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

[DonnyD-JJ]

Did HAL offer Homer excursions for your cruise?  We have none offered for 2025 and was just wondering if this is a port that I have to look for Independent tours.

 

Thanks

[RetiredMustang]

4 minutes ago, DonnyD-JJ said:

Did HAL offer Homer excursions for your cruise?  We have none offered for 2025 and was just wondering if this is a port that I have to look for Independent tours.

 

Thanks

 

Yes, HAL offered a few tours, such as one to the berry winery, but I think that a lot of people made independent arrangements.  There seemed to be plenty of outfits at Homer Spit that offered a lot of excursions.

 

Dave

[DonnyD-JJ]

Thanks Dave

 

[RetiredMustang]

In Haines, we took the HAL tour called "Kroschel Wildlife Refuge".  The refuge is owned by Stever Kroshel, and he rescues orphaned wild animals that would otherwise be euthanized according to state law.  He also helps produce wildlife films.

 

We met at the end of the pier and got on a bus that took us about 30 miles up up the Chilkat River valley to Mosquito Lake and the refuge.  The trip took about an hour.

 

We were met by Steve who, helped by an assistant, showed us around the refuge.  We saw quite a few animals, including wolves, caribou, a red-tailed hawk, foxes, etc.  I took a lot of photos, and will share some,

 

First, here is a picture of Steve holding a snowy owl:

 

 

 

Here is a friendly porcupine, that guests were invited to pet (go from head to tail, not the other way):

 

 

 

A perky mink checked us out as we looked at him:

 

 

 

Here is a shot of fed foxes.  There are two in the shot -- the first one grabbed the whole wad of meat that was dangled for them and ducked into the den with it.  The second is looking for his share.

 

 

 

The refuge also has caribou, including a new baby, that you could feed by hand, but a bigger draw was being able to feed and pet a moose.  In this shot, Steve's assistant shows how to feed the moose fresh leaves:

 

 

 

The last animal shown to us was a grizzly bear.  She had been rescued as a cub and was now 16 years old.  Steve turned off the electric fence and placed a couple of marionberry pies (made without added sugar and otherwise bear-friendly) on a small knoll and we were able to get photos as she ate the pies ... which distracted her from us, I suppose.

 

 

 

 

We spent almost two hours at the refuge and I think most people enjoyed the visit.  The animals are wild but accustomed to humans.  They can never be returned to the wild (although the moose apparently left for a long time, but then came back), but they are treated well and can live much longer lives at the refuge instead of in the wild.

 

I would recommend this trip to anyone who wants to get close to the animals, but I don't advise anyone with a wheelchair or walker, or who has difficulty walking up hills.  The road through the refuge is dirt and rock, and at one point takes a quite steep grade uphill:

 

 

Dave

[TableGirl]

Homer

 

Originally we had booked a HAL sponsored peony farm tour for Homer.  But then our travel agent was hosting some different excursions so we signed up for a visit to peony farm with a cooking demonstration for Alaskan foods.

 

Our excursion was cancelled a couple weeks before the cruise because the vendor didn’t have proper insurance for the bus.  We decided not to go back to the original HAL excursion when, after some more research we learned that the peonies don’t bloom until July.  (However, we learned that Alaska exports more peonies to the lower 48 in late summer than any other place in the world.  One of these days I’d love to see peonies in bloom in Alaska!)

 

At this point, one of our party had filling that fell out so she didn’t feel like getting out and another is mobility challenged and she wasn’t up to the tender and just walking around on the spit as two of us wanted to do.  I love the “spit” - lots of cute gift shops and eateries.  

 

I had done the hop on hop off back in 2019 so if you’ve never been Homer I recommend that if you want to see the town.  I met a sweet, young, local couple in Anchorage who recommended Two Sisters bakery for wonderful pastries and if you want a more substantial breakfast/brunch/lunch they said there is a great place for crepes in Homer.  

 

So, we spent our morning walking the spit.  The tender operation was fine and we had a very steep ramp up to street level.  Remember the tide variations in Alaska are huge.

 

We shopped in a number of different gift shops but my main goal was the Alaska Salt Co. which I had shopped in back in 2019.  You can follow them on social media.  I bought several flavored salts and bath and skin care products for gifts and had them ship it home for me since all the goods were mostly packaged in nice glass jars and they were heavy.

