Alaskan Cruise

Ethan and I just got back from the most wonderful vacation...  a 7-day Alaskan cruise!  I have never been on a cruise before, so it was such a new and exciting thing for me.  For those like me who have never been on a cruise before, here are some things that were surprising/exciting:

1. There is an abundance of food.  Anytime you are hungry, you can go get a meal or grab a snack, a slice of pizza, an ice cream/yogurt, etc. and it's FREE... 

2. Every night, we ate at this restaurant called, "The Trellis."  Again, it is FREE because it's part of the cruise package.  Basically, they have a four-course meal each night (appetizer, soup/salad, entree, and dessert).  You sit at the same table each night and you have the same servers.  The food was always served in such a beautiful manner and it was super yummy.  I appreciated that the portions were nice and small so that I didn't get super stuffed.

3. Each night, they would have some kind of show, usually a music production with singing & dancing.  The production cast was very talented.   

4. There were several different music groups that performed each day in various lounges.  Our favorite group was an acapella group of 4 guys.  They were so much fun to listen to!

5. They really spoil you on the ship.  For example, our room attendant cleaned our room twice a day!  I was amazed at how clean they kept the ship.  Everything was always immaculate. 

So, there you have it.  Here are some pictures of our trip:

Seattle

We arrived in Seattle the day before our cruise.  We enjoyed touring Seattle and trying out some yummy restaurants.

Day 1: Departing from Seattle

It was cool to check into our room.  It was a comfy room.  My favorite part was our veranda (balcony).  It was great to be able to go outside and look at the scenery while we were sailing in the privacy of our own veranda.  Ethan and I bought binoculars in Seattle and enjoyed using them, especially from our balcony.

Our room

The view from our veranda as we were docked in Seattle

We were on our way to Alaska!  So exciting!

Day 2: At Sea
We spent a whole day at sea.  We spent the day relaxing, watching T.V., and exploring the ship.  That night at dinner, it was "formal night."  So, I wore a green dress and Ethan wore his suit.  It was fun to dress up and enjoy a nice meal.  After dinner, we went to a musical production called "iBroadway" where the production cast performed all sorts of broadway songs.  It was my favorite show of all.

Day 3: Ketchikan, Alaska 
When we woke up around 7:00, we surprised to see that we had already docked in Ketchikan, Alaska.  It was a beautiful city.  We saw some bald eagles with our binoculars.  Evidently, there are many bald eagles in Alaska.  They are beautiful creatures!  We explored the town and bought some souvenirs.  We also enjoyed some yummy fish & chips and clam chowder at the peer.  That evening, our ship was supposed to leave at 4:00.  However, there were some electrial problems and they had to fix it before we could sail away.  We didn't sail away until after 9:00.  Because of the delay, our captain said we would not be able to sail through the "Tracy Arm Fjords."  Instead, we would head straight to Juneau.  It was disappointing as the Tracy Arm Fjords is supposed to be a beautiful place.  See this link for pictures:  http://travel.webshots.com/album/415976651skhdal  The cruise line gave everyone a $200 credit which I thought was nice.

This was the view of Ketichikan from our veranda when we woke up at 7:00 a.m.  It was a beautiful town!

Creek Street - a touristy shopping area next to a creek where the salmon swim upstream sometime in July/August to lay their eggs.

       Ketchikan, Alaska

Day 4: Juneau, Alaska

We arrived in Juneau around 12:00 p.m.  We had booked an excursion to the Mendelhall Glacier & a Salmon Bake.  So, we got on a bus at 3:00 which took us to the Mendelhall Glacier.  It was really beautiful.  We only had an hour at the glacier because the bus was scheduled to pick us and to take us to a Salmon Bake.  After going to the visitors center and looking around, we decided we should take a walk to "Nugget Falls" which would give us a closer look at the glacier.  However, our "walk" ending up being a "job/run" at times because we were running low on time.  It was worth it though because it was really cool to get closer to the waterfall and glacier.  When we arrived at the Salmon Bake, they served us fresh steaming clam chowder.  The salmon was cooked over a grill.  It was an all-you-can-eat buffet including cornbread, beans, salad, pasta, dessert, clam chowder, and salmon.  After dinner, we took a short walk to a waterfall.  There were pans available next to the river so people could "pan for gold."  Ethan found 3 pieces that ended up being fools gold.  :)  Back at the ship, we went to "Boogie Wonderland" put on by the production cast.  They performed 70's and 80's music...  It isn't my favorite era of music but I enjoyed the show anyway.  It was a great day!

