Chuck and I met in Anchorage on the 5th of August. Chuck and Bill had flown in from Emmonak to Anchorage on the 4th, I flew in from Minneapolis on the 5th, and they picked me up at the Anchorage airport at 8:45AM. The last couple hours of the flight into Anchorage were awesome. We were flying over immense and beautiful glaciers. After picking up the luggage, we went exploring in the town. The Chugach Mountains provide the backdrop for Anchorage and they were beautiful. Chuck and Bill were working out the logistics of getting all their gear back to Florida. Bill’s truck was still in Whitehorse, so he was making arrangements to leave the next morning to go pick up his truck. Chuck was looking into getting a trailer to carry the gear and both canoes. We stopped by the B&B they had stayed at the previous night and made some of the necessary phone calls. We also made a call to Ft. Richardson, where we had reservations in the BOQ. We were told we could check in at 3PM. We went out to a wonderful lunch at the Fancy Moose restaurant and looked at Bill’s photos while there. This is the first chance that Bill and Chuck had to see the photos they had taken on the trip. Their films had been developed by Photoworks and sent to me. The weather was absolutely beautiful and we were able to enjoy sitting out on the open deck overlooking Floatplane Lake and watch small float planes landing and taking off. The Fancy Moose restaurant is located in the Millennium Hotel. A world famous display of taxidermy graced the lobby, the most impressive being the Polar Bear and Grizzly.
We checked into our quarters at Ft. Richardson in the afternoon. We were very pleased with our arrangement. We had a living room with sofa bed, bedroom, and bathroom. Also, we had a small refrigerator, microwave and coffeepot. Bill and Chuck headed out to take care of some business while I took a much needed rest. Bill had contracted an infection in both feet and got some Epsom salts and soaked them. His feet looked terrible, very red, blue toes, and swollen to the point of having very little definition. Both Chuck and I tried to get him to see a doctor, but he didn’t want to do that. The next morning he took a bus to Whitehorse to pick up his truck. We received word from him that day asking if I would make arrangements for him to see a doctor when he arrived back in Anchorage. Well, at least something had happened to convince him this was serious. Chuck and I spent the day of the 6th, our anniversary, walking around the streets of Anchorage, buying souvenirs, eating, calling about trailers and we also went to see a movie on Alaska. I got a beautiful gold nugget that Chuck had picked out in his travels. Chuck did find a trailer and the man who was selling it was a welder and offered to customize it to their needs.
Bill arrived back in Anchorage on the 8th. He and Chuck got the trailer customized. Bill also saw a doctor about his feet, got antibiotics and other medications for them. He had not only a fungal infection, but also bacterial and it was working its way up his leg. The 9th was spent getting the trailer loaded with their gear and Bill took off on his return trip. Chuck and I got the last of our shopping completed and organized for our trip to Seward to catch the ship for our Inside Passage trip. Since we are going to explore Alaska by RV next year we weren’t pushed to see everything in this week.
The morning of the 10th we left for Seward. The drive down was spectacular. We were dropping the rental car in Seward. We arrived at our ship at about 4PM and found that we could board as soon as we checked in. We checked our luggage, processed in and found our room, then Chuck drove the car downtown and caught a ride back to the ship. The ship is awesome. It is huge. The ship holds 1,266 people and a crew of 560. Our stateroom is great. We have a living area with a desk, a sofa, table, and a safe. We have a bedroom and a bathroom with tub/shower. By the way, for those of you wondering about the canoe, the room would easily hold the canoe, however getting it around the corner into the room might have been a problem. We’re glad we didn’t have to try that.
We have taken one other cruise a number of years ago and had a wonderful time on it. This is to be no different. There are 12 decks, 9 of which passengers use. Five decks are primarily rooms, but many have observation decks or the promenade deck. Four decks contain most of the services provided. Some of these are two swimming pools, jacuzzis, six bars, four restaurants, a spa, fitness room, café java, theater, casino, shops, internet café, photo gallery, card room, puzzle corner, library, video arcade, and a lounge for presentations and shows. The only charges over what you pay for the cruise involve bar tabs, the casino, beauty salon, some spa treatments, shore excursions, and internet. Our meals in the main dining room are five course meals and have all been superb. Breakfast and lunch can be taken in the main dining room or you can go to a number of other locations and get just about anything you can imagine. You can also choose to have an evening meal in the more casual dining areas. Between 6:30am and 12 midnight there is no time that you can’t eat. There are snacks, ice cream bar, pizza, sandwiches and more available, some at about any hour of the day or night. We need the fitness center!!! And, Nancy, the Java Café has an incredible assortment of coffees, teas and sweets. It is open from 7:30am to 10:00pm. They also serve a special afternoon tea in one of the restaurants.
