The Alaskan Jewel! Welcome Aboard….You don’t Exist!

[Rambler5678]

Would you recommend Princess Alaska Cruise for kids ages 6 and 13?

 

[westcoastfldisneygirl]

I love these photos! Looks like such a fun day!

And the price of milk...yikes!!!

 

[Pinkocto]

I made it back! We had a wonderful trip to NYC for Thanksgiving and had a lot of fun and very little sleep. And then I was a bit sick when I got home, plus playing catchup with all sorts of other things. But I am back to writing today and hope to get this day going!

I'm glad you had a wonderful trip and holiday Sorry you were sick when you got home, hope you're 100% soon if not already.

I am super independent. I was a single mom to my 2 older kids for many many years. And then with Skip in the dairy business he can't always come to everything and I just go anyways. So this was no big deal to me. If I want to do something I do it now and don't wait for others. Same was true for the NYC trip we took last week. Some members of the family are a bit slower and I just would go. One night I planned to walk back to the hotel after we did some exploring. My sister and Claire were too tired to walk and their feet hurt. My Uncle said he would walk back with me, but my sister was afraid to take a taxi by herself...even though Claire was with her. So he went with them and I walked and enjoyed the views. My sister was sure I would be killed. LOL. I am still alive!

I have great respect for single moms, that is hard hard work! Oh my about your sister being scared to take the taxi with Claire, but not scared enough for you to let your uncle go with you instead! I'm glad you made it back

I have enjoyed my solo trips immensely, and have no problem doing my own thing, but when I'm traveling with someone else I tend to get lazy.

 

[Pinkocto]

Great start of the excursion. Love seeing those big smiles on Skip's face! This sounds like a winner. And Charlie looks like great fun. How exciting about your gold piece.

 

[jenseib]

NHL the National Hockey League float, with Jake Owen and Gordie Howe's sons. They had kids playing hockey on it, and some just waving.

Ok, I will have to look through my pictures. From where I was I often had no clue who was on each float or who represented it. I only knew Jake Owen was on one because my Uncle told me later. I know I have a picture of it. Luckily I was smart and tried to get some pictures of people on floats in case they were famous. LOL.

Charlie looks like quite the character, what a riot! That looks like so much fun and easy....which means, like you said, way harder than it looks ;-)

He was pretty funny and really played his part well.

But what numbers was he running? Did he factor in that all his supplies like feed are going to be maybe 2 to 3 or more times higher than he would expect. And don't forget heat.

Well I doubt he was actually running them in his head. LOL. Feed would be the major thing since we grow most of it. Heat not so much. We don't hear the barns. Actually we have more troubles with cows when it's too hot than in the cold. Of course I am not the farmer so he would know all the ins and outs and real time figures. he does it every day!

Would you recommend Princess Alaska Cruise for kids ages 6 and 13?

I have not been on a Princess with kids that age. The one cruise I did did not have many kids on it...however I do think it depends on itinerary and I think Alaska would be great on Princess. I have a friend who has taken her kids on Princess to Alaska several times and they love it. They have a lot of special activities during the cruise.....not through the club, just in general.

I love these photos! Looks like such a fun day!

And the price of milk...yikes!!!

Thanks. Yes, I think we would not be drinking much milk at that price.

I'm glad you had a wonderful trip and holiday Sorry you were sick when you got home, hope you're 100% soon if not already.




I have great respect for single moms, that is hard hard work! Oh my about your sister being scared to take the taxi with Claire, but not scared enough for you to let your uncle go with you instead! I'm glad you made it back

I have enjoyed my solo trips immensely, and have no problem doing my own thing, but when I'm traveling with someone else I tend to get lazy.

I am trying to relax more when traveling with other people, but I do like to be on the go and seeing all I can. Plus the fact that I have issues sleeping with the time change and just when I am away in general I hate just wasting time, so might as well do something if I can.

Great start of the excursion. Love seeing those big smiles on Skip's face! This sounds like a winner. And Charlie looks like great fun. How exciting about your gold piece.

He really enjoyed this excursion.

