Hawaii Cruise Wardrobe Choices

On March 16, 2016March 31, 2017 By ArlynnIn Vacations20 Comments

I cannot believe that our Hawaiian cruise is now behind us…<sigh>. We plan for months and months for our cruises, and then *poof* they’re over with way too soon. OH well, there is always the next one in the queue huh? I always like to have the next one to look forward to and to plan for. Those of us in the cruising world keep a close eye on our “Countdown”…And I do have one of those sweet “Countdown’s'” clicking away at the moment…YaY! We will once again be cruising with Princess Cruises; we are loyal to them and are now considered “Platinum” members of the “Captain’s Circle”…Woohoo, go us! 😉

Just as I mentioned in my Alaska Cruise Wardrobe Choices blog post, I am no fashionista, but, this plus sized girl does like to try her best to look put together and most importantly to *feel* pretty. My wardrobe for Hawaii ended up to be quite varied as we began and ended the cruise in Vancouver, B.C which at that time of the year (April 5-19) temperatures were on the chilly side. We cruised for 5 days at sea on our way to Hawaii, then we were in the Islands for 4 days, and then we cruised back to Vancouver for 5 days. So that said, I knew I needed some clothes to keep me warm and some clothes that were more suited for the tropics. OH goodness, way to confuse a girlie girl! 😉 All that said, the little voice in my head was whispering “Don’t overpack, don’t overpack, don’t O-V-E-R-P-A-C-K!!!”. 🙂

Okay, enough of my ramblings…Let’s get started…

Here are the suitcases that I took…Yes, yes, I took two <~~~Don’t judge! 😉 One was for my clothes (purple, 29″ spinner–checked compliant), and the other one was for cosmetics (27″ spinner–checked compliant), my “must haves”, and an extra Vera Bradley “Weekender” bag so that I could use it for a carry-on bag on the plane on the way home; it held the clothes that we wore on our last day of the cruise, our last morning toiletries, etc…We also had to put our suitcases out in the hallway on our last night of the cruise so that they could be taken and readied for our trip to the airport the next morning. Here is a link if you’d like to take a look at my blog covering What’s In My Carry-On, My Must Haves, and Packing Tips & Tricks.

The first outfit I picked out was my traveling outfit…It also served as an out to dinner outfit as we were meeting our dear friends Liz and Mike who traveled to Vancouver from Victoria on the day that we arrived. We went out to dinner and had a nice long visit that evening…I was SO looking forward to that meet-up. This is the outfit I chose, comfy, but still a bit dressy (and it didn’t wrinkle…an important little detail considering we were going to be traveling and sitting in a jet for the better part of that day). It is a navy blue maxi skirt, pretty paisley blouse, and a knit navy blue jacket; it traveled beautifully.

Of course we left our house at around 3am and I forgot to take a selfie of my outfit before we left…SO, I improvised and took one of myself in the airport bathroom—OH Lawdy, the things that I do for my Blog…hahaha. 😉

Next, when packing I picked out the outfits that I’d wear on our way to and from (not in) Hawaii…I knew that it would probably be pretty cool (and it was) for the first few (at least) days that we’d be at sea–10 sea days in all 5 going and 5 coming back home.

First, I chose this pretty coral jacket:

And here I am on Embarkation day in that jacket, I was standing on the balcony of our MiniSuite D620 <link to a descriptive Stateroom video of our Mini that I have on my YouTube channel>. 🙂

Next, I knew that I had to take some of the most comfortable black stretchy slacks ever, I took 3 pairs of those as they fold up nice and small for packing and do not wrinkle. I was so sad last year when I couldn’t find these pants any longer–admittedly, mine are getting a wee bit worn, not horrible, but, enough where I’d like to have some back-up pairs. I do believe I’ve found them again though, at Dressbarn.com, and I’ve ordered a pair up for myself. I will let y’all know if they are these exact pants–Dress Barn had done away with them for a while. I’m hoping that these are indeed my very favorite, here are a couple of links… Roz & Ali Plus Slim Leg Pants & Roz & Ali Slim Leg Pants . Anyway, I paired those pants with different colored 3/4 length sleeved shirts.

I threw in a few light-weight scarves too, they didn’t take up any space and didn’t add hardly any weight, but, they added a little interest and cuteness to those plain shirts…

I just love scarves btw…Here I am in that coral top with a different scarf–I am with our pups–Gracie the Golden, Sophie the Black Newfoundland, and Samson the Brown Newfoundland:

Here I am on board the Star in two out of the three shirts w/scarves pictured above (you already saw me in the corall’y’ one paired with that sweet little coral jacket):

I had figured as we got closer to Hawaii, I would be able to switch over to some warmer clothing options. 😉 Here are a couple of the outfits that I wore…

I did take one comfy lounge around outfit–leggins with a over-sized crocheted top…I did not wear that crocheted top–Ummm, yeah, I put it on, and yeah, I took it right back off again…Definitely NOT as attractive as I thought it was in the dressing room in the store…UGH, I hate it when that happens. So yes, I did carry that top up there along with the tank top that I was going to wear underneath of it and I never wore it. I did wear the leggins one day when I was doing laundry–paired them with a short sleeved top–nope, no pic of that loveliness. 😉 lol

We did go to the Crown Grill one evening, I changed into this outfit:

Okay, so those outfits got me to and from (sea days) Hawaii. I did wash clothes on this trip as I needed those black pants for our return trip.

Now for the outfits that I’d chosen for while we were in Hawaii…

Hilo:

Honolulu

Kauai: Here are those ‘lovely’ orange capris — Ummmm, NOT so much…See my Kauai Blog post to read about how lovely they were NOT after I’d had them on for like an hour…lol. 😉

I changed out of those orange ‘beauties’ and put this dress on for dinner that evening:

And for the last Island that we visited, Maui:

And here are the outfits that I chose and what I wore for trip back to Vancouver—

I was feeling quite tropical on this our 1st sea day:

And the 2nd sea day heading back to Vancouver, it was still lovely and warm outside:

3rd & 4th returning sea days…back to those spiffy black pants, solid colored tops, and scarves–I did wear my coral shirt on the 5th and last sea day:

And the outfit I wore home:

I did bring these two tops along to pair with my handy dandy black pants just in case we decided to go to a formal night (we really never do…and didn’t this time either)—My goodness though, those black pants are the best, so versatile!

Of course I took a bathing suit and instead of a “cover-up”, I threw in an old black maxi-skirt to cover my not so lovely bottom…And no, there were no pictures taken…nope. 😉

I took some P.J.’s and slippers…

And that did it for the clothes…With my new packing cubes and sleeve, I really was able to easily fit all of that in my one large suitcase. Just to say once more, our daughter Christin got me these two new packing helpmates for Christmas–She knows I am a notorious over-packer so these really came in handy! (I’ve written an entire blog post describing: “What is in my Carry-on, My Must-Haves, and Packing Tips & Tricks” I have links to YouTube videos in that post showing how these two packing tools work.

Now, let’s talk jewelry…Christin also got me a pretty Thirty-One bag for Christmas, it is specifically made for carrying jewelry.

Here is the jewelry that I took and I wore most of it:

And now for the shoes—Always such hard choices for me!

I found these cuties at Target:

Okay, I took WAY too many shoes..WAY too many. Of the shoes pictured above, I wore, the black and blue slip-ons, one pair of the flip-flops, and the pair that I got from Target. For those of you who have read my Hawaii Cruise Series blog posts, you know that my feet swelled very badly while on board. That never happens in my every-day life, but, man oh man, I had a time of it on the ship (it had to be the food and all of the traveling)…the swelling finally went down when I drank a copious amount of water and sat with my feet elevated above my heart for pretty much one entire sea day. ANYway, before we went off ship on one Excursion, my hubby encouraged me (made me…lol) purchase these, what I now tout as ***the most comfortable shoes I’ve ever had on my feet***!! I purchased them in one of the shops on the Star (paid too much for them), but, I was desperate. Here is a link for Skechers Performance Go Walk 3 in black (as I’ve ordered myself a 2nd pair for our next cruise…and for every-day use as well). Here is a picture of the pretty pink version that I bought on board:

Admittedly, I am a bit of a clothes horse, BUT, believe it or not, this is WAY paired down for me…honestly, when we cruised in Alaska last summer, I literally took two outfits for each day of the cruise…I did NOT need that many clothes. For once in my life, I did not overpack!! (I did take a few short-sleeved shirts that I didn’t take pictures of btw…) I found that my clothes were dressy enough to go from day to evening except for the couple of nights that I wore the maxi skirt/polka-dot shirt and then the maxi dress to go to the specialty restaurant–my choice to dress up a bit, not mandatory for those restaurants (we didn’t do formal night as I mentioned above).

