Live? A test of Alaskan Wifi, AKA Our Alaskan Trip Report August 2018

[Grenouille21]

They may have been the lazy eagles, but they put on a GREAT show!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Grenouille21]

 

We could have stayed all day, watching the lazy, lazy eagles swoop and pick up the fish that had been tossed, but we had crabs to catch, so off we went.

 

 

There were lots of stories told, and they explained how they use the equipment to haul up the huge traps that catch the crabs.

 

 

 

 

We learned about different kinds of crabs. These are Box Crabs. The guys called them Transformers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

They call them Transformers because they start out looking like this:

 

 

 

 

And then the "transform" into this:

 

 

[Grenouille21]

Among the other friends we met were this guy or gal:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some of the natives became restless as we sailed around, and casually tried to make an escape.

 

 

 

 

[Grenouille21]

We went to one spot where we pulled up a barrel that had a "special friend" who had been put in time out for naughty behavior. It seems this friend has a habit of breaking in to the traps and having an all-you-can-eat buffet. They take this friend and put him/her out in "Time Out" for a while, far away from the traps, to think about making better choices.

 

 

We had an amazing experience aboard the Aleutian Ballad, and it was time to head back to the ship. We had a great view of our ship and its neighbor on the way back.

 

 

 

We also had a nice view of the town.

 

 

[Grenouille21]

The Aleutian Ballad was really a highlight of our trip. The whole thing was really relaxed, while also being really interesting and exciting. No one tried to steal our seats, and no one cared when I stood in a different area (not in front of anyone) to take photos. Everyone was moving around, and we were encouraged to do so. It helps that the ship wasn't full, but even if it had been full there was some standing room available for people who wanted to move around.

 

The fishermen were really awesome. Their stories were authentic and engaging, and they really knew their business. They weren't performers. They were fishermen, whose families had been fishermen, who had the real life experience and enthusiasm that made this an amazing experience. I am SO glad we did this! If you are traveling, especially if you are traveling with kids over the age of 5 (there is a minimum age on this excursion, I *think* it was 5) please consider the crab fishing excursion.

 

 

We got back to the pier and decided to head out for a little shopping. We went to the closest Tongass shop to get some cheesy, generic souvenirs.

 

 

We left very satisfied, and headed back to the ship.

 

 

We headed back to the room and watched a movie, and caught up on emails since we had phone service in port.

 

 

Then it was dinner time!

 

 

Nightly dinner photo:

 

 

 

 

I'm pretty sure this was the French Onion Soup with short rib:

 

 

 

 

DD and I had the salmon, which was on the menu each night.

 

 

 

 

DS had the steak:

 

 

 

It was a beautiful night. This was the beginning of some amazing scenery.

 

 

[Grenouille21]

Couple last photos from the night.

 

 

 

 

The kids went to the clubs as usual and I went to the Gryffindor Common Room as usual.

 

First, though, I went to Guest Services to check the bill. I've never had a Beverage Package on a cruise, and I have trust issues, which means I was 97.5% sure I was secretly being charged for my beverages. So I wanted to see for myself that there were NO drink charges on the bill. Well sure enough, a few of the drinks we had when we first boarded the ship (DD and DS ordered virgin daiquiris or something, and I had a glass of prosecco at sail away) were on the bill. They were able to see that we all had beverage packages, and took the charges off the bill.

 

I went and got DS from his club, and we both headed back to Gryffindor Common Room for a drink. Sometimes his friend from the club went there, so we wanted to check for him. He wasn't there, so we got drinks and slowly made our way back to the room.

 

 

Oh have I mentioned the towel animals? We had some fun friends greeting us in our room each night. Tonight's friend was super cute.

 

 

We really loved our Room Steward, and we left him a few surprise gifts. We spelled his name out with Whoppers candy on our second night, and he seemed so thankful to us when we saw him later that night. When this guy appeared in our stateroom, I stuffed a Kit Kat in its mouth, and spelled out our Room Steward and Assistant Room Steward's names with candy again. I know it isn't a huge thing, but we wanted to show our appreciation.

