2016 Alaska Day 13 - Vancouver and Final Thoughts

We pulled into the port around 7:00AM and started the process for going home. A quick breakfast in WJ, dropping off WOW envelopes at Guest Services, and then waiting for elevators to take us and our luggage down to the gangway so we could do Express Checkout. We were off the ship and on the street heading to the SkyTrain in under 10 minutes.

We had a brief confusion buying our SkyTrain tickets because we couldn't find an option for the 2 zone trip between the port and the airport.  Finally, a bystander told us that, because it was Canada Day (i.e. Canadian Independence Day) all transit was working on a single zone pricing schedule.  Perfect!

Twenty more minutes and we're entered the YVR airport and headed to check-in our luggage.  The cruise line recommended that international flights allow 3.5 hours to get through the airport process, so with our noon flight we got there around 8:30AM.  At first we wondered why all the fuss about getting there so early, given how fast things were going.  Well, it did bog down.

Getting through counter check-in and baggage check-in took longer than expected...about 30 minutes.  Then you go through security, which took another 10 minutes.  Then you go through Customs, which again took another 10 minutes.  So we'd managed to burn up almost 1.5 hours of our cushion..and we were here on a holiday when we assumed most travelers have already passed through the prior day.  I can see how on a weekday you'd easily spend at least another hour in the various lines.

We have enough time to grab snacks and wait at the gate for about an hour before our boarding call.  N&H were flying Air Canada direct to Portland (H's home) so we said our goodbyes here and got on our plane for the 26 minute flight to Seattle, then after a 2 hour layover were were back in San Jose and headed home.

Final Thoughts

Planning for this trip started two years ago - and FAR exceeded the hopes I had for it.  Alaska is spectacularly beautiful, and with the long summer daylight you can take in the views for hours on end.  Hands down winners included:

• Kayaking and flightseeing in Ketchikan
• Zip lining in Seward
• GoldStar train service from Anchorage to Seward
• Our stay at Denali Dome Home
• Whale watching with Harv and Marv in Juneau
• Radiance-class ships
• Pianist Derrek Wayne

The other things we did all fell into the "really glad we did them...but maybe we'd try something different next time".  We didn't regret any of our choices, however.

As great as the scenery and outings were, they were secondary to the fact that we spent almost two weeks with a large part of our extended family and had a wonderful time with every one of them.  We all traveled well together and enjoyed each others' company.  We passed food around tables to share tastes - and shared forks and spoons without anyone getting worried or saying "yuck".  We walked and talked together, we laughed together, and three generations had a shared experience that offered a little something for everyone.  I'd do it again tomorrow if I could.  Not everyone can say that!

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2016 Alaska Day 12: Inside Passage

Before going to bed the prior night the ship had advanced clocks ahead one hour to get back on Pacific Time, so we lost an hour of vacation.  Boo hoo!  ;-)  In the morning I went down to Guest Services because we still hadn't seen $250 of OBC that we should have had as a result of cashing in some points from our RCCL Visa card.  Turns out that while CitiBank took our points away they never transmitted the data to RCI, so no OBC.  I get to fight with CitiBank when we get back.  Oh joy!

Following WJ breakfast we (D, E, A, J, S) went down to Schooner for the riddles contest....which we won!  We scored 10/13, beating the next team who scored 8.  Prizes today were the best: baseball caps.  We're now 3/3 on our cruises, having managed to win trivia once on each trip.  On our way back to the cabins we stopped to look down on the Centrum where towel folding lessons were underway.

All of us went over to the Game Room pre-lunch where we introduced A to the game of cribbage.  The others played Set.  We figured we'd try MDR for lunch, but arrived at 1PM just as they were closing, so off to WJ instead.  W joined us there, having just completed the Behind the Scenes tour, which he loved.  Lots of picture sharing at the table.

The following photos are all from W's tour.

