Dinners.

Just a quick shot of some of the dinners. The pictures aren't that great as Kathy (the 92 year old) was horrified that I was takng pictures of food. She said that in all the "75 years that I cooked, I never once took a picture of anything I was going to eat." I did seem to be the only one in the whole place taling pix of the dinners...but what the hell, you all know how I am about my foodie pix.

Vegetarian lasagna

Meatloaf and garlic mashed potato

Perch in parchment and wild rice.

More on Juneau.

After we came down from the tram, we did a little wandering around in Juneau. I bought an ulu knife for Shane here. Ulu knives are everywhere in Alaska, and they are an interesting sort of a thing. I would have felt bad not buying one...it's "the" thing to purchase, apparently.

The rain was coming down pretty heavy by this point, so we decided to head back to the ship. I stopped in a washroom on the way, only to run into Wendy. Honestly, considering that there were 3 other ships in port and probably ten thousand people in town...what are the chances?

Streets of Juneau

This set of stairs is actually a street, Carol Street. There are homes and businesses up there. Ketchikan also had odd little streets like this as well, I guess that's the way a town grows when it is situated on the side of a mountain. I'll bet that all their mail delivery people are pretty fit! The city has to shovel the stairs in the winter, it's no different than plowing the other "regular" roads.

Again, like Ketchikan, the streets are full of jewellery stores and fur stores. Not so much salmon here, but more fur and knives.

Juneau.

Another grey morning that looked like theskies were going to open at any second. We had hoped to meet one of Stevens friend here, but he couldn't make it, so we decided to explore a little on our own. We were only in Juneau until 1:45 so we didn't plan any shore excursions, which was a good thing because all the plane and helicopter ones were cancelled due to fog. Just look how low those clouds are, and look how close the ship docks to the bottom of the mountian...really quite spectacular.
We decided to go up the Mt. Roberts Tramway, knowing that the view probably would be somewhat obscured by the clouds, but it was clear enough that we could get a good view of the harbour and the town. There were some nice hiking trails up there, a restaurant and a theatre as well as the to-be-expected gift shop.

Leaving Ketchikan.

Some of the evening entertainment.

One of the quieter lounges, The Havana Club, where you could smoke cigars. We sat here a few times, not smoking, but it was pretty peaceful and a nice little hideaway.

After the Duck Tour we decided to wander through the town centre. I had a plethora of coupons that I had recieved the prior day during a seminar on Shore Exursions. Now, a word about this "seminar". It was highly touted in the Freestyle Times as something you must send at least one family member too, it would give us fantastic hints and tips on making the disembarkation process easier, and tell us how and where to find the best bargains. I amost felt like I'd be locked up in the brig if I didn't make an appearance. All 4 of us went. OK. I should have known. It was nothing but a marketing ploy to try and send us to the jewellery stores that (obviously) got a kickback for sending us to their stores. The only good thing was all the coupons that we recieved. There were discount coupons at a select few of the jewellery stores, and you could redeem them for a free sapphire and garnet. The stones are genuine, but obviously of a low industrial grade (I mean seriously, are they going to give away thousands and thousands of free gemstones? Of course not) However, as we wandered, I kept an eye out for the stores and redeemed a couple of them. The stones are in a nice little jewellers envalope with the weight and type (no price however.) Outside one store, I was asking Steven what time we had to be back on the ship and I hear a voice saying: "12:30 PM" I looked up to see Wendy & Bud there...what are the chances? We made arrangements once again to meet for dinner.

During the Duck Tour, our guide kept blowing a small duck call. It was shaped like one of the yellow rubber duckies that you see, and it was on a nice neck cord (like a shoelace) that said "Ketchikan Duck Tour" all over it. I thought it would be a cute giftie for our neighbour's children. We have a family behind us that has 3 small kids (4 and under) and his sister lives on the other side of us with 3 small kids (these ones are 3 and under) We all watch each others houses etc when any of us are away. I figured it was a safe toy and all kids like a noisy toy. It made me chuckle with evil glee to give the families SIX noise makers...until this morning when I think I heard all 6 "quacking" outside at some ungodly early hour.

Lesson to be learned: Don't buy the neighbours kids noisy toys. Only buy them for far away loved ones.

Towel Creatures.

The first night when we returned to our room, to my great amusement, we found a towel creature on the bed. To my greater glee, each night was a new one. It got to the point where I just couldn't wait to get back to my room to see what new animal was waiting for us!

Elephant?

Scorpion? Whatever it was, I quickly ate the chocolate eyes.

Towel Creatures.

Awwww...they even put Steven's sunglasses on him.

Serving us some chocolates.

I was momentarily taken aback until I realized it was a snake, not a penis!