 

I"m sure our evening ended with a movie in the room while we waited for DD to return from her club. The next day was our last day on the ship, sailing the Inside Passage. The club counselors said we had a great chance of seeing wildlife, so I had plans to park myself near a window or out on a deck with my camera, phone, and Kindle to watch for whales and whatever else we could see. The cruise felt both long (in a great way) and short, and it was hard to believe it was almost over.

[Alphen]

Awesome pictures of the Deadlies Catch Excursion, especially of the Eagle skimming the surface. Glad we already booked this excursion for our cruise next year, with this report I am certain we would not want to miss this one.

[Lido deck main]

Enjoying the trip report and pictures. Thank you for sharing.

[Grenouille21]

Awesome pictures of the Deadlies Catch Excursion, especially of the Eagle skimming the surface. Glad we already booked this excursion for our cruise next year, with this report I am certain we would not want to miss this one.

 

You will love it! Thanks for reading along! :)

 

Enjoying the trip report and pictures. Thank you for sharing.

 

Thanks for reading!

 

I am apparently a Review of the Week winner! Awesome! I am so honored! :D My hope is to finish this report by the end of the weekend. I only have one day left to edit and write up.

[VMax1700]

 

I am apparently a Review of the Week winner! Awesome! I am so honored! :D

 

And so you should be!.......there are numerous Booker prize winners who angst at night because they have not won 'Review of the week'.

Now hit that keyboard and give us the next instalment ;)

 

 

P.S. thanks for a very enjoyable read. We are now thinking about an Alaskan cruise because of your words and images.

[old mike]

Your review is very well written, interesting and engaging, the review of the week is well deserved.

 

I do share your thoughts on "Entitlement". I thought it was maybe just me being overly sensitive but you have clearly observed the same behaviour. By far the majority of those I have met on HAL cruises have been, polite, helpful and just all out nice people, but there has been that small minority of absolute A**'s .

 

On a Zaandam South American cruise last year, rude and selfish behaviour by some individuals, whilst waiting in the theatre for excursions, became so prevalent that the staff started using the furniture and temporary rope dividers to "marshal the hordes". You can imagine how they treated anything designated to aid the handicapped.

 

Like you I find that behaviour alien and disconcerting.

[Grenouille21]

And so you should be!.......there are numerous Booker prize winners who angst at night because they have not won 'Review of the week'.

Now hit that keyboard and give us the next instalment ;)

 

 

P.S. thanks for a very enjoyable read. We are now thinking about an Alaskan cruise because of your words and images.

 

Review Of The Week Winner is the highest form of recognition for the craft of writing. We can't all be winners, but doesn't it encourage the aspiring cruise review writers to leave them with a glimmer of hope that they too will one day achieve this honor? ;p

 

Your review is very well written, interesting and engaging, the review of the week is well deserved.

 

I do share your thoughts on "Entitlement". I thought it was maybe just me being overly sensitive but you have clearly observed the same behaviour. By far the majority of those I have met on HAL cruises have been, polite, helpful and just all out nice people, but there has been that small minority of absolute A**'s .

 

On a Zaandam South American cruise last year, rude and selfish behaviour by some individuals, whilst waiting in the theatre for excursions, became so prevalent that the staff started using the furniture and temporary rope dividers to "marshal the hordes". You can imagine how they treated anything designated to aid the handicapped.

 

Like you I find that behaviour alien and disconcerting.

 

Thanks!!

 

It is really disappointing to hear that this behavior extends beyond Alaskan cruises. I guess it is one of the gambles of vacationing. You never know what kind of people will make the same vacation choices at the same time! I have to say it brings out the hermit in me.

[Grenouille21]

Cruise Day 7: Inside Passage

 

Today was the second saddest day of the cruise, especially because we had to move the clocks forward 1 hour, which means losing an hour of sleep and/or cruise time. Don't try to tell me we didn't lose an hour since we had gained an hour earlier. I won't listen to that nonsense when I'm on my last day of a cruise!

 

We obviously woke up later than normal and went to a rushed breakfast at the buffet. The kids went to their clubs and I went to the EXC Lounge to read and watch the scenery, and watch for wildlife. The club counselors (who were by far the most helpful and informative crew members- what on Earth would I have done without them???) had advised me that this would be a great day to see wildlife. They said it was usually the best day for whales, porpoises, etc. I knew by now not to question them and to just do whatever they said so off I went to chill at the EXC with a latte, my Kindle, and my camera.

