Day 03 - 08/22/25 - Juneau
Today started out early once again. We were up at 7 AM in order to eat breakfast and attend an 8:30am disembarkation meeting on the World Stage. This presentation was given by Claire, our cruise director, and she covered all of the details concerning our upcoming disembarkation tomorrow in Skagway along with the land tour that follows. During the presentation, she specifically said that if you were carrying a CPAP machine, which I am, we should tell the Shore Excursions staff upon leaving the theater so that they could notify the proper people at the airline in Dawson City. When I got to the Shore Excursion people, the lady did not care whether I have CPAP or not because once I was off the ship, she said it was not their responsibility. Since we've done this trip several times before I know the proper procedure and there was never in the past need to declare the other CPAP machine because a medical device is exempt from the carry-on rules limitations.
Immediately after this presentation, Claire gave another coffee chat with the food and beverage director and the executive chef and it was a pretty lively discussion and well attended. I then went up to the Crow's nest to watch scenic, cruising while Angela sat in on the cooking class. The rest of the morning we enjoyed the sail in and eventually I ended up out on the open bow to watch the final half hour or so of the sail in. It was quite pretty and the temperatures were very moderate with very little wind. It was quite comfortable in a fleece. We were in no hurry to disembark, and after the disembarkation announcement came over the PA system, we made our way to our room, gathered up our belongings and found our way off the ship.
I should mention that while I was out on the bow of the ship. I noticed an Alaska Airlines 737 on final landing approach and told myself it would be cool if my son-in-law was flying that plane. It turned out that he was and I texted him and we made arrangements to have dinner later on in the day at the Hanger restaurant. It's the second time that we've been in Juneau when he's been here and the last time he was a little bit later than our schedule so all we could do is wave to him from the railing of the ship as we departed.
We made our way over to the shopping street and shopped our way up to Eagan Avenue where we took a left turn and headed out to walk towards and find the life-size whale sculpture that's out by the Douglas Bridge. Along the way we geo located our son-in-law staying at the local hotel in town. We also stopped at the IGA and purchased some chocolate to give ourselves a treat each night which is our custom. The whale park is located right across the street from the IGA and there's a nice wooden walkway out to it and the statue with its life-size representation of a humpback whale has a water feature that turns on periodically and water gushes from the fins iand the mouth, and orifices and makes quite a stunning presentation. We stopped there for a bit. We enjoy a soda and people watching before heading back, walking into town to meet up with our son-in-law.
Dinner was good and I had a 16 ounce T-bone which was way too much to eat after we had enjoyed a nice fish and chips lunch on the ship. After that we gave a goodbye to our son-in-law and we continued walking back into town and shop some more before stopping at the pier to rest we cleared security and got a conversation with the local about the town. I mentioned that I had grown up here. We reminisced together about changes that occurred from the time that I was here and now. It was a nice conversation. By the way, they use the facial recognition camera to scan you at the port and then of course you have to go through security once on board the ship with your ship card and then your items have to go through the security scanner much like in the airport.
Back in the room, we quickly repacked as we have to have our luggage out tonight by 11 o'clock and we won't see it again until we reach our hotel in Whitehorse tomorrow night. Tonight's dinner on the ship was a salmon bake but because we've eaten off the ship we were too full to participate in it. It did look lovely, but I couldn't eat anymore after the 16 ounce ribeye steak.
The evening entertainment was a comedian, Bob Little. He was funny and clean. During the show he joked about owning Ryobi power tools. After the show I chatted with him as I own and use Ryobi power tools. We shared pictures of projects, and bonded over the common interest. He's on the ship for another two weeks.
We finished our packing and went to listen to the excellent lady guitarist who was playing a single set with the pianist/vocalist from the mix. They had a really good vibe together not unlike the two pianists in the Billboard Onboard on the larger HAL ships.
Onboard tine was 9:30pm, and the gangway was stowed by 9:30. We silently slipped away from our berth, pivoted 180° counterclockwise, and sailed south in the Gastineau Channel on our way to Skagway. The other three ships in port with us (RCCL Quantum of the Seas, Riviera, and Disney Wonder) had all previously departed.
We put our luggage out and we won't see it until tomorrow night in Whitehorse.
It was a nice dry stop in Juneau (that's a really good day!) and we'll be back in early September on our southbound voyage. It was really good to connect with our son-in-law for dinner. And it was good to spend time in the city I spent my early childhood in and where I became left handed after falling off an elevated sidewalk and breaking my right collarbone. Ah, the memories.
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