Live from the Noordam 14 day Alaska cruise

[SwissMyst]

Great day in Kodiak.  Simple things for us. Third time here. 

 

Just walked into town, spent time walking around the docks, talking to the fishing boat owners. Sushi lunch at Hana restaurant past the bridge, new coffee shop with great views over the water next door to Hana. Lots of birds, must come for the chum from the fishing boats.
 

Loop back through town seeing sites, museums and nature center. Fun to poke around the large marine supply stores along the way. Wish they had tours of the fish processing plants.

 

Great weather. Sunny, slight wind, cooler in the late afternoon. Long lines to get back on ship, but it moved quickly. School bus shuttles into town at Visitors Center.  Mile and half level walk into town on paved sidewalk.

[tupper10]

16 hours ago, SwissMyst said:

 

Edited September 21, 2023 by tupper10
Duplicate

[tupper10]

We arrived a bit early in anchorage. It was a wonderfully calm sail last night and this morning since we were not in the open sea.  It is raining and cold out though in about an hour the rain is supposed to end. We have no shore excursion planned. When the rain stops we will head into town.   It is an industrial port and the city is providing shuttle buses since you are not allowed to walk in this port.  

[Hogladyrider]

@tupper10I never knew Anchorage had a port....I always thought it was Whittier, learn something new every day!

[tupper10]

26 minutes ago, Hogladyrider said:

@tupper10I never knew Anchorage had a port....I always thought it was Whittier, learn something new every day!

As far as I know only one or two cruises port in Anchorage.  Most do go from Whittier or Seward. Anchorage is a very large commercial port. 

 

 

[SwissMyst]

Lido lunch today.  Chocolate oatmeal bars. Oh my!

[Boatdrill]

Anchorage is a great port....even Captain Cook went there.

I wish it was on itineraries more often. 

[Ineke]

4 hours ago, tupper10 said:

We arrived a bit early in anchorage. It was a wonderfully calm sail last night and this morning since we were not in the open sea.  It is raining and cold out though in about an hour the rain is supposed to end. We have no shore excursion planned. When the rain stops we will head into town.   It is an industrial port and the city is providing shuttle buses since you are not allowed to walk in this port.  

Anchorage is great! The shuttle drops you off at the Visitors Centre, from there you can take a trolley tour which is really fun and interesting. Great option.

[tupper10]

We got a late start today. We had lunch in the lido and then headed out. There was no wait for the shuttle bus that drove us downtown. We walked around a bit. I was debating doing the trolley tour but I have been to Anchorage and have seen most of the places it goes to. There was also a wait for about 40 minutes for the tour I was thinking about so instead I went to the anchorage museum.  I have to say I was very glad I did. It was a spectacular museum and I spent the entire afternoon enjoying the various exhibits.  If you ever get to Anchorage I highly recommend it.  Later today we will look to see if Denali has reared its peak through the clouds. The sleeping sister near her is out but the clouds are still blocking Denali.  It is a casual dinner again tonight.  I have to say that the majority of people are very casual.  Jeans and sweaters or sweatshirts seem to be the go to outfit for most everyone.

 

 

[SwissMyst]

Sun broke through early afternoon and suddenly there was “Alaska” snowcapped peaks and all as the city postcard backdrop.  On the verandah right now in the sun for what looks it could be a spectacular sail away sunset.

 

Bureau of Lands Federal Building is another good city visit for Alaska scenic and wildlife exhibits and gorgeous videos. Agree, Alaska Museum has stunning and well displayed collections of tribal artifacts. Museum store has very nice selections for an extra special Alaska souvenir.

 

 

 

 

[RiciRicardo]

Hi everyone,

Just wondering what is happening with entertainment? We get on the Noordam in San Diego on October 8 heading for Hawaii. Is there a Piano Bar? and if so who is tickling the ivories? Thx

[cruisequeen4ever]

We had a fantastic dinner at Simons watching you guys sail away! So many people in the restaurant were taking pics of you literally sailing into the sunset. 

[tupper10]

A beautiful day sailing to Valdez. We are passing multiple glaciers on the port side of the ship.  It is cold out but we can sit outside with a jacket and hat.  We will spend most of the day enjoying the view. 

[RuthC]

17 hours ago, RiciRicardo said:

Hi everyone,

Just wondering what is happening with entertainment? We get on the Noordam in San Diego on October 8 heading for Hawaii. Is there a Piano Bar? and if so who is tickling the ivories? Thx

None of the HAL ships have Piano  Bars anymore. Most of them have something called Billboard Onboard, which is two pianos with two musicians; it's a duel piano set-up, but not dueling pianos. 
The musicians may or may not have ever played together before, and you can tell when they are not familiar with each other. 

