Norwaylady

Yes, we will not go to Alaska for 7-days. So this fits our wishes better. 7-days is to short. We are very happy for this sailing. Alaska is beautiful, we can definitely go again. Then we might do 7-days northbound to Seward, off the ship 7-days and then 7-days southbound.

The sail-in to Endicott arm & Dawes glacier is much more narrow then Hubbard. It’s very Norway & Fjordland National park NZ. The mountains has very visible signs of ice that has been dragged over many millions of years. And you have a totally different scenery compared to Hubbard. We started on deck 14 but decided to go down to the helipad. Less crowded and beautiful view for 360’. The weather was great and the temperature was okay. Not shorts and sandals. You need to get dressed, the wind will cool you down. The process was similar to Hubbard. They had 2 tender tours today. One 09.15 and a new group 11.15. Milos was speaking indoors and the music outside was silenced. Great 360’ spin from our captain and we started our return out of the fjord. The weather just got better and better. At 12.00 we decided that we were happy and ready to move. So now it was time for a little lunch in Spa Cafe. Salmon and baby leaf’s. Then it was time to enjoy the view from the outdoor jacuzzi. Perfect weather and temperature to sit outside in the hot water and enjoy the scenery. It was picture beautiful, no wind and all mirror ocean. After the jacuzzi session, we wanted some soft ice in the beautiful weather. (It’s important to make the best of your day;

So, it went from breakfast continental style to manicure & pedicure 08.00😎 (I said it would not be a conflict for my glacier view;) Alexandra meet Alessandra😂 Great nail technician from Brazil. Very easy to communicate as much or little as I wanted. Great service and no up-sales🙂 (Unfortunately they forgot to tell me that they called from the spa reception at 07.30 to wake-me-up…. So they woke up Mr Norwaylady…. They just wanted to make sure I was coming…) I had been super-silent and didn’t touch the curtains or switch on any lights, to be kind to Mr Sleeping….. hahaha😂😅 Well, my effort counted🥰 After the nail appointment it was time to go down to shore excursion. 0930 and just one in line. Great start. They had suggested a crab feast tour in our letter and on the phone.….. Well, NORWAY 🇳🇴 crab, fish & seafood is our first choice at home. So it’s not very tempting…. (If you were struggling to understand why we haven’t had crab yet, now you know;) I must admit, we have in season: king crab, snow crab and the other type for dinner often. Typically Friday/Saturday enjoying ourselves at home🥰 And we eat sushi a lot. Typically once a week. Shrimps for peeling is always a winner in our home. We are catching crabs when we are in northern Norway and we have family that fish and give us🦀🦞🦐 So the price here is far over our paying will and it’s not worth it for us. Back to the tours available😎 They had another walking tour, it’s a different location and it’s more bear themed. But it will probably be a good trip. The tour leaves a bit later then the cancelled tour. So we will take a walk in town before we go on a hike. Problem solved and hopefully we end up happy. Time to run upstairs and put on the jacket and gloves. The weather was improving slowly as we got closer to the glacier. Great 😎

It’s a bit gray and cloudy outside. But, it might change to the better… (you never know in Alaska, we have experienced this everyday;) So fingers crossed it will clear up a notch before we arrive at the glacier😌 Mr Norwaylady is having his princess sleep…… So I’m enjoying a cappuccino and a croissant in al Bacio. (And they have functionally WiFi😅😅) Later it’s time for a little “me” time aka manicure+pedicure🥰 ( it will not conflict for my glacier viewing;) AND again, it’s my pleasure to handle our shore excursion problem🙃 Let’s hope they have something available that will fit our wishes.

Todays cruise compass for Endecott & Dawes Glacier

We took a “Clark Kent” before we went to Sky Lounge. Love the view❤️ At 18.45 it was time to walk down to the theatre. (We have a policy onboard, no elevator) Tonight’s show is Will Martin He’s from NZ and very talented🎶🎵🎶 Great show, great entertainment😂 After the show, we went for dinner. We were given a beeper and a notice of 20-25.minutes waiting time. It was only 15.mins before we walked into dinner🥳 Today’s menu: Tonight we had the tuna poke from mdr as starter and Waldorf salad and red bell peppers soup. Main: risotto and pheasant Dessert: bananas forester and cafe pot de cream. Dinner was excellent, nothing wrong tonight. When we returned to our stateroom, it was a letter of notification from shore excursions AND a voicemail. Our tour in Ketchikan, rainforest walk is cancelled. So we will either get refunded on our sea pass card or we need to visit shore excursions to find a new option. 🤪😳😤🥵 So will take care of it tomorrow morning 😟

