LEGENDary Alaska Sailing 6/23-6/30 Photo Review

First I would like to apologize to the people I promised the fun times to. I had them all saved and then my father threw them out the last day of the cruise so I don't have them.

Ok, now onto the review.

This trip was my father(53) and I(27). This was his dream trip so I decided to take him for Fathers Day now before I move to Beijing next year.

We started our Journey in Tampa on Saturday evening on 6/20 and arrived in Seattle just before midnight. We went straight to bed so we can be up early to start exploring.

The next morning we awoke had breakfast at our hotel, and took a shuttle back to the airport to get to the Light Link Station. It was roughly a 5-10 minute walk to the station from where the shuttle can drop you off. We purchased the $6.00 all day pass and were on our way to the train(If you plan to use this form of transportation do know there's no one there to check your tickets. Randomly an agent will board the train at different station to check tickets. This only happened once out of multiple rides.). The ride is roughly 40 minutes long and isn't very scenic. It is a very cost effective way though to make it between SeaTac and Seattle quickly though.

We got off at the University St. stop(second to last stop on the rail) so we could walk quickly over to Pike Place Market. We got there around 11:30 on a Sunday so as you can probably imagine it was packed. Barely any room to even breathe. We had just missed the guys throwing a salmon as we approached. It was definitely an interesting place but we decided to leave after about 45 minutes because the crowd was getting bigger and bigger by the minute.

After leaving the market we walked over the the information booth out front. There we purchased the Seattle City Pass. For those of you who aren't familiar with this it gives you 5 attractions for $70 per person. You can go to the Space Needle twice, the Seattle Aquarium, an Argosy Harbor Cruise, then you can pick between the EMP/Woodlawn Zoo, and also pick between Chihuly Gardens/Science Museum to round out the five choices. Theoretically it could be done in one day, but I wouldn't want to do that.

After purchasing our CityPass books we walked down to the aquarium where we also saw a table set up for the Harbor cruise. We approached the girl and she had a cruise leaving shortly so we exchanged our coupon for a ticket and went to get in line to board. If you do this know that its a big ship. I believe over 300 people do each sailing of the harbor. I was thinking it would be more like 100. We grabbed a piece of pizza while waiting by the Seattle Eye, and then we were on board.

The cruise was nice and you got lots of great views of the Seattle landscape. It was here where I got my first view of the Space Needle an the intimidating Mount Rainier. The harbor cruise is about an hour long which is just enough time I felt to see what you needed to see. You could also upgrade for a nominal fee and do some of the other tours they offer.

Up next we walked over the the Aquarium. It was just a basic Aquarium and nothing too special like the one in Georgia. I mostly took pictures with my phone here.

By the time we had finished with the aquarium and having to walk back to the Light Link we decided to call it a day. Us being really tired started to kick in at this point. It was about 16:00 when we walked back so we arrived to the hotel about 17:00. We ended up taking a free shuttle offered by Seattle Express to a mall to get dinner at BJs Brewhouse.

The next morning we got on the light link around 09:00 and got breakfast at Top Pot doughnuts in downtown. After that we took the monorail into Seattle Center where we first got in line for the Space Needle.

It was crowded here for a Monday morning, but the wait is worth it when you get to the top. It was a little too foggy so we couldn't see Mount Rainier from the observation deck, but all the views were truly stunning.

After about 45 minutes we decided to come down. We then went over to the Experience Music Project(EMP), and let me tell you that was amazing!

I've played in bands in high school and college and have always appreciate music, but here it truly is an experience. I wont post any pictures because I don't want to break any copyright infringements, but just know this was a cool place. Even if you don't love music there is something here for you. They have a video game room, a star wars exhibit(extra cost), and lots of other interesting things from movies we all love whether its The Wizard of Oz, Terminator, Friday the Thirteenth or The Princess Bride.

After we left here we each got a corn on the cob as a snack(who knew that was a thing????), and I had to make the decision Chihuly or Science Museum. It was a tough decision because Chihuly Gardens is an hour long at most unless you are really really really into glass and inspect everything. I wanted to maximize my day, but in the end we chose Chihuly and I am glad I did. He has some work here in St. Pete on display that I loved, but this is different. I was in awe every time I turned the corner. I will only post one picture from here. I want all who go to truly experience the beauty at every corner without already having an idea of whats to come.

After this we walked around Seattle Center for a little bit before we made our way to a restaurant I can't remember the name of right now. I do remember both of us commenting on how good it was though.

After dinner we took the rail back to the airport so we could get back to the hotel. We just gave our two night passes for the space needle to a couple who didn't think they could afford to go up when they saw the cost.

