Pearls of the Pacific Northwest-Stacey's Alaskan Cruise Review

And, here she is!!! In video, and photos.

The tub!!!!

Separate toilet room

Desk/TV/Fridge

Storage space

This was the first cabin that had liquid hand soap…

Great review, looking forward to more

The balcony wasn't long but it was pretty deep-I was thrilled to see that it had a lounger and two chairs!

It was a pretty view into the bay, and I could even see the Great Wheel in the distance.

Waving at a ferry

After my initial scan, I noticed this envelope on the desk….

GASP. So, the rumors were true!!!! I had heard about Meet and Mingle organizers getting some VIP perks, but didn't want to get my hopes up. However, I had heard good things about the private breakfast and lunch in Moderno, so I was excited!

My mom didn't quite understand the significance of the perks, so she just shrugged. Oh,just wait.

Then, there was a knock at our door,and lo and behold, our bags had arrived! I guess that $20 really did work.

We spent the next but unpacking and getting settled in, finishing just before the 3:00 muster drill-earlier than others, but oh well.

Our muster station was outside the Lotus Garden, which was next to the Teppanyaki. there was an opening that you could see down to all of the bars-Shakers, Magnums, Maltings, and Le Bistro.

We found a window seat for the duration, which was pretty much like every other muster drill until the end. At least I wasn't outside breathing in sewage this time.

However, at the end, the captain came on the intercom and acknowledged the 15th anniversary of 9/11, asking for us all to have a moment of silence.

And now I'm going to digress a bit during the moment of silence, since it was 9/11. WARNING: If this is a sensitive topic, please skip ahead. I won't get all maudlin-it is a cruise review, but I do want to pay my respects to all of those affected by that day, and send prayers and thoughts out to anyone who lost someone that day. I've only lived in New York for three years, but have met people who were living there at the time, and have heard some pretty tragic stories. I've also had more than a few patients who have chronic health issues that were related to the air quality following it, so I know that the effects are still out there,15 years later.

Taken about 2 weeks prior to cruise

My 9/11 memory was far less connected to the actual events. I was living and attending college in northern Arizona in 2001,working as a CNA, sharing an apartment with one of my nieces(she is only 3 years younger) and a friend of hers. I sleep with the TV on, weird habit of mine, but I woke up sometime after 6am that morning to see the coverage of the first plane hitting the tower. I didn't think much of it, but was surprised that a plane could have run into such a tall building. My niece and I had a bathroom between our rooms, so I walked through and knocked on her door telling her, "Hey a plane hit the World Trade Center, I don't think you'll be working there anytime soon." (She was studying international finance at the time).

She gave some kind of non response,still asleep, so I went back to bed. Then my phone rang a little while later, with my brother(her father) asking if I had seen the news about the WTC being under attack. I told him that I had thought a plane ran into it, and thought he was being melodramatic.

"No,no, another plane hit the other building-turn on the news!" he shouted.

So I did, and woke up my niece again, who got on the phone with her dad, and came in to watch the news. We watched in shock for a few minutes before moving out to the living room TV. This woke our other roommate up, who wasn't happy about being up early, but quieted down once she saw what was up.

The rest of the day, none of us moved-not to get dressed or anything, as we watched the Pentagon get hit, and reports of Flight 95. The news scrolled across the bottom of the screen as we were updated that literally everything in the country,city and state was shutting down. We had a bowl of Tootsie Rolls that we ate all day long, not even wanting to go to the kitchen for real food.

To this day, I have not had a Tootsie Roll since.

And that was my 9/11 memory-nothing significant, but still remember it clearly,as I'm sure we all do. I knew instinctively at the time that this was going to be a major day in history, and that our world was going to change, and it did. Looking back, I can see such a difference in life before and after.