 

 

Sure enough, whales were spotted very soon after I found a place to sit.

 

 

That's a pretty sharp angle in its back, who remembers what this whale is doing and what you are about to see?

 

(Can you tell I am also a teacher and am fully back in teacher mode?)

 

Anyone?

 

Take a risk, go on. What do you think you might see in the next photo of this whale?

 

 

That's right! Terminal dive, whale tail. I love a good tail shot!

 

Meanwhile, some sort of verbal altercation was apparently underway. I was sitting at a forward seat, near the middle of the seats. There are two displays there that show really cool info, like how fast the ship's engines are going, how many hours until our next port arrival, and tons of other incredibly cool information. Forward of those screens, and forward of all of the seats, is a ledge where people can sit. This was great for our family, as I didn't have to save seats for my kids when they didn't want to hang out for a long time. They could sit on the ledge and/or the footstool, and not get geezer side-eye from people who felt that kids shouldn't be using furniture on a cruise.

 

I was aware of a young couple who had been playing one of the many board games that was available in the lounge. They were sitting on the ledge, and I only noticed them because I happened to be sitting nearby and I was on high alert for whales, so I had been looking around a lot. I was also reading, and I tend to be distracted by people who are extra loud or annoying when I am trying to read. This couple did not distract me in that way at all. Again, I had only noticed them because we were sitting in the same area. The fact that I hadn't noticed any noise from them is the reason why I didn't realize something was happening until it was almost over.

 

I heard noise, and it was sort of background noise for a while, and then it finally pulled me out of my story. At that point I saw an older man getting up from his seat, yelling at the younger couple, who looked perplexed, something about wanting to enjoy a quiet place. He waved his hand dismissively at them and stormed off, while they looked completely stunned. I looked around, and the few other people who were there seemed just as clueless, and we all just kind of went back to whatever we had been doing.

 

I immediately felt bad, like I should have known what had been happening and stepped in to defend the couple who were not being loud at all. It happened so quickly, though, and I really had no idea what was going on! So if you're reading: that guy was a jerk, and I'm glad he left and you stayed! Because you got to see stuff like this, and he didn't!

 

[Grenouille21]

I have no idea where we ate for lunch. If I had to guess, we went to the Dive In, but DD got pasta from the buffet.

 

After lunch, the kids went back to the clubs and I went back to the EXC Lounge to watch the world go by.

 

 

 

[Grenouille21]

Just before 3pm someone came around and kicked everyone out of our section of the EXC Lounge for a private party. This was SUPER annoying! It was our last day, and this is a public space! There are plenty of meeting rooms and areas that are not used during the day. This place was filled, and they were forcing everyone to get up and move elsewhere so a bunch of people could come in and get free drinks and raffle prizes. This is one thing I really disliked and was REALLY upset about. But that didn't last very long.

 

I moved to one of the side areas that was used for lectures, and sat there reading for a while. I had to go get DS from his club at 4, and I ended up taking him and his friend back to the lounge where they settled into a game. I said I was fine with DS exploring a bit, but he had to be back at the room before dinner. They did go walking around a bit, but returned to the EXC Lounge for a game.

 

While they were out, and I had been kicked out of my seat, I decided to go out on deck. It was about 4:30pm, and I was outside on Deck 10. This is where we went a lot, because it was on our path from the clubs to the EXC Lounge. This is where we spent our time at Glacier Bay, and it was the first place I went to take in the view.

 

There weren't too many people out there, but I noticed they were looking at something so I tried to follow their pointing.

 

I swear it was meant to be that I happened to be outside at this time, and that these people happened to be out there pointing at one of the coolest things I saw on this cruise. There were porpoises, dozens of them, jumping the wake of the ship. It took me a while to see them, because we were so high up, but once I saw them I couldn't NOT see them. Photographing them was tough, because they weren't exactly synchronized. But they were amazing.

 

 

 

 

It went on for a while, and I ran back to the EXC to see if DS and his friend had seen them. They said they had, and I asked if they wanted to come outside to get a better view. They did not, and I didn't want to push it, so I went back out to take photos.

 

I stopped to take some photos, and stayed there for a while taking it all in.

