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jbalonso777

Here is part 2!
Covering Days 3 and 4, by far the busiest expeditions on the cruise, in Juneau and Skagway respectively. Fourth of August 2015.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUM!
Its always been a tradition. Something that has to be taken care of very seriously, a Mother's/wife's birthday! So here we were on a cruise ship during Mum's birthday! And the best was yet to come Smile

Fell asleep that night, a new day lay ahead.

We had breakfast at the Summer Palace dining room. Service was quite slow considering it was quite empty, but oh well..

Hot chocolate and salmon bagel

Headed up to the Spinnaker lounge because there were some sighting of the Killer Whale/Okra. It was pretty tricky to get an picture because of the ship's movement itself, and the number of people waiting to see it happen.

Don't think Titanic, don't think Titanic, don't think Titanic....

Close to land, that's where we were...

Lunch as at the Grill by the swimming pool. A party atmosphere was set up as we neared Juneau AK - dance with a DJ, a BBQ, and drinks! It was lovely.

Lunch and a drink

Very close to docking!

We were almost at the small city of Juneau. Sister ship Norwegian Jewel was docked at our bay, as she was about to depart from Juneau. The Jewel left on Saturday August 1st, and headed for Ketchikan first.

A word on the crew. They were from various countries all over the world, the majority being Filipino, Indian, Norwegian and American. Our room service host, Joel, was a lovely Filipino man who took really good care of us. Coordinator of the shows, Dan the Man, made sure all shows and events onboard were running smoothly with not much going wrong. Captain Gunnar Hammerin came over the PA every morning to brief us of the day's sea conditions, cruise speed, times, etc. His second-in-command, was Sandip Patil, one of many Indians onboard the cruise liner. And as I said in the pervious part, the lovely ladies with the sanitizer bottle making sure everything is clean and spick and span! Really, an epic set of crew were onboard the Pearl.
Captain Hammerin and co did a great job to dock the Pearl at Juneau.

When you think Alaska, not the first thing that would show up in your mind, right?

Gangways attached, vacationers got off the ship pursuing their expeditions really quickly!

Finally on land! Razz

We took the Mt. Roberts tramway up to the tip, for some quick walking around and trekking. It was a lot of fun! The information center had a lot of information about the Tlingit Indians, a recurring theme across the duration of our cruise.

It was getting warm. Like way too warm for me to even think about having thermals on. Back onboard the ship, I got rid of that. It was sunny, dry and very very very warm! Not the Alaska I was expecting. But this changed very very soon.
We had to wait for a bit before we were taken for our chopper ride!

Some plane spotting!

Panoramas are always fun Razz

Juneau airport

I will admit. Both chopper rides were scary. Really scary. After all, I did not know what to expect! The steep climb towards the glacier, and the steep descent on the way back were pretty scary. However, our lovely pilot made sure this was not going to be an issue. 'You do the sightseeing, I'll do the flying', was one of many funny things he said! Very Happy

Back at the ship, there was some lovely hot chocolate waiting for us, as the departure time drew closer and closer.

This towel waited for us!

Dinner was a the Le Bistro french restaurant, and of course, a cake was waiting for Mum Very Happy

I went for some snails Smile

It was a quick overnight cruise to the small town of Skagway. All of us had to be awake pretty early on, because a long day of touring lady ahead - we would drive into the Yukon Territory of Canada!

Narrow gauge railway line that was created for the gold rush!

Bear!!

Carcross, YT - Totem Poles were everywhere! Very Happy

I met a lovely lady in Carcross, who took me to her house and gave me some pretty epic salmon pie. Yup, she is my first pen-pal now! Very Happy

Desert in the cold region. That's a concept! Very Happy

Emerald lake. Epic stuff!

After the whole day of the Yukon Territory, there was still some time to kill at Skagway. We walked around a little in the sleepy town of Skagway, alive because of the ships that had docked!

Met this cutie! Look at him holding on! Very Happy

There were quite a few seals around too!

Our ship, and sistership Jewel. The two of the them would have inter-crew football championships! Very Happy

Some pics of the White Pass Railways

Jewel departed a bit before us..

And that then, is the end of part 2, the most comprehensive of them all. Do stay tuned for part 3, as well!

Regards
Jish
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http://www.youtube.com/c/JishnuBasu777

sumantra · Member Joined: 28 Oct 2007 Posts: 4685 Location: New Delhi

Awesome, Sir...awesome!
Wow, what a way to celebrate your Mummy's birthday...A cruise!
- The first picture: given that you told us many Indians were on the crew, including a top chef...is that the sheer/noon chAi of Kashmir, the unique pinkish salty tea?
- Wow, you got a picture of a Killer Whale in the wild! I guess your auto-correct let you down here, auto-correcting `Orca' into a sticky situation, one of my favourite vegetables, or rather, as the Americans call it. Or was it a slip of the Gentleman's Finger, resulting in a spelling of the Lady's Finger? Sorry, I apologise: I guess I over-did it Sad

- ``Don't think Titanic, ..'' ha ha!
- Snow-covered peaks close to the water...amazing sights!
- Lovely picture of the wake behind the liner!
- Lovely picture of the ship from the top, with the sunlight shimmering on the water...we can almost see the glitter!
- Two cute doggies!
- A Bald Eagle from up-and-close...isn't that amazing!
- The bus panorama was really artistic, with its flurry of wheels, and the resultant limo-touch
- Awesome helicopter ride photos: the glacier..wow! And is that a little kid beside the pilot?
- Nice picture of the Alaska Airlines B738 from the sky! I guess we will see the result of the Sam Chui-like vantage point on JP and A.net.
- You took the cake...and ate it, too? After the long walk, a cake-walk? Oops, bad PJs.
- Stones piled one on top of the other...beautiful.
- And you got a black bear as well!
- Totem pole...beautiful!
- What amazing shades of blue does the Emerald lake have!
- Lovely old trains...do some of them still run? Some of them look as though they are on static display.
This part 2 was a dream...now, eagerly looking forward to the next one!
Cheers, Sumantra.

stealthpilot · Member Joined: 19 Dec 2006 Posts: 2325 Location: BLR, DXB

I love cruise ships - awesome Very Happy

There's always so much to do, the more people the better hehehehe.

Alaska is on our list .... which includes Canada and a train ride. Ill have your TR and PAL@YWGs TR to spur me on if i get lazy Cool

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eP007

Spiderguy252 · Posted: Tue Apr 19, 2016 11:57 pm Post subject:

Top shots. Particularly awesome are the pictures of the food! Razz

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Yeah.

jbalonso777 · Posted: Wed Apr 20, 2016 9:09 am Post subject:

Thanks so much for your responses, everyone! Very Happy

@Sumantra sir -
-not quite! Just a cup of hot chocolate Smile

-Oops! Apple's autocorrects are amongst the worst...
-The bus panorama was something I always wanted to do. More than artistic, I just wanted to see what the result would be - kind of hilarious! Very Happy

-That was the child of another Indian couple onboard, sitting with the pilot
-Thanks so much for your very detailed reply, sir! Very Happy

@Nikhil - they are kinda epic, aren't they? Very Happy

Sure - go ahead! Get another one crossed out of your Vacation list Wink

@Varun - thanks so much! Very Happy

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