Random thoughts from the sea
Days 111-114, 2026 Grand World Voyage Friday to Monday, April 24-27, 2026; Kodiak, Sitka and Ketchikan, Alaska. Alaska is a special place to cruise. Majestic mountains with snow-covered caps, dense evergreen forests, dozens of rocky islands and if you’re lucky, plenty of sea life, wildlife and even bald eagles. It
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Day 10, 2024 Majestic Japan Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024; Dutch Harbor, Alaska We should have known that a 53-day cruise without a single tender port was too good to be true. A U.S. navy ship pulled rank and bumped us from today’s assigned pier in Dutch Harbor, Alaska, so we
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Day 6, 2024 Majestic Japan Friday, Sept. 6, 2024; Haines, Alaska You know what they say about best laid plans going awry. That described today for me. Nonetheless, I enjoyed myself and ended up with a watercolor to show for it. I’ve learned that Southeast Alaska rain isn’t like rain
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Day 5, 2024 Majestic Japan Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024; Sitka, Alaska We lucked out today in Sitka, Alaska, as earlier forecasts for rain today disappeared. The sun tried unsuccessfully to peek through low-hanging clouds, but for this town where it rains two out of every three days, we’ll count today
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Day 3, 2024 Majestic Japan Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024; Vancouver, BC, Canada Normally cruise ships start or end their Alaska cruises in Vancouver, so unless cruisers plan to extend their trips, they don’t see much of this beautiful city. We have the full day here, so I took advantage and
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Day 2, 2024 Majestic Japan Monday, Sept. 1, 2024; Victoria, BC, Canada What a rare treat – a full day in Victoria on a cruise! Typically, ships call here for just a couple of hours in order to satisfy the peculiarities of U.S. maritime law. We docked at 7 a.m.
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Day 27, 2024 Ultimate Alaska Friday, July 5, 2024; Prince Rupert, British Columbia, Canada Cruises should stop more often in Prince Rupert, Canada. It’s a nice deep-water port in British Columbia and fulfills the requirement that ships stop in a non-U.S. port when sailing round trip from Seattle. Typically cruise
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Day 24, 2024 Ultimate Alaska Tuesday, July 2, 2024; Juneau, Alaska. Sometimes I just have to put the camera down and soak in the view. Whale spouts erupted all around us – I didn’t know where to focus my zoom lens. Perhaps a dozen humpback whales were blowing, slapping tails
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Day 23, 2024 Ultimate Alaska Monday, July 1, 2024; Haines, Alaska Lions and tigers and bears – oh my! OK, no lions or tigers, but today I did see a bear in the wild – a highlight of the trip so far! I’m not sure whether there is an Alaskan
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Day 20, 2024 Ultimate Alaska Friday, June 28, 2024; Homer, Alaska When I first stepped ashore in Homer this morning, it looked unfamiliar. We tendered to a dock near the end of the Spit – a 4.5-mile sandbar jutting into Kachemak Bay south of Anchorage. But once we got from
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