Review and Journal: Sapphire Northbound Voyage of the Glaciers 8/10/2013

[Magellan321]

Incredible review!!! Thanks for taking the time to share your vacation memories.

[JimmyVWine]

Day 4:Juneau…or... “I Speak Whale!”

 

To avoid (I hope) the boredom of reading narrative after narrative, I will start again with our day off of the ship so that I can pepper this post with pictures. (See what I did there kids? That’s called alliteration.)

 

We booked (independently) a whale watch and Mendenhall Glacier excursion with Orca Enterprises, more commonly known on the Cruise Critic Ports of Call Board as “Captain Larry”. This outfit came highly recommended and appeared to have the perfect combination of expertise and boat size. We didn’t want to be on a 6 person skiff for fear of not being high enough up off the water to see, (nor did we want to have a Sheriff Brody—“We’re gonna need a bigger boat” moment), and we surely did not want to be on a 150 person boat the likes of which appeared to be more suited as a ferry in Singapore. Captain Larry promised a boat that would hold 75, but would never be booked for more than 40. There were 16 people on our trip. And the boat had a top, open air deck perfect for viewing. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

 

We cruised into Juneau just before 8:00.

 

 

The port side got a great view of the harbor and island opposite the city as we coasted in.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The starboard side would see the city at this point.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Which is better? Read on.

[JimmyVWine]

Ah! Here’s the beauty. The ship flipped around so that the port view became the starboard view and vice versa. Either way, you are going to see both. However, once docked, the port side faced the city, the cable car and the trees.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What’s so great about looking at trees? Well, it’s what’s in the trees that matters!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eagles. Lots and lots of eagles.

 

 

 

Perched.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Flying.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just hanging out. More in one place than I had ever seen before. It was very cool. These photos were all taken from our stateroom balcony. Now, some of this may have had to do with the season. Early to mid-August is the time when the salmon return to spawn, and the wildlife that feeds on salmon are on high alert. Everywhere we went we were told that we were lucky because the bears and eagles would be easy to find because they were feeding with a vengeance. Now, perhaps the people talking to us were feeding us a load of hooey with a vengeance. But either way, the wildlife such as the eagles were abundant. With the warmth of the morning sun, the view of the town and the eagles, and the ability to have seen the other view whilst sailing in, I would have to give the port side the edge here.

 

After a long stretch staring at majestic birds, it was time for brunch. Our trip with Captain Larry would occupy our time from 11:00-4:30 with just a light snack provided. So we wanted to eat as late a breakfast as possible and call that an early lunch. Hey! Someone should invent a name for that. Maybe….”brunch”. Think it will stick? Anyway, we surmised that the best place for such a late and varied repast would be the Horizon Court. So off we went to peruse the cornucopia that is a cruise ship buffet. But as before, ship activities and reviews will be covered in a later post.

[JimmyVWine]

We walked off the ship and made the short trek to Orca Enterprises which occupies a space in a strip mall directly opposite the cable car. But on the way, we had to stop and take a picture of this handsome fellow (or beautiful gal…both sexes have the same markings).

 

 

 

 

And along the dock we saw a “sign from above” that the Cruise Critic Princess Board was watching over us.

 

 

See if you can figure it out…

 

 

 

 

 

After all of our group had checked in, we were ushered across the street to an awaiting van that would transport us to the dock from which the whale watch boats would depart. Along the way, we got a quick, “Clark Griswold” tour of Juneau. (“Look kids. Big Ben. Parliament”). The unimpressive capitol building could be seen up the street as could the somewhat impressive governor’s mansion. (Insert your own political jokes and commentary here. I’m not going there.)………Are we back?......OK. Let’s push on.

 

After arriving at the dock, we waited for the earlier tour to walk off the boat so that we could take their place. Jeesh. What time did this early tour leave, and how early did they have to get up? The weather was unbelievable as you will see. Our van driver told us that we were getting to see the top of Mt. Something-or-Other that is almost always shrouded in clouds.

 

 

 

 

And along the road to the dock, there are places where you can squeeze out a view of Mendenhall Glacier. Pretty cool, except that we had pre-booked the tour that would take us there. But it was a quick look for the other 13 people who only booked the whale watching portion of the excursion. Perhaps they needed to save more time to shop for Tanzanite and Diamonds.

