QuattroRomeo

I think I got a little ahead of myself; the last stop on our Yukon tour was in the small town of Carcross, just a short drive from Caribou Crossing . The pink store is the one to go to for really nice, higher quality souvenirs and clothing, and prices are good. Even the chocolate bars are cheaper than Caribou! Out front, there is a table where you can stamp your passport for Carcross. At the Suspension Bridge, you could also get stamped on your way out. 

Last year: 

Glacier Bay day weather was not great this year, but you could still make out some bergs and glaciers. 

In Ketchikan we didn't do too much; took a short walk in town on another grayish day. We went to Julie's shop on the main drag. It is a beautiful store with carvings, sculptures, and very nice jewellery. Much more interesting here than the junkier souvenir places. The first pair of earrings I tried were some kind of tusk or bone with real gold veins, turned out to be $1,100. US. Well, my champagne taste on a beer budget sure kicked in! Passed on those, but we did get some lovely silver whale tale earrings and necklace by a native artist that were more reasonable. Whether you buy or not, it is a great place to browse. 

I think you will love it. A great way to spend the day. Last year's weather was so much better and I took more photos then- I'll include some here and hope you get nice weather! 

In the shop on site, we find some fudge! Very good. Had to laugh though; here we are in the Yukon...fellow Canucks might get a kick out of this: 

Almost forgot his Certificate of Accomplishment!

Some pics around the grounds.

At Caribou Crossing, you get a lunch with the tour. It is a BBQ chicken leg, baked potato and cole slaw. This time we went shopping first, as last year it was crowded, and then went to eat. Practically empty then! After, DH tried the Sweet Beaver- a shot of CC (Canadian Club whiskey) and maple syrup, which he says was very good. They have a tradition where you ring the bell after the shot. DH had 2 shots and bell rings, after which the bartender got all excited. Apparently, DH helped them set the record for most shots in a day- 36, which tied it, and 37 broke it! 

We had no problem on an earlier cruise either, so were surprised with the K experience. I'm glad to hear that others had no problem- maybe I found the bartender that didn't get the memo...!

At the Yukon border sign, Jackie, a local, sells artisan wares, including jewellery she makes all winter. Last year we got a hand carved magnet; this year DH got one of the railway spike figures. The spikes are from the area. 

Emerald Lake.

In another building they had mammoth tooth, and tusk. Also a sit-down restaurant.

In the log building you could buy beverages and snacks, including still warm cookies, bison chili and bison jerky- which was really good. The fellow that makes it works on site.

Suspension bridge. It is pretty bouncy...

Haley in the foreground of fist pic. Scenery stops. Suspension bridge.

The day started out foggy but did clear later in some areas

Skagway. Including the rock slide and the bus.

  On to Skagway, where we took a tour that was the highlight of our trip. Last year we took a private mini-bus tour into the Yukon that visited Caribou Crossing, (lunch included there), Emerald Lake, Carcross Desert, and the town of Carcross. It was terrific. They were sold out this year as we booked this cruise rather late. We did manage to get the last 2 spots on the ship version, which did all of those spots plus the Suspension Bridge. It was really good! Highly recommend it- it is called "Experience the Yukon and Suspension Bridge". Our driver and guide, Haley, was just excellent. She now lives in Skagway and is a teacher there. She grew up in Texas, so anytime we parked somewhere that other buses did, she would hang a Texas flag in the front window so we could easily find our bus. 

The advantage of a bus over the train is you pull over at several photo stops, and as Haley pointed out at the border where the train happened to be sitting, our passport check was much quicker. The border officer doing the train has to go into every train car before it leaves again.

33 minutes ago, cbr663 said:

 

Yes, we felt it was really sad also.  

 

We prefer simple drip coffee and found it a challenge with so much Americano being served and promoted.  Our very best coffee was one particular morning in the CO.  It was so good I was tempted to ask the waiter to just leave the coffee carafe on our table.  lol.  

 

Our next cruise we have decided we are bringing coffee travel mugs with us so we can get the combo we like and enough to enjoy and stay hot.  First world problems 🙂

 

I'm loving the review.

The Dutch Cafe had decent drip coffee and so did the Pinnacle Grill. I brought along a travel mug I got on the Rotterdam earlier this year, as it has really good heat retention. On the Rdam, they also gave you 25% off if you used it! No such luck on K. You're right, such problems we have!!

Some parting shots in Juneau.

3 minutes ago, cbr663 said:

 

We went to Explorations for drip coffee and it wasn't available.  We find the Explorations on the Pinnacle class ships a far departure from our memories of it on other ships.  Explorations on the Nieuw Amsterdam always had wonderful treats and snacks - a place to get the best cinnamon rolls on the ship.  Things may have changed there also has it has been many years now since I have sailed on the NA.

Yes, the server I spoke with said she was trying to get the drip coffee up there. The treat selection was definitely pretty sad. 

6 minutes ago, cbr663 said:

 

When we were on the K' in May we used the Mariner Cocktail vouchers for a Gin & 7 at the Sea View Bar.

Well that is interesting! I'll remember that for next time.

Across the street there is a gift shop called Taku Trading, that seemed to have a few nicer souvenirs than elsewhere. I often pick up magnets but couldn't find an unusual one. Found this instead at Taku:

I also bought some caramels with birch syrup in them. I had tried the Tortuga cake version on board and it was very good, so something else to try! Hard to describe the taste, "birchy" I guess, which, unless you have chewed a bunch of birch twigs doesn't mean a whole lot! But it is good.