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Blockschip

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About Me

  • Location
    Connecticut
  • Interests
    Fishing, golf, antique collecting
  • Favorite Cruise Line(s)
    Celebrity
  • Favorite Cruise Destination Or Port of Call
    Caribbean

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  1. I'm just having my kids bring on their empty water bottles, fill them at the buffet, and letting them order two NA drinks a day.
  2. Just to close the loop on this. After all your great suggestions, we opted to move from the Sweet Sixteen rooms to the AquaClass Deck 11, so that we could have the balconies connect, and to give us Blu and spa (my wife loves using the sauna). Based on wrk2cruise's suggestion about booking the A1s at the A2s rate, I was not aware that you could get a one cabin level upgrade as a Captain's Club member, so I went and looked that up. Here is where it gets interesting. The first time I called, the rep was going to do the one cabin level upgrade, but I didn't have my son's Captain Club number handy (he's one of the cabins), so I had to drop the call and call back. After I got the Captain Club number, the second rep refused to do the one cabin level upgrade because according to her "I was not making the initial booking". Which, when you read the terms and cons, is technically true. So, I dropped that call and waited a day. Called back today and was able to complete the change including the one cabin level upgrade (saving a few hundred bucks for each cabin). So, thanks for all the advice and tips, and this just shows that different reps will give you different results.
  3. I'm torn. Booking three cabins next to each other on Summit (Southern Caribbean itinerary) for myself/wife, and then each of the two adult kids. I can get three Sweet Sixteen rooms next to each other, so much bigger balconies, but the balcony partitions don't open. Or three AquaClass rooms next to each other, smaller balconies, but the partitions open. The difference in price is not a factor. So, what would you do?
  4. I got the same brochure in the mail yesterday. I actually thought it was an Oceania brochure because the design is identical. Then when I saw it was from Atlas, I thought they were a subsidiary of Oceania. Anyways, really interesting itineraries, I'm going to give them a serious look.
  5. Believe or not it’s an iPhone 14 Pro and then I crop and color correct right in Photos on the phone. The images are about 6MB and I’m able to get reasonably good 8x12s and 12x18s printed.
  6. 6/30/23 Ketchikan Last Alaskan port of call of this cruise for us. Fair warning before you read any further. Nothing untoward happened to us in Ketchikan (except perhaps flashbacks to that unfortunate incident in Aruba in 2016, and an homage to our Iceland trip, but more on that later). So, here’s a post where I don’t actually complain, or whinge (for any of you UK or Aussie readers). Docking was announced to be about 15 minutes or so late (11:15 instead of 11:00). We had an 11:45 meet up time for our excursion ( booked directly), so the possibility of it being delayed made things a little dicey. Due to the late docking time, we slept in (7am instead of 6am), then coffee at EXC (small line) and breakfast at Pinnacle (no complaints). Back to the room to change for our excursion. And then zip back up to EXC for a 10am Scenic Narration on Ketchikan talk by the CD. It was pretty crowded up there, so again if you are interested in any of these things (that don’t take place at MainStage) then get there early. The CD gave about a 10 minute talk about Ketchikan and then said she’d be back later. Not quite the presentation I was expecting. Since it was an hour still until we docked, we went back to our cabin. Having the aft balcony was good for this particular port since we could see straight down the channel as we cruised along. We got to see a lot of seaplanes take off and land. Some great views of the Alaska Marine Service boats. And the International Airport <chuckle>. Also a good view of the two cruise ships docked at Ward Creek (an old pulp mill converted to a cruise ship dock). There were 7 cruise ships in port. We were berth #1 all the way upstream. It was fascinating to watch us slide sideways into the berth with the rear of the Princess (Majestic?) appearing to be like 10 feet from our balcony. Disembarkation was a breeze. We then raced down to Berth #3 to meet our excursion. Since our excursion ran from 12-4 and we had forgotten to grab a sandwich to bring for lunch, we hopped into Tongass Trading and picked up some salmon jerky and nuts for a snack. Ketchikan bills itself as the salmon capital of the world, so of course we had to get salmon jerky. The excursion was an E-bike and hike. As I mentioned in an earlier post, my wife gets antsy if she’s not active , so I always try to choose the excursion that is the most active. Well, no rock climbing. And no zip line, I hate heights. I know, I know, then why did I climb into a helicopter (window seat) in Denali? The things we do for love, what can I say. So, 15 minute or so ride up to almost the northern tip of the island. Whereas the minibus driver at Juneau yesterday was incredibly talkative, deadpan and sarcastic, the Ketchikan driver was a sphinx. Takes all kinds I guess. Quick lesson on the Pedegogo electric bikes, brain basket for our heads, and then off we went on our 5 mile ride up to the State Park at the tip of the island on the main road. If you can ride a bike without falling over a la Benny Hill, you have to do this tour. Now, I’m not the most fit 63 year old out there, regardless of my wife’s attempts to reverse the 40 years of neglect that she inherited when she married me, but there were some folks on this tour much younger than us and in apparent worse shape than me. So if you’re on the fence about doing the tour, do it. The e-bikes are great. Very comfortable, and quite frankly, if you don’t want to pedal you don’t have to. These newer e-bikes are much better and (I maintain) more stable than the ones we used in Aruba on a tour back in 2016. My wife will tell you that I fell off that one. I continue to insist that it was a controlled bail-out, not a fall. Our boys simply watched and laughed their asses off. A 5 mile ride to the end of the road which brings you to Lunch Creek Trail. There’s a one-mile loop and a much longer loop through temperate rain forest. The trail is gravel, steps, and boardwalk , on the one-miler. We saw Western red cedar (including a tree over 600 years old, you don’t get that on the East Coast), Sitka Spruce, and various other flora. Very green. Great waterfall. We ate wild blueberries (channeling our inner bear). And the one miler leads to a rocky beach. A good walk ( I wouldn’t call it a hike). Then 5 mile bike ride back. A snack of veggies, humus, dip and smoked salmon. Then bus ride back to the dock. A good excursion. No disasters. Kicked Aruba’s butt. We walked around town for a half hour or so. Stopped in a couple of galleries (variable quality and used-car salesmanship, but I did buy two prints) and bought a small totem (made in Indonesia) for one of our boys. I’m not sure why I bought the prints, we have tons of artwork I’ve bought at various auctions over the past 40 years. And every successive house we’ve bought seems to have less and less wall space to display it. My wife complains sometimes it feels like we live in a museum because of all my various small collections. That’s what happens when you’ve been buying and selling antiques for almost 50 years. I’ve always felt that there are two kinds of people. Collectors and non-collectors. Collectors have to collect and don’t understand why non-collectors CAN’T collect. Non-collectors don’t collect and don’t understand why collectors HAVE to collect. That’s my wife and myself. Tonight was the second dressy night. We got to MDR about 730. It was less than half full. I had Arctic Char ( in honor of a trip we took to Iceland prepandemic where my youngest boy’s sole goal was to catch an Arctic Char. I had to pay excess package to transport our fly fishing rods and reels to Iceland, and then had to pay for government disinfection at the KEF on landing. But he did catch one on our last day, at about 1am). My wife had cauliflower steak. Both entrees were very good. Apple crisp for dessert was good. Then a mile around promenade deck and that was the day. Tomorrow is a sea day. I’ll do one last post with my impressions of the ship, staff and our cabin.
