Ken the cruiser

They had the regular 7:30 and 9:30 pm shows this evening, unlike embarkation day on April 30 when there was only the one 9 pm show. You can always go to the 8:30 pm game in the Explorers Lounge and then head to the late 9:30 pm show. I’m sure there might be something after the 9:30 pm show. But we usually head back to the cabin so I don’t have any experience in that area.

What’s interesting is that the Grand, Ruby, and the HAL Noordam were all docked at the Vancouver pier on the west side of the Lions Gate Bridge on April 30 rather than at the other pier east of the bridge where you are headed. I guess the “east” Vancouver port terminal was designed to handle larger ships like the Majestic and Ovation of the Seas, which appears to have to wait until around 2 am to cross under the bridge as well.

Day 10 - May 9 - Sea Day The internet is a little slow this evening. Maybe a bunch of the new 2,515 guests onboard are back in their cabins streaming movies! 😂 BTW there were only 20 of us staying on from the last cruise.

After our “free” dinner in the Crown Grill for being in a suite, we headed off to watch a very engaging Rock n Roll pianist, Jefferson McDonald. Then we were off to the Explorers Lounge to watch Strike Out hosted by Nick, the assistant CD, whom we very much enjoyed on the last leg.

And we’re off! Next stop Ketchikan day after tomorrow! This time the Zaandam gets to lead the way through the Johnstone Strait.

Thanks! We’re actually planning to do both of those, but weren’t aware of the trails up top. We noticed the tram was near where the Grand was docked last week, so we figured no need to book an excursion for that. As far as the 26-glacier cruise, we actually have that one booked through Princess. We realize it was a little cheaper if we booked it directly, as the tour boat will be right next to where the Grand will be. But since we recently made Elite, we get a 10% discount booking excursions through Princess, so it was pretty much a wash.

Here’s our updated itinerary for the second leg of our cruise. Basically, we’re not going on any excursions when we are in Juneau, as our Juneau excursion on the first leg pretty much checked the box of places we wanted to see there. 8-Day Inside Passage 14-Day Voyage of the Glaciers Date Destination Arrive Depart Date Destination Arrive Depart 4/29 Fly to Vancouver BC 10:30 PM 5/8 Port of Vancouver 7:30 AM 4:00 PM Fairmont Hotel 5/9 Inside Passage 4/30 Port of Vancouver 9:30 AM 4:00 PM 5/10 Ketchikan AK 6:00 AM 2:00 PM 5/1 Johnstone Strait 5/11 Juneau AK 8:00 AM 9:00 PM 5/2 Sitka AK 10:00 AM 6:00 PM 5/12 Skagway AK 7:00 AM 8:30 PM 5/3 Juneau AK 8:00 AM 9:00 PM 5/13 Glacier Bay NP 6:00 AM 3:00 PM 5/4 Skagway AK 7:00 AM 8:30 PM 5/14 College Fjord 6:00 PM 8:30 PM 5/5 Glacier Bay NP 6:00 AM 3:00 PM 5/15 Whittier AK 12:30 AM 8:30 PM 5/6 Ketchikan AK 9:00 AM 6:00 PM 5/16 Hubbard Glacier 3:00 PM 8:00 PM 5/7 Inside Passage 5/17 Glacier Bay NP 9:15 AM 7:30 PM 5/8 Port of Vancouver 7:30 AM 4:00 PM 5/18 Skagway AK 7:00 AM 8:30 PM 5/19 Juneau AK 6:30 AM 4:00 PM 5/20 Ketchikan AK 10:00 AM 6:00 PM 5/21 Inside Passage 5/22 Port of Vancouver 7:30 AM Fairmont Hotel 3:00 PM 5/23 Fly Home 9:15 AM

Cool! According to the Cruise Mapper Port Schedule, the Majestic arrives at 3 am and departs the following morning at 2 am. That seems kind of an odd time to leave a port.

Day 9 - May 8 - In Transit Day

We agree. We’re just getting settled in after 7 days.😂

We have arrived back in Vancouver!!

OK. Now I’m really confused. But that’s OK. We’re going to Glacier Bay two more times on this next leg, so I’ll have listen a little closer next time. But what you’re saying is that the Grand Pacific Glacier is on the right of this picture and the Margerie Glacier is the one on the left.

Same here! Have a safe trip home!

For future reference it takes about 24.5 hours to cruise from Ketchikan to the entrance of the northern entrance of Johnstone Strait. Once we reached the Strait, the naturalist mentioned over the TV Cam channel that he saw one humpback whale on the port side, which of course we never saw while sitting on our aft balcony, and that was it for whale sightings. But we did see a lot of beautiful scenery along the way, just not any wildlife other than a gull flying off in the distance and the photo of a whale I posted earlier. This is the trail of the Grand after making the S-turn into the Johnstone Strait. I came back inside at 8:45 pm as it started to get chilly, even though we were less than half the way through the Strait. I guess we’ll just have to wait to hopefully see the Johnstone Strait Orcas on our May 21 ”cruise by” on the way back between Ketchikan and Vancouver! Like I’ve said before, for us it’s all about the “hunt”. This time the hunt provided some beautiful scenery! 😁