28-day Westerdam Arctic Summer Solstice Live from the ship June 9-July 7

[SunandShade]

5 hours ago, xLibLabLady said:

Oops!   Typo!  LOL!

 

5 hours ago, xLibLabLady said:

Oops!   Typo!  LOL!

Please, tell us what it should have been.  We’re dying to find out!

[xLibLabLady]

52 minutes ago, SunandShade said:

 

Please, tell us what it should have been.  We’re dying to find out!

@SunandShade and others, It should have been "Make a right when you are by the bank. You'll now be facing the Trident Processing Plant."

 

Susan (xLibLabLady)

[DonnyD-JJ]

10 hours ago, xLibLabLady said:

@SunandShade and others, It should have been "Make a right when you are by the bank. You'll now be facing the Trident Processing Plant."

 

Susan (xLibLabLady)

I love spell check & Siri, both make writing and texting hysterical some times

[VacationCharlene]

We have been having a wonderful cruise, lots of wildlife!  Few bumps in the road with tendering but trying to stay positive. Food is good, waiters etc friendly as always!!  Have been so fortunate with pretty good weather. Lots more to see

[Ken the cruiser]

Just now, VacationCharlene said:

We have been having a wonderful cruise, lots of wildlife!  Few bumps in the road with tendering but trying to stay positive. Food is good, waiters etc friendly as always!!  Have been so fortunate with pretty good weather. Lots more to see

Have they been offering any lectures on sea days?

[VacationCharlene]

2 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Have they been offering any lectures on sea days?

Absolutely!  Many I Love Alaska presentations by numerous people. Lots of interesting information and photos

[Ken the cruiser]

2 minutes ago, VacationCharlene said:

Absolutely!  Many I Love Alaska presentations by numerous people. Lots of interesting information and photos

That is awesome news! We're planning on going on the 2026 version of this cruise and very much enjoy quality lectures! Have a great cruise!!!

[The-Inside-Cabin]

We had zero wait for tenders in Rolling stone at 8 am.   Did anyone experience big delays later?  

[oaktreerb]

1 hour ago, The-Inside-Cabin said:

We had zero wait for tenders in Rolling stone at 8 am.   Did anyone experience big delays later?  

By 8:45 Stone indicated they were having some delays.  We were on a bus excursion meeting onshore at 9:30 so we had to get to the meeting place on time, and we did.  There was a pretty long line for tenders returning to the ship just after 2:00 but there were tenders constantly picking up.

 

 In Nome HAL seemed to stop the return tenders for about an hour mid-day which caused passengers a long wait before the tenders started coming again.   Lesson learned?

[xLibLabLady]

To those on the 2025 cruise:

 

Do not hesitate to book 1 or more tours with Ani Thomas of Kodiak Connections.  http://www.kodiakwalkingtours.com   She is a remarkable guide, has a very outgoing personality yet is professional, is a fabulous story teller, has had a very interesting life, obviously enjoys sharing history, nature, and culture.  We and many  Cruise Critic members took the "History and Culture" Tour in the morning, then the "Tastes and Tales of the Sea."  During the tour, those who have gone on other tours I organized and/or found thanked me with enthusiasm. We learned so much, yet were never overloaded.   Among other things, we will never think of seafood we bu at home in the same way again. At the end of the 2nd tour at a brewery, Ani laid out quite the spread of different kinds of salmon, dips, crackers, locally grown and made goat cheese, pickled spruce tips, fresh spruce tips, spruce tip jelly, and crackers.

 

Before the day, Ani also sent everyone great information about Kodiak for activities, eating, and sightseeing.

Susan (xLibLabLady)

[edmonton2]

We had zero wait for tenders in Rolling stone at 8 am.   Did anyone experience big delays later?  
 

We went to the Ocean Bar at about 8:45am to get tickets and went straight to the tender - no line up at all. 

We came back on the ship briefly at 11:30 to retrieve something for our afternoon excursion. We ended up in a line-up for the tender with about a 30 min. delay (we heard they were refuelling the tenders). This seemed to back things up on shore as the line to get back on the ship was somewhat long.

[RetiredMustang]

We took the HAL tour called "Kodiak Highlights".  I will review in three sections, to keep it from being one over-long post.  We met in the World Stage at 9:30 for a scheduled 10:15 tour start.  We boarded our tender just before 10, and it was only a few minutes to the port, but we had to wait for space at the pier to tie up.

