We arrived to our first port of this voyage, Juneau, at about 12:45pm. The skies were heavily overcast on the way, and it was raining lightly most of the day. And it was cool, in the 40's. Good thing we packed the heavy waterproof arctic coats. With hoods, we should not need umbrealls.
Our day began with a nice breakfast in the dining with Gan, our waiter from the world cruise for a couple of years now. He is very popular here, having enough customers that we call his section "Ganville", thanks to Linda and Dave. Anyway, our food was perfect, and served in a timely manner, as always. Now, we each get a carafe of coffee, so it saves the waiter time filling the cups. Salt, pepper, sugar, and cream are on the table, but the rest of the condiments have to be ordered.
This morning we already received the notice about disembarkation. So soon? The good news is that we are eligible for Port Valet, a free service which includes our luggage to be transported from the ship to SF. The airline luggage fee will be put on our shipboard account. Easy peasy.
While we were on the veranda on whale-watch, a tray of a half dozen chocolate-covered strawberries arrived from the Guest Relations Manager, Joanne and her team. Very sweet. By the way a total of 7 whales were spotted, but in the distance. There were more sea birds than anything else, and one bald eagle.
We docked right in town, and even though we had the offer to go off through a special door with Joanne, we opted to wait until the tour groups were off and the gangway was clear. A few of the tours here were whale watching for $170 for 4 hours, or an all- inclusive whale watch for $360 for 4 hours. Dog sledding was $160 for 2.25 hours, while biking and brew was $120 for 4 hours. Want to walk on a glacier? That was $450 via a helicopter ride for 3.25 hours.
About an hour after we docked, the Celebrity Millenium arrived, flipped around, and docked behind us. There were few passengers outside watching their docking, making us wonder how many folks were on that ship.
First and foremost, there was a stern message on the front page of our When & Where. Masks are required to be worn onshore, inside and outside if the streets are crowded. That warning extended to public transportation including buses, trains, vans, airports, aircraft, and day boats.
For lunch, we always head for the Twisted Fish, but it looked closed today. We went online to discover that they are closed for renovations and will not open until December of this year. It was recommended that we visit the Hangar at the Wharf, a sister restaurant. Sounded like a good idea to us, as we have dined there in the past.
In the meantime, we headed downtown to check out the shops as well as making a quick visit to the Red Dog Saloon. For the first time ever, we found the saloon not crowded. The Celebrity folks had not hit downtown yet. Walking the main streets, we noticed that half of the stores were no longer there, and some had already left for the season. The high end jewelry shops had people outside trying to lure folks inside.
Our destination was to find a pharmacy for a few items we forgot. There was a Ben Franklin nearby, and we found what we needed there. Across the street was the long blue building that housed the native souvenir shops and a few cafes. That was where the Hangar was located, so we went inside and had a marvelous lunch. Good thing we split their BBQ double burger on a ciabatta roll with fries. It was massive. The beer was good, as was the slice of mud pie, also huge. By the time we left, the place was full of customers.
Looking for some T-shirts brought us to the T-Shirt Store, of course. Since we are here at the end of the season, much of the merchandise was on sale. Found what we needed, then headed home.
Relaxing in our room, one of us worked on photos, and the other watched the football game. The rest of the afternoon passed all too quickly, and it was time for dinner in the Pinnacle Grill. We had invited Debra, our travel agent, and her lovely daughter, Brie, to join us. We all ordered about the same items, and chatted until 10:30pm. It had been a long day, and for us, so it was time to turn in. Tomorrow will be another port day, Skagway, so we need to get re-charged for that.
Until then, have a good evening.
Bill & Mary Ann
Wednesday, September 29, 2021
Report # 5 Juneau, Alaska September 27, 2021 Monday Rain & 48 degrees