First glimpse of Ketchikan

The first glimpse of the town of Ketchikan, the weather looks good in the picture, but behind me was a lot of gray clouds.

Tuesday.

One of the many salmon stores.

The amphibian-type vehicle we were in.

Showing how many of the homes near the water are on stilts. Not looking so sturdy eh?

Woke up to another gloomy morning. But, you know, when I flung my curtains open and looked outside to see our giant ship docked snuggly beside the mountain, and the little town of Ketchikan looking like it was tumbling down the mountainside, the weather didn't really matter. It reminded me of the poor cousin of Portofino or Cinque Terre.

Today was our first shore excursion, we had decided to to a city tour, called The Duck Tour (which was certainly appropriate considering the weather!) I like to take city tours when I am somewhere new, it gives me a feeling of knowing where I am and what the place is all about, especially if you are only somewhere for a day, I'd rather learn a little history than see the same souviner stores over and over.

Anyhow, we met our tour "bus" and hopped on. It was an amphibious vehicle that took us through the town and then drove right into the water and took us through the harbour area. Sort of a unique method of transportation.

The town of Ketchikan is "The Salmon Capital of the World" and most of the stores sold salmon in every shape and form. Candied salmon, smoked salmon, salmon jerky, salmon steaks, salmon fillets, canned, frozen, cryo-vacced, and even pet food. We didn't buy any as, somewhat ironically, our freezer at home is full of all of the above, as Steven's hunting buddy is a fish broker and send us cases and cases of it.

The Duck Tour was very entertaining, the young college student who was our guide has been born and grown up there, and was really informative. It was $38 each and lasted about 2 hours and wqe thought it was well worth it. Saw lots of eagles (people went strangely insane over eagles and almost knocked each other over to get pictures. An American thing maybe? I know the eagle is like a sign of freedom to many Americans.)

A lot of the houses in Ketchikan are built on stilts as they are close to the water and the tides are quite high. That is the older part of town, and it's been fixed up to appeal to tourists. The "regular" part of town was actually quite shabby, a lot of garbage strewn about and not overly appealing at all. One of those "nice place to visit, but wouldn't want to live there." I'd give Ketchikan a 6 out of 10 for attractiveness. (is that a real word?)

Monday

View from Pacific Heights restaurant. We saw a whale breech during dinner.

Monday.

The Captains Log (hee, hee, just like Star Trek. Perhaps I'll go stand in the round glass elevator and zoom up and down, screaming out: "Beam me up, Scottie!") says that we are just past the Queen Charlotte Islands and heading into Queen Charlotte Sound. There are "wavelets" that are 3 metres...geez, that's almost 10 feet...seems like more than just a "wavelet" to me. It's slightly overcast and it would later turn to rain, so a good day to be at sea and be able to explore the ship. And eat.

Lunch: Shrimp & crab gumbo, sweet and sour grouper, gnocci with gorgonzola sauce, and for dessert, bread pudding with rum anglaise sauce. It was all SO good!

We wandered through the casino and had a 'Wendy & Bud sighting' , on a boat with 2500 people, we run into them in the casino? What sare the chances? So we made arrangements to meet at Pacific Heights on the 11th Deck for dinner.

Weather was clear by late afternoon, so we did a few laps on the walking/jogging track, which circled the boat on Deck 6. Had to prepare for supper calories.

Supper: Watermelon salad with feta cheese, Beef Wellington, grilled scallops, lobster and grouper. I can't believe that I have forgotten what I ate for dessert, because I know that I didn't miss any at all!

Why NCL?

The Four Seasons

There are 2 reasons why we chose Norwegian Cruise Lines (henceforth to be called NCL).

1. Last X-mas I wrote a letter to a friend saying that we were thinking of taking an Alaskan cruise. She phoned our house as soon as she got the letter, saying that her and her husband (henceforth to be called Wendy & Bud) were going on NCL on the 24th of May, and we should join them.

Steven and I decided that now was as good a time as any, and we booked. We booked on the same deck as Wendy & Bud, and, since only Wendy and I had ever met before (the fellows didn't know each other) we made it clear that we'd meet for dinner one night, and then take it from there, no hard feelings if we didn't hit it off.

NCL was a good choice as they are considered "freestyle" cruising, which is excellent for a commitment-phobe such as myself, I was concerned about having to eat at "table 221 at 8 PM" every night with people that I might not like. NCL has 14 restaurants and you eat when you want, with whom you want. Or you can have room service 24 hrs a day if you are overly anti-social. Or sea-sick.

When we got on the boat, and to our room, we realized that even though we were on the same deck as them, it, the whole thing was so huge that we wondered if we would ever find them. Just then I hear "Shaaaaannon!" and look down the hall, and there they are! Even stranger, Wendy said she had looked out her balcony about 45 minutes earlier and saw us walking onto the boat. What are the chances?