 

We pulled out of the harbor and sped toward the waters known to have whales sighted in the area. While it may not make a whit of difference, I like to think that by taking the second tour of the day, we have given Captain Larry a “mulligan” and he could take us straight to the whales. If you do the first tour of the day, perhaps the good Captain has to hunt and peck for a while before finding his friends. Larry was accompanied by his “Whale Whisperer”, Kelly. She is the most knowledgeable and enthusiastic whale aficionado, (read as “freak”), on the planet. She can tell you the name of every whale that you will see simply by looking at the markings on the tail. Now, it’s not as if these creatures have been registered with the AKC, or Thoroughbred Racing Association. The names are only those that she (and Larry) have given to the whales. But she treats this all as gospel and uses the names as if the whales prefer it, and is certain that the whales can hear her calling them even as they dive 40 feet below the surface. “C’mon Nacho! Where are you? Come on up and show us your tail you crazy little guy!” Cute, endearing and funny if you approach it with a sense of cynicism and humor like we did. Anyway, I digress. Kelly served as our emcee for the trip and pointed out as we sped out of the harbor that if we turned around, we would get a great view of Mendenhall Glacier. So I did. And wham!

 

 

There it was!

 

 

 

 

 

Crystal clear water on a crystal clear day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Envy us. Hate us. Either way, we could not have asked for a better day and I would have been pleased with a day half as nice. Our only problem is that we took heed of the advice to pack in layers for this trip. Layers my patooie. I was in dire need of more shorts and t-shirts.

[JimmyVWine]

OK. On to the whales. Did we see any? You tell me. Without further ado or commentary, (because I don’t know the names of these whales the way Kelly does), I give you:

 

 

“A Whale of a Tale, or, The Tails of the Whales” (Body photos to follow)…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[JimmyVWine]

We did not see any full-on breeching. That is much more rare. (But stay tuned!) Nor did we see bubble net feeding which would have been cool. But I’m not complaining. Nope. Not one bit. We did see several pods swimming together and diving down in formation.

 

 

Synchronized Swimming for whales!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Remember Ol’ Sheriff Brody and the “I think we’re gonna need a bigger boat!” line? Well,

 

 

Check out this other (non-commercial) boat that was out there with us.

 

 

 

 

[JimmyVWine]

While speeding back to dock, we did get a chance to visit (and be visited by) some other wildlife:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After we returned to dock, my wife, daughter and I had a private van ride to the visitor’s center at Mendenhall Glacier while the other folks on the tour returned to town, no doubt to find some gemstones and Kettle Korn. (OK. I’ll try not to be so snarky.) As most of you know, Mendenhall is the glacier that you can drive to. Of course, you have to hike quite a ways to actually get close to it. But you get a fine view of this beast from the visitor’s center, and so that is where we set up camp for some photos of it, and the neighboring waterfall.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The size of the falls can only be put into perspective by looking for the tiny people in the photos.

 

 

 

 

 

[JimmyVWine]

But truth be told, the glacier itself was not the real reason why we wanted to go there. We knew that we would be seeing many more on Glacier Bay Day. Being that this is salmon eating season for bears needing to fatten up before winter, we had read in several guide books that a trail by the visitor’s center would be a prime spot to look for bears feeding in Steep Creek. Our excursion only allotted us one hour at the park, or else we would have to find our own way back to the ship which would have been easy, but I didn’t want to deal with that. It would involve paying cash for the city bus and we didn’t have any Alaskan currency. (An inside joke that started when we were at Ketchi-Candy the day before and the U.S. citizen in front of us was unsure if she could use her greenbacks to pay for her purchase). With 30 minutes of our time used up touring the visitor’s center and taking photos, it was time to hunt for bear. Well, sort of. We walked out to the Steep Creek trail and came upon a friendly park ranger who said: “Oh. If you walk around this corner, you will see two cubs who were put in a tree by their mom to get away from the noise of the tourists. Mom is around here somewhere as well.” So around the corner we went, (on the raised, wooden walkway) and 20 steps beyond we found…

 

 

...Da Bears (said in a Chicago accent, of course!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Please excuse the quality of the photos. This was dense forest in the late afternoon. For those who are photography literate, I had to set my ISO to 1600 and still could only get a shutter speed of around 1/8. For those who don’t know what any of that means, suffice to say that it was too dark to take sharp pictures and I wasn’t about to hook up a flash to blast into momma bear’s eyes. But here are some bad photos of a good bear sighting.

