Alaska Sojourn: Coral Princess cruisetour, Alaska Railroad, Radiance of the Seas

[EmpressofPurple]

Breakfast and getting off the ship:

 

 

I love going to breakfast in the main dining room, and trying the daily specials

 

 

The melon cocktail special

 

 

Mmm bran muffin... with molded butter pat and apricot jam, served by the assistant waiter from a silver dish. Nice!

 

 

Special eggs with minute steak, a side of bacon, V-8 juice and wheat toast. Hearty!

 

 

Disembarking we got a better view of all the ship signs painted on the rocks

 

 

Great view of our beautiful ship at the dock

[EmpressofPurple]

(Once again my photo of the menu doesn't show up. Weird.)

[EmpressofPurple]

 

Golden North Hotel

 

 

Wooden sidewalks

 

 

The Avis office

 

 

Sculpture in the courtyard of the motel where the Avis office is also located.

 

 

Getting directions to our car

 

 

Walking tour with a "goodtime girl" coming towards us as we follow a guide to our car in a nearby lot

[EmpressofPurple]

 

We're on our way! We shared the driving: DKNYC drove us up to Emerald Lake, and I brought us back down to Skagway.

 

 

White Pass & Yukon railroad maintenance yard

 

 

Great view up the Skagway river just at the edge of town. One of the local buses stops here, and you can walk to a nearby gold rush era cemetery. We didn't make it there on either port stop alas. Another reason to return!

 

 

Dyea road overlook with Skagway nestled at the base of breathtaking mountains

 

 

Great views of all the ships in port, too.

 

Let it be said: many locals commented that we had GREAT weather today... and that made a big difference in our enjoyment of this drive. I'm not sure we would've had such a great time if our views had been of clouds and rain, and we had to pay close attention to slick mountain roads. After days of rain and clouds in Ketchikan and Juneau, we felt very fortunate.

 

 

Brilliant blue skies -- and pointy mountains! -- as we drive North to the Future!!

[EmpressofPurple]

 

We pull over for a great view of the White Pass & Yukon railroad across the way!

 

 

Look at those white mountains... our ears are popping here... yep, it's the white pass summit... but before we get there...

 

 

The descriptions of the gold rush era are just devastating... I strongly recommend Michener's "Alaska" as pre-travel reading for a sweeping overview of Alaskan history, starting from the big bang, going through woolly mammoths to early humans crossing the land bridge from Asia, and coming up through Russian Alaska, the salmon industry, the gold rush, building roads and railroads, all the way up to the pipeline.

 

 

Hard to believe this valley was the scene of such destruction... you can see the river at the bottom in this photo...

 

 

Random roadside waterfall

 

 

The unusual one-sided Moore bridge, spanning an active earthquake fault (it is listed on "dangerousroads.org" and "world's scariest bridges")

[EmpressofPurple]

 

Interpretive signs by the road... about the challenges of building the road, and that it took decades to complete

 

 

Yep, we'll see some of these guys soon...

 

 

Incredible views. Can't believe I saw this with my eyes!!

 

 

White pass summit. Our ears will pop again on the way down.

 

 

Welcome to Alaska! (for travelers coming in the other direction, of course...)

 

 

Beautiful scenes on still-frozen waters

[Bimmer09]

I have been enjoying the review also but no photos showing up anymore, but thank you so much for the review, still enjoying it.

 

Denise, I want to echo chitownsailor's remarks.

 

I have been following along and enjoying the photos but there may be 30 or so missing from the narrative and some just list the huge google photos html screed (e.g the menu ones).

 

While I sometimes slam Flickr they do have an upload option for bulletin boards such as CC where the html is much shorter and easier to trim when you upload. I have Google photos too (on a Mac) but find Flickr easier to work with.

 

Will you include the missing photos later on in the review?

 

Meantime keep it coming! Fabulous ship and itinerary.

 

Cheers,

 

Norris, Alaska bound in 66 days

 

 

[Gabrielle R.]

REALLY enjoying your review! Brings back great memories of Alaska, when we were on the Coral!We will be on Serenade over Christmas (No Princess itinerary fit for us this year)- So REALLY looking forward to reading AND SEEING the pictures of Serenade!!

Gabrielle

[sail_ORN]

I just discovered your review and am enjoying it very much. Thank you for all the time and energy you put in!

I'm planning on booking the Coral to Alaska next year, so your review is exactly what I need :)

[denatravels]

I just discovered your review and am enjoying it very much. Thank you for all the time and energy you put in!

 

I'm planning on booking the Coral to Alaska next year, so your review is exactly what I need :)

 

 

I recommend getting a balcony room (I'm usually an inside girl, but the balcony was great for Alaska)-- nearby to the forward decks 10 and 11 where the open viewing areas are-- it gets so cold out there with no wind blocks at the glaciers and a nearby room is a great way to warm up and watch from the balcony. (I was deck 9 forward port side, which ended up being AWESOME)

 

 

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