We have been without internet access for some fve days, on account of the mountains blocking the signal. The same thing has applied to mobile phones, and there are a lot of frustrated people on this ship. It is now 22nd April, and the local time is 3pm, which equates to midnight in the UK.
Since the last report, we have visited the last three ports of call before our departure from the ship in Vancouver.
Skagway came first. It came to prominence in 1898, as the 'port of entry' for the 'stampeders'. These were people bitten by the gold fever, and were part of the Klondike gold rush. Now a sleepy little place, with a population in winter of around 900, it expands enormously in the summer, when as many as five cruise ships arrive in one day!. We, being the first of the season, had the place to ourselves.
This is our second visit to this part of the world, as we were here in 2001. We took it leisurely, and started with a stroll out to the 1898 cemetery and the iced up waterfall. They said it was about a mile, but later we found it was 2 miles each way! The waterfall was interesting, as it had frozen over, and was covered in snow, but one could hear the water running underneath.
Once back in the town, we investigated the local mini-brewery. It offered a 4oz sampler of each of its five beers. They ranged from a light amber to an almost black. We prefered the lighter coloured ones, but did not stop to drink any more, 'cos it was lunch time. We had fish and chips, and it was very good, if a little different to what is served in the UK. After a bit more town exploration, and some retail therapy, we took ourselves off to the Red Onion. This is an old fashioned western style saloon, and one time bordello. Tours can be done of that part of the establishment for five dollars a head. We stayed seated, and enjoyed our beer and the ambiance, before returning to the ship.
Next came Juneau, the state capital of Alaska. Not the most exciting place to visit, as it is full of monolithic office blocks. However, it does have its cable car up the mountain, which on our last visit was not working on account of the weather. This time it was, though when we arrived at the top, it was snowing. They had had a bit up there. The drifts were about 7 feet deep, and we have the photos to prove it. We came down again, indulged in some more retail therapy, and had a burger and chips, American Style, overlooking the harbour. After lunch, the weather had improved, so we went back up the mountain. It was glorious. We sat out on a terrace in the sun, and took in the view, whilst watching some of the local wild life. As the afternoon drew to a close, the wind got up, the sun went in, and it got decidedly chilly. We went back down the mountain to the ship. Mind you, the midday temperature forecast at sea level was only 4 degrees, and we had been 1800ft up the mountain!
Ketchikan is a pleasant little town, quite dependent on the tourist trade. It is nice place to stroll around, and has a good, well laid out and informative town trail. It was only a shortish stop by the ship, arriving at 8am, and leaving at 2pm. Fortunately, the weather was very kind again, being sunny. It was warm in the sun, but chilly in the shade, and bitter if you found the wind. It snowed as we arrived, but by the time we left the ship around 10am, that had all cleared.
So here we are, sailing through the Inside Passage. So called as it is between the islands and the mainland of North America, to Vancouver, where we are due to arrive at 7am on the 24th.
Our odyssey ends there.

Today is 18th April, and the local time is 3.50pm. The UK is 9 hours ahead, Europe 8.
This has been the first real opportunity to bring the blog up to date. The postings so far have covered Kodiak and Seward. This one os for the 17th and 18th.
We have been viewing some spectacular scenery. Yesterday saw us in College Fjord, in glorious sunshine, viewing 8 small glaciers, and avoiding the big floating bits that had fallen off them. It is very dificult to put what we saw into words. We took lots of photographs, but even they do not do justice. The shore was tree lined, but everywhere covered in a lot of snow. Through in blue skies, a clod wind, the mountains and the glaciers, and the let your imagination run riot.
Today was a bit different, as it was one big glacier. 122 kms long, with a face of 10 kms, the Hubbard is quite special. It has its own bay, Icy Bay. The captain, aided by the pilots, took us to within about 100m of this monster. Apparently we could do this as the weather is still cold, and the face has not yet started to calve. We were there for about an hour, or until everyone on deck was nearly frozen. Then the ship turned away, and to warm us up, gave us Gluwine.
Now we are at sea to Skagway. We have been there before, in 1991, so will just be doing our own thing.
At present, there is a gale blowing, and the sea is a bit rough. This has made the production of these three blogs interesting, to say the least. It is possible that the odd typing error has crept through, but hopefully, readers, you can cope.

Time has moved on, and so have we, to Seward. It is now 15th April.
What a difference to yesterday; glorious sunshine, and virtually no wind. However, it was a tad chilly, at 3 degrees.
Seward's principal claim to fame is that it is the southern end of the Alaskan Railroad. It is also the point at which coal is loaded onto ships for the power stations of Korea. Apart from these points, it does not have much to visually commend it, as in 1964, the tsunami following a huge offshore earthquake(9.2 on the Richter Scale), demolished the place.
However, the resourceful find things to do. So we took the shuttle bus into town, and went for a wander. After evaluatin the few shops, we found ourselves at the Sea Life Centre. Built at a cost of 37 million dollars from the reparations of the Exxon Valdez disiter in 1989, it is fascinating place to visit. Think of a combination of the National Acquarium in Plymouth and Living Coasts in Torquay, and one is close. We were there a couple of hours.
Sue was then feeling in need of some retail therapy, so was indulged. Laden with shopping bags(well two), we then decided food was called for, and set of to stroll along the waterside path the mile to the Marina. This, so we had been told, was the best place to lunch. And so it was.
The ship was about another half an hour by foot, and we thought it would be a good way to settle our very enjoyable repast. We were due back on board by 4pm anyway.
The next two days, we had been promised, would be very different,

