Links to Ketchikan photos and videos from cruise 

5-30-08

When we were researching the various ports of call, trying to determine what we would do in each, we found a cool website (that now is less cool, as it seems to charge a fee) listing how many ships were going to be in each port. We saw that we were going to be in Ketchikan along with the Diamond Princess, HAL Westerdam, and NCL Pearl, all giant ships. As we weren’t going to do any sort of excursion that would get us away from the madding crowds, we decided that we would stay on the ship in Ketchikan and pretend it was a sea day. But then, we needed some binoculars, and on embarkation had received a coupon book, and this coupon book said we could get binoculars at the Tongass Traders for 8 bucks – so off we went. It was busy along the waterfront, with all these ships in port, but not terrible. And we loved Tongass Traders. We went upstairs to the sporting goods section for the binoculars, which wasn’t too crowded, and a lovely man named Mike showed us all the binocular choices, and gave us a little tutorial on how to focus and use then. He spent loads of time with us and was very sweet.

I had left my knit cap in the room, and it was a little nippy and my ears were cold (but dry and mostly sunny – we’ve had spectacular weather so far); but, not to worry – there was a coupon for a knit cap with an Alaska logo on it for only 2 bucks. So we made our way to the Alaska souvenir section for the hat. As soon as we entered the souvenir area, we found ourselves crammed cheek by jowl with all the other cruise passengers, and it was a challenge to find the hats, and then another challenge to get close enough to them to grab one. But we managed, and then fled to the hardware section, where it immediately quieted down. There was a huge line at the check out in souvenirs, but no line in hardware, so that’s where we paid for our stuff.

While we were checking out, the lady asked us where we were from. We said Portland, Oregon. She said “You’re kidding! I’m from Portland! Southeast 52^nd!” We said “We live on Southeast 45^th, near Woodstock.” She said “You’re kidding! I lived near Woodstock!” We found that we live about 8 blocks from where she was from. At this point she started ringing things up wrong and getting all flustered, and kept saying “I’m sorry about that, I’m just so excited!” She was very cute, and we decided that we enjoyed our shore excursion to Tongass Traders as much as we would have enjoyed one to anywhere else.

We went back to the ship and had lunch, then went back to the room and spent our lazy sea day on the balcony. Again, we were in the sun, which was divine (I even got a bit of color in my face), plus the port side of the ship was facing away from town and looking out over the Tongass Narrows, so we got to watch cruise ships and fishing boats come and go (while we were there, the Pearl, Westerdam and Diamond sailed away, and the HAL Volendam arrived), float planes take off and land, plus the occasional bird fly by, including a couple bald eagles.

At around 2pm I went to the gym to ride the exercise bike, and Lis did yoga on the balcony. Then Lis went and got a massage, and I took a shower in the ladies locker room of the spa (across from the gym) and then went up on deck and sat in the Jacuzzi and took in the scenery. It was very lovely. Then back to the room, where we read until dinner. Another little note about exercise: since our cabin is located about halfway between the public rooms on decks 5, 6, 7 and decks 11 and 12, we decided that we would try to always take the stairs. And we’ve been pretty good about this so far and have only been in the elevators 1 or 2 times. This morning, we had to do something on 5 before going to breakfast on 11, and we were very stalwart and took the stairs. We thought that it would be getting easier by now, but our legs are sore and we continue to huff and puff and droop some on climbs of more than 3 floors. We figure that we’ll finally get used to it when it’s time to leave the ship.

We ate in Latitudes tonight, the Indochine fusion specialty restaurant. We had talked with the Maitre’d this morning about the menu (that was our errand on deck 5 before breakfast), and she had made arrangements with the chef and Lis was able to eat almost everything they offered. Not that there’s a lot of dairy in Asian cuisine anyway, but still, they were very solicitous. The food was really, really excellent, though the format is such that they basically bring you a bit of everything on the menu, so for the first time this cruise I ate to the point of discomfort, as I believe Lis did, too. We had just been congratulating ourselves on avoiding eating until stuffed – I guess we spoke too soon. The other interesting thing about the restaurant was that the staff were all female – the Maitre’d, the sommaliers, the servers, everybody. About halfway through there was a young man filling waters, but otherwise it was a female space, which we thought was fun.

