Alaska Ryndam 6/4- Our first cruise

[maxiesmommie]

I'll do this in 2 parts, I tried to keep it short!

 

Vancouver- very nice, weather so so, had some good Chinese at Hon's Won Ton, hotel room had great view of the harbor. We saw the cruise ships coming in and leaving- ours coming in too.

Victoria- long ride to ferry, longer ride on ferry, two hours in Butchart Gardens(not as large as I expected) a couple hours downtown(which included time to eat) and then ride back to ferry. Very long tiring day and in all not a whole lot seen or done.

Cruise- ship had outbreak of Norovirus the week before, they let us know in the am, we had option to cancel. They took extra sanitizing precautions before allowing anyone to board, hand sanitizer EVERYWHERE!! Kind of a pain, lines for food, beverages always, even for ketchup & mustard at the fixings bar! Even in dining room, no salt, pepper, bread baskets or butter on tables had to be served everything- everywhere to help contain the illness. Whatever, it worked pretty well, I didn't hear of anyone getting ill although apparently some did according to one announcement.

We enjoyed the activities, food, the couple shows we went to, naturalist talks, chef presentation. Ship is the right size for me, easy to get around and find things, liked it alot. Loved the Daily Program!

Ketchikan- float plane was nice we used Alaska Sea Plane Tours. would definitely recommend him. Saw a pod of Orcas- very cool, very scenic. City tour so so, we booked through MGT and I think they contract out to SourDough, not sure. Disappointed in Saxman Village, very small not many totems, not much there at all.

Juneau- again, city tour so so- did with same company. Both towns very touristy near the ship. Went to the State Museum, very nice, smallish, but nice. Alaskan art exhibit of Rie Munoz going on as well as whale photography- some very cool whale photos. Loved them both. Chapel by the Lake was so pretty as was the university grounds.

Skagway- our first beautiful weather day since Victoria. Very small town, also touristy. Drive to Emerald Lake in Yukon was beautiful, so scenic. Loved being able to stop, look around, take photos. Bear walked across the road in front of us- quick, stop, get window down, grab camera for picture before he's too far! Emerald Lake is indeed lovely, but the drive there had been equally impressive. Continued on to Whitehorse for a Harley stop! Nice little town, scenic also. Returned to Skagway, walked around and reboarded ship. Paid 3.69 gal for gas for rental car!

Glacier Bay- we were both a little disappointed. For some reason you see pics with just glaciers and think its a big bay with all glaciers.:o Nope, mountain, glacier, mountain, glacier. We did see some calving from one of them a few times and a seal hanging out on a hunk of ice.

Leaving Glacier Bay- ran into our only rough water! :eek: Bummer on our last formal night, many no shows for dinner, many leaving during dinner! DH did not eat most of his food and he NEVER gets sea sick- always me. We passed on dessert:( , the parade of Baked Alaskas and went to the room. DH got sick promptly and in spectacular fashion. Our poor cabin steward(we tipped him well come Sun. am). Hung out in the library area in the super comfy chairs while our cabin was cleaned till around 11pm. Tried going up to the dessert extravaganza that was that night, but the motion was too much and even though it was all pretty, not a good idea and we left. Soon after it was my turn, luckily I didn't make a mess!

College Fjord- very gray day, although calmer seas, by the time we got into the fjords it was nicer out. Sort of like glacier bay, mountain, glacier- repeat! Saw whales & sea lions while leaving the area and cruising toward Seward. Very scenic, nice mountains.

Loved the Ryndam and would sail her again in a minute!!

Kathy :)

[maxiesmommie]

Let me say up front that I loved our cruisetour!! Although it was a lot of early mornings, I didn't feel like it was all bus rides and train rides. The hotels used were all top notch and all the HAL people we came in contact with from our tour director to the bartenders aboard the McKinley Explorer were friendly and personable folk. It was a busy on the go week, but it gave us a great idea of what we'd like to do and see in the future. As well as what we won't need to repeat:D

Seward, AK- small town, gray misty day. Did Kenai Fjords boat tour, saw lots of wildlife- Orcas, Humpbacks, also either blue or gray whales, (I think)seals, sea lions, sea otters, lots of birds. Nice calving at the glacier we saw there. Sea Life Center in town near our hotel was great, very cool. Lots of info, also had aviary with more cool birds & ducks, seals, sea lions. Had some really good pizza in town at Christies! We were at the Hotel Edgewater and although the room was very warm although set in the 60's it was a very nice place. Sky looked the same at 5 pm, 11 pm and 9 am! Walked around town, drizzly again, not much to see in our part of town, noonish we leave for Anchorage.

