Icy Straight Point

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Krazy Kruizers

Guest
Icy Straight Point

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This was a new port for us. We have done several Alaskan cruises.

We chose to do the Whale Watch & Marine Mammal Safari. I highly recommend this tour. It is a 10 minute tender ride from the ship to the dock. It was recommended on our tickets that we should allow 45 minutes to get ashore. The daily program advised people to allow 1 hour to get ashore. All tours met shore. Being in a suite we did not have to go to a lounge to get tender tickets. We left our cabin at 9:30, got on the tender at 9:35, tender left at 9:40 and we were at the pier at 9:50. Our tour wasn't until 11 AM.

It was a slow start at first, and we thought we had wasted our money. But 45 minutes after the tour began we began to see lots of whales, sea lions, a couple of otters and dozens of eagles. The boat that we were on had 3 decks - 2 closed and 1 open. Some people tried to stay outside but the rain and wind eventually drove everyone inside. Our captain get moving from one area to another - the best area was at Adolphus Point - this was where we saw the most whales and eagles. This was supposed to have been a 2 hour cruise but it ended up being 3 hours - we didn't mind . On the trip back snacks were offered - on each plate was a huge ball of salmon mousse (looked as though they used an ice cream scoop). There were several platters of 3 kinds of cheeses and tons of packages of crackers. You were given a fork and knife so that you could either eat the mousse by itself or spread it on the crackers. There was free coffee, tea or hot chocolate available the entire time. We chose to purchase a glass of wine to go with our mousse and cheeses.

We were scheduled to leave at 6 but at 6:20 our captain announced that we were waiting for the last tender to return. After that the ship headed to Adolphus Point. Since we had the 5:30 dinner, we quickly finished dinner and by 7:15 we were on our verandah (port side) watching the whales again. Our captain actually stopped the ship for several minutes. When we saw that the ship was turning, we quickly headed up to the Crow's Nest (now about 8 PM) and got seats on the starboard side. Again our captain stopped the ship until 8:30 for lots more whale watching - also got to see a couple of sea lions. The eagles had settled down for the night.
 
K

Krazy Kruizers

Guest
Icy Straight Point

When you get to the dock each person is given a small chip of cedar wood with a note about putting them in the fire for good luck. The fire pit is an area down on the beach.

At the pier there is a special building where all the tours meet. There is a museum and several shops all contained in a large building. The retail shops include: ISP Company store; Soap and Candle shop; Fire & Ice; Icy Straight Lumber; Southeast Artworks; Gut-sh-wu; Alaskan Gift shop; Wild With Nature; Carey's Handmade Glass Beads; Salmon shop; Hoonah General Store.

In the museum section of the building there are 2 shops: Arctic Spirit Gallery & Hoonah High School (items made by the students to be sold). You can buy tiny plush animals that can be canned with a special "Salmon" label.

There are 2 restaurants: Cookhouse right at the dock and the Timberhouse which is further down the beach from the fire pit. After all we had to eat on our tour we were too full to try one of the restaurants.

There is also a Native Theatre where the shows are put on.

There was a free shuttle (at least it was free on our cruise) to take you from the dock area to the village of Hoonah itself. We got back so late from our tour that we didn't get to go to the village. Since we were going to be there on our south bound cruise as well, we figured that we would do that the second week. Unfortunately it was pouring the second week (way worse than the first week) and with DH taking so many medications and blood thinners we didn't want to risk him getting wet and sick.

So we do have that to look forward to on a future Alaskan cruise.
 
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dpearce124

Guest
Hi...this is very silly, and odd to ask, but my daughter works for Celebrity cruiselines. This morning she was at The Cookhouse restaurant and left her sun glasses there. She cannot call them as she is on the ship and doesn't know the number for them. She asked if I could locate the number and call them about her left behind glasses that she could pick up on her next stop thru Icy Straight point. I called information, and they gave me a phone number in Juneau for this restaurant. Does anyone know if this restaurant also has an affiliation with Red Dog Saloon? If it does then this is the right number, if not, then I still need to get the correct one.

Thanks for any help you might be able to shed for me! I am in the state of Washington and trying to do all this via long distance and internet!

Any help is appreciated.

Dea Pearce, grounded in Washington State...
 
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BSeabob

Guest
I don't see anything for the "cookhouse" anywhere. Phone the IcyStrait Lodge at (907) 945-3636 It's a small place they likely will be able to help you. It's the North they likley would be able to pass the mssg on.
 
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dpearce124

Guest
Thank you so much for the tip! I'll see what I can do about these wayward sunglasses!
 
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CanCanCase

Guest
[quote dpearce124]Hi...this is very silly, and odd to ask, but my daughter works for Celebrity cruiselines. This morning she was at The Cookhouse restaurant and left her sun glasses there. She cannot call them as she is on the ship and doesn't know the number for them. She asked if I could locate the number and call them about her left behind glasses that she could pick up on her next stop thru Icy Straight point. I called information, and they gave me a phone number in Juneau for this restaurant. Does anyone know if this restaurant also has an affiliation with Red Dog Saloon? If it does then this is the right number, if not, then I still need to get the correct one.

Thanks for any help you might be able to shed for me! I am in the state of Washington and trying to do all this via long distance and internet!

Any help is appreciated.

Dea Pearce, grounded in Washington State...[/quote]

If there's a "Cookhouse Restaurant" in Hoonah, it's new, and by no means affiliated with the Red Dog Saloon in Juneau. The Cookhouse Restaurant in Juneau closed quietly at the end of summer in 2002. The owners of the Red Dog put well over 2 Million dollars into a re-model of the kitchen facility, new plumbing, electrical, computer systems, and added a 3rd floor apartment for the owners and a large warehouse.

The Red Dog Cookhouse used to serve Alaska's Largest Hamburger at 12" diameter and a 1 lb. patty to serve 4 (or one very hungry miner!) It was open for 15 years, and served close to a million guests. After the restaurant was closed, the space was leased out as a retail shop. Since the sale of the Saloon and accompanying property this year, the retail space has been taken back in-house and is currently serving as an extended gift shop for the Red Dog Saloon.

If you called directory information and got a current number for the Cookhouse, it's only because "Cookhouse, Inc." was the name of the parent company which owned the saloon, restaurant, property and retail business until the owners changed the name of the company to "Red Dog Saloon, Inc." in 2005.

As of 1/1/2008, the name "Cookhouse Restaurant" was still protected by a state registered trademark. I hope nobody is using the name in another Alaskan town without permission!

Sorry, doesn't help with the glasses problem, but the name "Cookhouse" brought back a few memories!

Happy Alaska Travels!
-Case
 
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