Saturday, July 21 – Juneau AK

Cruise Day 5

Arrive into the port of Juneau at 7am and tie up alongside the wharf.  The sun is shining (yay) we have had such amazing weather for this cruise. 

Coming into Juneau at the foot of Mt Roberts AK

After a quick breakfast we walk less than a block into town. 

Our friendly lollipop man

Once again the jewellery shops outnumber everything else by a huge margin.  They are very quick to point out that the price tag with many zeros on it is only the asking price.  They are hard sell, stalking you from their doors, offering special discounts etc.  We find out where the drug store is (passing an actual “drug store” on the way) to pick up some cough ‘n cold meds, think I am coming down with snifylus!  Another fur shop here too.  One of the shops is selling a selection of black golf balls, I guess for playing in the snow? 

Up close and personal with a bear

Unfortunately the only bears we see

Fur for the couple who has everything!

This clock at the crossroads appears in lots of Juneau marketinig

We don’t need to be back on board until 2.30pm but by around noon, after a very pleasant wander around the town, we are ready to head back to the ship, one of the four in port today. 

Beautiful day in Juneau AK

We spend a couple of hours in a pod at the back of the ship which is looking directly in to the stern cabins of the Grand Princess??  Mental note, if we ever go on the Grand Princess we will need a stern cabin, the others don’t have balconies.

Juneau is the capital city of Alaska, it took the honour from Sitka in 1906. Juneau is set along the beautiful Gastineau Channel at the foot of Boundary Range mountains and is accessible only by sea or air - there are no roads to the mainland as the terrain is so rugged. There are only 190 miles of roads in the city.  Alaska’s only aerial tramway is here and it soars up to 1,800 feet above sea level. Glad we got a good sunny day, it rains for 230 days per year.  Daylight hours range from 6.42 in winter to 18.25 at the height of summer.  John Nordstrom of retail fame sold his mining stake for $13,000 and returned to Seattle to start Nordstrom department stores.  There you go, if you ever get asked any pub quiz questions about Juneau I am happy to be of help.

We are the first ship to leave at 3pm and we have a beautiful cruise, the water is like glass and we see either otters or harbour seals poking their noses through the surface of the water and we do finally see whales spouting.

Gastineau Channel

Then the usual HH, show, dinner and bed!