Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau, Alaska

Posted on August 24, 2013 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Westerdam anchored in Juneau

After visiting Glacier Gardens on a shore excursion from the Holland America Westerdam, our tour group piled back onto the busses and headed out to Mendenhall Glacier. I really wanted to see Mendenhall since I had not made it out to the glacier on either of my previous visits to Juneau on the Sun or the Safari Quest. Quite a few of the relatives I went to Alaska with came on this excursion.

trail to Mendenhall Glacier

We had thought about just taking the glacier express bus straight to the glacier on our own without booking anything through the ship. Going both there and to Glacier Gardens on the same visit would have involved taking a taxi between the two and a city bus from the garden to town, so we opted for a shore excursion from the ship that did both. A good choice since we didn’t see any taxis.

the trail ends at a beach

As the bus pulled up to the visitor’s center Russ-who-drives-the-bus said he would pick us up in an hour. After an hour and five minutes he would leave. Normally tours insure all passengers get back on the bus, but since the visitor’s center there does have other transportation and people can hike off on their own they can’t wait forever.

waterfall by the glacier

We would have liked to have a little more time there. My sister Linda and I wanted to hike out to the waterfall, but our other relatives preferred staying at the visitor’s center. I was a bit disappointed that we would not actually get to hike on the glacier itself as I had done at Baird Glacier, but getting on Mendenhall involved either a helicopter or an all-day guided expedition hiking through rough terrain, neither of which came at a price we wanted to pay. My Aunt Grace and I would have loved to go dogsledding on the glacier, but since that involved a helicopter it really wasn’t in our budget.

the spray off the waterfall almost makes it look like it connects to the glacier

One of the guides at Glacier Gardens had said rain was due at 9pm that night, but apparently the rain did not pay attention to the weather report. On the bus ride from the garden to the glacier the weather began to turn. By the time we got off the bus the wind had kicked up and rain began to fall. We asked the driver if the waterfall hike would be worth it in that weather and he said yes so we dug our jackets out of our backpacks and headed out while the rest of the family went for the shelter of the visitor’s center.

little ice bergs near Mendenhall Glacier

bergy bits floating in Mendenhall Lake

Outside the visitor’s center a viewpoint offered a panoramic view of the glacier across Mendenhall Lake. Little icebergs floated about the lake, the largest ones near the glacier where they hadn’t had as much time to melt. As we set out for the path to the waterfall trail, an employee of the visitor’s center ushered us up against a nearby wall where we had to wait for a slow-moving ambulance coming up the trail to pass. Following the ambulance came a horde of people making their way back to the visitor’s center.

It may look like a garbage bag, but the cheap rain poncho actually works.

While speedwalking our way down the trail to make up lost time, Linda decided to stop a minute and put on the rain poncho she had purchased on the ship the previous day. I just put up the hood on my jacket.

the jacket keeps what it covers dry

By the time we got to the glacier the rain had slowed to more of a sprinkle and the wind had lessened as well, though the sky remained gray and threatening. We took photos of the glacier and the waterfall, some of both in the misty waterfall spray. The glacier seemed so close, yet is inaccessible from the visitor’s center. I did see glacier hike excursions online that would take people there on foot. Not only did they cost quite a lot, but less than 2 hours of an over 7 hour hike actually involved hiking on (or climbing) the glacier itself. The rest consisted of things like scrabbling through the scree to get there and back. It also took too long for the time we had in port so we had no choice but to pass.

Mendenhall Glacier from the end of the trail

After a brief spell as near to the glacier as we could get, we set off back down the trail to the visitor’s center at a rapid pace due to our limited time there. Somewhere along the way the sun returned to the now-dry sky. Linda got too hot under the unnecessary at this point rain poncho and put it back in her bag. We reached the visitor’s center with just enough time to wander in and take a brief look around, but not enough time to really see anything. The bus did not appear as quickly as the driver had said though, so we could have seen a bit more.

Glacier view at the visitor’s center

Near the visitor’s center a viewpoint on the lake offered almost better views than we got from up close at the end of the trail. More distant, but also more of it.

Mendenhall Glacier

More Blogs About Juneau

Juneau, Mount Roberts Tram, Mount Roberts Tram on a stormy day, Glacier Gardens, River Raft Excursion, Zipline, Mendenhall Glacier Visitor’s Center

Posted in Alaska, Holland America, Port Cities, Ports of Call, Shore Excursions, Westerdam | Tagged Juneau | 7 Comments

When a Vacation Goes to Hell

Posted on August 17, 2013 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Pearl at Grand Cayman

The Not So Random Bus Tour on Grand Cayman Island

Ever since our last visit to Grand Cayman, we decided the next time we went there we’d take the local island tour. On our last visit I had a wonderful time on the Kittiwake wreck and reef snorkel excursion. This time we wanted to see more of the island. We caught the first tender to shore from the Norwegian Pearl. The tenders take us into Georgetown, the capitol of the Cayman Islands, where cruise ships anchor just offshore.

Island tender

We had no trouble finding an island tour. A lady stood right near the exit from the tender pier with a sign. Usually when we take these sort of tours it’s just a random thing we happen across, but this time we knew we could find one and had planned to do so, which meant it was not really a random bus tour. It took a little time for her to gather enough people for the $20 tour, so we looked around the shops for a bit first.

Historic House

As she drove across the island, our driver/guide, Josephine told us all about the things we passed along the way from the governor’s house to the million dollar condos to the historic house that survived a hurricane that devastated the modern house across the street. The governors come from England for a 4 year term, and she said all of them are rich.

hellof a lot of rocks at Hell Grand Cayman

the limestone formations that gave Hell its name

Our bus soon stopped in Hell. There’s not much there, it’s the name that made Hell, Grand Cayman a tourist attraction. Limestone rock formations gave the place its name. Mainly people go there to say they’ve been to Hell, or perhaps to mail a postcard from Hell.

