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Sept 17th – My Return to Unalaska Island and Dutch Harbour

September 17, 2026October 2, 2026Lmnei

I never thought I would have the ability to return to this lovely, but remote, destination! What a luxury this time to be able to dock on a cruise ship and visit for the day and check out some of the places that I previously visited when working for the week in February, 1995! It has taken me over 2 weeks to write this – it has been a very hard post to do, however really fun looking back! Enjoy!

The Preparation

Knowing 30 years ago that there were not that many taxis and no busses on the Island of Unalaska, where Dutch Harbour is located, I started looking in about April, for someone to drive Andrew and I around to see the places on Unalaska Island that I remember being taken or walking in the evening. I ran into the new (to me) Museum of the Aleutians which was built near the Grand Aleutian Hotel where I stayed, which offered tours! I corresponded with Thomas (awesome name) and let him know that I had been to Unalaska previously and had a list of places that I wanted to see such as the Airport, Grand Aleutian Hotel, Community Centre, Greek Orthodox Church, Elbow Room bar and a couple of other places too. He said they were all on his tour so we signed up!

It was interesting on the Cruise Critic group that people were AMAZED that Holland America did not offer any excursions for Unalaska! In a community of 4,000 there is no infrastructure provide this – especially for a ship that stops only twice a year. We were obviously on our own! Word of Thomas’s tour through the Museum of the Aleutians got out and the two vans quickly filled with a total of 20 people!

It was like deja vu being back on the Island of Unalaska and also going back through time! I was amazed at how time has stood still on these islands for 30 years except for some minor updates and one “attraction” no longer (more on that later)! We got off the Noordam and met Thomas as planned. As the vans do not have head rests for most of the seats, I had reserved the front seat! I knew another person (Amy) had reserved the front seat in the other van. We were set to go and explore!

Panorama View of Unimak Island and Unalaska Island – commercial dock with Noordam above and to the right is the town and Dutch Harbour docks.

Tour of Unalaska and Dutch Harbour

While I took this picture later on in our tour, it gives you a bit of a lay of the land. We came in on the Noordam which you can see above. Thomas picked up the people from the cruise in 2 x 10 passenger vans. Then we started on our tour, which meant we drove past the end of the runway, which I remember having a hard landing on, past the now Safeway and Grand Aleutian Hotel, narrating as we past the sights.

We then drove down the road towards Dutch Harbour and the city buildings, however before we got there we turned off to the right to visit the harbour where the Deadliest Catch boats are tied up when not out fishing or crabbing. It was interesting to see some of the boats that we have seen on TV! None of this was here when I worked in Dutch in 1995!

Next we drove though Dutch Harbour (most people did not know that but I did based on the buildings I saw were the SAME as 30 years ago) and out to the beach area where there also are some old former military installations such as gun turrets and ammunition storage.

“Downtown” Unalaska and Dutch Harbour

Next we drove into the town of Unalaska and past the Dutch Harbour dock to the Russian Orthodox Church. I was keenly watching out for the Elbow room, which was a light blue house when I was last here. The Elbow Room had a reputation as one of the roughest bars in North America as the guys would get off the fishing boats and “let loose”. However Thomas, who has only been living on Unalaska for 6 years has actually never seen the Elbow Room I found out! I noticed we were coming up on the church and we should have past the Elbow room when all of a sudden Thomas announced “there used to be a bar in Dutch named the Elbow Room. It closed in 2007 and was eventually bought by the Mennonite Church. They renovated it and it is now a b&b! I thought this was pretty ironic! More down below.

Russian Orthodox Church of the Holy Ascension

The Church of the Holy Ascension was built, starting 1825, and remains one of the oldest cruciform-style churches in the United States. The collection of icons inside dates back to the 16th century. On the back wall of the church there are a set of 12 calendar icons. Apparently there are only three full sets of these icons from the 1800’s in the whole world, and one of them is here.

Driving up to the Russian Orthodox Church

Here is a panorama view of the church, graveyard and mini-church area. The church was consencrated in 1826 – 200 years ago!

The Elbow Room

The one thing that I wanted to see, which I was aware was closed before we got to Dutch, was The Elbow Room. When I was here in 1995 it had a reputation as one of the rowdiest and most dangerous bars in America, if you visited during the Bering Sea crab fishing season. I was lucky — it was pollock season when I was in Dutch! However the boys, when they got off the boats that week still partied quite a bit! Note: There are two types of pollock fish in the world – I am talking about the Alaska Pollock not the Atlantic Pollock.

When Thomas indicated that the Mennonites bought the building and renovated it, really intrigued me for two reasons –
1 – the Elbow Room was a raucous drinking establishment when I looked in on it one day about noon. It smelled rank, of booze and sweat. It had no windows and was pretty dark! There was also lots of broken glass crunchy on the floor!
2 – why would someone want to renovate the building with that stench in its bones?

I found that in 2007, after 50 years of destroying lives, the Elbow Room, at 28 N. 2nd St. off West Broadway (sounds exotic) was sold for around $140,000.00 USD. It was then renovated and renamed to Latitudes Bar. As the fishing business in Alaska had become more regulated and modernized, the “drinking culture” that used to happen when the deck hand get off the boats had ended, and Latitudes did not survive.

In 2009, the Unalaska Christian Fellowship church, decided to renovate and re-purpose the former bar from a symbolic “hole to hell” for many families during the wild crab years and turn it into a temporary emergency shelter. While the project faced opposition from local residents due to memories associated with the bar’s past patrons wandering wild, the renovation did take place and Alexandria House was born! It was a local shelter providing housing and resources for the needy, as well as temporary workers arriving in town hoping to secure a spot on the Alaskan crabbing fleets.

In the years since the Elbow Room closed, it is said that Dutch Harbour on the Island of Unalaska is now known for its fishing production as the largest port by volume in North America. Stability is also on the rise: churches are full on Sundays, new houses are being built overlooking the ships in Dutch Harbor, and for me, the amazing thing to see was the streets have real asphalt! It seems though that the Alexandria House ran its time and Thomas is correct – it is now a B&B! I found it on Air B&B of all places! Here are some before and after pictures!

This is a picture of the Elbow Room in 1995

Now, fully remodeled – you would not believe it was a dank, windowless hole in the wall! I would love to stay here other than the accommodation is upstairs! The lower floor is sometimes rented out for events, and if not, the the Air B&B renters can use the whole house!

Unalaska Island Information

While Unalaska Island still has about 4,000 people, which is the same as when I was there, it is still isolated in the Aleutian Islands AND at the mercy of the sea! Ounalashka Corporation, a native-owned business controls most of land on the island.

Known to airlines and Deadliest Catch viewers as Dutch Harbor, Unalaska is the most populated port in the Aleutian Islands. Bigger than Maui and Molokai combined, the 4,000-inhabitant isle offers beautiful lodging, some restaurants, an anthropological museum, nine city parks, three national historic landmarks, a national wildlife refuge and a national historic area. There are more churches in the area today than bars, the schools rank among the state’s best, and it is located closer to Russia than Juneau!

The Island does not have many trees, no bears or moose and has minimal snow fall as it is on the same latitude as Prince Rupert. Dutch, as the locals say, is a real working Alaskan town that’s kind of on the fringes in the middle of the Bering Sea. The island’s un-name comes from the native “Ounalashka” meaning “near the peninsula,” and the harbor’s Dutch moniker reflects a time when a ship from the Netherlands anchored there. While “Dutch Harbor” remains commonly used, the official name for both the island and its town is “Unalaska.” Calling us Dutch Harbor is kind of like calling Seattle – Elliott Bay,” It’s only the name of the body of water.”

Unalaska Airport (DUT)

Getting to Unalaska takes a bit of effort. A few cruise ships call, and Alaska Marine Highway ferries serve the island twice monthly from April through September. Instead of the 737 Combi planes flying like when I visited in the 90’s which took 2 hours, now Saab turboprops fly from Anchorage that take 3 hours! I laughed when I saw this comment on a website – “Landing in Unalaska is like dropping onto an aircraft carrier. Water borders the runway on three sides, and a sawed-off hill rims the fourth. A pilot error here results in either a splash or splat.” I cannot agree more! I will never forget sitting on the left side of the plane, thinking we were going to hit a cliff and then getting bruises from my lap belt from when the pilot suddenly slammed brakes when we touched down! When we went into the Airport, we found that while The Elbow Room may be closed, but the airport bar, is still going strong after 30+ years!

Outside of Unalaska Airport – as I remember!

I will never forget my little Samsonite suitcase arriving on this non-carosel along with HUGE bags (hockey bag size) of the workers coming to join the boat crews or work in the processing plants on the island. The sign and welcome has not changed either!

Next we looked out onto the runway from the gate area in the airport and saw some derelect planes that are too costly to remove!

Grand Aleutian Hotel

When I visited for work, I stayed at the Grand Aleutian Hotel, which is an ADA accessible, 112-room, three-story hotel. Its restaurant, has the only Sunday brunch in town and primarily serves MEAT not seafood I found out! It had a great gift shop with crafts from Unalaska’s sister city of Petropavlovsk, Russia! I remember getting an Unalaska hoodie which I promptly lost a few weeks later!

The town wraps around Iliuliuk Bay with the “Bridge to the Other Side.” Downtown Unalaska has a public library, community center, aquatic center and a staffed visitor center. Most homes are modest with trailers, prefabs and refurbished World War II cabanas, many built with coloured sheet metal that have not aged in 30 years!

Fish Processing!

The biggest land-based employer in Unalaska is UniSea, which runs a highly automated pollack processing plant. Fillet from the white fish becomes sandwiches while the rest is ground into surimi that is used in imitation crab and fish sticks. If it’s Alaskan pollack, it came from this plant – it is said that McDonalds and Burger King both use UniSea pollack in their fish sandwiches! In addition to the commercial catch, sport fishing lures anglers to Unalaska. A replica of a 459-pound Pacific halibut hangs inside City Hall. Celebrities who have baited hooks here include Jimmy Buffet, who once performed an impromptu concert at the Elbow Room, allegedly without margarita belly slides. There are a couple of other processing plants too for the other types of crab and fish obtained from the Bering Sea.

Museum of the Aleutians

Museum of the Aleutians is a newer museum which was not present when I visited! The collection is diverse with items such as:
– finely woven baskets
– 1778 drawing of an Unangan woman done by crew member of Captain James Cook
– waterproof parka called a kamleika made from sea lion esophagus tissue
– 1940’s vintage ski
– a model of the Coast Guard’s USS Bear
– numerous World War II artifacts

Aleutian World War II Museum

The Visitor Center of the Aleutian World War II National Historic Area displays information about the conflict and provides a mock up of a communications center with mannequins manning equipment. Six months after Pearl Harbor, Japanese aircraft dropped their loads on Dutch Harbor. Days after the attack, the Japanese invaded Kiska and Attu Islands further down the Aleutian chain. To stifle possible advances, allied forces stationed nearly 50,000 solders in Unalaska. Abandoned bunkers, pillboxes, ammo depots and gun mounts still surround town. We did not go into the museum as it was listed as not accessible, other than I bought a tshirt in the gift shop!