  7. Two for one post today 🙂 6/28/23 Skagway 2.0 I wanted to just mention a couple of other things that happened yesterday that I didn’t put in last nights post. It was a long day yesterday and I just rattle these off the top of my head and missed a few things. As I talked about in my last post, HAL had cancelled our afternoon excursion in Skagway. We had booked that one using the HAL shore excursion $100 obc. I had to kick in an additional $64.95 per person on that one. We had also booked the White Pass Summit excursion through HAL. That one I paid outright, I think $132 a ticket, but I might be mistaken on the amount. Our account was credited back 2x 64.95 for the cancelled excursion but we were not credited back the obc. The shore ex obc should have been credited to the WhIte Rail ex, since we booked that through HAL as well. I finally decided to go down to the Neptune Lounge to talk to the concierge. You remember, my buddy who didn’t remember she had already met me twice. She said she’d look into it and a little while ago let me know that the front desk knew about it and we were on the list to be credited tonight. I’m not sure why they didn’t do it correctly yesterday, and I’m not sure it would have been done tonight had I not complained. The lesson here, as others have said in other postings, is that you have to check your statement every day. You have to get any mistakes fixed before you walk off the ship. You won’t be able to get them fixed after. I’ll certainly be checking my statement tomorrow morning. A few positives, so you dont think that all I do is complain and nitpick (though my employees think that’s all I do). Neptune suites (maybe all suites?) have unlimited laundry. We utilized it yesterday. My wife came on this cruise with the contents of a carryon bag and a daypack. I am not kidding. That’s how she packed for this trip that will ultimately span 14 days (depart home 6/20, arrive home 7/4). I’ve learned long ago not to criticize or even make helpful (in my mind) suggestions. So, when we packed the car to go to JFK, I kept my pie hole shut and just ruefully shook my head (to myself). As I said earlier, we did laundry at Denali. We decided to use the laundry on the boat yesterday. Everything was washed, folded, wrapped up in brown paper and returned to us in a basket in less than 24 hours. Impressive and 10 gold stars from me. Here’s a word of advice, especially if you have to pay for the laundry. You pay by the bag. I can’t take credit for this trick, I saw it in a posting, but if you fold the clothes before you put them in the bag, you would think you are dealing with Hermione’s magic bag. The bag is not particularly large, but it is heavy , well stitched, and a little flexible. You can fit a lot of stuff in it if you use the fold, stuff and jam method. We were able to cram 4 pants, 6 shirts and 4 days worth of underwear undershirts and socks into this innnocent looking bag. I swear if I thrust my arm into the empty bag, my hand would emerge in some alternate parallel universe. So make good use of the laundry bag, it’s well worth it. And then maybe your spouse will be muttering under their breath too while you look all smug and smart with your prescient packing skills. A quick thought on health care in Skagway. The other couple (Dave and Barb) that I mentioned who were on our cancelled hike/float yesterday told me something about health care in Skagway. I know, I mention health care and those of you who have been reading my postings (bless you) immediately link it with rock climbing and go “oh my god” or grab the popcorn and pull your seat closer to the screen). Sorry to get your hopes up for a juicy story, this will take a left hand turn. We later ran into this couple on that hell trail (oops I mean the lovely jaunt through the woods) yesterday afternoon. He said that someone had told him that there are no doctors in Skagway and that every resident had to carry health insurance that included a rider for air transport. Now, my first thought was, even Cicely Alaska in Northern Exposure had a doctor. Ok, they had to essentially blackmail him and engage in the bait and switch to get good ole Dr Fleischman to be their doctor, but they had one. Great show, by the way, get the dvd set and watch it (yes I know it's not real, and not even filmed in Alaska). It’s as good now as it was 30 years ago and you can’t stream it because the producers only licensed the music for tv showing. But anyway, I work in healthcare. I know that it is every American’s god-given right to be uninsured, and no one’s going to take that right away from them. Especially in Alaska. I know about uninsured. At some of our clinics over 20% of our patients have no health insurance. So I found it curious that this little town in Alaska would have no doctor and you’d be required to carry insurance. I was intrigued so I did some googling. Yes, there are doctors in Skagway. There’s even a clinic. But there are no inpatient hospitals or even outpatient centers. So, yes, if it’s anything requiring more than what a GP can offer in his office, you’ve got to be transported out. A sobering thought for those of us who are floating down the coast with a medical suite in the bowels of our ship. And finally, let me leave you with this, because it blew me away yesterday. When we were traveling on the White Pass train and when we were hiking in the pines on that hill (mountain?), I breathed in deeply (well, I had no choice on that hike, else I would have passed out). But a curious thing happened. I was almost overwhelmed with the fresh pine smell. Try it when you’re here and you are out in the woods. That smell is overwhelming. They say that there is more oxygen in Southeast Alaska than the lower 48, due to trees (largest National Forests) and the phytoplankton in the ocean here. The air here is incredibly clean and fresh. So get out there and take a deep breath. That air is one of the reasons people come to Alaska. And Maybe that air is why they don’t need a hospital in Skagway. ——— 6/29/23 Juneau We awoke already docked at Juneau. The dock right in front of the tram. Another early start for us at 6am. Today’s plan was coffee at EXC lounge, breakfast at Pinnacle, and then an 830 small group Whale Watching Excursion with Marv and Harvs. True to form, nothing was exactly as you planned it. We were up at the EXC by 630. There was a line of people ahead of us. This was the first time there was a line. Everyone must want to make the most of our limited time in Juneau (all aboard is 4pm). We drank our coffee and then went down to Pinnacle only to find that it does not open for suite breakfast until 730! Our second disappointment of the day, and it’s less than an hour old. :-(. I know, first world problems, but everything is relative to your expectations (no matter how entitled). So, off to Lido Buffet for breakfast. I’m pretty sure the eggs and oatmeal are exactly the same as they use in the Pinnacle. :-) Todays excursion was Harv and Marv’s Whale Excursion. We originally had