Fog Horns and Black Gunk - Thurs., Aug. 2, 2018

What goes up (north), must come down (south). At sea for almost two full days, we traveled from Skagway to Victoria, B.C. Today's blog covers Thursday when we left Skagway.

No icebergs today. I wanted to post another
picture of one from the Dawes Glacier day.

Since we didn't have any activities or ports, we slept in and then had breakfast in the Garden Cafe Buffet. The day was very foggy and misty. The ship's fog horn kept sounding every few minutes. It was damp and chilly. Any thoughts of whale watching were put aside because we could barely see the water from the ship.

At 11:00 a.m., we headed to the go-karts for our reservation to race. The go-kart track is the top two decks of the ship. The top-most race track was quite wet. We didn't realize what we were in for. 

First, we suited up with a knit face mask that goes under the helmet. We strapped in and then the helmet was put on for us. It was snug and I had a moment of claustrophobia. They told me to leave the visor up a little so my glasses wouldn't fog up. I was squished into the seat because I had a heavy winter coat on and the seat was narrow. It seemed a long time before we got to race. We waited for another group to suit up and they told us the rules. I was chomping at the bit, and they had me in almost the very last car. 

One of the rules was if you were slower, you should stay to the right. I have a lead foot and I'm competitive so to put me in the back didn't sit well with me. As soon as they let us go, I got stuck behind a slowpoke who hogged the whole track. As soon as I had an opportunity to pass, three cars came flying around me from the back. I couldn't see them because of the helmet. For about two laps, I was stuck behind the slowpoke. Finally, I flew around him and kept my pedal to the medal as much as possible. Now we're talking. THAT was fun when I got to move it. Bob ended up coming in 3rd and I came in 5th out of about 12 people. 

The hardest part of the whole go-kart process for me was getting out of the karts. I have long legs and it was hard to maneuver them around the steering wheel and get them far enough under myself to stand up. I finally had to use my arms to lift myself off the seat up onto the back of the seat. 

Because of the mist and fog, the track was wet. It hadn't rained for a long time because our temps had been in the 80s. Our go-karts kicked up black gunk off the track and hurled it on our clothes, legs, hands, and visors. At least I had on long jeans. Bob, on the other hand, was in shorts, so his legs had the gunk on them. Icky stuff! It was probably a combination of rubber, oil, and ??? I decided at the end of go-kart racing that I like laser tag much better. We went back to the stateroom, got cleaned up, and changed our clothes.

Lunch was next. After lunch, we read a little. I wanted to go to the International Crew Talent Show. Bob opted to stay in the room, read, and nap. The talent show was so-so.

At 3:45 p.m., Bob met me in the Atrium where we listened to the CruiseNext team talk about Norwegian's new ships, itineraries, and destinations. We like cruises with Norwegian so much, we made a down payment on a future cruise.

Our dinner reservation at 5:30 p.m. is at Cagney's Steakhouse. We dressed up for dinner. Bob took a photo of me on our balcony. The white backdrop is the fog. 

Cagney's Steakhouse was delightful. Our service was impeccable and the food was excellent. We are so happy we bought the specialty restaurant upgrade. They were not stingy with what we could order from the menu. Included were an appetizer, salad or soup, entree, and dessert. I chose petite filet mignon for my entree and Bob had Oysters Rockefeller for his appetizer and scallops as his entree. My filet was cooked to perfection. Mmm!

Immediately after dinner, our walking group went to see "Jersey Boys," the big musical production on the ship. The story explains the origin of the music and the inside story of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons. The performances were very good, although I had trouble hearing some of the dialogue and couldn't distinguish words in the songs clearly. That caused a problem because song lyrics tell most of the story. I got the gist of it, though, and Bob filled me in on the rest afterward. Because the show was right after dinner, my eyes closed a few times during the performance.

Next, we had a dessert from the buffet and then headed to The Cavern Club to watch Britain's Finest: Abbey Road. This was our go-to band for the entire cruise. I think we saw them perform five times. Every time we went I was singing along! Tonight, however, in addition to playing the biggest hits, they also showcased songs never performed live by the original Beatles. Very fun.

That's it for our day at sea. Never a dull moment.

Tomorrow: Victoria, British Columbia in the evening.

