Ketchikan - Our First (ever) Cruise Port Stop

Ketchikan, Alaska
Copyright Andy Richards 2010 - All Rights Reserved

WE excitedly anticipated our very first cruise port stop. Brand new to cruising, we really weren't sure what to expect. I can say that while it was a pretty cool experience, it wasn't completely what we imagined. In 2010, I would say Alaska - more that many other cruise destinations - still maintained some of its essential character in most of the port areas. We were to learn from our subsequent couple cruises that most of the highly visited ports in the Caribbean were a complete carnival of tourist shops and chain restaurants clustered right in the cruise terminal area. Cheap Souvenirs and jewelry (very rarely locally made) is omnipresent around the world.

Brand new to cruising, we really weren't sure what to expect

WHILE THERE was certainly some of the same stuff - particularly in the more populous ports like Ketchikan and Juneau, the stores at least seemed (at that time - we haven't been back since then) to be integrated into the main streets that lined the ports, rather than the "shopping mall" arrangements that you exit the cruise terminals through in most of the Caribbean ports. But the tourist attractions were most certainly prevalent. Somebody figured out a way to separate cruise ship passengers from their money long ago and the business is still thriving today. We have actually found this to be the unfortunate circumstance all over the world. Some of the same corporate businesses (like EFFY, Kay Jewelers, etc.) are in many ports in many parts of the world. And much (if not most) of the "authentic" merchanise has been manufactured somewhere in Asia. Perhaps a cynical note on cruising (cruising has its share of negatives, as we will see going forward).

Ketchikan, Alaska
Copyright Andy Richards 2010 - All Rights Reserved

FORTUNATELY, THERE are many other things that are more authentic and do allow us to (however briefly) immerse ourselves in a foreign culture and learn a bit about how the local population lives. We would learn some tricks of the trade in our later cruises that allow us to get away from the "tourist" circumstances - at least a little bit.

Somebody figured out a way to separate cruise ship passengers from their money long ago and the business is still thriving. We have actually found this to be the unfortunate circumstance all over the world

FOR OUR Ketchikan stop, we had booked an off-the-ship excursion, another first for us. My wife had done her own homework and found a "fishing" excursion. Not like you might think, though. We were not going to do any fishing. For the past 5 years, The Discovery Channel had very successfully produced a made-for-television reality series called "The Deadliest Catch," about fishing (primarily for the immensely popular King Crab) in the turbulent and freezing Bering Sea. For our excursion, the provider had rebuilt a once capsized fishing boat identical to the ones used in the series, re-purposing it into a kind of floating theater. It had been renamed "The Aleutian Ballad."

The Aleutian Ballad - "Deadliest Catch" Fishing Boat
Ketchikan, Alaska 
Copyright Andy Richards 2010 - All Rights Reserved

WE DID not, of course, go out into the Bering Sea (Ketchikan is well over 1,000 miles as the proverbial crow flies, and by boat, up through the rest of the inside passage and then down around the Katmai Peninsula - perhaps doubling that distance). We sailed out onto the inside passage and they demonstrated some of the fishing techniques involving trailing lines nets and traps; along with the equipment used in the industry.

The Aleutian Ballad - "Deadliest Catch" Fishing Boat
Ketchikan, Alaska 
Copyright Andy Richards 2010 - All Rights Reserved

ENTERTAINING. FUN. Interesting. But still kind of hokey tourism. Fortunately, that presentation was not by any stretch of the imagination the actual highlight of this excursion for me. That came as a huge surprise. That morning, as we walked off our cruise ship and toward The Aleutian Ballad, one of the presenters saw me carrying my gear. I had my Nikon DSLR and a decent sized zoom lens attached. He remarked on it and said "we are going to get you some fantastic pictures today!" I took the comment with a grain of salt. I was a "serious" photographer, after all (not to mention maybe a little arrogant? 😐) Different people have different ideas of what is a fantastic image. I didn't have overly high expectations. As we cruised out, I saw some eagles perched in the distance. Way too much distance for any decent shots.

American "Bald" Eagle
Copyright Andy Richards 2010 - All Rights Reserved

THEY DID their show and I make a good handful of images. As we headed back, we slid in between two islands; one of them completely uninhabited by humans. I saw lots of dead trees and a couple of perched eagles. Thinking I might have a chance at a shot here, we stopped moving and I heard a couple of odd "plops" in the water. All of a sudden, the air was filled with eagles in flight (perhaps hundreds in all), diving for bait which had been tossed on the water. The source of the "plop" sound. For what was probably only about 10 minutes but seemed like a lot longer, I had some amazing apportunities to shoot eagles: in flight, in the wild, and displaying feeding behavior. The guy had been right (he knew, but kept it a surprise of course) - and I was caught nearly entirely unprepared. I am not sure how many shots I made (likely over 100). Even not being totally ready, I had about 8 -10 that I would deem "keepers." You can see all of them (as well as my other raptor images) on my LightCentricPhotography website galleries. This was the first, and perhaps only chance I will ever have to shoot non-captive eagles at this close a vantage point. It was a rush!

American "Bald" Eagle
Copyright Andy Richards 2010 - All Rights Reserved

YOUR FIRST thought might be that "baiting" eagles is illegal. It is. In the U.S. The island we were "parked" in front of was leased out by the State of Alaska to one of the native tribes, along with the surrounding waters, which they had exclusive fishing rights and jurisdiction over. Their tribal laws governed. Our tour purveyor had an exclusive contract with the tribe to do their stop and photo-op there. Whatever your thoughts, it was a thrilling sight for me (as a kid, I saw the movie: "Tora, Tora, Tora," and all I could think of was that movie as I saw the swarming eagles, competing for the bait, having mid-air near collisions, and basic pandemonium. Several times I hear the clicks as they actually banged talons in mid-air. This was, for me, worth price of admission for any other part of the excursion. It was most certainly one of the primary highlights of a very memorable cruise.