There was another beautiful sunset tonight, but due to the position of the ship as it navigates the channel, the starboard folks got to enjoy it this time. I suppose it was their turn…

Links to Tracy Arm/Juneau photos and videos from the cruise

5-31-08

When we got our Daily Passages last night, the schedule for today said “Whale Spotting” from 5am to 7am, followed by “Scenic Cruising of Tracy Arm” from 7am to 10am. So we dragged ourselves out of bed at 5am and then dragged ourselves up 4 flights of stairs to the Observation deck (Lis actually climbed 4 flights twice because she forgot to bring her coat the first time – how studly is she!?!). There was a pretty good smattering of people for that hour, and we started seeing whales right away. We didn’t see a ton, and we didn’t see them up close, but about every 15-20 minutes or so one would appear. Sometimes we only saw blow spouts and bits of their dorsal fins, but a few times as they did the deeper dives to the bottom to feed we saw their flukes. Lis had the good fortune to have her binoculars trained on one as it did this, so she got to see it up close. I was only ever able to see it with my naked eye. Lis: I’m sad to report that if I did see one up close, I don’t remember, but I’m very tired now.

As the morning progressed, the room filled up (though was never crowded) and the mood became more convivial (there wasn’t really a mood at first because we were all still asleep). Anytime a whale was spotted, someone would point it out and then we’d all surge to that side, trying to see or get a camera shot. It’s fun to watch a room full of middle-aged to elderly people run around excited as children.

After a while (at about the time that the schedule said), we stopped seeing whales and started seeing icebergs, some white and some blue. At this point the ship’s destination specialist got on the PA system (only heard in the public spaces) and started telling us about the icebergs and the Tracy Arm Glacier from which they came, and the geology of the canyon we were in, and how glaciers form the landscape. His delivery was sort of monotone, and at first he didn’t really do much for me. But then it became apparent that he was just as excited as the rest of us, but trying to behave like a grown up about it, and I fell in love with him a little bit.

There was a good bit of ice, so we weren’t able to get very far in to Tracy Arm and therefore never saw the actual glacier. We saw lots of fantastic ice sculpture, though (including one that looked like a chicken), and several bald eagles perched on the ice, plus a couple seals and some porpoise, and the weather was gorgeous, so I felt satisfied.

After a wonderfully hearty breakfast on the aft deck of La Veranda, we went back to the room and found that it wasn’t made up – the room steward hadn’t been around when we left at 5, and so must have assumed that we weren’t up yet. So we decided to go drop off our menus with the maitre’d and then go back up to the observation lounge. Once we dropped off the menus, the full implication of our plan hit us – we were on deck 5, and the observation lounge was on deck 12. Ever stalwart, we hiked up, and it wasn’t even as bad as we expected – maybe our legs are finally adjusting.

We had a peaceful sail in to Juneau, then lunch in the Compass Rose (fish and chips – very yummy), then off to the Mendenhall Glacier. We took a local shuttle that ran every half hour. The driver tried to tell us interesting stories about Juneau on the way but only every third word or so was actually intelligible, so it was a bit of a trial. (Lis: On the drive back, when the driver was continuing to tell unintelligible stories AND the majority of the bus was speaking loudly in a foreign language in an attempt to be heard over the driver, Mary leaned over to me and said, “This must be what hell is like.”) The glacier was spectacular and the weather continued gorgeous. There are a bunch of trails around the glacier (and the lake into which it empties), including one that takes you right next to a giant roaring waterfall and within 500 feet of the glacier face. We took this one, which was pretty easy except that right before you got to the waterfall you had to scramble over this huge expanse of boulders and rocks – we weren’t expecting this, but it was great fun. I think I’m probably going to be pretty sore tomorrow, though.

