LIVE from the Edge - Alaska Dawes Glacier B2Bs May 24-June 7

[SerraG]

Last Dinner in Luminae

 

We signed up for the Port Valet in Seattle, which I highly recommend.  They take your luggage directly from the hallway outside of your cabin on the night before disembarkation, bring it to the airport and load it onto your plane.  The next time you see it, it will (hopefully!) be at the baggage claim at your home airport.  This service is free!

 

There were instructions from Port Valet that told us to make sure we removed all previous cruise and airline tags from our bags.  Once we did that, I realized that my current luggage tags were in a sorry state.  In fact, one of the them was only  connected to its bag by a make-shift duct tape cord I had created during our last cruise.

 

Time for a little shopping!

 

 

There seem to be quite a few high-end stores on the ship selling handbags, watches and perfume.  Luckily, there is one store with more normal goods and sundries.

This one had some overpriced luggage tags for us. ($12.95 each)

 

 

We had some time for one last round of “Through the Decades” music trivia and then some general trivia.  Here is your trivia tip for the day:  The crowd seemed surprised to learn that Sydney is _not_ the capital of Australia.

 

I have found that, for me, the key to repacking is a strong cocktail to prevent me from futzing too much with clothes that are just going to end up in a big pile in the laundry room anyway.

 

In this case, one last Marakesh Mule.

 

 

Bottoms Up!  And then just cram everything in any suitcase and deal with it all when you get back home.  😉

 

Today was actually a port day in Victoria, but we were scheduled to dock late, around 5:30pm.   The logistics of trying to figure out what we would need to bring into Victoria, and what we would need in the morning, combined with the prospects of all our luggage already being gone when we got back on the ship was just too much.  Especially since we had already visited  last week, neither of us much felt like it was worth the effort of trying to make our way into downtown Victoria for a few hours.

 

So we made our way back to Luminae for our last dinner of the cruise.

 

 

 

Our amuse bouche was a croquette of Iberico ham, and Manchango cheese served atop a (red pepper?) aioli.  This was a great little fried cheese ball.  lol.

 

 

For his appetizer, Ross ordered the Tea Cured Salmon with a Celery-Green Apple Salad and Black Garlic Emulsion and a Horse Radish Marshmallow.

 

 

The salmon was less salty than I expected.  It was’t a typical smoked salmon, but much more subtle.  And the menu wasn’t kidding about the horseradish marshmallow.  So sweet!  So weird! So “Why?”   There were only a few drops of black garlic sauce.  Black garlic is fermented garlic and it has a slightly sweet, earthy flavor that is much less pungent than regular garlic.  It would have been great with this salmon, and I am not sure why they only put 4 drops (literally, 4 drops!) on the plate.

 

(I don’t even really want to talk about the food this much, I just can’t stop myself from typing once I see the photo of a a dish and start remembering it.  lol.)

 

I ordered the Smoked Tomato Soup with a Focaccia Crouton.

 

 

What a disappointment this version of the soup was!  I had this before and it had a nice smokey element which went well with the tomatoes, as if the chef had actually roasted tomatoes and then blended them with seasoning into a soup.  This tasted, and I am not exaggerating, exactly like a can of Campbell’s Tomato Soup.  Overly sweet, overly processed, overly smooth.  Yikes.

 

Ross ordered the Daniel Boulud Signature Duck Leg Confit “Char Sui” with Apricots and Bok Choy.

 

 

The duck looks like a mess in the photo but this was actually pretty good. The sauce had a strong five-spice powder flavor and was maybe a little too salty.  The meat had been slow cooked so it had a bit of a pulled/shredded texture.  The boy choy was a welcome green vegetable, and cooked crisp-tender.

 

I ordered the Grilled Filet Mignon with Truffle Potato Purée and Spinach in a Bordelaise Sauce.

 

 

Another reasonably good piece of beef in brown sauce.  The truffle potatoes with homemade potato chip garnish might have been better than the beef, but they only served a tiny dollop of them.

 

 

I had the Almond Cake with Grape Confit, Mascarpone, Fig and Buttermilk Ice Cream

 

 

I loved this almond cake.  It had a really moist crumbly texture and was sweet and nutty.  I was worried the buttermilk ice cream would be too sour, but it had enough sweetness for balance.  Really good.