American "Bald" Eagle
Copyright Andy Richards 2010 - All Rights Reserved

OF ALL the stops on this cruise, I had done some research on Ketchikan and had identified some photo ops. Once we arrived back in Ketchikan on the Aleutian Ballad, we had just a short time left before the all-aboard time on our cruise ship. I used that time to seek out my primary shore objective in Ketchikan: Creek Street. Unfortunately, the northeast (and in particular Alaska) is know for its abundant rainfall and its corresponding overcast skies. We were unusually blessed by the weather gods for most of our trip (enough so to prompt a photographer acquaintance of mine from Alaska to lament that we had "used up" 70% of their annual alloted sunshine 😀). But for the day in Ketchikan, the sun was not to be found. I was really looking forward to photographing Creek Street and hoped for some nice blue skies for background. Experienced photographers know, when you have dull or boring skies, to compose images to exclude those skies as much as possible. Happily, the dark and relatively still waters of Ketchikan Creek provided decent reflections, even without a bright blue skies.

Creek Street - Ketchikan, Alaska
Copyright Andy Richards 2010 - All Rights Reserved

CREEK STREET has a sketchy history. There were other things of interest in Ketchikan, but as I viewed things from my photographer's perspective, Creek Street was the main draw for me in Ketchikan, so I was happy to have time to shoot it before our shore time ended. The buildings of Creek Street were built out over the waters of Ketchikan Creek. As you can see from the opening images as we sailed into our Ketchikan berth, there is little land between the waters of the inside passage and the steep mountain faces to the east. What land there is, is mostly rock, and difficult to excavate for building, so they simply built out over the water (I have read that much of Ketchikan was built in this manner).

Creek Street - Ketchikan, Alaska
Copyright Andy Richards 2010 - All Rights Reserved

THE HISTORY. Back in the late 1800's much of this part of the country was undeveloped. What was there was mainly hunting, fishing and trapping. Just before the turn of the century, the Alaskan Gold Rush happened (I will cover that in more detail in an upcoming blog about Skagway). Beginning in about 1903, Creek Street was the center for the city's numerous brothels (at one time as many as 40 of them lining the creek), "serving" the growing population of loggers, gold miners, fishermen, until the mid-1950's when the city shut them down. Today, the old buildings have all survived and been maintained as small shops and eating establishments. The scene is picturesque in spite of its "colorful" history. I didn't get those pretty blue skies with marshmallow clouds. But I could certainly imagine it, and with the help of Photoshop, I made my own beautiful skies for the picture below. 😎

Creek Street - Ketchikan, Alaska
Copyright Andy Richards 2010 - All Rights Reserved

WE HAD started our Alaska port stops with a bang. We would continue to have some amazing experiences. Our next stop would be Alaska's capital city: Juneau.

How Cruise Lines Handle Adversity - Another Princess Tale

I MAKE frequent reference here to our experience with serious adversity on a Princess Cruise 12 years ago. I keep thinking I am going to link back to the story, only to find that I have never really told the entire story; just made references to it. I am posting this as much as anything, to make a reference I can link to, rather than retelling the story every time it becomes relevant to another post.

How did our captain address the situation and at a higher level, how did Princess Cruise Lines address it?- magnificently

IN THE telling, I will also reference to a post I did spend some time and detail on last year, recounting the story of another group of passengers who experienced a nightmare - partly of their own doing. But it isn't their conduct that is the point I will be trying to make. Rather, it is the reponse of the Cruise line to an adverse situation.

FOR BOOKENDS, in my view, there are really only two ways to address adversity: head on with the best solution you can reasonably come up with; or negatively, blaming others and bullying anybody who gets in your way. There are, of course, going to be plenty of situations where the parties could take a meet in the middle approach. So here is the story of the "right way" (in my ever so humble opinion 😇) to address adversity.

IN SEPTEMBER 2013, we boarded the newest Princess "flagship," the newest and greatest: "Royal Princess." Truly a marvel in design with modern propulsion sytems, a 3,500 passenger capacity, and beautiful, state-of-the-art (for the time) amenities. It was our first Mediterranean cruise and our first time in Europe. We had high anticipation. And for the first 1/2 of the cruise, they were met - and then some. We spend several days in Venice before boarding. That is a pretty auspicous start and a hard act to follow. But with stops in Kudasisi (for Ancient Ephesus), Istanbul (the cradle of western civilization, Athens (The Acropolis - among other amazing sights), and the picture-perfect island of Mykonos, they really lived up to the hype.

in my view, there are really only two ways to address adversity: head on with the best solution you can reasonably come up with; or negatively, blaming others and bullying anybody who gets in your way

THEN THINGS went south. Our first inkling (and it really didn't seem like a big deal at the time - maybe it was or maybe it wasn't related to the later catastrophic failure) was when we learned that we would not depart Mykonos at our sheduled sailing because the motor to lift the anchor had died. It took them some 4 1/2 hours to fix it and we finally sailed away late that evening. We were assured that we had plenty of time to arrive at our next scheduled port on time. As a photographer, I was keying on this stop. Naples and more importantly to me: The Amalfi Coast. From Mykonos, we had a scheduled sea day. Things were going swimmingly. Then suddenly around noon, everything went silent and all power went off. It restared a couple times, but they couldn't fix it. We had visions of a Carnival ship floating adrift with sewer water in the halls and days before rescue. Actually, those visions were only fleeting - but they did ocurr.