We went to sleep early tonight because tomorrow it is CRUISE DAY!!!!

I'd also like to note that the weather in Seattle was PERFECT. Coming from Tampa I would have taken anything under 90 degrees and low humidity. The temperature was always in like the mid 70's until night time when it would drop to mid-lower 60's and we saw no rain. Just a little bit of fog.

I will start writing up the cruise portion now. Also if anyone has any questions fee free to ask.

I also apologize who any typos an grammatical mistakes. I'm writing this fast as I have the rest of the week off and I hate when a review takes 7 weeks to get to the second seaday on a 6 night cruise.

I didn't realize I was only allowed 6 pictures so I will make separate post explaining some pictures

You got some great shots of Seattle! Looking forward to the review, we are hopping on to head to Hawaii in Sept so anxious to hear about your cruise! :)

We awoke on Tuesday and had breakfast. We finished getting everything together in the room and were checked out by 10:00

We had a transfer with Seattle Express and they were a few minutes behind so we just enjoyed the weather waiting for the shuttle. They arrived and had us to the pier 91 in about 30 minutes. We fortunately were able to snag a FTTF last minute after Delta Changed our return flight so we went right through check in. As soon as we finished checking in and we made our way to the seating area FTTF was called to board. Id say we were in the Terminal a total of 15 minutes.

It was nice going to the room immediately. We dropped off the backpacks and other carry ons we had and went to explore the ship. This ship was easy to navigate for us since we were on the Pride in Tampa last December. Our cabin was 4117 a 4k french door room an I loved it. It wasn't directly between lifeboats but we could easily see the water. Fortunately no bars were below us so it was never loud.

At this point in time I would say it is probably 11:15. We had ordered the cases of water through the funshops and thought it would be there when we arrived. It wasn't, but we thought no big deal it will be there by sail away.

We went to get lunch, and off to explore. We made our way to Serenity were we each laid in one of those over sized chairs with a covering. I took about an hour an a half nap and when I awoke the fog ha cleared and I saw this.

Mount Rainier staring right back at me as I was ready to sail away.

We went back to the room hoping the water had arrived and it still hadn't so we left and explored the lower decks. Before you knew it we had our muster drill which was as fun as they always are ;) We went to grab a drink an watch the sail away from Seattle through the harbor into Puget Sound. At about 18:30 we decided to get dinner so we went to the room to change. Hmmm.... still no water. Whatever we will ask guest services after dinner we know everyone is busy on board today. We go enjoy a wonderful dinner from a not so wonderful server. He just seemed very distant. It was like he was apathetic to serving people food. That was fine though he was probably tired and we have any time dining so we can request to not see him again. We go to the room again to check and still no water! We wanted to make it the the Naturalist Mischelles talk about what to expect to see while were sailing. So we go see that, and I felt bad how many people just kept getting up an leaving. I found the entire talk to be wonderful and interesting. The entire time though groups of people just kept leaving. I understand some people ha late dining to go to, but I just felt so bad for her in this moment.

We finished up her seminar went to the room, no water so now its time to go to guest services because I see other people enjoying there water. They tell me they're still backed up because so many people ordered it. Ok I get that, but they swore I would be a priority an receive it by 22:00. We make our way to the welcome aboard show since nothing else was going on and get back to the room at 22:05. No water so we call guest services and they said they can't deliver the water from 22:00-08:00. Its becoming a little frustrating as I just don't really enjoy the ships water. Luckily I had my past guest water in the room.

We go to sleep and go get breakfast around 07:00 and watch for whales where Mischelle told us to look. Around 09:30 went to the room to shower and look over the fun times an hope our water had arrived, which it hadn't. I get ready go to guest services and I'm told all water has been delivered and they are on a limited supply now. I'm irritated because I explain how all the water hasn't been delivered and I'm told they will look into it. So far my great Seattle trip has gone down because of a bad server and this water not arriving. Still we deal with it and sit down to look over the fun times. Wow, there's like nothing to do. I usually play lots of trivia. There were only 3 today. The talk Mischelle was going to give was cancelled because she tripped and injured herself and needed some stitches. The entire fun times was stacked with Bingo, gold by the inch, spa treatments, and trying your luck in the casino. There really wasn't much to do unless you wanted to spend money on those things this day. I figured since it was are only real sea day it would have been stacked with activities. I went to back to guest services and fortunately a manager was there who resolved our water issue and had it to our stateroom within 20 minutes. It ended up being marked as delivered on the first day. In lieu of Mischelles whale talk Troy the CD and his ACD Dee did a Q&A on the ports and ship life. It would have been nice to prepare questions beforehand, but since it was a last minute thing they did a really nice job. We got lunch and I decided to go take a nap. Still being 3 hours behind in time was making me tired. I actually slept for like 4 hours and enjoyed just looking out for wildlife the rest of the day.

