It is hard to believe that it has been 25 years since 9/11 - a tragic day in history never to be forgotten. Due to the fact that not all of the guests are from the USA, there was no mention of this date in The Daily newsletter. The news stations on TV did cover the story and events all day.
We assumed there would be a stop to drop off shore excursion folks in Tracy Arm, but it did not happen as far as we know. Perhaps there will be one next week, or maybe the season has ended. The day began with temperatures in the mid 50's, a 9.6 mph wind, and 69% humidity. We had blue skies as the ship did a speed of 15 knots. The seas had calmed down once we were surrounded with islands on both sides. Unlike last week, we did not see any whales or their tell-tale blows. Later in the early afternoon, we had scattered clouds and a refreshingly cool breeze.
The Pinnacle Grill filled with customers by 9am for breakfast with no rush to go anywhere. Morning activities included wildlife spotting and a cooking show in the Wajang Theater featuring their teriyaki salmon bowl with cauliflower rice. Although it was not announced, the bow opened up after 12pm for the sailing into the Gastineau Channel and the cruise docks. This time, the Captain turned the ship and docked portside. A different view for us.
We spotted the town around noontime when there was still time for a fish & chips lunch in the main dining room.
Once again, the tram at Mount Roberts was not operating today. Last week it was closed due to maintenance, so we suppose it never got repaired.
There were three ships in town today - the Anthem of the Seas, Seabourn Encore, and the Disney Wonder and the Zaandam was number four. The description n of this capital city is right on with a picture book community nestled along the base of mountains. Winding streets, totem poles, brightly-painted store fronts with over 32,000 nice people to greet us making us feel right at home. Famous for Mendenhall Glacier, it cannot be seen from town as it is located 13 miles away. The face of the glacier is ½ mile wide with ice as deep as 1800 feet. There is a glacier shuttle that runs from downtown every 30 minutes, saving you a lot of money if you do not take a ship's tour. We have taken some of those tours in the past, and we can say the glacier is not melting all that fast.
We watched the ship enter the docking area and realized it was going to be another rare warm day here. Lucky for all. The dock workers had some trouble connecting the gangway, so people were late in getting off. We held off until 2pm and slowly made our way along the boardwalk passing shops, the Taku Fishery, the twisted Fish Restaurant, and the public library. The line of hungry folks was not quite as long for Tracy's King Crab Shack. We read that the Red King Crabs can be 5 feet wide from leg to leg and weigh as much as 24 pounds. Wow. And one female crab can lay from 500 to 500,000 eggs. Another wow.
Our destination was the Hangar on the Wharf, close to where the Taku float planes take off and land. There was only a 10 minute wait for a table this time, and we enjoyed sharing a Jack Daniels burger with fries and two Alaska Amber beers. No mud pie today, we opted to buy a bag of peanut brittle at the Fudge Shop on the way back. One of us did take the time to make a sweep through the Alaska T-shirt Company, finding some possible bargains to look for next time we are here. The lines for the registers were just too long because they truly had the best end-of-the-season sales.
Something rather disturbing happened when we came back to our room. We know for a fact that we had locked the veranda door before leaving. We always lock it when we are out. We had seen two deck fellows hosing the deck five windows from the verandas on deck six when we boarded. Usually they use a lift bucket to do this. Anyway, the door to the veranda was unlocked, the partitions were unlocked for at least 20 rooms, and there were no workers in sight. Then we realized that anyone could enter any room from the unlocked doors by going through the unlocked partitions. If there had been a planned cleaning we would have been notified the previous evening. There was no communication whatsoever, and we informed our room steward Pande immediately of this situation. He understood what we were saying, and called it in to his supervisor. With all of the ships we have sailed on, this is the first time for this to occur. Before we left for dinner at 7:30pm, we had a visit from David, the assistant head of housekeeping, apologizing for the incident. We reassured him that nothing appeared to be missing, but we felt there had been a mistake made by not informing us ahead of time. He agreed it was incorrect and he would take it to his boss.
Not all that hungry, we had two courses at dinner. One starter was a Caesar salad and the other a bowl of chicken noodle soup. Both of us ordered the turkey dinner which was good. Due to late tours, the upper dining room filled with anytime diners that came in as late as 9pm. The Lido did stay open until 11pm tonight.
There was an entertainer in the World Stage by the name of Pete Zedlacher, a comedian from Canada. Tomorrow will start early with a docking time of 6:30am. Not for us though.
Bill & Mary Ann
