Andokides' Porch

When the people sat around on the porch and passed around the pictures of their thoughts for the others to look at and see, it was nice. The fact that the thought pictures were always crayon enlargements of life made it even nicer to listen to. -- Zora Neale Hurston

Back in 2020 sometime, Bill and I began planning for a trip to Alaska. We scheduled a trip for June, 2021, but by that time, Covid had set in and overrun all kinds of plans, especially any plans that involved large numbers in constrained spaces. Think airports, airplanes, ships. This summer, though, cruising is back, and we rescheduled out trip: small ship, inner passage; especially if you're only going to do it once, do it right.

We added a couple of days on the front end of the trip, flew into Seattle rather than direct to Vancouver, and had a little time to spend with my sister Lisa and her wife, which was delightful, a rare opportunity as we've found ourselves on opposite sides of the continent with our busy lives. Lisa and Sarah were excellent hosts, helping us with various logistical issues, ensuring we were well fed, and putting us up for our final night after I screwed up the AirBnB reservation. Though cruise lines were open for business and encouraging travelers, Covid had not let go, and in fact, new variants were giving the pandemic a new surge, so some of our time in Seattle was negotiating a Covid PCR test to be administered within 72 hours of boarding the ship.

On Wednesday, June 15, we left for Vancouver. We had hardly arrived there when things began to come unraveled. The cruise provider's representatives at the airport were clearly flustered and agitated; our cruise departure had been delayed a day. As a consequence, not everyone's hotel reservation, made for one night, could be accommodated for two. We were redirected to the Fairmont Downtown from the Fairmont Waterfront where we had originally been booked. And was this for one night or two? No one could tell us. The hotel was beautiful, a grand old hotel. Queen Elizabeth had been a guest at least once. The staff did a marvelous job under pressure to get everyone accommodated, but the on-site representative for the cruise line was nowhere to be found, so questions such as What happens to the cruise schedule? What about booked excursions? What should we do about meals for the unexpected day in Vancouver? What about our Covid tests, which in the case of Bill and me, would now be five hours out of date by the new boarding time? could not find an answer. The first rule of travel: "Things will not go as planned. Be prepared." We connected with two other couples at the hotel registration desk and formed a kind of informal mutual aid society. Bill and I settled into our room and went in search of lunch.

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We went out to supper, Korean fried chicken, and when we returned to our room, we found an envelope with some material from SilverSea. There was a letter apologizing for the delay and explaining that, in order to keep the rest of the summer on schedule, our cruise would have to be shortened by one day. Silver Sea would be giving us $300 per person onboard credit — not very useful on an all-inclusive cruise, except that we were allowed to apply that a credit to any paid shore excursions we might elect — and a 30% discount on any cruise we might book with Silver Sea within two years. For our time in Vancouver, Silver Sea would be putting us up for the extra night, providing us with meal vouchers for use in the hotel restaurant, and complimentary tickets for a Gray Line bus tour of the city. Still, no definitive word on how the itinerary would be changed, which port or ports would be eliminated from the schedule, what would happen with our excursion reservations. For many of us, this trip was likely a once-in-a-lifetime event, and we had planned carefully what we wanted to see and do. Bill called the agent with whom we had booked and was assured that all of our planned excursions would happen, which was clearly not the case, as we couldn't do in six days what had been scheduled for seven. Happily, our hotel's restaurant proved to be quite good. Breakfast was a buffet with a range of offerings, including smoked meats, cheeses, beautiful Pacific Northwest fruit, and, of course, a variety of cured fish, this in addition to in addition to the usual scrambled eggs, bacon, and pastries. Lunches included salads, soups, and gourmet sandwiches, and supper tickets were good for any three-course meal on the menu, including alcohol. The next night, Bill had the prime rib. I had rockfish.

The next morning, we finally found an on-site representative from SilverSea who was able to provide us with information regarding Covid testing being offered by the cruise operator. Remember that Covid test I had arranged in Seattle? As with everyone else, our tests, to be taken within 72 hours of boarding, would be out of date by boarding time the next day. We spent the afternoon on the GrayLine bus and got to see a broad overview of the city. Tucked between the North Shore Mountains and the Pacific Ocean, Vancouver is beautiful and one of the most expensive places to live in North America.

