Back From My Wonderful Trip

[travelcrazy006]

i spent a week traveling on my own, by train and bus, in alaska from fairbanks-denali-talkeetna-seward-anchorage before taking a 3pm shuttle to whittier through the tunnel, absolutely fascinating. Our driver was very knowledgeable about whittier and the tunnel. I found whittier intriguing, had fun walking around (didn’t take very long!). Saw eagles. The ship was beautiful, the Island Princess, so huge. This is my very first cruise. We boarded about 6:00, no lines, no wait, nice. cabin with balcony very nice, the only drawback was the size of the shower, if you're a big person you would not fit. we had dinner, very casual, and then just relaxed, I was definitely ready for this after being on the go all week. Didn’t get a lot of sleep this week, partly due to the midnight sun, I never felt like it was time to go to sleep, you don’t realize what time it is. Very strange indeed!!

-Day 8 – so exhausted, missed college fjords. But now the eating begins. WOW!!! People aren’t kidding when they talk about the food. We had dinner in the dining room every night, we did “anytime” dining which I liked but cannot compare. We shared a table with different people every night which I found fascinating and fun. We met people from Britain, Canada, croatia, Holland, south America, south africa, Trinidad and all over the US just to mention a few. The food was great. Then of course there is the 24 hour buffet which was my downfall, most everything was good with a few exceptions. Delicious and beautiful desserts. There was a pizza bar on the ship – not bad. They did have an ice cream bar but that was extra. The ship has so many activities you could do something every hour if you wanted – I chose not to. I did do a spa “sampler” – 20 min. facial, 10 min. shoulder/neck massage, 20 min. ankle/foot massage, nice but they are always looking to sell you something. They take pictures of you getting on the ship, getting off the ship, at dinner, then they put the pictures on display so that you will buy them. I have to admit some of the formal pictures were very nicely done. We did go to a couple of “shows” during the week which were good, a movie, and they had naturalist and park ranger lectures on what we were seeing, these were very nice. I participated in an 8 lap walk for the cure benefit. Went to afternoon tea one day (not impressed with this though at all). My cousin went to a wine tasting and lecture which she really liked but found out later there was a fee for it. We did bring 2 bottles of our own wine aboard for use in our cabin which was very nice to sit out on our balcony with. The balcony was great, a bit chilly but worth the extra, at least for this trip. Glacier bay was wonderful as was the scenery along the entire way. We only saw 2 small calvings, missed the big one as the ship was turning. Beautiful!!

-Our first port was Skagway – I did the 7 hour train up- bus back with lunch at the Skagway inn and gold panning. The train and bus were great (definitely sit on the left on the train up), lunch was ok and the gold panning was cute but I wouldn’t go out of my way to do it again, but it was a learning experience. It was cool and drizzly but we walked around town, took a 15 min. tour of the red onion, fun, and shopped!! I did find with all 3 ports the emphasis is on shopping and everything is very expensive with some of the same shops in each port.

-Juneau - I did the ziplining with Alaska canopy – absolutely fantastic!!!!! Went to mendenhall glacier and toured around town a little. Raining most of the day. More eagles. No shopping today. Only in port til 3:30pm. our 2nd formal night

-Ketchikan – no rain – partly sunny. did a city tour including saxman village – very good, knowledgeable driver. Free ticket to dolly’s brothel-interesting. Creek st- fun, went up the funicular, went to the totem heritage museum. Saw more eagles including huge nest. Had salmon lunch in town.

The tours I took in Skagway and Juneau I booked through the cruise for convenience. I had also booked several other tours in case my first week had cancellations on my glacier flight and kenai cruise. What is nice is that you can book cruise tours and cancel them once you are onboard with no fees, that was very nice. My cousin even changed one of her tours the morning of with no extra fee.

The only time the cruise got rocky was in the Gulf of Alaska and then after Ketchikan before the inside passage. I took a bonine,as a precaution, those 2 days and had no problem. The inside passage was beautiful.

-Vancouver - pulled into Vancouver about 7:30am – was a “self-walk-off” so I was in the first group off. was a great experience, would do it again

[RCCLismyfav]

:) Nice review, thank you