Once there, we snapped lots of pics of the glacier, the icebergs, and the waterfall, and didn’t realize until we got back to the ship that our (somewhat elderly) camera had started to fail and that on some of the photos the lens shutter had only opened a fraction. The saddest thing is that this really cool shot of the waterfall in the foreground and the glacier in the background was one of the victims. Sadder still, enough of the shot was visible through the partially open shutter to indicate that the shot would have been really good:-(

We had decided yesterday that, what with getting up so early and all, it would be better to do room service than try to go to the dining room, where we would probably fall asleep between courses. Turned out to be a very excellent idea – we were very pooped by dinnertime, and were glad to retire for the evening. We had our room service dinner on the balcony, looking out over the sea – the temperature was perfect and the water was still, reflecting the snow-capped hill across the way – very beautiful. Dinner itself was good, but a bit unwieldy, as they brought us all the courses at once. We had read somewhere, long ago, that if you have room service dinner on Regent they will serve it to you in courses, but this has never been our experience. We have figured that: (a) it just isn’t true; (b) it was once true but is no longer; (c) you have to ask; or (d) you need to be in a room with a butler. Nevertheless, it was a lovely experience.

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Links to Skagway photos and videos from the cruise

6-1-08

Today was a low key day – we both woke up tired and a bit cranky from our exertions of yesterday, and so decided to just hang around the ship. We had a late breakfast, then came back to the room and decided to do some laundry. There are self-serve guest launderettes on most of the decks, and they are free and pretty fun to use. We did a couple loads. At 11am Lis went to the spa, where she had a reflexology appointment. They were running some sort of special for another treatment, and Lis managed to talk them in to giving her the special price for the reflexology, simply by asking for it. She did the same thing with her other spa treatment, I believe.

While Lis was having her treatment, I wandered the ship taking pictures of the public rooms, then went to the coffee bar and had a cookie and some coffee, and read Time Magazine. Then it was time for lunch in the Compass Rose. This time, I ordered from their “Build Your Own Sandwich” menu – roast beef, turkey, bacon, lettuce, tomato, dill pickle, mustard and light mayo, in a flour tortilla. Turned out to be the best sandwich I’d EVER had, but I could only eat half of it, and the idea of just throwing away the other half was breaking my heart. We’ve often bemoaned the fact that you can’t really get doggie bags, and how sad it is when something’s really good – especially at lunch time, when you know you’re probably going to want some sort of snack later on. So I gathered all my courage, risked looking tacky, and asked the waiter if there was any way to save the remaining sandwich for later. He said he’d be happy to wrap it up for me, or he could have room service send it to my room. I opted for the latter, assuming that room service would wrap it up so I could put it in the mini fridge – but they didn’t; it was sitting on a plate under a plastic room-service-plate-lid-thingy (on a lovely linen table cloth, of course). Luckily I had a small plastic bag in the room that I was able to use to wrap it up. So there are still some bugs to work out of the system. But it’s good to know that there is the option of saving some food without looking too horribly tacky in the process.

After lunch we wandered into Skagway for a bit – nothing much to it, but a pleasant little town. The town’s setting, though, is spectacular – sweeping, snow capped hills (peaks?) in every direction. There are apparently a good number of hiking trails around, too – would like to come back someday when we’re less pooped.

Another interesting thing about Skagway is that a steep rock face in the cruise port area is covered with gigantic graffiti – some just standard graffiti (names, skulls, etc) but some cruise ship names and logos. We asked our waiter at lunch about it – “Do the cruise ships do that graffiti?” He said yes – every ship that comes to Skagway makes sure it’s got its name and logo there. Then a couple other crew members joined the conversation, talking about the new Regent logo they added last year, and some of the graffiti that’s really high up on the wall and wondering how they do it, and commenting that ships have been doing this since the 1960’s. I found it all kind of fascinating.

We chose to skip the Captain’s Cocktail Party for Seven Seas Society Members (meaning you’ve cruised with Regent more than once.) We had dinner in Compass Rose, where their previously fantastic attention to Lis’ special diet began to slip – after double checking with her a couple times that she was in cabin 864 and had the no-dairy diet, they brought her entrée with some sort of potato side dish, piled high with grated cheese. She said “Is that cheese?” and the waiter looked flustered and confused, took away the side dish, and asked if she wanted some alternative. She asked for roasted potatoes, which they brought right away, but apparently too right away – they weren’t fully cooked in the middle. In the meantime, Lis was concerned whether the rest of the meal was non-dairy, which they somewhat nervously assured her it was – but Lis took a Lactaid or four just in case, since they’d been so tentative in their assurances.