booked a helicopter to ride to a glacier and do a two hour hike, but at some time after booking, HAL had changed the sail away time from Juneau and I had to cancel the tour because it ran too late. I subbed in the whale trip. So, again, check your ship itinerary online periodically up until your cruise. We met the tour rep in the little plaza in front of the ship. She put on our wrists a little rubber bracelet with our tour number. And then a 15 minute minibus ride over to Auke Bay. H&M offers a number of different whale tours of varying lengths and boat capacities. We had booked a 4-hour 6-person tour, which was longer length and less people than their other tours. I’ve done whale watch tours before and I hate bumping into people as you move around the boat to get a better view. And I like being out on the water, having grown up on Long Island Sound, so longer is perfectly fine. There were 5 differing tours on our minibus. Of course, you guessed it, we arrived and were informed that our boat captain had called in sick and they had to combine us with another shorter larger tour group (but would make a partial refund). <disappointment>. But then apparently one of the owners (Harv? Marv?) intervened and they led the six of us to a brand spanking new boat with an enclosed flying bridge They informed us that they had just taken delivery of this brand new ship built specifically for them to their design and we would be on the upper level flying bridge that seats 10, with the Captain, who is one of the owners of the company. I didn’t catch his name but it wasn’t Harv or Marv, which apparently are nicknames. So, our disappointment turned to joy. There were about 20 people down on the lower level, but there was a chain across the steps that read “crew only” and we had the top deck to ourselves. We went out cruising for about 2.5 hours. In that time we saw about a half dozen or so humpbacks, including two mother-baby pairs, a pod of about 6-8 orcas including a baby, and some Steller seals. See images. There were at least a dozen other boats out there, but it was well choreographed organized chaos. It rained and was sunshiny (alternating, not concurrent) so as with everything else in Alaska, be prepared with layers. I highly recommend Harv and Marv’s, they were incredible. 10 gold stars. One curious thing is that you never get very close to the whales (seals are another matter). I’ve taken several whale watch tours out of Hampton and Rye New Hampshire, because we vacationed in York Beach Maine for 23 years when my kids were growing up. On those tours they get much closer to the whales and then drift, and many times the whales wander over, sometimes going right under the boat. I’ve got some amazing pics from those tours. On todays tour we were much further away from the whales. I guess there’s some regulation in Alaska specifying distance so as to protect the whales from us pesky humans. Though there are a few humans who I wouldn’t mind if they got a lot closer to the orcas. Just saying. Every once in a while I feel like we need a little flexibility to thin the herd. But, sadly, there are no Orcas in New Hampshire. After the tour it was a little organized chaos getting everyone back on the buses for the 25 minute ride back. No it’s not uphill on the way back. Rather, the bus stops for 10 minutes to let you take pics of Mendenhall Glacier (from a meadow far far away). I wanted to go out to the glacier this trip but there simply was not enough time due to the short time docked at Juneau. Next trip. Back to Lido to pick up lunch to take back to the balcony. The sea planes take off and land in the bay as well. So we had a great view of them. Super docking location. Then back out to do some shopping in Juneau. Well, window shopping. There is a plethora of jewelry and souvenir shops on Main St and Franklin St. They all have signs in their windows saying they are owned by Alaska families but they all must buy from the same wholesalers because their stock is all pretty much the same. As are their prices. Actually at one of the gift shops I noticed a catalogue on the back counter open to a page of totem poles and a worker was placing an order online. Really??? At least do that in the back and maintain the illusion that this stuff isn’t mostly made in China or at least not in some factory here in Alaska. So, pick up the tchotchkes you need for the folks at home, but otherwise skip all that tat (as my English antique dealer friends say) and hit the couple of stores selling local artists. I stopped in the Sealaska Heritage Center gift shop (Front Street) and Annie Kaill’s Crafts Gallery (Seward Street) , both a 5 minute walk from the dock. Excellent selection of handmade arts and crafts by Alaska artists. Across the street from Annie Kaill’s is a great bookstore called Rainy Day Books. Lots of used books, and a good Alaska section. If you’ve gotten your fill of the NA’s library, check it out. My wife spent all her time in there while I browsed the two galleries I mentioned above. She’s addicted to the smell of books. Must be an English thing. I did pick up some Alaska Fudge since they were making it in the window looking out on the street. Excellent fudge, you’ll want to get some if that’s your thing. Back to the NA and to the hydro pool and thermal spa. Ahhhh!!! Dinner was at Tamarind so we could burn the Specialty Restaurant OBC. Yes, it feels like it’s a complimentary meal, but it’s buried in the cruise price. There’s no such thing as a free lunch, or dinner for that matter, at least that’s what I was taught in college. Cruises are a business competing for our leisure dollars. It’s wrapped in a veneer of “The Experience” but CCL’s and RCL’s goal is to maximize the average revenue per passenger day (and increase shareholder value, thank you very much). The dinner was very good. We both had Satay appetizer. I had Chili Thai Shrimp entree, my wife had Crispy Duck. She loves duck, it was good and she was happy. The shrimp was very good. My only note on the meal was that the chicken piece in my Satay was not hot, although the other sample meats were hot. Other than that, excellent meal. The Moonstone Sake was divine (you have to drink it warm). My wife’s Neptune Nectar (?) hit the spot, she said. So, takeaway today is yet another excursion gone somewhat sideways. My sister in law likes to quote “Blessed are the flexible for they shall not be bent out of shape”. Of course, she throws this at me all the time because she is notorious for planning things to the nth degree (spreadsheets and everything) and then changing the plan at the last moment. Drives me nuts. But on an Alaska trip you’ve got to be flexible. The weather is variable on an hourly basis, the wildlife aren’t in a zoo or staged to meet your schedule, the cruise lines are still struggling with staffing and training up from the pandemic. So, more than any other vacation, you’ve got to be flexible on this one. Don’t get bent out of shape and just enjoy the ride. The joy is in the journey, not the destination.
