Dave’s Live from Amsterdam 14-day Alaska, August 24 – September 7, 2014

[RetiredMustang]

Friday, Aug. 29, Icy Strait Point

 

We have an early shore excursion today - we meet in the Queen’s Lounge at 7 a.m. to tender ashore to take the 7:30 “Whales, Wildlife and Bears” excursion. Hopefully we will see a lot of them.

 

Here are today’s On Location pages:

 

 

 

 

 

And the Icy Strait Point pages from the Explorer:

 

 

 

 

 

More later,

Dave

[mudscraper]

Thank you Dave for another wonderful review.

[JimAOk1945]

I'm looking forward to reading about your experience at Icy Strait Point. We were there in 2012. Our Whale Watch/Bear Watch excursion there was amazing.

[Himself]

Hi Father, glad you enjoy my thread.

 

To answer your question, we had to consult the little map that comes with our room keys, for the first time in many years. We had heard of "Queens Lounge" on the Vista and Signature ships, which referred to the room on deck 2 where they held cooking demos and showed the movies. Amsterdam doesn't have that room, but our tour tomorrow morning meets in "The Queens Lounge, starboard side, deck 4". So, we looked at the map -- on Amsterdam, the "Queens Lounge" is the show lounge.

 

Dave

 

Dave:

Thanks for the response and have a great cruise. Enjoy Icy Strait.

[RetiredMustang]

Friday, Aug. 29, Icy Strait Point (cont.)

 

We pulled into the Icy Strait Point area early in the morning. It was lightly raining and misty here and there, but it is a pretty setting:

 

 

 

It was a tender port to the old cannery north of the native village of Hoonah:

 

 

 

The area has a shore excursion meeting area, and a museum and small shops in the old main building:

 

 

 

And, a few places to eat:

 

 

 

 

More later,

Dave

[RetiredMustang]

Friday, Aug. 29, Icy Strait Point (cont.)

 

We met in the show lounge a few minutes before 7, and our tour was called and we were stickered. We walked down to deck A to board the tender. As soon as we got to the pier, we simply walked across to the waiting whale watching boat, a nice vessel with two interior passenger decks and a top ope deck for observation.

 

We went at fair speed for about 45 minutes to an area called Adolphus Point, where three currents merge, bringing krill to the surface, and where the humpback whales congregate to feed.

 

 

 

We arrived at the area, and the captain slowed the boat and opened the top deck to passengers while she brought the boat to and fro slowly. After about 10 minutes, we spotted the first humpback. It actually was closer to shore than I had expected – we were a couple of hundred yards off shore, with a few miles of open water to the other side, which I was searching diligently while apparently the whale was sneaking up behind me.

 

It surfaced and blew a few times, and then did a deep dive, showing its flukes, which I failed miserably to catch on camera.

 

It eventually resurfaced, and did more feeding. We also saw two more whales in the hour or so we spent in the area. I took a good many shots, never quite capturing the money shot of flukes, although once I hit the shutter just before the nick of time, it seems:

 

 

 

But hard work, patience and virtue did pay off, as I eventually did get a great, beautiful photo of a whale’s flukes dripping water, framed by snow-covered mountains (it was hanging on the wall of the shore excursion waiting area):

 

 

 

More later,

Dave

[rajkr74]

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Friday, Aug. 29, Icy Strait Point (cont.)

 

 

But hard work, patience and virtue did pay off, as I eventually did get a great, beautiful photo of a whale’s flukes dripping water, framed by snow-covered mountains (it was hanging on the wall of the shore excursion waiting area):

 

 

 

More later,

Dave

 

Great shot Dave, now just "crop" it and no one will be the wiser....:p

 

Rick

[SightCRR]

The boat (Silver Spoon) with the whale in your photo is from FISHES. They said the person leaning over the side was trying for an underwater shot but don't know the results.

Sightcrr

[cruz chic]

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Great shot Dave, now just "crop" it and no one will be the wiser....:p

 

Rick

 

Behave!

 

Thx for today's update. Again, great pics.

[geocruiser]

Great review and just love the pictures.

[RetiredMustang]

Friday, Aug. 29, Icy Strait Point (cont.)

 

After the whale watching boat returned, we waited about 20 minutes for the next portion of our combine tour, the Bear Search. That was, it turns out, a very apt name, as we did a lot of searching, but no spotting of bears. We did see several black-tailed deer, a lot of bald eagles, and multitudes of other birds.

