Juneau

Friday, May 3, 2024 

The Zaandam wasn't scheduled to reach Juneau until 1:30 pm so it was almost like having a sea day AND a port day rolled up into one. We skipped the lecture on the Iditarod at 10:00 am in favor of some scenic viewing from "our private deck". Multiple whales were spotted, but none very close to the ship. I managed to only get one tail photo and it isn't the greatest.

We could see both sides of the ship from our vantage point.

We had a great view of the wake from our back deck.

I love the snow cover on the mountains that you see early in the season!

Today we were sharing "our private deck" with a few other passengers and one gal showed Bob how to take iPhone photos through his binoculars which he thought was the greatest idea ever!

A reflection selfie in our cabin window.

Bob's binocular zoom photo.

An express lunch of fish & chips was offered in the dining room between 11:30 and 12:30 which we took advantage of. Usually a sit-down meal in the dining room takes more time than we are willing to spend but the express lunches have a very limited menu and end up being as quick and much easier than fighting the crowds in the buffet.

After having good luck with our Turo rental in Honolulu in February, we booked through the app again for Juneau. The owner of the car we had reserved had it parked right next to where the Zaandam was docked...literally a two minute walk from the ship. After Bob took the required photos and uploaded them to the Turo app we were on our way. (The owner could unlock the car remotely and the keys were in the center console.)

The Zaandam wasn't scheduled to leave Juneau until 10 pm, but it just made sense to start with our furthest destination first and then work our way back towards town. Our journey began by heading along the coast to Eagle Beach...about 30 miles away. We were rewarded with a beautiful view of the snow capped mountains...but no eagles.

Bob building a cairn.

As we started back on the Glacier Highway towards Juneau, we made a stop at the Shrine of St. Therese. We parked the car and then walked across the causeway to the stone chapel located on the island. Bob and Jon climbed down the rocky shoreline while Michelle and I were content to take in the view from the church grounds.

One of the main advantages to having a rental car was the ability to visit Mendenhall Glacier without booking a tour. In the past it was easy to book a shuttle to the glacier at the cruise ship dock, but the number of permits has been limited now which means advance reservations are needed (and somewhat difficult to get.)

Bob, Michelle and Jon made the two-mile out and back hike to get to Nugget Falls, but I knew it would be too painful (and slow) for me to even try. With the beautiful weather I didn't mind a bit just waiting while they were gone. I did meander through the visitor center, but mostly just enjoyed sitting on a bench people watching and taking in the beautiful view of the glacier.

My view of the glacier and Nugget Falls.

Mendenhall Glacier has shrunk drastically since our first visit ten years ago.

Nugget Falls

On our 2017 visit to Juneau we had discovered the Treadwell Gold Mine and had spent a gray, misty afternoon walking the trails of the abandoned mine on Douglas Island. Since then I found that there are now augmented reality tours where visitors can use iPad devices to visualize what the mine looked like in the early 1900's and also online walking tour maps available for those that want a DIY experience. For us, we didn't do either, but just spent a short time wandering around the property.

The remains of some of the old mine buildings.

Skunk cabbage was in bloom.

Ruins from the old gold mine.

The old Treadwell Mine pump house.

See the two eagles sitting on the roof?

One of the eagles in flight.

The sun was getting lower in the sky which made for great lighting on my photos, but also meant our time in Juneau was running out. Our last stop was a quick one and was on our way back from Douglas Island. I wanted to see the Alaska Whale Sculpture located on the waterfront near the bridge leading to the island. I took quite a few photos trying to get the perfect angle so it looked as if a real whale was breaching right in front of me! 

Look real? 

Bob was more interested in the totem pole next to the sculpture and he took a variety of photos from all angles. I won't be surprised if someday he begins working on a totem pole in our yard!

Back at the ship, we parked our Turo car at the same parking lot next to the dock where we had picked it up earlier in the day. Bob repeated the process of taking and texting multiple photos through the Turo app to show that the condition of the car hadn't changed and then he locked the keys in the car for the owner to retrieve. The $106 we paid for the car rental was such a great bargain compared to the cost of all four of us booking tours that would have only covered a fraction of what we saw. Here is a map where I marked our route for the day.

We had long missed our 5:00 dinner time in the main dining room so we ate in the buffet and didn't even attempt to go to comedian Bill Boronkay's performance in the theater.  Before hitting our bed, we went out on deck to watch as the Zaandam sailed away from Juneau in the twilight. Tomorrow would be an even fuller day in Skagway!

Good bye, Juneau!

At Sea...Headed to Alaska!

Thursday, May 2, 2024

Today's activities are pretty sketchy in my mind and I'm sorry I didn't take any notes. An "Alaskan Brunch" was held in the main dining room but I'm not sure we attended. I do know that it was a beautiful day and we spent a lot of time outdoors taking in the views as we were starting to see some snow covered mountains.