 

[jenseib]

Soon it was our turn to have our gold weighed. The lady said she could weigh them individually or all together. I chose to have mine weighed separately and Skip and Claire were going to have theirs weighed together.


klon20 by Jenseib, on Flickr


It was pretty obvious I had more gold than them so I wanted to see just how much more I got.


The girl saw my big flake and was pretty impressed as well.


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And my gold was weighed.


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I don’t remember the weights though we have it written down somewhere. Mine was worth $21 though. Not too bad for a few pieces of dust specs basically. Skip and Claire’s combined was worth $24. So I almost doubled what each of them got. I would like to say it was because of my expert panning techniques….but we know that’s not true. But I think my lucky big flake helped me push my worth up.


Of course then we had to decide what to do with the gold. Now Skip does not like to spend money on things like this in gift shops. He avoids these kind of scenarios at all cost. I picked out a little clear looking locket that cost $20 and we decided to put all the gold in it and give it to Claire. Skip actually agreed. Then of course you had to purchase some sort of chain to wear this locket on. More money…we chose the rope one which was only about $5. Skip just laughed that we had $46 in gold and then spent $25 to hold it. But Claire was happy with it and Skip didn’t grumble. I think he was just so excited to have found gold.


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After that we had some time to wait as others were still getting their gold weighed. Goldbeard told us to just walk around and enjoy the area and we would meet by the tables after a bit.


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We headed up front to a smoking section for a bit.


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I took some pictures.


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And we headed into the gift shop/snack bar area and got some treats and hot chocolate.


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Then everyone was finished and we moved on to the next part of the tour.


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We got a look at typical things that were brought on gold expeditions to the Klondike and how many supplies each person had to have in order to be even allowed to go. I think (and I don’t have the info in front of me currently to double check), it had to be 2 years’ worth of supplies which weighed about a ton.


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Often you had to have 2 people at least in your party as well. You would carry some of your supplies so far and then one person would stay with them while you went back to get the next load. You did this all along the trail so it took a long time to even reach the Klondike.


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Skip was hanging on every word and asking questions.


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It’s really hard to tell how big this rock slide area is from the picture…but there are people over there walking on it and climbing around…You can’t even really see them in this picture.


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Now it was time to start to walk up the stairs into the dredger. Remember now, Skip has had THREE hip replacements and a total of 4 surgeries on the hips…meaning he is sometimes a bit slower and hates doing steps a lot of the time. He does them, but if he doesn’t have to he does avoid them. This was a new man today. He literally pushed his way through the crowd and was the first one up the steps.


As we stopped here you can see he is angled himself so he will be the first up the next set when we move on again.


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There he goes. He is leaving us in the dust!


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Up next, …..A delicious lunch!

 

[chartle]

Well I doubt he was actually running them in his head. LOL. Feed would be the major thing since we grow most of it. Heat not so much. We don't hear the barns. Actually we have more troubles with cows when it's too hot than in the cold. Of course I am not the farmer so he would know all the ins and outs and real time figures. he does it every day!

You don't heat the barns in Northern Ohio, if you set up a farm in Alaska pretty sure you are going need heated barns that would house the cows all winter.

 

[dolphingirl47]

The excursion sounds really interesting. I don't think I would do too well with gold panning either. You did OK though. I love Claire's locket. This is so unusual.

Corinna

 

[Pinkocto]

The locket is very cool, good choice. I wonder if anyone doesn't buy something, you could lose them so easily.

Very cute, Skip racing ahead of everybody

 

[dizneeat]

Great update again, Jen.

That locket is super cute and how awesome nearly as much gold as Skip and Claire together.

Skip running ahead made me smile. He really enjoyed that vacation. He must have had a hell of a TA.

 

[canyoncam]

Boy was I was behind!!!! Caught up now though.

Hey, I know you mentioned Skips hip replacements before, but I'd forgot. My friend just went through one and he is loving life. Until you talk to his wife who worries because the doctor says he is only 20% healed. So she worries he will over exert himself and wind up in worse shape than before.
Wow! 4 hip surgeries for Skip!!! At least he was able to skip ahead in Alaska!