The couple of ships that don't have Billboard Onboard have The Mix, which is more like a piano lounge. There is the one piano and musician, but it is still a set, pre-planned presentation. Not at all spontaneous, like the old Piano Bars were. 

 

[SwissMyst]

VALDEZ.  Another clear, sunny day. Cold but little wind and no rain so far in any of our ports. Stunning fjord like views, craggy mountains and a small intensely white glacier right off the ship starboard side views.

[SwissMyst]

ENRICHMENT. Christie, a biogeologist, has provided excellent lectures. She takes a very practical approach to enhancing the Alaska experience. How to use your binoculars. Why is there so much life in these cold Alaska waters. How to identify different types of whales.

[tupper10]

As @SwissMyst has said it is a beautiful day in Valdez. Here is the view from our veranda.  I will say if you plan on doing this cruise the port side is the side to be on for this cruise.  

[RiciRicardo]

On 9/22/2023 at 1:49 PM, RuthC said:

None of the HAL ships have Piano  Bars anymore. Most of them have something called Billboard Onboard, which is two pianos with two musicians; it's a duel piano set-up, but not dueling pianos. 
The musicians may or may not have ever played together before, and you can tell when they are not familiar with each other. 

The couple of ships that don't have Billboard Onboard have The Mix, which is more like a piano lounge. There is the one piano and musician, but it is still a set, pre-planned presentation. Not at all spontaneous, like the old Piano Bars were. 

 

Many thanks, so who is playing in Billboard Onboard on the Noordam right now? We board on the 8th of October in San Diego

[SwissMyst]

VALDEZ.  Shore excursions sold out, left us wondering what we would do for a day on our own in tiny 4,000 population Valdez. Not to worry, surprising treasures and walks in this little town, surrounded by high snowy peaks. 
 

Best recommendation was the short walk from the Visitor Center shuttle stop to the remarkable collections at the Maxine & Jesse Whitney Museum located adjacent to the Prince William Sound College. Both large and small Alaska wildlife specimens in very naturalistic display and carefully curated native crafts.

 

Valdez Museum is equally interesting including the great surprise exhibit of one of the Prinsendam’s lifeboats used to rescue the 319 passengers after it caught on fire and needed to be evacuated in 1980, before finally sinking. The city of Valdez took in the rescued passengers and crew after their harrowing hours in the open sea.

 

There are several easy hiking trails offering views across the water, town and lush forested landscape. Dock Point Trail includes boardwalks, benches,and vista points.

 

Shared the port today with the Viking Orion, who was small enough to get the city side dock.  We were out of town a few miles but free shuttle were available,

 

Valdez is a very worthy port stop. Looking forward to getting reports from the shore excursions.

 

 

 

 

[tupper10]

Our shore excursion to the Thompson pass and Worthington glacier was fabulous.  We saw wonderful waterfalls and an untold number of hanging glaciers.  I would highly recommend this excursion.  We saw sea lions at the hatchery but the best was seeing a brown bear right by our bus catching a fish in a creek and then ambling off to the woods. The video we took is too large to post.  

 

 

I have to say so far this cruise has exceeded our expectations. The food, staff, the ports and finally great weather is making this a trip to remember.  

[SwissMyst]

Speaking of good food  on this cruise, first time I have seen on the Navigator MDR dinner menu a special featured “Crew Meal of the Day” option. Tonight it is Korean Candied Fried Chicken.

[canadianbear]

29 minutes ago, SwissMyst said:

Speaking of good food  on this cruise, first time I have seen on the Navigator MDR dinner menu a special featured “Crew Meal of the Day” option. Tonight it is Korean Candied Fried Chicken.

That’s interesting…wonder if anyone had it how it was. 

[Mermen]

49 minutes ago, SwissMyst said:

Speaking of good food  on this cruise, first time I have seen on the Navigator MDR dinner menu a special featured “Crew Meal of the Day” option. Tonight it is Korean Candied Fried Chicken.

Thank you for posting, that’s really cool!  Did you try? I imagine it’s spicy, hot and sweet. Fun concept. 

[SwissMyst]

Korean Candied Fried Chicken was like Sweet and Sour Chicken in that it was battered small pieces of fried chicken, but the sauce was hot and more salty, which would make it more Korean. Very nice side vegetable with pickled ginger.

 

The maitre d’ was also surprised to see this “crew option” officially. on the menu since he has just come on only a few weeks ago.  Don’t know if this is just trial run, permanent or fleet wide. Nice variety to add.

 

 

 

Edited September 24, 2023 by SwissMyst

[oakridger]

I never met a Korean crew member on HAL.  I wonder if they all work below decks.  I'm somewhat kidding, but are there actually Korean crew?

 

I certainly like the added crew meal idea to get something new and interesting on the menu whether Koreans work on board or not!!  😉

 

~Nancy