We stayed at the Wingate by Wyndham in Anchorage for 3 nights. The construction, that was well underway when we arrived, got progressively worse each day. I am baffled why the hotel management thought it was acceptable to undertake that scale of renovations without disclosing the situation when someone booked a room. And why significant discounts for the mess were not offered.
By the end of the third day the condition of the floor in the lobby and breakfast areas was so deplorable that it was a significant safety hazard. I think a building inspector, had he been invited to view the property, would have condemned it. But no building inspector was involved because, I believe, no permits were pulled to do this work. Unconscienable.
On the third day the laundry room was out of commission and there was no ice anywhere in the hotel. Awful. Dust everywhere. Not pleasant at all. But the bedroom was okay, which made it all tolerable.
Day 27
We started the day with breakfast in the dusty breakfast room at the hotel, then I went to the room to blog and edit photos while Marlene went off the explore Anchorage on foot. We tried, and failed, to meet up for lunch. I took a nap. We met for dinner at 49th State Brewing. I had some very good seafood chowder and a flight of craft beers – three lagers and a pilsner. I took home a quart of the smoky lager. Very good.
We played cards that night.
Day 28
We had met a couple from England who expressed an interest in driving up to see Denali with us, but she was not feeling well that morning so after breakfast Marlene and I headed out alone.
We should have stayed home, too. The trip was pretty much a complete waste of time. The road north, which I expected to be mountainous and lined with places for good photos, was straight, flat and not interesting at all. The day was gray with just a few breaks of sun and the mountains were fogged in. We stopped in Talkeetna, which was smaller and more rustic than I expected. We didn’t even go into any of the shops. And we had to backtrack to get to the Denali viewing spots – I thought we would be able to drive through – so that was 30 wasted miles.
But Marlene took the opportunity to make a snowball and throw it at me. And later we stopped on a bridge over a river that still had big chunks of ice.
When we finally got to the Denali viewing spots they were closed. And Denali was nowhere in sight. We later found that there is a “30% Club” – only about 30% of the tourists who trek to Denali actually see it.
Disappointing.
The sun did break out as we returned to Anchorage, so we got some nice photos of the mountains that ring the city.
We “dined” on leftovers in our hotel room, then played cards.
Day 29
We had breakfast in the dusty breakfast room, then checked out of the hotel. Good riddance.
We went next door to the Ulu knife factory and bought a commemorative knife, engraved with our names and the date. Then we drove to Thunderbird Falls for a 1-mile “mostly flat” hike to see the falls.
Mostly flat, my ass. While not as arduous at Mount Mondadnock, it wasn’t a piece of cake. But worth it. We got some nice photos on the mile-long hike to the viewing platform.
The hike was along the rim of a deep gorge. At many points there were signs warning of sharp cliffs and stay away! So of course each warning sign had well-worn paths where hikers had walked to the edge to see how steep the cliffs were.
There was one branch off the path to the viewing platform, labeled “brook trail.” It led down the gorge to the Eklutna River. I was not eager to go down a fairly steep trail because I would just have to climb up again. But Marlene insisted. So down we went.
The river was lined with ice and we had to walk on some of that ice – and slippery rocks – to get to where we could view the waterfall. But Marlene was determined, so we carefully navigated the path. And were rewarded with some very nice photos.
After the falls we visited the Salvation Army thrift store and Marlene found some treasures. I wasn’t happy about that as I knew we were either at our 50-pound luggage limit or possibly over. So we went to the post office to weigh the luggage. 50 lbs for mine, 54 lbs for hers. Without the extra stuff added.
We drove to Earthquake Park, a city park that commemorates the Good Friday earthquake of 1964. We repacked the bags in the parking lot, shifting some heavy items into our backpacks. Then we walked around the park which is built on a mile-long section of bluff that collapsed into the sea when the earthquake hit. Dozens of people died there. Kind of scary knowing that an earthquake can change a landscape so dramatically.
We visited the 49th State Brewery a second time. We shared some nachos and I had a pint of the Most Coast Pilsner, followed by a pint of the Amber Borealis. Both delicious.
Our final trip out of the city was a drive about 20 miles south, to get a shot of the mountains down there.
Then to the airport, getting gas along the way.
Dropping off the car was easy, but we made getting to the gate difficult. First Marlene forgot her phone in the car and had to go get it. Then I got pulled aside at security because I had forgotten that we had put two cans of soda in the backpack. And Marlene forgot her insulated cup and had to go back for that, going through security a second time. But we finally made it to the gate. And waited nearly 3 hours.
We were very tired and we both napped a bit.