Gold Fever! - Wed. Aug. 1, 2018

The view from our balcony this morning!

In every other port on this trip, our stateroom has been on the opposite of the pier. Not this morning. We woke up to this gorgeous view right next to the ship! We got to watch all the happenings as they docked our behemoth. From the looks of it, they had put in a permanent large barge attached to pilings to make the pier long enough for our huge ship. From the barge, they had also built a longer, catwalk-like pier so they could tie up the bowline. Wow!

If you enlarge the above photo and look closely on the lower left side, you can see the White Pass and Yukon Route Railroad waiting for tour ticket holders from today's cruises. [NOTE: In 1994, the White Pass and Yukon Route was designated a Historic Civil Engineering Landmark, joining other historic structures such as the Eiffel Tower, Panama Canal, and the Statue of Liberty.]

Today, we opted to do the 11k Volksmarch (6.8 miles) so we can visit the Gold Rush Cemetery, Lower Reid Falls, Yakutania Point, and Smuggler's Cove. We were off the ship about 8:30 a.m. The first obvious attraction, if you want to call it that, is a hillside filled with "graffiti" from previous cruises. Also, a scarred hillside attests to a recent landslide (from the end of cruise season 2017).

Graffiti dates back to the 1930s.

Cruise ship "graffiti."

Landslide

Four ships in Skagway this morning. The
Norwegian Bliss has the seagulls painted on it.

It is another gorgeous day, but it was chilly in the morning so the windbreaker came along again. I took it off 1/2 hour later when we emerged from the shadow of the mountain.

Where do I start? We did so much today. We ended up walking a combined 13 miles between our walk in Skagway and our walking on the ship!

For those of you who don't know much about us, we were full-time RVers for a while and still have our 5th wheel. At the beginning of our walk, just after the dock, we passed Pullen Creek RV Park. Bob and I love it so much in Skagway, we are talking about driving our 5th wheel to Alaska one summer and spending more time here. Look at the views from this RV park! The RV park is right next to Pullen Pond and Pullen Creek where we saw some salmon. 

Pullen Creek RV Park

We continued into town. Our next stop was the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park. My, oh my. This place has so much information we didn't have time to take it all in on this visit. We did watch the movie about the gold rush, though. 

To get to the gold fields in Dawson City, basically, there were two paths you could go by, but in the long run, there's still time...Oh, wait, that's "Stairway to Heaven," by Led Zeppelin. Back up. There were two paths from the Taiya Inlet to Dawson City and the gold fields: Chilkoot Pass out of Dyea, and White Pass out of Skagway. 

"'There ain't no choice,' said an oldtimer of choosing between the Chilkoot and the White Pass. 'One's hell. The other's damnation.'" ~Martha Ferguson McKeon [from a Visitor Center display]

Skagway was the "Gateway to the Klondike." Those who chose the White Pass route would travel 10 miles farther than the Chilkoot route but would have a less-steep summit and the trail was 600 feet lower. Falsely dubbed "all weather," the White Pass Trail -- boulder fields, sharp rocks, and bogs -- earned the name Dead Horse Trail. Over the 1897-98 winter 3,000 horses died on it "like mosquitoes in the first frost," Jack London wrote. 

Skagway was also home to swindler and con man Jefferson Randolph "Soapy" Smith. During the winter of 1897-98, he and his 200 "goons" controlled life in Skagway with almost limitless power. However, on July 8, 1898, he and surveyor Frank Reid had a shootout on the town's docks and Soapy was killed instantly. Frank Reid died a couple of weeks later. They are both buried in the Gold Rush Cemetery.

Dyea's Chilkoot Trail, on the other hand, was only 33 miles long BUT over 30,000 gold seekers had to go up the Golden Stairs to cross Chilkoot Pass, a hellish quarter-mile climb gaining 1,000 vertical feet.

Historical photo of the Golden Stairs

No matter which way they went, all gold seekers had to transport a ton of goods (a year's supply) to cross into Canada. Canada's regulation prevented starvation in the interior. Picture this, it took 20-40 trips over the pass to move a ton of goods (usually three months!). Canada's Mounties gave properly outfitted stampeders official entry into Canada.