HERE IS where we get to the point of the post. How did our captain address the situation and at a higher level, how did Princess Cruise Lines address it? The answer is: magnificently. If I were writing a text on how to address a similar catastrophe, the Princess response would serve as my model. When this first ocurred, the ship Captain was on the P.A. system very shortly after things began to happen. First he informed us that the ship (I did some later research and these systems are now mandated by international maritime rules) was equipped with an emergency power system which would not only run essentials (lights, refrigeration and cooking equipment, bathroom amenities, air conditioning and the like), but would also provide propulsion power - albeit at a reduced thrust (the ship had a rated speed of 22 knots and we only were able to go around 8 knots under emergency power - but we could move). At this point, he indicated that it seemed obvious that we would be late arriving in the port of Naples. They were trying to fix it but wouldn't know. He promised to get back to us with a report the first thing in the morning. In the meantime, they offered free drinks to all aboard (just one - not unlimited, mind you 😏).

And that is how you deal with an adverse crisis

TRUE TO his word, the Captain reported to us at about 10:00 the next morning. They had been working all night on the problem and had been in touch with Princess management and engineers and it was clear that they were not going to be able to fix the problem. They had collectively made the decision to cancel the second half of the cruise. They realized they couldn't safely continue. It was - at first reaction - a pretty crushing disappointment. But it was what it was and they were making the right decision. Now the compelling question was: how were they going to handle things. Here is the "clinic" on how to address adversity. First, a complete (not just 1/2) refund of 100% of cruise fare. Second, a 25% discount on any future booked Princess Cruise within the next 24 months. Third, and this is where things get interesting, but at Princess' expense they would make arrangements to fly everyone home. In our case, that meant we paid the airfare over and (back - we had round trip), and our out of pocket for our stay in Venice, and a 6 day cruise at no cost. It got better (if that is possible). The ship would not arrive in Naples until late that evening, but until we were able to get accomodations to fly home, the ship would remain in port and we would remain entitled to use all of its facilities. Stay in our stateroom. Dine in the resaurants. Drink in the bars. Come and go on and off the ship as we pleased.

WHEN WE got our "itinerary" from the cruise line, we didn't like it. It did not get us back to our originating airport, and it had us getting up a 2:00 a.m. to board a bus to Rome, at least 2 hours away. Here is where (and why) I recommend that you book cruises through a Travel Agent. We calledour travel agent. She told us to sit tight. A couple hours later, she called us back with the "new" itinerary she had negotiated for us. An extra day in Naples. And, it turns out, Business/First Class tickets on Alitalia which got us back to our originating airport. And Princess told us to keep track of our out-of-pocket expenses and turn them in to be reimbursed. They would reimburse all reasonable expenses. We did. Everything. Cab fare to Rome. Overnight airport hotel. Meals when not aboard the ship.Any and every out of pocket expense we had. We turned them in and Princess paid us. No. Questions. Asked.

AND THAT is how you deal with an adverse crisis. There is little doubt that Princess experienced heavy losses in this instance. They essentially lost the revenue for a 3500 passenger cruise for 12 days, in addition to the costs of airfare and other things (like reimbursing us for out-of-pockets). What they gained though from their swift and aggressive response to the crisis was so much goodwill. And there was very little (if any) bad publicity. While we tend to cruise another line more, we would have zero hesitancy to book a Princess cruise if the itinerary and circumstances served.

And that is how you don't deal with an adverse crisis

I ALLUDED to the opposite approach that could be taken by a cruise line. Hardly an "apples to apples" comparison, but still instructive, was the incident that ocurred on a Norwegian Cruise Lines cruise in South Africa last year. I am linking to to my blog post "Somebody Missed The Boat," here rather than recount it. I had plenty to say in my dedicated blog to this situation. The short story is that a small group of friends and family were late getting back to port. It was not a cruise-sponsored excursion and the rules are very clear. They were at fault. The ship need not feel compelled to wait for them. But from there, the circumstances suggested that there was a reasonable line and an unreasonable line to take. The cruise line chose the latter. There is a point where you are there to serve the customers. There are some extentuating and unclear factors on both sides, but the overall takeaway I got was that the cruise line took an absolutely unreasonable stance. And that is how you don't deal with an adverse crisis. I'll let you read the story on my earlier post and draw your own conclusions.

Cruising Alaska's Inside Passage - Astounding Views from Shipboard

Diamond Princess - Inside Passage - Alaska
Copyright Andy Richards 2010 - All Rights Reserved

TRADITIONAL ALASKA cruises take several forms. Some do round trips from one end or the other. Some add on a land-based component (mostly Denali National Park, and because of Princess' dominance in the region, usually on their Princess Train). These are designated "Cruise/Tours." For a shorter experience, you can also take a one-way trip through the passage (with or without the land component). Princess ships now terminate in Whittier, about 50 miles southeast of Anchorage (at one time the primary cruise port for Princess until the Whittier Cruise Terminal was built).

Vancouver Harbor - Vancouver, B.C.
Copyright Andy Richards 2010 - All Rights Reserved

WE CHOSE the one-way, cruise only portion. Between the Princess and HAL ships, those cruises generally started or terminated in either Seattle, Washington, or Vancouver, B.C. Our chosen itinerary was northbound out of Vancouver. We flew into Vancouver the night before we were to board the ship and with time changes, had a few hours to "burn" in Vancouver and but lots of daylight. Our hotel was in the downtown area and we walked around a bit and had dinner in a, local restaurant with outside seating (something we rarely saw in our Michigan home. I could see that it was a charming city and was taken with the trams and their overhead electrical connections. The next day we were notified by Princess that our boarding time had been moved back about 4 hours. With nothing else to do, we had a leisurely morning, breakfast, and then made our way down to the cruise terminal where we checked our primary baggage and kept small carry-around stuff so we could walk around the harbor area.

