Holly Doyne

0500

Rather than get off the ship today – well actually I might have to get off, clear immigration and get back on – I have a lovely day planned of stitching and relaxing. Failing that – I will go for a walk in Vancouver. From here, this is the first leg of a re-positioning cruise which will end up in Florida. I had looked at booking the next leg which included a Panama Canal transit, but Royal was refusing to book solo travelers into balconies. Not just wanting to charge the usual 100% surcharge, but actually refusing to book a balcony without a minimum occupancy of two people. I adore going through the canal, and the pleasure of not being packed into crowds on deck makes the balcony worth it. Unlike some other travelers, I am not willing to book it double then “cancel” the second traveler at the last minute.

Actual events –

We sailed in reasonably early –

and I watched the city and our approach to Canada Place

before deciding that my non-refundable OBC could easily be used to get a decent venti mocha from the Starbucks on Deck 5 which opens at 0600

From there I collected my new ship’s card from Guest Services and wandered off the ship just before 0800. My two missions for the morning were to find Vancouver Starbucks skinny thermos for me and postcards for Miriam.  After taking a screen shot of the map, I checked out several Starbucks before finding my prize about 10 blocks from the harbor.

In all that walking I hadn’t passed anywhere that had postcards. The lovely desk person at the Pan Pacific Hotel directed me toward GasTown where apparently the tourist shops congregate. I didn’t need to even go that far as there was an RCMP souvenir type shop just down the street (obviously not in the direction I had traveled prior). So, postcards accomplished as well.

Anyway – here is our route:

We will completely skip over the chaos in the terminal on the way back. I was in time to make the consecutive cruisers lunch. By the time I escaped the dining room, the cabins were open. This one is a smidgen smaller but the balcony is a lot bigger.

Additionally, I don’t have a significant overhang which makes taking the occasional picture of the shore line much easier.

Rather than dark and rainy on arrival, today we were gifted 1000 for an arrival time. Along with cold and rainy. It wasn’t Minnesota cold or Ottawa cold but according to a couple of the Florida flowers on the ship, it was coooolddd. There was cold rain with the occasional sting, but that was about it. According to several of the shop keepers – Ketchikan doesn’t get much snow. Just rain, sleet, and iced over roads most of the winter. This time I had enough sense to toss on a vest and cover it and me with a raincoat – I knew I packed it for some reason – and headed off the ship when the initial rush was over.

I’ve been here before so had a couple of planned stops on my list. We were at Berth 3, so directly in town and easy walking distance from just about everything.

There is the fire station –

with one of their original engines.

There is art in the form of wall pieces, walls, and benches –

I visited Parnassus Books and Whale’s Tail Quilt Shop before just wandering around a bit more. It is not quite season’s end here (like it was in Sitka). There are ships due through until ~ 27 Oct. I found a couple of books I might want, but they are heavy so I refrained. And discovered some 8wt metallic thread which I may give a try to as a single strand substitute for Kreinik.

The sunset was lovely –

and I managed a bit more stitching over all –

putting me just over 33%. I am caught up on my other projects (which have new portions drop on the 30th & 1st) so I really don’t want to start anything else. At least with the stained glass feel to the rose, I can easily see some progress…

Tomorrow is a sea day; I am changing cabins so will have to get organized at some point during the day. My current plan is to get off ship, take a bit of a hike, then get back on when boarding starts so that I can attend the Back-2-Back luncheon in the dining room…. we will see…

Oh, yes. time zone change tonight from Alaska DST to Vancouver Time (PDT).

Some how it seems startling – Day 5/7. Perhaps it is because I rarely get on a ship for less an 14 days. A seven day cruise is awfully short. OTOH I do have this fall’s upcoming adventure with George,,,,

Anyway – Juneau, Alaska. The capital (since 1906) tucked along the western coast of Canada in a narrow strip  of land more easily accessed by sea than land. The city extends on both sides of the ?fjord? ?sound? whatever. We had an early arrival (0700) which should have been lovely for those who were headed to Mendenhall Glacier or the gondola up the side of the mountain.

I didn’t head off ship till about 0830 and had a cool and breezy walk along the edge of town following the signs for the Museum/Library/Archives. I have been here at least three times in the past since Juneau seems to be a required stop on all Alaska cruises.  There is also Foodland if you happen to need anything from food to candy to hardware to halloween goodies – just saying. Not a tourist location, warm and dry.

But I don’t remember ever visiting the museum.  It is located in a large modern building that appears all angles and glass from the front and boxy dark square from the back (see Foodland detour above).  The Museum located on the building’s first floor had three main historical sections – Native (-11000 to present),  Russian (1741-1867), & American (1867-present). The kids section – called the Octopus Room –

Some of the historical information I remember, some of it was new to me. The changing exhibit area was fascinating – a study of clothing from centuries ago complete with explanations of how the over parkas were made primarily of seal skin guts. (Take the intestine – clean it, dry it, split it long wise, sew the flat segments together…)

Anyway – it is well worth a few hours. After that, I wandered through town with stops for fudge and at ChangingTides (quilt and fiber arts supplies) before heading back to the ship.

Also in port early with us was the NCL Bliss which sailed out around 1400. She was replaced by the NCL Encore –

and whose arrival had been proceeded by two HAL ships –

We set sail promptly at 1500, headed directly sideways out of the dock and then turning

AWAY from the port cam so that I couldn’t stand and wave at friends watching (insert sad face here)

But I got a bit smarter and looked up the Webcams for Ketchikan where we will be tomorrow – https://webcamketchikan.com/ which offers you a variety of cams and views.