CRUISE WEST TRAVELOGUE NO. 3

CRUISE WEST TRAVELOGUE NO. 3

SPIRIT OF YORKTOWN

GOLD RUSH INSIDE PASSAGE – JUNEAU TO SEATTLE

August 15, 2010 to August 25, 2010

EMBARKATION AND SAILAWAY ON THE SPIRIT OF YORKTOWN

We could see The Spirit of Yorktown from our hotel window at the Goldbelt Hotel in Juneau as she pulled into the harbor in Juneau on August 15, 2010 early in the morning around 7:00 a.m. Though we could not begin boarding her until 3:00 p.m. we were all still anxious to get the cruise portion of our vacation underway.

The shops along Juneau’s waterfront were all open early in anticipation of the cruise ship passengers converging on their town in hopes of finding that one special souvenir that they can’t do without before heading home. We joined all of the tourists and visited the shops one more time before we left.

We decided to take the Glacier Express bus out to see Mendenhall Glacier one more time before we boarded the ship and left in hopes of possibly seeing a black bear feeding on the salmon in the river or getting a better picture of Mendenhall Glacier. There is a very informative and interesting Visitor’s Center at Mendenhall; and we walked up to that and spent time going through the exhibits inside and watching the film that is presented by the National Park Service. After that, we headed down to the walkway that is along the river overlooking the glacier. The walkway is raised about 10-12 feet above ground and is built with sturdy wooden planks to walk on with a nice railing and thick fence wire underneath to prohibit anyone from falling. There are rangers at several points along the way to explain to you what you are seeing. The main attraction for everyone at this time of year is to see the salmon running. The river was thick with red salmon. The unfortunate thing about walking on this path at this time of year is the stench from the dead salmon on the edge of the river. Thus is the circle of life.

The passengers of The Yorktown all gathered in one room at the Goldbelt Hotel in Juneau at 3:00 p.m. We sat at round tables for eight and began chatting and getting to know some of the 130 other passengers who would be joining us on our journey from Juneau to Seattle for the next ten days. On the walls in this gathering room were poster pictures of Alaskan wildlife; and we all looked at them hoping that we would be able to get the chance to experience these animals up, close and personal on our cruise.

From the Goldbelt, we were bused in four buses across the bridge over the Gastineau Channel to Douglas Island where we arrived at the Perseverance Theater. This small theater was founded in 1979 and its’ mission is to entertain people with Alaska Native work.

Today, we saw a production of “Cedar House” that was written and produced by Ishmael Hope, a Juneau storyteller of Inupiaq and Tlingit heritage. He and another actor told five different native stories. The stage is simple and made of cedar planks. There are a few native Indian props that are used during the performance strategically located around the stage.

The two men began by telling us “The Origin of Mosquitoes” then continued with “The Clan Migration”, “The Birth of Raven”, “The Salmon Box”, and ended with “The Raven and the Brown Bears”. There was some dancing and beating on drums, but really not much music. The entire performance was about 30 minutes long.

After the performance, we were finally back on our bus and headed to The Spirit of Yorktown to board and get underway on our cruise! When we arrived at the dock a good portion of the ships’ crew were standing at the foot of the gangway to welcome us as we boarded – including the Captain! Once we were onboard, a crew member took us to our cabin and then we were on our own to explore and meet up in about half an hour for our mandatory safety drill.


Because the ship only carriers 130 passengers, there is only one dining room. There is a lounge area with couches and comfortable chairs which is where we would gather each evening after dinner to hear a talk on wildlife, whales, native culture and many other interesting topics. There were two Exploration Leaders on board, David and Alyssa.

The Yorktown has three decks – the Sun Deck with four balcony cabins and the bridge, the Promenade Deck and the Main Deck. It is 17 laps around the Promenade deck to complete one mile. The Sun Deck is partly covered with white Adirondack chairs and small round tables with white wooden chairs around them. Many people spent time hear reading their books as we cruised the waters of the Inside Passage. The Sun Deck is also the only place where smoking is allowed on the ship. From the Promenade Deck, if we climbed down one flight of stairs we would be on the Main Deck where there were inside cabins and the lounge towards the front of the vessel. The lounge looked like a very large living room filled with vinyl covered, curved bench seats that were on both sides of the room with marble topped round tables. In the middle of the room were love seats and chairs all placed in groupings to encourage groups of six or eight to get to know one another. There was a bar at the back of the lounge – mid ship – and the buffet station at the very front of the room under the floor to ceiling picture windows overlooking the bow of the boat.

Casual breakfast was served in the lounge at the buffet station. That consisted of English muffins, toast or bagels that you could toast yourself, a variety of dry cereal, one hot cereal such as oatmeal or cream of wheat, yogurt and a few different breakfast pastries served along with a beautiful platter of fresh cantaloupe, honeydew melon and pineapple. Coffee, tea and hot chocolate were available 24/7 near the bar. A more “hearty” breakfast was served in the dining room where you could get an omelet, waffles and the like.

In addition to a full lunch served in the dining room every day, a lighter fare was also offered in the lounge at the buffet station. There was always some sort of meat carving from roast beef or turkey to corned beef and pork. In addition, there was always a green salad with three types of dressings as well as a special salad such as a Caesar or Waldorf salad. Along with hot soup, there were also platters of quarter size sandwiches. Warm, homemade cookies were put out every afternoon around 3:00 on the bar for anyone wanting a snack.

Happy Hour began at 5:30 p.m. every afternoon with hor’sdeouvres brought around by the wait staff.
Dinner was served at either 6:30 p.m. or 7:00 p.m. depending on our schedule for the day. Even though dinner was “casual”¸ the tables were set with white linens, china and crystal along with a bud vase with fresh flowers in the center. You had a choice of four entrées for dinner (fish, chicken, meat or vegetarian), two choices of salads and one special desert like peach cobbler or chocolate or vanilla ice cream and a mango sorbet.

Nonetheless, at about 7:00 p.m. on August 15, 2010 the lines were tossed from the dock in Juneau and our journey through the Inside Passage began. As we left port the skies to our north glowed with a brilliant sunset of pinks on the lofty clouds in the sky. We were on our way!