Copper10-8

Day 8 - Wednesday 03 May 23 - Skagway (con't) Some pics of the rockslide off the railroad dock as it occurred last August (#1), the damage caused (#2), and as it looks today (#3). There working on installing additional bollards for the RR Dock so that they can move ships berthing there further away from the rockslide area. Norwegian Bliss was scheduled to use the railroad dock during her first visit of the 2023 Alaska season last month. Unknown if that occurred. Tonight, we chose to go watch the first performance of the Step One Dance Company pre-dinner at 7:00 PM. This particular group had just boarded Nieuw A last Sunday in Vancouver. Their show, “Humanity”, combines dance and technology and the company puts a lot of energy and passion into it!. We have seen this show numerous times now and we like it. It is however, time for some new shows for this dance company since they (the shows) have to be at least five years old. They were performing them pre-Covid. It would be a good move on HAL’s part to bring back the former cast with the four vocalists and six dancers. After the show, we had a 8:15 PM dinner reservation at the Pinnacle Grill. Pablo, our PG steward from the Dominican Republic, has been replaced by Violet from Zimbabwe. We both chose the Heart of Romaine Caesar Salad: parmesan, garlic croutons, no anchovies, for the appetizer; the 8 ounce Filet Mignon with mashed potatoes for the main; and ice cream for desert. There was an Orange Party inside the B.B. King’s Blues Club at 9:30 PM however, by the time we arrived post-dinner, it had been concluded and its place taken by the B.B. King’s All-Star Band, once again playing to a full house and a packed dance floor. Tomorrow (Thursday) is our visit to Glacier Bay National Park. The weather forecast in the bay calls for a very nice day