We are now almost done our tour and are driving back towards the ship now along a part of Unalaska I have never seen! After going past the fish processing area, including the housing for the workers, we ended up in the power plant area of Unalaska. The original power plant that was built by the army is still there, however there is a more modern one now due to the electrical consumption needed at times on the Island. Other than the fish processing plants and the community – what could that be? Keeping all that fish that has been caught and now filleted frozen for transport! I did not realize about this! At the yards where the containers are located for the fish packers it is just like when you live in cold parts of North America like Calgary – there are electical posts of outlets to “plug” the containers in!

Next we drove to the “underground” hospital which was a hospital that was built, you guessed it, underground, during the war time. Thomas told us how for many years after that it was used for different things such as training for fire fighters and parties. However it is now condemed and sealed off due to asbestos contamination. After that Thomas pointed out a few more sights, one of which I said – is that still the Mexican place? He was surprised! Apparently it had only changed from a Mexican Restaurant in the last few months. I had several dinners of chicken and cheese enchiladas there – gluten free of course! Shortly, we were back at the Noordam!

The tour ended back at the Noordam, however the lady in the other van from the Museum was told that there were some Canadians on board so she drove us to the dock area in front of the Noordam and in front of the various ships and barges tied up was a Canadian Submarine who is in town! Thought they would fly the Canadian flag, but I guess in the USA you fly their flag….

With a bit of poking around I found out the following – it was the Royal Canadian Navy Victoria-class submarine HMCS Corner Brook that was in Dutch Harbor to take part in a joint U.S.–Canadian military exercise! It seems like the allied forces were testing a rapid Arctic response with subsurface vessels like the HMCS Corner Brook, surface ships like the HMCS Ottawa, RCAF CP-140 Aurora patrol aircraft, and some U.S. Air Force F-35A fighters. The HMCS Corner Brook and the aircraft tracked a simulated maritime threat (the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Aspen) in the simulated strike. We then walked back to the ship!

Departing Unalaska and Dutch Harbour

ow it is time to depart and head straight south to Hawaii! It was not light out when we arrived at the dock, however we are going to have a great view leaving Unalaska and Dutch Harbour! I am not sure what was going on with the azi-pods or stabilizers or bow thrusters but something was not working and there was an issue getting away from the dock. It took forever! It seems the Captain was wanting to “pull out” side ways like we have seen at other ports, however it was not working. Perhaps the tide or currents were pushing us back? It was sort of like the Noordam was rocking back and forth to get her nose out. All of a sudden a 2nd tug boat appeared going backwards! No idea why driving backwards was going to help us however the Noordam started swinging away from the dock at that point. Then the tug turned around and followed us out of the bay into 5 days at sea to Hawaii!

We had a beautiful cruise past Unalaska and Amaknak Islands which are part of the Fox Island group in the Aleutian Island Chain.

Now, 5 days at sea – what kind of trouble can I get up to? Art, art and more art!

Sept 16th – Day at Sea – Cruising down the Aleutian Islands

September 16, 2026September 29, 2026Lmnei

Good morning! Today we are continuing to cruise from Anchorage down the Aleutian Islands to Dutch Harbour which is the last “large” community in the island chain. The 300+ island chain are all volcanic, stretching 1,200 miles westward from the Alaska Peninsula toward Russia, separating the Bering Sea from the Pacific Ocean. The Aleutian Islands form the northernmost part of the Pacific Ring of Fire which British Columbia also sits on, and has some active volcanoes, such as Mount Shishaldin at 9,373 feet. There are 6 groupings of islands going from east to west (we are heading east to Unalaska):

Fox Islands (the main islands are Unimak, Akutan, Unalaska and Umnak)
Islands of Four Mountains (the main islands are Yunaska and Chuginadak)
Andreanof Islands (the main islands are Adak, Atka, Amlia, Seguam, Kanaga and Tanaga)
Rat Islands (the main islands are Kiska and Amchitka)
Near Islands (the main islands are Attu Island, Agattu Island and the Semichi Islands – Alaid, Nizki and Shemya)
Commander Islands (the main islands are Bering and Medny)

Here is the best picture of our journey, however it is from Google Maps and follows the Alaskan Ferry Service stops! It shows how someone would get to Dutch with a car basically from Anchorage.

The interesting thing is that after the last island (shown to the left of the red marker) the islands of Russia start! So when on the island of Unalaska one is actually closer to mainland Russia than mainland USA! I remember when I was in Dutch Harbour to work, that the kids from the school (all grades) often flew to Russia to play sports rather than to Anchorage as it was closer. I have no idea if that still happens today – 30 years later!

If you want to read more about where we are going check out the Wikipedia site on the Aleutian Islands HERE

Got to rest up now! Tomorrow is going to be a BIG day for me! I have been waiting to get back to Dutch Harbour for 30 years and I know it is going to take some effort to get around and see what I would like to see!

Sept 15th – “Masking” at Sea! Nope! Not COVID!

September 15, 2026September 29, 2026Lmnei

Today we are sailing from Anchorage to Dutch Harbour! We are hoping to get to Dutch Harbour tomorrow and things so far are looking good! At about 2000 passengers and 900 crew, the Noordam is the biggest ship that visits Dutch Harbour. It has visited twice a year for the last two years. Once when doing the Arctic Circle cruise during the summer solstice and then once when doing this Fire and Ice cruise. The dock at Dutch Harbour is exposed to the sea, so half the port visits are often missed due to the weather! Lets keep our fingers crossed for tomorrow!

In the meantime, there is now a Knitters Group at 10am each day which I am happy about! It is very interesting – there are about 10 ladies that attend the group – 5 are from North/South Carolina and only 2 know each other! There are 4 ladies from Washington State and me, the Canuck! We have some really interesting discussions about knitting vs. crocheting! One lady who does glass kiln work showed some of her designs and I thought (from a distance) they were quilts! I was amazed at her work!

From a Celiac standpoint, when we have days at sea, I eat lunch in the Main Dining Room and like each dinner, I order the night before. I find the lunch options for those with Celiac Disease a bit challenging at times, so I like to make up my lunch choices based on what HAL offers. Today, out of respect for the slightly chilly environment, I had macaroni and cheese! Yum! They make a VERY GOOD 4 cheese mac & cheese on board!

Tonight is the Masquerade Ball! I have been busy making a mask for myself (and Andrew) in the Art area on Deck 10, behind the Crows Nest on the starboard side. We were aware of this ball coming up and the mask sessions started 2 days ago where I painted my mask PURPLE! When we were in Walmart yesterday, I picked up some extra purple features to go with the black ones from the ship! Andrew has a blue mask – I will post a picture of his later…

For dinner I had some local Alaska salmon which was on some excellent risotto! An amazing meal! The salmon was cooked just perfectly – flaky but not over steamed! We then attended the Masquerade Ball on the World Stage, however my pictures, despite my snazzy new cell phone, did not work out as they were too shaky from being in the bow!

Sept 14th – Nippy Anchorage & Alaska Air Museum

September 14, 2026September 29, 2026Lmnei

Northern Light Show!

Secretly I got up in the middle of the night and look what I saw! It is a good thing I cannot sleep through the night sometimes…

Anchorage Port

We have had a VERY lucky experience! Very rarely do cruise ships DOCK in Anchorage! For the Don Young Port of Alaska, which is just north of downtown Anchorage, due to the extreme tidal fluctuations and heavy commercial freight traffic, only specialized ships (some Holland America and exploration vessels) can dock at the port. The mega-cruise ships stop instead at the deep water ports of Seward or Whittier and then bus or use the train to transfer passengers to Anchorage. These mega-cruise ship ports are also easier for the cruise ships to get to from the glacier areas of Alaska as they are on the east side of the peninsula where Anchorage is at the end on the other side. Also, cruise ships offer “land” components when the cruise ends in Alaska such as to the Denali National Park.

At the Don Young Port of Alaska, we were able to get off at Anchorage and either be bussed into the city (on Princess busses!) or to get onto an Excursion bus. We were on the Anchorage Highlights and Alaskan Air Museum tour.

Alaska Aviation History Overview

I was really interested in this tour as it included the Alaskan Air Museum and I have watched some shows on the history of aviation in Alaska along with spending A LOT of time in airports to get from Vancouver to Dutch Harbour, which took 2 days each way, via Seattle and Anchorage. In Alaska, there are communities that are fairly remote and frozen a good percentage of the year! For most of these places, the only way to reach them is by air – similar to northern Canada. Food, medical supplies, people, basically EVERYTHING need to be flown in. Most have a gravel runway or in the winter, ice packed runways where planes can land on wheels. For towns near the water, there are float planes that can fly in which land on their pontoons (or skis depending on the season) to deliver goods too. The “bush” pilots who fly these routes are a rare bunch but they know Alaska well and the challenges that come with flying up here.

The next interesting fact about Anchorage Airport, which I did not know about until my trip to Dutch Harbour in February, 1995, is the sheer number of cargo planes that land in Anchorage for a fuel stop. Flights from Asia to New York carrying cargo – such as a 747 freighter, cannot make the trip without touching down for fuel. If you look at the great circle mapper, the flight patch from Asia to Toronto/Chicago and the eastern USA makes an arch over Alaska and down over Canada to the destination. Guess what airport is on the way? Anchorage! Great stop to pick up some fuel! Only issue – the airport can have some very “interesting” conditions when it comes to snow! I have been to a lot of airports around the world, however back in 1995 I do not think I had been at any airport, including Frankfurt and Heathrow, that had more 747’s (aka Queen of the Skies) taxiing around than I saw in Anchorage the days I spent at ANC airport!

I am not going to bore you with stats or anything – you can look them up yourself…. LOTS of 747’s! In fact we saw one land and taxi in while we were on the bus heading to the Alaska Air Museum!

The bus did drive quickly through downtown Anchorage on the way to the Anchorage Airport. The Anchorage Airport looks to have grown up in the last 30 years since I was last hear as that seems to be a new control tower! Needless to say, we did not end up at the airport (sad) but instead at the Alaska Air Museum, which funny enough was accessed from an active “taxiway” which I thought the bus driver was kidding when he said that (security is a bit different in the USA than in Canada it seems) but no, we were crossing the taxiway for all the float planes at Lake Hood which is right next to the Anchorage Airport!

Lake Hood Float Plane Aerodrome

We arrived safely the Alaska Air Museum which is on the edge of Lake Hood. The Lake Hood Float Plane Base has the largest number of Sea Planes in North America at over 1500 registered to this base. They THINK they are the busiest float plane base, however knowing Vancouver and the Coal Harbour Aerodrome along with Harbour Air being the largest seaplane operation in the world, I can confirm that Vancouver, with 200-300 seaplane flights a day on average, is a bit busier than Lake Hood at 190 flights on average.

We were dropped off at the Alaska Aviation Museum where the majority of the bus tour was able to enter and to hear the docent talk about the history of Alaskan Aviation. Unfortunately, the slow people like myself getting off the bus and needing our mobility devices too a bit more time to get into the building and we missed half the presentation! That was frustrating – someone even asked him to start over and he would not as he said the “tour was all there”.

Now we are outside of the museum, however still in museum grounds and they have one of the Alaska Airlines 737-200 Combi cargo and passenger planes that used to fly around Alaska and what I took from Anchorage to Dutch Harbour on a flight I will never forget! Unfortunately, it was not accessible, so Andrew went up and took pictures for me while I sat on my walker and explained to another lady in a wheelchair what was inside as I remember it and what it was like to fly in the plane. Too bad for a tour that Holland America sold as Accessible, it was not fully accessible! So easy to do!

