The foggy, wet weather of the past three days has been forgotten, and today was the prettiest single day of our cruise to date. While our day in Juneau on this southbound route was somewhat limited (we sailed at 4pm), we made the most of it by leaving the ship mid-morning and taking a leisurely walk along the Juneau waterfront into downtown.
We were once again particularly intrigued by the number of floatplanes taking off and landing amongst the cruise ships and fishing boats. In a bit of nostalgia, our very first cruise ship, Royal Caribbean's Rhapsody of the Seas was in Juneau today, exactly 15 years to the week after we sailed on her to Alaska on our first cruise. Another past ship, Royal Caribbean's Radiance of the Seas was also in Juneau. We cruised on that ship for 23 nights through the Panama Canal and out to Hawaii in April 2002, and it remains one of our favorite ships. It is certainly the most beautiful cruise ship we've ever been on, and although we'd heard that the Island Princess was just as pretty...well, sorry, but the Radiance still holds that honor in our minds.
We finished up our gift buying in one of the gift shops along the waterfront. In fact, I had just said to G, "We're still looking for something for Xxxxx", when we both spotted the most perfect item imaginable. Love it when that happens!
We were determined today to get back to the ship in time to hear Libby Riddles talk at 1:45pm, since we had missed her presentation on the last cruise, and we did get back just in time to grab a piece of pizza and then head to the Universe Lounge. Her hour-long presentation was very interesting and fun, but, honestly, to hear about her Iditarod "all-nighter" at 60 below zero just about numbed my brain. We were out in 9 below two winters ago and it was too cold to fasten my seatbelt. 60 below...no thanks, and her fame is well deserved.
Afterwards, we returned to our cabin and there we stayed, enjoying our sunny (warm!) balcony on the scenic side of the ship and watching the boat and floatplane traffic.
The fish BBQ that had been served on the open Lido Deck upon our early departure from Ketchikan last cruise was served today after our early departure from Juneau, but we skipped it this week. Our chocolate covered strawberries were delivered just in time for sailaway (tonight is a formal night), and we stayed on our the balcony while the ship sailed down the Gastineau Channel and turned south at Stevens Passage en route to Ketchikan.
Photo 1: our first cruise ship, the Rhapsody of the Seas, in Juneau today, exactly 15 years after we first sailed on her. 1997 was her inaugural year.
Photo 2: Wings Aviation, the source of most of the floatplane traffic
Photo 3: National Geographic's Seabird ship started an Inside Passage cruise from Juneau today. 62 passengers are paying around $1000 per person per night for that cruise!
Photo 4: cleaning fish along the waterfront
Photo 5: Libby Riddles, first woman to win the Iditarod dogsled race
Video: Floatplane takeoff in Juneau