I guess now my next cruise post will be when I start preparing for our Canada and New England cruise—Hmmm, I’m thinking those black pants are going to come in handy once again! 😉

Until next time, y’all take good care! ❤

~Arlynn ❤

***IF you are interested…I have written an entire Series of Blog posts describing our trip. In said posts, I’ve included tons of pictures along with my commentary about the ship and the ports.***

Here is the first link in the series–There is a link at the end of each post that will take you to the next link in succession. 🙂

Hawaii: Packing, Traveling, Dinner With Dear Friends, & Embarkation

***By the way, we arrived at our almost Platinum status (before this cruise) with Princess Cruises by cruising 4 times in Alaska. If y’all are at all interested in seeing what our Alaskan cruises were like, I’ve written an entire Alaska: Voyage of the Glaciers cruising series. Here is a link that will take you to the first entry in the series; there is a link at the end of each entry that will take you to the next entry in the series (pretty much a entry per day of the cruise). I’ve also written a blog entry describing my Alaska Cruise Wardrobe Choices . :)***

One more picture of me and my pups…I just love them!! ❤

Cruising: What’s In My Carry-On, My Must Haves, and Packing Tips & Tricks

On March 10, 2016February 24, 2017 By ArlynnIn Vacations43 Comments

I am writing this post to try and help those of you out there who might be new to cruising, or even those of you who might have cruised before, but, like to make a little list of things to start gathering before your cruise. I will include what I usually put in my Carry-On bag, my Must Haves for on the cruise ship, and I’ll even include a section with some packing tips & tricks. 🙂 I’ve implemented these little helpful hints on our cruises that up to this point have been to Alaska (4 times w/3 more in the queue), Hawaii, and Canada & New England. 😉 So enough chattering from me, let’s jump right in and get started…

I’ll begin with showing you my carry-on bag and what I normally will keep with me on our journey on the jet, or even in the car. Then, once at our destination, I’ll have the bag with me if I want to take it on excursions and so forth.

This is the bag that I used for our Hawaii and Canada and New England trips and it worked like a charm, it is a Vera Bradley’s Campus Backpack in Midnight Paisley. I’m sure I looked like a girlie-girl carrying this through the airport and beyond, but, I didn’t care…I’m pretty comfortable with myself and don’t really care what others think. 🙂 I love Vera for its versatility, structure, and usability–I have searched for something that better suits my needs to no avail; I have made my way back to my old stand by in my Vera.

I put all of my Captain’s Circle Pins on it too–I’m such a geek! lol

So let’s see what will be in my Carry-On. 🙂

My 13″ MacBook Pro–We loaded some movies onto this and it became the holder of 1000’s of pictures that we took.

My earphones to use on the plane or in the car…

My Kindle Paperwhite — Here is a link for the case:

A wallet with cash, credit cards, and our passports…

It also has a little chain attached; pretty if I want to use it on the ship to carry a lipstick, tissues, etc… with me to dinner…

One of these pocket folders that will hold our cruise documents and travel insurance papers. I’m taking the other two folders in my checked luggage as well, I will use them to store our Princess Patters and any other info I collect from the ports etc…to be used in future blogs or possibly any Scrapbooks I might get the urge to create…

Here is a little video I just made with the folders that I just ordered and will be using on our next cruise:

I always bring a little notebook to be utilized for journaling and taking notes about wherever we are at any given moment in time. I am a stickler for facts being correct…

A little catch-all bag (Vera Bradley medium cosmetic bag) with possible necessities for the flight…

A crossword puzzle book and a few pens; I love doing crosswords, it gives my brain a work-out. 🙂

Okay, so that about does it for my Carry-On, I’m betting I throw a couple of other things in there as well, but, let’s move on to a few things that I always take with me on a cruise.

“My Must Haves”:

***These are, as the title suggests “MY” Must Haves–I realize that they might not be everyones***

First of all, I was just shown these wonderful luggage tags specifically designed to hold Princess (and other cruise lines) luggage tags. I ordered these from Amazon.com here; they just arrived and they are so very thick and nice, I know they are going to work really well.

I take Clorox wipes, and the first thing I do when I get to our Stateroom is wipe down the door knobs, light switches, desk area, tv remote, sink, toilet, balcony railing/chair arms/table, etc…Can’t be too careful. 🙂

I take my own shampoo. I LOVE Princess Cruises, but I do not love the shampoo/conditioner that they have on their ships. Their’s is housed in a nifty pump dispenser hanging in the shower (they also have shower gel…it’s not bad), but, it makes my hair go FLAT–I’m a Southern girl, I do not like flat hair. 😉

Here is what I’m referring to…This is the pump duo that was in our Mini-Suite on the Star:

So I take this shampoo with me, this is my every day go-to brand…

Two bars of soap, yes, I take my own soap…I like it much better than the shower gel they provide.I also bring travel sized shower gel and lotion…A little hook <~~link~~ to hang around the towel rack in the shower. It will hold my shower cap…lol…I know, sounds silly, but, I have color treated hair and I do not wash my hair every day, so a shower cap is a necessity for me. 🙂 (OH brother, I feel like I’m baring my soul here…LOL). 😉Disposable shower caps…Aren’t they purdy? 😉 😉While we’re talking about the bathroom, let me show you this cute little toothbrush holder that I found online…Love it! You can find one here:I also bring hand soap, I do not like having a bar of soap sitting on the sink at all times–one of my little quirks (I have many obviously…lol)…This room spray is the BEST stuff! Just to let you know, there are no exhaust fans in the bathrooms on the cruise ship, so I find that having this “odor eliminating” room spray makes it a bit more pleasant to exist in our space..at times…ahem, you get my drift. 😉

*****Just to let you know I used to have a picture of a surge protector here, but have recently found out that you are not allowed to use one on Princess ships…Here is the blurb from Princess’ safety information that you can find in your Cruise Personalizer (Go to your “My Princess”, then to “Print Boarding Passes”, then scroll down to the “Safety PDF” link). And I quote:

“The use of extension cords fitted with surge protection devices are prohibited in staterooms. The use of non-thermostatically controlled kettles and water heaters, together with the use of irons, is not permitted in your stateroom; please do not bring this type of equipment with you.”

When I find a viable option, I will post something in here…For now, I’m planning to take a regular extension cord, or power strip with no surge protection–I definitely suggest taking *something* because there aren’t many outlets available in the Staterooms.*****

I hardly ever need to take Tums…BUT…I always need to take them on our cruises. The food is so different, richer, and there is so much of it that I invariably over-eat and need a little relief…

A flashlight is nice to have, even in a balcony cabin–I just feel more secure knowing that we have one in one of the bedside tables just in case the lights go out for any reason…We carry a travel 1875 hairdryer with us…It would take me 20 minutes to dry my hair with the hair dryer that they provide (hung on the wall at the desk area beside the bed).Now, I know that a lot of people baulk at the thought of doing laundry while on vacation, but, I find that doing just a little bit makes me feel better–I hate to see piles of dirty clothes just laying on the floor (of the closet of course), and I like to save myself a little time when I get home. So yes, I do do laundry while on board…don’t judge…;) That said, it isn’t cheap to do laundry on board, it costs $3 to wash and $3 to dry—in tokens. Then, if you don’t take your own detergent and dryer sheets, you have to spend more $$ to purchase them out of a vending machine type thing that also requires tokens. OH you retrieve the tokens from the token vending machine that is in the laundry room using your cruise card as payment.

(Here is the laundry room on the Star Princess):

It is free to use the irons and ironing boards:

Can anyone say “cha-ching cha-ching” though? I take tide pods, and Downy dryer sheets:

Did you know that the walls in your Stateroom are metal? Yep, they sure are, so I take a couple of clip magnets to be used to hold…oh, I don’t know, that day’s Princess Patter for instance…

I purchased a package of large clips, they can be used to hold your beach towel on your chair, or possibly to hold your curtains shut (especially in Alaska when it hardly ever gets dark) If you’d like some for yourself, here is a link:

Binoculars…is a thought…We don’t usually take them because we tend to use the zoom lens’ on our cameras:A pair of scissors…One never knows when one might need to cut a tag off of something, or a string…A sweet little sewing kit…

A pop-up laundry basket…This will easily fit into the closet in the stateroom…I’ll put a Downy sheet down into it to help with any ‘interesting’ smells..;)

A first-aid kit…A portable suitcase scale…Handy to have so that you can switch things from one bag to the other to try and distribute the weight sufficiently. Zip-lock bags of varying sizes…A tip another traveler gave me just recently. I can see me using these for a variety of things. 🙂

Dramamine and Bonine just in case of really rough seas–we’ve never gotten sea sick, but, I always take them just in case. I’ve also heard folks speak about “Queasy Beads”, but, I am not in the know about them, I’m sure you can Google them though. 🙂

Sunscreen…

I love this little (3.25″ x 0.5″ x 2.75″) travel clock, it works like a charm! I am one of those people who, if I wake up in the middle of the night, I want to be able to see what time it is. I found this on Amazon here, it is a Marathon Atomic travel alarm clock with an auto night light feature.