This is the first afternoon we are relaxing and just take it easy….. not a fully packed day and a long walk around town before we went back onboard😁 So a little nap on the warm chair in Persian Garden was not wrong🥰 Beautiful view and lots of whales puffing 🐳 outside🐳 So really a perfect combo🐳🙌🏻🐳 I have booked myself a manicure and pedicure tomorrow❤️ I feel so miserable when my nails are naked🫣 I can’t help it😳 And due to the cold climate, they are in desperate need for some tlc🥰 (I know it’s pricey, but as of now, the el-cheapo financial director aka Norwaylady don’t care😝) She just wants to look smashing on the hands & toes🤩 Since we are “home” early, we had canapés delivered. That was perfectly timed after Persian Garden & for next post of our program today🫶🏻 (we have only had coffee, no cakes in al bacio) There’s lots of seals 🦭 swimming around the ship and some sea lions🦭🦭 So balcony and canapé🤩 Sail-away, so today we are invited to the helipad🤩 Really happy🥳 (I know it’s not a big thing for many people, but it’s nice to be invited🥰) So, back to the fun🥳🥳🥳 Sail-away was on time. We were greeted by the captain’s club hostess. She is very warm in meeting people❤️ Very happy for that. Bubble and mimosas for all guests. Beautiful view and a great way to end the daytime.

We had the usual breakfast routine, coffee from al bacio and breakfast delivered to our room. We are in Icy Strait Point together by NCL. At 09.00 we were ready to go out. We went by the green gondola to exchange our tickets to a wristband to the red gondola. This is the gondola you need to pay for. We took the gondola to the top of the mountain. You have a beautiful view and we were overlooking the fog. The view feels just like home. It’s like we are in the cabin at Helgeland coast🇳🇴 We took the gondola down and took the nature walk back to were we docked. The view from the gondola going down is great🤩 It’s a 5-10.minute walk from Eclipse to the shopping/town of Icy Strait Point. We continued to the town/harbour area. It’s a “classic” fishing village. Same style as you will find in northern Norway/Helgeland/Lofoten/Finnmark. It was stocked for shopping😂 They have the history of canning production and they have all lined up, so you can see the process and machines needed for the process. They have a 🦀 bar. We enjoyed the view outside🤩 They have a heritage/native show. It’s was at 11.45 and they do one later in the day. We attended the show. It’s the story for the native tribe living is this area. They have native clothes and sing in their local language. Good performance 🎭 and you get a description of their clothes. After the show, we were one and done for Icy Strait Point ✔️ So we returned to the ship to get some coffee and have a relaxing afternoon before we sail onwards.

All tours on this cruise is booked by the cruise. We booked everything before we left from home. Almost all shore excursions was sold out before departure. So for those that waited until they were onboard, it was very limited options.

Not heard a word, but if you look on Windy, it’s nothing to be worried about🙃👍🏻🙌🏻 and it has to really bad, before the Norwegian Vikings goes under🤣👍🏻🙃 We are used to heavy waves and wind🙌🏻 Mr Norwaylady was in the navy, let’s just say, it’s not unusual to stand in your bunk bed on your feet and heads during patrolling the Norwegian coast during winter🤪🤪😝

Icy Strait Point Today’s cruise planner & 🥁🥁🥁🥁 We are invited to a sail-away on the helipad today🤩🥳🤩🥳 (It’s the first invitation to a helipad visit🥳🥳 YES it nice to actually be invited!) We are looking forward, it will be fun🥰 (remember I said some words about the hierarchy…. We have not inherited our status from our parents, they are all non-cruisers. And we have our loyalty status from X cruises, not rcl. But due to the fact that we don’t “fit” the form, we are often dragged to the side to check sea pass cards if we attend. Because they assume instant that we are on the wrong place😝) Today’s plans are very easy. We have a day pass for the Gondola 🚠 and time will show what the day brings😎

Tonight’s plan was show & dinner. After our return onboard, we had some coffee and enjoyed the view outdoors on deck 14 until the sun went behind the mountains. Unfortunately our balcony was on the “wrong” side for view and sun today😜. The show It’s a magician, James Cielen. It was a good show and he’s really good. Can definitely see him again later✔️ We went straight from show to dinner. No beeper tonight. We were seated at Made’s tables. Excellent service as usual. We had the seafood ceviche for starter. Salmon and lamb for main. Ice cream and whipped passion fruit curd for dessert. The seafood ceviche was excellent. The lamb was also excellent. The salmon is good/okay, but a bit to grilled for our liking. The blueberry sauce is tasty, but the fish is on the edge of dry. For dessert, ice cream was a winner🤩 the peanut ice cream was 😋😋😋 Norwaylady can’t eat pineapple, remember? Tonight’s dessert is an excellent experience in why pineapple allergy is no joke. The ice cream was “safe” desserts. For the other choices, it was pineapple as a topping or inside😝 We survived the desserts and went to bed😴