 

One comment on the “spit” - the sand is a dirty dark gray and my light blue sneakers were filthy after walking around for a few hours.  There are roads but to get to the shops on the side opposite of the area where the boats are docked you walk through the sandy areas to get up to the boardwalk area where the shops are located.  This may not be the best for mobility challenged folks using a walker and not all the board walks had ramps leading up to the shops as I recall.  There are 2 separate strips of shops on one side of the spit and the side where all the boats are docked are at street level.  

 

If you only spent your time walking the spit you could be easily entertained looking at the beautiful wild flowers, the seafarers monument, the mountain views (possibly with the clouds lower than the mountain peaks as we had that day) the beach/sea or looking at all the mariner flags and their meanings.  There is also a giant fish hook!  (Note - I saw the flags and the fish hook in 2019 but didn’t walk that far this time as the weather started to turn and it got cool fast and very windy.)

 

We stopped at Captain Patties for halibut fish and chips and clam chowder which were excellent!  In 2019 I had eaten ice cream after my fish and chips but it was too cold for ice cream this time around.  

[TableGirl]

Haines/Skagway

 

We booked our White Summit Rail pass through our travel agent but HAL did the same excursion.  

 

The Westerdam docked in Haines.  The pier is very long to get to the street but there were golf carts for folks who needed assistance.  Some of the free shuttles were handicap friendly and had a lift for people in wheelchairs.  My mobility challenged friend managed to get on one of the shuttles and took a ride around Haines.  The shuttles started running at 9 am.

 

A bus took us to the ferry which was literally about 500 feet (if that?) from the Visitor Center.  Barely a stone’s throw from the ship.  I laughed when we stopped so soon.  However, for the mobility challenged folks, the bus saved time getting them there.

 

This excursion required us to take a ferry to Skagway to catch the train.  It was called a “Fast Ferry” but I didn’t think it went very fast.  The ferry had a small upstairs area where views were a bit better of the fjord and the water heading north to Skagway.   You could easily access the outside deck for unimpeded photographs.  It was a nice ferry (with bathrooms on board) and took about 45 minutes.  It was narrated the whole way.  The water was beautiful.  Almost a Caribbean pale green.  The narrator pointed out waterfalls and other points of interest along the way.  But there wasn’t much in the way of wildlife to see.

 

There were a lot of us in our travel agent’s group and the HAL group was combined with us for the travel but our travel agent group had a separate car on the train.  It was all well organized and they did a great job of keeping us all together despite the 4 large cruise ships in Skagway which surely added about 10,000 extra people to Skagway that day.

 

The train ride goes about half the length of the tracks - and the track goes all the way into British Colombia and the Yukon Territory.  They provided an excellent map (that you could follow as we went north) and narration the entire way and it was easy to hear the narration in all train cars.  You could stand on the platforms outside in between the cars but weren’t allowed to move between the cars.  It was cooler than I expected and very windy so I didn’t go out on the platform.  There was a bathroom on board though I didn’t use it.  

 

The views are spectacular and the train tracks are an engineering marvel.  However, I’ve done it once now and wouldn’t do it again.  I’m sure they’re safe but some of the track looks old and unsafe (it’s mostly one way but there are places where there are double tracks so the oncoming trains can pass).  Plus knowing that earthquakes can be deadly in Alaska and looking down to see nothing under you or such a steep incline took my breath away sometimes.  I’m not a chicken when it comes to most things but once was enough for me.

 

A boxed lunch was provided - sandwich, chips, a cookie pack and a bottle of water.  It was okay but the sandwich was a lot of bread the Hellman’s mayo packet wouldn’t open so the sandwich was dry.  I wasn’t that hungry anyway.  

 

After the 3-hour train trip, (our train ride ended downtown near the depot in Skagway) we had a mere 40 minutes in Skagway (population 1,600 according to our Ferry guide) which wasn’t enough.  It’s a charming little town but it was packed with tourists from the cruise ships.  My goal was to get to Quilt Alaska to get some more of the fabric line that the place in Anchorage had run out of.  The Alaska quilt shops carry Alaska specific items and fabrics you can’t find in the lower 48.  I didn’t have time to look around much - the quilt shop was at the north end of town and making our way through the crowds up there and back took time.

