In need of relaxation and wanting to check at least one item off my bucket list after a season of revisiting familiar ports, I decided to take a cruise to Alaska. I had been scheduled to pilot a houseboat around Lake Shasta for Labor Day Weekend, so was unable to arrive in Vancouver ahead of time. I needed to get up at 3:30 and never did get to sleep the night before because I kept thinking of things I needed to do before leaving.
My flight left San Francisco at 8:15, so I called an Uber at 4:00 and was relieved when I was able to get a driver within fifteen minutes. He delivered me to the Pleasant Hill BART station in plenty of time to catch the first train at 5:03. In fact, I arrived before the BART station opened and had to wait for quite a while before they opened the gates.
I had expected such an early train to be virtually empty, but it turned out to be packed. I was barely able to get a seat. People who boarded at later stations had to stand. The crowd didn’t thin out until after the downtown San Francisco stops. I took the train all the way to the San Francisco airport, arriving there before 6:30.
Everything went smoothly on the first leg of the journey and we actually arrived in Seattle a bit early.
Things started to go sideways in Seattle. Our plane had developed a shimmy in the nose landing gear and was delayed half an hour while they investigated the cause of that. By the time the plane was pronounced good to go, we had missed our time slot to land in Vancouver. We sat on the tarmac for another half an hour until we were cleared to head for Vancouver. I was supposed to meet my transfer to the ship by 13:00. We didn’t take off until 11:25.
The Vancouver airport was a zoo. They herded us through hall after hall of snaking lines until we finally reached passport control, requiring over an hour. Another lengthy walk brought us to the baggage carousel where we were surprised to find that our luggage had not yet arrived. We waited another thirty minutes before our baggage appeared. By that time, it was well past 13:00 and, if I had looked at my travel documents, I would have known that I was supposed to call Princess Cruises to inform them I was late.
Fortunately, Princess had representatives at the airport. I was not the only passenger stuck on that plane. There must have been a dozen of us. They herded all of us onto a bus to take a very slow drive through Vancouver traffic to the cruise terminal. When I finally reached the check-in desk, the cavernous hall was empty. Somehow, my key card was missing and there was further delay while that was sorted out. They hurried me onto the Coral Princess without it because I was virtually the last passenger to board.
I barely had time to drop my things in my room before rushing to the mandatory safety meeting at 16:00. We sailed at 16:30.
Not having slept or eaten since a muffin at the San Francisco Airport, I was exhausted. I went up to the Lido deck to watch us sail under the Lion’s Gate Bridge. I got a glass of sangria, grabbed a hamburger from the poolside grill, and tried to enjoy the scenery. It was beautiful, but I was too tired to appreciate it and the party atmosphere only annoyed me. I returned to my stateroom to take a nap.
My stateroom was basic, but nice. There was a queen sized bed with room to walk around it and a nice vanity/desk, refrigerator, and 40” TV. There was ample closet space, a safe, and a small but functional private bath. I had a picture window but my only view was of a lifeboat. I unpacked and lay down for a couple of hours rest.
As much as I wanted to sleep straight through until morning, I knew that my trip would be more fun if I met some interesting people. I got up for the solo travelers’ get together at 20:00. There, I met four other ladies traveling alone. We chatted for an hour and a half or so while I had a beer. We were all adventurous women who had done a lot of solo travel. We were also tired. By 21:30, the party broke up and we returned to our cabins to sleep. I slept like the dead.
It was 7:30 by the time I finally awoke. I had already missed the morning fitness class and the “fitness center” was kind of a joke, offering nothing in the way of exercise equipment for general use. I ran around the Lido deck for half an hour. My fitness tracker recorded my running four minute miles, no doubt because the ship was doing sixteen knots. It was so foggy that I could barely see the surface of the water. It was cold enough that I could run in my fleece and so wet that I had to keep wiping the water off my glasses. The ship’s horn was blasted at regular intervals and nearly blew me off the deck as I passed directly beneath it.
