First trip to the final frontier - 8 night Alaska - 9/11/23 - completed

[Skywatcher1206]

We called it a night and got ourselves tucked into the sooooo comfy bed. It was a bit warm in the cabin (and we had the AC on as cold as it would go every night) so we opened the verandah door for a bit to cool the cabin off. I know it’s a no-no but we ended up doing this almost every night to get the cabin good and chilly. Rebels.

LOL, we were rebels too as we slept with the verandah door open EVERY night. Shh, don’t tell anyone.

I am loving your trip report as it is making me think about my trip in 2022 to AK on the Wonder.

 

[ukintheus]

LOL, we were rebels too as we slept with the verandah door open EVERY night. Shh, don’t tell anyone.

I am loving your trip report as it is making me think about my trip in 2022 to AK on the Wonder.

It really cooled things off quickly, but I'm a light sleeper and knowing it was open kept me awake. Trip reports are so good at either getting anticipation going for an upcoming trip, or reminiscing and wondering if you should book another one. Thanks for following along.

 

[Skywatcher1206]

We will definitely be booking another one in the not so distant future, and taking the kids. The first one was just DH & I and was amazing!

 

[ukintheus]

Friday, September 15th – Juneau

Peeking outside this morning at about 6:30 am, I could see that we were sailing past signs of life, and so figured we were pretty close to docking. Today we had the Taku Glacier Lodge Feast & 5-Glacier Seaplane Discovery tour booked (again, not through DCL) and we were keeping everything crossed for better weather than yesterday.

I’m pretty sure I pulled back the curtains so we could take in the views from the bed and yet not have to get up. By the time I took these we were moored up and looking at some misty/cloudy skies.

Time to decide what to eat and Cabanas won the vote again. It was about 9 am and we figured it may be a bit less crowded. It wasn’t too bad, but busier than we had thought it would be. I got muesli, which I love how they make on the ships.

But I also love eggs benedict….sooo…

I’m guessing Scott got an omelet, so no photo because he would have had to wait for it. He did however get one of these, and I realize that I did NOT on this cruise!

We went straight back to the cabin as I wanted to call Wings Airways and see what their update was on the excursion. Can sea planes take off in this? That was the burning question.

Scott took some photos of the crew drill. Our server told us he was piloting the lifeboat but I don’t know if it was this one or not but we can pretend it was him.

Juneau was looking pretty interesting, obviously fairly large being the state capitol, but still touristy from what we could see from our cabin.

The lady I spoke to at Wings was really nice, and she said they were hopeful it would go and that we should plan on being at the office at 11:00 am for our 11:30 am tour, and they would call us if they were going to cancel it. We needed to shuttle into town so we headed off the ship at about 10:15 pm. The line wasn’t awful and everyone that was waiting managed to make it onto the next bus.

It was a short ride, maybe 5 minutes, and they dropped us off close to the other cruise ship docks. She is always looking good.

I used Google maps again to figure out exactly where we needed to go, and we strolled along the waterfront, as it wasn’t far at all.

Carnival had a ship in port and Quantum of the Seas was also there. We are scheduled for a cruise in 2024 on her sister ship Odyssey of the Seas – they’re bigguns that’s for sure but we are looking forward to seeing what they have to offer.

All along this waterfront there were totem poles. We had to stop to take a selfie just because.

The Mt. Roberts Tramway was heading into the clouds and you couldn’t see the top. It was on our list of potential things to maybe try and do later. Spoiler alert: We didn't.

We found Wings Airways easily, checked in and sat outside waiting for them to start calling people. Alaska has so many pretty views, even in big cities like this.

While we were sitting there, we spotted a bald eagle, it was fairly high up but Scott got some decent photos of it as it soared above us.

We watched it fly over towards the trees. Scott said he saw it land, but I’d lost sight of it by the time it went into the tree line.

A few photos while we waited.