Here are Andrew’s pictures from my phone of the interior! In the first picture, where the docent is talking on the left and people are standing at the back, that is where the cargo flew on the plane (behind the pilots). It was secured to the floor and then there was a net covering the cargo and then the seats you see in the picture on the right (ignore the tables and lights – no idea why they are there!) were secured to the floor, depending on the cargo/passenger ratio.

Test

Nose shot! Pointed instead of stubby nose…

This plane is similar to the flying water bombers (but much smaller) that used to live on Sproat Lake!

Now we have walked around the compound of planes, and can see the Lake Hood Control Tower which is staffed during summer, we entered into the “workshop” for the volunteers at the Aviation Museum.

After hanging out in the Alaska Air Museum store to acquire a shirt, we were back on the bus to be dropped in downtown Anchorage! Lynda was on a mission – Walmart – for a couple of items that she needs for the cruise! We went into an office building and were given a number for Yellow Cabs in Anchorage, however after 2 calls no one showed up so we switched to Uber! Arriving at Walmart, I was able to pick up my online order and then for a couple of items that were “not in stock” I was able to purchase similar items that were suitable. I had wanted some pens, however they were in a locked case and after calling for customer service three times for assistance and waiting for a total of 30 minutes, we gave up – no purple pens for Lynda today! Back in the Uber we asked the gentleman to take us to the port where the Noordam was docked. I saw no need to go back into downtown to get on one of the busses (they did have wheelchair lifts) just to be driven to the port. I was wrong. The only people allowed to drop passengers from the Noordam were the Princess busses! The Uber then took us back to downtown (which we had already passed) and to the waiting busses! Shortly soon after we were at the Don Young Port and getting ready to board the Noordam… but wait!

We were back at the ship in good time so we could get ready for dinner as tonight we were going to the Pinnacle Grill which had been turned into Morimoto’s Restaurant for the evening. I LOVE Morimoto’s Restaurant as it has my favourite dish Angry Lobster!

As we got to the Pinnacle Grill, there was a bit of a commotion as we were lead to our table by the window and we soon found out why…

Celiac Saga ends with a Surprise Visit!

The waiter whispered to me that Chef Willem wants to meet with me. I thought oh no, what have I done now! I know I sent in the feedback a few days earlier and Patricia told me that it made her job easier, so I thought the goal was accomplished. The ship had also delivered a bag of Tate’s GF Chocolate Chip cookies to my room already which was really nice. Perhaps Chef Willem does not like how I order my gluten free food? I am sure Andrew had some thoughts of what had I gotten up to also, but I will leave his thoughts to him! Chef Willem appeared and he was SO EXCITED to tell me that he had gone shopping at Walmart in Anchorage! I thought that was interesting as I had seen some HAL staff in the store, but thought they were just there on personal shopping missions… Then the truth came out…

He thanked me for writing what I did and apologized as he got onto the Noordam in Vancouver and found that the stock of gluten free food was almost non-existent! He said that is why I was having so many problems finding gluten free snacks (cookies) on the ship along with GF muffins in the morning. We talked about the following points:

The “vegan” issue from the Seattle to Sydney cruise last year (so many vegans on board that the Chef had to buy all the milk alternatives he could find in Honolulu and Kahului, Maui!
There are “just under 20 Celiac” on the ship (makes sense with 2000 passengers) however only 5 preregistered in advance (including me)
The whole “gluten free lifestyle” vs people who need gluten free food for medical reasons such as Celiac Disease and predicting what a diverse group of passengers are going to request on a cruise.
How his daughter is gluten free and he knows what she likes and he hopes I like the same snack foods!

Fascinating discussion! He was still pretty excited and he then got out his cell phone and started showing me what he had bought which were all gluten free – Chips Ahoy, Oreo, muffin mixes, cookie mixes etc. He then said that if I did like any of this food, he could send it to his daughter! I told them that we did not have Chips Ahoy in Canada – either version but we do have the Oreo’s! I thanked him for helping me out and going shopping however it did not completely register until we got back to our room after dinner and we saw this on our bed! The cookies that he showed me on his phone! I am impressed!

As both of us were full from the dinner, we just put the care packages aside and went to bed! I have 3 more weeks to delve into these lovely packages! We are now off to sea for the day and will be in Dutch Harbour on Sept 17th!

Sept 13th – Kodiak, Alaska – Bear Country!

September 13, 2026September 22, 2026Lmnei

Coming into Kodiak, we were scheduled to tender as another ship was at the dock. The port is not large! Tendering once on a cruise is not that bad! I have had lots of fun tendering on Holland America in the past, however now they have a little elevator to go from the A deck to the B deck where you board the tender it is simple! WAY easier going up and down stairs like on previous voyages…

It was a beautiful short tender ride into the Kodiak harbour where lets say the gang plank UP to the dock was a BIT steep! Also, if I did not stay in a very narrow lane going up the right side, there were inverted triangle bars (for safety purposes in winter) going across the gang plank beside me, for people going down to prevent sliding!

Panorama picture of Kodiak on left and fishing marina on the right.

We met our tour (A Walk Through Kodiak Harbour) at the end of the dock. It was being led by a long time fisherman who has now retired, named Toby. He knew so much about the fishing industry he was bursting with information! Our first stop was the plaque for the Good Friday Earthquake on March 27th, 1964 which was 9.2 magnitude and lasted 4 minutes. One of the strongest quakes that has hit North America.

We then moved along to the restored boat, Thelma C, which was a typical wooden boat built for fishing out of Kodiak. Toby told us a story about when the earthquake hit, a lot of fishing boats were destroyed, so the Alaska government gave the owner of every fishing boat money to get a new one! All of a sudden, the boat builders, primarily located in the Seattle area, had a LOT of work on their hands to build boats! Many boats similar to the Thelma C were built and then sailed up the BC and Alaska Coasts to Kodiak so that fishing could resume. While visiting the Thelma C, there were some sea lions playing in the bay – well really not playing – looking dead! Most people thought they were statues! Yeah right! Seen these blubber boys before – they are just conserving energy and they will sing and move!

Next we moved to the docks behind us – which was very interesting if you have spent time on docks like I have! First there was a concrete (see Dad got it right!) ramp to launch a boat which I thought was fascinating as most boats I would have thought are too big to tow and thus launch! Then next to it, Toby explained, was a boat tied up for “dry dock”. For most people in the tour – this went right over their heads and their eyes glassed over! Basically, the fishing boat ties up beside the dock at high tide and wraps its lines around specific poles that while attached to the dock, allow the boat to be secure yet “ride” the tide down until it is sitting on the clay bottom.

Just before the boat is on the clay bottom they do put some supporting logs under the hull so they can do the planned maintenance. Pretty interesting process instead of having to lift a boat out of water into a dry dock! He said it can be a challenge to book times for emergency repairs in dry dock! I fully understood what Toby was talking about… again, others were confused!

We then went down to the docks to look at the different fishing boats and Toby explained what each one was (seiner vs troller) and the types of fish they catch at different times of the year. Lots of fishermen passed us while we were on the docks who knew Toby and they were making some funny comments to him! Toby then took us back up to the main Kodiak dock and to the Kodiak Fisherman’s’ Memorial which has plaques for boats/souls lost at sea. It was interesting to hear Toby talk about it as a life long Kodiak resident, as he knew most of these people and this must be a hard part of the tour for him! To conclude the tour, he showed us the lifesaving suits that the fishermen have on board which allow them to survive some time in the sea if they do not make it into the survival boat.

After that, Andrew and I walked around Kodiak for a bit. It was Sunday and some stores were closed. The front part of the town was NOT very accessible (stairs) however when there is a store I want to get to, I generally can find a way to get there! We went around a building and down a lane and the store appeared along with a craft fair! Needless to say Andrew was patient while I did some “browsing” and poking around. Eventually we started walking back to where the tenders were located, and as I knew the tide was going down, I was SURE LOOKING FORWARD to going down the gangplank to the tender dock with bumpy right side! On our way to the tenders, there were a bunch of people gathered by the shore, so I 4 wheel drove over to check out what was happening! Look at the performance I saw!

This Alaskan fresh air is really tiring! Holy smokes! Once back on the ship we had a short SNAPPY NAP as Neil Dirom used to say and then we got going to dinner where again, we had a delicious meal, however something unexpected arrived for me for dessert, which looking back now makes sense! I had ordered vanilla ice cream… This is what showed up!

Vanilla Ice Cream and Flour-less Lava Cake!

Hmm. I had not asked for the Flour-less Lava Cake… It looks like the chef sent me a gluten free item! Things are looking up! Perhaps tomorrow I should go get some cookies and see if they are now “in stock” once we get back from our tour in Anchorage!

Sept 12 – College Fjord Cruise and the Celiac mystery

September 12, 2026September 28, 2026Lmnei

Cruising College Fjord

Yesterday we were at the Hubbard Glacier. Today, we are heading up College Fjord, located in Prince William Sound in North East Alaska. While the Hubbard Glacier and College Fjord are two of Alaska’s most stunning marine ice destinations, they are vastly different in their geography and viewing. We saw the gigantic wall of ice of the Hubbard Glacier yesterday. Today, in College Fjord, there are five large tidewater glaciers that empty to the sea. In addition, there are five valley glaciers and many smaller glaciers in the area. The researchers who discovered the glaciers in 1899 and named most of them after East Coast colleges in the USA, except Princeton!

Cruising College Fjord offers instead a view of many glaciers all at once rather than one single wall of a glacier such as the Hubbard. Here are some panorama pictures that I took as we cruised up and down the fjord.

One of the glaciers up close with the “growlers” in the sea

Fairly far north, the sun did start setting about 6pm

Celiac Saga Day 2…

One thing that Andrew and I do when on Holland America, is order room service each day. Generally on the first day I put in a standing order for what I would like to be delivered each day, as I have already explained. Also, Patricia, who was on the Seattle to Sydney Cruise last year on the Noordam, is back in Room Service this year. Every day about 10 minutes after Room Service is delivered, Patricia calls us to ensure that everything is okay with our meal, which is very nice! She also has something pleasant to say each morning like the sun is out or the sea is calm.

Today, when Patricia called at 8am, (keep in mind, at 9pm last night was when I sent in my Feedback to Chef Willem) the first thing she said to me is “Thank-you Miss Lynda for your feedback last night!” I was a bit shocked as my feedback was about GF chocolate chip cookies and GF snacks and NOT Room Service! I guess I sounded surprised on the phone (and also not fully awake) and she said that what I said has made her job EASIER as she no longer has to beg for my GF muffins each morning! Okay, I thought, that is good! I said to her that I was glad I could help and everything was awesome this morning.

Andrew and I had a good lunch – I had salmon tacos and they were excellent! Yes, that is Cilantro that did not last long adorning my plate!

We ended up having dinner in our stateroom – unlike our cruise from Seattle to Sydney where there were playoffs happening – on this cruise they are broadcasting NFL season games! You can guess what Andrew wanted to watch! Seattle Seahawks! I had another delightful conversation with Patricia who was able to get my pre-ordered dinner from the Dining Room sent up to our stateroom and Andrew was able to get a sandwich.

