Trippingpara's 'Legend'ary Alaskan Cruise Photographic Review

...and yet some more shots from Crystal Mountain...

.

I almost forgot that I'm writing a review here! Where was I?...

Oh yeah, we spent about an hour slowly meandering down a trail before turning around and heading back to the peak for lunch at the Summit House Restaurant, the highest restaurant in Washington State. Surprisingly, the food was excellent!! Not sure why, but I wasn’t expecting it to be very good. I just expected it to be overpriced. It was a bit on the pricey side but it was very good too, so combined with the incredible view, I guess you could say that it was worth it.

The Summit House Restaurant

After lunch, we went out and hiked down a different trail. The beautiful thing about Crystal Mountain is, the view constantly changes. Almost every step you take changes the view. It was incredible! We were also lucky having some great company with Lady Trip-sis and her hubby, Sir Tripalot. Laughs and smiles were a constant event during our hikes, making it that much better.

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, so we finally decided to call it a day and pack it in. We put our borrowed hiking poles back and hopped onto the next gondola down. Once we arrived back at base camp, a quick trip to the gift shop and then we loaded back into the van and headed back to Seattle.

One of the many farms we passed on our way home.

Luck was again in our favor and the traffic was great. Before we knew it, we were back in Kent. But before stopping at Lady Trip-sis’ house, we made a quick stop at the nearby Lake Meriden. It’s a fairly decent sized lake that is only blocks from their home. A pretty nice little piece of paradise in their backyard. We are soooo jealous!!!

Once we were back at the house, we spent the rest of the evening, chatting, joking and generally enjoying each other’s company. Of course, Rooney got a fair share of petting too. Even though she constantly knitted my hand, arm, leg or any part of my body that she could fit into her mouth. I never knew that greyhounds did that. Apparently, it is normal behavior for them when they are excited. I guess that’s some weird kind of compliment?

Anyways, the day was drawing to a close and the crisp mountain air and sun was starting to take its toll and yawns abounded. As we said good night and headed to bed, the sad realization sunk in that this was our last night with them. We had such a great time and it was so hard to leave.

Next up: Embarkation...

.

Tuesday, August 28th

Seattle, Washington

It’s embarkation day. I woke up with a battle of emotions raging in my head. I didn’t want to leave Seattle. We were having such a great time visiting my sister and brother-in-law but we were so excited to officially start our Alaskan cruise.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, Mr. Time made the decision for us. It was time to head out to the Cove Smith Cruise Terminal at Pier 91! We made a quick stop at a huge liquor store to load up on wine for the cruise. Thankfully, Lady Trip-sis just happens to be a bit of a wine connoisseur and knows quite a bit about the local wines. They were able to recommend a couple great wines and surprised us by grabbing a couple bottles for us. They are so awesome!!!

But the time came that we had to say our goodbyes. Not being big on drawn out goodbyes, they slowed the van down enough to open the side doors, kick our luggage out and allowed us to tuck and roll without too much damage or injury. We’re such a loving family! Seriously though, we pulled into the lane marked for private vehicles, unloaded and grudgingly said out goodbyes and headed over to the cruise terminal to check in. We dropped our bags off and headed upstairs to check in.

Since we had a suite, we had priority access so we hopped into the priority line and were checked in in less than five minutes. Super quick and easy! We had arrived around 10:30 am and we boarded the Legend by 11:15 am. We were one of the first ones aboard the ship. Our room was ready but our luggage was not (suite priority does not include luggage priority). Since our room was ready, we were able to drop off our carry-ons and head up to the Lido Deck to grab some lunch.

I think we were the first ones there as they were just putting the food out in the buffet. Yummy! Hot and fresh! We sat down and scarfed down our food and headed out to explore the ship. For some reason, I was really struggling with figuring the Legend out. Usually, I have a mental map of the ship and can figure out where I am and where I want to go. Here, I just wasn't able to do that. I had to keep looking out the window to see which direction the ship was going so I could figure out which way was forward and aft. This was also compounded by the fact that some areas were closed off for the crew’s use during embarkation.

We made a few pitstops at the various bars that were open and of course, we had to break in our in-cabin bar as well. Can’t forget about that one!!