I purchased a lanyard when I was on board this last time, and I found that I loved using it! The gentleman at the counter in the Sundries shop punched a hole in my cruise card for me:

Cameras and Tech’y’ Stuff

Here are our cameras, and these are definitely my very most important “must haves”:

We just purchased that sweet little Sony video camera for this trip. In addition, we’ve got a couple of zoom lens’ that usually go along with us..Also, don’t forget your download cord.

My hubby just purchased a 256 gb SSD (solid-state drive) and he has been loading movies onto it for us to watch on the laptop on the plane.

He said that he *might* take an external hard drive as well (1T) just in case we really do go crazy with our picture taking and need another place to store them…We will also be taking this device charger–It will charge anything with a USB cord attached, great to have on the plane especially if there is no place to plug in…You can find one here:I love to have this little camera around my neck as I walk around the ship–I probably look a site, but I love to have this with me to catch anything that might meet my fancy to photograph.

AND, I take my Selfie-Stick…LOL…I can hear you chuckling now! BUT, I love to take pictures of us as a couple and it is easier to accomplish that task with a selfie stick…Here we are on our last Alaskan cruise…Can I just say that I am married to my soulmate…We’ll be married for 34 years come May…I love him more now, than the day we said “I Do”…so blessed and lucky to have him…:

Packing Tips & Tricks

Now, let’s move on to some new packing tips and tricks that our daughter Christin provided for me…in the form of MANY Christmas presents. My goodness, she spoiled me ROTTEN; she did her research on YouTube and came up with some great options for me to use when I go to pack!

Here is what she gave me:

The first item is called an “Eagle Creek Pack-It Folder” organizer…Here is a link for a YouTube video demonstrating how it is used. 🙂

Here is how I put this envelope to use; I had upwards of 25 tops in that envelope:

Next, she gave me this “Shacke Pak” Packing Cube Set with laundry bag. I have a YouTube Travel Channel and I have created a video where I show you how I utilized my packing folder and cubes on our last cruise. Here you go if you like to take a look:

And here is what my suitcase looked like after utilizing that envelope and packing cubes:

IF those wonderful gifts weren’t enough, she spoiled me even further and gave me a couple of awesome “Thirty-One” bags…With my initial embroidered on them…what?!! SO nice. ***THANK you Christin for ALL of your gifts!!*** Here they are:

This one is for make-up:And this one is for jewelry:And…The gifts kept coming:

Pill boxes…I can use one for my carry-on and one for in the large suitcase…

I will actually not use this nice little carry-on kit <~~similar~~ for the things in my carry-on bag as I don’t have that many fluids to carry with me, but, this will come in really handy on the night before we disembark the ship. As most of you who have cruised before know who don’t self-disembark (meaning some carry their own luggage off of the ship), your luggage is retrieved from outside of your door the evening before you leave. I will use these bottles to put shampoo and my hair gel in, and whatever else I’ll need for my morning routine on the last morning on the ship.

OH I also will carry this extra bag a Vera Bradley Weekender Carry-On Bag in my smaller suitcase and will utilize it as a carry-on bag for the plane trip home. It will hold our dirty clothes from the last day on board, our morning toiletries, and anything else I find that I need to stick in it for our trip home.A couple of last thoughts…

First, excuse my awful nail polishing job–lol–but I wanted to show you that I always take my nail polish in a separate plastic’type’ bag…JUST in case something breaks in the plane. I take a larger bag for my perfume and any other full-size breakable items that I take with me…I will usually wrap them in paper towels or a bit of bubble wrap so that they are padded.And last but not least, I always bring a cross body purse to take on excursions…This time I’m bring a Vera Bradley Mailbag Crossbody.

I took this sweet little “Petite Double Zip Hipster” purse with me on our last cruise, it worked beautifully for our excursions. I purchased mine in red, unfortunately, at this moment in time, they do not have the red available. But that link will take you to the colors that are available from Amazon (which I find to be less expensive than the Vera site…usually). 🙂 Here I am carrying this bag:

And here I am with Chris’ look-alike…bwahahaha…JUST kidding. 😉 🙂 We had a good laugh with this fella though:

All righty, that about does it for now…OH wait!! I *JUST* remembered something!! I also take a little kit of cold meds, pain reliever, etc…It is much cheaper to have that stuff already with you than it is to buy it on board. They do have a small “Sundries” shop on board all Princess ships though…Here it is on the Star Princess:

ANYway, I hope that this little post will help you when start to ready yourself for your upcoming trip. I know that my must haves are not the same as your must haves, but I’m hoping that mine spark a thought of something that you might not have thought of or realized that you might need. 🙂

Until next time, y’all take good care! ❤

~Arlynn ❤

PS–Here are a few links to some of my cruise blog posts:

This is the first post in my Alaska series, there is a link at the end of each post that will take you to the next post/day of the cruise. I include tons of pictures, information about and links to excursions (from our latest trip to Alaska and also from past trips):

Alaska: Voyage of the Glaciers – Southbound

Here is a link to my Hawaii blog series, again, there is a link at the end of each post that will take you to the next post/day of the cruise:

Hawaii Cruise: 15 Night Roundtrip Out Of Vancouver–Star Princess

Here is a link to my YouTube video of me narrating and giving a detailed tour around our Stateroom on the Star Princess:

Tour of Mini-Suite D620

And 3 more links…Some of you ladies like to see my wardrobe choices for our cruises, so here are a few links, one for Alaska, one for Hawaii , and one for Canada and New England showing you my choices:

Alaska Cruise Wardrobe Choices (1)

Alaska Cruise Wardrobe Choices (2 and most recent)

Hawaii Cruise Wardrobe Choices

Canada and New England Wardrobe Choices

Alaska Cruise Wardrobe Choices

On March 8, 2016May 15, 2016 By ArlynnIn Vacations28 Comments

Goodness knows, I’m no fashionista! 😉 BUT, that said, I try really hard each and every day to put together outfits that help this plus sized girl look and more importantly *feel* pretty. Some days I’m more successful than others, but, trust me, the effort is always put forth. My daughters laugh at me and ask me why I don’t stay in my pjs just one day and not worry about putting my make-up on and dressing like I have someplace to go. I tell them, and they know this better than anyone, that staying in my pjs, while it seems like an awesome idea, just isn’t in my nature to do…not to mention the fact that I always have to be ready to go on a moments notice. 🙂

All that said, I’ve been asked over and over again what clothes I take on our Alaskan cruises, so in this little post, I’ll show you the wardrobe that I put together for last summer’s (2015) Princess Cruises “Voyage of the Glaciers Cruise” (Southbound–Whittier/Anchorage to Vancouver, B.C). Let me start by saying that summertime in Alaska is absolutely gorgeous and the temps can vary anywhere from the 30’s when viewing the glaciers, to the 50’s in the morning and evening hours, to the 70’s and yes, sometimes the 80’s when in port and on land and rain is always a possibility. So it is important to take a variety of clothing with you…yes, yes, I know, how in the world does a girl take a “variety of clothing” without over-packing?!! Welllll, honestly, I’m *still* working on that! lol I thought I had it all figured out this past summer, but, if I’m candid, I definitely overpacked. 😉 🙂

Okay, let’s get started with my wardrobe choices for our Alaskan cruise, I did a lot of layering, I do think that is the key to packing for Alaska…

First, I took one light rain resistant jacket in navy blue. I found that this was my most worn piece of clothing:

I thought I would need one outfit for the daytime hours and then I’d certainly change for dinner in the evening, so I took 2 outfits for each day of the cruise (and this was my 4th cruise…OH brother, I need help!!). I think I dressed for dinner twice because honestly, the clothes that I took were dressy enough to go from day to evening (except for the formal nights and we decided not to dress up for them and instead went to one of the specialty restaurants). Here are some pictures of some outfits that I took, I did NOT wear all of them…

~~I took several pairs of black (stretchy) slacks…trust me, give yourself room for expansion…lol…well, I needed it anyway… 😉 I took tops that I could wear with said slacks…I wish I could provide a link for those black slacks, but, unfortunately, they are no longer made. WAIT: I ***think*** I just found them again, I just ordered a pair, so I’ll let y’all know if these are indeed them…In the meantime, here is a link for ‘plus’: Roz & Ali Plus Size Slim Leg Pants and here is a link for ‘regular’ sizes Roz & Ali Slim Leg Pants.