 

[Grenouille21]

I ended up talking to the man who was out there for a while. He was from Wales, and we talked about how amazing the cruise had been, and we talked about Whistler as he was heading there after the cruise. It was nice having a nice person to talk to for a while, and I enjoyed the company and the fact that there weren't 8,000,000 people surrounding us, shoving us, etc., and that there weren't pool parties, movies, servers, kids, adults, or costumed characters creating background noise. We were able to enjoy this experience in near silence (except for the sounds of nature) and that made it so much more meaningful, at least to me.

 

 

 

 

 

This was quite a sight. It was pretty far away, which is why it is so blurry, but this is all birds on and above the water.

 

 

I saw another one. I assume it had something to do with all of the fishing boats, one way or another. The only other time I've seen a spectacle like this was when we saw a pod of dolphins circling/kicking/flinging a school of fish out of the water, but there weren't any dolphins around this, at least not that I could see.

 

[Grenouille21]

I ended up walking around, and going up the stairs until I was as high up as I could get. There was almost no one out there, which was so nice! It was really nice outside, too. Not too cold, not too warm. I walked around and took photos, then I pulled a chair over and sat for a while, enjoying the scenery.

 

 

 

Yep. People were sitting out by the pool and people were swimming.

 

 

I couldn't tear myself away from the view.

 

 

 

[Grenouille21]

Eventually DS and I headed back to the room to get ready for dinner. DD met us there after her club closed. I may have stepped out on the verandah a few times to take photos. Shocking, I know.

 

 

We were really close to land, which was pretty cool but also really weird, as I am not used to being so close to land on a cruise!

 

 

When we were on our bear tour, we had noticed that some areas had younger, shorter trees. We asked if that was due to fires, and we were told the trees had been cut down for lumber. He said that Canada was very good about controlling the trees that were cut down, and replanting. I noticed some areas of trees that had been cut down here, as well.

 

 

 

[Grenouille21]

We saw some fishing boats, and I watched them for a while. It wasn't quite as exciting as being on the Aleutian Ballad, but it was fun. Also we were sailing a LOT faster than they were, so we didn't really get to watch the whole process.

 

 

 

 

As you can see above, the sky was looking good. And it would only get better.

 

But first, we had to eat dinner. I don't know what we ate, but we had Baked Alaska for dessert, because... Alaska... and the chefs and servers and wine stewards paraded around for us. We cheered loudly for our servers and wine steward. They had been awesome, and my kids still talk about them!!!

 

 

 

I"m going to jump out of order for a moment so I can end with some amazing photos instead of this one. I mean, this one is great, because it shows *exactly* where I sat each night, in the Gryffindor Common Room, at "my" table, where I could hear the horrific mashup of the dueling pianos, BB King Blues band, and the pre-set music station in the actual Gryffindor Common Room. Any of these soundtracks individually would have been awesome. But when you have the BB King band playing Son of a Preacher Man while the Dueling Pianos play Piano Man and the music station plays Mamma Mia... you have a great big audio mess on your hand. Most of the time I could tune it out and read. Occasionally the singers/players from the BB King band would come and sit at one of the nearby tables and text/scroll through their phones. I wanted to compliment them because they were very talented, but also it seemed like this was their "backstage" area and probably a place they went to decompress and have some peace and quiet between sets. I don't blame them. It was one of my favorite places on the ship, and I'm a Ravenclaw.

 

Edited September 22, 2018 by Grenouille21

[Grenouille21]

The sunset that last night was amazing. These are the last photos I have from our cruise. We kept leaving dinner to go take more photos. Side Note: If you want a good sunset photo on the last night... go aft. We walked out of the dining room and went to the very center of the ship's aft multiple times. It was super fun walking past whichever of my kids stayed at the table, waving or otherwise embarrassing them. I'm fun like that. But it was worth all of the embarrassment for these photos.

 

 

 

 

We were planning to walk off the ship with our luggage, since we had carry on luggage, so we didn't need to worry about setting it outside the room, or worry about what time to walk off the ship. We packed at some point, probably before dinner, and then packed our evening clothes after returning to the room.

 

The tween club had pajama night, so the kids could leave their luggage outside their rooms. It wasn't an issue for us, and I actually can't recall if DS went and changed into his pajamas before going to the club.

