ZAANDAM
Today's port stop is
Juneau where we have the least amount of time and there's so much to see and do here. Juneau is the capital of Alaska. Known for Gastineau Channel, Tongass National Forest, Mendenhall Glacier, and Mt. Roberts Tramway. I have a pretty heavy list of things I want to do and see but first,
breakfast. I give in to my husband and we head to the
Lido for the
breakfast buffet. Too many choices for me. Juices, pastries, rolls, yogurt, cereals, omelet choices, eggs any way you want, bacon, sausage, and so on. Tons of fruit. Want a breakfast sandwich of cold meats and trimmings?? It's all there. Pancakes. I end up with fruit, pancake, and coffee. My husband does a cold meat breakfast sandwich, juice, coffee. I still don't see the appeal for my husband. I tell him he can always do his meals at Lido while I enjoy Rotterdam but he's not into that suggestion. Sorry for the less than perfect pictures!
 |
| Rolls |
 |
| Grapefruit |
 |
| French toast, pancakes, waffles-displays |
 |
| Displays showing different complete breakfast plates |
 |
Sausage, bacon, cubed potatoes tomatoes
|
 |
| Juices |
 |
| Fruits |
 |
| Pastries |
 |
| Sandwich fixings |
 |
| Omelet displays/suggestions |
 |
| My husband's breakfast sandwich |
 |
| My pancake with syrup |
We leave the ship around 8:00 am just after docking to meet for our whale watching trip. I have pre booked this outing with
Harv & Marv's Outback Alaska. Cost $325.99 which includes fuel surcharge, reservation fee, city & borough fee!! Before all the fees the cost is $298 for the 2 of us. Living in New York state taxes/fees are not a surprise. We are to meet someone in a bright orange jacket who will be holding the company sign right at the end of the ship gangway. This tour includes around 1 hour of round trip transfer time, 3 hours of whale watching, and a 15 minute stop at Mendenhall Glacier. We will be returned to this starting point by our ship. My plan is to do this, then the tram, return to Mendenhall, and last the Red Dog Saloon which is located right by our ship. There will not be any time to really explore this city-the capital of Alaska. We are picked up with 3 others who are on our cruise ship-a mom with her 2 grown sons. I picked Harv & Marv's because they do small boat tours and get high marks/praise on Trip Advisor. It is a rainy morning so hoping we will still see some whales. We drive a bit to where the boat Haarvendam is located. Captain Liz will be trying her best to locate whales. The mom has never seen any whales so when we spot the first one she is so happy! Even with the less than desirable weather we do see plenty of whales with tail and fin action. I'm disappointed that I didn't get to see any breaching or bubble net feeding. No guarantees. There is a small area on the boat where you can be outside for better pictures. Overall I was satisfied with this trip and give Liz a tip/token of our appreciation/tip.
 |
| Where our ship is docked |
 |
Historic downtown walking map
|
 |
Public bus
|
 |
| Other passengers-mom and one of her sons and Liz, our boat captain |
 |
| 2 whales |
Then we are driven over to
Mendenhall Glacier, dropped off, and told to return to this spot in 15-20 minutes. In hindsight I should have told our driver we would get back to our ship on our own. There are shuttles that are available every 30 minutes up to around 7:00 pm that will pick you up by the cruise ship dock and return you there for $20 pp. I think that is a one way price. That would have eliminated a need to return which we never got to do as we ran out of time. If we had stayed we would have had enough time to hike to Nugget Falls. There is a bald eagle that we spot among the trees. Mendenhall Glacier is part of the Juneau Icefield. There is also a visitor center, nature trails, and a viewing platform. It deserves 2 hours to do justice to Mendenhall and all that is offered here. However, I wasn't smart enough to figure this our beforehand so we meet the driver and return to where our ship is docked. I give him a tip also. Richard says he's hungry and so we board the ship and have
lunch at
Lido buffet. This was a big mistake as we wasted an hour eating. We could have gone to the
Red Dog Saloon and gotten something to eat there!