I took these tops to pair with jeans (3!!! pairs)<~~~DID NOT need 3 pairs of jeans. In addition, I didn’t wear that striped beauty in the middle (because when I tried it on after partaking at the food venues for a few days, it made me look w-i-d-e, lol), but I did wear the other two; the polka dot sweater ended up going with black slacks. I only wore jeans once and that blue and cream floral sweater is what I paired with them. I don’t often wear jeans, if you are a jeans sort of girl, by all means, you might want to throw a few pairs in. 🙂

I took this outfit just in case we decided to go to a formal night…didn’t wear it…haha…I did wear it on Thanksgiving Day though! Go me, the outfit didn’t go to waste…:)

Anyway, I digress…lol…Back to the cruise wardrobe…I took a few maxi skirt/dress options…yes, I carried both of those jackets up there with me…silly me, I didn’t need both of them…erg. I didn’t wear the black dress, or the striped maxi skirt outfit…:/

Now, here are some pictures of the outfits that I did wear on the cruise. The red and white striped sweater, the pink, and the purple tops were bought literally the day before we left so I didn’t take time to click off pictures of them as possible outfit choices. As you’ll see, I wore mostly those comfy black, stretchy slacks, they paired nicely with all of the tops that I bought and washed up nicely (yes, I did do laundry once on board):

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***Note: I did not take a bathing suit this time around, but, there are hot tubs and pools on board and it will definitely be warm enough to climb/jump into one, so you might want to throw a bathing suit into your suitcase–you could always use (and many do) the robes that your Steward will gladly bring to you if asked as a coverup. 🙂 Also, I saw capris and some shorts as well, I didn’t take any with me, but, the opportunity to wear them might definitely crop up. 🙂

Shoes

OH gosh, this choice is so hard for me every single time I travel anywhere. These are the shoes that I took to Alaska, I did wear all but the floral ones. I could have used a pair of flip flops or sandals…might want to think about tossing in a pair of those as well. 🙂 I found these spiffy pink shoes while on board in Hawaii (after my feet swelled so much I couldn’t get them into my sneakers), and have now ordered myself a pair of black ones as well, *that’s* how comfortable they are. Here is a link if you are interested:

One other thought, if you have an excursion off of the ship, be prepared for possible wet weather, so you might want to throw in a pair of rain resistant slip-ons. I love these shoes from LL Bean, I do realize that they might be a little dressy, but I pair them with my black slacks that I wear instead of jeans (I dress those slacks up and down as needed). I find that these run true to size, although, they are a bit stiff at first, so I’d definitely get them home and wear them around for a bit before whisking them off to Alaska, here is a link: LLBean Coastal Rain Skimmers:

We didn’t feel one raindrop fall on this cruise, but, I was glad that I had that light jacket, I wore it almost every day at some point in the day. I purchased the purple hoodie in Anchorage before we boarded the ship and was glad that I had it as well. As you saw in the pictures above, I did take several scarves, they came in handy to dress outfits up a smidge as well as provide a bit of warmth, especially while viewing Hubbard Glacier and while in Glacier Bay. (BTW–You can always wait until you get to Alaska to buy your rain jacket and/or hoodie…Maybe you want one with “Alaska” embroidered or stamped on? Regardless, they have tons of that type of garb in the stores on land and in the shops on the ships—Not to mention, on Glacier Bay day, they have a sale that they usually set up on one of the upper decks with tons of Alaska themed coats, hoodies, sweatshirts, hats, gloves, etc…)

All in all, I know that I took way too much with me and hopefully, I learned a few good lessons. I probably wore literally HALF of what I took with me…<shaking head at self>…

I thought I would continue on in this post and tell y’all about some of what I deem are “must haves” for a cruise, but, I think I’ll save that for another day…:) ***NOTE***, I have now finished my “What’s In My Carry-On, My Must Haves, and Packing Tips & Tricks” <~~~link. 🙂

I hope that this has helped any of y’all who might be heading to Alaska in the future…If anyone has any questions, please don’t hesitate to leave them in the comments below and I’ll do my level best to answer them. 🙂

I have written several entries describing this last Alaskan cruise and post land tour to Victoria, B.C. and also an entry describing a land tour that we added to one of our cruises back in 2012. Here is a link entitled Alaska: Voyage of the Glaciers – Days 1 & 2 to my first installment in the series, there is a link at the end of each post that will lead to the next entry in line (pretty much one entry per day of the cruise)

Until next time, y’all take good care! ❤

~Arlynn ❤

I’m going to go ahead and put a link to a Mini-Suite tour that I took and narrated while on our Hawaiian Cruise. We were on the Star Princess and I know that she also sails in Alaska during the Season…

Mini-Suite Tour D620 on the Star Princess

Alaska: Cruisetour (Princess Mt. McKinley & Denali Wilderness Lodges)

On January 21, 2016March 26, 2017 By ArlynnIn Vacations7 Comments

As y’all have read, my hubby and I have been lucky enough to be able to do 4 cruises in Alaska, we love the Princess Cruise line, they do a phenomenal job in Alaska and beyond. Princess has their own lodges placed at strategic locations in Alaska and they run their land tours like a well-oiled machine, they are so efficient…and to this organized lady, that is music to my ears. SO, back in June (23rd through July 7th), 2012, we decided to add a land tour onto our 3rd Voyage of the Glaciers Southbound cruise; the hard part was choosing which land tour we wanted to do, so when all was said and done, this is the tour we chose (well actually, this isn’t *exactly* the tour we chose…I’ll explain later….there was only one slight change). We decided that we wanted to do the tour first, and then the cruise. That said, I’ll also explain later why I’d choose a slightly different land itinerary on our next journey:

Here is a little cheat sheet to acclimate you as to where Princess’ Lodges are located:

So we landed at the Anchorage airport, collected our luggage and wheeled them right to our our Princess Rep who was waiting for us right beside the luggage carousel. We were then transported by motor coach to our hotel for one night, the Captain Cook…

We paid for Princess to handle all of our reservations and transfers, so we were pleasantly surprised when we entered our room; it was a corner room and it was gorgeous! What a start to our vacation, I was beyond excited to see what the interior of Alaska was about to offer up. 🙂

**Note: On our arrival at the Captain Cook, we were handed a packet from Princess with our land tour’s itinerary. It spelled out what time we needed to have our luggage ready to go the next morning–the Princess folks came around and gathered it up at each location when it was time to move to the next location. Also, if there was a piece of luggage that you would only be using on the ship, they provided you a special luggage tag and it was put into storage until it was time to be placed outside your stateroom door…I’m telling y’all, Princess is awesome. The itinerary also included where and what time we were to meet and what mode of transportation would be used on that particular day. It was very detailed and really didn’t leave you with any unanswered questions.

After a wonderful night’s sleep, we went out to explore Anchorage for a little while…

Then it was time to board our motor coach and start our trip to our first stop The Princess Mt. McKinley lodge. It was a beautiful drive! In just a couple of hours we pulled up in front of the lodge, we would be staying there for 2 nights…

Unfortunately, I cannot tell you about the regular rooms that they offer at the lodge because my hubby and I got a huge surprise when we arrived. We were actually given one of the few rooms *in* the lodge itself…what? The rest of the rooms were a bit of a walk (nothing too strenuous by any means) away from the lodge and set up similar to a motel, with outside entrances…everyone said that they were well-appointed rooms, but I’m sorry to say that we never laid eyes on one.
Here is the room that we were given, and no, we didn’t arrange for this room up front, I guess they do a random drawl type thing, and we were chosen…wow, how lucky were we?!

This window in our room was positioned so that you could gaze upon Mt. McKinley, sadly, it was a cloudy rainy day that day and we didn’t see the mountain…

We had a lovely meal at the 20320 Alaskan Grill which was a short, easy walk from the lodge–One more note for those of you who have not done a cruise tour…On the tour portion of the itinerary, you have to pay for all of your meals–unlike when you get on the ship:

On our way to the restaurant, there was a sign that you could stand under and on a clear day, Mt. McKinley can be seen over your head…Unfortunately, that beautiful mountain never showed herself to us.

The next morning, we boarded a motor coach and took off down the mountain to Talkeetna where we’d be catching our jet boat excursion to Devil’s Canyon. Here is a video describing this wonderful trip: Mahay’s Devil’s Canyon Adventure.

On our way to The Devil’s Canyon and those class 5 and 6 rapids, we were lucky enough to see this mated pair of bald eagles:

And this tree that a beaver had done a real number on!

And this mama moose and her baby!

A fish wheel:

Then we reached the rapids and the captain stopped the jet boat in an eddy and we were able to take some great pictures of that rushing water!

We had so much fun on that excursion, if anyone out there is taking an Alaskan cruise and would like to set this excursion up beforehand, here is a link.

And here is a video that I compiled of our time on this excursion:

We spent one more night at the Mt. McKinley lodge and arose bright and early the next day and took a little trip back down to Talkeetna via motor coach; we’d be catching the Alaska rail (this is where our Itinerary differs from the one pictured above–above, you take a motor coach to the Princess Denali Wilderness Lodge–we took the train).

The train cars are wonderful!! The seats are nice and roomy and comfy…It was a lovely trip, full of gorgeous scenery as we made our way further to our new destination…

And of course, while on board, a Princess staff member told us all about the area and watched out for wildlife and so on. It was such a relaxing, lovely journey. 🙂

It wasn’t long before we pulled into the depot and boarded our motor coach that took us to the Princess Denali Wilderness Lodge, we would be staying there for 2 nights…

A Princess Representative met us at our motor coach and we were given our room key. Again, I was amazed at the room that we were given, and again, we didn’t pre-arrange to have this room. What I found out later was that our room was twice as big as others rooms. Trust me, one half of the room would have been more than sufficient, but, by the luck of the drawl, we were given a spiffy, upgraded room….