This also gave me some time to spend playing with my technology and getting it whipped into shape so I could get back to blogging on my website! I also received a very nice card from Guest Services acknowledging my feedback on Celiac and Gluten Free and they were “looking into it”. To end the evening, we commuted down to Deck 1 and watched an interesting entertainment duo – a woman playing the cello and a man playing an electric guitar!

These two artists, decided to make a show together and called themselves the “Shredders”. It was a VERY interesting show and they played all types of music – from a rock piece (great for guitar and interesting on the cello) to a Spanish piece that kept on getting faster and faster and wow – the lady could play the cello! We almost saw smoke come off her bow! They were also accompanied by the “Dam” band of a pianist, electric base and drums. Quite the eclectic show!

T0morrow we are arriving in Kodiak and then our next port is Anchorage! It has been 30 years since I have been to Anchorage, and I am VERY aware that the Nordstroms’, just like in Vancouver, has moved out. This time, we are going on a tour around of Anchorage so Andrew can see the area and then to the Alaska Aviation Museum (click for link). Alaska has a really deep aviation history that I am aware of. I am kind of sad that my dad is no longer alive to share it with me, however I press on! In my mind there are two parts to “flying” in Alaska – one that people might be aware of and one that they might not be!

See you tomorrow in Kodiak!

The 9/11 Moment: World-Changing Day and Hubbard Glacier

September 11, 2026September 20, 2026Lmnei

Today I want to start honoring the people impacted by 9/11.

On September 11th, 2001 I was at home on disability after my accident and for some unknown reason up really early in the morning. I sat on my sofa watching TV when the first building was hit in New York. I was shocked because I regularly flew United Airlines. Then the second plane hit the World Trade Center. The Pentagon was struck, and one was forced to the ground in Pennsylvania.

I grabbed my laptop. As it was early in the morning on the west coast, I checked to see if any of my co-workers were online. Tammy was—she was on Long Island in New York. She did not really know what had happened, so I told her. She began plans to drive back to Canada, which she ended up doing. I cannot remember if she drove to Toronto or Montreal. Nevertheless, she was able to get back to Canada and fly home to Vancouver.

Next I watched what was happening in New York, and with fascination, the ATC directed planes to land without explanation. Imagine flying from Tokyo to Chicago, arc over Alaska, then being rerouted for an emergency you cannot learn about. Moreover, over 8,500 passengers ended up in Vancouver on September 11, causing a ground response that had never been planned for.

Ultimately, here is the memorial that was built in New York City, which I am yet to see!

Hubbard Glacier

Hubbard Glacier (Tlingít: Sít’ Tlein) is a glacier in eastern Alaska. It lies in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve and in Kluane National Park and Reserve in Yukon, Canada. It is named after Gardiner Hubbard. This tidewater glacier is North America’s largest.

It stretches 76 miles long and has a face about 7 miles wide. From the bow of the ship, you can see it as in the photo below. It rises about 350 to 400 feet above the water. Hundreds of feet stay hidden below the surface. Unlike most glaciers, it continues to thicken and advance. That is why some call it the Galloping Glacier.

Getting closer to the glacier now – this is the right side (east) of the Hubbard Glacier.

Now for some more information about what we are seeing! First, the crowd on the bow – right now I am on the 6th deck (where our stateroom is) where they have opened up out front. Then moved down to the 4th where I could access the bow again (still wearing shorts and a tshirt) to take some more pictures! Lastly, I joined Andrew on our balcony to view the BLUE icebergs floating by!

We sat on the balcony for a while, and I did put a jacket on. We heard the loud cracking sounds the glacier made. We watched chunks of ice crash into the sea below. Unfortunately none of those photos worked out! I asked the naturalist on board what causes the blue in the ice that we saw floating. She said the deep blue color is caused by the weight of the ice, which pushes the air out. The ice then absorbs red and yellow light and displays the deep teal blue. Here is a video of the Hubbard Glacier calving that I found which was pretty similar to what we saw – https://youtu.be/l1hpp-ZwU5c

Do you know what a growler is? No it is not a dog making a noise! A growler is a chunk of ice smaller than an iceberg! Learned something new today! However they can still damage ships and they need to stay away from them.

After all that excitement and fresh air, I was looking for a snack. Gluten free cookies on the Lido deck were my target! I was told that the cookies are in the Stores department and they would order some and come back later. Not impressed, as this was about the third time this has happened to me over the last 3 days, I pressed onwards to our room to keep winding my wool.

Two hours later I sent Andrew to acquire some GF Tates cookies. No go. They said the same thing to Andrew! They need to be ordered from the Stores and will be brought up. Okay, I get the message. No cookies for moi but strange, only four days into a journey!

We dined at the Canteletto Restaurant this evening. The Canteletto was created on HAL ships, but it is part of the Lido Restaurant and private. There are about ten tables and it serves Italian food. The dinner was very good and I enjoyed it! I had a beet salad, a shrimp skewer, and Alaska halibut with artichokes. I finished with sorbet. However, as were were in the Lido area, I was not surprised when the waitress whispered they have no GF chocolate cookies! I just smiled and said it was okay.

Andrew had his normal meat dinner, and he enjoyed affogato al caffè for dessert!

Leaving the Canteletto, I walked past the gluten free area of the Lido and asked for 2 GF chocolate chip cookies. Guess what the answer was? “We need to get more from the Stores”. I said thanks and we retired to our stateroom.

Holland America has a lovely app named Navigator. It shows where we should be and what is offered on the ship each day. It also has an excellent feature called Feedback. Unknown to Andrew, I provided feedback to the Chef on gluten-free offerings and snacks. The meals, other than the muffin mix-up the first day, have been phenomenal! However, getting a snack when hungry has been like pulling teeth! Also, there was a problem with gluten free muffins this morning. I wrote to Chef Willem, who is the same chef on the Noordam as was on our sailing from Seattle to Sydney. As a person with Celiac Disease, I pre-register with the Special Services form so they know I will be on board. We used to have to list what our favourite foods were, but that has not been done in the last 2 decades. Basically, this tells HAL in advance of my dietary needs and they will need to provide Celiac Safe food.

I kept my feedback light and helpful however it also acknowledged safety and cross-contact concerns. For example, making gluten-free items in a pastry shop the size of a stateroom due to gluten flour being used, is not safe. The gluten flour would be everywhere!

I had no idea what would happen, but I thought HAL should know there is someone aboard who sails regularly and I am experiencing a different level of service than on prior cruises. I also noted there is a difference between the “lifestyle” gluten-free diners and those diagnosed with a medical condition.

Then I went to bed, really expecting a note in the morning saying thanks for your feedback, we will take it under advisement or something like that. Lets see what happened! Stay tuned!

Sept 10 – Visit to Sitka and walk in Port

September 10, 2026September 20, 2026Lmnei

Our next port is Sitka, Alaska (Tlingit: Sheetʼká) where we docked outside of town, which required a 15 minute shuttle ride to”downtown”. The Noordam looked pretty great port and we got off in good time as we had a walking tour booked in Sitka today.

Once we went down the gangplank onto the dock, it is obvious that Sitka now really likes the Cruise Ship industry! Compared to the last time we were here – there is a new building at the port to welcome visitors and be a transportation hub for the tour departures! Very nice!

There were busses ready to take people to town and also a shuttle that could take 3 scooters (and me) at a time which was aweseome!

View of Sitka Harbour with the Ritz Carlton ship at anchor

We soon found our tour at the bus drop off area downtown and off we went walking along the shore and talking about living in Alaska, how workers come up to Sitka from April to Septebmer (cruise season) and are put up in apartments (there is couples accommodation and then singles accommodation) for the season as part of their wage. They work when cruise ships are in town – doing tours, driving busses, working in stores etc. The population is about 8,000 people on average, with it increasing by about 2,000 people during the tourist season. Again, like many Alaskan communities, it was originally settled by the Russians and you can see their influence during our tour. There is a fairly big US Coast Guard Service (along with ships) based in Sitka that provide emergency sea rescues if needed. The other interesting fact we learned is that the Alaskan State Trooper Acadamy is located in Sitka! Here is more information on that training and what they do: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska_State_Trooper_Academy

It was recommended to Andrew that we go to the “Sitka Burgers and Crab Shack” for a good meal. Now I do not do burgers but I can do crab if cooked properly! Holy SMOKES! Tourist pricing times 5! ONE King Crab leg is $42 USD! No thanks! Andrew and I settled on some gluten free chips instead for $5 plus some drinks…. Check out the pictures below!

After that lovely break, we decided to walk back to where the shuttle was to the Noordam. Along the way though Lynda had seen a store that she wanted to visit as it had stickers in it! Wow – what a beautiful display! A few stickers and a shirt later, we were back at the shuttle stop and loading up to head back to the Noordam! Again, tried to shop at the pier where the Noordam was located – stores were either closed for the season or almost out of stock! There were some really good sales on however I really did not need any neon coloured shirts so we passed and just walked back and got on the Noordam to enjoy the evening!

Tomorrow is a day at sea and also September 11th and the 25th Anniversary of 9-11. I will have to dig up some pictures that I have from back when Vancouver International Airport (YVR) hosted a ton of people (more than any other Canadian Airport, including Gander) when the flights flying from Asia, over the Pacific, towards Canada and the USA were suddently told to land at YVR – with no explanation!

Sept 9th, 2026 – Day in Ketchikan and Mystic Fjord Excursion

September 9, 2026September 18, 2026Lmnei

Today we get to get off the ship! Yahoo! We have lots of days at sea with some port days thrown in for fun! Today is a port day in Ketchikan where we are taking an “accessible” boat excursion to Mystic Fjord. Let’s go!

Mystic Fjord

Andrew and I have been to Ketchikan previously and I thoroughly enjoyed this port previously. This time, as there is an accessible boat tour, we are going to do that first. Not many tour boats are accessible so I was a bit apprehensive about this one, however pleasantly surprised to find that there was a huge ramp up to the boat, and while there was not any wheelchair parking per se, there was a very narrow accessible washroom too that my walker, in semi collapsed position, fit into. Additionally, the seats were comfortable, and cloths were provided to de-fog the windows for our voyage up the fjord.

MS St. Helaina, Sitka, AK an accessible boat!

We finished the excursion and found the ramp back to the top dock much easier, as the tide had receded while we were away. Then, Andrew headed to the Noordam to rest, leaving Lynda to wander and see what she could discover.

Let’s Explore Ketchikan

Knowing a bit about Ketchikan history, including its underground liquor trade during Prohibition, I headed to the boardwalk. As I moved along, I passed the Fire Hall with its ready equipment and a historic fire engine on display. I was taking some pictures of the boardwalk area when I started getting pelted by rain – HUGE rain drops! Then, I sheltered under a store awning and called my mother to report we had arrived in Ketchikan.

I had a nice stroll along Creek Street and saw the various stores winding down for the Cruise Ship season. We are one of the last boats visiting the port this month. One thing that is great when it rains is the smell of rain makes things seem “fresh” until I got to the bridge you can see above in the “More of Creek Street” photo on bottom right. When I crossed that bridge there was a very specific smell that I have encountered a couple of times in my life – dead salmon in the creek after they have spawned! Lovely! That said, the smell-a-thon memory was VERY QUICKLY in the past when I saw a certain sign on the building across the bridge to the left…

Does that actually say “Alaskan Fabrics”???

