Spirit review, part 2

[snoopy_leogirl]

July 26 – Third Day of cruise – Ketchikan

We arrived in Ketchikan pretty early. We got up at 5 am because we forgot to turn the clocks back by 1 hour so we went back to sleep for a while and got ready and were at breakfast by 7 or so. At about 8 am, we were already off the ship. The weather was nice, it was cold yet pleasant but I was worried since it was overcast (all day!) We first shopped a bit at a few of the stores right at the docks and then we took a tour of the city through a taxi and the driver was really nice and knew a lot. He was Hispanic and his fiancée was a native so he knew his stuff. We first toured an area called Herring Cove which had an unlimited amount of king salmon, ravens and bald eagles. There were just so many of them everywhere. Very nice to see them up close. After that, we went to Saxman Village where there’s totem poles. They are carved very nicely. After that, we were dropped off at Creek Street and walked around a bit and then we actually had to run back to the pier where we had to meet a bus to take us to the Misty Fjords Seaplane Adventure that we booked through NCL. Our Seaplane adventure was through Promech Air and they did a really good job. When we arrived, we waited for about 5 minutes and then boarded our plane with our captain Chris. This excursion truly was amazing. We took off and floated in the air as we passed over mountains, deep valley’s, cascading waterfalls, pools of water, snow capped mountains and of course, lots and lots of clouds. Finally, we landed on a very tranquil lake which was deeply formed on top of a mountain. WOW! What a landing. And the best part was being able to come out of the seaplane and stand on the beams outside of the seaplane. Chris said we could out for 10 minutes and we got to take some wonderful pictures and take in the scenery which was absolutely breathtaking. I would recommend this excursion because it is truly something that you will only get to see once in your life unless you get lucky to see it again. Now, for the planning part of the excursion, I have huge complaints. We were told to meet at the pier, in the space where NCL was docked at earlier (and later on, the ship had to be tendered) So, about 5 minutes before we were supposed to meet, we arrived at the meeting spot. We never saw anyone so we decided to split up in two groups to try and find out where we had to meet. We ended up all the way at the other end of the pier! They never told us of the change and we were all over the pier, looking for our excursion group. That sucked and I think it was poor planning on NCL’s part. Again, after we gave the clerk our excursion tickets, she told us to walk to about center pier and find bus blah blah blah (I can’t remember the bus number right now). So, we walked so far, only to find that the bus we needed to board was back where we first started out. Uggh! Bad planning. It was actually annoying to walk back and forth trying to find the right place. When we finally got on the bus, the other 3 people on the excursion with us from NCL also complained that they could not find the NCL Excursion representative and she was planning on complaining because her husband was partially handicapped and could barely walk! Bad planning aside, the excursion was great and Ketchikan was really nice, except for the fishy smell on the docks…lol! Since we were tendered back to the ship, getting back was another problem for practically everyone! There were 3 tender boats taking passengers back to the ship and unfortunately, one of the tender boats (slightly) scraped Volendam’s fore and scratched it slightly. Oops! The line was about 1,000 people long (LITERALLY!) and took about 1 hour to clear. We were supposed to leave Ketchikan at 2 pm but we ended up leaving at about 3 pm or so since we were all late getting back to the ship (not our fault). I think that the process of getting back could have been a bit quicker if they had more people. At Ketchikan, we had 3 other ships in port: Carnival Spirit, HAL Volendam and Island Princess.
Back on board, after sailing, the captain announced that there are whales on the port side of the ship so we all ran outside and stood there for like 30 minutes and saw absolutely nothing but tranquil water, no whales. I guess they appear and disappear really quickly if they want to. We got cold so we went back inside. Dinner was at Windows for us, and trust me, they are strict on the dress attire. NO JEANS! I actually went there in jeans but the host asked me to change so I had to. We had an amazing meal of specially ordered fish curry (for me, my sis and my uncle) and veggie curry for the rest of the gang. If you have a special request, like we did, most of the time, you have to let them know at least 24 hours in advance and they prepare it for you. Good job, NCL! I think that the staff at Windows was exceptionally pleasant at times. Around bedtime, the boat rocked quite a bit. I felt the rocking mostly at night while going to bed but in a way, it always put me to sleep.

July 27 – Fourth Day of cruise – Juneau/Sawyer Glacier
Woke up early again and went to Raffles for breakfast. The buffet line was always crowded at breakfast. After eating, I stepped out to the amphitheater and looked around and noticed that it was awfully foggy outside and the clouds were grey and hanging very low. Mount Roberts Tramway was a bad idea for an early morning activity. Good thing though, it never rained while we were there though it drizzled slightly. There were 4 other ships in port with us today: NCL Star, HAL Ryndam, Island Princess and Vision of the Seas. We took the shuttle from the ship to town and were dropped off by the entrance of Mt. Roberts Tramway. First stop? The famous Mendenhall Glacier. Driving to the Glacier, even from a distance, its so pretty to look at. Our driver told us that we’re lucky its overcast because that’s when you can see the blue color the best and boy was she right. It took me a while to take it all in. It was an overwhelming sight and at the same time, very beautiful. We walked on a few of the trails. We took the one where you can touch the water at the shore (almost like a beach), one that took us high up to view it from up, and one that took us pretty close to it. After Mendenhall, we went to Glacier Gardens which was just okay. Golf carts take you up the slopes where you pass through really tall trees, berries, flowers, tree trunks and other natural vegetation. When we left here, we went up to the Mount Roberts since the weather was more clear and we were there for a fairly short time, since we had to get back down, shop a bit and board the ship again. The view was really nice but I think its too pricey to go up there. After we got back, we went to the Alaskan T-Shirt Company and shopped a bit there. This is a nice store that has lots of t-shirts, souvenirs, candy and other odds and ends. Has anyone seen the poopin’ keychain? Its funny. My sister bought three of them, one for herself, and one each for our little cousins back in St.Maarten. Its basically a bear and when you press the belly, you can see it poopin’ and this brown mushy stuff comes out but sucks back in when you release the belly. I think there were several other animals of the keychains but we picked the bears. When we got back on board, we sailed Sawyer Glacier later on. As others have already mentioned, the timing of the Chocoholic Buffet is weird since it kind of clashes with the time when we sail through Sawyer Glacier. The buffet was great! Good chocolate desserts and many people had plates FULL of chocolate creations. Most of the buffet was cakes but it had some solid chocolate, and dipped fruit (banana/pineapple). Also, there was a small sugar free cake variety. The presentation of the buffet was beautiful. There were ice sculptors, and chocolate carved pieces for display only. Sawyer Glacier: what a sight! I spent about a whole hour at the fore on deck 13 with a huge group of people, all crammed there to watch the huge chunks of ice floating in the water, the fjords, waterfalls, and low clouds which made it misty and even more dramatic. The actual Glacier which is divided into North Sawyer Glacier and South Sawyer Glacier (which you will find out) were amazing. I loved every moment of this journey. The captain did a great job of steering through the ice, which was all over, it was very very icy! We went quite close to it and we even saw a boat with excursioners closer to the South Glacier and later we were so close to North Sawyer Glacier. Getting out of the Sawyer Glacier area was tricky! The captain actually practically stopped completely for a long time to slowly turn around to the left and finally get us out. The ice was all very blue because it was overcast. There was a little pup seal in the water at the port side of the ship. After a while, on our way out of Sawyer Glacier, we faced a lot of rain! Nonstop rain! It rained for several hours, but thankfully we were on the ship and were inside so it was dry. We hoped that Skagway would be dry too.