Wednesday 26 June 2013 Vancouver

We awoke to our alarm at 7. On looking outside, we were greeted by Vancouver liquid sunshine.

We had breakfast and wandered until our disembarkation at 9 when we took the train back to Darren’s. Sue’s parents were there on their way to the family cottage in Ontario, so we had a nice visit before they left. The grand-boys were quite excited to have all these grandparents hanging around at the same time.

In summary, a great week with unusually good weather and  an opportunity to observe a rarely seen whale behaviour.

Weather: Overcast, foggy, and misty with occasional light rain, temperature 14.

Tuesday 25 June 2013 At Sea

There was a time change back to Pacific Time overnight, we were up just after 8 on the new time, losing an hour. After breakfast, we took in a Microsoft seminar about the features of Windows 8 and a memory seminar, but I forget what he said. Actually, he had some good tips, but you need to have a good imagination and not be lazy. That lets us out.

We returned to our room and took the laptop down to the indoor pool to blog and manage some pictures while grabbing a snack. They had a Mongolie grill arrangement set up. Celeste really enjoyed their tasty sauce.  Later we returned to our room and found some official looking mail. Yesterday we received an official looking invitation to a brunch with the Captain in the dining room today, but we forgot and went to the memory seminar instead. Actually, we had a late breakfast so we weren’t real hungry and we did not expect it to be too exciting, so we skipped it. Well, it turns out we were to be presented with nice pins recognizing our accumulation of a certain number of cruising days with Holland America. Since we missed it, they just dropped the pins off in our room. Might have been kind of fun. Oops!

We frittered away the afternoon until we finally went up to the Crow’s Nest at 4 for Happy Hour. We spent an hour and a half watching the world go by as we navigated through the narrow straits between Vancouver Island and the mainland. It was kind of interesting to observe the strong currents and turbulent water in some places. We then went down for our last dinner, this time at a table for two. [Note to self: Must learn to make Pavlova. So good! – Ed.]

After dinner we went to the live theatre show. The program said something about Dancing with the Stars featuring the Volendam singers and dancers. I did not make the connection despite the fact they had been talking about it all week, but part of the entertainment was a competition among several guests paired with cast dancers. The judges were the comedian and magician from previous shows and the band leader from the house band. One of the contestants was pretty good, another not bad, and three were entertaining in other ways. Of course the judges were also very humourous. All in all, it was pretty entertaining.

We finished the evening with a stroll around the deck, some music from the classical duo in one bar, and the jazz combo in another. Finally, it was time to pack and hit the hay.

 

Weather: Mostly overcast with an occasional sunny break, temperature about 15, quite windy while in open water, but not bad when better sheltered. Rain showers by late evening.

Monday 24 June 2013 Ketchikan, Alaska

We were up at 8 for breakfast and then went out on deck while we sailed through the narrow channel leading to Ketchikan. It was like sailing through an airshow, with float planes coming and going on both sides of the ship. We docked on time at 10 and were ashore about half an hour later. We wandered around the shopping area for an hour and checked a few stores before joining our tour. The dock area here was the most touristy so far, with a couple of blocks of new retail development aimed at the cruise ships. The tours here weren’t too appealing and our stay here is pretty short, but we booked one anyway just to do and see something. The tour was a bit disappointing. We were with a small local tour company that seemed to have been squeezed out of the prime locations by the big operators. We visited a couple of local scenic spots before going to a display of totem poles, however, we were not allowed inside the native lodge house and our guide gave his commentary from the edge of the area rather than inside like the other guides. He was pretty laid back though, so maybe it was just him.

Finally we were dropped off at the home of a legendary local Madame. She died in 1971 and her house was preserved with many artifacts from her time here, beginning in the early 1900s. It was fairly interesting.

 

We returned to the ship and had lunch at 3. We wandered around for a while, ending up in the Crow’s Nest for happy hour at 5, followed by dinner as we departed the dock at 5:30. We sat with a couple from England tonight, although she was originally from Scotland. We again took in the live show at the theatre at 8. After that we went to the movie theatre, joining Identity Thief half way through then watching the first half immediately after. We like Jason Bateman, but did not go to the movie in the theatre at home because it was not well reviewed. This seemed like a good opportunity to fill some time and satisfy our curiosity.

Weather: Ketchikan is renowned for its rain. It is supposedly one of the two or three rainiest places in North America. Our guide said they average 152 inches per year with a normal low temperature in winter of about 15 degrees F due to the moderating effect of the ocean. Today was an anomaly. It was sunny and warm with a clear sky as we sailed into port and remained that way throughout our touring. At one point I heard someone say it was 76 degrees F, about 24 or 25 C. Our driver complained continuously about the heat. When we got back to the ship at 3 there was a black cloud behind the mountain and there was a small rain shower while we were in the Crow’s Nest at 5. While we were in the dining room at 6, there was steady rain with lightning.

