Last Riffs and Testament

One enduring memory will be of the blue ice chunks floating past us as we cruised (literally!) into Juneau, and then the next day into Disenchantment Bay.  The first chunk I saw I thought must be some cool small boat or something, but then realize there were more, and they were glacial chunks.  The first set made their way down from Mendenhall Glacier. 

Btw, Disenchantment Bay is perhaps the worst name ever.  It should be Enchantment Bay for the beauty.  Yes, I realize the historical context, but it's not much of a sales point when you say -- "and then we went to Disenchantment Bay."  I'm not happy with the name. . .in fact, I'm (wait for it. . .) disenchanted with it.

Alaska is great, but cruising the big ships is not our thing.  The stops were great, but not long enough -- we spent too much time at sea.  After a while, it felt too much like rest and not a vacation.  This does not mean all cruises are bad (we loved the Athens to Istanbul route), just that Alaska is SO big that you spend too much time cruising and not enough time sightseeing/adverturing.  It's also a reminder of what a big state it is.

We're not activities people -- I enjoyed the CPAC sessions that I could attend (I missed a lot because of work), and the Tai Chi lessons (although we only made two).  I also tried two rounds of acupuncture on my bad ankle (jury is out -- short-term relief yes, long-term not really).  We went to various others, but not too many -- not our thing.  The food was good, but not spectacular -- which I understand when cooking for 2,000 people.

There's also a lot of waiting around -- to get into port, to get on a tender, to get cleared to go into port. 

Again, it's a good way to see Alaska I suppose -- it would take quite some time to travel to each area we went to, and the airfare is quite expensive. 

I will give high marks to the shore excursions.  With the Windstar, we didn't do any of their shore excursions.  With the Westerdam, we did four -- whale watching/nature walk by Carol and Torie, extreme glacier trekking by Maddy and I, sea kayaking by all four, and float plane/catamaran by all four.  The excursion operators have their act together really, really well.  And, obviously, the ship has done a great job in offering those -- and lots of other excursions -- to folks.

I guess the point is -- more time on land, and less at sea.  Carol got sick twice -- once from a very rolly Pacific Ocean (understandable -- the seas were rough), and once from what may have been questionable food.  I got the same food thing.  I will point out that we both soldiered on -- Carol felt iffy after Ketchikan, while I felt iffy on Victoria Day.

Yes, I know the folks who run the shore excursions make much of their money from cruise ships -- the towns roll up when the ships aren't in port -- but they were all great, talkative people happy to answer questions, and respectful of their clients.  One tour person I talked with said the cruise ships are great -- working with tour operators rather than bulldozing them.

Salmon for dinner tonight! 

How to remember the five types of salmon?  Thumb for Chum.  Forefinger means Sockeye, because you'll poke with it.  Middle finger is the biggest -- so that's the King,   The ring finger represents silver or gold, but there's only Silver salmon, and the pinkie is for the Pink Salmon.

We traveled by cruise ship.  And helicopter.  And bus.  And shuttle bus.  And minivan.  And float plane.  And catamaran.  And open raft.  And tender.  And sea kayak.  And taxi.  And, of course, foot.

I would have liked a bit more time in Ketchikan.  Oh, and more time in Misty Fjords.  Oh, and another excursion in Juneau.

Okay, we're disappointed in not seeing bears up close, but we can't do everything.  It's not like we would have given up whale watching, extreme glaciering, sea kayaking, or the floatplane trip to Misty Fjords.  Seeing the salmon spawning was magical.  And, we never got tired of whales.  I just wish I could have seen an Orca. 

By the way, it was great seeing a LOT of people really, really enjoy the cruise ship.  Great way for disabled folks to get around, and have dinner with an 87/85 year old couple was amazing.  The girls liked it because I wasn't always force marching them to the next thing (although they'll appreciate it more when they are older.  I think.)