Vancouver, British Columbia
Copyright Andy Richards 2010 - All Rights Reserved

I MENTIONED that I like photography. I had, of course, brought my full gear (Nikon DSLR at that time, a couple different lenses, and a large tripod. Two cruises later and I would have finally learned my lesson about schepping that heavy, bulky gear around). But I did find Vancouver to be a pretty photogenic city. Lots of flowers. Later research told me that there are many more photographic possibilities - particularly around Vancouver Harbor, including totem poles and a lighthouse. Since that day 24 four years ago I have wanted to return to Vancouver. I hope I will someday.

Vancouver, B.C.
Copyright Andy Richards 2010 - All Rights Reserved

AS WE departed the Vancouver Harbor, I was, of course, ensconced on our balcony to watch this process. I have alway been fascinated with marine scenes and expecially harbors, marinas, and the vast variety of boats.The always provide a mix of shapes and colors and other interest. This is especially true when the light it right. Our departure was during the late afternoon - early evening hours, so we did get some good light as we cruised out.

You see all kinds of characters aboard cruise ships
Diamond Princess - Vancouver, B.C.
Copyright Andy Richards 2010 - All Rights Reserved

I WAS not the only one who was enjoying the view of Vancouver Harbor as we sailed away. Not sure how this guy paid for his room. I just know I couldn't help snapping his portrait in the fleeting moment he gave me.

North Vancouver Skyline - From The Diamond Princess - Vancouver Harbor, B.C.
Copyright Andy Richards 2010 - All Rights Reserved

DIRECTLY ACROSS the harbor from the cruise terminal on the shore of North Vancouver, there were huge mountains of some kind of mineral. The bright yellow immediately attracted my attention. At the time I had no idea what it was and couldn't think of any normally mined substance that was that bright yellow color. I briefly thought maybe it was corn, but not only would that be out of place in the plainly industrial setting, but would also be too exposed to the elements. Much later, as I was doing my blog research, I learned that these colorful yellow piles of some kind of mineral were actually sulphur piles. The sulphur is primarily a bi-product of the petro-chemical refining process. Vancouver is one of the largest exporters of sulphur, which is used - among other things - in the manufacture of fertilizer. It is brought and piled here temporarily before being loaded on ships to be stored in silos at another location.

Sulphur Piles - Vancouver, B.C.
Copyright Andy Richards 2010 - All Rights Reserved

TO THE east of the sulphur piles is the vast Vancouver shipyards. My eye was drawn to the vermillion colored cranes, contrasted against the blue ferry boat crossing the harbor. There is often photographic subjects everywhere I look in a major port and I was not disappointed here. Unfortunately the skies and lighting were not optimal.

Shipyards in North Vancouver, B.C.
Copyright Andy Richards 2010 - All Rights Reserved

WE HAD booked a starboard room, knowing the best views would be on that side of the ship while in the Inside Passage. With the far northeast orientation of the cruise, we got many more hours of daylight than we were used to and I found myself waking up, at all hours, stepping onto the balcony to make a few shots, then climbing back into bed. As I have worked through my archived Alaska images, I have realized that this resulted in waaaaayy too many shots! Better to have them than to have missed them, I guess. Fortunately for the reader, I picked just a couple of my favorites of the 100's of shots of the passage I made.

Sunrise - Inside Passage - Alaska
Copyright Andy Richards 2010 - All Rights Reserved

WE WOULDN'T really get to the true "Inside Passage" until the next morning, sailing during the night first between continental Canada (north of Vancouver) and Vancouver Island, and then turning north entering the passage some 300 miles south of Ketchikan, Alaska. Not that the land on both sides wasn't beautiful, but it soon got dark and nothing to see until the next day. As we moved northward though, the days got longer, meaning sunrise was early (maybe around 4:00 a.m.) and sunset much later. I made a handheld shot from the front deck of the ship out on th Gulf of Alaska at midnight. It isn't very sharp, but it tells the story of the proximity to the poles.

Sunrise - Gastineau Channel - Juneau, Alaska
Copyright Andy Richards 2010 - All Rights Reserved

THE MAP tells the story though. Once you leave Vancouver harbor, things become very rural very quickly. There are a handful of small "settlements" or villages along the passage between Vancouver Island and the mainland, but they seem very small and few and far between. The few images I was able to make from the ship in the dwindling light confirmed that there was very little out there. But there was something. Once we left the body of water at the northern tip of Vancouver Island, that small human footprint turned into none. Essentially unihabited by humans and clearly the western face of a huge mountain range all the way to Ketchikan from there.

Sunrise - Alaska Inside Passage
Copyright Andy Richards 2010 - All Rights Reserved

OUR SHIP stayed in the Inside Passage the entire way up to Skagway, as we did not stop in Sitka. Ships that stop in Sitka go back out into the Pacific Ocean (Gulf of Alaska) through the Dixon Strait, and follow the west coast of Prince of Wales Island. Eventually after visiting Skagway (or Juneau if Skagway is not on the itinerary), all ships must go back out into the Gulf of Alaska. Most Princess ships and HAL ships make a day stop at Glacier Bay National Park - but not a port stop. Rather is just cruising to the end of the bay for a close up view of the mammoth Margerie Glacier, before proceeding into the Gulf through Icy Strait. We heard stories of 20 foot waves from the crew on the downward leg just before ours. We had nearly flat seas when we navigated the Gulf of Alaska to Whittier.

Early Morning Light on the Inside Passage - Alaska
Copyright Andy Richards 2010 - All Rights Reserved

OUR ITINERARY included Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway, and Glacier Bay National Park. After Glacier Bay, we headed out into the Gulf of Alaska, and north the Whittier, arriving overnight. The next day - our last day in Alaska, we boarded a Princess Bus to Anchorage, with a couple photo stops along the way, have our last evening to "explore" Anchorage if we wanted.