When you see signs of Hell does it mean the end is near?

Who did you expect to find here?

There’s a little gift shop, a post office, and a place to view the rocks. I meant to send a postcard to my day job. I intended to write I may be in Hell today, but I’m still having more fun than you are, or something to that effect on it. We didn’t have much time there and by the time we got done taking photos I didn’t have time to wait in line to buy or mail a postcard, so I didn’t get to send a postcard from Hell.

inside the rum cake factory

Our tour stopped at the local rum cake factory where they offered free tastes of rum as well as rum cake. The rum cake was actually quite tasty. My husband usually just drinks wine, but he tried coconut rum and liked it. The shoreline near the shop had more of the limestone rocks where water came splashing through a channel when big enough waves came in. Lots of birds hung around the rocks.

dolphins in their act

Not far down the road, a turtle farm sat across the street from a dolphin place. The turtle farm charged $10 admission, so everyone on our bus chose to see the dolphins as they let us in for free. Of course the people in the pool swimming with the dolphins did not get in for free. It looked like they had a good time though. Dolphins performed tricks like jumping in the air or swimming along waving a fin.

riding on a dolphin looks like fun

Some of the people got a ride on a wakeboard pushed by dolphins, others rode on the dolphin. I think a dolphin swim excursion would be quite fun, but they always cost more money than I want to spend.

there’s no ship attached to the anchor on the beach

We anchored up near Grand Cayman with 5 other cruise ships. Thinking that was quite a lot, since last year when we came in on the Carnival Liberty it was just us and the Pearl, we asked our tour guide what was the most they would get in a day. She said 11. The islanders love having that many since tourism is their second biggest industry, next to banking.

touristy shops in Georgetown Grand Cayman

there’s lots of shops near the tender piers

After the tour we had plenty of time left to wander about town. We took photos of all the ships in town that day. In addition to the Norwegian Pearl, which we came in on, we also saw the Holland America Nieuw Amsterdam, who had also been in Jamaica with us. Also the Royal Caribbean Freedom of the Seas, Carnival Magic, and the Coral Princess. I remembered the Coral Princess from my Alaska cruise on the Norwegian Sun. At that time in Alaska both those ships seemed big compared to the others cruising there. Now in the Caribbean the Coral Princess looked tiny, and the Sun is one of Norwegian’s smallest ships.

tarpon photographed from above the water

We found all sorts of things to see in town. We wandered through some of the many jewelry stores, then noticed all sorts of things people could find to do if they got off the ship with no specific plans. John especially enjoyed a school of tarpon fish hanging around the shoreline.

Grand Cayman On Your Own

As soon as you exit the ship plenty of locals offer shuttle rides to 7 mile beach for a few bucks, and for even less money a public bus goes there as well. 7 mile beach has just about everything for rent from jet skis to beach chairs.

The island tour is easy to find, most likely someone will have a sign for that too. Just north of the Royal Watler pier there is a place that rents jet skis and other water toys. A bit further north we saw a helicopter ready to give rides.

people snorkeling with tarpon

South of the south tender landing, a place called Paradise Restaurant sits on the water’s edge with an entrance to the marine park area below. They rent snorkel gear or people can bring their own. They also had beach chair and locker rentals. A stairway down the limestone formation at the water’s edge leads into waters where a school of tarpon hung around begging for food. Other places a short walk south also had snorkel gear rentals and access to the water.

local crafts market in Georgetown Grand Cayman

Caymanite jewelry at the local crafts market

Walking down the street next to the water we also saw a place offering Atlantis submarine tours and a museum, and of course seemingly unlimited places to shop. The cruise ships try to warn people away from anywhere but the stores they affiliate with, but we found great deals on Grand Cayman’s own local stone Caymanite at a local crafts market. A local artisan there said she sold the jewelry she made herself there to the tourists for the same price as she sold it to the stores (who then sell it to the tourists with their profit added in.) She had nicer pieces than any I actually saw in a store. She also had conch jewelry.

Grand Cayman Shore Excursions

The cruise ships offer some great excursions in Grand Cayman too. We had lots of fun on the Kittiwake snorkel excursion on last year’s Carnival Liberty cruise. That excursion took us snorkeling over the intentionally sunk USS Kittiwake, the only US military vessel ever sold to a foreign government, and then to a reef. Other cruise ship excursions in Grand Cayman include island tours, brewery tours, stingray, dolphin, or turtle encounters, parasailing, trolley ride, a variety of snorkel options, Atlantis submarine, pirate ship, diving, or beach breaks.

snorkeling over the USS Kittiwake in Grand Cayman

More Adventures in Grand Cayman: USS Kittiwake Wreck and Reef Snorkel, Snorkeling With Tarpon, Turtle Farm, Grand Cayman

Posted in Caribbean, Norwegian, Pearl, Ports of Call | Tagged Caribbean, cruise, Georgetown, Grand Cayman, Hell, island paradise, photos, travel, tropical island, vacation | 11 Comments

Bars on the Carnival Breeze Cruise Ship

Posted on August 10, 2013 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Carnival Breeze in Malaga, Spain

The Atrium Bar has a bandstand on top

I don’t get much first-hand experience in cruise ship bars (or any other bars for that matter) since I don’t drink. The fact is though cruise ships have a lot of bars. And a lot of passengers who like bars. Some people cruise just for the bars.

Cruise ships have all sorts of passengers who like all sorts of different things. They have bars or nightclubs to accommodate a wide variety of tastes so just about everyone can find at least one bar they like on a ship if they like bars. Even as a non-drinker I found a bar to like on the Carnival Breeze.

The Red Frog Pub has outdoor seating on the lanai as well as indoor seating

I tried out the Red Frog Pub on deck 5, not for the liquor, but for the food. They do make great food there. The decor has a maritime theme, casual like the rest of the decor on the Breeze. My son is quite the beer connoisseur (he even brews his own.) He considered Red Frog’s own Thirsty Frog Beer the best beer on board Carnival ships.