 

 

 

 

Mom leading the way:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wait for me, mom!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pleased as could be, we had just enough time to walk back to the bus pick-up area to be retrieved and taken back to town. In one of our guidebooks we had read about Patsy Ann, Juneau’s unofficial mascot and good-will ambassador. Patsy Ann was a dog who lived in the 1930’s and had an uncanny knack (so they say) of being able to predict the arrival of ships right down to the actual berth where they would land. A statue was built in her honor, and if there is a story to be told about a dog, and a statue of said dog, then wife and daughter are going to want to see it. So we asked our van driver to drop us off where the statue is and we would walk back to the ship for there. Finding Patsy Ann was a piece of cake…

 

 

...and here she is:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Patsy Ann is the one in the middle:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After our visit with the ambassador, my daughter commented that we have now taken pictures with Balto in Central Park, and Patsy Ann in Juneau. Two Alaskan dogs commemorated about as far apart as one can imagine. Pretty neat. It was now approaching 6:00 and brunch had long-since worn off. Dinner would be around 7:30 or so, but there was still a bit of time to grab a snack at the IC before we had to shower and change. So that is what we did.

[shackpacker]

We are leaving in 10 days (!) for the land portion of our trip on Sapphire and will be doing your trip in reverse. You are answering lots of questions we didn't even know we had :) I am looking forward to the rest of what you have to say. Your daughter is gorgeous and you all look like you have a great time together. Wonderful memories that will last a lifetime.

[caribill]

I am bringing my Nikon D70 with a 400 lens. I bought the lens to take wildlife pictures.

 

Serious photographers in alaska need a lens like this

 

[CTGirl]

Serious photographers in alaska need a lens like this

 

Yes, I quite agree. We have a house in Florida very close to a rookery. I have seen lots of lens like that at the rookery.

 

Jimmy, Keep the pictures coming. They are wonderful. And FYI (since you mentioned New Haven) - have you ever gone on the CT river in the winter? Lots of eagles go there because of the open water. There is a company that does eagle viewing boat rides.

[JimmyVWine]

Yes, I quite agree. We have a house in Florida very close to a rookery. I have seen lots of lens like that at the rookery.

 

Jimmy, Keep the pictures coming. They are wonderful. And FYI (since you mentioned New Haven) - have you ever gone on the CT river in the winter? Lots of eagles go there because of the open water. There is a company that does eagle viewing boat rides.

 

We live along the river. Well, our house isn't on the river, but our town is. We have seen bald eagles waaaaaaay up in the sky over the river in October and November. If it weren't for someone telling us that they were bald eagles, we would never know. Except for the size. We haven't been down to Essex to do a specific eagle spotting trip, but we should.

[CTGirl]

We live along the river. Well, our house isn't on the river, but our town is. We have seen bald eagles waaaaaaay up in the sky over the river in October and November. If it weren't for someone telling us that they were bald eagles, we would never know. Except for the size. We haven't been down to Essex to do a specific eagle spotting trip, but we should.

We have done it several times. Very cold but very nice.

[JimmyVWine]

As detailed above, we were off the ship for a good part of the day, so we don’t have a whole to review from on the ship today. But that won’t stop me.

 

Let’s start with our late breakfast at Horizon Court. If you spend enough time here, you are sure to read two things:

 

• The food at the Horizon Court was great. Best food I’ve ever had; and
  
• The food at the Horizon Court was disgusting. Worst food I have ever eaten.
  

