For dessert (yes, we managed dessert too!) Ollie had the Warm Pina colada pudding –
with coconut Florentine shards and coconut ice cream.
I love a bread pudding, but I’m not a coconut fan (unless it’s in a cocktail of course). The bite I did have was good, but a bit coconut-y for my taste.
I went for the Chocolate ring-ading sundae –
dulce de leche and chocolate ice cream with caramel sauce, chocolate chips and whipped cream
I love that the chocolate in the top had Mickey on!
I really enjoyed our sit down lunch experience and we made plans to do a few more this cruise.
After our lunch, we headed back out into Skagway. The weather was beautiful outside, sunny with blue skies. I think it was around 19 degrees, which was higher than expected in Alaska. We definitely didn’t need as many layers as this morning.
We got really lucky with our week in Alaska, with cast members telling us we had picked the best week all season. The week before and after had been grey and drizzly. I’m not sure the White Pass Railway would have been as good with grey skies and poor visibility, so we did feel very fortunate.
Our first stop was the Train Shoppe to pick up a few souvenirs. We also popped into the restrooms here – probably something to do with the many coke zeros I had at lunch. For some reason, this sign amused me.
Ollie picked up a White Pass Railway hat – it was actually from 2017, but at $1.99 was a bargain! The hats for the current year were around the $10 mark.
We spent a fair bit of time just wandering in and out of stores and enjoying the atmosphere in beautiful Skagway. We went in a lot of the souvenir shops where Ollie tired on various Alaska tshirts, but he hadn’t found ‘the one’ yet.
We went into the photography store, where Ollie was delighted that there were lots of bear photos! He fell in love with one, but felt it was a bit pricey for a photograph. After lots of deliberating, involving leaving and revisiting the shop a few times, I eventually said I would get him the photo for Christmas! We also bumped into our tablemates in here who were buying a few pictures.
We passed on this one…
We managed to find a magnet that would cover all of our Alaska ports (and some extras) for $2.99 plus tax.
We did end up popping back to the White Pass Train Shoppe, where I bought my Dad the same hat as Ollie. We also bought a cuddly bear each for our niece and nephew - $3.99 each instead of the usual $5.99. I also couldn’t resist a Christmas ornament for $3.99.
Our last purchase was in the liquor store where we picked up a bottle of sparkling wine ($11.99) and a six pack of cider ($9.99) to take back on board.
On our way back we saw these. We’re not really sure what they were, but there were lots of them and they looked odd –
We must have spent a good 3 and a half hours back in the town and really enjoyed our time there.
Tonight’s show in the Walt Disney theatre was the Lion King movie. We’d already seen this when it came out in the cinema (very realistic computer animation, almost identical to the original movie) and didn’t feel the need to see it on board. We weren’t back on board until well after the film had started anyway. Instead, I had a well earned nap and got presentable for dinner.
Tonight was the restaurant I had most been looking forward to – Tiana’s Place.
They’ve done a lovely job with the restaurant and the server outfits were just like the film.
The menus were just like the film as well.
The setup of the tables were lovely.
To start, we both had the Louisiana hot crab dip –
with toasted croutons. I felt I had to go with the most authentic option!
Also, look how pretty those plates are!
We both then had Country green lentil soup –
with paprika, chorizo sausage and vegetable.
I think we were both swayed because it had chorizo in, but it wasn’t that exciting really.
For mains, we both went for the New York sirloin steak –
with truffle-layered potatoes, honey parsnips and buttered spinach with a pepper sauce on the side
Lots of same choices tonight! I hadn’t had a steak yet, so this was overdue. I really enjoyed this – on our last cruise we noticed that they’ve finally worked out how to do non well-done steaks! This was cooked a lovely medium.
Because one main is never enough on a cruise, we shared a Baked filet of bering sea halibut –
served with creamed potatoes, sautéed fennel and a light dill cream sauce on the side.
This was very light and a nice contrast to the steak. This was one of the Alaskan regional inspirations form the menu, which was a lot better than the other options we tried so far.
For dessert, we shared a Banoffee cream pie –
caramel toffee base topped with bananas and an abundance of whipped cream and a Baked Alaska –
sponge loaf layered with chocolate, strawberry and vanilla ice cream covered with burnt meringue.
Ollie is always unimpressed with the Baked Alaska, but surely you have to have this on an Alaskan cruise!
Tiana came around during the meal and had a chat. I had read that Louis normally made an appearance, but he didn’t on our cruise. I did think that his long tail wouldn’t really be practical in a restaurant.
The Crawfish Crooners also did a set – we were one of the furthest tables from the stage so couldn’t fully appreciate it, which was a shame.
Our server we had at lunch unfortunately dropped a large tray full of dishes during the meal when she bumped into another server. I’m always amazed how full those trays are – they must be so heavy and I’m surprised more accidents don’t happen when lots of servers are moving around the restaurant at once. This was completely not her fault and we were a bit worried about her getting in trouble. Like a pro she carried on straight away.
Our servers came over and asked if we were ok as we were a nearby table, but we were absolutely fine.
When this happened, a lady at the table next to use decided to stand up and clap. Her clapping was really slow and seemed to go on forever – obviously no one joined in as she was so incredibly rude. Even her family looked mortified. The servers work so hard and I couldn’t believe the rudeness of this woman.
After dinner, Woody was just finishing up in the Atrium and Jessie was about to come out, with a short queue. We waited to meet her and she was great fun!
We took a brief stroll around deck 4 to help our food go down. We declined the adult entertainment tonight – it was 80s flashback which is a bit before our time. Instead, we headed back to the stateroom where this guy was waiting for us.
Day 8 - Juneau