Alaska Cruise & Land Vacation
Published Thursday, August 22nd 2013 - Updated Sunday, September 1st 2013The countdown begins....
4 Days until we depart!!!
3 Days and counting!!!
1 Day!!!
Day 1 – August 26, 2013
Another beautiful morning in Seattle. Our trip started this morning with a quick 15
minute right to the train station near our home. Thank you to our wonderful friend, Freddie ,
for seeing us off. Freddie even stayed
to wave good –bye to us as our train departed!!!
The train left right on time… 8:07 am.
The train ride was very smooth. We have taken the Cascades to and from
Vancouver in the past and it is always a beautiful, scenic ride. We enjoyed a little breakfast on the train
and before we knew it , we were arriving into Vancouver. It took a little while to get through customs
when we disembarked the train, but pretty soon we were in a taxi headed to
Canada Place Pier. Canada Place Pier is
a very well organized cruise terminal.
There were two ships leaving from Vancouver today.. our
ship, The Norwegian Sun as well as the Disney Wonder. We could not get a very good look a the Disney
Wonder while docked, but after we departed Vancouver, the Wonder eventually
caught up with us ( and passed us). She
looks like a beautiful ship.
Once we got on board our ship, The Norwegian Sun, we quickly
made the rounds to check our cabin, the ship, the bars, the different
restaurants. We even made a reservation
at the Teppanyaki Restaurant, but found out the lobster was on the dinner menu
in the main restaurant, so we cancelled and rebooked for Tuesday night.
There are two main dining rooms that are included in the
cruise, The Four Seasons and the Seven Seas.
There are also three buffet restaurants, a Tapas restaurant available
throughout the day and the Poolside BBQ for lunch.
The alternative restaurants, that are completely optional
and have a cover charge are East Meets West Steakhouse, Ginza Sushi Bar, Il
Adagio (Italian), Le Bistro (French), Moderno (Brazillian) and the Teppanyaki
Restaurant.
We checked out our
Balcony Cabin. We are on Deck 8,
midship balcony. The cabin is a very comfortable
173 square feet. There is a lot of
counter space, closet space, drawers and storage for the luggage we have with
us. The balcony is very nice size
also. There is enjoy room for two chairs
and a table with more to spare. We are
very happy to have ended up with a balcony cabin to go to Alaska.
After dropping our carry ons in the room and checking it
out, we explored the ship. On the first
day, The cruise line normally has tables set up and deals to purchase. They answer questions about the alternative
restaurants and make reservations. We
found a good deal for wine for dinner, so we purchased a package of 6
bottles. Lets see if it lasts for the
whole cruise.
After unpacking and the mandatory lifeboat drill, we had a
little BBQ by the pool and my first Margarita and Bob’s first beer!! Then, we went to our balcony to enjoy the
scenery of leaving Vancouver. We did
this with our complimentary bottle of Champagne from NCL.
Because NCL is freestyle, we could go to dinner whenever we
decided, so we changed for dinner, the headed down to the Piano bar. We found out when you buy one well drink, you
get a 2nd for $3… so it works out to about $5 a drink.. not
bad. So, we had one at the bar and took
the 2nd to dinner!!!
Steak and Lobster for dinner (then I asked Katherine for a 2nd
lobster tail for each of us). The meal
was delicious… the first of many, I am sure!!
After dinner, we explored the ship to see where the
happening bars were, but it was pretty quiet.
I am sure people were tired on the first day from traveling.. we will
see what happens tomorrow!!
We ended up changing into our swim suits and sitting in the
hot tub. Then, it was off to bed.
Stay tuned for day 2!!!!
DAY 2
Today was a day at sea. We spend a very leisure morning lounging.
I love the first day of a cruise to be at sea. You get to relax, check out all of the areas of the ship you have missed.
While I had a little breakfast in the back of this ship this morning, I noticed everyone around rushing tothe railing, so, i put down my bagel with cream cheese and checked out the situation!!! There was a school of Porpoise running along side the ship. They look like miniature Orca whales!! There were hundreds of them jumping and swimming with the ship. It was amazing.
Later in the day, we hung out on deck and the captain came on the PA to let us know he was taking a little detour down this passage way, where they have seen whales in the past. We saw lots f fish jumping as we went by, then, we saw some whales. I am not sure what kind of whales they were. You could not see much of them, just the backs of them as they rounded out of the water!! What a great, beautiful day as we came up the coast of Canada.
We were invited to a wine and cheese party with the captain and officers of the ship. We decided to stop by and say hi, before our dinner at the Teppanyaki Restaurant!! We had a few drinks waiting, but had to go.. as we were leaving, the captain showed up, so we were able to chat with him for a few minutes. Very nice man!!