Good to be back onboard😌 It has really been a perfect day😎 Weather is really cooperating, just continuing to improve😎 This is a beautiful day, this is a day you say: let’s move to Alaska. Look how beautiful it is🤩 (it can’t be that bad when the weather is awful or the sun is to low in the winter;) 🤣🤣🤣 Let’s just say, it’s reason for why we live in Oslo and not up north😜

I forgot to say, we are 3 ship’s in port today. Us, Eclipse🥰 NCL and Carnival. Back to the tour🤓 Safely seated in the last train cart, ready for our scenic train ride🚂 Cart is 50% full. ( we take now chances, face masks is on) Weather has been improving from grey to partly sunny and clearer then this morning😎 Perfect 👍🏻 The train will turn around in White pass summit. We will be travelling from 0 to 880m elevation and back to 0. So, remember the detail of tender operation today? Last afternoon all passengers booked on the scenic train received a message on your stateroom phone. It was shore excursions. They were reminding everyone that due to the tender operation, you need to plan for a 45.minute wait and leave the ship early. The tour has meeting on the pier/train and it is your responsibility to be there in time. Well, we left the station 13.05. AND guess what? There was a group of passengers running towards the train as we slowly moved away, screaming: stop the train🤪🤪🤪 They did not stop the train🚂🚂🚂 Back on track🚂🚂🚂 It’s a beautiful train ride and the weather was perfect🤩🤩🤩 The guide was fun and informative during the ride. Did I tell you about the view? Yes, it’s scenic! (Maybe not in heavy fog…) Bring you camera AND sit in the last cart. Then you have great view for photos on the outdoor patio📸 It’s totally unobstructed🤩🤩🤩 Tour is 2.45h round trip. We were back on the starting point/pier at 16.05. We are “finished” toured today. So back to the ship it is🚢⚓️❤️ Yay, the pleasure of tender operation AND a fully loaded train🤣🤪😝 Well, it gives me time to post this😅🤓

She will receive 2 tablerunner projects and some patterns from Skagway✔️ She will be occupied for some hours 😂🥰 I visited the Cloth shop when we visited Granville Island✔️🙃

Stopped by✔️ Shopped✔️

Skagway, the city of gold diggers and ladies😄 This is a perfect example of what we imagine for a “gold digger” city. Houses, streets and buildings🤩 Tender process went smooth. We went straight down to tender deck around 8.40 and docked 09.00 We took a walk up and down the “Main Street” stopped by the museum houses. It’s a golden city🤩 So all gold and diamond shops was lined up. (You know, diamonds are a girls best friend💍💎💎) We had one store we needed to stop by, the quilt store. ( you see, my mother in-law is hooked on quilt😅) So I needed to find her a new project🤓 They have lots of beautiful patterns and kits in Skagway. ✂️🪡🧵 At 11.00 Mr Norwaylady wanted to have a beer 🍺 (you know from earlier, Norwaylady is in deep trouble on this holiday🙈) Mr had done his homework and knew it was 2 brewery’s in town🍺🍺 So we went to Klondike Handcraft Beer. They had a beautiful tasting paddle🤩 Nice presentation and cute glassware👍🏻 Mr was very happy and the beer was excellent for his tastebuds🍺 Cheers 🍻 Norwaylady decided to try the raspberry seltzer, in a small glass. The seltzer was really good, dry and fresh. Perfect for non-beer drinkers🍹 Time to move the pub crawl onward…… Next stop Skagway Brewing Co🙌🏻 (I know, not suitable for kid’s😜) A new tasting paddle was delivered🍻 4 new beers to taste and evaluate on Untappd🧐🤪 Drumroll🥁🥁🥁🥁 winner beer is from Klondike. Now it’s time to bring a happy Mr to the 🚂 and our tour of today🤩 (Hopefully the pub crawl is finished for our holiday😜)

Skagway Rise & Shine🤩 We are booked on the scenic train 12.45. Due tue the mudslide earlier in Skagway, we are docked. But we must tender into the city. The pier is closed for people. So this makes the process a bit more complicated on this port. We have priority tender from captain’s club. So we are starting the day at Tuscan for breakfast and then we will tender into town for a walk before we take the train.

