Category: Alaska

Sailing back to Canada on our Anniversary

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Saturday, September 23, 2023 was, apparently, the autumnal equinox, thus the first day of autumn or Astronomical fall. Meteorological fall, I am told, began back on September 1. For us, neither date carries as much significance as September 24 which is today and the 57th anniversary of September 24, 1966. Our wedding day. I know Gail will be proof reading this so if I got it wrong I may need a CARE flight home.

Since we left Ketchikan last evening we have made good time. This morning we emerged into the open ocean south of Haida Gwai. There has been a strong wind and moderate seas. I’m convinced there are pot holes in the ocean too and every so often we hit one and the ship shudders. Looking at the waves beside the ship I can see the foam caps on the waves being blown away as mist. It’s a pretty sight with the sun making the foam and mist almost glow. We move south between Vancouver Island and the British Columbia mainland, most of which is mountains and fjords. The sea appears calmer as we get more shelter from the island. We will weave through an archipelago of smaller islands as we make our way south. Our scheduled arrival in Victoria is 09:00 Monday morning. We are hoping for a nice day ashore but the weather forecast has not been promising but the current forecast is now suggesting the rain will end during the morning.

I have not mentioned much about the Crown Princess, our ship for this voyage. She first sailed in June 2006 but had an extensive refurbishment in 2018. The design of the ship marks its age and telltale signs of her age can be seen in stateroom decor and an occasional bit of rust. She sails well regardless of weather conditions and provides passengers with a comfortable ride. Crown Princess, indeed no Princess ship carries entertainment such as waterslides or carnival rides. The exterior decks feature swimming pools and hot tubs. There is also a large movie screen outdoors which is extremely popular in tropical locations but less so with conditions this trip.

There are three large dining rooms in use for dinner meals but only one is operational for breakfast and lunch when the ship is in port. There is a large buffet area with three serving areas. two of them operate slightly different hours to accommodate changeovers from breakfast to lunch and lunch to dinner. There is a third serving area that seems to provide speciality items. One day it was the “Crab Shack” and today it is serving a huge array of desserts. There are numerous other areas serving food. A burger place, pizza place, Ice cream shop and a cafe serving a variety of sandwiches desserts and fruit. So far everything is included as part the fare for all passengers. Bars serving juice, soft drinks and alcohol are not included but can be purchased individually or in packaged offerings. A Gastro Pub, Steak House and Italian Restaurant are available for a fixed cover charge again, individually or as part of a package of offerings. 

On to the staterooms. Many comedians on cruise ships focus part of their performance on staterooms and rightfully so. Staterooms come in several classifications; inside (no windows), ocean view (windows), balcony (windows that open), mini-suites and suites with various sub-classifications depending upon where they are on the ship. Much humorous focuses on the vacuum toilet systems which can be rather surprising if it’s a first experience. The reality on ships (and planes) is that extra weight costs passengers so big pipes are a no no. Thus a vacuum system that sucks human waste from your toilet at mach 1 (that is what it sounds like). Target two is the showers. Traditionally, inside, ocean view and balcony rooms have been equipped with shower stalls. The humour suggests that the only way to use them is to soap up the walls than cram your body in and rotate. It’s not quite that bad bud if you are taller or heavier than average, they will feel cramped. The third target is often water temperature or pressure. Most often water pressure is fine but occasionally not so. Temperature, on the other hand, can be challenging. Princess showers have two controls, one for water volume and the second for temperature. Sounds perfect. Not so much. On this ship turn it up to full volume then adjust the temperature. The temperature is too cool starting from the cold end until you reach 95% of the way to the hot setting at which the flow becomes lobster boiling temp. Now when the temperature knob is turned back to cold the temp stays sizzling until it gets 95% of the way to cold. Now you spend the next few minutes doing from too cold to too hot until you find the sweet spot. Having found it you might expect that turning the water off and leaving the temperature setting alone that tomorrow you would not need to re-adjust the temperature—and you would be wrong!

Ships today have health and beauty spas and gyms with exercise machines and various group classes as well as individual services offered. Trivia is a common entertainment targeting music, theatre, geography and history to name only a few topics. There is almost always karaoke sometimes competitive versions. Almost every bar provides a venue for musical entertainers. Typical complement is a ship’s orchestra of six or eight pieces, a “party” band of three or four, a couple of duos vocal and instrumental plus one or two solo musicians. These groups rotate through the numerous venues. There is usually a main theatre stage hosting guest musicians, comedians, Vegas style shows that includes a small song and dance troupe. Dance floors associated with the bars are becoming less and less common. 

