Okay, I haven't posted in awhile, and have been swamped since getting back from the MV of the Alaska Cruise on May 3rd. But here are my thoughts on my excursions and stuff:
1. Thank goodness we will be able to go up the Inside Passage on the way out of Vancouver. I did not do well on the Pacific the first night of the cruise!
2. Tracy Arm-was incredible. Get up early, wear layered clothing and don't spend the whole day looking through your lens in your camera. You will miss the beauty of it all.
3. Great BBQ on deck at the adult pool and on the AFT of deck 9 all day during Tracy Arm.
4. Skagway-We were the first and only ship into Skagway for the season. Lots of stores still setting up. Prices are very reasonable for souvenir type items.
5. Skagway Excursion-our group did the train and then got off at the top and rode bikes 14 miles back down. Even though it was snowing, sleeting and raining, it was a blast. It was so miserable, it was a blast! The views were breathtaking. When we rode the bikes back into town, we were able to shop as we made our way back to the ship. There is a post office in Skagway that many people were shipping stuff home at because they had bought so much stuff already! (We actually got on at Long Beach and were on the ship for 13 nights!).
6. Juneau Excursion-we did the Ziplining with s'mores and then to Mendenhall Glacier. The Ziplining was so much fun and the owners and staff were fun and took pictures of our group of 6 of us the whole time. Purchased a CD of pictures at the end and they showed us a slide show of all the pics before we bought them. We roasted marshmallows outside over a pit bbq and made our s'mores. Then went to Mendenhall Glacier. Stayed 45 minutes there. The glacier is 1 mile from the drop off point, so if you wanted to go to the waterfall and get up close and personal you had to hurry. If not, you could just stay close to the visitors center and explore through binoculars.
7. Once back in Juneau, we shopped and one of our friends took the tramway to the top. He said the views were incredible. Saw lots of eagles in Juneau.
8. Ketchikan-I went shopping in town and relaxed the whole day. My friends went to the lumberjack show with their kids for the "exclusive" 4:45 Disney show, however, people were just walking up to the place and telling them they were on the Disney ship when they weren't and they let them buy tickets. So it ended up not just being everyone from Disney. They enjoyed the show. Right next to the show (it's right downtown) is this fish and chip place and I had halibut that was really, really, good. And then there is a shopping place right next to that with good prices on souvenirs. There is also a free shuttle from the ship to
Walmart, just in case you are dying to visit the local Walmart. There was also the Duck Boat that pulled up right to the ship and backed in and you could buy duck tours (the vehicle drives on land and then goes on water) and lots of guests were doing that and seemed to enjoy it.
9. Galley Tours were NOT available-they are redoing the floor in the galley in sections and said it would take most of the summer, and weren't sure whether they would be available by Aug. 30th cruise.
10. Lots of tours still had room once we were on the ship. Booking them did not seem to be a problem.
11. Bring layered clothing. Also, we did not have any bugs, but I hear as the summer goes on, bugs get worse, so bring bug spray.
12. We saw plenty of whales. I am sure there will be more as the season goes on.
If anyone has questions, just go ahead and post. I will be happy to try and answer and will check back regularly now. Although, I am still unpacking all my FE gifts and paper stuff from the May cruise and trying to get it organized.
Alaska was absolutely beautiful! Can't wait to see it again.
It's bautiful here today, so it will be nice to be able to use the deck. Alan is parking cars at one of the stores today for a car show (gotta love vacation $$) He said he has been crazy busy. So I have some house straightening to do--not too much, it's way easier to clean when they are gone than before they get here
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There are at least 100 dissers on that cruise that I know from our 2008 EBPC crossing--so there will be a ton of us online at midnight Plat night and gold night. Lorri already put our request in for the private dining in Palo so that takes a huge load off booking our dinner & brunch
We also ordered the entertainment book and we will book the bus from Seattle. 
)
But a nice deal on the harbour cruise itself