We have a naturalist on board who describes everything we are seeing along the way. He also gives presentations telling us what will be coming up. Today, Tuesday 12 August, we were in Glacier Bay. We picked up two park rangers on the way into the bay. Besides glaciers, we’ve seen seals, otters, and sea lions. We haven’t yet seen whales, but today has been foggy off and on, so spotting them might not be so easy. The Glacier Bay National Park Rangers spent the day with us and we will drop them off at 7PM today on our way out of the bay. Tomorrow morning, Wednesday the 13th , we will be docking in Sitka and spend the day there. There are a number of shore excursions that can be chosen. Well, that’s all for now because we have to get ready for dinner and the magic show.
There are shows every evening. Some of these we have gone to and some we haven’t. We have participated in the two formal dinners, which were absolutely wonderful. The suggested wear was suit or tux, however, coat and tie are acceptable. We marvel continually at all the services that are available and all the space. We have now seen whales a number of times. We saw a few pods of killer whales and also some humpbacks. We made stops in Sitka, Juneau and Ketchican. Chuck and I didn’t take any of the shore excursions, however we did go exploring in the towns and that was fun.
On the night of the 16th of August we were to have our suitcases out in front of our door. We were reminded not to pack the clothes we were going to wear the next morning. At 2AM the stewards pick up the luggage and it is taken to a luggage area to be moved off the ship in Vancouver. We kept our clothes for the 17th and our carry-ons with us. On the 17th, we, once again, had a wonderful breakfast as we watched Vancouver come into view. We were all issued group numbers that would be called when we were to disembark. We were number 4. The disembarking was trouble free, our luggage was waiting and going through customs was a snap. Chuck and I then headed for the buses and caught a shuttle to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA-TAC).
The Air Mobility Command (military air transportation) has a ticket counter at SEA-TAC and this is where we were hoping to catch a hop to Korea. Susan had sent us a message that there were flights for Korea on Monday morning and Wednesday morning. Military retirees and their families are allowed to go on flights, if there is space available. There is an order of priority for everyone that goes on the flight. Emergency is the number one priority and then several other categories for active duty and other duty folks, and at the bottom of the list are retirees. SEA-TAC has a nice USO where soldiers and their families can relax while waiting for flights. We arrived at SEA-TAC at about noon on Sunday and found that we could not sign in until 11:25 that evening and then would have to wait till showtime at 0300AM (Monday) to see if we had a seat on the Monday morning flight. We spent some time in the USO watching movies with everyone, then also spent time walking around the airport. At 0300 we found out we were 71 out of 71 that wouldn’t make the flight. We called one of the local hotels and they sent a shuttle to pick us up. We would be in Seattle for a couple more days. We had the good fortune to be able to get in contact with some friends of ours who live in Seattle and who had been stationed with us in Japan. Cindy and their boys were at a family cabin on the lake, but Doug, Chuck and I went out for a nice dinner on Monday night. Tuesday we all drove down to the lake and visited with Cindy and the boys. We had a great dinner and headed back to Seattle. Once again we would be heading for the terminal for a 0300 showtime. However, this time we were already signed up so needed to be there at 0200. We caught the 2AM shuttle from the hotel, making arrangements with the hotel to hold our keys in the event we didn’t make the flight, we would be coming back to our room. We had moved to 43 on the waiting list, however a group of 42 soldiers from Ft. Bragg had arrived to try to get on this same flight. One of the AMC folks told us – “hang in there, strange things happen, you may still make it”. Well, at about 6:45AM we found out we were going to make it on the 7AM flight. Off we ran to the train that would take us to the appropriate terminal. I called the hotel and told them we wouldn’t be coming back, we arrived at the gate just as the plane was loading and we were ecstatic. All these middle of the night showtimes had helped prepare us for the time change. When we touched down at Osan AFB in Korea, the first person I saw out the window was our son-in-law, EJ, waiting patiently for us. We were so happy to be here.