Before we knew it, it was time for muster drill. We made our way down to the 3rd deck to Muster Station “C” which was outside. While waiting, the captain called out several cabins for still not being at the muster drill. A few minutes later, they started the drill. It was almost impossible to hear what was being said. The longshoremen were still loading the ship just feet away from us, so there was no way to hear the announcements over the racket from all of the forklifts and cranes moving tons of equipment and stores onto the ship. I just pray that we don’t need to actually use any of the information that was supposedly provided to us during that drill!

Afterwards, we headed up to the Lido Deck for the Sail Away Party.

Seattle sails away into the distance as we depart Puget Sound towards the open Pacific Ocean.

Like I had read before, it was pretty quick. Even though it was actually pretty hot out in the sun, it quickly cooled down once the ship started sailing. We eventually made our way back down to our cabin to enjoy our wrap around balcony and watched Seattle sail into the distance. We then showered and got dressed for our reservation at the Nouveau Steakhouse.

As I stated earlier, the food and service there was phenomenal!!! As I sit here hours later, I am still stuffed!!!! (Yes, I actually do write this journal during our vacation) Anyhow, we finished our desert, drank our coffee and headed back to our room to refit and refresh ourselves for the rest of our night. Next up, the Welcome Abroad Show followed by the adult’s only comedy show of Tim Young.

The Welcome Abroad Show was…well, not very entertaining. Adam, the CD was trying very hard to be funny. Sometimes, his jokes hit and other times, not so much. We left about half way through to head downstairs to the Firebird Lounge to make sure that we got a seat for the comedy show. We keep forgetting that this is an Alaskan cruise not a Caribbean cruise. The nightlife is VERY different here! We got to the Firebird Lounge about 20 minutes before the show. Normally, the place would already be filling up on a Caribbean cruise. Here, there were only about 15 people already sitting there. The rest didn’t show up until the show was set to start at 10:30 pm. Even then, there were a lot of open seats available.

The comedian was quite funny and his skit seemed to be completely off-the-cuff as he primarily just interacted with the crowd. He was quick with his retorts and was really good. We’d go back and see him again. The drink service there was definitely lacking and I finally gave up waiting for the waiter who kept walking around aimlessly and went to the bartender myself.

Nonetheless, we still had fun and I absolutely loved the décor of the Firebird Lounge. It was based on one of my all-time favorite fairytales, The Firebird, a famous Russian fairytale that I read when I studied in Moscow.

When the comedy show ended, we walked around the ship to see what else was happening. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. The only life to be found anywhere was primarily in the casino. A few people were dancing in the Red Frog Pub to the band, Murphy’s Law and a couple were also dancing in the Medusa’s Lair dance club but that was about it. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Carnival ship that empty at 11:00 pm. Especially when the following day was a sea day!!

Wow, so not used to this! Anyways, we decided to follow suit and headed back to our room. Of course, the fact that we had a small bar going on in our room also aided in that decision!! Until next time…

Next up: Sea Day

.

Tuesday, August 28th

 

Seattle, Washington

 

 

 

 

 

It’s embarkation day. I woke up with a battle of emotions raging in my head. I didn’t want to leave Seattle. We were having such a great time visiting my sister and brother-in-law but we were so excited to officially start our Alaskan cruise.

 

 

 

Fortunately, or unfortunately, Mr. Time made the decision for us. It was time to head out to the Cove Smith Cruise Terminal at Pier 91! We made a quick stop at a huge liquor store to load up on wine for the cruise. Thankfully, Lady Trip-sis just happens to be a bit of a wine connoisseur and knows quite a bit about the local wines. They were able to recommend a couple great wines and surprised us by grabbing a couple bottles for us. They are so awesome!!!

 

 

 

But the time came that we had to say our goodbyes. Not being big on drawn out goodbyes, they slowed the van down enough to open the side doors, kick our luggage out and allowed us to tuck and roll without too much damage or injury. We’re such a loving family! Seriously though, we pulled into the lane marked for private vehicles, unloaded and grudgingly said out goodbyes and headed over to the cruise terminal to check in. We dropped our bags off and headed upstairs to check in.

 

 

 

Since we had a suite, we had priority access so we hopped into the priority line and were checked in in less than five minutes. Super quick and easy! We had arrived around 10:30 am and we boarded the Legend by 11:15 am. We were one of the first ones aboard the ship. Our room was ready but our luggage was not (suite priority does not include luggage priority). Since our room was ready, we were able to drop off our carry-ons and head up to the Lido Deck to grab some lunch.

