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The 14-Day Alaskan Adventurer Cruise, August 22-September 6, 2010, Holland America Amsterdam

Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert

Part Five

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August 29 (Sunday, Day 8, At Sea) -

Galley Tour

Snookums must be getting over her cold since this was the first time on the cruise that she woke up before Filbert did. She showered, went to breakfast and did a few errands (going to Mom and Dad’s room, getting an updated invoice from the Front Desk, checking out Neptune Lounge, etc.). When she returned to the room Filbert had just gotten up. She left him to attend the 10:30 Galley Tour. The ms Amsterdam has 1380 guests on it and 620 crew. The galley consists of 96 people under the Executive Chef and there are also 122 service staff. Snookums thought the soup cook was chopping the vegetables rather slowly, but she figured he knew his timing. He makes the soup in 80 gallon pans. After the galley tour Snookums went to the “Future Cruise” lecture but she didn’t learn anything.

More after the jump . . .

More Galley Tour

Mom, Dad and Judy enjoyed their invitation-only suite luncheon in the Crow’s Nest. Mom enjoyed three or four glasses of champagne while Judy drank a Bloody Mary. Dad wanted coffee and they didn’t have that so they had to go search for some!

For those of you wondering what there is to do during a day at sea, the following activities happened between 11:00 and 3:00 today:

11:00 – Future Cruise Seminar
11:00 – Spa Secrets: Acupuncture Pain Solution
11:00 – Cooking Demonstration: Cinnamon Rolls
11:30 – Champagne Ring Toss
11:30 – Digital Workshop: Put Your Best Face Forward, II
12:00 – Showtime Rehearsal
12:00 – Alaskan Jade Seminar
12:30 – Champagne Blackjack Tournament
1:00 – Team Trivia Challenge
1:00 – Sing Along with Pianist Diane Fast
1:00 – Spa Secrets: The Art of Reflexology
1:30 – Champagne Art Auction Preview
1:30 – Texas Hold’em Tournament
2:00 – Salsa Dance Class
2:00 – Alaska Gold Rush Dreams Presentation
3:00 – Plan Your Day Ashore
3:00 – Indonesian Tea Ceremony
3:00 – Emerald Seminar

Mom wasn’t feeling too whippy so she stayed in the room for dinner and the rest of us enjoyed a normal dining room dinner. Sunset was scheduled for 9:21 PM and sure enough, it was very, very bright and sunny even at 8 PM.

August 30 (Monday, Day 9, Anchorage, Alaska) -

State Fair!

Today is Alaska State Fair day!!! Snookums, Filbert and Gary took the free shuttle to downtown Anchorage and walked to Avis for a rental car. Snookums had a cheap full-size car and a more expensive minivan reserved depending on how many people decided to go. As far as she knew, she needed the minivan. Unfortunately, the branch manager said that there wasn’t one even though one of the reservations was for one. Well, he realized he had a Suburban SUV that had just been returned and hadn’t been cleaned and Snookums said it would be fine. And, she got it for the cheap full-size price due to the “inconvenience”. Filbert drove Snookums and Gary back to the ship to pick everyone else up. It ended up that only Judy and Charlotte were coming since both Mom and Dad decided to stay behind. So, a full-size car would have been fine, but we didn’t mind the Suburban.

On the way to the fair we stopped at a Wal-Mart for things like allergy meds for Filbert and a wireless mouse for Gary. Filbert also bought a 12-pack of Alaskan White Beer (brewed in Juneau) and Snookums managed to get three $1.45 each bottles of soda for just $1.45 total since the vending machine was broken. It rained two times during the 45-minute trip from Anchorage to Palmer but by the time we got to the fair, it was just overcast. (Much to Snookums’s chagrin, we didn’t see any moose on the drive but were told that they are all over Anchorage.) We were dressed in layers so we were ready. The fair opened at noon and we walked through the gates at 12:30 and immediately were given our Premera Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alaska free strappy backpack. (It was Healthy Living Day at the fair and Blue Cross was the sponsor.) We agreed to meet back up at 4 PM to see how everyone was doing.

Snookums printed the list of food vendors from the internet prior to leaving home so she knew the five or six places that had “Alaskan” food. Filbert, Snookums and Judy’s first stop was for salmon and reindeer sausage quesadillas at Salmon Express. Judy ordered one with just salmon and Filbert and Snookums had one with both salmon and reindeer sausage in it. We took them upstairs and ate them on the roof and had the only second-story view anywhere at the fair. The quesadillas were very good and we decided that we could eat more of them, but we didn’t. The owners of the stand were from Springfield, Missouri before moving to Anchorage years ago.

Salmon Express

On the roof of Salmon Express

After lunch we went into the first exhibit building we saw and it housed baked goods, homemade wines and canned goods. Then we went to the building that had the watercolors and photography exhibits. Next up was Raven Hall which was a mix of vendors selling “junk” like knives, candles, pots and water purification systems as well as various groups like a mining company and the Alaska Pipeline coalition. The vendors weren’t giving anything away but the other groups were giving away lots of mini flashlights, pens, candy, hand sanitizing spray and other great “loot”. After three stops at the good booths, even Filbert got in the act and got his backpack out of his pocket and started picking up the good free stuff. Judy bought a $27 jar of marjoram-spiced aromatic oils that is guaranteed to stop snoring. She said that Dad snores a lot so we all agreed that having him take five breaths of this every night while he leaves the jar open on his nightstand would be an easy solution if it works. And, after two months if it doesn’t work, the Los Angeles company that has been in business at least eight years will refund your money. Other than that one vendor, we steered clear of the vendors and just focused on the companies giving things away.

