Day 12 - 08/31/25 - Anchorage to Whittier

 I made my goal of being in my birth city on my 80th birthday!  We woke up in the Hilton at 7:30am and prepared for our day.  Our light breakfast of an apple and a half of a protein cookie was yummy.  We checked out of the hotel and walked down to the train station and dropped off our checked luggage which will be trucked down to Whittier.  Checkin was quick and we received our seat assignments in car C, 4 a&b. Around 9:20, the "All Aboard" call was made and we made our way on to the nearby train car.  






Our car was not completely full and many people shifted seats after we got moving promptly at 9:45am.   The train moved fairly slowly until we reached the outskirts of Anchorage.  Then the speed picked up.  The route essentially follows the Turnagain Arm on the south side of the tracks and mountains on the left.  We made one stop at Girdwood before reaching the stop at the tunnel entrance to Whittier.  There was about a 15 minute wait to let the northbound traffic clear the two mile long tunnel.  


Once the train cleared the tunnel, it's right beside the cruise terminal.  Across the bay we could see the new NCL dock.  Checking was fast especially since we are 5 Star Mariners.  What was really surprising was that I didn't have to surrender my souvenir ULU knife.  We were on board by 1pm and our inside room was ready for us up on deck 8 aft.  My luggage arrived about 10 minutes later, but Angela's arrived later.  We watched the safety video and went up to the Lido for a first meal.  We also made a reservation for dinner in the Tamarind for 5pm.  







We completed the muster drill process at 4pm and adjourned to the Crow's Nest for some relaxing before our dinner reservation.  Dinner in the Tamarind was wonderful and we invited a cruising friend from the Volendam cruise last year, Sue, that we had just met to join us.  It was good to catch up.  I was surprised with a birthday cake and a candle and a Happy Birthday cake.  As we finished dinner, a helicopter landed next to the ship and an ambulance transported a cruise passenger from the ship to the helicopter.



Arthur, our Cruise Director, made repeated calls for people to complete the muster drill.  Finally at around 6:30pm the Captain came on the PA system and announced the we were not going to leave until more people completed the drill.  It's the first time I've heard a Captain give that message.


The evening entertainment was a comedian from Atlanta, Hank Denson.  He was a clean and funny comedian. Afterwards we spent time in the Billboard Onboard listening to the piano singer.  I really miss the dueling pianos.


Back at the room, we noted that the room temperature was still 23°C or 73°F which is much  too warm for sleeping.  Supposedly someone came by to check it.  But I'll make a call in the morning to report the issue again.


Tomorrow is a sea day with a stop at Hubbard Glacier in the afternoon.


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