Our Balcony on the Diamond Princess - Alaska Inside Passage
Copyright Andy Richards 2010

TO KEEP my (already too long) post lengths manageable, I will cover the ports separately. Next up: Ketchikan

Cruising Alaska's Inside Passage - Where it all Started - The Diamond Princess

Princess Cruise Lines Logo
Copyright Andy Richards 2013 - All Rights Reserved

I STARTED this blog in late 2022, thinking I had dedicated a lot of time to the topic of cruising on my primary photography blog: LightCentricPhotography Blog. I wanted to try to devote more space there to more serious photography endeavors. But lets face it, a huge percentage of my "fodder" for writing either blog comes from our travels. And a large percentage of that is centered around cruising. Both blogs will continue to have photographs of my travels, and the photography blog will often contginue to read like a travelog. Particularly when there is a hiatus from cruising though, I find it harder to keep new material brewing here. I was thinking about this at the same time I have been doing a major overhaul of the way I archive my photographic images. I am almost finished with 2010 in my archives. We started cruising in 2010. Why not go back at this point and start from the beginning?

"I'll go, but I get to pick the cruise"

I HAVE mentioned a few times in both blogs that my initial attitude about cruising was tepid at best. I just didn't think the "bang for my travel buck" was there. Like many things we have never done before, I only had other people's anecdotal information about it. And most people we heard about it from had really only been on warm weather (Caribbean) cruises; often to escape the sometimes brutal weather we experienced in Michigan during the long winter months. Although I was as keen as anyone to escape to someplace warm and thaw out for a bit, I felt that I could do that perfectly well on a beach in Florida somewhere. At the same time my own minds-eye view of a cruise ship was a floating hotel with pools and a huge buffet. Again, that beach in Florida. 😎

MY WIFE, on the other hand, had other thoughts, partly buoyed by her brother, who had been on a couple (warm weather) cruises. He was single at the time and he and my wife ultimately "arm-wrestled" me to into agreeing to a cruise. But I had a condition. "I'll go, but I get to pick the cruise." I think they were just happy that I had finally capitulated. Its funny. We have been on more than one cruise where I was prepared not to like it for one reason or another. I have always been wrong. In this case, though, they told me to have at it, and it didn't take me long to choose Alaska. I am an avid photographer, and it looked like the inside passage was going to give me some great photo-ops.

Diamond Princess - Alaska Inside Passage
Copyright Andy Richards 2010 - All Rights Reserved

IN 2010, there were really only a handful of big, well-known to the masses, cruise lines: Carnival, Royal Caribbean (RCL), Princess, Holland America (HAL) and Norwegian Cruise Lines (NCL). In fairness there were many more but I had either never heard of them, or knew they were out of our reach (the "luxury" cruise lines). A little internet research revealed rather quickly that Princess and HAL (not surprisingly, both subsidiaries of the same parent corporation: Carnival Holdings) basically had Alaska "locked up." Its not that other cruise lines didn't go there. They just didn't have the presence or the port facilities of the other two (especially Princess - who has several land-based lodges throughout the continental part of Alaska, as well is its own dedicated rail line which ran from their primary port in Whittier up to their lodge just at the entrance to Denali National Park. They also have some kind of contractual agreement for exclusivity in Glacier Bay National Park. But as you can see from a couple of the photos here, NCL also had a pretty serious presence in the region.

Princess' Whittier Cruise Terminal
Copyright Andy Richards 2010 - All Rights Reserved

GIVEN THE above, and including what appeared to us to be the best itineraries, I was leaning toward Princess. By that time I had narrowed the choice between HAL and Princess, and when I put those out, both of the other two agreed with me that Princess looked like it was more our "speed." Not known as a "party" cruise line (RCL and Carnival probably had that niche well-filled by that time), at the same time they were not as (again my perception at the time) stiff and formal as lines like Viking (who, it turns out may be one of the most informal - at least when it comes to dress code). Even HAL seemed a bit more "old school" and formal than Princess from what I could read (and would confirm nearly 15 years later when I finally cruised on a HAL ship). Not a lot more - but just enough. And Princess seemed like that Goldilockslike "just right" to us.

Their response could (and should) be a blueprint for how to handle a disaster for any cruise line

ONE OF the suppositions we made was that we would likely do another cruise (maybe a couple) unless somebody absolutely hated it, got seasick, or the like. Knowing that, we chose a line that we thought we could sail multiple times and gain status. At that time, Princess seemed like a fit. It was. We liked it. We still like it (though the title of the blog might give rise to a conclusion that it is not our top choice these days - and that would not be wrong). We indeed cruised on Princess 2 more times before every even thinking about another cruise line. The third one (w'll get there) was - through no fault of Princess - a disaster in the making, which actually turned out very well for us. And Princess could not have handled it any better than they did. Their response could (and should) be a blueprint for how to handle a disaster for any cruise line (or travel company for that matter). More details to follow in an upcoming blog.

Our Stateroom aboard The Diamond Princess
Copyright Andy Richards 2010 - All Rights Reserved

YOU WOULD have thought that would lock us in as lifetime patrons of Princess. The customer is fickle. We ultimately found our way to Celebrity and they have certainly risen to the top of our list (but they are not exclusive, as we have sailed on all three of what I would consider their top competitors since - and would do so again given the right circumstances). But for the time being, we certainly would come to consider ourselves a part of the Princess "flock."

PRINCESS' SHIPS are beautiful, well-maintained, and well appointed. We have always sailed in one of their traditional balcony staterooms and found them very comfortable. The public areas of the ship are also well-appoints and classy looking.

Grand Atrium - Diamond Princess
Copyright Andy Richards 2010 - All Rights Reserved

IN 2015, NCL first introduced the so-called "flexible dining" concept with its "Freestyle Dining." This was 2010. Princess was a pretty traditional line. Our ship was the Diamond Princess, one of Princess' "Grand Class" ships. Diamond Princess was launched in 2004. With a capacity of just over 2,500 passengers, it is kind of in what has become our "wheelhouse" for ship size. The Diamond Princess had a single, two story main dining room (MDR). These traditional style MDRs are huge and have kind of a ballroom feel to them. Cruisers at that time were assigned one of two "set" dining times (somewhere between 6:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. is common). We had the later time.