 

We boarded a bus that took us through the village of Hoonah and onto logging roads to a trailhead. We went down that trail to a boardwalk, which took over what our guide said was a muskeg, a marshy meadow:

 

 

 

 

 

At the end of that, we entered tall conifers and walked to a series of three platforms several feet above the Spasski River:

 

 

 

 

 

There were a good many salmon spawning in the river, which would have presented a target-rich environment for bears if any were around, but they weren’t (or were hiding, waiting for us to leave). But, it is a beautiful location, and we quite enjoyed the outing. It was overcast, but we only had an occasional light shower – nothing that made us break out our ponchos.

 

We then walked up to a different spot on the logging road to catch the bus back to the pier.

 

There were also beach and nature trails, and a nice walkway that you could take into Hoonah. It is a pretty place that we would not mind coming back to someday.

 

More later,

Dave

[RetiredMustang]

Friday, Aug. 29, Icy Strait Point (cont.)

 

Here is the dinner menu:

 

Appetizers

- Fruit Ceviche (Papaya, pineapple and mango splashed with rum and marinated in a lime and mint dressing)

- Parfait of Salmon and Tuna Tartares (Layers of seasoned salmon and tuna tartare served with a crisp crostini topped with crème fraiche and salmon caviar)

- Italian Prosciutto Ham (Thinly shaved air-dried ham with cantaloupe melon fan and fresh arugula)

- Clams and Pancetta (Freshly steamed in white wine with garlic, dice tomato and basil, served with garlic bread)

 

Soups and Salad

- Roasted Shallot and Butternut Squash Soup (Topped with red beet crisps)

- Steak House Soup (Sumptuous beef broth with chunks of steak and hearty root vegetables)

- Chilled Mango Gazpacho (Master Chef’s unique and incomparably refreshing version of a classic gazpacho)

- Baby Spinach and Button Mushrooms (With oven-roasted tomato, crunchy bacon bits, chopped egg and zesty Gorgonzola crumbles)

 

Entrees

- Spaghetti Bolognese (Al dente spaghetti sautéed and topped with a red wine enhanced meat sauce and topped with fresh grated parmesan cheese)

- Five Spice Shrimp (Shrimp sautéed with a Mexican Five Spice blend, served over Cotija mashed potatoes with a sautéed mixture of green beans, red bell pepper and corn)

- Flank Steak with Roasted Shallot Vinaigrette (Broiled until tender, presented with a crispy cheesy polenta cake and sautéed green beans, surrounded with roasted shallots in balsamic vinegar glaze)

- Lamb Loin with Parmesan Risotto and Forest Mushrooms (With braised swiss chard, rich lamb jus and micro greens with Mediterranean olives)

- Parmesan-Crusted Chicken Breast (With a sweetly mellow honey-Dijon mustard sauce, basil-scented mashed potatoes and sugar peas)

- Wild Mushroom Strudel (Selected forst mushrooms, spinach and feta cheese rolled in phyllo dough and baked until crisp and flaky, served with a Thai red curry sauce)

 

 

Here is the dessert menu:

 

Desserts

- German Chocolate Cake (Light chocolate sponge layers with coconut filling and glazed with chocolate genache)

- Latte Cotto (Creamy baked custard lightly flavored with lemon, served with sweet, balsamic-glazed strawberries)

- Raspberry Terrine (A molded raspberry mousse garnished with raspberry compote)

- Passion Fruit Mousse Torte no sugar added (Delicate sponge cake topped with a thick layer of sweet, sugar-free passion fruit mousse)

 

Frozen Treats

- Vanilla Ice Cream

- Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

- Orange Sorbet

- Banana Frozen Yogurt

- No sugar added Vanilla Ice Cream

- No sugar added Butter Pecan Ice Cream

- Amaretto Java Sundae (Vanilla ice cream covered with amaretto-vanilla sauce and whipped cream)

 

Espresso Drinks

- Espresso $1.25

- Cappuccino $1.75

- Extra shot $0.50

 

Recommended Cordial of the Day: Banana Split (Crème de Banana, Crème de Cacao and Amaretto), $5.95

 

Available Daily

- The Gold Rush Baked Alaska (Cookies and Cream ice cream surrounded by vanilla sponge cake and coated in meringue dusted with gold, served with your choice of topping)

- Fruit Crisp of the Day: Strawberry Crisp (Fresh out of the oven, served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream)

- Sliced Fruit Plate

- North American Cheese Plate (Gorgonzola, Pont L’Eveque, Fiscalini Cheddar, Edam)

 

 

More later,

Dave

[cruz chic]

More beautiful pics:).