We wondered what had happened – they had been handling her diet so nicely. Then we remembered that one of the waiters told us that they lost 3-4 waiters in Juneau – their contracts were up, but their replacements weren’t coming until the end of the cruise. So they are shorthanded, and we figured that might explain it. We’re hoping that things stabilize.

Back in fall 2004, when we were trying to decide which cruise line we wanted to go on for our Very First Cruise, we quickly decided that we didn’t want a mass market, and then narrowed down the small ship/luxury lines to Regent (then Radisson) and Crystal. Ultimately we picked Regent because of the open seating and because it sounded more relaxed.

In December of 2006 we had the opportunity to sail on Crystal, and were very curious to see how it would compare to Regent. In particular, we had read many times that Crystal was superior to Regent in food and service, and we wanted to see if we thought so, too.

We did agree about the food – the food on Regent is good but the food on Crystal is incredible. It was some of the best food either of us had ever eaten, on sea or on land. But we found the service on Regent to be far superior. In fact, it was so clearly better that we couldn’t understand at first how so many people could think that it wasn’t (because it’s pretty consistent in the online things we’ve come across – “Crystal has the best service” seems to be the consensus).

On Crystal, the staff are encouraged to learn the passengers’ names, and to greet them by name throughout the cruise, and we decided that this was where the “Crystal has the edge” came from. Most of the passengers seemed delighted by this, and talked in the elevators about how great it was, etc. However, we found it less than great, for two reasons. First, it became tiring after a while – I’d be walking across the pool deck and someone would holler “Hi Mary!” I’d whirl around to see who was talking, finally spot the staff member speaking to me, and smile and wave – over and over and over. At a certain point, I just wanted to be left in peace. (Lis: to me it reminded me of shopping at Safeway, where everyone has to say hi to you and they insist on attempting to say your last name at checkout. I hate it, and once even wrote a letter to them about it.) Second, because the staff was so focused on memorizing names, they would overlook things that we considered to be real service, like noting preferences and anticipating needs. Once on our Crystal cruise I stood at an event holding an empty coffee cup for about 45 minutes, while several staff members came by and said “Hi Mary.” On Regent, no one would have said “Hi Mary,” but I wouldn’t have been holding that coffee cup, either.

As we came in to breakfast in the buffet the other morning, and the waiter remembered that Lis likes hard boiled eggs, boiled for ten minutes (we suspect she might be famous throughout the ship now – but they’ve got the eggs down), she commented to me “I’d rather they remember what I like than what my name is.” I agree (besides, on Regent my name is “Madame,” which I very much enjoy).

Another issue where Regent is better, and I think it comes under the heading of service, is in how it treats the room stewards. Yesterday, Lis was chatting with our steward (who is somewhat below the Regent standard in anticipating needs, but makes up for it in personal delightfulness). We always ask about their hours and breaks, because we like to patronize cruise ships that treat their people better (not that any cruise line treats their people particularly well – I would die if I had to work as hard as cruise workers work). Our steward said she works about 10 hours a day – which is pretty good, comparatively. On Crystal, they make the room stewards handle the room service, too, so their hours vary by how many room service orders they have to deal with. One morning, most everyone on our floor had room service breakfast, so the room stewards worked all day with no breaks. This affected us because, one, our room wasn’t made up until 2-3pm as a result, and two, we never ordered room service after that because it made us feel too guilty.

One odd thing on this Regent ship – We have had numerous hand towels with holes in them, which I find surprising. I think it’s because there isn’t enough room to hang all the towels separately so people end up taking the hand towels and hanging them on the knobs meant for bathrobes and poking holes in them.

So, all in all, we’d have to say that while we enjoyed Crystal very much, and have very fond memories of the food, Regent remains our favorite line.

Links to Sitka photos and videos from the cruise

6-2-08

We were still tired when we got up this morning – I think our exertions in Juneau, coupled with our insistence on always taking the stairs, combined to be a bit more exercise than we’re used to. Lis decided to spend a relaxing morning on the ship and skip Sitka, especially since the weather was cloudy and showers were predicted. Though she was torn – I think what finally sealed her decision is that we were anchored, not docked, so would have to tender in to town. She said “I’m just not in the mood.”