 |
| Mendenhall Glacier |
 |
Bald eagle
|
 |
| Nugget Falls |
 |
| Lunch on the cruise ship-soup, salad, sandwiches |
Disembarking the ship again I decide to do the
Mt. Roberts Tramway as it's right here. Fortunately the weather has gotten better and the rain has stopped. We buy tickets at the office building for $66 for the 2 of us. A short walk to where the tram cars are, stand in line for an available car, enter and a slow ride up. Lovely views-our cruise ship, Juneau, a bald eagle in a tree. Where you exit the car is a viewing area that also has views of the port area. Here we visit the Nature Center, see a totem being carved, the Raptor Center with a bald eagle who was injured so severely that he couldn't be released back into the wild. I felt sorry for him as he's in a large cage and just looked so sad. There's also a bar/grill for food and drinks (could have had lunch here also!), a gift shop, and some walking trails. No time for any hiking. We spend about an hour here.
 |
| Zaandam is on the right |
 |
We see this bald eagle on the tram ride up
|
 |
| People throw coins hoping they will land on this tree stump |
 |
| So sad |
 |
Totem being carved
|
 |
| Viewing area |
Next stop is the
Red Dog Saloon. It is super crowded. We wait a few minutes and then get a table. There's an older gent playing the piano, singing old time tunes. He's dressed in the period of the Gold Rush. He's very entertaining. Richard orders a beer and I have a coke. Bill is $11 which includes tip. Time is running out so we won't make it back to Mendenhall. Am I disappointed? Yes, but that's the way it goes when you only have so many hours in port. I wish I could have explored/walked around the city. I would have liked to see the State Office building, the Governor's Mansion, Marine Park, Alaska State Museum, Juneau-Douglas City Museum, and much more. No time to browse in the many shops/do any shopping either.
 |
| This guy singing and playing the piano was terrific! |
We go back to our ship a bit before the requested all aboard time of 5:30 pm. Time to relax, have a glass of wine while sitting on our verandah. I have made reservations for us at the
Pinnacle Grill which is being turned into
Le Cirque of NY City fame. Extra charge $49 pp or $69 pp with wine pairing. The twilight is beautiful tonight and I take several pictures. This is the second evening for
gala attire so Richard and I are all dressed up!! Our reservation is for 8:00 pm. We have a nice table for 2. We see the mom and her 2 sons from this morning's whale watch trip. The boys are handsome with bright red bow ties! I didn't take a picture because I didn't want to offend but what a nice looking group of 3. Next to us is a large table of family members of varying ages I believe. They are all dressed up too. A couple of the young men-maybe late teens, early 20s-order 2 entrees which is an extra charge on top of the extra charge just for the dinner here. The table settings are elegant with china special to Le Cirque. Instead of wine (we have those bottles in our stateroom) we order drinks-dry martini for my husband and a cosmo for me. Delicious. Amuse bouche first. Then from the menu-I have garden pea soup with cheese dumplings and Richard has chilled yogurt and melon soup with shrimp. Then a caesar salad for me and lobster salad 'Le Cirque" for Richard. This salad was featured in the cooking demonstration Richard attended. For our main-chateaubriand cooked medium with horseradish flan and sweet & sour baby beets; sea bass with peaches, capers, Bourbon vanilla, and chicken oysters. On the menu was a vegetarian option-spagetti primavera. This meal was superb!! Dessert-I wanted them all. I settle for creme brûlée 'Le Cirque" and Ricard has the pineapple with Malibu rum, coconut, and Bourbon vanilla. Then our server brings out a grouping of complimentary treats. They were delicious and I ate every one as Richard passed. Better for me! We are both glad we did this even with the added cost. It was so worth it. I savored every bite of that melt in your mouth chateaubriand and Richard said the sea bass was perfectly cooked. What a spectacular end to this day.
No comments:
Post a Comment