Scenic Train Trip: Anchorage to Whittier / Boarding The Noordam
We're OFF!
We got to "sleep in" to 8 am this morning before the bags had to be out at the hotel in Anchorage. But the train was not leaving until about 1 pm (with the transportation to the train station at 12:45). After the bags were set out Kim got an hour in the hotel gym and then the three of us went to a really nice, local mom & pop breakfast place that was excellent. LOVED the cinnamon roll there. The bus left on time and we boarded the train with our huge window to view what we anticipated would be a spectacular scenic trip. See, we'd been on this same train itinerary in 2016 and the views we had then were one of the "best excursions" of any Alaskan trip we'd been on.
But the trip was far short of expectations. Most of the time it was drizzling and the view out the windows were mostly trees. Some water & mountains, but not much really scenic vistas.
The trip was just short of three hours and we arrived to find the ship awaiting us. The check-in process started off "rocky" as we were immediately asked to "mask up." Now, without going off the deep end - we've just spent eight hours yesterday and three hours today, in an enclosed train car with all these people.....who've ALL tested negative for the virus within the last 24 hours AND who are all vaccinated. And today, TODAY it's essential we all have masks on? Seriously? Right after we cleared the checking in and walked outside to board the ship the three of us took our masks off as did a small minority of people. But once on board no one asked us to put them back on. And when we got to the room the "Health Advisory" had been updated to say that masks were only "recommended."
So after unpacking we went to the lounge for dinner drinks - almost everyone of the other guests had either not read their health advisory or felt it was important (TODAY!) to mask up as we were one of the few people without masks. We enjoyed our drinks, especially me with my traditional frozen mudslide!
We then went to dinnerwhere all three of us were so happy to be back on board a ship, cruising, and being waited on at a linen table-cloth covered setting. The food was great, as was the wine. And by the time we'd finished dinner we all had hit a wall. We made our way to the Guest Services desk where, despite the Health Advisory we were "invited" to put a mask on and we asked: about how full was the ship, when would we get to the glaciers tomorrow and was there a coffee bar. The girl was very nice and told us (thru her mask) that the ship was only 70% full, that we would arrive at the glaciers in the late afternoon, and that indeed there was a coffee bar - covered free of charge by our drinks package - on the third deck. And with that we all called it a night and headed upstairs as the Noordam sailed off into the waters of Alaska!
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