I was pleasantly surprised at the dining  arrangements

FIRST, I have to say, I was very pleasantly surprised at the dining arrangements (you would think I would have noticed from my watching of The Love Boat that there was this somewhat formal dining room - but maybe I could have been forgiven since the series had been by then discontinued almost 25 years prior). I really liked having our own permanently-assigned table. It wasn't exclusively ours. It was an 8-top and there were 4 of us and two couples who were in-laws and were from Wales. They were somewhat "seasoned" cruisers - though we learned - suprisingly not very adventurous. The were otherwise delightful (except for their complete misunderstanding of the concept of "football").😈 We found the food to be excellent, with numerous choices, which varied during the week. Generally (MDRs still basically do this), there was an appetizer course, a main course, and desert. With some recent exceptions (tending to be "high-end," high demand items like lobster tails and prime steaks), dining patrons are free to order multiples (it is not uncommon for me to ask for more than one of the appetizers, if there are more than one item that looks good to me).

Grand Foyer - Diamond Princess
Copyright Andy Richards 2010 - All Rights Reserved

OUR 4TH for this trip was my then teen-aged son. Like most boys, he had (has?) a voracious appetite and it wasn't long before our waiter had tipped him off to the "as much and as many" as you want policy that was prevalent back then. His usual order after that included two different main dishes and often more than one appetizer. That was a nice surprise to me, though 25 years hence that policy has been limited somewhat (as noted above, in particular lobster tails and prime steaks are now generally limited to on per person and additions are subject to a substantial upcharge - but back in 2010, on lobster night you could order multiple tails if you wished without additonal charge). Times have changed.

THE SET dining times of those days are pretty much passe in today's "mainline" cruising world (though they still persist in many of the smaller and luxury lines). But in 2010, Princess offered two different set dining times options - an "early" (around 6:30) and a "late" (around 8:30). Knowing no better, at first, I really liked the set dining time (indeed, it was one of those things I only reluctantly moved away from a couple years hence). It was nice to have "our own" table (shared with 4 others in our case) and consistent waiters who greeted us each night and quickly learned our preferences. We had the late time (at the time thinking that would give us more leeway for our shore excursions). In later years, we have had both the early time and the late times, depending on the cruise and company we were keeping. They had their negatives. The early time meant on port days that you were rushed getting back to the ship, showering and cleaning up - with little time to relax and enjoy a cocktail before dinner. On the other hand, the late time meant (in our case) often not leaving the dining room much before between 10:00 and 11:00. It seems like neither of those times work well with the show times either. The seemed to be either just a bit too early or too late. But I did enjoy the atmosphere. I think we did this routine for our first 4 or 5 cruises. Once the "anytime" or "flex" dining became available we shifted to that. At first I thought I would really miss the set time/table. In spite of its traditional nature, we really don't. We much prefer the ability to set our own time to eat around our other activities. We also have found that we have met others on board and often will make arrangements to dine with them - something that we really couldn't do in the traditional setup.

One of the Numerous Bars aboard The Diamond Princess
Copyright Andy Richards 2010 - All Rights Reserved

WE LIKED the several little bars and pubs around the ship. Most of them were small venues and usually had live music, including some combo bands and even some jazz. We don't see much of that these days anymore. They also had Churchill's Cigar Bar, something that unfortunately no longer exists on most cruise ships. Today's smoking arrangements on Princess ships are relegated to a "humidor room" off the casino. It is sterile, generally freezing cold, and just not a great smoking atmosphere. The only other place is on the back of some of the ships - but they are not particularly cigar-friendly. A disappointment, but not enough so to dissuade me from sailing with them. We did partake of a cigar on one evening in Churchills. It as pretty cool.

"Crooners" is another of the several bars offering a sedate setting and live music
Copyright Andy Richards 2010 - All Rights Reserved

THERE WAS one partial negative to our first Princess experience. Princess had reached out to us to tell us that our boarding time was to be put back about 4 hours and not to get to the ship before that. O.k., No problem with that. We checked our baggage at the terminal and then walked around the harbor area, had a couple drinks and a light lunch to kill time. When we finally reached our boarding time, we were within walking distance to the terminal and headed over. It was our first cruise ship boarding experience. At first it seemed much like the boarding process for an airline. A long desk with many attendants processing passengers. We presented our passports and printed out boarding passes. After a brief wait, we were presented with a boarding pass (credit-card sized). So far so good. We were then directed to the boarding area to get in line. We are on the way, I thought. Not so fast. First we were put in a waiting area, where we sat for nearly an hour before finally getting the green light to board. We later discovered that some Canadians had waited nearly 3 hours in a similar room. Never did find out what that was all about. We have never had an experience like that since (though our 2023 boarding of Oceania Nautica was the closest thing to it).

One of the best (IMO) developments in cruise embarkation in the past few years has been the elimination of the muster drill and replacement with a much more friendly and manageable process

BACK THEN, regulations required that every cruise ship hold a "muster drill." The ship was not allowed to leave the port until they had accounted for every passenger and all had reported in for the drill. At the drill, they explained the ships emergency signal system and did a demonstration on how to put on a life-preserver. They also seemed to feel obliged to put on a little "dog and pony" show, making introductions and a few attempts at lame humor. But on this one they started - as an explanation for the late boarding and departure of the ship - with an ominous message. On the downward leg, the ship had experienced a substantial outbreak of the norovirous. Whoa! Not how we wanted to remember our first (and potentially last) cruise. My wife and I exchanged an eye-brow raised look. For the first couple days the only way we could get food in the buffet was to be served by staff. Had we not known better, we probably would have thought this normal. But we knew under normal circumstances it would be self-serve. Other than frequent hand-washing, there really wasn't anything else to be done. Fortunately for us, it remained an incident-free cruise and we soon forgot about it. By the third day we were back to self-serve.