 

Ross ordered the Tea Poached Pear with Yuma Gel

 

 

I had to look up what “Yuma” was.  I think it’s the same thing as Yuzu, which is a Chinese citrus fruit that has sort of a sour orange flavor. Ross really liked it. The pear was actually ripe this time, which makes for a much better poached pear dessert.

 

We could have still made the 10:30pm showing of the Kaleidoscope production show, but as I expected, we wanted to head straight to bed so we’d be able to get up early for disembarkation.

 

Goodnight!

 

 

Edited Thursday at 01:41 AM by SerraG

[Risuena]

So sorry to hear that! DH and I finally tested negative today 12 days after first symptoms. However, we were only sick for 6 days. Be well! 

[ponygirl]

2 hours ago, SerraG said:

 

Coincidentally (or maybe not coincidentally), I just tested positive for Covid.  I started feeling a little sniffly on Saturday, the day after we got home, so not sure if I would have picked it up during that first week. I am not feeling too badly, but wanted to test before I went to visit my elderly parents. 

Well, now that you mention it, I too tested positive after returning home. Not surprised since I was surrounded by so many coughing passengers, especially at trivia..LOL. I even mentioned it on the last night that I felt I was in a hospital ward with everyone coughing.  I dont think many people even test anymore. I'm on meds and just have a cough now.

[cruisebeachgirl703]

Thanks for the great review. So helpful. Sorry to hear about covid, feel better soon.

[dctravel]

Thanks for doing this!

[RK-NC]

18 hours ago, SerraG said:

And the menu wasn’t kidding about the horseradish marshmallow.  So sweet!  So weird! So “Why?”   There were only a few drops of black garlic sauce.  Black garlic is fermented garlic and it has a slightly sweet, earthy flavor that is much less pungent than regular garlic.  It would have been great with this salmon, and I am not sure why they only put 4 drops (literally, 4 drops!) on the plate.

 

sweet horseradish?!?  and those sauce drops look smaller than a pea! 

 

18 hours ago, SerraG said:

(I don’t even really want to talk about the food this much, I just can’t stop myself from typing once I see the photo of a a dish and start remembering it.  lol.)

 

🤣🤣

[RK-NC]

Speedy recovery to everyone! ❤️‍🩹

[SerraG]

17 hours ago, ponygirl said:

Well, now that you mention it, I too tested positive after returning home. Not surprised since I was surrounded by so many coughing passengers, especially at trivia..LOL. I even mentioned it on the last night that I felt I was in a hospital ward with everyone coughing.  I dont think many people even test anymore. I'm on meds and just have a cough now.

 

Sorry to hear that you caught it, too, but I'm glad you seem to be on the mend.  I am not coughing too much, but kind of surprised by how fatigued I feel.   I think it is hard to avoid Covid (or some other illness) when on a cruise, crammed in those tight spaces with so many people.  

 

I agree that most people don't test anymore, especially if they aren't feeling too bad, but I recognize that Covid can still be very dangerous for people with underlying health issues and seniors.  I absolutely won't go visit my mom's retirement community if I'm sick.  

[SerraG]

Disembarkation morning is always kind of a bummer.  We had a late flight though, so we were going to do some sight-seeing in Seattle first and that helped sooth the disappointment a little bit.

 

We had this same view for our Luminae embarkation lunch so it was fitting to end our cruise here for a disembarkation breakfast!

 

 

I will miss these croissants!

 

 

I had two eggs over medium with veggies and a side of cheesy grits.

 

 

The eggs were cooked exactly right and I am a huge fan of the breakfast tomato and mushrooms. 

 

 

The grits were not actually “cheesy grits”, but instead just had melted and re-congealed blobs of cheddar on them, topped with chunks of raw scallion.  Not good at all.

 

Ross had the Crêpe with Caramelized Apples and Cinnamon and a side of bacon.

 

 

Ross enjoyed the crepe, but said it was not as good as the one from Le Grand Bistro.  The bacon was cooked perfectly crisp as requested.  They do have good bacon.

