May 29, 2022 Hubbard Glacier
We had a very lazy start to the day. For lunch, we went to the noodle bar. It replaced the pizza on the pool deck. The noodle bowls are so good. We found a great location on Deck 17 in a couple chaise loungers to watch the scenery. We headed back to the cabin to view the Hubbard Glacier.
It was a beautiful day with a lot of calving. We had dinner in the dining room: crab cake, salads, and halibut. All been good. Service has been great too. We enjoyed a little music in the Piazza and then went to bed.
May 30, 2022 Glacier Bay National Park
We had an incredible day at Glacier Bay. It had to be 70 degrees in the sun. The Captain loves sailing by the sea lion rookery so we got a a great view of tiny rock islands filled with sunning sea lions.
We also sailed by two brown bears on a rocky coast. We could see then really well through the binoculars. One jumped off the rocks and swam a little then shook itself off like a dog. It was awesome. The glaciers were lovely. Then as we were sailing out we spotted a pod of at least 6 whales along the far coast.
Dinner was in the dining room. We had a flounder type fish that was fantastic and some pretty good meat lasagna. We took advantage of the good weather to watch the new West Side Story under the stars.
May 31, 2022 Skagway
We were up bright and early for our Skagway excursion. We booked Alaska Nature and Wildlife. Well, you win some, you lose some. We boarded the fast ferry to Haines across the fjord. That was a highlight of the tour.
We saw seals and a whale very close as we were docking. We boarded a school bus and set out to explore. The tour has three stops: a tidal area, a river, and a lake plus lunch at a community theater. We had about 30 minutes at each stop.
The bummer was that we were just too early in the season to see any wildlife and the tour guide just wasn't prepared. He worked for the Forest department and had a lot of knowledge about the indigenous communities but it would just come out in drips or if someone asked a question. We think if he had focused on the nature part of the tour and spent the time explaining the history of the area and the plants, it would have been really good. He didn't. We were glad we got over to Haines and will likely head there again.
After that, we went to Klondike Brewing to visit our favorite server. She remembered us. Then we were chatting with one of the servers and said her partner had started Skagway Distilling so we walked over there and had a great Spruce Tip Gin and Tonic and Rhubarb Collins.
We had dinner at Harmony - a specialty restaurant. It replaced the italian restaurant on these ships. It was so good. I ordered the crab rangoon and it was so good! It was all crab inside. I also really enjoyed the Mongolian Beef and chow mein. Glenn loved the Hot and Sour soup. After dinner, the guitar player played a set up in the forward facing lounge on Deck 17. It's the oddest lounge I've ever seen I'll have to make a video of it. We got front row seats and really enjoyed sailing through the fjord out of Skagway wtih live music.
June 1 2022 Juneau
We decided to take it easy today. It sounds weird, but it was 80 degrees and we were not docked close to downtown. Plus you really can’t beat the day we had last cruise. I worked for about 3 ½ hours. We had lunch at the noodle bar. We found a great window seat and played cards for the afternoon. We saw an otter and a deer. It was the Captain’s Circle Happy hour. The Captain is a total trip. He performed a magic trick at the Party. Dinner was very good again even though the menu was not our favorite. We went to bed early.
June 2, 2022 Ketchikan
We had a wonderful time in Ketchikan. We booked an excursion to an oyster farm. We really lucked out and it was only us and another couple. Hump Island Oyster Farm started as a side project for a man who owns a construction company in Ketchikan. He was growing kelp and they decided to try farming oysters. The man's son Sean is now the oyster farmer. He just graduated from college and he hired all his friends to help. They were a very fun group of young adults. We headed out to the north part of the island in a nice Sprinter van. We arrived at their dock. It's in the backyard of the family home.
We took a beautiful coastal cruise to the farm. It's a floating building and rafts where the oyster crates are attached. Sean walked us through the process of growing oysters in Alaska. they get their baby oysters from Hawaii since Alaskan waters are too cold for oysters to spawn. We had a taste of three oysters and some of their kelp salsas. They were really good. One was grilled and it was delicious. They grill the oyster unshucked just barely heating it through.
Then, we headed into town. We tried the Bawden Street Brewery, but the beers were not to our taste.
We headed to Fat Stan's across from the lumberjack show for pizza and wings. The wings were excellent and the pizza was very good. We made it back to the ship for a little rest and then went to Captain's Circle happy hour where we had a nice chat with the Captain's Circle host. Dinner was in the dining room. They sat us all the way back in a corner. It was hilarious. We still had good service. The lobster was too salty and tough. The beef wellington under-seasoned, but the escargot were pretty good - not as good as Celebrity. We enjoyed watched sailaway from the forward facing lounge.
June 3, 2022 Last Sea Day
We had a relaxing sea day. We hung out in the Piazza listening to music and watching the games for about 5 hours. We went to Captain's Circle happy hour and chatted with Grace and Ruth for a couple hours as it wasn't busy and we were the only ones at the bar. Dinner was in the dining room. It was a pretty good last dinner. Glenn had turkey and I had meatloaf. We went to bed early.
Disembarkation was just as easy as last time. We got our tests and a cab just as before.
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