Someone came and started organizing everyone into groups and we went down to board based upon which group you were in, and which plane color you were assigned to. People seemed a bit reluctant to get on first and sit close to the front, so Scott and I took the front seats. I sent this photo to the family, and my nephew (who’s been with us on cruises in the past) messaged back for the first time this trip and said “now THAT’s a good photo” . I didn’t even pay attention to the fact it looks like a cruise ship is about to hit us head on when I took the pic.

The planes are relatively small but it didn’t seem too tiny and sat eight or nine people with one (fairly small) seat on each side of the plane. Someone was offered to sit beside the pilot, which must have been an amazing view. The lady that sat behind us definitely white knuckled it a lot of the way but I thought it was smooth the whole way.

 

[ukintheus]

As soon as everyone was onboard we started taxiing to take off. It was so much fun and nowhere near as bumpy as I thought it might be. There was a narrative over the headphones for the entire flight there and back.

Fair warning here that we took a LOT of photos. A. Lot. The scenery was just amazingly beautiful and I could have happily stayed on the plane for hours just staring at the landscape below and around us.

And then we got to the edge of the glaciers and the views got even better, and I was in awe the entire time. This is where I insert the standard “photos can never do it justice” spiel. They don’t. It was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G.

We seemed to go from one glacier to the next really quickly with just a mountain or so in between them and I really didn’t know which glacier we were looking at, but they were all cool!

We circled around and started our decent to land on the lake in front of the Hole in the Wall glacier.

Scott was on the side that got the first glimpse of the lodge and the dock. Landing was really smooth, and again I was surprised at how effortlessly those planes mange to get into (and out of) the water.

The planes all landed one after the other, I would say everyone was down within a 10-minute window.

We were told that we could wander around and that when lunch was ready they would sound the dinner bell. We were immediately drawn to get a better look at the glacier. The sun was shining and it was a gorgeous day. Chilly enough to feel good, but not cold.

We took a walk up to the lodge to take a look around and see what was going on. I was hoping we might see a bear or two today, as they mention it in the excursion information as a possibility. Nobody came out of the woods to play today though.

They have a big outdoor cooking operation where they grill the salmon over a wood-fired pit. This is the area that can attract the bears due to the smell of the cooking. Not today though – no hungry bears around. They also had a campfire going close by but everyone was too busy enjoying the sunshine and the views from the lawn to be around it.

There was a gift shop (that we never went into) and a couple of walking trails.

 

[ukintheus]

We walked along one of the trails that was close to the lake. There were wild blueberries and cranberries growing. Cranberries don’t taste good without sugar at the best of times, these were downright nasty! The blueberries were OK, but also pretty sour and none of them warranted a photo.

Another glacier off to the other side of the lake. We probably flew over it but I was clueless as to our bearings at this point.

A glacier with baby Christmas trees growing in the foreground.

As we got back to the lawn area another couple offered to take our photograph, it just so happened that our plane was taking off in the background.

All of the planes left while we were there and then arrived back just in time to pick us up. They also do excursions of just the glaciers, and (I think) someone at the lodge told me they can have up to 5 lunch excursions a day. The math just rolls around in my head at nearly $1000 per couple, 5 (I think) planes each trip, let’s just say 8 people per plane. Yeah, no wonder they only have to work in the summer!

We could see people with alcohol so went inside to get a drink. They had coffee, water and lemonade as complimentary drinks and you could purchase beer or wine. The beer available was a blonde or an amber from the Alaskan Brewing Company.

The total time we had between landing and lunch was about 40 minutes – we were so busy taking photos and just taking it all in that the time seemed to fly by.

Each plane was assigned a table, so you were eating with the same people you flew with. There was only one couple on our table that were not with Disney, and we were the only ones from DCL that had booked directly. The placemats were neat and actually had a lot of information on them.

Lunch was served as a buffet with someone plating the salmon and then you serving yourself to the beans, coleslaw, apples and cornbread. It was all very tasty and you could go back for more of the beans etc. if you wanted. It was a bit of a long line, or you waited a while to get food, with everyone being served at the same time.

