JillMelancon Travel

10 July 2023

Got up slowly today, had breakfast in the buffet (where I seem to be eating all the time—I’ve cancelled a lot of my dining room reservations because nothing on the menu looks good to me), then headed to shore at Icy Strait Point. There are two gondolas available—a green one that takes you into the town (which is restaurants and souvenir shops), and a red one that takes you up to the top of the mountain there where there are some activities…but really just a good vantage point.

I took the green one first (it is free) into town and walked around the museum/gift shop area and found the shuttle to Hoonah—the actual town where the Tlingit live.  It took awhile because the driver was taking her sweet time getting to work (the ticket girl said it was because the woman didn’t like her) so finally another regular tour bus gave us a lift. 

There are only three cops in this town, but they DO have a brewery (that can only sell you three pints per day)—Icy Strait Point brewing.  I had a beer with two of the women I ate lunch with the first day on ship who were also big beer lovers. I had a good blonde ale and an oatmeal stout that was surprisingly light and tasty. 

I walked back to the tourist area (about 1 ½ miles), and took the gondola back to the dock and then took the sky lift gondola up to the top of the mountain.  It was very beautiful up there (the trip up was slightly nerve wracking).  Just 2-3 years ago, neither of these gondolas existed.   I tried to get nachos when I came back down at a food truck, but they were out (?), so I went back to the ship for lunch and to do some laundry.

Had some pseudo nachos in the buffet, and while I was eating, Sammi, the ship’s naturalist came over and asked if she could sit at my table. She lives part time in Juneau and part time in Orlando.  We talked about all sorts of things including that it seems that the crew on Princess really seem to like their jobs.  She said that a lot of folks wind up staying with Princess a really long time…so I mentioned I had a friend who had worked for Princess a really long time…she asked her name (Lainie) and she had worked with her when she was a cruise director (I asked Lainie later and she said they hated each other lol!).

I went back to my cabin and did the laundry which took awhile as I had to go up one floor to use theirs…but at least it was free!  Went for some pizza and an Alaskan white, then back to my room for some Love Boat.

Tuesday, July 11:

Got up around 8, then had breakfast in Botticelli—not much choice there, strangely. Then walked the promenade deck and went back to my room to watch a movie.

Went to a presentation about bucket list cruises, then had lunch at the buffet and back to my room.  Ordered room service pizza for dinner, then went to the atrium for ABBA night—saw a cute older couple tearing it up on the dance floor.

It is interesting…on my last cruise I  went days without seeing land, and on this cruise, it was rare that you COULDN’T see land, since we are sailing up the inside passage right next to the continent on one side and islands on the other.