Royal Princess in Juneau, Alaska

Sometimes I feel guilty when we're cruising and I decide not to get off the ship in port. It's like I feel this obligation to get out there and do something productive. I had contemplated going whale watching last week, but with me writing about the incident in Ketchikan the day prior I wasn't in the mood. I contemplated going whale watching today but I again didn't feel in the mood. I already had an amazing whale watching day in Cabo San Lucas this year anyway. (You can read about that day here.) Our crew member had a limited time to get off the ship today so we didn't go out to eat with her, either. 

Looking for ideas for Juneau? Check out my 5 Things to do in Juneau list right here.

There are a myriad of things we could have done today but we did absolutely nothing and I'm good with it. I figured it's my vacation and I can do however much or little as I'd like. This is our 17th trip to Juneau. I think it's just fine and dandy to stay on the ship. So what did I do with my time on board?

I sat by the Retreat Pool in the beautiful Alaska sunshine.

I looked at the trees from my lounge chair.

I watched the Mt. Roberts Tram go up and down the mountain.

I took a photo of my personal yacht for the day.

Had Alfredo's again. Wrote the blog. Will go to the Captain's Circle Party tonight. (We never, ever go to those things but since it's a milestone cruise I'll be recognized so we'll need to be there. Since it's formal night and we didn't bring formal clothes we'll do the best we can.)

A nice, relaxing, vacation day in Alaska. Tomorrow we're off to our last port of the cruise, Ketchikan.

Want to know more about cruising Alaska? You can search using key words and come up with a slew of posts, but you can also check out my Cruising Alaska resources section here where you'll find the most recent posts.

Scrap Fabric Heart Coasters Sewing Project- Tutorial Tuesday

Looking for a homemade project idea for making drink coasters for Valentine's Day? Have extra fabric scraps around? Sew up these quick and easy heart coasters!

It's Tutorial Tuesday and today we are making some heart coasters. I think of hearts as a Valentine's Day project, but I also think of them applying for summer and the 4th of July. Hearts and stars and stripes and all.

For this project you will need:

• backing fabric
• foundation fabric
• cotton batting
• red strips of fabric 
• something to use as a template for the heart (a cookie cutter or one you’ve cut out of paper)
• Pinking shears, optional 
• Basting spray
• Sewing machine
• Matching thread
• Iron

Disclosure: Deb's Days is a participant in affiliate advertising programs designed to provide a means for me to earn fees by linking to affiliated sites. This means that, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a small commission if you click through and make a purchase. Your purchase helps support my work in bringing you new sewing and crafting content.

An updated pattern - It's a digital download with the written directions, step-by-step photos, printable templates, and link to the tutorial video. 

Looking for something else? 

Check out some of my other Valentine's Day sewing and crafting projects!

Otherwise you can find the tutorial for the quick and easy scrap fabric heart coasters sewing project right here:

Royal Princess in Skagway, Alaska

Welcome to Skagway!

Today was about food, drink, crew, and amazing weather. We started our day with taking the crew member we came on this ship to see out to lunch at the Sweet Tooth Cafe. After a lengthy lunch we moved onto Starfire to get takeout for her hubby who was still on duty. I've written about Sweet Tooth Cafe and Starfire several times over, this last week included. (You can find last week's Skagway post here.)

When she had to go back to the ship we moved onto a new restaurant, The Skagway Brewing Company. While the restaurant itself isn't new, their location is. So new that some of the online maps still show their old location down at the end of town. But now they have a brand new large building right next to Starfire on 4th Avenue.

We sat outside, enjoying the beautiful Skagway day. Look one way and see trees and blue sky. And beer flights and Long Island Iced Tea.

Look another way and see snow-capped mountains through the windows.

Head to the bathroom to find this unique sign of beer-holding people pointing the right way.

Here's the menu, if you're interested. They have an extended menu in their restaurant upstairs but we stayed downstairs in the outside area.

