Alaska Tour II

From Alyeska to Denali; a busy day.

We started early this morning by taking the Hotel Alyeska shuttle to the Bake Shop down the road. This was a big surprise. The Bake Shop was hidden below a few apartments off the main road. The decor was simple. There were a number of paintings on the wall for sale. The stained glass art hanging against the windows were very pretty. The food was delicious!! A most enjoyable breakfast.

On returning to the hotel, we boarded the bus for the beautiful hour long drive to Anchorage. we drove along the coast.

After a short bus ride through downtown Anchorage, we were dropped off at the Farmer's Market to wander around. We enjoyed looking at all the local artifacts, jewelry and food.

We got back onto the bus to start our five hour drive to the Mount Mckinley Denali national park. We stopped at the Miller Cafe for ice cream. This place is famous. We had to stand in line for half an hour, but it was worth it!

Our next stop was when we could view the 20,000 foot Mount Mckinley. The view was fantastic!

We arrived at the Mckinley Village hotel at about 5 p.m. We found our rooms. This was the second surprise of the day. We were expecting to rough it, but this hotel is just great!

We met bellow our room adjacent to a river, where we had a beer and walked a short distance to a small beach. The weather is wonderful, around 65 degrees with white clouds partly covering the sky.

We went into town to the Salmon Bake for a fun dinner. There were ten of us. The food was ok.

Now we're back at the hotel. Free internet, coffee maker in the room, free laundry!

Cruise Tour II

Today was a wildlife, hiking, eating day.

We started off by taking the Windsong Lodge shuttle to Seward to have breakfast in the Harbor Cafe. It was fun.

We returned to the Windsong Lodge where we boarded the Celebrity bus. We drove to the Alaskan Wildlife Centre. Although it was raining, we thoroughly enjoyed seeing the bears, the caribou, the muskox, the eagle, the moose and the other animals. It was very exciting. We couldn't wait to jump off the bus to see each animal. The mud and rain were not a deterrent at all.

We stopped at the concession for a short break. I had a reindeer hotdog! It was good.

We then drove a short way to the Alyeska Hotel. It is terrific. We took the cable car up the 2,300 feet to the top of the mountain. The views from the top were incredible. There were people snowboarding.

We came down the cable car, but persuaded the operator to allow us a second up and down ride. Fun!

When we got to the bottom, we went on an hour hike through the forest. We hiked the Winner Creek trail. We did not make it to the end because we were meeting people for dinner.

We took the hotel shuttle to downtown Girdwood. We ate e delicious dinner at Maxines Bistro. The band arrived as we were leaving. Go figger!

All-in-all a wonderful day!

Alaska Tour I

Today was the first day of the land portion of our cruise-tour.

We got off the ship in Seward, Alaska just after 9 a.m. We met our tour manager, Mike at the end of the gangway. He seems a very friendly guy. We drove for only a few minutes to the Sea life Centre where we spent two hours marveling at the exhibits. They had many live sea mammals, fishes and birds. We saw a huge entertaining 2,000 lb sea lion.

After the Sea Life Center, we drove for a few minutes t the small craft harbor where we boarded a boat to explore the Kenai Fjords. This was most enjoyable. About fifteen minutes from the harbor, we came across our first live sea otter, lying peacefully on his back. Se photo.

We sailed for a while looking at the birds until we arrived at Fox Island. They served us a salmon bake lunch while a game ranger gave us a talk about the area and some of the folklore.

After lunch, we spent a few wonderful hours exploring the fjords. We saw sea lions, porpoises, eagles, puffins, coastal mountain goats and other wildlife.

After eventually returning to the Seward harbor, we drove to our hotel, the Windsong Lodge. It is comfortable yet rustic.

We walked down the road to a local restaurant advertising lousy food and cheap beer. In reality, the beer was average and the food was good.

We walked back along the stream, even finding time to skip some flat rocks on the water.

Now it's time to relax.

Alaska Cruise VI

The Hubbard Glacier. Wow! Wow! Wow!

