Friday, July 30th, At Sea

We slept in some as we moved the clocks forward during the night to match Seattle’s time. I spent some time walking round the deck (4-5 miles) enjoying the fog and ocean air. Janice went to the fitness center and after we cleaned up we had breakfast in the dining room. I tried the corned beef hash and Janice had the banana French toast. We of course had a fruit plate.

I shared that the ship is filled with art. Even the elevators doors are beautiful.

We spent the morning relaxing until I attended the “ask the captain” at 11 AM. He gave a “virtual” tour of the bridge and engine control room. He also shared why there was a change in captains in the middle of the cruise (highly unusual). When any crew, captain included, join the ship they are required to quarantine. The CDC rules changed from 7 days to 10 days so he was unable to leave his cabin (not the captain’s quarters) for 3 additional days. They did the formal hand off when we were in Icy Straits and the first captain flew home from Sitka. They are adapting to the every changing rules.

Lunch was in the Pinnacle restaurant at noon. Crab cakes, burger for Janice and tri-tip steak sandwich for me. The afternoon was less exciting as we began packing and spent some time in they hydro-spa pool and the thermal suite. Dinner was in the pinnacle at 5:30 – see pictures.

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We returned to our cabin and decided to call it an early night as the BB kings didn’t begin until 10 PM which as we think about the next week would be 11 AM.

As 4 star mariners we can disembark anytime between 7:30 and 9:30. We plan to get up and exercise, have breakfast in the dining room (a first on the last day) and then gather our bags and uber to our hotel in downtown.

Thursday, July 29th, Ketchikan

We awoke to the ship quietly making its way into port, arriving at 7 AM. We also awoke to lots of messages asking about our safety after the 8.2 earthquake overnight that resulted in tsunami warnings. We slept through the night although I suspect the captain may not have. We have been inside the barrier islands that are quite high and would offer great protection from any tsunami. A quick search indicates that if we were in open water a Tsunami would be imperceptible and pose not threat.

I spent an hour walking around the deck and watching the crew dock.

We had breakfast and then wandered off into Ketchikan. We were here 8 years ago and the port has grown from 1-2 berths to 4 and with it the number of shops and stores. They were visibly hungry for sales after 2020 and were doing everything to entice passengers in. We actually found some of the best prices.

We walked the married man’s trail which is trail through the forest that led from the residential community to what was the red light district. We walked to the totems and the fish hatchery before heading back down the trail. Here is a picture of the fish ladder for spawning season

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Wanting to try some very local beer and the brewery being 15 miles away without a real tasting room we opted for a local bar called the asylum which had all beers on tap for 3.50 a pint.
Love their creativity in the bathroom.

We returned to the ship around 12:30 and had lunch. After we had an afternoon nap and spent time relaxing we headed to dinner.

For those who have never cruised, HAL ships are filled with art all over the ship.

This is a huge replica behind glass

Here are some pictures from dinner. Crab louie, baked brie, duck

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Wednesday, July 28th, Sitka

The day began with a very early sunrise and so I picked up some coffee and wrote my post for Tuesday.

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The plan for the day is a hike in the national forest and state parks through the ship’s excursion department. We were due to be docked at 8 AM and were to meet at 8:20. The dining room was not to open until 7:30 so we decided that it might be pushing it so we opted for the complimentary room service. I went out to walk around the deck and breakfast arrived 15 minutes early with the exact same presentation and choices we would have made in the dining room.

The hike lasted about 3 hours and after we were dropped off in downtown Sitka. We ventured to a fusion Russian restaurant for a dumpling of sorts. They were amazing as Janice got potato and I had beef, all topped with butter, curry powder, siracha, cilantro and cracked black pepper

We walked around, shopped and had a local beer before returning to the ship.

We had some down time before our evening at Sol de Mer. A special meal we look forward to.

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Dinner was at a great pace and took about 2 hours. We returned to our cabin and retired for the evening.

Tuesday, July 27th Glacier Bay and Icy Straits

Good Morning!

For those who have not cruised on Holland America, each of the elevators (we have 18 on this ship) have a matt in them that is changed each day to remind you what day it is.

We got up and headed to the fitness center at 6 AM. It is at the front of the ship over the bridge with full windows so we could watch the ship sail into the national park while the fog broke. While we had breakfast in the dining room the ship slowed to allow national park rangers and naturalists on to both supervise and narrate our experience in the park. Breakfast found us sitting next to another couple similar in age in which the wife was a family practice physician. We talked about Covid and how both families decided that the mandatory vaccinations and protocols made this a safe cruise.

By the time we finished breakfast we were into the bay and the bow was opened to passengers and we made our way to watch for wildlife and the glaciers.

The picture above is from John Hopkins inlet. After we went to the Tarr inlet where we witnessed the Margerie calve.