Once the stampeders had their goods over the pass, they made their way to Bennett Lake where they built boats with green lumber to carry their goods, waited out winter, and then still had 550 miles to go by lake and river to reach Dawson City. These guys did not have it easy. [Historical information above was taken from the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park brochure and the Skagway walking tour.]

Back to today: Outside the Klondike Visitor's Center we saw a sculpture and a huge snowplow. 

The Cooke Rotary Snowplow

The boiler on the snowplow was only used to power the blade. Two locomotives were coupled behind the snowplow to push it.

Bob in front of the 129-ton
rotary snowplow

With all this history in our heads, we walked into town. Two blocks of the town have not changed much, almost every building was constructed between 1897-1900. This is very unusual as it seems most old towns burned to the ground at some point and had to be rebuilt.

Red Onion Saloon was moved to this location in 1914.

The Arctic Brotherhood Hall below has 8,880 driftwood sticks from the shores of Skagway Bay nailed to the front of the building. The outside facade underwent a renovation in 2004-2005. All 8,880 driftwood sticks were removed. Forty percent had rotted and were replaced, while 60 percent were still able to be preserved over 100 years later.

Arctic Brotherhood Hall

Historic downtown Skagway: It looks like a cruise
ship is ready to sail down Broadway!

We walked back and forth throughout the town, passing many historic sites and homes.

The White House - 1902 (now a B&B).

A fence made from old windows and doors.

There are many ways to sightsee in Skagway. We chose to walk, but you could take bus or trolley tours, White Pass and Yukon Route (WP&YR) Railroad, kayak to see waterways, planes, etc.

Trolley tours.

Streetcar tours.

WP&YR Railroad

WP&YR Railroad

After walking for an interminably long time in the sun (with no shade at all), we arrived at Gold Rush Cemetery. Soapy Smith and Frank Reid are both buried here. We went through the cemetery to get to Lower Reid Falls. It was a lovely, shady forest trail. 

Gold Rush Cemetery on the way to Lower Reid Falls.

Frank Reid's headstone.

Me and Bob at
Lower Reid Falls

Nye House

Modern home high on a rock.

Coming back through town, we were very hungry. It was around 2:00 p.m. The restaurants were packed. I remembered a Thai restaurant that we had passed earlier and we went back to it (out of our way) to eat there. We were seated almost immediately and had a wonderful lunch. It gave us the energy we needed to continue on. While we were eating, a strong breeze kicked up and was blowing in the door we were seated next to. I had to put my windbreaker back on. 

We finished the 8k and decided to continue to Yakutania Point and Smuggler's Cove for a total of 11k. On the way to cross the bridge over the Skagway River, we passed Skagway's airport.

The airport in Skagway.

Map to Yakutania Point and Smuggler's Cove.

Bob on the bridge over the Skagway River.

Bob at Yakutania Point. The wind was howling here.

I am at Yakutania Point. The Bliss is in the background.
It was quite chilly in the wind.

We had more forest hiking to Smuggler's Cove with gorgeous views of the mountains. There was also a big rock that was like its own wall. We had to get pictures next to it!

On to Smuggler's Cove! 

We should get extra credit for this part of the hike!
I'm glad I wore hiking boots.

The trail to Smuggler's Cove.

Beautiful...the clouds highlighted the mountains!

Smuggler's Cove.

Smuggler's Cove.

Smuggler's Cove is our turn-around point, so we headed back to town. Once in town, we backtracked to go to a grocery store for snacks, and we went retraced our steps through downtown to find a jigsaw puzzle. Then we headed back to the ship. 

Bob and I both agree Skagway is our favorite port in Alaska. Skagway reminds me of Hope, British Columbia, another small town that is nestled between big mountain peaks and has a river running through it. The scenery is so dramatic and beautiful.

One more shot of downtown in the afternoon light.

Fishermen cleaning their catch
at the end of the day.

Once back on the ship, we have to clean up and dress up because we have a reservation at Teppanyaki tonight. That's good because we worked up an appetite today for sure!

Our chef at Teppanyaki. 

He liked to sing rock songs as he cooked.

He did a wonderful job cooking our meat!

After all that walking, we were exhausted. We spent the rest of the evening relaxing in the stateroom. I iced my knee.

As we sailed away from Skagway, we had more gorgeous scenery late into the evening.

