This month's calendar Archives
September 10, 2010
IT'S FRIDAY, MY FAVORITE DAY!!
I am writing this journal daily while we're on our cruise so I won't forget anything. It is also NOT Friday as I wanted to include my entire journey in one week, so "Happy Sunday"!
Friday, September 3rd.
Well, we are on our way, its North to Alaska! It's Dave's birthday, but we didn't celebrate much because we needed to hit the road. After some last minute packing (you can guess whose suitcase weighs the most because I kept putting things in the suitcase "just in case"), we headed for Belfair, Washington to spend the night with our friend Sherry DeBoer on Hood Canal. She put us up in her new park model trailer which she named the "Nut House" and we enjoyed all the accommodations of home. The Nut House is across the street from her place, so it was like having our own place for the night. We had a fun evening with Sherry before retiring to our "suite".
Saturday, September 4th.
We ate a late breakfast and headed for Bremerton to catch the noon ferry for Seattle where another friend was meeting us. Jenni met us at the ferry, went with us to Pier 91 to meet up with the cruise ship and dropped us off there. She's keeping our car for us during the week so we didn't have to leave it at the pier. After checking through numerous lines, security checks, etc, we finally boarded the ship around 2:30.
Our cabin is located on the eighth deck (Emerald deck) and they had put "Happy Anniversary" balloons on the door for us when we arrived. I was surprised how spacious the cabin is and in spite of the fact that it's a long way from the suites above us, we even have a view of the ocean! There was also a tray of chocolate covered strawberries awaiting us. Our room steward, Songkran Phromtan - who is from Thailand and whose English was a little sketchy - met us at the room and welcomed us. We later found out that Songkran was around a lot. It seems like every time we left the cabin, he came in and tidied up. Use a towel or washcloth? No problem - Songkran will have it replaced as soon as you leave!
Our ship departed around 4:00 p.m and we were truly on our way westbound in the Juan De Fuca Strait. We spent most of the afternoon wandering around the decks like everyone else trying to "get acquainted" with everything. This ship is huge! There are 17 levels, with most of the action taking place on the top decks. We decided to look for our designated dining room ahead of time because we had to go to the 7th deck and then get off and catch a different elevator for the 5th deck. This dining room is really remote from the rest of the ship; there was no direct access from deck five. Our dining experience was great. We got acquainted with couple from Utah with whom we shared the table. The food so far is very good and I am trying to not indulge too much but if you go hungry while on this cruise, it is your own fault!
Sunday, September 5th.
Our first night at sea we were gently rocked to sleep. Once we hit the ocean outside the Straits of Juan de Fuca, the seas were a little rougher. In fact, quite a bit rougher as you can see from this photo of one of the swimming pools! We didn't take the inside passage like we thought we would, but instead we went on the west side of Vancouver Island. Since our cabin is on the port side of the ship, all we're seeing on the way north is the Pacific Ocean. We were surprised that the ship went on the outside of the island until we saw that the casino was open and realized they must have intentionally gone into international waters so they could open the casino. We got up early and had room service bring us coffee and a Danish before we ventured out to find a place to eat. We shared our breakfast table with couple from Arizona. We did a little shopping (Dave got a tee-shirt) and I gambled and lost $10 on the one-armed bandit. It is a very relaxing day and there are a lot of activities going on aboard, but we haven't taken part in too many of them. Try as we might, we're having a hard time getting too excited about things like "Adult Mixed-Doubles Ping Pong", "Floral Arrangements: Fruit and Vegetable Carvings" and the "Champagne Art Auction". Believe it or not, one of the 'activities" is called, "Elevator Roulette - People will Bet on Anything. Meet at the Midship Elevators, Deck 7, Midship." We didn't go, but I'm guessing they have organized bets on which elevator arrives first! Needless to say, this has been a very relaxing day - mostly napping and reading in the cabin. We will reach our first destination Monday at noon. We'll tour Juneau and we plan on taking a bus trip to Mendenhall Glacier.
Monday, September 6th
We woke up to an announcement this morning that there were whales alongside. Sure enough, we looked out the window to see a pod of Humpback Whales breeching and blowing just a couple of hundred yards off. What a great way to wake up! We stood there and watched them while the camera was about two feet away from us. It wasn't until after they were gone that we realized we should have taken pictures!
