The stop in Juneau is several hours shorter than the other towns because in the afternoon you get to cruise the glacier area. We referred to it as the "let's not pull a Titanic" portion of the trip. We were scheduled to go to Tracy Arm and Sawyer Glacier but there was too much ice in the water to make it safely. Good call, Captain Lars, good call. Randy and Betty went on their second shore excursion, a smaller boat to cruise right up to the glacier. We walked around deck and periodically checked our progress until the glacier was in sight. I will admit, this part was pretty neat; they sure as heck don't have icebergs floating around in the Tetons. I think it was at this point in the trip that we actually started enjoying things. The seasickness was wearing off, we were seeing something interesting and the jewelry stores were getting fewer and farther in between. For Ketchikan and Juneau, the cruise ships really push the jewelry shopping and have several ship owned stores in both cities, so you really have to look hard for the Alaskan owned stores and shops.
Anyway, we cruised in pretty close to the glacier, and towards the end we got to see Betty and Randy's boat come up along side the Star so that the passengers could get back up on board. Randy has some better pictures of the glacier, but all of his pictures on Rick's laptop for now.
