Alaska Cruises in the Summer - Part 10

Day 5 (July 29, 2023) Crown Princess👑docked at Sitka from 8 am to 4:30 pm. Same as other cities, Sitka was originally inhabited by the Tlingit. It was occupied by Russia from 1799 to 1867. Sitka was the capital of Alaska until 1906 when Juneau became the capital of Alaska. Sitka (Sheetʼká) in Tlingit means people on the outside of Shee (Baranof Island). The population in Sitka in 2020 census was 8458.

Stateroom TV showed us the location of Sitka (4). 2 is Juneau and 3 is Skagway, both are on the north of Sitka. 5 is Icy Strait Point and 6 is Hubbard Glacier which was the furthest north of our trip. 7 is Ketchikan on the south, the last port we visited before our return to Vancouver.

The view from our stateroom, there was another cruise ship across from ours.

Started with continental breakfast🍪🍵in Horizon Court on Deck 15.

Through the window in Horizon Court, we could see a tender boat going toward the island ∿∿∿∿∿∿

Time to get off the ship after breakfast 😊

Then we noticed the other ship we saw from our stateroom was Cunard Queen Elizabeth👑 It was one of the two cruise ships that we considered to take in July. Of course we finally picked Crown Princess. The schedule for Queen Elizabeth was from July 27 to August 7, 2023 for 11 days including a port in Victoria, BC. The ship was launched in 2010.

Here’s the free shuttle bus station. First we needed to take the free shuttle🚌 from Sitka Sound Cruise Terminal to Downtown Sitka. It was a 15 minute ride and a bus came every 10 minutes.

We got off in front of Harrigan Centennial Hall which was built in 1967. It has a visitor services center and a historical museum. Outside this building, there is a hand-carved Tlingit canoe 🛶

I also saw Jehovah’s Witnesses representative and booklets near Harrigan Centennial Hall. Good that I had data from my partner so I immediately shared it with my officemate who believes in Jehovah’s Witnesses 😊

Same as other ports, local tours could be found in its downtown. Sitka Tours | Home | Sitka, Alaska (sitkatoursalaska.com) was one of them.

Map of Downtown Sikta – we were heading to the most popular attraction St. Michael’s Cathedral (2) from Harrigan Centennial Hall (3).

On the way we saw a free walking tour ($5 USD tip suggested).

St. Michael’s Cathedral only opens from 12 noon to 2 pm that’s why many tourists entered into the building once it was opened. Admission is free, donation is optional.

According to St. Michael Cathedral National Historic Landmark (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov), the Cathedral constructed between 1844 and 1848 is an outstanding example of Russian Orthodox Architecture which was by far the largest and most imposing religious edifice in Alaska until well into the 20^th century. St. Michael Cathedral is the principal representative of Russian cultural influence in the 19^th century in North America.

The Cathedral was destroyed by fire in 1966 and rebuilt in 1976. The building’s green onion dome  (see some of the pictures below) is a typical architectural style of Russian Orthodox church.

This was a very interesting experience as I had never been inside a Russian Orthodox church before. It was crowded 人山人海!

Lots of valuable artworks and icons in the Cathedral.

This one looks like Jesus Christ and 12 apostles.

St. Mary and Baby Jesus? There should be similarities with Christian ♱

I noticed some tourists placed light candles 🕯 in front of icons. What does it mean?

Based on FAQs — St. Michael's Russian Orthodox Cathedral (stmichaelcathedral.org), a candle in the Orthodox Christian context is a symbol that represents the Light of God or, more specifically, the Light of Christ. The candles here are made of traditional beeswax, others are cups of oil with floating wicks. Upon entering an Orthodox church it is customary to light candles and offer prayers for one’s personal needs, that of a family member or friend, or in thanksgiving. Lit candles are placed in front of icons as a sign of faith in, and hope for, God’s help. 

Here is the answer about the religion similarities. Today, the Orthodox Church and Catholic Church are separated but they share many similarities and a common heritage. They were the same Christian Church for about 1100 years.

It made me curious of the time they started to separate and their differences. It was a long and complicated history. To make it simple: In 1054, the Christianity split into Eastern Orthodox Church and Western Catholic Church. This Great Schism (or East-West Schism) was caused by the religious and political disagreements.

Some of the main differences:

Roman Catholic – Western Europe, Latin used in church services, Pope is in charge, Pope has power over king.

Eastern Orthodox – Eastern Europe, Greek used in church services, Patriarch is in charge, King has power over patriarch.

Now the green onion dome can be seen!

Once exit the church is Lincoln Street filled with souvenir shops on both sides. The weather was just perfect, sunny🌞but not too hot. I enjoyed spending a relaxing afternoon by walking on this street and listening to the cheerful music played by a local resident. The background is a bit noisy so it has to be in high volume to hear the music🎵

There was a farmers market which I missed. Anyways most farmers markets are very similar, but still good to support local🧺

Since Alaska was originally inhabited by the Native and then occupied by Russia from 1799 to 1867, we found a shop selling Russian souvenirs such as nesting dolls and stores selling Native products made in Alaska. 

