2010 Alaska I
8/14/2010 – San Jose, Seattle, and at sea after 4:00 pm
7:30: Yolly gave us a ride to San Jose International Airport - Alaska Airlines, Terminal B
9:33: Flight took off on time, water and snack bag served
11:20: Landed at Sea/Tac (Seattle Tacoma) Airport 20 minutes ahead of schedule
11:40: Stopped at Express Shuttle service and got round trip ($10 off) tickets for $66
12:15: Finally boarded the shuttle
12:55: Arrived at Pier 91 - Golden Princess
1:30: Entered our stateroom B(aja)715 after security screening and check-in
1:45: Had a light lunch at Horizon Court (deck 14)
3:15: Emergency drill at muster station in Vista Lounge (deck 7)
3:55: Went to International Cafe and had some tasty bites
4:00: Golden Princess departed Pier 91, 40 hours to destination port Juneau
5:30: Had light dinner at Horizon Court (again)
7:00: Watched "Shutter Island" starring Leonardo DiCaprio
9:20: Had a light snack at Horizon Court
08/15/2010 - at sea
Had trouble falling asleep, woke up almost hourly until getting up at 7 with a painful back and waist.
7:30: Had a small breakfast at Horizon Court
10:00: Attended the "Alaska Port and Shopping Show" but left before it ended as the contents were all but sale pitches - very little about the ports; the only nice thing came out of this was the pamphlets on each of the ports.
12:00: Had lunch at Donatello - smoked turkey and vegetable for appetizer, Red Snapper for main dish, and pecan ice cream (yummy) for desert. Anita had New Zealand mussel for appetizer, Cobb salad, and fruit tartlet. Food plating was nice.
3:15: Watched "Green Zone" at Princess Theatre
5:05: Got some food from International Cafe for late afternoon snack
7:00: Stopped by Horizon Court for a bite - decks 5&6 were filled with people attending the first of two formal nights - socializing, drinking champagne, taking photos, enjoying music and dance.
8:15: Enjoyed "Stardust" - 45 minutes of singing and dancing with 50/60th oldies.
8:30: Tried but failed to buy small bottle varieties of Absolut Vodka, as the store won’t let us have it until Friday – when explained by the clerk, I felt really embarrassed.
2010 Alaska II
08/16/2010 - Juneau
6:00: Got up for whale watching – but saw nada, absolutely nothing
11:15: Golden Princess docked at Juneau - docking process was carefully slow.
All the dinning rooms were crowded with people trying to grab a bite before going on shore; the elevators were also filled and stopped at every floor.
12:20: Stepped on Juneau pier, got tickets for city and glacier tour; the city tour was not impressive, pretty much a waste except for the bonus stop - a small Salmon spawning creek where Salmon reproduction took place.
2:00: Started Mendenhall Glacier walking tour, all free unless you want to watch related movie and exhibit. This glacier has been retreating 200ft a year recently as oppose to 60ft 20 years ago.
3:40: I got back to the ship first while Anita went shopping; I had some salad at International Cafe before going back to our stateroom.
6:15: Had sit down dinner at Donatello, the King Crab Leg appetizer was delicious (generous quantity as well), vegetable soup was so so, and the seafood pasta was magnificent.
8:30: Had some fruits and one DOS EQUIS beer, Anita had a Singapore Sling - cost $2.99 each, happy hour after 8:00.
08/17/2010 - Skagway
6:00: Docked at Skagway
7:30: Had breakfast
9:00: Disembarked ship and heading toward Skagway downtown. Ten minutes walk just to clear the pier; another 10 minutes walk through a fairly scenic path to get to the town.
11:00: Joined a 50-minute guided city tour (need to obtain free tickets way before the tour starts – tickets run out fast).
12:20: Returned to the ship, finished the food prepared this morning along with hot tea and salad from Horizon Court.
2:00: Heading toward Skagway to see the town again - we were going places that required more walk, but since it was very windy and cold, we decided to stay in town instead. Skagway is better than Juneau in terms of preserving the past; even with about 10.000 tourists (from four cruise ships), the town can still accommodate (Skagway has only 862 residents as of 2000).
4:15: Returned to the ship
6:00: Had sit down dinner at Bernini, we were going to order two glasses of Pinot Noir, the waiter talked us into buying a bottle, we agreed because they can save unfinished wine for tomorrow - $36.5 plus 15% service fee. Dishes were all delicious - a little dizzy after the wine
My heart, for a short moment, felt like it was hammered while climbing upstairs, this happened two nights in a row, I did not experience this before, but it appeared I didn't have enough oxygen for a while.
