RSS FeedCruise: Day 7
Ahh! Sleeping in is so awesome. I would have slept longer if my bladder wasn’t screaming at me. Once I got up to take care of the bladder it was too late to try and get back to sleep. Drat.
Today is our last full day of our vacation. We travel at sea all day today heading back to Vancouver for our flight home tomorrow. When we looked out the balcony, today is by far the prettiest day of our vacation. The sun is out, virtually no wind and it’s not cold at all. I plan on doing as much as I can today!
We started off with breakfast in the main dining hall. Here’s a tip, when they say the dining area closes at 11:00, do not show up at 10:30. the wait staff is already in the process of shutting that sucker down! They didn’t make us feel rushed, but it took me quite a while to get French Toast and even longer for this other lady to get her pancakes. So long that her husband had finished his entire meal before she had taken bite number 1.
After breakfast I played some air hockey with the kids. Then we went to the “Loyalty Ambassador” to look in to booking another cruise. They give you a few hundred bucks off if you book a second trip while you are on the ship. Plus, if you decide not to go, they give you a full refund of your deposit. Unfortunately, after waiting nearly 40 minutes, we were turned away as they had to close to go do something else. Though, they set us up an appointment for 2pm to come back. So we headed back to the room for a while to pack up our luggage. We then headed back to the Schooner Bar and had a drink with a nice couple we met. Then, back to the Loyalty Ambassador.
After booking our next trip (South America, here we come), we grabbed some lunch from the Sea View Cafe and then went and explored parts of the ship that we hadn’t yet seen. This includes my first attempt at climbing the rock wall. I was able to make it to the top the first time, but when I tried the second time my arms and legs reminded me that I’m a fat bastard and I should remain on solid ground. I didn’t fully get the message until I tried a third time which also ended in me falling off the wall.
We then hit up the casino for a bit and then headed back to the room to rest up before dinner. Chris wasn’t feeling well so we cancelled our plans to eat in the steakhouse. She ended up visiting the medical station and getting a shot. Ouchy. While she was doing all that I took care of some errands related to exiting the ship tomorrow. It’s quite a process, I’ll tell ya. Since we have to go through customs to enter Canada and then a few hours later when we enter the US again.
I ended up having dinner with Blake while Paxton went to the Windjammer Cafe and Chris finished packing and then got some more rest. I spent the next couple hours roaming around the ship taking all sorts of photos. Once again it was quite empty so I was able to set up some decent shots. I was pretty pleased with the results.
Headed back to the room, shed my clothes and was asleep in a matter of minutes. The end of a long day and the beginning of an even longer one were about to collide. Plenty of sleep is going to be needed for our trek back to Las Vegas.
Cruise: Day 6
I usually learn lessons the hard way. This vacation has been no different. For the 3rd time, we’ve had to set an alarm to wake up early thanks to planning an excursion too early in the morning. Having to set an alarm while on vacation is just wrong. On our next vacation, I will not repeat this mistake.
Today we arrived in Juneau around 7:00. We have been amazingly lucky and it’s been basically dry everywhere we’ve been on our trip. It was cold, but not horribly so. There wasn’t much wind, so that certainly helped, too.
We had to use the tenders again to exit the ship. That process is a little bit annoying, we’ve decided. I was glad to have done it once for the experience, but two out of three ports is ridiculous. But, thanks to our early morning excursion, we were basically put at the front of the line for tendering, so it wasn’t as bad as it could have been.
We met on the dock and waited for our entire tour group to show up. They loaded us up on a bus and sent us on a 25 minute drive to an amazing bay that we would use as the launching point for our rafts. The bay is very still and the water is quite cold. Our guide told us that a week or two back this bay had frozen over. Even still, they had to row through it as they had a tour going through that day. Though it wasn’t frozen over today, there were still several icebergs floating in the bay. Absolutely beautiful scenery.