After Raven Hall it was time to see the Farm Exhibits. This included the record setting dill that was over ten feet tall which shattered the previous fair record of seven feet tall. The huge cabbage, kohlrabi, turnip, rhubarb and pumpkin were there, too. The apple exhibit was kind of funny since the apples were so small. Someone told us that growing apples in Alaska is very difficult to do. The biggest one at the fair was one pound which really isn’t that big. After we saw the vegetables we saw the various poultry and rabbits. Then it was on to the livestock. There were probably fewer than ten cows, a handful of pigs and some goats. Obviously livestock is not a major industry in Alaska!

Giant vegetables!

We continued walking around the fairgrounds and Filbert had crab cakes and bacon wrapped scallops. Snookums had two quarters in her pocket so she stopped at the Elks booth and bet her quarters that the live mouse would run to one of the holes that corresponded to her two colors. She hadn’t seen that kind of gambling before! We had to search for the Alaska Corn Company in order to buy some caramel corn made with Alaska birch syrup. We bought kettle corn, too. By the time 4:00 rolled around, all of our coats were off and we were enjoying the bright, sunny day.

We drove back to Avis and then took the shuttle back to the ship. While getting on the ship around 6 PM we asked all of the businessmen and women that were also getting on the ship what was going on. It turned out that the governor of Alaska was eating dinner on the ship! We assume the governor had business in Anchorage and didn’t make a special trip since we’re docking in Juneau, the state capitol, in a few days!

Judy went to Iron Man 2 at 8 PM and then Mom, Dad and Judy went to the Crew Show at 11 PM. Snookums fell asleep before 10 PM (and when she woke up she found her paperback on her stomach!) and Filbert stayed up and watched us leave Anchorage at 11 PM. He said that he could see the post-sunset twilight orange and red colors at 11:30 at night due north. The Big Dipper was brilliant and directly overhead.

Sunset, August 30

August 31 (Tuesday, Day 10, Homer, Alaska) -

Sunny Homer

After our big day yesterday we both slept until around 9:45 AM when the ship’s announcement was made that we were cleared to get off the ship in Homer. We got up and ordered room service (a donut, one of Holland America’s delicious raisin buns and two orders of mixed fruit for Snookums and coffee and hot water for Filbert’s high protein diet instant oatmeal for Filbert) and finally got around to showering. When we left the ship for the free shuttle to Homer Spit it was raining. That didn’t dampen our enthusiasm, though.

We got off the shuttle, which was a school bus since Homer only has school buses for the various excursions, and walked to the end of a pier and looked down and saw a bunch of starfish in the water. Then we went to the Seafarer’s Memorial. After that it was time to just wander up and down the spit. The establishments were split among restaurants, fish stores to buy your catch from you or to ship it home and a few miscellaneous stores selling basic groceries, sweaters and other gifts and curios. There weren’t any “normal” tacky tourist stores selling tshirts or jewelry. There is a world-famous saloon called the Salty Dawg Saloon. Its walls and ceilings are full of one-dollar bills that people have left. The original dollar bill was left by a man who was waiting for his friend and he couldn’t wait any longer so he tacked a dollar bill to the wall and told the bartender that it was to buy a drink for his friend. Now visitors put up a dollar bill. We didn’t, but we saw all of them.

Salty Dawg

The Time Bandit has its own store since Homer is its home port. This is the boat that we saw in Ketchikan and is one of the boats featured on “Deadliest Catch” on Discovery Channel. We talked to the employee who has been a family friend of the Hillstrand’s for the last 35 years. It was her idea to open a store a few years ago since she wanted some summer work. It has now turned into a full-time job for her since she also fills the internet orders. We told her that we saw the Time Bandit in Ketchikan and she told us that it is doing salmon tendering. It goes out to the salmon boats and gets the salmon and then tenders it back to Ketchikan to the canneries. Filbert bought a Time Bandit hoodie and a book, “Time Bandit”. (Note – We both already read the book and are amazed that Andy and Johnathan Hillstrand are both still alive. As if the danger of crabbing on the Bering Sea isn’t enough, they are daredevils off the sea.)

Tourists at the Time Bandit store

Dinner tonight was at Canaletto for all of us, including Gary and Charlotte. This is the no-fee Italian restaurant located in part of Lido (the normal seating area for the buffets). It is now on all Holland America ships but is new to all of us. The menu choices stay the same for the length of the cruise. We really enjoyed it. Filbert and Gary had the pasta with various seafood (clams, mussels, shrimp, etc.) and Snookums and Judy had the penne pasta with tomato cream sauce. Dad had veal and Mom and Charlotte had cod. This was after the waiter came by with a nice antipasti platter for everyone to choose from as well as a couple of soups to try. Dessert was gelato, tiramisu and a lemoncello dessert. The odd thing was that while we were waiting for our desserts the waiter brought a large plate of cotton candy for the table. None of us know how this fits the Italian theme, but Judy and Charlotte enjoyed it. The seven of us decided that this was a very nice meal and we thoroughly enjoyed the food, atmosphere (Lido has big windows and we were leaving Homer) and service.

Filbert and Snookums watched a taped ship’s lecture on tv about the Kodiak, Juneau and Victoria and then another one about Alaska’s wildlife. Mom, Dad and Judy went to Paul Pappas’ show and his magical journey into music. Then they watched “Blades of Glory” on their DVD player.

Next: Kodiak!