Needless to say, I ended up in a WONDERFUL yarn and fabric store named Fabulous Fiber Arts! Oh my goodness I was in heaven and so giddy the lady in the store I think was concerned about my sanity as I was so excited to see REAL wool! I am going to try and keep my gushing to a minimum however I did find some FABULOUS blue/purple/green sock weight wool (unfortunately not from Alaska but Turkey) and I am now set for my cruise! I even had a bag to carry my stash of 7 skeins of wool back to the ship in which was awesome!

Typical Andrew – he was not too impressed with my shopping adventure – it just does not register! The good thing for Andrew is that as we are in the USA or close to shore is they are playing American Football games on TV so he has been able to watch some good games including the Seattle one to start the season and then the one played in Melbourne, Australia!

Now back in our stateroom, it is time to wind some wool! The Knitting Group is at 10am each morning and I got to be ready to stitch and bitch! Tomorrow we relocate from the bar area outside Pinnacle Grill to a conference room due to ceiling leaks! Oh wait, no Knitting Group tomorrow – we are in Sitka! See you tomorrow!

Sept 8th – Relaxing cruise up BC Coast to Ketchikan, Alaska

September 8, 2026September 18, 2026Lmnei

We got up to a beautiful morning cruising between Vancouver Island and the BC Coast up past Haida Gwaii. We had breakfast in the room, which I had ordered the night before. I generally have the same breakfast everyday to make it easy on the staff to keep my gluten free dining safe. SOMETHING happened in the translation though and again I was served muffins that were not gluten free. Been there and done this before and I can “feel” when the muffins are not gluten free. Also they do not have paper cups on them which is indicative of the brand that Holland America now carries (Bio). Unfortunately they no longer stock Kinnikinnick brand products since the company was sold.

I proceeded to phone Room Service to see if I could get some gluten free muffins and Patricia answered the phone! I know Patricia from our cruise from Seattle to Sydney – she was the lady who took Room Service orders on that cruise too and helped me with my gluten free dining when I needed something I had not already pre-ordered. What a lovely surprise! She was very tentative on the phone – “are you the Miss Lynda who went to Sydney last year?” she said to me? I remember this order and the gluten free muffins! I will send some to you right away! And so they arrived with apologies from Tama, who is her manager. Problem solved!

Next on the list – relax and get my nails done! I now have fire engine red toenails and french manicure finger nails – however I ditched the usual baby pink for baby purple/mauve instead! Very cool!

Now, as my mother will attest, I often volunteer to run the Cruise Critic group’s Meet and Greet on the ship on the first day. Again, that is what I am doing at 2pm today! I have a secret though – this group has been VERY talkative during the year leading up to the cruise and one of the points of discussion have been Nanaimo Bars! One lady, lets call her Tutu was really intrigued by them so I posted a video of Todd Maffin, who is an ex-CBC personality and now decent Canadian (along with his wife Jocelyn who I know through the Spinal Cord Injury of BC Association) talking about Nanaimo Bars which is kind of funny… Here it is for your amusement!

Having Celiac Disease I am NOT someone to bring gluten snacks to a group when I cannot enjoy them too! So I acquired some Wendels GF Nanaimo Bars (2 boxes) from Save on Foods and brought them to the ship for the meeting! Everything was going great – I delivered them to the dining room in their sealed box so they could be cut up (following the Health and Safety laws which I did not bring in home made products) and served half way through the meeting. Only fly in the ointment – Andrew was still not feeling well so he was not at the meeting to “assist” me!

The meeting went really well – about 45 people showed up which was a fair crowd in the Rolling Stone Lounge and we all introduced ourselves and we played some fun games. At the end I gave out some Canadian themed prizes and announced we all had Nanaimo Bars to share at the back – however they were not there! Oh no! They never arrived! I had to apologize and tell people I had brought everyone Nanaimo bars but they had not been delivered…

Needless to say, an hour later the Noordam staff found the Nanaimo Bars in the kitchen, untouched and there was a HUGE miss-communication issue where they were not delivered to the meeting. They then offered to cut them up and deliver the Nanaimo Bars to the rooms of the guests that had attended the meeting – if I could put one together! That I did and they were supposed to deliver the GF Nanaimo Bars to the staterooms that night with a card apologizing for missing the meeting.

Here are some photos I took during the day cruising up the coast of BC!

October 22, 2025 – Kauai – Caves, Grand Canyon of the Pacific and Angry Pad Thai!

October 22, 2025October 25, 2025Lmnei

Today we arrived in Kauai, where Andrew and I first visited shortly after the big hurricane in 1992 and then we visited again with my parents on the Hawaiian cruise about a decade ago. Previously we have rented cars to check out the island, this time we took a HAL Tour which was offering some things we have done in the past (Grand Canyon of the Pacific) and some we have not such as the Fern Grotto river cruise and some other sights we have missed!

I was up early at 7 am while the ship was docking and we had breakfast at 7:30 am as our tour was meeting downstairs at 8:15 am! Got up, got fed and packed and ready to go! Not much to report on the docking of the Noordam other than it seemed to take a long time – I suspect there were several tugs involved with pushing us into the dock as I heard the Azipods working really hard to snuggle us in too! Andrew had observed two gangways yesterday of passengers getting off the ship – one mid-ship and one at the stern – where we had to get off. Now we understood why – the tours get off mid-ship and passengers visiting the port without booked HAL excursions have to walk all the way to the BACK of the ship!

When we took the elevator from Deck 5 where we are located to Deck 2 where the Excursion check in is located, we had the pleasure of meeting the Captain in the elevator! I congratulated him on a successful docking in Kauai and he made a comment about it being a challenging port. The elevators move fast on this ship (recently replaced) so it was a very short trip and I was not able to ask any other questions!

Soon we were on the bus with Rosario, the driver and tour guide for today. Rosario is Italian, whose family moved to Eastern USA when he was a child and then on his honeymoon, they visited Kauai and they never returned back to the USA. He has lived in Kauai since 1983 and I was really impressed with his knowledge of Hawaiian culture and history! More on that later!

As we drove to ‘Opaeka’a Falls, our first stop, we passed by the “Royal Birthing Stones” which is an area where women gave birth to future kings. Commoners were not allowed into this area. Basically, there is a cave where the woman waited to give birth, some stones which she could push against during the labour process (called Pohaku Hoohanau) and then finally, the Pohaku Piko, the umbilical stone or crack where the umbilical cord is placed after birth. Legend is that if a rat takes the umbilical cord, the child will become a thief, if nothing happens, everything will be fine! The bus just pulled out so we could take pictures from the windows and then we continued.

When we arrived at ‘Opaeka’a Falls, which feed the Wailua river, which is the only navigable river in the State of Hawaii, they were beautiful! The ‘Opaeka’a Falls are 151 feet high and 40 feet wide. The falls were running well for this time of year as it had rained last night. There is a wonderful viewing platform for the falls and then one can cross the highway which looks at the Wailua River and up the valley as it winds into the lush vegetation of Kauai. ‘Opaeka’a Falls means “rolling shrimp” in Hawaiian, a name derived from the freshwater shrimp that were once abundant in the stream and appeared to tumble down the cascading water. The name combines “‘opae” (shrimp) and “‘ka’a” (rolling) to describe the shrimp’s movement in the water at the base of the falls. Here are my pictures of approaching Kauai and the ‘Opaeka’a Falls area.

Now back on our bus, we are headed for a short drive to take a flat bottomed boat to the Fern Grotto. The Fern Grotto is a fern-covered cave set in a tropical garden which is a 2 mile ride up the Wailua River Valley. The Fern Grotto is a heiau (places of worship), pu‘uhonua (places of refuge) and once you arrive, you can take an accessible path up to a wooden plateau/patio where you can view the actual grotto. It was interesting to find out that after the 1992 hurricane, the fern grotto was damaged significantly and the 40+ foot ferns that covered the entrance to the cave were destroyed. Luckily they grow back fast! The other interesting fact is that there used to be a pathway up into the fern grotto, however it is not used anymore for two reasons – it is not accessible (which as a National Park it is required to be) and and American slipped and fell and sued the State of Hawaii, so it was closed. You can barely see the steps and pathways now that went to the entrance of the cave as they are now enclosed in lush greenery!

I knew when going on this HAL Excursion that I was going to have to get onto a bus and there were 4 stairs to get into the flat bottomed boat. That HAL had told me in advance. What I found extremely interesting is that a different HAL Excursion to the “Fern Grotto” was advertised as wheelchair accessible and I saw no wheelchair access from the place we got onto the boats or how to get off the boats at the Fern Grotto docks. That said, the Fern Grotto area was fully wheelchair accessible, with paved paths around the stairs and a ramp up to the “balcony” to take pictures of the grotto area. It was a bit perplexing! After we all walked from the boat to the Fern Grotto, a family of singers performed the Hawaiian Wedding song for us – which was very beautiful in such a natural setting! Apparently there used to be about 5,000 weddings done a year at the Fern Grotto prior to the hurricane, however they only do 5 a month now and they are VERY expensive. Here is a video of the family serenading us with the Hawaiian Wedding song!

Next we walked back down to the boat and the Hawaiian family accompanied us in the boat on the way back to the dock where we originated. They sang Hawaiian songs and took requests too!

Then two men, as originally only men did the Hula, demonstrated a male version of the Hula dance for us.

Then we got back onto the bus and we started traveling west on Kauai, through the main town of Lihue and towards the “Grand Canyon of the Pacific” named by Mark Twain, funny enough without even visiting! As there is only one road that basically makes a backwards C shape on Kauai, I noticed some stores where Andrew and I had previously visited and then I saw the “Shrimp Shack” where we had stopped with my parents for lunch when we took a similar drive. I was not fast enough with my phone to take a picture though!

It was getting near lunch time, however first we were going to visit the famed blow hole on Kauai – Koloa or Sprouting Horn! There were actually two blow holes – one larger one which was plugged as it lead to flooding and the smaller one you see in my pictures today. The smaller blow hole can get very high if the sea is rough, however today the sea was fairly calm, so not much action other than it started to rain when I was taking pictures and I got SOAKED!

Next we went for lunch which had been arranged at a local restaurant which was a very nice venue! It was set into a forest type setting and felt very natural and appropriate for the type of tour that we were on. It was a buffet of glutened items, however when I told the waitress, who was escorting me on the accessible bridge to the section that we were to sit in (others went up some stairs), that I had Celiac Disease, she knew right away what to do and brought me some fish and chicken that had just been pan seared for me! Very good service! Andrew had breaded fish and teriyaki chicken off the buffet. Here are some pictures of the restaurant too!

Now fed and burped, we were off to the Grand Canyon area! To get there, you basically travel along the main road on Kauai until it almost ends and then take a right going inland and up the mountain/volcano to see the vista. As Rosario told us, two different people have tried to make a road all the way around Kauai, however they have failed, as the cliffs on the western side are just too high and valleys are so deep. They really are beautiful if you see them from the water. Other than blasting a tunnel through the lava, I have no idea how one would get past that side of the island either!

We wound our way up the cliffs and eventually arrived at the lookout which every time I have been here I am amazed at how beautiful it is!

