Many went on the train trip up to the White Pass while thousands others milled around the shops of this historic town. Only several dozen ventured up the hill behind town for an adventurous hike. We took the three hour hike up to Lower Dewey Lake and were rewarded with wonderful views (and sore legs). We were advised against circumnavigating the lake as the trail disappears and the journey requires scrambling over rocks for quite a distance. We ignored the local advice and survived.

Juneau: we took the shuttle bus to the Mendenhall Glacier and did another adventurous hike. Beautiful trail with great views of waterfalls, icebergs and the glacier. Came back to the ship early to hear a lecture by the first woman to win the Iditerod race, Libby Riddles. Tonight is another formal night featuring the captain's cocktail party and lobster.

more later . . . .

Social networking via blogs, Facebook, Twitter, etc.

I ran across an interesting piece today in Travel Weekly that certainly will serve as a "wake-up call" for travel agents. Imagine this scene....

"She is sitting on the floor in a dorm room or a bedroom with a phone in one ear, an MP3 player in the other and a notebook computer on her lap. The TV is on. Her homework is spread out all over the room. Her best friend is similarly arrayed. They are both talking, though it is not clear to whom". They are the Generation Y, switch the scenario to guys and it's Jason to a tee! Could these be tomorrow's travel agents?

Cruises Inc., the big cruise-only host agency believes they might be and it's giving them the opportunity to bring their technologies, their vast social networks and their innate talent for multitasking to the world of selling cruises. As you're reading this, they are actively recruiting this slice of the demographic pie for their unique talents - the ability to deploy various electronic devices to send and receive information simultaneously to an unlimited number of people effortlessly, while doing something else.

For these kids, there are no boundaries - they can operate from a laptop, work on the beach or at Starbucks or even lie on their sofa while watching their favorite TV show and not skip a beat. They roam effortlessly in a cloud of virtual networks so nowour industry looks due for another migration.

Travel agents have moved from their offices to their clients' offices to home offices to the internet and now on the the latest frontier of social networking media. Like it or not, this is not a passing fad and if we don't try to wrap our arms around it, we're going to be left in the dust!

You can teach an old dog some new tricks and I think even this blog has been a learning experience. Several of you are already on Facebook and have shared your photos and travel experiences. It's certainly going to take me some time for me to get up to speed on Facebook, a great place to reconnect with people you know once you learn to maneuver through the jungle.

Now many of our vendors are moving towards Twitter offering their followers special Twitter-Only sales promotions and timely news limited to 140 characters. Tweeters can also post a link to a relevant article or blog containing more in-depth information. So who is following this development?

Velma