Sunday 23 June 2013 Glacier Bay, Alaska

Our wake-up call at 6:30 announced the beginning of the supposed highlight of the cruise – Glacier Bay. In addition to the glaciers, there is the likelihood of seeing whales, several other mammals, and many kinds of birds. So, we were a little disappointed when we turned the TV to the outside view from the bridge and all we could see was gray fog. However, by 7:30 the fog was beginning to lift. By evening the sky was completely clear. [Glenn is a wonder – how he can remember all these details! – Ed.]

 

After breakfast we staked out a table in the indoor pool area with an outside window. It wasn’t long before we saw a pod of about six Orcas swimming beside us, but I didn’t get any good pictures. Here is the best of the bad ones.

The Captain announced that we had a problem with one of the two propellers and would be stopping for a while to fix it. He kept talking about the propeller, rather than the engine, so we never did learn what the exact problem was. They weren’t able to fix the problem during our stop, so we carried on so as not to disrupt the day any further. There was no safety or manoeuvrability issue (so he said), just a loss of speed and, since we would be operating at slow speed for the day anyway, they decided to tackle the issue later.

We soon slowed to pick up some Park Rangers from Glacier Park who gave intermittent commentary for the rest of the day. Meanwhile, I went up on deck while Celeste held the fort by the window. The commentator pointed out a mountain that was a good bet to see mountain goats and, sure enough, there they were – about three adults and two or three kids. Too far away for pictures though. A little later Celeste also spotted a sea otter.

Near the end of the bay we encountered several glaciers, culminating with the two at the very end. The main glacier from the north carries a lot of debris and appears as a dirty black two-mile-wide wall. The other one from the west is much cleaner and more picturesque and about one mile wide at the face. They are both about 200-250 feet high, about the height of a twenty storey building. The Captain pulled up alongside the prettier one and slowly spun the ship around while they served a barbecued salmon lunch around the pool. We missed some of the action, but we were too hungry not to eat. The glacier was calving while we were there, dumping several huge chunks into the bay with a loud “Boom!” each time.

Just before the final glaciers, Celeste spotted some Bald Eagles and some Scoter ducks. As we worked our way back down the bay, we spotted much additional wildlife. We saw two humpback whales traveling north together and another group of four or five that seemed to be feeding, although not co-operatively like we saw near Juneau. In this group we saw two cases of a whale breaching, throwing its body into the air, completely clear of the water.  We saw a colony of Stellar Sea Lions on an island, more than half a dozen sea otters, and about three seals, one of which cavorted quite near the ship doing somersaults and rolls. We dropped off the Park Rangers at the mouth of the bay and stopped the ship for a while to make another attempt to fix our mechanical problem. The problem was soon solved and we were back underway. By 5 pm we were hungry again, so we reluctantly left the deck to change for the formal supper.

Today we were seated with a couple from St. Albert, Alberta and an older widower from Florida, who still had a New York accent thirty-seven years after leaving. Our wildlife watching still wasn’t over though, as we saw several more whales, sea otters, and seals from the dining room window.

Tonight’s stage show was magician Greg Gleason who has performed many times in Las Vegas. He was very good and also humourous. After the show we went for a walk and then sat down for some blogging and picture editing followed by our snack and the adult show of last night’s comedian at 11.

Weather: Foggy and about 10 degrees C in the morning; fog lifting and clearing through the day; afternoon mostly sunny through a high thin overcast, temperature probably in the mid-to-high teens, although it felt much warmer; evening clear and mild. All the tour oriented staff remarked on what a great day it had been.

Saturday 22 June 2013 Skagway, Alaska

No sleeping in today! We had a wake-up call for 7 am in preparation for an 8:30 departure of our excursion from Skagway. Our bus driver told us that the schedule for this year includes 27 cruise ships with 391 total visits. The first leg was a bus ride up past the White Pass summit (Canadian border), through a short stretch of BC, and into the Yukon.

His interesting commentary about points of interest, climate, glaciation, and gold rush history made the time fly by. We traveled at a leisurely pace and made a few stops for pictures and one at customs.  We arrived at Caribou Crossing tourist venue for a nice barbecued chicken lunch at about 11 am. The place began as a taxidermy museum started by a renowned taxidermist. The museum really was quite spectacular. Over the years, it grew to include many other attractions, including a gift shop (of course), helicopter rides, a petting zoo, a sled dog training facility that offers rides on four-wheeled carts, etc.