I gave some thought to staying on board as well, but I had wanted to see the Russian church and the National Historical Park, and so I loaded on all my tourist gear (camera, binoculars, bag) and made for the tender. I also added MP3 player and headphones, so I was in full electronic regalia. The tender line was not long, nor was the wait for the tender, and the tender itself was not crowded, so it was a pleasant and pretty quick jaunt to town. Sitka was a pleasant enough little town – I walked around a bit, snapped a picture of St. Michael’s church, and then headed out to the Park. The park is set on the site of the 1804 Battle between the Tlingit and the Russians – the battle was a turning point in which the Tlingit, though they put up a good fight, were pushed out by the Russians. The Park is wooded with several hiking trails – I chose the trail that went to the site of the battle, and also the site of the Tlingit fort that the Russians were targeting in the battle. Along the way there were several totem poles, and there were the cries of ravens and even an occasional eagle, plus the path was right along the water line – it was very pretty. A few times I sat at the water’s edge and just listened to the sounds of the surf and the forest. The threatened showers never materialized, and it was fairly warm, so I had a nice hike.

Back on the ship we went and had lunch, then back to the room for a very lovely afternoon nap. Round about 3:30pm we headed to the Observation Lounge on Deck 12 – there was “Scenic Cruising” listed on the schedule. Unfortunately, everyone else had decided on “Scenic Cruising,” too, so it was pretty crowded. So we went down to the Horizon Lounge (aft, Deck 6) and saw the sights from there. The weather closed in, became rainy and stormy, and because we were headed into open waters in the Gulf of Alaska, the ship finally started to get some movement – a pretty good roll. Prior to this, because the Inside Passage is so protected, it felt like we were on rivers or lakes, not the ocean – completely smooth.

At 4:15 the Trivia started – this was the first time we’d been able to make it, and it was great fun. A group near us, which included a woman we’ve been chatting with off and on throughout the cruise, invited us to join their team, and we ended up tying another team for first place. At 4:45 the Bingo started, and we were tempted to play, but this was the night of our Master Suite cocktail party invitation, so we thought we’d better go get ready.

At 6pm we presented ourselves at Cabin xxx, home of our hosts. It is a very gorgeous space. At one point, there were probably nearly twenty people standing around chatting, and the room handled that number very comfortably, with room for an appetizer table and a bartender and butler to circulate as well. Everyone was very friendly and jovial, and while we aren’t world’s best minglers, we did pretty well. Two of our hosts in particular spent lots of time with us, told us hilarious stories about their travel adventures, and put as at ease. It was really fun. Afterwards, they invited us to join them for dinner, which we accepted. It was a party of eight (four couples.) Dinner was very fun, but was an even longer affair with eight people than it is for just the two of us, so we didn’t get back to the room until just about 10pm.

Once again, Compass Rose struggled with Lis’ diet. Her Caesar salad arrived covered in cheese, and for her entrée they just took away what she couldn’t have, instead of making her an alternative. We’ve really never experienced anything like it on Regent (on Celebrity, yes, but not on Regent). Lis might try to talk to somebody about it.

Links to Hubbard Glacier photos and videos from the cruise

6-3-08

Our good weather finally broke, and we woke up to rain and mist this morning. But in a way I think it was better, because we were going to see the Hubbard Glacier, and it seemed fitting that it should seem so Arctic. We went up to the Observation Lounge, but it was packed, so we decided to go get breakfast and sit out on the deck (aft Deck 11). But the aft deck wasn’t open, because of the weather. Lis wanted to get breakfast, but I saw that there was more and more ice, and we were getting closer and closer to the glacier, and I was gripped by a sort of glacier-mania; food could wait. I told Lis “I’m going down to 6,” took the camera, and left.

Aft on Deck 6 there is the Horizon Lounge, and then a deck behind it, which I had noticed before and thought would be an ideal alternate location if the Observation Lounge was full. Turns out I was only half right – the view was great and it was not crowded, but it was also a smoking area, so the few people who were there were smoking. But there weren’t many, and I was right down close to the water – so I decided to brave it. Lis, meanwhile, had finished her breakfast and made her way back to the Observation Lounge, where she eventually scored a seat right in front.