 

Our group was 69 people, according to the Shore excursions officer that sent us on our way.  When we got ashore, they split us into two school buses, with one bus starting one place and the other at a different place, so as not to clobber on site with all 69 of us at once.

 

The tour was to go to three places-- the Kodiak History Museum, the Kodiak Fisheries Research Center, and Fort Abercrombie State Park.  Our bus started at the Kodiak Museum.  It was only a short way from the pier, and we drove by the Trident (not rodent) processing station.  Our guide said that, after the 1964 Good Friday earthquake that devastated Anchorage and cause a lot of damage to Kodiak as well, they brought in a WWII Liberty ship as a temporary processing plant.  It is still there, although Trident has added to it.

 

Our guide said the history museum was in the oldest existing building in Alaska.  It was built as a magazine and is about the size of nice house -- in face it was used as a house at some point.  Inside were several rooms of displays that were actually quite informative, including things such as furnishings and dishes from when it was used as a house, as well as ones about the Russian history, the fur trade, and a stuffed Kodiak bear, plus lots of others,

 

 

 

 

 

As a practical matter, we had to climb a concrete stairway of 15 steps to get from the street to the museum entry.  It would be difficult for mobility impaired people.  The only alternative I saw was to go uphill on the street to the back of the museum, but that would mean crossing a large lawn to get to the entry.

 

We had enough time to visit a fourth place on the tour -- across the street from the museum is the National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center. 

 

 

This is a relatively small building, but has several exhibits, including carvings of a Kodiak bear standing upright and a tableau of a mother bear teaching cubs how to catch salmon.  (There was also a gift shop).

 

 

 

 

The museum had a toilet, and the visitor center had toilets as well.

 

More in the next post,

Dave

[RetiredMustang]

Part 2 of 3

 

After visiting the museum and visitor center, we rode the bus about 6 miles to Fort Abercrombie State Park.  This was fortified during World War II in anticipation of attack from Japan.  There were tours offered that allowed more time for hiking the extensive trail network, and you could hire a taxi to come on your own and take as much time as you like, but our tour went to the end of the trail, by the Kodiak Military History Museum:

 

 

This is an old concrete bunker that now exhibits the history of the military in Kodiak, primarily from World War II, but also of other times, such as the Alaska National Guard deployments to Iraq.

 

They had lots of displays describing the living and working conditions, including bunks (I'm not sure I totally buy the pin-ups, whether they were real or reflecting movies about the time), and the equipment they used.

 

 

 

Nearby on the headland is an old naval gun emplacement and the gun that presumably was the one that was there:

 

 

We were here in 2014 and had spectacular views out to sea; this time, not so much:

 

 

The road was fairly level and easy to maneuver from the parking lot to the museum and the gun.  There were outdoor toilets at the parking lot (so you might want to use the indoor ones at the other locations).

 

More in the next post,

Dave

Edited Wednesday at 05:25 PM by RetiredMustang
add forgotten photo

[RetiredMustang]

Part 3 of 3

 

After leaving the fort, we drove back through town and across the bridge to Near Island, to the Kodiak Fisheries Research Center.  Again, this is relatively small building, but it was worth visiting.

 

We were greeted in the lobby, and then walked down a triple flight of stairs (there was also an elevator).  At the bottom was a large cylindrical tank filled with, our guide said, plants and animals native to the Kodiak region.  It was well done, and had lots of species, including one guy I got a close-up of (not sure his Latin name, but I fondly called him Lunch):

 

 

 

 

There is also a touch tank, where you could feel several sea creatures:

 

 

Upstairs, off the lobby, is a nice terrace/sunroom that has a pretty view.  The fog had lifted east of Near Island, and we could actually see the view:

 

 

There are also toilets available at the research center.

 

We then got back on the school bus and rode back to the dock.  There we had a wait for tenders, as many tours were returning at the same time.  We got on the third one, and got back aboard Westerdam about an hour after ending the tour.

 

All the places we visited were small but excellent.  You could see them on your own, but this tour puts them together in a way to see everything, but not spend a lot of time gettting to, from and between.