The weather in Skagway was overcast and cool. As we neared the Pass summit at 2888 feet, we entered the cloud and drove in fog for some time. Soon after passing Canadian customs the weather began to clear, becoming mostly sunny with high scattered to broken cloud with mild temperature. The vegetation near the summit was very stunted. Between the rocky terrain and the severe winters, it is a real struggle to survive. The snow whipped about by the strong winter winds acts like a sandblaster on the exposed tree branches leaving their tops misshapen and forlorn looking.

 

 

After an hour and a half at Caribou Crossing, we drove on to Emerald Lake, named for its bright green colour, although I did not find it all that green and certainly less so than lakes I have seen in the Rockies. We then turned back past the Caribou Crossing site to the nearby town of Carcross. The town was also once known as Caribou Crossing, but they shortened the name for convenience. We explored a display about paddle wheeled boats, but, due to a timing error on my part, we ran out of time for Celeste to visit the Sourdough Bakery.

At 1:30 it was back on the bus for the one hour trip back to the Canada Customs facility where we caught the famous White Pass and Yukon Railway for the trip back to Skagway. The two hour train ride was very scenic and interesting, again filled with commentary.

 

On our return to Skagway we did a little bit of souvenir shopping, returned to the ship, and made it to the dining room by 5:30. We sat with couples from North Vancouver and Florida. The Vancouver couple were about 80 years old and have been on about 25 cruises. They watch the cruise ships from their balcony. The Florida couple were probably in their 70s and were celebrating their 50^th anniversary, leading to extra dessert for our table. They didn’t even know they were going on a cruise until a week ago. They were trailering across the US to the northwest and were considering driving to Alaska. When they looked at a map of BC and saw the driving options, they decided to look into cruising and a few days later were on our ship.

After dinner, comedian Julie Barr performed in the live theatre. She was very funny. Her best bit was when she picked a 12-year-old boy out of the audience and told him all about how tough life was when we were growing up. We then popped up to the Crow’s Nest for a drink, followed by a return to our room to blog and download pictures.

Today was our longest day with sunrise at 4 am and sunset at 10:30 pm.

Weather: Skagway – overcast, temperature in the mid-teens. Inland – mostly sunny with high scattered and broken cloud, temperature around 20 degrees C, becoming windy and more cloudy later in the afternoon.

Friday 21 June 2013 Juneau, Alaska

There was a time change to Alaska Time overnight. Despite gaining an hour, we still weren’t up until 9:30 (10:30 PST). It must have been all the dancing, although Celeste was awake several times during the night. After breakfast we took a walk outside, caught the end of a talk about excursions, and I caught up on the blog while Celeste took a nap. We docked in Juneau at 1 and made our way to our shore excursion meeting point. Our driver told us there are often four or five cruise ships in port per day. We were the fourth ship today.

First stop on the tour was the Mendenhall Glacier Visitors’ Center. We took a short walk to a photo point and took in a 15 minute movie in the theatre.

 

From there we went whale watching. There were clouds of Bald Eagles around the dock.  OK, maybe not clouds, but there sure were a lot. Our boat was new last year and built for fifty people. That morning they had had groups of thirty and forty. Our group had eight. We had full run of the boat and could easily move around as the spirit moved us. Normally, they see individual humpback whales and observe them from a respectful distance. Such was the case on today’s earlier trips. However, on our trip we encountered a group of about 7 whales “bubble net fishing”, which they assured us was fairly rare. In this behaviour, one whale swims in a circle under a school of small prey fish, emitting a curtain of bubbles around the school, corralling them. Then the other whales in the group swim up from the bottom, driving the fish to the surface. At the surface the whales “inhale” the trapped fish and expel the water. It was quite amazing to see several whale heads break the surface at the same time.

We watched them execute this behaviour about a dozen times. At one point, when they broke the surface, they turned and swan directly towards us. A couple of them got to within about fifty feet before the group dived again. Of course, that is the precise time when my camera battery died. I had intended to charge it last night, but forgot. Fortunately, one among our group was an Australian lady living in Vancouver who had a fancy camera with a telephoto lens. I cried on her shoulder and she promised to send me some of her photos. I will append them if and when I receive them. The boat crew was pretty excited. They said that is pretty much as good as it gets.

From there we went to the Gold Creek Salmon Bake for a meal of salmon cooked over an open fire, baked beans, potatoes au gratin, salads, corn bread, and salmon chowder. Deeelicious! From there we returned to the downtown for a bit of souvenir shopping before returning to the ship by 8:30. Then it was up to the Crow’s Nest for a drink and to jot down our thoughts on the day and download and sort through our pictures from the last week.

Weather: Clear and sunny with light wind. Temperature was in the high teens, maybe into the low 20s. The tour guides assured us that it was an unusually nice day.

