Alaska Cruises in the Summer - Part 9

 

Day 4 (July 28, 2023) Crown Princess👑docked at Skagway from 7 am to 4:30 pm. I gave a very brief introduction of Skagway in my previous blog in April. To refresh the memory, the population in Skagway in 2020 census was 1240. In the summer, the population doubles in order to handle more than 1,000,000 visitors each year.

Why is this area called Skagway? Its name is from Tlingit word “Shgagwéi” since it was originally inhabited by the Tlingit who are Alaska Native Indigenous Peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America.

I became more familiar with the facilities on a cruise including the TV in my stateroom. The itinerary with a map could be viewed on the TV📺

Also there was a good news. Fortunately my partner was not able to buy a local sim card at Juneau. He joined Public Mobile Canada-US data plan and it worked on all the ports in Alaska. The trick was to turn on data roaming on the cellphone for using wifi. Mobile hotspot was available so he shared his wifi with me😊

Since Skagway was originally inhabited by the Tlingit, all places in this area such as mountains, lakes and rivers have Tlingit names with a meaning behind. For example: The Tlingit name of Mount Hoffman is Shaa Shakee which means top of the mountain ⛰

Skagway port has 4 berths. Besides Crown Princess, Norwegian Jewel and Carnival Spirit were also there. Two days in a roll we saw Norwegian Jewel, would it have same itinerary as us on the other days? 

We were told it is worth to ride the White Pass Summit train. We purchased this excursion from Princess at last minute and we picked the earliest ride at 8:00 am. Each of us paid $149.95 USD. We spent a bit more than 2 ½ hours on the train. The price from White Pass Railway Company in 2023 was $142 USD per adult and $71 USD per child; in 2024 is $146 USD per adult and $73 USD per child (Book Alaska Shore Excursions with White Pass & Yukon Route Railway (wpyr.com)).

The name of this excursion was called White Pass Scenic Railway since we would be seeing mountains, rivers, waterfalls, bridges, trestles, tunnels and glaciers along the White Pass Railroad. We started from Skagway at 0 ft elevation to White Pass Summit at 2888 ft elevation. 

Let’s go!

According to The Canadian Encyclopedia, the White Pass & Yukon Route railway was built to meet the demand for transportation to the gold fields of the Yukon River basin during the Klondike Gold Rush. Completed in 1900, it was a feat of engineering and one of the steepest railways in North America. It runs 177 km from Skagway, Alaska, to Whitehorse, Yukon. (https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/white-pass-and-yukon-railway)

My partner said this is a 鬼斧神工! There is a film (like 默劇) about 1920s travel on the White Pass & Yukon Route Railroad (youtube.com) which was produced 100 years ago. 感受吓懸崖峭壁上的火車.

Get ready to see the train on the opposite side!

We were given brochures on the train. Different languages are available such as English, Chinese, French and Spanish, etc.

English - White Pass & Yukon Route Railway (wpyr.com)

Chinese - White Pass & Yukon Route Railway (wpyr.com)

The only disadvantage I can think of about the classic train is the washroom. I suggest anyone to go to washroom first before the train ride as the washroom condition is not quite acceptable there😐

We finished our White Pass Scenic Railway around 10:40 am. It returned to Downtown Skagway. The ship you can see behind the train is Crown Princess.

If you think we were going there for food and drink … not really. We went there for a 20 minute brothel tour, 10 bucks each and it started at 10:55 am. Back in 2014, they charged 5 bucks each.  I guess this is for adults only, let’s see what the tour is about👀

Red Onion Saloon was built during the Klondike Gold Rush in 1897. Upstairs was a brothel for female workers to serve the lonely miners. There were 10 tiny rooms and 10 dolls to represent the 10 girls that the customers could choose from. The turnover rate of the female workers was very high, who would like to stay there once they earned enough money💰

Seems like a well-maintained old building with lots of antiques. 

Can you see a hole in the floor? What was the purpose? Any guess?

The coins🪙that customers paid were put into a pipe through this hole to go down to the bartender. 

Here was one of the female worker’s tiny room. That was where they served their customers 🛏

A female figurine with a sexy butt. But our attention was on the yellow bottle behind. 性感屁股後面看到嘅黃色樽 

What was it? Lysol.

What was it for? Birth Control, can you believe? OMG😱

Lysol 避孕水! 這不是家具消毒產品嘛!?

Lysol antiseptic disinfectant was developed in Germany in 1889 to combat a cholera epidemic. It was used to fight the flu virus during the Spanish flu pandemic in 1918. From 1920s to 1960s in North America, ads for Lysol as a feminine hygiene product could be found in magazines. Women were brainwashed at the time about using Lysol as a reliable product to clean genitals and to help protect happy marriage! It was off the market around 1965 when oral birth control pill was widely available.

Did it work?

There were cases reported about the cause of inflammation, burning and even death from the use of Lysol as feminine cleaning product. Also it was not an effective contraception.

So no matter how awesome the ad tells you, don’t use the product until it is 100% proven to be completely safe to use. Do more research and see other people’s comments on it. Do not just rely on the information from the government or big companies. 

The windows🪟on the second floor of Red Onion Saloon must be the windows of those female workers’ tiny rooms.

The original location of Red Onion Saloon was on Sixth and State Street. It was moved to the current Broadway location with one horse 🐎and a team of men  in 1914 to attract more customers. When the relocation was done, the building was facing backwards. Instead of turning it back, the team just sawed off the front and back🪚 switched them with cut lines can been seem in the middle.

After the visit of brothel museum (that’s what the tour guide called), we walked around and came to Eagles Hall (F O  E - Fraternal Order of Eagles) for a one hour show starting at 12:20 pm💃

The Days of 98 Show was a performance with drama, music and dance to tell the legendary story of Soapy Smith during the Klondike Gold Rush in 1898. Jefferson “Soapy” Smith built three major criminal empires including Skagway, Alaska (1897 to 1898). He was a well-known gangster in US at that time👤

Do you know how many years this show has been run?

It was first performed in 1923 when Princess steamships started bringing visitors to Skagway. The local residents started this show to raise funds for their local hockey team 🏒 to purchase new uniforms for a competition. 100 years already 🎉 Can you imagine a show which has been running for 100 years❗

We still had at least 2 and a half hours to walk around after The Days of 98 Show. I enjoyed seeing the train running in front of the dock.

While we were resting in the train station, four men aged from 45 to 75 came there with musical instruments (guitar, violin, cello …) 

Local residents’ performance?

In Skagway, the first highlight was White Pass Scenic Railway, followed by Red Onion Saloon and The Days of 98 Show. Who was the next star ⭐? A little doggie🐶 

A very gentle dog “Louis” in Skagway's Broadway Jewelry. He is working there everyday to raise money for Skagway Paws & Claws. My focus was not on the jewelleries but on the adorable Louis 💕

We returned to the cruise before 4 pm. There was a dog-related activity: Puppies in the Piazza🐾 I thought these were therapy dogs, they were sled puppies according to the internet sources. Basically passengers were lined up to pat one of the three puppies. A professional photo would be taken by a photographer in which the passengers have an option to buy their photos 📸

Here comes dinner time again! I picked Tropical Fruit Cup with Macadamia Nuts, Seared Wild Alaska Sockeye Salmon with Orange Dill Gremolata plus Sugar-Free Milk Chocolate Mousse Cake. 

It was a very fulfilling day for me. I love visiting Skagway since the weather was pretty good each time when I went there😎