Blue Iguana Tequila Bar on the Lido Deck

Red Frog also serves Thirsty Frog beer on tap at the Red Frog rum bar up on the Lido Deck opposite the Blue Iguana tequila bar. Blue Iguana sits next to the very tasty Blue Iguana Cantina, which features Mexican style food. The Red Frog neighbors the ever popular Guy’s Burger Joint. Both bars sometimes host late-night deck parties and are part of Carnival’s 2.0 upgrades.

Entrance to Liquid Nightclub

Other late-night entertainment includes the Piano Bar with live piano player, Liquid Nightclub, live DJ’s, live bands and karaoke, and of course those who want it can have drinks at the comedy club as well. The comedy club hosts several different comedians within a one-week cruise.

Carnival Breeze Library Bar

While most cruise ships have libraries, and they all have bars, the Breeze has something quite unique in their Library Bar. The library stays open much longer on the Breeze than on ships with no bar in their library, so passengers who just want the books can appreciate the bar for making them more available. It has wine-dispensing machines and a small non-crowded bar with bartender.

Bar at Ocean Plaza on Carnival Breeze

The atrium has a bar, as does Ocean Plaza with the Plaza Cafe & Bar. Ocean Plaza sometimes has live music and dancing and other times has trivia games or other entertainment. You can also find the taste bar there.

SportSquare Bar on Carnival Breeze

Even SportsSquare outside at the top of the ship has a bar. It also has mini-golf, a ropes course, pool tables and foosball. Down on the lower decks there’s a lobby bar near guest services and the shore excursion desk.

The more you drink the more you spend, the cruise ship is the winner at the casino bar

Many passengers on cruise ships enjoy the casino, and casinos always have bars. Casinos everywhere love bars, the more people drink the more money they gamble.

You can escape from kids, but not from bars on the Serenity Deck

No cruise ship would be complete without a poolside bar, and the Breeze has that too at the stern on the Lido with the Tides pool & Bar. The Serenity Deck, where adults can enjoy some child-free peace and quiet, has a bar too.

Piano Bar

Like most cruise ships, on the Carnival Breeze wherever you are the nearest bar is not far.

Posted in Breeze, Carnival, Shipboard Life | Tagged alcohol, bars, Carnival Breeze, cruise, cruise ship bars, entertainment, fun, nightlife, photos, travel, vacation | 6 Comments

Visiting Glacier Gardens in Juneau, Alaska

Posted on August 4, 2013 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Tender to the Westerdam shares the harbor with a float plane in Juneau

Juneau has quite an array of things to do. With Mendenhall Glacier as the tourist’s top choice, and Mount Roberts tram conveniently located at the cruise ship dock in the center of the tourist shopping area, multitudes of people visit those two places. Sometimes you can have a pleasant day at a more off the beaten path spot too. We found one such spot with a visit to Glacier Gardens on a shore excursion.

The poles at the tender pier in Juneau show how low the tide is

We came into Juneau on the Holland America Westerdam. It was originally scheduled to dock right in town as Holland America ships normally do. After the ship set sail we found out we would tender in Juneau as well as in Sitka, which is always a tender port. We really don’t know why we tendered in Juneau, other than perhaps the extreme minus tide that day. We speculated that the shallower water may have left room for just one Holland America ship at the downtown dock right by the entrance to the Mount Roberts Tram where normally two ships tie up.

view of Juneau from the Westerdam

For whatever reason the Zuiderdam got to dock while the Westerdam had to anchor. I found out just after the cruise that I actually knew someone on the Zuiderdam that cruise. Had I ran into them in town they would have had a chance to gloat about getting the dock while we anchored. Maybe their captain won a coin toss or beat our captain at rock-paper-scissors or something. Possibly they got the dock because they arrived first. At any rate tendering unexpectedly does give the crew some extra practice with the life boats. Considering how much more smoothly the tendering process went in Sitka where they expected it than in Juneau where they did not perhaps random tendering does have an up side in that the crew gets some last minute life boat time making them just a little bit more ready should a real emergency ever arise.

lifeboats on the Westerdam

It took awhile for things to get moving. We met at the shore excursion lounge, while those without excursions went to a different area to get tender tickets. The time for our departure came and went before earlier excursions began to get called. Excursions involving helicopters and float planes seemed to get priority as some had later scheduled departures then we did, yet got called first. Actually everyone else must have had priority as the room emptied considerably and when they finally called our tour about an hour late pretty much everyone still remaining in the room got up to go.

We all fit on one tender (lifeboat) but it took two busses to hold everyone on our excursion. We had 7 people in our family group so we passed by the first already partly loaded bus and headed for the less-crowded second bus to insure we all got on the same one and could sit near one another.

tour bus waits at the dock in Juneau

On the way out of town our driver Russ-who-drives-a-bus kept up a very entertaining almost steady narrative about the area with a few jokes thrown in. He also talked about the wildlife of the area, such as the house cat sitting by the roadside and the bald eagle flying past. Bears, he said, lived in the area too. He had an easy way to tell one bear from another. If a bear chases you and you climb up a tree and it climbs up after you, then it is a black bear (the color of which may be black or brown.) He did not mention that black bears also come in white. Probably because the kermode bears – white black bears sometimes called spirit bears – live only in a very small area of British Columbia, Canada and most people have never heard of them.

“If a bear chases you and you climb up a tree and it knocks the tree down,” Russ-who-drives-a-bus continued, “It’s a grizzly (brown bear). If a bear chases you and there are no trees to climb it’s a polar bear.”

flowers at Glacier Gardens

Following a short drive through Juneau rush hour traffic, which Russ said would delay us by about 3 minutes, we arrived at Glacier Gardens. Glacier Gardens started as a landscaping business. The story the guide told said that the owner bought the land at a low price following a massive mudslide which wiped out everything formerly on that site.

the creek meanders slowly through Glacier Gardens

After discovering that the river running down Thunder Mountain through his property ran far too fast piling up debris waiting to cause another landslide along its path, he built a series of waterfalls and ponds along the new route he created to take a river from plunging straight down the mountain at top speed leaving a wake of destruction in its path to one that meandered slowly and harmlessly down the mountain.