 

Dave

 

 

 

Edited Wednesday at 05:39 PM by RetiredMustang

[LAFFNVEGAS]

2 hours ago, RetiredMustang said:

  It was well done, and had lots of species, including one guy I got a close-up of (not sure his Latin name, but I fondly called him Lunch):

 

 

 

 

Dave

 

 

 

Dave I would call him Lunch as well 😁😂

[VacationCharlene]

We had an outstanding second day in Anchorage. We reserved with CARIBOU TOURS (Tim) a 6 hour tour for 8-10 people. He was very prompt in picking us up next door to Egan Center, drop off spot in town.  Tim is very personable and highly educated about Alaska!  We visited the AWCC (Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center). You had a choice of walking around by yourself or driving with him and stopping at the animals with his narrative. We also visited beautiful photo stops along Turnagain Arm. Visite

d Portage Valley. We went to Girdwood for an awesome meal (included)!and drinks (at your own expense). Was a wonderful excursion and we would recommend you setting up a visit next year. Was a great day. www.cariboutours.com

Edited Friday at 03:52 AM by VacationCharlene

[TableGirl]

Kodiak

 

I didn’t have a chance to write about our day in Kodiak yet.  We had a private tour - 6 people only on a wildlife boat tour.  The Captain and his ‘mate’ were both excellent.  They picked us up promptly and were very helpful in getting our mobility challenged person up and down the ramps with her walker and onto and off of the boat.  I’m sorry, I don’t have the name of the company but I can get it for anyone who wants to know.  

 

The weather was crummy.  It was very foggy but that didn’t stop our Captain from getting us to places to see puffins, sea lions and otters.  He was also a good Eagle spotter.  We chased one whale for a bit when we thought the weather was started clear.  We couldn’t get close - the whale was traveling and he was traveling alone.  No diving so no fluke shots.  😞

 

The fog rolled back in and we made it back to the dock right on schedule.  We were just unlucky with the weather.

 

As 4-stars we had no problem getting on one of the first tenders that morning as our tour pick up was 7:30 am and our tour was 3 hours from 8 am - 11 am.  Tour cost was $275 pp.

 

My traveling party had no wait getting back on the tender but our tour operator dropped me off at the Bridgeview Dental Group as a crown has fallen off the night before at dinner.  The Bridgeview Dental Group was actually listed in our map when I got back to my room after dinner so I emailed them and then called them from the boat at 8 am and they graciously gave me an appointment that worked well with the end of our tour.  I waited about a half hour and they got me and out quickly.  I called a taxi to pick me up and had him take me to the Safeway (one of our party needed some medication and apparently the option for a drugstore was Safeway or Walmart) then back to the tender where I waited about 20 minutes.  The line just got longer and longer behind.  And it was very chilly.  I was dressed warmly but standing still in line I started to get chilled.  

 

The ship was right there - so close to the pier.  Thus everyone’s irritation over tendering rather than docking.

Edited Friday at 03:45 PM by TableGirl
Added cost info

[TableGirl]

Anchorage - 

 

We had scheduled a HAL tour to go to the Portage Glacier but after seeing the Colombia Glacier we cancelled it.

 

Anchorage was an overnight port and the weather was absolutely glorious.  How lucky were we!?  The sun was shinning most of the time and the skies were clear enough to see all the surrounding mountains.

 

Shuttles were free to get into town to drop off at the Eagan Center.  Cute and colorful maps were provided with sites of interest noted.  Anchorage is well organized and well equipped to handle visitors.

 

We had pre-booked a Trolley tour that left from the cute little log cabin Visitor’s Center.  It was the “Deluxe” tour for an hour and a half that turned out to be a 2 hours.  Our tour guide was Donna and she talked for 2 hours straight.  A retired school teacher, she told us all about how she got to Alaska and her family.  She was very knowledgeable about Alaska’s history and told us about the earthquakes, the tsunamis, and her personal family history with those events.  

 

We stopped at Ships Creek where she told us about salmon fishing.  Then on to the Captain Cook statue and she talked about how the high schools decorate the statue on special occasions.  We then went to a place on the edge of the forest that is basically where the ‘fault’ line is and you can walk down into the woods (at a 45 degree angle) and you can tell where the tsunamis hit.  She sprayed everyone who wanted to make the short hike with mosquito spray because she said the mosquitos are thick in the woods.  

 

We then drove by the municipal airport - home to about 400 small planes and as we were driving around the airport one of the planes was coming at us.  They have the right away so we backed up a ways to let it pass us to get to the take off area.  According to Donna there are about 700 other small planes - almost all Cessnas - at all the other regional municipal airports around Anchorage.  She noted that most of these planes are 65-70 years old due to the cost increase thanks to insurance premiums.  (So if you want to book a flight seeing tour you might want to ask about the plane’s age and ability!  She didn’t talk about small plane crashes in Alaska but I’d certainly research that before I got on a small plane here.)