When my run was over, I took advantage of already being on the Lido deck to stop by the breakfast buffet. The ship seemed very concerned about disease transmission and required everyone to wash our hands before entering the dining room. The buffet was extensive. There was no way I could try even a small fraction of the choices. I selected some eggs and a big bowl of fruit, allowing myself a small serving of bread pudding, which turned out to be delightful. Coffee and juice were included with breakfast, although they had to be purchased during the rest of the day.
I really wanted to see the morning movie, but couldn’t fit it in with two other activities that I thought would enhance the remainder of my trip.
I chose to attend a presentation for first-time cruisers at 10:00. I had hoped to learn about how to get the most out of my cruise, but it turned out to be a total waste of time. There were games and they tried to sell us future cruises, but I didn’t learn anything useful. After 45 minutes, I returned to my stateroom to practice the guitar.
The other thing I wanted to do that morning was attend the luncheon for solo travelers. Two of the women I had met the night before, Melissa and Ann, were there along with two more single women who were traveling together. We barely got to know them because they took one look at the menu and decided to eat somewhere else. Melissa, Ann and I had quite a nice lunch. The menu was actually quite varied, so we couldn’t determine what they were missing unless they lived on pizza. I had pea soup and a cheesesteak, but had also been tempted by chicken korma, salads, and pasta. I passed on dessert, but Ann ordered a lovely fruit tart. We ate in the Bordeaux dining room, which was my assigned dining room. I was quite pleased, although Melissa reported receiving very slow service for breakfast. Ann and I both recommended the Lido Deck buffet.
After lunch, I went to see a presentation (read promotion) about the lumberjack show in Ketchikan. The brief video was probably enough lumberjacking for me. They did stage an amusing axe throwing competition between two teams of passengers and the young professional “timber athlete” who hosted the show was nice to look at. He was actually from Florida and had arrived at being a professional “timber athlete” by a circuitous route. That presentation was followed by an interesting lecture about humpback whales where I ran into Eva, one of the women I had met the previous night. Eva and I agreed to meet for dinner at 17:00 when the restaurant opened. It was early, but the evening held so many other activities that we couldn’t find another opportunity to eat.
Thursday was my birthday and I wanted to celebrate with a nice dinner. The ship had planned a formal evening to spice up our day at sea. Since I spend most of my time hiking and sailing, I seldom have a reason to dress up. I enjoyed putting on a dress and jewelry that I had owned for years but never worn. Eva and I met at 17:00 and joined a table with six other guests. I started with an interesting fruit salad
dressed with rum tapioca, followed by delightful leg of lamb with green beans and roasted potatoes. I splurged and washed it down with a glass of proseco. Dessert was crème brulee. Only after I had eaten dessert did they realize it was my birthday and bring me a brownie topped with chocolate mousse. It was a nice gesture, but I’m not a big fan of brownies. I only ate one bite and was glad I had ordered the crème brulee instead.
The ship was having auditions for their own version of
The Voice. I had contemplated singing, but got there too late to sign up. This was probably a good thing because the competition was stiff. After that, I ran into Hope, one of the other single women, at the bar where the first installment of a mystery theater was due to unfold. We chatted a bit and then watched the show. The production was a bit cheesy, but quite elaborate, requiring regular attendance at different events to gather clues. It was something to do. Hope and I agreed to meet for breakfast to review the evidence and then retired for the evening.
September 6, 2019
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| Seaplane Marina in Ketchikan |
I woke at 6:00 and found us already docked in Ketchikan. I had planned on attending the fitness class at 7:00, but was the only person out of 2,000 who showed up. The class was cancelled. I wasn’t due to meet Hope for breakfast until 9:00, so I spent a couple of hours sitting in the card room, watching the ships and sea planes come and go in the busy harbor.
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| Ketchikan Could Accommodate Six Cruise Ships |
There were six cruise ships in town, more than doubling the population. At just under 14,000 people, Ketchikan is the fourth largest city in Alaska. When there are six cruise ships in town, it swells to the third largest city. Tourism and salmon are the only remaining industries. The cutting of timber in the Tongass National Forest had become so limited as not to be economically viable. The pulp mill closed down and was imploded. The town had to reinvent itself.