Upside Down Flower Towers at Glacier Gardens

Eventually he had to rent a large excavator and promptly crashed it into a tree. In his frustration he used it to pull a tree out of the ground and flip it over intending to smash it to bits. Driving it into the soft mud left it standing root side up instead. This inspired the upside-down flower tower, many of which now stand tall and proud as sentinels to the gardens.

top of a flower tower on an upside down tree

Our tour included a brief stop at the gift shop followed by sighting of an eagle’s nest high in a tree. Then they loaded everyone onto a series of motorized trams for a trip over 500 feet up the side of Thunder Mountain, named not for thunder, but for the thundering sound it makes when avalanches break away. We passed more flower towers on the way up before leaving the landscaped area and entering natural forest. Fallen logs comprised a lot of the material used constructing the road. Over the logs they use a sturdy black paper covered in gravel that helps prevent erosion in the logs so the road lasts longer.

Glacier Gardens shore excursion includes tram ride up a mountain

view from the top of Thunder Mountain

The top of the mountain brings territorial views of the surrounding area, including the cruise ships in the distance. The lookout also offered views of the airport where we watched some helicopters and airplanes come and go. Russ told us Juneau could claim to have an international airport as they had a weekly flight to the far distant country of Canada.

Visitors to the top of Thunder Mountain can watch airplanes and helicopters land at this airport

Upon take-off one day the tower warned a pilot about four eagles flying toward the plane. One had a salmon in its talons and as the others squabbled trying to take it, none of the birds paid any attention to the fact that they were heading directly for an airplane so the pilot had to take evasive action. He heard a thud against the plane, but upon landing and inspection no trace of eagle was found – just that of salmon. So Juneau is now the only airport where pilots may need to watch out for flying fish.

on the Glacier Gardens tram

We had some time on top the mountain to take in the various views and take photos and then boarded the trams to make our way back down. Our tram guide mentioned our luck in the beautiful sunny day we enjoyed as Juneau has 300 days of precipitation annually.

brightly colored umbrellas dangle from the gift shop ceiling

After spending some time in the gift shop (which is in a greenhouse), we boarded the bus and headed for Mendenhall Glacier. We managed to leave with our wallets intact and no packages to carry to our next destination.

More Blogs About Juneau

Juneau, Mount Roberts Tram, Mount Roberts Tram on a stormy day, Ziplines, River Raft Excursion, Mendenhall Glacier, Mendenhall Glacier Visitor’s Center

Posted in Alaska, Holland America, Port Cities, Ports of Call, Shore Excursions, Westerdam | Tagged Alaska, cruise, family, fun, Glacier Gardens, Juneau, photos, shore excursion, travel, vacation | 7 Comments

Miracle Chocolate Cake

Posted on July 27, 2013 by LBcruiseshipblogger

great tasting gluten free, lactose free, sugar free cake that's not diet food

No Flour, No Sugar, No Milk, and IT”S NOT DIET

People may wonder about the title of this blog. What’s so miraculous about chocolate cake? It’s pretty common after all. Of course most chocolate cakes are full of things like sugar, butter, and flour. This cake has none of those. It’s actually healthy and nutritious. And it still tastes good and rich and chocolaty. That’s the miracle. It’s gluten free, dairy free, and sugar free. It’s not a diet recipe, no fake chemical sugar substitutes. It does have honey though so diabetics would have to be careful about portion size. Other than that it’s more protein than carbohydrate. It’s also very simple to make. So easy kids could stir it up by themselves.

unbaked cake

Miracle Chocolate Cake Recipe

Ingredients

3/4 cup almond butter

3 eggs

4 tablespoons honey

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

2 tablespoons dark chocolate cocoa powder

Directions

Heat oven to 325 degrees and grease 8-inch square pan. Stir all ingredients in mixing bowl by hand. Bake at 325 degrees Fahrenheit for about 25 – 30 minutes. Cake is done when toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

baked cake – with coconut

Variation

You can add 3/4 cup coconut if desired. Increase baking time to 30 – 35 minutes. For a very moist cake bake it a little less and take it out of the oven before the toothpick comes out clean. Or sprinkle coconut on top before baking and it comes out with a nice toasted coconut topping.

Cake with the Nutella Frosting

Frosting

This cake tastes good as is with no frosting, but people do like frosting. You can use your favorite frosting, or try Nutella straight from the jar which makes a pretty good frosting on its own. Or make this simple Nutella frosting recipe:

1/2 cup Nutella

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 tablespoon coconut or almond milk

Beat all ingredients in small bowl with an electric mixer until smooth and creamy. Because the consistency of Nutella varies with the temperature you may need more or less milk to get the desired thickness of your frosting.

If you are making this cake for someone on a sugar-restricted diet skip the Nutella frosting because if you read the ingredients on the jar, the first one is sugar. Pre-made almond butter from a jar may also have sugar, but if you get it where they have the machine that grinds almonds into almond butter you can eliminate the sugar there.

Nutella

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2013

Posted in recipes | Tagged chocolate cake, dairy free, food, gluten free, gluten free cake, healthy dessert, lactose free, lactose free cake, photos, recipe, sugar free | 22 Comments

The Family Cruise

Posted on July 20, 2013 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Westerdam in Juneau

For years my husband and I have tried to talk my parents into taking a cruise with us. They always said no. Finally my younger sister said I should just give it up as they would never go on a cruise. Figuring she was right, I hadn’t asked them in awhile.

