Day 02 - 08/21/25 - At Sea to Juneau
Day two turned out to be a pretty busy day. It all started with the 9 AM coffee chat with Claire and Dominic, the on board naturalist. Dominic is from Hawaii and has a background in marine biology and was very good at explaining his interest in the natural world of Alaska. He then followed with a presentation on binoculars. He covered how they work, what are the best features, and how to use them. It was pretty interesting. His talk was followed by multimedia presentation by Claire on the main stage about whales of the north Pacific. There's some beautiful photographs and commentary about whale behavior and focused primarily on the humpback whales and the orcas or killer whales, even though the latter are genetically a dolphin. I should note there were many other activities from which to choose from but I'll only comment on those we participate in..
After lunch, I found a seat at the window in the Explorer's Lounge on deck five aft where I updated my blog and watched for whales. I did spot an orca quite a ways out and watched it for a bit. There have been numerous whale sightings by people throughout the first part of this voyage, which is quite different than some of the other trips that we taken. With our status as five star Mariners we are invited to a wine tasting each voyage and this voyage's wine tasting was at 2 o'clock and it featured two white wines and two red wines and was presented by Rod a sommelier from the Philippines. The first wine was a reisling by San Michelle in Washington state and it was our favorite of all four of the wines. And this was probably due the fact that attended to be a little on the sweet side which we appreciate in wine. Angela was a little late for this event as she participated in the Polar Plunge event in the aft Seaview pool.
Claire then gave a late afternoon port talk on Juneau and Skagway, pointing out things that independent travelers could do in each of those cities. It was quite good and pretty comprehensive based on our knowledge of having been to those ports numerous times. Tonight was dressy night and we elected to eat dinner in the Canaletto restaurant on the Lido level. It was quite good (Alaskan Rockfish) and we recognized three staff that we have sailed with previously on the Volendam. It was good to reminisce with them about what they've done and we've done since we were last together on a ship. While eating dinner, we also spotted a whale and the Eurodam on its southbound voyage back to Seattle.
Before the main stage program, Capt. Ane Smit led everyone in a Captain's toast after presenting his most senior officers and crew. We've also sailed with him before and he's quite a personable captain. The evening show was a juggler, Thom Wall, who is quite good and pretty funny. Afterwards, we adjourned to the Crow's Nest to watch the evening come to a close and look for whales. Just as we reached the Crow's Nest, a lady who is on our tour group commented that they just seen whales before we arrived.
We were asked to leave the Crow's Nest because of a private function, so we ended up in the Mix listening to a singer/pianist, Marcel, who was quite good.
Tomorrow looks like it's going to be another long day as we have a disembarkation meeting early in the morning for the next day in Skagway and we don't arrive in Juneau until approximately 1:30 PM.
Finally, I will comment that the ship's appearance is excellent and the crew has been very attentive and friendly. We really like this size ship and are booked on it for another Alaska cruise next year that focuses on small ports. It recently came out of drydock which probably accounts for its present condition.
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