What an experience! Our first ever cruise and the destination was Alaska aboard the Zuiderdam a vessel with Holland America line. Fantastic except that their internet fees were outside our comfort zone so we have been off the air for the past 7 days.
We arrived back into Vancouver this morning and after a leisurely breakfast we finally disembarked just before 9am. Now we are settled into our hotel for the night I need to do some catch up.
Our stateroom (not cabin) was on the inside so no windows but as we only intended to sleep and shower there, why pay so much extra for a window.
There were 10 decks and 2 and 3 and 9 and 10 had lounges, restaurants, casino, dining room, shops, theatre, stage and swimming pools so there was plenty of room to move around and always somewhere to find a comfy chair to watch the world go by or to look for whales, dolphins, seals and other assorted sea life and interesting barges and boats that we passed.
We stopped into Juneau, Skagway and Ketchikan with a day cruising in Glacier Bay as well. What an experience and how interesting at our ports of call to see the shops that are run by the cruise lines as compared to those locally owned. We got to notice finally the locals with signs in their windows or over their doors pointing out that they were owned by 'local' Alaskans and not just open for the summer.
We have never seen so many jewellery shops in one place like in each of the towns we visited. Again many are run by the cruise lines and you receive discount books as you board the ship with advertising re their terrific discounts. These shops are staffed only during the summer and the staff are brought in by the cruise lines so not even jobs for the locals. Was interesting!
I visited a fibre shop in Juneau (owned by a local) and she told me her husband worked for the Coast Guard and that the population was around 25000.
Again there were lots of souvenier shops and multiple jewellery shops, seems Tanzanite is the rage (comes from Tanzania) is running out so will gain in value in years to come (so all the sales folk said)! Admittedly the stone is a beautiful blue but we were not brave enough to buy diamonds, tanzanite or the Canadian Ammorlite (very colourful) as thought we would wait till we are home and can go back to the jeweller if we were not happy. I did try on a pink diamond however and then when asked 'so what about I give you the best price' I answered that it was very nice but I am not buying.
Skagway was our furtherest north town and just 895 folk but an interesting few streets to walk around. We visited the local museum and saw many eskimo displays and artifacts.
Ketchikan was our last port of call and there we went to the lumberjack show where two teams competed against each other demonstrating various skills of the original timber getters in the area. This of course included log rolling in the swimming pool and various types of wood chopping. Their other main industry is salmon fishing and the local fleet are coming and going all the time.
Another interesting site were sea planes coming and going each capable of carrying up to 10 passengers. The cruise offered scenic rides on the float planes but they were more fun to watch taking off and landing than being on one I think, also that height thing is still around and having an effect on someone I know and love so can't expect too much.
Glacier Bay was just that, about 4 glaciers feeding into the bay which is now a world heritage site. Park rangers come on board and explain what we are looking at as we move around the bay and ensure that the ship is where it should be.
The Grand Pacific glacier is about 250ft high at it's face and as we 'parked' there for about 30 mins you could hear the ice cracking and see it falling into the water. There was also dirty water gushing out near the waterline which showed the dirt and sediment that was being washed out with the melt underneath.
We were so lucky with the weather for our day in Glacier Bay as the previous 4 had all been overcast and showers. As you can see we had blue skies and a magic day although very cold. The previous weeks cruise had encountered a foggy day where they couldnt see anything, what a heartbreak that would be?
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