Jan115

I keep nagging my husband about retiring so we can take advantage of some of these fall and winter deals, but he says he needs to keep working because I keep booking more cruises. Go figure!

I love balcony cabins, though I have to say it was freezing out there during sea days in Alaska. So it didn't get used as much as we normally would. Glacier Bay was much better viewed from up top (if you don't mind the cold). I'm not sure I would spend the money on a balcony in Alaska again unless it was a great deal.

We are also early boarders, and have never been denied access to our cabin when arriving on the ship - at least not yet. We don't arrive early to get first dibs at anything. In fact, I hate the buffet on embarkation day. We arrive early because we want our vacation to start as soon as possible!

For your viewing pleasure, here are the best of the best of my Alaska cruise & San Francisco Photos. https://picasaweb.google.com/106306389117062090355/BestOfAlaskaCruise2013?authuser=0&feat=directlink There two big to post in the albums here on CruiseCrazies, so I posted them up in my Picasa albums. Enjoy!

Oh, I envy you being so close to Alaska. We are definitely going to go back - adding a second trip to Alaska on our bucket list! Next time, probably out of Seattle and hopefully adding on a land portion. We did a British Isles cruise last summer - just the loop around England, Ireland & Scotland - amazing! Happy travels!

Returned last night from an amazing two-week vacation, beginning with three days in San Francisco, continuing with 10 days at sea to Alaska and Glacier Bay, and ending with the beautiful redwoods of Muir Woods. I have about 1200 photos to weed through ... and that's not counting another 1500 on my husband's camera - yikes!! I just posted my review - read it HERE. Also will be blogging about it soon and posting up some photos when I have time. But first I still need to finish the laundry! If anyone has any questions about the ship or itinerary, ask away!

Enjoy your cruise!

Have a wonderful cruise, Falina!

"10 days of breathtaking scenery and adventure" Click here to view the cruise review

Thanks for the welcome home everyone. Watch for my review and photos in the next couple of days. But first ... Laundry!

Vacation's over ... Boohoo!

Last day of this fantastic journey. One more day in San Francisco and back to reality.<br /><br />Afternoon tradition on Princess: Milk and warm chocolate chip cookies!<br />

Arrived in Victoria, Canada this morning. We had no plans, and with only a few hours in port, we just took a scenic walk into town along the waterfront. Very pretty city! By the way, today is our 36th anniversary, and we awoke to a card from the Captain and balloons on the door.

Celebrity Solstice sails into the sunset today from Ketchikan!<br />

Today was our day in Ketchikan and our much anticipated flightseeing to see bears. Again, another sunny and unseasonably warm day. Great for the flight - clear skies and beautiful views ... But sadly not a bear to be seen. Unfortunately, the creek is low due to shortage of rain, leading to low salmon numbers and fewer bears. Still the flight and the bald eagles we saw were well worth the trip! Lots of pics to come from my 35 mm. In the meantime, here is the ship in port.<br />

Glacier Bay ... Words can't describe the beauty of it all. And though it was cold - you're cruising through ice after all - the weather was gorgeous!<br />

We took some amazing photos yesterday while on the Princess Whale Watching & Mendenhall Glacier Photo Safari tour. If you are a photo buff, I highly recommend this. It was a small group of 12 and included a nature hike, views of the Glacier and a fantastic small boat ride to view humpbacks. My Canon point & shoot wasn't powerful enough to capture them up close, but David got some beautiful shots. By the way - those layers they tell you to wear ... It was 72 degrees and sunny!<br /><br />We just arrived in Skagway, and expecting another warm, sunny day. Here's a quick iPhone pic. <br />

<br />Sailing into Juneau this morning - the weather is perfect for our Whale Watching/Mendenhall Glacier Photo Safari with Princess!

Greetings from the Pacific Ocean! I'm unable to upload photos here like I planned, so I'll just say we are having a great time thus far. San Francisco was fabulous, Alcatraz was amazing, embarkation was quick, efficient and not the tale of woe people talk about, the ship is beautiful - and, yes, definitely showing some age. Not a real bother, though. The food, service, and cabin are all great, and the comedy show last night with comic, Kevin Hughes, was the funniest ever at sea. I don't want to use all of my 250 free minutes here, so when we are in Juneau tomorrow hopefully I'll report back again - maybe with photos this time.

Embarkation day: The Grand Princess arrives in San Francisco - 5:15 am!<br /><br />

I'm away on vacation, but will return later this month with more great tips to make your travels easier!

San Francisco, Alaska and Grand Princess, here we come! I am getting a jump on reviewing this trip - our 2013 summer vacation - less than two days before departure. Tomorrow, I'll be busy double-checking and triple-checking my CruiseCrazies packing list to make sure I have everything covered and probably will be too exhausted to do much of anything else, let alone write. The idea - and I'm probably over my head on this one - is to write a day-by-day review of our experiences along the way - sort of a "Live From" report. As with most good intentions, however, things don't always turn out as planned. Much will depend, of course, on internet connection, cooperation from my iPad, free time and my level of exhaustion after a day of sightseeing. If my pen runs dry or I am just having too much fun to write, don't despair. You can count on a full trip review when I return! After months of preparation, excitement and anticipation, the day is nearly here. Our bags are nearly packed - or I should say OVER-packed - and we have to endure just one more day of work before finally escaping life's daily routine. Come early Friday morning, my brother and his wife will greet us with their cheery smiles, our hired car will scoop us up well before the New England sun rises, and promptly transport the four of us to Boston to await our non-stop flight to San Francisco. This is a first visit for all of us to San Francisco, and we are eager to experience as much as we can in the three days we have before boarding the Grand Princess. I understand that the city is alive with the America's Cup races, and being summer, I expect the streets will be bustling. Our home base for three nights will be the Best Western Tuscan Inn. Originally booked directly with the hotel using a 30% AAA discount, I later discovered an even lower rate through Hotwire, and being one who never passes up a deal, I canceled and re-booked our two rooms, saving us a few bucks - which we will blow later on the ship. Hey, it's vacation! My well-planned itinerary - which all in our party will follow because I tell them to - includes a 4-hour city tour with a local guide and an evening visit to Alcatraz, tickets for which were purchased the day they opened for sale. It's a good thing, too, because a week later they were gone. The rest we will make up as we go along. Armed with our mini city guide and advice from friends and acquaintances, I am sure we will have no trouble filling our time with all sorts of city splendor. Marin County, Muir Woods and Sausalito will be explored later with another local guide when we return from the cruise. Stay tuned ...

Thanks for joining us here at CruiseCrazies. We hope you'll visit often, ask questions, share your experiences and join in the conversation.

Thanks for joining us here at CruiseCrazies. We hope you'll visit often, ask questions, share your experiences and join in the conversation.