 

 

 

I think we were the first ones there as they were just putting the food out in the buffet. Yummy! Hot and fresh! We sat down and scarfed down our food and headed out to explore the ship. For some reason, I was really struggling with figuring the Legend out. Usually, I have a mental map of the ship and can figure out where I am and where I want to go. Here, I just wasn't able to do that. I had to keep looking out the window to see which direction the ship was going so I could figure out which way was forward and aft. This was also compounded by the fact that some areas were closed off for the crew’s use during embarkation.

 

 

 

We made a few pitstops at the various bars that were open and of course, we had to break in our in-cabin bar as well. Can’t forget about that one!!

 

 

Before we knew it, it was time for muster drill. We made our way down to the 3rd deck to Muster Station “C” which was outside. While waiting, the captain called out several cabins for still not being at the muster drill. A few minutes later, they started the drill. It was almost impossible to hear what was being said. The longshoremen were still loading the ship just feet away from us, so there was no way to hear the announcements over the racket from all of the forklifts and cranes moving tons of equipment and stores onto the ship. I just pray that we don’t need to actually use any of the information that was supposedly provided to us during that drill!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Afterwards, we headed up to the Lido Deck for the Sail Away Party.

 

 

 

 

 

Seattle sails away into the distance as we depart Puget Sound towards the open Pacific Ocean.

 

 

Like I had read before, it was pretty quick. Even though it was actually pretty hot out in the sun, it quickly cooled down once the ship started sailing. We eventually made our way back down to our cabin to enjoy our wrap around balcony and watched Seattle sail into the distance. We then showered and got dressed for our reservation at the Nouveau Steakhouse.

 

 

 

As I stated earlier, the food and service there was phenomenal!!! As I sit here hours later, I am still stuffed!!!! (Yes, I actually do write this journal during our vacation) Anyhow, we finished our desert, drank our coffee and headed back to our room to refit and refresh ourselves for the rest of our night. Next up, the Welcome Abroad Show followed by the adult’s only comedy show of Tim Young.

 

 

 

The Welcome Abroad Show was…well, not very entertaining. Adam, the CD was trying very hard to be funny. Sometimes, his jokes hit and other times, not so much. We left about half way through to head downstairs to the Firebird Lounge to make sure that we got a seat for the comedy show. We keep forgetting that this is an Alaskan cruise not a Caribbean cruise. The nightlife is VERY different here! We got to the Firebird Lounge about 20 minutes before the show. Normally, the place would already be filling up on a Caribbean cruise. Here, there were only about 15 people already sitting there. The rest didn’t show up until the show was set to start at 10:30 pm. Even then, there were a lot of open seats available.

 

 

 

The comedian was quite funny and his skit seemed to be completely off-the-cuff as he primarily just interacted with the crowd. He was quick with his retorts and was really good. We’d go back and see him again. The drink service there was definitely lacking and I finally gave up waiting for the waiter who kept walking around aimlessly and went to the bartender myself.

 

 

 

Nonetheless, we still had fun and I absolutely loved the décor of the Firebird Lounge. It was based on one of my all-time favorite fairytales, The Firebird, a famous Russian fairytale that I read when I studied in Moscow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When the comedy show ended, we walked around the ship to see what else was happening. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. The only life to be found anywhere was primarily in the casino. A few people were dancing in the Red Frog Pub to the band, Murphy’s Law and a couple were also dancing in the Medusa’s Lair dance club but that was about it. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Carnival ship that empty at 11:00 pm. Especially when the following day was a sea day!!

 

 

 

Wow, so not used to this! Anyways, we decided to follow suit and headed back to our room. Of course, the fact that we had a small bar going on in our room also aided in that decision!! Until next time…

 

 

 

 

Next up: Sea Day

 

 

.

 

What a quiet Carnival ship...??? They must have all flown in that day or were exhausted from Seattle sightseeing.

Sent from my iPad using Forums

What a quiet Carnival ship...??? They must have all flown in that day or were exhausted from Seattle sightseeing.

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Totally different vibe on Alaska cruises.

Following along! Thanks for this detailed review. I've been trying to convince DH to do an Alaskan cruise one day, but he hates the cold...we're from Florida and his idea of cold is in the 50s. But I'm working on it! Maybe when our teenage kids are in college, we'll finally get around to planning this for real.