After 3 hours we began our journey out. We headed to the dining room for lunch before a lazy afternoon relaxing.

We had an early dinner in the dining room as we docked at Icy Strait in the rain. We wandered around for a little while a did a little shopping before returning to the ship.

Janice attended BBC Alaska show which is unbelievable cinemaphotography paired with a scored lived accompaniment with cello, violins and piano.

As we headed to bed after 10 there was still light in the sky.

Traveling in the age of covid

I thought I would share some observations about traveling in the age of covid. This will include air, public transportation, the cruise, and port visits.

When we flew on Delta, we had to wear a mask in the airport except when verifying our identity at TSA and eating/drinking in the lounge. They required mask use on the plane and asked that we wait to consume food/beverages until after the attendant had finished serving our row. There was complete compliance and no public outbursts.

In Seattle we took the link light rail, and everyone wore masks. There didn’t appear to be anyone to enforce it but either way it was nice.

When we traveled from our airport to the port, Uber notified us, and we had to agree to wear masks which we did.

At the port we had to wear masks while entering the terminal and throughout the boarding process. Again, there seemed to be no problem for passengers doing so.

Once on the ship, masks were not required by passengers in any space. A little explanation about HAL covid protocols. This cruise is 100% passenger and crew vaccinated. The crew came to the US and were quarantined. They were then taken to San Diego and a contractor vaccinated the crew. Some got Pfizer and returned to port in 3 weeks for #2. Some got the Johnson & Johnson. (The crew is quite happy to work and thankful for HAL getting them vaccinated because they couldn’t get vaccine at home. All crew are wearing masks in public areas.

Prior to arrival in Juneau, we were advised that Alaskan health officials asked that we wear masks ashore and inside with the spread of the Delta variant. In Juneau we met a person who worked for the hospital. Nearly all their staff is vaccinated. 65% of Alaska is vaccinated. They are seeing significant spikes in covid rates. We were told that Sitka ( a later port) has the highest rate in the US right now but we have no way to verify this. (small population would mean it is easy to have a high rate of infection)

Janice and I have reflected that with 100% vaccinated, the cruise feels safer than Kroger at home. There is no question if a person is one who is in denial and refusing to wear a mask and is unvaccinated. The passengers are ones who have embraced the vaccine because of the freedom and safety it offers. For HAL it also means that they aren’t held to a 50% capacity in the provisional CDC sail guidelines.

In Juneau we learned that we were the third cruise in over a year. One of the cruises was not fully vaccinated and a handful of passengers tested positive and were forced to debark. They flew on Alaska Air to Seattle without revealing their positive status. When they arrived they were removed and banned from Alaska Airlines for failing to be honest about their positive covid status.

As we have talked with passengers over the last three days all believe and trust in the science and all are thankful for a vaccine.

It is fantastic to have a safe place to relax and vacation and commend Holland America for embracing this type of cruising.

Monday, June 26th.

The day began with exercise by walking around the deck for 45 minutes watching the sun rise. I was several porpoise and two whales. Just as I finished my walk and Janice began hers, the fog set in and with it came the fog horn.

Being a late port day the restaurant didn’t open until later and we didn’t want to wait so we grabbed breakfast in the Lido. (we eat few meals here. The food is good but we eat healthier in the dinning room.)

We arrived in Juneau as scheduled and were able to leave the ship and 1:15PM. We headed to the cable car up the mountain for spectacular views and a mountain hike.

We then wandered through town seeing the sights before visiting a Diners, Drive-ins and Dives location from August of 2019. We had a mid-afternoon snack that was unbelievable Mexican Korean fusion food with 7 different tacos progressing in heat.

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We returned to the ship around 5 PM.

Pretty exhausted we hung in the cabin and had some gourmet pizza and a salad at 8 before calling it a day.

In the morning we will be headed into Glacier Bay National Park

Sunday, July 25, 2021 At Sea

Today we continue the journey up the coast headed to Juneau with a projected time of

When we retuned to our cabin after breakfast we had a letter from the captain that the Alaskan health authorities are reporting the spread of Delta and asking passengers to mask when onshore and particularly when inside while in port.

Sunday

We slept in some and woke to the sound of the fog horn. We then headed out to the promenade deck to walk for exercise.

After cleaning up we headed to breakfast in the main dining room. We’ll offer a little food porn. We each had a fruit plate and then either mushroom spinach eggs Benedict or Dungeness crab eggs Benedict.

At 11 we were invited to a reception with the captain for all four and five star mariners. All of the key leadership were present and made their way around the lounge thanking us for our loyalty and returning. They are pushing for a great experience for us! Free wine and champagne was offered.

At noon we had reservations for lunch in the Pinnacle Grill. The menu looks unchanged. I had crab cakes, tomato kafir lime, lemongrass chicken soup and seafood cioppino. Janice had crab cakes, fish sandwich and a mouse dessert.

