Still, we knew we had plenty of time in port today, so we didn’t bound off the ship and soon as she was at her berth, but enjoyed a leisurely, late breakfast on board. When we saw that the White Pass and Yukon Railroad train had arrived, pulled up right next to the ship, we disembarked. We had really enjoyed our excursion on the train last week, but it was raining nearly the entire time, particularly when we returned to Skagway, and so we never got the photos of the engine that we wanted. With today’s dry weather, we remedied that.
G is really into trains, not in a “turn the basement into a train room“ sense, but he does enjoy the history and mechanical aspects of railroads. He also has the ability to be able to talk to a wall (I’ve seen him sit in a hot tub with someone who doesn’t speak English and end up knowing where he’s from, what he does for a living and if he’s enjoying his cruise). So when he started chatting with a WP&YR worker…well, I found a seat and settled in for awhile. He found out that the railroad has six engines, most or all have come from Australia, where narrow gauge trains are the norm.
This is going to take awhile…
We walked into town and stopped at the Klondike National Historic Park Visitors Center to see what was happening there this year, in view of COVID, and we found two very friendly park rangers willing to tell us all about the history of the area. However, the video which is shown there, and the ranger-guided walking tours that are usually available are not being conducted this year. However, they had plenty of pamphlets to enable visitors to do self-guided walking tours, and the ranger station at the Moore Homestead is also open. This covers an area about 3x7 blocks in size, and is easily accomplished in a couple of hours.
Brochures available in the Klondike Historic Park Visitors Center for walking tours
We stopped into the Mascot Bar, an historic bar staffed with mannequins and props to look like it would have about 120 years ago, and that’s something that can always be counted on in Skagway, but it was heartbreaking to see the number of closed businesses and For Sale signs on building. Unlike Juneau (government and fishing) and Ketchikan (fishing) Skagway functions primarily as a tourist town and has been hard hit by COVID.
Before we walked back to the ship, we stopped at a market in town and bought the ibuprofen I needed for the rest of our trip. Between what I got from the medical center and a few that I picked up in the shop on board, I haven’t suffered too badly at all. But it’s nice to know I have plenty now.
We re-boarded the ship about 2:30pm, and went directly to Alfredos pizzeria on Deck 6. We hadn’t eaten there yet, and there was no line at that time, so we took advantage of it. I had a half veggie pizza, G had the other half, a pasta dish and tiramisu (I guess he was hungry!) and we enjoyed watching the hive of activity from the security checkpoint right there on Deck 6. We’ve seen this both weeks we’ve been on, so I’ll mention it here: when disembarking in Skagway, the Deck 6 gangway (ramped) backs up clear around the Piazza, but Deck 7 (steps) has no line at all. If you can, use Deck 7.
I don’t think I’ve told you yet that headwaiter Gabriel from the Golden Princess in Australia (2017) is the manager of Alfredos on the Majestic Princess, and headwaiter Dorde from the Emerald Princess (year unknown, because there were so many) is in the Concerto Dining Room for lunch this cruise. I can’t tell you how wonderful it is to see all these people who have contributed so much to our past cruise experiences. Gabriel has stopped by our table at dinner nearly every night wanting to know when we would be dining at Alfredos; however, he was on break when we were there today. Tonight he informed us we needed to come again, which means we’re going to have to fit an extra meal into one of our remaining days on board.
We went to hear musher Pete speak at 4:30pm in the Vista-less Lounge, and to see his dog Shadow. Guess which one stole the show? Shadow is an older female husky who once led the winning team in the Iditarod. Pete talked about the history of mushing (and mentioned, as we’d heard on the Nieuw Amsterdam, about how the Iditarod really started rushing diphtheria supplies to Nome). He said the reason for no Puppies in the Piazza this year is because the puppies come from Anchorage, over 800 miles away by car, and the road passes through Canada, which had been closed off due to COVID. Musher Pete and Shadow did an outstanding job filling in.
Loving on mush dog Shadow
Once again, we missed Steve Hites’ Alaskan folklore and music show because of our dinner conflict, but we’ve seen him before and highly recommend him.
Dinner with the dynamic duo of Lance and Raffy is the highlight of every single day. Lance reminds me so much of our waiters on Celebrity 20 years ago. He makes recommendations, asks about all of our dining experiences on board, and reminds us of time changes and schedules for days like tomorrow (what time we’d be reaching the glaciers, when the rangers will be narrating). This is really service on a different level. When we mentioned that G’s room service breakfast request on Juneau day was never picked up (he had taped it to our cabin door), we had Dining Room supervisor Jorge there in a heartbeat promising us it would be there tomorrow.
The show last night was the comedian/magician, but we returned to the cabin right after dinner, and I’m so glad we did. Naturalist Mike was narrating from the bridge (shown on TV) as we passed through the fiord on which Skagway sits, pointing out waterfalls and geological features. He spoke for an hour or so, and we watched from our balcony as he did. We missed this entirely last cruise (I keep telling you we’re slow learners). One thing Naturalist Mike said really resonated with me: most of our cruising this week is in the Tongass National Forest, which is the second largest rainforest in the world. The Amazon rainforest is the largest. The two takeaways from this. First, this is rainy territory, and the norm is days like we’ve had recently, not the sunny days shown in the brochures. And, two, once is not enough to cruise to Alaska. There is so much to see, even if just from a balcony on board.
I predict we won’t wait nine years to return to this beautiful state (and, no, we’re not staying on for next cruise).
Waterfall leaving Skagway