Our luggage was delivered almost immediately and after we got settled in, we decided to take a walk around the area, there were beautiful vistas no matter which way you looked…such a beautiful place.

Later that evening, we had pre-arranged to go to the Music of Denali dinner show that is located on the Princess Denali Wilderness lodge’s premises and is only a short walk from our room. There’s a link there up there in red ^, to say that we had a fantastic time and were fed way too well would be an understatement; it was very, very entertaining and the food was excellent. I would highly recommend this if you are going to be in this part of Alaska.

We only had one more day on our land tour and we were supposed to go into Denali National Park on a school bus, but the hubby and I decided that we’d forego that trip and trek out on our own. He took a long walk and I did some laundry—yes, I actually did laundry in Alaska…haha…;) After he got back from his walk we took a nice stroll and crossed the road and did a bit of exploring at a little Alaskan style strip mall–wasn’t much to it, but there were some fun things to look at and we had the very best fish chowder we’ve ever tasted at a little rickety restaurant for which, for the life of me, I cannot remember the name.

The next morning, they came and collected our luggage and away we were whisked back to the train depot and onto another rail car that would take us to Whittier (close to Anchorage) and our awaiting cruise ship The Diamond Princess. We ate lunch in the train with another couple–we don’t normally do that, we usually like to stay on our own, but it was lovely and they were quite a nice couple. The food was delicious. 🙂

To be honest, I would not choose to do this particular Itinerary again because this train ride was literally 8 hours long. As you can see in the picture above, you are given “assigned” seating and another couple joins you at your table–for the entire trip. Of course you can switch around tables and such, but it was a little awkward to spend that long trying to think of something to say. They offer a tour where you start in Fairbanks and work your way towards your cruise ship as each day passes so that means that you never have to spend an entire day traveling on a train or bus with strangers. I would definitely choose to start our next land tour at the furthest location away from the cruise ship and slowly work our way toward the ship. Needless to say, we were 2 tired campers by the time we made it to Whittier and through the tunnel (I describe the tunnel and how it works in my Alaska: Voyage of the Glaciers Cruise – Days 1 & 2 post).

I was quite happy to see the beautiful Diamond Princess sitting there grandly waiting for our arrival. We were the last group to board the ship at around 6:30 in the evening (normally, we’d be on the ship for hours by that time)…

There you have it, we were happy to climb on that ship. The first thing that we did was to dash off to find our mini-suite; we were bushed and ready for some relaxation and pampering. Regardless of that long, long train ride, we were quite pleased with the land portion of our vacation and we greatly enjoyed the cruise portion of our trip. We got to see gorgeous scenery, take an awesome jet boat excursion, a couple of train rides, and for whatever reason we got to reside in the creme de la creme rooms that are offered…haha. Once again, Princess didn’t disappoint!

Until next time, y’all take good care! ❤

~Arlynn

I’ve also written two other blog posts that go hand in hand with these blog entries. Here is a link to my Alaskan Wardrobe Choices entry. And here is a link to my What’s In My Carry On, My Must Haves, and Packing Tips & Tricks entry.

Voyage of the Glaciers-Vancouver, Whale Watching Tour, & a Special Friend Meeting in Victoria

On October 30, 2015March 26, 2017 By ArlynnIn Vacations9 Comments

I’m almost sad to be writing this my last post lamenting about our Alaskan Voyage of the Glaciers cruise. In this post, I will tell you about the last 3 days of our vacation

1) Our last day on the Coral Princess…

2) Disembarkation in Vancouver…and…

3) An Orca whale watching excursion trip that took us to Victoria on Vancouver Island. A strategically planned trip just so that I could meet a very special friend that I had met on Facebook via my Newfoundland dogs. This would be our first ‘in-person’ meeting–more on that later. 🙂

So, after saying goodbye to Ketchikan, we were ‘at sea’ for a day. I only took one exciting picture on this day. 😉 On sea days the crew brings out a plethora of different chains and you can have them made to fit. Cute little option, and not expensive at all…, I purchased a couple of bracelets.

We mostly used this day to relax, pack, shop for souvenirs, and just explore parts of the Coral Princess that we hadn’t seen yet. Then, the next morning, we woke up and were docked at Canada Place in Vancouver, B.C…

Disembarkation went extremely smoothly as it always does, Princess runs like a well-oiled machine, they are very organized and efficient. We were escorted to our waiting motor coach that would take us to our hotel for the next couple of nights. The The Westin Bayshore…

We had big ideas of what we might like to do on this day, but, in reality, we took a little walk along the water, found a Subway, and r-e-l-a-x-e-d.

The next morning I woke up with butterflies in my stomach; I was so excited that the day I had been waiting not so patiently for had finally arrived! First, I was going to see Orcas, and second and more importantly, I was going to meet up with my friend Liz!! YIPPEE!! We didn’t have to go far to catch our whale watching excursion boat, it was parked right at the dock outside of our hotel. We had booked this excursion online months and months in advance and it was finally time to climb aboard and experience the Prince of Whales excursion. We were not disappointed on the way to Victoria, after cruising under the Lion’s Gate Bridge, we spotted Orcas pretty quickly and enjoyed watching the J and L Pods as we made the crossing to Vancouver Island…amazing creatures that move effortlessly through that beautiful water, a site not to be missed if y’all ever have the opportunity. 🙂

We also eyed a harbor seal haul out–these cuties were just lounging around sunning themselves…ahhhhh, the life…;)

As we were getting close to docking in Victoria, we passed our boat’s sister ship…

The trip from Vancouver to Victoria (Vancouver Island) was absolutely breathtaking, the shores were tree-lined in places and in others there were lovely homes with sprawling properties that one could just melt into as they dreamed of how life might be living in this part of the world. The Pacific Northwest is one of the most picturesque places I’ve ever seen. As we were pulling into the dock, we saw the Fairmont Empress Hotel right in front of us, what a gorgeous place. If we had stayed in Victoria and booked through Princess, that is where we would have stayed…next trip. 🙂

Here is a little video snippet for you of the Orcas!

So, okay, we were snuggly moored up to the dock and it was *finally* time for us to meet my friend Liz. Liz and and I met on Facebook through the smallish Newfoundland dog community. She and I have a love for animals of all shapes and sizes, but we have a real affinity for our “Gentle Giants”, our Newfies; there is something very, very special about this breed of dog. ❤ All right, now for a little backstory on Liz, she used to be a professional chef, was a food critic writer for over a decade, is the author of several cookbooks (I brought this one with me for her to sign A Real Newfoundland Scoff), and she is an awesome blogger ~~ >Food 4Thought. She is the one who encouraged me to start this blog. Liz and her hubby used to live in St. John’s Newfoundland and Labrador–you know, over here on ‘my’ side of the Country, but her hubby got transferred and they had to pick up and move all the way over to the west coast. Liz and I had been wanting to meet for years and years and when they moved west, I told her that it would be more likely that she and I would get that opportunity (because my hubby and I routinely travel to Alaska and routinely disembark in Vancouver). AND, low and behold, my hubby and I planned another cruise to Alaska; I just couldn’t go without touching base with Liz and seeing if we could set up a meeting. She was thrilled and was on board with us stopping by for a visit, she and her hubby even went to the trouble of coming to the dock to pick us up. Now, I rarely meet anyone new without bringing them a little gift, so while I was still at home, I collected several items that I thought might give them a taste of where we come from and packed them in my suitcase, I also packed up a gift bag, and ribbon (so I could make her a bow for on the package), and tissue paper. I put the gift together while in the hotel room and carried that big bag on the whale watching boat…I didn’t get too many odd looks, well that I saw anyway…haha. Even if I had, I wouldn’t have cared…lol. As I was walking up the gangplank, I could see Liz at the top waiting for me, arms open wide, with the biggest grin I’d ever seen all over her face!! I practically ran into her arms and we hugged and cried for a good little bit of time. OH I was so happy to finally be meeting this lady!! AND her hubby who as you can see in the picture below was chuckling at us while we stood there making quite the spectacle out of ourselves while hugging and crying…It was an awesome moment!!! ❤ (I think she loved all of her little gifts too…you can see the bag in my hand there…haha…I was a site carrying that bag, no doubt about it…lol)

Once back at their home, I got to meet their Newfie Jack!!! OMGosh, what a big LOVE he is…he is as calm as they come…the epitome of how a Newfoundland dog is supposed to be. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to meet Liz’s sweet Newfie girl Fleur, she had passed away a month ago on that exact day. 😥 Liz was so sweet and said that our visit helped her get through that day and gave her some good memories to recall on that ‘anniversary’. Bless her heart!! ❤

