Our Trip To Alaska Part 5 - August 2012

Today we spent the entire day in Icy Strait Point. It is about one and a half miles from the Tlingit Native American village of Hoonah, Alaska. Hoonah is an old fishing and hunting village with a population of 800 people. Today with the cruise boat in town, the population tripled. 

The area called Icy Strait Point is a joint venture between the cruise ship lines and the village of  Hoonah in order to bring jobs and opportunities to the city. It was built about ten years ago and whenever a cruise ship rolls in (about three times a week), the town springs to life. At other times, the people fish for salmon and crabs. There is no dairy accessible by car, so all milk and dairy has to be barged in. Same for most food and hardware items. 

The stores in the harbor (obviously their prime purpose is to get you spend money while on shore) were selling local crafts, lots of jewelry, canned salmon etc. Shabsie found some KSA kosher salmon and salmon Jerky (like dried flavored salmon pieces) and we tried it out. The stores are managed by locals and we also met a young lady from Texas who flies in from Sitka, about 70 miles away to manage her store.

Visually, the area is beautiful. It is on a quiet bay of a large waterway in the Inner Passage. Today the weather started out as quite cool and very cloudy, but by about 11 am, it turned totally sunny and clear, with a warm temp of about 70 degrees F. , the first time they had sun in a few weeks. The water was totally calm. 

We decided to do a hike into Hoonah and then in the afternoon do a two person kayak, together with Shabsie and Ruthie. The hike was great ....the weather was ideal. 

The kayak tour of the bay was amazing. They first put this waterproof skirt on you as well as a lifejacket. Once seated the skirt forms a barrier on any water getting into the inside of the kayak. We then kayaked for 2 and a half hours....great exercise. Along the way our guides, Morgan, Cameron and James (both locally born and bred natives) would stop us in the middle of the bay and give us some insight into the life of the Tlingit natives living in the area. 

Along the way we saw some bald eagles flying above and even got a few good pictures of them. They told us that there are many whales in the area and usually our tour would see whales close by....but not today.

Other people on the cruise took advantage of the day to go whale watching, bear watching, salmon fishing etc.

There was almost no accessible communication....only one place with wifi, just a few spots where we could pick up our cell phone signal....

On reboarding the ship, you put your bags thru the scanner like you would at an airport. Chavi and Yisrael had given us two pocket sets of knife/fork/spoon that are marked chalavi and besari which we carry for our lunches. Well the security guard told us to open our bags. The head security guy looked at them and said "those words are in Hebrew". So I responded in Hebrew that they are for our kashrut needs. He smiled and in Hebrew told us that because they were for kashrut he would approve them for us...Stav (israeli) is the head security guy on the ship.

At dinner tonight, again we were visited by the executive chef Jason (that makes it three nights in a row)....again the meal was excellent! We are eating so much salmon, we may overdose on Omega! Tonight, he prepared it with fresh herbs and garlic. He also prepared a kiwi sorbet (non dairy) so that Shabsie and Ruthie could have some as well. 

It was the chef's birthday, so we all wished him well and took a picture with him. I think all the other people in this dining room are wondering what special connection we have with him....he is taking great satisfaction in figuring out new ways to prepare meals for us within the guidelines of Halacha. 

Tomorrow, we arrive in alaska's capital city, Juneau. It is the only state capital in the USA that is not accessible by highway. The only way you can get here is by boat, plane and by birth canal! It is completely surrounded by mountains and water. It is quite small, only 30,000 people. There is a very small Reform Jewish community there. 

It also is very close to the Mendenhall glacier. We intend to go see the glacier and then take a tramway to the top of Mount Roberts which overlooks the city. 

We will fill in more tomorrow

Hope all is well....

Fran and David

Our Trip To Alaska Part 4 - August 2012

We just returned to the ship after a full day in Ketchikan

We disembarked after breakfast and walked around town for a few hours. Ketchikan is a town of 10000 people but during the summer months about 800000 people visit on cruise ships. As a result much of the town is geared to shopping or to running excursions for the people visiting on the cruise lines. After October the town reverts to just 10000 people and things are quiet till the next summer. 

It is the salmon capital of the world and many of the brands of salmon that are canned and packaged here are kosher. 

Note the sign in RED

There are tourist shops all over the downtown area selling the typical hats and t shirts and then there are the specialty Alaskan items like Indian art and salmon. 

Today there were 4 cruise ships in port so the population of the town essentially doubled.

In the afternoon we took a seaplane ride to Misty Fjords National park...it is enormous and magnificent. Lonely country scenes with lots of lakes, forests, mountains and forests. We landed on a bay in the end of the fjord and we all climbed out on the floats for pictures. It was quiet and dramatic. Amazing.

We are now back on board and beginning our overnight to icy Strait Point

More tomorrow

All the best

Fran and David

Our Trip to Alaska Part 3 - August 2012

Once we were checked into our room on Friday, we met Silvia (our male cabin concierge) and we explained the issues with the lights and the doors. He was very familiar with the issues and  promptly taped the locks and light switches and the  refrigerator  light.