What a quiet Carnival ship...??? They must have all flown in that day or were exhausted from Seattle sightseeing.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

I know, I was so surprised! It did seem to pick up a bit more at night later into the cruise though. There was one night that the dance club was packed! I was surprised to see that and it had every age range there and they were all getting down!

Following along! Thanks for this detailed review. I've been trying to convince DH to do an Alaskan cruise one day, but he hates the cold...we're from Florida and his idea of cold is in the 50s. But I'm working on it! Maybe when our teenage kids are in college, we'll finally get around to planning this for real.

Hi nessz79. Thanks for joining us! Before last year, whenever I thought of a cruise I always thought of palm trees swaying in the breeze, the gentle sounds of the surf and my toes in the sand with a drink in my hand. I never would have thought of heading north. But we did the eastern side of Canada last year, Alaska and western Canada this year and we are doing the Baltic in 2020. The experiences up north are just as great if not better than what you experience in the Caribbean. And to top it off, there was only one day that was "cold" and that was in Glacier Bay. Even when we were hiking across the glacier, we were very warm. Trust me, keep working on your DH, it is soooo worth it!!

Really enjoying your journal and especially the photos. Looking forward to more. :D:D

Wednesday, August 29th

Sea Day, somewhere in the North Pacific

This day was filled with some very highs and some very lows...but we'll get to that later. Let's start at the beginning...

Wow, sleeping in. It is definitely NOT overrated!! Our bed is very cushy. Which is normally not a very good thing for us. Lady Trip and I both tend to lean towards a firmer bed but we both slept like babies.

What a sight to wake up to!

Anyhow, we got up and did our morning routine and headed down to the main floor of Truffles Restaurant (MDR) on Deck 2 for Sea Day Brunch. We opted to sit with others (they ask you when you enter the restaurant) and were promptly seated at a large table. We weren’t able to talk to everyone since the table was rather long and nobody wanted to shout back and forth. We did, however, get to chat with a really nice couple from Florida and a nice couple from Oklahoma.

After breakfast we went back to our cabin and made our war plans for the day. Or I should say, Lady Trip made our war plans for the day. Nothing really was tripping my trigger, so as a smart husband, I told Lady Trip “whatever you wanted to do honey”.

First up was the cooking demonstration in the Nouveau Restaurant (steakhouse). They put on a pretty nice cooking show (and a carving demonstration as well). They serve you little samples of the 3 meals that they prepared. Absolutely delicious but thankfully they were small samples as we were still stuffed from breakfast. The demonstration was pretty short and we headed off to our next event which was the art auction. I normally avoid these things like the black plague but Lady Trip really wanted to check it out and they were providing free champagne so there was that.

This was surprising long. And boring. Let me clarify that, it was rather boring for me. Due to my schooling, I am often staring at art. A lot! So, I really did not want to spend an hour and a half of my vacation staring at art some more. There were some very beautiful pieces but just not my thing. Lady Trip seemed to enjoy herself and she bought a small piece for our spare bedroom so she was happy. Happy wife, happy life, yadda-yadda-yadda.

We then made our way up from the Firebird Lounge to the Follies Lounge one deck up for the CLUE! murder mystery show. It was…interesting. It was short and cheesy. I thought you would finish the game up then. I was surprised to see that it goes throughout the whole cruise. Again, Lady Trip was really interested and that’s all that matters!

Immediately following the CLUE! show was bingo. Lady Trip loves bingo so we bought their bingo fanatic package and some drinks. The first game was not even close for me. The second round I actually got to stand up (briefly) but didn’t win. The third round was the big money round. You had to fill both the “I” and the “G” column. About five minutes later, I was shocked when I realized that I had one square left and was now standing up. There were three people in total standing up. It was agonizing as they pulled ball after ball but not the one I needed. I was straining my ears at every ball waiting for someone to shout out that they had won. No one had it yet. Tiny Tim, the host called the next ball…G49…I didn’t even have to look at my card. BINGO!!!!

They came over and verified my card. I looked up at the giant screen and it was all red and in big print…WINNER. I couldn’t believe it. Since this was the big money round, they escorted me up on stage. After introducing myself, Tiny Tim offered me $500 to walk away or I could pick one of 5 envelopes sitting on the floor. Each envelop had an amount in it ranging from $200 to $1000. As a well-trained husband, I immediately looked out into the audience for my wife. The crowd was shouting out various answers…”take it,” “take the money and run,” “go for it,” etc. I finally found my wife and she was waving her 5 fingers. I looked over at Tiny Tim and said, “deal, I’ll take the $500.”