They served ginger cookies for dessert on each table, and they were really good, but I forgot to get a photo. If you wanted, you could go and get a chunk of glacier ice for your water. This was bigger than it looks, it probably would have lasted all day.

While we were eating, one of the staff gave a talk about the history of the lodge, the glacier and the surrounding area. Also, some insight into how the staff all live there and how life works when you are off the grid. All cool stuff, and then we were invited to either hang out on our own, or take a guided tour along one of the paths. We decided to take the tour. Most of it was through woods, and the roots of the trees made it a little tricky to navigate. You had to keep your eyes on the ground when you were walking to step over and around them all. It was OK, but I wish in a way we had done our own thing. The group strung out quite a bit and with the guide upfront we missed more than half of what he was saying, and it took longer than if we had just been on our own.

The trail circled around and brought us back to the glacier, and we joined up with the path Scott and I had taken before lunch.

We did hear about these growths on the trees though I can’t remember what they were called and Google isn’t helping me. They were really cool looking and apparently were mostly used for art work and medicines. Ugg...what was the name?!?

The tour brought us back to the lodge, and we were told we had about 20 minutes before the planes came back. We decided to take the waterfall trail as they said there was water today (apparently it’s not always flowing), even though we knew we would have to hustle.

There was only us and one other couple that were on this trail so it was really nice and peaceful. More of a trickle off the rocks than a waterfall really, but pretty all the same. Quick selfie to say we’d been there, done that before we had to hot foot it back to the lodge.

There were some beautiful views of a valley on our way back. We could have spent a lot more time here for sure with the views and the weather it was perfect.

Time was up, and the planes were all landing, so we made our way down to the dock. There were people getting off to enjoy the next lunch for the day, and we got a quick photo by our plane while we waited.

Side note: Our pilot was a really nice guy, and he was telling us that he was about to fly down to Houston (their season was over) as he worked for the Forestry Dept. in his off season and he was due to pilot some of the wildfire planes that were down in Texas (our summer was brutally hot and dry.)

Back on topic, we were told it would be best to keep the same seats we had on the flight over, so that we could see what we had missed on the other side. We were in the air pretty quickly.

Back to gazing down below us.

 

[ukintheus]

This was on my side going out. My photo with my phone wasn’t close to these great ones Scott got. Kudos again to the big boy camera.

The journey back seemed to go more quickly, but both journeys were right around 20 minutes and all too soon we were coming in to land.

We were handed this nice little souvenir flight map on our way out of the office, although Scott said we didn’t take the route they had shown on the way back as we had flown over the glaciers again. It was nice to have it to at least half way know where we had been though.

We contemplated doing something in town, but we didn’t know what, and we didn’t want to spoil the wonderful day we had had so far by doing something to bring us down off the cloud we were on, so we elected just to go back to the ship.

Randomness, but there was new carpet on Deck 4 since we had last walked through there. We noticed new carpet in Tritons as well before the end of the cruise. They were definitely beginning to try and get ahead in the quick dry dock before the Australian cruises.

We were back on board around 3:30 pm and then we were lazy and hung out on the verandah and did not much of anything.

It started to rain off and on so we were glad we had got back before the showers began. We decided to see what they had on offer up at Daisy’s as Scott felt like he could eat a bite of something. Here’s the bite.

The showers did give us a lovely double rainbow though. We weren’t willing to get damp and go up to Deck 10 to get a photo without the windows in the way so this was the best we got.

We didn’t have long to hang out in the cabin until it was time to go for dinner. The day had been beautiful the entire time we had been off the ship. We got so lucky that the cloudy skies were before and after.

Tonight was Triton’s again, with the Captain’s Gala menu. We had been talking with the table that was next to us for a night or so now. They were a family from Chicago who were on their very first cruise. Dad was a firefighter, Mum was medical (never did find out what) and they had a girl around 8 years and a boy about 6. They had elected to rent a car in each port and went off doing their own thing. It was fun to swap stories every evening and the kids were having a blast. It was fun to hear them excitedly chatter about their day and they LOVED the kid clubs. Anyway, I digress (again), on with the food. Scott got the Braised Oxtail Soup (he said it reminded him of French onion but was a bit saltier) and I got the Roasted Oyster Mushrooms.