Thank to the waiver we had to sign and the amount of times that we were told we would be getting wet, I went ahead and left my camera in the supply van that they drive down to the finishing point. I am incredibly bummed that I did. On our 6 mile, 2.5 hour trip, there is roughly 100 yards worth of “rapids”. The water is the tiniest bit turbulent, but no more than a cup full of water actually entered the boat. It would have been totally fine and I would have had some amazing photos to share. Bah!
Even though I wasn’t able to take shots while on the this excursion, it was by far my favorite of the 3 we took on this trip. Not only was the scenery amazing, but we also passed by Chuck Norris’ summer home. Apparently our guide has seen him out and about a couple times heading down river. How can you compare to that?
Our ship is only stopped in Juneau for a short time. This left very little time for shopping in town. But, we agreed that we are all pretty well pooped and nobody was really upset about the brevity. We headed back to the ship, grabbed a little snack and Chris went to the room while I found a deck chair in the solarium to lounge in while we left Juneau behind.
After a nice nap in the Solarium it was time to get dressed for the second formal dinner. Tonight was steak and lobster night. I’m not a huge fan of lobster, but given that it was all paid for, you bet your ass I was having some. I started off with a bowl of onion soup then moved on to the lobster and shrimp plate, then the steak and potatoes. A fantastic meal.
After dinner Chris and I hit up the Schooner Bar for some trivia and a drink. Then we did a little gambling in the casino. We then headed back to the room to put on our swimming suites and hit the jacuzzi around 11. Amazingly enough, we were the only ones in there. It was fantastic. We sat in there until we were both pretty well cooked and then headed back to the room. We changed in to some dry clothes and then I drug Chris along with me as I walked around the ship taking some photos. It was a great time since there was virtually nobody up and around so I was able to set up shots without bothering anybody.
By the time that was done, we were both pretty tired so it was back to the room to crash. And, for the first time we slept in all the way to 9 am. Woo Hoo!
Cruise: Day 5
We woke up early this morning to head out on our excursion in Skagway, AK. As we pulled in to port, it was amazing to see 3 other huge cruise ships already docked. Considering the size of Skagway, these ships will likely quadruple the city’s population. We ate breakfast via room service and headed out. Our excursion tickets said to meet at 7:15, so we arrived around 7:10. We were then told that we were 30-40 minutes early. That’s what we get for following directions, I guess. Our prize for being early was to get to stand in the cold and wind.
We finally loaded up in the van and headed off for the 9 mile trek to the musher’s camp. On the way the tour guide gave us a great narrative of the area, it’s history and such. He said there are about 800 year-round residents and another 1500 or so that live here during the summer months to handle the tourist trade.
Once we arrived at the musher’s camp, we were loaded up in to custom made wheeled carts that get hooked up to a string of dogs. As we exited the vans and were getting loaded on the cart, the dogs are all going nuts and barking up a storm. It’s quite loud and difficult to talk. As soon as we were loaded in and the musher gave the word to go, the dogs immediately stopped barking and took off running. These dogs are born to run. You could see them all pulling at the chain waiting to run. One other interesting fact. Even though the movies all show a string of blue-eyed Siberian Huskies with beautiful coats of fur pulling their sled through the snow, this just isn’t the case. The dogs that really do the work are a bunch of mutts bred with specific dogs for their talents. These are finely tuned pulling machines.
After our ride we were treated to a 15 minute talk with a musher. This guy raced in the 2007 Iditarod. He started with 16 dogs pulling his sled, but crossed the finish line 1100 miles later with only 8. No, none of the dogs died. Some had injuries, some got sick and some got too tired to continue. All the dogs get flown back to the starting location where the mushers return after the race to collect their dogs and head home.
After our excursion we had the tour guide drop us off in downtown Skagway. We did what everybody does in Skagway; shop. After walking the entire length of the town (about 8 blocks), we walked back to the ship, had a snack and then took a nap.
After our nap we got ready for dinner. Tonight I kept it to only 2 appetizers, 1 entree and 1 dessert. The halibut chowder was great, but I didn’t care much for the salmon. They bake it on a cedar plank. A little too much plank flavor took over the salmon.