We watched them dock the ship in Juneau around 11:00 a.m. There is a lot of preparation that they must go through before they let anyone leave the boat. After tying the ship to the dock, they maneuvered the gangplanks around and then it was like a herd being let out of the gate, EVERYONE wanted off at once!
We had signed up for an excursion to the Mendenhall Glacier and caught our tour bus on schedule. It was a beautiful sunny day and the driver of our bus kept telling us how lucky we were to hit one of the 25 days in which it doesn't rain. We saw a few Eagles on our 25-minute ride up to the Glacier that was in full view because of our clear and sunny weather. We spent about two hours learning all about the Glacier and took a small hike down to the viewing area.
On our way back from our tour, the bus driver let us off downtown so we could hit all of the local tourist traps. We mostly window shopped but because we were a little hungry, we stopped at the famous Red Dog Saloon for a beer, coke and a bowl of delicious smoked salmon chowder. The place was rocking at 2:00 in the afternoon! One of their specialties is a drink called 'duck fart' and I haven't a clue what it tastes like or how it is made. I wasn't brave enough to try it! After that experience, we headed back to our ship for a little relaxation.
Tuesday, September 7th
It was another beautiful day today with blue skies and sunshine. We took off on our first adventure by walking into downtown Skagway on its board sidewalks. The city was founded after the discovery of gold on the Yukon River in the Klondike. There were more saloons and brothels in Skagway after the gold rush began. One of the other things that Skagway is famous for is the White Pass Railroad which winds it's way to the top of the 2,865 foot White Pass Summit and then on into Canada and the Yukon Territory. Of course, we had to take the train tour.
The train tour lasted about 3-1/2 hours and we saw some spectacular views of the area going through two tunnels and a bridge that was over 1,000 feet above the canyon and the train was on a very steep ledge most of the time. That was a little scary to me as I get vertigo and I didn't dare look down so I made Dave sit on the window-side of the train. It was quite an experience and I am glad that we got a chance to see some of the magnificent mountains and glaciers surrounding this area.
Tomorrow we will sail into Glacier Bay.
Wednesday, September 8th
I excitedly woke up early this morning as we arrived in Glacier Bay around 6:30. It was another perfect day with only some clouds in the sky. That was okay because when the sky is overcast, the glaciers show off their blue ice a lot better. After we picked up the pilot and our Park Ranger at Bartlett Cove, we proceeded through Glacier Bay to our first sighting, which was the most famous Margerie Glacier. This glacier is situated the furthest North on the bay. We went out on the deck where it was very chilly to take pictures and to get close and personal as the glacier calved off a few ice burgs. What a sound is made when the ice cracks free from the glacier. While we were at this particular glacier, we spotted a brown bear near the shore and an Eagle soaring above. The ship positioned itself for quite a while on this glacier before we sailed by several other glaciers and high mountains before we saw the highlight of our tour, the Johns Hopkins Glacier. The ranger told us about the history of the glaciers and the natives that lived here. Since it was so cold outside on the deck, we decided to spend the rest of our Glacier Bay tour inside at the Skywalkers nightclub that is located high up over the stern of the ship. We sat there for quite awhile soaking in the majestic views of this incredible place while we sipped a Skagway sour apple drink. It was great!
On the way out of Glacier Bay we saw a pod of Humpback whales, dolphins, seals and sea otters. What a great send off.
Thursday, September 9th
We arrived early this morning in Ketchikan, but since we knew we weren't going to go far in town, we took time to eat. After breakfast we took the last opportunity to go ashore for some sightseeing and last minute souvenirs. Unlike our other ports of call, there was no long walk to get into town. In Juneau and Skagway, it seemed like our ship drew the short straw when it came time to get mooring assignments. We were always the last ship out and it was a long walk into town. This time, we were right there. It was cloudy and there were light sprinkles of rain but we are not complaining as for most of our trip, the weather has been fantastic. The first thing you noticed about Ketchikan was that there are totem poles everywhere. They say that there are more totem poles in Ketchikan than in any other area of Alaska. I believe it - they're everywhere! One of the other things you notice about the town is the faint odor (and sometimes not-so-faint-odor) of - dead fish! They're everywhere too! I guess it's spawning season and after the salmon make their way upstream, they die. There aren't enough bears and other critters in town to clean them up, so they just lie there and rot. No one is much concerned about it...after all it is a fishing town but as you walk near the creek you can see dead salmon all along the banks. I decided that of all the towns that we visited, Juneau, Skagway and Ketchikan, I liked this town the best. To be fair though, we did get away from the tourist areas just a little and saw a little more of the town. Still though, even the tourist areas of town were a little nicer and more picturesque. The photo of the creek shows the back of the Creek Street shops. It was a very interesting place to see.