I just don’t understand either end of that spectrum (with one minor exception, which I will get into in a bit.) If this is the best food you have ever had, then you don’t get out enough. Heck. Come over to my house and I will cook for you. And if this is the worst food that you have ever had, well, then, you too do not get out enough. In fact, you can come over to my house and I will cook for you, and if I am having a bad day, you will have a new benchmark against which all other bad food will be measured. The buffet was fine, although I have now added a new item to my permanent “Cruise Packing List”, which is real maple syrup. Artificial Table Syrup has been getting worse and worse over the years, and the stuff that they had on the ship for the pancakes and waffles was way beyond my tolerance point. We have a friend who lives in Vermont who taps his maples and each Spring we go up and do a boil or two, and we bring home a year’s supply of homemade, with our own hands, honest to goodness, nothing else added (except for the occasional bug that flies into the sap, but hopefully gets strained out) syrup. Once you do that, then the viscous goo that most places pass off as syrup just won’t do. So too here.

 

But I digress. Once you got over that, all of the other food that we ate, (with only one exception) was well within the range of “acceptable” for breakfast foods. The bacon was well-done, the way I like it. If you like flabby bacon (as my daughter calls it), none could be found on the day that we were there. Plenty of excellent fruit, which is really my food of choice for breakfast, (but when someone else is going to cook up 10 pounds of bacon and breakfast sausage, I have to reward them for their effort and eat some. Just sayin’). The only food that was horrid, and I do mean horrid, was what was labeled in the warming tray as “Turkey Sausage.” Wow. I have no idea what was in this, but if I had to guess, I would say feathers, beak, and no other part of the turkey with which I am familiar. I am not one to spit out food, at least not unless there is an involuntary reflex reaction involved…(flashback to a bad Tequila episode in college :eek:)…, but this was a close call. I managed to get ‘er down. But it was a struggle. Unfortunately, that was the last thing on my plate and thus the last thing that I ate. No way was I going to let that be the closing act of breakfast, so I was forced to go back and get some more food. Ah…the wonders of a buffet. But with that one exception, we found the buffet to be just what we needed for the day. We didn’t get up there until around 10:15, so there was virtually no line. In fact, one side of the buffet was already closed when we got up there. Service was indifferent and unenthusiastic, but not to the point of irritation. There was a hand sanitizer at the entrance, but there was no one enforcing its use.

 

After our day on shore, we stopped off at the IC to grab a small bite to hold us over until dinner. Plus, we still had some of the Ketchi-Candy fudge left in our cabin. Dinner would be in Vivaldi. I haven’t discussed it until now, but this seems like a good time to interject. We really like way this ship design splits the Anytime Dining into four rooms. Yes, it is only an illusion, and yes, all of your food is coming out of a gigantic galley that is mass-producing food for thousands of people. But I enjoy the visual of pretending that the dining room is more quaint and personable. We dined at three of the four dining rooms, all concluding that an Alaskan cruise did not cry out for a Southwestern dining room. But my daughter and I went in to that room on the “channel day” to check out one of their flash sales. She actually picked up a purse (or maybe it is a “clutch”…what do I know?) for $9 to go with her formal gown. No one (except those on the ship) will ever know that she paid so little, and that the quality is so, uhmmm, utilitarian. Anyway, when we were in that dining room, we both thought that the décor was pleasing and subtle for a place called “Santa Fe”. We all commented previously while on the Crown just how vast and unappealing the MDRs are there, at least from a size perspective. Even if they don’t break up the rooms the way they are done on Sapphire and Diamond, those other Grand Class ships really should throw up some dividers to break up the line of sight that seems to go on forever, giving you the impression (because it is true) that you are merely one of 400 people in the room at the time. Like attending the wedding of your boss’s daughter. :p

 