On our way to Juneau

Our first glimpse of Juneau, Alaska

Ethan, using the binoculars we bought in Seattle

Our first picture at the Mendelhall Glacier

Mendelhall Glacier

This is after we jogged to get a closer look at the Mendelhall Glacier and Nugget Falls - notice that Ethan had to take his heavy jacket off.  We were sweating from our workout.  :)

I thought it was so pretty with the large chunks of ice floating in the water.

The Salmon Bake

After dinner, we topped it off by eating roasted marshmallows for dessert.  Yum!

Ethan panning for gold

The beautiful waterfall

Day 5: Skagway, Alaska

Our cruise ship docked in Skagway, Alaska before we even woke up.  It was a tiny town (population 400!).  There was a light rain that day (more of a mist), but nothing bad.  We were still able to walk around town and stay fairly dry.  We ate a Thai Restaurant that was very overpriced - they definately charged tourist prices.  But, we enjoyed our meal.  We also shared a banana split at an ice cream shop for dessert.  We went back to the cruise ship and took a nice long nap (we took a nap almost everyday, it was wonderful!).  Afterward, we went to this "Magic Show."  Ethan and I ended up getting called up on the stage because he asked if anyone was celebrating their anniversary on the cruise.  He took my wedding ring and made it "disappear" and then "reappear" in the bag that Ethan was holding...  It was a pretty cool illusion.  After dinner, we got to hear our favorite musicians - the Acapella group called SoulD Out - perform.  We ordered a decaf mocha ice blended because were were craving some kind of iced coffee drink.  It was super yummy.   

 

Skagway, Alaska

   

Ethan standing in front of our cruise ship - "The Infinity" (Celebrity Cruises)

 

Our yummy mocha ice blended

Day 6: At Sea (3 year Anniversary)

The whole day was spent at sea.  The waves were a little rough that day, so Ethan and I had to lay down at times.  But, it wasn't so bad that we got sick.  We heard that the week before it was much more rough, so I'm glad we didn't experience that...  In the evening, it was "formal night" again so I wore my green dress and Ethan wore his suit.  We went to a specialty restaurant called "SS United States."  It was super fancy and was a special way to celebrate our 3 year anniversary.  I ordered escargot (snail) as an appetizer (it was actually quite yummy!) and lobster (which I've never had before).  They surprised us with a cake for our anniversary.  After dinner, we went to another musical production called "Celebrate the World."  They performed songs from several different countries.  The part that was funny to me was when they were singing a country song by Shania Twain with their British accents (they were fron England).  After the show we got to hear SoulD Out again (the acapella group).  It was another great day.

Our anniversay dinner at the SS United States Restaurant

The anniversary cake they surprised us with

Day 7: Victoria, British Columbia

We spent another day at sea.  At 11:00, we went to "Star Chef's Cooking Competition."  Basically, Ethan had struck up a conversation with the "foodie" (Wes - he was the man in charge of food/wine related events on the ship) earlier in the week. When Wes and Ethan talked, he could tell that Ethan appreciated food so he asked if Ethan would be willing to be a judge for the Star Chef's Cooking Competition.  Of course, Ethan was more than happy to do it.  They chose two people from the cruise ship (who were not chefs) to volunteer to cook a meal at the competion.  Afterward, they brought up the judges.  It was fun to watch Ethan up on the stage.  Several people turned to me during the show and asked questions like, "Is he a connoiseur?" because they could tell that he was really into it.  Later in the day, we watched "The Proposal" in the movie theater on the ship.  It was a cute movie (I've always loved Sandra Bullock).  We arrived in Victoria, British Columbia at 7:30 p.m.  We walked around the city.  It was a beautiful city.  Our cruise ship left at midnight to head back to Seattle.

Wes introducing the 3 judges

5 was the highest score

David and Alicia were a nice couple we met on the first day of the cruise.  We saw them periodically on the cruise. 

Parliament

The Empress Hotel

These are pictures I took of our cruise ship.  The first one I took before we took a bus to downtown.  The second picture was when we got back from downtown.  It was a huge ship!

So, that sums up our 7 day cruise.  It was such a wonderful vacation for both us.  If I had to tell someone what the highlights of the trip were, I would probably have to say:

- Seeing bald eagles, whales spouting in the ocean, and a porcupine.  Those are animals that I just don't see in California...

- Going to Mendelhall Glacier (it was beautiful)

- Taking naps almost every day

- Climbing into bed at night and watching t.v. until I fell asleep (I know that sounds silly, but since we don't have a t.v. at home, it is always a treat to watch t.v. while we're on vacation)

- Going to the music productions on the cruise ship

- Spending quality time with my hubby!