Month: October 2023

Alaska Cruise Tour September 2023 Majestic Princess Day 7 Seaday

Oh no, the last day of the cruise. I prefer the last day to be a seaday if possible. Today was our only official Seaday of the cruise. I tried to do as much as possible, pack, plan our day in Vancouver and relax and rest a little.

Breakfast, lido time, then spa time. I stopped and got a Dirty Banana at Ocean Terrace to take with me to Deal or No Deal, then lunch at the burger bar with my first and only specialty sundae of the cruise.

It was then casino time, watching the show at Good Spirits, my Apple Blossom was the last drink he made. I had late afternoon coffee then a champagne Cosmo at the Crown Bar. Then had an amazing dinner at Catch. A welcome glass of champagne, fried calamari, surf and turf, chocolate cheesecake and baileys and coffee. Cashed out of the casino and spent a little more time on the Lido deck. Goodbye Princess until next time.


Alaska Cruise Tour September 2023 Majestic Princess Day 6 Ketchikan

The night before they cancelled my husband’s shore excursion, but since there was space on mine he came with me. They kept changing the time on Ketchikan and we were only there for 5 hours. Our excursion didn’t get back until it was time to board., so there was no time to walk around, a lot of people cancelled excursions because of this.

On the excursion, we had a crab feast at a lodge. I only had one serving but it was unlimited and a lot of people had multiple servings. After the crab lodge, we went to the Rainforest Sanctuary, the guides explained the vegetation and the history of the rainforest. It poured and I didn’t bring my raincoat because I didn’t think it was going to rain. We also saw a horned owl, hawk and bald eagle at their bird sanctuary. We then saw the man working on a totem pole. We also saw a black bear. I thought it was an enjoyable tour.


Back on board it was time for coffee and red velvet cake before a nap. We got up had a few cocktails and then had dinner in the MDR. It was the second formal night and I had steak and lobster that they served with bernaise sauce. Then off to bed, tomorrow was the last day and a sea day, so would be trying to do as much as possible.

Alaska Cruise Tour September 2023 Majestic Princess Day 5 Juneau-Foodie Walking Tour

The night before we got back to our room and there was a note that my husband’s shore excursion was cancelled. There was no availability on my excursion and nothing else my husband wanted to do, so he stayed on board, rested and had room service. I had the Juneau Foodie Walking Tour, we did it in 2019 and thought it was a great way to see Juneau. It had been sold out, but about two weeks before the cruise a spot opened up. I was able to get some cough drops at one of he stores, but it was over $5 for a roll.

We started the tour by seeing a bald eagle in a tree. There was also some bear scat, but we didn’t see any bears. We started out with some fish spread on a bagel. Then to my favorite, Tracy’s Crab Shack where we had crab bisque, a crab cake and a roll. We walked around, saw some totem poles and murals and heard some native history and the meaning behind the animals and their connections with certain tribes. We got to see and touch the Patsy Ann statute and the fisher memorial. We then had ceviche and local spiked lemonade. We went to the food tour headquarters and had salsa, spruce jelly, salmon spread and roe. Next we went to a food truck and had a beer with fish tacos near the fire pit. We ended with a renovated bar that had been restored to the way it may have looked in the 19th century.

Back on the ship, time to relax. Then afternoon coffee. The barista asked what my favorite animal was and he made me a dog. One of the people on the tour said the cakes at International Cafe were part of the Plus and Premium packages. I thought it was just the sundaes. I spent time in the casino had some drinks and met my husband at Harmony for a late dinner. He wanted to go there because he likes Chinese food, the only reservation was at 9. I thought the food was good and enjoyed all of the specialty restaurants. It was my husband’s favorite meal of the whole vacation.

Alaska Cruise Tour September 2023 Majestic Princess Day 4 Icy Strait Point

Ugh! My husband had been sick with a cold and congestion, in the middle of the night I had a sore throat. My husband took all the cold medicine I brought just in case. I had also used all my vitamin C lozenges. We had never been to Icy Strait Point before, none of the shore excursions appealed to us. I thought we could find cough drops/medicine in ISP Since we were there until after 7, I went the Princess shop and the didn’t have medicine either. Luckily, I had plenty of Tylenol, I was able to get cough drops and medicine in Juneau.

So, anyway, after a quick buffet breakfast, with orange juice we went to ISP. We took the Gondola, walked around and had some delicious mini-donuts.


After returning to the ship, we had lunch at Alfredo’s. They had recently started charging for Alfredo’s as a casual dining venue. If you had the Plus plan you got two casual dining covers and as Premium we got unlimited, but this is the only time we went. I thought it was a good lunch, but I don’t know if I would want to pay $15 for it. Other than that we napped, went to the Elite lounge and listened to the piano player, listened to music in the piazza and had dinner and went to bed early.

Alaska Cruise Tour September 2023 Majestic Princess Day 3 Glacier Bay

Even with touring Denali, Glacier Bay still has the best vistas for me. Even with all of the rain, it cleared up for a few hours. Time for breakfast, coffee and to Hollywood Conservatory to look at the schedule and then spending time on the Lido deck for glacier viewing.

