20240918 Wednesday, September 18, 2024- Seward

It was perhaps a little shocking to pull open the curtain this morning and find ourselves across the pier from the Carnival Spirit, which absolutely dwarfed the Viking Orion.  However, the Carnival Spirit is a relatively small cruise ship at 88.5 gross Tons.  It is smaller than Princess Cruises’ smallest ship, the Coral Princess, which is 91.6 gross Tons.  The Viking Orion is 47.8 gross Tons by comparison.  The world’s largest cruise ship is Royal Caribbean’s Icon of the Seas at 248.7 gross Tons.  Now that’s hard to imagine.

We had tickets for the included excursion which was the Seward Sea Life Center.  Our tickets were assigned a 3:30pm time, but we were under the impression that there would be a continuous Viking shuttle running all day like in Valdez, and that we could stay as long as we wished, so long as we got back to the ship by 5pm.  We headed out at 9 am, but were scolded by the excursions staff that our assigned time was 3:30pm.  However, they did allow us to go standby for the 9:30am excursion, and after all the assigned 9:30 people got on, the standbys, about a dozen of us, were all allowed on the bus, which had adequate seating.  They had a regular modern tour coach in Seward.  

The Seward Sea Life Center is a decent marine aquarium and science center.  It is apparently the only marine aquarium museum in Alaska.  It is also a rehabilitation center for marine mammals.  They have some residents that for various reasons were unsuitable for release back into the wild, including a pair of Stellar Sea lions. One was nearly 2000 pounds, while the second was probably half that size.  They also had several harbor seals as well.  There were no otters for viewing.  All the aquariums were for local sea life.  There were no exotic tropical species on display.  It was interesting for Ben to see his target species (salmon, halibut, ling cod and rock fish) from an underwater perspective.  

After the Sea Life Center, we walked along Seward’s waterfront from the Sea Life Center towards where the ships were tied up.  The weather had cleared up and turned very pleasant.  It was about a mile walk, and there was a sizable RV park along much of that waterfront.  The beach was fractured shale pebbles, so no agates were to found. The shuttle pick up was at the small boat harbor, which was about a mile from the cruise ship terminal.  

Seward has two other claims to fame.  One is it is the coastal rail terminus for rail service into the heart of Alaska including service to Anchorage, Fairbanks, and Nome.  The other claim to fame is as the starting point for the Iditarod Sled Dog race, which goes from Seward to Nome.  

We got back to the ship around 1:15PM, so we were able to have a relaxed lunch poolside.  Janet noticed that today is international cheese burger day, so she had to have one of the ship’s cheeseburgers.  Ben went for the ship’s chicken wings and seared tuna.  Then it was nap time.

Due to another late scheduled dinner at 8:30pm in Manfredi’s, we were able to indulge in the fitness center and thermal spa.  Unfortunately, the snow grotto was having some maintenance issues, so no snow ball fights.

As our ship sailed away from Seward, the Carnival Spirit was unloading a last minute medical evacuee.  The fork lifts were positioned under the gangway, and the second the stretcher was on the dock headed for the waiting ambulance, the gangway was picked up and set aside.  

We had a very scenic sail away as the ship made its way along the Kenai Fjords National Park coastline.  The sky had cleared overhead, although clouds hovered around the horizon as the sun set.  Although there was a solar storm that could have produced an aurora borealis at this latitude, there has been too much cloud cover and light pollution from the ship that have made viewing a practical impossibility.  

Dinner at Manfredi’s was filling as we opted for Eggplant Parm, Osso Buco and Seafood stew with ravioli and angel hair pasta. The red wine was flowing and the desserts were delicious.  Overall, our culinary experience has been good, although we have had better food and service at Sabatini’s on Princess.  

We did finish dinner early enough to catch the tail end of the production band and singers doing some dance music in the pool area.  They kept the roof closed so it was a comfortable, if loud, venue.  They did songs including Man, I Feel Like a Woman, Play that Funky Music White Boy, and Uptown Funk, among others.  Viking did hire some legitimate professional musicians for this production band.  They have an exceptional horn player and an exceptional electric guitarist as well.  The vocalists are also pretty good as far as energy and intonation go so far.  We haven’t seen them do a production show yet.  This was more like a late sail away party.  

Tomorrow we arrive in Kodiak.  We’ve been advised that transportation in Kodiak and Dutch Harbor will be extremely limited.  They have to borrow school buses and the buses have to pick up kids during the time we are in port, so they will have to run passenger vans instead.  We could also just walk the mile or so between the pier and town.  The inclusive tour is just a van ride into town because in these next two cities, there isn’t much that can be seen and museum admission is not included for the tiny museums that may be present.  But it’s our first time in Kodiak anyways.  We’ll get to sleep in since they’ve said there will be no early rides.  Our ticket is for 10:15am.