Part of the process of making all those dinner rolls we enjoy.  A machine rolls out the dough and segments it as shown above.  The next step is that each of these dough forms is rolled into a ball, which will be baked into a roll.

Lots of eggplant being prepped.  One of the appetizers this evening will incorporate eggplant.

A crew bar on a lower deck.

A crew lounge.

A crew buffet line

The crew mess hall.

Lots of (clear) broken glass.  Another bin contains not-clear broken glass.  Food waste is apparently ground up to a pulp and put into a giant vat where it is mixed with water and bio-organisms that break the food down in 2-3 days.  Once broken down it can be vented out to sea.

Not 100% certain, but I believe this is an engine control station.  Or perhaps it is part of the bridge?

Out on the bridge wing, showing how the staff can look down the entire length of the ship.  Useful during docking maneuvers.

The two wooden handles are azipod controls, allowing each to be rotated in any direction as well as incorporating throttle control.

Storage for flags.  Contains both maritime flags as well as flags of the nations of ports visited.

Rank hath its privileges. 

An automated folding machine in the laundry.  They auto-fold sheets.  Towels are hand-folded.

A laundry officer demonstrates pressing a crewman's pants.

From there, we went over to the theater to listen to Captain Goran's presentation and Q&A.  Pretty interesting.  After that we had to (sadly) take time to pack in preparation for our exit next day, but we returned to the theater for the concert by the Radiance Orchestra.  Good stuff!  After that, several went off for another presentation about the RCMP and they eventually met the rest of us in the Schooner for drinks.  Dinner followed, during which Reynato outdid himself.  Our table of 11 shared 17 desserts that night!  He kept bringing them and, to our discredit, we kept eating them.

We attended the Farewell show where The Alleycats made an encore appearance and cruise director Steve (Davis) did a great version of "Shout".  We've only seen three cruise directors, but were impressed by Steve.  We loved Marc Walker on Enchantment - he was more charming, while Steve was more energetic.

The team at the farewell show.  Cruise Director Steve Davis in the foreground.

From there, one more visit to Derrick at the piano bar for a (much) more subdued night before finally off to bed.

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2016 Alaska Day 11: Ketchikan

We docked at Berth 3 as originally planned.  I asked someone onshore when B3 had re-opened, as when we'd left San Jose it was still under repair from its collision with Millenium. According to him, we were the first ship to tie up here since the accident.

We certainly didn't lack for potential activities in Ketchikan.  In addition to the normal TripAdvisor recommendations I had also collected both a walking tour map as well as an audio tour that we could have used for free.  Perhaps some other time, because we had a couple of great adventures lined up!

We were up at 8:00AM today to have breakfast in WJ before meeting with Island Wings at the rain gauge at 950AM.  We actually found the vans before we found the drivers, but in short order we were aboard two vans for the short trip to the seaplane dock.  We were scheduled for a tandem flight with Michelle (carrying D, E, R, A, S & W) and Terry (carrying M, C, N, H & J).  Terry works for Mountain Air but handles Michelle's overflow.  She says that he's one of only two pilots she trusts enough to fly for her.  Like her, Terry is a local who flies year-round, and she feels he doesn't exhibit the machismo that can causes some pilots to be reckless.  However you slice it, we all felt comfortable with our pilots.  Sadly, many years later I saw an article that said Terry had died in a plane crash.  Woof.

Our chariots arrive.  Terry's Mountain Air plane leads Michelle's Island Wings plane into the dock to discharge their passengers before we board.

None of us had ever done anything like this before, so from start to finish we had a blast.  Take-off from and landing on water were surprisingly smooth.  Much smoother than a normal plane.  Ketchikan has an airport along the waterfront that, during summer has 6 inbound + 6 outbound Alaska Air flights each day, plus a couple of Delta flights.  Between the big planes and the seaplanes Michelle says that there are over 1400 flights EVERY DAY in Ketchikan, putting that area on par with Atlanta's airport (i.e. the busiest airport in the U.S.)!  As such, for the first 5-10 minutes of the flight they disable the onboard microphones so the pilots can focus purely on the Air Traffic Control chatter.  I was sitting in the co-pilot seat on the outbound leg of the trip and could hear the ATC calls through my headset.  Those in the back don't hear that traffic.

