Blogs from Juneau, Alaska, United States, North America

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North America » United States » Alaska » Juneau » Tracy Arm August 17th 2023

Carnival Pride sailed up Stephens Passage and reached Holkham Bay, the entrance to Tracy Arm, fjord at noon. The ship continued up the fjord until Sawyer Island, where the fjord divides into North and South fjords. Susan and I had booked a small boat tour that took us up Tracy Arm, providing us with an up-close view of the fjord and its natural features. Then, it continued right up to the face of Sawyer Glacier, where the ship could not navigate. On board, naturalist Mariann described the geology and natural features of the fjord and Sawyer Glacier as we made our way along the waterway. Tracy Arm Fjord is similar to the fjords of Norway or Iceland, except for the complete absence of pine forests in Iceland. During the tour, we saw numerous waterfalls, some small ... read more

North America » United States » Alaska » Juneau July 17th 2023

For the last few month I have been working on a cruise ship up in Alaska. While we do have a busy schedule, once in a while we have to opportunity to join one of the ships excursions. Alaska is all about nature and wildlife, so when docked in Alaskas capital of Juneau I decided to join a whale watching trip. Also you never know what you will encounter on these trips, we were in for a big suprise. While walking down to the boat we asked the group who just got back from their trip if they have seen any whales this morning, but all they said was that they were told not to say anything. Which was odd, but this also indicated that there was something special out there. First we thought they have ... read more
Humpbacks bubble feeding

North America » United States » Alaska » Juneau July 16th 2021

This was our last day and I spent a restless night, as we had been without cell or wifi for an entire week. That meant, I had no word as to my Irish visa status and if it had been processed. Cell service didn’t arrive until 5a as we were pulling into Juneau and I was dismayed to find that the visa had not in fact been delivered, which put all of our plans back up in the air. A bit despondent, we headed into breakfast and to say goodbye to our shipmates that we have come to know and enjoy. Everyone was quite subdued as no one was ready to join the real world after such an amazing trip. Ken and I joked, that heck, we can just do another week due to the visa! ... read more

North America » United States » Alaska » Juneau » Tracy Arm July 15th 2021

Today is all about glaciers and icebergs and the entire ship is looking forward to more turquoise blue water, floating ice and hopefully some calving glaciers. The morning was spent at the In Williams Cove, at the beginning of Tracy Arm which has two very long and deep fjords with multiple glaciers. We woke to bright blue skies and surrounded by alien looking icebergs and of course Ken was all excited to “lick the iceberg”. Visions of the little kid in The Christmas Story were floating though my head, and I could just imagine getting the ever-present skiff to get him unstuck. Luckily, we had a safety briefing before getting in our kayak and the key instructions was to stay 2 kayak lengths away from the icebergs. They are known to tip over and if that ... read more
Jenine and Ken bonding with an iceberg
Spectacular Paddling
Our Ship and an Iceberg

North America » United States » Alaska » Juneau July 9th 2021

Today ends an era, and begins a new one. Scary, exciting, energizing and one I am looking forward doing as a next chapter in my professional life. Effective today, I have retired from the Deloitte US Firm and on July 21, will be joining the Deloitte Ireland Firm. Building new teams, engaging new and old clients is one of my favorite things, and I will get to do that and more in my new role. However, in the interim, I am waiting on my Irish work visa and until I receive it, I can’t be in Ireland or my status will be affected. And due to the unusual times, the processing has been extremely slow so we are in the hurry up and wait mode, which has been going on for about 6 weeks. And, due ... read more
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North America » United States » Alaska » Juneau May 17th 2019

Day 12 17/05/2019 Juneau – Alaska Dog Sled Discovery & Musher’s Camp The sun woke us up early so we headed upstairs to the Lido Market to have a buffet breakfast. Breakfast consisted of bacon, scrambled eggs, a bagel, Danish pastries and coffee. If I continue to eat like this I will have to pay excess luggage going home! The food is so good. We decided to do a walk on the Promenade deck as the weather was lovely although cool. The sky was clear with no chance of rain. The ship docked at Juneau just before 12.30 pm Juneau is the capital of Alaska and their main industry is government followed by tourism. It is an island so everything needs to be brought in by ferry or barge. Most of their goods come from Seattle. ... read more
Patting the dogs.
Enjoying the company
Cuddles with the puppies

North America » United States » Alaska » Juneau September 11th 2018

Today we arrived in Juneau. We actually didn't dock until around 1:00pm so there was quite a but of time on the boat today before we docked. We woke up and all got ready and met in the dining room for some breakfast and then headed up to the decks to look out at the scenery as we were very close to land. While I was out there I did see some dolphins swim by the ship as well as one whale. We all wound up back in the room and watched a movie and hung out until we started approaching Juneau. While everyone was rushing to get off the ship we had some lunch on the ship and by the time we got off the line was not that bad. We immediately hailed a cab ... read more
Almost to Juneau
Bear and two cubs
Bears were really close

North America » United States » Alaska » Juneau September 11th 2018

Did I tell you that Juneau is the state capital of Alaska? What is unique about this city is that it is completely cut off from the rest of Alaska. There are no roads in or out of Juneau. The city is completely surrounded by thousands of square miles of ice fields. Everything has to be either shipped in or flown in. There are highways that travel around the fjords but all the settlements are part of the Juneau environs. This is a city of about 32,000 inhabitants and has an area of 3,081 square miles so must be a contender for one of the most sparsely populated cities in the world. We docked in Juneau at 7:00am. We managed to sleep through to 8:00 so we guess the jet lag is starting to wear off ... read more
Roisin outside the whaling watching boat
Whale ahoy
A humpback disappearing in to the deep

North America » United States » Alaska » Juneau September 2nd 2018

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

North America » United States » Alaska » Juneau August 28th 2018

Everyone had a great sleep last night And the kids slept in till 9 o'clock. The time went back an hour as well today. Weather continues to be gray and wet on the outside, thank goodness for the indoor pool! We took advantage of room service again this morning and enjoyed a relaxing breakfast. About mid-morning we saw 2 rather large “tender boats” approaching the ship so Jack and I went on deck to watch as a couple of hundred folks abandoned ship to head off on a 6 hour tour of Tracy Arm Inlet. One Aussie couple were watching with us and commented how they were glad they cancelled their tour as it was so foggy, visibility would be very poor. They saved $540.00 US per person and all they would have gotten was cold ... read more
Bald eagle
shopping
dinner at home




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