We didn’t have a reservation for dinner, but surmised that Vivaldi would not be crowded at 7:45 as most Anytime diners probably don’t even consider that option. (It is used for early Traditional until then). But when we arrived at 7:50, there must have been a crush between 7:30 and 7:45 because the guy at the podium, (is he called the “Head Waiter” even though he does not wait on tables, or is he a Junior Maître d’?) had a bit of an attitude. The group in front of us asked for a table for 6, and Mr. Furrowed Brow told them that they really should have a reservation. The head of the group said that they called to make one, but that the lady on the phone said that at that time for that dining room, none would be needed. Mr. Furrowed Brow motioned them aside and then turned his attention to us. Rut-Roh, George! (Jetson’s reference). I was going to get asked the same question. And while I didn’t have the defense of actually having someone tell me that I didn’t need a reservation, I assumed that to be the case so I was in the same boat. But I figured that if I got confronted, I would shrug and point to the other guy and say: “What he said!”. We were indeed asked if we had a reservation. I said that I did not. Mr. Furrowed Brow hunched down over his book, cast his eyes upward at me without lifting his head, and let out an almost imperceptible sigh. In that one nanosecond, he seemed to betray that he was being besieged by Philistines and Visigoths all at once and that his empire was in jeopardy. But he motioned us across the threshold where upon he told one of his minions to take us to table such-and-such. And at that moment I vowed to make a reservation for every remaining dinner, needed or not, and I did.

 

We had our wine glasses in tow, and a bottle of 2007 Rochioli “Little Hill” Pinot Noir. We were advised of the corkage fee and it was charged. Today was “Crab Legs” day. I had hoped that there would be one, but this did not show up on any printed menu that I had found on the internet before the cruise. So of course we all ordered some. I didn’t want to sound greedy or commit a crustacean faux pas, so after the ladies place their orders, I suavely stated: “I, too, will have the Crab Legs to start, but if possible, I’d like a slightly larger portion than the ladies”, to which the waiter replied: “Would you like a Main Course portion?” Resisting the urge to squeal like a school girl, I calmly replied: “That would be wonderful. Thank you.” My portion was more than twice the size of my wife’s or daughters. In the end, we ended up “pooling” our three plates and sharing, so we all got a generous serving. My daughter ordered the Pad Thai as her main, and my wife and I each ordered the Specialty of the House, Osso Buco. While the portion of Osso Buco was on the small side, it was prepared perfectly. It was an excellent dish. Dessert was a simple, single scoop of ice cream.

 

After dinner, my daughter did her usual routine of changing clothes, grabbing her bathing suit and towel, and heading out to find her posse. I was really beat, and I needed to go through my SD Card in my camera to start to cull out some of my shots to free up space for the rest of the trip. For those wanting and hoping to take photos of whales and calving glaciers, it is essential that you use the “continuous shooting” mode on your camera. Mine takes about 6 frames per second, and I held that sucker down quite a bit when the whales were surfacing and diving. You know that 90% of your shots are going to be a bust. But you only care about the 10%, (or 1%). So after dinner I spend a bit of time going through and dumping hundreds of photos before falling asleep. We had wanted to check out the game show in the Explorer’s Lounge that night, but we were a bit late after dinner. There was Country Music and Dancing in Club Fusion, but that just isn’t us. We knew that we were going to hit the theater show on several of the following nights, so we didn’t want to burn ourselves out there, and passed on “I Got The Music” (but obviously not the grammar.) Sorry, but this would be an early night with nothing else to report.

 

To be continued….

Edited August 27, 2013 by JimmyVWine

[ar1950]

.........And along the dock we saw a “sign from above” that the Cruise Critic Princess Board was watching over us.

 

See if you can figure it out…

 

 

 

 

Nice little boat Shogun has....:cool:

 

 

[trikeman]

I'm really enjoying reading your review and reliving our Alaska cruise. I'm the curious sort so I have to ask. What kind of wine glasses did you take on the cruise? We have a set a friend who owned a bar gave us, nothing special but the DW says she wants to take a couple for wine on the balcony. She says they just feel right. :confused::rolleyes:

[dchip]

I enjoy reading your regular posts, so this review is a real treat. You have a wonderful way with words and descriptions.

 

Your photos are marvelous. I especially loved Juneau. I, too, have bad pics of good bear sightings. They insist on showing up when the light is very low. ;) My bad pics, however, are bad. Yours are not! Your day in Juneau looked super. We have been there twice and not seen the top of whatever mountain that is :D

 

Thanks for including the names of the wines you are drinking with dinner. Most informative. We will have to go find a few of them. Loved the Walmart glasses. :eek:

 

Your daughter is adorable. Loving her comments, too.

 

Cheers and looking forward to more!!