On-board Michelle's plane.  From right to left: W, S, A, D, R, E.  This would be the return leg - D sat co-pilot outbound then swapped with W for the inbound leg.

Michelle has over 22,000 hours of time at the controls.  Like any good pilot she sets the aircraft's trim controls and basically lets the plane fly itself.  In fact, she spent parts of the flight eating her lunch - albeit with a couple of fingers hooked around the yoke at all times.  There was only one moment of anxiety (for us, not for her).  At one point during the outbound flight the engine sputtered a bit and Michelle suddenly stabbed for some controls and played with the throttle to calm things down.  She explained that she has two fuel tanks and that the back tank had just emptied, so she was switching over to the front tank. I will admit that my blood pressure spiked for a moment!

Both planes landed on Manzanita Lake.  Since Michelle has a license from the Park Service she's allowed to tie up to shore and let passengers off to stretch their legs on land.  This is one of the big reasons that CruiseCritic citizens love Island Air.  Most of the other companies (there are apparently 17 companies flying in Ketchikan) have to stay away from shore and only let passengers get out onto the plane pontoons.

Stretching our legs on the shore of Manzanita Lake.  Left to right: J, C, N, M, H, W, A, S (partially hidden), R, D, E.  Michelle's aircraft is immediately behind us, Randy's aircraft in the background.

Views from the air are stunning.  At one point we flew over a mountain top covered with goats, and in other places we could see old logging roads and various parts of the forest lifecycle showing areas that had been recently clearcut as well as areas starting to grow new aspens.  From start to end we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Ho hum.  Just another spectacular view from the air.

A high mountain lake with waterfall.

Banking into final approach aboard Michelle's plane.  The stern of Norwegian Sun is visible and Radiance is behind it.

Landing in sight of Radiance.

It seemed like no time at all had passed before we were taxiing back to the dock and leaving.  On the way back to town I asked Shona (who was driving) for lunch suggestions.  She came up with Annabelle's (which I had already scoped out as a possible option) or The Fish House (over by the Lumberjack Show).  She did warn us to avoid The Fish Pirate.

Upon drop off I sped off to Annabelle's to see whether they could handle our group of 11 - we only had about 90 minutes before we had to meet the kayak folks.  Not surprisingly, Annabelle's couldn't handle us in any combination of tables - they were simply too busy.  So we turned around and walked over to The Fish House....only to see a line coming out the door.  Wary of The Fish Pirate, we instead turned to Plan C, which was the fish and chips stand at the dock, next to the visitor center.  The food was actually pretty good, but very pricey ($21 for an order of F&C with a soft drink).  We sat outside at picnic tables just across the street from Fish Pirate and enjoyed the afternoon.  Despite Ketchikan's reputation for rain we never saw a drop.

Following lunch we walked the 50 yards or so to the rain gauge where we met Brandon from Southeast Seas Kayaking.  He walked us over to their dock (also next door to the Lumberjack Show) and we all got ourselves outfitted for kayaking inside the floating office.  We were given water proof pullover jackets, then a rubber skirt that hung from our shoulders and flared out into something resembling a stiff skirt, and finally a life vest.  From there we went back out to the kayaks and breaking into pairs (or a triple in the case of me, E, and A) we worked our ways into our kayaks, after first getting a quick lesson in proper paddle technique and an explanation on how the rudder worked.  The back seat in each canoe has pedals to control the rudder.

E, A and D.  The day turned out to be warm and beautiful. I am in the process of removing my waterproof jacket and will stow it under the skirt.  A has already removed his jacket - one of our guides (Chloe) kindly came alongside and took his jacket from him so he didn't have to mess around with trying to undo his skirt.

