Panther10 Posted March 16, 2019 Author Share Posted March 16, 2019 I'm very excitited about this job. I am already at the stage where I've got a bad case of the pre first-day jitters so yeah, I am chomping at the bit to get started. And yeah furs are also tax free in AK. Regarding the customers I will eventually be servicing, I hesitate to guess but I would assume that most people who can afford to go on a cruise ship are arguably big spenders and would want to splurge on every experience or store that they can. Especially the VIP guests and the passengers who might have some winnings from the ships casino to spend. But it is just likely that there might be customers who show up whose love for adventure are mostly behind them and are more content with going shopping than going on long tours that last for many hours, or window shoppers who are just there to browse and would be willing to spend money on a coat or a jacket --provided they can be convinced. In the end I will service anyone who walks through our doors. But I am very interested in what kind of clientele we might see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minkme Posted March 17, 2019 Share Posted March 17, 2019 A seven cruise to Alaska for two can be as cheap as $1000/couple, that's $142/day including lodging and food. Not a bad deal when there is a sale which happens quite often. One would travel from Seattle to Vancouver. One does not have to be big spenders for a cruise. I recently took a cruise down the coast of California. Not too many people at the slot machines. Which Alaska Fur Gallery will you be working at? Anchorage? Are you going to bring up your furs or leave them at home.? You might be able to get them cleaned and glazed with an employee discount. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panther10 Posted March 17, 2019 Author Share Posted March 17, 2019 A seven cruise to Alaska for two can be as cheap as $1000/couple, that's $142/day including lodging and food. Not a bad deal when there is a sale which happens quite often. One would travel from Seattle to Vancouver. One does not have to be big spenders for a cruise. I recently took a cruise down the coast of California. Not too many people at the slot machines. Which Alaska Fur Gallery will you be working at? Anchorage? Are you going to bring up your furs or leave them at home.? You might be able to get them cleaned and glazed with an employee discount. I'll be working at the Skagway and Juneau shops. I think I would rather have my blue fox put in storage here before I leave. It's just less to travel with. And I really don't need it in AK because the weather is supposed to be warm and rainy. So I don't really need it when I'm out there anyway. However having said that, I'm tempted to have my custom silver fox sent out there once I pay off the balance. I've spent almost a year paying for that coat in small dollar installments and I still have a long way to go. But with the amount of money I expect to earn from this job will mean that I should be able to make up the rest of the balance after just a days worth of sales if we are busy enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minkme Posted March 17, 2019 Share Posted March 17, 2019 With commission? Nice. If you have other furs that need reconditioning, they might be able to get them done discounted in you're an emplyees. How many shops do they have? Do you have to move to Skagway, then Juneau? A month each? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panther10 Posted March 17, 2019 Author Share Posted March 17, 2019 Its a 5 month long job. I'll be in Juneau for about 10 weeks and they may send me off to Skagway for another 10 weeks after that just to keep the job from getting too monotonous but I can honestly run laps around any of their stores and helping customers no matter where I'm stationed. And as I said I have no desire to bring any of my other furs except for my new silver fox just because I don't want to travel with them and it would be too expensive to ship out my other fur coats to AK, so no matter how many discounts I could get for storage, its cheaper in the end to have them stored at my local salon. Besides I'm trying to sell my two oldest furs. Why on earth would I put money into those with Shipping charges and storage fees when I just want them gone? I'm not gonna bother with that. The silver fox is the rare exception because its new and I've been looking forward to wearing that one again. I haven't even seen it since my fitting in October. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ew19975 Posted March 19, 2019 Share Posted March 19, 2019 Good luck and have fun up there. Cool and sometimes wet is what I remember from a late season cruise through AK in 2005. Of course, it felt a bit cold to me after being in the summer heat of the southeast. You're right in that it's not quite fur weather during tourist season. Not sure how things may have changed on the cruising routes, but Skagway only had 2 or 3 ships in the day we were there (I think the smaller ones in the 2500-3k pax range due to location). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minkme Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 I think the larger cruise ships use tenders to get people from the ship to the port. Some Alaska cruise routes skip Skagway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AKcoyote Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 minkme, As one who lived in Alaska for 10 years and have cruised the Inside Passage, I can tell you that Skagway has dock facilities for the larger cruise ships. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panther10 Posted March 20, 2019 Author Share Posted March 20, 2019 Based on this shot that was grabbed from Wikipedia, It looks like the port of Skagway has enough space for at least 3 large cruise ships and 3 small ships to dock simultaneously. And that doesn't even count the people who might island hop via the towns municipal airport. So all in all I think we could see at least 15,000 visitors a day and nearly double that at peak season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minkme Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 Oh ok. The cruise I took was very 25 years ago on the Live Boat..Pacific Princess. Maybe its another port. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fox4me Posted March 22, 2019 Share Posted March 22, 2019 A dream job in a wonderful place. All the best for a long and happy career! If I ever go there, I'll just look for the employee with the biggest smile. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panther10 Posted March 22, 2019 Author Share Posted March 22, 2019 A dream job in a wonderful place. All the best for a long and happy career! If I ever go there, I'll just look for the employee with the biggest smile. Well I've only been guaranteed a full 5 months of seasonal employment. But my hope is that at the end of my stint in AK, I can earn a letter of recommendation and then apply to any furrier I wish back home and work another 3-4 months during the winter season and if there is the option to come back to AK next summer I would take it. And then from that point forward I would just bounce back and forth between my home in Chicago and my temporary home in AK until such time I felt like all that traveling just wasn't worth it anymore. It is a 3000 mile journey after all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minkme Posted March 23, 2019 Share Posted March 23, 2019 Will you drive to AK? That's quite a drive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panther10 Posted March 23, 2019 Author Share Posted March 23, 2019 Will you drive to AK? That's quite a drive. no. I'm flying out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AKcoyote Posted March 23, 2019 Share Posted March 23, 2019 Will you drive to AK? That's quite a drive. no. I'm flying out. As he was hired to initially work in Juneau, driving to the job would be impossible as there are NO roads leading to Juneau - the city is only accessible via air or water. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panther10 Posted March 23, 2019 Author Share Posted March 23, 2019 Exactly. Plus I haven't been behind the wheel of a car since I got my license. So i'm not about to tempt fate by getting in a car and driving to Alaska lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Furangel Posted May 29, 2019 Share Posted May 29, 2019 Congratulations :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minkme Posted June 1, 2019 Share Posted June 1, 2019 I hope he returns to the site to give us a progress report on his fur job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minkme Posted July 14, 2019 Share Posted July 14, 2019 How is you job going at the fur salon? Must be busy with all those cruisers from the ships? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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