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| Ketchikan Was a Tourist Town |
I ate breakfast with Hope and her mother and passed off the “evidence” from the night before. Then I headed down to the dock to meet up with my tour group. I had chosen to go on a canoeing excursion and nature walk in the Tongass National Forest. The Tongass National Forest is the world’s largest temperate rainforest and also the largest national forest in the United States, encompassing 17 million acres. It is roughly the size of West Virginia. It is virtually closed to logging because old growth trees sequester so much more carbon than new trees. Its role in cleaning our air is irreplaceable.
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| Lake Harriet Hunt |
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| Canoes on Lake Harriet Hunt |
We boarded a bus and drove to Lake Harriet Hunt, which was as far inland as one could go on public roads. The lake was about a mile across and we paddled to the far side and around a boggy island. All around us were the skeletons of yellow cedar trees. The yellow cedars have tender roots that are susceptible to extreme cold. In the past, a layer of snow insulated those roots during the winter. As the weather warmed, not enough snow remained on the ground to protect the roots and the trees began to die. Only in the boggy areas where the mucky soil better insulates the roots do the yellow cedars remain. In the rest of the forest, red cedars are gradually replacing the yellow ones. In addition to cedars, the forest was composed of Sitka spruce and hemlocks.
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| Tongass National Forest |
The thin soil does not encourage the growth of seedlings, so most young trees sprout on decaying logs. As they grow, the roots eventually reach the ground. The logs gradually rot away, leaving trees growing on stilts. The hollows under these trees provide homes for animals who would not be able to burrow into the rocky soil.
After paddling around the island and stopping to hear our shouts echoing around the lake basin, we stopped at a small camp where we took a short walk through the rainforest to learn about the trees and then had cocoa, delightful clam chowder, and sourdough bread with homemade raspberry jam. After our snack, we paddled back to the bus and returned to Ketchikan, arriving about 14:00.
The ship sailed again at 15:00.
I went to a lecture on glaciers and then joined another table of interesting people for dinner at 17:00. I never ate that early, but there were so many interesting things to do in the evenings that the only way to pack them in was to eat early. As it was, dinner took so long that I missed the 18:15 show I had wanted to attend. I barely had time to put on warmer clothes and head up to the top of the ship to look for whales as we passed through Snow Passage.
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| Snow Passage |
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| Humpback Whales Feeding in Snow Passage |
Whales appeared right on schedule at 19:15 and we got to see a group bubble netting and feeding, as well as other lone whales. Whales will swim in circles and blow bubbles to "trap" schools of fish. When they have gathered enough fish, they rise up from beneath and scoop the fish into their throats. We watched whales until it got dark. Then I put on even more clothing, grabbed a blanket and stayed on deck to watch
Dark Phoenix under the stars. I enjoyed the movie, but it was a good thing it didn’t last any longer because I had become very cold. It felt good to return to my stateroom and crawl under the warm comforter.
September 7, 2019
When I awoke, we were already alongside the dock in Juneau. I got up about 7:00 and went up to the breakfast buffet before 8:00. Everyone was eager to get off the ship and the dining room was packed. I had to take my breakfast out to a table beside the pool because no seats were available indoors. I had nothing scheduled until 13:15 and Juneau wasn’t that big a place, so I went to the coffee bar and relaxed over a latte while I took advantage of getting cellular internet from the local towers.
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| The Gastineaux Channel |
When my coffee was done, I left the ship to explore Juneau. Juneau has only about 32,000 year-round residents. Being the capital of Alaska, half of the residents work at government jobs. The rest work in tourism or salmon fishing. Juneau is not an island but it is impossible to drive there because it is isolated from the rest of the state by the Juneau ice field to the east. Juneau lies on the Gastineaux Channel which separates the city from Douglas Island. North of the bridge to the island, the channel becomes very shallow and is navigable only at high tide.