From there we were off on our adventure, guided by Brandon, Ella, and Chloe each in their own kayaks.  Sadly, the tide was too low to paddle up Creek Street.  I was particularly disappointed at this because I had really been looking forward to that part of the paddle.  No matter.  We turned around and crossed over the channel to Pennock Island.  Before we crossed Brandon had to get on the walkie talkie to (I suppose) Air Traffic Control to advise them that a group of kayakers would be crossing over what was, effectively, the seaplane runway.

S & W get up close with a bald eagle.

Our intrepid band poses for a group photo.  We're just off Pennock Island here.

On our way back, just before crossing back over the channel, the Norwegian Sun gave a horn blast and started out of her berth.  Kind of fun to see her exit from the seaward side.  Another call to ATC and we were clear to cross the channel again.  We were barely past the center of the channel when a seaplane zipped in just behind us.

While ziplining was my #1 favorite activity, kayaking was #2 - and was #1 with almost everyone else.  We had so much fun, and also saw a huge number of bald eagles throughout the trip.  We agreed that paddling a kayak was not as difficult as any of us anticipated, but while pushing the steering pedals was easy, going in a straight line was hard!  :-)  Overall I believe everyone enjoyed our day in Ketchikan more than any other day of the trip.  We'd go back there in a heartbeat!

R gives his opinion of kayaking.  Or perhaps he's just celebrating that he's not paddling.  C was in the back seat and spent so much time with her camera that R had to do most of the work!

We had just enough time for some quick showers before dinner.  We had finally drunk up our stock of wine so ordered some bottles for dinner.  From there we made our way over to the theater for the 2nd production show, called "City of Dreams".  This show allowed the female vocalists more range than the show earlier in the trip and they were much better.  The dancing was a bit more spotty - there were a few numbers that were really excellent, but others were just so-so.  (All of our party have extensive theater backgrounds, so we tend to view performance much more critically than most.  In addition, we're all attuned to technical aspects such as lighting and costumes.) 

After a long - but hugely enjoyable - day we turned in for the night.

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2016 Alaska Day 10: Icy Strait Point

This day started slowly. We "slept in" until 8:00AM before breakfast in WJ.  We went down to Schooner for the 10:00AM trivia but, for once, no one was there.  So we (D, E, R, A, J) went ashore.  (M,C,H,N were off independently today, as were S&W).  We spent about 90 minutes ashore, working through the Cannery museum (pretty good) and then taking the very short nature trail hike.  I took a total of 2 pictures onshore, and W took only about a dozen.  I'm using some of his photos here.  The dearth of photos is kind of representative of what we all felt about this port.  To E and me (now on our 3rd Royal cruise) this port is one of those "if you build it, they will come" places.  It offered nothing of serious interest to any of us.

Radiance at the new dock that just opened in May of this year.  This photo is taken from the Nature Trail.

This sign kind of encapsulates the whole port to me.  "There's nothing over here....so go over there and maybe you'll get lucky."

The major attraction of ISP: the six person zipline.  It certainly looks dramatic.  Given the choice between this and the multiple line trip we had in Seward, I'll take the variety of Seward.  I'll also take the lower price and the fact that the ride isn't over in under 90 seconds.

A bald eagle sighting.  This is one of W's photos - not sure where he saw this.

A typical view on the Nature Trail.

M, C, H & N did make the walk from port into Hoonah where they observed some local totem pole artisans at work on something that will later be installed at National Park HQ at Glacier Bay.  They enjoyed the chance to stretch their legs on the walk but otherwise didn't find much to inspire them.

We were all back onboard in time for lunch at WJ.  D, E, R, A & J went down for Flags of the World trivia where the boys did all the work!  DEJ could all ID Brazil, but every other flag was a mystery to us.  The boys, however, rattled off all the rest of them, ultimately placing 2nd with 11/15.

