Victoria, Eh?

July 7 - Victoria

We slept in this morning until 8:00, very late for us, as we were in no hurry to get to Victoria BC, a city we had visited many times before.  The sun was shining brightly, although we had a stiff breeze from the south across the Outer Harbor, causing us to wear our jackets for our trek to town.

Most ports have shuttles that carry passengers from the port areas to the city center. We decided not to pay for the shuttle as we knew that the walk to the city center was lovely along the waterfront and it would be a good opportunity to get some exercise. It only took about ½ hour and as we got into the center the sun was very warming.

We walked in the city for about 2 hours and bought a few things. Victoria was bursting with flowers and the colors were vibrant in the sunshine. This is always a lovely city and we enjoyed our walk downtown and then back to the ship for a late lunch.

The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing and reading and enjoying the quiet of the ship as most of the guests were gone on shore excursions. In the evening we attended the final show and then packed our suitcases for tomorrow’s disembarkation in our own city of Seattle. We have no other cruise jobs scheduled for the near future. We will just wait to see what becomes available for our next cruising adventure.

Queen Charlotte Sound

July 6, 2011,  Wednesday

Today was a very unique day for us.  Normally, sea days like this are busy days for us, but today we had no lecture assigned and got to take the day at our own pace.

We arose early for breakfast with our other lecturer Aaron, the retired Mountie.  We had a nice conversation and promised him we would attend his lecture that afternoon, which we did.

Since we were no longer protected by the Inside Passage today, the rollers somewhat larger than average.  This bothered many of the guests who were not used to the ocean, but it was just the normal North Pacific to us.  Later in the afternoon the sun broke through and we were blessed with a following wind that made the outside decks quite pleasant, for the first time since we left Puget Sound.  We sighted the northern end of Vancouver Island late in the day and John decided to see if he could make a contact with our handheld ham radio.  He was able to connect with a repeater somewhere on the island and had a short chat.  Not bad for a walkie-talkie that runs only about 2 watts.

The evening’s entertainment featured the ship’s dancers including the headliners, a Czech couple of ballroom dancers who were absolutely amazing.  We also stayed up until midnight for the onboard comedian, whose jokes were mostly fresh and entertaining.

Victoria tomorrow.

Fjords, Glaciers and Icebergs

July 5

What a glorious morning we had cruising the Endicott Arm heading for Dawes Glacier, probably one the best glacial experiences that we have ever had. This was our first time in this arm and seeing Dawes and we found it to be spectacular. Most of the other ships don’t get the opportunity to even sail into this section of the glaciers but our captain got permission to enter this arm instead of the normal trip into Sawyer Glacier.

We went up to the Windjammer Buffet at 6am to just grab a cup of coffee and then watch the glacier. But instead we spent the next couple of hours narrating and answering questions from the hundreds of guests. Donna stayed in the Windjammer and walked around the restaurant helping the guests understand glaciers in general and this glacier in particular. John went outside to do the same on different decks.  It felt really good to be able to explain about glaciers and also to answer the many questions that the guests and waiters had for us. As Donna moved around the room to point out the baby seals and the information on glaciers, she lost her coffee cup and muffin three different times. The waiters were overly efficient this morning.

After this spectacular couple of hours watching the calving and the beautiful scenery our ship heading back down the arm toward the open ocean.

We decided to attend the lecture given by the other guest lecturer aboard. His name is Aaron Zelmer and he is a retired RCMP. He was decked out in his mounty uniform and looked splendid. We enjoyed listening to another lecturer and learned about some of the early history of the mounted police.

After listing to Aaron informative talk, we dressed in our lecturing clothes and soon gave our final lecture. We didn’t get a huge turnout due primarily to the time we were assigned to speak--lunch time. The guests who came were interested in our topic of the Great Pacific Northwest.

We ate a late lunch and then had time to relax, read and watch for wildlife. We also did our daily laps but since the weather was quite cold we walked inside circling the decks.

The evening show was one which saw on another ship but thoroughly enjoyed the second as much as the first. It is a group of middle aged guys performing a tribute show to the Temptations. Great entertainment this second time around.

This is our last work day on this cruise and tomorrow we plan on just relaxing and reading books with one eye on the lookout for wildlife. We have seen a little but hope for many more sightings.