I know that it has affected traveling, as has terrorism in general, and with so many recent terror events, people ask me why I continue to travel,especially on solo trips, and if I'm ever scared. Well, I am afraid to fly, but that was there well before 9/11, so I can't blame that on terrorism. I do exercise caution, and I do probably allow some factors into my travel decisions that may not be reasonable. But I still want to travel and experience the world. I work hard and love to travel, cruising or land, and if I wait until its 100% safe to go anywhere win the world, I would never leave home. Lets face it, I'm living in a city that's on constant terror threat, and I love it here. I think using common sense and street smarts, anyone can and should be able to travel. Otherwise, terrorism wins-which is what they want more than the explosions and assassinations-they want to control our habits.

In any case, I think it was fitting that I was going on vacation to explore a piece of the U.S. on this day.

OK, digression over.

So, after that solemn end to the muster drill,people filed out quietly. We walked outside to the promenade and saw that we were already sailing.

We passed the other pier where a Princess and a Holland America ship were docked. I suspected aloud that we would be seeing these ships over the week.

It was getting cooler, so we headed back inside and ended up at the lobby bar. Amazingly, we found seats at the bar, and one of the bartenders waited on us quickly.

We were still kind of hungry from our non-lunch, and O'Sheehans was right upstairs,which was a favorite of mine, so we went up there and had chicken pot pie and wings(me). The service was speedy, and I wished I had known that they were open earlier. This food was at least as good as I had recalled.

After our lunch/dinner combo, we walked down to the stores and looked around. The jewelry shop had some contest to win an emerald, so we entered the raffle(didn't win) and went into the main gift shop. The shops were laid out a bit differently as well,they curved around with a narrow hallway in between. By the way, if you REALLY did not find a rain jacket prior to the cruise-they have a selection here.

We continued exploring the ship, skipping the casino, as my mom and I are both sensitive to smoke. Then we hit the top of the ship,and found the Spinnaker Lounge two floors above our cabin.

This area was so cool! It had a lot of unique types of chairs, and a couple of beds-leading to my mom asking how crazy they wanted people to get in there- and giant windows surrounding three sides of the room,allowing both port and starboard views along with a view out the front of the ship. There was a bar in the back, and a stage in the middle.

They had a trivia starting soon on world landmarks, so I convinced her to take a weird chair and we got another cocktail and watched. I didn't enter-I'm a little shy with trivia for some reason, but probably should have. It seemed like a nice area, and I had a feeling that this was going to become a hotspot for the cruise.

When the trivia wrapped up, it was dusky outside, so we went back to the cabin to rest for a bit.

Actually, I wanted to start my whale hunting(visually, that is). I forwent the popular whale watching excursion in Juneau,as I went for the expensive excursion in Skagway.However, I kept hearing about how whales were frequently spotted from the cruise ship,and now that we had a balcony(!) I was bound and determined to see one.

My mom took advantage of the tub while I took my drink outside. It was getting cooler, so I used some imagination and found an extra comforter under the sofa. Within a few minutes, I turned the balcony lounger into this:

Yes, I'm weird, but this made the lounger especially cozy. I spent the next little bit in my whale watching attempts without luck. However, we still had cell service, so I caught up on some social media/surfing for a bit.

Once she was done,we were going to walk around the ship some more, but fatigue/jet lag and something else was catching up with me….that I was trying to ignore. My throat was getting scratchy. So we ended up just lounging around for a bit,until the phone rang.

It was the concierge calling to introduce herself and apologize for not finding us at the pier. Since I hadn't known to expect her, I told her that was all right. She confirmed the arrangements for the Meet and Mingle the next day, and offered to make any shore excursion and restaurant reservations. Although we had no intention of using NCL excursions(sorry, but check out the prices and you'll understand) and I was capable of making my own restaurant reservations, I figured that I would throw her a bone and asked about Le Bistro for the following night. She said that she would confirm, and reminded me about the Moderno breakfast in the morning-as if I would forget! She tried to offer us some other reservations for tonight, but since neither of us were hungry, I declined.