We then had a great drive back to the ship, where Rosario entertained us all the way back with stories. One in particular that interested me was about the island that is just off the shore of Kauai named Niʻihau. It is the 7th largest island in the Hawaiian chain and is a private island that was bought in the 1800’s by Elizabeth Sinclair for $10,000 US (a lot of money back then!) It now is managed by her decedents, the Robinson’s, who also own a lot of land on Kauai, including former sugar plantations and now acreages of coffee trees. The story of Elizabeth Sinclair can be found here – interesting Canadian connection!

Now back at the ship – time to board as we are now going to set of for Samoa – another 6 days at sea!

Now it was time to get ready for dinner! We had booked the Marimoto’s pop up restaurant for dinner tonight and I was really looking forward to seeing what they came up for me tonight after viewing the VERY LIMITED menu the previous night! I was to be totally surprised! I had selected the Calamari salad, the angry Pad Thai and then for dessert, Gelato as the manager was not sure if any other options would be gluten free.

Well, and that is a DEEP subject, for the 2nd time in this cruise, I was amazed at the food I was served! The Calamari salad, like the menu indicated, was breaded, however for me it was breaded and fried in corn starch and it was a lovely hot salad. However the best was yet to come – the Angry Pad Thai! It came out sizzling hot – it was half a small lobster with some Pad Thai and bok choi on the side. Oh was it good! It was so good I captured the sizzle in a video for you below! Then not to be outdone, the waiter then announced that the chocolate sphere could be made gluten free so I had that for dessert! Oh, la la! A round chocolate globe with vanilla ice cream inside and HOT caramel sauce poured over top – yes my diabetic sensor went a bit high after that meal! Here are the pictures and video!

And for the sizzle effect!

Wow – what a day! No wonder I am tired! Now, off to sea we go and lets see what new trouble I can get into over the next 6 days (really 7 as we cross the International Date Line) until we get to our first stop, Samoa!

October 21, 2025 – Kahalui, Maui – Day trip to Paia with some mentoring thrown in!

October 21, 2025October 23, 2025Lmnei

Very interesting start for the day! When we woke up we were in front of the breakwater for the Kahului harbour – with our “bow view” window it looked like it was going to be a slim fit getting through that passage! My picture did not work out (too much reflection) however I found one online which shows the entrance. We basically hung out until a large tug appeared to assist us through the breakwater and to the left (port) to where the dock is located. We went in bow first. It was amusing to see a little speed boat which was coming from the right, to try and pass in front of the fairly large tug boat which was heading out of the breakwater from the left to right and all of a sudden the speed boat slowed right down and then passed behind the tug boat. We saw the captain on the deck wave his hands and we think yell at the stupid person in the speed boat to beware of what they were attempting and go around instead! Nothing like Goliath (Noordam) bearing down on an ant in the sea and having a intermediary, which I have no idea what I would envision the tug to me, take command of the situation!

I was very thankful that we were 3 hours behind Vancouver time, as when I got up at 7:30 am in preparation for breakfast, it was hard to move! Not sure if it was the cumulative at sea days and the different parts of my body having to compensate to balance, the after effects of the massage on my legs or still the withdraw from the Opioid medication that I completed last month, however I was not comfortable.

After breakfast, I phoned my pain specialist and left her a message that I needed to chat while I was in Hawaii – either today or tomorrow as after that we were going to be at sea and my phone would not work and then called the Pharmacy who I routinely deal with and asked them for what they would recommend me to do. The challenge is that when you have decided to stop opioid medications, there are certain medications, outside of being hospitalized, that one cannot take. I am used to taking those medications on previous trips as they are in the opioid category for pain management when my pain spikes. I had left Vancouver with Extra Strength Tylenol, I am on a medication that assists with the continued opioid withdraw and I was given a medication that is not an opioid type medication for pain management to take when I needed to (PRN). None of these were working and I was unsure of what I could double up on as these were new medications. I had a great chat with the pharmacist on duty, who is actually the owner of the pharmacy and knows me well, as to what type of medications that I can get over the counter in the USA (basically none that can help) and he gave me some other tips and then Andrew and I decided to go to Paia which is a small town close to Kahului, basically about 10 miles away on the other side of the airport on the way to Hana. We have been to Paia several times previously and I like to just walk around and see what is going on.

As Uber cannot pick people up at the dock in Kahului, we took a taxi to Paia – I had planned to take the bus, as Maui has a great bus system while unfortunately not frequent, it is only $2 a ride. The next bus would not have been for 45 minutes so taking a taxi was going to help with time management! Also I did not have to walk a kilometre to the bus stop! I think the taxi driver was disappointed with us. He wanted to show us the “sights” and I said, we just need to go to Paia. He offered to take us again to other places that Andrew and I have been and at that time I said we were from Vancouver and had been to Maui many times and we really just want to go to Paia to visit the town. Then he put on some Hawaiian music and we drove in silence to the town which was about 15 minutes away. Most people miss Paia as it is basically the first town on the way to Hana, as I mentioned which is one of “the drives” to do when on Maui. Paia is a very quaint town with an awesome Fish Market to eat at! We arrived at about 11:30 am and already there was a line up out the door of people queuing to order food and then I presume to sit down to wait and eat it. We have eaten there many times before and took a pass this time. We checked out several stores selling Hawaiian crafts – again my rule when shopping, which is a bit rough, is I do not go into a store unless it is accessible. So that cuts out about 1/2 of the stores in Paia as they have steps. Some stores have caught on and either have a sloped entry or one has a portable ramp out front.

One store that I have been to several times now is one for the Maui Crafter’s Guild. I always enjoy visiting this store and it does have a slightly sloped entrance. When we entered we were greeted by a nice lady and she asked if we had been there before which I replied yes, that I like this store as it represents Maui handcrafters AND does not have any steps to get into the store! She replied that the lady owns the store, which she has 3, has made that a requirement for all her stores and that the stores not be cluttered so that people can easily move around (which is true). She then let me browse which was nice. I knew what I was looking for and found my target item and then she came to help me and at that time pointed out the paintings on the wall above us and asked me if I liked them! I said they were really nice and that one looked like it was up by Kapalua (other side of Maui) and she was impressed that I knew that! I told her that we normally stay near Napili Beach and I recognized the bay which is just behind the resort where we normally stay. She was the painter of the 4 paintings for sale. For the other 3, two were done on private property and the other one was of Baldwin Beach which is right in front of Paia.

Andrew and I then checked out some more stores (well me more than Andrew, my shadow) and then we stopped for a beverage and bite to eat at a local coffee house/pub that we had not previously visited. It was lovely sitting under cover however outside and enjoying the breeze running through the building! Andrew of course had a local IPA where I had an interesting drink, which I thought would be colourful, but it was clear, that was a fruit quencher with green tea infused caffeine. It went down very well! We shared one of my favourite salads which was a beet, orange and goat cheese with macadamia nuts crushed on top. I am used to pine nuts so the mac nuts was a nice twist!

We then walked back up the other side of Paia and past Mana foods, where we normally go when we arrive in Kahului as it has gluten free products that we then stock up the kitchen where we stay up near Kapalua. I did not go in, as I have enough food on the ship! At that time I called an Uber to take us back to the ship, as I had a 2 pm meeting with my new Health Mentors group for this school year! The Uber came fairly quickly however I had mis-judged my timing and how long it was going to take to get back to the ship so I learned how in Uber to change my destination! The Uber driver, Teressa, was quite impressed that I figured it out as I had also messaged her if she could instead take us to the pier instead of the mall. So we were dropped off near the pier and wow – was that walk LONG to get back to the Noordam! I think we walked over a kilometre back in the HEAT! Thank goodness they provide water with lemons in it prior to getting onto the ship – I was parched! Then it was up to our cabin, as it was time for my Health Mentors meeting and lets just say I was running a BIT late! My red faced also showed just how hot it was in Maui at the time!

With regards to the Health Mentors, which I mentioned yesterday, for those who do not know, I am part of a program at UBC, which for the first 10 years was actually a research study, on how people either with lived experiences or those who support them in dealing with chronic conditions, can meet once a month with a cross students from various health disciplines. The students sign up, generally in their first year, for this program. The benefit to the student is while they are learning from books it provides a continuous patient perspective on life on the “other side” when receiving health services. As a Health Mentor, I am generally assigned 3-4 students each year – for the 5 years I have done this, I have had a Medical Student (MD) each year along with at least one Occupational Therapy (OT) student. Some years I have had Nursing, Physiotherapy, Speech Language Pathology (SLP) and a Masters Student in Population Health. This year I have the pleasure of mentoring 3 ladies – one MD, one OT and one SLP which is just awesome as those are areas of health practice that I have some experience in! Obviously I see doctors, my aunt is an OT and I have had lots of OT experience myself and my uncle is an SLP! Not as much SLP experience other than my sister, Joanne, my uncle says is a “clutterer” when she speaks, and I am aware of what SLP’s do within the hospital system in terms of swallowing studies and aphasia assistance.

I met the 3 ladies at the Kick off meeting for the year, which was held at the Italian Cultural Centre this year. We met there for about an hour, however as there were about 35 other groups meeting in the same hall, it was noisy and so we basically just introduced ourselves at that time, shared email addresses, got paperwork done and planned when we would meet next, which was important for me, as I was leaving on vacation in a week and we would have to meet online!

Today, well for them, tonight, was our first meeting! Today’s discussion was “Words and their Meanings” which is the first topic that is discussed in the Health Mentor program for various reasons. First, the students are learning how to take histories and interview their patients or clients and how important it is to address people the correct way when it comes to speaking about different medical conditions. There is quite a diversity between how Medical students speak and those in Allied Health Care such as OT’s and SLP’s which I find is always an interesting discussion to be had and the ladies were very engaging today! One example is for an MD, the word they use is Patient, where in Allied Health, they use Client. Then we discuss other words such as “I am a person living with Diabetes or Celiac Disease etc” which is more person centric, the medical condition does not define the person. A lot of this has changed over the years though and there are some diagnoses that people still use to define them and we did discuss those situations as well – such as “I am deaf” or “I am autistic”. The take home message is always let the patient/client lead and for the health professional to follow with the language that is presented to them. All that said, I learned something new! One of the students told me that they are taught that this process that I just described is called “reflecting” which really encompasses the description well – if someone indicates something to you, you “reflect” back to them in the way it was presented to you to ensure that you have understood it properly. The old addage, you learn something new everyday – that is what I like about this program – it is a give and take from all of us! The other brilliant process that starts happening, which I saw in our 2 hour session this afternoon, is that the 3 ladies came out of their “silo” of their chosen profession and heard how other similar professions address similar issues so it really rounds out their education.

After that was done, I took some time to relax (read nap) before we headed out for dinner. Tonight we were going to the dining room and as we dined, where our table for 2 is in the middle of the dining room, we were able to watch the lights on the shore and try and figure out how the ship was going to maneuver out of the small harbour! We finally figured it out – the Noordam backed up (which is where we were sitting in the dining room) and then swung her bow out towards the breakwater to go through. She was assisted out by at least one tugboat!

Diner was good – a little disappointed in the creativity of the chef tonight – I had ordered the macadamia nut crusted mahi mahi for dinner and normally when I ask for it to be gluten free a similar dish comes out – where they will use corn starch or something similar to crust the fish. Tonight I just got mahi mahi. It was delicious anyway! I also got more veggies on my plate than normal – they are so stingy on veggies here! April Joy, one of our waiters, knows I like veggies so she asks them to put more on my plate. The desert was “Eton Mess” which I first ran into in Ireland. It is naturally gluten free and is fruit, whip cream and meringue all “tossed” together! It was simple, small and delicious!