Day 8 – Wednesday 03 MAY 23 – Skagway, AK So, after departing Juneau last evening, we traversed our course from Tuesday morning, but now down, not up, the Gastineau Channel, into Fitz Cove/Stephens Passage and down around the southern tip of Douglas Island, north via Chatham Strait to the southern tip of the Lynn Canal. Lynn Canal was explored by Joseph Whidbey in 1794 and named by George Vancouver for his birthplace, King’s Lynn, Norfolk, England. The Lynn Canal is an inlet, not an artificial canal, about 90 miles in length and over 2,000 feet in depth. It is the deepest fjord in North America and one of the deepest and longest in the world. At the northern tip of the Lynn Canal, in a narrow-glaciated valley at the head of the Taiya Inlet, the unique gold rush town of Skagway is an artifact of the Klondike Gold Rush that made it infamous. In 1897, prompted by the cry “Gold in the Yukon!” thousands of prospectors gathered supplies and headed north in search of fame and fortune. Sitting at the terminus of the Inside Passage, Skagway provided a port and resting point for gold-seekers before embarking on the difficult ascent up the Chilkoot and White Passes in search of gold. Not surprisingly, Skagway’s population mushroomed from 2 to 10,000 quickly making it Alaska’s largest metropolis with all the amenities of a real city. Today, Skagway is a first-class borough and formerly a city incorporated in 1900 with a population of 862. However, that same population doubles in the summer tourist season to more than 900,000 visitors. Skagway (originally spelled Skaguay) comes from the Tlingit name for the area, "Skagua" or "Shgagwèi" meaning "a windy place with 'white caps on the water." Most of the downtown district forms part of the Klondike Gold Rush National Historic Park, a unit of the national park system dedicated to commemorating and interpreting the frenzied stampede. Our assigned berth this morning was the Broadway Dock, and we would be the only show in town. Skagway actually has four cruise ship docks: the Broadway, the Ore, the Railroad dock forward and the Railroad dock aft. On June 23, 2022, a rockslide, followed by two more on August 3 and August 5, resulted in the closure of the Railroad Dock (both berths) to cruise ships, a big hit to the local community. The third slide caused considerable damage to shipping containers placed along the length of the dock and used to block/protect pedestrians/cruise ship passengers from falling rocks. The city and borough have been hard at work repairing the Railroad Dock, as well as securing the area below any potential new rockslides. A series of nets and barriers have been set up on the slope to slow down and catch any falling rock. Some cruise ships assigned to the two berths of the Railroad Dock are considering “hot berth” arrangements. This would mean one large ship docks for a shorter time period, 5-6 hours, but stays in readiness for a faster departure. In the early afternoon, that ship would depart, while another large ship takes its place, well outside the rockslide risk area. Looking at the 2023 Skagway cruise ship schedule, HAL ships will only be using the Broadway Dock (like we did today) and the Ore Dock, so not the Railroad dock. As a side note, on March 19, 2023, the Municipality and Borough of Skagway assumed control of the Ore dock from the White Pass and Yukon Route Railway, which has leased the facility since 1968. Last fall, Skagway voters approved a $65m bond to replace the aging Ore dock with a modern multipurpose dock. It will feature a 550-foot floating pier, already under construction in Washington state and set to be installed after