The flat part of Juneau was all man made, being constructed from tailings produced by gold mines. The filled areas were originally very artificial looking. Recently, efforts have been made to soften the outlines and create habitat for wildlife. The result is a lovely “Seawalk” culminating in the beautiful Whale Park just before the bridge.
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| Downtown Juneau |
I sped along the boardwalk from the cruise ship docks, turning a blind eye to all the tourist shops. When I reached downtown, I turned inland and climbed the hill to the capitol building and the governor’s house. Locals tell that Sarah Palin refused to stay in the house because the neighbors’ chickens drove her crazy. It was a lovely house with a beautiful view of the channel. I continued on past the governor’s house and wound my way through a charming residential neighborhood of Victorian bungalows and down to the Harris Harbor where I checked out the local marinas. The huge tidal swings in the area left the boats far below the land at low tide.
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| The Tahku Whale Sculpture |
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| Harris Harbor |
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| Governor's Mansion |
From the harbor, I walked across the bridge to Douglass and then back over to the Whale Park where I took many pictures of the life-sized sculpture of a humpback whale breaching. Then I continued back along the “Seawalk” to the cruise ship docks, where I caved in and bought a fleece vest for $9.99 at an end-of-season sale.
Returning to the ship, the buffet appeared to be closed for lunch. (Actually, I later learned that the other door was open.) I grabbed a couple of slices of pizza from the pizzeria for lunch and then disembarked, once again, for my bus ride to the Mendenhall Glacier.
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| The Mendenhall Glacier |
At first, I was quite disappointed that the glacier had receded so far from the park that we were separated from it by a big lake. However, the scenery was so captivating and the afternoon so sunny and warm that I soon put that aside and enjoyed hiking out to Nugget Falls and taking many photographs. The glacial debris in the water made the lake exceptionally blue and there were a few big icebergs floating around in it. I left the path and walked along the beach as I returned.
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| Nugget Falls |
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| Rock Art at Mendenhall |
Later, I headed over to Steep Creek hoping to see bears and salmon. There were still a few salmon in the creek but I didn’t see any bears. While September was a great time to see many things, we had arrived too late to see bears scooping salmon from the rivers. I did see a raven the size of a turkey, a kingfisher, and a great blue heron. I also walked the Trail of Time, stopping to read the plaques that showed how the glacier had receded over the past century, having once reached as far as today’s visitor center. I returned to the parking lot just in time to catch the return bus at 16:30.
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| Salmon in Steep Creek |
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| Steep Creek |
By the time we returned to the ship and I had changed for dinner, I was too late to make it to dinner at 17:00. Most people were still out and about in Juneau, so there was no one with whom to share a table. I ate a tasty dinner beginning with a quail and venison pate and mesclun salad, followed by an intermezzo of a strawberry and oregano sorbet, gnocchi and chocolate ice cream with butterscotch sauce for dessert.
I was ready for bed after dinner, but dragged myself to a presentation by Libby Riddles, the first woman to win the Iditarod. After that, I wrote for a bit and then went to the second round of auditions for
Voice of the Ocean. The contestants weren’t nearly as good as the first night and I got up the nerve to sing, myself. I wasn’t selected to continue on, which was probably for the best, as it looked to be time consuming.
We had already departed from Juneau while I was at the audition. I decided to go on deck to see what I could see. It was absolutely black. The moon had not yet risen and there wasn’t one single light ashore. Juneau was truly an isolated place. Once my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I could just make out the outlines of the mountains if I shielded my eyes from the deck lighting. It was peaceful. I enjoyed my stroll, but had walked many miles that day and was tired. I went below to sleep before my early start the following day.
September 8, 2019
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White's Pass
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I had originally scheduled a bike ride from the Klondike Summit (White’s Pass) down to Skagway for 11:30. I had chosen that time because I figured it would be the warmest choice. Unfortunately, I had been rescheduled for 8:30 for “operational reasons.” Not only did I have to get up early to be able to eat breakfast before reporting for my tour, but I found myself at the top of the pass at 9:00 in the morning when it was still quite brisk.