We were only able to stay there for a couple of hours because we had to catch a motor coach that would take us over to the other side of the island so that we could catch our boat that would take us back to Vancouver. Trust me though, we made the very most of our short time together; Liz had prepared a gorgeous meal for us…OH dear me, Liz created the best fish chowder that we’ve ever and I mean EVER had based on the kind of seafood we love…it couldn’t have been more perfect (and it was figure friendly, but we didn’t know that until after we were finished eating…haha…). It was SO good!!! YUM!! For the rest of our visit, we talked and laughed, and cried and laughed through tears, we loved on Jack, my hubby and her hubby got along famously and chatted almost more than Liz and I did. 😉 ALL was right with our worlds in those couple of hours…honestly, it was one of the very best visits I’ve ever had with anyone. Liz and I definitely have a very special friendship, one that I will cherish for the rest of my life!! **LOVE ya Lizzy**

<Sigh> Unfortunately, it was time for us to go and catch that motor coach, so we climbed back into Liz’ car and she and her hubby took us to our drop-off point. Talk about a bittersweet parting…OH I didn’t want to leave, that was a very difficult goodbye…

So we pulled ourselves away and headed to our motor coach that would take us to The Butchart Gardens. I had had no expectations about this place as I had been so focused on our visit with Liz and her hubby, but, when we arrived, I was blown away by the beauty that stood in front of us. As we meandered our way through the Gardens on our way to our transportation back to Vancouver, I was in awe and mesmerized by the sheer beauty of that place…

We hopped back on our whale watching tour boat and away we went back to our hotel in Vancouver. I will admit that I sat on that boat and was very sad, sad that I was leaving one of my dearest friends behind and I was also sad that tomorrow I’d be leaving this part of the world that I’ve come to love so much.

We pulled back into the Westin Bayshore’s dock, disembarked, headed up to our room and packed our bags…Tomorrow we’d take a taxi ride to the airport and head back to our humble abode.

Every time we go to Alaska, I always say it is “the trip of a lifetime”, and we’ve been blessed and lucky enough to have been able to do that trip 4 times. Who knows, we might go back again, I hope we go back again. So in closing, let me take a moment to thank you Princess Cruises for another amazing journey, one that allowed us to bask in Alaska’s beauty, cruising through Yakutat Bay, into Disenchantment Bay and then experiencing the wonders of Hubbard Glacier, gliding through the pristine waters of Glacier Bay culminating in the stupendous calving of Margerie Glacier. Then traveling through the Inside Passage where we experienced the three vastly different ports of Skagway, Juneau, and Ketchikan. Thank you Canada for again welcoming us with open arms and hearts and for bringing two friends together, even if it was only for a couple of hours. Oh what an amazing journey…yes, **definitely** the trip of a lifetime!

Until next time, y’all take good care! ❤

~Arlynn

Here is one more link…I wrote one post describing the Cruise Tour that we took in 2012…:) It covers our travels from Anchorage to the Princess Mt. McKinley Wilderness Lodge, on a jet boat excursion to The Devil’s Canyon (out of Talkeetna), then onward to the Princess Denali Wilderness Lodge, and then on a train ride back to Whittier (Anchorage) where we hopped on the Diamond Princess and enjoyed another Voyage of the Glaciers cruise. 🙂

Sneak Peek:

I’ve also written two other blog posts that go hand in hand with these blog entries. Here is a link to my Alaska Wardrobe Choices entry. And here is a link to my What’s In My Carry On, My Must Haves, and Packing Tips & Tricks entry.

Voyage of the Glaciers-Ketchikan (Day 7)

On October 23, 2015March 26, 2017 By ArlynnIn Vacations9 Comments

Hi All,

When I woke up and we were docked in Ketchikan I was full of mixed emotions. On one hand, I was excited because I knew that the excursion that we had planned for the day was going to be amazing, we’d done it one other time a few years earlier so I knew what to expect. Also, the weather was amazing! Ketchikan is located in the Tongass Rainforest, so it rains *a lot* throughout the year, but on this day, the sun was shining brightly and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky…how fortunate were we?! 🙂 But, on the other hand, I was kinda sad. I knew that this might very well be the last time that we were going to see Ketchikan and its quirky beauty; it is a very colorful little city…

My hubby and I spent the morning walking around the Coral Princess, eating breakfast, and just relaxing on our balcony…

I enjoyed watching the floatplanes take off and land, there are tons of flight excursions that one can choose to take; Misty Fjords is one of the major attractions out of Ketchikan and many choose to fly over it as opposed to taking a boat excursion.

Here are a few pictures that we took on our Misty Fjord’s boat excursion a few years ago:

After breakfast and lounging the morning away, it was time for us to head out for our excursion, we didn’t have to go too far, we literally stepped off of our cruise ship the Coral Princess and walked about 30 paces and climbed aboard the awaiting Aleutian Ballad for our Bering Sea Crab Fisherman’s Tour…

As I mentioned above, we had done this tour one other time and enjoyed it so much that we had to do it again. I was glad we did because there were new crew members aboard and they told new and different stories of their adventures on the Bering Sea where they were doing one of the deadliest jobs on the planet…catching crab. The Aleutian Ballad was one of the crab boats featured on the 1st season of the Discovery channel’s Deadliest Catch. It got hit by a rogue wave and was damaged quite badly; this is when they chose to start doing a tour out of Ketchikan, so when they had the boat refurbished, they had it refitted to accommodate covered tiered seating to make folks comfortable while sitting and listening to the crew’s amazing tales.

After they told a few stories we pulled into a little cove that was full of bald eagles, we caught some of the best pictures we’ve ever taken of those eagles–of course I knew this was coming so when they pulled into the cove, I practically dove for a front spot right at the railing…no, I wasn’t rude, just determined…haha. 😉 I think these pictures will speak for themselves…

What a majestic bird!! I was amazed at their maneuvering ability and their accuracy when diving for the snacks that the crew was tossing into the water.

Here is a little video I took of our time on the Aleutian Ballad:

We then traveled around to some different crab and shrimp pots that the crew had dropped earlier and they explained the process of pulling/baiting/dropping said pot. We got to hold snow (or opilio) crabs, king crabs, shrimp, and other creatures from the sea. 🙂 I loved that part!

I was mesmerized by all of their stories and completely thrilled yet again with this amazing excursion. If y’all ever get to Ketchikan, I would highly recommend this tour (you can book it on your own, or through any of the cruise lines).

So, this was our last port of call, as we pulled out of Ketchikan I again got weepy, I so love Alaska, its sheer size, its grandeur, and its magnificent sites. I do hope that we will be able to return one, or two, or three more times in the future, but I’m not sure that we will do so as we’ve chosen to set our sights on other parts of the world.

The next day would be a ‘sea’ day, and then we’d be pulling into Vancouver, B.C. We’d disembark our cruise ship, but our vacation wasn’t quite over…

Next up…Orca whale watching tour on our way to Vancouver Island and meeting up with a dear Facebook friend Liz (that I’d met through my Newfoundland dogs), her hubby Mike, and their awesome Newfoundland pup Jack…I couldn’t wait for this next part of our adventure!

***Update*** I’ve now completed all of my installments in the Voyage of the Glaciers Series and have included links to the next post in line (so to speak) at the end of each posting. So, here is a link to the next post and it covers our time in Vancouver & Orca Whale Watching tour to Victoria… 🙂

Sneak Peek:

Until next time, y’all take good care! ❤

~Arlynn

Voyage of the Glaciers-Juneau (Day 6)

On October 19, 2015March 26, 2017 By ArlynnIn Vacations1 Comment

Hi All,

I remember waking up on the morning that we pulled into Juneau (the State capital that is only reachable by plane or boat) with butterflies in my stomach because I was excited for our planned excursion. We were going to be taking the Mendenhall Glacier and Whale Quest Tour. Again, this was our 4th Voyage of the Glaciers cruise and yes, this would be our 4th time doing this very same excursion…*that’s* how much I love it. So we disembarked the Coral Princess and found our motor coach for this day’s excursion–we had a lady bus driver who thought she was “all that and a bag of chips”…okay, okay, she was slightly entertaining…slightly. 😉 She could sing nicely though and she directed in a sing-along…okay, so you had to be there…haha. 😉

Yes, I love to see glaciers and on this excursion, our first stop was at the very pretty Mendenhall Glacier; there is also a lovely nature trail that you can follow that winds around a stream and shows you some of prettiest foliage in the State. My hubby and I always take a leisurely stroll on that trail first, there are signs along the way to tell you about the wildlife and salmon, etc…For this geeky girl, Heaven! 😉 🙂

I believe this flower is called “Jacobs Ladder”:

And one year (2010), we got to see a Mama bear and her two cubs munching on a salmon…now *that* got my heart pumping. 🙂

I took a video of this encounter too, here it is:

Mendenhall Glacier is a glacier about 12 miles long located in Mendenhall Valley, about 12 miles from downtown Juneau. It is one of two glaciers that can be seen from Juneau’s road system. Mendenhall flows from the massive Juneau Ice Fields and is a retreating glacier. If you’re interested in knowing more about Mendenhall Glacier and other glaciers in and around Juneau, click here.