08/18/2010 - At sea
7:00: Woke up, went grabbed a quick bite and hurried out to the upper deck as we were approaching Tracy Arm Fjord - the most exciting stop of the cruise - to see glacier and wild animals. It was cloudy and sprinkled occasionally; there were small icebergs along the fjord, it was amazing such a large ship can maneuver in such a narrow channel. We took some pictures and decided to go back to our stateroom to dress warmer.
8:20: Ship slowly edged toward the glacier, good spots on the decks were filled with people, it's hard to take photos without any fellow passengers in it :-). We were told this is the closest Golden Princess had gotten to the glacier this year. Although I took many photos but since lighting condition wasn't very good, I hope some would turn out OK.
9:50: Went to Horizon Court to get some hot drink and bites to warm up.
10:30: Went back to stateroom to rest.
12:30: Went to Princess Theatre to attend the 1:00 "Alaska Glaciers" presentation; Michael Modzelewski is the speaker, we bought his signed copy of "Inside Passage" at the theatre entrance.
2:00: Had some fruits and coffee at Horizon Court after the speech.
Since we couldn't make preferable reservation at Bernini so we decided to drop in when we feel like to.
6:15: Went down to Bernini for dinner, we waited in the atrium and enjoyed a live classical band before getting our table.
6:25: Our table was instead in Donatello (both restaurant were anytime dinning rooms, so one fills, guests may be taken to the other); we recalled our Pinot Noir and it still tasted good. I had wild mushroom cream soup, diver scallop, and pork tenderloin, Anita had the same soup, fresh salad, soufflé, and diver scallop.
2010 Alaska III
08/19/2010 - Ketchikan
6:00: Ship docked
6:10: Got up
6:30: Breakfast at the same old Horizon Court
7:20: Started Ketchikan walk tour; Ketchikan Visitor Bureau->Whale Park and Chief Kyan Totem Pole->Totem Heritage Center (Totem Poles dated over a century and related Indian culture)->Hatchery and Eagle Center (Two rescued female Eagles were kept here, they could no longer fly and hunt, so they had to be fed and protected by the center) (King and Coho Salmon were hatched here, from artificial fertilization to release them into the streams after one year when they are about two inches long)->Married Men's Trail (Not sure why it's named like that but it lead to Red Light District); the trail also runs parallel to a creek jam packed with returning Salmon - crowded is probably a better word.
Got a laser engraved Eagle crystal for $6.95.
10:45: I returned to the ship first while Anita continued shopping.
12:00: Had lunch
5:00: Went to Horizon Court for dinner, we realized that they were still serving lunch half way through, we waited until the other side of the restaurant start serving dinner then moved over there and restarted our dinner. Watched "Avatar" and "An Affair to Remember"
11:00: Tried to sleep on the floor where closet was to help relive the pain but still felt uncomfortable and the pain in my lower back persisted - went back to sleep in bed.
2:00: Time zone change back to west coast zone - 3:00 am now
08/20/2010 - At sea and Victoria, BC, Canada
8:45: Woke up by knocks on the door, we had no idea it was so late - unable to see day light might be the cause.
9:00: Breakfast
10:00: Anita went joined the lecture "Native People of the Northwest Coast" by Michael Modzelewski starting 9:30
11:30: Had lunch at Horizon Court
1:00: Attended lecture on "Victoria, British Columbia" at Wheelhouse Bar
2:00: Anita went to enjoy sauna
2:30: Watched "Dear John" on TV
5:30: There was a fixed dinning assigned for us at Donatello Dinning Room (5:30, table 101; simply show up at 5:30 and go directly to our table to be served), we were on waiting list for fixed time dinner when we booked the trip but did not notice that we actually got it, so our last dinner on board was the only time we took advantage of it - I think I over ate :-(
7:30: Got off the ship and started Victoria walk tour, the whole trip took one hour and 40 minutes, but we could only took photos in the first half of the walk, the sun set at 8:20 and we didn't have enough residual light for good photo shot after that.
08/21/2010 - Seattle
8:00: Disembark Golden Princess, took about 10 minutes to walk off the ship and pass custom.
8:20: Check in Shuttle Express
8:30: Board shuttle
9:10: Arrived at Sea-Tac Airport, self-checked in, got boarding pass
10:00: Cleared security, got to Gate N8 (after 2 rides of the airport shuttle)
12:15: Boarded the plane, nearly full - isle seat was ideal
12:45: Flight took off on time
2:30: Landed at San Jose Airport
2:50: Ying Wang gave us ride
3:20: Home sweet home
