Though it wasn’t yet raining when the Ruby Princess arrived in Sitka this morning, we knew it was coming. Luckily, our plans, made back in April, could work with that. We first went to breakfast in Botticelli, and then walked the ship about 9:30am. We were in port today with the Norwegian Joy, so things on land felt considerably different than they had the past two days (when we were the only ship in not-so-touristy ports).
When word went around our Cruise Critic roll call that we could reserve (no charge) bus transfers to travel the 5 miles into Sitka proper, I noticed on the website that they now had a few more opportunities for things to see and do right at the port terminal area. Having been to Sitka a few times in the past (in fact, on our first cruise in 1997, when we had no idea what a tender even was), we have certainly walked around the town and seen what there is to see there. Something different sounded interesting.
I made reservations for us at the Alaska Odyssey Dome to view a 45-minute video on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and then another on the wildlife local to Sitka. These were shown on a screen that had about a 180° viewing area, and the aerial shots were simply breathtaking. There was lots of video on the northern lights (my favorite), and some of the views were definitely tummy turning.
Mama and baby musk ox
After a short break, a handler from the Alaska Raptor Center came onstage with an 8-year old female eagle named Spirit. Spirit had been struck by a car when she was young (going for easy prey…roadkill) and is blind in one eye with a traumatic brain injury (she can’t stick her landings). So she will be a resident of the Alaska Raptor Center for the rest of her life, which could be as long as 40 years.
We paid $82 total for both movies and the Alaska Raptor experience (part of the money is used to support their efforts). It was well worth it.
Majestic Spirit
It was raining by the time we left the theater and that scuttled our plans to have a crab lunch at a restaurant in the terminal area. We had hoped for a nice day and to be able to dine outside. Instead we returned to the ship, and it took me several hours to warm up. This was the first time I had been truly cold since we left home (I needed to be wearing the base layer I packed for glacier viewing, but wasn’t).
We sat in the buffet where I drank another three cups of orange spice tea (I’ve lost count of how many I’ve had on this cruise) and had soup and for once skipped watermelon because I was too chilly.
I’m not sure today was the day for watersports activities!
I think I would have paid to NOT have to go.
We went to the PES Lounge where the ship’s officers are making a real effort to walk around and chat with guests each evening. It’s nice! Desmond, the IT manager, had the misfortune of introducing himself to me, and I asked if he had a couple of minutes to chat. He did, and I told him my issues with uploading pics to this blog using the BlogTouch app that has worked on every ship we’ve been on. In over ten years He is checking into it, but I’m not especially hopefull it will get resolved. But I did point out to him that it worked fine when I was previously on the Ruby Princess.
I’m getting lots of roses on this cruise!❤️❤️
The Princess Theater entertainment tonight was piano entertainer Tom Franek. His name sounded familiar and I searched my blog. Sure enough, he was on our Pacific Princess cruise in 2015. Funny…this guy was harious, and we enjoyed his first show so much that after we did some line dancing with the party band in the Piazza, we returned for his second.
I don’t know whether to be nit impressed by his piano skills or his fitness level!
