Turnagain Arm of Cook Inlet

Day 9 - Saturday, July 6, 2024 – Anchorage, Alaska

We took a trolley around Anchorage in the morning and learned a little about its history, and specifically the 1964 earthquake.  We went to Earthquake Park where we stood on the fault line and you could actually see the ripples left behind from the earthquake. There are still homes underneath the ground that were sucked into the earth.

For lunch, we shared a 3 item appetizer with garlic shrimp, calamari, and salmon dip.

After lunch, we took a shuttle to the Native American Heritage Center. They had some nice exhibits and we were quite impressed that the natives demonstrating the dancing were all young people, some still in high school. We also spent quite a bit of time wandering around shops today.

For supper, we split a pound of Alaskan King Crab legs. We had seen them on the menu other places for $100-$130 for one to one and a half pounds. The $80 price tonight seemed like a bargain. It wasn't until we placed the order that I realized I'm not sure that I've ever had them before, being much more familiar with snow crab, I basically ate one of the four pieces (although it was one of the two bigger ones) and Keith ate the rest. I did enjoy it.

Day 10 – Sunday, July 7, 2024 – Boarded Ship

On Sunday, we took a train from Anchorage to Whittier where we would catch the cruise ship, Nieuw Amsterdam. We had to report to the hotel lobby at 11:30 a.m. for a 11:45 departure by bus to the train station. The 2-3 hour train to Whittier was scheduled for a 12:45 departure. This schedule made figuring out lunch a bit of a challenge. We could get lunch or a snack on the train, but knew it would be a late lunch. We opted to eat a big late breakfast before boarding the train. In the interest of time and convenience, we ate breakfast at the hotel which was too expensive for a not very good breakfast buffet, but it was food that should succeed in holding us over.

While it was another glass domed train, on this train, the seats were at tables as opposed to the earlier train we had taken. We also had assigned seating; I was glad we were headed forward instead of backward. The train was late, so we didn't depart until after 1:00. I decided to order the Alaska smoked salmon chowder in a bread bowl. The service/kitchen was very slow, unlike what it had been on our previous train ride. I didn't eat a snack because I had ordered lunch. It was getting close to 2:30 and still no chowder. They were actually starting to come through with tickets for beverages and asking people to close out their tabs so they would be done before arriving at our destination. They weren't delivering the ones with food that hadn't been delivered because they didn't want us to pay for something we didn't have, but that told me I wasn't the only one wondering if it was going to arrive. I was getting hungry. I was thinking very seriously about going ahead and having a snack I had brought, but wasn't sure if I should or not. About that time, fortunately before I got a snack out, the chowder finally arrived. I'm glad I hadn't eaten the snack as I wouldn't have been able to eat the chowder if I had. It was good; not necessarily worth the wait.

Less than an hour later, we arrived at our ship. Going through security went smoothly. I wasn't allowed to take my bottle of tea onto the ship, but I was able to pour it into my Yeti cup. The concern was the plastic bottle, not the liquid. That just meant I only had one bottle to refill for the rest of the trip instead of two as I had also packed one in my checked luggage. The information we had been sent said that any food taken on board the ship (both initially and returning from ports) had to be factory sealed. I had spent quite a bit of time before the trip evaluating my snacks and figuring out what I had to do to be able to have snacks during the land portion of the trip, unopened packages when we boarded the ship, ziplock bags to put them in for an excursion, but not putting too much in because I wouldn't be able to bring it back on to the ship, etc. That was all wasted stress as I didn't make a point of discarding any open packages from the first week of travel and I was never questioned about any of them, both in my carry-on and in my checked luggage. I presume that doesn't mean it wouldn't be different a different time, but on this trip, it was a non-issue.

As I said before, we had a Neptune suite which was a nice roomy suite with a large balcony. There were some special perks that came with the Neptune suite, the best of which was the Neptune Lounge which was right across the hall from our room. They cycled through about three menus of snacks (morning, afternoon, and evening) so there was always food available. We probably could have made a meal of the offerings there, but we never did. It did work well for many of my snacks. And the best part was there was always unsweetened iced tea in the afternoon and evening!

We ate dinner in the main dining room (which we did most nights). One of the additional perks of the Neptune Suite was priority seating, so we never had to wait and always were seated at a nice table fairly close to the windows. When you ordered, you ordered everything at once, including dessert. They expected each person to order an appetizer, entrée, and dessert. That is obviously too much food for me, but I decided since we were paying for it anyway (meals are included), I might as well get my own appetizer and dessert even though I may only eat a few bites. Keith and I both got to sample two desserts instead of having to agree and share one like we usually do. This first night, I had French onion soup and rainbow trout.  We had chocolate fudge brownie cheesecake and a hot fudge sundae for dessert. It was fun to have a couple of bites of each. Room service was also included, and I ordered cheese and nuts one evening for a snack.