Denise

[JimmyVWine]

I'm really enjoying reading your review and reliving our Alaska cruise. I'm the curious sort so I have to ask. What kind of wine glasses did you take on the cruise? We have a set a friend who owned a bar gave us, nothing special but the DW says she wants to take a couple for wine on the balcony. She says they just feel right. :confused::rolleyes:

These are the glasses we use most days at home:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Riedel-Series-Cabernet-Merlot-Glass/dp/B0000DZG3W/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1377633763&sr=8-13&keywords=reidel+bordeaux+glasses

 

and

 

http://www.amazon.com/Lenox-Tuscany-Classics-Grand-Burgundy/dp/B00006J014/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

 

They hold between 22-30 ounces. The standard wine glasses on the ship hod around 8. (Of course, with the large glasses, one never pours more than a third of a glass at most, leaving room for the wine to breath and the drinker to swirl. We are habitual sniffers and swirlers). With the smaller glasses, servers have a tendency to fill them close to the rim. That's a big no-no for us. And when a server retires to go get a "nicer" glass, it is almost always a Riedel Sauvignon Blanc glass. A fine glass, no doubt. But one with a bowl that holds about 12 ounces, causing the same over-pouring issues.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Riedel-Vinum-Sauvignon-Blanc-Glasses/dp/B000MYE23K/ref=sr_1_sc_1?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1377634379&sr=1-1-spell&keywords=riedel+sauvingnon+blanc+glass

 

The Walmart glasses were very credible knock-offs of the glasses shown in the upper link, with bowls that would hold around 22 ounces, I would guess. They were probably low on inventory and were selling them as "singles". Fair retail price would have been around $7.00 per stem. Even with the larger bowls, though, there was one server who thought that the glass should be filled up the top. He was a little startled when I cut him off with a: "Whoa there cowboy. Not gonna need the whole bottle poured in there."

[trikeman]

Thank you for the quick answer. We also have a set of the Tuscany glasses. Now that my kids are in their 40's they finally figured out you don't fill to the top.:rolleyes:

[TorontoTL]

Absolutely delightful review, love all the commentary and photos. Love that Shogun was watching over you as well.

[JimmyVWine]

Day 5: Skagway…or.. “Must Catch Moose and Squirrel” (B. Badenov) (But the squirrel isn’t all that important.)

 

Following the current pattern, I will start out with a journal and review of our off-ship activities, complete with photos. Yay!! Today we would meet our independent tour reserved with Frontier Excursions called “The Yukon Discovery Tour”. It is a guided bus tour, (really, a stretch van as opposed to a bus), up to the Yukon Territory. Well, rather than me try to explain it, let me just post the tour company’s description which is pretty accurate:

 

“Enjoy our highly rated tour to the Yukon Territory. Included are stops at all the scenic highlights of the Klondike Highway from Skagway to Carcross and Emerald Lake. For our lunch stop we go to Caribou Crossing for BBQ chicken with sides (or veg option), the wildlife gallery and husky sled dog camp where you can play with the cute puppies! Fun for all ages and fully narrated with Gold Rush and local history. This tour is our most complete for an economical price.”

 

Essentially, this is a road trip that parallels the first part of the White Pass Rail trip, but takes you much deeper, up into the Yukon Territory all the way to Emerald Lake which has to be seen to be believed. But don’t worry. You will get to see it here!

 

But first, let’s get a couple of details out of the way. Continuing my narrative on “which side of the ship is better”, in Skagway we have a clear winner. The sail in to Skagway took place early. Too early for me to be out on the balcony to view it, so I can’t give you any impressions of what the view was like while coasting in. But I can tell you that once docked, the port side was far superior.

 

 

Here is the view of the town of Skagway and the beautiful valley taken from our balcony.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I did not fire off any shots from the starboard side because, well, there was nothing really to photograph. Except the famous graffiti left behind by crew members from voyages past. But here is a shot of our ship tied up in dock. As you can see, the starboard side is tucked up against a forested mountain quite tightly.