We weren't in Ketchikan very long and around noon we left for Victoria. We did spend a couple of hours there, but as I said, it was an easy walk back to the ship and we were there in plenty of time before we sailed. After a light lunch at the buffet deck, we spent most of the afternoon watching the shoreline go by and taking long naps. We did discover that we could spend a lot more time sleeping while at sea. At least Dave did. Mr. "I-only-need-six-hours-of-sleep-a-day" slept half the cruise! I don't know if it was the sea air (probably not - we have that all the time at home) or just the relaxing atmosphere or what, but we slept a lot more than usual. What a life!!
We ate dinner in the Caneletto dining room where we are assigned a table. It was formal night and most of the passengers wore dresses and business suits. I have tasted quite a few different dishes on this trip (things that I wouldn't fix at home) like caviar, cold oatmeal and Baked Alaska and things that I really liked like prime rib, chicken breast and a turkey dinner. It is amazing how the chef can come up with all of these meals to feed thousands of people each day on this cruise and everything is made from scratch, including the ice cream. I have tried really hard to watch what I eat, but I know when I hit the scales after I get home that a few pounds will have been gained. The whole shipboard environment is geared toward eating. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are all sit-down affairs where they keep piling on the food. And if for some reason you decide not to eat in a dining room, there is buffet food available somewhere on board 24 hours a day! The diet begins next week!
Friday, September 10th
We celebrated our 45th wedding anniversary a day early since this would be our last dinner onboard. We had mentioned to our waiter about the special occasion and after our meal, the staff sang "Happy Anniversary" (to the tune of "Happy Birthday" - not really imaginative, but it was fun) and presented us with a chocolate cake and one candle. The cake was pretty small, but we still shared it with the other couple at our table. We each got a couple of bites, but that was plenty because it was so rich. After dinner, we went back to the cabin, got the suitcases out and worked at getting everything packed. Fortunately, we didn't buy too much on the trip, so we still had room to get the suitcases shut. Since our luggage had to be out in the passageway for collection that evening, we had a carry-on bag for the things we would need before we left in the morning. That helped too, as that was all stuff that didn't need to go in the suitcases. It is amazing the system the ship's crew has for getting everyone and their luggage off ship. Everything is color coded, and while the first people off on Saturday left at 7:00 in the morning, we didn't leave ship until nearly 10.
During the night the Golden Princess continued southbound, passing through the Hecate Strait and into Queen Charlotte Sound before we entered the Pacific Ocean paralleling the west coast of Vancouver Island. We were heading for our destination of Victoria, B.C. where we arrived at 7:00 p.m. This stop was a required "foreign port". Since we departed from Seattle the ship is required to stop in one foreign port before arriving back in Seattle. We were only going to be in Victoria for 5 hours and it was almost dark when we got off the ship. Dave and I have been to Victoria before so we decided to spend our short time with a friend of ours who lives here. We made our way to her place and had a nice visit with Audrey and then walked back to the ship. It was only about 20 minutes each way and it was nice to be able to get out and stretch our legs. The ship left port at midnight and we slowly made our way through the Puget Sound and back to Seattle.
Saturday, September 11th When we woke up, we were back in Seattle and we ate our last meal (breakfast) before our assigned group gathered in the Princess Theater for instructions on leaving the ship. We went through customs and met up with Jenni, who had taken care of our car while we were on the cruise. We drove her back to her place and then headed for home. It was a wonderful trip and a nice anniversary celebration and we're glad we did it. Even Dave grudgingly admits that it was fun! Now it is back to reality; no more having someone place my napkin on my lap, or pouring my coffee and even turning down my bed at night with a chocolate mint on the pillow. Now, it's back to laundry, cooking and cleaning for me! Thanks for your patience while we were vacationing instead of posting this on Friday as I usually do. I'll be back on schedule next Friday, although there probably won't be much to talk about as this week is full of meetings, cleaning, laundry and getting ready for my class reunion next weekend.
