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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 Nine

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September 3 (Friday, Day 13, Juneau, Alaska, continued) -

Baked Alaska

Snookums, Filbert, Charlotte and Gary ate in the dining room in order to enjoy the Master Chef’s Dinner. It started 15 minutes earlier than our normal dining time and the waiters sang, danced and juggled. Everyone received the same first two courses and we had to choose our appetizer, soup and entrée. Everyone got baked Alaska for dessert and that was paraded around the dining room. It was a fun time and even Filbert, who hates the parade of waiters that occur on some cruises, enjoyed the dinner.

More after the jump . . .

The baked Alaska parade passes behind Charlotte

After dinner the four of us went to the Future Cruise Consultant since Snookums and Filbert had convinced Gary and Charlotte to go on a Transatlantic cruise that they had already signed up for. While there, Gary and Charlotte signed up for another Baltic/Transatlantic cruise, too, and then convinced Snookums and Filbert to go on it. So, both couples signed up for future cruises while on this cruise! Snookums and Filbert signed up for one and Gary and Charlotte signed up for two. (Well, Snookums and Filbert actually signed up for two since they signed up for an Amazon one on the first day of the cruise that they had been planning on signing up for anyway. You get extra perks from Holland America if you sign up for a cruise while ON a cruise and since you can still shop around for the best price from any travel agent, it’s a good deal.) All in all, it was a great day and a fun evening.

September 4 (Saturday, Day 14, At Sea) -

We slept in and enjoyed a room service breakfast on the balcony. It was sunny and nice. There was a special lunch at 11 AM for past cruisers that we all signed up for. Snookums, Filbert, Charlotte and Gary were going to meet Mom, Dad and Judy so that we could all sit together but Mom, Dad and Judy wanted to attend Lorna Luft’s morning interview so we were going to attend lunch in two smaller groups. However, while Snookums, Filbert, Gary and Charlotte were waiting in the crowd of people for the dining room to open, they spotted Mom so the five of us ate at the same table. We later saw Judy and Dad eating at another table. We had three other women at our table and they were part of the bridge group. A company sponsored a bridge cruise for serious bridge players so there were a bunch of people on the ship that played in bridge tournaments most days and attended lectures. We got our Holland America tiles at lunch. Other than that, it was a non-event. But, we had to go in order to get our gift of the tile. HAL gives a tile on every cruise and usually they somehow represent the type of cruise or the ship. This tile, though, was HAL’s normal blue “Delft” style and had two ships on it. It wasn’t too memorable.

After lunch Snookums spent time on the balcony reading her book and Filbert took a nap. After a bit, Snookums put on shorts and a t-shirt since it was so warm on the balcony! She wasn’t expecting to sweat on an Alaskan cruise, but she did. After 3 hours on the balcony it was time for dinner. Tonight was formal night and Filbert and Snookums decided to not dress up so they went to Lido for dinner with Gary and Charlotte. It was a pretty low energy day, but a good one. And the weather couldn’t be beat!

September 5 (Sunday, Day 15, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada) -