 

We got on a bus for a short ride back to our ferry and then the ferry back to Haines.  I believe our travel agent excursion was $340 and the HAL excursion was $350.  You could probably do them a bit less expensively on your own if you wanted to.  However, I believe the last ferry from Skagway to Haines was the 2:00 pm ferry we were on.  It made the return trip back to Skagway for the night and when we got back the line was the full length of the very long pier.  (I’ll try to post pictures after I get home.)

 

After we returned, we got right on the shuttle into Haines. The driver narrated the whole way and told us what was in town.  One of the first things he pointed out was a food truck that sold freshly caught and cooked crab.  I’m not a fan of crab but my friends thought that sounded wonderful.  He also pointed out a place for great Halibut Fish and Chips but since we had reservations for the Morimoto pop-up at the Pinnacle Grill last night we passed.

 

It’s a cute enough little town (Skagway is a bit more set up for tourists IMO) with fishing as the main industry.  Our traveling party that lost a filling managed to get into the one dentist in Haines and she said he did great job.  Nice, clean and new modern office.  So two of us had unexpected dental emergencies (mine was taken care of in Kodiak by the Bridgeview Dental Group) and hers in Haines and we both had positive experiences.

 

If I’d had the energy at this point I would have liked to have seen the hammer museum and I’d have gone into the Bald Eagle Foundation but it had already been a long day.  Besides, I’ll need to save something for the next visit.

 

Being in a small port like Skagway with 4 HUGE cruise ships wasn’t particularly fun.  Of those 4 ships, 3 were docked and one had to tender people to shore due a recent rockslide and the area hadn’t been made safe yet.  In retrospect I’m glad we docked in Haines instead as we were the only ship in port.

Edited Tuesday at 03:49 PM by TableGirl
Added info about where the train ended

[dchip]

5 hours ago, TableGirl said:

, after some more research we learned that the peonies don’t bloom until July.

Nope, nope and nope. We saw peonies in both Anchorage and Juneau in 2018 and 2019 in full bloom in June.  We went to the Botanical gardens in Anchorage where they had a peony festival. Here is one photo of many. 😂

 

Edited Tuesday at 09:04 PM by dchip

[TableGirl]

3 hours ago, dchip said:

peony festival

This is a gorgeous photo - thank you!  However, I saw NO peonies at all in Homer - perhaps that particular location has a later blooming time.  I had a feeling I should have gone to the Botanical Garden in Anchorage.  Next time I know, so thanks!

[SJSULIBRARIAN]

From what I learned on the peony farm tour in Homer, most grown are shipped to the lower 48 in bud, very early bud, with little color showing. There is a Homer Peony Festival on early July where some blooming peonies may be displayed. Sounds like Anchorage Botanical Gardens is best bet to see some in bloom.

[hummingbird_206]

Can anyone currently on this cruise comment on this thread about a possible change to the HIA beverage policy?  

 

[RetiredMustang]

The pier at Haines:

 

 

 

Dave

[hummingbird_206]

31 minutes ago, hummingbird_206 said:

Can anyone currently on this cruise comment on this thread about a possible change to the HIA beverage policy?  

 

Nevermind.  Has been confirmed with HAL that they made an error and it will be corrected.

 

[cruzingnut]

@TableGirl, thanks for posting about your ferry/train tour.  We'll be doing this in September and it's nice to hear how the tour was. Now I just have to hope it doesn't rain!  Fingers crossed but I know this is Alaksa and it does whatever it wants, whenever it wants.  

 

Linda R.

 

 

 

[RetiredMustang]

In Juneau, we took the HAL tour called "Whale Watching and Wildlife Quest".  We took the morning version, and lucked out with the weather -- we had overcast skies, low winds, an occasional brief shower and even a glimpse or two of sun.  But, when we arrived back at the tour boat pier, it started raining, and it rained steadily until about 3 p.m.