Since we were both tired, I spun the wheel to decline turndown service, and was done for the night.

I fell asleep WAY early that night, in hopes that that scratchy throat was just a momentary thing.

https://vimeo.com/188584696

Video tour of cabin for those interested- ignore my mom on phone lol

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Almost forgot!!!

Day 4-Monday, September 12, 2016- Sea Day

Yup, I was up early, especially since we went back a time zone during the night, so now I was four hours off my clock instead of three. Sigh.

My throat was still a bit sore, but I had some Cold-Eeze, one of the many meds I travel with. I started sucking down those things as I peeked outside to the dusky morning and decided to try out the gym that was just opening. So far, my food/alcohol intake was low enough to balance out the gym visits, so was hoping that weight gain would be nonexistent this cruise.

Then again, I didn't have to worry about overdoing the burgers on this cruise.

I thought it was 7am, but it was really 6 when I went upstairs to the gym.Despite the early hour, there was a handful of people already in there. I still managed to get a machine by the window and got in a decent workout.

I found the library across the way on my way out.Since no one was inside, I explore fit a bit.It was the largest library I had seen on a cruise to date-very nice room.

Back downstairs, my mom was still sleeping, so I took advantage of the tub-another first at sea. This cabin officially worked its way to the top of the list of favorite cabins.

She was awake when I got out, so we got ready and started to walk towards Moderno. I knew it was the restaurant overlooking the pool on deck 13,but because of the split deck, I hadn't found the easiest way there yet. We walked upstairs to 13 and outside, where it was already windy and cool.

The pool deck was bare as we crossed it, and no loungers were set up-strange for a sea day!

Once inside, there was a hostess stand outside Moderno and Cagneys with a sign indicating that the breakfast and lunch was private.

The concierge was by the hostess and introduced herself to us, and walked us into the restaurant. It was very elegant looking, with the circular windows overlooking the pool and deck.

She told us that the Le Bistro reservations were confirmed, and was trying again, in vain, to sell us on shore excursions, but I politely told her that we had already prepaid private excursions, and she took the hint. She then told us that there was a VIP cocktail party that evening in Bliss, and to expect an invitation.

We thanked her, and my mom was asking what exactly a concierge does. I hadn't been too sure, so i had asked a few frequent cruiser friends the day before, who gave me more of an idea, as well as an idea of what type of tip to give her at the end of the week. I knew she could do reservations, but other than "special requests" I hadn't found out much more. We didn't have any special requests, so I didn't think that we would be seeing too much of her.

Then our server,Dovie, whom we had most of the week, came by and gave us our menus:

There was also an upscale looking buffet in the middle.

My mom had the waffle, which she said was the best waffle that she had ever had:

I was torn between the eggs Benedict and French toast, but I was quickly realizing that we would be frequent visitors, so I decided to alternate. I chose the French toast, which was awesome,especially with the mascarpone cheese and fresh berries:

My mom got coffee, which they served French press style:

All in all, the restaurant held about 100 people, and was only about a third full. Service was beyond excellent.

As we left, the hostess reminded us of the lunch hours and showed us the menu. We saw a few things we liked, so it was an easy decision to come back.

So far,I was liking these extra perks, even if I felt a bit like a fraud being in there without my Haven membership.

Then again, maybe this was their way of luring me into spending the big bucks for it on a future cruise?!?!

OK, I hate to do this to you, but I just realized I have to upload some photos for Day 2, so I'm going to put a pause, but I PROMISE I will be back tomorrow night to finish that and (hopefully) the day in Juneau. I actually have quite a bit written, it's the uploading and inserting of photos that takes the time,as any other detailed reviewer will tell you. However, I'd rather take some time and give you guys the full effect, so please bear with me!!!:) Luckily, I only have a normal, 5 day workweek this week so I can spend more time on this…(this Vista Havana cabin had BETTER be worth all of these hours I'm working;P )

Love, love your review of your Alaskan cruise on the Pearl!