 

After breakfast, we made our way to the Retreat Lounge to wait for our disembarkation.  Look!  I found the library on this ship.  Apparently, it’s a bit of a grab-bag approach.  😉

 

 

We had a late flight so we did not have to leave until the last numbers were called, but eventually that time arrived.  Inrich, one of the retreat concierges, led us to the exit where we got dinged off the ship for the last time.

 

It feels so unceremonious to exit the cruise terminal and be faced with crowds of passengers all going in different directions.  The queue for a taxi was very, very long.

 

 

 

I started a timer when we got in line and it took 46 minutes before we were actually in a taxi.   While we waited, there were some awesome port workers to watch who shooed away all the ride-share drivers who kept trying to sneak into the taxi line to drop off their rides.

 

 

“Get out of here!!  Get out of my line!  You can't pull people out of my line!” she would shout, as she made passengers climb back into their ubers.   It was a pretty good show.

 

Finally we made it into a taxi and were taken to the Space Needle area.  After we got out of the cab and started walking, I was trying to figure out where to go.

 

 

I was looking around and said to Ross, “Okay.  But where is the Space Needle?”  He just pointed up.  Oh.  It was directly above us.   

 

 

We bought combination tickets for both the Space Needle and the Chihuly Garden and Glass Museum from a kiosk.   The Space Needle tickets are sold in time slots, about 1 hour and 15 minutes apart.  We ended up with 11:45am tickets, which gave us about an hour to view the Chihuly museum first.

 

Thanks to Seattle’s luggage valet program, we didn’t have any actual luggage with us, but we did each have a large backpack.  The Chihuly museum stored those for us at no charge.

 

The museum was fairly small, but had a few different rooms highlighting different styles and phases of Chihuly work.  These white spikes were in an alcove near the entrance.

 

 

I thought the close up view showing all the air bubbles inside was interesting. 

 

 

There was a room of Native American baskets and photographs interspersed with some glass vases and bowls.

 

 

One of the more interesting parts to me, were original sketches next to finished pieces.   Originally Dale Chihuly blew all of the glass himself, but he was in a car wreck and later had a body surfing accident, which prevented him from being able to continue alone, so he hired people to blow the glass for him.

 

 

Mille Fiori was a work inspired by his mother’s garden.  One of the guides said that the tall pieces were placed over steel rods that help support them. 

 

 

I really liked this pair of boats and floats.

 

 

There is a nice outdoor garden where some of the glass sculptures are carefully interwoven into the landscape.

 

 

Sometimes it even took a little bit to recognize that you were looking at a piece of glass and not a plant.

 

 

 

 

Edited Thursday at 10:06 PM by SerraG

[BartonX]

What a great and comprehensive review. VERY much appreciated. Thank you for your effort putting this together. Really well done!

 

+ Get Well Soon!

[Harrisonkid]

This trip report is awesome..Thanks 

[CruisinBanka]

Thanks for doing this review! I was also on this cruise and enjoyed following along and concur with most of your observations. Unfortunately my wife and I also caught covid and were in isolation for 3 days on the cruise. 

[catspaw1]

Sierra, have really enjoyed your TR so thanks for posting.  I cook, mainly from scratch & saw you liked Cooks illustrated. I used to have that also but now do the NY Times cooking & find that much better. I have used a ton of recipes from them & most have been excellent. The lentil soup is to die for!

[SerraG]

8 hours ago, catspaw1 said:

The lentil soup is to die for!

 

Do you mean the NYT Melissa Clark's Red Lentil Soup?  Because I love that recipe!  It is in my regular rotation.  I try to cook a bean or lentil recipe at least once per week.  If you mean a different one, let me know and I'll try to find it.  

 

I don't actually subscribe to NYT Cooking, but since I'm a NYT subscriber, I often get access to a couple of recipes each day and have found them to be very good. 

 

 

[SerraG]

13 hours ago, CruisinBanka said:

Unfortunately my wife and I also caught covid and were in isolation for 3 days on the cruise. 

 

I am so sorry.  I think getting it and being isolated on the cruise is awful.  I hope neither of you got too sick from it!

 

I'm happy I didn't get sick until I got home and it seemed to be a mild case.  I just tested negative tonight.  Yay! 

