July 6: Juneau, Alaska

 Hello from a dreary-looking Juneau.

With it being rainy/misty and Scooter not being able to handle wet roads well, today had to be a stay-on-the-ship day. Okay by me. I’ve been here plenty of times, just like Ketchikan, so I filled my day with random things. 

I started by people watching. With today’s low tide the ship only had one gangway open when we first arrived. That meant everyone going off the ship had to leave from Deck 7. Two lines had formed, one coming from the back of the ship and one coming from the front of the ship, with both converging at the elevator bank. I sat in Crooners with a vodka and cranberry (gotta get started on that drink package - they’re definitely making money off me with my alcohol consumption being next to nil) and watched the hundreds of folks trying to get off the ship. 

Even if I wanted to leave the ship I wouldn’t be able to right away. Announcements were made letting those with scooters and wheelchairs know they wouldn’t be able to leave for a couple hours until a second gangway was put in place. The first open one only had steps.

Two hours later all can go ashore

For breakfast I stopped by the International Café again for another Egg McMuffin sandwich. Today’s was much better than the other day’s.

Today - yum yum

Earlier in the cruise - unwelcome runny yolk surprise

I watched the man overboard drill. They basically toss a dummy into the water and a rescue boat gets sent to go pick it up. See the little orange thing with the yellow hat? He’s saved!

I checked out the lift to get into the theater. 

Even though they have a set of ramps, 

they also have a lift for the stairs. 

Looks complicated

It made me wonder why they didn’t figure out some way for wheelchairs and scooters to get to the Sanctuary. I was hoping to use it when I go to Hawaii on this ship in a couple months but it looks like access is only available by climbing stairs. Total bummer.

I spent time on the balcony (it’s a covered one, thank goodness) and watched people on the dock below and watched the tram go up and down the mountain. Poor people won’t be able to see a thing when they get up there.

I had a piece of free pizza on the pool deck

and compared it with the other day’s only-free-if-you-have-the-package pizza at Alfredos. Both tasted about the same. 

I tried one of their only-free-if-you-have-the-package premium desserts. Regular price? $12. Amount of waste? Ridiculous. 

The DaVinci

 

I watch a Carnival ship sail away from Juneau.

We’ll be sailing away from Juneau and onto Skagway where I hope the weather will be a little bit better.

So long, Juneau. See you a couple weeks!