Hanging out on our stateroom balcony in Glacier Bay

Imagine my shock upon receiving an email from my mother saying they had booked a cruise to Alaska on the Holland America Westerdam……..with other relatives. Yup, all booked and done and I wasn’t invited. I did notice my older sister and a single aunt among the people she listed. Correctly assuming the two of them would room together, and assuming this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity due to the extremely slim odds of my parents ever taking a cruise again, I promptly began the attempt to invite myself to room with them.

Why not just book my own room with my husband? While that would have worked well as we could have just booked a room on our own for the same cruise, it did not work this time as he had already made other plans for the week of the family cruise.

trying out the ceramic tile chairs in the thermal suite on the spa tour

Adding yourself onto someone else’s booking is not as easy as it sounds. Apparently the cruise line can’t interfere with a booking done elsewhere, and they had gone through a travel agency. They also had no past cruisers among the original group, and so missed out on the discounts offered to former passengers.

Since none of my usual cruise-booking routes through discount websites or the cruise line would pan out for this trip I called the travel agent the family had used. She set me up as a third in the room, which came at a price break for being an extra person. When the cruise ended, I was pleasantly surprised not to find port fees and taxes on my end-of-the cruise statement. It turned out that those were included in the travel agency price rather than added on at the end as they often are with discount cruises. Definitely something to think about when doing price comparisons in the future.

checking out the balcony

Our total group included 9 people in 4 staterooms, the most I have ever traveled with. I was very glad they allowed me to come, as I got to meet a cousin I hadn’t seen since we were babies, get acquainted with an uncle I didn’t see much growing up, and to visit with another aunt and uncle we rarely see. Of course I was quite happy to finally have the chance to cruise with my parents, and I had a great time with my sister and the aunt we roomed with.

What do families do when they get together at dinner….take photos!

With that many people we didn’t manage to get everyone in the same place at the same time other than sometimes at dinner, but we did see different people randomly throughout the voyage as well as including as many as wanted to come on some of the shore excursions we took.

visiting Glacier Gardens in Juneau

I am very grateful that I got this chance to spend time with my extended family, and that we spent that time having a wonderful Alaskan vacation on a very nice cruise ship.

Posted in Alaska, Holland America, Randoms, Westerdam | Tagged cruise, family, family vacation, life, photos, travel, vacation | 13 Comments

Food on the Norwegian Pearl

Posted on July 13, 2013 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Norwegian Pearl

If there’s one thing cruise ships have in abundance, it’s definitely food. Food can be found in all sorts of places and all manner of ways. A passenger could spend their entire cruise eating if they wanted to, moving from one food venue to another. Cruise ships have dining rooms with multi-course meals, buffets, room service and usually some sort of 24-hour food venue, all at no extra charge. And if that’s not enough, there’s late night buffets and the special eateries that cost a bit extra.

La Cucina Italian Restaurant on Norwegian Pearl

Norwegian‘s free style cruising includes even more dining options than the average ship. A number of them do cost a bit extra, but after having eaten at several of the places with a surcharge on a variety of ships I’ve always found them worth the price. I used to wonder why anyone would spend money to have a meal on a ship with so much good food to chose from at no extra charge, but actually trying some of the fancier eateries changed my mind.

my favorite cruise ship breakfast – Eggs Benedict

The Pearl has two main dining rooms. Passengers can choose to eat in either or neither, whatever suits them. We had a couple meals at the Summer Palace, the more formal of the two. It sits at the stern of the ship with great views through large picture windows. It had good service and good food.

Winter….I mean Summer Palace

I did think Winter Palace would have made a better name for it though. Not only was it decorated in Christmas colors, the temperature in the room was downright frosty. On the plus side they had plenty of tables so people on our cruise always got right in with no waiting.

Spaghetti Carbonara at Indigo

The other dining room, called Indigo, is smaller and less formal. Although since jeans and a t-shirt would more than meet the requirements for Norwegian’s minimal dress code even at the “formal” dining room, dressing for dinner really shouldn’t be a problem at either place. Indigo kept the temperature of the room at a far more comfortable level than the Summer Palace.

Dinner Time! (main course)

That was my reason for preferring it to the Summer Palace, as they served the same food. Other people also seemed to like Indigo better, since often they had a wait to get in for dinner. Our pager always went off in under half an hour though so the waits were not too bad.

Kid’s Cafe in the Garden Buffet

Another option for free meals on the Pearl was the Garden Cafe Buffet. Entering the buffet meant holding out your hands for the “Happy, happy, washy, washy” crew to spray them with hand sanitizer. Once inside a number of different stations offered quite a variety of food. Some came up from the main galley, but a lot got prepared right there at the station where they served it. We especially enjoyed the made-to-order turkey and veggie burgers. One night the buffet served an excellent late-night chocolate buffet.

Blue Lagoon Cafe – open 24 hours

The Blue Lagoon 24-hour cafe also offered food at no extra charge, and daytime room service came free as well.

Poolside Barbecue

Other free food included BBQ served lunch daily at Topsider’s Grill by the pool, and the Great Outdoors Bar served complimentary buffet food with outdoor seating. On our behind-the-scenes tour we saw a pig roasting in the galley for a Bavarian themed lunch at the Great Outdoors. For yet another free outdoor dining choice, passengers could try the Sky High Bar & Grill above the pool.

outdoor specialty buffet on Norwegian Pearl

breads at the Bavarian Buffet, Great Outdoors

The choices for pay-extra eateries seemed limitless. We gave Teppanyaki – where your dinner is the show – a try and loved it. Not just the food, but the whole grilling and knife trick experience. Chefs there cook with a flair right at the guests’ table, which mostly consists of a very large grill.

cruise ship premium food - cruise ship sushi

Sushi Bar at the Lotus Garden

With an eatery to meet pretty much any taste or desire for a particular type of food, the Pearl had quite a variety of premium places to choose from. They had Cagney’s Steakhouse, which served breakfast and lunch complimentary to suite guests and VIP’s as well as being open to everyone for dinner for a fee. In addition to the Japanese food at Teppanyaki, the Pearl had many other choices for ethnic food with varying fees at La Cucina Italian, Le Bistro French, Lotus Garden Asian (which also has an a la carte sushi bar), and Moderno Churrascaria Brazillian.

specialty restaurants on Norwegian Pearl

Moderno Churrascaria

In case all that isn’t enough they also had pizza delivery available to passenger cabins 24/7 for $5.

mmmm dessert!

