Ken the cruiser

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!

We have arrived in Juneau, Alaska! The first few photos were taken at 4:40 am while we were cruising up Stephens Passage. Then when we arrived in Juneau on this cold but pretty morning with the Carnival Spirit docked there in front of us. BTW the two main reasons my NL photos weren’t as crisp as others you may have seen is because there was slight haze last night and more importantly my iPhone SE doesn’t have the option to slow the shutter speed. However, I just downloaded NightCap which should solve my issue for the next set of NL we hopefully will see on this cruise!

Day 12 - May 11 - Juneau, Alaska

While we patiently waited for the sunset to finish, I took this photo at 9:34 pm. We finally got to see the Northern Lights in all their glory starting around 10:13 pm! This is where the Lights started to fade away from our aft viewpoint, and we called it an evening. What was funny was that we got the call from Guest Relations letting us know the Northern Lights had started after we came back inside. I guess us folks out back got to see the Lights before the folks up front did.😁

The “show” for us hopefully won’t be long now. I collected the following data at 8:35 pm local. It also looks like we’re going to be in an awesome position to view the NL from our aft-facing cabin as the ship is heading south at the moment. Then will turn west before finally turning north towards Juneau! 🤞 View to the west as the sun is setting at 8:35 pm. View to the north from our balcony. View to the east. Current Aurora Forecast in 33 minutes, or at 9:08 pm if I’m understanding this chart correctly.

Thank you so much for sending us the original NL article, which I forwarded on to our son. I mean who would have guessed they would be able to see the Lights all the way down in Montgomery! 😁

Just got these photos from our son who lives in Montgomery AL!

OK, when the mention of the potential for Northern Lights makes it to a major news station, now we’re really starting to get excited, especially since all we’re seeing on our cruise right now is clear sky! 😁 Severe solar storm expected to supercharge northern lights on Friday The Space Weather Prediction Center has issued its first "severe geomagnetic storm watch" since 2005. Auroras might be seen as far south as Alabama. https://www.nbcnews.com/science/science-news/northern-lights-visible-us-where-solar-storm-rcna151643 * Here’s the 30-minute link to use to see if/when you might be able to see them in your area! https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/products/aurora-30-minute-forecast * Here’s the 2-day link to see if the potential is going to be there tomorrow for you t see them in your area! https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/products/aurora-viewline-tonight-and-tomorrow-night-experimental

Just looked at the display of officers, and it looks like we have a new Captain along with a new CD.

And we’re off! Next stop Juneau, Alaska! and maybe, just maybe if clear skies prevail, we might see something special after the sun goes down! 🤞🤞

Had a fun time on our excursion today! This was our tour boat which had plenty of room, as the excursion was definitely not sold out. Here was the route we took, from Ketchikan (bottom left) to the Rudyerd Bay (top right). And off we went. A glimmer of blue sky! New Eddystone Rock We finally made it to Rudyerd Bay where it seems there is a waterfall around every corner! 😁 Saw a couple of Harbor Seals while cruising around the Rudyerd Bay area. Then it was time to turn around and head back to Ketchikan. On the way back we briefly stopped by this small rock island loaded with Harbor Seals. Then the boat slowed down as they spotted a Humpback Whale! 😁 and finally we saw it’s fluke!! @cr8tiv1, who would have even thought it was feasible this early in the season. But there it was as we were making our way back to the Grand. The very elusive Ketchikan Pigeon! 😂

Don’t forget, you get to eat breakfast in Sabatini’s, which is definitely a huge plus!