ONE OF the best (IMO) developments in cruise embarkation in the past few years has been the elimination of the muster drill and replacement with a much more friendly and manageable process. Today, you download the ship's app on your phone and watch a video of the drill. Then you walk down and check in at your muster station - more or less at your convenience once you are on board. It has made the process so much better.

The ubiquitous orange (on some lines they are yellow) lifeboats: the ultimate point of the Muster Drill
Copyright Andy Richards 2024 - All Rights Reserved

ALL IN all, I can say that our first cruise ship experience was very successful and by the end of the week I had done a complete 180. I was already thinking about the next one.

"Old School" traditional deck chairs on one of the mid-decks - The Diamond Princess
Copyright Andy Richards 2010 - All Rights Reserved

NEXT UP: Cruising the Inside Passage: views from the ship.

To TA or not to TA

Cozumel, Mexico
Copyright Andy Richards 2022 - All Rights Reserved

SOMETHING THAT often comes up in discussions about cruising is the topic of Travel Agents. Online, I often see the question (usually from inexperienced cruisers): "should I book through a TA, or on my own with the cruise line?" Like so much in life, there isn't really a right or wrong answer here. So much depends on variable like the duration of the cruise, logistics (like flights and pre and post-cruise accomodations), excursions, etc. 

THERE ARE also variables when it comes to the person seeking the advice. Are you good with administrative details? Have you booked travel for yourself or others routinely? Are you facile with on-line transactions? If you are all of the above, you will probably find making your own reservations less daunting than others who are not so comfortable with such details. Or, you may just not want the hassle of doing it, capable or not.

MY OWN answer to this question is probably going to make me sound like a shill for the travel industry. But I have covered my tracks by saying that my answer may not be right. 😎 What I ask myself is, how many times have I booked a full cruise itinerary on my own? How often do I do so. Why not work with someone who does that stuff for a living?

If you choose a TA wisely, I cannot really think of a reason why you wouldn't use one

WHICH BRINGS us to my second most important answer. If you are going to use a TA, go for an experienced expert in the cruise industry. I spent most of my lifetime (40-plus years) in private law practice. One of the things I always found humorous was the supposition by others that a lawyer should know everything about law. I am sure doctors have the same reaction about medicine. The vast majority of who do it well specialize in an area, or a couple related areas of a very vast universe of issues and knowledge. If you needed legal assistance today, I would tell you first and foremost to seek out someone with specialized knowlege and substantial experience in the area you need help in. I would not send you to a divorce specialist for a tax problem, Nor would I send you to a tax and business lawyer for your divorce, your employment issue, or your personal injury. Unfortunately, there are those in the field who are not qualified but who will take these things on anyway. That rarely bodes well for the client.

TODAY MORE than ever, the Travel Industry is no different. If you are going to use a TA and get the best of it, you need to seek out an experienced cruise specialist. Someone who had primarily focused on assisting clients in the cruise booking business. There are many nuances in booking a cruise - most of which newcomers to cruising will not be aware of. The cruise lines (I have said this before) are in the business of making a profit. That sometimes means being flexible to optimize cruise occupancy. Which in turn, means there can sometimes be special deals out there. A cruise specialist who is working for you should stay up to date on those deals and be able to pass them on to you. In fairness, you can probably do the same for yourself if you are diligent and check with the cruise line often (indeed, we have had circumstances where we have discovered them and told our TA - but afterward, the TAs we have used have been very good about following up and obtaining discounts and deals).

Rome, Italy
Copyright Andy Richards 2013 - All Rights Reserved

THOSE ARE my answers. What about what other people say? I started - as I often do - by asking Google whether I should use a TA to book my cruise. For that past few months, Google has been using its AI algorithm at the top of its list of answers. It summarizes what Google found. The answer to the query listed a series of reasons to hire a TA and a few less reasons not to. I found the latter list to have a hollow ring (like somebody is just trying to come up with something to say). Lets look at those "cons:"

Can't the TA do that and isn't that a big part of what they are good at? 

Reasons Not To use a TA:

• Direct communication with the cruise line. Hmnn. Our experience with that has not been great. They use offshore call centers. You get placed on hold, sometimes for hours. One hand often passes off blame to the other. I had an issue on a Celebrity cruise a couple years back that involved getting a person who had an emergency and couldn't come on the cruise off of the "upgraded drinks package." Online and on the phone, they told us they couldn't do it. It could only be done while onboard. When I went to the help desk, they told me they couldn't do it. It could only be done by one of their other billing departments who were somewhere on shore. It went back and forth for the better part of the week. Either way, they told us it had to be done before the end of the cruise. It was ultimately favorably resolved, but it took several trips to the desk by me and several long-hold-time telephone calls by my wife from shore. Travel agents seem to have a better direct line and are able to cut through all the red tape. We have had good success with turning issues over to the TA when we have used them and getting results. Its what they do. Would you rather hold on the phone for 3 hours, or let the TA do it for you?
  
  
• Potential to find similar deals. Well. Can't the TA do that and isn't that a big part of what they are good at? I get that they may have ties and biases, and may steer you to a particular cruise line, but we frankly haven't used them that way and haven't had the problem. We generally determine which cruise ship, destination and itinerary before turning anything over to the TA. And it stands to reason that they will work for your best interest if they are good and professional. After all, they want your return business.
  
