2023 Alaska Square Dance Cruise

27 July Thursday - to Vancouver

We packed everything yesterday, so we could remember what we forgot to pack today.  We had most everything, except the disposable empty water bottle to take thru TSA.  I had a couple stashed away, so we were great. 

We left just before 9am for a bank run, then headed south for Vegas.  It’s about 2 hours, but you do gain an time-zone hour going down, so that’s nice.  Our flight leaves at 12:50 noon, so that should give us 2.5 hours at the airport.

The terminal 1 economy parking lot was full and we were directed to the economy lot at terminal 3.  Mark was getting a little anxious at the expectation we would need to get from the parking lot to terminal 3 to the tram to terminal 1 to the Delta check-in.  But as we got up to the terminal 3 check-in, Lynn noticed the West Jet checking agents, which is the Airline we are actually flying (they somehow work with Delta in Canada).  So we were in the right place.

The agent checked us in and then asked if we would like to check our carry-on luggage (for free) right there.  Yes Please!  That made it easy for us, since we only needed to schlep our backpacks.  TSA went really easy.  Neither of us had to take a second pass.

The flight to Vancouver was 2.5 hours and uneventful.

We took a taxi from the airport to our Pan Pacific hotel, which is the building where the Royal Caribbean ship docks.  The taxi driver was from Pakistan and told us about the city as we drove.  We saw lots of buildings with trees and bushes on the roof.  That’s apparently a thing here.  

As we checked in, Mark met a man (Rob) who recognized us from the plane.  It was quite a coincidence: He was from Beaverton Utah, and was there with his wife and a daughter who would be going on her mission next year, so this was their adventure together.

After we took our things to the room and got settled, we wandered out to see the surrounding sights.  As we were leaving the hotel, there was Rob and his family, also out for the evening.  We waved and talked a moment;  They had a recommendation for a fish restaurant up the coast a few minutes walk.

We left them and walked up the coast.  There is a large Pakistani population in Vancouver, and we saw a couple having their wedding pictures taken, dressed in their traditional Indian costumes. There was a bike trail right next to the walking trail and we saw bikes, ebikes, hoverboards, roller skaters and scooters.  We came across a trio playing jazz, and finally found the restaurant: Carderos.

There was a line waiting just to get your name taken, but it looked like good food, so we waited.  Just as we got to the front of the line, we spotted Rob et.al.  Lynn dashed over to invite them and they gladly joined us at a table for 5.  We waited next to the bike lane and talked about life.

28 July Friday - Boarding the Ship

We slept in.  We’re on vacation, so what’s the rush?

We checked out about 10am, having the porters take our luggage to the ship (for $10; what a deal!)

The ship needs to control the power usage, and the extension cord they displayed for Mike had only three outlets, but he needs four.  The concierge suggested that someone from another room request one, and Mark said "Sign me up".  So it was helpful that we were waiting there.

They finally announced the rooms were available, so we went to our cabin and arranged our things.  Our next activities are the 3:30 Spa raffle, Lynns’ 4pm Mani/Pedi, and our 6pm Chops Restaurant fancy dinner.

The raffle was tough.  There were a lot of people, and of course they noisily whipped up the crowd while hawking their wares.  Lynn was not comfortable.

But afterwards, the mani/pedi was calming.  But it did take more than 2 hours.  She had fancy gell nails that required filing to remove, which took time.  So much that Mark had to go down to Chops restaurant to let them know we were going to be there, just a little late.

Chops had great steaks, although the desserts were just fine.  

After we went upstairs and wandered around investigating the various restaurants until we found the Samba Grill, which features Brazilian style meats.  We checked out the menu and thought we liked a couple styles, and then went inside.  The restaurant was mostly empty (apparently that’s typical on the first day, as it’s difficult to find).  Joey informed us that we don’t make a meat selection.  They bring ALL the meats until we can’t eat any more.  That clinched the deal. 

Later in the evening we listened to the Radiant Quintet play Jazz.  A nice ending to the first day on our cruise.

29 July Saturday - Sea day

We got an extra hour today as we changed time zones.  And it was nice sleeping in.  We had a leisurely breakfast before going to the top floor to the StarQuest lounge for the first session of square dancing.  We met our new square dance friends and recognized a few from our previous cruise.

One young gal was mainstream, but we helped guide her through.  Some normal cruise folks visited from time to time and were interested and impressed with the fun we have.

We had a light lunch, then went back for DBD (Dance By Definition).  Again, some of the dancers were challenged by the concepts, but we encouraged them and they had fun.  The last hour was Advanced, and we had one square.

