Non-DCL Alaska Trip Report...5-30 to 6-6 2010

[justmestace]

Our trek to Alaska started with a 2:45 wake up call on Friday, May 28th. We had a 6:00 am flight on Alaska Airlines from Phoenix to Seattle WA.
Our flight was ontime, and luckily so were we. We had 3 seats together toward the front of the plane. I was glad I was sharing a row with my own family, as the seats are really narrow and we had to get cozy. Jay and I watched a movie on my DVD player and time went by pretty quickly. We landed in rainy Seattle about 15-20 minutes early. We had no trouble contacting our driver and the ride to the Marriott Waterfront Hotel on the pier was only about 15 minutes. We are directly across the street from Pier 66 where our ship will be waiting for us on Sunday. Right now, there is a smaller Celebrity ship in port.
Our room wasn't ready, so we left our bags and started the uphill climb to Pike Place Market. The walk around the market would have been far more enjoyable had it not been raining, but I honestly have always connected rain and Seattle in my mind, so I wasn't disappointed. We really only made a quick walk through the market. It's Memorial Day weekend, and the streets are crowded. I had a destination in mind, so we walked toward Pioneer Park (after getting directions to it!) so that we could take the "Underground Tour".
Years ago, there was a fire that destroyed over 30 blocks of the town, and when they decided to rebuild, they filled in the land around the burned buildings and rebuilt on top of them. Many years later, there were tunnels discovered under the town, and a lot of the buildings below ground still had furnishings in them that hadn’t been destroyed, so one enterprising man decided to shore up the walls and run a fascinating tour of the “underground buildings” and the history of Seattle. It was a really fun and interesting tour.

We were more than happy to make our way back through the market and finally into our room. We had a great corner room with views of the cruise pier, and most of the rest of the wharf area, including the ball park. We had dinner at the hotel and went to bed early.

Saturday morning we were met by fellow DISer’s Andrew and Carolyn and their daughters. We walked up (and up and up and up) to the Space Needle, had lunch at the SciFi museum, and rode the elevator to the Space Needle. We had some rain off and on, but nothing like yesterday. We had some great views from up there and it was fantastic to have our own local “guide” to tell us what we were looking at. Heading back down, we made a stop at the Seattle Glassblowing studio, which we all really enjoyed while Jared told us what the artists were doing.

When we got back to the hotel we ran into our fellow cruisers, Dwight, Laura and Tori, and my friend Sharon and her family. We held court in the lobby, everyone talking all at once and having a great time. Andrew, Caro and girls decided they’d best be heading for home, so we bid them farewell and happy cruising for their upcoming Baltic cruise. Sharon and the kids and I, and our DIS friends, decided to walk down the pier to eat at Red Robin, hit some stores on the way back, stop to talk to a lady who ran a horse and carriage tour, and somewhere in there we waved goodbye to the Norwegian Star, who we would meet up with in our ports, and then to bed to wait for our morning waking up to see “our” Pearl in port. Thinking back on our time in Seattle, it reminds me a lot of San Francisco, but I found Seattle to be cleaner, and a little more family-friendly.

 

[justmestace]

Sorry the type is so small. I should try to fix that. The rest of the report will be shorter, so it won't be so bad.

 

[justmestace]

MAY 30, 2010:
Finally, the day we’ve waited for 18 months has arrived!! Waking up, we look out and see the largest cruise ship that any of us have been on so far. And it is beautiful. Jay went for breakfast, but Jared and I decided to wait and eat onboard. We hadn’t really unpacked anything, so it didn’t take long to get our bags together. We walked across the street to the port terminal at about 10:30-10:45 am, and were able to use the VIP checkin and were led into the terminal to the concierge checkin area. They had coffee, tea, water and juice, and also an assortment of cookies to munch on. We were the 2nd or 3rd family to check in, so we knew it would be a bit before we got our dining reservations taken care of and our pictures taken. We really didn’t wait long at all, and by the time we had this done, our butler Gary was ready to lead us onboard the ship. The three of us were the very first passengers onboard the Pearl!! Our concierge is one very busy man by the name of Ryan Rabe, and he is excellent at his job. I’d heard rave reviews and they were all on-spot. Our room steward is Felipe, and he is already used to my habit of being the last one out of the room in the mornings. He’s been shocked when we have early excursions and I’m out before 8:00 am.