I always look forward to your reviews! I'm loving this one so far.

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

The sun was coming out, so we walked around outside. I was hoping that the rock climbing wall would be open, but it was still closed.

Inside, we wandered back to the cabin, and met our steward, Anthony, outside. He greeted us,asked if we were ok since we went to bed early the night before. We assured him that we were, and found that he had made up the room and given us an extra towel animal,since we missed one the night before! How sweet.

We got our gift bags ready,and headed upstairs to the Spinnaker for a bit. They had just finished an exercise class but a lot of people were hanging around, just lounging. We had a mimosa and settled on one of these loungers by the front window.

We weren't there long-my mom was reading, and I tried whale watching. No luck yet.

At about a quarter to 11, we headed down to Bliss. There were already a handful of people there, and there were quite a few gift bags on the table.

I got busy,introducing myself,meeting the people that had been on the roll calls the last few months. I also quickly scribbled out numbers for each gift bag, putting a matching number in a small bag to draw from.

Then the ships officers came in and introduced themselves to me, thanking me for hosting and asking if I had preferences on how to run the show. Since I didn't, the hotel director, Cary, told me that they usually talk first,then have the host talk, and then leave people to mingle.

He also told me that on the Pearl they do something different-they have a "recap" meeting the last day of the cruise,where everyone is invited back to give feedback on the cruise experience while they are still on board. I thought it was a great idea.

As usual, they had the pastry tray set up,along with a few juice dispensers,coffee and tea.

NCL really does know how to put on a nice show.

A few minutes later, the officers lined up and had us all sit down.They did their introductions, but they actually took a few more minutes to open the floor to questions.

I was impressed-the other ships hadn't really done that! Of course, people had plenty of questions, including some that I had, such as, where and when would we see whales?(Answer: Could be any day, but he claimed they always saw a few) where and when would we have a chance to see the Northern Lights?(Answer: Thursday night was our best chance if skies were clear but September cruises had better odds,so we had a shot) and what port was best to see bears (Answer:Ketchikan).

Then they handed the mic to me, which gave me some butterflies-I used to have pretty bad stage fright, but as I have been teaching the last few months, its gotten better. I just acted like I was in class and only spoke for a few, saying thanks, telling them that the gift exchange would be in a few minutes, and encouraged people to write reviews on this cruise.

When I was done, we mingled for a few, then I called people over for the gift exchange. It was simple-just had people draw a number from the bag, and throw it back if they got their own. It went smoothly.

We got a bag with some southern recipes in one and a ceramic dish in another.

After the exchange,people started leaving-we hung around until everyone left and the staff was cleaning up. All in all, it was a successful meeting!

We found the photo display just outside Bliss, so we looked around before heading back to Moderno for lunch. We were not hungry, but they were only open two hours, and wanted to see the Alaska documentary at 1:30.

Back at Moderno, the hostess greeted us like we were old friends. We had Dovie again, who chatted with us and encouraged us to have an adult beverage with our meals.

We each had the French dip sandwich,which came with what I now knew were the infamous truffle fries from Cagneys. It was sumptuous. I gobbled it down,despite not being hungry.

After we finished, we didn't have much time before the documentary,but Dovie still convinced us to have dessert.

Now we were totally stuffed, but had quite a while before dinner.

We made our way to the Stardust theater, where they had sales going for the Deal or No Deal show after the documentary. I had never seen the show,but my mom had, so we figured that we would watch it.

The documentary was interesting, it told a bit of the gold rush history and settlement of Alaska.

Once it was over, there was about a 20 minute gap between that and the DOND show,so I went to get us another drink. I walked down to Bar City(the area with Shakers,Magnum and Maltings) and procured our beverages.

On the way back in, there was no one at the sales table,so I decided to purchase a card, figuring it would make the game show more interesting.

Back in the theater, we settled in as she tried to explain how the game worked, and I read the card. I jokingly told her that if our card was called that she was going on stage.

