Tag Archives: Alaska cruise

Norwegian Sun in Skagway

The Norwegian Sun’s next stop, on June 3, was the ever-charming community of Skagway along the Chilkoot Inlet.  And, as with Juneau, I’m going to give you gals a great jewelry shopping tip, one you wouldn’t expect way out here in the wilds of Alaska.  But, first, let’s take a look at some of the stunning scenery that awaits you on the walk into town from the cruise dock, traveling along Congress Street before hanging a left on Broadway:

Skagway, Alaska

Skagway, Alaska

One of the first sights to great you along Broadway is the famous Red Onion Saloon, which I’ve never actually stepped into despite several visits to Skagway:

Skagway, Alaska

Notice next door is a Milano Diamond Gallery.  You’ll recall from my Juneau post last week that Milano is generally a pretty good place to shop, especially in the Caribbean and down in Puerto Vallarta.  But this trip I’m going to steer you to yet another gem, pun intended.  We’ll get to that shortly.  First, let’s take a look at a nifty little art gallery we stumbled upon.  It’s called Alaska Artworks, and it contains some really nifty stuff including decorative metal art:

Alaska Artworks

By the way, ever wonder how caribou and elk taste, here’s a place to stop for lunch.  It’s the BBQ Shack, and it’s located in the courtyard of the Skagway Bazaar, with which it shares space with several shops.  Pricey, but fun.  I had the caribou burger, and Ursula dined on the elk chili.  Both were tasty.

Skagway Bazaar next to Jewelry Land

BBQ Shack in the Skagway Bazaar Courtyard

I’ll get to that great little jewelry shopping tip in a moment, but first below is today’s photo gallery.  Click on any image to enlarge and bring up today’s slide show:

Skagway Marina

Skagway, Alaska

Skagway, Alaska

Skagway, Alaska

Skagway, Alaska

Skagway, Alaska

Skagway, Alaska

Now for today’s jewelry shopping tip.  Ursula and I spent quite some time looking at various jewelry stores throughout Skagway, but we really didn’t intend to purchase anything.  Of primary interest to us were tanzanite bracelets, but most were overpriced, and many were of poor color quality — not uncommon with the smaller stones used in such an application, as tanzanite stones usually need to be quite large to get any real color depth.  But our resolve melted a bit when we stepped into Aurora Jewelers at 351 Broadway.  No, we didn’t walk out with tanzanite.  We got an extraordinary deal on something else entirely.  And, no, owner’s son Shawn Kishnani did not give me a deal for mentioning him in my blog.  He didn’t even know I do a blog.  He was just aware that we did business with several other jewelers in Alaska, including the previously mentioned Samuel Sengul, owner of Jewelers International in Juneau, and he wanted to show us that he could be competitive enough to bring us back on our next Skagway trip.

Well, Shawn succeeded.  Ursula walked away with an incredible deal on a diamond necklace.  We spent what I estimate to be only ⅔ of what this particular piece would normally retail.  Give Aurora Jewelers a try, and see what Shawn can work up price-wise if you see something you like.