Oven-Baked Lobster Tail for both of us and Scott added the Pan-Seared Venison Medallions for a surf and turf.

The photographers came around again half way through our entrees. My face says what my brain wouldn't allow my mouth to.

It was a tough call on dessert tonight and we pondered this menu way longer than we needed to.

And settled on the Alaskan Strawberry Romanoff Bread Pudding. It was good but not as good as it sounded on the much-perused menu.

Coming out of dinner we ran into Saoirse who promptly started her best princess wave. She said that’s as close as she could get to the 25th anniversary celebrations.

We popped back to the cabin so that Scott could grab his camera as they were starting the party at 7:30 pm. I grabbed a couple of photos of scenery we were passing.

We found a spot on Deck 4 where we could tuck away and watch everything, although it wasn’t crowded on Deck 3 if you wanted to be that close.

There were lots of people with the silver ears tonight, and in clothes that were a take on the silver celebrations colors. I have to take my hat off to anyone that gave it that much thought as it wasn’t even really on my radar.

Trent and Captain Thord (that was our captain, I can read the name tag in this photo – LOL) did the preamble stuff.

 

[ukintheus]

Confetti, music and characters. Clap along, sing the song, you know the drill.

Today had been just so amazingly awesome that we decided to end on the high note of the 25th celebration and call it a night. We had this nice print as a souvenir (which sadly I heard not everyone got – only if you were an existing Castaway Club member – really DCL??? ) and a crocodile/alligator eating the remote waiting for us. We also had some red wine that we had bought onboard with us that we drank while going back and looking through our photos from the day.

Our excursion absolutely beat any expectations that we had out of the ball park. It was definitely something that I would recommend, but, if I also think if you just did the sea plane over the glaciers then you would get 75% of the awesomeness at a lower price. One of the couples on our lunch table said it was their third time. I think I would have to look into what other excursions are available there before I could say it was something I would do over and over. It seems there is so much to see in Alaska, that I’d have to know I wasn’t missing out on something else.

Wrap up: Awesome, amazing, beautiful, breath-taking, worth every penny and made our wash out day in Skagway quickly disappear in the rear view mirror.

Coming up: Sitka

 

[wishiwasindisneyjen]

I'm loving your report and your pictures are amazing! Thank you for sharing.

 

[bcwife76]

To say you got some stunning photographs would be an understatement Great pics of the Wonder both ways too lol

 

[Flossbolna]

I am really enjoying your trip report! We did an Alaska cruise in August, so it is interesting to compare notes.

My husband is currently on a cruise on the Odyssey of the Seas with his mother and is loving it. Being a Disney nut like me, he misses DCL a bit, but says the ship is wonderful and has some great features. So hopefully you will have a great time there, too!

 

[Grace&Carolinesmom]

Just popping in to say I have been reading your trip report and it is AWESOME!! Your commentary and photos are such an interesting read and so informative. Thank you for taking the time to share your amazing trip with us DISers.

We have never cruised before but DH and I are considering an Alaskan cruise in maybe 2025?? Honestly, we would like to go just the 2 of us without our DDs as we haven't had a couples trip since prekids so....before 1998. DH and I are lovers of Alaska shows and would love to experience in person.

 

[ukintheus]

To say you got some stunning photographs would be an understatement Great pics of the Wonder both ways too lol

He got the ones of the Wonder going out and I got them coming back in. It was a great day for sure.

I am really enjoying your trip report! We did an Alaska cruise in August, so it is interesting to compare notes.

My husband is currently on a cruise on the Odyssey of the Seas with his mother and is loving it. Being a Disney nut like me, he misses DCL a bit, but says the ship is wonderful and has some great features. So hopefully you will have a great time there, too!

We are expecting differences but we wanted a change in itinerary. I'm so glad that your husband and MIL are enjoying it!