The Klondike Trail on the Fourth of July

July 4^th-Happy Independence Day

We arrived in Skagway very early in the morning and we disembarked as soon as possible so we could get to town before the crowds from the four ships in port. We walked to the town center and it looked like a ghost town with no one on the streets except for the street crew who were blocking the parade route on Broadway. That was a different scene then we had experienced ever before in Skagway. Usually this small town is wall to wall tourists from the many ships combined with those who have driven in from the outside to shop. Little old Skagway is 7 blocks long, 1/3 mile and 42 jewelry stores crowded!

We picked up the rental car that we had reserved on email, with help from our travel agent daughter, Kari. We started on our journey away from the crowds and 4^th of July festivities planned for the holiday. We first drove out to see Dyea as we concentrate so much of our Gold Rush presentation on the Chilkoot Trail. This trail started in the town of Dyea, which quickly became the largest town in Alaska during the Klondike era. We took a hike to Main Street and found the only remnant of this town of 10,000 during the Gold Rush. We found the last surviving store front that the National Park has propped up to its original position. We were so surprised how this boom town has completely disappeared except for that one wall and how nature has re-claimed this area with a dense forest.

Next, we drove through customs to Canada, entered the Yukon Territory, stopped at a town called Carcross and walked around the White Pass and Yukon train station museum and then the original general store. We also took pictures of Bennett Lake, a prominent location for the stampeders during the Gold Rush. From there we continued our journey northward stopping to take pictures and enjoy the scenery. We decided that we wanted to see a little of the interior of the Yukon so we drove to Whitehorse, Yukon Territory. This is a bustling city and we understood its importance to this part of Canada. It was definitely the shopping center for all of the small towns in this huge area. Not a real charming city but a necessary one we are sure for supplying for the people.

We returned to Skagway and visited the Goldrush Cemetery as we wanted to take some pictures of the graves of Soapy Smith and Frank Reid. These two men are legendary characters from the Goldrush influx and we enjoy telling their tale during our Klondike presentations.

It was a little odd that we spent our country’s Independence Day in Canada but it was a great way to escape the crowds. It was fun to finally drive on the Alaska Highway and experience a little of the Yukon together on our own time.

Day 3 - Juneau

July 3 - Juneau

This will be our first port of call in Alaska today, but since we didn’t arrive until 11:00, we were assigned a 9:30 am lecture time.  

Our topic for today was the Klondike gold rush, a lecture we really enjoy giving.  We were assigned to the Broadway Melodies

Theater, a large facility.  Due to the early time and the other activities for the day, our audience was rather small, perhaps about 60 people.  All went well and we heard many nice comments from our guests about the presentation.

We got off the ship shortly after lunch for our walk into Juneau, a distance of about one mile.  We were scheduled to meet our friend, Tara, at 2:00 pm, but she called at that time and postponed us to 3:30.   We had been to the city at least a dozen dimes before, but managed to find something to do for the next 1½ hours.  We met with Tara and met her two new foster children (very cute!) for about ten minutes and then headed back to the ship.  The weather was turning cool and rainy and we had no desire to get caught in the bad weather.

We decided not to eat in the dining room and went to the buffet.  We would have enjoyed the excellent food more if a large family near us hadn’t decided to let two of their young, bratty children to dine on their own.  Why some people can’t supervise their own kids is beyond us!  Perhaps it the teacher coming out in us.  The evening show, Piano Man, was excellent.  We enjoyed it all. 

Independence Day tomorrow and Skagway too!

Alaska Bound At Sea

July 2

Our first night we were in open waters and the ship was rocking and rolling all night and during the complete day. We noticed a lot of guests on board were not only having difficulty maneuvering around the ship but we heard many people saying that their family members were sea sick. Thank goodness for the patches that Donna always wears to avoid this malady as she would be feeling motion sickness also.

We explored the rest of this ship and found that it is nice to be on one of the older and smaller ships in the Royal Caribbean fleet. It is very easy to get around and also there are lots of public areas available for sitting, reading and wildlife spotting. We found a nice spot to do all three on the 6^th level and Donna spotted many pods of porpoises following along side the ship as we continued the sea day northbound.