We polished off the night by playing a bit in the casino and checking out the onboard shopping. After that it was time for bed as we have another early morning excursion tomorrow. It’s going to be a cold one. We are going on a float trip in Juneau on the Mendenhall river. Sure hope we stay dry!
Cruise: Day 4
Today we got up early and headed down to the main dining hall for breakfast. The food was way better than in the buffet. I had a fantastic Western Omelet. We ended up being seated with 3 other couples, it was nice to sit and chat with some new people. Until now all our meals have been just the four of us.
By the time we finished our breakfast, we had nearly reached Hubbard Glacier Bay. We started seeing a fair amount of ice in the water and some small icebergs. It was really quite thrilling. We ran up to the room to grab some warmer gear and headed on out to deck 5. This would get us as close as we could get to the glacier itself. When the ship had pulled as close to the glacier as possible, we were less than half a mile away. The ship then rotated slowly in place for the next hour or so. This gave everybody a chance to get a spectacular view of the glacier.
We moved up to deck 12 and found a great spot along an empty railing. Within 10 minutes or so we had front row seats for viewing the glacier. The weather outside was fantastic. For a while I was wearing only a t-shirt and undershirt with my sweatshirt wrapped around my waist. While we were watching the glacier, we were treated to an amazing display as we got to see TONS of ice go crashing in to the bay as huge chunks dislodged from the glacier itself. This is called carving. I’ve seen it on TV, but seeing it in person was absolutely awe inspiring.
Once we set out to open sea again, Chris and I entered the slot tournament in the casino. I took first place in my round which put me in the finals. In the final round, my machine didn’t hit like before and I ended up in 3rd or 4th place.
In the afternoon we finally tested out the solarium. This is an indoor pool that is for adults only. But, from noon until 4pm kids are allowed to swim, too. Our daughter is 1 year too young to swim in there full time, so we wanted to take advantage of the available time. The water in the pool is quite salty. We hung out in the jacuzzi and chatted with some fellow passengers. Then we all headed back to the room and took showers and got ready for dinner.
I would say that I have definitely figured out how to order on the cruise ship. I ordered 2 appetizers and two entrees. After I was finished with the second appetizer, the waiter offered me a third appetizer that he already had on his cart. Of course I took it. Then came round one of dinner; Lamb shank. It was fall-off-the-bone tender. I followed that up with an order of jumbo shrimp. And then, for dessert warm chocolate cake with ice cream on the side. It’s amazing I didn’t burst.
After dinner we waddled back to our room. We have an early excursion tomorrow, so we hit the sack. We are set to dock in Skagway at 7:00am. We meet for our excursion at 7:15. Big day on land tomorrow. We don’t need to be back on the ship until 8:00 pm.
Cruise: Day 3
This morning we stopped at Icy Strait Point. They don’t have a dock big enough for the ship so we anchor off shore and use the tenders to ferry back and forth to land. We had booked an excursion for the early afternoon, so we got up, had breakfast and took our time getting in line for the tenders, letting everybody who had earlier excursions get off first.
It was wicked cold and rainy so Chris and I ended up buying waterproof jackets before we went on our tram tour. Somehow we didn’t pack enough warm clothes. Everything we read before our trip indicated it would be warmer than it is. Add to that the fact that I’m a wimp…
Our tram tour was pretty cool. Unfortunately the only wildlife we saw was a single bald eagle in it’s nest. Our tour guide had a high-powered binocular that she set up and let us all look through. It was pretty amazing. As it turns out, this area of Alaska houses more than half the bald eagles in North America.
By the time our tour was over, we were all quite cold and ready to head back to the ship. We came back and took some warm showers, rested up and then headed on down to dinner. I believe I’m getting the hang of ordering dinner on the cruise. It sounds something like, “I’ll have the beef and veal tortelinni, then I’ll have the salmon and then I’ll have the steak. And for dessert, I’ll have the pineapple coconut cake.”
After dinner we toured the ship a bit more, hung out on our balcony and by 10:30 the sun had still not set. We closed the drapes and called it a night. Vacationing is tiring work…
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