Before going down to eat, we went to see the Shabbat service that was advertised in the "Celebrity Daily Event" bulletin...there were about 40 people assembled davening and making kiddush...

There are a number of other dati people on the ship, but not enough to make a minyan.

We entered our dining room "Blu" for our first Shabbat meal, which actually took place before we were mekabel Shabbat ...we figured that would be much easier that way and then we could make kiddush and hamotzi after lighting candles and davening. We met with Joel Bautista who is the restaurant manager and after introducing ourselves and explaining that we would be eating kosher, he responded that he knew all about kosher having dealt with many kosher travelers before us and also because his wife and his 4 year old son are Jewish.

He took our order for the packaged kosher meals and took us to our table, explaining that the first night is always a bit slow because they like to have the orders the day before to get everything  in place. Well it was slow....and the food was not great. But they did prepare a great plate of fresh veggies and fresh fruit for us...we gave our order for shabbat lunch and seudah shlishit and and we left about half an hour before candle lighting to get ready for Shabbat. We davened in our rooms and then all gathered in josh and Liz' room to hear kiddush and make hamotzi. By this time we were quite tired from the long day and hit the sack.

Shabbat morning I was up quite early and went for a long walk on the deck, had an early morning coffee, caught up on some newspaper reading and when I returned to the room at 7 am, Fran was up. So We davened and then we made kiddush in the room before heading off to the cafe (which is open 24 hours a day) for our second shabbat meal.

In terms of where we were at this point, we were traveling on the inside passage which on Shabbat morning was in the middle of a very wide strait, we could see land on both sides but it was far away. Over Shabbat, the straits got narrower and narrower and then late on Shabbat it seemed we were in the open sea again. All around it was mountains and forests, with almost no sign of human life. Every once and a while we would see a boat in the distance.

From a selfish standpoint, the weather was mostly overcast, so we weren't missing a lot of photo opportunities... To take pictures because of Shabbat.

Back to breakfast....Josh and Liz and Shabsie and Ruthie were already there and we were joined soon thereafter by Joel and Leeba Salzmann from Hashmonaim for breakfast. There were many items in the buffet that were kosher, including yogurt, cheese (cottage and cream), lox, cereals, herring, fruit, veggies, bagels etc....the staff knows all about kosher and they are constantly telling us that we should not worry as "this product has an OU ". The service here is great.



At 10:30 there was a tour of the kitchen led by the head chef Jason Banyon and by his team of chefs. He explained how an operation of this size works and took many questions from the large audience. It was fascinating. While in the kitchen we were able to see that all the cut up fruits and veggies are done in a special station completely separate from the rest of the operation.

They showed us where they make all the ice cream for the ship and while there I asked the ice cream head if it was kosher. He promptly produced the OU certification for the stabilizers that they use and then told us which flavours did not have supervised flavouring. We then watched a pastry girl make marzipan roses which are used to decorate cakes made on board. They showed us the kosher area which is only used when they have a large kosher group who bring in their own cooks and mashgichim. It was a great tour.

At a bit after noon, we went to lunch and the Salzmans joined us. We had some more of the same packaged meals which really leave much to be desired. Again the salad and fruit saved us...

We had a nap, Fran and I davened mincha, played a few games of Bananagrams and Backgammon and then we gathered for dinner/seudah shlishit back in the Blu dining room.

Over Shabbat our maitre d who seemed a bit distant at the beginning was beginning to warm up and at each meal he spent more time with us. By this time, we had a long discussion with him about his life on the ship away from his wife and son for 6 months at a time, and he shared with us many details about the ship and the restaurant that he manages, Blu. We began to speak about kosher and queried him on some of the items that we were seeing on the ship. He placed a call to the executive chef Jason and within minutes, we had the head chef Jason Banyon at our table. Originally from Wimbledon UK, he is responsible for all the food that is served on the ship, some 9000 meals a day!!! He knew an enormous amount about kosher including issues of bishul akum and preparing food on Shabbat and was definitely familiar with the fact that there were many different opinions in areas of kashrut, which he respected. We shared with him the fact that the packaged meals were not that great and he made a number of suggestions of things that he had done and could do to prepare meals for us that would be within the guidelines of halacha. On Sunday night we will have fresh salmon that he will spice with OU teriyaki sauce, OU garlic and all kosher spices and steam in the microwave double wrapped together with many vegetables as side dishes. He will be preparing some special ice creams and fruit mixed with ice cream and some salads that will incorporate OU artichokes, OU capers etc, ....he indicated that over Sunday, he will be experimenting with a number of was to prepare this for our benefit.

It was truly impressive that he took the time to spend with us to discuss our meal needs....

After we davened maariv and made Havdala we went to the theatre where there was a musical presentation ugh lighting broadway tunes...Fran and I were quite tired, so we stayed for a while and then went back to our room/cabin/stateroom for a well deserved shloof.....

