Alaska Cruises in the Summer - Part 14

Day 10 (August 3, 2023) Crown Princess was travelling south to head back to Vancouver. It would arrive in Downtown Vancouver in the early morning of August 4. We got the whole day at sea on August 3.

As usual, let’s start with breakfast. Food was about the same and I enjoyed having congee again with shredded carrot plus diced celeries on top.

Since all the passengers were on the ship, it must be a good chance to put all the clothes out for sale 😉

I don’t think I have posted any photos of its fashion store. Here it is!

Some of them had discount, probably due to it being the last day of our trip!

But no discount for pirate Stanley. 

There was discount for certain jewelleries too! Now I learned the trick, wait for the last at sea day.

They got Swarovski, no discount though. 

There were various activities in the morning🌞including complimentary massage taster in Lotus Spa, morning Zumba fitness in Club Fusion, end of season sale (fashion – maybe it was the one I saw), Chinese herbal formulas for health in Wheelhouse Bar and culinary demonstration in Princess Theater.

We joined the most popular one – culinary demonstration🍳

It was a show full of laughs😂 The MC (who I saw everyday in the production shows at night and sometimes in the Piazza) in the center was a great speaker and had a very good sense of humor, but I forgot his name. The one on the left is called Mariusz from Poland and currently lives in Norway. He is the director of restaurant operations. The one on the right is called Roy from the Southern Part of Philippines. He is the executive chef. 

I forgot what they cooked. But I recall it was very funny every time when Mariusz was being naughty and trying to make a mess😈 Sometimes they would say “Take picture, take picture!” then all would be facing the same direction (either left or right) and smile. This was more like an entertaining show😆

At the end of culinary demonstration, many restaurant staffs were invited to the stage.

After that, we had the opportunity to visit a kitchen behind the dining room.

Can they keep the oceans clean? I really hope so🙏

Actually I always had two questions in mind:

How do cruise ships deal with food waste? 

How do cruise ships deal with human waste?💩

Where Buffet Leftovers Go On The World's Largest Cruise Ship (youtube.com)

I think it’s a good idea that the food waste can be converted into a small amount of energy for the ship and also food quantity should be reduced or limited to decrease the waste of food. It’s nice to see lots of food selection offered in the buffet but we should be educated about the impact on our oceans and environment with the food waste.

Do cruise ships dump their sewage? (youtube.com)

I only know Titanic is one of the most famous movies and the love story was very touching. It’s weird to know that Titanic ship had many sewage holes on its sides just above the waterline to constantly dump all the human waste into oceans directly😕

Nowadays all human waste must be treated properly before it is drained into the seas. There are two categories: black water and gray water. Black water is the wastewater from toilets and gray water is the wastewater from sinks, showers, laundries and kitchens. Although gray water sounds less disgusting, it can pollute the oceans too. That’s why I would recommend the cruise lines to supply eco products for hair wash, body wash, dish wash and laundry if possible (I know this might not be possible but if no one cares about it, our oceans will be full of toxic with chemicals and microplastics😨). 

Black water which contains poop and urine must be handled carefully before it is drained into the oceans. Both gray water and black water are sent to ballast tanks at the bottom of the ship. Unlike gray water, black water needs to be disinfected or sterilized by UV radiation to transform it into safe and bacteria free water before it can be discharged.

Back to the kitchen tour, we got staff waving to us🙋

Thanks for their hard work to prepare meals for us. But none of them were wearing masks though.

I believe the last time I saw an eye wash station was in one of the laboratories in my workplace.

Still a long lineup for the kitchen tour after our turn.

One of my favourite spots was the desserts and pastries in International Café on Deck 5, just next to the Piazza.

Good Spirits on the other side of International Café provided cocktail drinks🍹

Fine Arts Gallery is located in front of the Piazza on Deck 5. It is more spacious compared to the arts gallery in Koningsdam🎨

Some of the pictures look familiar. I saw them on Koningsdam, must be from the same artists or organization.

There was a Creative Towel Folding Demonstration in the Piazza at 11:15 am. I thought Princess cruise doesn’t do towel animals. On my first cruise with Royal Caribbean in 2012 and my second cruise with Holland American in 2023, the room attendants provided towel animals for my stateroom every night. But it never happened on Crown Princess.

I was happy to see that they had a show on the towel folding 😊

See how skillful men can be in folding towels 簡直是男人的巧手✋

Although no towel animals in my stateroom, the variety of displays in the demonstration was much more than I saw on the other cruises.

Which one do you like the most? I like the little doggie and the little chicks 🐶🐤🐤🐤

Time flies, lunch time after the towel folding show. Same place for lunch – Horizon Court.

A staff informed us about desserts/cakes served on the other side in Horizon Court. Wow! My favourite😃

Most of them looked delicious. In fact, some could be super sweet. To be safe, pick the chocolate or coffee ones. 

I got one of these cups but it didn’t taste good.

Number of activities in the afternoon, one of them was Deal Or No Deal Game Show in Princess Theater.

A cruise passenger joined the game. There were 20 suitcases on the screen. I didn’t know how it works so I was excited for the contestant when a suitcase she picked show a large amount such as $350, $400 or $1000. Yay!

Oh no! The amount chosen will be removed that means she would not get it. I see, she should pick suitcases that show a small amount such as $0.01, $0.25, $0.50 or whatever are on the left side. 