Many souvenir shops in every port I visited in Alaska has Denali Dreams handcrafted soaps which are made simply and naturally, the old fashioned way in Alaska. Every Denali Dreams soap is hand cut and groomed, and then finished with a decorative stamp and carefully wrapped in colourful tissue. My friend whom I travelled with in May discovered these luxury soaps. After she purchased one for her family, I decided to buy one for my officemate. It was the Fireweed Wildflower flavour🌷and my officemate loves it. She said the soap smelled very nice and this was a high quality product compared to the samples she tried in a gift shop in Fort Langley. I should have bought more of them.

Isn't that interesting to shop in a Russian Christmas store🎅 during the summer?

I don’t know how pel meni (Russian dumplings) taste like, maybe similar to Chinese dumplings? This small restaurant looks very cozy though.

After I shopped at Pure Sea Salt Company, I learned that many flavours of sea salt can be created. Sitka original flake, wild blueberry, Alder smoked, spruce tip, lemon lime, spicy hot pepper, rosemary flake, coffee bean flake, vanilla bean flake and hibiscus flake. I tried the sample of coffee bean – taste like coffee with salt.

The picture gives me a very good idea about the size and appearance of different salmon. 

Sitka Pioneers’ Home built in 1913 is a retirement home for local residents. I didn’t know there is a gift shop with crafts made by the residents there.

I only stayed outside and took pictures of flags (the one below US is Alaska flag). 

In front of Pioneer Home is Totem Square. Both are indicated on the map at the top ↑

According to Wikipedia, the Baranof Castle State Historic Site is a National Historic Landmark and state park in Sitka, Alaska. The hill, providing a commanding view over the city, is the historical site of Tlingit and Russian forts, and the location where Russian Alaska was formally handed over to the United States in 1867. It is also where the 49-star United States flag was first flown after Alaska became a state in 1959.

Let’s go up to the top and see the view!

From the top, tourists can read the information about its history and see the harbour view.

The bridge at the back is called John O'Connell Bridge.  

Built in 1971, the bridge connects the main town of Sitka on Baranof Island to the airport on Japonski Island. This was the first cable stayed girder spanned bridge built in the United States.

We were extremely lucky to be able to enjoy the pleasant weather in Sitka. A local man approached us and said it rains a lot in Sitka. He was originally from Europe and has lived in Sitka for decades. Even in summer time, there's a 50% chance of a rainy day!

No wonder we saw people taking sunbath🌅

I learned from my partner about how to take panoramic photos. What do you think about my masterpiece😉

The beautiful blue sky, the clear crystal water and the snow mountain made a stunning view at Crescent Harbour. 

Can you see the St. Peter’s by the Sea Episcopal Church? It’s like half hidden.

Back to the shuttle bus station. Since we still had some time, we went into Harrigan Centennial Hall and looked around.

Interesting to see photo of Sheetʼká Kwáan (the Tlingit name for the Sitka people) taken in 1895 and photo of Lincoln Street with St. Michael’s Cathedral in Downtown Sitka taken in 1914.

Just before 4 pm, many tourists started returning  to their ships. Left side our ship, right side Cunard Queen Elizabeth.

Once we boarded on our ship and went up to Horizon Court on Deck 15, we could see Cunard Queen Elizabeth side by side clearly.

There was a long lineup for free ice cream, I was also in the line. The one I got is different from the pictures. The complimentary ice cream was just like McDonald or Costco chocolate/vanilla ice cream🍦 Some were willing to pay more for a premium ice cream but not me😅

Fine dining in the evening was what most people looked forward to although sometimes the services could be very slow, one time we spent 2 hours in the restaurant. Also making reservation after our cruise trip started was a headache. The app didn’t work, the TV didn’t work, calling Guest Services didn’t work neither for dinner reservation. We should have done that in advance for Princess Cruise.

Well let’s look at what we had for dinner: beet and berry soup, seared flounder with Alaska cold water shrimp, seared wild Alaska sockeye salmon with red wine reduction, daily special ramen, sugar-free coffee mousse cake and coconut mousse.

Daily special ramen was just so-so, nothing special.

I don’t think I posted the front entrance of my stateroom. Here it is! We used Medallion device to open the door that’s why I liked to wear it on my wrist and just tap on the screen. As you can see, the left side of the screen shows Privacy Please and right side for Service Stateroom. Just press either one of them depending on what you need😊

Remember just do this for your own room but not for others, otherwise your neighbours will be mad at you😈

We were extremely lucky to have free self-serve laundromat on Crown Princess. Not all Princess ships offer complementary self-serve laundromat, most of them charge $3 USD for washer and $3 USD for dryer. Bleach and softener were not free though, each $3 USD. Fortunately I brought detergent sheets and dryer sheets to the cruise so we didn’t have to pay for them. I purchased the eco detergent sheets from Real Canadian Superstore (Nature Clean Laundry Detergent Strips wildflower - 32 ea | Real Canadian Superstore) which were light and easy to carry👍

From the lesson I learned on Koningsdam, this time I checked with Guest Services on the second day of our trip about the disembarkation guideline. A form was sent to our stateroom and it had to be returned to the stateroom attendant or Guest Services by 6 pm on July 30. We didn’t choose A, B or C as we didn’t need to catch a flight. So we picked D to leave the ship around 9 am – 9:40 am on disembarkation day. We were assigned to be ready to get off at 9:10 am.

Last but not least for the day, enjoyed the production show in the Princess Theater at night. The performance was Bennie and the Rest: a Tribute to Elton John👏

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😎