the 2023 cruise season ends, ready for the 2024 season. This will enable the dock to handle ore and cruise ships simultaneously. We had a shorex scheduled today in Skagway called Musher's Camp and S’mores Roasting Experience. Coming off the ship in Skagway, especially this early in the season, exposes you to the Skagway wind tunnel, meaning the walk down or up the dock with the cold air coming from the Lynn Canal blowing you in the face. To their credit, Nieuw Amsterdam put a welcoming committee out on the base of the gangway and in that same icy wind tunnel, consisting of Hotel General Manager Ruben, Front Desk Manager Ruben (not related), Executive Housekeeper Michiel, Hotel Executive Assistant Ivy, Helena Assistant Hotel General Manager, and Cruise & Travel Director Kimberly. Great job ladies and gents! After our little trek down the dock, we met “Boston Jimmie” our guide and driver at the base who directed us to an airport car rental-type van, which would be our ride to the former town of Dyea and the musher’s camp. During the bus ride, we learned a lot about Skagway. For example: This year, Skagway had the highest percentage of high school graduates in Alaska. 100% of the seniors graduated, all five of them. Jimmie told us that “The prom was kinda awkward.” After about 25 minutes/11 miles, we reached the former town of Dyea, once a thriving gold rush town. it is now largely abandoned and is located at the convergence of the Taiya River and Taiya Inlet on the south side of the Chilkoot Pass. The walk inside the musher’s camp took about 10 minutes up a path and across a creek. There were many humorous signs describing this area as a kind of educational camp for the dogs. We were guided to a small, covered area where a vet tech explained the history of dogsledding. After some instruction on how to properly hold them and caress their little paws, it was time to meet the about seven-week-old puppies and their mum, Tina. The same vet tech took five out of the litter of seven pups out of their pen, we each got to hold some of these very cute future star athletes. Holding these little pups is an important part of the socialization process that is essential to their future racing success. Last up was a walk to the fire pits where we were given a wooden stick with pointy end and package of s’mores ingredients (eight marshmallows, a couple of graham crackers and a Hershey chocolate bar) and start roasting s’mores. This experience includes toasting the graham cracker, warming the chocolate, and roasting the perfect marshmallow, then combining it all for a pretty tasty s’more! We learned some more Skagway tidbits from Jimmie on the way back to the ship. Most of our fellow s’mores eaters chose to be dropped off in downtown Skagway while we chose to return to Nieuw A. Overall, an interesting shorex! All Aboard in Skagway was at 7:30 PM and Nieuw A was off the Broadway Dock shortly thereafter. We sailed down that same Lynn Canal, passing the community of Haines on our starboard side. Capt. van Donselaar then executed a hook shank to starboard and rounded Point Couverden, turning into Icy Strait (thus named when the entire Glacier Bay was a glacier with its calving ice drifting via this “icy strait” into the open sea). Our next destination was Glacier Bay National Park and its mighty glaciers To be con't

So, in response to your inquiry, Nieuw A is scheduled to take on 1,949 new pax this Sunday in Vancouver on her 14-day Great Alaskan Explorer! In addition, there will be a group of "in-transits" staying onboard, unlike us 🥹 Nice itinerary; enjoy! Be sure to see the B.B. King's All-Stars! They are awesome!