 

After the tour I stayed in town to do some souvenir shopping and had dinner at the F Street Station.  I should have had the Halibut Fish and Chips because it looked delicious (the couple next to me shared a large plate) but I was craving a burger.  The F Street station is very close to the Visitor’s Center.

 

The next day I went in ahead of my party to ship some souvenirs home from the UPS store.  It isn’t cheap to ship from Alaska.  I could have gone to the post office in the mall but didn’t have tape to tape up boxes.  The post office may have provided it though.  I think both options were close and in retrospect I should have shipped 2 priority mail box from the Post Office instead of one larger box from UPS.  Oh well.  

 

The highlight of the day was going to a store called Cabin Fever.  It was a fairly new store - a combined store of The Quilted Raven (which closed its old location) The Wolley Mammoth (a yarn store) and another gift shop with very high quality gifts.  I am a quilter and they had a small but excellent selection of Alaska specific novelty fabrics and batiks.  They also carry the Qiviut yarn which is the soft fur/hair of the moose or the muskox.  It is very expensive.  They also had some items hand knitted from Qiviut yarn.  Again,  the prices on those items are high but I thought other prices were reasonable.  The owner’s daughter has designed many appliqué patterns that included the laser cut pieces and the template for laying them out.  Dummy proof!  It was a fun shop and they’ll be shipping my two boxes to me as well.  

 

After all that shopping we went for lunch to the Glacier Brewhouse for Fish and Chips.  Again, very close to the Eagen Center drop off point but I recommend reservations for either dinner or lunch if you want to be sure to get in.  It’s a large restaurant/bar but busy and popular.  Be sure to check out the humongous woolly mammoth skull and tusks in the window of the Art Gallery shop across from the Glacier Brewhouse (in the same building).  I’ll try to post those pictures when I get home.

 

Anchorage is home to a large combined Air Force and Army base and all afternoon we saw - well mostly heard F-17s roaring above us.  We have a cabana and the weather was so nice we spent our afternoon up there playing cards.

[TableGirl]

We had dinner last night at the Tamarind pop-up - our second dinner there this week.  The Tamarind pop up was June 24-27 and it was excellent.  They used the Pinnacle Grill for the Tamarind.  There was confusion among the staff who originally scheduled it for us on embarkation day because during the Westerdam voyage coming from Japan the Canaletto was turned into the Tamarind for the whole voyage (this according to the Pinnacle Grill manager).  The Tamarind pop up did appear online but it was confusing as to when it was scheduled for so for the 2025 cruisers you may find yourselves frustrated trying to make dinner reservations for the Tamarind ahead of time.  (Assuming they have it again next year.)

 

It was very clear when the Morimoto pop-up was scheduled for and we made those reservations ahead of time.  3 of the 4 us traveling together live close to each other so we had gotten together for several planning sessions and we just happened to see the Morimoto pop up the day it appeared online.  Like many of our fellow cruisers, we were checking the HAL website daily for excursions.  But once on board, we received a note telling us they had overbooked the Morimoto night (big surprise) so we willingly moved our reservation.  

 

We had carefully planned our specialty restaurants ahead of time so we didn’t conflict with excursions that may leave us tired.  I wasn’t thrilled with the change but we made it anyway so we’ll have our Morimoto dinner the night of our White Summit Train trip which is a 6 hour excursion.  That promises to be a long day getting on the ferry to Skagway then onto the train and the same again to get back to the ship.

 

Today we are in Homer.  We had an excursion planned with Cruise Specialists - our travel agent but it was cancelled because the bus didn’t have the required insurance.  It was a cooking demonstration and a visit to a peony farm.  Apparently Alaska provides the major volume of peonies in July and August when they are in bloom up here.  Who would have guessed?  (Not me - I don’t have a green thumb!)

 

Our plans today are to walk the spit and shop at Spit Salt.  We have several recommendations for breakfast, brunch or lunch but we’re expecting a bit of rain according to Stone who just told us tenders are ready to take us ashore.  

Edited Friday at 04:30 PM by TableGirl
Corrected punctuation

[jljcruise]

We spent the morning at the Homer Spit. I did worry what we'd find to do, but we kept busy.

If you take an immediate left or right at the top of the dock ramp, there is a boardwalk (wood by the marina, paved further out) around and overlooking the marina. Lots of interpretive signs along it. The paved trail continues to the end of the Spit, so no road walking needed.

