Our port of call for today is Juneau, with a brief stop at Tracy Arm to let a tour off. About 100 guests took the boat ride up to see the Twin Sawyer Glaciers, then will re-join the ship in Juneau later in the afternoon. We watched the guests board the high speed boat bundled up in jackets and hats, and over-loaded backpacks. We wonder what they put in these bags for a six hour excursion? Once we had a tablemate who packed his bed pillow in his bag for a long ride on a tour bus in China. Clever.
The weather was rainy, windy, and darn cold. Fog hugged every mountainside in the passage, and got dense enough for the Captain to sound the foghorn every two minutes. We had gone to deck six forward to watch the tour boat load up and leave, then stayed until we sailed in the Gastineau Channel. We were rewarded for our efforts by spotting several whales as we got closer to Juneau. They were diving near the shoreline, and only surfaced a few times.
As we sailed into Juneau, we spotted the Disney Wonder docked in her spot, the furthest from downtown. The RCI Quantum of the Seas was in her normal spot, while the Carnival Miracle was docked near the Disney vessel. We squeezed in between Carnival and RCI. With this many ships in port, there will be thousands of folks out and about. And that includes a large number of crew as well. Arriving this late in the day at 1pm, we might have trouble finding room in any restaurant for lunch. Our only hope is that most passengers booked tours and would be out of town.
Before we left the ship, we had some mail. One was a new form with Haines tours for tomorrow. One of the excursions was a ferry ride from Haines to Skagway, our cancelled port. This tour would involve a train ride for $330 for an all day tour. Wonder if this will still happen after we had to skip this port? Then we got the second customs form for Canada that we will turn in at the front desk before this 7 day cruise is over. In transit again, we will follow the same procedure we did in Vancouver on Wednesday. Lastly, there is a scheduled maintenance for the air conditioning system on the Dolphin deck. Our air will be shut down from 1pm to 6 pm, which is when we planned to be off of the ship for the most part.
So we bundled up and went off the ship by 1:30pm. The downtown was crowded as we expected. And it was bone-chilling cold. The main streets were so full of shoppers, we stayed off of them, and walked the waterfront. We decided to go right to the Hangar on the Wharf to see if they had room for lunch. It was mostly filled with guests, but they did have a table for us without waiting. Larger groups came in after us, and were handed a buzzer to wait for a free table. We shared a burger with fries, Alaskan Amber beers, and also one order of the mud pie. Our waitress said that the computer showed they were sold out, but she would go in the back and check it out. She came back with the very last pie slice of the day……lucky for us.
From there, we slowly walked back towards the ship, going even further to see if we could spot some bald eagles in the trees. We did see at least two of them as they perched on the branches of the fir trees. They seem to be in the same spot as previous years. Bet there are some nests up high. Passing by some of the newer shops, we strolled through one to check out the new editions of the Lazy One t's. In this shop, the sleep t's were $8 more than what we found in Ketchikan. Now we wonder if next week, the end of the season, the prices will drop even more? This is when the crew members shop for their families at home, we have been told.
By the time we passed through the Taku Shop, it began to rain around 4:30pm. Perfect timing, we did not get too wet. Back in our room, we relaxed and worked online until dinnertime. By the way, we heard from Endrian at breakfast that technicians have installed a better internet service called Starlink. He said there was an immediate improvement, especially for the crew members who like to go to Facebook and do streaming and Netflix. That was good news. And we noticed that the area that used to be the art gallery on deck 4 was closed in and is in the process of being remodeled into something else. We shall have to investigate and find out exactly what they plan to build there.
Dinnertime revealed some different items on the menu, or what we missed by going to the Pinnacle Grill last week. Arancini Pomodoro was a good starter, and the French onion soup was finally hot-hot-hot. We both ordered the parmesan-coated veal and it was OK, but rather bland. We shared a main of lasagna, but found that lacking in flavor. This was the first dinner that failed the excellent test. Now we know that Friday will be a good evening to go to the Pinnacle Grill as the menu repeats itself every 7 days on these Alaskan cruises.
Tomorrow we will be in Haines. Hope the rain stays away.
Bill & Mary Ann
