Shadowmeboy's Suntastic 10-Night Alaskan Anniversary Cruise Adventure

[shadowmeboy]

So the original plan was to go to lunch at Skagway Brewing Company. Unfortunately, due to the change in Shore Excursion time, it was off to the Garden Cafe instead.

 

 

 

We would have eaten in the MDR, but the MDR was closed while in port.

 

Once we finished, we grabbed what we needed for our excursion and headed to the train which was parked shipside. That is the one benefit to booking the White Pass through the ship is you can catch it next to the ship instead of heading downtown to catch the train.

 

 

Starting up the rails along the Skagway River

 

We were seated in the car with Parker, who was doing the commentary for the entire train. The nice thing about that is once he did the generic train commentary, he would elaborate more for the people in our car. Bonus!

 

 

 

 

Susan enjoying the start of our train ride up ad back down! Believe it or not, this is our 4th time on the White Pass, and the first time we have done the summit excursion train and gone up White pass aboard the train. We have always driven up the pass and ridden the train back down.

 

 

 

 

 

At Denver, we were allowed to go out on the platforms if we so desired. 

 

 

Crossing the East Fork Skagway River

 

 

 

These were not as clear as I would have like them to be. Too much motion.

 

 

You can see the ships way down there in Skagway.

 

 

Alaska Highway 98 - The Klondike Highway climbing out of Skagway up White Pass.

 

 

The creek is really far down there

 

 

 

That one is a bit better!

[shadowmeboy]

 

 

 

The words on the rock say 'On to Alaska with Buchanan"

 

 

 

Looking into the next car forward

 

 

Susan is enjoying the ride!

 

 

 

I felt like I could reach out and touch that rock. Oh wait I could.

 

 

That one too!

 

 

 

 

 

Looking further up the Klondike Highway and White Pass

 

 

Grave Marker

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So serious...

[shadowmeboy]

 

 

You can see the train coming down the mountain up on the rock wall. We will meet that train and one more at the next siding.

 

 

 

The other train

 

 

This will be a submittal to the White Pass Photo Contest.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The end of the 1st train passing by

 

 

 

 

 

[shadowmeboy]

 

Here comes the second train

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Second train rounding the corner

 

 

 

 

 

[justhappy]

20 hours ago, shadowmeboy said:

 

 

 

Great reflection!

 

 

Lined up to get back on the ship

 

 

 

Celebrity Millennium throwing lines from AJ Dock

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We decided to call it a night, because it was going to be an earlier day tomorrow. 

That food looked delicious! And the reindeer sausage corn dog sounded interesting to me.

 Loved the photos along the pier. You didn’t have a photo but did you visit Patsy Ann’s statue?

[shadowmeboy]

19 minutes ago, justhappy said:

That food looked delicious! And the reindeer sausage corn dog sounded interesting to me.

 Loved the photos along the pier. You didn’t have a photo but did you visit Patsy Ann’s statue?

 

No, we did not. I found the restaurant online doing precruise research. I wanted something that the locals go to, and quite a few locals recommended it.

[spotfish]

Love the pictures and write up so far!! How is the Sun out on the open ocean for movement (rocking, rolling)? looking at booking the 9 day Sun cruise for July 2024

[shadowmeboy]

25 minutes ago, spotfish said:

Love the pictures and write up so far!! How is the Sun out on the open ocean for movement (rocking, rolling)? looking at booking the 9 day Sun cruise for July 2024

I actually think the larger ships are worse due to the number of decks (sail effect). The Sun being more compact, in my experience sailing her 3x, makes her a bit more stable in my opinion. I don’t mind a little roll though!

[shadowmeboy]

So I was blocked for the first train, but not the second. I had a perfect vantage point as the train came down the tracks along side us. Beware there are quite a few pictures in this series, rapid fire picture taking!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is a likely submittal to the picture contest as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[shadowmeboy]

 

Sitting and enjoying the ride for a while!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Carmack Glacier

 

 

 

 

 

Bridal Veil Falls

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[shadowmeboy]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[shadowmeboy]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So this is part of the White Pass trail and the trail of 98.

 

 

 

You can still see items left from the travelers on the trail.

 

 

 

 

 

We made it to the summit and had to wait on the train behind us to clear before heading back down.

[drumming cruisers]

You on a cruise? Or cooking again? 

Missing your review. ❤️

[shadowmeboy]

23 minutes ago, drumming cruisers said:

You on a cruise? Or cooking again? 

Missing your review. ❤️

I wish I was on a cruise; Not cooking; Just had something’s come up that kept me from working on it. Dang life! Sorry 😞

[shadowmeboy]

 

Susan captured this shot of Parker with a boy on our train. Parker was so awesome with him!

 

 

 

 

Time to head back down the pass

 

 

So nice of the White Pass to park their Tinker Toys in front of the recreation cabin and flags at the border. They ruin a perfect photo opportunity.

 

 

 

The obelisk is the actual US - Canada Border. The US/Canada Boundary Commission puts these up along the entire length of the US -Canada Border. 