 

We walked to the end of the pier and boarded a bus to Auke Bay and the tour boat pier.  The drive took about 30 minutes.  Our two had two busloads, and a third bus of people on the combined whalewatching and Mendenhall glacier tour joined us on the boat.  But, the boat was large, with two covered decks and a third deck which the crew opened when we came to a halt to view wildlife.  Even with all of us aboard, it did not feel crowded.

 

 

 

We sailed away from the pier and out into the sea channels, and soon spotted a humpback.  My cellphone is not as good as a DSLR, but I got a decent enough shot:

 

 

 

We then moved about to other locations, passing a channel marker with the usual load of Stellar sea lions:

 

 

 

We then encountered an area where there were humpbacks (and tour boats) all around.  We stayed a long time, watching everything.  One of the whales was a calf, who showed off by splashing his tale and flukes, and even breaching a couple of times:

 

 

 

On the way back to the tour boat pier, we came across a whale well-known to the boat crew.  Her name is Flame, and she had her latest calf, Sizzle, with her.  The boat's naturalist said that, while humpbacks normally give birth about every two or three years, Flame had had calves in six of the last seven years.  I got a shot of Flame's tail as Sizzle prepared to dive after her:

 

 

 

We returned to Westerdam by the same bus.  We have taken this tour before, and seen whales, but not as many as this time.  Whales are common in summer around Juneau -- in fact, the tour operators guarantee a sighting during June-August or $100 refund each -- but we were lucky to have seen so many on this trip.

 

Dave

 

 

[DonnyD-JJ]

@RetiredMustang That tour looks well worth it.  That boat looked like it was a very comfortable ride and yes it did not seems crowded even if all the seats were full. I always worry about overcrowding on wildlife viewing tours.

 

[TableGirl]

11 hours ago, cruzingnut said:

Now I just have to hope it doesn't rain!  Fingers crossed but I know this is Alaksa and it does whatever it wants, whenever it wants.  

It is kind of amazing how fast the weather changes in Alaska.  You can step out on your balcony to see if it really is as warm as they say it is then you leave the ship and the wind whips up and it’s much cooler than you expected!  We’ve had mostly good weather but the heavy fog that kept us from the Arctic Circle was a huge disappointment.  Ketchikan, Kodiak and Juneau were, I think our worst weather days with fog and rain but we still managed to enjoy all of our excursions.  Ihope your September trip is great!

[TableGirl]

12 hours ago, hummingbird_206 said:

Nevermind.  Has been confirmed with HAL that they made an error and it will be corrected.

 

I wish I had known about this change.  The last time I was on HAL (August 2022) I had the HIA Signature Beverage package.  It included fresh squeezed OJ and milkshakes but now it doesn’t.  The first trip back after the Covid shutdown the beverage package included the screw top can of water but then quickly after that trip they took it off the package but didn’t take it off the picture.  Now many of the drink prices have increased.  I used to be able to get a Kit Royale and a Cosmopolitan under the $11 limit.  A Kir Royale is sparking wine (9.50 on the menu) with a splash of cassis.  Over $11, really?

 

There is now an “Elite” beverage package which is even more expensive so perhaps it covers some of those drinks.  

 

It’s very frustrating that these changes aren’t widely known or advertised.  I’ll go back and look at those threads.  Thanks. @terrydtx for posting that,

[terrydtx]

11 minutes ago, TableGirl said:

There is now an “Elite” beverage package which is even more expensive so perhaps it covers some of those drinks.

The Elite drinks package is nothing new, it has been around for years, the difference is drink prices have raised while the drinks package caps have not kept up with the rising prices.

[TableGirl]

I haven’t seen that sign posted - you still just pay the difference.

 

However, my group of 4 along with a number of other folks we have spoken to have noticed our Westerdam cruise is full of disorganization to an extent that is astounding frankly.  It feels like the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing.  And I am not exaggerating.

 

I have been charged full drink prices for beverages over the $11 limit for the Signature Beverage package and when I questioned it at the front desk with guest services she fixed it.  

 

So, it pays to check your bill EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.  I can’t tell you how many mistakes my traveling party of 4 (all of us in single rooms) have had overcharges.  One of them has managed to rectify hers by putting it in the “Let Us Know” section on the Navigator app.

 

But yes @terrydtx they are back to “nickel and diming” us on drinks.  (Sometimes you have to sign for your drinks but sometimes you don’t which is also irritating.  With the colds, coughs and sneezes - and Covid on this ship, touching pens is NOT a good idea.).