Rob messaged us through the Royal Caribbean app, and he eventually stopped by.  They had Chop Restaurant tonight, so the gals were doing their hair.

It was fancy dress-up night.  We went to our normal dinner table and met our table-mates, who were square dancers we’d met today.  We both had the French onion soup (fair) , the Tenderloin (good) and the Creme Brulee with a side scoop of chocolate ice cream (it was good).

We all went to the theater for the PianoMan performance.  Dancing, singing and instruments.

Afterward, we were too tired for the 9-midnight square dance session, so we turned on a Hallmark movie.

Lynn suggested we send postcards to the grandchildren, which was a great idea.  We purchased two cards with rainbow painted whales which we sent to Lucy and Eve.  We visited the Lumberjack demonstration building (but did not take in the show) and visited a shop with lots of geode-gems and carved bone art.  Some were huge!

Once back on the dock, it started raining in earnest.  We were glad for our rain jackets and umbrella.  We were covered as we waited in the queue of people re-entering the ship.  But others were not so well prepared, and got quite wet.

After dinner the Symphony of the Radiance performed a tribute to Earth Wind and Fire & Tower of Power.  Unfortunately the only ToP tune they played was Squib Cakes.  But the other EW&F pieces were great.  Afterwards we went to the conference center for dancing from 9 until about 11.  We were the last square to hold out, and at the end we had 5 couples and tagged in.  It went great.

When our ride was over and the jackets returned, we shopped for our traditional trip souvenir: a Christmas ornament.  Lynn chose a mother and baby whale.  We also purchased a postcard which we sent to Kai.

Dinner theme was A Taste of Italy, but we were underwhelmed with the selection and taste.  The evening production show was Atlantis: City of Dreams.  Mark said it was just an excuse for them to put on costumes and sing and dance, which was exactly what they did.

1 August Tuesday - Stika

We got up at 6am early so we could have some breakfast before our 8am shore excursion:  Siginaka Island Cruise and Kayak Adventure.  Gathering at the kayak center, they first fitted us with rain jackets, then life preservers, and then a funny skirt-like thing with suspenders.  Next, it was off to an enclosed warm boat for the trip to Siginaka Islands.

Back at camp for some hot chocolate. At the beginning while we were getting outfitted, it rained a bunch. But while we were kayaking, it was perfect.  Then, while we were drinking our hot chocolate, it again started to rain.

We took the warm boat thru the rain back to land, and purchased a postcard for Joshua.  Lunch before square dancing in the afternoon.  We’re taking a group picture at 4.

The afternoon dance was fun.  We had a couple squares and they were accomplished enough.  We even did an Advanced tip at the end.

They just kept bringing more meat until we said stop.

Our dinner mates were the Radiance Dancers and Singers.  They seemed to be having a fun time, although the alcohol eventually started kicking in and they got happy.

We went to the Auditorium for the remainder of David DiMuzio, a juggler/comedian.  He was fun and family friendly.  He performed the routine he used that won him the Gold Medal at Las Vegas’ Juggling competition which included juggling and singing, which had never been done at that time.  It was very entertaining.

2 August Wednesday - Skagway

Our Best of Skagway excursion today leaves at 7am!!!  So we had to get up before 6am.  Ouch.

We boarded a bus that took us thru Skagway to the White Pass & Yukon Route Railway for the Summit Excursion.  The tracks are cut through the mountains to the Canada border.  Along the way we saw the Carmack glacier,  Inspiration point, and Wedding Veil falls. With regular gauge railroads, you can only go about 10-15 mph on curves.  But the whole train track curves constantly.  The solution was to use narrow gauge rail. 

The train experience for us ended in Fraser B.C.  We had our passports checked before we could leave the train to reboard the bus, which had driven up to meet us.

Part way back to Skagway, we stopped in Liarsville gold rush camp.  During the Klondike Gold Rush, Newspaper reporters were sent to report from the gold field on the gold craze.  When they got to the base camp of the trail from Skagway to Canada and found out that after getting to Canada, they still had another 500 miles to go, they decided to follow a different path.  They listened to the tall tales of the gold seekers.  They reported a leisurely hike up the hill to Canada and then a boat ride to the gold fields.

When the flood of gold seekers actually arrived after reading the reporter's yarns, they were not happy.  Thus the village was named Liarsville.

We enjoyed entertainment from Brothel-ish women and gold-digger men.  We then panned for gold.  There is no gold in Skagway, so we panned for Canadian gold that has been salted into the dirt!  We found 5 flakes of gold.

