June 30, 2023

Last night we had the first of the two Oceania Club cocktail parties that we are invited to during every segment. They need to have two because out of the 560+ passengers, only 50 have not sailed with Oceania before and these parties are for returning guests. The Oceania lounge can only hold about half of the guests for the party. Because we are at the level we have achieved for so many cruise credits, we are always invited to both.

Here are some pictures of the party. One of the things we really like is when crew members receive their longevity awards in front of the guests. And when guests achieve another level, they are presented with their pins. We received our President’s Circle pins earlier in the cruise.

Here are some pictures of the event.

Today we reached the US, so that means there are only 2 weeks left in our Around the World voyage. Our port is Dutch Harbor. That is the name of the port but the town is called “Unalaska”. The harbor is on Amaknak Island. It was the location of the Battle of Dutch Harbor in June 1942 and was one of the few sites in the US to be subjected to aerial bombardment by a foreign power during WWII.

It is a mile long spit which causes a natural harbor and is protected from the waves and currents of the Bering Sea. It is a top fishing port with more than a billion dollars transferred each year. The base of the fishing boats for the show “the Deadliest Catch” is here in Dutch Harbor. This area is the state’s largest private sector employer. The fish caught here are pollock, cod, halibut, sablefish, crab, sole, rockfish and herring.

It was 45 degrees and raining when we arrived. We could see that it was snowing in the mountains as the white tops of the mountains got whiter all day. We saw whales from our balcony.

We decided to take the tender in to port. There was a closer dock but there were other boats there so our tender took almst 30 minutes to travel the 3 miles to the dock. While in the tender we saw seals, muskrats and bald eagles, unfortunately I was not able to get any photos. There were no Oceania sponsored tours here, and when we got to shore we could see why. Really nothing to see. There was a church and two museums and that was about it.

When we got to the dock there were taxi vans there to take us to the town. Ours let us all off at a Safeway that had clothes and almost everything else including groceries. We didn’t buy anything and decided to come back to the ship. Our plan had been to walk but it was such a miserable day, we gave up on that plan.

Even though we were bundled up, it was pretty cold. Hard to believe that not too long ago we were suffering from extreme heat.

One interesting thing in the store was these brands of coffee. But even more interesting was the cost! $43.49 for a 2 pound bag!

Tomorrow we have another sea day on our way to mainland Alaska. The first port is Kodiak.