The first couple of hours onboard are kind of dizzying…..we were given a quick peek at our room and the courtyard, but they hadn’t finished preparing our room, so we were taken directly down to Cagney’s, the steakhouse, which is private at breakfast and lunch for the suite guests. We’re also the only ones who eat here on embarkation day. We watched as our fellow courtyard cruisers were led in….we’ve made a joke of our “royalty wave”. It’s funny, but I’ve enjoyed our location right outside the courtyard so much, and the views from our room (including the window in the shower and next to the bathtub) and from our viewing deck, I haven’t really given any thought to what the Garden Villas might be like. I know that they’re nice, but we’re treated so well, I just can’t imagine paying that much more money for basically a (much) bigger room….or 3 rooms….

Now that I'm thinking about the rooms....I really wish Disney would have come up with something similar to our room while designing the Dream and Fantasy. When we first enter our room from the hallway, there's a small entry/hall into the main living area. In that hallway is the door to the 2nd bedroom. It's small, but it has a closet, sofa-sleeper, a "ceiling bed" like on DCL, a TV and its own bathroom, with toilet, sink and shower. Theoretically, this room sleeps 3...two on the sofa and one above.
If you continue forward through the hallway, there's a round dining table for four to your right, and also a bar counter (no sink! Even Jay missed having the sink there like DCL does in its suites)...with a lot of storage, a complete set of bar ware and coffee cups and a big coffee/cappuccino machine that took me a day to figure out how to use. The coffee cups were small, so I was glad I'd brought my own larger disposable coffee cups with lids. This was one of the BEST things to take, I found, on an Alaska cruise. No running back to the room for more, or if you cruise DCL, to the drink station.
The fridge underneath the counter is a mini-bar, and I discovered that if we wanted to use it, we simply needed to remove the items in it, and then replace them later. It's an honor bar, so you don't get charged for just moving the items. Whew. I was afraid to touch it at first! But it kept everything very cold.
A few more feet and you come to the sofa (which is a double sleeper), two chairs and coffee table in the living area. The TV and entertainment center are flat-screen. Again, disappointing to find NO drawers or built-in shelves in the living area at all. I like to keep my camera and sunglasses on a shelf, easily within reach for a quick photo op off the balcony. And then you could step out onto the balcony. The balconies on the Courtyard Suites are probably just about the same size as a Cat 4 on DCL, except that they were deeper, and the divider between them is a solid wall, not as easy for the neighbors to look over....although they also have most of these rooms spaced so that no two balconies are directly next to each other, which I thought was a great idea.
If you were to turn right just after passing the dining area, there's a sliding frosted glass door to the master bed and bath. The showcase of the whole room is the master bath. Huge, long countertop, with tons of room to set out your personal items, and even a shelf that runs the length of the counter, with a thin metal "railing" to keep smaller items from rolling around or falling down. Two sinks, every Elemis product you could imagine, cotton balls, tissue, and q-tips, and tons of towels. The huge tub has jets and a window, so that you can soak your cares away while watching the ocean go by...or watch TV, which is another small flat-screen above the tub. The shower also had a window, and it can be used as stationary, or hand held. It also had jets that you can aim at your neck or upper back, and another set to aim at your lower back. Absolute heaven!
The closet was quite large, and there was a cabinet with two safes (which didn't seem necessary) and shelves for storage, and also four drawers. In the bedroom itself, above the TV were shelves and then a cabinet below with more shelves. Also two nightstands with small, directional reading lights, which I thought were a big plus. We had no trouble finding a place for everything, even after the shopping began! Since we needed a jacket almost every time we used the balcony, we usually just hung them on the back of a chair....messy, but convenient.

