The Friday 15

And 15 more were gone...

Starting next month I'm switching up the Friday 15. I'll only post the last Friday of the month. But, boy I sure hope I have four weeks of Friday 15s to show off on that last day!

How to Make Fruit Crepes - Tutorial Tuesday

Since I spent many days on the Royal Princess this month eating fruit crepes for dessert let's look at my recipe from the early days of Tutorial Tuesdays.

Crepes on the deck of cruise ship in Alaska? Heck, yeah!

Looking for more sewing,crafting, and food projects? 

Click here to see all my tutorials!

Ingredients:

2 eggs, beaten

2 TBSP sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 c. canned evaporated milk

1 c. flour

1 c. milk

2 TBSP melted butter

As for directions, you'll have to watch the how-to video right here: 

Disembarking the Royal Princess in Vancouver

We were surprised last night at the number of passengers we talked to who just couldn't wait to get off the ship. (Or, as some called it, the "boat".) Unfortunately in many cases it was first time cruisers making those comments. I know cruising isn't for everyone, and this ship isn't for everyone, but it's unfortunate so many felt this cruise didn't meet their expectations. 

There were several things we heard. They:

• couldn't find anything because the ship was too big.
• didn't get the amazing Alaskan seafood onboard they were expecting.
• thought the excursions were too expensive.
• didn't see whales jumping all around the ship like they thought they would.
• didn't see bears or moose.
• found they pools weren't warm enough to swim in.
• felt the land tours were too rushed.
• thought the lines were too long to get on and off the ship.
• were hurried from the train to the ship in Whittier.
• said the seas were too rough. 
• couldn't find food 24 hours a day.

Some of the concerns were valid ones, but with some of the others a little research could have gone a long way.

Is Alaska amazing? Absolutely! 

Is cruising amazing? Absolutely! 

Will you be able to see and do everything you wanted - and everything you heard about - in just one week's time? Absolutely not! 

If you're planning on a cruise to Alaska, keep those expectations in check. And talk to people who have been again and again and again and again. Trust the experienced Alaskan cruisers, not the one or two time Caribbean cruisers. Not that those who cruise elsewhere aren't full of useful knowledge, but Alaska is just a different beast - and that's what makes it unique. For us, uniqueness is good (at least when in comes to Alaska). For others it isn't.

Lucky for us today that the disembarkation schedule was pretty generous with time. We didn't have to be off the ship until 11:20 am. Gave us time to get through the super-fast Canadian customs...

We had a new question this year on the Canadian customs form.

Gave us a much appreciate couple of extra hours to enjoy the ship. Then we had plenty of time to stand in that 45 minute taxi line...

and plenty of time to have one last drink once at the Seattle airport before our last flight home.

Thanks for joining me as we cruised these two weeks on the Royal. Like I said yesterday, I have lots more cruising content coming up, including some more cruises. For those not familiar with my blogging schedule when I'm home, it goes like this:

*Tutorial Tuesdays are the days I post the sewing, crafting, and food tutorials.

*The Friday 15s are my downsizing days. For the past year and a half I've been donating or discarding at least 15 items every Friday and I'm still finding stuff to send out the door.

*Cruise Ship Saturdays are when you'll find all my cruising related posts, well, posted.

*Sewing for Good Sundays are when I share the projects I'm working on for charity.

If you have any interest in any of those things, feel free to stop by and check them out. Otherwise, I hope to see you on a ship soon.

D

If you want to take a look at the disembarkation times from today you can find them here. You can also find the Patters from the full two cruises there as well.

Royal Princess Alaska: Last Sea Day

Well, here we are on the last sea day of our two weeks sailing on the Royal Princess to Alaska and it's a bit of a choppy one.

Today I had the opportunity to ask the Captain and 3rd Officer several questions about the route this ship has taken as we've navigated our way to and from Alaska. If you remember, when we left Vancouver we took the green route

 instead of the much more scenic red route. It was quite disappointing.

Today as we're heading back to Vancouver we are again taking the non-scenic route. As I found out in my questioning today, the issue is with the length of the Royal Princess and the British Columbia marine pilot rules. Currently there is a limit on the length a ship can be when passing through the area. While right now the Royal cannot sail those narrower, more scenic waterways they are working to get clearance at some point during the summer. So sailings later in the season may get the scenic route. Lucky ducks.

I also asked about the Ketchikan approach. Usually when coming into Ketchikan from the south ships take the red route but we came in on the brown route. Another less scenic route.

