Another Summer, Another Cruise

14 September 2025

 

I should begin by explaining that Richard and I spent the summer in Bellingham, WA.  This is our usual routine, and we did our normal round of doctors, who of course want more tests as we age and begin to wear out body parts.  My stance is that if someone hits age 70 or so and all parts are still intact and in perfect condition, you just aren’t living hard enough.

 

We found a nice apartment almost in town, and enjoyed being urban.  We could walk to several eating places in either direction, and it was a mere six blocks to walk down to the Bagelry, our favorite brekkie place.  Visited with my Seattle friends, either somewhere between here and there, though one brave friend drove the 90 miles to Bellingham so we could have a lovely lunch.

 

One of my friends who lives in one of the towns across the border, outside Vancouver, was planning a cruise with some friends who all live in the same apartment complex.  They had some issues with roommates and who would share with whom, so I sent her an email saying I could go on the cruise and she and I could be roomies.  Well, they settled their accommodations and worked it all out, but at that point I was excited about another cruise to Alaska!  So, Richard and I signed up, and away we went.  

 

In lieu of my usual blog extolling the floral display that is Bellingham in summer, here is the cruise blog!  This was my fourth trip to Alaska, and the first time nearly every day was sunny!!!  Our last day was our sole foggy and cloudy day – not even rainy!

 

Day 1 – 30 August 2025 – Vancouver to northward – We boarded the Koningsdam, unpacked and settled in.  We had a balcony room on Deck 6, right where the ship flares out for the aft section.  (It kind of dents in along the midsection to accommodate the lifeboats.)  Anyway, since we we were at the part where the ship angles outward for two cabins, we had an extra long balcony!  Normal width, but almost twice and long!  We moved the deck chairs and footrests almost to the rail, leaving enough room for the crew to pass through in the event of an emergency.  (We didn’t have any.)  As we sat out there enjoying the sea air and the view, two humpback whales cruised by!!  Surfacing twice, with a spout of mist as they exhaled, so close we could hear them!!  Then in perfect synchronization, they both dove down, the larger one giving that signature tail flip that let us know these were humpbacks!

 

In the evening, I went to the dining room for dinner, while Richard went to the buffet.  I was seated at a “sharing table,” meaning random singles or couples who wanted to meet other travellers would be seated there.  I met a fun woman from Vancouver, though she grew up in New Jersey – she’s a retired teacher, and she and I ended up looking for each other every evening, and having dinner with random other people.  It was fun!

 

Day 2 – 31 August 2025 – This was a day at sea through the Inside Passage.  I ran into my friend who was on this cruise, found her while shopping with her friends, so we chatted a bit and made vague plans to meet for lunch or something.  The phones on the ship are confusing – we can call room to room, and leave a message, but there’s no message light or indication that someone left us a message!  Quite strange!  

 

I walked the ship and did my usual photo safari, focusing on architectural details and artwork.  Oddly, this ship has no info signs or plaques for the artwork, so I may have some errors.  It’s a rather odd ship, not a lot of art compared to some other Holland America ships on which we’ve cruised.  And no art in the stateroom corridors!!!  My impression is that this ship doesn’t have much personality.  I spoke with the hostess in the Lido buffet section, and she said that she finds this ship to be rather flat – that this ship (Koningsdam) is listed as part of HAL’s Pinnacle class of ships.  And that if they were going to call it the Pinnacle, then really make it stand out and be top of the line!

 

The ship did have wonderful signs on the aft (rear) section of deck 9.  They were very well-designed images showing various Alaskan animals we were likely to see – orcas and dolphins, whales, seals and sea lions, eagles and ravens, the various bears.  I don't know if anyone other than me might consider them art, but they really were nice.

 

Day 3 – 1 September 2025 – Tracy Arm Inlet and Juneau – Our morning was cruising Tracy Arm Inlet, which is an inlet on a fjord.  Gorgeous scenery, and we had a beautiful sunny day!  We docked in Juneau about noon, and I wandered around the town, and re-visited the Haida/Tlingit creation myth mural.  It was Labor Day so the museum was closed.  I did my usual wander through the shopping area, and bought some pretty earrings.  I try to make a point of spending some money at each port, I know that we tourists and visitors are their target market.  Eventually I wandered back to the ship.  (I ran into my friend in town.)  And yes, I do a lot of wandering.  Remember, not all who wander are lost.  We just walk around a bit randomly.

 

 

Day 4 – 2 September 2025 – Skagway – I have never been to Skagway before, so another day to wander around the town and explore.  

 

Well, first, I decided it would be lovely to have my room service breakfast on the balcony – what a brilliant way to begin the day!  It turned out to be wonderful!

 

Then I headed up to Deck 10, which has small tables and chairs, to paint a small landscape sketch.  I  saw a sea otter swimming around a patch of kelp in the inlet/fjord, though it disappeared when one of the touring helicopters flew overhead.  So he’s not in my watercolor.

 

A quick lunch with Richard on the ship, then headed off to visit Skagway.  The dock is off to one side, maybe just under a mile from town.  There’s a shuttle service, so for a whopping $5 round trip, I rode the mini bus in and back.  Wandered around town – a lot of gorgeous old Victorian homes which have been either maintained or renovated, most are now shops.  Numerous jewelry shops, apropos since Skagway was once a gold mining town.  I managed to find a quilt shop and bought some fabric.  

