As Host of the Alaska portion of your Lifecruiser Cyber Cruise around the world, may I say a hearty welcome to you all! This is where we board the ship for the Alaska leg of our cruise.
Our Itinerary
1 Seattle
2 At Sea
3 Juneau
4 Skagway
5 Tracy Arm Fjord, Alaska (Scenic Cruising)
6 Ketchikan
7 Victoria
8 Seattle
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Part 1
A limousine will dropped us off at the terminal with all the baggage.
Once our passports are validated we zip through and we are on board the ship by noon, and checked into our rooms. They are lovely with fairly good views, a big bed and a bar. Once we are settled then we are off to explore.
This ship is huge! And I am still not sure where everything is, or how to get there. But there is time for all of that. Since we are all hungry, we stop in at the buffet for lunch, where we will meet up with friends from around the world. We eat our lunches, toasting the meal with champagne and then set off to unpack our cases back at our rooms.
Once that is done it is time for the fire drills, and then we set sail. What a pretty sight that is, as we pull out of the docking area and sail along the harbor in Seattle.
We have a Coast Guard escort all the way out of the Harbor, and then he waves and turns and is gone. We stay out watching a while longer before hunger strikes us once again.
We explore the restaurants on board and decide to eat at the Savoy. It is a very posh restaurant and you can get almost any sort of meal that you might want. We get a very nice table near a window. Our servers are Adriana from Mexico and then Mia from Thailand. They were young and sweet and take incredibly good care of us!
We also have a wine steward. He is hysterical. He is from Romania, and reminds us all of Agadore in the movie, “The Bird Cage”. We all laugh and enjoy the food and wines and dear Agadore.
After we eat, we head to the disco for a night of dancing under the stars!
Part 2
So, what does one do when they get to their first Alaskan port of call? Why I called home! I wanted to share that moment with my sister and cousin and daughter! I also called to check on my beloved pets at home. What a great place for a call! I was so excited I felt like a little kid!
We go ashore to Juneau to take a tour over to the Mendenhall Glacier. I think the first thing you realize when you see a glacier is how enormous they are! This was huge, and even more impressive then I can ever say. Some people took a helicopter to the top of the glacier, but I was happy to view the glacier from below.
It was at Mendenhall that we saw the Bald Eagles and the Mama Brown Bear with her two baby cubs. Believe it or not while standing talking to a Park Service Ranger about the glacier, the subject came up about dachshunds. And well, you guessed it. The next thing I knew we were talking about dachshunds and how wonderful they are. Hubby was a bit annoyed with me because we go all the way to Alaska and what do I speak of? Dachshunds!
In the very center of this picture you can see the Mama bear. This was as close as I was going to get to her. Sorry, but she just didn’t look too friendly to me.
Juneau is the capital of the State of Alaska. The area of Juneau is larger than that of Rhode Island, Delaware, or Connecticut, and almost as large as Connecticut and Rhode Island combined. Juneau is nestled at the base of Mount Juneau and across the channel from Douglas Island. Juneau was named after gold prospector Joe Juneau, though the place was for a time called Rockwell and then Harrisburg (after Juneau’s co-prospector, Richard Harris)
Part 3
The next day we headed into Ketchikan. Ketchikan’s economy is based upon tourism and fishing, and the city is known as the “Salmon Capital of the World.” The Misty Fjords National Monument is one of the area’s major attractions. Ketchikan is named after Ketchikan Creek, which flows through the town. Ketchikan also has the world’s largest collection of standing totem poles located at three major locations: Saxman Village, Totem Bight, and the Totem Heritage Center.
It’s formal night, and we all get dressed up and go to dinner down at our favorite restaurants. Since we speak to all the wait-staff and managers we get the best tables in the place for our meals, and we get the best waitresses too! Adrianna and Mala. The meal was a bit more diverse, but they offered Ketchikan Sockeye Salmon and almost everyone had that. There is nothing like fresh salmon!
After dinner we go to a musical show and it is very fun. The singers are good, the songs all 1970’s and pop, familiar in type, and then we head to the casino’s to play the slots. Some move on to dance floor, while others head off to bed so they are ready for the day in Skagway.
Part 4
We were up with the dawn so we could go on shore to the town of Skagway to travel on the narrow guage railroad and go to White Pass. We all meet in the cafe to have breakfast and watch the sun rises.
Skagway is a small town on the Alaska Panhandle. The port of Skagway is a popular stop for cruise ships, and the tourist trade is a big part of the city’s business. The White Pass and Yukon Route narrow gauge railroad, part of the area’s mining past, is now in operation purely for the tourist trade and runs throughout the summer months.
Skagway (originally spelled Skaguay) is from the Tlingit name for the area, “Skagua.” The name has several meanings, “the place where the north wind blows,”.
Part 5
We cruise Tracy Arm Fjord. To say it is beautiful would be a real understatement of fact. It was beyond anything I could have imagined. Certainly the best part of the cruise! At first it seems pretty much like any inlet, then as we go further and further in, small chunks of ice turned into larger ones until I could hear the theme from “Titanic” in my ears! LOL The mountains are enormous and tower above the shore and then seem to drop into the fjord below at a sharp angle.
Glacial Ice is incredibly blue and white. I couldn’t get enough of it! We toured this inlet 4 hours and it was all breath taking.
The glacier at the end of Tracy Arm.
That night we went for an all you could eat Alaskan King Crab dinner. Oh my, what a meal! I love Alaskan King Crab, and this was just so delicious and so wonderful! I am afraid I ate far too much, but I have learned that a cruise is often a good place to eat a lot of good foods from around the world!
Part 6
Victoria, BC. Victoria is the capital of the western Canadian province of British Columbia. It is a beautiful city and the last stop before we go back to Seattle and head off to our next port of call Chesapeake Beach.
Victoria is a city full of gardens. It is a charming, beautiful place that I hope to return to one day. I was sorry that we got in so late that we did not have a chance to see more.
Our last night on board the Cruise Ship there is a chocolate Buffet, where they offered every sort of wonderful confection.
I’m afraid I will never want to leave. Alaska was so wonderful, so vast, I think we all must return when we have more time to spend there.
Pass the chocolate and another glass of champagne!
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