Alaska Cruise from Seattle, Sep 2011

Kellie and I flew to Seattle and spent two days visiting the city before boarding the Golden Princess for a week long cruise up the southern coast of Alaska. Most of this parts of the state is islands of cool rainforests backed up against glaciers of permanent ice leading back to the interior.

Thu 8th - Seattle

We arrived mid afternoon on Wednesday and settled into our hotel, the Mayflower Park, for an early evening. On Thursday we walked down to see the sights at Pike Place Market and visited the Seattle Aquarium down on the waterfront. For dinner we found a Vietnamese noodle shop and had our first taste of Pho.

Fri 9th - Seattle

On Friday we started with a monorail trip over to the Space Needle. It was too hazy to see past the city. As one elevator guide put it "You can see Mt Rainier about 30 days out of the year. This is not one of those days." For lunch we visited an Indian buffet near Pike Place, and grabbed extra cheese, sausages, and fresh fruit for dinner later back in the room. The next morning we had to wait until late in the morning for our ride to the cruise port, and a seagull came to visit us on our windowsill. He didn't like sourdough bread, but enjoyed the leftover cheese and meat sticks.

Sat 10th - Leaving Seattle

The ride from downtown to the cruise port was pretty quick. We boarded the Golden Princess within an hour of leaving the hotel. We let ourselves get talked into a pair of hot stone massages right after sail-away. The spa people are VERY pushy this time. The massages were nice, but the sales pitch after not-so-much. Kellie was spoiled with her first balcony cabin and we watched the sun go down from out private balcony as we headed out to sea.

Sun 11th - Northbound at Sea

By about 2 in the morning the rough open sea of the Pacific was starting to bother us and we dug out the patches. Good thing too. We had no more troubles after that first night. Kellie did some homework reading while I wandered the ship with my camera. In the afternoon we attended the first lecture by the ship's naturalist, Michael Modzelewski.

Mon 12th - Juneau

Monday we were scheduled to arrive in Juneau around noon. We enjoyed the sunrise and watched the coast go by from our balcony. We passed a Holland ship that took the side trip into Tracy Arm Fjord while we kept on to town. In Juneau, we opted for a tour to the Glacier Gardens Rainforest - a private garden on the mountainside just north of downtown Juneau. They took us on a golf-cart tour up the hillside to a place where we could look over the valley and see a passing eagle. Back in town we did a little shopping but didn't opt to pay the ridiculous rate to ride the tram up Mt Roberts. There was a constant exchange of seaplanes in the harbor, something we'd learn to expect in Alaska. Juneau is surrounded by water and/or glaciers, and is only reachable by boat or plane.

Tue 13th - Skagway

Tuesday morning we arrived early and sailed up the fjord to Skagway. Kellie was not feeling well and decided she needed to stay back at the ship. I took our planned shore excursion: a short ferry ride back down the fjord to Haines, followed by a bus ride up the Chilkat river to visit Steve Kroschel's Wildlife Center. Steve and Mario gave a great two or so hour tour through his property and showed off and told us all about the animals that they have rescued over the years. I saw waterfalls everywhere along the ferry trip and quite a few wild eagles and one wild pair of grizzlies on the river as well. It was a fantastic trip.

Wed 14th - Cruising Glacier Bay

Wednesday morning we entered Glacier Bay National Park. The rangers came over and joined our ship to give us a guided tour of the park. We sailed right up to the face of Margerie glacier, then headed back down and into Johns Hopkins Inlet. Throughout the day we saw a number of whales, seals, sea lion, sea otters, and all sorts of birds.

Thu 15th - Ketchikan

Thursday morning started with an early arrival at Ketchikan. Kellie and I opted for the Lighthouse, Totems, and Eagles cruise around the area with Captain Rob. We saw a total of 16 eagles, quite a few eagle nests, herons, terns, and seals. Plus a quick cruise around the Totem park and the Guard Island Lighthouse. The stop was over by noon, and we spent the rest of the day heading back toward Seattle.

Fri 16th - Victoria

Final day of our cruise. We sailed in to Victoria, BC for an evening stop in a foreign port. Kellie and I did not choose to leave the ship as we arrived at 7pm. I took a few sunset and dusk photos, before we packed up and called it a night.