Anyone on Sapphire week of July 4 05

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CruzinKat

Guest
Hi All!
I've been checking out Cruise Addits for quite awhile and everyone has been so helpful with advice to everyone!
My boyfriend and I are going to Alaska for the first time plus it is his first cruise ever!
We will be going on the Princess Saphire the first week of July 05 and then on land by ourselves the second week...we can't wait!
Was wondering who else may be on this cruise?
We have all our excursions already planned for the cruise through Princess.
When we are on our own on land we will be in a different town everyday, Denali, Talkneekna, Homer, Seward, Palmer, Anchorage..... we will need a vacation from our vacation!
Hope to hear from someone.
Kat
 
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eileen111

Guest
Yes, we're a group of four - two couples - who will be on the Sapphire July 3rd. It's our first cruise to Alaska and we're all very excited and wondering what to pack! :) The only ship excursion we've pre-ordered is the dog sled/helicopter in Juneau. We did rent a car for Skagway to drive to Emerald Lake though. Ketchikan...I think we'll do the walking tour, take the tram, walk to the salmon hatchery, shop and also this is where we're planning to have a fresh Alaskan carb lunch.
What are you doing?
Eileen
 
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CruzinKat

Guest
Hi Eileen,
Looks like were on the same cruise!
It is our first time to Alaska also.
And yes packing is an issue for us too....we are taking so many suitcases it will look like we'll be gone a month! lol
But from all I've heard layering is best along with some rain gear.
Last year Alaska had the hottest summer ever....so I'm bringing a few things if it's hot and then some things I can layer.
We have opted for anytime dinning so I think most of the resturants are pretty casual...thank god cause I'm not one to always get all duded up. lol
Excursions, hmmmmm well, Ketchican flightseeing to Misty fijords, Juneau is Safari photo adventure with a professional photograper on board (which I can'y wait to use my new Nikon 35mm with mega zoom) and Skagway is the Yukon Jeep adventure.
The rent a car to Emerald Lakes from what I've recently seen people talking about sounds great!
The scenery they say is beautiful...almost makes me want to reconsider my Jeep thing.
Where are you having the Alaskan Crab in Ketchican?...I LOVE crab!
So where are you all from?
We are from Fort Pierce Florida and in our 40's.
 
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eileen111

Guest
Hi Kat
Your excursions sound wonderful! All the excursions on the Alaska cruise sound so great, don't they? We've only done warm weather cruises, so this will certaily be different!
I've been told that Annabelles Restaurant, near the pier, is great for crab. It's a local place and not very high priced, but good food at a fair price. At least that's what I was told from people that live in Ketchikan. So that's where we will most likely go.
We're from California....wellllll....maybe that's not so true......the other couple we're traveling with lives in San Diego and we lived in Southern CA untl October when we moved to AZ. I still think of myself as a Californian!!! I'm just not used to saying that I'm an Arizonian. LOL! We're in our early to mid 50's.
I just went on Ebay and ordered some flannel shirts for layering....can't find a flannel shirt in AZ right now. I think we're just about set with the clothes issues...we don't care about getting all dressed up for dinner either, and we're also doing the PC dining.
We figured that we were spending a small fortune on the dog sled/helicopter ride so we decided to rent an SUV in Skagway and do the Emerald Lake trip. We can stop along the way and in Carcross (a small town on the way) they've opened a dog mushing school so we'll get to interact with the puppies and also can take a dog mushing tour on wheels.
Where is Fort Pierce? I've only been to the large cities in FL - Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, Tampa, etc.
Eileen
 
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CruzinKat

Guest
Hey Eileen,
Thanks for the restuarant tip!
I read in some of the books about a place all the locals eat at too....right next to the pier....I think it was called the Hanger ...like an old Airplane hanger type thing I guess. ??
I'll look into that again.
And you can't beat good ole flannels, I actually bought a couple also....plus maybe we won't stick out so much as tourists that way. lol
The dog sled / helicoptor trip should be awesome!!! and yes it was a small fortune. But hey you only live once!
And I've heard from many people they really thought renting a car and doing Emeral Lake was the way to go! So that should be terrific plus on your own time.
Sometimes I think we've scheduled ourselves up the kazoo if you know what I mean.....want to make sure I still have time to smell the roses as they say.
Fort Pierce is a drinking town with a fishing problem ...LOL
Just kidding, but it is a fishing town and has LOTS of pretty big tournaments all year, and is also a agricultural town, mostly citrus.
It is 3 hrs south of Orlando and 2 hrs north of Fort Lauderdale.
I was born and raised in Fort Lauderdale and moved here 3 years ago...and love it!
Everyone is so friendly compared to the hustle and bustle of the southern cities.
Kat
 
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eileen111

Guest
I wonder if Annabelles and the Hanger are next to each other because Annabelles is right at the pier, also. I read that you can't really get fresh crab in the summer because the season for harvesting is winter, but I sure hope that bit of information in not correct! I would love to try really fresh crab that's not be frozen.
Have you been on a Princess ship before? We were on the Grand and it was just beautiful! The food was great and we loved the whole cruise. We're pretty easy to please, though. anytime we're away, we're happy! LOL!
Eileen
 
