Crown Princess Alaska Cruise – Day 10

The last day of a cruise is always the saddest day. You have to say goodbye to everyone, plus you have to pack. It’s never easy to pack after a cruise, and I’m finding it harder knowing that we’ll be flying home with a weight restriction on our check on luggage.

Tour of the bridge

We had gotten a letter the day before inviting us to take a secret Bridge Tour, which I’ve always wanted to do. I had wanted to meet the Captain, since he reminds me so much of my grandfather, and I hoped to do that on this tour.

When we met for our tour, it wasn’t exactly what we expected. There were two security guards, and about 20 people waiting. I don’t think that any of us expected there to be so many people invited. I guess that about 50 people had been invited to three separate tours. I expect that I was invited because of my media status.

We were escorted to the Bridge in a secret spot, then we were ushered to one of the Bridge wings. A Third Officer, I don’t remember his name, talked to us about the workings of the Bridge. It was actually very interesting. The Captain did come in for a minute, but no one got to meet him, unfortunately.

About this Captain…he comes on the PA System each morning and talks quite a bit about the port we’re at or what’s going on at sea. Plus, he’s from Great Britain, so you can understand what he is saying, unlike most of the Italian Captains I’ve sailed with. I do see him very often in the buffet, where he eats every day. I haven’t wanted to bother him while he’s eating, and he doesn’t seem like he really wants to reach out. But I do like him, he seems down to earth. He must get tired of people, I would.

We only had about half an hour on the Bridge since there was another tour waiting, but we were allowed to walk around the bridge and take pictures. It was definitely an honor to be given this tour, and I greatly enjoyed and appreciated it.

Lunch, dessert buffet, and the rest of the afternoon

We had lunch in the buffet, and when I went to get my food I discovered that the entire back buffet area was filled with desserts. Beautiful decorated cakes, pies, and miscellaneous other pastries. I was tempted to start with that but instead I went to the other buffet area and got something a bit healthier first. But, I did go back and get more desserts than I needed. They were all delicious, just like most of the food on the ship.

I walked around awhile taking more pictures of the ship. I managed to totally miss the gym, although I had sworn before this trip that I’d go there as often as I could. Guess I couldn’t go, I was always so busy. Then I watched some of the Stewards make towel animals in the Piazza (Atrium). I did miss them on this cruise, I really like them. My Steward never made one, and he’s not been as personable as some of the Stewards I’ve met. But he does a good job and is probably just too busy.

After that, our most pressing job was to pack our luggage. We wanted to get off the ship as late as possible the next day since our bus to Seattle from Vancouver wouldn’t come till almost 2 pm. Our luggage tags were “light blue 3”, which meant we shouldn’t have to disembark till around 10 am.

We were going to be going to Seattle for a day after the cruise, but we still wanted to try and have our checked suitcase under 50 lbs for our flight home. We packed what we’d be wearing the next couple of days in our carry ons. We use compression bags, that we got at Dollar Tree to pack so we have more room. We put any dirty clothes in them and packed them in our check in. Plus, I put the souvenirs that I had gotten in them. If you bought Ulu Knives in Alaska, they should go in your check in luggage also.

Final thoughts and some pictures

We didn’t do much that evening, we knew that we had an early start the next morning. Besides getting off the ship, we were going to take a bus to Seattle, which was at least a five hour ride. We had dinner with Susan Hazlett, the naturalist, along with other nice people. We’ve met so many interesting people on this cruise. Then we called it a night.

A note about Covid on the ship…we didn’t hear anything on the ship, but when we got home we found out that some people had been quarantined on the ship. My husband got it after the cruise, probably from the cruise, but we didn’t know till we got home and he tested. His symptoms started the day after the cruise. I never got it, but I’d had it in February and maybe had some immunity. So, long story short, when you are on a cruise, keep your hands clean and try not to touch things and then put your hand by your face. If you are afraid of getting Covid, it’s probably not a good idea to cruise. There is no longer any social distancing, and the ship’s are full. I understand now why the Captain did kind of keep his distance, he doesn’t need to get sick and infect the entire crew.

Alaska has been on my bucket list for quite a long time, and I’m thankful that we finally got to see it. It was nice stopping at ports that are in an American state, having everyone speak English, and being able to use a credit card instead of cash in the shops. The weather was wonderful for us, in spite of what we had expected. We never had to dress for the cold except on the Hubbard Glacier day. We didn’t have to wear our rain gear at all. I loved the old west feel of some of the towns. I loved learning the history of an area. It was a 10 day cruise, our longest ever, but it didn’t seem long at all. I hope to get back there again some day. I definitely recommend visiting Alaska. Next blog will show our Seattle adventures, plus Quick Shuttle and Alaska Airlines reviews.

And here are a large number of pictures of our trip that you haven’t seen yet…