We had about three weeks of camping after our last trip and are now off again - this time to Alaska.
After a lovely visit with Joel and our usual walk and breakfast at Cora's, we boarded the ship on July 20th. After a buffet lunch in the Oceanview Café, we managed to get unpacked and settled. The Grand Épernay Restaurant is our venue for dinner. Our first entertainer in the Solstice Theatre was Lucian Fuller, who was billed as a Comedy Juggler. It was a great show.
Day 2 (formal night aka evening chic) was a sea day, so Dale got to start his talks with an Introduction to Alaska. He followed the Destination speaker Marshall who spoke on the wonders of Alaska. Dale did another talk in the afternoon about Icy Strait Point and Skagway. Our evening's entertainment was the production show - Rock City, featuring the Celebrity singers, dancers and acrobats - amazing as usual.
Day 3 - Marshall spoke about Skagway, while Dale's talk was on Juneau. In the afternoon we went ashore at Icy Strait Point. There we took a gondola to the visitor centre and decided to walk to Hoona, which we were told was a 20 minute walk that took about 45 minutes. We saw a few totem poles and bought a northern lights mug before traipsing back. I do believe we got more than our share of steps in! Gen Maldonado was the headliner in the theatre, featuring a tribute to divas; very powerful.
Day 4 had us in Skagway for the day, so we had a leisurely morning then walked out to see the Reid waterfall and Soapy Smith's gravesite. I thought we got our steps in at Icy Strait Point, but this was even longer. When we finally trudged back to the ship, we had lunch then a much needed hot tub. The show in the theatre was Bob Brizendine - not your typical magician. It was brilliant.
Day 5 started very early with Dale on the bridge doing his narration of Endicott Arm and Dawes Glacier. Dale had the best view and took some great pictures. Afterward, we managed to catch some of Marshall's talk on Ketchikan and Juneau. After lunch, we had a walk around in Juneau and learned about the history of many of the lighthouses in and around Juneau. The evening performance was by Robert Neary and it was a tribute to Neil Diamond.
Day 6 Dale spoke about Ketchikan and after lunch we did a round trip on the Free Shuttle to find out all the places it stopped at. The second time around we got off at the Totem Heritage Centre and walked along the creek to watch the salmon. There weren't many salmon making their way upstream as it is early days yet, but a few were giving it a try - some even used the fish ladders. Then it was back to the ship via Creek Street and a nice lobster dinner as it was Chic night. Gen Maldonado did another great show featuring songs and artists from New York.
Day 7 Dale had one last talk, and as we had done all the ports of call, his presentation was on Top Gun (a favourite with most of the passengers). The production cast put on a great show called Amade, featuring contemporary music in a classical form. The performance was spectacular if a bit bizarre, but we did enjoy it!
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