A Voyage to Remember

In Tracy Arm

Where do I begin?  How about with the first day?  We started to see other CK alumni on the ferry out of Bremerton.  We saw Tracy and Marie Junell and got a fleeting glimpse of Ed and Judy (I think).  We saw Tracy again in the check-in line at Pier 91 and again in line at the buffet when we all got on the ship, the Star Princess.  I spotted Trude and Elaine Gillman in the long, long buffet line, too, and then later Jack and Karen Archer not paying attention during the lifeboat drill.  The first thing I did after unpacking was to call Larry McConnell to find out which bar we were meeting at on Deck 7 at 6:00.  It was called Crooners.  I called everybody on the list.  My plan was to discuss how we wanted to organize the rest of the cruise.

The best laid plans—we didn’t really get to that.  We were more interested in ordering drinks, learning everybody’s names and getting some history.  Ask Wayne Swenson how I am at ordering drinks.  I had to look some up on Michael’s iTouch in order to figure out what to drink.  I decided on a Tom Collins.  Sounds pretty sophisticated and ‘60s, no? It was delicious!

Larry McConnell

Everybody came to the party:  Tracy and Marie Junell; Trude and Elaine Gillman; Larry McConnell; Stevie Kemp and her daughter, Sherrie-Ann; Jack and Karen Archer; Ed and Judy Lively; Marty McLaren and me and my husband, Michael.  We had the waiter running and we were a noisy bunch, laughing and yelling back and forth. This was a new adventure.  Many of us had been on cruises before, but none of us had been on a cruise with alumni from our high schools.  What a trip back and forward in time. 

We did decide to troop off to dinner together and ended up at two tables far from each other.  I think they were having as much fun at their table as we were having at ours. We talked non-stop, barely noticing what we were eating—kind of like we do at our alumni lunches.  Ignoring the food on a cruise ship is extraordinary, because the meals are exquisite.  Since most of us are all at least 68, we petered out at around 9:00 and found our way back to our cabins, with promises to meet for lunch on Monday.

That’s how it went for the rest of the cruise.  We met at what we dubbed Larry’s Bar between 5 and 6 every evening and discussed the day and what we were doing for dinner.  We were a family of 16.  “What did you do today, Christine?”  “We went into Ketchikan and over to the Creek and watched the seals catching the poor salmon that were trying to spawn.”  “Are you going to the show tonight, Jack?”  “Want to eat at the Capri dining room?”   “We saw some whales today!” “What are you going to do in Juneau?” “Who wants to help me finish this bottle of wine?”

Some nights one or another of us was missing from the party at Larry’s Bar and sometimes a couple or two would opt out of the dining room and decide to go to the buffet.  One night we all sat together having our evening cocktail, worrying about whether Marty was going to make it back from her solo ride on the White Pass train before the ship departed Skagway.  (She made it back just in time.) Another night we managed to get two tables of eight right next to each other and one night we got a huge table for twelve.  The waiters earned a tip that night.  We were the last ones to leave the dining room.  At each dinner together it was the same.  Talk, eat, laugh, talk, eat, laugh, eat, talk.  And there was never an awkward pause in conversation as there sometimes is when you are sitting with strangers at a cruise ship dinner.  Even though we were together off and on for a week, there never seemed to be enough time to chat. Marty and I had to make a date for some time together and Jack kept saying, “Christine, you and Michael haven’t eaten with Karen and me yet.”  I wonder if some alumni thought they’d get tired of their old school friends if they went on a cruise with them.  I can’t imagine that.

Michael and Marty discuss politics

We all saw different things, we all did different things.  Some went into town, some didn’t.  Some went on excursions, some just walked around in Ketchikan, Juneau and Skagway.  And then we’d come together and tell each other what we’d seen and done.  Remember The Big Chill movie?  It was like that except there was no kitchen.  It was the dinner table where we teased each other and found out more about each other, made toasts and compared notes.  I think Ralph might have thought we would stay on the boat and talk 24/7, but we did it differently, coming together for our evening cocktail and making plans for dinner.  It became a pleasant habit and a great regular addition to each day.  (We made a decision toward the end.  If we do a cruise again with many alumni, we will choose fixed dining so we can have a huge table for all of us and not have to worry about reservations.)

Judy and Ed Lively and Michael in the Atrium of Star Princess

Here are some things I’m not going to forget:

            Jack’s big grin and wine bottles and Karen’s huge, colorful drinks. (no, she’s not a lush but I’m not so sure about Jack!)

            Marty looking very relaxed.

            Larry talking about his grandkids with love splashed all over his face.

            Ed’s formal attire—black pants and jacket, an orange t-shirt, and orange breast pocket handkerchief and orange Converse tennis shoes. Go Cougars!

            Trude Junior “Gil” Gillman in a suit, looking good!

            Elaine Gillman’s pretty fingernails.

            Trude saying, after an excursion in Ketchikan, “I didn’t see anything I couldn’t have seen at Chico Creek”.

            Tracy’s hilarious stories about being in Mr. Huey’s office all the time.

            Jack, Karen, Ed and Judy dancing.

           

Of course, I won’t forget the seals in Ketchikan Creek corralling spawning Coho salmon or the beautiful green mountains and aqua water of Tracy Arm or the fact we could walk up so close to Mendenhall Glacier.  I won’t forget that on this fourth time my husband and I have cruised to Alaska our weather Karma finally ran out.  It rained.  I’ll always remember how quirky Skagway is, even if it does have too many “gold stores”.  I won’t forget the porcupine up a tree in Juneau or the young boy who said, “We’ve seen lots of bears.  It’s much rarer to see a porcupine.”  I won’t forget our Alaskan driver on the Blue Bus in Juneau who had such an odd accent I could barely understand him. I’ll always be thankful to our steward, Rakesh (East Indian), who was so attentive to us and made us clever towel animals when he turned down our beds at night.

Love Birds by Rakesh

What I’ll always remember about this cruise, unlike all the others we’ve taken, or will take, is the people we were with, the dear old friends and new ones, like Sherrie-Ann, Judy Lively, Elaine Gillman and Marie Junell.  Thank you, Ralph.  We toasted you and thought of you every day, wishing you were there.  And we talked about the future and another cruise, or trek, mountain lodge or ocean cabin—some other place to gather for a week—and you with us next time.