 

 

 

Back in the US

 

 

 

Another shot of the trail

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[shadowmeboy]

 

 

I spy some Cruise ships!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The gentleman holding the phone is our friend, Mark, and his wife, Julie, to the left were on this cruise with us. We didn't know they were going to be on the same sailing until embarkation morning. I got these pictures stealthfully!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2023 is the 125 anniversary of the White Pass & Yukon Route. They had a bunch of cool special gear. I made sure to get the hat that you can only get onboard the train. So if you want a hat, bring cash with you.

 

 

 

A little blurry, but this train was following us down.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Crossing the East Fork Skagway River at Denver

 

 

 

 

 

 

Almost back into Skagway

 

 

 

 

We finally made it back! We had an awesome time! We always recommend the train to anyone going to Skagway. If any of you have some free time, and would like to relive a past trip on the White Pass or have never been on it. We attached the GoPro to the window of the train car and filmed up and back down the pass. So here is the complete White Pass Summit Excursion Train Excursion!

 

 

[shadowmeboy]

 

We got off at the depot, so we could walk around town a bit more.

 

 

 

We had to make a stop at the Klondike Doughboy!

 

 

 

 

 

It was popular amongst tourists and locals!

 

 

the locals

 

 

 

We should have shared, but we were not in a sharing mood.

 

 

 

 

[shadowmeboy]

After wandering around town a bit, we headed back towards the boat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back onboard, the tide had come up a lot. We watched the helicopters take off and land from the helicopter base.

 

 

Finally it was time to pull out of Skagway

 

 

You can see how much the tide dropped in the amount of time from when we got back till when we departed.

[shadowmeboy]

 

Photo Time!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sailing down the Lynn Canal

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Cheese Ravioli

 

 

Shanghai Pork Pot Stickers

 

 

Eldred Rock Lighthouse

 

 

 

 

Roma Tomato Salad

 

 

Asian Noodle Salad

 

 

So we asked our waiter to see a kids menu for reference for our friends on a future cruise.

 

 

Mediterranean Sirloin Beef Brochette - This was fabulous 

 

 

Breaded Flounder Filet 

 

 

Our server let us order the chicken tenders from the kids menu. They were yummy. I would order them again!

 

 

Scanned copy of the kids menu

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chocolate Espresso Cake

 

 

Traditional English Cherry Trifle

 

We just kind of chilled after dinner. We went back to the room and watched the scenery pass by out the balcony. We also just watched a bit of TV and relaxed. Hubbard Glacier is tomorrow!

[shadowmeboy]

Day 5 - July 4th, 2023

Hubbard Glacier, AK

 

Happy 4th of July!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[shadowmeboy]

So I woke up to a loud sound outside the stateroom. A few minutes later I heard it again. I might have said a few choice words under my breath as I realized it was the ships fog horn going off. What a lovely way to start the 4th of July!

 

 

Nothing much to see out in the Great Outdoors

 

 

 

 

Glacier making weather

 

 

Breakfast #1

 

About an hour later Susan finally made it out on deck. On a morning like this, unlimited wifi would have been nice!

 

 

Off to breakfast #2 we go!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[shadowmeboy]

 

Fruit Salad

 

 

Half Grapefruit and Cottage Cheese

 

 

French Toast with Hash, Bacon, and Ham.

 

 

Eggs Benedict 

 

After breakfast, we headed up to the Spinaker Lounge.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Sun Chapel

 

 

 

After the the Observation lounge, we headed down to deck 6 and the Cruisenext desk.

 

 

We may have booked a Hawaii cruise for 2024.

 

[shadowmeboy]

What a week! 

 

So my week has been super busy and I apologize for not getting to the review some. 

 

I had a conference which was a 5 hour drive one way from where we live. The conference was good. I was able to meet up with my former college roommate and his wife. We had dinner and then I got to meet their four children. It was a great evening.

 

I did some exploring around the area of the TriCities of Washington. 

 

I got home yesterday evening and then today started our General Election voting period, so we were getting all our ballots out to voters today. So needless to say it was super busy at work. So here I am...

 

I am going to go a for a bit, but I don't know how long.

[shadowmeboy]

We headed off to watch the cupcake decorating demonstration. Its a great way to fill time on a Sea Day or "Glacier Day"

 

 

This young lady was selected to do the first cupcake with the chef.

 

 

Her final product.

 

 

Hey, I know that person!

 

 

Susan got selected for the cupcake demonstration again!

 

 

 

Now follow directions Susan

 

 

 

Look at those smiles

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not too Shabby!

 

 

 

Susan's is the one on the right and the chef's is on the left. She did a good job.

 

 

Now a reward for all that hard work.

 

 

 

Open wider

 

 

 

 

Here is the third participant.

 

 

 

The Executive Chef introducing and talking about his pastry team.

 

[shadowmeboy]

 

The Star Spangled Drink Special for the 4th of July

 

 

I headed out on deck to enjoy the sea air and watch the sail in to the glacier.

 

 

Deck 6 is a walking track that goes completely around the ship.

 

 

 

 

 

A tree?

 

 

Snapping photos of the photographers

 

 

 

Love the symmetry

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Look at those waves breaking on the bow!

 

 

 

 

 

Regent Seven Seas Explorer

 

 

 

 

 

wow!

 

 

 

Remember they are moving; we are moving; the waves are moving.

 

 

perspective - true distance

 

 

 

 

 

Yes, I did check balconies and everyone was fully clothed.