Ketchikan, Alaska
Today’s excursion is an e-bike and hiking tour. We get off the ship and find the meeting location which is a short walk from the ship. We easily find the sign that matches the tour operator and Hanna checks us in. There are three different tours checking in with Hanna. One is our tour, the other is a kayak tour, and the last one is a whale watching tour. There is a little issue with a group of three people. Two out of three signed up for our tour and one of the three accidentally signed up for the later tour. The tour operator gives them options and it takes them a few minutes to decide. They ultimately chose to take the later tour so all three can stay together. This little snag puts us about ten minutes past the scheduled departure. We then load onto the bus and begin driving out of the port area.
Our first stop is at Ward Cove. Ketchikan has two areas where ships can dock. The main area is adjacent to the downtown area and near Creek Street. This is where we are docked and also where Viking, MSC, and Cunard have docked. Ward Cove is a twenty-minute drive from the town and it is where Norwegian Cruise Line is docked. Ward Cove is significantly less nice than the other location. It looks industrial and has a gravel road. We stop here to pick-up the last two people for our tour.
Our next stop is a few minutes away at a place called Clover Pass Resort. Don’t let the name resort fool you. There are restrooms here that we are urged to use before leaving. They also have a room filled with rain gear. Rain coats, rain pants, and over-all type rain attire. It’s a beautiful day in Ketchikan so none of us need gear. We then move to the bikes. Austin gives us a little demonstration about the controls. We have a button to increase gears, a lever to decrease gears, and a small electronic display with up and down for the electric-bike component. The bike goes from 0-5 with 0 meaning no assist and 5 giving the most assistance. Alaska is not flat so this will be a huge help.
We are each fitted for a bike and encouraged to test drive the bike. I go first. My seat is a little too high after the test drive so I lower it a smidge. I do want to say that there were two falls on this trip with our group. I am happy to report that neither fall was by Melinda or me. The first fall is from a wisdom-aged lady. I’m worried she is okay based on the fall, but she springs up and is fine. I’m not sure I’d be fine from that kind of fall. Her seat was too high and she was unable to control the bike because of the high seat. She fell sideways with the bike crushing her. E-bikes are heavy! The rest of the group passes the test drive. We then need to walk our bike up a steep hill which was tough.
Now it’s time to ride! We ride on the road which is a nice road, but there is too much traffic for my comfort. We cross over two bridges and ride until the road ends. The road ends at a trailhead in Tongass National Forest. We park our bikes in a line. This is where the second person falls. I don’t think they were doing anything risky, but just tripped and fell down. I only saw the aftermath so I’m not exactly sure what happened. He was okay too.
Now it’s time for the hiking portion! I get the feeling that our hike is abbreviated. We had a ten-minute late start and there was an issue with one of the bikes that caused another delay. The hike is beautiful and refreshing, but short. I love a nice forest bathing experience! Austin tells us a lot about the area and we take the hike to a beach. Here we enjoy a nice view and even see a seal! We then walk back to our bikes. Austin is very knowledgeable about the area and explains what we are seeing.
The bike ride back to the starting point goes by quicker. When we arrive back, there is a platter of snacks. Crackers, salmon dip, smoked salmon, hummus, carrots, and cucumbers. There is also a cooler of sparking water, but only two cans left for the twelve of us and nothing else. The excursion listing specifically said beverages were included so this was disappointing. Also, we did not get regular water on the trip either which is very rare for an exercise-based activity. Overall, I enjoyed the tour, but it was by far my least favorite of the trip.
It’s around 3pm when the tour finishes and we are famished. We walk to a pizza place. Melinda orders a pizza, but I pass on this place. There are people smoking outside the restaurant and the open doors mean that I am suffocating inside. I don’t want to spend another second in the smoke so I find something else. I walk to a coffee shop instead and enjoy an iced latte. Not exactly lunch, but it will suffice for now.
I take my coffee to Creek Street and roam around. The shops are already mostly closed which surprises me. The reason I want to come here is because I saw wildlife here the last time I visited. There were seals playing here. Today there are no seals, but a decent amount of salmon to watch.
We go back onboard and plan our evening. There is a show at 7pm which we plan to watch and then we’ll have dinner afterwards. I know I’ll need another snack before dinner since I pretty much skipped lunch. One of the perks of having status with Celebrity is that you get one free scoop of gelato. I plan to redeem my free scoop now, but unfortunately the gelato place is closed. I settle for another latte and mango cake which can be found near the scoop shop. I’m pleasantly surprised by how good the latte is and also the mango cake.
Rockumentary is one of the shows on the ship. It’s basically a show of rock songs through the decades. I don’t particularly like rock music so I’m not really thrilled at the idea of the show, but I am pleasantly surprised. This show is fabulous and the talent onboard is phenomenal. The singers and dancers are impressive, and they perform songs that are popular and you would probably recognize each one they perform.
We finish the evening with dinner. This is my favorite meal of the trip so far. I had a kale salad, beef Wellington, and Baked Alaska.
