Alaska 2023

 Glacier Bay is a magical place for me.  It's a long fjord with many glaciers and a lot of wildlife to be discovered.  Early this morning around 6am in the fog, a small catamaran with 5 persons (2 rangers, 2 National Geographic Alaska employees, and one State of Alaska employee) arrived and boarded the stationary Noordam via a rope ladder.  We did awaken until around 8am but enjoyed a scenic view out our obstructed view cabin and Ranger commentary from our TV.  Mountain goats were spotted, but we did not see them. After breakfast and checking Jakob into Club HAL, we spent the rest of the day around the ship admiring the stunning views.  At the Marjorie Glacier the Captain rotated the ship 180 degrees so all could take in the view.  There was one small calving (ice breaking off the glacier wall. We then  took a one hour break for lunch and at 2pm attended a Ranger talk in the Main Stage.  Afterwards there was a wildlife spotting time on the af...

 Skagway is an interesting city for me. I first visited Skagway when I rode my Goldwing motorcycle to Alaska in 2009 with 3 other fellows.  We rode down the pass into Skagway and spent the night here before catching the Alaska ferry to Haines from which we rode up to the Haines Junction some 140 miles in probably the prettiest highway I've ridden on in the world. Since then we've visited Skagway by cruise ship 3-4 times and enjoyed it each time.  It's a town that exists for two reasons:  Tourism during the summer and it's a year round petroleum terminal for the interior year round. About 700 people live here during the winter and 10,000 cruise ship passengers per day visit the city.   This trip I had pre-booked an afternoon excursion to the Musher Camp and we were able to get on standby for a morning city tour and bus trip up the pass.  The morning bus trip included a visit to the local historic cemetery.  While there, our guide mentioned that there wa...

 I grew up in my early years in Juneau and have fond memories of it.  We arrived around 10am to a dry but a low clouds day.  Still, we decided to take the Mt. Roberts Raven tram which we had booked on the ship and spotted our first bald eagle perched high in a tree along the way.  As our cable car reached the platform we were totally engulfed in clouds with no visibility. We walked around around the complex and noted that the raptor center was closed (permanently we later learned).  We enjoyed the Tlingit documentary movie in the theater before eating lunch in the cafe.  It was quite good and reasonably priced. From time to time the clouds would break and we could see Douglas Island across the Gastineau Channel as well as our ship.  We descended on the Eagle tram and caught our shuttle bus out to Auke Bay where we went whale watching.  I booked us with the same company (www.Juneau whale watch.com) as we used last year except that this year we were...

 We arrived in Ketchikan just before 7am and were cleared to get off the ship by 7:10am.  We were berthed right next to the big Welcome to Ketchikan sign.  After breakfast we made our way to Fish Creek and spotted salmon and a seal.  We then made our way to the Logging Show which was really good.  Jakob really liked it.  It only cost $40 per person and less for Jakob, and I don't know why we haven't done it earlier. At this point Angela headed off to do some shopping and Jakob and I went in search of seals.  We found another at the mouth of the creek and got a good picture.   We wandered back to the port area and checked out the stuffed moose and polar bear in the Tongas Trading store where Angela caught up with us.  We purchased a light snack and waited for our next tour to start. At noon we boarded a bus and headed out to Potlatch Park (Jakob spotted an eagle) and viewed many Totem poles, antique cars, and recreations of a native village. ...

 After a strenuous day traveling yesterday we were slow waking up, but we made it to the crowded Lido for breakfast.  We then dropped Jakob off at Club HAL which he absolutely loves. We attended the cruise director's. Erin, coffee chat where she answered random questions.  We then booked a couple of shore excursions and I attended a tech session on Tech for Travelers which covered use of Google Maps, WiFi Maps, and Google Translate.  While the class was too basic for me but I've long championed the need for such a class.  It covered use of both Apple & Android devices.  In the afternoon I attended a similar session on the best practices for use of one's phone camera.  Both presentations were given by Erin, Cruise & Travel Director. We also attended a Mariner reception which was pretty sparsely attended. I did, however, got to chat with Albert, an executive Housekeeper, who sailed with us to Australia last year on the Westerdam  We enjoyed ...

 Embarkation day for our Alaska cruise was finally here.  We were awake by 6:30am and our son picked us up at 8am and dropped us off at the Courtyard by Marriott hotel in Tukwila.  Our bus was there but we had to wait for Alan from Travel With Alan (our tour company this year) to arrive, but a line had already formed.  We were quickly out on the first bus with 49 of our closest new friends.  Jim, our driver had driven down from Vancouver after having gotten up at 4am.  After a short orientation talk by Alan, we were off about 10 minutes early. The drive up I-405 and I-5 was smooth and we made total use of the commuter lane.  We made a 20 minute rest & comfort stop at McDonald's in Bellingham and received Canadian customs forms to complete.  At the Canadian border were all ushered off and had a face to face encounter with a border guard.  Our grandson got the bulk of the questions and we passed with flying colors.  All totaled the sto...

 The long awaited cruise is almost ready to happen.  It's the night before our departure and we are all ready to cruise northbound on the Noordam including our 10 year old grandson, Jakob, who is taking his first cruise.  He's pretty excited after hearing the trip report last year from his older sister who took her first cruise on the southbound version of this voyage.  There was a bit of separation anxiety for him from his mother as he's not done this sort of thing before, but he seems to be over that. He's full of expectation and we outfitted him with an old iPhone to use as a camera which totally thrilled him. I'll post a daily entry in this blog and occasionally I'll include a picture or two.  Most of my pictures will be on Facebook and accessible by my friends and on Cruise Critic in the Holland America board in my thread titled " BTimmer's Almost Live Land/Sea Alaska Cruise (7/23/23-8/25/23)"  The weather looks to be excellent and we are prep...