Leaving Skagway.

 Tomorrow we will be at sea all day so the blog will be much shorter.

At Sea...North to Alaska - Sun., July 29, 2018

Well, another gorgeous day. Temperature was in the mid-70s until evening when it cooled down significantly. Today is an "at sea" day. We didn't see land until late in the afternoon. 

Here's what we do on a day at sea:

• Eat breakfast buffet
• 10:00 a.m. - Watch "This is Alaska" multimedia presentation in the Bliss Theater
• Spend time in the Observation Lounge watching for whales. (We did see a few spouts directly in front of the ship...no partial or full whales, though.)
• Have drinks in a bar in the Observation Lounge. We love Bahama Mamas!
• Lunch in the Garden Cafe Buffet
• Tour more of the ship

Chandelier in the two-story atrium.
(It changes color!)

Part of the casino on board

Coco's Chocolate Shop (extra charge)

• Read
• Take a nap
• Seafood Buffet for dinner. (I was very disappointed. Even though they had salmon, shrimp, mussels, crawfish, and oysters, there was no crab or lobster. I was craving Alaskan King crab, crab legs, snow crab...but none were in sight. Boo!)
• 7:30 p.m. - The Cavern Club to see "Britain's Finest" perform hits from "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band." This band from California was so much fun, we went to see them at least three other times during the cruise! They made it clear that they didn't think of themselves as Britain's finest, but were paying tribute to The Beatles, who are Britain's finest.
• 9:00 p.m. - Played two games of laser tag out on the top deck. It was so cold! Brr. Our team won both times. It seemed like the team we were playing against didn't know what they were doing.

Tonight we had to turn our clocks back one hour to adjust to Alaska time. Tomorrow, we will be in Ketchikan! Yay! Check back tomorrow for our Volksmarch in Ketchikan. 

Embarkation on the Norwegian Bliss at Pier 66 - Sat., July 28, 2018

We had planned ahead and made a reservation for a shuttle from our hotel to the pier. The shuttle left the hotel at 9:30 a.m., after our complimentary breakfast. It took about ten minutes to get to the waterfront, but Pier 66 was about halfway down. 

When we got to Pier 66, it was a total zoo. The Bliss was debarking the previous group of cruisers. We had our shuttle driver drop us and our luggage a block away because it was quicker to walk than wait in traffic.

Bob and I were very impressed with Norwegian Cruise Line's (NCL's) efficiency. We asked cruise personnel where we needed to go. First they directed us to the porters, where we dropped our bags (hallelujah!). Next stop was the TSA to go through their detectors. From there, we were directed upstairs where we signed in for the cruise, picked up our room keys and a map of the ship, and put a credit card on file for any charges on board. We had to sign an affidavit that we weren't sick. We then went into a room to wait to board. We were so early, we ended up in Boarding Group 1. I estimate we waited an hour before our group was called.

It was smooth sailing from the porters to boarding the ship. However, it takes a few hours for your luggage to catch up to you. Our rooms would not be ready until 1:00 p.m. We did go up and peek at our room before we went to make restaurant, laser tag, and racetrack reservations. They were still cleaning the rooms. 

One of the packages we bought was dinner in three specialty restaurants. I had been able to make our reservations for Teppanyaki (Japanese) and La Cucina (Italian) online weeks before the cruise; however, I could not get us into a third specialty dining room. That meant we had to stand in line at The Social to make our final reservation. We were dying to try Ocean Blue, a fancy seafood restaurant, but it was sold out. Second choice for our last restaurant was Cagney's Steakhouse, and that was available. Bob wasn't thrilled about the steakhouse because he doesn't eat red meat, but the ship concierge explained the steakhouse also had seafood. That sealed the deal.

From The Social, we headed to "Q," the Texas BBQ restaurant where signups for the go-karts and laser tag were taking place. We made those reservations as well. 

We wandered around the ship. The Volkssporters planned to meet at The Cavern Club after the Life Boat Drill, so we found where that was. 

Where The Beatles got their start.

Here are more photos of where we went before the tour...

View of downtown Seattle from
the Observation Lounge.

Observation Lounge

Another view of downtown Seattle

If we ever wanted to know where we were,
we could come to the observation lounge.