 

[jenseib]

You don't heat the barns in Northern Ohio, if you set up a farm in Alaska pretty sure you are going need heated barns that would house the cows all winter.

Nope, no heat needed for cows. I think it would depend what part of Alaska. Really when we talked weather with a lot of the different ports, Ohio was worse in most cases. We were surprised. now going up into the main part of Alaska...yeah that can get darn right cold!!!!!!! And of course anything in the mountains were colder too.

The excursion sounds really interesting. I don't think I would do too well with gold panning either. You did OK though. I love Claire's locket. This is so unusual.

Corinna

It was a nice mix of so many different things. I think they did it pretty well putting it all together and teaching you info as well.

The locket is very cool, good choice. I wonder if anyone doesn't buy something, you could lose them so easily.

Very cute, Skip racing ahead of everybody

We could have kept it in the vial which looked like a 35 MM film canister. It was black though so you can't see the gold unless you open it.

Great update again, Jen.

That locket is super cute and how awesome nearly as much gold as Skip and Claire together.

Skip running ahead made me smile. He really enjoyed that vacation. He must have had a hell of a TA.

Of course the locket is sitting in Claire's room and she has only wore it a few times since then. I need to remind her to wear it. She has a lot of necklaces and we never remember to have her wear them.

Boy was I was behind!!!! Caught up now though.

Hey, I know you mentioned Skips hip replacements before, but I'd forgot. My friend just went through one and he is loving life. Until you talk to his wife who worries because the doctor says he is only 20% healed. So she worries he will over exert himself and wind up in worse shape than before.
Wow! 4 hip surgeries for Skip!!! At least he was able to skip ahead in Alaska!

We don't do well with surgeries here. Skip over does it for one and we also had a bad hip part in the first case. He was part of one of the lawsuits you see on TV for his first hip replacement. Of course after all is said and done the lawyers and insurance companies take most of the money you get anyways.

 

[jenseib]

Claire finally did make her way through the crowd to catch up with her daddy. We both were just laughing at how quick he had been moving.


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There was a little piece of paper that asked questions and you could fill it out and I think there was a prize at the end. I only saw one family doing it and I am not sure if they got a prize or not. But one of the questions was how many gold nuggets were in the jar.


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I learned more than I ever cared to know about a dredger. LOL. I will admit that this part was going a bit over my head and my eyes glazed over a bit. I think Claire was feeling the same way, but Skip was having the time of his life.


We moved on to the next room…and like I said before…I had glazed over a bit, so I don’t remember what this was for, though I assume it has something to do with running the equipment. I know he told a story about how they used Mercury to help get gold particles and didn’t realize that mercury would kill them and then everyone got sick.


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After we finished up here it was time for lunch so we made our way down and headed that way.


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We got in line and pulled out our tokens.


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The choices were pretty good and we filled our plates.


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The drink choices were few but we each found something that would make us happy. There was one family with some kids and the kids wanted milk so the dad went in search of some. I totally laughed….did he not hear how much milk is in Skagway this morning? And sure enough he was told there was no milk to be had.


There were tables inside and out and we headed out and found one.


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They did have some BBQ type sauces too you could dip your chicken in and it was very good. We all cleaned our plates. It was very tasty. I am not sure how they cook their salmon but I really enjoyed it.


Once we finished our lunch we walked around and used the restrooms and just relaxed a bit till it was time to meet up with the group again….in the beer room.


Goldbeard told us about different beers in the area, some they actually brewed themselves. Also there was a root beer that they made. Everything was natural except of the Sarsaparilla which has to be an additive by law as I guess the actual root is considered to be a drug of sorts at this point in time, but they are working on getting that changed.


We all got a glass and were allowed to try any or all of the different beers and root beer.


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One of the beers they brewed was similar to Bud Light and I did try that one.


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Obviously Claire went with the Root Beer.


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Skip did too.


I went back up for the root beer next and it was really good. I think Claire ended up with a total of 3 glasses of root beer and Skip had 2 or 3 as well. It really was some of the best root beer I have ever had.