[catspaw1]

I had to look it up because I hand wrote the recipe. Yes it's Melissa Clarke recipe - the one without the barley & has 28000 likes. I puree it in a blender & double the recipe. Love it - fast, nutrious, great & cheap. NYT cooking would make a great Christmas gift. Maybe I'm prejudiced since I'm a native NY, NY & have been reading the NYT daily for over 45 years. I love their cooking recipes!

[SerraG]

After we walked through the Chihuly Gardens, it was time for the Space Needle.    Everyone who had 11:45am tickets were allowed past the gates to wait on a ramp for entry.  We had to wait outside, on a partially shaded ramp, for about 20 minutes before we made it inside the building.   It then took another 20 minutes before we made it to the elevators, which brought about 10 guests at a time to the top of the Needle.

 

Along the way, there are some informational boards about the building of the Space Needle which were mildly interesting.  You need to be in the left side line to be able to read them though.

 

 

There was also a free photo opportunity along the way.  After they take the photo, you are given a QR code on a ticket that you can scan when you get home to download the picture.  The photo is taken against a green screen so the results are spectacularly cheesy. 

 

 

The view from the needle itself was excellent.  It was really nice to be able to walk all the way around and get a 360 degree view of Seattle and the surrounding area.

 

 

There are glass benches along the sides of the observation deck for visitors to sit on.  The bench itself and the glass wall behind it are positioned at an unexpectedly reclined angle however, so be prepared for a moment of terror if you lean back.

 

 

Who wants to lean all their weight on a glass panel that is 600 feet in the air?

 

 

The lower level, just below the observation deck, has a glass floor which is rather disconcerting to walk on.

 

 

 

If you order food or drink from one of the bars at the top, you are entitled to sit at a table with a good view. These tables were blocked off so people who had not purchased anything could not sit at them.

 

When we had had our fill of the view, we stood in line to take the elevator back down, which was about a 15 minute wait.

 

We felt like we just had time to sneak in a late lunch before we headed to the airport.  The Bar at Chihuly Garden and Glass was right next to us and we liked the look of the Penn Cove Garlic Mussels and the Dungeness Crab Roll on the menu so we decided to eat there.

 

 

 

Unfortunately they were out of both the mussels and crab roll so we had to come up with second choices on the fly.  We decided to split the Warm Salmon Dip and an order of Calamari to start.

 

 

I think the salmon dip would have been much better if we hadn’t had such good salmon dip in Alaska.  This version had a lot of cream cheese that overwhelmed the flavor of the smoked salmon. You can see how pale it is in the photo above.  

 

 

The calamari was good with a hot and crispy breading and a chewy center. There were a couple of baby squid with tentacles and not just the rings, which I always appreciate.  The aioli sauce was creamy and tart and went well with the calamari.   

 

Ross ordered a bowl of Northwest Razor Clam Chowder.

 

 

This was fine chowder.  However, it paled in comparison to the Pike Place Chowder Company.

 

And I got a Baby Kale Caesar Salad.

 

 

I really liked this salad, although  I think I may have really been craving some leafy greens.  I always want salads for two days straight after returning from vacation.

 

After lunch, we took an uber to the airport.  We have TSA precheck, so we made it through security quickly.  We flew home first class on Delta.  The seats were comfortable and there were a couple of fun games (Trivia and 2048, among others) on the seatback screen.  

 

 

 

There were only two options for dinner by the time the flight attendant got to our row.  I got the last Chicken Caeser Salad.

 

 

I probably should have taken the plastic wrap off before taking a photo.  The chicken was actually more of a shredded chicken salad mixed lightly with mayo and seasoned well.  The balsamic dressing was excellent.  The brownie was a welcome treat, really chocolate and rich.   I think for a cold meal on a plane, it was actually great!

 

Ross was stuck with the Turkey Croissant Sandwich.

 

 

The turkey was turkey and the croissant was soft.   The chips and brownie were good sides.  Ross said it was “pretty good for airplane food.”

 

There were some thunderstorms as we neared Kansas City, so the end of our flight was quite bumpy with the seatbelt sign lit the entire time.

 

I love Kansas City!

 

 

 

Once we arrived in KC, we had to wait a couple of hours for our daughter’s flight from Spain to land.   It was a nice family reunion after such a long vacation!   

