"Treasures of Cruising the World" with Bill & Mary Ann: Report # 3 Juneau, Alaska September 25, 2017 Monday Partly cloudy & 57 degrees Part #1 Of 2 63 Pictures

The Eurodam is due to arrive to the capital of Alaska, Juneau, at 1pm. On past cruises, we have begun the day here at 8am. Since this is our first port on the seven day cruise, it took us this long to get here. All aboard is 9:30pm, so we will have plenty of time to do both a tour and explore the town. Normally we would go to lunch in town, but since we are on a tour until 5:30pm, lunch is out.

After a very good night's sleep. We woke up to find we did indeed have a newspaper in our mail slot. That was easy. At least half a dozen flyers with advertisements have been appearing daily too. The usual things like art auctions, shop and spa specials. And if that is not enough, there is always shopping in ports, with the help of Brendan, the Port Shopping Ambassador onboard. He will guide anyone to the Diamonds International, Effy's, and Blue Diamonds for example in every stop in Alaska.

Breakfast was first on the activity list. We noticed that is much busier on this ship compared to the Amsterdam. And why not? The service is excellent as is the food. As we seldom, if ever, make it to the Lido for breakfast, we have no idea how crowded it is up there.

The weather was a mixed bag this morning. There was promise of seeing the sun, and no rain in sight. There was fog, however, thick enough for the foghorn to go off every few minutes. Since our newsletter stated partly cloudy, we hope it is correct. One good thing is that we have swung closer to land and the hundreds of little islands we remember from our previous adventures in this area. The seas calmed down, which is perfect.

Before we got to Juneau, we stopped by the Future Cruise Consultant's desk to put deposits down on a few cruises next fall. Joanne, the consultant, had the cruises located and was able to link them easily. The deposits are refundable, so it is a no-brainer.

Around noontime, the ship was entering into the sheltered bay where Juneau is located. As we mentioned, it is the capital of Alaska, moved here due to the fact that this city is accessible year round, even if only by air and sea. The winters are cold, but never so severe that it is cut off from communications with the rest of the state. Over 30,000 people live here.

Normally, we don't book tours anymore. But since we have credit to use or lose, we did want to take a whale watching excursion again. It was at least ten years ago we did one here, and it was memorable. And since the weather looked like it would cooperate, this could be our best bet.

So at 1:20pm, we were in place shore side to find our tour group. Two gangways had been set up….one in the center, and one in the front. The secret was to find the one least busy, which was in the front. The ship docked in the same place we did in July, with the Nieuw Amsterdam behind us, and the Ruby Princess behind them. That would put whole lot of people in town today. We are among the last of the ships to visit here, so it was no surprise to find some stores had already closed for the season.

Two buses were loaded to go to the whale watching and wildlife quest. We chose the 4 hour version without the salmon meal or Mendenhall Glacier stop. Been there, done that. It took about ½ hour to reach Auke Bay, where the water jet-propelled vessels took on 100 passengers each. We did get a glimpse of the glacier and the ice field on the way.

The boat had two decks with seating inside, and outside decks in the back. When the driver spotted any wildlife, he had the crew open up a viewing deck on deck three, and also the bow, with limited space. We went straight to the back of deck two, and stayed there the entire time. Our first sighting was a surprise to us, as we did not expect to see orcas. But here they were, three of them, doing shallow dives in the bay about 20 minutes from the pier. We were not alone for the viewing, however, as eventually there were eight vessels of various size gathered near the killer whales. Actually they are in the dolphin family, and are the most aggressive hunters. By the way the boats sped towards the group, we felt like this was not whale watching, but whale harassing. The boats seemed to trap them, perhaps making them feel threatened. When they had enough, the largest one lunged and made a run for it. Don't know what the rules are here, but it sure reminded us of safaris in India, where the drivers race to see the tigers. Few regulations there. When our guide was sure everyone got to see these killer whales blowing, diving, and feeding, we left the scene. There was constant narration by one of the naturalists, but the speakers outside were fairly distorted.

Besides the whales, we did see a few bald eagles, sea birds, sea lions, porpoise, and eventually the humpback whales. In fact, we were guaranteed to see at least one whale, or we would receive a cash refund of $100 per person if we did not see any. And we did see at least four of them not far from the orcas. At one point, we were surrounded by them as they gently glided over the surface before diving deep, revealing their massive tails. It was so impressive, that everyone on the boat went silent. Pretty cool.