A few minutes later, the show was starting and Dan the Man(cruise director) explained the game rules for the audience and then turned to the screen to call out the card that was going onstage first.

The first few numbers matched ours, and I didn't think anything of it until the next two matched, and then sat there in shock as the last two matched and my name was on the screen.

I still sat there win shock as my mom was squealing and telling me to go up. I was about to send her but she said it was my name.

"I don't know what to do!" I whispered, as she pushed me out of my seat.

OK, here goes…

Of course, we were at the very back of the auditorium,so it took a minute to navigate my way to the stage. Dan recognized me from all of two hours before and commented on it as I walked on the stage.

He had me introduce myself to the crowd, and asked if I knew how to play the game. I admitted that I didn't so he went over the rules. Basically, I picked a number of a suitcase, and then had to pick about four other numbers.

I still forget the rules, but I think that the goal was for those four numbers, or amounts of money, to be low(it went from 50 cents to $1000). I think my first pick was 13-the cases only went up to 20,or I would've picked 21,which is my lucky number(I turned 21 on the 21st day of the 21st century-there you have it for those that want to figure out my exact birthday and age LOL).

In any case(no pun intended) the four other numbers were fairly low amounts. Then the "banker" made me an offer to walk away with $172 or keep going. I had no clue what to do, and couldn't see my mom all the way in the back. In the end, i decided to play it safe, and went for the $172,figuring it would pay off my gratis and a few specialty meals,leaving me with (hopefully) a low balance at the end of the week.

I think the crowd was happy, as the first few rows cheered. Dan had me pick another set of numbers,to see "what would have happened." They were low, but my original case was for $150, so he said that I made the right choice.

Hey, I was thrilled! If I was careful,I could have a zero balance at the end of the cruise-or at least the lowest tab that I have ever had.

This made TWO cruises in a row in which I had won a competition/game. This could be a good streak to maintain!

Back up at our seats, my mom was excited. She said I had played it well for someone who had never seen the show. In her excitement, she did knock over my drink, so I went to collect another as the next contestant went up. She played until the second round, but she ended up taking the second offer for an amount similar to mine.

After the show, we were pretty excited,so we ended up back at the Spinnaker,where we relaxed and read(or whale watched) for a bit.

Yeah, my luck was used up at the game show-no whales today.

By the way, on my last NCL cruise, I fell for one of their signature drinks, the Rebellious Fish. I cannot locate a pic of the original, but it was pinkish and had vodka soaked raspberries and blackberries. I ordered it this time, and received this:

Not as appetizing looking.

We were here for awhile, then moved back to the cabin where I tried my luck on the balcony. Upon our return, we found this little treat!

On the balcony, I settled in my cozy lounger, but not only were there no whales, but some of my symptoms were creeping up a bit,though I was still downing the Cold-Eeze. I was hoping that between that and the alcohol that any lingering cold symptoms would be murdered.

We had planned to go to the 7:15 comedy show,and the VIP cocktail party was at 6, so we rested a bit before getting ready for elegant night.

We left the cabin just about 6, and made our way to Bliss. There were quite a few people in there, and the bar was open. Yahira found us and immediately guided us over to a gaudy couch and took our drink orders.

I have to admit, the Bliss on this ship resembled the one of the Epic more in size and decor. There were a lot more seating areas,including the wild beds, and a couple of bowling alleys, and a small area with other games like air hockey,foosball,etc. Despite not being my color preference(a lot of black and gold) I like fit a lot better than the tiny space it was on the Breakaway.

Someone came around offering appetizers, so we took the ones that didn't look fishy.

They were ok, and we hung around for a bit. Yahira came by again, asking us about our evening plans as well as what we were up to in Juneau the next day.We chatted for a bit-she seemed genuinely friendly.

Then is was time to head to the theater to get decent seats for the comedian. We got a couple on the aisle about halfway down.

We seemed to have the popular aisle-people kept coming and moving in. It was getting crowded quickly!