  

  

  Ancient Ephesus, Turkey
  Copyright Andy Richards 2013 - All Rights Reserved

  
  I suppose there are some who might do this, but we never go first to a TA and say "we want to go on a cruise; please find us something." Most often we have selected the cruise and often know the stateroom we want to be in (or the general part of the ship we want to be on) before we turn anything over to a TA. They just help us accomplish our goals. I would strongly recommend that you look at the process the same way. Do some homework first and then ask for assistance. Hopefully that homework teaches you that there are parts of the ship that are more desirable accomodations than others. That some outside rooms can have obstructed views. That there are drink packages, and restaurant packages and seating times and methods. But even if you don't know some of these things, a good cruise agent will know enough to talk to you and determine your circumstances - and to be able educate you on some of these variables, as well as helping you make the selections.
  
  
• Control over the Process (as in selecting your own cabin and itinerary). I don't get that one at all. The ship and cruise date sets the itinerary. We just tell the TA what cabin (or range of cabins) we want. See above. 😑
  

Would you rather be on hold on the phone for 3 hours, or let the TA do it for you?

Reasons to Use a TA: (this list was longer, and made more sense to me - a reasonable conclusion from the comments: There really isn't any good reason not to use a TA - although there are some cautions. We'll get to those.

• Expertise and guidance: A TA can help you choose the best cruise line, itinerary, and cabin type based on your preferences and budget (if you haven't already done those things). They can also advise you on a cruise line's approach to dining options including seating types and times and can help with reserving specialty dining options. We don't find this one to necessarily be worth it, but I think your mileage may vary here, depending on your experience and approach. We are planners. I spend hours - even for a short trip - online and in books, researching different details. My wife is a travel details person and makes it her business to know everything about transportation and onboard every ship, as well any deals that may be out there. We do most of the "expertise" thing on our own and usually choose a cruise and then contact the TA. Often we will book a cruise on board (they often offer substantial deals if you do that), and then transfer the booking to a travel agent.
  
  
• Convenience: If you want or need such assistance, a TA can take care of all the details, including booking flights and shore excursions. For the reasons above, we don't rate this as a high priority.
  
  
• Potential for better deals: If you are open and flexible to suggestions, agents often have access to other better, or exclusive deals and can often negotiate better prices than you might find on your own. Reading on boards liked CruiseCritic.com, you will see stories of customers getting 10-20% off the regular cruise fees when working with some travel agencies. This is not a sure thing, but is certainly a possibilty. I also know that some of the bigger agencies (in terms of bookings with a cruise line) will often get a block of staterooms reserved for them, giving them access and often the ability to work with pricing.
  
  
• Perks and onboard credits: Most Travel Agents offer onboard credit and sometimes other "perks" including "comped" specialty dining, champagne in your stateroom when boarding, and sometimes even upgrades.
  
  

  

  Venice, Italy
  Copyright Andy Richards 2017 - All Rights Reserved

  
  
• Handling complications: I think this one is huge. Again, the "seasoned" cruise-travel folks do this everyday. They have access to the people who make decisions within the cruise lines. Especially if they do a lot of business with a line, they can often have influence in sorting out issues. We have a "war story" which sold me on a Travel Agent early in our cruising. We don't use them so much for helping us find our cruise, or the perks, but more for the convenience of letting them handle the online waits, and most importantly: for problem solving. In 2013, on our 4th cruise and our first much anticipated trip to Europe and the Mediterranean, our ship (the newest and greatest Royal Princess) encountered very serious propulsion issues, resulting a a mid-cruise cancellation. At the time this happened, we were somewhere in the Mediterranean and Southern Italy. A world away from home. Our cruise was scheduled to terminate in Barcelona, about a week hence. We weren't going to make it. Instead, we limped into Naples where we docked for good. Although Princess handled the rebooking and travel arrangements for most of the nearly 4,000 passengers on board (they handled the entire situation very well in our opinion), it was pandemonium. Eventually, we were given "marching orders," including boarding a bus for the airport in Rome in the middle of the night and flight arrangements that did not get us back to our originating airport where our car was parked. We didn't like it. We called our travel agent and she told us to "sit tight." The next morning, she had rebooked us on a flight a day later which got us back to our home airport. She told us to find our own way to Rome and we would be reimbursed (we have to say that Princess handled this well, reimbursing us for all out-of-pocket expenses with no questions asked). The best part of the TA' s work? She booked us first class, which we are certain she finagled out of Princess. Worth it? We certainly think so.

In the same light, if issues arise with your booking at any time prior to, or during your trip, a good travel agent can advocate on your behalf with the cruise line.

 I HAVE read a couple posts recently where folks are complaining about the fees they were charged versus the service (lack of?) they received. Hmnn. We have never paid a fee to a travel agent. The traditional TA is paid a commission by the cruise line, presumably for bringing paying clients to them. Like many of the formerly "commission-only" businesses this mode had begun to change a bit in the past few years. Probably because of the competition the new world of digital marketing and sales has brought on. But still. You should not need to be paying a fee for the services of a TA. There are certainly plenty of successful ones who work (and will continue to do so) on the old commission method.

The keyword in that sentence: "wisely"

YOU HAVE probably concluded that I think the Travel Agent pros outweigh the cons. I do. If you choose a TA wisely, I cannot really think of a reason why you wouldn't use one. The keyword in that sentence: "wisely." There are a couple of things that are pretty important. First and foremost, find a TA that has substantial experience with cruises. You can usually get some recommendations online, though you may need to "read between the lines" because most of the boards and pages forbid TAs from advertising and members from promoting (in some cases even mentioning them by name). But the information is out there. Shop around a bit. Cruising is a very specialized form of travel, with lots of "ins and outs." So take some time to find a good, experienced agent. As you become familiar and comfortable with the process of booking cruises, many will undoubtedly conclude that there is a lot of that groundwork that you not only can, but will probably prefer to do on your own. But then don't be apprehensive about turning it over to a TA for "fine-tuning" and to take advantage of any of the services and perks they have to offer. We do.

Trevi Fountain - Rome, Italy
Copyright Andy Richards 2013