We had to laugh at the light fixtures. They were very basic. Skip said he would make me some like those. LOL.


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I do want to say that when I looked up reviews on this excursion beforehand there wasn’t much. It really sounds like this might be fairly new. Maybe just 2 or 3 years at most is my guess. It also appears they were constantly adding to it so it would have more experiences and more room to hold people. I know part of the dining area looked like it had been added fairly recently and there were some buildings that looked very newly built. I am glad they are doing well enough that they can expand.


Once we all had our fill of the beers we moved on to the dog sledding portion. We went into a building and were first shown a movie about the Iditarod.


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I knew a bit about it but the movie was good at filling in all the details. And another score as Skip enjoyed the info too.


We then moved on and met Matt, who has done the Iditarod a few times.


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Sadly I got a bad spot to stand and couldn’t see Matt for most of this presentation. The girl in these pictures was his helper I guess you could say…and I think she does dog sledding too but not the Iditarod yet. She was very passionate about dog sledding and she introduced Matt to us. I can’t remember her name now.


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Matt was very interesting, telling us stories about his adventures.


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He had a dry sense of humor and would talk very seriously and then you realized it was actually a joke.


He showed us his sled and different features.


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The most important thing about the runs are the dogs. They are very well taken care of. When they take their breaks, he has to take the booties off each one of them…the booties are not to keep their feet warm but actually worn because their feet are so hot that when touching the snow it clumps to the feet….he then feeds them, puts them in blankets, massages each one, etc. During the whole break time he himself actually rest about 1/8 of the whole down time. The rest is spent on the dogs.


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He also told us how important sponsors are as they pay for the dog food…and then of course as he would talk about sponsors he would point to dog food or some other product and smile as if doing a commercial for them.


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He told us about the different kinds of dog food too. Depending on the temperature, that would dictate what you feed them. I believe beaver was one food given to them in extreme cold temperatures. It was all very interesting and we learned stuff we never would have known before.


Once we were done in this area we moved the next area….and you could hear the dogs barking!!!!


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Up next….Sled dogs!

 

[chartle]

Everything was natural except of the Sarsaparilla which has to be an additive by law as I guess the actual root is considered to be a drug of sorts at this point in time, but they are working on getting that changed.

Been banned since 1960 when it was found to possibly cause Liver damage or other cancers due to the Safrole. Could be distilled out but probably not worth it.

 

[chartle]

I now this is possibly a silly question but is it not worth it to not do the excursions. (if that makes any sense). If my wife and I ever do a cruise it will probably be to Alaska and not sure if some of these trips are worth it.

 

[jenseib]

Been banned since 1960 when it was found to possibly cause Liver damage or other cancers due to the Safrole. Could be distilled out but probably not worth it.

Yes!!! That's it! I knew there was something wrong with it and I couldn't remember exactly what it was anymore. Thanks!!!

I now this is possibly a silly question but is it not worth it to not do the excursions. (if that makes any sense). If my wife and I ever do a cruise it will probably be to Alaska and not sure if some of these trips are worth it.

For some cruises it's really up to you and you can do a lot on your own. I think a place like Alaska I would try to do some excursions, either through the ship or something you book beforehand on your own. Ketchikan is a nice town and you can probably enjoy the area without booking one. Juneau....there is so much to see and do outside of the port area...I would probably suggest one for there. Though I never did get to walk around the town area at all. It is not super close to where the Wonder docks (or the Jewel in my case as I believe they both dock at the same one.) Skagway....it's a small town. You can go ahead and shop and eat if you like, but if you want to do more than that I probably suggest something like what we did, or doing the train...which everyone seems to love. If you never plan to go to Alaska again then I would say spend the money and do things.
Now caribbean ports.... a lot of people just hang out in the port cities and shop, look around, go to the beach. You can do stuff on your own, prebook something on your own or through the cruise line. There are pros and cons to booking on your own verses the line. The line guarantees you will get back to the ship if the tour runs late. Doing it on your own is often cheaper, but not always.