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CruzinKat

Guest
I'm going to dig into my past research on the Hanger resturant and see what the scoop is.
And yes, how great to have fresh crab! But of course I'll eat it not matter what! LOL
It has been SO long ago that I went on a cruise I couldn't even tell you what ship it was.
My Dad took our entire family long ago on a one week Caribean cruise, San Juan-Virgin Islands etc.
So for me it's almost like going for the first time, and my boyfriend has never been on a cruise.
He is so excited he is counting the days, hours, and minutes! Too funny.
But we are both so looking forward to this trip...it is one of my trips of a life time that I can scratch off my list!
I would also love to do the South Pacific....Tahiti, Morea, Bora Bora, etc.
Hawaii is not on my list since I've been so many times on business.
I really want to do Europe but am not sure if I would cruise it or not. ??
Kat
 
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CruzinKat

Guest
Hey Eileen,
Daaaaaaa what a blonde I am!
The Hanger Resturant is in Juneau along with another recommendation The Twisted Fish.
Kat
 
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eileen111

Guest
This is so funny...I was looking at the restaurants and kept coming up with Juneau. Now that Annabells is really in Ketchikan near the pier. LOL!!!!!
This is our last frontier and next comes the Tahitti cruise many years from now. That's my REAL dream cruise. Alaska will be wonderful, but Fiji......oh My God!
Eileen
 
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CruzinKat

Guest
"That's my REAL dream cruise. Alaska will be wonderful, but Fiji......oh My God!"

ME TOO! I'm right their with ya on that one!! Probably years for us too!
We both ride Harleys so it's always hard to decide what direction / type of vacation we should take.
(We are not the stereo type bikers) I'm a buyer and BF is Information Technologies for a local city.
We still want to do Sturgis South Dakota for the annual Bike event out there and I really want to do a east coast trip on the bikes ...Cape Cod, New Bedford Mass, that whole stretch up there is just beautiful.
Then I just saw a show about the 10 best Parks in Canada for wildlife.....How gorgeous that was!
Then a friend told me about West YellowStone....I've never seen snow up close and personel since I'm from Florida and all my vacations are takin in the spring / Summer months.
This place gets huge amounts of snow and you can stay at a cabin resort, rent your own snowmobile and park it right outside your cabin! I thought for a few days it would be a cool trip.
Of course some people probably think I'm crazy for getting excited about snow! lol
And not to mention all the places outside of the USA to go see.
Too many places...Too little time...and money! lol
 
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CruzinKat

Guest
Eileen,
Here are some suggestions from a question I threw out about places to eat in ports.
Kat

Re: Good Places to eat in Ports?
Posted by: skagwaypilot (IP Logged)
Hi! I'm NEW to the Sandbox
Date: April 5, 2005 07:38AM


The restaurant referred to in Skagway is The Fish Company... locals call is 'Fishco'..
The halibut fish and chips can't be beat!! The Stowaway Cafe next door was excellent last summer..

In Juneau, the Paradise Cafe and Bakery near the docks is great for home made bakery items and breakfast quiche.
 
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eileen111

Guest
It's funny...many of our neighbors/friends are bikers...also not the stereotype biker that most would imagine when you say "biker". Our next door neighbor is a teacher/grandma and loves her Harley and her husband works for the government in a high security job.!! LOL!!! Me....I'm such a chicken that I don't think I'd sit on one if the motor was off. Our friends, the bikers, on the other hand, are scared to death of my parrot - an African Grey. They won't go near him unless he's locked in his cage. :):) It's funny that to one person something is so frightful and to another it's wonderful.
Eileen
 
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CruzinKat

Guest
Yes, "Bikers" are not bikers anymore.....so many that ride now days are "suits". lol
It's just people that like the feeling of freedom, independence, and being immeresed in your surroundings instead of your surronding being a metal box that you view from.
Everything has it's place...cause I love my metal box when it's cold and rainey! LOL
I was always a back seat driver till I realized I wanted more control and if I was going to go down it would be my fault and not the mistake of someone else.
So I took the motorcycle safety course and bought my own bike.
I rode like crazy at first and did all the events but the novelty wore off after several years and I find now that between work and keeping my house up etc. it is hard to find time or it just feels good to relax when you've worked your ass off all week and have one day left before going back to work.
But when I do ride I really enjoy the day and the feeling.
Now about the Parrot.... I wouldn't ask you to lock it up but I do give them the utmost respect and know they can give you a healty bite.....to me there kinda like a cat...you just never know what there going to do.
I had a parakeet when I was little and a cockatiel for many years and loved them both...but they don't draw much blood. lol
I am an animal lover in general and we currently have two female yellow Labs...there such sweethearts.
I hope I get to see and photograph some wildlife while on our trip.
Well, enough of my ramblings, got to get back to work.
Have a great day! Kat
 
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