Last was a lunch of salad, cornbread and salmon/chicken.

The first gold seekers rushed up to the Yukon area with a lot of enthusiasm but no supplies.  When they started dying, the Canadian Mounties closed the border unless you had 2000 lbs. of supplies, which would keep you alive for a year.  That required 30-40 hikes up and down the trail to carry your supplies up to the border.  Then just a short 500 miles to the Klondike.  Only 8,000 actually found gold and far fewer made their fortune.

Back on the bus to Skagway to the Red Onion Saloon.  It was a gold rush bar and brothel, now-a-days a restaurant and brothel museum.  According to the museum guides (who dress as Madams), the daily wage during the gold rush was $6/day.  Prostitutes earned $5 per 15 minutes. 50% went to Madam, 25% to bouncer.

Then, back to the ship.  Since we had already had lunch, we went to the dining room and had soup/salad and dessert.  The afternoon dance schedule was an intro to West Coast Swing.  We gave it a go, but it was a bit too complex for us.

There is no port for us today, and the plan was to see the Hubbard Glacier.  After an hour, the captain announced that the sun and wind had not cleared the fog, and that we had run out of time, so we were returning to the open sea and on to our next port.

It was unfortunate because some passengers had come on the cruise specifically to see the glacier and were disappointed.

After breakfast we stopped by the Next Cruise desk and signed up for Mike’s Southern Caribbean cruise next year.  We went to the conference center for the morning dance.   Then on to lunch.  During lunch, Orcas were spotted outside our lunch window.

After dinner (during which we realized we remembered Marian and Craig from the cruise two years ago!); we looked in on the final Performance Show, but it did not draw us in, so we went up to pack.

4 August Friday - End cruise in Seward, bus to Girdwood

Departure Day from the ship. We went up for our last breakfast onboard. Then back to our cabin to finish packing the remaining carry-ables.  We waited in the centrum in a relatively quiet place until 8:30. We all gathered in the Aurora theater for our 8:50 gangway exit to our bus.

Back to the bus and then on to Seward village center for lunch.  We ate with Mike & Janet and had an order of fish & chips for $30! When Mike went to obtain a spoon for his chili hotdog (without the bun) there wasn’t a spoon to be had. Welcome to Alaska. 

We also went next door for a double scoop of chocolate ice cream. 

We left town on the Seward highway.  There are not many roads in Alaska, and most of the state is inaccessible by car. While we drove thru the Kenai Peninsula, we came to an area with high mountain slopes.  The locals have a tradition of dangerous snow-machining (NOT snowmobiles!) called High Marking.  That’s where you drive as high as you can up the sloop.  You win if your mark is the highest.  The problem is it sometimes causes avalanches, which is an issue for the people that are below you.

Our next stop was the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center.  Right away we had two brown bears walk by us about 6 feet away.  Fortunately they were on a path inside an electrified fence area.  We also saw: fox porcupine owl caribou.  We purchased a postcard for Ezra.

Another drive brought us to our stay at the Hotel Alyeska in Girdwood.  We joined the Helwigs for dinner at the Double Musky Inn, a Cajun cuisine restaurant.  We shared an appetizer of Cajun Meatballs (very tasty and slightly spicy) and Cajun Halibut (stuffed with crab meat).  They had the French Pepper Steak which was 20 oz of meat!  We traveled there and back on the local shuttle bus which was fun.

She also explained how Alaska is about 350 million acres.  About 250 million are owned by the federal government.  More is owned by Native American nations, the state government, or other non-normal entities.  The amount of acres in Alaska that can be owned by citizens is about the size of Massachusetts.

Driving into Anchorage we were shown the snow-dumping areas.  They still had snow melting from last winter.

We thought the gathering time at the bus was 1:45, but it was apparently 1:15.  We were the last.  We were marginally vindicated because the paperwork said 1:45.  But it was embarrassing.

Another hour northbound to Talkeetna.  After checking into our room, we rode the bus into town.  We found a Christmas store.  They had lots of local artist products, and we found a lovely ornament with a dog sled delivering presents.

We walked through town and got some ice cream.  Then back to the Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge hotel.  We microwaved our General Taos frozen dinners.  A visit to the viewing deck.  We could barely see Mt Denali with binoculars.  We turned in.

6 August Sunday - Denali

Another day, another bus ride.  Todays’ destination is Denali National Park.  We were raised knowing it as Mt McKinley, the highest spot in the United States.  Unfortunately, the low clouds obscured Mt Denali, so our only viewing was from the viewing deck at our lodge near Talkeetna.