 

The last time I was on HAL (August 2022) I had the HIA Signature Beverage package.  It included fresh squeezed OJ and milkshakes but now it doesn’t.  The first trip back after the Covid shutdown the beverage package included the screw top can of water but then quickly after that trip they took it off the package but didn’t take it off the picture advertising that beverage package.  I protested and the F&B manager had some screw top cans delivered to my room.  Seriously, what good is a pop-top can of water unless you’re just sitting at table?  

 

Now many of the drink prices have increased.  I used to be able to get a Kir Royale and a Cosmopolitan under the $11 limit.  A Kir Royale is sparking wine ($9.50 on the menu) with a splash of cassis.  Over $11, really?

 

There is now an “Elite” beverage package which is even more expensive so perhaps it covers some of those drinks.  When I signed up for this cruise I had the Elite Beverage package but I rebooked it with the Signature HIA package and knocked over $2,000 off the final price.  

 

It’s very frustrating that these changes aren’t widely known or advertised ahead of time.  That said, the servers come back to us to tell us it is over the cost of the $11 limit.  So I give the servers that.

As always, the TCN crew save the day.  (One reason I continue to sail with HAL - great crew members.)  I hope that’s an indication they are being paid a fair wage - however I still tip well.

[TableGirl]

15 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

The Elite drinks package is nothing new, it has been around for years, the difference is drink prices have raised while the drinks package caps have not kept up with the rising prices.

Ah, that makes sense.  I hardly ever drink alcoholic beverages at home because I’m always driving but on a cruise I get to enjoy a cocktail or glass of wine.  I like having the beverages packages because you don’t have to worry about a bill at the end the trip.  I’ve drunk my weight in hot chocolate on this trip and I’m thankful they haven’t run out of cocoa (or hot chocolate mix) in the Crow’s Nest Bar like they did on my Iceland trip in 2022.

[TableGirl]

Juneau

 

The Westerdam docked at the pier but then so did 2 other VERY large ships and a Norwegian ship looked to be anchored in the harbor to be tendered in but it was hard to tell in the rain and fog.

 

It’s not a terribly long pier to get shore side with a ramp but it was a bit steep which can be an issue for those with mobility challenges (especially walkers).  It seems that Juneau is one of those places with wide ranging tides.

 

We had a fabulous whale watching trip - same as @RetiredMustang.  There were a number of boats in the area and there were whales all around us.  So many in fact, that our heads couldn’t spin around fast enough!

 

We went with a small boat excursion, Harv and Marv’s.  I used them in 2019 and Captain Graham from my 2019 trip was still with them but he took a different group out - we had Captain Charles who had been out on one trip that morning already so he knew where the Humpbacks were feeding.  (People on the small boat excursions were taken to the small boat harbor in a smaller bus - 2 groups of 6 on our bus - but people on the larger boat excursions I think went on a bigger bus.  Harv and Marv’s has a total of 7 boats and I think they are different sizes.)

 

Harv and Marv’s picked us up right at the pier and took us to the small boat harbor - about a 15-20 minute drive.  The small group excursion we were on had room for 6 ($175 pp) but one of our party didn’t feel well and didn’t want to fight the weather so it was only 5 of us.  It was foggy and threatening rain.  We had offered the extra two spots to round out our part of 6 on CC and had a nice couple join us.

 

Captain Charles was awesome and so excited about his work.  When the Captain gets excited about how many whales you’re seeing, you knew it was a special day.  However, the seas were so rough that it was near impossible to stand up to take pictures off the back.  (I will try to post pictures of the boat when I get home.)  When I looked at my pictures on the camera roll the coast line jumps up and down due to the rough seas.  We weren’t in “open” water per se, but Charles said the tides were coming in (or maybe going out) and where that meets/mixes other channel waters it makes for rougher seas.  In this particular area there was a deep hole or something the whales swim around and then dive for food.  TBH I couldn’t quite hear everything because I was on the back of the boat taking pictures.  It was hard to have sea legs in those conditions but I grew up on boats so I could handle it.  I put my phone on a lanyard around my neck - there’s no way I could have held onto it otherwise.  

