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Old 17 Oct 19, 09:22 PM  
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Melanie R
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Glaciers & Glowtinis - Day 3 Sea day

As was becoming annoyingly familiar, I was again wide awake at 5am so took the opportunity to chill in the cabin and I finished the book I had been reading on my kindle then checked on my planner what I was due to be doing today.



Today was the first of the sea days planned and we would be cruising the Inside Passage which according to the Princess itinerary was scenic cruising. I had also read that there was possibility of seeing whales so was looking forward to spending some time on deck and also later on chilling on the balcony (that was the point of booking the verandah stateroom after all!)

I also had some spa sessions booked in to have a pedicure and a manicure. I had debated over booking these as the spa prices are on the high side, but I do enjoy them and had decided to go ahead and got them booked. I had booked them to start at 10am – when I was back home planning, I considered if this was too early for a sea day and that I may prefer a leisurely lie in, but decided I didn’t want to miss too much of the scenic cruising – as it turned out, I was killing time being awake so early!

At around 8:30 I wandered down to the main dining room for breakfast – I had decided to try this over the buffet this morning as I had lots of time, and I have to say it didn’t disappoint! In what was to become my regular order, I ordered some orange segments to start, followed by poached eggs on toast. I also ordered a pot of tea and some fresh orange juice to wash it all down.







Whilst I was waiting for my poached eggs, the waiter came round with a tray of pastries and I had a pecan nut pastry which was delicious! When the eggs arrived, they were cooked to perfection and I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed my breakfast.

I left the dining room and as I still had some time, I headed to the buffet so that I could check out what options they had available for future mornings – I had a couple of early excursions planned for later in the cruise and wanted to see what buffet options there were. Whilst in there, I spotted more of the pecan pastries and couldn’t resist, so I had a second breakfast up there with another cup of tea to wash it down 😳

It was then time to head to the spa for my appointments – but first I had to find it! This wasn’t too difficult and I was soon being shown to the waiting room and being given the forms to complete. I have had lots of experience of cruise ship spas, and I have learned to say no to all the questions asking “Do you have any issues with your skin”, “what area of the body would you most like to improve” etc. – basically answering yes to anything in this area is a green light for them to upsell – and on cruise ships, they really do push hard in the spa to sell products. With this in mind, I was very careful in the information I gave them and was soon being introduced to Shelly who was to be my therapist for the morning.

As she introduced herself, I knew straight away that we weren’t going to click, this was based on absolutely nothing other than “a feeling” and I followed her to the pedicure chair thinking that the next 2 hours were going to be hard work rather than the relaxing session I had been hoping for. I have a terrible habit of making snap judgements on people, and it is something that I’m very aware I do and I try hard to rein it in, but sometimes the chemistry just isn’t there and this was one of those cases. I was then in what I call my polite mode and conversation was hard work as it just didn’t feel natural! Shelly was also the type to ask you a question, but you could tell she had no interest in the answers, so wasn’t listening properly – I would have preferred just to have the treatment with very little chat, but was way too British to say so 😂

After she had finished my pedicure and moved on to my manicure, she managed to catch one of my newly painted toes with her foot, then tried to blame me for smudging the polish! I had been sat down and hadn’t moved (to be fair, she did redo it ) She then started the preparation for the upsell – and she was relentless 😕 I finished the treatment, turned down all the products she was trying to sell me and went back to the counter to pay. I know I have come across very negative, but I did leave a decent tip as the treatment itself was fine, but I hadn’t enjoyed the experience as much as I had hoped. It’s the one area on cruises where I find the upsell annoying – I had no pressure in any other area for drinks packages etc. – a simple no thanks was all it took for them to move on, but this therapist in particular had been very pushy.

It was gone lunchtime by the time I left the spa, and my 2 breakfasts were a dim and distant memory, so I headed to the pool grill and ordered a cheeseburger. I didn’t have my phone at this point, so no pics sadly, but I can confirm that it was freshly cooked and was delicious! I washed it down with another cocktail ordered from a passing waiter and then chilled on a lounger for a while watching the scenery pass by. There were periodic announcements of “whales on the port side” but after the third time of looking and seeing nothing, I decided to call it a day and headed back to my stateroom, collecting a cupcake and a latte en route and headed for the balcony to sit in the sunshine. I messaged home to let them know I was all ok, and sent a picture of my newly painted nails – my sister appreciated that even if my dad didn’t 😁





My dad messaged back that he was sorry the weather wasn’t so good – I was sitting outside in short sleeves and sunglasses, so asked him what he meant. He had been checking the weather forecast and was adamant it was raining – I have no idea where he thought I was, but I assured him it wasn’t and sent some pics and a screenshot from my weather app (taken as I woke up earlier) to prove it!