Day 7 – Tuesday 02 MAY 23 – Juneau, AK This morning, Nieuw Amsterdam turned up the Chatham Strait, the narrow passage of the Alexander Archipelago which separates Chichagof Island and Baranof Island to its west from Admiralty Island and Kuiu Island on its east side. From Chatham Strait, we turned into Frederick Sound, also known as Prince Frederick Sound or Prince Frederick's Sound. Frederick Sound is also located in the Alexander Archipelago and separates Kupreanof Island to the south from big Admiralty Island to the north. Frederick Sound was named by Captain George Vancouver for Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany. The town of Kake is situated on the northwest coast of Kupreanof Island and that’s also were the Kake/Cornwallis pilot station, which is served by the Southeast Alaska Pilotage Area, is located. It covers the waters from Dixon Entrance to Yakutat Bay and is a compulsory pilotage area. The town name comes from a Tlingit word that means “mouth of dawn” or “opening of daylight”. So around 0730 hours, we picked up not one, but two, pilots from their boat ‘Vallenar.’ Once they were on board, Nieuw Amsterdam continued in Frederick Sound. Frederick Sound led us into Stephens Passage, the channel which runs between Admiralty Island to the west and the Alaska mainland and Douglas Island to the east, and is about 105 miles long. Our destination, Juneau, the capitol of Alaska, is located near the north end, on the Gastineau Channel. Gastineau Channel separates Juneau on the mainland side from Douglas (now part of Juneau), on Douglas Island. The first European to sight the channel was Joseph Whidbey early in August 1794, first from the south and later from the west. It was probably named for John Gastineau, an English Civil Engineer and Surveyor. The channel is navigable by large ships only from the southeast as far as the Douglas Bridge, approximately 9.7 miles. So, we proceeded up the Gastineau Channel to our berth. Today we were assigned the No. 2 position, which is the Alaska Cruise Ship Terminal (CT) berth. We were safely berthed, port side to, at 1447 hrs. so just 47 minutes late from our original arrival time of 2:00 PM. Capt. Jeroen had done his magic again! The big shore-side gangways were attached to Decks 2 and 3 via a fork lift, lovingly known by its drivers as “Big Bertha”, followed by Juneau Port Agent Ryan and a CBP agent coming onboard to clear the ship for all pax and crew, meaning we were good to go. The only other cruise ship in port with us today on this dreary/rainy day was our friend from Victoria and Vancouver, Discovery Princess, berthed at the Franklin Street Dock. All aboard today would be a 10:30 PM and hour later then originally scheduled in order to compensate for the Canada Place delay. Juneau is the capital city of Alaska. It is a unified municipality located in the Alaskan panhandle and is the second largest city in the United States by area. It has been the capital of Alaska since 1906, when the government of the then District of Alaska was moved from Sitka as dictated by the U.S. Congress in 1900. The municipality unified on July 1, 1970, when the city of Juneau merged with the city of Douglas and the surrounding Greater Juneau Borough to form the current home rule municipality. The area of Juneau is larger than that of Rhode Island and Delaware individually and almost as large as the two states combined. Downtown Juneau is nestled at the base of Mount Juneau and across from Douglas Island. The city is rather unusual among U.S. capitals in that there are no roads connecting Juneau to the rest of Alaska or the rest of North America (though ferry service is available for cars). Juneau is named after gold prospector Joe Juneau, though the place was for a time called Rockwell and then Harrisburg (after Juneau's co-prospector, Richard Harris). The Tlingit name of the town is Dzántik'i Héeni ("Base of the Flounder’s River"), and Auke Bay just north of Juneau proper is called Áak'w ("Little lake") in Tlingit. The Taku River, just south of Juneau, was named after the cold t'aakh wind, which occasionally blows down from the mountains. We originally had a shore excursion here by the name of Sentinel Lighthouse & Whale Watching Cruise which would leave the ship at 4:35 PM. Unfortunately, this was one of several to be cancelled due to the inclement weather today. We received a full refund. What to do instead? Easy, revert back to my former crew member life and grab a cab in front of the Red Dog Saloon and have him take us to the Fred Meyer supermarket/department/super store located about 15 minutes north of town on Glacier Highway. We needed some supplies; those cheap Bic razor blades I had purchased in San Diego at the last minute just weren’t cutting it. Well, they were cutting but at the same time I was donating blood and that wasn’t the plan. Plus I knew Fred Meyer has a Starbucks, just about the only one in Juneau so off we went in the drizzle. Our cabbie was Ryan, a bit of a free spirit originally from Iowa We did our thing at Fred Meyer and got back onboard Nieuw A at about 6:45 PM, 30 minutes prior to feeding time in the main dining room. Our lead dining room steward is Al from Indonesia while his assistant is Alan, surprisingly from the Philippines. Looks like the Filipinos have now also spread out to the dining room, good for them! Back at the AK Cruise Terminal, there was a pretty cool looking small cruise ship moored at the inner berth. It turned out to be the 86-passenger Wilderness Legacy from UN Cruise Adventures (formerly American Safari Cruises). At first glance, she looks like an early Victorian steamer and apparently has carved wooden cabinetry and a grand salon complete with a dance floor, full bar, and old-world charm. She was built in 1984 at Signal Ship Repair in Mobile, Al as Pilgrim Belle but is prob. best known as Spirit of '98 operated by Cruise West small ship operator. Nice looking ship! The main entertainment tonight at 7:00 and 8:30 PM in the Main Stage were the “Native Voices of the Tlingit People”. We unfortunately had to miss it due to grazing. We once again closed out the night with the B.B. King’s All-Stars who are playing to standing room only and have the dance floor hopping. The lead female vocalist is Izzy from Memphis and her male counterpart is Cole. They are awesome! Tomorrow is our second Alaskan port, that being Skagway!