Now, we need to get a good nights sleep tonight and tomorrow is a BIG day! We have an all day tour planned – 8 hours long, in Kauai! More on that tomorrow!

October 20, 2025 – Honolulu and yes we went to Walmart!

October 20, 2025October 23, 2025Lmnei

This morning I awoke to a beautiful full rainbow across the harbour! It was brilliant – the picture I took actually does not do it justice!

On our last cruise to Hawaii with my parents, when we arrived in Kauai, I was amazed to see the line up for the Walmart shuttle for people to take to the store nearby. I actually thought it was bizarre – why would someone visiting such a beautiful place want to go to Walmart? Well I take that back now!

This morning started off really early as I had a Swedish Massage scheduled for 8:15 am in the Spa on board! My last “massage” experience on vacation was in Thailand and lets just say I was sore for DAYS after that experience! I have never had a lady get onto the massage table with me and pull and stretch my body in so many ways as at Thai Massage does! As I was already feeling pretty sore on this cruise from a pain standpoint, I visited the “Massage Sampler” Promotional session on one of the days at sea to talk to the massage therapists about having a massage and whether I had picked the correct one – the Swedish massage sounded like the easiest on my body! I was correct – that is what they suggested too me too – with a focus on my lower back which was sore due to all the extra “balancing” work I was having to do at sea.

I met Patricia my masseuse bright and early and what a luxurious experience it was! She was a very nice Filipino lady who had been on the Noordam now for 5 months – basically the Alaska season and was looking forward to going home at Christmas to her family, however had just found out prior to the cruise leaving Seattle, that she needed to stay on for an extra month, over Christmas, as there were no other massage therapists to replace her. She was sad about that however happy she would be in Australia as it is not as long a flight home as from other parts of the world. Her next contract will be in the Caribbean.

She worked on my funky back, especially the lower part where it seems that my previous steroid injection, which has lasted 6 months previously, was not in full force anymore. She thought my upper back was funny as I have Botox injections on the upper right side to stop spasms and she noticed a difference when trying to massage the muscles – she said they were “stiff” which I think is a good description as Botox basically freezes them! Then came the pain – she attacked my calves where she said that I had paid showing up. Now I did not realize this fact until she started to work on them! Now I do! Also the soles of my feet got a work out too! So I was pretty relaxed at that point before she started in on my arms and then finished with an awesome head massage! Getting that massage oil out of my hair was a bit of an experience though – took 3 shampoos!

Needless to say, I was pretty relaxed heading back to the cabin! Next to do? It was time for school! No, I was not going to school – as part of the Health Mentors Program at UBC that I participate in (more on that tomorrow), there are often opportunities to speak with students at varying levels in a particular discipline, which today is Pharmacy Students. The students today are 1st year and the 10 mentors including myself, are the first “client” experience they will have. The best part of this is it is done via Zoom so I can participate from Hawaii! The other awesome thing is that it is at a normal time of day this year for me – 10 am vs. last year I think it was about 1 am when I was in Cork, Ireland that I was holding my sessions with the students! Larry, the professor, I really like and that is the other reason why I volunteer to do these sessions each year – he is really great with the students and encouraging them to get information out of the guest speakers as being in a Zoom session with 5-6 students looking at your doe-eyed is not fun!

The goals for the session, which there are 3 half hour sessions each with a different group of students, is for the Health Mentor to explain how a Pharmacist is involved in their care, give an example of a positive (I guess also could be a negative too but I focus on positive) experience with a Pharmacist or Pharmacy and then answer questions. For myself, I just generally explain how I am on medication, have gone to the same Community Pharmacy for 25 years now and get my blister packs and then chat about some thoughts on the blister pack process – as there have been some automation changes in the last few years with the blister packs being out sourced but with certain types of medications, such as some that I take, the blister packs then need to be opened at the pharmacy once received and the additional medication added, as they are a controlled substance. The other subject that I talked about this year was how supportive the Pharmacy was with my huge medication change that I went through and how they started using email so that it was easier to chat with them with regards to my symptoms instead of different pharmacists each day which lead to a lot of miscommunication. The questions that all the groups asked were great and respectful which were wonderful too!

After 2 hours of being “in class” I was now tired! I then had a short nap with the plan to go to the Baldwin Museum in Honolulu like my mother had suggested we visit. However after my power nap, the pain in my legs was increasing so we decided to not go to the Baldwin Museum and instead just complete the errands for today which involved returning my Hilo Hattie dress and going to Walmart to get some items, including some shoe inserts for Andrew as one of his pairs of shoes are not fitting very well right now.

To do so, we took the public bus – the Waikiki Express bus to be exact! It was just like the bus in Vancouver with a ramp to get onto it and then the accessible seating at the front. There were more accessible seats than we have on our bus system though and they were a different colour so people knew they were sitting on them and needed to get up if asked. The only downside of this bus I found was the number of people with luggage on it in the accessible section as it was the largest area of the bus. Not a lot of room to move!

We got to Hilo Hatties and returned the dress and then walked to Walmart. Unfortunately, during that time, the online order that I had placed, had come back that they were out of the heel inserts that Andrew wanted. As we were at the store already, we decided to improvise and bought some shoe inserts and tape instead (along with my online order for knitting supplies) and then took a taxi back to the Noordam to get crafting on optimizing Andrew’s shoes! We then cut the shoe inserts to match the curve of the heel and taped them in with the double sided tape and voila! The shoes where Andrew’s heel was slipping out of were optimized! Thank goodness I have so much experience making shoes from my childhood that I could help him with this little project – right mum?

We then hung out on our balcony and watched both some dinner cruises leave for the evening and the clouds come down the volcano and hover over Honolulu very pregnant with rain! Glad we were not going to be walking the streets tonight!

We then went to dinner, where I had Marlin fish, which was fresh caught and very good! Andrew had pasta for dinner which he also enjoyed. Trying not to fill my blog with pictures of food unless they are outstanding presentations or awesomely good!

After dinner, as the ship was not to leave port until 11 pm, we walked around the Promenade deck for a bit of exercise and fresh air. There was a container ship behind the Noordam unloading its cargo – the cargo ship was almost as bit as the Noordam! Interesting size comparison! Last, a skyline picture of Honolulu prior to departing for Kahului for tomorrow’s adventures!

October 19, 2025 – Land Ho! Off to Ala Moana Mall then Cirque du Solei ‘Auana!

October 19, 2025October 21, 2025Lmnei

Land is sighted and we have arrived at Pier 2 in Honolulu today! We had breakfast with the ship steadfastly tied to the dock and no rocking back and forth – except our bodies still felt like we were at sea! Andrew ordered a full breakfast this morning and I had asked for the blueberry muffins that I had been receiving be switched to the chocolate ones which were much more palatable. However I did not PAY ATTENTION when opening up the basket and took out the set of chocolate muffins and promptly buttered and put some jam on them and took a bite! Needless to say they tasted WAY TOO GOOD for gluten free. So then I looked in the basket some more and there were the two gluten free muffins in their paper baking cups. I cannot believe this has happened to me yet again on a cruise! I know to watch for the paper cups but I was so happy to get a different muffin that I forgot. Needless to say, I was a bit sick later in the morning!

We then spent some time reacquainting ourselves with our families (I had phoned my parents via WiFi on the ship just to try it out but the delay was a bit hard to take) by calling home on my cell phone which worked great! We also watched some of the ship action in the harbour before going out for the afternoon to run some errands at the local Ala Moana Mall. Here are some highlights from the morning/early afternoon:

After our leisurely stroll off the ship about noon (we let the rest of the ship get off early and go on their tours etc) we took a taxi to the Ala Moana mall which is nearby to pick up some essentials that someone (me) forgot such as shampoo, cotton yarn for knitting, thongs and I was also in desperate need of a heating pad! As Ala Moana is an open air mall, while we were walking along from the French boutique called Target, my shopping destination, we stopped and watched some young kids put on a Sunday afternoon hula show! Then we went to Hilo Hattie, as it was also located at the mall, where I was surprised just how SMALL the store was! I still managed to find a nice dress to wear for our Hawaiian part of our vacation though!

At Hilo Hattie, once I had purchased the dress, offered us a ride back to the Noordam ship – I did not realize they had a shuttle bus from the ship to begin with! I asked them twice if it was wheelchair accessible and they said it was and also looked at me like I was asking a stupid question, so we proceeded to wait for the next shuttle. Andrew then quickly needed to run an errand, so we missed the shuttle we were booked onto. When we returned to Hilo Hattie, we waited for the shuttle to return – the ride to the ship is only about 7-10 minutes. When the shuttle appeared, there was a lovely sign next to its door indicating that they do not not carry wheelchairs or scooters. I at this point was barely able to walk, and was not going to be able to climb the stairs onto the shuttle. I have no idea why the store clerks thought this van was wheelchair accessible! On top of that, as we are in the USA, this is a violation of the ADA requirements – if a company offers a shuttle service, it has to be accessible to all, or the company has to provide alternative accessible transportation. Seems that Hilo Hattie is not aware of this rather important law.

We ended up taking a taxi back to the ship and resting for about an hour. At that time, I received a phone call (yes I was surprised that my phone rang) from the PF Chang’s Restaurant in Waikiki, where we had made a 5:30 pm reservation for dinner, prior to going to the Cirque de Solei show of ‘Auana at the Outrigger Beach Resort. Apparently, the water main had broken in the mall where the restaurant is located, and they wanted to let us know that they might not be open for dinner! They did not call back, so I called prior to leaving the ship, and they indeed were open for dinner – thank goodness! I, in the past, have liked PF Chang’s for food as they have a good gluten free protocol and offering. However, in the last year, I have noticed both their restaurants closing (Bellevue, WA), fewer gluten free menu items and lastly, a lower quality of food. I think this might have been our last meal at PF Chang’s restaurant in general – I was not impressed with the bland taste of the egg foo young soup, Pad Thai and the Chicken and Broccoli dish’s that we ordered. Andrew had to add soy sauce to his meal to “spice” it up! It bothers me when a restaurants meals are no longer exciting to eat! Yet another chain off the list of places to patronize when in the USA! Here are some photos of our dinner:

Next we went shopping at the local ABC store (which is a mainstay in Hawaii, where I was finally able to find some thongs that had some support – in the Men’s section! They are a bit wide for my feet but they will work and they do show off my lovely pedicure from a couple of days back very well! I got a couple of other little souvenirs and then we proceeded to walk to the Outrigger Beach Hotel where the ‘Auana show is located. It sure was nice walking in the 27 degree C temperature along a street! There also was a certain deviation made to a gelato place that had no sugar chocolate gelato! One VERY SMALL cup cost $6 – wow – you can sure tell you are in a tourist area! Here are some views from the street – including a yellow ladder truck!

We finally found the Outrigger Beach Resort (we found there are two Outrigger hotels in Waikiki and we just happened to visit both of them in search of the show – good thing they are almost across the street from each other) and what I am finding is a phenomenon here in Hawaii – the use of escalators to get to the “lobby” of a hotel, which is up one level. Now, I have gotten in trouble for collapsing my walker and getting on an escalator previously, so we decided to find the elevator instead and enter the hotel the proper way…. Sure enough you need a key card to access the elevator however the did let us in when allowed us to get to the hotel lobby where you line up with your tickets.