I had a lovely relaxing afternoon with my kindle, then decided it was time to start getting ready for formal night – the menu looked more appealing tonight so I was heading for the main dining room.

I got dressed and ready and wandered down to the dining room – I told them I was dining solo, and that tonight I preferred not to share a table and was soon being escorted to my table and introduced to Alex my waiter for the evening.



He was a real sweetheart – he was very attentive without being over the top and had definitely taken the course on charm and charisma – he was making recommendations on the menu and I found myself agreeing with everything he said and ordering based on this. He recommended the crab and Monterey Jack quiche for starter and the beef tenderloin for main course. I don’t actually like crabmeat and had fully intended to order the baked potato soup, but somehow I found myself ordering the quiche! I ordered a glass of rose wine and got chatting briefly to the American couple on the table next to me – they were hilarious for all the wrong reasons, but were a lovely couple. They were amazed that I had travelled so far on my own, they informed me they had never left the United States and only had got a passport because Princess cruises had insisted they needed one to board the ship. I tried to point out that the ship had sailed from Vancouver in Canada, so they had actually left the USA but I’m not actually sure they believed me!

My first course then arrived – turns out I do like crabmeat after all – it was delicious!



As I was finishing, Alex (the waiter) brought the American couple’s main course over and they were asking him where he was from. He told them he was Serbian and started to tell them a little about his country – they assured him they knew where Serbia was – it was part of Russia wasn’t it. He politely told them that no, Serbia was part of Europe, and had been formed when Yugoslavia was broken up, but they were having none of it – they were adamant that he was mistaken, and they had read about how cold it was in Serbia all year round and that it was definitely part of Russia. It took some convincing that Serbia and Siberia were actually 2 very different places!

My main course was then brought over, and I ordered a top up of wine to go with it.



The beef was very well cooked and was delicious – and I noticed my veg had been served to create a hidden Mickey (you can take the girl out of Disney………) .



One of the things I was to observe as the cruise progressed was that the variety of food options was somewhat limited compared to other cruises I have taken, but the quality of every meal I had was superb.

Alex was soon bringing over the desert menu and he recommended the chocolate journey option - I hadn’t been able to fault his recommendations to date, so rounded off the meal with the best chocolate desert I have had in a very long time – it was amazing!



I declined a coffee as time was ticking on and I was planning to try the theatre again tonight, so when I explained to Alex I was all finished, he insisted on offering me his arm and escorting me to the door of the dining room – ladies deserve an escort on formal nights apparently!

I decided to pick up a takeaway latte from the International Café on my way to the theatre, and I was hoping it would be a better act than the previous night – tonight was to be a comedy ventriloquist……







The act was dated to say the least, but marginally better than the comedian – but I wasn’t going to be rushing back for his second show in 2 days’ time!

I headed out of the theatre, and was now feeling tired because of my very early wake up, so decided to call it a night and head back to my stateroom – I went via the International Café for another coffee (I’m one of those odd people who are not kept awake at night by drinking coffee!) and there was some mix up with the staff over who was doing what, and it was only when got back to my room I realised I hadn’t been asked to pay – yay free coffee!

I had 2 chocolate hearts left on my bed by the steward which went down very nicely with the latte, and I curled up in bed with my iPad watching Marvel movies until I fell asleep.



Tomorrow we would be docking at Juneau and I was very excited for the whale watching excursion I had booked ♥️
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Old 17 Oct 19, 11:42 PM  
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margyloveswdw
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A fab sea day!
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Old 18 Oct 19, 12:08 AM  
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Your dinner looks yummy. Just the right size of portions too. Excellent choices.
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Old 18 Oct 19, 07:31 AM  
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Loopylooloo
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I am sorry you had that experience in the spa, sometimes it is a hard sell, yes, and for the price of the facial you could buy a new face!

Your waiter looks very dishy! How funny that the american couple thought he was from Russia! Ha ha, poor guy must get a lot of stuff like that all the time.

Looking forward to your whale excursion photos Melanie.
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Old 18 Oct 19, 08:57 AM  
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Sounds like a good sea day. Food looks really good. Hope you enjoy your whale watching tour.
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Old 18 Oct 19, 10:41 AM  
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kateh134
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Shame your visit to the spa wasn’t the experience you had hoped for. I do like the sound of a second breakfast and that you had an escort from your table.
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Old 18 Oct 19, 08:43 PM  
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I wish I could make poached eggs like that! I'm 64 and still can't poach an egg properly
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Old 21 Oct 19, 02:28 PM  
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Second breakfast is absolutely acceptable on a cruise 😁
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Old 25 Mar 20, 06:32 PM  
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Don't think I'd have given a very pushy therapist a tip, you were generous
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