I will attempt to get that info for you. The 3 ships in port will be Nieuw Amsterdam, Noordam and Brilliance OTS

HAL for many years has had national flags on crew name tags. They indicate the language that particular crew member is fluent in besides English, so you will see a lot of Dutch, Spanish, Italian, German, and French flags behind a name. That's as close as they've come to identifying a particular crew member's nationality which it really doesn't

Hey Roy; nope, not going to Prince Rupert, actually never been there. Looks like cruise ships use the BC Ferries dock or am I mistaken?

Thanks Nancy! They're supposed to be negotiating with the Lincoln Center Stage folks, so time will tell. We noticed in the program today that the Third Avenue West trio who are playing in the Ocean Bar, at least today, have extended their hours and are now performing there at 5:00, 6:00, 8:30 and 9:30 PM. We haven't heard them yet but will have to make a point to do so. We are inside Glacier Bay National Park today so we are enjoying the expert "play-by-play" by National Park Rangers from the bridge who came onboard this morning at Bartlett Cove off Point Gustavus

Day 6 – Monday 01 MAY 23 – At Sea / Cruising the Inside Passage So, after departing Vancouver, Nieuw A’s navigators set a course for cruising the Canadian portion of the inside passage. Nieuw Amsterdam subsequently left English Bay behind and began chugging along the Strait of Georgia on a northerly course between the Canadian mainland and Vancouver Island, timing her speed and course carefully in order to arrive at Seymour Narrows bright and early at 0200 hours during slack tide (the moment the current goes from ebbing to flooding or vice versa). The problem was that traffic in that area is tightly controlled due to the narrowness of the passage for ships going in either direction. The delay we encountered in departing Vancouver late due to the zoo inside Canada Place would have a slinky effect in traversing the Narrows, which subsequently caused us a delay in arriving in Juneau on Tuesday afternoon. Seymour Narrows is a 3.1-mile section of the Discovery Passage in British Columbia, known for strong tidal currents as well as dangerous conditions such as whirlpools and overfalls. Discovery Passage lies between Vancouver Island at Menzies Bay and Quadra Island except at its northern end where the eastern shoreline is Sonra Island. The section known as Seymour Narrows begins about 11 miles from the south end of Discovery Passage where it enters the Strait of Georgia near Cape Mudge and the community of Campbell River. For most of the length of the narrows, the channel is about 820 yards wide. Through this narrow channel, currents can reach 15 knots or 17 miles per hour. Canadian pilots are mandatory to be present on the bridge for that reason. After Nieuw A’s bridge team successfully transited Seymour Narrows and Discovery Passage, albeit later than scheduled, Chatham Point and its 90-degree turn, Race Passage, Johnstone Strait, Blackney Passage (another 90-degree turn), and Blackfish Sound were entered and followed, passing Port Hardy. When we awakened at our usual 7:15 AM time slot on Monday morning, we were in between Port Hardy and Alert Bay, a village on Cormorant Island, near the town of Port McNeill on northeast Vancouver Island. There used to be a local resident there who was known as the “Alert Bay Trumpeter”, real name Jerry Higginson, who would come out in his small boat adorned with the Canadian and United States national colors, to meet passing cruise ships in this area. He would serenade those cruise ship pax on his trumpet by playing “Oh Canada”, “the Star-Spangled Banner”, and “When the Saints go marching on” and, when finished, would receive a rousing round of applause and cheers from many of those pax assembled on the open decks and/or balconies. If Jerry is still playing, we hope to see him on the return trip next Saturday. We had our customary breakfast in the PG and learned that Pablo, one of our main servers, would be leaving us in Juneau tomorrow, flying home to Santo Domingo in his native Dominican Republic via Seattle and New York City. We will miss her service. The weather was pretty much overcast all day long with periods of drizzle. Nieuw Amsterdam by then had sailed via Queen Charlotte Strait into the open (Pacific) ocean arm of Queen Charlotte Sound, keeping the Haida Gwaii Islands (formerly the Queen Charlotte Islands) to our west and dropping off the two BC pilots at Triple Island (just outside Prince Rupert, BC). Although it is considered inland waters, the Sound is more than twenty-five miles wide at places. Next up was Hecate Strait to enter U.S waters west bound at the Dixon Entrance. While this was all happening, we had a lunch reservation inside the Pinnacle Grill at 12:00 Noon sharp. We were once again served by Pablo. Maria chose the Spinach Arugula Salad: Avocado orange, organic seeds, creamy lemon dressing, Gorgonzola, air-dried apples, Roasted Jidori Chicken with Porcini Mushrooms: Cider vinegar jus, quinoa-forbidden rice cake, mâché salad, toasted pistachios; and Strawberry Pavlova: Strawberry consommé, basil, while I had the Tomato Broth with Spicy Lemongrass Chicken: Kaffir lime, cilantro; Pinnacle Burger: Bacon jam, garlic chipotle aioli, Beecher’s cheddar cheese, cabernet red onions, avocado, French fries; and premium ice cream. After leaving Dixon Entrance behind, Nieuw Amsterdam entered the Pacific Ocean proper at Cape Muzon, and started following the west coast of Prince of Wales Island. Dinner for us was a new one as we haven’t been in the main dining room yet on this, day 6 of this voyage. Tonight was once again a dressy night with the majority of folks making at least some effort in looking presentable. We were led to our table for six, all the way aft, port side where we met our table mates, all three Canadians; Donna and Tom from Port Moody, BC via Prince Albert, SK, and Des from Coquitlam, BC. Good conversation ensued and dinner was nice! Followed this up with the comedy and magic of Craig Diamond in the main show lounge, and closed the night out with the B.B. King’s All-Star band. Tomorrow (Tuesday) is our stop at Alaska’s State Capital, Juneau.