 

Zigzagging my way around town taking photos of interesting buildings, I stumbled on an axe throwing studio, and thought sure, why not!  Axe throwing always sounded like a fun and somewhat crazy thing to do – so I paid my $30 for 30 minutes of throwing the axe, and had the entire studio to myself for the first 20 minutes.  There’s a brief safety talk, a demonstration by the owner, and guidance while I gave a few tries.  After maybe six or eight throws that resulted in the axe either not going into the wall, or bouncing off – meaning I didn’t throw with enough force, or I threw too hard and the back of the axe head hit the target – I got a hit!!!  I actually managed to throw three good hits in a row, and of course had to take photos!

 

I played with this for a while; my average was probably about one hit into the wall for every five throws.  So, not exactly my new sport, but also not a bad showing.

 

Some other people came in and tried, and by then I had worked up a decent sweat.  I figured fine, 20 minutes of axe throwing is probably enough for my 71 year old self.  It was pretty exciting, though, especially to be able to throw the axe about ten feet down the alley and get in embedded into the wood wall, and within a few inches of the target center!

 

I wandered a bit more, found the shuttle stop, and headed back to the shop.  All in all, a good day!

 

Day 5 – 3 September 2025 – Endicott Arm and Dawes Glacier – We sailed through the fjord – “arm” refers to this being a separate fjord or inlet on the larger fjord.  Dawes Glacier is at the far end of the fjord.  I won’t go into the science of Dawes Glacier, but if you want more information, here’s a link to a previous blog where I explain more about glaciers:  https://rollingluggagers.blogspot.com/search?q=glacier

 

Our ship’s captain sailed in among the bits of ice that have fallen or calved off the glacier – we headed bow first, then rotated 90º so the starboard side was facing the glacier for about 20 minutes.  Turned back slowly, rotating 180º so the port side faced the glacier for the same about of time.  (This is when having our larger balcony is wonderful!)  And then rotated so the aft section faced the glacier.

 

I had lunch with my friend, the one who lives near Vancouver and whose group I sort of crashed, LOL!

 

In the afternoon, we sailed onward, and saw whales whales whales!  Spouts of mist hovering in the air, shining black bodies with small dorsal fins, then the dive down with the final tail flip – all signatures of humpback whales!  SO thrilling to see somewhere between 30 and 50 whales all afternoon and evening.  Plus some of the spouts were tiny, maybe 1/3 to 1/2 the size of other spouts, so my guess is these were either baby whales or at least fairly young whales!  We even saw several as we were having dinner in the dining hall!  

 

I should mention that sleeping humpbacks just float on the surface of the water, looking like huge logs.  We saw several, and could actually hear one breathing, we passed so close to it!  Richard and I spent much of the afternoon on our balcony, just watching all the whales!  This was our fifth sunny day, and it was almost warm on our balcony!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 6 – 4 September 2025 – Ketchikan – My usual wander along waterfront.  The garbage cans look like old canned salmon labels, because Ketchikan labels themselves the salmon capitol of the world.  I don’t know if it really is, but they do a whole lot of salmon processing and canning here.  I found a few salmon-can-trash-cans I hadn’t seen before.

 

My quest for the day was to look for Alaskan wildflower seeds for my brother, who keeps some stuff for us here in Bellingham.  I walked along the waterfront, looking in various shops, before I finally found store selling wildflower seeds.  I’m pretty sure it’s the same store I bought seeds in two years ago.  Lovely blue lupines, native blueberries, forget-me-nots, and some mix of “fragrant bouquet” flowers.

 

I walked up to Creek Street hoping to see seals in the river, but there had been a car accident.  Driver was okay but had a medical issue, hit a pedestrian, and her car sank in that portion of the creek.  She was admitted to the hospital, I’m not sure about the pedestrian, and at the time the police and fire department were trying to get vehicle out of the creek.

 

I also ran into my friend with her group, and later my dinner buddy!  Ketchikan is bigger than some of the Alaskan towns we visited, but it still is a very small town!

 

Ketchikan has several interesting totem poles, so I always stop to take a few photos and admire the artistry.

 

We weren’t due to sail from Ketchikan until evening, so I had a nice lunch at Pioneer Café.  Great clam chowder, perfect for a sunny but 
rather cool day!

 

Day 7 – 5 September 2025 – Our last day at sea sailing Stephen’s Passage, which is part of the Inside Passage.  We were back to fog for most of it, but we turned a corner and it was clearer.  Not sunny, but we could see the islands and trees.  No whales, however.  We did see a seal or two.  Richard and I enjoyed our balcony, though we stayed wrapped up in the fuzzy blankets provided by the cruise line.  They were hidden in a cabinet, but we found them and stayed warm.

 

My friend left a message to possibly meet for lunch or dinner, but we didn’t meet up because we didn’t find the phone message – Richard found it the following day as we were leaving the ship!  It was just as well, since my friend came down with Covid a few days later!

 

We had a nice train ride up to Vancouver, stayed in a hotel two nights, and they had a shuttle to the cruise ship dock.  We spent another night there after the cruise, and returned on the train – it really is the easiest way to cross the border!  Initial Customs inspection takes place in Vancouver at the station, but then Customs agents board the train at the border, and collect the entry forms while looking at each person severely.  Really, we had several scowls.  But no problems.

 

So that was our exciting late summer adventure!!  After the cruise, we packed up the apartment, packed the car, cleaned the apartment.  And left for our migration south and warmer climes.