 

 

 

Fully shaded starboard with no real view.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The ship remained docked until 8:15 p.m. so your view for the day was pretty much set once the ship pulled in early in the morning. When we returned to the ship and hung out on our balcony before dinner, the setting sun and the glow it cast on the valley and town were all on the port side. The photo of the valley shown above was taken in the afternoon. While the sun sets late in Alaska, because of the position of the mountains here, the sun disappeared for us much earlier than the “actual” sunset time.

 

We docked at what is known as the Railroad Dock. If you take the train (booked through Princess), you get literal door to door service. You walk off the ship directly onto the train. If you book independently, or book any other tours, there will be a meeting area in a large parking lot just past the ship’s exiting area. If you want to walk into town, it is a nice walk, but given the twist in the road leading to town, it is about a half mile to get to the beginning of the historic area, and then you walk on from there. Motor shuttles will take you to that area if you don’t want to do the half-mile walk either to or from the ship.

 

All right. Got those details out of the way. On to the tour. Our guide was Tyler, an expatriate from Florida who left the Sunshine State because: “It’s a sunny state filled with shady people.” That’s probably an old joke, but I hadn’t heard it before. Tyler was informative, thorough and had a bright mix of knowledge, humor and cynicism. The kind of guy you’d love to have a beer (or five) with. And I’m guessing that happens quite a bit. We got the nickel tour of Skagway on the drive out, offering a preview of what we would want to do and see once we returned to town mid-afternoon. From there it was up, up and away. I’m not going to regurgitate the tour here, but instead will simply show you some photos that I took along the way and give you a couple of hints and tips in case you are uncertain as to which excursion to book in Skagway. So let’s start there.

 

Why do this instead of the train? For us, it came down to three main reasons. Let’s start with price. You can do a tour that takes you part way up the trail by train, and then transitions to a bus to get you all the way to Emerald Lake, and Frontier Excursions (among others) even offers that. I will give you Frontier prices just to make an apples to apples comparison. Their train/highway tour that goes all the way to Emerald Lake is $189 compared to the guided van tour which is half that. For three people, that is a difference of around $300. That’s real money. The second reason is time. The train/highway tour is 7.5 hours while our tour was 6 hours. I wasn’t sure that I wanted to burn my entire day on the tour leaving little time to visit the town itself. And the third reason was speed and mobility. We have taken our share of narrow gauge, historic train rides in our travel. They tend to be slow, (plodding, actually) with historically accurate seating which means “uncomfortable”. Painful, even. And they can be a bit smelly if the burning fuel and wind direction are conspiring against you. And perhaps most importantly, you don’t get to get out and take photos. Most of the pictures that you see below were taken from stopping points that the train does not make. Now that I have all the photos that I want, perhaps next time I would opt for the train. But to complete my photo adventure, I wanted a bit more freedom than the train affords. None of this is intended to suggest that the train is in any way an inherently inferior choice. It was just an inferior choice for us. Your mileage, or trackage may vary.

 

OK. So let’s say that you have made the decision to take the van tour. Now comes the important question. Which side do I sit on? Who gets the better view? Well, in a way, there is no right or wrong answer as long as everyone on your trip is polite and takes the same seat each and every time they re-board the van, which is what happened with us. In that case, you get one view on the way up and one view on the way down. So it would seem to be a “wash”. But let me give you a little tip. The view on the right side of the vehicle as it travels from Skagway to Carcross is unquestionably the better side. That is the side from which you can see the train as you run parallel to it, and from which you can see magnificent lakes and valley. And if you all keep your same seats, you are going to get that view either heading up, or coming down the highway. But given the angle of the sun, the afternoon light is far more favorable for this view than the morning shade. So if you can finagle it, you want to sit on the left side going up and “suffer” with the inferior view so that you can bathe in the afternoon glow on the way down. You’ll see what I mean when we get to the pictures. Tyler didn’t say as much, but he did provide a hint when, on the way up the highway, we passed a crowded pull-off viewing area at a gorgeous valley without stopping. He told us that we would be stopping here later in the day, and to trust him that it would be worth the wait. Was it ever.

 

So without further ado, let me get to the photos, which is why you all came to the lecture hall today, isn’t it? Not to hear me babble. I’ll provide a bit of commentary when appropriate.