The 3.5 hour flight to Seattle was bumpy, which Marlene didn’t like at all. The hour in Seattle-Tacoma airport was spent finding the gate, which was moved to an entirely different terminal. We walked, I estimate, nearly a mile getting to our connecting flight to Miami. That 6 hour flight was uneventful. We played cards.
We waited for a few minutes in Miami for the arrival of Marlene’s brother. We stopped for dinner on the way back to his place – my treat. Marlene’s dog, Becky, was very happy to see us.
We were very tired. That’s what happens when a vacation lasts 30 days.
NCL2 wrapup
This was a full month of travel – 26 days on a cruise (Norwegian Jade), almost 4 full days in Anchorage and a long flight home. It was a good trip, overall, but had some bumps. I will review the ship first, followed by an accounting of highlights and lowlights.
The Norwegian Jade
This is one of the older (launched 2006) and smaller ships in the Norwegian fleet (about 2,400 capacity and carrying only 2,000 on this cruise). We expected an older, smaller ship as we had seen it in port last year. But I hadn’t cruised Norwegian in over 20 years and Marlene had never been on any cruise line other than Carnival, so neither of us knew exactly what to expect. In evaluating the ship we naturally compare it to our Carnival experiences. So how did it stack up?
Not well.
The ship itself was in good condition and the layout – with the possible exception of the main dining room – was designed well. It was relatively easy to find the venue we were seeking. The dining room, located on Deck 6 aft, had to be accessed from Deck 7. As we were on Deck 5 that meant we had to walk up two decks, go aft then walk down to 6. Inconvenient. It had a nice view out the stern, but because of the inconvenience we mostly dined in the second, somewhat smaller, dining room.
The single salt water pool was small and we used it just once – it was too chilly to use after Acapulco, which meant that the pool was irrelevant for the second half of the cruise. The hot tubs were used throughout, but we did not use them after Acapulco.
The ship has two good dance venues – the Bliss Lounge on Deck 7 and the Spinnaker Lounge on Deck 13. A third music venue – Magnum’s – has no dance floor and so is most appropriate for listening to live music and isn’t very good for that as the music competes with noise from the bar. The problem we had was that the best dance music was provided by the Rockaway Duo which was booked into Magnum’s about half the time. The Jade Orchestra, which was a pale shadow of the Luminosa Rockband, was usually in the Spinnaker Lounge, playing elevator music. So many nights there was no venue where we could dance. We appreciated the Rockaway Duo, but the other music could have been much improved – to a Carnival level – if the band had been better and if the groups had been assigned to venues more intelligently.
The casino was large. And mostly unused. Unlike our Carnival experience where the casinos are very busy, this casino was dead. Perhaps this was due to the older, more laid-back passengers, but it was also due to this having the tightest slot machines we have ever experienced on a cruise. Both Marlene and I lost money, which is to be expected, but we had less fun losing the money than we expected. These machines just never paid. I don’t think I had more than a $10 winning day the last two weeks of the cruise. Constant losing is a drag.
The big surprise to us, in the ship, was the presence of O’Sheehan’s – a 24-hour complimentary sitdown pub. We have never had the option of being served after midnight on a Carnival ship.
The passengers, as I mentioned, were generally older and more sedate than the people who travel Carnival. A lot of people on the Jade seemed to have purchased the drinks package – which is cheaper than the package on Carnival – and were content to sit in the bar all day. Others were content reading and doing crossword puzzles. Not exactly a dynamic group of passengers. But we met a lot of nice people. And a lot of German- and Spanish-speaking passengers, so Marlene had many opportunities to practice her foreign language skills. I tried to keep up with the German conversations and was marginally successful.
There were just 2 full productions in the theater in the 25 nights. Carnival would have had at least 8 full-scale productions in the same span. Most of the shows were single vocalists or comedians (and the comedy was much inferior to what would be found on a Carnival cruise). The final production was terrific, but it was too little too late.
The crew was wonderful – every bit as good as a Carnival crew. We especially appreciated the singing breakfast coffee crew and the “washy washy” girl who greeted us every morning in the buffet, cajoling us to sanitize our hands before dining. They provided a bright start to each day.
The weather was generally good, except for Juneau. We had some rough sea days, but I never got seasick. Either the ship’s stabilizers were particularly effective, or I am finally getting over my tendency to become seasick. And we were both healthy throughout, with only some minor sniffles in the days after the cold weather hit.
In addition to the mishandling of the music venues, we had some other issues with how the ship was managed:
We booked this cruise for its itinerary, and, except for the dropped ports, the itinerary was every bit as good as we hoped.
Now for the highlights and lowlights of the trip, aside from the ship:
Highlights:
The other ports – Acapulco, Ketchikan and Skagway – were not disappointing but were not very memorable.
Lowlights:
Bottom line: not a perfect trip by any means, but a memorable one.