8-26-07  Juneau


After 2 days at sea, we finally came to our first port---Juneau. It is the capital of Alaska and is only accessible by air or sea. The mountains around the town rise to about 4000 feet. It was a really neat city and is almost as large as Rhode Island and Delaware combined.

We did a ship sponsored photo excursion in Juneau. It was expensive (something like $175@), but was really great. We had a small group of about 10 people (a couple people didn't even have cameras which I found pretty amusing! The tour guide did give them a disposable camera to use,though, which I thought was nice of her). Our first stop on the excursion was to Auke Bay where we boarded a relatively small boat and went out in search of wildlife. I was thrilled that we encountered a couple large pods of Orcas. There must have been at least 60 killer whales in the bay.

 I even inadvertantly caught one breaching off in the distance.

 We were told some of the Orcas here are resident ones and others are transient ones.

  I was amazed at how tall some of their dorsal fins are. We were told that the male Orcas can have dorsal fins as tall as 6'.

 We even saw some resident seals hanging out here.

 Coming back into the harbor gave us these puzzle perfect views.

 The next part of our excursion took us to the popular Mendenhall Glacier.Our guide took us on a hike through the wooded area in the park, too. We had the opportunity to take pictures of lots of wild flora on our hike. This excursion was about 5 hours long and we thoroughly enjoyed it.

 Even saw evidence of beaver activity

 and an occasional cascading waterfall.

 Dad checking out a shuttle stop?

 interesting form of lichen?

 some of the many kinds of mushrooms we saw.

 Loved all the wildflowers along the trail, too!

  Eventually we got within view of Mendenhall glacier.  I was surprised how blue the glacier really is! Apparently that from the ice being compacted so much that only the blue light rays are getting in.

 more beaver activity

 more wildflowers.

 even saw a bunch of salmon. 

 When the excursion was over, we still had a couple hours before we had to be back on the ship, so we decided to go up Mount Robert's Tram. 

 The Mount Roberts Tramway is an aerial tramway located right across from the cruise ship docks.  In operation since 1996, the tram makes a six-minute ascent of 3,819-foot Mount Roberts to a height of about 1,800 feet.

 On top of the mountain we were able to wander a trail and see some amazing, expansive views.

 looking down towards our cruise ship

 I believe the cost was about $27@, but it was well worth it, too. At the top was even a little restaurant where we had a very good fish and chips lunch and then we hiked a bit on some of the paths up there.  Even had wild flora up on the top of the mountain.

 one of the views and the tram.

 looking down towards town

 one of the cruise ships on it's way out

 Eventually it was time to board the chip and leave Juneau.

 More great views as we sailed away

 I was really impressed with Juneau and didn't think it could be beat.

8-25-07

Today was a seaday, so I've just grouped a bunch of photos from around the ship into today's post.

This is the main theatre where the nightly shows were. There were also a couple movies played here, although they weren't what I would consider good ones (Will Farrell was in one they showed a couple times--not exactly my type of humor). I don't remember the other movie we saw but neither was bad enough to walk out of. Just wish they had different movies all the time instead of replaying the same ones.

Although the weather was great for the most part, it did get somewhat chilly on deck. Not many people hung out on the lounge chairs!

 not much happening on the outside decks

 a ship that still has the grand atrium

 another deck

 not much going on throughout the whole ship

 our room.

Our cabin was typically small. Nothing fancy, but adequate.

 the indoor adult pool that I was really excited about---until it was inundated with wild splashing noisy kids most of the time.

 waterfall accent

 The shows were ok. I would say they were aimed more to an older generation (my Dad's generation).

 The public areas around the ship were tasteful.

 We found many places to hang out and play cribbage.
There were also several informative talks of Alaska (glaciers, fiords, etc.) done by a naturalist. I don't remember the guy's name on this ship, but he was very interesting and funny. We attended as many of his lectures as we were around for. This is the lounge he gave his lectures and slide presentations in.

 Dad dressed up for dinner.

I wasn't as impressed with this cruise line as I have been with Disney and Holland America.  Nothing or noone really stood out.

Good bye, Seattle. See you in a week!

8-24-07 Embarkation day

 Since Dad lived in Oregon and it was a fairly easy trip to Seattle from where he lived, I chose a RT out of Seattle for our cruise. I really had no idea what ports to look for or what we would see, but I ended up settling on Royal Caribbean for a couple reasons--the RT out of Seattle, the supposed grandeur of all the windows, and the advertising that there was an adult indoor pool and jacuzzi area. Unfortunately the pool area was not just for adults on Alaska cruises, as we found out when a bunch of noisy splashing kids showed up all the time and I inquired about it to some employees. I also didn't find the selection of food all that great, or the crew exceptionally friendly. The ship also became a ghost ship shortly after 11ish at night. Not sure if it's a Royal Caribbean thing or an Alaska cruise thing, but it was eerie wandering around the ship late at night. But the weather was outstanding and the scenery was gorgeous!

Boarding went easily and soon we were on the ship.

Dad posing for the beginning of another great father/daughter vacation.

Looking down at the port

finally it was time to shoove off.

beautiful views of Mt. Rainer in the distance.

Good bye, Seattle.  See you in a week!