Thursday 20 June 2013 At Sea

I don’t know if the bed is especially comfortable or the vibration of the ship is soothing or if there is some other factor, but we both slept soundly until 9 this morning, then rushed down for breakfast.

Today is a day at sea with no stops. We find these days pretty slow. Although there is plenty to do on the ship, much of it is stuff that we aren’t that keen on doing. There is the casino, the spa, the art auctions, the shopping (especially for watches, jewelry, and perfume), the wine tastings (additional charge), and other such activities. We like using the ship as the vehicle to get to the various ports for the shore excursions.

One activity we took in was a presentation on how to use Microsoft PhotoGallery, their version of Picasa. Microsoft has an agreement with Holland America whereby each ship has a Techspert who gives classes about Microsoft products, computers in general, and other technical subjects, like getting the most out of your digital camera. It was informative learning about the latest photo management software. It has lots of convenient features. Maybe we will go that way.

After our computer class we found a place by a window and sat down to bring the blog up to date, followed by lunch. The seating area was quite crowded, so we sat with a couple from Victoria. They were about our age, so we had lots in common. We talked for well over an hour about retirement, kids, family, and life in general. We finally took a break to have a look outside by taking a walk around the deck, but it was quite cool and windy so that did not last long.

Celeste quite enjoyed playing trivia on our last cruise, so we went up to the Crow’s Nest bar to play again. We partnered with two women who weren’t very good at it. We missed a couple that we knew, but they thought they knew better and we weren’t insistent.

Tonight was a formal dining night in the main dining room. We sat with couples from Kingston and Nanaimo and had an enjoyable time. We broke away at 8 pm to take in the performance in the live theatre. After that we went up to the 50s and 60s dance party in the Crow’s Nest. Celeste thought it would be a good idea to dust off the old dancing shoes in preparation for Shaela and AJ’s wedding. We watched for a while, then got up and shuffled through a couple of numbers. Before long we were really flying and worked up a good sweat. When the band took a break, we joined in a game of name that tune (& artist). We were surprisingly good at naming the tunes, but had trouble with a lot of the artists. When we heard the answers, we still didn’t recognize the names of a few of the one-hit wonders. We didn’t win.

We headed back to the snack bar at 10:30 and then off to bed.

Weather: Very low overcast, sometimes fog, misty, occasional light rain. Temperature in the low teens.

Wednesday 19 June 2013 Leaving Vancouver

We actually arrived in Vancouver on Sunday the 16^th and stayed at Darren’s for a few days, enjoying the company of Darren’s family. On departure day, Cameron went for a play date while Sue and Justin accompanied us on train to the cruise terminal. From there, Sue was going shopping with Justin. We toured the dock and viewed the ship. Justin did his best Carla imitation when we tried to take some pictures.

We arrived at the passenger intake about 1 pm and got through US customs & immigration and on board soon after 1:30. We grabbed a light snack and took in a trip overview presentation in the theatre at 2:30. We did some exploring and sat down for some tea in the buffet restaurant. There we met a couple from London who were experienced cruisers and had previously done a cruise to Antarctica. They had a day to kill after the cruise and they were wondering whether they should go to Victoria or tour in Vancouver. One thing the lady wanted to see was a statue of a poodle mounted on a pole (they were poodle fanciers). They had asked at their hotel, but no one knew what they were talking about. By coincidence, we had seen it on Sunday just a few blocks from Darren’s place during Sunday’s street fair. We all shook our heads and wondered, “What the hell is that doing there?” But, I guess there is a reason, whatever it is.

We sailed at 4:30, half an hour early. Apparently the current is dangerous in one of the channels if the tide is running in or out, so you have to go through near high or low tide. If we missed our window, we would be delayed six hours waiting for the next tide and would therefore be late getting to Juneau.

A Sail Away party at began at 5. We each had a drink and a meal of grilled steak and salmon with ribs, grilled vegetables, and other goodies.

The movie Silver Linings Playbook was playing in the movie theatre at 6. We had heard good things and it was well reviewed, so we took it in, missing the first few minutes. It was pretty good overall, but I thought it was just a little bit too clever and too contrived, and the characters were a little too over the top.

From the movie theatre we rushed to the 8 pm live theatre show, featuring all the entertainers from all the venues on board. I thought the performers were a notch below those on our last cruise. This is a smaller, older ship. I suppose the best work their way up to the bigger and newer ships.

After the show, we did some more exploring, including the shops. As it got dark at about 9:30, we entered the narrow channel of the inside passage. I was looking forward to the scenery on this part of the trip, but we won’t see it in the dark. On the way back we should enter the other end at about 4 pm, so let’s hope for good weather then. We had a late night snack at 11 and went to bed.

Weather: Mostly high broken to overcast cloud with some sunny breaks, temperature in the high teens.