Two parts! Be sure to read in order....
Sunday, July 2nd., 2023…… We were up and out early! We had already loaded up the large bags in the truck the night before so it wasn’t too much to get the rest of the bags in so we could take off. We were on the road at 6:00am! The drive up to Seattle was a little over 5 hours but I was nervous because of the incredible slowdowns possible just before Portland. As I’ve said before, we’ve sat in that area for over 3 hours wading thru traffic! But, we were lucky (it was Sunday) and it was a holiday weekend, so we dodged any traffic. We stopped at Black Bear Diner. We got to the dock after the 6 hour drive and I dropped everyone off with the luggage. Bill and Treasa took off and Cathye waited for me to drive to the parking lot, drop the truck, and jump on the shuttle back to her. We continued on and made it through check in and headed up to the Lido deck and snacked at the buffet. Tons of choices! When I made the reservation, I picked the 8th floor – one lower than the Lido deck, so it was only going to be one flight up! Plus, our room was really close to those stairs! We are in room 8105, B&T are next door in 8107. We have doors between our verandas and we left them open so we have contact while out there. Nice. Princess is docked next to us, both going to Alaska, but we got out earlier than they did. It was right at our scheduled 3:00pm departure. around Our ship is smaller than most of the ones we saw, and I think somewhat older, but everything is in really great shape! I think they must have done a recent makeover; it was so nice!
We walked around and found out there is a 10th floor. That one is forward and we saw into one of the rooms and saw they were suites. Very nice! But we are happy with what we have. We got early dinner seating in the dining room way back when we booked. Plus, we are at a window! Our choice for dinner tonight – rockfish for Cat, salmon for me. Both were very good. Each day the menu changes.
We won’t be in here tomorrow. Treasa booked us
in the Pinnacle Room to have a nice table to celebrate Bill’s 80th
birthday. After dinner tonight, we headed over to the main stage and saw an Intro
to Alaska. Tomorrow is at sea. After the show, Bill and Treasa went back and we stayed and went to the casino. I lost interest (and a little money) and went back to our
room while Cat stayed and played a while. I did stop at the shops to see if
they had anything interesting. Nope. Headed to the room. She came in a little later and we relaxed and watched tv until we fell asleep. I think it was
maybe 9:30pm or so!
Monday, July 3rd., 2023…… HAPPY BIRTHDAY BILL !! We decided to sleep in to 7:00am. We got showered and dressed and then went to the gym. After that, we went to the breakfast buffet. I found the omelet station and they made one to my order. Outstanding! We had a few other items but we both managed to not over eat! B&T had breakfast in the dining room (that would be the trend for the week). We met up later in the main stage room to hear our cruise director, Kristin, again. This time she spoke about the local whales. She is an excellent speaker and you could tell she is good at her job. We went to the dining room for lunch then back to our room for a bit. Then back to hear Kristin again. This time she spoke about the Iditarod. After that, we met up with B&T again, this time at the Crow’s Nest. We sat in there and had a drink and a nice view before going back to the main stage to see a Disney movie about a mama grizzly and her first year with her two new cubs. It was a cute movie.
We had a little time to relax after that before dressing for Bill’s dinner. Since we were dressed up, we stopped for photos to be taken before we went in.
The meal was outstanding and we were enjoying the time in the quiet
room. The ship’s head chef came by to
say hi and check on us and while he was there, graciously had a photo op with
Cat and I!
We had several choices of appetizers. Treasa chose the special maple bacon!
But all of the fun came to a screeching halt a little later, when a party of ten (plus a baby) came in with authority! They had mouths open and running and dominated the room! It was not fun. But we were almost done and left shortly after. Phew! Besides, that short disruption, it was still an enjoyable dinner! After that, we walked toward the bow, where the main stage was, and caught the ‘Captain’s Toast’, complete with champagne! We stayed for the Step One Dance Company. There were six dancers and they were terrific, performing many numbers with different dance styles. We were pretty much done for the night. The captain told us earlier that we would be gaining an hour when we hit the Alaska time zone later that evening. But we crashed early anyway!
Tuesday, July 4th., 2023…… HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!! The ship today cruised this morning through Stephens Passage. Our room stewards, Endro and Paul, took the time to memorize our names and said hi every time we saw them! They left this dinosaur (?) this morning...
This afternoon we hit our first port – Juneau. We will be doing a helicopter trip to Mendenhall Glacier. B&T are doing a bus trip there and then to a salmon bake. We got off the ship at 1:30pm and our tour was at 4:00pm so we walked around Juneau a bit. We found many shops and picked up several things. We also hit the Red Dog Saloon.
Famous up here! I got a t-shirt and we
each had a beer. We got back to the pickup point and boarded our bus. When we
got there, I counted everyone on our tour. There were 20 of us. Then we got a
safety video and glacier boots (that fit over our shoes). I was probably the
largest of those today, so when they distributed the weight between the four
helicopters, it went 4, 5, 5, & 6. We were in the 4! I got the front seat,
Cat right behind me. The flight took about 15 minutes and was incredible! All
four copters took off together and set down together. The tour guides met us
and directed us together and gave us a lot of fun facts about glaciers and the
history of this one. This was one of the breathtaking places I have ever been
to! Cat agrees! We were out on the ice for a good 30 minutes. We saw crevasses
and glacial melt and got to drink crystal clear glacial water! There is one pic below of the ice while looking down where you can see our boots. Awesome!
Once we were done, we waited for our pilots to bring in the next group and take us back. On the way back, our pilot pointed out the visitor center down below the lake - where B&T went on their tour. Once we landed and dropped off our gear, we boarded the bus for the ship. We got back on the ship and went up and ate lunch (taco bar) and then rested for a while out on our veranda, watching everyone else make their way back to our ship. We left a little after 9:00pm. It was still daylight, so we stayed out and watched the shoreline as we made our way out. There was only one family shooting off fireworks on the beach. We came in and laid down and almost fell asleep! We brushed and flossed then went back to bed and fell asleep immediately. What a fun day!
Wednesday, July 5th.,
2023…… A day at sea.
Today we cruise around the Hubbard Glacier. But first up was breakfast and a
few things on board. We looked at going to high tea @ 3:00pm, but first we
needed to go find any photos that we might want. If you’ve been on any cruise,
you know they take pics of you all the time. We were only interested in the
ones we were dressed up in. We found and bought a couple. I added most of the
others because they will just be throwing them away anyway! We went to the stage to hear wildlife expert Russ, talk about animal intelligence. He was dynamic and very knowledgeable and we thoroughly enjoyed him. We went back to our
veranda and watched from there. It took
several hours before we started to see ice floats. Not icebergs, but we were
getting there! We decided to pass on the
tea and stay and see the glacier from our room. It was a smart move. The
captain took us straight in so it was hard to see from our room but when he got
in, he turned the ship and we got a clear view of this awesome sight! The wall
of ice is over 300’ tall! Enormous and breathtaking! A very calming day.
We turned around and headed back south. Later, we dressed up in our orange wear which celebrates Norwegian heritage.
We headed to our table in the dining room. Here was our menu choices for tonight - I had crab cakes and Cat had coconut shrimp for appetizers. We both chose prime rib with mushrooms. Very good! Chocolate pastry puffs for dessert. After that, we went back to the main stage to see a music group called ‘Major Four’.
They were really good and very entertaining
and my favorite so far! Back to the room
after a nice relaxing day.
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