There were only five of us in the group. I put on fleece, ear band, down jacket, and gloves and hopped aboard my bicycle. The bikes were mountain bikes with big, knobby tires and excellent disc brakes. I was positioned directly
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| Me Bundled Up |
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| My Bicycle |
behind the guide. As I was not allowed to pass her, I had to brake constantly to maintain my distance. I consider myself a fairly conservative bicyclist, but I would have coasted faster had I been on my own.
White’s Pass was the route that gold seekers took from Skagway to the Yukon back in the gold rush of 1897. Three thousand horses died hauling miner’s gear up that pass. Of the two routes over the coast range, White’s was lower, but it was longer, narrow, muddy, and treacherous. The Chilkoot pass from the town of Dyea was shorter and steeper, with 1500 steps carved into the ice at the top, but turned out to be the safer choice.
By 1900, a railway was completed over White’s Pass, 110 miles were constructed in a record two years, two months, and two days. Today, the highway follows that route as well. Once the railway was completed, the town of Dyea was deserted and Skagway thrived.
Shortly after we began our ride, we passed through a construction zone where we had to ride on gravel and were glad for our mountain bikes’ knobby tires. A new bridge was being constructed over the creek. The old bridge was one of only three cantilevered suspension bridges in the world. Because the bridge spanned an earthquake fault, it was only anchored to one side of the ravine. This design allowed it to move in the event the two sides of the fault traveled in different directions.
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| Bridalveil Falls |
The top of the pass marks the Canadian border. It is so avalanche prone that customs stations could not be constructed there. Instead, the U.S. customs station is ten miles down the valley. We stopped briefly at Bridal Veil Falls and then, again, at a turnout overlooking the White’s Pass & Yukon Railway. Our final stop was at the customs station where our guide went ahead to clear us through, even though we had never actually crossed into Canada. We had been in the “no man’s land,” which made us suspect.
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| The Customs Station |
Once we rolled through customs, we continued down to Skagway, arriving at the Sockeye Cycle Co. by 10:30. The excursions were a lot of fun, but $110 was a lot to pay for an hour and a half on a bicycle, just as $55 had been a lot to pay for a bus ride to the Mendenhall Glacier.
Skagway was a cute frontier town mostly constructed between 1897 and 1900 and retained its original ambiance as much as possible, given that it had been a tourist town ever since the railway was completed. There was one bank (Wells Fargo) and no chain stores other than tourist jewelry shops with branches all over Alaska. I stopped in a sandwich shop located in the former Skagway Social House and enjoyed a latte. I considered taking a ride on the railway, but balked at the $129 fare. Instead, I strolled
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| Train Station |
through the national park visitors’ center, signed up for the 15:00 walking tour, and then walked back to the ship for lunch. I took the scenic route, passing a large RV park and the Skagway Marina.
After lunch, I retired to my cabin to write. The cruise had kept me so busy that it had been difficult to keep up with my blog or practice the guitar.
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| The Skagway Marina |
Before I knew it, it was time to walk back into town to meet my tour.
Of the 100,000 gold seekers who came to Alaska in 1897 and 1898, only 40,000 ever made it to Dawson City in the Yukon. Only about 10% of those ever made any money. Virtually the only ones who ever “struck it rich” were the people who had already been in the area when gold was discovered. By the time news of the strike reached the lower 48 and the stampede arrived, the productive claims had already been staked.
One of the reasons so few ever made it to Dawson City was a Canadian law that required each gold seeker to bring enough supplies to last a year. This resulted in the stampeders needing to haul a literal ton of gear and supplies over one of the passes. Each man had to make as many as forty trips over the pass to Bennett Lake. There, they endured a harsh winter while building boats to float themselves down the Yukon River to the gold fields when the spring thaw came. Most knew nothing about boat building or piloting a wooden boat through treacherous white water. In the spring of 1897, over 7000 boats left Bennett Lake within two days when the thaw came. Over a hundred were wrecked and many lives were lost. When they reached Dawson City and discovered that no productive claims remained, most turned around and went back home.