 

Anchorage- drive there was very scenic, first time I wished we were in a car on our own to be able to stop. Stopped at a wildlife refuge I had wanted to stop at and did not know was part of our tour!! :) Saw moose, caribou, bears, bison and eagle. Made the most of our short time in Alaska's largest city. Went to the Iditarod store for friends and got them stuff, hit a couple souvenir places, bought more stuff, saw the Alaska Experience movie(camera was too jumpy, made DH queasy!). Went to the Glacier Brew House for dinner, great meal! Even though we were mostly full, we pigged out and had bread pudding for dessert! Suitcase is really getting full! Did I ever mention the 6 bottles of liquor we bought on the ship?? That we are now lugging around Alaska?? Smacking ourselves upside the head! LOL!

** Important tip- only do the above mentioned liquor purchase if you are going southbound!! LOL!! :o

Train to Denali- another early morning, saw a moose right out of town, not much else though. Scenic, but slow. Wishing we were driving again! McKinley Chalets were lovely, flat screen tvs in room again, huge bed. The public areas for some reason were hot, though room was ok and we had a ceiling fan. Just walking from the room to outside. Jet boat excursion was nice, ride was fun, but not worth 90 some bucks per person. Interesting talk on hunting, trapping, etc. in the area and Alaska. Panned for gold, David did better than I, don't seem to have the knack. Got about 6 pieces total for both of us.

Denali National Park tour- another early day ( are you seeing the trend yet?) There were forest fires burning to the north, sadly the wind shifted Wed. am and the park had a smoky haze hanging over it so the mountain and much of the natural beauty was obscured. Whenever we got out of the buses and wanted some fresh air- ugh- smelled like a camp fire! However we saw moose a few times, bears, caribou several times, lots of snowshoe hares, birds, Dall sheep- very cool, hanging out very close to the road both on the way there and back) Took some pics just because even though it looks all gray. Chilled out in the evening, had pizza for dinner- again, Lynx is good stuff! Liked their Caesar dressing too, not bad for probably bottled stuff. And then ice cream later! Thurs am went to the visitor center, missed seeing the dog kennel there and the movie wasn't working :( Center was nice, but had we known there was a baggage check area there we could have taken our carry ons and spent more time there since the train was about 100 yds. away.

Train to Fairbanks- scenic, very nice. Passed through the burnt area, it had been right at the train earlier in the week and train wasn't running we were told. One of my friends that I was meeting in Fairbanks met us at the train and whisked us away. Had a nice dinner and made plans for the next evening after our tours ended.

Fairbanks- did the Riverboat Discovery which made a stop at Chena Village and we stopped at a couple places on the way and people on land had hook ups to talk with us on the boat. Very enjoyable and one of the better things we did, no wonder people say it is a top attraction. All well done- even the concession prices were very reasonable- souvenir prices too! They even gave us free coffee/tea and doughnuts and salmon spread snacks later! Chena Village was cool, educational but also cool! Wishing we could have had the nephews with us. From there we went to the Gold Dredge, had lunch in a mess hall type setting, but the food was not bad! Walked around the mine and again panned for gold! I did it for awhile and let David take over. We chose to not have it put into a little locket they want to sell you.

Said bye to our tour director and other members, a good group overall. He was a cool guy and lots of fun. My friend had us over for dinner Friday night and then we went to the Malemute Saloon, a local show, a gold mine theme, but lots of fun- an old saloon style place. In fact both of the male actors had been involved with stuff we had seen at the Gold Dredge! One is a local Fairbanks anchorman!