I thought the show was sold out, and as I had purchased these tickets from a person on the Cruise Critic website who had to cancel the cruise at a last minute, they were not accessible tickets. They were VERY nice seats in the lower bowl of the show – similar to how the seating is set up in a big top tent. I went into the ticketing office and they were more than happy to exchange the tickets to accessible ones so that I did not have to go downstairs or walk into the middle of the auditorium from the side. Instead we had great seats at the top of the lower bowl which suited us just fine!

Now, a little segway about ‘Auana just so you have some context as to why I was interested in seeing this show – I love Cirque du Solei performances, however sometimes I find I am thinking afterwards what they really meant or were trying to teach us – they are often “out there” I would say in their creativity. I was quite intrigued when the opportunity presented itself to purchase tickets at the description for ‘Auana which is as follows:

“A Tribute to Hawaiian Culture – Hawai‘i’s first Cirque du Soleil resident show – step into a world where reality bends and the spirit of Hawai‘i comes alive—welcome to ‘Auana, an enchanting journey brought to life by Cirque du Soleil. This spectacular show celebrates the essence of the islands through breathtaking artistry and awe-inspiring athleticism. Prepare to be captivated as a diverse ensemble of international and local talents delivers an exhilarating blend of acrobatics, laughter, mesmerizing hula, and soul-stirring music.”

“The compelling narrative of ‘Auana unfolds across eight chapters, inspired by the mo‘olelo (stories) of Hawai‘i. From the Polynesian migration, to the “golden age of tourism”, each act honors a deep connection to the ʻāina (land), celebrating Hawai‘i’s rich heritage and cultural traditions.”

The 80 minute show does not have an intermission and similar to other shows I have seen, the performers come into the audience, however with this show they were present even more – almost with every change of scene they entered and exited through the pathways around the circular theatre. Here are some pictures that I took when at the show, which I will describe a bit more below:

There are 3 videos that I filmed during the performance – two are not shown above – one was the Hawaii 5-0 sequence with the Cirque “clown” where he got 4 guys out of the audience to perform – it was hilarious! It runs 4 1/2 minutes.

The next video is about 90 seconds long where the 2 acrobats depicted in the last picture above, portray fire and the volcano’s in Hawaii – their performance of going around in the wheels and then outside of them, including skipping and jumping around was phenomenal!

Then to close, the last video of each of the performers taking their bows – which were well deserved! It lasts just under 3 minutes.

We then met the friends of the people who sold us the tickets (she actually brought us lei’s to the theatre for us which was very kind!) and we shared an Uber back to the Noordam after the performance! I think that was the latest I have been up on this trip – we did not get back until about 11 pm and I had an early start planned for Monday morning! A massage and then talking to UBC Pharmacy students!

October 12, 2025 – Yarn and Deck chair here I come!

October 12, 2025October 15, 2025Lmnei

I have made a disastrous discovery! I have brought my knitting needles and my sweater that I am currently knitting but forgotten the wool at home that I meant to bring with me to knit another cardigan while on the cruise ship! What a nightmare! First thing, thank goodness there is a yarn store in Pike Place market which is near by, is for me to get some yarn for my planned project! Now that I have scoped out the location (it is currently about 4am when I came to this realization) I can go back to sleep and dream of yarn and knitting until it is time to get up, get breakfast and go for a walk!

Again, a great breakfast at the Plow restaurant at the Marriott Hotel – a tiny bit disappointed that they only have gluten free bread on offer and no muffins or bagels however I am happy with my omelette, fruit, yogurt and piece of bread! Next, Google Maps (notice I am using it today) tells us the wheelchair accessible route to Pike Place Market is basically a LONG Zed of a switch back down the waterfront street and back up a long side walk climbing up a hill and then cross the street and switch back to climb a gradual hill to Pike Place Market. If I were able bodied we could just walk along the waterfront and take the stairs up. I am not doing that option today as I need my energy to get onto the Noordam later! So off we go on our journey!

We walked along about 6 city blocks and switched back up the hill. Got to the top of the hill where the light was, basically at the top of the Marriott Hotel, where we had began (but 8 floors up) and low and behold people are walking towards us with suitcases along a pedestrian overpass from an elevator that they took from the street level (yes another Norwegian Cruise Ship had docked) next to the Marriott Hotel! This “shortcut” from street leads right to the street to Pike Place Market! Thanks Google Maps for the workout and the switchback of a kilometer to get to this point! Going down will be easier!

Now we walked along a much less steep street to the Pike Place Market. We checked out the Pike Place Market viewpoint and saw the waterfront below us which included our hotel, the Norwegian Ship, the harbour and the football and baseball stadiums to the south. Nice couple enjoying the view and smoking some local greenery too, first thing on a Sunday morning!

We got into Pike Place Market, where I have been before, avoided the flying fish (if you do not know what I am referencing check out this) link: https://youtube.com/shorts/RGZQHgSnHNY?si=6chBnQ-5u0D3ladx and made our way to the elevator to get to the Yarn Dragon store. This is one of two Yarn Dragon stores – never been to either of them however I chose this one as it was the easiest to get to. The other one was their factory outlet which was a couple more blocks away and I was concerned about getting enough skeins of the same colour lot for my projects due to it being a factory outlet.

WOW – what a really cool store! While Andrew patiently waited, I power shopped for some wool and had lots of fun! Yarn Dragon makes and dyes their own wool and I got two types – one of DK yarn for a sweater set and then some thinner yarn for a different sweater project – just in case! They will be revealed later in the cruise as I got to finish what is on my needles first!

Now that power shopping was done, it was time to get back to the hotel, via the elevator that we found, to finish closing up our suitcases and wait for the shuttle to pick us up to take us to the Noordam ship, which was berthed at Pier 91 (the Marriott Hotel was across from Pier 66). It was going to be about a 15 minute drive to north Seattle along the waterfront. I did have time though to chat with my friend Tanya, who I met when she worked part time for my friend Karen. Tanya helped me after Karen passed away by staying in Karen’s house until it was sold and assisted with all the things that we needed to find new homes for during COVID – what an experience that was! It was wonderful to be able to catch up with her!

The shuttle soon picked us up and we were off to join the Noordam and our cruise to Australia, via Hawaii, Samoa, Fiji and Vanuatu Islands. It was really surreal for me when we got to Pier 91 as it is also the same Pier where the ships that travel up to Alaska for the Pollock and King crab fishing depart from. There was a beautifully designed building which houses those businesses, which are seasonal and mostly run out of Seattle. There also is a ferry and barge system that has scheduled round trip service out of Seattle that makes stops in the Aleutian Islands (I worked on the Island of Unalaska back in my software installation days) to supply food and other items and they also stop in Anchorage before returning to Seattle. It was interesting to see where all this takes place after spending the time in Alaska working and seeing how the people living up there depend on the shipments coming by sea from Seattle. Some of the ships seen on the TLC show “Deadliest Catch”, sail out of Dutch Harbour, on the Island of Unalaska, which is where I went to install the Parks and Recreation software a few decades back.

Here are the pictures of us approaching Pier 91, the Alaskan fishing building, the Noordam and getting on board the ship!

Boarding a cruise ship sure has gotten easier from the last time we did it! I remember in Fort Lauderdale when we were going Trans-Atlantic on the Nieuw Statendam the double COVID testing that had to be done, the waiting for test results and then we were allowed to board. Today was TOTALLY smooth other than the security lady who insisted on wanting to pat me down as she thought I could not walk through the metal detector! I went through the metal detector just fine. They scan your passport, take your picture and voila! You are allowed to get onto the ship! We soon got to our stateroom and like on the Nieuw Statendam, we are in the bow, but on the port side this time! We have a bow window, along with a balcony off the port side where I will be spending some quality time in the deck chair – if not on the Promenade deck! Here is a tour of our stateroom!

Entrance – washroom to left, bow window on right

Now, onto more important things! Food! I met with the special diets coordinator about 3pm and ordered dinner, which on cruise ships is always appreciated especially for the first night’s dinner so they are not scrambling to find something safe for you to eat. I do register in advance on the Special Services form that I have Celiac Disease which is passed onto the ship for provisioning purposes. I found out how important that was when we were on a cruise in the Caribbean where there were about 10 people with Celiac Disease onboard, and about 200 people “choosing” to eat gluten free, out of the 2000 people on board. On that 14 day cruise, the ship actually started running out of gluten free products and had to start rationing and providing the gluten free items (Kinnickinnik and Udi’s for example) to only those who had pre-registered and indicated Celiac Disease as a medical requirement for the cruise. I was told to always fill out the form, which I now also do as part of my other medical conditions when traveling on a cruise ships to qualify for the accessible stateroom.

I was really impressed with the way that Holland America is handling the allergen and Celiac meals for this cruise! Normally I go to the maitre’d and have a chat with them. This time there was a separate person at a table for me to talk with instead – so I did not have to line up with all the people wanting to change their dining table arrangements – much faster! She took my dinner order for tonight, along with my breakfast order, as I like to have a standing breakfast order that Room Service delivers each morning along with whatever Andrew decides he wants to eat. This system works well I find! We then went up to the Lido deck and talked to the chef up there to find out about their gluten free options and it was the same as when we were on the Nieuw Statendam – the Italian section is still where the gluten free food is stocked! Kind of ironic – Italians have such a gluten based diet however one of the most Celiac friendly countries to travel to is Italy!

Now it was All Aboard Time – 4pm! The Captain announced that we would be backing into the Seattle Harbour and then “swinging the compass” which is normally done at either the beginning of a series of cruises, such as when a ship re-positions to say Vancouver going to Alaska for the summer, or such as we are on, a trans-Pacific cruise (happened on our trans-Atlantic cruise too) or a cruise with a lot of sea days such as Vancouver to the Hawaiian Islands return that my parents, Andrew and I did. It was kind of strange backing into the Seattle Harbour! On top of that, the Norwegian Ship was leaving at the same time, and just before we started our two x 360 degree pirouettes, they passed by us with lots of room to spare. The Norwegian ship looks so top heavy on its way back to Alaska for the last run! We continued our slow but steady, two turns in the Seattle harbour while the Coast Guard dutifully watched us!

Looking at the dock while we used thrusters to back up

Now, lets get some food into our bodies! Off to the Dining Room we go – to the other end of the ship! That is about 1200 steps for me if anyone is counting…. 🙂 The pedometer on my watch does keep track of my steps, however when you use a walker, the steps are not always recorded correctly so sometimes I put my watch on my ankle to get an accurate reading for a certain distance that I need to walk on a routine basis. Now I know how long the ship is in steps for me! Next up will be a lap on the deck.

We have a really nice table for 2 on the upper floor of the dining room. Our waiters are Ade (male) and April Joy (female). They are both VERY nice! Ade is from Indonesia and April Joy is Thai. It is great seeing a female waitress again in such a male dominated industry on the cruise ships. The dinner was very good tonight – I had a salad, Mahi Mahi and was going to have ice cream however switched at the last minute to the Pavlova which is the national dessert of Australia! Andrew consumed beef like he normally does when we do not have to share a meal…

Now the Noordam is starting to get some movement as it heads into open water between the Olympic peninsula and the bottom tip of Vancouver Island – looks like we are going to be rocked to sleep tonight! See you tomorrow!