Just popping in to say I have been reading your trip report and it is AWESOME!! Your commentary and photos are such an interesting read and so informative. Thank you for taking the time to share your amazing trip with us DISers.

We have never cruised before but DH and I are considering an Alaskan cruise in maybe 2025?? Honestly, we would like to go just the 2 of us without our DDs as we haven't had a couples trip since prekids so....before 1998. DH and I are lovers of Alaska shows and would love to experience in person.

Thank you! We've had Alaska on our list for a long time, but the price was always a factor. I think it's one of those itineraries that is worth splurging for, at least once anyway. It would be way cheaper without the kids.

 

[ukintheus]

I'm loving your report and your pictures are amazing! Thank you for sharing.

Thank you!

 

[oufpat]

A couple of years ago my husband and I took an Alaska Cruise on the Crown Princess, it was awful. Thank you for convincing me we need to go back!

 

[teach22180]

Thank you so much for the report! i was on deck 6 below you, and it's so much fun to relive it all. I will agree with you that the weather in Vancouver was so awesome. I spent 3 days there before the cruise, and it was a real surprise. The rain at the ports bothered me more than I thought it would, so I'm super grateful that I had some sunshine in Vancouver.

I saw a whale's tail right outside the porthole at French Quarter during that first sea day. This little girl said, look whales! I thought she was imagining them, but no, it was RIGHT THERE! We were so lucky.

I went to Haines in the pouring rain from Skagway, hoping to see bears at the river eating salmon. Finally, we saw mom and her cubs at the end! I think there might have been a riot if nothing happened after two hours in the rain!
Juneau was my favorite day, but probably the weather helped a lot! I saw the glacier and the salmon bake. It was so yummy! That Taku lodge looks amazing though, and if I went back, I think I would go there!

I had waterproof pants, rain jacket and backpack, so I didn't get too cold or wet. I just really didn't expect the grey weather to put such a damper on it all. I'm still glad I went; it is a beautiful area.





Jun

 

[ukintheus]

Thank you so much for the report! i was on deck 6 below you, and it's so much fun to relive it all. I will agree with you that the weather in Vancouver was so awesome. I spent 3 days there before the cruise, and it was a real surprise. The rain at the ports bothered me more than I thought it would, so I'm super grateful that I had some sunshine in Vancouver.

I saw a whale's tail right outside the porthole at French Quarter during that first sea day. This little girl said, look whales! I thought she was imagining them, but no, it was RIGHT THERE! We were so lucky.

I went to Haines in the pouring rain from Skagway, hoping to see bears at the river eating salmon. Finally, we saw mom and her cubs at the end! I think there might have been a riot if nothing happened after two hours in the rain!
Juneau was my favorite day, but probably the weather helped a lot! I saw the glacier and the salmon bake. It was so yummy! That Taku lodge looks amazing though, and if I went back, I think I would go there!

I had waterproof pants, rain jacket and backpack, so I didn't get too cold or wet. I just really didn't expect the grey weather to put such a damper on it all. I'm still glad I went; it is a beautiful area.





Jun

How cool you got to see the whales close to the ship. The very first night there were whales close to the ship while we were at dinner in Tiana's. We didn't attempt to get up and see them, but lots of people said they were really close. It was a shame it rained so much in Skagway, but it sounds like you had an amazing day with seeing the bears! Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the trip!

 

[ukintheus]

Saturday, September 16 – Sitka

Our plan for today was to get off the ship and do a walking tour of Sitka on our own. I had done some research and it seemed like it was an easy thing to do, and we didn’t really fancy any of the excursions. It was a relaxed start to the day and we were just coming into dock when we got up.

The weather forecast for the day called for a chance of showers and it looked a little grey, but not too bad.

The port area looked fairly new, and not as big as some of the others.

Further investigation into Google showed that we were actually quite a way out of town. At this point we assumed DCL would have a shuttle or we’d be doing way more walking than we had planned on!