We shook hands and then he said, “well since we have an extra $500, let’s divide that up. An extra $150 to the winners of the first two rounds and an extra $150 for you for a total of $650. SWEET!!! That will help cut down our bar tab! Tiny Tim then proceeded to open each envelope. There was a $200, $250, $300, $400 and $1,000 card which happened to be the last one he opened. He then asked me which envelop would I have chosen. I pointed to the first one he had opened, which was for $200. I looked up and Lady Trip was sitting there with a giant smile and patting herself on the back. Listening to the wifey - always a smart move!

With the winnings in my account and a smile on my face, we made our way to the lobby for a map trivia. While we were waiting, we met a very nice young couple from Texas (a lot of Texans were aboard this cruise!). We’ll call them Mr. and Mrs. Aggie (they had both attended Texas A&M). We ended up hanging out with them for a couple hours and bumped into them later on again at the Alchemy Bar and hung out some more.

It was a great day until we went back to our cabin to find a slip of paper in our mailbox. “Uh-oh” said Lady Trip. Yep, bad news. Our floatplane flight out to Admiralty Island to hang out with the grizzly bears feasting on the salmon run was cancelled. I’ll skip the word for word torrent that spewed from my mouth for purposes of family ratings. Let’s just say, that the words I used were definitely not meant for anyone under the age of 21 and anyone easily offended. It was not pleasant.

That was the excursion we were looking forward to the most. I had even rented an expensive zoom lens just for that purpose. I was livid. It usually takes a lot to get me worked up but they did it. I had no idea that Carnival would actually cancel excursions if they didn’t get enough people. The manager at the Shore Excursion desk told me that it does say that on the website. I looked again when we returned home and nowhere on the website does it state that there is a minimum number of participants required. There were a couple of other excursions that got cancelled as well for the same reason. Lesson learned!

Before the cruise, I had found the same excursion from the company that was providing the service to Carnival and they required a minimum of 2 passengers to operate the tour, but it actually cost more than Carnival was offering it for, so I ordered it through Carnival. I figured if the tour company operating it only required 2 then so would Carnival. I guess I was wrong. They must have agreed to a higher minimum in order to get better pricing. We went down to the Shore Excursion Desk and the manager there was less than pleasant about it. Granted, I was not being the friendliest either, but his attitude was definitely not helping matters either.

Needless to say, I needed to walk away and take a breather before we figured out what we were going to do for Juneau. Luckily, we weren’t docking until 2 pm the next day so we had some time to figure it out. So, I did what any normal Irishmen would do…drink!!!

Next up: Juneau, Alaska...

.

Really enjoying your journal and especially the photos. Looking forward to more. :D:D

Hey tandemcruzr, thanks for joining me brother! Glad to hear that you're enjoying it so far. I know it's a long one and it's been a bit of a slow go so far. For some odd reason, my employer seems to have a problem with me writing and working on photos while I'm at work. I'm gonna have to have a talk with them about that! Please be patient, I'm trying to get them up as fast as I can!

Thanks for the review.

Great review. Thanks for sharing. Amazing pictures.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Hey tandemcruzr, thanks for joining me brother! Glad to hear that you're enjoying it so far. I know it's a long one and it's been a bit of a slow go so far. For some odd reason, my employer seems to have a problem with me writing and working on photos while I'm at work. I'm gonna have to have a talk with them about that! Please be patient, I'm trying to get them up as fast as I can!

You're welcome and I understand about 'employers' -- I remember them. :D

Will be patient since we are retired. But we leave Nov 3 on the Breeze for a 14 day Journey cruise so don't be too long. (Just kidding)

Thanks for the review.

Hi riclop - you're very welcome!

Great review. Thanks for sharing. Amazing pictures.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Hi MrFunInTheSun - Thank you so much for the kind words, I appreciate it!!

Thursday, August 30th

Juneau, Alaska

Okay, so maybe I over did it a bit at the Alchemy Bar last night. Nothing a good pair of aspirins couldn’t cure!! Lady Trip and I talked it over as we slowly got ourselves ready for the day and decided on the Helicopter and Glacier Hike excursion. I always wanted to fly out and land on a glacier and hike across so it was the closest we could get to the excitement level that we had for the previous bear excursion.