Posted in Cruise Food, Norwegian, Pearl, Shipboard Life | Tagged cruise, cruise ship food, dining venues, eat, food, photos, travel | 10 Comments

Grand Canary Island – Island Tour

Posted on July 6, 2013 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Las Palmas on Grand Canary Island in a storm

Storm Over Las Palmas, Grand Canary Island

Long before our transatlantic cruise on Carnival Breeze began, we booked an all-day Island Exploration tour for the day our ship docked at Las Palmas, Grand Canary Island. This tour said an all-terrain vehicle would take us to visit two volcanic craters and to visit places where tourists don’t normally go. On board, the shore excursion booklet said that vans would take this tour places where busses can’t go.

Carnival Breeze in Las Palmas, Grand Canary Island

We were to see two volcanic craters and the highest point of the island, have lunch at a castle, and visit a museum and a cave. However we did not look at the paper until we got back, so when we saw the waiting vans as we exited the Carnival Breeze, we initially thought they would take us somewhere to board an all-terrain vehicle (expecting something similar to the jungle bus from Australia.)

vans going down the mountain after the weather cleared up in the lowlands

We were given stickers with the number 8 on them in the lounge on the ship, so we boarded van number 8. Our group actually had only 6 vans, of which ours ran in the middle of the group. The lowest numbers had gone to passengers on a different tour. The vans zipped through the city in a line, while an Englishman in the first one gave commentary that came over a speaker into the rest of the group. We thought for the majority of the tour that our driver did not speak English as he did not say a word until it was nearly over.

White rock that the original island natives considered a special sacred type place

As the vans snaked up the mountain in the pouring rain, the guide explained how it rarely ever rains on Gran Canaria (the Spanish spelling of Grand Canary, as the Canary Islands belong to Spain.) The island has many reservoirs to catch what rain does fall for watering a thirsty island. Prickly pear cactus and agave grow wild on the steep hillsides between the steep winding roads. He also mentioned a leaf discoloration on some plants caused by an infestation of beetles which they harvest and turn into food coloring. So if you see red food color made of carmine or cochineal extract on the list of ingredients of your food, it may have come from bug juice. Which is at least natural. It could be worse, some red dyes are petroleum based.

According to Live Science, the bugs are not beetles at all, but a species considered a “true bug,” called cochineals. If it weren’t for the fact that some people are allergic to it, the dye ingredients would just be listed as natural. Cochineals are harvested mainly in Peru and the Canary Islands on plantations of prickly pear cacti, the bugs’ preferred host. About 70,000 insects are needed to produce a pound of dye.

As the altitude grew ever higher, the vegetation changed mainly to pine trees. In this very dry climate, the pine trees developed a unique system of obtaining water. Instead of drinking through their roots like other pine trees, the Canary Island pines have the longest needles of any pine tree in the world and use them to extract moisture from the air.

Approach to the lookout for Bandama Crater where we saw nothing but rain and fog.

We reached Bandama crater, enshrouded in mist and clouds. We exited the vans, but through the rain and clouds did not get the views or photo opportunities our position high on the mountain would have provided on a nicer day. On the way there and back we drove past Bandama Golf Course, the first golf course built in all of Spanish territory.

I was quite glad to see a golf course up in the mountains rather than by the sea where run-off from all the fertilizers and things used to keep it green harm sea life. The guide said it is quite expensive to play golf there because of the amount of water needed to keep it green on an island where rain comes so infrequently. While we would have preferred it not rain during our visit, locals are probably quite happy to see rain whenever they can get it.

Next, we went to the highest point on the island. As the vans pulled into the stop, I noticed a dog chasing the last one. If they think about the Canary Islands at all, most people associate them with little yellow songbirds. In actual fact, they were named after the dogs that once ran wild there (canis – canines.) The natural assumption that Grand Canary is the biggest of the Canary Islands is also false, as it ranks only third in size. Gran Canaria translates literally to big dog area. The aforementioned songbirds were later named after the island, and some do live there.

The dog I saw had a different look to it then regular dog breeds so I figured it to be one of the Canary Island dogs. It vanished from sight before I got a chance to get a picture of it. Through heavy winds driving the rain sideways, I did get some pictures of the pine trees. I entered one in the on-board photo contest. It didn’t win, but they make a nice 8×10 photo of all the entries and let the contestants keep them, so I got it a frame to hang it on the wall in my house.

Highest Point of Grand Canary Island in a storm

There’s probably nothing technically right about this photo, but I held my ground while getting frozen and soaked in driving wind and pouring rain to take it at the highest point of Grand Canary and I like it. It’s now framed and hanging on the wall in my living room.

My husband entered photos that he thought had a chance to win and his made the finals, but they are not photos we’d want to display in our home. I entered photos I’d want to hang win or lose so I got a couple nice pictures for free. (My other entry was a sunrise.) The winner got a larger copy of their photo as their prize, so I saw no point to entering something not wall worthy.

We made a brief stop in a small town. Spanish speaking passengers could buy saffron at the pu

small mountain town on Grand Canary

blic market there for very cheap. Our Spanish is limited more to a few useful phrases like “Donde esta el bano?” (Where’s the bathroom?) and a few things better not mentioned. The stop was too short for haggling between people who don’t understand one another, so we skipped buying saffron there, being more interested in not getting left behind in the boon toolies on our last port stop before crossing the ocean.