Tomorrow is Tracy Arm Fjord!!!! Lots of pictures from here

Also I don't mean to sound upset about the water, I truly understand things happen I just wish guest services could have just called at the beginning to see what was going on with the delivery. Instead they just had a lot of excuses until I finally met the manager at the desk.

Today was the big day. I was so excited. I had booked the small boat tour to get up closer to the glacier.

I was on the 11:00 boat tour and we met in the firebird lounge at 10:40. Allen Marine is the tour operator and they were running a little behind. We finally got of the small boat all bundled up and got ready to see the most pristine land I've ever seen. Every turn is breathtaking, every inch you move forward is a new sight to take it. I would highly recommend this tour after taking it. The ship did make it past Sawyer island on our sailing but they still didn't get as close as we did, plus we got to go to the North Sawyer Glacier too.

I'm at a loss for words on how amazing this experience really was. There's truly not enough adjectives to give this place justice! I will try and let the pictures I took speak for me.

This is what we saw getting on the small boat from the ship.

This iceberg looked like a dolphin!

There she is!

At the bottom center of this last picture that is where the boats have to turn right and then left after. I believe they called it the zigzag there.

The icebergs start getting bigger and bigger as we get closer

Peaking around the corner

She caught up to us for a minute

And now it's time for the glacier!

This is north Sawyer glacier.

That is it for my small boat excursion into Tracy Arm Fjord.

I just enjoyed the rest of my day napping and looking at TAF while from the ship as we were exiting the Fjord. Again though there really wasn't much in terms of activities for today after we exited the Fjord. I get that though. They had a few playlist productions and comedy shows later at night, but two days in and I can already tell this is going to be a tiring cruise trying to see everything. As relaxing as it is, be prepared to go go go.

That's it for now though. I will be back later tonight or tomorrow with Skagway which was a fantastic day.

Thank you so much for doing an Alaskan review. I haven't seen too many so far this season!

That's disappointing that they didn't have many activities on the first sea day. We're huge trivia players too.

Enjoying your review, keep up the great photos.

Absolutely sick photos. Thanks for posting them.

Fantastic. Looking forward to more.

Great review and pics! We want to cruise Alaska next year - hopefully it will happen. Thank you for taking the time to write your review!

Kim

Looking forward to the rest of your review. Those pics are amazing.

We are doing Alaska next year. We are sailing out of Vancouver and debark in Seattle. Did you book all your excursions with the ship or did you do private tours?

I'm from Plant City, neighbor!

We leave for the Alaska cruise next Friday, so I am loving your review and pics!

Thanks everyone. I will start writing up about Skagway in a little bit.

Looking forward to the rest of your review. Those pics are amazing.

We are doing Alaska next year. We are sailing out of Vancouver and debark in Seattle. Did you book all your excursions with the ship or did you do private tours?

I only booked the Tracy Arm Fjord with the ship because that's the only way. I will go over tour companies I used when I go over a port and if I'd use them again.

Love the pictures. As beautiful as they are, seeing the real thing is much more spiracular if you've never been. Brings back memories from my cruise to Alaska.

Will be following your review.

Great review and pictures. My family was on this cruise the week before you.

So today on this journey we docked in Skagway. It was a little chilly, overcast, and windy. No big deal though we're in Alaska so that is expected. I had booked a train ride to Fraser, BC and a trip into the Yukon by bus. This was booked with Chilkoot Charters for $184 per person. I opted for the earlier tour which left at 07:30 and took the train up so we had to be up and off the ship early. We got to the bus to meet our driver and guide for the Yukon portion of the trip and his name was Bruce. He was very charismatic, funny, and knowledgeable about the area. There was supposed to be 15 of us on this tour, but an NCL ship didn't dock for some reason on this day so our group was only 9 people. We were all accounted for and on our way to the bus. With Chilkoot charters they get there own train car and our happened to be the last one which made everyone very happy. Another Chilkoot group who was only doing the train portion also boarded our train car so there was maybe 20 of us. We all had plenty of space to sit on the left side(which is the scenic side going up) or out on the platform. There is a guide on board the train who tells you different information about what you're looking at and also some information about the trains history, Skagway and the gold rush. There was also a nice girl who worked for the White Pass & Yukon Railway(WP&YR) who would sit on our car for a little bit and answer our questions.

Here are some pictures from the train ride up and then I will get into our time in the Yukon.