It was another 9 am run to Cabanas this morning and somehow Scott managed to yet again get another staple that I didn’t get this cruise. French toast. Yum. How I missed both french toast AND Mickey waffles is a mystery to this day.

And then he ordered an egg white omelet, which is completely backward in my book. Eggs first THEN French toast.

I went out on a limb and got breakfast potatoes with the eggs benedict.

Done with breakfast, we went back to the cabin and got ourselves sorted for the day. No variation on the clothing for today either with our standard rain gear, just in case, and our Vessi shoes. I was a bit concerned as we were planning on doing a lot of walking and I wasn’t sure how comfortable the Vessi’s would be, but they worked out just fine. By 10:15 am we were off the ship and found the complimentary shuttle into town, which was just on the other side of the port buildings.

It wasn’t a long drive into town, and the shuttle driver kept us entertained with his tales of living in Alaska while he drove. The drop off point was right outside the Visitor and Convention center which was convenient to everything in town.

I had scoped out a walking tour before we had left Texas and had a rough idea of everything that was on it. We got our friend Mr. Google fired up and just headed in what we hoped was the right direction. First up was St. Michael the Archangel Orthodox Cathedral. It wasn’t open yet (it opens at noon in case you are interested) so we just snapped a photo.

Continuing down Lincoln Street we soon came across the Baranof Castle State Historic Site.

There were quite a few stairs to navigate getting to the top, and they were a little narrow in places where they turned. I was sure I’d fall A over T as I can be pretty clumsy at times and my shoes felt way bigger than some of those steps! These signs told the story of the site and were placed around the perimeter.

It was really windy up there although thankfully not too cold. These flags were clanging and fluttering like crazy and I did attempt to take a video but the racket of the wind in the microphone had me giving up.

There were some pretty views up there and we did enjoy reading about the history of the Tlingit and Russian battles that had taken place. This was also the location where the first US flag was raised after the Alaska Purchase. Tons of history here.

Right across Lincoln Street was Totem Square, which was next on the list. There was a nice lawn area and you could walk all the way around it.

On the other side of Totem Square is Sitka Pioneer’s Home. This is now a state home for the elderly but was built in 1934 on the Old Russian Parade Ground. It was an impressive looking building for sure and had some beautiful lawns in front of it.

We walked out of the side of the gardens to get back to Lincoln Street as we needed to double back on ourselves at this point.

After passing the convention center and the shuttle drop off point, we followed the path around the edge of the marina. The town seemed really quiet and there weren’t many people walking around at all. It didn't feel like it was a cruise ship port at all, and we loved that about it.

The pathway took us back alongside Lincoln Street and past the Russian Bishop’s House.

Sitka was so green, and they kept their lawns immaculate! This was St. Peter’s by the Sea Episcopal Church and was another beautiful building. (Side note that Saint Gregory Catholic Church wasn’t anywhere near as nice!)

We passed where the local fishermen were parked to unload their catch from their boats, and also a playground with quite a few Mums chatting away with the kids playing. There was nothing touristy going on around us and it was a really nice way to see how real life might be in Sitka.

 

[ukintheus]

At the end of the marina pathway, we came upon this beautiful campus. We weren’t sure exactly what it was as there was a sign for the Sheldon Jackson Museum, but that was off to one side. It was some part of the school system and Google told us that it has something to do with the Sitka Fine Arts.



The buildings were really lovely whatever it was.

This part of Sitka was just so different to the other places we had visited so far. It was quaint and authentic and we loved looking around. Up on our right was the Sitka Sound Science Center, and, although it didn’t appear to be open, you could walk around the outside of it.

There was a salmon ladder that went into the center. It wasn’t what I had imagined a salmon ladder to look like, and, to be honest, this whole place wasn’t something I particularly enjoyed. The salmon that were trying to get upstream from the sea were all exhausted and it was really hard to watch them trying to work their way into any crevice, or even the drains.

I wasn’t up for watching that for very long, so we continued our walk. The other side was open water and also really active with salmon, although the photograph doesn’t really show it.