 

 

 

Cantilevered Bridge over a major earthquake fault. The interesting thing about this bridge is that it is only anchored on one side, (left as you look at it) and it merely rests on the ground on the right side, held down by its own weight. This is intended to make it withstand seismic activity.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The “town” of Fraser, where the train turns around. (Lower right of middle picture)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[JimmyVWine]

OK. So by now you are probably wondering why I quoted that notoriously evil (and funny) Boris Badenov in my opening. Well, it so happens that while speeding along the highway, one of the members of our group shouted out: “MOOSE”. Now, moose, (mooses? meese?) are rare to spot and are often the hardest square to fill out on your wildlife Bingo card. So when someone thinks that they saw a moose, people take notice. And Tyler did. He applied the brakes, (I would say: “slammed on the brakes”, but it wasn’t quite that dramatic. Close. But not quite), and pulled off into a small parking area for us to take a look. We were alongside a very large lake. And lo and behold, there it was. Swimming. Yes…swimming. Across the entire width of the lake which had to be 400 yards if it was an inch. Maybe more. So we got out our binoculars and cameras and had a nice, long look at a very rare sight. A swimming moose. He/she was a long way off, though clearly visible. I snapped on my longest zoom lens and did my best.

 

 

 

And here, ladies and gentleman, is a swimming moose.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Why did the moose cross the lake?.....To get to the other side!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up. (N. Desmond)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The glare in these pictures sort of points out what I was referring to earlier. This lake was off to the right hand side of our up-the-highway vehicle, and the sun was suboptimal for viewing and photography. But the moose wasn’t going to wait for us to return.

 

 

 

Here are a few shots of Tutshi Lake

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not to belabor the point, but if you only do the train, and turn around in Fraser, you don’t get to see any of this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

[JimmyVWine]

A little further along, you cross into the Yukon Territory. (Both my parents went to UConn. But that is a different place.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A short while later, you end up at Caribou Crossing, which I liken to the “South of the Border” of the Yukon (if any of you have been to that wonderful tourist spot on the NC/SC border.) A lunch was served and the food was just fine. Outdoor seating was nice, especially on this spectacular day. 80 degrees, or close to it. Caribou Crossing has a “Nature Center” complete with taxidermed animals and a dog sled camp where they breed puppies and have sled dogs that will tow you around on a land sled. And of course, it has campy western building facades and junked trucks.

 

 

So in keeping with the spirit of the place, I offer up some campy photos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And of course, there is the goat petting area, and the puppy holding area, (caged and shaded with little hope of a good photo. But it’s better for the puppies, so it’s all good.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[JimmyVWine]

After lunch came what I thought was the highlight of the tour…Emerald Lake and the chance to get the “money shot” of the Yukon Territory. And the sun and weather were cooperating to give us spectacular views. Sunrise or sunset might create a more dramatic sky, but the lake itself was unbelievably beautiful. Words cannot do it justice, so,….

 

 

….no more words.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From there we turned around and headed back down the highway on the return trip to Skagway. And along the way, we stopped at several places that other tours had stopped at in the morning. But as noted earlier, Tyler saved these stops for the afternoon, because they really benefitted from the glow of the afternoon sun as it got lower in the sky.

 

Up in the Yukon Territory, there is a desert, believe it or not. They like to say that it is the world’s smallest. I can’t confirm that, but it is bigger than the guidebooks have you believe. I was expecting something a bit bigger than a sandbox. But it really is a fairly substantial set of dunes.

 

 

 

See for yourself.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[JimmyVWine]

Then, on the way back down the highway, we stopped off at the scenic viewing area that we had skipped earlier, and which Tyler had promised would be better seen toward the end of the day. While the glowing light was just as advertised, not even Tyler could have predicted the calmness of the water. The breath of a butterfly can be all that is needed to break the surface of the water in a way that makes a mirrored reflection possible. Tyler said that he does this trip several times a week, all season long, and that in all his years, he has seen the lake look like this only a couple of time.

 

 

Stunning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think that these pictures point out the difference between the morning and afternoon viewing about as well as anything could. The lake did not look anything like this on the drive up.

 

 

We then crossed back in to Alaska where trees and waterfalls were plentiful.