 

While we were eager to head home, the weather was so bad that they could not remove any baggage from the plane until the lightening had stopped. At least we had a lot to talk about!  Another hour later and it was past 1 am when they announced that they could restart luggage handling.  Everyone in the terminal cheered when the baggage carousels started back up!  It took another hour to drive home, so we didn’t get in until after 2am and we were all exhausted.

 

There is no place like home! 

 

Our cat, Blue, was very happy to see us. 

 

 

(I will come back to finish up with a few thoughts about the ship, our cabin, itinerary, etc  in the next day or so.)

 

Edited Saturday at 03:15 AM by SerraG

[SerraG]

19 minutes ago, catspaw1 said:

NYT cooking would make a great Christmas gift. Maybe I'm prejudiced since I'm a native NY, NY & have been reading the NYT daily for over 45 years. I love their cooking recipes!

Oh, a gift subscription isn’t a bad idea.  maybe I should put that on Christmas list? 🙂

 

Have you tried their  “Cucumber Salad with Roasted Peanuts and Chili” recipe?  It’s another one of our favorites.  Really flavorful! 

[CruisinBanka]

9 hours ago, SerraG said:

 

I am so sorry.  I think getting it and being isolated on the cruise is awful.  I hope neither of you got too sick from it!

 

I'm happy I didn't get sick until I got home and it seemed to be a mild case.  I just tested negative tonight.  Yay! 

Thanks! Just sick enough to make us tired and miserable but nothing crazy. Worst part was starring at our cabin for 3 days and not being able to do excursions, shows, etc. I will say the Butler took good care of us with anything we needed including Luminae meals. 

[BeachTunes]

Thank you @SerraG for taking the time to post about your journey! We will be taking our first cruise to Alaska in September, albeit on the Solstice, and found your port info very helpful! May you feel better soon!

 

[catspaw1]

Sorry to hear you got covid on board. We are sailing on the Eclipse in 3 weeks so hope we don't get it either. I loved your TR so thanks for posting. We are going to AK next year but won't sail with Celebrity since they don't go into Glacier Bay. That was the highlight on a HAL AK cruise We did 30 years ago so we are returning. Going to spend 3 nights at a bear/fishing lodge in Lake Clarke NP & do another independent car trip besides the cruise. I learned a lot from your port visits. Do you have the link on your Juneau food tour? Was Juneau or Sagway better for a fish dinner out? I think you mentioned it but I couldn't find it again. Hope you have a swift recovery!

[Plaidlulu]

Thank you so much for detailing your trip and all of the food. We previously sailed to Alaska on the Solstice and are looking at the Edge.  We noted the Retreat spaces were not crowded at all, to include Luminae.  I am worried with more rooms in that category the Retreat spaces on the Edge may be crowded - how would you describe the crowds?  We also loved the Sky Obeservation on the Solstice so we are torn about trying the Edge.  We have also joked that the chairs all look very modern and uncomfortable on the Edge. Thanks again!! 

[SunandShade]

Thank you for all of your food reviews, Retreat info and activities.  We will be staying in a Magic Carpet Sky Suite in September and wondered if you were ever aware of the Magic Carpet moving up or down while you were in the cabin?  

[SerraG]

16 hours ago, CruisinBanka said:

I will say the Butler took good care of us with anything we needed including Luminae meals. 

 

I am really glad to hear that they at least delivered Luminae meals.  I'd get tired of the limited room service menu very quickly.  

[SerraG]

11 hours ago, catspaw1 said:

Do you have the link on your Juneau food tour?

 

We actually booked the food tour through the Celebrity website, so it was a ship excursion.  But, I am 99% sure it was with these people:

 

https://www.juneaufoodtours.com

 

11 hours ago, catspaw1 said:

Was Juneau or Sagway better for a fish dinner out?

 

We slightly preferred the food at the Skagway Fish Company vs Tracy's Crab Shake.  However, we only had lunch there (and not dinner) since our Skagway sail aways were so early.  

 

Also, I think there are more restaurants in Juneau than Skagway so if you are looking for pan-seared halibut (instead of crab legs), the best restaurant might be in Juneau.