Time definitely flies when you are having fun. It felt like we blinked twice and the last port call of the northbound cruise had arrived. We were up just before 07:00, got ready and then headed for the Windjammer for some breakfast. Graham had coffee, orange juice, fruit, granola and yoghurt. I had coffee, apple juice , granola with walnuts and chocolate milk, and avocado toast with boiled egg.
After breakfast, we headed back to the cabin to get changed into our swim stuff. Before we headed to the pool deck, we decided to check if there were any photographers on deck four or five. We were just about to give up and head for the lifts when we saw a photographer coming in from the promenade deck. We headed in this direction and got a couple of photos. Then we headed upstairs for a swim and some hot tub time. The pool was quite a pleasant temperature. We swam a few length and then headed to the hot tub for 15 minutes. Then we got dried off and headed back to the cabin to get showered and changed.
Once we were ready, we headed to the Schooner Bar for morning trivia. We scored 13 out of 20. The winning score was 17. After morning trivia, we quickly headed back to the cabin. We had kept an open mind about this day. Skagway was the only port that featured on both cruises. The weather was pretty awful that day. We were also docked at the Railroad Dock. In 2022, there was a major landslide in the area. Ever since then, people have not been allowed to walk along this dock. They operate oversized golf carts from the aft dock to the marina and the ship that is docked at the front dock tenders to the marina. We were at the aft dock. We knew that on the way back, we would be at the Ore dock, which meant we could walk straight off. Even if the weather than been nicer, it would have been at best fifty fifty if we had got off. With the weather as it was, there was no chance of this.
Graham picked up some optical gear and I got my iPad. Then we headed up to the solarium. We found a round lounger with a thicker seat cushion. This was really comfortable. We had not been there very long when we noticed that we had company. There was a humpback whale really close to the ship. This was such a treat. At some stage, the whale got bored with us and moved off around the headland. However, the next treat was just around the corner as there was an orca passing by.
Lunchtime came around quite quickly. I did not really want to give up our lounger, and we decided to take turns getting something to eat. I headed to the Windjammer first. I had some Royal Berry Blast Sprite, steak ranchero, stuffed baked potato, and fries with whipped goats cheese. I then went back to make some DIY chili cheese fries with guacamole. I got some soft serve vanilla ice cream on the way back to the solarium. Once I was back, Graham went to get some lunch.
We had a lovely, chilled afternoon. I saw seals, sea otters, and all kinds of interesting birds. The humpback whale also came back. At some stage, we had a drink of the day, which was Blue Wave. The time for afternoon trivia kind of crept up on us. I was not happy about the idea of giving up our spot. Graham was not bothered either way. We ended up sitting it out and stayed where we were.
After a beautifully relaxing day, all hell was about to break loose. At sail away time, the captain made an announcement. It was hard to hear it in the solarium. All I could hear was Hubbard Glacier. Our Facebook group was blowing up. The captain had explained that we had to get to Whittier by 1:00 AM on the Friday morning and this meant that we would not be able to make it to Hubbard Glacier the next day. People were very upset. Later that day, somebody posted a video of riot like scenes at Guest Services. I could not believe what I was seeing. The captain had gone down to Guest Services to speak to the mob. I had a lot of respect for this.
At around 18:00, we headed to the cabin to get changed for dinner. It was the second dress your best night of the cruise. We had a letter in the cabin explaining why we would not be able to make it to Hubbard Glacier and also explaining that everybody would get some on board credit. As we were in an inside cabin, we were due to get $200. Higher cabin types would get more. We did wonder what we would spend this on as we only had one day left. In the end, this was not a challenge. Once we had changed, we headed downstairs to get some photos. Then we headed for dinner.
Dinner that night was the Royal Night menu. We both had a glass of Chateau Ste Michelle Riesling. Graham had the escargot followed by the lemon-butter baked cod with sautéed spinach, citrus rice and a lemon butter sauce. I started with the vegan avocado & melon salad with cantaloupe, avocado, orange segments and figs in a maple-lime dressing. I then had the Chicken Marsala with a mushroom Marsala wine sauce, garlicky mashed potatoes, asparagus and tomatoes. Of course, it would have been criminal not to have the Baked Alaska in Alaska.
We passed on our usual post dinner drinks at the Pesky Parrot and headed back up to the solarium. The sail out from Skagway is very pretty. Just before 21:00, I left Graham to his own devices. Ovation has a great production show called The Beautiful Dream. This was being shown that evening and I wanted to see this. On the way, I stopped by the shop that was selling Alaska souvenirs. Ever since 2022, I had tried to find an Alaska Spirit Jersey to no avail. In the end, I had some custom Spirit Jerseys made as embarkation shirts for the second cruise. Of course, that almost guaranteed that I would finally find an Alaska Spirit Jersey. In fact, they had multiple different styles of Alaska Spirit Jerseys at the shop.
After I had a good look around, I headed to the theatre. I managed to get a seat in the front row pretty much centre stage. The show was every bit as good as I remembered. The story line is a bit thin, but the music, dancing, acrobatics and special effects are all amazing. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
When I headed back to the cabin, there were people on the Royal Esplanade with placards. I could not believe my eyes. The whole thing was just too ridiculous for words. I headed back to the cabin. Graham had returned before me and was fast asleep. I got ready for bed. I read for short while and then I went to sleep, too.
Dolphingirl’s Travels 
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