Alaska 2024

 While we didn't reach Juneau until 1pm, we started our morning with a session in BBKing describing what to expect on our land tour. Alex, Cruise & Travel Director along with the future Cruise Consultant gave the presentation.  Afterwards we watched a presentation on 3 women in Alaska who broke the proverbial glass ceiling in Aviation, ice breaking, and fishing.  The remainder of our morning we spent in the Crow's Nest watching the scenery including the 4 huge cruise ships which were all making their way to Juneau.  Besides us there was the Eurodam, Discovery Princess, and Celebrity Edge.  I could see on my Marine traffic App that the Carnivak Luminosa was in a nearby fjord exploring. But we never saw it.  The ship also briefly stopped to disembark guest s to a small boat to explore the fjord before returning to Juneau.  For the last hour or so of the voyage, Taz gave scenic commentary. After docking in a light rain, we checked in with a ticket ven...

 Today is our first and only sea day and it started early as the interdenominational service started at 8am.  The weather was cloudy, rainy and heavily overcast all day.  A retired Methodist pastor from Vancouver, Keith Hackett and it was a large and very interdenominational group.  His message was on hospitality.   The rest of the morning we spent watching Alaska presentations on the main stage before attending a sparsely attended Mariner reception in the billboard onboard area.  We enjoyed a long conversation with the hotel director, Renee from the Netherlands.  He now lives in Spain and enjoys his vintage Alfa Romeo sports car after years of riding motorcycles.  He also noted that the stairs between the Rolling Stone Rock Room and the billboard onboard will be removed at the next drydock. We enjoyed lunch in the Dutch Cafe (pea soup of course) and chatted with a couple who were on their first cruise and from Nova Scotia. For the rest of the aft...

 At long last our 2024 Alaska trip departure day arrived.  Our pastor and friend Ronal picked us up before 8am on a wet, cold, and drizzly morning.  He dropped us off at the Courtyard Hotel on the West Valley Highway where we waited for about an hour for our 9am shuttle bus.  Alan, from Travel with Alan, was there to herd the two busloads of travelers making the journey north to Vancouver, Canada. The ride north took us on I-5 through the heart of Seattle as I-405 was closed for repairs.  We made a stop in Lynnwood to drop off Alan and pick up 4 passengers.  A second stop was in Bellingham at the King Street McDonalds for a  restroom and snack break.  Our final stop was at the border to clear border security into Canada.  After the border crossing, it was a slow drive to Canada Place in heavy traffic.  At the pier, the check in process was quick and efficient and we were onboard by 2pm after 1/2 hour process including pre-clearance back ...