A selfie on "our private deck".

Jon was having a hard time keeping his eyes open. 😌

The view of the wake from our cabin.

I see in "The Daily" that there were enrichment lectures in the morning (on whales) and in the afternoon (Ancestral Memories) that normally I might have attended but we must have kept busy otherwise. This might have been the day that Michelle and I went to the "Creating Designs from Doodles" class at 1:30 and were the only ones that showed up. I know instead of doodles we started a watercolor painting that we then finished at the water color class an hour later.

Because I have a photo, I am sure that Michelle, Bob and I went to afternoon tea...the only time we made it during our 18 days of cruising. Jon chose to go to the military meetup instead.

As much as I enjoy the afternoon tea at 3 pm, having our early dinner time at 5 pm means it is hard to enjoy both. Too much food!

It was dressy night in the dining room and I got brave and ordered escargot. Fortunately the overwhelming flavor was just garlic butter and I tried not to think about what I was "really" eating. 😖

And believe it or not...the Step One Dancers performed "Humanity" for the THIRD time since we had been onboard. We did not attend. Instead we parked ourselves in the loungers on the promenade deck and just enjoyed watching the sea go by.  

Unfortunately the crew had already picked up the chair cushions so the loungers were just a bit "hard".

We were toasty warm with the sunshine and blankets. (And Jon fell asleep again!)

Vancouver Re-Do

Wednesday, May 1, 2024

Today marked the beginning of the Alaska portion of our back-to-back cruises. 

This was also moving day for Jon and Michelle. Their home for the last 11 days had been an inside cabin, #6125, but now they were moving up a deck to be in cabin #7083. The layout of the two cabins was identical but now they had a window. 

This was also the cabin that Bob and I had been in for two weeks in 2023 during a cruise through the Panama Canal. The access to their cabin was from the starboard hallway (instead of the port hallway that we used,) but the exit door at the end of the hall opened right out onto "our private deck" that we had "claimed" throughout the cruise. Their cabin was a mirror image of our cabin #7086. 

What a difference in the weather today compared to the clouds and rain we encountered four days ago. The blue skies and mild temps were perfect for touring Vancouver! Prior to the cruise I had found that there is a bike rental shop located a short distance from Canada Place where the Zaandam would be docked...and the best part...they had e-bikes to rent! Even with a bad knee I think I could have managed just fine with an electric bike. I still have wonderful memories from our first visit to Vancouver when Bob and I biked all around Stanley Park. I thought it would be fun to share the same experience with Jon and Michelle.

The cows were happy to see the sunshine!

The Drop sculpture at Canada Place.

But...Michelle and I did not want to get caught in the mess that the guys were in trying to re-board the ship the last time. Four days ago when we were here the Koningsdam was the only other ship docked at Canada Place with the Zaandam. This time there would be three ships...the Zaandam, the Crown Princess and the Seven Seas Explorer. We decided the potential for long waits in line were just too great and that we would much more enjoy a day on a semi-empty ship.

Turn around day for Michelle and I meant meeting with all of the other in-transit passengers (that weren't getting off the ship) in the Wajang Theater. Four days ago this in-transit group numbered over 200 people and we met at the World Stage where we waited for over an hour before getting off the ship to go through customs. This time it was less than 50 or so people and this time the procedure went much more smoothly and quickly. With our passports and key cards, we were led off the ship as a group, through customs and back on the ship again without stopping. It seemed the staff working in the terminal were much more on the ball this time and there was far less confusion.

So while the guys went off and did their own thing (again!) Michelle and I enjoyed the hot tubs on the Lido deck. We had been talking about doing this since the cruise began and this was the perfect opportunity. We not only had the hot tubs to ourselves, but also the lido pool! 

Off to the hot tubs!

I will turn the blog over to Bob now so he can fill you in on how he and Jon spent the morning...

Blogger Bob reporting....

This was the second trip Jon and I made into the city of Vancouver.  Instead of steady rain we had a sunny pleasant day. And instead of walking 7 miles, we opted for biking the sites and did a boat load of miles. We walked just one block from the port to the bike shop and had a bike within 5 minutes.

When we walked the previous time we bypassed Stanley Park but never went in. This time I told Jon we should bike it. I knew it was very scenic and worth the peddle. So off we went biking our previous walking route. As we entered the park we had lovely views of many private boats across the bay and a great view of the city skyline.

The park has many crisscrossing paths but we opted to take the outer path around the whole island. There are lots of varieties of trees and many are rather tall and large. These giants amaze me as I just see prairie grass where I live. Our first stop was at several totem poles on display. There are markers explaining what they represent and their creators. Something in me is attracted to these symbols, and I would have loved to have experienced the First Nations culture 200 years ago. These people must have had ample resources for life, so as to allow them the time to create such wonderful works of art as totem poles, masks, baskets, canoes, and jewelry.