Beautiful public areas to read and relax.

Another public area. Groups liked these.

Two-story atrium.

Sugarcane Mojito Bar

We also had lunch in the Garden Cafe Buffet because breakfast had been at 8:30 a.m. We were hungry...but not to worry, the buffet had so many choices! Our lunch was yummy!

At 1:30 p.m., we opted to go on the Guided Ship Tour of the public areas. The start point was outside Cagney's Steakhouse. Just a few stats:

• Largest cruise ship ever home-ported on the West Coast.
• 21 restaurants
• A two-level go-kart race track on the top two decks
• Outdoor laser tag
• 20 decks
• Largest ship to go through the Panama Canal

Cagney's Steakhouse (Specialty)

The A-List Bar

Los Lobos Mexican Restaurant (Specialty)

Below are a couple of walkers we met from Alberta, Canada. They stayed at the same hotel we did last night. 

Dallas and Sharon

Our guide was gregarious and called us his "all stars." We followed along and he'd clear the way by saying, "OK all stars, follow me." And "Make way for the all stars."

Polar bear at the pool deck.

This water slide goes right over the side of the ship.

A different water slide.

Movie screen over the pool.

The jogging track. (If we wanted to walk
10k on this, it would be 48 laps!)

Inside The Cavern Club.

View of Seattle from the ship.

By 3:00 p.m., everyone had to be on board or be left behind. After the tour, we read for a while until our Life Boat Drill at 3:30 p.m. 

I was disappointed by the Life Boat Drill. Usually, you find out where the life jackets are, take them to your part of the deck, and instructions are given loud and clear. On a ship with 4,000 guests and 1,700 crew, I would think a huge cruise ship would make it perfectly clear what to do. Our group was crammed into small restaurant with another group. I wear hearing aids and could not hear what was being said. I don't think they said where the life jackets were. They basically told us if there was a problem, to come to that muster station and they would tell us what to do. If there's a problem, I want my life jacket when I leave my cabin!! Life Boat Drill was a fail in my mind.

After the Life Boat Drill, the Volksmarchers were supposed to meet in The Cavern Club for packet pick up. But there was some confusion. It had also been said that the Life Boat Drill would be over at 6:00 p.m. About ten people went to The Cavern Club after the drill at 4:00 p.m., but the rest of the group didn't show up. We took a break in our stateroom and went back at 5:30 p.m. We had time to go out on the deck and take photos of our departure from Seattle. 

We slip away from Seattle.

An interesting tidbit about the Port of Tacoma: George Lucas's inspiration for the AT-ATs in Return of the Jedi were the cranes at the port.

Cranes at the Port of Seattle.

Looking up the decks toward the water
slide that goes off the edge and back.

Zooming in on downtown Seattle as we leave.

At the meeting, we received our packets, walk instructions, and AVA cruise shirts. Many people received door prizes as well. I won a carabiner clip.

We had a little time before our next activity so we watched the Olympic Peninsula scenery go by from the balcony of our stateroom on Deck 11.

A layer of fog along the strait with the
Olympic Mountains in back

New Dungeness Lighthouse in the strait!

Fading light, fog, and the Olympics.

Still snow on the Olympics!

At 7:30 p.m., we headed to Bliss Theater for the "Welcome Aboard Show: First Night." This show highlights all the entertainment on the ship with a smorgasbord of clips from the live shows on the ship: "The Jersey Boys," to comedians, "Havana," and "Happy Hour Prohibition: The Musical." We already had reservations with our walking group for "The Jersey Boys." Bob and I also got reservations to "Havana."

After the Bliss Theater presentation, we went directly to dinner at La Cucina. We were about 1/2 hour early for our reservation time, but no problem; they had plenty of room for us. We both sat facing the window so we could see the Olympic Peninsula as we cruised through the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The Strait is 108 miles long and 10-18 miles wide. It is the access route to the Pacific Ocean from Puget Sound and the Strait of Georgia. Our dinner was very good!

The view from our table at La Cucina.

The Olympics in the fading light of day.

When we returned to our stateroom, our luggage was in the hall. The room had been turned down for the night already. It was time to unpack, settle in, and then read before bed.

Tomorrow is a day at sea. The ship is AWESOME. North to Alaska!