It is now 6 am Sunday morning (Alaska time....4 hours different than Toronto time) and we have pulled into our first stop...Ketchikan ....today we will stroll the town in the morning and then take a seaplane flight into the "Icy Fjords" national park area....we will continue later....have a great day

Kol toov from Alaska

Fran (still fast asleep) and David

Our Trip to Alaska - Part 2 - August 2012

Our trip to Alaska part 2

Friday morning - august 10 - sail date

We assembled at 8:30 am in the lobby and we were all there on time!

We drove to the Sabra restaurant for breakfast; excellent omelettes and overall very good experience. The owner is the father of the fellow who owns Ba Li Laffa. 

 We stopped at Best Buy to buy a photo downloading attachment for my new iPad so that I can include photos in these updates. Back to the hotel to pack up and head off to the ship.

After checking our luggage at the port, we went and strolled around the Pan Pacific hotel and took some pictures on the promenade in front of the ship. 

At about 2 pm we boarded the ship and spent a few hours exploring, unpacking, meeting with the maitre d and the room people to deal with all sorts of food and Shabbat issues; food, locks, access to parts of the ship etc. 

Some of the food being loaded aboard

Our rooms - very bekovodik!

We are now in the dining room waiting for our first pre Shabbat meal. 

After the meal, we will get ready for Shabbos and daven in our rooms; then make kiddush and hamotzi in one of our rooms. 

The ship is magnificent; first class and the rooms on our floor are all updated and new. 

We are looking forward to a very wonderful Shabbat...

We will continue after Shabbat...

Our trip to Alaska part 1 - August 2012

After a very early morning (5 am) departure for the airport, we boarded our
air Canada flight to Vancouver. Upon arrival we were greeted by josh & Liz
and Shabsie & Ruthie ( who had taken a flight 30 minutes earlier than us)
and only one of our two checked suitcases. We decided to wait for the next
flight (another 30 minutes) in the hopes that Air Canada had located it and
placed it on that flight. Well it did not arrive. 

Air Canada told us that they knew where it was and would get it to us by the
afternoon. Good thing we arrived a day before the cruise and not the day
of....how they would get it to us in the middle of Alaska is beyond me. 

We rented our van and squeezed the six of us and all the luggage into it and
were off to our hotel in downtown Vancouver. Well, Priceline came thru for
us....great hotel in the center of town. We unpacked and were off on a short
walk to Zaatar, Vancouver's new downtown kosher restaurant. Great place,
hummus Israeli salads, falafel, shakshuka, soups, salads etc. very fresh and
tasty. They are open every day from 10 am till 3 am...amazing.

After a filling lunch we walked about 10 minutes to False Creek and took the
water taxi to Granville Island. It was a beautiful day and as planned, we
rented a motor boat and were off to explore he afterwards around Vancouver.
As we got out into the open waters, we realized that it was a bit choppier
than we anticipated and we all got drenched....we were out for an
hour...beautiful but wet. 

We retraced our steps to the hotel and after changIng out of our wet
clothes, were off to Omnitzky's kosher shop to pick up some supplies for the
cruise. Well, anyone who complains about Sobey's or Hartman's prices, should no
longer do so...how about a BBQ chicken for $25 - $30???? Scary prices....but

I guess that's what happens with a captive market. 

We still had a little time before dinner, so we headed over to the Senior
Citizens residence and had an amazing visit with a cousin of my grandfather
a"h (on my mother's side), Dr. Nat Cannon from Newcastle England. 




He recently turned 100 years old and is vibrant, full of life and vigor....great sense of humor. We spent some time playing family
geography....he has a great memory.... ..halevaai by all of us as we age! We took some pictures together and he asked me to remember to email hem to him...at 100 he is still checking his emails. He lives alone in the assisted living centre and until a few months ago was getting around without a
walker....we discovered that I was born 
exactly one month after his eldest daughter was born in the same nursing home/hospital in Newcastle ....the Harvey Evers home. 

It was now time for our dinner at the Maple Grill ....supposedly Vancouver's
finest. We had a reservation but when we arrived they informed us that they
had changed their policy since issuing ours to a "no reservation policy in
he summer months". So they found us a table outside which was nice, but then
we discovered that they were seriously understaffed because they were
catering a wedding the same nite. So our meal took very long (about three
hours).... But the meal was essentially good and you really saw that they
had a lot of potential and we could see how on a good night they would be a
very good meat restaurant. Because we were there for a while we met a lot of
people, including the Zobins from our shul and a group of Israeli tourist
who are also cruising to Alaska, but not on our ship, who knew a number of
Toronto people. 

It was back o the hotel after a 22 hour day and the discovery of our missing
bag that had made its way to our room, b"h!!!!!

A great night sleep followed by my early morning 6 am walk to the shore
where I saw our ship cruising into harbor at Canada Place as the sun rose
behind the mountains...what a great sight....too bad my camera was in my
room..

Back to the hotel now and we begin Day 2....

All the best and Shabbat shalom to all....

David (and Fran....who is still fast asleep)

Alaska Introduction - Trailer - August 2012

Prior to our trip to Alaska with our good friends Josh and Liz Gordon and Shabsie and Ruthie Adler, we produced a short video that we are pleased to share with you....it is quite funny actually....