Cafe on a mountain on Grand Canary Island

Later we stopped at a small café in the mountains. We got a large package of Canarian saffron there for next to nothing. Locals consider it “tourist prices” because the local markets have it for less, but we got it far cheaper than most people would ever dream of finding it for. Saffron comes from part of a particular type of crocus flower and it takes 50,000 to 75,000 of them to make a pound of the world’s most expensive spice.

view high on a mountain on Grand Canary Island

misty view with a rainbow

We had photo stop at a scenic overlook on the mountain road. With the peaks of the mountains still in the clouds, we never did get the views we might have seen, but we did see some rainbows, interesting rock formations, and some towns down in the valleys.

museum of interesting artifacts

As we came down from the mountains, the weather got warmer and sunnier. Viewpoints now looked both up and down, with the ups showing the mountaintops still in the clouds. In a cute little town we stopped at a museum made of stones. Being Sunday, it wasn’t open, but someone came along eventually to unlock the door. Inside it had interesting light fixtures made of natural objects as well as an eclectic collection of items ranging from stones and bones to no-longer-living birds, sealife, and artifacts. Outside the building’s archways lemon trees and giant cactus grew along the stone paths through its small garden.

camel farm

We stopped for lunch at a camel farm where they had a number of camels saddled up for rides, though we did not see anyone riding them. We had a hearty lunch with choice of soup or salad and pork or fish. We didn’t mind eating at a camel farm rather than a castle, but there was a person in our group allergic to camels who was quite unhappy about that and everyone would have liked to see the castle even if we didn’t eat there.

town in the lowlands on Grand Canary

After lunch we returned to town and back to the ship. One of the benefits of booking a shore excursion through the cruise line is that the ship will wait for you even if you return past the all-aboard time, which we did even though we had not gone to all the stops listed on the tour.

People on their balconies clapped when our vans pulled up, though late as we arrived a few other people straggled in later still, lucky that the ship got delayed by our tour. One person came running down the dock not only after the gangway got pulled in, but actually after the ship had begun to pull away from the dock. Arriving that late usually means watching the ship sail away without you and finding your own transportation to the next port. Our captain had a kind heart knowing that getting left behind there meant five days and an ocean to cross before the next port, and he knew he could safely get back to the dock so he did return to pick up the last straggler.

shore excursion back after all aboard timell

Hurry up and get on the ship before it leaves

Normally ships only wait for their own tours, and if the boat has left the dock the passenger is out of luck. That last straggler should feel very thankful that the captain so kindly returned for him. With 5 days and an ocean between ports catching up to the ship would have gotten very expensive had he missed the boat. Odds are security had already checked the safe in his room for his passport, as Carnival will have someone meet their missing passengers at the dock and help them make arrangements to catch the ship at the next port. Usually the next port is not so far away in time or distance though.

We enjoyed this excursion even though it did not quite match up to our expectations, but felt the price was too high for what we got considering we missed several things the tour should have included. We have learned over time that the excursions don’t always match up to the hype. This one could have improved through better organization. At all the small stops we lost time because the drivers and guide all gave people different amounts of time for how long they planned to stay there, and the vans all tended to move after we got out of them. So nobody knew when exactly to get back, and then had to find either the right van or even the entire group of vans after they did.

odd things in the museum included the light fixtures

If the museum had been open when we got there, and lunch (which the guide called ahead and ordered) ready upon arrival we could have saved time in those places as well. Then perhaps we might have had time to visit the cave we were supposed to see. It turned out that the lunch stop was at a camel farm instead of a castle because of the large size of our group. If we had time for camel rides that would have been fun, but we did not. I’m not sure if we ever went by the second volcanic crater either. If we did we didn’t stop for photos, which probably would not have been good anyway since the mountain tops remained in the rainclouds all day and if it was anywhere near the first one we probably couldn’t have seen it anyway due to the weather.

cave house entrance seen with high powered camera lens

Missing out on the cave on that particular island was a big loss because to this day some of the island’s inhabitants live in cave houses, and we missed seeing one. The guide had talked about seeing a cave house on the way to lunch, but did not mention it again afterword while heading straight back to the ship past the all-aboard time.

After mentioning these discrepancies to the shore excursion desk on Carnival Breeze, they said they would ask that the wording in the description get changed to include the lunch stop at any places it might go, which may depend on the size of the group. It has already changed to vans rather than all terrain vehicles. Even though the tour is ran by an outside vendor they also kindly refunded us $25 each since we did not complete the tour.

Posted in Breeze, Carnival, Europe, Ports of Call, Shore Excursions | Tagged cruise, dogs, Europe, Grand Canary, island tour, photos, transatlantic, travel | 8 Comments

Accomodations on Holland America Westerdam

Posted on June 29, 2013 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Westedam in Sitka

The Holland America Westerdam has a variety of rooms available to suit the budgetary needs of all their passengers. Those who prefer to spend as little as possible on their room can book an inside room. The inside rooms on the Westerdam are quite nice and for an inside room quite spacious as well with some open floorspace and couches that wrap around a corner. Inside rooms come with a basic bathroom and shower.

Inside rooms on the Westerdam are pretty nice

For people who prefer not to spend any more than necessary on their room, yet would like to have some natural light, rooms with obstructed views are an affordable way to go. These rooms have a window, which may be partly or fully blocked by a life boat. A little more money spent for the room upgrades the window to one with a full view.

Verandah rooms give passengers their own outside space

Verandah rooms allow passengers a full view and a bit of private outdoor space with their small decks. These rooms cost more than inside or window rooms, but still save money over suites and they have bathtubs.

Superior Suite adds more space

The suite category starts with the superior suites. These are more spacious than the regular balcony rooms. With suites, the balconies get larger too. These suites also come with double sinks, jetted tubs, and telephone concierge service.

Book a Neptune Suite and you can come in here – Neptune Lounge

Passengers who like more space, use of the Neptune lounge, and VIP boarding can book the Neptune suites. Extra perks like free laundry service come with the extra money spent to book a suite.