Lunch at the Burger and Lobster Bar for a Lobster Roll, cheese fries and a 24K gold margarita, then more glacier viewing.

Afterwards time for afternoon coffee, then spending time at the Enclave, cocktails at Good Spirits, then we had a great dinner at Crown Grill.

Alaska Cruise Tour September 2023 Majestic Princess Day 2 Hubbard Glacier (we didn’t make it due to weather)

Was well rested. We got up and had breakfast. My husband told me he was getting sick and after breakfast he stayed in the room and took the medicine I brought. He thought he got sick from the weather on the ATV and raft. However, there were a ton of people coughing on the bus and train. After breakfast I did a Zumba class in the piazza. Then a coffee since the international cafe was right there. Then football in the room.

After a while I went to the Crown bar, where I had one of my go to drinks, the champagne cosmo. Then I had lunch with a 24K gold margarita, fried calamari, pasta and a blueberry dessert. Later there was a wine tasting then I went to vines to have another glass of wine. We then went to the Hollywood Conservatory to see Hubbard Glacier. It had been raining all day and they finally announced we would not be able to see the glacier.

My husband had room service and I went to the formal night dinner. On the way I stopped to watch the champagne fountain and after dinner listened to some music in the piazza.

Alaska Cruise Tour September 2023 Glass Domed Train from Denali to Whittier and Majestic Princess

It was an early start, the train left around 8 and we did not get to the port until after 6, so a 10 hour train ride. It was long, but picturesque. There was not much other than the scenery and to eat and drink. We each had a reindeer breakfast burrito and cinnamon roll for breakfast. The other side of the train saw a bear. I saw a moose, of course it had been killed and was riding in the back of a pick up truck. It rained most of the time. I had reindeer chili and cake for lunch. They checked everyone in for the cruise on thr train, which was a good thing, since they had long lines, just to get into the building.

It was over 90 minutes to get on the ship and to our room. We had a 7:30 dinner reservation in one of the main dining rooms, which we did not make. This was our first medallion cruise. I was able to watch the safety video in the room, but it would not recognize my husband, he had to do it a few times on his phone. We checked in at our muster station and went to dinner. It was not a problem that we missed the reservation. Dinner was good and then I went back to the room and ordered a martini for when I was unpacking through Ocean Now. There was an issue and they made my order twice, so I had two.

Alaska Cruise Tour September 2023 Denali Park

Early morning walk and then to get some coffee. Afterwards we had breakfast at King Salmon, My crab omelette was good. I had to work for a few hours before I left for Denali Park.

I took the lodge bus to Denali park, I walked around and spent some time at the Visitors Center. They had a bus that drove to the sled dog kennels. The rangers discussed the history of the dogs, we got to see all of the dogs and the dogs gave a presentation of their skills.

We had drinks at the pizza place and then had dinner at Fannie Q’s, which also had some live music.

Alaska Cruise Tour September 2023 Mt. McKinley to Denali

Soggy morning walk to get some coffee. One thermostat said it was under 40. All they had for breakfast was the buffet, afterwards it cleared and we were treated to some great views of Denali. We spent more time walking around and saw the naturalist presentation regarding moose. We had lunch before leaving for Denali.

It was an about a 2 hour drive to Denali. We were able to check in but our luggage didn’t arrive for several hours. We walked around for a while, my husband did an ATV tour and I did the Dog Gone It tour where we were able to play with the puppies and then saw presentations regarding the huskies and the Iditarod. It was a very enjoyable three hours. My husband and I met up later and had some pizza as that was the only place open at 10, when we each finished our excursions.

Alaska CruiseTour September 2023 Tampa to Anchorage and Anchorage to Mt. McKinley Lodge

So, all vacations start with my dogs looking pathetic even though they love their dog sitters. Somehow I missed getting a picture of Archie. We were off for a 16 hour plus day of travel and covering 4 time zones. I go off Keto on vacation and always get Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte if we were traveling during the season as in real life, I would never spend that kind of money on Starbucks.

So breakfast of Champions with PSL and chocolate croissant. In Dallas we had a couple of hours for a layover so we had lunch at a TGI Fridays, fried food and cotton candy cosmo for the win, which was a good thing as they did not serve food on the 7 hour flight from Dallas to Anchorage.

We made it to the hotel, Captain Cook which was a decent hotel. We had dinner, as it as after 9. The food wasn’t very good and was not cheap either. This kind of seemed like a theme for the land tour. But you don’t go to Alaska just to eat.

The next morning I was going to do a workout in the gym, but I couldn’t find the entrance. So I walked around downtown Anchorage, unfortunately this Florida girl was only wearing leggings and a tshirt. We had breakfast at the hotel which was good. My husband had the reindeer sausage with his eggs and toast and I had chicken and waffles. We left and made our way to Mt. McKinley Lodge. The bus ride was a little over 3 hours.

We arrived at Mt. McKinley lodge. We had lunch at Base Camp, checked out our room, walked around. We eventually did the hike to the Treehouse, one of their main attractions. We saw a movie about the Northern lights in the Hudson theater and had a late dinner at the Base Camp.