We got up at 6.15 a.m. so that we could get onto the ships helipad when it opened at 7 a.m. After coffee and something to eat, we dressed up with full arctic clothing. Good idea. When the door to the helipad opened we got prime position at the very bow of the ship, BUT the ship was still traveling at over 15 knots into the bay. It was freezing!! We braved the weather.

As the ship entered the bay we could see small pieces of ice floating in the sea. As we progresses and started to slow down we could see the massive wall of the Hubbard Glacier. The pieces of ice started to get bigger and more frequent. The glacier is enormous. It is six miles wide and three hundred feet high. When we started to reach the more dense ice, we saw seals and birds on the larger pieces. The colors were amazing. The various blue colored ice growlers and icebergs were amazing. We saw tiger ice with white and dark stripes. We saw different shapes and sizes.

As we got closer to the glacier we could hear the growling and thundering of the glacier as it calved huge pieces of ice walls into the sea. The ice around is crackled and popped as if we were sailing in a bowl of Rice Crispies.

The weather turned out to be fantastic. The sky cleared up and the glacier glowed all colors of blue and white. We spent over an hour within a mile of the glacier face. It was absolutely wonderful. Each cruise has its special day or event. This was it!

When the ship started to slowly turn away from the glacier, it actually positioned our balcony cabin in perfect position to watch the ice wall. We spent another fifteen or twenty minutes enjoying this magnificent sight.

And then, as the ship sailed away, we sat on the outside stern area enjoying a nice cup of tea with some cruise buddies. The sun was now shining, keeping us warm, while the glacier disappeared in the distance.

After a short while we did some packing, as this is our last cruise day. We then went up to the top deck for a Celebrity Captain's Club (Frequent Cruiser) party. We met the Captain and some of the senior ship's officers and personnel. It was pleasant, as usual.

After the function we met some other frequent cruisers for a tour of te ship's bridge. It was extremely interesting. The ship's officers on the bridge were very forthcoming wit information and answers to our questions. It was most enjoyable.

Not long after the bridge tour, we met a small group of Elite Celebrity Captain's Club members in the Michael's Club for a drink and a few light snacks. The conversation was very interesting and pleasant.

At dinner we were seated at a new table facing the stern glass wall of the Celebrity Millennium. We had an excellent view of the sea. Nice. The show was fun and now we are getting packed, ready to depart tomorrow when we start the land portion of our trip.

Alaska Cruise V

Skagway is a very quaint interesting town.

Our ship, the Celebrity Millennium docked with ten minutes walk from the center of the town. We walked there. The weather was cool, but not cold. The sky was clear, although the clouds came over in the afternoon.

The first thing we did was stop at the National Historic Visitor Center adjacent to the White Pass Railroad offices. We looked around the Klondike Gold Rush museum for a while before attending a talk on the gold rush given by one of the game rangers. The one hour talk was extremely interesting, describing in amazing detail the experiences of one of the men who tragically decided to join the gold rush in 1898. The reason there was so much information is that this poor man had written detailed letters to the wife of his friend in Detroit, effectively acting as a diary.

After the talk, we were given a forty minute walking tour of historic Skagway with an emphasis on how people had been deceived in the gold rush days. Both these talks were free!

We then boarded the White Pass Railroad for a three hour ride up to the coastal mountain summit on the border with Canada. It was a relaxing yet spectacular train ride. We saw what in 1901 was the world's highest cantilever bridge, which is a national monument. I think the price of $115 was expensive, but we still enjoyed it immensely.

The train dropped us right in front of our ship, where we had missed the "Elegant Tea" for Elite Captain's Club members, but we still managed to get a cocktail in the "secret room."

After a short rest and wash, we dressed up in our formal gear to gave dinner at the captain's table. The evening was hosted by both the hotel director and the HR director. It was a fun evening where we ate and drank too much.

We made it to the singing and dancing show which featured Broadway shows. It was excellent; by far the best we've ever seen on a cruise ship.

So now it's early to bed, as we have to get up very early to view the Hubbard Glacier.

Alaska Cruise IV

Another incredible day in Alaska.

