Quantum to Alaska 2022

We are certainly slipping back into our cruising lifestyle.     We enjoyed a nice sleep and woke up around 5am with the ship quietly and stealthily sailing up the Endicott Arm fjord.     The scenery was breathtaking and we reached a constriction point well into the fjord where the ship's bridge crew slowly rotated the ship 180º, discharged some passengers for a glacier tour up close and personal.     We then slowly made our way out of the Endicott Arm and back into the main channel were two other ships began to follow us.     It was drop dead gorgeous weather that carried on through to our port stop in Juneau   At the port of Juneau, a city when I grew up     in, the Disney Wonder was already moored and we took the main berthing location and the Carnival Spirit moored directly behind us and the Zuiderdam was moored between the Spirit and the Wonder.     It was around 1:30 when disembarkation began and once again, we let the masses exit the ship and then we

Sometime during the night, Quantum slipped into its berth at the Railroad dock behind the Discovery Princess. This dock is located the furthest from town but is still quite walkable to town.     Also in port was the Disney Wonder and the HAL ship Noordam.     Once again we started our day leisurely with breakfast. We let the bulk of the passengers disembark and we made our way off the ship and strolled into town.   Our first stop was the Klondike Trail National. Historic Park which has a number of exhibits documenting the gold rush and the challenges the miners faced in reaching the Klondike gold fields in the late 1800's.     There is a similar National Historic Park in Seattle documenting the start of the voyage the miners faced leaving Seattle.     We collected our National Parks stamp and then spent most of the rest of the day shopping and people watching.     We also purchased tickets for the railroad and a dog mushing camp for when we return in July

We we had another leisurely get up and burrito breakfast in the Two70 Café.     We had scenic cruising with no commentary all the way into the dock at Icy Strait Point. The ship was about 1/2 hour late arriving at the dock and an NCL cruise ship was already here     We didn't try to be first off the ship, but wandered off and made our way to the town shuttle pickup spot.     It's a $5 RT fare and it's a small van towing a number of     passenger trailers much like a tram in Disneyland.   The driver provided commentary for the 1.5 mile trip into Hoonan which is a Tlingit Indian fishing town that formerly housed a salmon cannery that closed in 1912.     We walked around and admired the totem poles before hopping back in the return shuttle.     We toured the museum which has relics of the machinery used in canning salmon.     That was interesting to me.       Back on board the ship, we ate dinner at the Japanese restaurant, Izumi Sushi,

It was nice to have no need to wake up early, so we didn't.     After breakfast in the Windjammer (buffet) we attended the port talk which was not much different than a HAL presentation.     For this cruise we purposely did not book any shore excursions. After lunch I tried to watch a game show in the Music Hall but I couldn't see anything.     So I walked out and explored the ship.       I ended up back in the Two70° stage area (aft) and watched dance practice.     It was actually pretty interesting and the floor to ceiling windows didn't hurt at all.     After dinner in the Windjammer, we attended the stage show, Feathers & Sequins which was pretty good.       And that was it for a lazy sea day.  

  We booked this last minute trip on the Quantum of the Seas after finding a great deal for a balcony cabin on a ship we've never sailed on.     We used our regular travel agent, CostcoTravel.com and received $50 shipboard credit, one specialty dining experience, two unlimited     soda packages, a spa experience, and a $70 Costco shop card. All of this was done at the same fare as booking it on the RCCL website directly. This ship is normally used in the Chinese market, but because of the pandemic, it was moved to home port in Seattle for the Alaska cruise season.   All the booking is done on the Royal Caribbean app with one important exception:     I could only print luggage tags by going to the RCCL website.     Be sure to print your luggage tags before arriving at the terminal to save a long wait before even joining the queue to board the ship.   We were assigned a check in time of 2-2:30pm.     We arrived at 1:30pm and there were at least 1,000 people in