We spent a significant amount of time there. All aboard wasn't until 8 pm so why not, right? We visited with a nice couple from our ship who were first time cruisers. I enjoy listening to new cruiser perspectives and in Alaska am reminded of how tough the first day of a cruise can be when embarking in Whittier. You may be coming off a land tour which can be oh-so-exhausting. It's not unusual to barely make it in time for the Muster Drill (around 7:45 pm in Whittier). Whether you just flew into Anchorage that same day or were in Denali beforehand you will most likely arrive at the ship physically and mentally tired. You're then rushed on the ship, hurried to Muster Drill, and may be too tired for dinner afterwards. It's just a tough day all around. It should be easier, but it just isn't.

We left the Brewing Company after 5 pm and headed to the Popcorn Emporium around the corner and munched on some of the samples as we sat outside on a bench. We finally headed back to the ship close to six.

And went right to a couch near the Princess Live theater. We found a bar steward we hadn't seen in a couple years on this ship (didn't even know he was here - what a great surprise!) and had more drinks.

And then moved on to Alfredo's for our favorite pizza. Pepperoni, garlic, and extra cheese. Hubby opted for red onions, too. Crazy that the pizza is free here. It is so darn good.

Then we finally, finally, headed back to the cabin so I could type up this blog. Found more food here, too. More goodies for my 500 day celebration. Got a certificate to boot.

It was an amazing day in Skagway. I say this every year, but I think I could live here.  

Want to know more about cruising Alaska? You can search using key words and come up with a slew of posts, but you can also check out my Cruising Alaska resources section here where you'll find the most recent posts.

Off to Juneau tomorrow.

Royal Princess in Glacier Bay, Alaska

Welcome back to Glacier Bay, the best day on an Alaskan cruise. I could repeat some of the same things I've said about Glacier Bay, but I've already done that several times over. Instead, I'll provide some links to some of my past blog posts in case you'd like to learn more.

• Here's last week's post about Glacier Bay.
• You can read about my day on the Golden Princess in 2018 here. 
• You can read about my trip to Glacier Bay on the Island Princess here.
• This is the day in Glacier Bay where someone needed a Coast Guard rescue. It was also the only time we had such a huge chunk of ice fall that we felt it on the ship.
• Here is the day we saw a bear while traversing Glacier Bay.
• This is the day of the birds in Glacier Bay.
• This is the day when we saw lots of breaching whales when leaving Glacier Bay.
• Rainy Glacier Bay day is here.

Instead of saying anything new about Glacier Bay let me spend today catching up on some of things about the Royal Princess. I was planning on doing a trip wrap-up from last week, but just realized we'll be losing our internet today. That's one thing I've forgotten to mention about Glacier Bay. In my experience, the internet will be out for the day. So I'll hold the wrap-up until later and I'll instead get out some random info I haven't shared yet.

*Like I said yesterday, the OceanCompass app has done a great job of locating hubby around the ship. There is also another app we are using, OceanNow. This app lets us order things around the ship. Last night I used it to order room service. My cheeseburger made it to the cabin in record time, 20 minutes. Usually if you call room service on formal night you're on hold that long. While the menu is very limited, it did the job. At 2 am this morning while hubby was snoring and I couldn't sleep (probably because I slept most of yesterday away) I was looking through the app and found room service wasn't an option. So it seems the hours are limited, too. 

We've also been able to order fries while sitting out on the Lido deck, and attempted to order a drink with the app in Crooners on the last day of last week's cruise. (Your first drink through the app is free!) Crooners was open but it wouldn't register on the app. It gave me other options of places around the ship I could go to get a drink, but not Crooners. The server said he could still get my drink for free anyway, but when we checked the bill we were still charged. The Passenger Services desk was a zoo because it was the last day so I didn't even bother with standing in the huge line. The app is still showing a free drink so I'll try it again this week.

Other things you can order with OceanNow are pizza on deck, spa products, Ocean Medallion accessories, and even a robe, hangers, and ice for your cabin.

I'll post new Medallion videos once I get home. The MedallionNet here is better than the Ruby but worse than the Caribbean Princess. It's not fast enough to watch any videos, let alone upload them.

