So as I'm getting ready to go on my highly anticipated, get me out of the miserable winter weather, cruise that I booked months ago, I wanted to make sure I packed my camera and I realized I never shared about the cruise I took to Alaska in September.
Alaska certainly wouldn't have been by first pick for a vacation, but my newly married sister and her husband picked a cruise through Alaska to celebrate their marriage and invited our family along, and so I gladly went. I do love to travel, so I'd travel almost anywhere, and I really didn't hear or read one bad review about it so I had no reason not to go. In a way this is where I think the problem lied for me. I would tell people about my upcoming trip and they would tell me about how amazing they heard/ or experienced an Alaska cruise to be. I would take a look at amazing pictures on the internet, and my expectations were huge. I thought we would be sailing through waters with jumping whales and dolphins and looking out at icebergs filled with families of seals and otters. I was expecting polar bears, the northern lights, and stunning scenery. Sure, I'm setting the trip up to be a disappointment, but I will tell you right now, it wasn't. It did teach me to never do too much research into a trip again. Don't look around at all the perfectly edited pictures. Let me correct myself. Do research about what to do, but don't look at too many pictures if you can help it. I think it's always more enjoyable to see things for the first time when your seeing it in real life without any preconceived notions.
Anyways, let me tell me about the trip:
We boarded a plane from Buffalo, NY, and hours later this is what I see:
Las Vegas!!! Too bad it was only a quick stopover. I was certainly tempted to escape the airport and hop in a cab to Naked Fish's for sushi. Seriously, I don't even really like sushi, but every trip to Vegas I end up eating there night after night. It was the first place I tried sushi and no where (except Tao) compares. Especially in Ottawa.
Anyway, on we go, to what actually ended up being my favourite stop on our trip. Seattle. We got in at about 9pm to stay overnight before we boarded the cruise ship the next day. We stayed at the W Seattle right down town and got up early in the morning to stroll around the city and visit Pike's Place Market and the Seattle Aquarium.
I was very impressed and fell in love with the market. I have never seen such beautiful flowers in my life. They had gorgeous bouquets with the most vivid colours. You could even get a lovely small bouquet for $5. $5 here in Ottawa, will pretty much get you 1 lily. There was tons of fresh produce, fresh fish, baked goods, jewellery, crafts, and more. I was just sad we had to leave so quickly.
I didn't have time to go in, but got to walk by the original Starbucks right in Pikes Place market. People were lined up outside to get in.
After a beautiful morning walking around Seattle, it was time to board our ship and set sail for Alaska.
We travelled on the Norwegian Pearl. (As seen here docked in Seattle).
I have to say, overall, I was extremely impressed with this cruise line, especially since it is on the lower end of the price ranges for cruises. If I had to rate some of the important stuff on the cruise ship: 1 being terrible, 10 being amazing:
Food: 8.5/10
Entertainment: 6.5/10
Rooms: 7.5/10
Cleanliness: 9/10
Overall: 8.5/10
I would totally recommended the cruise line itself, especially if your planning a trip on a tight budget!
Here is a map of our route:
So from Seattle, we went up to Ketchikan, Juneau, and Skagway. Due to bad weather, we had to take a different route and sadly ended up missing out on our last stop, Victoria, B.C. Unfortunatley we ended up going during the final week of the cruise season, and ran bad in the weather department. As you will see from the pictures below, it was often very foggy, wet, rainy, snowy, and cold. Yes, it is Alaska, but I assure you they do have 'summers'! Or so I hear.
We were at sea for a couple days which we spent our time: eating, getting sea sick, playing some poker, eating, getting sea sick while in a poker tournament, eating, reading, keeping warm in our rooms, drinking, poker, eating, reading, eating, some exercising, eating.... you get the jist...
Our first stop- Juneau- Alaska's capital city.
There wasn't much too see. I couldn't believe all the jewellery stores at every port. I thought I was in for a scenic wildlife adventure, but apparently I was supposed to be jewellery shopping! I tried to find something nice to get as a souvenir, but never did. If the weather had been better, I think the best way to spend your time at ports is to research ahead of time the best thing to do at each port. When I got home, I found out apparently they have a good whale watching tour in Juneau.
We were on the hunt for some good Alaska crab legs. We found them at the Twisted Fish Co. It was a cute little spot. They had a bunch of adorable looking crab shacks, but it was freezing out and we needed some shelter.
My favourite thing we ordered were the coconut crusted salmon strips with a berry chutney.
While we were in Juneau, we decided to do a dog sledding tour. It was pretty neat. We got to do a little dog sledding trail, and we learned a lot about the history of dog sledding. My favorite part was getting to pet the dogs and we got to see a litter of little puppies.
These two dogs especially liked me. (OK probably just my back scratches). It was cold and wet and I got very dirty petting them. No one else would =/.
Adam made a friend, too.
Puppies!
The pack
Then it was back on the ship, and to our next stop- Skagway. We had heard the best thing to do was the White Pass railway ride so that's what we did.
Our final port was Ketchian, and although we wanted to do a tour, the weather wasn't cooperating so we ended up walking around the town, looking through all the shops.
One of the highlights of the cruises through Alaska is sailing through Glacier Bay.
Finally saw a seal or sea lion family!
We did a lot of eating, and relaxing and it was a great trip, despite the weather. The ship had great food with many restaurants with a ton variety including: Mexican, Italian, French, and Teppanyaki.
In a few days, I'll be off on another cruise, filled with sun and sand. I will try my best to take lots of pictures this time and blog about it too.
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