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| The Moore Homestead |
Not everyone headed to the goldfields to make a fortune. William Moore and his son, Benjamin, came to Skagway in 1887. Skagway being as far inland as one could travel by sea and located at the foot of the lowest pass over the mountains, William gambled that one day it would become an important city. He settled there and built a cabin, sawmill, and pier. Not everything went according to plan. When the stampede did come, he was driven off his land by the stampeders who renamed “Mooresville” Skagway. He did, however, prosper from his other business ventures and, after many years of wrangling with the city of Skagway, eventually regained his property. Today, his homestead is a museum.
By the time the tour ended, I had just enough time to catch the 16:00 movie at the visitors’ center and then walk back to the ship where four five-week-old sled dog puppies were holding a meet and greet in the atrium. The puppies were adorable, but seemed more interested in sleeping than playing with the passengers.
All of the puppies and their admirers had cleared out of the atrium by 18:00 when I returned to collect the latest clues in the ongoing shipboard mystery theater. Then I returned to my room to dress for dinner and reported to the Bordeaux Dining Room where I was pleased to be able to join a large table. I feasted on fillet Mignon and prawns and enjoyed a glass from the bottle of the malbec that I had purchased the previous evening. The dining room staff conveniently saved open bottles of wine for later consumption. This was the one economical thing about drinks on the ship where everything except iced tea and dishwater coffee incurred an additional charge.
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| Leaving Skagway |
I went up to the sun deck to watch our departure from Skagway after dinner. The moon was rising and the scenery was tranquil. I had intended to attend one of the musical productions but it was so lovely and nearly warm outside that I simply grabbed a blanket, stretched out on a chaise, and watched
The Sun is Also a Star, a charming romance, on the big screen under the stars. Even when the movie ended at 22:30, I was reluctant to go below.
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| Outdoor Movie Screen |
September 9, 2019
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| Entering Glacier Bay |
After several days of rushing from port to port and filling my days with activities, I was looking forward to a relaxing day spent cruising through Glacier Bay. That relaxation, however, never materialized. By the time I reported for breakfast at 8:00, every unobstructed place along the sun deck railing was already occupied. I ate quickly and then rushed outside to position myself to take photographs.
All of Glacier Bay was spectacular, although the glaciers were fewer and smaller than expected. As late as 1760, the entire bay had been a river of ice extending beyond the mouth of what would become the fjord. By the time John Muir reached the area in the late 19th century, the glaciers had retreated fifty-five miles, carving the spectacular fjord in the process. This was the most rapid glacial retreat in history, marking the end of the “little ice age.”
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| Approaching the Margerie Glacier |
Today, the glaciers have retreated another ten miles and most of them are still in retreat.
Our first stop was the Margerie Glacier. This was the only true tidewater glacier we visited. It was not actively calving, although we did witness a small avalanche that left a fresh patch of blue ice. Glacial ice is blue when first exposed but gradually fades to white over time as the crystalline structure begins to break down. The Margerie Glacier rises some 200 feet above sea level and extends another 100 feet below the water. The ship was unable to approach the face and, being nearly as tall as the glacier, made the glacier seem less imposing than it would have from a smaller vessel.
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| The Margerie Glacier Up Close |
We spent an hour beside the glacier. A sailboat was anchored in the shallow water near the face. Its occupants were zipping to and fro in their dinghy and I got the impression that they might have been either aground or concerned that they might become stuck if they tried to move. Their boat, which was roughly fifty feet in length, gave me a means to judge the scale of the ice. The ship slowly rotated during the time spent viewing the glacier so that passengers with balconies on both sides of the ship could view the glacier from their cabins.
I had spent the entire time we were stopped in front of the glacier jostling with other passengers in an attempt to get a clear shot.