Day 5 – Sunday 30 APR 23 – Vancouver, BC, Canada / Turnaround Day (con't) However, we got an bit of a nasty surprise upon entering the departure area with at least 2,000 pax for three ships waiting to be screened by CP’s private security folks. Besides Nieuw A at the CP North berth, there was RCI’s Brilliance of the Seas at the CP West berth in front of us, and the really big Discovery Princess at the CP East berth. Yes, this was the first time in the 2023 Alaska season that Canada Place had three cruise ships in port, but come on now, they’ve done if for many, many years in a row, and know, or should know, how the game is played! The left hand/right hand not knowing what the other is doing, for example, upon seeing the sea of humanity in front of us, very slowly streaming through at least three rooms slinky-style, we showed our “in-transit” cards to a nearby CP rep and asked her if we had to be in that mother of all lines. Her response was “Yes, everyone needs to go through security”. So, of course we understood that part but the vast majority of the pax in Canada Place this afternoon were newly embarking folks. There was no way, we could make All Aboard time in those lines. We shuffled along – the lines were moving albeit slow – for about 10-15 minutes until we spotted another rep and asked her the same question. Well guess what, “Oh no, in-transit pax can follow the crew lines!” Awwwrighty then, out the line we and underneath the tape we went, to the crew line where, as old times, there was no waiting. We quickly arrived at the X-ray machines and magnetometers and went through like a piece of cake. We were onboard Nieuw A at 3:25 PM but there was absolutely now way, any embarking Nieuw A pax still in that line downstairs would make it onboard on time. We found out later on that Capt. Jeroen made it know to the Canada Place staff that he was not leaving until all his newly embarking pax had made it onboard, which they did, but resulted in a departure delay for us and a slinky effect down line. For non-embarking today folks like us, we did not have to complete another muster process. We also learned that our lead stateroom steward, Riza, had been transferred to another section. His replacement was Ishlah as in La Isla Bonita, one of Madonna’s hits. Our/his No. 2 guy from last week, Abdul, is still here. In Vancouver you can always tell when a ship you’re on is about to depart, why? One of the longshoremen on the pier will sound an air horn, a sign that the automated airport-like gangways are about to be retracted and stowed. That was done at about 4:35 after which Nieuw A let go of her lines and one of the two Jeroens slowly steamed her out and away from Canada Place until there was enough space to start following Burrard Inlet in the direction of the Lions Gate Bridge. We were being escorted by the Vancouver Port Authority patrol boat VFPA 4. We crossed underneath that same Lions Gate Bridge, dropped off the Vancouver harbor pilot at the Brochie pilot station, and started chugging up the Strait of Georgia. The entertainment tonite was an 8:00 PM presentation by cruise & travel director Kimberly who introduced the Great Land to us under the title “We are Alaska”. It went into Alaska’s history, its people and wildlife, and the history of HAL: and Alaska. The other entertainment on this first of seven nights were the Third Avenue West trio in the Ocean Bar at 5:00 and 6:00 PM; the Billboard Onboard piano due of Torrey and Wes at 8;30, 9:45 and 10:30 PM; and the B.B. King’s All-Star Band at 8:16, 8:15 and 10:15 PM; followed by Dancing to the Hits at 11:00 PM to closing. Tomorrow (Monday) is a sea day of cruising the Canadian Inside Passage; See ya then!

Supposed to be pretty much raining here all day long, imagine that! Better weather predicted for Skagway tomorrow. Lots of shore excursions got cancelled today, incl. ours so we're going to Plan B