It seems along time since an update was done, not helped by the non-availibity of the internet on account of the terrain.
After a flying call at Dutch Harbour in the Aleutians, to pick up US Immigration officials, another day was spent at sea, before our first stop in Alaska on 14th April.
Kodiak is the main town on a large island, to the south of the main Alaskan land mass. At first glance, it was not that prepossessing. Our arrival coincided with achange in thw eather, to slightly warmer(or so they told us!). It was snowing. A wet, miserable sort of snow, that turned to very cold rain, and stayed that way for the rest of the day.
We had not planned anything, which was just as well as it turned out. Those who had booked trips, did not see much on account of the weather.Instead, we did our own thing, by taking the shuttle bus into town. This let us off at the 'shopping mall', which consiosted of an off licence, pub/restaurant, three gift shops and a bank. We strolled slowly through, and up the hill to the museum. This was very interesting, charting the life and times of the native peoples of the island. Opposite was a pretty, little, Russian Orthodox church. This is the principal religion of the island, as it had been part of Russia until 1870. In that year, the United States bought Alaska and its islands off the Russians for seven million dollars, about two cents an acre! A gentle walk downhill found us on the quayside, and the tourist office. A few quick questions later, and we were on our way, still on foot, to lunch-about a five minute walk. This found us at the Channel Chowder House, which was a diner beside the water. After watching the sea lions and the fish eagles for a spell, we made our way inside. The special of the day was King Crab Legs, which Ian had. Sue had the assorted fish, and chips. Sue's portion consisited of several pieces of salmon, cod and halibut, all cooked in a light crispy batter. Very fresh and very tasty. Ian' crab legs had to be seen to be believed. They arrived on a tray, along with a pot of melted butter, and a pile of paper napkins. There were four legs, and abit of body. At best guess, the legs were each 16 inches long, and once opened, the meat inside was about one inch in diameter.
After such a meal, another walk was called for. One of the staff in the cafe told us we should go into the Wells Fargo bank, to see the mural about the crabs. We were viewing it, when a memeber of the staff suggested we should also visit the First National Bank to see the Kodiak Bear. This stood about ten feet tall. By repute, Kodiak bears are the largest in the world, and this one certainly made that seem true. It had met its end in 1996. Back downhill, and we decided that the weather had got so foul, we would return to the ship. It appeared that we were not alone in our decision making.
It was a pity that we had to see Kodiak on such an awful day, as we are sure that on a nice one it would have been really enjoyable.
The next port of call was to be Seward, on the mainland.

Here is a little conundrum.
Today is Sunday April 12th; yesterday was also Sunday April 12th.
For the last couple of days, we have had our first taste of bad weather. The winds picked up yesterday, and the seas followed. By last night we were in a gale, with seas around 4 metres high. It made for an uncomfortable night, with assorted bangs and crashes, accompanied by many creaks and groans from the ship. The waters were around 6,000 metres deep. They are now shoaling slowly, and at midday today were only some 2,000m. As we go through the passage, they will drop to just 60m. This shallowing will, for a short time, make the seas worse, as the reflection off the land, and the local undersea mountain range, has an effect.
We are running up to the Aleutian Islands, off Alaska. According to the Captain, by about 5pm local, we should be passing through a passage between two of them. The ship will then be sheltered by them from the worst of the weather, as we proceed to Dutch Harbour. This is purely a point of call to pick up a Pilot, and also Immigation Officials. We do not get to our next stop, Kodiak, until Wednesday 15th.
The highlight off today was a 'crossing of the International Date Line' ceremony. Very funny, and much enjoyed by the audience.
So, readers, now you have the answer to the conundrum.

