Alaskan Cruise - Day 3

Tuesday, May 30th-- Ketchikan, Alaska

We left home Friday and the kids early Saturday morning and are finally in Alaska! The scenery has been beautiful so far, we love having a balcony, but are ready to get on shore and do some exploring! Ketchikan was either tied or very close runner-up for my favorite day/place on our itinerary. We had a great day and apparently one of the very few sunny days they experience all year!

One of the first things we did after getting on dry land was call the kids. It was the first time we had reception since leaving Seattle and wanted to see how things were going. All was well, as anticipated, and the kids barely spoke to us. But Rose filled us in on all the happenings.

We walked around the town, it was a nice little place but we were there so early that hardly anything was open (we docked at 6:30am- took a few mins to get off the boat, of course, but still). Strolled through the famous Creek Street (red light district from the gold rush days), checked out the salmon ladder then headed to the 8:30 Lumberjack Show. Initially I wanted to take a hike I read about online when we first got there, but it was gonna be a tight squeeze.

The Lumberjack show was pretty neat. It was pricey, but everything seems to be. Still, probably my only chance to see one, at least in person, and Daniel thought it would be cool as well. So the show is a competition between 4 lumberjacks- 2 on the Canadian team and 2 on the American team. I think these 4 were all Americans, just the way the show works. You don't get to pick a side- unless you knew before coming in where to sit.

We were on the Canadian side of the stands aaaand we lost. BUT I got an autographed postcard for being the most excited fan after one of the competitions! Daniel swears he's the one that got it for me, but I was jumping up and down and screaming, so we'll agree to disagree on that. They threw in some humor too, so it was a fun way to spend an hour. The host was from TN so we talked to him for a few mins after the show.

After this, it was about time to head toward the rain gauge for our flightseeing tour over the Misty Fjord National Monument! We were in the air for a full two hours, plus about a 15-20 minute stop in the water to get out on land, but ours turned out to be floating on the water b/c we spotted bears! This was as fantastic as it sounds. Just beautiful.

bear

It was so hard narrowing down the pics, did the best I could. Every inch, every moment was picturesque. Of the 5 passengers, Daniel and I were the only ones to get out on the floats! They sure missed out. Standing out there, practically floating on the water (I mean, we were floating, but you know what I mean), it was majestic. Quiet, but in a tranquil way. Just amazing. Wonderful experience, so glad we did this tour.

When our exciting flightseeing adventure ended, it was time for lunch! We walked to a place recommended by locals and I got some delicious clam chowder and we split crab legs. After this we had a little time before heading back to the ship so we went to a museum that cost a few dollars, saw a video and learned a little about the indigenous people of Alaska. Very fun and exciting day, wish we could've stayed longer!

Back on board (by 2:30pm), we relaxed a little bit before heading to dinner then the evening production show, I got the Music. It was so good! I'm really enjoying the shows/entertainment on this ship. Then we went to the evening trivia- movie poster challenge where Daniel & I did pretty good, but didn't win. Then we retired for the evening watching movies in our stateroom, reading and relaxing. Just a great day.

Alaskan Cruise - Day 2

Monday, May 29th-- At Sea

Our first day at sea so I pretty much just have a few pics of the ocean. It was also our first formal night. After sleeping in, I went to bible study at 9am. I was so impressed they offered this then found out one of the passengers requested it. Still neat, though, just thought Princess put it together. It was a nice way to start the day and meet with fellow believers. Daniel slept too late then went to the restroom so he missed it.

 

I grabbed a quick breakfast on my way back to the room before convincing Daniel to join me for 10:45 morning trivia. After a short break, we headed to the theater for a Loggerhead presentation by a real life lumberjack. It was basically a plug for the Great Alaskan Lumberjack show at our first port in Ketchikan, but we wanted to see the show anyway, so it was fine. We had lunch then spent the rest of the afternoon in our room for the most part. We were both caught up in our books and were trying find a balance between me wanting to go go go do everything and Daniel wanting to relax. I can only relax so long and he can only go so long.

After reading an hour or so, I started getting ready for formal night. I have no picture evidence of this because we foolishly took no pictures! Ahhhh I'm so frustrated about that. We took a couple of the formal portraits but didn't end up buying any. After our formal evening, we checked in on the Preds score (Nashville Predators were in Stanley Cup Finals), we lost. :(  We dressed more comfortably then headed to the big production show: Magic to Do. I thought it was a little weird but also very entertaining- the singing and dancing was very good.

We headed back to the room for the night, read a little more and discovered that most the movies they're playing on the deck under the stars were available in our warm/non-windy stateroom. Very nice. Another great day. Can't wait for Ketchikan tomorrow!

Alaskan Cruise - Day 1

Sunday, May 28th

We woke up to another pretty, sunny Seattle day! We already planned to eat breakfast at the market so we started our comfortable (no humidity) walk to the waterfront again. I read about some must try places online but apparently everyone else did as well because several places had lines around the block and not just the original Starbucks. Which we had no intentions visiting.

So we walked around and ended up at Three Girls Bakery and it turns out they're the oldest bakery in the market! Stall No. 1 in fact! I thought that was really cool and the breakfast croissant was delicious!! I got bacon, egg & cheese, Daniel ham & swiss. Plus we got some bakery items to go- a raspberry danish, pecan bar and scone- all delicious but the danish was our fave. Everything we ate at the market was really very good.

After breakfast we walked around some more and found the fish market famous for throwing fish. I missed a couple fish being thrown so I asked the guy how to be better prepared. He said when they start yelling. So I got my camera ready and he threw a fish to another guy then caught it right in front of my camera! I don't know if anyone bought this fish, it may have just been for show, but was so cool!!

We stayed at the market until late morning then walked back to the hotel to checkout, called the kids and headed to the pier to board the ship!!

We were able to go to our room right away and loved it! Especially the balcony which we've never had before. We even got a welcome glass of champagne. Daniel was very excited about our room.

 I liked the Princess Patter they sent out everyday, very informative

And we're off! After dinner we went to the Lido deck for movies under the stars but Daniel was too cold to finish the movie. In his defense, it got cold quick. That wind on the Lido deck was no joke. Later that night we went to the welcome aboard showtime with a short dancing routine then a comedian. What a great day!