Today began our first lecturing experience of this cruise. Even though we are on our 15^th journey to Alaska it is always exciting to present our shows for the guests.  For this cruise, we had prepared four lectures but when given our schedule for the week, we found that we have only three shows to present. It will be a rare treat to only have to work on three of seven days. On the last cruise, we had nine shows in thirteen days and that began to feel like “work”.

At 1:30, we presented our show which we call “Fire and Ice” explaining the forces that shape the earth with an emphasis on Alaska’s glaciers. Our venue was in the large show lounge, the Broadway Melodies Theater, and we presented to a surprisingly large crowd.  Usually our first show is a smaller group as many of the guests have not gotten the information on where and when to attend the shows and are still trying to find their way round the ship and understand the full daily schedule of events.

Since it was rather cold and rainy outside, we decided to do our daily exercise walking inside so we walked four of the decks on the inside completely around and it was good to be able to unwind and critique our successful presentation as we exercised.

In the early evening, we dressed in formal wear for the Captain’s welcome aboard cocktail party and it was nicely presented. We haven’t personally met the Captain as he was busy taking pictures with the guests and then introducing the senior crew. We hope to get the opportunity to introduce ourselves to him sometime during the seven days.

The large family that were our assigned as table mates were not present at tonight’s formal dinner so we were able to talk to the waiters and learn about their homes and families. After our lovely seafood dinner, we walked around a bit to burn off some of the calories and also to people watch the formally attired guests. We always like to see the other travelers all dressed up and especially enjoy seeing the little children all dolled up in their party clothes on formal nights.

Since we knew that we have to get up early and get ready for our next show right after breakfast, we decided against going dancing and retreated to our stateroom a little earlier than usual, opting to not attend the late stage production show. A day at sea is a busy one for us but one of the pleasurable experiences that we always enjoy since we get to present a show that we have spent so much time preparing.

Tomorrow will be another adventure with a morning lecture and then a day in Juneau. We look forward to seeing a friend in town and meeting the two children that she hopes to soon adopt.

Our Alaska Cruise Day 1

Friday, July 1, 2011

Alaska Bound

Today is the beginning of yet another Alaska cruise for us.  This cruise will leave from Seattle and make three stops in its one week.

Even though we have cruised to Alaska many times, we are always excited to do so.  We were up at 4:45 with a list of things we had to finish before leaving our home on Anderson Island. 

We are leaving Ocho, our black Persian cat, by himself on this trip.  A neighbor will be over to feed him once a day, but Ocho, being the ultimate chow-hound finished his entire day’s rations in less than ten minutes.  Oh well, he won’t starve.

Taking the 7:30 ferry off the island, we made a quick stop in Olympia to visit John’s mother and then headed north to Seattle. We had very little traffic and didn’t even slow down until we were in sight of downtown.  Exiting on the “Mercer mess,” we drove to our parking space behind the condo that Leslie, Donna’s sister-in-law, owns.  Seattle’s daily parking rates are terrible.  The cruise port wants $25 per day and this made the idea of free parking near Pier 91 much more attractive.

Today has been quite a nice day, an exception to the cold and dreary spring that Western Washington has been having.  Boarding was very efficiently done and soon we were aboard the Rhapsody of the Seas.  The ship is one of the older in Royal Caribbean’s line, but is still quite nice.  In the earlier tradition, there seems to be more open spaces and not as much effort spent on creating venues that would produce revenue as the newer ships.  We strolled around the upper decks and reminisced over the familiar hills of Seattle, as well as Elliott Bay, to our south.

The ship is full, with 2000 guests onboard, 400 of which are children.  This is quite unusual on an Alaska run.  So far, all of the children we have met were well behaved.  We were assigned an inside cabin on the 7^th deck, a slightly different configuration that what we had encountered in the past, but adequate. 

It was some time before we could meet with a member of the cruise staff, but we new have our schedule for the week.  We are doing three lectures this week.

We attended the “Welcome Aboard” show which was followed by an 8:30 dinner. We enjoyed our table by the window. The food was up to RCI’s usual high standards.  We had a nice view of the Olympic Mountains as we approached Port Angeles and then headed out the Juan de Fuca Straits toward the open ocean.