Ken the cruiser

Day 14 - May 13 - Glacier Bay, Alaska Definitely not the fastest speeds cruising through the fjords. But at the same time, I was able to upload photos and text to my thread. 😁 This is the Northern Lights forecast for the next two nights. But I think we’ll be out of luck seeing them because of the clouds overhead.

Tonight after dinner, we headed to first watch magician Jason Bird, who was very entertaining! We then went over to the Vista Lounge to watch A Night at the Klondike which featured the combination of a country western band mixed and the production cast dancers and entertainment staff initially performing and then inviting folks in the audience to come up and dance with them. It was a lot of fun and definitely recommend checking it out! Then we headed over to the Piazza to watch Reuben DotDotDot from Australia perform on a pole, which was pretty cool! Then as we were heading back to the cabin around 9:15 pm, we noticed we hadn’t left at our scheduled 8:30 pm departure time. Apparently there was a medical evacuation in which the patient needed to be flown to Juneau. In this particular situation, the ship wasn’t allowed to leave until the plane had arrived and they subsequently received word the patient was safely on the plane heading to Juneau. We finally set sail around 9:30 pm with our next stop being Glacier Bay early tomorrow morning.

Funny you should mention “A Night at the Klondike.” We will be going it this evening in the Vista Lounge after the early show in the theater. I’ll let you know what it’s about after we get back to the cabin, as we are curious too. As far as a Sail Away Party, the only reference I’m seeing on embarkation day is this one, which we did not pass through. Sorry.

I’ve been waiting all day for the mountain tops on the Chilkat Range behind Haines to be clear of clouds. Finally, around 5 pm they started to finally appeared! This photo was taken at 3 pm. This one at 5 pm. Then finally my final effort at 6 pm, right after dinner! 😁 I know, I’m easily amused! 😂

Since the afternoon turned out to be a relaxing one in the cabin, I decided to ask Windy what the “cloud” forecast was for the rest of our cruise. Right now, the forecast is for the clouds to disappear midday on May 14 (College Fjord) and be totally gone May 15 (Whittier). The sky is also forecasted to be pretty clear on May 16 (Hubbard Glacier) and May 17 (Glacier Bay). However, the clouds are forecasted to reappear on May 18 (Skagway) and May 19 (Juneau). But then start to clear up again the rest of the way back to Vancouver! But if we can just get 4 clear days in a row starting on May 14 (College Fjord), that would we awesome! 🥳 BTW rain was forecasted for the entire day in Haines today. But it turned out to be a pretty nice day other than being in the 40s with a constant 10+ mph breeze. 🥶

Day 13 - May 12 (modified) - Haines, Alaska While we were relaxing in our cabin, we noticed a Golden Eagle soaring around behind the ship just passing the time enjoying the scenery like we have been! 😁

After a relaxing breakfast, we noticed the sun was trying to briefly come out and the rain had stopped, so we decided to go for a walk around the local area. We saw on the map where there were a few totem poles close by, so we headed off to find them, and we did! 😁 We then came across the remnants one of the Fort Seward barracks built back in 1903. We’re figuring the fort was built to help keep order up in Alaska once gold was discovered in 1898. This tree was just starting to form its fruiting buds. No idea what type of tree it was though, but I’m sure the fruit will be tasty! A crow, which there were plenty of, taking off from the top of a tree. And the crows are quite the bullies too! Someone left some corn out for the birds to feast on. Of course, once again the elusive Haines Pigeons get no respect, even among the other birds. I know, it’s quite sad! 😂 Deciding not to deal with the attitude, off the pigeons went. But my guess is, they will be back as that corn looks pretty tasty! 😁 Then it started to rain, so back to the ship we went. I imagine on a clear day, the mountains in the background behind Haines look pretty awesome!

We have arrived in Haines, Alaska rather than Skagway, as was originally planned. Apparently we were scheduled to dock at the Broadway pier rather than where we were docked last week along the mountain side. However, due the potential maneuvering issues with a nearby construction vessel and the current 25 mph winds, we were diverted to Haines for the day. That maneuvering issue was why the NCL Spirit and Carnival Luminosa were allowed to dock in Skagway and we were not. We even had a Bald Eagle stop by to welcome us to Haines! 😂

That’s too bad. It’s definitely not looking too good for us tonight after looking up at the sky a few minutes ago. Too many clouds.

Day 13 - May 12 - Skagway, Alaska

And we’re off! Next stop is Skagway tomorrow morning! This evening after dinner, we went to a special 7 pm North to Alaska lecture in the theater featuring Libby Riddles, and really enjoyed her presentation! We then headed afterwards to the Vista Lounge to watch the always funny Marriage Match Game Show! Then we headed back to the cabin to hopefully get ready to see more Northern Lights, although the clouds, if they get any heavier, may become a factor. We will just have to wait and see. Tonight, it looks like the NL should be lighting up the sky starting around 11 pm. So fingers crossed! 🤞 On the bright side like last night, we’re first heading south out of Juneau then heading west before turning north to Skagway! 😁

Cool! That sounds all good to us. 😁

Thanks! We read sometimes you won’t be allowed to go on your balcony. Do you have any idea what issues would cause your balcony to become off limits? I imagine 35 mph winds might be one or terrestrial rain storms?

If I might ask, does the balcony wrap around so you have a full view out the front of the ship as well as the port/starboard side, depending on the M6 cabin you book?

We took today off from going on an excursion and just walked around Juneau. We originally had an excursion booked that included going to a “whale park”, formally known as Overstreet Park (listed at the top of this town map), but later cancelled it and decided to just walk to it. Along the way we stopped to see how long the Tram line was, and as one might imagine with 3 ships in port (so far), it was quite long so we moved on. Basically, we stayed on the “water” side of the street and continued to head to the whale park. Along the way there were no shortage of totem poles! and some huge marigolds! After walking through town and eventually past an old pier, we saw this sign which directed us down a boardwalk to the Overstreet Park. and more totem poles! 😂 We finally made it to the park about an hour later and found plenty of benches to sit and relax on and take a few pictures. 😁 to include its star attraction! Then all of the sudden after taking a bunch of pictures from different angles, water started shooting out from all directions! What an awesome idea the artist had when designing this work of art! About that same time, about 40 people showed up out of nowhere and started taking pictures! Remember that excursion I mentioned earlier that we cancelled? I guess the park employee turns on the waterworks when an excursion shows up because as soon as they left, it stopped! 😂 About that same time a cool breeze had popped up, so we decided to start heading back to the ship. Some Harlequin Ducks we saw on our walk back to the ship. An old pier that has definitely seen better days. In the background, the Carnival Luminosa is positioning itself to eventually pull in right behind the Grand. Someone had planted some tulips in the center median that I couldn’t pass up taking a picture of! 😁 When we got back to common pier area, there was this huge Raven sitting on top of a statue!