We all (sans S and W) then gathered back at Radiance Links for a family minigolf tournament.  I squeaked out a one stroke win (with +3 for nine holes).  I'm not sure that's worth bragging about!  From there, S,R&J went off to a presentation by someone from the RCMP, E&A went to play ping pong, M&N went to the climbing wall, and I went to grab a drink and read on the balcony.  To each his own...

N takes on the climbing wall.  An accomplished climber, she took the most difficult route, using only the limited number of blue steps and the wall contours.

We all met again for a pre-formal dinner drink in the Centrum.  After dinner, we went to the 2nd headliner show, this time featuring a acapella doo-wop quartet called The Alleycats.  This was a typical mix of music and comic banter that was quite good.

Finally, we all went over to Schooner to the piano bar of Derrek Wayne.  He was fantastic!  The whole room was really into things, no one more than N&H who were both (very) well lubricated and ready to sing.  At one point they grabbed Derrek's tip jar and canvassed the room on his behalf.  He couldn't have asked for better advocates.  The room finally broke up about 11:40PM.  That might have been because it was the end of Derrek's normal time...or maybe the bar ran out of booze.  Either one is plausible.

"Hands.....touching hands....reaching out....touching me, touching you!!!"

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2016 Alaska Day 9: Skagway

Another early start to the day as we were to meet with Chilkoot Charters at 7:20AM. We were taking that White Pass and Yukon Railroad from Skagway to Fraser, at which point we'd continue by Chilkoot bus to the Yukon, making it as far north as Emerald Lake. From there we'd turn around and return via bus to Skagway. As per advice from CruiseCritic we sat on the left hand side both directions. (Had we started on the bus and ended on the train we would have sat on the right side both ways.)

We walked past all the trains that were on the siding by the ship and went to the end of the pier to meet our driver (Kevin).  There were actually three different Chilkoot buses waiting, so the dispatcher who checked us in gave us the bus number and driver name, and we found Kevin holding a clipboard with his name showing.  In addition to the 11 of us there was another family of 5 joining us.  Kevin did a quick intro before driving us through Skagway to where our set of train cars awaited.  We were assigned to the very last car in the train.  That car ended up with more than the 16 people in our bus as at least one other busload was also placed in our car...but we were not crowded at all.  Several people sat solo and there were still a few empty benches.  Being the last car in the train was great for the serious photographers as the back deck gave them unimpeded views.

The train winds its way through lush green forest.

We enter one of several short tunnels on the line.  Each train car has a small viewing platform at each end of the car.  You can't hear any of the narration while on the platforms, but the views are great.

I'm not sure why this picture of a pair of trees in the foreground makes me so happy...but I like it so included it here!

This rail bridge was in use until sometime in the late 1960's.  The track now continues past this to a more modern steel bridge. The jumble of wooden supports on the far side is as confused as it looks.

This is another view of the bridge shown above, taken as we crossed over the river on the newer bridge.

And here is that newer bridge!

For those only going one-way on the train the ride ends in Fraser, BC.  Here you wait for Customs agents to board the train and look at your passport.  Once that is complete you exit the train and reboard the Chilkoot bus.  Kevin was waiting for us and took us further north.  We made a couple of photo stops, one at a lovely lake whose name I can't recall, the other to look over Bose Island.  We drove past the Carcross Desert without stopping, past the town of Carcross, and stopped a bit north of town at the very tacky Caribou Crossing.

The mosquitos are really a hazard here.  This picture tells you everything you really need to know about the lunch stop.  Tacky.

At Caribou Crossing we were given about 75 minutes to grab lunch (included in our tour) and wander around the museum - which included an interesting history of the NWMP and a pretty impressive collection of stuffed animals - the dog kennel, small zoo, etc.  Lunch consisted of baked chicken that had been brushed (after cooking) with BBQ sauce, a baked potato half, creamy cole slaw, and a white roll with butter.  Water pitchers on the tables were supplemented by soft drinks and beer from the bar (for a fee).  The food was forgettable.  It fills your stomach, nothing more.