Alaska marine pilots had concerns about the maneuverability of the Royal Princess, particularly at lower speeds. So as the ship was needing to slow down to dock in Ketchikan it required a different approach - one that would bring her in from the north. Which now makes sense to why when we left Ketchikan on our way back to Vancouver we we were able to leave from the south. I was told today since we weren't trying to slow down the issue wasn't an issue and we could maneuver on out through the scenic south.

I found the conversation (and information) very interesting.

This trip has gone way too fast, and despite my initial misgivings that I wrote about here I am glad we came. I wouldn't hesitate sailing the Royal to Alaska again and again. I wish we weren't spending the day packing and saying our goodbyes to crew. Knowing there is always a next time is what makes it all okay.

My last day of this particular "live from" will be tomorrow as I cover disembarkation in Vancouver, but I'm not done writing about the Royal yet! I'm working on a wrap-up of the trip and on some other things, too. Most of the posts, pictures, and information will be posted once I get home so do keep an eye out on the blog for updates. 

Some of the cruising things coming in the next several weeks:

• A wrap-up of both the Northbound and Southbound voyages.
• A review of Sabatini's on the Royal.
• A write-up of the Royal's Concierge Lounge.
• Medallion, Medallion, and Medallion. I have both written information and videos of the Medallion operations on the ship. I know everyone is looking for factual, first-hand accounts so I'll work on providing that here and on YouTube. My YouTube channel is here. And if you're looking for the Medallion accessories available on the Royal this month, check out vickieandbernietravel's Ocean Medallion Accessories post here.
• A review of Share on the Ruby.
• Updated information on the Pan Pacific Hotel in Vancouver, including their Club Level Lounge.
• The opportunity to get my Cruising with Confidence eBook for free for three days in June. Check back for the exact dates.
• Another round of "live froms" in Alaska will be coming up at the end of the Alaskan cruise season. We'll be on both the Grand and the Golden in September. We may also add in more dates on the Royal. 
• I wanted to get some time to interview Matt O' this trip but that man is crazy busy. (For those interested, he's heading home tomorrow but will be back later in the summer.) If I do make it back on the Royal again I'll definitely have an interview with him right here on the blog for you.

As always, if you have any specific questions you'd like answered or things you'd like to see featured on the blog, let me know. I'm always on the look out for ideas for new content.

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.

Ketchikan, Alaska with the Royal Princess

Before I start with today, I need to finish up last night's activities. We had the Captain's Circle Party. Being I was recognized for 500 days with Princess we were able to bypass the long line and use a different entrance, have special seats allocated just for us, and get drinks right away.

It wasn't long after this picture was taken when I told hubby we needed to promise each other something - if we ever got to those 2,000+ days like the others in the front row we would not be dismissive of someone at just 500 days. It was clear by the folks around us that we weren't at their "level". That they were better than us. I've written about this one-upness issue back in November. Although I don't know if the guy sitting on the other side of me was any better. He was a passenger looking for a seat, looked at my place card, wanted to know how many days I was celebrating, and told me he wanted to sit by me because then maybe everyone else would think he was a VIP, too. I guess we all need to feel special in front of other people.

After the party we went and sat outside for a bit. It was a beautiful night on the Horizon Terrace.

 

We even saw whales out there!

Now back to Ketchikan...

Our crew member gal still didn't have a workable schedule for us all to go out together so we headed out by ourselves. We knew we wanted Burger Queen like we did last week. We also knew from last week's hour wait they deliver to the Arctic Bar across the street.

I knew the bar would be interesting when we saw this t-shirt for sale inside. If I wasn't so full of joy and kindness and spreading love everywhere I go I would be pretty tempted to buy it. (Not really, but it did give me a giggle contemplating how it would go over if I wore it on the ship.)

When we found a table that had just been vacated by crew members I had yet another giggle when I looked at the cup left behind. The bloody Mary and Long Island Iced Tea were ours; the mug wasn't. The Arctic Bar is quite the cheeky place.

We drank for a while, then called up Burger Queen for lunch. They run the food on over to the bar when it's ready. I again forgot to take a pic of the burger as we ate it too fast. It was just so darn tasty. Here's their menu:

and their delivery guy...

Check out my 5 Things to do in Ketchikan if you want to know what to do in town that doesn't involve salty language.

All aboard isn't until 5:30 but we needed to head back a bit earlier to get a nap in before tonight's Most Traveled Guest party. We came back to more treats in our cabin for my 500th day with Princess celebration. We've had something arrive every single day. Wow.

Another great day with the Royal Princess in Alaska.

Tomorrow we have our last sea day of our cruise. Sad.

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.