  8. 6/28/2023 Skagway The day dawned bright and sunny. (Now that’s a much better beginning than “it was a dark and stormy night”, right). My wife and I were up at 6 AM, and the ship was already docked at Skagway. Docked along with us were the Celebrity Millenium, Norwegian Encore, and the Majestic Princess. The Princess and Norwegian ships were docked over at the ore dock, even though the land slide is still clearly visible. See my image. Princess was tendering passengers over to shore, and they must not have had enough tenders of their own because they borrowed at least one of ours. My wife and I saw them lowering it while we were having breakfast at the pinnacle Grill. The Norwegian ship seemed to be using shuttle buses, running right by the landslide area, so I’m not sure why princess was using tenders. Anyways, we had the center dock so all we had to do is just walk right off the ship and we were right there. See image. We had our usual coffee up in the Explorations Café. And got to enjoy some great views of the city of Skagway and the mountains beyond, up high on the the very front of the ship. Then breakfast at the pinnacle Grill, and then ready to leave for our first excursion. Our morning excursion was the White Pass and Yukon railroad train ride up to the summit. This is about a three hour round-trip. I think there were eight or nine cars on the train, all were refurbished old cars. Maybe there were more. And we had one of the brand new diesel locomotives. Just like the train ride from anchorage to Denali, the first half of the trip was through mostly trees, so while you catch glimpses of some of the scenery, a lot of it was obscured by trees. However, we did have great views of the Skagway cemetery, Bridal Veil Falls, and the Buchanan sign. How many Bridal Veil Falls are there in the world? I feel like I’ve seen one in every cruise we’ve done. In the second half of the trip, where the trees were a lot shorter, and the mountains a lot steeper, there are great views. High trestles, two tunnels, a hairpin turn. We crossed into Canada at which point we turned around and came back. If you are going to do this tour, they tell you that it doesn’t really matter if you sit on the right or left side, because the train turns around and you’re on the opposite side on the way back. However, if you’re on the left side going out of Skagway then you’re going to have the views up into the mountains in front of you, and if you’re on the right side coming back down, then you’re gonna have views down into valleys. So probably better to be on the left side than the right side. These are old style rail cars, where you can take the seat back and flip it so that it’s on the opposite side of the bench, so that you can either face forward or back. It doesn’t really matter if there’s somebody in the seats in front of you, the only thing would be if you flipped the seat then you’re going to be facing the people who are in the seats behind you, which may be a bit disconcerting for them. But hey, you’re entitled to good views as well , right. You don’t really see these types of seats in American rail cars, but there’s still are some in Europe that use it, so some of you may have experienced this. We didn’t do that, but only because I was out on the back viewing platform for the scenic part of the trip back. So, something to think about. There is a viewing platform at either end of each car. The platforms are much smaller than they are on the Denali train. And realistically you can only have two people standing on one side of the platform at a time, whereas with a Denali train you could easily have a half a dozen or even 10 people on one side at a time. There are numerous opportunities and curves to get some good pictures of the locomotive in front of the curve train. And really all in all a very scenic ride. I would definitely recommend it. The commentary during the train ride was amusing (and informative). Make sure you check out the 1898 trail on the left going up the mountain. It ‘s absolutely insane what these Stampeders endured to reach the gold fields. A single track curvy trail on a slope so steep that two people couldn’t stand side by side and each guy had to do this 30 or 40 times in the snow to get their supplies up there. Insane. A combination of gold fever and The Last Great Adventure was a powerful draw. Thank God that doesn’t happen today, right? Lol. Manias and bubbles are still with us. Mackay’s Extraordinary Delusions and the Madness of Crowds is still a great read on this phenomena even though it’s well over 150 years old. You’d think some of these Stampeders would have read it before embarking on their journey. Anyways, it’s a great ride to get a feel of what men will do for gold. And I’ll mention again that Borneman’s book has an excellent chapter on the gold rush. On arriving back at Skagway, we went back to the ship, which is only a five minute walk from the train station. We grabbed some lunch at the Lido Buffet, and then brought it up to our balcony where we were looking out from back to the ship, upon the mountains, Lynn’s Canal, and the other cruise ships that were docked. There was a lot of activity going on over at the airport on the other side of the celebrity millennium. A constant stream of helicopters, coming in and going out, as well as bush planes. After lunch, we decided to go back into Skagway and go into some of the stores prior to our afternoon excursion. At which point it started to rain. Welcome to Alaska. It’s about a five minute walk into downtown, which is really just two parallel streets, Main and Broadway, with maybe four or five cross streets. A bunch of nice shops, mostly obviously tourist shops. We went into one of the shops, selling native art, and picked up a nice little pocket knife for our youngest boy, which was engraved with the salmon. He’ll appreciate it since one of his passions is fishing. I looked at some of the carvings (one of the things I collect is First Nations and Southeast Alaska carvings), but didn’t see anything to strike my fancy. And we stopped in a jewelry store because I have been interested in a gold quartz ring. But the price that I was quoted was about three times what I can buy it for on eBay, so we left. No real surprise there. The salesman did try and call us back to lower the price. So if you’re buying in one of these stores, use all your used car strategies when negotiating prices. We did some other wandering around. It’s a nice compact town. Our afternoon excursion was the Chilkoot hike and float down the river. We got back down to the area in front of the cruise ship, where you’re supposed to meet the excursions, and found the HAL excursions rep. There was one other couple there. The rep informed us that the excursion was canceled because two of the rafts on the morning excursion had gotten stuck on the river (?!?!?). All kinds of questions raced through my mind. Is it a tidal estuary and the tide was out? All the way up here in Skagway I guess they don’t have BoatUS and you can’t call for a tow? Is this so uncommon an occurrence that 3 hours later they hadn’t gotten the rafts unstuck? Does the Nieuw Amsterdam leave if you’re still stranded on the river? All these thoughts were racing through my mind, so I was not prepared for the next words to come out of her mouth. “We have room in the 3:15 rock climbing and rapelling excursion”. Silence. Crinkled forehead. Confusion. Hmmm…. Look at this body. This is not a rock climbing and rapelling body. This physique bears no resemblance to the requirements of that excursion. 35 years ago this body was described as a skier’s body. Which makes sense, because I rented a house in Vermont for 6 months every year for about a decade. But that was half a lifetime ago, and 35 years of sitting behind a desk has left that skier’s body tangled in the safety netting halfway up the hill. Rock climbing excursion! I think my expression could best be described as cross eyed confusion. Even my wife, who will scamper up the side of a cliff at the drop of a hat, as I noted earlier in one of my earlier posts about Denali, was not too enthusiastic about rock climbing. The other couple there who looked to be about our age were not interested either. The rep was crestfallen but took the rejection like a champ. We respectfully declined. Luckily, planning ahead paid off in this case, because I had already downloaded onto my AllTrails app the hiking trails that were readily accessible from the dock in Skagway. See, I know my wife after all these years. Be prepared to shift sideways to a hike. And, dear readers, here’s where the wheels go off my carefully planned day. It came down to a 1.4 mile easy hike over on the other side of the airport. Or a 3.2 mile strenuous hike off to the right of town, on the other side of the railroad tracks, about 800 feet up the mountain to a small lake. So, being the attentive husband that I am, I gave my wife the choice. And which do you think she chose? I’ll wait. Think about it. Likely you do not have to think for very long. Of course she chose the strenuous one. Oh my sore legs. I’ve barely recovered from the Denali heli-hike. Here’s the silver lining in the cloud. In the morning we had taken the train ride that followed the trail of the 1897-1898 Yukon Gold Stampeders. So, when in Skagway do as the Skagwegians do (is that really a word) and pretend that you are a Yukon Gold Stampeder and experience history. So that’s what we did. We took a steep hike up a mountain. Now, this was actually an excellent living history lesson. Because we hiked about a mile and a half up this steep hill, about 800 foot rise. And I’ve got to tell you, I have no idea how those 1897 1898 Stampeders did it. And we did it in the summer. They hiked 250 times the distance we did with a steeper elevation gain. In the snow! if you really want to experience Skagway, this is the way to do it. Experience history. So we pretended we were Stampeders. And climbed. And climbed. In the rain. No gold for us at the top of the trail but we were rewarded with a lovely lake. In all honesty, this does not rank anywhere near a number of other death climbs that my wife has taken me on. But that’s another story. Or two. Although the 4 1/2 mile round-trip when you include walking from the boat to the trail head and walking from trail head back to the boat was more than enough for me. My hat’s off to those Stampeders, I don’t know how they did it. Dinner was MDR again. We were seated with two other couples. Good conversation. My appetizer was salmon chowder which was good as always. My entree was chicken cordon blue, also good. Dessert was some chocolate thing, I forget the name. After dinner we went up to mainstage to see a comedian, Lamont Ferguson. Very good show. Juneau and whale watching tomorrow.