Following lunch we reboarded the bus and then continued north until we got to Emerald Lake, where we stopped for about 15 minutes for pictures.  Today's skies were pretty, blue and clear, and the lake was absolutely stunning.

Emerald Lake - stunning!

Finally, we turned back around to the south.  Kevin first drove through the small town of Carcross pointing out some landmarks...including a historical tidbit that the basis of the Trump family fortune started in the Yukon with Grandpa Trump.  We stopped for 25 minutes in town where we all got our passports stamped, and then headed over to the bakery to buy one of the cinnamon buns that everyone on CruiseCritic rave about.  (Alas, we should have tried eating it right away but instead took it back to the ship with us to enjoy "later".  That turned out to be a few days later, at which point the bun had started to go stale.)  We also dropped by "The Outhouse at the Arthouse" to make use of the facilities, but also spent some time looking at the art on display.

A particularly striking work at The Arthouse at the Outhouse.  This is "Icarus Descending", constructed out of driftwood as well as items from other artists' works.  The Art Collective had hosted a day in which each artist destroyed one of their works, and the others assembled new art out of the scraps.  Icarus's colorful face was constructed from strips of another artist's painting.

Further stops on our way south included the Yukon sign, where we pretty much just jumped of the bus, stood at the sign for pictures and then reboarded.  This stop was really short mainly because there were 3-4 full size buses already here and the place was overwhelmed with people.  Kevin instead stopped us off at Bridal Veil Falls where we were left alone with more privacy for more pictures.

H and N conquer Bridal Veil Falls.

The weather in the Yukon was was the best of the trip.  The mountains work in a way that causes the clouds to pile up on the south (Alaskan) side, while the north (Canadian) side tends to get fewer clouds.  The blue skies here are taken from our stop at Bridal Veil Falls.

The single-cantilever bridge.  The right-hand side of the bridge/roadway isn't connected to anything.  This is an earthquake safety measure.  The idea is that, in a major quake, the roadway can bend and flex from its one attachment point to land on the left.  If connected at both ends of the roadway it would be more likely to crumble.

We thought it likely that this trip would be our last chance to see bears.  Our fleeting sighting in Denali would have to do for the whole trip, however, as we came up empty.  Kevin kept saying that certain sections of the drive were good bear sighting areas, but he was driving so fast that we really had no chance to spot anything.  Given that he picked us up and dropped us off exactly on time I suspect his driving speed was no faster than any other tour - but it felt rushed in some places.

We took our leave of Kevin in the town of Skagway rather than at the docks and wandered around town.  As we got closer to the docks we stopped at the National Park Service visitor center just in time to take in their little movie about the gold rush and about the building of the railroad.

Returning to the ship we enjoyed our own little discovery: S's luggage had arrived!  She was able to finally wear her own clothes to dinner.  We ended the night with a succession of events: music trivia in Schooner (we did OK, but didn't win), Who Wants to Feel Like a Millionaire at the Colony Club (cheesy - no need to go again),  and finally the first Headliner show, a guy named David Meyer playing something called a Xylo-Synth.  It was definitely different, and he was definitely a virtuoso on it.  Having said that, none of us are likely to run out and buy any xylosynth albums.  A few of his numbers were accompanied by his (former cruise ship dancer) wife.  We agreed that her presence did not enhance his performance.

The weather today was outstanding - so we finally got to enjoy sitting out on our balcony reading as we left Skagway.

Drink, book,view.  To me, this is the signature picture  of any cruise..

If we ever come back to Skagway again we'll probably try to find something else to do.  We're glad we did the train trip.  The views were beautiful - but honestly the views EVERYWHERE in Alaska are beautiful.  Railfans will enjoy the opportunity to ride a narrow gauge line.  The bus portion of the tour is likely the only way to get into the Yukon without renting your own car - but it all seemed so rushed.  We'd drive like crazy to get to a stop for 10-15 minutes of pictures and then repeat.  Kevin was an engaging tour guide - he had a particular love of history that aligned well with several of us.

