Saturday, September 22, 2012

Alaska Cruise Part 3 "The Invasion"

One of the things I most enjoy on cruises is the entertainment, even when it is a bit amateurish or hokey.  But, noone could have been prepared for the night invasion of "Nickelodeon".

The Welcome Aboard Entertainment was hosted by the Cruise Director who prompted the audience to call out where they were from Ad Nauseum and then...finally...we thought there were no unnamed places left in the planet and would finally be treated to some entertainment.  Noooooo......here come the Nickelodeon characters!  I recognized SpongePants but there was some other pink, star-shaped tubbie there too.

I decry this invasion of adult space!   I flounced up off my seat and left to go to the Bar, thinking that they wouldn't dare let Nickelodeon characters in the bar!

Wrong again, Sooo-Eeeee.  After the Bingo game--an activity for ADULTS only involving gambling and drinks in the Bar, the next entertainment group began to set up and ----HORRORS--it is SpongePants and his pink starfish sidekick again!

And, they added another character named Dora.  Now it is time for stiff letter of protest!  Not only did our little group summarily depart the bar with drinks in hand, half the bar got up and left!  Take THAT on your bottom line, NCL!  Maybe you can make your money off apple juice in sippy cups!

End of Rant.

Next stop:  Juneau.  It looked like this:

Yes, that's right--complete white out!  You could hardly see the faintest outline of the port.  Here is the irony; it was THIS day that was chosen to clean the windows!

Take a look at the squeegee he is using!  We thought we might take up a collection for a "Big Boy Squeegee".

Pity the poor souls who purchased expensive shore excursions.  We saw them return to the ship cold, wet, grumpy and shivering.  It was the only port where none of us bought an excursion.

That night was Chocolate Night.   It was festive and fun, of course, but I have already reviewed the food.  Some of the chocolate desserts suffered the same lack of character as other dishes but the displays were lovely and appetizing.

The chocolate eagle looked good enough to relocate back to the room.

My personal favorite was huge, sweet, ripe strawberries dipped in a chocolate shell.

Here is Marilyn  and her favorite was ....everything!  Yes, we did a bit of a photo setup here--Mare is a good sport!

Next up is the Star of the Cruise--The inside passage to see the glaciers.

Here is a map of Tracy's Arm a fjord near Juneau.   I got this from Google.

We passed many iceberg's which I am told are chunks from Sawyer's Glacier.

It was beautiful even though the weather was cloudy and drizzly.  There were many Ahhh and Oooh's despite the crummy weather.

Most people stayed inside the bar area and watched the passage though the narrow channel from the comfort of their bar seat and a cocktail.

I left my drink occasionally to go outside for a photo.

Here is the glacier:  note the blue ice.  Without the light the sun would have provided, our photos were less than spectacular.

The experience of BEING among the massive steep walls, passing another cruise ship in the narrow passage and seeing icebergs sweep past was exciting.

3 comments:

  1. Hi Sue, I bet with a little time in Photoshop land, I can make that look 'more' like a sunny day.

    Paul

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  2. Correction...that was Sponge Bob Square Pants and Patrick...then Dora the Explorer that chased drinkers from the bar.

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  3. So Sharon - How come you know who they are?? HAHAHAHAHAHAA ;-D

    I would be rather irate too if my cruise for mainly adults was over run by cartoon characters!!

    Karen Park @ SLR

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