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A nice start to the day - the motel delivers a hot breakfast to your room! Pancakes and bacon will get us going.
Today we boarded the Star Seeker for our long awaited adventure! Even Mother Nature was kind, giving us some sunshine between the clouds. Getting up and seeing the surrounding mountains was such a surprise since we saw nothing last night (after a VERY long day of flying, all we could see was our bed).
We had planned on waiting until later in the afternoon to avoid the boarding crowd but the shuttle only went at 1 and 4 so we jumped aboard the early one. Luckily the driver was able to get us very close to the ship; hauling luggage, even with wheels, is a challenge. But as we heaved a deep breath and started the trek, a helpful pedicab lady swooped up our bags and took them right to the sign in tent. After we did that portion of the check in, we moved to the next station for filling out paperwork, then onboarded. Everyone went into the lounge and they took us a few at a time to the final station for photos and then finally we picked up a key. Helpful Windstar staff all over the place, grabbing bags and helping with directions. And then - our suite!
It's a bit different than the Star Pride but love the huge picture window that comes down halfway for lots of fresh air and beautiful views! They have it rigged so you don't leave lights on unnecessarily by making you put your room key in a slot upon entering. And if you lower the window, the AC automatically shuts down.
Since our bags had not yet arrived, we went to the onboarding buffet which is not as big as the normal lunch buffet. We elected to eat outside; it was cool but so nice to be out in the fresh air. Windstar staff remains outstanding; always at the ready to offer assistance, fill your glass, fetch an extra helping of salmon in cranberry sauce.
We attended the mandatory muster drill and then did some exploring. The Yacht Club (my favorite room) is a lot more open on this new ship with chairs outside on the bow. We sat out there for quite a while watching the floatplanes come and go and fishing vessels chugging through. There are a few behemoth cruise ships here right now. We look so dainty compared to them - 200 passengers vs 5000!
We were late leaving Juneau which is unusual. For some reason, three people were removed from the ship. We need to winkle out why!
We met our room steward, Pangheet, who is just charming.
We decided on an early, light dinner since we had a late lunch. We both had the Alaskan butter clam chowder; Mary had the tomato tart appetizer and I had parma ham with baked ricotta. For dessert - mango sorbet (Mary) and dark chocolate panna cotta with berries (me). We really like Christelle, our server, so we will ask for her tomorrow. We ate early and it was getting crowded and loud before we left. A little less sedate crowd from last time!
We decided on a room service breakfast for tomorrow because we have to be at the departure area at 7:30 to take our Haines shore excursion.
We have rounded the southern tip of Douglas Island and are now heading north to Haines on a very calm night. Cloudy but the mountains are spectacular.
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