The Splendor on their 14 day journeys cruise out of Los Angeles follows us into the Inner Passage.

After grabbing a few photos from our balcony, we went down to the shore excursions desk when it opened (we had to wait an additional hour since we had changed our clocks back the previous night to Alaskan time). The same manager was working the desk as yesterday when I read him the riot act. Not overly proud about that, but it is what it is. Thankfully, he remembered us and was very cool about it. I apologized for getting a little overheated and he looked at me like I was crazy. “No worries man, it’s your vacation. You want it to be special and we aren’t helping you with that. Let’s see if I can do better today for you,” he said. He was definitely not acting the same way as he did last night. He again reminded me why I could not do his job.

We signed up for the Glacier Hike and then headed up to the Lido Deck to get some breakfast at the Blue Iguana. Love, love, love their breakfast burritos!! Anyways, we did some shopping and then went to the Military Appreciation event. It was pretty nice, nothing major but nice to be around so many of my fellow brothers and sisters in arms. At the end, they called all of us veterans up on stage for a photo. Here's a shot off of Adam, the cruise director's Facebook page (thanks to whoever took this photo).

Afterwards, we just hung around watching the scenery go by and waiting for the call to disembark at port. For some reason, none of the announcements were coming into the cabin anymore. I heard that no announcements can be made outdoors in Juneau so I’m not sure if that had something to do with it.

Next up: Hiking across a glacier

.

Juneau (cont.)

While we were waiting, I saw people leaving the ship from our balcony, so we grabbed out stuff and headed down to Deck 3 to get off the ship.

Holy crap, the line to get off was huge!!! Tiny Tim remembered me from winning the bingo the day before (we’re also from nearby towns in New England) and he waved us over to him and snuck us in with the tour groups that we being led off separately. Within minutes, we were off the ship and heading for our excursion meeting area.

Turns out we were a bit early so, we headed down the pier a bit and did some shopping while we waiting for our bus to come in. It finally arrived so we headed out towards the airport for our helicopter ride to the glacier. At the airport, we got ourselves all kitted out in cold weather hiking gear. Pants, coats, gloves, ice boots, gaiters, rappelling harnesses and even a fanny pack. Now, no respectable person can go hiking across a glacier without a fanny pack!

Our pilot was an amazing woman that has lived all over and done a ton of widely ranging jobs before she decided that she wanted to fly helicopters. She flew us around a bit and pointed out some bears and mountain goats roaming around the mountains near the glacier before we finally landed at base camp on the Mendenhall Glacier.

Our first view of the ice shelf that we would be landing on.

That little speck of orange is our base camp.

To be cont...

.

Juneau (cont.)

We got ourselves all kitted up in proper cold weather hiking gear including harnesses, crampons and ice axes.

Just chilling. Seriously, it's cold here!

Our chariot

Base camp

One of our guides mapping out our route.

Here he comes, climbing down to us.

After a brief training on how to use the equipment and how to navigate the various terrains of a glacier, we headed out. A glacier is an incredible sight to behold. It's terrifying and breathtaking at the same time. It was fascinating to learn that the dirt and rocks that you see on the surface of the ice actually came from underneath it. The pressure of the glacier is so intense that it forces dirt, rocks and even large boulders to squeeze their way up to the surface as the glacier slowly grinds forward.

To be cont...

.

Some more shots for ya...

We hiked for about 2 hours up and down the glacier walls including a tight crevice that opened up into a dark blue ice room complete with a waterfall pouring into it. There are no words that can ever describe the beauty of that spot. It was incredible!!!

The water is so clear here, you cannot tell that we are standing in about a foot of water and there is a waterfall directly behind me.

To be cont...

.

Juneau (cont.)

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, so we grudgingly started our trek back down to base camp, removed our crampons and helmets and awaited our winged chariot back to civilization. Just as we heard our helo on the other side of the mountain ridge, it started to rain. Perfect timing! Our ride back was quick and uneventful. The weight of our long trek up and down the glacier walls was starting to hit everyone, so we all just sat silently and watched the amazing world of the Mendenhall Glacier field sail by us.