 

[dolphingirl47]

How nice that Skip enjoyed the tour so much. It all sounds really interesting and I am sure the dogs would have been the highlight for me.

Corinna

 

[Pinkocto]

I would have loved seeing that dredger! I love seeing how things work like that.

Glad the food was good.

That's fascinating about the care of the dogs during the breaks.

 

[jenseib]

How nice that Skip enjoyed the tour so much. It all sounds really interesting and I am sure the dogs would have been the highlight for me.

Corinna

It was fun to see the dogs and they were happy to have some playmates too.

I would have loved seeing that dredger! I love seeing how things work like that.

Glad the food was good.

That's fascinating about the care of the dogs during the breaks.

Skip came home talking up a storm to all the guy friends about all he had done and saw. The dredger was one of the highlights.

 

[jenseib]

As we made our way to the next area, Matt told us to line about around the fenced in areas on both sides.


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The dogs were in kennels and were going absolutely nuts. Just barking away and jumping all over the place……and then they were let out.


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They were so excited to see us and came up to us to pet them.


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What breed are sled dogs you may ask?.....mutts! They are all sorts of breeds together and not one breed at all. Most have been bred with other sled dogs to make for the best to adapt to the weather and endurance and climates.


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Then it was time to strap them in and get ready for a test run.


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They were really excited to run.


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That light colored dog in the back closest to the sled in this next picture is Apollo. He is super friendly and a complete spaz.


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See Matt knows how noisy these guys are and he wears headphones. LOL.


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We were laughing at how they were all bucking around just ready to go.


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The girl was going to do the actual sled run driving.


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And off they went! They went about halfway around the circle just running like heck and barking away. She had to hold on for dear life…though she knew exactly what she was doing.


You can see after they stopped they were still barking away….except for Apollo who had to catch his breath a bit. He is still a young sled dog and hasn’t learned to pace himself.


Matt talked some more about sled racing and the dogs, etc.


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Apollo had caught his breath and was ready to go and we were all laughing so hard.


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And then one more time around the 2nd half of the track.


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Matt then pulled off the lead dog. I don’t remember her name anymore, but she has been doing this for several years. Notice how she is not panting. She knows how to pace herself and is calm. She listens to him when needed and directs the others.


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She was so sweet and calm after that burst of a run.


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And then Matt directed our attention to Apollo who loves to run but still hasn’t learned how to pace himself.


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It was pretty darn funny to see the difference. Apollo was panting and drooling all over the place.


It was then time for them to go back in their kennels. Matt told us that some people worry these dogs are not being treated well and made to pull the sleds. He pointed out how they all loved to get strapped in to pull and couldn’t wait to do it. These dogs are bred to do this. It’s in their blood and what they love to do. He also says they do not let them out to run freely as because they run a higher internal temperature they can overheat easily and their exercise each day in the summer is a few runs like this. Any more than that can be dangerous to the dogs. They really thrive in cold weather.


He had so much information and it was a joy to listen to everything he said and of course he was pretty funny too.


After the big dogs were put away, there was one more thing we had to do in this area……


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Puppies!!!!!


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Of course they are so dang cute! Who wouldn’t want to hold and snuggle one. Matt did tell us we all would be scanned and the puppies accounted for before we left. No puppy smuggling allowed.


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Claire was in heaven and she was one of the first handed a puppy.


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Someone asked who the parents of the puppies were….Matt let us in on a secret….none of the dogs were the parents. He said the cruise lines advertise puppies so he has to have them there, so he borrowed them from someone else. LOL.


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Claire had to take in all that sweet puppy smell before handing him off to someone else.


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Of course then we got a bit of whining about how she needed a puppy at home….Yet she wants nothing to do with the grown dog we have. I personally am not a dog lover but I do think puppies are very cute….but then they grow up. So then I had to hear how it’s not fair that her mom doesn’t like dogs and she can’t wait till she is old enough to have her own place and she is going to have lots of dogs. That’s fine with me….I just won’t come visit. LOL.



Up next…..BRRRRRR!