We moved on from the totem poles to continue our journey. The ride was so scenic we just couldn't get very far at a time, It seemed like we stopped every 5 minutes to take pictures of everything we saw. 

The air was fresh and clear and this ride was just so different and fun from my usual country rides back in Minnesota. We saw the Lions Gate Bridge up close, the wetsuit girl, cliffs, beaches, and I struggled to keep my eye on the path at times. I highly recommend this ride for those going to Vancouver. It really is a wonderful way to see this park. 

The Girl in a Wetsuit sculpture

As we left the park we found our way back on the path we had walked previously. We went by Granville Island and then kept following the bike path. This was now a new area I had not been in. We followed the path as far as we could and then it more or less dumped out into the city streets. We had no idea how to get back to the ship though, just the general direction. Off we went following our noses. After a while we decided we better look at a map and figure out our route to get the bikes back to the shop. It didn't take long and we were on the right path. 

As we made our way back we passed the steam clock. I had seen this on a prior trip. When we went by it, the clock blew its top with steam and sounded the time. It said "get back to the ship! You may have to wait in lines for 3 hours!" We made it back to the rental shop and turned the bikes in, and by golly we had fun. At least I did. I think Jon was really sore and didn't let on until the next day when we all noticed he couldn't move. I can now say I have seen Vancouver by bus, bike, and foot.

We both were wondering how our boarding would unfold this time around. We crossed our fingers and went in the terminal with "In Transit" cards in hand. We found a port worker where the lines were forming and showed her our cards and she said "Oh, you guys can go in this line". We followed an entirely different path with no one in it at all. We then passed 2 security guards, showed them the cards, and they waved us on through. We were on the ship in literally 5 minutes. To good to be true! We looked at each other and felt rather smug for having made a little noise the previous time that produced such a change. 

Back to Mary...

Michelle and I went to the buffet around 11:30 so we could beat the crowds of people anxious to have their first meal after boarding the ship. When the guys texted around noon that they were back in the cruise terminal we joked that it would be several hours later before we saw them. How surprised we were when they came walking into the buffet just minutes later! They grabbed some food and they filled us in on their adventures while they ate.

Later in the afternoon I had gone to the cabin to shower before dinner while Bob was playing pickleball with Jon. It was almost time for the Zaandam to leave Vancouver and the phone rang. Someone from guest services wanted to know where Bob was. I said I could go get him, but it would be awhile since he was on the upper deck and I had just gotten out of the shower. I had no idea what they wanted.

A few minutes later Bob walked into the cabin and I told him that he needed to go to guest services. He headed down to deck 4 but was only gone a short time. I was curious what they wanted but he said "the line was too long, I'll go back later." About then we started hearing a ship-wide announcement. "Will Mr. XXX (Bob) and Mr. XXX (Jon) PLEASE come to guest services IMMEDIATELY!". Oh my!! 

They were informed that when they bypassed many of the lines to get back on the ship they had also skipped going through customs! (Not intentionally on their part, they had gone exactly where they were told!) No wonder they had gotten back on the ship so quickly! But because they had not gone through customs, the ship could not sail!! The two guys were personally led off the ship and through customs. 

Once that little detail was attended to, the ship was ready to sail away from Vancouver and start our one-week trip to Alaska. We stationed ourselves on "our private deck" as the ship left Canada Place and took many of the same photos we had just taken a few days earlier...except this time they were bright and colorful under the sunshine! 

Float planes at Canada Place.

"Digital Orca" sculpture at Canada Place

Regent Seven Seas Explorer in front of the Crown Princess

Stanley Park

Zoomed in view of the cauldron from 2010 Winter Olympics

The path around Stanley Park where Bob and Jon had biked.

Girl in a Wetsuit sculpture that the guys saw on their bike ride.

Lion's Gate Bridge

Good bye, Vancouver. See you again in a week!

We weren't able to stay outdoors long enough to see my favorite lighthouse because we wanted to get to dinner in the main dining room. Our table assignment was still Table #20 but we were surprised to see that we had a new wait staff. 

The World Stage evening entertainment was billed as "Destination: Alaska: The Route. The Ports. The Tours." I can't give any details about the presentation since we didn't attend. I'm guessing this was a slide show narrated by cruise director, Erin, that took the place of the 150 Year HAL Celebration talk usually given on the first night of a cruise. And yes...after having Stone for the previous four nights as our cruise director, Erin was now back. 

Not attending the show gave us a chance to see a beautiful sunset! I'm sure our evening also consisted of a card game over a cup of tea at the lido buffet as we anticipated a beautiful week in Alaska!