 

Charles could name a number of the whales - they are named officially and tracked by their tails and fins - see HappyWhale.com for more info (I haven’t looked at this site yet).  Like @RetiredMustang we saw one of the baby whales breech a number of times.  There were times when 2 whales would dive at once but I was never at just the right angle for the perfect whale tail shot.  After spending about an hour there we moved on and Charles spotted Sasha.  He had some great stories about her.  He said she’s pretty sneaky and had birthed 4 calves (is that the right term?) in4 years.  The incubation period is 11 1/2 months!  Yikes.  Apparently she’s a fierce momma - stories about her are legendary.  She was traveling so it was difficult to keep up with her.  She had a beautiful tail though and I finally got a pretty good shot.  She would dive and stay down for good bit and come up a lot farther away than I would have expected.  

 

Charles said June and July are by far the best months for whale watching and I can attest to that.  Last time I was here was in August of 2019 and that was my first whale watching trip.  It was a great experience and got me hooked on whale watching but that first experience couldn’t touch yesterday’s trip in Juneau.  Being in a smaller boat closer to the water makes for better viewing,

 

That was probably my 8th whale watching trip (I’ve done whale watching in Iceland and the Caribbean so far but not in Hawaii yet) and it was the best I’d ever been on.  

 

Harv and Marv’s picked us up at 10:45pm so we got on the boat around 11 am and got back to the small boat harbor at 2:00 pm.  There was a bathroom on board (I didn’t use it) and he had water and snacks as well.  

 

When we returned to the small boat harbor pier at 2 it was raining.  It was still raining when we got back to the ship.  If it hadn’t been raining we’d have gone for Fish and Chips but it was at the far end of the area where the cruise ships dock and I think Capt Charles said it was called the Hanger and the Wharf.  If you like crab, right across from where the ship docked was a place where people lined up at 9 am - Tracy’s King Crab Shack.  A red building with big letters so you can’t miss it.

 

After a quick lunch at the Dive-In we retreated to our room but a few minutes later the rain had stopped so two of us went back out to explore the area with about  5 thousand others from the various ships in town.  Way too many jewelry stores!  

 

For the Quilters and Crafters

Of course we made our way to the quilt shop called Changing Tides at 175 South Franklin Street up on the 2nd floor.  It’s bigger than when I was there in 2019 and better stocked.  It was similar to Cabin Fever in Anchorage but far more traditional quilting fabrics - both Alaska themed and regular good quality quilting cottons.  They had an entire line of Art Gallery Solids.  I don’t need any more fabric but she had William and Morris prints from a line I love at half off - $7.00 a yard!  So of course I made a purchase so there’s another box being shipped.  She also carried a wide range of other nice quality gift items.  There was a cute little Tea and Spice Shop downstairs along with an Art Gallery type store.  

 

We also went into the Alpaca International store.  Honestly why did I bother.  Prices are jaw dropping for the Peruvian made goods.  They try a hard sell tactic but I doubt it works very often.  We didn’t stay long.  

 

The fog finallly lifted by 6:30 and I considered taking the tram up the mountain but I’ll save that for my next visit.

 

Today is July 3rd and the temperature on the TV is 51.8 F at 7:30 am.  It’s looking a bit foggy outside for our scenic cruising today in Tracy Arm.  Tonight is our last dressy night,

 

[scluvsrain]

There were 5 ships in Juneau yesterday- Norwegian Bliss, Norwegian Encore(they came as the Bliss was leaving), the Royal Princess, the Ovation of the Seas, and the Westerdam. All docked. We were the smallest by far. We came the earliest and left the latest. 

[DonnyD-JJ]

I like the "We came the earliest and left the latest"  I wish it was that way in every port. 

[DonnyD-JJ]

SInce the 2025 cruise will probably skip Little Diomede Island do you think there is a way we can get HAL to extend the time we spend in Nome??  Especially since we are doing Nome before the Arctic Circle & Little Diomede Island.

[RetiredMustang]

The captain just announced that, due to low visibility, he has cancelled the sail into Tracy Arm, for safety reasons.  Here is a photo of the entrance to Tracy arm I took about 15 minutes ago:

 

 

Dave