Alaskan Adventure!

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Saturday 14^thSeptember 2013

Partly cloudy, 27c

Cruise Embarkation Day!

Today we started on our 7 night cruise from Seattle to Vancouver. We had a sleep in, went for our daily walk to get a yummy juice and some supplies. We finished packing – oh so much stuff, checked out at midday and took a taxi down to Pier 66 where we joined the line to embark the lovely Norwegian Jewel. It was a reasonably fast embarkation and rooms ready shortly after - at about 1pm. Sail away was at 4pm. We sat up on the deck above the pool and enjoyed the festive atmosphere. Not being allowed irons in the cabin we had to collect our bag from the confiscation room where they will hold our iron until the end of the cruise. We had dinner in the very ornate dining room Tsar’s located at the back of the ship. Naturally after that we had to explore the ship and boogie on down in the Spinnaker Lounge nightclub. A good fun start what is going to be a great week!

Sunday 15^th September

Partly cloudy 17c

Sea day

We started our day well with a session at the gym followed by a salad brunch. We checked out the art auction and attended the passenger game show “55 to Stay Alive”. We were both entered into the competition by our friends and had to do some silly things that earned us a couple of activities credits to be redeemed at the end of the cruise (not that we will). We started our formal dress night with a martini tasting in the Magnum’s champagne bar. A great deal – just $15 to learn about and sample 4 different martinis. The guys all looked dashing dressed up in their suits and bow ties and the ladies very elegant in their gowns and bling. We ate in Chin Chin the Asian Fusion restaurant and thoroughly enjoyed the cuisine. We had many formal photos taken at the variety of back drops set up around the Crystal Atrium. The show in the Stardust Theatre was a show by the Norwegian Production Cast and Show Orchestra commemorating music of the 70s and was titled Band on the Run. We sat right up front and made plenty of noise showing our appreciation for the fantastic performance. Again, to finish off the night we spent some time at the Spinnaker nightclub, partaking in some of the group line dancing that cruise ships are renowned for - very entertaining and challenging.

Monday 16th September

Sunny with passing clouds and showers 15c

Ketchikan

Today was an early start - woke to a 5.30am alarm as we had a private salmon fishing charter booked for 7am - at the time the ship docked into Ketchikan. We boarded a boat by Salty Sea Charters, captained by Josh. What a great morning, the 4 of us caught 10 silver salmon. The girls were happy with two each and the guys caught three each. We were unable to take any with us so Josh and his family will eat well for a while! We were dropped back into town by 10.30am, so were able to explore the township. Observing the smelly dead salmon lining the banks of the Ketchikan Creek was a reminder that the spawning was drawing to a close for winter. While out on our walk we grabbed a delicious coffee and found some free wi-fi to catch up on some emails. 3pm we were all back on board for sail away. We attended an interesting glacier movie in the theatre and spent some time catching up on our diary. The hilarious Teppanyaki restaurant was our choice for dinner tonight. The chef was extremely talented and had us all laughing for much of the meal. After dinner we attended the mesmerising Brenda Kaye – a hypnotist who had a number of passengers transformed into instant celebrities. We gave the country hoe down in the nightclub a miss tonight as we were all a little jaded after such an early start and busy day!

Tuesday September 17th

Raining and cool – 12c

Juneau

After a wonderful morning sailing the very narrow Tracy Arm and viewing the Sawyer Glacier, we berthed in Juneau at 2pm. We wandered around town and decided to take a city tour and visit to the Mendenhall Glacier with Juneau Whale Watch. It cost $20 each and we purchased it off a street stall vendor. The glacier appeared a lot larger that the Sawyer Glacier and we found the movie shown in the visitor centre excellent.

We sailed late at 9.30pm which was about the time we all met for a late dinner in the Azura restaurant. The hypnotist did another “late night” show with a couple of the guys in our group being star performers!

Wednesday 18th September

Rain 11c

Sea day

We arrived early into Skagway but didn’t have any firm plans so had a relaxing start to the day with gym and brunch on board before disembarking for a look around the town. We watched a movie in the visitor centre about how to stay safe in bear country and thought this may prove useful for our time in the Rockies next week!

We also looked at all the tacky souvenir shops and had an afternoon snack at the Red Onion Saloon. Apparently a visit to Skagway would not be complete without a stop at the Historic Red Onion Saloon. Now a National Historic Building, it was Skagway’s most exclusive bordello. Built in 1897 with planks cut by Captain William Moore, the founder of Skagway, the Red Onion Saloon opened for business in 1898. The saloon served alcohol on the first floor while the upper floor satisfied more than the prospectors thirst! The waitresses today still dress in period costumes much to the delight of the men. The food was actually quite good and the extensive drinks list was good as well. The atmosphere was buzzy with three ships in town and so the place was packed with hundreds of passengers.

Sail away was at 5pm and after dinner we were able to enjoy the wonderful show Le Cirque Bijou. As the name suggests it was a show incorporating some spectacular acrobatics and overhead entertainment.

Tonight was the night of the Chocoholic Buffet. We wandered through the visual feast of chocolate carvings, cakes, small treats, chocolate fountains and much more. Being very restrained we tried a couple of things and quickly discarded them as they didn’t taste as good as they looked!

Thursday 19th September

Stormy, 17c

At sea

Today we awoke to an announcement by the Captain. We were facing some stormy weather and would need to take an alternative route to Vancouver – meaning missing our stop in Victoria tomorrow altogether. Naturally everyone was disappointed, but as the Captain explained – we would be delayed by the weather making the stop pointless, and would also have to endure very rough seas of up to 10 metre waves if we stuck to the original route. This would not be safe or desirable. Even with the revised route through the Inside Passage, he said we should still expect between 3-4m swells for the next 24 hours – fun, fun!

So we spent the day rocking and rolling around the ship – too rough for the gym sadly. We spent a short time in the shops at the stern where a few things came crashing down and it was difficult to stand and walk about easily. The mid ship bars were much calmer!

At about 3.30pm we took on some Canadian pilots to assist in navigating the narrow channel.

We observed all of this from behind the viewing window on the bridge and it added some interest to the day.

For dinner we decided to try something a little different – a progressive dinner. We started off in the Moderno Margarita Bar with margaritas and appetisers, moved on to the Azura for starters and then on to Tsar’s for main course.

We caught the end of a comedian, David Naster in the Stardust Theatre which was so-so. A woman in front of us laughed like he was the funniest person on the planet - that was amusing as well! We stopped off in the Spinnaker nightclub before bed to briefly check out the Hot White Party.

Friday 20th September

Stormy, 16c

At Sea (missed Victoria)

A relaxing last day on board today – gym, packing, selecting photos, wildlife and scenery watching, listening to Ben Trout (singer) doing a Neil Diamond tribute, catching up on diary etc. We all had a lovely dinner in the Bistro and attended the end of the Farewell Variety Showtime. We ended the night by hiring one of the private karaoke booths next to the Fyzz Bar and had an hour of fun making the most of the extensive song list and making plenty of noise. It was a late night and we all managed to get our bags outside our doors for collection right on time at 2am!

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Comments

[Di]

Alaska
Looks and sounds awesome, you are whetting my appetite for December! :-)

[Annmaree]

Such a diverse gorgeous couple, from formal black tie to fishing gear in a heartbeat xx