As we drove away from Talkeetna, Kathryn shared with us some population statistics.  There has historically been way more men than women in Alaska, and that is still the case in Talkeetna.  The women have a saying: The Odds are Good, but the Goods are Odd!

Kathryn did a show and tell.  She shared an Eskimo Dance fan which emphasizes the hand movements of the dancer.  It’s made of Polar Bear hair.  She showed us an Eskimo yoyo, which consisted of two balls on opposite ends of a string.  The goal is to get them going in circles of opposite directions.

She mentioned that a sticker on an item of a Mama bear and its cub indicated it was Alaska-made.

We drove past our lodge to the Denali park.  First stop was the visitor center.  We ate an early lunch of the items we purchased the day before at Fred Meyer.

We watched a movie about Dog Sled usage by the Denali rangers and a movie about the Denali wilderness.  The first was much more moving.  Then onto a converted school bus for our tour of the park.  We stopped at another center where we viewed another movie about the formation of the park.  Back on the bus.

7 August Monday - Train to Anchorage

Our departure was 9:45, so we got to sleep in.  Gathering to the bus, we drove to the little town of Glitter Gulch.  It’s mostly a strip of shops, mosty touristy.  Lynn found a lovely Gold-flecks necklace, and Mark found 5 Alaska-themed cookie cutters:

• Wolf

• Porpoise

• Whale

• Reindeer

• Moose

They are small souvenirs, and won’t take up much space in the luggage.

The end of our bus trip took us back to the Denali National Park, where the train depot is located.  While we waited for the train to arrive, we squared up and did a tip.  The other train travelers enjoyed watching.

The train arrived and we boarded.  The seats are really nice.  We are upstairs in a glass-domed viewing area.  We had lunch downstairs (French Dip with Alaskan Root Beer).  The train guide mentioned they have drinks, meals, and souvenirs, as it's illegal to be more than 5 miles from a souvenir shop in Alaska (that's a joke).

We had to get off the main line for a passing event.  The other train had priority.  The switches have to be operated manually, because they have not yet found an automated method that works reliably in -70 degree weather.

As we rode the train, we passed a bunch of Off-Grid homesteads.  Now-a-days, the land is auctioned.  First to Natives/Alaskans, next to veterans, and finally to the public.  Land near the train is more valuable, because the train acts as Uber and Amazon.  Just not with two-day service.  The first thing a homesteader constructs is an outhouse.  We also saw Mount Susitna (the Sleeping Lady) in the distance.

Alaska Fact: Glaciers get filled with dirt and dust, so glacier-sourced rivers are silty.  Sometimes so full of silt that no sunlight can penetrate.  That means no algae can grow, so no life is supported.  The salmon may use the river as a road from point A to point B, but otherwise there is no fish in glacier rivers.

Alaskan Vocabulary: Outside=anyplace that’s not in Alaska.  Snow Machine=Snow mobile.

The train trip ended, we boarded the bus one last time for the 5 minute trip to the Marriott hotel.  We said our goodbyes to Bo and Kathryn, checked into our room and re-packed our suitcases.  We watched the rest of a Hallmark movie, closed the room-darkening shades (it’s still light outside way into the evening) and went to bed.  Mark turned back on the light and called for a Walk-up call, since we have to put our bags out at 3am and we didn’t want to miss that.

8 August Tuesday - Travel home

Lynn was up at 2:20am taking a shower and Mark woke up for the walk-up call.  We placed the bags outside and got ready for the travel day home.

Our shuttle to the airport was to come at 4am, and we had nothing better to do, so we wandered downstairs.  We noticed our bags had not been picked up.  The bellman said he had no request to get them.  That was a little ominous.

Mark went back to get them.  The receptionist explained that our reservations were all processed by Royal Caribbean. She had no way to check that the shuttle had actually been requested.  Another ominous worry.

The others started gathering in the lobby; their bags had also not been fetched.  Someone called Kathryn, but at 4 in the morning, she didn’t answer.  At 4:05, they requested 7 taxis, and Lynn and Mark took the third one.

It was an additional $22, but we were at the airport.  The line was full, but we got in fairly quickly.  TSA Pre-check saved us a bunch of time.  Then, the waiting begins.

Our flight to Seattle went fine.  The connecting flight was full, a little late, but also went well.

Once we got our car (which was completely covered in dust!), we drove to Los Lopes for dinner and finally home.  Jason had been watching us on Google Maps Share and welcomed us home.  The thermostat (set to 80 degrees while we were away) still felt cool.

We were glad to be home.