On this cruise we came across a lovely husband and wife duo performing as Plus 2. They appear to have adopted us and encourage us to dance. Tonight after a really good steak dinner at the Crown Grill we went to the Wheelhouse Bar to dance for an hour with Plus 2. They made too big a thing announcing our 57th anniversary but we smiled. We also allowed a couple of the ship’s photographers to take a few posed pictures of us. Tomorrow we will see if they are worth taking home.

I have only a few photos of the trip today which I well try to post with tomorrow’s collection.

Melody Lee, Moon Gypsy

I may be lost, but I’m traveling the right way.

Weather Forecasters are not always correct

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Finally, we have arrived in Sitka. Still raining. It looks like the port is nearly 10 km from the centre of the town. Not walking distance in this weather. We’re berthed beside the Seabourn Odyssey (32,346 Gross Tons), a very small ship by comparison with the Crown Princess (113,500 Gross Tons). 

We wandered around the ship when suddenly around 1:30 the rain stopped, a rainbow filled the sky and then the sun came out, although I suppose it was the reverse order, technically. We grabbed our jackets and went ashore for a short walk. The shuttle bus to the town was no longer available as the reboarding time was 3:30. So we grabbed a couple of photos, checked the shops, found nothing of interest then returned. By 2:45 the sky was again overcast and rain had resumed.

Last evening as we made our way toward the Wheelhouse bar we encountered group of several officers from the Housekeeping department. I interrupted them suggesting humorously that they should be working. The group consisted of two Australians, two Croatians and a Romanian woman not in uniform. As it turned out, the woman was quite familiar with the Princess smartphone app so, not being too shy, I suggested the app’s user interface might need a bit of work. Well now, I got a long, complicated  explanation of how parts to the system worked but never an explanation of how the interface might be made for “non-techie” individuals. We departed without creating any enemies although I suspect that if she sees me walking around she may choose to make herself busy elsewhere. 

Her name, I believe, was Maria. I mentioned the fact that my Medallion did not work nearly as well as Gail’s when opening the stateroom door. The system recognizes Gail’s device from several metres away. I had to bring mine up to the sensor panel by the door for it to work. Well, she replaced it but this one worked even more poorly. On our way to dinner I visited Guest Services, the modern name for the Purser. They too replaced my Medallion. At first I thought it worked better but I was wrong. Still needed to make contact with the panel. So, this morning I shall make yet another visit to Guest Services. This visit resulted in a battery replacement for the module attached to the door. All I can say is, “technology must be wonderful…if and when it works”.

Speaking of this morning, we have arrived in Ketchikan and it is raining lightly. However, we are berthed near the town centre so we can take advantage of pauses in the rain. Late this morning we did leave the ship for a walk around and picked up a few things. It began to sprinkle a bit as we returned but it has not become a real rain storm yet, in fact there has been little rain at all, contrary to the forecast.

Tomorrow is a sea day then Sunday is our final port, Victoria, before returning to Vancouver. I shall see what I can dream up for a post on a sea day.

Lawrence Block

Our happiest moments as tourists always seem to come when we stumble upon one thing while in pursuit of something else.

Raining, again or still

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Since our visit to the Hubbard Glacier the sea has been mostly calm but there have been a few noticeable swells. As we sail south toward Juneau the sky is becoming less clear  and if the overcast develops the chance of aurora diminishes. However, there are reports that aurora was seen briefly late on Sept 19. Since then there has been no possibility because of the overcast.

We did get off the ship and wander the streets of Juneau. The vast majority of shops along the street are jewelry stores with great prices if one is in the market. The remaining shops offered souvenirs ranging from trinkets to t-shirts to art work. By noon the rain had begun. By evening passengers were returning to the ship completely drenched. By departure time, 8:30 pm the rain was very heavy. This morning weather services were reporting the possibility of serious flooding.

Today, Thursday, September 21, we are in Skagway berthed beside a pier that we cannot use. There are four shuttles operating to take passengers ashore. There was an interesting announcement about the use of the ship’s small craft. On past cruises tendering has been done by the ship’s survival craft. Today we were advised that not all of the survival craft could be used as shuttles because they were certified only as survival craft. I find this strange. It creates many unanswerable questions beyond the simple “why?” It seems to me that any craft suitable for emergency rescue should be more than capable of short distance passenger shuttle service in calm seas. Oh, well.

