Cruise Day 9 - Juneau

After getting up early for our 8:15 excursion, we boarded busses and headed for the whale watching boat.  The sun came out and the weather was beautiful, if a bit chilly. Lots of great mountain views as you can see in the left photo. After a chilly ride, we spotted out first whale blow.  It was hard to get good pictures of the first few whales. 

Later on we had a whale come up very near the boat and I got these pictures of the humpback arching its back for a deep dive and a picture of its fluke (tail).  After that I stopped taking pictures and just enjoyed seeing the whales. 

Later on a large group of humpbacks were spotted blowing and then diving.  They were too far away to get a good picture.  I counted at least 8 tails!   As we headed for the dock, the guide said we saw over 20 whales today as well as some steller sea lions and a few sea otters.  But, again, nothing we could get a picture of. 

Overall this was a very good excursion and we are so glad we scheduled it. Our guide said that yesterday they had a driving rain and only saw a few whales.  Good weather seems to be following us!

After getting back to the ship for lunch, we headed out to do some shopping.  There were four cruise ships in port so the town was a bit crowded.  I enjoyed a hot tub for a while before sail away and dinner.  Nothing else going on this evening, so we are relaxing and enjoying the scenery as the ship quietly slips though the inside passage on our way to Ketchikan. 

Cruise Day 8 - Hubbard Glacier

When we got up it was foggy and rainy.  We were hoping the weather would clear so we could see Hubbard Glacier , as opposed to our experience in Tracy Arm Fjord a few years ago when fog kept us from seeing the glacier there.   But, alas, at 7:45 am the captain came on the speakers and stated that it was too dangerous to proceed due to ice and weather.  So we got an unscheduled sea day.  On a positive note, HAL offers a Glacier Guarantee so we should be eligible for a future cruise credit.

We sailed past Mount Logan, an 18,000 foot mountain that is the second tallest in North America, not that we could see the whole mountain.  It's hard to believe that a mountain right at sea level is taller than the 14'ers in Colorado, but that's the case. 

After lunch we attended a port talk on Ketchikan and Prince Rupert, BC.  We found about some things to see when we walk around Prince Rupert.

We had a very nice dinner, featuring Linguini Alfredo Chicken, with Dark Silk Torte for dessert.  No special evening activities beside listening to the Violin-Piano duet after dinner.

On to Juneau tomorrow!

Cruise Day 7 - Sea Day

Another quiet day, blessed with very smooth waters. When we woke this morning, the ship was going a mere 8 mph! Apparently the Captain has lots of time to get to Hubbard Glacier tomorrow so there is no need to rush.  In the afternoon we did speed up to 11 mph to help the stabilizers be more effective.  But after running at top speed for 3 of the first 4 days, this was quite the contrast.   

I played bridge again this morning and had a good time.  In the afternoon was passengers vs crew at Corn Hole.  After everyone had tossed once, the score was tied so we had a sudden death playoff.  I had a chance to win it, but missed so the crew won.  

Tonight was a "dressy" night, HAL's term for what used to be called formal night.  Mary and I both enjoyed a filet mignon as the main course and flowerless chocolate cake for dessert.   You can typically count on having a great choice of entrees on a dressy night.

After dinner was a third Production show called "Timeless". The promotion was that it was songs that have endured though time, from classical to rock. 

That was a great idea and the singers and dancers did a great job, but we only recognized a couple of the songs, and many were in Italian.   Oh well.  

Hubbard Glacier tomorrow!

Cruise Day 6 - Valdez

Check out this view from our balcony when we returned from our excursion. 

After breakfast we headed to our excursion which required a tender ride into Valdez.  Unfortunately, a fog bank rolled in as we boarded the tender which stopped us from departing, so we sat there for about 30 minutes before the fog lifted and we got clearance to proceed to town. Once there we got on our bus (which had a super good bus driver!) and headed out. He took us to the former location of the town and explained how it was wiped out in the 1964 earthquake and was rebuilt in its current location.

Here are two pictures showing the scenery in the Valdez area.

Please remember that you can click on any picture to see a larger version.

We then headed to a salmon hatchery where they remove the eggs from salmon, then raise the salmon fry in pens before releasing them.   
The scenery from there was beautiful as you can see in these pictures.   I love seeing our ship across the bay in front of those mountains!

Our next stop was Worthington Glacier where our driver positioned us to get this great photo before taking us to the recreation site to get a closer look at it.   It is very impressive to see, especially when you compare it to the photo on the right which was taken  from the recreation site. 

We took many, many more pictures like these two, of waterfall, mountains, and glaciers, but I guess enough is enough!

We have a sea day tomorrow as we head to Hubbard Glacier on Monday, having reached the midpoint of our cruise.   Seattle seems to be so very long ago!