Now on our way 'north to Alaska', so Japan is over.
We really enjoyed ourselves, with our stop in Yokohama being as good as Kagoshima.
Day one saw us visiting Tokyo, in the company of the craziest guide we have ever come across. Her english was not that good, and she made life harder by not holding the microphone to her mouth when speaking on the coach. She didi not stop talking, but afterwards noone had aclue as to what she was on about. She tried to tell jokes, and either forgot the joke, the punch line, or broke out laughing before she had finished. One weird lady.
As for Tokyo itself, it was beautiful. All the cherry blossom was out, and it was a lovely warm sunny day. We visited the outside of the Imperial Palace, and then a very important Shinto Temple, which gained from us seeing two wedding processions with the participants mainly in Japanese dress. Later, we moved on to a complex with a small Shinto temple, and a large Buddist one. It would seem that the Japanese are a little mixed up as to religion, as they regularly visit both! Apparently they see Shinto for the present, and Buddism for the future. Well, backing both horses in a race does seem like a good idea.
Outside the temple complex was a street of small stalls, selling just about everything. One thing they did not have was clothing big enough to fit large western bodies!. Having had a western style lunch as part of the tour, we had a plate of noodles at a wayside stall, so that we could say we had eaten Japanese in Japan. We knew they noodles were safe, as we saw them cooked in front of us. And very good they were too.
Daytwo started early, as we were off the ship and on our way before 7am local time. Our trip was into the countryside, the destination the Hakuna national park. On our way we passed Mount Fuji, and as it was another loverly day, if a little cooler, we had an excellent view. A good job, as later in the day it clouded over, and Fuji disappeared. The Hakuna Park is in the volcanic area, and we quickly became aware of this. After a cable car ride up into the caldera of a dormant volcano, we found ourselves eating black eggs. The outsides were black, because they had been cooked in ahot sulphurous spring. The insides were just like any other hard boiled egg. Anyway, according to our day two guide, each egg consumed that had been cooked this way, added seven years to our life expectancy. We both had two!
We saw a lot of this area, from the coach, from where we walked, the cableway and on a lake cruise. The day two guide was Akiko, and she was excellent. She spoke clearly and had an english sense of humour. She was for Japanese, quite tall. She had a humourous way of dealing with this, especially when she was alongside one of the other guides, who did not come up to her shoulder. Not only did she keep us informed, she also was entertaining. We were away from the ship for over nine hours, of which four were taken up with travelling.
Looking back, we both agree that overall Japan was our winner from the ports of call since we left Singapore. Maybe we will try to visit again sometime. Certainly the Japanese really made us welcome.
Eight day at sea to come, before we arrive in Kodiak, part of the Aleutian Islands, Alaska

Kagoshima, in southern Japan, was probably the best port of call so far. Not for the quality of the tours etc, but for the warmth of the welcome.
Our arrival was heralded by a large brass band, and our departure by a traditional drum band. There were plenty of english speaking locals at the terminal to help, guide translate, and generally be useful. Admittedly, away from the port, the level of english speaking dropped rapidly, though most of the signs were bi-lingual. The area is not geared up to tourism from overseas, so we did not have to cope with touts or street vendors. Wherever we went, we saw the real country and people, which made it much more fun and interesting.
The time of our docking was about 1.30pm local, though by the time we had completed immigration and gone ashore, it was around 2.15pm. At this point a small mystery was resolved. The ship was not docked where we thought it was, from the map we had been given. We were about 30 mins drive, at the new cruise terminal, and were the first ship to dock there. Having resolved this we were ready to start exploring. Joining forces with a Belgian couple we have become friendly with, we hired a taxi to take us to the ferry terminal. This was to take us the 4km across the harbour to an island with a live volcano. It was having a busy day, and blowing out a lot of ash and steam, though fortunately in the opposite direction. Apparently, the year before last it 'erupted' only 11 times. Last year it blew 29 times. So far this year it has performed 52 times, and our arrival day was its busiest and most spectacular. We went for a stroll round, on a promenade along the sea shore, pausing occasionnaly to look at the volcanic activity, and also the port traffic. It had been nice when we set out, but as the sun went down, it started to get cold, so we decided to return to the main land, and walk into the city centre. The central shopping area is arcaded, to prtect the shoppers from valcanic ash if the wind is in the wrong direction. Very attractive it makes it all. There is a large department store in the same part of town, which looks a bit like Harrods. We went in to explore, and were intrigue to find that it had lift opperators. They were immculately turned out girls in a uniform of grey skirt, lavender jacket, white blouse, white gloves, and a lavender and grey hat!
Day two dawned very differently, and for the first time we had rain! Our planned trip was to the Satsuma Peninsular, and was most enjoyable. We started in a village where there were 300 year old Samurai houses. We did not get to see the inside of the houses, as they are still lived in. To the Japanese, the highlights were the gardens. At one property, we were admiring the garden, and having it explained to us, when a walll of the house slid open, and the lady of the house appeared, and took photographs of us! She kindly left it open, so we could see a bit of the interior. The only disappointment was lunch, which was western style, in a big, barrack block 70s style hotel. Main course was a small piece of steak and four crinkle cut chips with a little piece of brocolli and a cherry tomato. Starter had been a bowl of minestrone soup, dessert was an orange! There was coffee!!
The tour finished with the obligatory, and unscheduled, shop stop. This time it was the Satsuma Pottery factory. It was actually a good stop, and we bought something.
As was said at the beginning, the port and city of Kagoshima made sure we were sent off in style. Without any bidding, the rails and balconies were packed with the passengers, and in a funny way, it was a bit emotional.
To day is a sea day, and we have encountered the worst weather so far, though it is moderating. The wind is about 30 knots(33mph) and the sea state is rough. The ship is rolling quite a bit. It is supposed to calm down this afternoon and evening.
Yokohama for Tokyo is next.