  9. The library is just opposite the entry to the Mainstage on Deck 3. While the library is large, the entry is recessed and the sign somewhat blocked. We walked by it twice before we found it.
  10. Too funny. I'm not sure going to the NL would have helped. There was a router attached to the ceiling of our suite, so the signal was strong. I think there's just a lot of people using the internet during the day on sea days and the bandwidth can't handle it.
  11. 6/26/23 Another positive that I’ve been remiss in mentioning is the Library. Wow, I mean WOW. Beautiful space. Brightly lit. Good chairs. Tons of books, many just published and many with multiple copies. Excellent selection. You’re supposed to only borrow one book at a time but it’s an honor system. Even I found something to read, which is going to be a problem because the Kindle I brought with me has a couple dozen books queued up. One of the things I didn’t understand pre-pandemic was when Celebrity removed the libraries from their ships during dry docks. We were very disappointed. Check out NA’s library, it’s great. Now if they would only bring back classical music to the Lincoln Center …. A word on internet. It’s much faster at 3am than 3pm. 🙂 Shocking, right? And it begs the question, what was I doing up at 3am? Why, I was conducting research for you, dear reader. Isn’t that a more palatable reason than I was mulling over an issue at work? 🙂 But the internet, it’s like the Merritt Parkway in Southern Connecticut (substitute your own local commuter nightmare here). Just because there’s more traffic, they can’t dynamically make the road wider. If you’re driving down to Stamford at 7am, the traffic is bumper to bumper and cars very slowly jockey to squeeze in at each entrance ramp. If it’s midnight, you’re zipping along (except those spots where they’re doing eternal construction). That’s your data packet at 8pm at night. Trying to squeeze onto the highway with all the other data packets. Or maybe think of your data packet like a kidney stone trying to squeeze through…. Never mind, you get the idea. Try not use the internet when everyone else is awake, or you’ll be stuck in the pipe. Anyways, back to the cruise. Every crew member I’ve seen works really hard and tries very hard to please. They certainly deserve the gratuities we give them. It’s Glacier Bay day. Cloudy and foggy again this morning. Did 7am coffee up in the Crows Nest. Great coffee. Breakfast was in the Pinnacle Grill. Again, in response to comments in my previous posts, Neptune and Pinnacle suite guests can have breakfast in the Pinnacle Grill. Same exact breakfast in the MDR but more windows. They tried to get us to reserve lunch there as well. Which is $15 a person (for anyone). Their pitch was you were getting the view. I’m not sure if it’s just that I haven’t cruised since the pandemic and I just don’t remember it from before, but there seems to be a lot more selling and upselling than pre-pandemic. Of course, as an RCL and CCL shareholder I appreciate the effort to boost the bottom line, but it seems more intrusive than previously. During breakfast we were lucky enough to see the Park Ranger launch come right under the window were at. See image. After breakfast we went back up to the Crows Nest for the NPS presentation on Glacier Bay. We got there about 5 minutes before it started and it was packed. So, if you have an interest in the presentation, get there early. Especially if you want to sit. Oh, and don’t stand next to the expresso machine. As I found out, they keep filling coffee orders throughout the entire talk, making it hard to hear. The presentation ended at 1030 and we were supposed to get to Lampuhl Glacier about 1130. We figured the bow viewing spots would be crowded, so we opted to kill two birds with one stone. We would walk our 3 miles on the Promenade deck and be able to view all around the ship. It worked out great. We saw sea otters, bald eagles, a humpback whale tail , and harbor seals. As well as Reid, Lampughl, Topeka, and Johns Hopkins Glaciers. All in the course of about 90 minutes or so. So, if you’re going, give that a try. And by the time we got there, the fog had lifted, though cloud ceiling was still pretty low. They serve the famous pea soup on the 3rd deck. So we were able to check that off our list as well. Don’t miss it. Then the ship turned and sailed over to Margerie and Grand Pacific Glaciers. We had gone up to the Crows Nest on the way to have a hot tea, and decided to try the bow viewing area for Margerie. Deck 7, 6, and 5 bow viewing areas were all very crowded, so we went back down to 3. Which was still uncrowded. I’d recommend doing the 3rd deck if you go. The Captain spun the ship after half hour, and our balcony was going to face the two glaciers, so we grabbed a lunch in Lido Buffet, and brought it back to our balcony. We saw two small calvings in Margerie. Let me clarify. My wife saw two calvings. I saw the aftermath of two small calvings. A word of advice. If you’re staring at a glacier waiting for it to calve, it will calve as soon as you look away. It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been staring at it. You look away, and it will calve. I don’t know how it knows, but it knows. It just knows. My wife, of course, saw both calvings in full. I, alerted by her shrieks, caught the splash of both. <sigh>. We then cruised out of Glacier Bay. Tons of photo ops. They said you could see the glacier and hear the Rangers’ narratives on the bow channel, but like the Ranger said, the best side of the ship to view from is outside. Dress wam and get out there. MDR was a little more full at 7pm tonight but still plenty of empty tables. I had deviled seafood eggs and Gold Rush soup. My wife had faro salad. We both had salmon and fruit crisp dessert. The deviled eggs were excellent, I’d highly recommend. The soup was fine. Wife reports faro salad was good. My wife’s salmon was fine. Mine could have been served as sushi. I hate sushi. So, be sure to specify how you want your salmon done. Fruit crisp was good. Though my wife loved hers. She said it reminded her of the fruit crisp her granny in England made for her when she went back as a child to visit. Also, we were seated at the aft windows in the MDR and a small pod of whales was feeding behind the ship. So, we added more whales to our list. Tomorrow is Skagway. We’re doing the White Pass rail in the morning and the Chilkot Hike/Float in the afternoon. 9pm sail away so plenty of time to enjoy Skagway.