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2016 Alaska Day 8: Juneau

We pulled into Juneau early in the morning, followed by the SilverSeas Shadow. Our docking berth was right by Tracy's Crab Shack. In fact, as we passed by we could see someone standing outside holding up King Crab legs! Following our WJ breakfast we got off the ship and met our driver who took us over to the dock to board our Harv and Marv charter. As we were a group of eleven we had enough folks to qualify for our own boat Captain Gabe and spotter Jackie helped us aboard The Alaskan and away we went.

Gathering for the H&M shuttle.  As promised, the H&M greeter was easy to spot in her orange jacket.  From left to right: E, S, W, A (back of head), H&M greeter, J, unknown (background), M, H.

The day was pretty nice out - there was some overcast but things weren't too grey.  An early stop allowed us to view a large number of harbor seals, but the whales remained elusive for the first hour or so.  The radio chatter between boats indicated that everyone was still searching. 

A fishing boat heading out.  Given that this was a Sunday I think this may have been an excursion boat.

 

A mess 'o harbor seals relaxing on the rocks.

Finally, sightings were made and most of the second hour was filled with lots of whales.  None of them were jumping as we had seen during the Kenai trip, and there were no orcas, but we saw our fill of humpbacks.  

A pair of humpbacks moving along majestically.

A humpback showing its tail as it takes a sounding (i.e. dives deeper).

The highlight came just as Gabe was suggesting we move on from the place we'd hung out for about 20 minutes.  Within seconds of him saying that a pod of four whales appeared about 50' away from our tail, heading directly for us!  They passed alongside us and we got some great photos!

Four humpbacks pass about 30' off our starboard side.

A seal.  There were lots of seal sightings in the same areas we saw the whales.  We found that we could typically predict where the whales would show up by looking for seals.

We were supposed to also go to Mendenhall Glacier post-trip, but something got messed up.  I actually found that one of the Kaylas from H&M had left me a voicemail earlier in the morning apologizing that the transport for Mendenhall had fallen through and that they'd refund the $7 per person we'd paid for that part of the activity.  Jackie wasn't sure what the story was but thought that it was because H&M was handing us off to another company for the Mendenhall visit, and the other company had probably flaked.  The H&M shuttle stopped at a bridge to let us take photos of Mendenhall off in the distance, but we never made it to the visitor center.

Missing Mendenhall wasn't the end of the world.  We asked H&M to drop us off in at the downtown stop rather than back at the dock and went to lunch at Hangar On The Wharf.  After a stop to look (but not buy) some Ulu knives we made our way over to the Mt. Roberts tramway and saw the film, looked through the museum/nature center, and then took the nature trail.  While on the nature trail I managed to grab a couple of more geocaches.  M,N&H skipped lunch and instead found the trailhead for the 2.5 mile hike up to the top of the mountain.  We met up with them in the restaurant/bar, where they were working to build up a bill for $10+ for each - by doing that, they got a free ride down the tram.  (We had paid $33 each for our tickets.) After getting back to the base of the mountain we stopped to get some ice cream before reboarding the ship about 5:45P.

Heading up the Mt. Roberts tram.

A view of Radiance (on the left) and the Silver Shadow, from the top of Mt. Roberts.

Having boarded after our MDR dinner time we called up room service and had them send over a number of cheese plates so we could invite everyone over to our staterooms for wine and cheese.  Following that we all went down to WJ around 8:30P for a late dinner.  This was the first time we had eaten dinner at WJ.  It was very quiet - almost empty, in fact.  I'm not sure if that's normal for the time of night we were there, or is something unique to Alaska.  I had thought I'd read that WJ put out white tablecloths for dinner, but that wasn't the case for us.  I know that there are legions of folks who never enter the MDR and eat all meals at WJ.  We won't be joining that group.  WJ is OK, in moderation. 

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