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| The Lampugh Glacier |
There was a photography seminar scheduled for 11:00 and I barely had time to return to my cabin for sunglasses and sunscreen before reporting there. Only five of us attended the seminar which turned out to be about lighting studio portraits. It was interesting, but not exactly the tips for taking better landscape photographs that I had hoped to receive.
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| Fresh, Blue Ice |
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| Harbor Seals on an Iceberg |
At 11:30, we arrived at the Lampugh Glacier. This much dirtier glacier had receded to the point where it was only a “high tidewater” glacier. At low tide, it terminated in a beach. The surrounding water was cluttered with icebergs and we observed several harbor seals sunning on one of the larger ones. They looked eerily like maggots. This second glacier wasn’t nearly as spectacular as the Margerie and we spent only thirty minutes observing it. Not having much to photograph, I spent part of that time working on my blog and then took a few minutes to grab some lunch as the ship poked its nose into the John Hopkins inlet for a quick view of that glacier before reversing course and heading back towards open water.
At 13:00, there was a presentation by one of the rangers from the Glacier Bay National Park. These rangers were delivered to our ship by pilot boat and climbed a rope ladder to board. Glacier Bay National Park has no roads or trails and is accessible only by sea going vessel. Her presentation was about her ten-day solo kayak voyage up Glacier Bay, retracing John Muir’s travels at the turn of the twentieth century. Her account was entertaining and inspiring. Sadly, it ended with her admission that, even though she had repeated the trip several times over the past decade, she would no longer do so.
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| John Hopkins Inlet |
Climate change had impacted the salmon runs and berry harvests to the point where the bears were now hungry enough to hunt humans. Bears in Glacier Bay aren’t aware that humans bring food with them, and steps have been taken to keep it that way, but they are smart enough to recognize us as potential prey. Fleeing from a hungry bear in her kayak, the ranger had nearly been upset by a humpback whale that swam under her kayak but politely avoided smashing her with its flukes. I didn’t see any bears or mountain goats on our visit, but I did see one otter in the water and some whales.
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| Gazing Out the Window in the Lounge |
Thankfully, when the presentation ended, I finally had some free time. I wanted to order a 16 ounce latte. (The packed schedule had left me sleepy and I needed a boost.) I was told that paper cups were prohibited within Glacier Bay National Park. I had to settle for a latte that fit in a regular coffee mug. I spent the next hour and a half catching up on my blog entries and enjoying the scenery outside the lounge windows. I sat there long enough to observe the pilot boat returning to collect the park
rangers.
By 16:00, I returned to my cabin to practice the guitar.
At 16:30, we got the opportunity to question the victim of the “High Seas Heist.” We learned absolutely nothing useful, but did obtain another set of puzzles which yielded additional clues. The mystery continued to be confounding. Each “suspect” had motive, although some dropped away over time. It was appearing more and more like several people had been in it together. My original partner had disappeared a couple of days earlier, but I teamed up with a young woman who also found herself alone to discuss the case and share answers. Once we had gleaned all the information we could from the meeting, I returned to my cabin to dress for the second and final formal evening.
I arrived for dinner about 18:00. By this time, we had left Glacier Bay and were out in the open waters of the Gulf of Alaska. Wind outside looked to be blowing at least fifteen knots and the ship was noticeably swaying. I was quite used to walking on moving decks, but not in a sequined cocktail dress and platform shoes. I was relieved when I successfully made it to my seat at a large shared table where I dined with couples from Australia, Southern California, and New York. The poor New Yorkers had lost their luggage en route to the ship and had been making due with the clothes on their backs and had taken turns wearing a bathrobe while the other ventured out to do laundry. They reported that the cruise line had been very accommodating, but United Airlines was not cooperating. The airline wanted to send their luggage only as far as the airport in Anchorage, leaving them without clothes for the land portion of their trip, as well. They were quite rightfully displeased. With all the business they no doubt received from cruise ship passengers traveling to Alaska, it seemed like they should have been able to deliver lost bags to the cruise ship terminal in Whittier.