Scott spotted this guy bobbing in the waves.

The walk along Lincoln Street brought us straight to the Sitka National Historic Park.

There was a DCL tour there and the visitor center building was really busy so we elected to skip it and just keep on walking. I had downloaded the National Park Service app before we left and it had a self-guided walking tour of the Totem Trail. The paths were very easy to walk on and, luckily, we had just caught the end of the DCL tour and so we had the place pretty much to ourselves apart from several locals walking their dogs. What a great place to be able to walk a dog!

There’s something like 15 totem poles along the trails and the app explained what each of them were. We really enjoyed taking our time and figuring out exactly what it was we were supposed to be seeing – it’s not as easy as you would think! Scott was way better at it than I was. Here’s a few photos.

We stopped a couple of times as they had some benches, or big logs, along the way so that you could take a break. Part of the trail popped out onto this beach area with a convenient log to take the weight off for a bit. So far, so good on staying dry!

The trail looped around and you could go back to the visitor center, but we opted to hang a right and take the pathway that led to the Sitka Highway. The pathway crosses the Indian River and there were quite a few people there. And this is why. The river was absolutely full of salmon. There were hundreds of them. And the banks were littered with dead salmon, which didn’t make for a particularly pleasant smell.

I tried to get this video to show just how many there were. They were pretty much hanging out resting on their trip upstream. I’ve decided I definitely DON’T want to come back as a salmon if there’s an afterlife!

We reached the Sitka Highway and started our way back towards town in search of the Raptor Center. We quickly discovered that getting across the road was going to be really difficult, and on second look, discovered there was a pedestrian crossing right where we had come out of the National Park. Duhh.. We elected to not try and play frogger with the traffic, and walked back to the crossing, despite REALLY not wanting to walk any more than we had to. It was about 1/3rd of a mile to the Raptor Center but along the main road with not much to look at it felt quite a bit further.

We got lucky again and there were no tour buses at the Raptor Center and it was very quiet. We did have to wait a while for the tour to begin. We would have loved something to drink but they didn't sell any bottled water here, just soft drinks and nothing diet, so we passed even though we were both pretty thirsty. Very clean rest rooms though. We saw where they rehabilitate wild eagles and then walked around the exhibits outside where they have rescued birds that can’t be rehabilitated. It would definitely be a one and done for us, but it was neat to see the birds that close.

Volta had a lot to say for himself as they were cleaning his cage next door. Evidently, he doesn’t enjoy his daily housekeeping. Or maybe he does I wouldn’t know the difference!

They had some other birds in smaller enclosures and we had missed where they had one of them out with a handler, but it was also starting to sprinkle with rain so we didn't hang around too much.

These two are just too cute!

We got ourselves ready for a rainy walk back into town and started back along the main road. I don’t think it rained for more than a few minutes though, and then I was boiling hot from being all bundled up. While we walked, we talked about “maybe” doing Fortress of the Bear when we got back into town. We passed the Sitka National Cemetery on the outskirts of town, and stopped to take a look.

It is always sobering to see any of the National Cemeteries and this was no exception.

As we got back to town, we decided to zigzag our way down some side streets to get off the main road and also try and find some shortcuts. We passed some really cute homes with some lovely gardens. I can only imagine how pretty Sitka is in the summer.

This garden had an apple tree that reminded me of the apple trees that we had at home growing up. My Mum made a LOT of stuff with apples, I can tell you that.

We made it back into town at around 1:30 pm and I was pretty much done with walking and sightseeing for the day. Scott would have liked to have made it to see the bears, but I was ready to sit down for a bit and get something to drink and it seemed like a lot of hassle. We looked up how we would get there and tried to figure out timing and in the end decided to skip it. After taking a quick look at Google we opted for the Bayview Pub instead.

It was close to the shuttle pick up point and it was a great spot to plop ourselves down. I had the Alaksa Ciderworks Northwind Cider and Scott had the Harbor Mountain Dark Czech Lager. My cider was sooooo good.