After the contester picked a few suitcases, the banker offered $88 – deal or no deal. If I were her, I would accept, 88 is a very lucky number in Chinese which means I will be doubled rich 💵💵😄

Another fun activity I watched was Martini Demonstration🍷 in the Piazza! Very entertaining!

If passengers preferred a quiet place, they could go to the Library 🕮 on Deck 7.

All cruise lines have photo shop 📸and the photos they sell are of course expensive. I did purchase the photos taken by cruise photographer when I took the Royal Caribbean cruise in South East Asia, it was my first cruise experience. These two times, I didn’t buy any photos offered by cruise ships.  

I think it really depends on the passenger’s preference, experience and budget. Some may want to buy it for the first time (just like me). Some may think it’s worth to buy anytime that they are with their significant ones. 

The long photo gallery is located on Deck 7 parallel to Crown Grill Restaurant. I recall one photo costed about $20.

Compared to my first cruise back in 2012, technology became more advanced. It didn’t require to ask my name or stateroom number. They just took photos and sent a preview to my app or put in the photo gallery. I think because I was wearing Medallion that’s why I was being kept track of my location. In the near future, this can be done by facial recognition as well. 

I like the idea of turning ocean plastics into a new product like the watch straps for Medallion device ♻ I didn’t know that before I purchased my own from somewhere else.

Ocean Treks Conservation Connections - Sustainable Medallion Accessories | Princess Cruises (youtube.com)

I think Princess should advertise their sustainable products widely and mark down the price. I really wanted to support but couldn’t afford $19 USD per piece.

Let’s return to my stateroom E630, here’s the hallway.

What was the view from my room? It was like an oil painting of the ocean.   

It was the last dinner on my Alaska cruise ship. I believe I started with Alaska Cocktail, followed by Grilled Marinated Portobello Mushroom. We also shared Grilled Kingklip Palermitana. I decided to choose Princess Love Boat dream for my last time dessert😊

Towards the end of my dinner, I saw some customers waving their napkins, what’s going on?

Music was on, lots of restaurant staffs started coming and moving their bodies with a big cheerful smile. It was like a party at that moment🥳

I guess each cruise has their special way to entertain the passengers on the last dinner. The last supper of my first cruise in Royal Caribbean Legend of the Seas had all the chefs and restaurant attendants singing on the central atrium in the main dining room Inspirational Thoughts: South East Asia Cruise in December 2012 (Part 2) (chan38.blogspot.com)

Let’s continue with the party🎉Dance performance in the Piazza! So just Dance! Dance! Dance!

Then a speech given by Captain Christopher Lye for a farewell address.

Many crew members showed up in the Piazza to drive the atmosphere to the climax!

What about the show in Princess Theater? It was The Voice of the Ocean – Cruise Nightlife - Princess Cruises hosted by the Cruise Director on the last night of the cruise for an audience that includes three high-profile team coaches that may include one of the guest entertainers, the Hotel General Manager or even the ship’s Captain! Just like the hit TV show, the trio of coaches will listen, but not see the performer, as they decide to turn their "I Want You" chair  to choose the singer to be on their team. Once teams are chosen, coaches will then each pick one finalist. The audiences will vote to choose the best of the best👍

There were about 8 or 9 contestants and almost half from Canada and half from US. An Asian woman in her 60’s sang “My Heart Will Go On” in front of 800 audiences. She was definitely not the best but I admired her courage. 

I didn’t watch the whole show as I needed to pack my stuff, attach a coloured/numbered luggage tag to my luggage and have it outside my stateroom at 9 pm (I should have chosen Self Assist Walk Off, this way I could just keep my luggage and carry it by myself as it was less than 5 minute walk for my luggage pickup after disembarkation, it was not much of a difference).

My partner told me the last contestant was the best one in his mind. This participant performed “What a Wonderful World”🌎

After I left Princess Theater, I passed by Conference Center on Deck 6. It is actually a room with two ping pong tables🏓

Normally the room was full of people playing table tennis. It was empty on the last night of the trip. I guess everyone was busy packing stuff.

While I was packing my stuff, I found the souvenir I purchased including the fancy notepads and Denali Dreams soap. They were all made in Alaska and inexpensive.

After I finished packing, I still had some time to walk around the ship. I went up to Horizon Court and it was empty. Good! Finally could take a picture with nobody there😉

Some of the paintings in Horizon Court are fascinating, they show a beautiful coastal town that tourists must love to visit for a relaxing vacation.

Similar paintings can be found anywhere on the cruise. 

I thought I could go to bed early but I was asked to go to Princess Theater again as 9:30 show was different than 7:15 show. This time we got Shea Rafferty to perform. I recall he was good, worth to see!

It was after 10:30 when the show was finished. Where to visit at the late night? Skywalkers Nightclub on Deck 18 was for those who liked to drink and dance until pass midnight.

On August 4, 2023 at 6:30 am, I was awakened by my partner. Why that early? 

“Look out from the window. We are already back to Vancouver!”

“We will cross under Lions Gate Bridge again, is that what you like?”

So nice to go under Lions Gate Bridge again! Let’s have a final breakfast before we leave the ship.

Crown Princess👑was getting close to Canada Place. Another ship was already there, ahead of us?

It was Celebrity Millennium. How could this be possible? I am pretty sure our ship left Ketchikan before Celebrity Millennium. It arrived at Canada Place before us.

Getting close! Getting close! Finally docked at Canada Place. Home sweet home💕