Dinner was so much fun. The chefs put on quite a show. We got to know the other 7 people at the table and that is always fun for us. At one point, they go around the table and flick cooked egg from the spatula into each persons mouth!!! LOL. It only took me two times to get it!!
Dinner was wonderful and the sunset was beautiful!!
The ship was much more lively tonight in the bars.. It was 70's funkaliious night at the disco!!!
Tomorrow is Ketchikan!!! Stay tuned!!
Day 3
We arrived I Ketchikan this morning and it was a beautiful morning. The scenery is breathtaking. When you disembark the ship, as in most ports, there are many vendors selling different tours. We decided on a two hour totem pole, wildlife tour. We saw lots of salmon, a few bald eagles and our first bear... A black bear looking for a feast of salmon.
After the tour, we had a great lunch in town. Fresh Dungenous crab for me and halibut and chips for Bob. We checked out the town, then headed back to the ship. Lounged for a couple of hours before heading out for a drink at the champagne bar.
We decided to have dinner at 6:30 pm.... Rib eye for me and broiled salmon for Bob... Both were good.
planned to goto show, but the balcony and scenery were so good that we stayed in room. Early night tonight. Juneau tomorrow.. 10 am.
The weather has been perfect so far. 65 - 75 degrees every day. The first day rained a bit, but after that it has been sunny and wonderful.
Day 4 – Juneau
The scheduled time to arrive in Juneau
today was 10:00 am, but I woke up early… 5:45 am!! I was happy to be up and watch the
scenery. I went to pick up breakfast at
the buffet and bring it back to our balcony.
We sat, drank coffee and ate our breakfast on this glorious morning!!!
Sun shining and another beautiful day.
I decided to go to yoga at 8 am… it felt so
good to stretch in class. The gym and
yoga room has windows, so I stretched as we got closer and closer to
Juneau. The only way to get to Juneau is
by air or sea. There are no roads that
lead to Alaska’s capital city.
We had a quick hot breakfast, then,
disembarked and took the shuttle into Juneau.
Sydney was our driver and gave us information and told us a few
jokes. AND… they were actually
funny!!
There is a big tram ride that brings you to
the top of the mountain from downtown Juneau, but we opted to not do the
tram!! We looked around and ended up
taking one of the shuttles to Mendenhall Glacier. You arrive at the park area, there are some
trails. It is a 2 mile trail from the
interpretive center to the waterfall, which is the closest you can get to the glacier. The waterfalls were beautiful. T
We had a great view of a bald eagle at the
entrance of the park. Many many salmon
swimming in the stream and apparently a bear…… we missed the bear,
unfortunately.
We arrive back in Juneau and stopped for a
beer, salmon chowder and Alaskan Cod and chips.. it was very good.
We got back on the ship in time to get
ready for dinner!!! We went to our room
early .. tomorrow will be an early morning in Skagway!!! We have never been up so early on a cruise,
so many days in row as this cruise!! We don’t
want to miss anything!!
Skagway tomorrow!!!
Day 5 – Skagway
Up early again today…. We knew we would be
able to get off the ship at 7 am, so we were up by 6 to eat a little breakfast,
then head into town. We wanted to go on
the White Pass Railroad at 8:15 am, so we hurried into town (it takes 5 minutes
to get from the ship to town). When we
arrived, we found out that the 8:15 am was available, but there was an old
Steam locomotive leaving at 12:45 pm.
Bob was all about that option, so we had a few hours to kill. We checked out the town and took in a few
presentations at the interpretive center.
Skagway was one of two port cities enroute to the Dawson in the Yukon Territory
during the Yukon Gold Rush. It was all
very interesting!!!
We head up on the train at 12:45 pm and
luckily we were the car we were supposed to be in was overflowing, so we were
put in the next car!!! That is where the
champagne starting flowing when we arrived at the turnaround point!!! The couple from Australia that we were
chatting with were in the first train, so when we got back, we told them about
our good fortune.. so, we told them we would buy them a drink at the Red Onion
Saloon.
The train ride was awesome. We climbed up into the mountains and the
scenery was breathtaking. This is
totally worth the cost of the train.
The train goes just past the border into Frasier, then turns
around. On the way back, there was a bear
sighting. Unfortunately, we did not see
the bear.. we were too busy drinking champagne and chatting with fun people around
us!!
We had a fun time drinking at the Red Onion…
a former brothel in Skagway. Most pleces
in the cities we have been in seem to be a former brothel!!!
Got back to the ship at about 6:00 pm and
got ready for dinner!! We got so tired
after dinner, we headed back to the room.