During the 3 hour ride, complimentary coffee and hot chocolate was served on the lowest deck. Along with that, donut hole rolled in chocolate were offered. Later on, crackers with a tad of smoked salmon were sparingly passed around to the folks that were sitting inside. Naturally, the pricey salmon was being sold by the pound at the snack counter, as well as some wildlife souvenirs.

Back to the pier in Auke Bay, we loaded up on buses once again and took a road back that was under construction. We did spot some eagles on the light posts as we neared the town's center. It was already beginning to get dark by the time we got back to the ship around 6pm. The operators of the tour seemed to be quite happy when they informed us that this was the very last run of the season.

All aboard time was 9:30pm, so we decided to check out the shops in town before going back. A couple of the larger souvenir stores were offering some deep discounts, like nice t-shirts for $5.00. If you could find the correct size, you were lucky. Obviously many people took advantage of these sales, because they were coming out with the huge red bags stuffed with treasures. Bet they don't charge you for the bags like we get nicked at home.

What surprised us was finding that the Twisted Fish Restaurant had already closed for the season. Had we not done a tour, that would have been our destination for lunch today, although we are not certain exactly when it closed. In fact, we never ate lunch, mainly because we had reservations in the Tamarind Restaurant at 8pm tonight, and preferred to be hungry for a special meal. So not wanting to go back empty-handed, we purchased two bags of flavored popcorn at a kiosk in town. Never know when we might need some munchies in our room. The last sale of the day, the vendor was happy to make a deal, even though we did not ask for it. He will probably be shutting up shop, and going south for the rest of the year as well.

We had just enough time to change and find this restaurant. Located up on deck 11 midship, this newer venue was a delightful discovery for us. Perhaps it was because there were fewer diners on a late night port stop or not, we were treated like royalty. Informing our waitress that this was our very first visit to the Tamarind, she was quite happy to explain the menu in detail. And also being aware that one of us has a shellfish allergy, she recommended the safer items to order. Thanks to her advice, I did learn that one of the dips had oyster sauce in it, which I did not know. Since it does not take much to activate the side effects of my allergy, now I know why I felt ill after dipping spring rolls in the sauce in the past.

At each place setting, there was a set of chopsticks (yes, regular cutlery was offered), a single orchid, and a tiny dish with what appeared to be a round mint or something that looked odd. What do we do with that? Must be the first thing people ask on their first visit, because our waitress advised us not to eat it. The little disk was really a compressed napkin, which expanded with hot water. It was a hand washcloth.

Following some suggestions from the manager as well, we both ordered a few items that we had tasted while on the world cruise this year. The Thai chicken soup was delicious, not too spicy, while the tempura shrimp was very tasty. Bill found out he liked the pickled papaya, and after complimenting the chef, he was brought another generous serving. For our main course, we both had the wasabi crusted tenderloin, one of the best we have ever tasted anywhere. Had to be prime cut, and definitely not grass fed. A stack of tempura onion rings were on the side. We had added a bowl of brown rice and wok-cooked spring veggies. What a wonderful change of pace. Now what gives this venue a thumbs up, had to be the desserts. One of us had Thai mini donuts with three sweet sauces, and the other ordered the fortune cookie. What a surprise it was when this "little" fortune cookie showed up as large as a salad plate. Extremely thin and coated with slivered almonds, it was dipped in a thick chocolate fudge and served with a tiny scoop of vanilla ice cream. A winner, I will order that again the next time we go there. A cup of green tea was served throughout dinner also. What was even nicer about this visit, was that it was complimentary for our Mariner status.

There was a comedian by the name of Keith McGill on the Mainstage at 9:30pm. We had missed half of it, so we went back to our room to watch the sail out of the bay from our veranda. The downtown area was just about vacant, except for a few vagrants. Yes, they do have some colorful characters that live in this area, like any other capital city in the USA. The Eurodam was the last to leave the port, after the Nieuw Amsterdam and the Ruby Princess pulled out. Sure was good to get back inside the room, because the temperature plummeted from earlier. Fall was in the air.

Bill & Mary Ann

The day begins…….