The restaurant seemed to have a lot of locals in it and it was a nice, relaxing place to spend a bit of time. And we shared another halibut and chips, which were really good and hit the spot for sure.

 

[ukintheus]

We sat and enjoyed another round of drinks and waited for a fairly heavy rain shower to pass. While we were in there some of the other customers were talking about how “Disney cruise” people had just shown up on some type of excursion. It had to do with having shots, which was intriguing. Maybe I had missed a really good excursion after all! The rain eased off and so we decided to get to the shuttle while it was dry. We were back at the port by 3:30 pm and it was drizzling with rain.

We took a quick look through the shops that were at the port, but nothing struck as something we couldn’t live without, so we made our way back to the ship. We made a quick trip to the cabin to shuck off some of our outer gear, and then we went up to refill our water bottles. We were long overdue for some water today. And I was long overdue for one of these!! It’s mostly eaten by the time I took this, but it’s the only one I got the entire trip.

We went back to the cabin and watched from the verandah to see us leaving Sitka.

We were surprised by how many people came out to wave us off, shouting and cheering while the ship played its horn a few times. Maybe because it was the last time DCL would be in Sitka this season? Maybe they are really saying get the **** outta here.

I took a look through the navigator and we had a quick look at the TV.

We had pulled away from the dock but didn’t appear to be moving much.

Nosiness got the better of us and we went back outside to see what was going on. The ship was away from the pier and rotating in place. It was so strange!

We ended up slowly doing a 360 degree (plus) turn. It was great for getting a good look at everything around us. Weird though!

We eventually made it to wherever they were trying to get to in order to begin our gradual move back out to wherever we were going!

It was almost time for dinner and tonight we were back in Tritons.

The Frozen menu was tonight, which I thought was different, seeing as they had the Frozen deck party on Glacier night (which, btw, ended up being in the Atrium because it was raining.)

I had the Jarlsberg Tart and Scott had Elsa’s Coronation Scallops.

And then I had Sven’s Carrot Soup and Scott had Oaken’s Red and Yellow Beetroot Salad.

We then split Hans’s Juniper-marinated Pork Tenderloin and Anna’s Honey-Mustard-marinated Salmon. Both of them were good, it was hard to pick which one was the best.

No words needed, but it does look like we actually got to finish our food first!

Apparently, tonight we decided we were hungry because we also got dessert. I “think” the first one is Olaf’s White Chocolate Floro Dome and we also got the Oaken Warm Apple Pudding Cake. The chocolate thing wasn’t something we really enjoyed and the apple pudding cake was OK but a bit dry, but that vanilla ice cream is always good!

The captain had announced earlier that we were going to get some rougher seas tonight. There had been a couple of good swells while we were at dinner that had our next-door table mates a little worried at times. I think the forecast was calling for about 15 ft swells. We popped back to the cabin and stuck our heads out to see what was going on. We LOVE it when it’s nice and rolling.

Having taken a look-see outside we decided we would go and grab a drink somewhere. French Quarter was the final decision (of course) and it was fairly busy as the Crawfish Crooner guys were in there.

I ordered a Sazerac and Scott said he’d have a glass of some kind of red wine off the menu. Server Nick asked if we’d ever tried the Sommelier Bin and recommended that Scott give it a try. Of course we are game for anything and he asked if I’d like a glass as well….ummm….OK. And then he showed up with this.

I have no idea how much this bottle costs if you buy it on the ship, but I know it isn’t $12 a glass!! Anyway, it was a really nice surprise and it was good. I don’t know that it was as good as I've heard people raving about, but at that price point who’s complaining??? Not us!

I was tired tonight, all that walking had tuckered me out. I did want to stop at Shutters though, and find out what the deal was with the photo package as our CC gift. The lady immediately pointed me to this sign that was right in front of my nose. Get asked much?

It was about 8:30 pm when we got back to the cabin. A very lame night indeed, but we had to get this guy out of the bed first before we could settle in.

Coming up: Ketchikan