Juneau and Embarkation

We wandered around Juneau today for 6 hours. A quaint gift shop town. While it felt like being in a mall all day, it was fascinating at the same time. The big celebrity cruise ship was in port and the people swarmed the town from 11-3. We bought our gifts in advance, sent a postcard, ate a quick lunch, called on our cells to say good-bye one last time to our family, and then went to the hotel to board the boat. We enjoyed a nice interpretive lecture by a gal from the Huna community. We heard her sing some songs in Tlingit, share some old photos and artifacts. We then headed to the vessel next where the captain and crew were waiting to greet us.

We boarded the vessel, settled in to our cabins with nice down comforters, desk, DVD/TV and plenty of closet space for all our clothes. It was very nice and more spacious than I had expected. We explore the boat a bit, then went to the lounge for our briefing by the crew and our welcome drinks. Our mandatory coast guard drill came next and we donned our sporty life-vests on the rear deck together and next ate a late dinner. The food was delicious, but a bit small for our appetites. In the evening, we settled in to our cabin early to watch a movie and go to bed (while it was still light again).