Neptune Suite

Neptune suites include double sinks, whirlpool tubs, separate showers in the bathroom and a good sized balcony. The Neptune Lounge includes personalized concierge service among its amenities. Guests of Neptune suites also have priority tender service among the extras included with a suite.

The Penthouse suite is so big it doesn’t all fit in the picture

The penthouse suit brings all the comforts of home, with more room than some apartments. It has a separate bedroom, and an extra bed that folds out of the wall in the living room just under the huge flat-screen TV.

accomodating extra passengers in a suite

there’s a bed hiding in these cabinets

It includes a dining room, butler’s pantry, guest bathroom, and master bath with gold sinks, large whirlpool tub and separate shower. The penthouse has an expansive balcony with a private hot tub.

book the penthouse and this balcony could be yours

the Penthouse has an expansive balcony

private hot tub on Penthouse balcony

Sometimes passengers have more than two people in the same room. To accommodate three or four guests, some rooms have a couch that folds out into a bed and/or a bed that folds down from the ceiling.

bunk drops from ceiling

I sailed on the Westerdam with three people in a verandah room, in the type where the couch folds down for a bed. The room steward made the couch into a bed each night and folded it back into a couch for us each morning. There wasn’t a lot of floorspace with the bed folded down, but it only stayed that way for the night. The room had three closets, a few drawers, and a cupboard over the couch-bed, so we all found space to put our things.

bathroom in the penthouse

Accommodations on other ships: Arcadia, Breeze, Breeze odd cabins, Divina, Ecstasy, Infinity, Legend, Liberty, Pearl, Ruby Pearl, Splendor, Veendam, Wilderness Adventurer

For a complete list of blogs about cabins see My Cruise Stories Ships and Cabins page.

Posted in Holland America, Shipboard Life, Westerdam | Tagged cabin, cruise, cruise ship cabins, Holland America, room, rooms on cruise ship, stateroom, suite, travel, Westerdam | 12 Comments

You Can Do Your Own Laundry On A Cruise

Posted on June 22, 2013 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Carnival cruise ship docked at Grand Turk

Carnival Liberty

Can I do my own laundry on a cruise? Passengers-to-be often wonder about that in these days of limited luggage for airline travel. Particularly when taking longer voyages. Cruise lines do offer laundry service where the crew will do the passenger’s laundry – for a fee, and not a small one either.

Passengers probably don’t have this much laundry

Most ships have a tiny clothesline in the shower so a bit of handwashing can hang there – if the line space is not already taken up with swimsuits drying from a trip to the beach, a dip in the pool or hot tub, or perhaps an afternoon’s fun on the waterslides.

laundry room sign on the Liberty

For short cruises most people can pack enough clothes to meet their needs, but on longer voyages clean clothes may run out partway through. Luckily for us we have taken our longest trips on Carnival. We took a back-to-back Eastern & Western Caribbean cruise on the Liberty, and a transatlantic voyage on the Breeze. On both these vacations we made use of the laundrette.

you would never find the laundrette without the tiny sign

Carnival Breeze Laundrette sign

Carnival has laundrettes on all of their ships, something their passengers truly appreciate. On the Liberty each passenger deck had its own laundrette with several coin-operated washers and dryers each. Only one washer worked on our deck, but the deck above housed most of the suites. Suite guests tended to send laundry out to the crew, plus their washers all worked, so I never had any trouble finding a washer open one floor up.

it's nice to be able to wash your own clothes on a cruise ship

only the middle washer worked on the Liberty

On the Breeze, Carnival’s newest ship, only a few decks had full laundrettes with washers and dryers operated not by coins, but by the sail & sign card that works as room key and shipboard credit card. The rest of the decks just had ironing rooms. On a transatlantic voyage this tended to cause a back-up of people waiting for washing machines, especially since they locked the laundrettes up at night.

new technology - use the sail & sign card to run the washing machines

no coins needed to use the washers & dryers on Carnival Breeze

Our deck had a full laundrette, poorly located next to the suites where the guests were least likely to use them and most likely to complain about the noise. And complain they did, which resulted in the laundrettes having shorter hours and longer lines…..and more noise because people waiting out in the hall for the door to open in the morning tend to talk.

soap and fabric softner vending machine on cruise ship

you don’t even need to bring laundry soap

I only hope this reduction in laundry facilities is an not indicator that Carnival has plans of phasing them out like most of the rest of the cruise lines have done. Judging by the amount of people who use them, a large percentage of the passengers appreciate having the option to do their own laundry during the cruise rather than paying the exorbitant fees to have the crew wash it for them. We greatly appreciated the laundrette on the Breeze in spite of having to wait to use it.

I recently sailed on the Holland America Veendam and was rather surprised to see that it had 3 launderettes onboard as I had not seen one on cruise lines other than Carnival previously. My prior cruises on Holland America were on the Oosterdam and Westerdam which did not have the launderettes, but the Veendam is a different ship class so perhaps some of their other smaller ships have them as well.

Some other lines such as Princess, Cunard, and P&O also have self-serve laundries on at least some of their ships. On P&O Arcadia use of the washers and dryers was free.

Posted in Breeze, Carnival, Liberty, Shipboard Life | Tagged Carnival, cruise, laundrette, laundry, laundry on a cruise ship, travel | 11 Comments

Cruise Stories

Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau, Alaska

More Blogs About Juneau

When a Vacation Goes to Hell

The Not So Random Bus Tour on Grand Cayman Island

Grand Cayman On Your Own

Grand Cayman Shore Excursions

Bars on the Carnival Breeze Cruise Ship

Visiting Glacier Gardens in Juneau, Alaska

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Miracle Chocolate Cake

Miracle Chocolate Cake Recipe

Ingredients

Directions

Variation

Frosting

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2013

The Family Cruise

Food on the Norwegian Pearl

Grand Canary Island – Island Tour

Accomodations on Holland America Westerdam

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2013

You Can Do Your Own Laundry On A Cruise

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