Cruise Day 5 - At Sea

Today turned out to be rather relaxing day.  Last night the captain said how we would be having very strong winds once we exited the Cook Inlet and we could expect some rough seas and listing (tilting) of the ship.  So Mary and I put on our wrist bands and went to sleep. We even got up early so we could shower and be ready before encountering any rough seas. But as of this morning, we only had a few moments of rough seas and by early afternoon things were much smoother. 

This morning we went to "Ask the Captain" which was quite interesting.  He did a very good job of giving his background and then answering questions from the audience.

After that event we attended a port talk on Valdez and Juneau.  Since we have excursions at both ports, I only took a few notes about gift shops. 

With the Alaska cruise season winding down, the ship had a 50% off sale on apparel. I got a great deal on this very warm pull over. 

There was a golf putting competition in the afternoon. I won the first 2 matches, but then lost to the eventual winner.

Later we watched the Detroit Tigers game featuring pitcher Tarik Skubal's return to Comerica Park since being traded to the Dodgers. It was a close game, but another loss. 

After dinner we again listened to the violin-piano duet play some modern pop songs.  That's 3 nights in a row for hearing their performance. 

Tonight's 45 minute production show was a 60's revival.  Nonstop music that brought back fond memories.  We both recognized all the tunes, everything from Twist and Shout to  Bridge Over Troubled Waters and so many more. 

It was a refreshing and wonderful show. 

On to Valdez tomorrow and into the mountains!

Cruise Day 4 - Anchorage

 

Today proved to have a bit more excitement than was planned. But it started with beautiful sunrise.

We enjoyed sailing up the Cook Inlet with very smooth waters. We passed the downtown while the sun was still low so the lighting was not great.  But this enabled me to get a rare picture of Anchorage from the water!  Only HAL visits this port, about once a month. Due to the high tides in the Cook Inlet, the ships have to carefully time their passage.

Mary and I took an early shuttle into town and enjoyed walking around and shopping.  Due to the low tide, we had to be back on board by 1:00 pm or would not be able to  return until after 3:00 pm.  So we planned our visit carefully.  I enjoyed a reindeer sausage for lunch, and then we took a shuttle back to the ship and arrived by 12:30.  

Speaking of the tides, the captain reported that we experienced a massive 31' tide today! When we left in the morning from Deck 3, we walked down a ramp to a platform 6' off the ground, then another ramp to the ground as shown on the left picture. 

At the lowest point, the gangway had to be pulled back from the ship for nearly 2 hours, and the gangway ended up being even with the deck 4 lifeboats as you can see in the right hand picture. 

After they opened the gangway at 3:20,  the gangway was laying flat into deck 2.  As you can tell, I loved watching all this take place.  They had to close and move the gangway several times as the ship moved up and down relative to the fixed dock.

We ate in the buffet once again tonight, then enjoyed the violin and piano duet, playing songs from a modern Norwegian composer. 

So that's our rather exciting day in Anchorage.  We have a sea day tomorrow as we head to Valdez.

Cruise Day 4 - Kodiak

 We had a peaceful morning as we were not scheduled to arrive in Kodiak until 11:00 am.  After breakfast I checked out the party bridge game and found a threesome waiting on a fourth.  We played until 11:30 then broke for lunch and other activities. Mary and I had burgers on the Lido deck, which always brings up pleasant memories of her father.

Next up was tendering.  We fully expected most people to be off the ship after 2-3 hours so we planned to get our tender tickets at 1pm.  This was based on our experience with tendering on Princess where by that time they typically announce there is no need for tender tickets, just go to the gangway.  Well, when we got  to the place to pickup our tender tickets, we were very surprised to see the area filled with people waiting to tender!  It took another 45 minutes for our group to be called.  We finally got to Kodiak after 2pm, only to have to wait to get off the tender while returning passengers went down the gangway.  Maybe HAL needed more tenders or something since it took 4 1/2 hours to tender 1900 people to the city.  That's a rate of only 3 tenders per hour. 

We also tender at Valdez where we have a morning excursion so our group will get priority. Good thing!  

There was not a lot to see in Kodiak.  We walking around and found the Kodiak Marketplace, a small  indoor shopping center with many stores where Mary enjoyed some shopping time and seeing all the different merchandise.  On our walk, we also saw this pretty Russian Orthodox church that was juts begging to have it's picture taken. 

The one thing that Kodiak has is boats! On the left is the small boat marina while the larger fishing boats have their own marina on the appropriately named Near Island.  

Tendering back to the ship went OK.  I was able to get some pictures of the Noordam from the tender, but the lighting was not good, with the sun behind the ship.  

After dinner in the buffet, we went to hear a violinist play some classical music by Vivaldi and Bach.  She had a nice, humorous style of interacting with the guests that made the concert quite interesting.  HAL does a great job of having music like this on their ships. 

On to Anchorage tomorrow!