Sadly,my poor nose was rejecting all of the Cold-Eeze,and symptoms were at full force. I continued to hope in vain that the cold was going to run through me at a fast pace, and maybe would be gone by tomorrow.

Yes, I'm a nurse and I know how stupid this line of reasoning was. But the thought of being sick on vacation was too much to bear.

The show started, and the comedian, Tim Kaminski was "okay." He called a bunch of people on stage to play a role some type of Wizard of Oz scenario. He basically made a lot of jokes about the people and had them flapping around on stage.

Again, it was ok-he wasn't degrading anyone, but it wasn't my type of humor.

Then again, I was starting to feel pretty lousy as the show went on.

When it was over, it was time to go to Le Bistro. I've been to this restaurant three times, and loved the coq au vin, so I was hoping that the meal would perk me up.

They let us in and took us to a large booth. The restaurant decor was elegant as I expected, but service was pretty slow. It was probably the slowest that we had during the cruise.

By the time we finally got our meals, my symptoms were full blown and all I really wanted was my bed.

Sadly, the coq au vin was presented differently than it had been-it was in a pot,and had the bone in the chicken.

To be fair, my symptoms could have played a LARGE role, but I did not enjoy the meal at all.My mom wasn't crazy about it,either.

After picking at it for awhile, my mom finally called me out and suggested that we just go back so that I could get to bed. I protested, but she wasn't thrilled with the overall experience, so we signaled for the server.

Several minutes later, as I finally gave up and was lying down against the booth, he came by and was trying to investigate why we didn't eat the dinner. I played it off,saying that I felt seasick(I was afraid of being quarantined for having a cold). he tried to offer other dishes, but I told him that i just wanted to go back to the cabin. I gave him my card and told him to just ring up both of our meals,figuring I would use the prize money to pay for this lovely meal.

Of course,it wasn't that simple, and he came back with the maitre D', who also had to question the meal. Yes, I could have told him that the service was horrid and the chicken sucked, but at the end of the day, what would it have accomplished? I just didn't feel up to it, so I kept pleading seasickness and they let us go.

To demonstrate how sick i was feeling, I even skipped ordering the chocolate Napoleon dessert that I LOVE. Then again, I may not have wanted to be disappointed any further.

Back at the cabin, Anthony had turned down the cabin nicely, and we had another towel animal!

We also had THIS surprise from Yahira…

WOW, priority disembarkation?? This concierge thing was growing on me!

Needless to say, I was down for the night pretty quickly.

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Tuesday, September 13,2016-Juneau

Well, my cold had me sleeping in a bit longer this morning, but I was still up at about 7-ish local time.

Looking out of the window, I saw some mountains in the distance. Alaska at last!!!

http://i1362.photobucket.com/albums/r689/Sunbird21/Alaska%20Cruise/Juneau/IMG_6943_zpsnvqy8fnw.jpg[/img]

Since I was feeling pretty cruddy, I skipped the gym today in lieu of a warm bath.

Once we were both moving around, it was back to Moderno for breakfast again. The hostess recognized us, and we had Dovie serving breakfast,who quickly remembered that I drank Coke-well,Pepsi- and had my mom's coffee out within seconds.

She went for her waffle again, and I went for the eggs Benedict today.

Yahira greeted us again,asking what our plans for the day in Juneau were, and reminded us to meet her outside Moderno for priority disembarkation.

After breakfast, we wandered down to the stores where I wanted to stock up on Kleenex and cold medicine. Yes, i was officially admitting now. Unfortunately, there was NO KLEENEX for sale in either store. The cold med choices were Robitussin and Nyquil. Since I very much wanted to be awake, I went for the Robitussin.

I didn't want to overdo it activity wise, so we went upstairs to the Spinnaker-are you sensing a pattern yet?-and relaxed on one on the wavy loungers at the front. The hotel Q&A started shortly after we arrived, and we listened in the background while reading/whale searching.