Victoria

Today was our last full day on the ship. We docked in Victoria at 4 PM. We were all packed by then, but first we met with Dee and Shelby. They are the ones that won the $100 at the Skagway Alaska Shirt Company store. They are bridge players on the cruise. They wanted to buy us drinks as “thanks”. Snookums was glad to hear that they spent a total of $102 which meant they only spent $2 out of pocket for their free loot. We found out that Dee used to teach at Metro State in Denver and loves sports and already knows that the Women’s Final Four will be played in Denver in 2012. Snookums told her that she would keep her informed of the volunteer opportunities. Shelby bought a jacket that she’ll wear skiing (they both live near Denver). Shelby’s 59-year old husband doesn’t cruise but trains for ironman triathlons and plays baseball on a traveling team. We had a nice visit and they were very appreciative of us telling them that they were the winning cabin. Packing didn’t take too long. It’s always easier to pack to go home than it is to pack for the cruise since you just have to pack everything that’s in the cabin. We accumulated more things on this cruise than any other. Among other things, our “haul” included 3 t-shirts (two free Alaska ones and a Sarah Pale Ale one), a “Time Bandit” hoodie and book, a $15 ¼ zip fleece that Snookums bought on the ship, two free Ketchikan coffee mugs, two free Ketchikan baseball hats, our sea otter piece of art, a bar of glacier silt soap, a jar of kelp marmalade, free Alaska tote bags, free “trinkets” from the Alaska State Fair, and an empty bottle of Rogue Captain Sig’s Northwestern Ale. We definitely had more items to take home than we came with which was very unusual for us. However, it all got packed and we left the ship at 4:15 to see Victoria’s Inner Harbour. Since this was our last night on the ship, we decided to be back in time for our 5:45 dinner time. We took the 2-mile waterfront walk to the Inner Harbour and saw the ivy-covered 1908 Empress Hotel and the Legislative Buildings. There was a classic boat show in the harbor and lots of old, fancy wooden boats were on display. There were street artists and vendors, too. It was a very lively place and very beautiful with lots of flower baskets and pretty flora. We walked back to the ship and saw Mom waving at us from their balcony. We made it to dinner with one minute to spare.

BC Legislature

Empress Hotel

Flower bed at the hotel

Charlotte, Mom and Dad were at the table when Filbert and Snookums walked in. Mom said that Judy went on a walk, too, but said she would be back for dinner. Judy arrived around 5:55. We all knew that Gary wasn’t going to be joining us since he had been talking about eating in Victoria’s Chinatown practically the entire cruise. He wanted wonton soup! We had a nice dinner and everyone went back to their cabins.

Gary came by Snookums and Filbert’s cabin around 9:30 to say goodbye and to tell us about Chinatown. He was disappointed in it since he remembered it being more than two blocks long and now it is around one block long. But, his soup was good. We said goodbye and looked forward traveling together on the Transatlantic cruise we signed up for.

September 6 (Monday, Day 16, Seattle, Washington) -

We woke up to a cloudy, wet day, which means it was a typical day for Seattle. After a leisurely breakfast we went to Mom, Dad and Judy’s suite at 8:30 to leave the ship. Holland America lets you stay in your room until it’s time for you to leave which is nice. Some cruise lines make you wait in public areas until it is your turn to leave. We exited the ship for the last time, got a porter to haul our luggage and went to find a cab to take us to the airport. The cab company didn’t have any full-size vans in its line so the dispatcher ordered one but didn’t know how long it would take. In the meantime, Snookums went to the private vehicles to find out how much they charged to go to the airport. All the drivers wanted $65 but Snookums found an SUV-driver that would take $50. Sold! We piled in the SUV and got to the Midwest gate by 10 for our noon flight home.

The ride home

Our flight left on time and Jean, Snookums’s sister, was at the Kansas City airport to pick us up. Milly, Jean’s daughter and therefore Snookums’s niece, was visiting home over Labor Day and was catching a Midwest Airlines flight back to New York City. Her flight left one hour after our flight landed so we knew we would get to see her for a few minutes. Mom and Dad talked to Milly (their granddaughter) while Filbert and Snookums loaded the minivan. We drove Jean to her home and dropped her off and then went to Mom and Dad’s and dropped everyone else off. Then Snookums and Filbert took Dad’s minivan to their house. They got home by 6:30 PM.

After some basic unpacking, mail sorting, eating and showering, they were in bed by 10 PM. It was a completely no-hassle day to end a super-duper fantastic trip. Snookums has been on 30+ cruises and this was her second best one ever, after the 67-day Asia/Australia cruise in 2008. The Alaska weather was great, the wildlife and sealife were awesome, the views were stunning and we had calm cruising while traveling 3,930 nautical miles averaging 17.4 knots. In all, it was stupendous!