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After our afternoon of sightseeing, we returned to our room and unwound and got ready to go down to supper. As we were waiting in the lobby for a table, new friends we had met during the registration process the day before came in. They had been down at port where our ship had come in. They had stood on the pier and shouted back and forth with passengers on the decks and on their cabin balconies. Our ship had been without electricity for two days. Now, having arrived in Vancouver a day late, the passengers were not being allowed to disembark until morning because Canadian customs was essentially closed for the day. Whatever inconveniences we were suffering by the delay, these people had really had their vacations irretrievably scarred.

The next day, with the high level of disorganization and confusion we were coming to expect from SilverSea, we did board our ship, and settled into our cabin. The cabin was relatively large and well appointed. Our butler and our housekeeper checked in to ensure we had everything we needed and to offer their services. There was a bottle of chilled sparkling wine waiting for us, and at last, there was a revised itinerary for the cruise. Juneau and Skagway were out, eliminating a train ride and a walk on the Mendenhall Glacier. Wrangell was in. Wrangell? Wrangell? It was disappointing, but in travel, the only thing to do is to learn to roll with the punches. We dressed for supper and went to the restaurant where we met Mr and Mrs Wang, an older couple from Taiwan whom we met during the confusion at the hotel registration desk on Wednesday. We had supper with the Wang, heard their stories, and learned that Mrs Wang was a stereotypical, self-professed "tiger mom."

We sailed through the inner passage in the middle of the night. So much for the advantages of a small ship, and Saturday was spent at sea. Bill and I explored the ship and played cards in the Panorama Library on Deck 10. It was there we met Liz, who was from Australia, who was traveling with her friend Mimi. Liz and Mimi would join our small group of on-board friends. Later in the cruise, we would have tea with Liz and Mimi and hear their stories of fleeing from Europe (Poland and France, respectively) in the days building up to the Second World War.

EC0F49DE-532E-42EA-9166-A06AF706A0C0_1_105_cOur first port
stop was Ketchikan, AK. We were now on AKDT. Who knew that Alaska has its own time zone? Our ship was tiny compared to the behemoth Carnival and Royal Caribbean vessels parked in the port, each with a capacity in the thousands, probably between 3 and 5-thousand each. Ketchikan was ready for them, a tourist town, teeming with gift shops peddling kitschy knockoffs of indigenous art, and minerals; minerals of all kinds; sculptures, furniture, household items, jewelry, all made from minerals. Bill and I toured the town, the largest town among our stops in the revised itinerary. We attempted to get into a local restaurant for lunch, but it was overrun, so we headed back to the ship.

After lunch, we went back into Ketchikan to take a Float-a-plane ride over the Mystic Fjord National Monument. It was breathtakingly beautiful.

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Day 3, we arrived in Wrangell at 8am. This was the last-minute substitution for Juneau and Skagway. Wrangell is a very small town, without the facilities to accommodate the large ships. The downtown is not a stranger to tourists, but it does not exist for them, either. There's a pharmacy and a grocery store, a hardware store, a real estate office. The local specialty appeared to be halibut pizza. Bill and I didn't have an opportunity to try it, though admittedly, we didn't try very hard. It was rainy and cool. We had booked a jet-boat excursion to a glacial lake.

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Tuesday, Sitka, AK. Sitka was the first Russian settlement back before Alaska was purchased by the US from Russia, and evidence of the Russian history is still in evidence, most markedly, the Russian Orthodox Church in the center of town. Not as big as Ketchikan, Sitka is still a town of some size. Our excursion in Sitka was a boat ride that promised we would see sea otters, eagles, and, yes, whales. I wondered how they could make such a guarantee, but they did not disappoint. One of two humpback whales we saw put on quite a tail-splashing show for us, and we also saw a gray whale. It was unusual, the nature guide on our boat told us, to see two species in the area at the same time. Most of the gray whales, she noted, had moved into waters further north by this time of year.

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Wednesday, the first bright, sunny day of the trip, we sailed into the opening of the Hubbard Glacier glacial lake. We couldn't get too close to the glacier, but in the bright sunshine, cruising even into the entry was like being inside a brilliant crystal. It seemed that everyone on board was crowded onto the upper, open decks taking photos. I actually got a bit of sunburn.

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Thursday, we arrived in Seward, where most of us were ushered onto a train for the 4-hour ride to Anchorage.

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