Day 5 – Sunday 30 APR 23 – Vancouver, BC, Canada / Turnaround Day So today ended the four-day Pacific Coastal in Vancouver, officially making it “turnaround day”. The majority of folks leaving Nieuw A today had been onboard Ft. Lauderdale, FL, making the Panama Canal transit. The second largest group were our shipmates who had joined in San Diego, but only to go to Vancouver. We were in a category officially designated as being “in Transit”, in other words, we were staying on. Everyone on Nieuw A had to be seen this morning by either U.S. Customs & Border Protection (CBP) or by Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) agents. Vancouver being one of several cities where U.S. CBP agents are stationed for pre-clearance of folks traveling back to the U.S. or, in our case, for pre-clearance to reenter the U.S. in Alaska after having been abroad in Canada. It was our plan to be seen, and then right away go into Vancouver proper via the Hop on Hop off bus which we knew had a stop in front of Canada Place. But first things first! We had ordered room service to be delivered at 0845 hours. It was, and it was hot, except for the toast, which is not easy to do. Next up was to meet our fellow in-transit pax inside the B.B. Kings’ Blues Club at 0915 hours where our names and stateroom number were checked off the list and we were asked to have a seat with, by the looks of it, about 28-32 other in-transit pax. After about a 25 min. wait, we were escorted off the gangway to the very long glass corridor that runs alongside CP Berths North and West and that’s where the fun started. A Canada Place shoreside rep asked the group if everyone in that queue was going back onboard Nieuw A after being cleared. In response, one other couple and we raised our limbs and stated that we wanted to go into town. “Ok, follow me” was the agent’s response. She took us out of the line and in and out of some adjoining room until we reached another Canada Place rep who pointed us to a line and stated “this is for U.S. and Canadian pax only” Ok, no prob, in the line we went which took us to a series of self-service kiosks where we wound up responding to CBP - inspection related questions after which we had to submit biographic information, and had a glorious pic taken. The machine spit out a receipt with that same pic on it, which we had to take to a U.S. CBP agent at the end of the line for visible screening. The entire process took about 10-15 minutes which was great! So, we thought were done but when we told yet another CP rep that we were going into town she told us “Oh, you will have to go through that loop one more time” and took us to our starting point, that same very long glass corridor where we had started at. Wazzup with that? We followed the same path but now concentrated on signs that stated “to the city” and were finally in familiar territory, that being the parking garage where the buses pick you up drop you off. We never saw a CBSA checkpoint and/or agent but were trusting that the E311 declaration card we had filled out in Victoria yesterday took care of business! It all seemed a bit chaotic to us with the left hand of the Canada Place reps not really knowing what the right hand was doing, but hey, we got there. So at approx. 10:45 AM, we entered the very nice Pan Pacific hotel which is located adjacent to and on top of Canada Place. Maria checked in with her mum by phone to make sure everything was A-OK on the home front, it was, Afterwards, we walked to a concierge desk and ordered two tickets on the Vancouver City Hop on Hop off bus which had a convenient drop off/pick up point (stop #1) in front of the hotel on Canada Place. So the Vancouver Hop on Hop off bus, not a double decker, more a converted school bus with the bench seats and clear-top roofs, makes a total of thirteen stops throughout the city at such landmarks as Harbourfront, Stanley Park, Granville Island, the Entertainment District, the Sports District (think Rogers Area and the Vancouver Canucks) Library Square, Chinatown, the Gastown Steamclock, etc. The weather today was not great but only the big guy upstairs can control that. We did half a loop and got off at the Granville Island and walked northbound to the public market to look around. Reminded us a lot of Quincy Market in Boston, Mass with all the food stalls, etc. We wound up grabbing a bite to eat at the Keg Steakhouse & Bar which was tasty. Back on the bus, we completed the loop via Chinatown and Gastown which ultimately brought us back to Canada Place around 2:45 PM with an All-Aboard time on Nieuw Amsterdam at 3:30 PM. We like the hop on hop off concept; it gives you a taste of a city and you'll have a chance to go back and hone in on a certain area later on. To be con't

Somehow I knew they couldn't keep you from cruising! 😃 Hang in there, mi amigo!

We're gonna swing around and go port side alongside with her butt to the webcam. Any noise makers taking off yet?

Hi Roy! How are you doing? We talked about you with Ann and Pat in Victoria

Captain Jeroen actually made up time using his super secret extra azi-pod mid-ships! It's 1440 hrs. / 2:40 PM local here, so only 45 min late

Better call Starbucks inside Fred Meyers..........

Should be in view now

In Gastineau Channel now heading north

We are about to exit Stephens Passage and cross over into the Gastineau Channel

Picked up the two pilots - pretty cool job sailing with us until Ketchikan on Friday - and making the transition from Frederick Sound to Stephens Passage

Nieuw A is now arriving in Juneau at 3:30 PM instead of 2 PM local (so an hour and a half late) due to the late departure from Vancouver, and will have an all aboard time of 10:30 PM instead of 9:30 PM. We are currently in Chatham Strait, the one that separates Chichagof Island and Baranof Island to its west from big Admiralty Island and Kulu Island on its east, and will be picking up the two compulsory Alaska pilots in about 40 min. at Kake pilot station

Also, when she does arrive tomorrow, Nieuw A will be swinging around and go port side alongside the AK Cruise Terminal dock with her stern towards the webcam atop the Hangar. It is supposed to be raining pretty much all day in Joe's town

Nieuw A is prob going to be late arriving In Juneau tomorrow due to the mess inside Canada Place yesterday which caused a delay in departure from Vancouver, and had a slinky effect in going through the Discovery Passage and Seymour Narrows

Hey Ann; good to hear! 😉 nope, we were not the last ones! All aboard was at 10:30 PM. Say hi to Pat for us!