After deplaning, we changed back into our regular clothes and caught a ride back to Juneau. Since Lady Trip is a HUGE dog fan, we had to go down to the end of pier to see the statue of Patsy Ann. If you never heard of Patsy Ann, take a couple minutes and Google her. It’s a really cute story. When I was researching Juneau, I found out about her and knew that Lady Trip would want to see her.

Lady Trip and Patsy Ann

Downtown Juneau

We then strolled over to the nearby Red Dog Saloon where we had to have their infamous Duck Fart shot.

The infamous Duck Fart shot

If you’re going to Juneau, do yourself a favor and pop into the Red Dog Saloon even if it’s just to pop in. The whole atmosphere there takes you right back to the rowdy gold rush days. All the bartenders and waiters are dressed in gold rush era clothing, the floor is covered in saw dust and the piano player was hysterical (and pretty damn good too!). The food was really good as well. I had a reindeer sausage roll and Lady Trip had the fish basket. Very tasty!!

s_0sLvu95z4

We had a great time there and even ran into our friends from Florida that we had met at breakfast earlier in the cruise. So, we ended up sitting right next to each other, shared some Duck Farts together and had a lot of laughs. With new friends or old, you’ll have a great time in this old saloon. By this time, it was getting late and nearing our boarding time of 10:30 pm so, we started heading back to the nearby pier. Of course, we had to stop in to a couple of the shops that were still open for some souvenirs. And that’s about it for tonight. Until next time…

Next up: Skagway and our adventures in the Yukon!

.

Friday, August 31st

Skagway, Alaska

We originally had purchased the White Pass train with bus ride from Carnival. After reading about how another cruiser had rented a car and drove the same route, we quickly changed our plans. I cancelled our excursion with Carnival and rented a car with Avis.

We docked a little early and headed down to Deck 2. Disembarking this morning was much easier. Not many people were trying to get off right away so we found ourselves walking down the rainy pier within minutes of leaving our room. We were sitting right next to Carnival Splendor and we mixed in with their passengers offboarding.

Avis is located right in city center which is about ¼ mile from the railroad pier where we were docked at. As I mentioned earlier, it was raining pretty good, but we were decked out head to toe in rain gear, so it didn’t bother us at all. We made a quick stop at the train station’s little café and grabbed some coffee for me and a latte with expresso for Lady Trip. We then crossed the street over to the Avis building (note, their office is no longer at the Westwood Motel but is now across the street in their maintenance shed).

Safely buckled into our car, we headed out for the Klondike Hwy. What a drive!! It was rare for us to go more than a couple kilometers before stopping to grab some photos. The scenery was INSANE!!! The morning started very overcast and rainy but as the day progressed, the clouds cleared and the sun made its stunning debut.

Bridal Vail Falls. Apparently this is a great place to get fresh glacial water coming down from the mountains. Ahh...not today!! This was roaring and I got drenched taking this shot, the spray was so hard and bad.

It was neat that the U.S. Customs crossing and the Canadian Customs crossing were about 12 miles apart. Apparently, the weather is so bad on the White Pass summit that each country had to put their customs crossing on the opposite sides of the summit. To get an idea of how much snow they get on the summit, the markers for the plows were mounted into the side of the mountain. The markers back at home are only a couple feet high. These were like 20 feet high! No frickin’ way you are getting me on the White Pass summit in the middle of winter!!!

Holy friggin' snowfall Batman!!

Anyways, the drive was incredibly beautiful. Plenty of waterfalls, majestic mountain peaks, turquoise lakes, and alpine forests abounded everywhere. At one point, I was so engrossed with the view while taking photographs, I found myself hiking several hundred yards away from the highway down a hill into a grassy meadow on the shore of a gorgeous little lake when I noticed that I was standing in a berry patch. Which I then remembered is one of the favorite meals for bears. It was at that point that I noticed a large pile of scat a couple feet away. That was one very large butt that made that pile and it was not a butt that I wanted to run into. It seemed like a perfectly good time to beat feet back up the hill to my car. Thankfully I made it back without depositing any of my body parts into a future pile of scat!

Here's a few shots for your viewing pleasure...

Summit Lake, Alaska

Bernard Lake, Alaska - Note the train tracks on the opposite side of the lake. These are the White Pass train tracks that we would have taken on our original excursion. This photo was taken just before the Fraser station where you exit the train.

Looking out towards Teepee Peak

To be cont...

.