[c-legs]

It's called the "3-Alarm system" and all fifteen ships are going to it. It stems from studies conducted as a result of the Costa Concordia tragedy

John, Thanks for the ''official '' update.

 

Do you think this experiment is aimed at being a '' prototype'' deployed on HAl to eventually be refined, ''unglitched '' and rolled out by CCL brands-wide ? I would suggest running a similar program on Costa would have a somewhat above average reception process by the crew, given their already heightened perception of ''safety'' resulting from the still recent Concordia accident ( their ''sub-conscience'' is already marked by this, to be sure).

I went and witnessed the 3 alarm system at work on ZDMN in Vancouver today...as you and Capt.Alberts pointed out, it is stunning how many people either do not hear, listen or pay attention....half the guests were already under their assigned lifeboat by the time alarm #2 and its message are activated. The old ''60 out of 100 "" comments Capt.Alberts suggested....ever so true !!!

Cheers

[RetiredMustang]

Saturday, Aug. 30, at sea

 

A lazy day at sea ahead, with lots of activities but nothing we really have to do if we don’t want, although for a little horror moment, I may ask the front office to run me a copy of our bill so far. Tonight is the second formal night.

 

Here are today’s On Location pages:

 

 

 

 

More later,

Dave

[cruz chic]

Good luck with the bill. If they call for a pallet of paper to print it you better run:D.

[RetiredMustang]

Saturday, Aug. 30, at sea (cont.)

 

Continuing my posts of areas of the ship, here are photos of the 6th deck self-service laundry:

 

 

 

 

 

 

More later,

Dave

[POA1]

Call me silly, but I've always wondered what the self service laundry looked like. Now I know. :)

[Himself]

I hope the seas are calm as you sail from Icy Strait Point to Anchorage.

[RetiredMustang]

Saturday, Aug. 30, at sea (cont.)

 

This was delivered to our room today. I’ve never seen it before, but it lists the services and prices from the Greenhouse Spa and Salon, so I’m posting it for those who may be interested:

 

 

 

 

More later,

Dave

Edited August 30, 2014 by RetiredMustang

[Copper10-8]

Call me silly, but I've always wondered what the self service laundry looked like. Now I know. :)

 

You haven't lived until you've spent some time in their waiting for your clothes to run through the dryer cycle. Can be quite entertaining, educational and good for the male soul ;)

[Copper10-8]

Saturday, Aug. 30, at sea (cont.)

 

This was delivered to our room today. I’ve never seen it before, but it lists the services and prices from the Greenhouse Spa and Salon, so I’m posting it for those who may be interested:

 

 

 

 

More later,

Dave

 

OK, can anyone edumecate this knuckle dragger and 'splain what a "paraffin wax" is? Much obliged!

[GRACECRUISE]

Paraffin wax is an add on you get with a pedicure or manicure where they dip your hands and/or feet fee in hot (warm) paraffin or bees wax. It dries and it peeled off. Makes them soft and hydrates them. It is a nice treat on the feet. Very relaxing. There are different waxes with different scents. You really should try it at least once.

[Copper10-8]

Paraffin wax is an add on you get with a pedicure or manicure where they dip your hands and/or feet fee in hot (warm) paraffin or bees wax. It dries and it peeled off. Makes them soft and hydrates them. It is a nice treat on the feet. Very relaxing. There are different waxes with different scents. You really should try it at least once.

 

Very cool! Thanks very much for that! :)

[cruz chic]

Paraffin wax is an add on you get with a pedicure or manicure where they dip your hands and/or feet fee in hot (warm) paraffin or bees wax. It dries and it peeled off. Makes them soft and hydrates them. It is a nice treat on the feet. Very relaxing. There are different waxes with different scents. You really should try it at least once.

 

I'm sorry but I find this practice really gross. I don't like the idea that I'm sharing the vat of wax that everyone has been in before me. That said, maybe they have a cleaner way of applying now.