Bud and Steven hit it off right away, they both hunt and I was amazed at how many friends they had in common. The hunting world is smaller than I thought.

Bud had his 92 year old mother with him, and believe me, I can only hope that I am as active as Kathy when I am 92. She has always dreamed of an Alaskan cruise, and decided that now was the time for her...and she lived it up, having her favorite drink each morning...not tea, but a vodka Caesar.

Day 1. After getting organized in our room, we sat on the pool deck with Wendy & Bud and got aquainted over a "bucket o' beer". You can purchase an NCL helmet, filled with ice and 6 beer ("buy 5, get a 6th for free!") and you keep the helmet. Sort of a fun marketing ploy.

We didn't meet our them for dinner that night as they had been up since 3 AM to get their flight from Prince George, so they went to sleep early and we went to the Four Seasons restaurant for dinner. We sat with 2 other couples, one from the UK and one from France (her) and India (him). I decided that since all meals were free, that I would eat things that I normally wouldn't try, now's the time to test out new foods!

I had lamb with mint sauce, and it was pretty darn tasty, and Steven had mahi-mahi.

At this point we were in the open seas and it was a little bit "wavey", but it didn't bother either of us. We went to bed early ourselves, and slept like a log in the king size bed. The TV had 'ship channels" where you could listen to the Captains log and follow our route on the map, or you could watch the web cam, or watch a channel with info on things to do during the cruise.

Every evening the Freestyle Times was delivered, and it gave the following days itinerary, explained what sales would be on,(there was always a sale on jewels, liquor, photos, and so forth.) what to do and where to shop at the next port of call, what games and tournaments were happening etc. There was no lack of things to occupy yourself.

The Cruise

It was kind of exciting to drive to the docks and see this massive ship sitting there, knowing we'd be on it shortly. The beginning of any holiday is always a bit thrilling...not knowing exactly what the next few days or weeks will bring.

It was an quick and easy embarkation. There were no line-ups, although you could see from the miles of rope that twisted back and forth through what looked like an acre sized room, that lines are not unheard of! There's a tip for anyone who might be planning on a cruise...get there late. Embarkation started at noon, and you had to be onboard by 4. The ship sailed at 5:30, and we got there about 3:30.

There are hand sanitizers everywhere, and they are manned by staff who insist you squirt your hands constantly. You don't get to go any further if you refuse to sanitize. I'm not sure if this is just from the recent Swine 'flu scare, or if it's always like this, but I didn't mind. The sanitizer was sort of nice, it didn'ty dry our hands out, I think it had a lot of aloe in it.

We had our pictures taken and were handed what was to be our on board credit card/room key/embark/disbark card...basically your life-line to life on the ship. Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING you bought on the ship was paid for with this card. You could not buy a postcard with cash, it is a cash free place. They say it's for customer convenience, but one staff member told us that it was really to keep staff from stealing. They don't handle cash at all, and no tips are given to them. Actually, let's discuss the tipping issue.

TIPS.

We weren't sure how or when to tip the staff. On our last cruise, a series of envalopes was left in our room on the eve of the last day, and each was labelled with "room cleaners", "wait staff", "sommelier" etc. In hindsite, how easy would it be for anyone to steal an envalope full of money? On this ship, it was all so simple. $12 per person, per day was added to your ship board account. As well as, anything you did buy (souviners, liquor, duty free etc) had a 17% "gratuity" added on. I thought that was a little high, I mean really, why should I pay 17% extra to buy $2.00 worth of postcards or a beer when I was ALREADY paying $12 a day? But, that's the way it was.

On the last evening of the cruise, your account bill was delivered to your room so that you had a chance to go over it all. It was broken down daily, very simple to read. So, for example, May 24 showed $15 for photos (yes, I got sucked into those photos that they snap every 30 seconds and then they display for you to purchase). It then showed $12 gratuities twice (once for Steven, once for me) $1.85 for a ginger ale, $6.33 for a glass of wine and $6.00 for a beer.

So, you do not need to bring any cash at all for the ship, the only cash needed was for shore excursions. And not the excursion itself, that was also on the account, but you needed cash for anything you might want to buy while on land.

We found this to be a great way to take care of all the bills and tips. If you are paying by credit card, you do nothing, just walk off the boat the next day and it will be on your bill the next month. If you prefer to settle up with cash, then you have to wait in line the morning you disembark (no thanks!) If you have a problem or discrepancy on your bill, or if you want to have the tips removed, then you also have to line up the next AM. There actually were a LOT of people lined up the next day, I hope they were paying with cash and not having tips taken off. But you know how some folks are....