After lunch we headed to the location of the former “test kitchen” and there was a demonstration by the Pinnacle chef hosted by the cruise and travel director. I rate the show fantastic for interaction and information. The chef clearly wasn’t meant for strictly back of house!

In the afternoon we visited the thermal suite and hydro pool. The jets in the pool were so strong one had to hold on or be pushed around.

After some down time, we headed to the Tamarind for dinner at 6. I will try to share more pictures later as the size of the pictures is going to cause problems. Starters were crab/lobster pot stickers and a variety of satay. Janice had barramundi and I had lamb chops. We opted for no dessert.

We watched the first set of the BB Kings group before retiring for the evening.

Saturday July 24th

A warning – the change in Ios picture formatting means it is difficult to share pictures here that I take with my phone. Windows doesn’t recognize them.

Today we woke up and hit the in hotel gym before having breakfast in the hotel restaurant. We arrived just in time before a line of 20+ appeared waiting for a table. After we ventured around the immediate area on foot. I decided to walk to target only to discover that much of downtown was closed for the filming of a Mercedes commercial.

Just before noon we checked out and summoned an Uber. We arrived at 12:20 and were allowed to proceed to the port. The plan for distancing provided “strict” times to check in and embark. There was no mass crowd and we had to show our covid vaccination card and passport to enter the building. Then they verified that we had completed the health assessment online 3 days before and asked if anything changed. We went through security with the xrays and metal detectors. We then checked in using our passport photo and facial recognition software and allowed to board the ship. (we had to upload facial photos this week for the facial recognition. This was far faster than any cruise before this. We were all checked in and on the ship in 20 minutes with our room cards at our cabin. Our suitcases arrived within the hour. This was a far smoother process and much easier for all involved.

Another big change was that they introduced a new safety drill. Instead of at 4 PM a general alarm being called and everyone going to their muster station, having their cards scanned, standing huddled in a big group while they called out errant passengers who hadn’t arrived, they had a new distancing safe plan. First you visit your lifeboat station to know where it is and they scan your keycard, they you watch the video on in your cabin tv and finally listen to the captain’s safety talk on the PA. WAY better!

We the attended the sail away with the fireboat providing water spray in the bay while waving orange flags and toasting with complimentary beverages.

We went to dinner at 5:45 and met another couple. Food was great though service was a little rusty. Crab cocktail, farmer’s salad and then rock fish with risotto. No dessert for me!

In talking with crew who are mostly from Indonesia and the Philippines, they were completely unable to get vaccinated at home. Most had not worked in 12 months or more. HAL provided vaccines and testing and all had been on the ship for a month to make sure there were no break through infections. They all have friends at home that haven’t been recalled because the restart of cruising is so limited at this point and they all are quite happy to be working and have been even more friendly than they normally are.

We are cruising north of Seattle and will arrive in Juneau on Monday. Here is our itinerary:

Friday Recap

We left home around 12:30 and arrived at our parking location 5at 1:30. By 2:15 we were at the terminal. Normally we would go up one escalator, check our bags and then head to TSA. With travel impact Delta has shuttered this bag drop and we had to go up another escalator, wait in line, check our bags and head to TSA. Unfortunately, that threw me enough that we ended up in the regular TSA line rather than the TSA precheck. Once through we headed to the Sky lounge for about an hour before boarding our flight.

Our flight was nonstop to Seatac on an older 757-200 and was close to full. Everyone wore masks and there were no unruly passengers. Flight attendants were awesome as the lead came up and thanked me for returning to Delta after the pandemic and shared that they appreciate loyal customers. Didn’t cost a thing and was a brilliant move. I saw him look at an app on his phone and made several stops to different passengers with what I believe to be the same speech. There is a noticeable change in service in the air in terms of food and beverages. We were asked to keep masked until the entire row and been served and they moved to the next row.

We arrived in Seattle about 6:30 and collected our bags and made the walk to the Link rail station. $3 fare we paid on our phones and no turnstiles and in half an hour we were downtown. We walked uphill to our hotel got checked in. We grabbed a light dinner before collapsing in bed.

Traveling Again Finally!

Well after 18 months of pandemic restrictions Janice and I are finally traveling again. This will be a shorter trip, but this afternoon we fly from Detroit to Seatac so that Saturday we can board the MS Nieuw Amsterdam. While it was not our intent to be the first HAL ship to sail after the pause in cruising, we will be on the first cruise with paying passengers. This cruise will be 100% vaccinated passengers and crew and will only have 50% of the passenger capacity. We will be traveling to Alaska and because of the closed Canadian waters and ports, we will not have to visit a foreign port as the PVSA has been suspended. I’ll try to post each day with updates and pictures.