 

When I signed him out, I thanked the counselors profusely for all of their help with DS and with me! They really made our cruise better in so many ways. DS enjoyed his time in the club, thanks to their activities and their leadership. I enjoyed my time thanks to their advice about the nuances of the cruise, and thanks to their advice about where to find the best drinks.

 

I didn't really mention DD's experience in the club, but I did talk to her counselors a few times as well. Sometimes there were different counselors in the rooms (usually it was the same pair) if it was someone's evening off, so DD's counselor was sometimes in the tween club instead of the regular counselors. DD had an amazing time in the club. DD never wanted to spend much time in the club on Disney Cruise. I couldn't get her out of the club on HAL. She said she spent most of her time talking and/or playing cards. The few times I poked my head in there to see if she wanted to leave, she was in a circle with the counselors and whoever else was there, engaged in a lively conversation. What did they talk about? I'm not sure, but things she mentioned were Disney characters, Broadway shows, and who knows what else. One night they went to the show (the Billboard show) and DD and her counselor said that everyone but DD and one other kid left. The counselor was glad DD was there, because they were two of the only ones who were into the show from their group and its always better to see a show with someone who enjoys it.

 

Our night ended like all the others, with TV/movie in the room and DD coming back from the club.

 

Tomorrow would be the saddest day. The day we leave. I'll put it in a separate post, though I have no photos because who wants to see Sad Day photos? Not me.

[Grenouille21]

Saddest Day

 

We woke up at Too Early O'Clock and decided to skip breakfast, skip the lattes (because we wouldn't be allowed to take them off the ship) and just get off the ship. I wasn't sure what disembarkation and customs would be like, and I didn't want to deal with lines.

 

Our flight was at around 1pm out of Vancouver. We had plenty of time, but I wanted to make sure we weren't rushed or dealing with long lines.

 

We walked off the ship and pretty much walked through everything else. We never waited in a line or had to stop and wait while leaving the port. We were taken to a taxi immediately, again without having to wait. All of this happened somewhere between 8 and 9am.

 

We headed to the airport and tried to go through security, and we were told we couldn't go through security until 2 hours (I think? Maybe 3 hours?) before our flight. This meant we had to wait in the entrance area of the airport for over an hour, just so we could go through security and then wait some more. I was pretty frustrated by this but there wasn't anything I could do.

 

We ended up getting something to eat and drink, and sitting around waiting to be allowed through security.

 

When we had arrived at the airport, somewhere around 9am, there was hardly a line for security. When we were finally allowed to enter the security line, it stretched down so far they ended up making a second line in another area, so we could wait in line to wait in line. So all of that easy-breezy walk off the ship with no lines just left us with hours of sitting and standing and waiting at the airport. I had thought we would just sit at the gate for hours, but nope.

 

We did eventually get through, and we got lunch because we hadn't eaten much before. We also grabbed some snacks for the plane, and I bought a few last souvenirs.

 

The rest of this is really boring as we just flew home sadly and uneventfully.

 

But hey, our cats were happy to see us, and we were happy to see them, so there's my happy ending to this cruise!

 

In all seriousness, this was an amazing experience. I'm so glad we did this, ALL of this, and I am really glad that I was able to relive it through sharing it here. I didn't start taking notes until halfway through the trip, but I'm glad I did because there were parts I would have otherwise forgotten. And I'm glad I shared it here so I could see that even though there were some parts that were disappointing or stressful, the vacation was amazing and totally worthwhile.

 

I'd love to go back to Alaska and see more next time. I hope I can make that happen.

 

Thanks for reading along, and encouraging me to finish this. It has been great sharing this vacation with others who are interested and invested in learning more about the cruise. Vacation enthusiasts love sharing all of the details of our journeys, but not everyone enjoys hearing about it. It is nice to share with those who appreciate the details, so thank you to everyone who has read this far!

 

Please feel free to ask any questions as I'm sure there are important details that I've left out!!!

[oakridger]

I really enjoyed your review. Thank you!

 

~Nancy

[pmjnh]

Perfect, very enjoyable read. Thank you so much for taking the time to share your experiences. Now I am psyched for our Alaska adventure next summer!

[ellbelle]

Thank you for taking the time to share your experience!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Dogstar]

Awesome review. Thank you for taking us along on your adventures. Love the humour, style & photos!