We ate three meals a day, plus a snack now and then, plus we sat in the lounge with friends a few night and had a drink, so we would have probably left more individual tips than $12 each a day. I think it's an excellent idea, especially since you could have it removed if you really felt strongly that the service was not good. We found the service to be amazing.

Taken in the Atrium, the main sort of area where the reception desk is. You could stand there and look all the way up to the 12th floor (I think the Atrium is on the 5th). All the areas that you see are seating areas, little nooks and crannies to relax in and they all overlook the water.

The duty free perfume place.

The library. The other side was the same, and I was surprised at how recent the books were. All the latest best sellers, as well as a lot of classics. You took out a membership anjd got to keep your books for as long as you needed. Quite a good idea. At the end of the hall you can see a glass door, the other side was a 'quiet" room, where you could read.

Pictures

There were stairs all over (and yes, I was always lost) as well as elvators. The center area (the Atrium) had 4 glass ones that whisked you up to the 12th floor.

The picture below is the art gallery. The masters were all under a watchful security guards eye. Apparently, the gallery is a large one from New York (Park West I think it was called) and they deal with the cruise lines, as well as having galleries in various cities.

A bit about the boat.

The ship was large, to say the least. 12 stories high, or at least there were 12 we could go on, there were probably more at the bottom, engine rooms and that sort of thing.

There were 14 restaurants, 4 of which you had to pay a cover charge to get in, between $10 and $25, dependng on the fancy-ness of it. We didn't bother with those, they were sort of dressy, and the fact that we had 11 others to choose from that were free...well, it was a no-brainer.

There was a duty free liquor store (mmmm...free samples from 6:30-10:30 nightly), a duty free perfume/make-up place (too expensive for me), a large gift shop, a $10 store (like our dollar stores, but everything was $10. Pashminas, sunglasses, lots of jewellery and purses, I didn't buy anything there, although it was really popular and crowded all the time)

There was a gym, and some very fancy spa's where you could get sea-weed wraps (on your body, not to eat) mud treatments, massages, manicures and pedicures, hair cuts and styles and so on. I didn't use any of those either, I'm just not a girly-girl. Also, to my surprise, an art gallery which actually had a Renoir, a Monet, a few Picasso's and Chagals, and a Rembrandt, amongst others. I saw a fellow buy something, not sure what, for $16,500.00...and that was in US funds! Good God. There were also a plethora of jewellery stores, selling a lot of emeralds, opals, silver and gold, rubies and sapphires. Not a lot of diamonds, I don't know why that would be.

And a casino, with poker, craps, roulette and those type of table games, plus slots. We actually had a lot of fun in there, more on that later.

A cigar place, a photo studio, internet cafe, a library, 'quiet rooms', a chapel, a kids place and a teen arcade were also all available.

There were all sorts of observation places, with chairs and little coffee bars scattered around, both inside and out, so there was always a place to curl up and read or just sightsee. Outside there were hot tubs, a large pool, a kiddies pool, basketball courts and a golf area. There was a lot to occupy youself with.

Every evening a little ships newspaper was delivered to the room with all the info of what was going on the following day, bingo, shuffleboard, all sorts of seminars from how to get a flatter tummy (yeah, I should have gone to that one, but what the hell...) to how to use an Ulu knife (and I bought Shane an ulu knife, so I did go to that one).

There was a theatre with live entertainment each night, from magicians to blues singers to broadway type shows and even a Cirque de Soleil type thing on the final night, and it was as good as any Vegas show. Plus all free, and of course things are always better when they are free!

I was pleased at the lack of lines and crowds. Nothing was ever full capacity and wait times were minimal.

The staff were fantastic, so friendly and happy to chat. They all wore nametags with their homeland on it, mostly they seemed to be from Mexico, Indonesia, the Philipines, Thailand, and oddly enough, Romania.

The ship itself was spotless, there was constant cleaning and painting going on all the time.

Cruisin' Part One

Well, we "did" an Alaskan cruise. I have mixed feelings about cruises, in one sense it is so relaxing and such a treat to unpack just once. Not to mention, someone to clean your room and all the food you can possibly eat! On the other hand, no matter how a big a boat (oops, pardon me..a "ship") is, you can only do so much. Thank goodness for shore excursions. More on those later. First, the ship. Our room was amazing, much more spacious than I had anticipated. A King size bed, which was a HUGE treat, a nice couch and desk, a large wardrobe and lots of storage as well as a pretty decent bathroom. And the shower had phenomenal water pressure, I'm sure it blew old folks right against the wall. We also had a nice balcony, which, as far as I'm concerned, is the only way to go. I know some folks say: "Well, you're only in your room to sleep.", but that's not entirely true. It was great to get up in the AM and be able to just sit and breath some fresh sea air while still in your PJ's, hair going in 40 different directions. As well as in the evening, nice to get that final glimpse of the ocean before going to sleep.