Friday, August 31st

Skagway, Alaska

 

 

We originally had purchased the White Pass train with bus ride from Carnival. After reading about how another cruiser had rented a car and drove the same route, we quickly changed our plans. I cancelled our excursion with Carnival and rented a car with Avis.

 

We docked a little early and headed down to Deck 2. Disembarking this morning was much easier. Not many people were trying to get off right away so we found ourselves walking down the rainy pier within minutes of leaving our room. We were sitting right next to Carnival Splendor and we mixed in with their passengers offboarding.

 

Avis is located right in city center which is about ¼ mile from the railroad pier where we were docked at. As I mentioned earlier, it was raining pretty good, but we were decked out head to toe in rain gear, so it didn’t bother us at all. We made a quick stop at the train station’s little café and grabbed some coffee for me and a latte with expresso for Lady Trip. We then crossed the street over to the Avis building (note, their office is no longer at the Westwood Motel but is now across the street in their maintenance shed).

 

Safely buckled into our car, we headed out for the Klondike Hwy. What a drive!! It was rare for us to go more than a couple kilometers before stopping to grab some photos. The scenery was INSANE!!! The morning started very overcast and rainy but as the day progressed, the clouds cleared and the sun made its stunning debut.

 

Bridal Vail Falls. Apparently this is a great place to get fresh glacial water coming down from the mountains. Ahh...not today!! This was roaring and I got drenched taking this shot, the spray was so hard and bad.

 

It was neat that the U.S. Customs crossing and the Canadian Customs crossing were about 12 miles apart. Apparently, the weather is so bad on the White Pass summit that each country had to put their customs crossing on the opposite sides of the summit. To get an idea of how much snow they get on the summit, the markers for the plows were mounted into the side of the mountain. The markers back at home are only a couple feet high. These were like 20 feet high! No frickin’ way you are getting me on the White Pass summit in the middle of winter!!!

 

Holy friggin' snowfall Batman!!

 

Anyways, the drive was incredibly beautiful. Plenty of waterfalls, majestic mountain peaks, turquoise lakes, and alpine forests abounded everywhere. At one point, I was so engrossed with the view while taking photographs, I found myself hiking several hundred yards away from the highway down a hill into a grassy meadow on the shore of a gorgeous little lake when I noticed that I was standing in a berry patch. Which I then remembered is one of the favorite meals for bears. It was at that point that I noticed a large pile of scat a couple feet away. That was one very large butt that made that pile and it was not a butt that I wanted to run into. It seemed like a perfectly good time to beat feet back up the hill to my car. Thankfully I made it back without depositing any of my body parts into a future pile of scat!

 

Here's a few shots for your viewing pleasure...

 

Summit Lake, Alaska

 

 

Bernard Lake, Alaska - Note the train tracks on the opposite side of the lake. These are the White Pass train tracks that we would have taken on our original excursion. This photo was taken just before the Fraser station where you exit the train.

 

Looking out towards Teepee Peak

To be cont...

.

Loving this review!! Do you have to take your passport with you if you rent a car? We were planning on the train ride, but the rental car looks like it might be a better option. Thank you for the time and beautiful photos!

Loving this review!! Do you have to take your passport with you if you rent a car? We were planning on the train ride, but the rental car looks like it might be a better option. Thank you for the time and beautiful photos!

Hi JC4ME, glad you're enjoying this review and thank you for the kind words, I really appreciate it! If you are going to rent a car and do this drive then yes, you will need your passport as you will cross into Canada. In fact, you will cross into two different provinces of Canada (British Columbia and Yukon Territories). If you don't have your passport, then it is very important not to pass the U.S. Customs building that is only a couple miles outside of Skagway. If you do, you won't be able to get back into the U.S. even if you didn't cross into Canada. The 12 miles of the White Pass summit is essentially a no man's zone in-between the U.S. and Canadian custom buildings. If you go into that area without a passport, you're going to be there a long time before they are able to sort things out for you!

Loving this review!! Do you have to take your passport with you if you rent a car? We were planning on the train ride, but the rental car looks like it might be a better option. Thank you for the time and beautiful photos!

We have rented the car and done the train. We liked the car much better because you can stop when you want and take as much time as you want at each stop.

Loving your review. Stunning photography! I did the Glacier Hike excursion with a different cruise line. It was one of the best excursion I've ever done. We were fortunate; it was sunny and 70 when we went. We were shedding layers. Even the guides were snapping pictures like crazy.