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Showing posts with the label Glacier Bay

Meeting Butler County, Ohio

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I was invited to spend a long weekend in Butler County, Ohio, just after they became Wheel The World certified for accessibility. The tourism board wanted me to write about how wheelchair accessible the region is. I hadn’t been there before, and it sounded like an interesting area, so I made plans to go. My trip to Butler County turned out to be one of my most unusual adventures, with new experiences, and a lot of donuts!   I brought Teddy and my friend, Heather, along for the ride, about three and a half hours from home. We had a nice welcome basket waiting for us at the hotel. Our home base was the Marriott Cincinnati North in Westerville. I was happy at the start with a flat entrance and automatic doors. They didn’t have any accessible rooms, so we had two connecting rooms. Teddy loved going back and forth between the two rooms. Mine had plenty of space for me to wheel around, a well-equipped desk area I could reach, and a large bathroom with a shower chair. The handheld was...

My Thoughts About My Princess Alaska Cruise

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  I’ve done a CI Living TV segment , three stories, and nine blogs on my Princess cruise and there are a few more articles to come, but I wanted to put together a summary for all of those thinking about going on a cruise to Alaska. Here’s a breakdown of my opinions: The Ship I have always preferred small ships and my previous two cruises on American Cruise Lines and Seabourn were just that. Alaska didn’t work out with those, and I was anxious to give Princess a try. A mega ship was out of the question, but the Royal Princess, a mid-sized ship with about 3,500 guests, seemed doable. It turned out to be just that. The ship was spread out enough that I never felt crowded, and we didn’t really wait for much (except at the Gelato Shop where there was always a big line). The only times I wished I was on a smaller boat was when we were waiting a long time for an elevator. The embarkation and debarkation went better than any of the other large ships I have been on. The Cabin We had c...

Royal Princess Sails Through Glacier Bay National Park

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  The main reason I chose this Inside Passage cruise with Princess was the full day exploring Glacier Bay National Park by ship. Glacier Bay is one of the least accessible national parks in the United States. With this itinerary, I would be able to see a lot of it from the Royal Princess. Only a few cruise lines are able to spend a day going through Glacier Bay. It starts in the early morning when a boat arrives with park rangers. They stay on board until late in the afternoon, telling us about the park and everything we are seeing. Brittany and I got up at 5:00 am. We had decided to start out with as much as we could see from our balcony. We pre-ordered breakfast and coffee delivered to our cabin, so we didn’t need to get out of our pajamas, but we did need to bundle up. We put on our sweatshirts and the warm blankets Princess Cruises supplies to take outside. After enjoying 70+ degree temperatures in Alaska the previous days, we were starting this day in the 40s. It was als...