I saw quite a few more mountains in the distance, but still no whales. What was up with these creatures???

We pretty much remained here until lunch hours at Moderno, where we planned to eat right before disembarking.

Upstairs, sitting by the window we could see our approach into Juneau. It was quite a different looking port than any of the Caribbean, but very pretty-you could see the town divided on either side of the bay that we were sailing into.

It was mid 50's, drizzling a bit but not bad. The tropical pool decor definitely looked off with the snow capped peaks.

I had the French dip sandwich again-it's amazing! My mom had a burger.

Of course, I had to keep getting up to run outside and get photos.

Dovie managed to talk us into a beverage and dessert before we left. Hey, feed a cold, right?

For those of you cringing that I would dare go outside with such symptoms, just know that I was wearing a sweater and my Northface jacket-and it really wasn't COLD cold, just cooler than the 90 degree inferno that I had been living in the past few weeks.

We finished our lunch just in time to meet Yahira at the entrance, and she escorted us along with a few others down the stairs, past the line waiting, and out the gangway. It was unbelievable!

Some more sail in pictures….

Guess who was waiting there?

Almost forgot my dessert…

Great review so far. This itinerary is definitely on my bucket list (maybe 2018) so excited to read your review.

There was a long wooden bridge outside the ship leading to a parking lot, where some Greyhound buses were-this was a free shuttle to the end of the port terminal.

It was a 3 minute ride, and once there, the ship and private tours awaited.

If you chose not to prebook something, don't despair-there were SEVERAL booths of tour companies still offering glacier and whale tours, helicopter flights, city tours,etc. The tram to Mt Roberts is also right there.

Originally, I had researched and planned to take the "blue bus" to the Mendenhall glacier, which is the big Kahuna in Juneau. The RT bus is $30pp and you can choose when to go and come back. As I had said, my mom had no interest in whale watching,so we didn't go for any of those combos( the going private excursion for these two is about $130pp). I could have gone by myself, but I allowed myself to listen to everyone and figured I wouldn't waste the money since I WOULD BE SEEING WHALES FROM THE SHIP(sigh).

In any case, I also found that there was a salmon hatchery in town, and that you could either cab it there or take a city tour trolley for $25 pp. Since salmon=increased bear sightings, I figured we would do this and the blue bus to the glacier, and still come out ahead since the ship sells this combo for $80pp.

With that in mind, I walked up to a tour kiosk and inquired about just that.

Unfortunately, the hatchery had closed for the day due to the "rain." (It was still very lightly drizzling).

The guide did offer us a city/glacier combo for $40 each, which we took,as it allowed 90 minutes at the glacier. He pointed to a green school bus in the parking lot and said that it was leaving in a few minutes.

Once on the bus, we met our tour guide, Fred, a native Alaskan with a VERY dry sense of humor. His speech was flat,which made his jokes a bit more funny. To give you an example of his humor, he gave out a strict warning to not litter food, which would encourage bears to approach , saying that he didn't want anyone to get hurt. "That would be unbearable," he stated.

He also told us to hurry up and look outside as we drove away as he spotted an eagle. Unfortunately, said eagle was a statue.

All in all, he was entertaining, and his narration of the city was interesting. We drove along the immediate town outside with all of the usual port village shops(again, Del Sol and Diamonds International looked quite out of place). Then we were in the downtown area before crossing the river(?) to the other side of town.

Fred pointed out the Governors Mansion, citing it as having a "wonderful view of Russia from the backyard." Or, "as we like to call it, the financial district of Juneau," Fred joked.

On the other side of the river/bay/whatever, he stopped at a scenic viewpoint, and we got out to take some pictures.We had a good view of the three ships in port.

After this stop, we head out to the glacier, which was about a 15 minute ride. The area was a bit on the suburban side, which I thought was surprising,especially close to the glacier.

More pictures of downtown Juneau

My only whale sighting so far….