We started left, enjoying looking at the ships. Watched a commercial ship icing down their salmon catch. Took the little paved offshoot trail to get a great picture of the Westerdam. Back to the main paved trail and walked to the end of the Spit which is a park with great views of the mountains, lots of fishermen, and beach access. There were a few benches, logs, and rocks  to sit, rest, and enjoy the views.

On the way back, we viewed the Fisherman's Memorial and then followed the road to look at the shops and restaurants. There were plenty of both. The shops were more "local artist" rather than "cheap t-shirts", so that was nice.

Back at where we started, we did the opposite direction around the rest of the marina. The harbor is very active, so lots to watch.

This is a vacation area, so there is no shortage of tours, charters, and even at least 2 water taxi companies right there by the marina.

We enjoyed our day at Homer!

 

**Note! Like Anchorage, Homer has big tide changes ... 28.5 foot changes. So those with mobility issues need to watch how low the tide is as the dock ramp to the Spit will be steep then.**

Edited Friday at 09:23 PM by jljcruise
Clarification.

[colbe]

On 6/28/2024 at 3:50 PM, VacationCharlene said:

We had an outstanding second day in Anchorage. We reserved with CARIBOU TOURS (Tim) a 6 hour tour for 8-10 people. He was very prompt in picking us up next door to Egan Center, drop off spot in town.  Tim is very personable and highly educated about Alaska!  We visited the AWCC (Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center). You had a choice of walking around by yourself or driving with him and stopping at the animals with his narrative. We also visited beautiful photo stops along Turnagain Arm. Visite

d Portage Valley. We went to Girdwood for an awesome meal (included)!and drinks (at your own expense). Was a wonderful excursion and we would recommend you setting up a visit next year. Was a great day. www.cariboutours.com

This was a great day out. More information for anyone on the 2025 cruise -

 

 

Edited yesterday at 01:56 AM by colbe

[RetiredMustang]

Some info for those who have not been to Homer.  We didn't actually tender into Homer.  There is a long sandy spit of land running from the headland, where the town is located, into Kachemak Bay.  The spit of land is called, straightforwardly, Homer Spit.  Attached is a screenshot that shows the town and the spit:

 

 

At the end of the spit is an extensive boat basin and a deep-water pier, presumably for freighters and ferries.  Westerdam was too large for the pier, and so anchored off a short way.  The tenders went into the boat basin to two different landings.  The main one was on the southwest of the boat basin, and is marked with the pin on the attached screenshot:

 

 

The other landing, on the northeast side, was used only for those on HAL shore excursions, I assume because there was more room to stage buses.  On the southwest side are a number of businesses, including a few restaurants; several shops, some selling the usual T-shirts and things and others selling art from local artists; and several outfits that run excursions, fishing trips, hiking trips; etc.

 

 

 

And, there is one famous fishermen's dive bar, the Salty Dawg Saloon (got the T-shirt):

 

 

 

There are also views across the bay to the mountains and glaciers on the other side:

 

 

 

Many people had arranged independent tours and were met at Homer Spit.  The ship offered a HO-HO, for IIRC $27.95 each, that ran from the Spit into town where it made, I think, 3 stops.  The walk would have been several miles, and I don't know of anyone who went there and back on foot.

 

 

Dave

 

 

Edited yesterday at 04:48 PM by RetiredMustang

[edmonton2]

3 hours ago, RetiredMustang said:

The walk would have been several miles, and I don't know of anyone who went there and back on foot.

We did! The walk was long, but beautiful! The trail was lined with lupins on each side and the path is separated from the main road so not right next to traffic. Some people rented bicycles and rode into town, which would have been fun (it’s fairly flat with only a small hill as you get into town). 
The walk took about an hour and 20 each way on Homer Spit. 

[RetiredMustang]

We are in Glacier Bay, currently at the end by Marjorie Glacier.  The morning started a bit foggy and overcast, but improved after we picked up the National Park Service people and headed into the Bay.

 

The captain opened the bow, and the scenery was amazing:

 

 

 

There were many whales and otters spotted as we went.  I didn't manage to get a photo of any of them, but I did get one of one of my favorite HAL scenic cruising sights -- the Dutch pea soup.

 

 

We arrived at Marjorie Glacier about 11:15, and the captain has been slowly rotating the ship so all could see the glacier:

 

 

 

Dave