Sitka and Glacier Morning

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, getting to the town of Sitka required a five-mile bus ride from the port. There were a few souvenir shops at the port itself, but we didn't bother to get off the ship. Fortunately, despite being docked next to the much-larger Ovation of the Seas, we had a great view from our balcony, where we spent much of the afternoon.

In the morning, we took a walk around the ship to get a 360-degree view of the area.  Seeing the North Star on the Ovation reminded us of our very first cruise in 2019. Some readers will remember riding inside!

The North Star in action

Sitka Port area

View from our balcony

Kayakers

We had lunch in the Windjammer, our first visit there on this cruise. We realized why we'd been hearing things rolled across our ceiling (just under the Windjammer) starting around midnight and continuing through many of the wee hours. Our bed is directly under a tiled portion of the floor, unfortunately!  I guess that's why ours was the only junior suite still available for both cruises when Charlie booked them.

From our balcony we could see into one of the fancy family suites on the back of Ovation, complete with an indoor (green) tube slide and climbing gym on the balcony, not to mention a hot tub.


Grandaddy took a couple of photos of the kids' water area on top of our ship for Sydney.  It was deserted, and the lonely lifeguard was eager to chat with us!



As my faithful readers know, we are easily amused, and we spent at least 30 minutes watching the port crew unleashing the Ovation before departure.  


After our usual Happy Hour in the Diamond Lounge, we went back to Chops Grille for dinner. I opted for the spicy grilled shrimp, while Charlie had the lamb chops. The restaurant was surprisingly empty, so perhaps not as many passengers as usual chose the dining package.

After dinner, Charlie had a LOT of fun in the casino! He has found "his" machine.

We were up early this morning in anticipation of Glacier Day on our way to Juneau. Sunrise was before 5:00 a.m. 


We bundled up to sit on the balcony, leaving the door open so we could hear the commentary of the glacier expert.  She told us we were fortunate to have such a clear, sunny day for this portion of the trip.  



I had to capture a couple of videos of the larger chunks of ice floating past.


This one appeared to be a large log encased in ice.


Charlie tried to capture a long waterfall in this video.


And this was the best photo he took of the glacier. This is the point in the trip when the ship turns completely around to give everyone a look at it.


The gangway opens at 2:00 today, and we plan to walk around Juneau a bit to stretch our legs.  More pics tomorrow!


Comments

  1. PatrickAugust 12, 2026 at 11:56 AM

    It certainly looks beautiful!

    I am very curious as to why the restaurants are feeling empty. I wonder if most of the crowd spent all of their vacation money on the cruise itself? Do you have any feel how many aboard are first time cruisers?

    ReplyDelete

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