Check out Nugget Falls…My hubby took a quick video…It is pretty impressive!

Okie dokie, as always, we enjoyed our time at Mendenhall Glacier, but, it was now time to go to my favorite part of the excursion, whale watching! So back onto our motor coach we climbed and off we went taking the scenic route (because we were early and the whale watching catamaran wasn’t quite ready for us) with Ms “All that and a bag of chips” chattering the entire way. 😉 Again, she wasn’t *that* bad, but I think these motor coach drivers think that need to entertain you every second that you are on their buses when in reality, all you need to do is look out the window and you can be completely entertained by the breathtaking scenery in Alaska. Regardless, we finally arrived at the dock and climbed aboard our boat and off we went…it didn’t take us long to find our first humpback whale–you are guaranteed to see whales on this excursion or you get $100 cash returned to you.

OH wait, we also saw some steller sea lions, one in particular came right up to our catamaran, curious little dude:

This is a coastguard buoy and the steller sea lions are lounging on top if it sunning themselves. They are too cute and they are quite entertaining to watch. There is definitely some jockeying for position happening, but all in all they share the space well. 🙂

But, the stars of the show were the humpbacks, they are amazing!

One year we even got to witness Bubble Net Feeding <~~Great link from National Geographic…

This is a sign that they had hanging in the catamaran, it shows all of the humpback whales that routinely come back to this same body of water every year to feed and to raise their calfs. The humpbacks split their time between Hawaii and Alaska, calfs are born in the warmer waters of Hawaii and then mama, who hasn’t eaten since she left Alaska, and baby make the harrowing journey (about 2800 miles) back here to Alaska so that they can feed…amazing!

Once again, we were not disappointed with this excursion, seeing those humpbacks had made my day, I was once again contented and reminded about just how small we are and how big our world is and how wondrous it can be.

We were almost finished with our cruise, day 6 (of the cruise, day 7 of our adventure) would find us in Ketchikan and on the Bering Sea Crab Fisherman’s Tour–A fantastic experience!

Until next time, y’all take good care! ❤

~Arlynn

I’ve also written two other blog posts that go hand in hand with these blog entries. Here is a link to my Alaska Cruise Wardrobe entry. And here is a link to my What’s In My Carry On, My Must Haves, & Packing Tips and Tricks entry.

Voyage of the Glaciers-Skagway (Day 5)

On October 14, 2015March 26, 2017 By ArlynnIn Vacations5 Comments

Hi Everyone!

Skagway, Alaska was our first port of call on our Voyage of the Glaciers cruise with Princess. As I’ve mentioned before, this was our 4th time taking this exact same cruise; in years past, we had done a couple of wonderful excursions out of Skagway. Two of our favorites were, one, the White Pass and Yukon Route Railroad trip; talk about some amazing scenery! Wow, that was a great experience! And two, the “Discovery and Animal Planet Recommended” Musher’s Camp and Sled Dog Experience through Princess (sometimes we’ll book our excursions through Princess and sometimes we book them on our own). As y’all know, I am a dog lover, so this excursion was right up my alley, I had such a wonderful time meeting all of the dogs, hearing the stories about the Iditarod, riding in a cart and being pulled by these awesomely trained dogs, and best of all, meeting all of the new puppies.

On this last trip, we decided to go with another one of the Animal Planet recommended excursions. Once docked in Skagway, we disembarked the Coral Princess and went to meet the Haines Skagway Fast Ferry that would take us to that day’s excursion at the Kroschel Wildlife Center (voted the best tour in Southeast Alaska). The ferry ride was lovely and a naturalist was aboard and narrating the entire trip. We spied an eagle perched high atop a tree:

It took us about 45 minutes to get to Haines on the Ferry and once we arrived, we met up with our next mode of transportation…an old charter bus and its very eccentric driver, “Bob”. Unfortunately, I didn’t get any pictures of that charter bus or Bob, but, I can tell you that he had some interesting stories to tell while traversing up mountains on our way to Kroschel’s. He was a hoot and quite entertaining; he told us one story of how he dressed up in a bear costume and went to Skagway to try and scare the people! And I don’t doubt for one second that he did do just that, but, I think he is pretty well known in those parts, so my thoughts were that he provided entertainment and wasn’t all that scary. 😉

ANYway, we finally arrived at our destination and were greeted by our guide for the day, Mario, and he was holding a Hawk; this was just a small glimpse of the wonder that was yet to come. The Kroschel Wildlife Center shelters rescued, abandoned and injured animals. Steve Kroschel is one very special individual and has devoted his life to educating people and bringing awareness to the dwindling wildlife population through his documentaries and his wildlife center (unfortunately, Steve wasn’t there on this day, but Mario was wonderful).

And then we met the red-tailed Hawk…

From the moment we climbed off of that school bus I was mesmerized by Mario’s stories as he led us around this very special place.

After we met the Hawks, we met a gorgeous wolf named Isis–We were howling with her in this picture…haha:

And then it was time to meet a fox:

Then Lennox the Lynx and her cub:

Then this little weasel…talk about fast, that little thing zooms around like crazy! (He was tiny too, I don’t know why I thought weasels were much bigger, but this fella was the size of a large mouse)

I believe this was a mink, it wasn’t the friendliest little creature, but it sure was pretty. 🙂

And then there was the Porcupine…Pretty, very gentle, little lady. 🙂

Below is Sue the Moose and I couldn’t believe that I got to kiss her sweet muzzle! (That older gentleman in the picture is Rocky, he is a staple at the Center, he was an integral part of the tour, he didn’t say much, but you could tell that all of the animals just adored him).

Next, we got to feed the reindeer…those antlers are as soft as can be and they were h-u-n-g-r-y, but oh so gentle when they took the dry oatmeal from my hand!

And finally, we got to meet Kitty the Grizzly bear! Unfortunately, Kitty’s is a sad story, her Mama was killed by a hunter who didn’t realize that she had a cub, so Kitty who needed shelter and care was delivered to the Center in a 5-gallon bucket and has obviously thrived since then. They were not able to release her in the wild because her Mama was killed before she could teach Kitty survival skills. So she will live out her life at the Center being lovingly cared for and sufficiently spoon fed with quite the sweet concoction of honey and oatmeal (among other things).

ALL of these animals are so very well treated and loved so much; this is an amazing place with which to get an up close and personal view of some of Alaska’s wildlife. They also give you ample opportunities to get some great pictures and they take their time and tell wonderful stories as you travel around the Center. What an awesome experience! I would totally go back again if we ever find ourselves in Haines, Alaska. 🙂

Sadly, it was time to debark and head back to the Ferry

And we were headed back to our awaiting cruise ship…

Here is a video that I took of our Kroschel’s Excursion:

As always, Skagway didn’t disappoint and as we were pulling away from this port I again got a little misty-eyed because I might not ever get to see those majestic mountains that hold some very fascinating, very special folks.

Next stop, Juneau! Sneak peek:

Until next time, y’all take good care! ❤

~Arlynn

I’ve also written two other blog posts that go hand in hand with these blog entries. Here is a link to my Alaskan Cruise Wardrobe entry. And my What’s In My Carry On, My Must Haves, and Packing Tips & Tricks entry.

Hubbard Glacier & Glacier Bay (Voyage of the Glaciers-Days 3&4)

On October 12, 2015March 26, 2017 By ArlynnIn Vacations1 Comment

Hey Everyone,

Onward we go with our Alaskan adventure! I will be highlighting days 3 and 4 in this post, the days that we did our “Scenic Cruising”, first into Disenchantment Bay to see Hubbard Glacier and then the next day we traveled into Glacier Bay. We saw many glaciers in our travels, but we stopped, looked, and listened to two wondrous glaciers on each day, Hubbard on the first day and Margerie on the second.

The ship takes its time getting back to where Hubbard Glacier is located, but you know you’re getting close when you start seeing the little (which are actually rather large) ice bergs in the water surrounding the ship and the temperature starts dropping.

I’ll tell you a little about Hubbard Glacier, I’m thinking there are some out there that are as geeky as I am when it comes to nature and this sort of thing…haha…;) Nooooooo, I am not a tree hugger, I just honestly possess a deep rooted appreciation for pristine beauty such as this. Okay, anyway, Hubbard is the longest tidewater glacier in Alaska extending 76 miles from its source on Mt. Logan in the Yukon. The cliff face is at least six miles wide and it towers 3 to 400 feet from the water level and plunges 300 feet at the front of the glacier from the water level to the bottom. As Hubbard is advancing, it creaks, cracks, and moans as it travels and is a very actively calving glacier. This makes for memorable moments when the huge chunks of ice crash into the bay creating a wonderful sound coined “white thunder” by the Tlingit people. BTW, I don’t just inherently know that information, there was actually a Naturalist on board with us and his commentary was broadcast around the ship and into staterooms via the tv and yes, I was *that* woman that took copious notes. 😉 The Captain of our ship the Coral Princess was fantastic, we pulled up really close (close is relative–we got to about 1/2 mile away) to the glacier and then the captain turned the ship so that the folks on one side of the ship could gaze at the glacier, he stayed there for 30 minutes and then spun the ship around so that the other side of the ship could watch it for another 30 minutes.