There was lots of ice, and the initial announcement from the bridge was “There’s lots of ice so we probably won’t be able to get close. We’ll see what we can do.” But then the captain and the ice pilot (who had come on the ship early this morning, along with a couple Tlingit women who did some interesting commentary over the PA system) were able to patiently wriggle us through the ice field, right up to the glacier. The destination specialist, Dr. Clark (or Dr. Valium, as one of our cocktail party friends had dubbed him) said that he hadn’t been this close to the glacier all of last summer. It was incredibly cool, and I felt very lucky.

Once we were in position, the captain came on and said we were going to stay here for a bit “so you can all get your pictures.” We stayed near the glacier about 45 minutes to an hour. The ship slowly turned, so that everyone had a good view. And once we were stationary, with the engines cut, we started being able to hear the thunder of the glaciers calving. At first, I was never able to see the actual calving, as the sound would reach us after the ice had fallen, but by the time we left I had become more practiced, and as we were leaving I saw this enormous sheet fall off, followed by a tremendous roar. It was very impressive.

Then it was time to leave the glacier and head toward Seward. We hung out in the room, starting to look at the pictures I had madly taken all morning. But there were a lot, and it was too much for Lis – she nodded off about halfway through and had a nice little pre-lunch nap. We did eventually look at them all, but haven’t yet started the job of culling them down to a reasonable amount.

There was an international barbeque on the pool deck – it was very good. I had ribs (excellent) and salad and fried potatoes. Lis had glass noodles, some sushi and half a hamburger (truly international, that girl). Then back to the room for more lounging and napping. Then it was time for trivia. We met our team of yesterday, and for the second day in row tied for first place and got tokens. In fact, we only missed one question. This time we also stayed for bingo (we made sure we were ready for the evening before we left the room, so there would be bingo time) but didn’t win anything.

As we were heading for the reception area, Lis was debating whether we should say anything about the spotty special diet of the last couple days. We figured we should talk to the hotel director, and were trying to decide the best way to go about contacting him, when he came striding around the corner. Lis flagged him down and told him our issues – he seemed appropriately concerned and said he would talk to the food and beverage manager. We didn’t have another specially prepared meal – managed to snag a seat in Latitudes after a cancellation – so we don’t know the results of our talk, though they were very solicitous in Latitudes.

Before dinner, it was the farewell cocktail party and crew talent show in the Constellation Theater. This was the first show we made it to, and I loved it very much. The crew members put on several numbers, and they were all great fun – particularly the YMCA number. There was a tall girl who was not a very good dancer, and not a very good singer (she had a solo), but was so clearly enjoying herself so completely that she was my favorite. Apparently I was not the only one who felt this way, because when they introduced the soloists she got the loudest hand, even though this other young man was a much better singer. Then more crew members marched out and we applauded them all, and then it was time for dinner.

Now we are packing our stuff to put outside, which is always a bit melancholy, but it was basically the perfect final sea day, so we feel happy. We’ve ordered room service coffee and tea and are going to bundle up and have a bon voyage balcony sit.

Links to Seward photos and videos from the cruise

6-4-08

And so arrives our last morning on the ship. I woke up early and was able to watch our approach in to Seward from the balcony. It was a foggy morning, so I was only able to get a glimpse of the snow capped peaks that surrounded us on all sides. Later, when the fog lifted some, we were able to see that Seward is in a gorgeous physical location. The town is very pleasant, too – we both liked Seward very much, and decided to try to have our next Alaska cruise be a Southbound, so we can start in Seward and maybe spend a couple days beforehand.

As we were coming in to Seward, I noticed a log floating by, which appeared to have a bird on each end. Then I noticed that one of the birds was moving about, but in a way I’d never seen a bird move before. Upon closer inspection, I realized that it was a sea otter floating on her back, and the moving bird was her feet. There she was in the middle of the shipping lane, with a cruise ship going by on one side and a bunch of fishing boats going by on the other, just idly floating, completely unconcerned. I didn’t have time to run in the cabin to get binocs or camera, so just watched her go by.

After we docked, I continued to sit on the balcony, as it was too early yet to go to breakfast. Lis was in bed reading. After several minutes, I noticed a log floating in my direction, but this time it only took me a moment to realize that this log was my otter pal again. I called for Lis, and because we weren’t moving, and the otter was moving very slowly, I was able to get camera and binocs this time. She floated right under us. I wasn’t able to get too close with the camera, as we don’t have that much of a zoom, but with the binoculars we were able to see her very close, and watch her fluff her fur, look around at the ship, and then settle in to what looked like a nap. We watched her for a long time, but eventually she roused herself and swam away, plus it was time for breakfast.