  12. Continuation of the narrative: 6/26/23 Hubbard Glacier As noted in last posting, arrived at Whittier after 9.5 hour train ride. Over 10 hours if you include the transfer from the resort to the train depot. Long ride but great scenery. Our only complaint was the HVAC issues previously noted. Although I will report that the entire train car burst into spontaneous applause when we emerged from the Anderson Tunnel. LOL! After a short delay getting off the train, we were single-filed into the cruise terminal. Basically a TSA style ribbon line like you see at the airport. By the time we got in the line it had wrapped 6 times. We had booked a Neptune Suite for this cruise and I saw a short line off to the side. I asked a HAL rep if that was the suite embarkation line and he replied “No, that’s for people with problems”. Now, I’ll admit I have my share of problems, but I guess they didn’t rise to the level of HAL’s concern, because the kept us in the main line. (HAL problems seem to center around expired credit cards, etc). So, just be aware that if you have a suite you go through the same line (no saving time here). Kind of an ironic policy for a company with Holland in its name, a country that loves their elitist monarchy, but who am I to judge. 😉 Anyhow, the line moved quickly, it took us about 10 minutes, you run your bag through the X-ray machine (I guess to ensure you’re not bringing alcohol on board and undercutting HAL’s profit) and walk through a metal detector and that’s it. My wife pinged the metal detector but they didn’t find anything on her. I think it was a random ping to keep the security guys on their toes. Oh, I should mention, while on the train they were pretty emphatic that you can’t bring disposable water bottles (plastic or aluminum) on to the ship. There was no explanation offered for this policy. But they announced it a couple times. I can report that the X-ray machine does not flag the aluminum Alaska or Glacier water bottles in our backpacks, at least empty. Once through the X-ray machines it’s on to the ship. There was a line at the elevator so we just walked up the stairs to our deck. As I mentioned, we booked a Neptune Suite. Rear starboard corner with the wrap around balcony. Normally I’ll just do a regular balcony, but due to the number of cruising days on this itinerary, and the viewing opportunities, I decided to pop the extra bucks for the view. I’ll attach a pic of the view from last night. I’d attach a pic of the view this morning, but it’s pea-souper fog. So just find a room in your house with white walls, dump a glass of water on the floor and stare at the wall, and that’s what I see right now out of our balcony. No well-thought out plan survives first encounter with the enemy, right? Back to the narrative. After stopping at our room last night, we walked a mile on the Promenade deck to stretch our legs after the long train ride, then off to MDR. I’ve read a lot of complaining on FB and CC about the service and food quality in MDR but I thought the food was fine and service was top notch. I had a Crab and Seafood Cocktail starter and my wife had mixed greens. A lot of shrimp in the cocktail, one small piece of what I think was snow crab and one tiny scallop. Should be titled Shrimp Seafood Cocktail. But the Louis sauce was good, though laid on a little thick. My wife reported her greens were fine. For entree I had Rockfish, my wife had salmon. Rockfish was very good, made up for the appetizer. My wife had no complaints about the salmon. We generally don’t have dessert at home but we will when on a cruise. I had strawberries, ice cream with Gran Marnier on it. My wife had a crisp with ice cream. Both ok, nothing to write home about. Quick 3 times around the promenade deck to get a mile in and then off to bed. Just some background. We’re not party animals, or anything close. I happen to like cruising because I have a hotel room that moves around from place to place and I don’t have to choose restaurants. My wife is ambivalent about it, at least leading up to the cruise, but then enjoys it once she’s on board. Her idea of a perfect vacation is hiking 10-15 miles a day and scampering up trails. Really, I don’t know how we ended up together, but we did. So, when I pick a cruise it has to have lots of port days so she can get off ship and move around. We don’t come for the drinking, or onboard activities, and you won’t find me talking much about that I this review. Our excursions are very active oriented, so just be prepared. Back to the journey. Since we’re at the very rear of the boat we have some rocking action. It doesn’t bother either of us because we both had fathers who owned boats, so we’ve been on the water from an early age. Hit somewhat tougher weather in the middle of the night. Nothing substantial just a more pronounced rocking. I got woken up 4 or 5 times by something banging in the closet. Finally had had enough and found the safe door was banging back and forth. So, lock your safe door when you first get to your room. Of course my wife slept like a log through the whole thing. Go figure. As mentioned earlier, fog this morning so nothing to see. Breakfast was in MDR (because we walked past the Pinnacle and didn’t feel like turning back). Just ok, service slower than last night. Quick stop in the Neptune Lounge. Attended a talk on whales that was pretty good. Then 2 miles on the Promenade deck. A note on the physical condition of the ship. Generally very good. But the railings for the stairs all have some wear spots down the wood, which is really inconsistent with the appearance of the rest of the public areas. The staff, without exception, has been very warm, welcoming and friendly. We had pre-bought the one week Thermal Spa pass for this cruise. On prior Celebrity cruises we had bought the weekly Spa pass and really enjoyed it. With the number of non-port days on this cruise it seemed worth it. So we headed on down, had little stickers put on our key card, received our locker keys and were given a brief tour. It’s very similar to the Celebrity Spa (Persian Gardens). We swear by our hot tub at home, and one of our favorite vacations was a trip to Iceland where we lounged in hot holes and airbnb’ed at a cottage on a lake with a geothermal hot tub (I highly recommend it). So, heated water this trip was a must-have. NA’s spa has a hydro pool, heated tile lounges, rain showers, and sauna. The Changing Room was clean, bright and nicely set up. Your locker has a robe and slides in it. A number of showers. Two private changing cubes. The men’s changing room at least, I didn’t see what was in the women’s. We did the hydro pool first. This is like a hot tub on steroids. Two high pressure shower heads. One end has jets under a long metal lounge type seat you can lay on. In the center is a metal circular rail big enough for several people to stand in. Huge powerful jets in the bottom of the pool within the enclosure blow bubbles up leaving you bobbing (or flailing) in a maelstrom of air bubbles. Pretty cool. After that we lay on the heated tile loungers, which I’ve always found helpful for my stiff back. Since the spa is at the front of the ship, when you lay on the lounges you’re looking out a wall of windows at the bow. So we got to lay on hot lounges while looking out at Hubbard Glacier. It beat standing outside in the cold rain in the Crows Nest :-). We didn’t do the rain shower since we have one at our Connecticut house. We spent about 10 minutes in the wet sauna. It had a Mint aroma that could not be shut off, the controls were unresponsive. Temperature was 38 degrees Celsius (whatever that equates to in F). Oddly enough, the dry sauna is outside the thermal spa, by the Lido Pool, and open to everyone. So, you have to go wandering out there to go from wet sauna to dry sauna, which is kind of annoying. All in all a nice Spa. It’s a toss-up whether I would rate HALs or Celebrity’s higher. Celebrity’s is nicer looking and a little bigger, and has the dry sauna n up a sauna. I think my wife makes me go in the sauna with her just to torture me for some unspoken misdemeanor. After showers and changing, we went back to our cabin. We spent about an hour viewing Hubbard Glacier from our balcony. It was misty, cold and intermittently rainy out, so not the best views of Hubbard. The included blankets and covered balcony made it bearable. Hopefully Glacier Bay will be better weather. Tonight is first dressy night. I still remember the first cruise I took in 1991, when I wore a tuxedo and bow tie to the dressy night. Wow, how times have changed. I didn't even bring a sport jacket this time. We arrived at MDR just before 7. We were seated immediately. I’d say the MDR was less than half full at that point. I had a shrimp cocktail appetizer, which was basically last night's appetizer minus the bit of crab and the tiny scallop. At least truth in advertising tonight. I forget what my wife had but she was happy with it. For dinner I had filet and she had lamb. She said her lamb was very good. I rate my filet as average. Now , I have to note here that our middle boy works at a butcher/culinaria, so I grill filet about once a week, and this butcher only carries really good meat. So shame on me for ordering it, and please take my lack of enthusiasm with a grain of salt. YMMV. We both had “cheesecake” dessert. The less said about it the better, it was not memorable. After dinner we went to the talk (briefing?) on Glacier Bay. It was well presented. Then a quick walk to finish off our steps for the day. So, my takeaways for today are that the staff we have dealt with have all been friendly and enthusiastic. Likely the couple of minor blips we encountered today are due to staffing issues related to ramping up after the pandemic (new rookie staff, truncated training, etc). So it may sound like I’m complaining but any issues have really been minor and have not impacted our enjoyment of the trip. Regarding food, unless something changes, I’m going to end up viewing the food portion of the trip as a distant second to our trips on Celebrity. It’s adequate, but not a selling point. Tomorrow is Glacier Bay.