Tonight’s plan is show+dinner. It’s a production show, Broadway Cabaret. It will be a good evening after a day out👍🏻 Wow, the vocal cast of the entertainment/dance/vocal group are strong. They really put on a show tonight. Great evening and good choice of songs. We were handed a beeper for dinner. It’s really not a problem for us. Then we have time for a pre-dinner cocktail and we are not bothered at all. Dinner tonight was good service. Starters: Trout, salmon, summer roll and chilled pea soup Main: veal and ravioli Dessert: crème brûlée and apple tart tatin The chilled pea soup was special, Mr Norwaylady said: hmmm, is it a lobster based soup blended by sweet peas? Really special….😝 The rest of the starters was 😋 Main course was excellent😌 Dessert was not bad, not a winner🙃 The apple tart is good, but skip that caramel sauce on everything😝 Mr Norwaylady had crème brûlée, it’s his ultimate go-to dessert😋😋😋 unfortunately this crème brûlée had been a bit to much 🔥🔥🔥🔥 so it was beyond caramelised, it was burned on top. So the pudding was good, but the glacé was just to lift off😅 After dinner we returned to our home-away-from-home. We had a great stop in Juneau🥰 Time to charge the battery for new adventure in Skagway😌

Back to the shore excursion😎 Tour left from the pier 12.30. Meeting time was 12.15. We were 12 people. The tour was Bike & Brew🍺 (so you get the point, Mr Norwaylady is a happy camper) The tour started by a 15.min drive to the starting point of our 🚴 tour. We were biking towards Mendenhall glacier visitor centre and around the water. The trip went on forest trail and on the road. Guide was 👍🏻 he heard us talking in Norwegian and he had to ask if we were from Norway. It turns out, our guide has been living in Bergen for 3 years🤩 So he could speak Norwegian😁 The weather really went out and out for us. During our tour it was blue sky, sunny and good temperature. So it was a beautiful day😎 The view to the Mendenhall glacier and Nuggets falls was beautiful from around the water. Last stop and pick up was the glacier visitor centre. We cycled 13km on the tour. The bikes were quality bikes. After returning the bikes, we were driving back to downtown Juneau. It was time for a beer or two🍺🍺🍺🍺 Now the fun part begins for Mr Norwaylady😝 It was a beer tasting of 4 different beers from Alaskan. (That’s 8 1/4pints for Mr Norwaylady🤪😝) He enjoyed the beer and was happy for my selection of tour🤩🥳😍 The favourite was Alaskan Amber🍺 After finishing up the beer, it was time to walk back to the ship🙃 We were back onboard around 17.10. Had a little stop at Al Bacio to pick up some coffee and a pice of pound cake to Mr🍺😂😝 All-in-all a great day in Juneau.

We left the ship around 10.00. It was a little drizzle when we left. But nothing bad. We are in town together by Viking and HAL. ( NCL arrived at some point during our tour) We took a grand walk of the city. (And had a planned shopping stop at the Quilt store) The weather cleared up during our walk. So we walked to the end of the pier on both side. Visited the whale 🐳 monument, walked thru the shopping streets, passing ALL the jewellery shop… (it felt like a Caribbean port of call😂😂😂) walked up to the Russian church and back to the pier for our tour.

Rise & Shine Juneau calling⚓️ So we are heading out to town for a walk before our Bike & Brew tour. It was partly clouded and some sun when we docked this morning. But, you know…. The Alaska weather is just like the Norwegian weather. It changed to a shower drizzle and cloudy. As the normal procedure of the morning, we had ordered breakfast to the room and Norwaylady is picking up coffee at Al Bacio. (Don’t say we don’t have a routine😆) It’s always fun to open the napkins and see what type of cutlery 🍴 we receive. They must use the leftover cutlery, to make sure someone doesn’t take home a souvenir😂😂 We have everything from butter knife, fruit knives to regular dinner knives. And worm out knives that you can’t cut anything🤣🤣

Tonight we decided that Sky Lounge was the best place for a pre-show cocktail 🍸 Beautiful view and weather🤩 What more to ask for? Tonight’s show was The Cover Girls. Great song’s and humour. The celebrity orchestra was backing. Easy entertainment. Dinner was at Made’s tables. Great service. All food was excellent. We had for starters: crab martini, Quail and the fennel citrus salad. Main course: duck and tuna Dessert: Tiramisu and ice cream. Coffee and sambuca. Tomorrow it’s Juneau. We have a bike & brew tour booked.