It will be another early morning on Saturday.. we are supposed to be in
Glacier Bay National Park at 7 am.
Cant wait to see more of the glaciers!!!
Every day, we chat with people and they all say they cannot believe the weather!! Every day is glorious... Sunny and warm!! Alaska is amazing!!
Day 6 – Glacier Bay National Park
According to the Freestyle Daily, we would
be viewing Glacier Bay from 7 am – 10 am.
So, today, we tried to get up at 5:30 am, but could not get up until
6:00 am. I picked up some breakfast
items again for the deck, we quick ate, then I ran up to the observation lounge
where the Glacier National Park Rangers were going to be speaking. I arrive for the last 2 minutes of
information!! Apparently, we would not
arrive at major glaciers until about 9:30 am.
We hung out, watching and enjoying the scenery. There are glaciers everywhere on the mountain
sides. We arrived to see Margerie
Glacier, which is pretty spectacular. We
were up front until we actually got close enough, then went to our deck for hot
tea and glacier viewing.
The ship spends about ½ hour view from
starboard side and ½ hour viewing from port side, so as we were turning to view
from our side of the ship, a big chunk of the glacier fell into the water!!! It
is an awesome sight… to see it and hear it crashing into the water.
When we left Margerie Glacier we were
heading to Lamplugh Glacier. We cruised
into John Hopkins Inlet and turned around to view Lamplugh from our side of the
ship. According to the rangers, it is
not very common to be able to see Johns Hopkins Glacier, but we were fortunate
to be able to see it today!!!
Lamplaugh we beautiful also, but not as
immense as Margerie!!!
After viewing Lamplaugh, we went for some
sushi appetizer, then onto the Italian lunch buffet! We decided to sit in the sports bar to
eat. As we sat there, people starting
pointing out the window….. we were passing a couple of Orca whales!! We could see the dorsal fin coming in and out
of the water!! We are seeing so much
wild life on this trip!!! Amazing!!!
After lunch, we went to the show room,
where one of the rangers was giving a presentation. She shared her experiences and passion for
this beautiful National Park. The rangers,
being on board, while going through National Park, made this a wonderful day!! Her love and passion for the peace and
serenity of this place was inspirational!!!
Pretty soon, it was dinner time
again!!! Dinner was delicious
tonight. Blue Crab Cake, Tortilla soup,
salad, steak and shrimp and sorbet for dessert was the best meal so far in the
dining room. We decided to try the
Italian Restaurant tomorrow.. the last night of the cruise.
Tomorrow, more glaciers… Hubbard is the
largest tide water glacier in North America.
We are supposed to be there at 8 am, so we will be up and ready for
another day of viewing!!!
Day 7 – Hubbard Glacier
The phone rang to remind us of our room service arriving at
7 am this morning!! We quickly got up
and got ready for the first meal of the day to arrive!! We quickly ate and I ran up to the
observation lounge again to see what was happening. I arrived at about 7:30 am, and you could see the glacier in the
distance.. Hubbard Glacier. We got closer and closer and closer.
We were both amazing at how close we were able to get at the
glaciers yesterday and today!! It is
true that there is a lot more calving at the Hubbard Glacier.. at least today
there was. We were able to capture many
of the calvings on video. I could stay
at this glacier and listen to the cracking all day!!
This ship drifted up and down the glacier, so we could view from both sides of the
ship. Our side was first, then as the
ship turned, we ran to other side of the ship and watched from the promenade
deck. This a much better viewing
location than the upper observation floors.
The Glacier is 7 miles across and 87 miles long… it extends to the Yukon
territory.
Very few cruises go to both Glacier Bay and Hubbard
Glacier. Both are amazing for different
reasons. In Glacier Bay, you see so
many different glacier, the scenery getting
to the park and out of the park is so beautiful. Hubbard Glacier is immense and the sounds and
the calvings are mesmerizing.
We heading out of the area of Hubbard Glacier after a couple
of hours. We saw a couple of sea lions laying
on the rocks. The ice that has fallen
into the water and heads out to sea is so beautiful. Some look black and dirty, but some have so
many beautiful colors.. blue and green.
We are out in open water now.. we are starting to think
about packing and getting ready to disembark tomorrow. Normally, we don’t like to think about this,
but we know we are transferring up to Anchorage tomorrow, where we will be
meeting our best girlfriend… Christina.
We will start the land portion of our vacation. We are heading even further north.. to Denali
National Park, Healy, then finally, to Fairbanks, Alaska. We are not done with Alaska yet!!!
Next report will be from land.. tomorrow we arrive in
Whittier and head to Anchorage!!
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