  13. I think you hit the nail right on the head. After we got on the ship, following the Denali portion, I decided that in retrospect we could have done the land portion ourselves at probably less than half the cost. And likely would not have even needed to rent a car, if we had used the train. My wife was disappointed that we didn't get up to Healy to see the "Into the Wilds" bus (or at least the replica that is up there). If we are ever able to do Alaska again, we would do the land portion ourselves. Good call.
  14. I kept a contemporaneous "travelogue" of our recent cruise. The trip was June 21, 2023 to July 2, 2023, with the first day in Anchorage, then 3 days in Denali and then a 7 day cruise leaving Whittier on June 25, and finally a day spent in Vancouver. I had intended to post this live, but it was virtually impossible to upload to CC with internet on the ship. I was able to pop it up to the FB HAL Alaska Cruise group during the cruise, so some of you may have seen it there. The folks there seemed to enjoy it, so I decided to post it here. I've slightly edited it to correct some punctuation/grammar errors, and fix tenses, since it was originally written in Notes on my iphone. Let me start out by saying, it is a long read. I'll post a section a day for a few days. If it's too long for you, then scroll on by. And my style of writing is not for everyone. I'm a CPA, not a writer. I'll include some images with each part as well. 6/20/23-6/25/2023 Anchorage/Denali/Whittier Anchorage – We arrived in Anchorage at 12:45AM after leaving JFK at 4:40PM the prior day (6/20) (connection in Seattle). I had not realized how long the Seattle to Anchorage leg would be. I looked it uplater and it’s over 1800 miles from Seattle to Anchorage! Several weeks earlier, I had booked a room at the Puffin Inn next to the airport since I knew we’d be arriving very late and we would just want to go right to sleep. Quick efficient pickup at the airport by their van (we waited maybe 10 minutes from the point I made the phone call). Check-in was quick. We got to the room and discovered that the bedding had not been changed and the bathroom was dirty. Also, window was open halfway and would not crank closed at all. The window wasn’t really an issue because it was not very cold and the blackout curtain blocked the airflow anyways. We got new sheets from the front desk and made the bed, and then just crashed. Not a very auspicious start to the trip. We were up early, had continental breakfast in the inn and then Ubered to the Westmark and dropped our luggage off with the front desk about 8am. Again, very efficient. Grabbed a coffee at Kaladi Brothers coffee shop around the corner from the hotel. Excellent coffee and croissant. We had a 2PM hike scheduled (online before we left), so what to do for the next several hours? We wandered around downtown a bit and then decided on the Trolley Tour (deluxe edition since it was longer and allowed us to get off the bus). Very entertaining and informative tour. The guide’s husband was a life-long resident of Anchorage and she had a lot of great stories to tell. Definitely worth the time and price. Just be aware that as with most cities, there’s a bunch of homeless and a small tent city. A quick lunch at a deli and then met our hike guide at the Egan Center (which seems to be the base of operations for a lot of things in town). Great 4-hour hike in the Chugach on the other side of Eagle River. Saw some moose, and a black bear mama with a cub eating dandelions. And some beaver. We arrived back at the Westmark hotel about 7pm. While we have subsequently heard from others on the tour that check-in was very disorganized and chaotic, we arrived at the tail end of it, so for us it was a breeze. So, my advice would be, dump your luggage at the front desk, go do something, and wait for the crowd to clear out. We had dinner at Glacier Brewhouse across street from the hotel. I had made reservations online about 3 weeks beforehand and we were seated immediately. I had King Salmon that had been caught that morning in Ship Creek. Restaurant was very good, highly recommend. Back at the hotel, room was good sized, bed comfortable. Hotel was adequate, if unmemorable. Transfer to Denali - we were assigned by HAL to a group doing motor coach up and dome-train back. I had read very mixed reviews about the motor coach, and given the long flight from the East Coast just the day before, we were leery of spending 6+ hours or so in a motor coach. So, we opted to take the Alaska Railroad up on our own dime and bailed on the motor coach. From the experiences I’ve heard from others on the same tour as us, it was a good decision. Not much to comment on about the Alaska RR. It’s basically the same trip you take with the HAL train ride (there’s only one set of tracks). I would highly recommend at least reading the section about the history and construction of the railroad in Borneman’s book “Alaska: Saga of a Bold Land” before you take the train up or down. In fact, you should read the entire book before going to Alaska. It really adds a lot of depth to appreciating and understanding what you see on the trip. Unlike the motor coach, the train has a large viewing platform at the rear of each car, so you can get up at any time, walk around and see some great scenery while getting some fresh air. It also makes it a lot easier to take pictures. The Goldstar service is a dome car, standard service is not, and that makes a huge difference when you are traveling for that long. We arrived at Denali Rail Depot, quickly stopped at the Visitor Center, then hiked the Horseshoe Lake trail (saw beavers, but missed the moose apparently) and caught the shuttle bus to McKinley Chalet Resort McKinley Chalet Resort - our tour was 3 nights at the hotel. Check-in was mildly confusing because we had come in on the train, not the coach as expected. Which sort of highlights that different parts of HAL don’t necessarily communicate well with other parts. We had let HAL know on three separate occasions that we were not taking the coach (including a conversation online with a HAL rep a couple weeks ahead of time, and also telling HAL staff at check-in in Anchorage). But it was sorted out quickly. We were put in N building down near the Square. Room was ok, again not memorable. The whole front wall shook each time we closed the door (a stud or something is not connected any longer). There was some wallpaper peeling in the bathroom. There is no closet, just a bar with a few hangers in the corner of the bedroom. Shower, no bath. Bed and pillows were comfortable. Sofa and chair were comfortable. You spend barely any time in the room, so it’s fine. I had considered taking advantage of the suite-upgrade offer we received from HAL about 2 weeks out, but others online had said it was not worth the markup since you spend little time in your room. They were right. A note on laundry. We did a load of laundry the morning of the last full day because we had gotten pretty muddy on the heli-hike we did the day before. There are machines (4) in the Ridge building. $2.50 a washer load, same for dryer load. 1 out of 4 washers were not working. We started laundry at about 730am. By the time we moved the loads to the dryer, a line had developed. So, do your laundry early. And bring detergent with you. $2.50 a pop for that. I put 2 pods in a small container and tossed it in my luggage before we left. The sealed container then came in handy to store the Dall Sheep fur we found on our mountain hike. Quick note on breakfast. We had breakfast one morning at Karsten’s, which is buffet-only. One morning we had breakfast at Canyon’s which is sit down. (Last day’s breakfast was on the train on the way down to Whittier). The buffet breakfast was terrible and expensive. Scrambled eggs (probably from a carton), various meats, limp pancakes, biscuits, granola, yogurt, some fruit (sliced pears were from a can, melon was fresh cut), and a couple different cereals in single serve containers. For $20+ a person. Worst buffet