We were woken by our butler bringing coffee to our stateroom, the first time we had slept late. Luckily for us. We noticed a message on our phone from the night before telling us that our tour had been rescheduled from 10.45 a.m. to 8.45 a.m. We quickly had some coffee and fruit and rushed off the ship to the pier, where we met the small shuttle to the airport. We had arranged a helicopter flight to the Mendenhall Glacier with a two hour glacier trek (walk).

At the premises of the company, Northstar Trekking, we were given a safety talk and then we were given a complete set of equipment for our glacier trek. Fist we put on some waterproof pants, over what we were wearing. Then we removed our shoes and put on their waterproof boots. Over the boots and the pants, we put some covering. I can't remember what it was called. Then we put on a waterproof jacket.

We walked out to the helicopter. There were three passengers and we were also accompanied by two of our glacier guides. The helicopter took us for a thirty minute ride over the glacier, into the adjacent valleys and over the ice fields. This part of the tour was fascintaing. See the glacier from the air was spectacular. This huge river of ice was a sight to see.

We landed on the glacier with a second helicopter. In all, we were about nine tourists with three guides. The ice was very slippery. We were given crampons, a set of large spikes attached to the bottom of our boots. We were also given helmets and ice axes. The guides then taught us the techniques of walking on the ice, climbing hills and descending slopes.

The two hour exploration of the glacier was absolutely fantastic. The glacier appeared to glow from within, a bright blue color. We saw rivers of bright blue clear water flowing through the glacier. We saw beautiful waterfalls. When the sun came out the entire glacier changed to a sparkling field of bright ice.

The guides were extremely knowledgeable. They were happy to answer all our questions. The time finished much too quickly. We could have stayed on the glacier for a few more hours. The helicopter ride back to the airport was short but pretty, giving us a good view of Juneau and its surrounding area. We would strongly recommend that anyone going to Juneau uses Northstar Trekking for this incredible tour. Its well worthwhile.

After returning all our equipment at the company's premises, we were driven back to the ship. The driver offered lots of information about Juneau.

After a light salad for lunch, we decided to walk around Juneau, which is the capitol of Alaska. We wandered along the main streets and walked up the hill to the State Capitol building. We were given a tour of the building lasting around 45 minutes. It was very interesting.

We did a little shopping on the way back to the ship. Juneau is a bustling town with a fun vibe.

It is now 11.40 pm. It is not dark outside, more like a blue dusk. There is snow on the mountain peaks. We are sailing along a very smooth passage. It is like a chocolate box covering.

Oh well. we gotta go to sleep sometime!

Alaska Cruise III

Icy Straight Point, supposedly the best whale watching area in this part of Alaska.

Although we woke up very early, we did not leave the ship until 10 a.m. No rush here, not really much to do other than a 1,300 meter zip line.

We walked the 1.5 miles to the town of Hoonah, which turned out to be extremely pleasant. The weather was good. The sky was blue with some cloud cover, there was a slight breeze and the temperature was around 61 degrees Fahrenheit. We saw some bald eagles on the trees above us and flying around. The scenery of the straits with the partially snow covered mountains in the background was spectacular. The town itself was cute, just what we would have expected from a small Alaskan town.

We also did the short nature train through a magnificent forest and then along the beach back to the dock. We saw a humpback whale in the distance.

We returned to the ship for a light lunch and a rest before our late afternoon Whale and Wine excursion.

At 5 p.m. we returned to the dock via the ship's tender. We boarded the large motorized whale watching catamaran American Eagle. We traveled for around 30 minutes before we started to see whales. At fist they were in the distance. We could see them clearly. They were swimming through the surf. We could see their huge humps, while they blew water in the air. There were also sea lions swimming with and around the whales. There were eafles and other birds in the skies above us.

Then we saw one particular whale performing aggressively in the surf. We got very close to him and watched for over 30 minutes while he breached, flapped his tail and his flippers. It was an incredible sight. Wow! Wow! Wow!

On the way back to the dock, we saw a large bear foraging for food on the beach. What a great excursion!