AK 2022 Disembarkation

We're home again!  I must say finishing a cruise in Vancouver is a stress-free experience.  

We chose a 9:15 am disembarkation time, the latest possible, and had our last hearty Holland America Lines breakfast at around 8 o'clock.  We were home within an hour as we simply rolled our luggage to the Waterfront SkyTrain station and got off the train at our apartment building in New Westminster!

The smoke from wildfires was pretty apparent in our home port.  We could contrast this to the deep blue skies on most of this cruise. 

Well before others got to the airport for their home journeys, we had done a few loads of wash and run to buy milk and bananas. 

I was able to get the trip photos uploaded to Flickr.  I do have to complain that the wifi on the ship was pretty useless as we were too far north for a good ship-to-satellite connection.   The week away does make the home wifi seem blazingly quick. I will not use most of the 140+ photos in my blog, but you they are now available in my Flickr AK 2022 Cruise Album.

AK 2022 Inside Passage South

 

Today and tonight will be some of our last time on the water for more than two months.

Coming back down the coast of BC is always an amazing experience. From the cruise ship with all the facilities, it seems even more magical. We ate our meals looking out on some of the most pristine wilderness on the Pacific coast. We didn't make use of the swimming pool but the weather was nice enough for the mid-ship pool roof to be opened. We ate in the main dining hall rather than grabbing some of the copious food variety on the Lido Deck. We also attended the final Step-One Dance Company show of the trip. 

We saw a number of killer whale pods on this trip.  If you look at the photo above you might be able to see just the spray of a far-off orka in front of the closest section part of the wooded island.

Bringing one's hotel along on a trip to places not reachable by road has seemed like a perfect vacation.  

AK 2022 Ketchikan

Ketchikan at one time was the largest city in this part of Alaska.  It has a colourful past with one of the main tourist draws being a walk along Creek Street, a former red light district.  This town is known for two things: salmon and rain.

Rather luckily, we hit the end of the salmon run.  We still noted quite a few laggards in the pools in front of the fish ladder becoming otters' lunches.  We also timed our arrival on a clear sunny day somehow.  That is something which occurs only about a hundred and twenty times a year.  So, we missed seeing any of the town's 13 feet of average yearly rainfall.

Ketchikan was our last stop before we head back toward Vancouver.

AK 2022 Glacier Bay National Park

We entered the Glacier Bay National Park and picked up the US Forest Service Rangers at around 6:30 am.  That was before we got up.  So, we ate breakfast as we headed into the reserve.  Just like the city of Juneau, there's no road access to this amazing wilderness.

Because it is now September, we were treated to a really close-up view of Johns Hopkins tidewater glacier.  This area is closed off during most of the summer as it's a birthing area for seals.  There are around 1000 glaciers within the US National Park, but few are as impressive as the view of this mile-wide terminus.   Our cruise ship was able to pull up within a quarter of a mile of the still-growing, active glacier and spent a full hour alongside it.  As the day was warm, we saw a large number of calvings.

Our day in the park came to a close.  It was the second Holland America Lines Gala Night.  Fine dining at the completion of an awesome day was perfect!  I feel so lucky to have spent the day as we have.

AK 2022 Skagway

We came into Skagway early this morning.  

We remember this town by past activities here.  Back on our first ever visit, we took the scenic White Pass and Yukon Railway.  As the name suggests, this town is not far from Whitehorse.  It is a town with highway access to the rest of the continent.   On our last cruise, we stopped here on my 60th birthday.  As a gift, we took a helicopter and got out atop Meade Glacier.

Today, we just walked around the historic town.  It has a population of only 1000 during wintertime.  However, today was a nice mix of sun and clouds.  The Grand Princess was docked for the day too.  We spent the entire day but we ate lunch on the ship.

AK 2022 Juneau

This morning our ship passed through the Tracy Arm Inlet and reached Juneau, Alaska at around 11:00 am. I like this US state capital with no highway access. Of the ports we visit, I'm a bit partial to this one.  

We experienced some mist and showers.  Our ship was at a convenient berth.  Today, we saw two Princess Cruise ships in town with us. 

     

We decided to take the tramway that was very close to our cruise ship.  We had done this on our very first cruise to Alaska back in 2001.  The Tlingit peoples are from the area and had a nice 20-minute movie in a lodge at the top.  It was too damp to do much walking on the trails. 

Having our floating residence stop here seemed nice.  We left rather late.

AK 2022 Inside Passage North

Happy Birthday, Jay!

Today involved a lot of eating.  Jay's plate looks restrained, but this was simply the first plate of his breakfast.

There were no ports, so all events took place on the MS Zuiderdam. Going north is always pleasant but the most scenic parts of the Inside Passage happened last night when everyone was asleep.

It was a stunningly beautiful day though and rather impossible not to be awestruck by the amazing British Columbian territory.

We walked many kilometers back and forth on the ship.  We also asked for a table of six and met some nice folks at the real dining hall for the three-course, evening meal.

The Step-One Dance Company had a performance that we'd seen in the past; nevertheless, these five dancers were unique.

AK 2022 Embarkation

There wasn't much of a chore to get on this one.  It is about 35 minutes from our door to the cruise terminal at Canada Place in downtown Vancouver.  Boarding took a bit longer than expected but we were on before 1:30 pm.

The MS Zuiderdam backed out and left on time at 4:00.  We're on our way up the BC coast, through the Inside passage and to a few Alaskan ports!  Yipee.

It was nice being served dinner!  It's already late and bedtime.  There is not a port tomorrow just sailing in this beautiful part of the world.

Plying the Inside Passage Again!

Jay's birthday is on Thursday.  So, we figured we could squeeze in a bit more time aboard Holland America Line vessels this year.  Of course, because of COVID restrictions, there was a drought of sailings for a couple of years.  The prices for this season's cruises are some of the cheapest we've ever seen.  So we'll be redoing the same itinerary we did for my 60th birthday in July 2019.  It is just seven nights but leaves mid-week rather than on the weekend.  

We will roll our bags down to the SkyTrain station in our building and roll them out right at the Vancouver waterfront cruise pier.  Many of the other passengers will have flown, some thousands of miles, to join us.

We like leaving and returning to Vancouver by ship.  This was taken on the other side of Stanley Park during our last cruise to Alaska.  Passing under the Lion's Gate Bridge is a fun experience too.