Saturday- our last day- my friend picked us up again and was our guide for the day. In all we saw a farmers market, Harley store( our last one!), U of A museum, botanical gardens, Musk Ox research facility and Pioneer Park where many of the old buildings, cabins had been relocated. Lots of little souvenir stores, but they at least all had their own little niche- slippers, jewelry, carved items. Plus lots for kids to do, play areas, miniature golf, a train. Also a plane and train museums that we didn't go in. Dinner with at a nice place on the river and to the airport!

 

I'm now, of course, still jetlagged and tired! Imagine if we hadn't had all those early mornings how bad it would be!

Kathy :)

[maxiesmommie]

We enjoyed our cabin very much, the size was perfect. We were in 036. Didn't really need the balcony after all, did use it a few times in Glacier Bay, but the price hadn't been that much more when we booked it so... Would I get one again?? Depends on where we were going to, Caribbean, maybe?

 

Beds were very nice and comfy and DH loved the tv! Gotta watch those basketball finals, ya know!

 

Didn't like the 10:15 show time for the second dinner seating people, I was usually too tired after a busy port day. Loved being able to see the first show when we went to the Pinnacle. The comedian and magician were awesome and both so funny!

 

Would have loved the Explorations Cafe even more had I realized they have smoothies there and not just coffees! DOH! Yummy and reasonable too. Liked the daily quiz even though I didn't do well on the couple I did! Would have liked to have been able to browse all the books, but oh well.

 

Having never cruised before, it was a bit of a surprise when the CD said at the disembarkation talk to try and write down the names of 5 crew members worthy of recognition. And then the rest of the day trying to get the names of the ones you liked all week. I think I worried one guy, not realizing I wanted it for a good thing!

Ok, I think I'm finally done! I said it would be long!

[TylerRose]

Dear Kathy,

You covered al your bases... Good Job!

I am still doing Laundry... Hope to move on to scrapbooking by next week!

It was great visiting with you!

Robyn:)

[NancyIL]

Very nice review - thank you! Did you go on the "Best of Juneau" tour with MGT? You said it was "so-so"...but you seemed to like several of the places you stopped. What made it so-so? How much time did you spend at Mendenhall on the tour?

[maxiesmommie]

do the Juneau's Best tour. 45 min. ended up being nowhere near enough time to see Mendenhall, we barely had time to go into the visitor center. U of A, we basically drove through it to get to the Chapel. And I guess I was still annoyed with them for the poor job they did in Ketchikan. They had us down for the wrong time, but wasn't a problem to change it for when we were supposed to go. Then the lady said to wait outside and she would come and show us to the bus. It was only about 15 mins. and we were just hanging around by the center waiting. When we didn't seem to see any buses coming, DH went back in to ask her where the bus was. Uh- it was leaving without us! They had to stop it. If she had said in the first place, go look for so and so, he's the guy with the long hair, heck, we saw him as soon as we went outside, never knowing it was our tour. His tour was decent and we didn't blame him for the mixup. But I was just annoyed that she didn't seem to have her act together.

We really wished that we had just taken the express bus to Mendenhall and done it on our own.

[NancyIL]

do the Juneau's Best tour. 45 min. ended up being nowhere near enough time to see Mendenhall, we barely had time to go into the visitor center. U of A, we basically drove through it to get to the Chapel. And I guess I was still annoyed with them for the poor job they did in Ketchikan. They had us down for the wrong time, but wasn't a problem to change it for when we were supposed to go. Then the lady said to wait outside and she would come and show us to the bus. It was only about 15 mins. and we were just hanging around by the center waiting. When we didn't seem to see any buses coming, DH went back in to ask her where the bus was. Uh- it was leaving without us! They had to stop it. If she had said in the first place, go look for so and so, he's the guy with the long hair, heck, we saw him as soon as we went outside, never knowing it was our tour. His tour was decent and we didn't blame him for the mixup. But I was just annoyed that she didn't seem to have her act together.

We really wished that we had just taken the express bus to Mendenhall and done it on our own.

 

Thank you for the additional information. Well...we have a LONG time (almost a year) to decide what to do in Juneau.