Here is a little video I took one year of Hubbard Glacier:

Okay, so that was an awesome day! Hubbard Glacier was amazing and the scenery to and from the glacier was breathtaking.

But, now let me tell you about day 4, and what we saw in Glacier Bay; it took my breath away and it alone is what brought us back to Alaska for our 4th time. I cannot express to you the beauty that is held within this pristine, magnificent place, I would venture to guess that it is one of the most gorgeous places on this planet.

Glacier Bay is a National Park so Park Rangers came on the ship and set up a “Ranger’s Station” where one could go and ask questions about Glacier Bay and purchase books and souvenirs. In addition, a Park Ranger’s commentary was broadcast around the ship and into all of the staterooms giving us a plethora of information about all of the glaciers and wildlife that we were seeing as we made our way in and out of the bay. The sky was rather overcast on this morning, but the later it got and the further we got into Glacier Bay the prettier the day got, the sun came out and blue sky could be seen. My hubby and I actually got a bit of a sunburn on this day.

There were many beautiful sights to see on our way into the Bay but the most impressive sight was Margerie Glacier.

Here are some more of those geeky facts for you: Margerie Glacier is a 21-mile-long tidewater glacier, it soars 250 feet above the sea level, and 150 feet below and it is an activity calving glacier. This one was much louder than Hubbard and it was calving almost twice as much.

See that piece of ice in the middle of that picture above? It looks kind of like a triangle, only it is the size 12 story building!

Watch this!

Oh my goodness gracious! We couldn’t believe our luck, we definitely felt as if we were in the right place at the right time. You should have seen the wave that that huge chunk of ice generated, it was quite impressive. 🙂 Wow!

Here are a couple of close up shots of the glacier itself, the crevasses were ridiculous!

Here is a video that I took of Margerie Glacier one year:

It was so hard to say good-bye to Margerie Glacier and I was quite sad to turn away from it because I truly don’t know if we will ever return to that exact spot again. It is a very, very special place, one that just brings calm to one’s very soul. Incredible!

Of course we had more beautiful scenery to behold on our way back out of the bay, check out this quartet… 😉

This is John Hopkin’s Glacier; we couldn’t go back to get a closer look at it because that is where seals go to have their pups and we had to keep our distance. 🙂

Here is a video that I took while in Glacier Bay one year:

Of course, we were fed very well while in Glacier Bay, that is, once we pulled ourselves off of our balcony and away from the gorgeous scenery–trust me, that wasn’t an easy task. But, we did partake in the Taste of Alaska Buffet:

***Update*** I’ve taken a moment to scan the Princess Patter for Glacier Bay day:

Days 3 & 4 flew by way too quickly, but now we were headed to our next destination Skagway, Alaska, oh what an adventure we went on while visiting Skagway; I can’t wait to share it with you…

A sneak peek:

Until next time, y’all take good care! ❤

~Arlynn

Alaska – Voyage of the Glaciers – Days 1 & 2

On October 9, 2015March 26, 2017 By ArlynnIn Vacations13 Comments

Hi There,

My hubby and I love to cruise…especially to Alaska…and considering that that’s the only place that we’ve ever cruised, we’re experts…haha. NOT really, I’m just messin’ with y’all. But, we have cruised there 4 times and we’ve done the same exact cruise “The Voyage of the Glaciers (Southbound)” every single time. I’m excited to share this journey with you all; if any of you ever get the chance to go and experience Alaska, please don’t hesitate to do so, the grandeur and sheer beauty will be ensconced in your mind for the rest of your life. (Update: We’ve now cruised to Hawaii and I’ve written an entire Blog Series about that awesome cruise on the Star Princess, here is a link if you are interested).

I will admit that even though we were heading on a grand adventure, I was going to completely miss my pups. We’re so lucky that one of our daughters lives close enough to us and she doesn’t mind coming to dog/house sit while we’re away…I’m eternally grateful to her for that. Here I am saying goodbye to Samson:

So, here we go, instead of jamming the entire cruise into one blog post, I will be splitting it up and adding one post per day of the cruise (with the exception of this one and my next one which will cover our two days of scenic cruising). 🙂

Here was our Itinerary:

We always travel a day early because we learned the hard way that if your plane breaks down on the tarmac there is likely not another flight that will get you to Alaska in time to catch your cruise ship. <~~~ That is exactly what happened to us the very first time we booked this cruise, thankfully, Princess Cruises was awesome, and we were able to rebook that cruise for later that summer, but talk about disappointed…yep, that about covers how we felt on that fateful day .

So, the first day of our vacation was spent traveling to Anchorage, Alaska.

If you are planning a trip to Alaska and if you happen to travel on a clear day, once you get into Alaska and are about an hour from landing be sure to look out your jet’s window and take a look at the breathtaking beauty that appears…just a sampling of what Alaska has to offer.

Here is a little video I took from our jet’s window of these most awesome scenery:

I’m always amazed at the wildlife that resides *in* the Anchorage airport. 😉

Let me first say that we always let Princess handle all of our transfers to and from the airport and we let them handle booking any hotel accommodations that are needed before and/or after the cruise. They also handle all baggage, once you retrieve it from the baggage claim at the airport and drop it with your awaiting Princess Representative, you don’t need to touch it again (other than to retrieve what you need out of it at the hotel because they deliver it to your room and then come and collect it the morning of the cruise and the next time you see it it is sitting outside your Stateroom on the ship). They, of course, transferred us too, from the airport to the hotel and then from the hotel to the cruise ship. It is a bit pricey but worth it for the peace of mind. So upon landing in Anchorage, we found our Princess Rep and she directed us to the motor coach that would take us to our hotel for one night, the Hotel Captain Cook which is located in downtown Anchorage. It is a beautifully appointed hotel and we enjoyed our stay there.

We had a wonderful night’s sleep in the hotel and the next morning we went out into Anchorage to do a little shopping. To say that the streets were not bustling is an understatement, lol. 😉 It is a lovely city though, nice and clean, and the people are all so very pleasant. 🙂

We then caught our motor coach and began the trip to our cruise ship; this cruise starts in Whittier, Alaska which is a deep water port that can only accommodate one cruise ship at a time; the Alaska railroad also runs to Whittier (it was built during World War II and it became the way the Army entered Alaska). On our way to Whittier, we traveled along the Seward Highway right beside the Turnagain Arm. It is a beautiful drive, absolutely beautiful!

Here is a little video snippet of our motor coach ride:

We stopped along the way to take a look at the Portage Glacier.

There is only one road leading into Whittier and that is where the road ends. In order to reach Whittier you need to go through the one lane Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel; they change the direction of traffic every 15 minutes. The tunnel accommodates cars, buses, trucks, and trains. When you exit the tunnel, you can then lay your eyes on your mode of transportation for the next 7 days–your cruise ship, in our case, The Coral Princess.

The embarkation process is always quite painless with Princess and this day was no exception. From stepping off of the motor coach to stepping aboard the Coral Princess, no more than 45 minutes passed. The first thing that we did was go and find our stateroom, a mini-suite with a balcony; I would highly recommend a balcony stateroom while cruising in Alaska, there is *always* something gorgeous awaiting your gaze and it hardly ever gets dark (kinda messes with your mind…haha). We then went out to explore our ship and the pretty scenery that was already abounding around us.

Every person that resides in Whittier lives in that large apartment building

Once the ship set sail, we headed back to our stateroom to unpack. We were so excited for our first stop the next day and the day after that. We’d be doing “scenic cruising” to Hubbard Glacier and through Glacier Bay. The beauty that we witnessed will be the subject of my next entry in this Alaska – Voyage of the Glaciers series.

A sneak peek into Glacier Bay:

Until next time, y’all take good care! ❤

~Arlynn

⚜️ Arlynn's Country Craft Corner ⚜️

Category: Vacations

Hawaii Cruise Wardrobe Choices

Cruising: What’s In My Carry-On, My Must Haves, and Packing Tips & Tricks

Alaska Cruise Wardrobe Choices

Alaska: Cruisetour (Princess Mt. McKinley & Denali Wilderness Lodges)

Voyage of the Glaciers-Vancouver, Whale Watching Tour, & a Special Friend Meeting in Victoria

Voyage of the Glaciers-Ketchikan (Day 7)

Voyage of the Glaciers-Juneau (Day 6)

Voyage of the Glaciers-Skagway (Day 5)

Hubbard Glacier & Glacier Bay (Voyage of the Glaciers-Days 3&4)

Alaska – Voyage of the Glaciers – Days 1 & 2

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