Day 8 was a sea day that started out slowly, but ended nicely. Day 9 was a wonderful day in Ketchikan. We’re getting closer to the end of our cruise.
Day 8 – Sea day
We had no morning plans, so we headed to breakfast at the buffet, after sleeping a bit later than usual. I like the buffet well enough, but there is not a lot of variety from day to day. It’s all pretty much the same buffet every morning. I did discover that I could put strawberry sauce and whipped cream on my waffle to make it outstanding, though. They cook over easy and sunny side up eggs and put them under the warmer for those who like those. They also make fresh omelets.
After breakfast I just roamed the ship and got pictures. I did find a duck! People like to put tags on rubber ducks and hide them throughout the ships. I brought some ducks with me to hide also. And most of the afternoon I was in my cabin working. We tried to do some laundry, but there lines of people waiting to get theirs done. We decided to wait till the next day.
Elegant Night
This being a sea day, it was a night to dress up for dinner. They have not been strict on the dress code, but I wanted to dress up a bit. Another perk of being Elite status is going to the Captain’s Cocktail party, and we were headed there after dinner. I hadn’t been to one in a long time.
The second dress up night had Land & Sea on the menu, which is steak and lobster tail. This lobster was much better than some of the other ships have. I really enjoyed it. Our wait team, Lorenzo and Awmi, have been really good. We’re the only regulars at our table, and they don’t forget our preferences. Princess Cruises don’t have the dancing waiters or singing during dinner, so don’t expect that. No towel animals either. We have sat with a number of very interesting people during the cruise, some of them more than once.
We skipped dessert to get to the Captain’s party, and there was already a line. Many more people than had been to the last party. As we walked in the officers and Captain were there to greet us. And Marija, who is so sweet, found us a seat and talked to us for awhile.
They were serving drinks. I asked for a Pina Colada and they were happy to get it for us. I also had a champagne cocktail. There was a band playing and people were dancing. After a while the Captain came up and gave a speech, and a few prizes were given out. Some good prizes were given out to people who had reached milestones. It’s amazing how many cruises and days at sea that people have sailed.
After the Captain’s Circle party, we headed to the Explorer’s lounge to listen to the comedian. It was already crowded but we found a nice seat to the side. I cannot remember his name, but I can remember the hilarious laugh of a lady in the audience. He was calling her Phyllis after Phyllis Diller. She would laugh at anything he said, whether it was funny or not. I’m assuming that she had bought the drink package but she really made the comedy show better.
Day 9 – Ketchikan
We’d been looking forward to Ketchikan for a while, so we ate an early breakfast and hopped into Ketchikan. And basically, you could hop because the ship ported right in the downtown area. I could watch the people shopping from my cabin window.
Ketchikan
We started out by walking to Creek Street to see the Salmon on the fish ladder. There were quite a few salmon trying to swim upstream and the town had created a ladder to make it a little bit easier for them. Still, we saw a lot of dead salmon strown around, some in very high places. The area must have flooded recently. It’s quite a struggle for the salmon to climb up a waterfall and upstream. They’d make a bit of headway, and then fall back again. It’s tough to be a salmon. On the way back out to town, we saw seals and sea lions in the marina feasting on the salmon.
Creek Street is very nice. You can walk up steps toward the salmon, and there are a number of shops to check out. It seemed like most were locally owned. Plus we saw seals and sea lions in the harbor looking for wayward salmon.
After that we walked around the town trying to find a few last minute souvenirs. The prices for the same items vary a lot from store to store, so look around before you buy. We found better prices on the other side of the tunnel along the marine walk. There are also coupon books that have some deals. I managed to find a good deal on a jacket and he found a heavier jacket that he liked at Sockeye Sam’s store, along the waterfront. Definitely check them out, they had better prices.
We walked around for quite a while, went back to the ship for lunch, then came out and walked some more. I have to say that we’ve had excellent weather for our cruise. Nothing to complain about and not a drop of rain. I have to recommend a store called Soaring Eagle. It’s the coolest store ever just to go in and look around. So many beautiful and unique items in the large store, and we even got a free arrowhead for our granddaughter. It’s like visiting a museum. They will ship your items for you if you find something that you can’t live without. But it seems like there is a no refund policy, so make sure you absolutely have to have it. We just looked around and enjoyed the items, no one pressured us, although we did talk to a salesman.
You will find restrooms throughout the town on both sides of the tunnel. There were three cruise ships in town, and one was at a dock far enough away that they had to take a shuttle bus to town. I’m glad that we were so close, it made it very convenient.
After we got back from town we decided to pack as much as we could since the end of the cruise was rapidly approaching, so we did some laundry. Since everyone was in town, we managed to get a machine. Before you buy tokens, push in the token bar and see if the machine starts to pour water into the machine. They’ve been free for us the entire cruise. Washer and dryer. It’s sad to think that our cruise is nearly over.
Dinner and a show
The ship pulled out of port at about 5:00. I had to laugh because a group of little boys on shore were waiting for us to leave. Once the ship was gone, they took off their shirts and shoes and climbed down onto the large bumper that keeps the ship from hitting the wall. Then they started walking on the bumper like the lumberjacks walk on logs. Mind you, it was not overly warm out, and I hope that they didn’t fall into the water.
We went down to our usual table at dinner, and a couple that we had met before joined us, along with our Naturalist on the ship, Susan Hazlett. She knows so much. I love getting to know people from different places. The food was mostly good. I didn’t like or finish the cold soup with squash and ginger. But the Beef Wellington and sugar free coconut cake were delicious.
And then it was on to the show. Dan Middleditch, the Elvis impersonator, did songs from Johnny Cash, Buddy Holly, and other rock and roll icons. It was enjoyable. He is good, he does tend to get a bit sappy sometimes. I did enjoy his music, and especially liked his rendition of Johnny B Good.
That was about the end of the day for us. We relaxed in the room and watched part of a movie that we had started the night before. I love that Princess has videos on demand. Tomorrow is our last day, a sea day, and I am sad.
The Quiet Cruiser 