*The library was stocked with new board games last cruise. Like boxes and boxes of brand new games all nicely arranged and ready to be played.

*Also at the library, I left my Cruising with Confidence book in the library (this one right here, but the paperback version) like I've been doing on ships lately. I put a book label on the inside cover stating it is donated by the author (me) and asking them to return it the ship's library when they are finished reading it. But like has happened before, it wasn't returned at the end of last cruise. I know that's the chance I take, but I'm paying full price for my own book (no freebies or discounts for this author here) so that many others can read the book - not just so one passenger can take it home and keep it. 

*I've been leaving Encouraging Word Money Pockets all around the ship and also in the Wake Show Box. Cruise Director Matt O reads the Wake Show ones every single morning. After months of cruising where they were only read four times in total, it is exciting to see someone embrace their purpose and believe in the power of positive and supportive ideas, thoughts, words and actions. Way to go, Matt O for helping send those good vibes out into the world! 

*We went to Sabatini's the other night for dinner for the first time. Since I don't like Italian food we've always skipped the place. As I found out, it's not all pasta. 

A couple weeks back on the Ruby we tried Share for the first time and said it was going to replace our Crown Grill visits. Now we're in a quandary. We might want Sabatini's to be the Crown Grill replacement. It was really, really good. After so many mediocre visits to Crown Grill on so many ships across the fleet, eating at Sabatini's and Share have been like a breath of fresh air. I'll do a write-up on Sabatini's at a later date so keep an eye out for it. In the meantime, if you get a chance to try Sabatini's on the Royal Princess, do it.

It's almost 7 pm and the internet is back so let's get back to Glacier Bay...We had spectacular weather today and we even got much closer to Margerie Glacier today than last week. Double score! Pictures? Oh yeah, I've got 'em.

Want to know more about cruising Alaska? You can search using key words and come up with a slew of posts, but you can also check out my Cruising Alaska resources section here where you'll find the most recent posts.

Off to Skagway tomorrow.

Royal Princess Cruising to Hubbard Glacier

We've fallen into a predictable morning routine on the ship.

*Hubby leaves the cabin before 6 am to get some coffee and some oatmeal.

*I sleep until he calls the cabin a couple hours later to let me know where he is sitting in the buffet. (Side note - the Medallion's Shipmates section on the Ocean Compass app does an amazing job of pinpointing where he is on the ship. I can tell he is in the Piazza right this minute .)

*I take my shower and join him for breakfast and we make our plans for the day.

Today I was lucky enough to catch a rainbow off the back of the ship. It's barely visible above the horizon.

*Then after breakfast we go about our day.

Except today after breakfast hubby headed out to do his thing and I headed back to the cabin to have a little lie down. I was pretty tired so I planned on just a little rest before heading back out for the day. 

And I fell asleep. 

I woke up to go to the bathroom, came back to my little twin bed, and saw that hubby was sleeping in his twin bed. I checked the time and it was 2:00. Oh. My. Goodness. (That's what a dark inside cabin will do for you.) I turned on the bridge cam to try and keep myself awake, hubby headed back out, and I again somehow fell asleep. 

I woke up to a knock on the door. More treats for the 500 day celebration.

The bridge cam was still on the TV.

The time was 3:30 and we were almost at Hubbard Glacier. Yikes.

Just in the nick of time I made it outside to capture the glacier. Our go-to spot is the Horizon Terrace at the back of Horizon Court. Who wouldn't want to sit in these empty, comfy seats on the Horizon Terrace?

The Captain turns the ship around so everyone can get a good view no matter which side of the ship they are on. We didn't get as close as we have in the past. There was a heavy ice flow today. Plus, I'm wondering if the size of the ship made a difference, too.

Here are some other highlights of our time there.

 

 Tomorrow we're off to Glacier Bay.

Want to know more about cruising Alaska? You can search using key words and come up with a slew of posts, but you can also check out my Cruising Alaska resources section here where you'll find the most recent posts.