We had laid out our stuff the night before, so got dressed, packed our carry on bags with the last of our stuff (we packed our big bags last night and set them outside our door) and departed our lovely cabin for the last time. We had a lovely breakfast, as always, in La Veranda (we decided that our favorite meal was breakfast in La Veranda) and then waited in the Library for our group to be called for debarkation. Our group was the last group, and we used the restroom one last time after our group was called – and so ended up being the very last passengers off the ship. Lisa, from the social staff, said “We were wondering where the girls were, and thought maybe we should just keep you.” It was very cute.

In Seward we took the trolley shuttle to the Train Wreck, a little mall comprised of three old train cars. There we were able to store our bags with the Exit Glacier Guides folks for ten bucks. Thus unencumbered, we walked to the Alaska SeaLife Center to pass the time until lunch. It was very nice. For lunch we found an excellent restaurant called Yoly’s Bistro – I had a very good hamburger, and Lis had an excellent chicken curry with peanut sauce. Highly recommend this restaurant to anyone spending any time in Seward.

My brother and his wife, who live in Anchorage, had very kindly offered to come pick us up in Seward and take us to the B&B we were staying at in Anchorage. They picked us up after lunch, and we headed north. Along the way we stopped at Exit Glacier, and hiked up to it. It was very cool – apparently one of the few hike-up-to-it glaciers around. The scenery was spectacular, and the glacier impressive – we could hear it making little sounds, and hear the melt water that was running underneath it.

We continued the drive to Anchorage, which has some of the most amazing scenery. We were hoping to see some moose along the way, as they are apparently often spotted at various points, but were out of luck (though we did see tons of moose droppings at the glacier). We stopped for dinner at the Double Musky, a restaurant located near the Alyeska Resort. When you walk in, it just looks like any other rural tavern you’ve ever been in, but it’s actually a 5 star restaurant, and the food was excellent and the portions huge. I just had an appetizer, and it was more than enough food. Then we drove through the resort, then went to my brother’s house for a bit and met their dog, and then it was time to head to the B&B.

We were staying at the Big Bear Bed & Breakfast in Anchorage. My brother was worried about its location (apparently not in the best part of town), but we decided to risk it (both of us having lived in dicey parts of towns before), and it wasn’t bad – though as my brother drove away there were about a million police car sirens going off somewhere near by. I asked him the next day if he had found that comforting – his wife said they had considered calling us to make sure we were ok. But no other incidents and we had a pretty good night’s sleep.

The B&B was a true B&B – a regular home, not an inn or hotel. It was full to overflowing with all sorts of Alaska bric-a-brac – bear skins and ivories and native art and pelts and figurines and antlers and such. At first I almost recoiled, I found it so over-stimulating. But once I adjusted it was really quite fascinating, like being in a museum. Every item had some sort of story, most close to the family – the two bear skins had been shot by the innkeeper’s father and grandfather, the oil paintings of natives and locals had been done by her mother, etc. And the breakfast was amazingly excellent. But I’m not sure it was the best choice at the end of a vacation, when you’re tired and want to get home, and socializing with even more people you don’t know starts to feel like a real chore indeed.

The next day my brother and his wife picked us up to take us to lunch and then the airport for our 2pm flight. We ate at the Sourdough Mining Company, and had another very good meal – we ate as well or better off the boat in Seward and Anchorage as we did on the boat, thanks in part of course to our excellent local tour guides. My brother and his wife were wonderful hosts, showing us the sights and taking us to great dining establishments, plus buying us a National Geographic Book about Alaska and a book of the Double Musky recipes – they were really great, and it was great seeing them. And then it was time to board our flight and come home.

(Note to future Alaska travelers: don’t try to load stuff up in a cooler with ice, tape it up, and check it as baggage – they will make you dump the ice out. Can’t tell you how many people we saw dumping ice out of coolers at the curb, and then sending their salmon steaks or reindeer sausage through sans cooling.)

Not much of a blog post here – just wanted to post a link to the photos we took of the ship itself. Enjoy.