Jals

Woke up late this morning as this will be our last day at ship. We had not spent a lot of time looking at shops or other entertainment at the cruise ship. There were some planned activities also such as ‘Intro to Chefs and maitre d. Even though, the program was not a serious cooking show, it included a tour of the kitchen and other cooking facilities. SOme of the statistics for serving 2000 folks in the ship are staggering. For example, 800 pounds of coffee powder per day is used in the ship. It is a massive operation and so much preparation and work that goes on in the background before a smiling waiter serves you with the dessert when you are at your dining table. Crew typically stays for 9 months stretch (most of ... read more

Juneau is the capital of Alaska. It has about 46 miles of proper road. THere has been talk of connecting it to Ketchikan and Canada for a long time. But the plan has been put on hold as the cost does not justify the needs. Typically people move around using boats and sea plane. Our plan today is to start early (you know how Pranav feels about this :) ) . We had a very early breakfast as the shore excursion expected us to be in the pickup area by 7:45 am. Our plan today is to visit the Mendenhall glacier, a temperate rainforest garden and the state museum. It had rained the previous night and it was a chilly morning. We had our jackets on and still can feel the cold. As the tour bus ... read more

There was a lot of hype about spending most of the day in Glacier Bay national park right from yesterday onwards. They even had glacier themed desserts for lunch and dinner! At 10 am in the morning there was a program about Glacier bay area in the auditorium. It is really a national park like grand canyon. As such, you have rangers that work there. Ranger, a lady came on board this morning and she stayed with the ship till 4 pm this afternoon. It is very interesting the way ranger comes on board the ship. The ship does not stop anymore, it could be that it slows down. The ranger is in another boat parallel with ship at same predetermined speed. She gets on a ladder dropped in by the ship to come on board. ... read more

Woke up at leisure this time. All of us worked out that morning before breakfast. Good variety by Fairfield! Praveen and I ran around a park near by. It was extremely nice. We got an Uber to Egan convention center. Well organized. We dropped off the bags to be checked in. There were 2 big buses waiting g to ferry passengers to Whittier. Bus promptly left around noon. It is about 90 to 120 minutes depending on tunnel to Whittier. This tunnel is a one way one lane road allowing vehicles and train to share. Top of the hour, Whittier transports head to anchorage and at the bottom of the hour, it is the other way. Driver was very informative and funny. Buses get the preference when they start allowing traffic to flow into Whittier. As ... read more

We had ordered boxed lunch to be picked up at grande denali. They were a bit expensive but came with a cooler pack as a souvenir. Packed rain gear. It was drizzling as the day started. Shuttle took us to the Denali bus depot. We were there by 5:50 am. Tour started at 6:40 am. Allen was our driver. Lot of instructions about dos and don't initially. This is the tundra wilderness tour. It is an 8 hour tour with a return point near Eilsen visitor center. It is 62 mile one way. We got a snack box used that for breakfast. It is a converted school bus, not that comfortable to sit. Driver hired us to watch for animals while he would keep us safe driving. He was surely driving a bit fast for spotting ... read more