July 7: Skagway, Alaska

 Welcome to Skagway!

Today we were docked at the Broadway dock, a prime location for easily getting into town. Except…

I received this notification. Sorry scooter people, you can’t come and go as you please yet.

I showed up at the 10:30 AM time ready to head off the ship only to be told the gangway wouldn’t be in place until 11:00 instead. Well, the heck with that. I walked myself down the steep steps while the wheelchair and assist guys carried my scooter on down those same steep steps. And off I went.

Today’s plan was a compare/contrast day. First, compare and contrast the slide area. Guests on ships docked at the forward dock have to take a tender (water shuttle) to get to shore. No ships in today though. And no visible progress on the slide.

Today

Last year

These past two years when I’ve been here post-Covid, the town has been depressing. So many store fronts closed, shops we used to visit for sale, for rent, for lease. Looks like the town is back now. My favorite place for a patty, the Sweet Tooth Café, unfortunately is now a Diamonds International.

Before

Now

The best Thai food in Alaska at the Star Fire is now a different type of establishment.

Scooter at Starfire pre-Covid

The times they are a changing’

How is the huge rhubarb looking?

Ed’s hand in the Skagway rhubarb, July 2013

My hand in Skagway’s rhubarb today

Food and drink at the Skagway brewing company? Today’s cup of chili with focaccia bread certainly did not disappoint.

Something new and cool at the hardware store - a display of ducks passengers have dropped off. Cool. (At least I think it was the hardware store. Didn’t look at the sign but I think that’s where the hardware store used to be/still is.)

Quack quack 

We will be heading up the channel for a beautiful sail away tonight as we work our way to Glacier Bay tomorrow. See you then.

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!

July 5: Ketchikan, Alaska

Today was an early morning in Ketchikan with a 6 AM arrival. By 7:30 the International Café was cleared. You’d never see it this empty on a sea day.

No Ed, that’s not coffee I’m drinking.
It’s just hot chocolate.

Even though I had no excursions and nowhere to be and not really any plans for the day (This is my 27th visit here. Seriously, I looked it up!) I knew I had to get off early because we had other ships coming in. Ketchikan is no fun with throngs of people cramming the sidewalks so I wanted to avoid that as much as possible.

We were docked at pier 2 today, which is a prime location. 

We were plopped right in front of the Ketchikan sign and right by The Rock statue. 

Having no particular plans, I just explored the area on Scooter. We found fruits and flowers.

 

 

Unique things made from wood like totem poles and benches. 

 

  

We found creeks. And Creek Street. 

Too early in the season for the salmon run

A bear, wolf, and a dog (sign).

  

We found ships, boats, and float planes. 

Hey, that’s us!

Holland America coming in

Royal Caribbean on its way in

Here comes Celebrity

Aleutian Ballad crab boat tour

Time for takeoff 

Can’t get weather much better than this.

I ended my time ashore by grabbing a bench on the dock in the warm sunshine, munching on some popcorn from the kettle corn shop, and watching the Holland America ship getting ready for the day.

Yay, no sweatshirt needed.

Up tonight, Sabatini’s for dinner. And up tomorrow, Juneau, Alaska!