Dinner was always a leisurely affair and it was nearly time for the 21:30 performance of a show titled “Encore” by the time our table broke up. I had not managed to fit in any of the musical productions earlier in the cruise and wanted to be sure to see at least one of the shows. The quality of the show was exceptional. The scenery and the costumes were beautiful and the singers and dancers fine performers. The show was a musical review with numbers drawn from musical theater, opera, and popular music and sung in a mixture of English, Spanish, Italian, and German. The soprano was exceptionally fine. My tour guide in South Africa had been a former opera singer who had taken up guiding because, she said, opera was dead. This young woman had found another avenue for her talents.
September 10, 2019
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| The Promenade Deck |
I woke to a dreary, rainy morning at sea. There was nothing to see. Finally, there had arrived a day to relax a bit. I ate breakfast and then checked in for the next installment of “High Seas Heist” at 9:30. At 10:30, there was a presentation about Denali which focused mainly on bears. The lovely weather we had experienced for most of the trip had given way to cold rain and I began to fear that I would never actually get to see the peak during my upcoming visit. I ran into my friend, Eva, at the presentation and we agreed to meet later for drinks and dinner.
After the presentation, I grabbed a latte and stared out at the grayness from an armchair by the window. We were entering Prince William Sound and had intermittent cell service. I returned to my cabin and practiced for an hour before lunch and then returned to my cabin to play and write after lunch. It felt luxurious to have unstructured time.
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| The Voice of the Ocean Production |
I remained in my cabin until 15:00 when it was time for the finals of
Voice of the Ocean. Having attended both of the auditions, I wanted to see the finale. I predicted that the winners from the second audition would never stand up against the finalists from the first audition, all of whom were quite good.
The Voice of the Ocean show was well produced. Princess Cruises had actually partnered with
The Voice and had the iconic spinning chairs and the whole nine yards. As expected, the finalists from the first audition easily outshone the others. A gentleman named Angus from L.A., in a cowboy hat and boots, won the contest with a rousing version of
Sweet Caroline. Many of the performances were quite professional, which made me wonder if they weren’t professionals.
From that show, I rushed off the big reveal of “High Seas Heist.” The participants had dwindled as the game went on until only four of us showed up to see who was guilty. I didn’t win, but I did walk off with the prize, a sapphire colored crystal pendant and earrings , because the winner had already received a set for winning something else.
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| College Fjord |
I met Eva for drinks just as we arrived at College Fjord where all the glaciers were named after universities. We alternated sipping wine with ducking out onto the promenade deck to take photographs. It was very cold and we even saw a few flakes of snow. The weather improved slightly as we progressed up the fjord so that, by the time we reached the Harvard Glacier at the far end, we were able to get some
clear shots. The ship remained in the fjord until it grew dark and then continued on to Whittier.
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| The Harvard Glacier |
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| Eva at the Harvard Glacier |
Eva and I had agreed to meet for dinner, but I wanted to go to my room to shed my warm clothes and drop off my camera. We agreed to meet “in front,” a phrase that, apparently, meant different things to each of us. I waited in front of our dining room for about fifteen minutes before it dawned on me that she might have gone to the buffet. Sure enough, I found here there, which meant that I had to forfeit the last couple of glasses of malbec that had been waiting for me in the dining room. This was probably for the best, as I was starting to feel the beginnings of a respiratory infection.
Princess Cruises had been very diligent in protecting us from disease transmission, requiring anyone entering the buffet line to first wash his or her hands and providing hand sanitizer in numerous locations. Still, I managed to come down with a cough and, as it turned out, I was not alone.
I spent my last evening watching
Rocketman in the Universal Lounge. I probably should have gone to bed after dinner, but I really wanted to see that film. By the time I returned to my cabin, I was quite ill. Between having difficulty breathing and knowing that I had to get up very early to eat before disembarking, I slept hardly a wink my last night aboard.
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