breakfast I’ve ever had at any price. It was pretty much what I see at the included breakfast at most hotels I stay at. Canyon breakfast was basically same price but very good. Don’t do the buffet. Just don’t. In fact, if you just want a bacon egg and cheese or similar sandwich and excellent coffee, just walk across the street to The Cache coffee shop. You’ll be in and out at less than 10 bucks. I didn’t discover this until the last morning just before we loaded the bus for the train (and breakfast is on the train). Go figure. I’m not sure why McKinley doesn’t offer grab and go service for breakfast and lunch. Well, they do offer a breakfast sandwich and two different lunch sandwiches at the Grizzly coffee counter, but the breakfast is a Jimmy Dean sausage biscuit out of a box that they nuke for you (really???) and lunch is a turkey/salami sandwich or a veggie sandwich (both of which were quite good, we bought them the day we went hiking). I can’t stress enough, avoid the buffet. Dinner dining - we had three dinners at Denali. For each I had made a reservation online several weeks beforehand. First night was King Salmon restaurant at the Princess Resort next door. Pretty small menu. I had salmon again, quite frankly Glacier Brewhouse down in Anchorage was much better, so skip it at Princess. I would rate King Salmon restaurant as adequate, I would not eat there again. And it was fairly expensive. Second night was Prospector Pizza across the street. Which a number of people have recommended online. I had an elk meatball pizza which was very good (and I grew up on New Haven pizzas), and my wife had tomato soup and a salad (which got a favorable rating from her). I’d eat there again. Final dinner was at Karsten’s. While I’ve previously noted the abysmal state of the breakfast buffet, dinner was very good. I would definitely have dinner there again. Denali excursions - first of all keep rechecking your itinerary. Our initial itinerary had us on The Wilderness Tour on the first full day at Denali, so I scheduled our hike on the 2nd day. At some point HAL changed our TWT to the second day but I never rechecked our itinerary. We found out when we got to the resort. Luckily, I was able to get Temsco to change our hike to the first day. That excursion was a heli-hike. We did about a 10-15 minute flight to the shoulder of Mt Fellows with a guide and were dropped off for 3.5 hours. Note that the hike is not in the National Park, though the listing seems to imply that it is. The hike was all above the tree line. Tundra and sub-tundra. Our guide was an endless stream of information on geology, botany and the habits of various animals. He went traipsing off along the (steep) side of this mountain like a mountain goat, with a tripod and spotting scope across his shoulder, and we scurried off behind him (some of us not too quickly and with much trepidation). The female half of the other couple on our tour was very nervous about having to pretend we were sheep or mountain goats clinging to the side of the mountain, but the guide helped her along (while her “better” half went scrambling off ahead, there’s a relationship that is not going to last). Quite frankly, I missed probably half of what the guide said because I was usually bringing up the rear. But my wife (who identified as a Dall Sheep) caught it all. Word of warning here. While waiting for the tour to begin, the pilot asked us if we identified as a Dall Sheep, a Caribou or a Beaver. Don’t fall for this!! My wife immediately piped up “Dall Sheep” and I swear that’s why we got dumped out of the helicopter 4000 feet up the side of mountain, instead of a nice hike in the rolling lowlands. She says no, we were going to be dumped off that high anyways, but I know better. Don’t fall for this trick! Excellent tour, if a bit pricy, I highly recommend it. The guide, Jeff, even started hopping around on all fours like a caribou when a small group of them appeared about 100 yards off. He was trying to entice them closer. Didn’t work, but great effort on his part. I wish I had gotten it on film, but I was so shocked that I froze. Or maybe I froze because it was like 40 degrees up there with a stiff breeze. Do this tour if you get the opportunity. On the second day the tour was TWT, which everyone gets, it’s included in the package. Others have talked about this at length, so I won’t here. Only advice is to sit on the left side of the bus. We saw Denali, Grizzly (close up), Caribou (roadside), Dall Sheep, Ptarmigan. Nice ride. We got to become part of the 30% (who see Denali) It seems to be the luck of the draw on what you will see. The first bus of the tour (we were Bus #16) started at 5:15AM! We started at 11:20AM. There were still buses passing us inward at the end of our tour at about 4PM. From what I heard later, Denali did not become visible until Bus #15. And the early buses did not see much in the way of wildlife. So, it’s really just luck of the draw. A final note on McKinley Chalet Resort. The gift shop is pretty good and is reasonably priced. Shops at the Square are pretty good too. All shops at Princess had closed by the time we finished dinner over there, so I can’t comment on those. Across the street, the gift shop next to Prospectors was pretty good. Rock Shop over there has some reasonably priced specimens, though there’s a bunch of stuff they have labeled as “Alaska” that I (being the amateur geology nerd that I am) question the locality. The little art gallery over there was good as well. McKinley Train to Whittier - for some reason the trip on this train takes significantly longer than on Alaska Railroad. Not sure why they go so much slower. I think it’s because it’s southbound and we stop on a siding every time we encounter a northbound train. Or maybe because it’s Alaska RR’s tracks and so we have to pull into a siding ever time they want to go by. I’m not sure which it is, but we cooled our heels in an awful lot of sidings. They are the same dome-topped trains as Alaska Railroad, though the seats are more comfortable than the Alaska RR Goldstar service. The Alaska RR seats just have thick square foam cushions on the seat (like you’d see on your friend’s boat), whereas the McKinley has full modern motorcoach-type seats. You’re assigned seating. Again, luck of the draw. Right side of the train is probably marginally better on the way back down. Having ridden up on train, we knew the best scenery was in the first half of the southbound trip. So, if you’re going to read, nap, etc, do it after Talkeetna (going southbound). Our rail car had an hvac problem. It alternated between 50 degrees or so, and mid 70s, with nothing in between, and mostly at the low end of that temperature range. So, you’d wear your coat most of the time and then every once in a while take it off for 5 minutes. Pretty annoying. They were definitely pushing the alcoholic beverages much more than the Alaska RR trip up. Maybe it’s a profit center for HAL? It’s a slow ride, so enjoy the scenery. You’re not going anywhere quickly The food service, which is sitdown breakfast and lunch, which you have to pay for, was good. Breakfast and lunch are included in the ticket for Alaska RR Goldstar service. We stopped in Wasilla to pick up some HAL folks that then proceeded to “check us in”. Not sure what this accomplished since we had already done online check-in a couple weeks ago, and they say we still have to show our passport and boarding pass at Whittier. But it killed some time. We pulled in to where the ship is docked at 6:40PM, so that would make it a 9.5+ hour train ride. Even discounting the hour or so from Anchorage to Whittier, the Denali to Anchorage leg was 2 hours longer than the trip up. Just be aware you are going to spend the whole day on the train. I didn’t find the length of it to be bothersome, the scenery was great, I only found it annoying because I knew how long it had taken us to go northbound. So just be prepared. And the gold ring at the end is you get to board the ship!
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