Since tendering is being done from the port side we are sitting looking out windows on the starboard side. It is an almost vertical rock face displaying a great deal of graffiti. Its location suggests there have been some very imaginative graffiti authors. It is this rock face which is the problem. Beginning with a 2017 earthquake a rock slide did major damage to the port. Subsequent smaller slides and concerns for a possible monster slide has kept a section of the port closed. Click this link for more information about the slides.

I think it’s time for a major complaint to Princess. Their technology is discriminatory. The doors to our stateroom are controlled by devices called Medallions that we carry with us. The door to our stateroom unlocks for Gail a couple of metres before she reaches the door. It refuses to respond to my Medallion until I bang it against the sensor panel. I call that discrimination. Don’t you? Actually, the technology is working reasonably well for onboard navigation, which I don’t need personally, but many find it works well. Through a smartphone app many other things are supposedly doable. The room TVs are also controlled through a parallel system. All I can say, as can many with whom I have spoken, the user interface SUCKS. The list is way too long to mention here except to say that responses are generally too slow and that navigation through the app or TV interface is inconsistent and unpredictable.  It claims to be version 4.13.2. Perhaps by version 10 everything will work? I hate to think how bad version 1 must have been.

Douglas Adams, The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul

It can hardly be a coincidence that no language on earth has ever produced the expression, ‘As pretty as an airport.

A Perfect Day at the Glacier

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 Our original itinerary took us to Sitka on September 17. Well, that has been moved to September 22. We last saw the sun as we were entering the Queen Charlotte Strait, just north of Vancouver Island. Since then the skies have become grey and rain has intensified. Icy Strait Point is east of several islands whereas Sitka is exposed to the North Pacific. Hubbard Glacier is still on the itinerary even though it is accessed through a narrow channel. So, as of dinner time September 17 we are still at sea.

The seas have been moderate. Some passengers feel it more than others but I’m sure it is preferable to what we would have experienced had we attempted to reach Sitka. However, just at dinner time, 6 to 8 pm, we were exposed to the ocean as we came around one island and before we could be sheltered by another island. That was when we felt the 5 metre swells. It’s then you realize the ocean can toss our ship around like a toy.

This Monday morning, September 18, we find ourselves berthed at a place called Icy Strait Point. Our exact position is 58.135222 degrees north and 135.450714 degrees west. It is a Tlingit indigenous community noted historically for a fish cannery It is now the only private cruise ship port. Today’s temperature is listed as 10 degrees celsius (50 ° F) with overcast and occasional rain. Later in the afternoon the rain stopped and we took a very short walk ashore. Although we did not get to the village we did get to stretch our legs a bit.

The entertainment has been quite enjoyable. The production show “Encore” was extremely well done. Vocalists and dancers performed brilliantly with excellent orchestral support. We have found that there are four groups each of which has something to offer. A husband and wife duo, “Plus 2”, performs danceable material. Dave Barrett is a guitar and vocal entertainer who is very listenable and, occasionally, danceable. The party band is called “Ocean Club” and plays a lot of rock and latin tunes that are typically way too long for dancing beginning to end. We have met a couple from Vernon, BC who also enjoy dancing. Jillian and I have joined forces to dance things our significant others don’t like. We managed to get Ocean Club to play a salsa that didn’t last more than five minutes although it was close. There is also a string duo, “Mimosa Strings”, that play a lot of classical favourites and perhaps a tango or two.

The morning of Tuesday, September 19 was fantastic. Sun was brilliant and skies were clear. When we awoke at 06:30 we were just entering Yakutat Bay. Mount St Elias was poking up through the clouds. We progressed up the bay into Disenchantment Bay and the Hubbard Glacier came into view just as we were finishing breakfast. Once near the glacier the ship was rotated 360° such that everyone having an ocean view would be able to see the spectacle. So although it was not necessary we did go up to Skywalker’s Lounge on deck 18, almost the highest point in the ship. The ship made its way slowly back out to sea and toward our next port of call, Juneau.

The photo collection from Sept 16 to 19 should give you some idea of the change in weather. It would be nice if the weather remained as it was today particularly since the aurora may be visible through a clear sky.

Jennifer Lee

Be fearless in the pursuit of what sets your soul on fire.