The courtyard is awesome, and I found that I used the pool out there a lot. I never go to the pools onboard. Each time I used the courtyard, I was the only one out there, whether napping, lounging, swimming or using the hot tub. Once in a while someone would wander in and grab a snack...they usually had snacks and drinks out there all day. There was also a room with a treadmill and a stationary bike ( Jay used the treadmill) and separate showers and saunas for men and women. I disappointed myself by not using the private viewing deck very often. I think everyone else in the courtyard did, but I was just as happy on our balcony with the wind blocked. Being on the 14th deck, the view from our balcony was just as good as the view one deck up...the very top of the ship.

I'm going to skip over the "tour" of the ship itself....since most of my friends are Disney cruisers, it really isn't pertinent, but I have to say, there was never a dull moment on the Pearl. The kids LOVED the bowling alley, really made friends with a lot of the crew, including the young cruise director, and most of the time, we didn't see them. One enormous perk was that we had a cordless phone in the room, that the kids could take with them, and we could still call them from our room, or anywhere on the ship, to find out where they were and what they were doing. They also kept in touch with each other that way.
All in all, it is an awesome ship, with far too much to do in just one week. Very clean, and the crew were all very friendly. The only downside, I felt, was the food in the main dining room. It just didn't seem like they had much variety. Of course, if you're willing to pay, the specialty restaurants are great. The saving grace is that they have a huge, huge buffet, with all fresh-food stations, and rarely a line to get more choices of food than I could eat in a week. Also, they have a 24 hour sit-down restaurant with a lot of really good sandwiches, soups, wings, etc. We were lucky enough to be able to pick one main dining room, reserve a time and a particular table by the window, with the same server, who we really loved....since that's one of the things about Disney that attracts us, the dining set up. Our server, Janis, was just a doll, although she didn't quite know what to think of our crazy group at first, especially "Mr. Jay". I loved that she called us "Ma'am Stacey". "Ma'am Laura", etc. She was just too cute.

Anyway....enough about the ship and the room. On our first morning at sea, we had a Cruise Critic Meet & Greet, set up for us by NCL, with snacks, drinks, and a lot of the ship's officers. I'm always surprised at how many of them show up for these. NCL really seems to enjoy setting these up for CC members. We didn't touch half the food that they'd set out. This meeting was held in one section of one of the main dining rooms. I've been to some where they set them up in one of the conference rooms, or the library also. It's a great way to finally put faces to names of people from the Discussion boards, also.

 

[justmestace]

After our Meet & Greet, I spent the majority of the day just watching the scenery, as we were cruising the Inside Passage. Being from Arizona, living in the desert, I just couldn't get enough of all of the green trees, and the mountains. And those trees are so tall!!! We had a few whale sightings, our first glimpse at the bald eagle that we'd eventually see a lot of, and a few dolphins....which surprised me, because I always equate dolphins with the Caribbean and warmer waters. The kids had met up with some of our friends from Cruise Critic, and also the family we were cruising with. They had nabbed some "prime" seats in the very front of a large lounge onboard, that's surrounded by windows, so I got a call from Jared to go join them. The place was packed, since it's a perfect place to view the Inside Passage. It's called Spinnaker Lounge, and I know that this lounge has been moved on some of the other NCL ships, which is a shame, since it has so many windows, it's a great spot for Alaska cruises and the Panama Canal. Since we were in front, we had great fun calling out "WHALES!!" when there really weren't any....and then watching everyone else in the room jump up. Shame on us.
I'll also quickly mention the shows that we saw onboard. I didn't go to the "dancing" show....kind of like a Vegas revue. Those who did see it, said it was great. We LOVED the show based on Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, called "Oh What A Night". We were seated in the balcony and I think we were the "rowdy crowd" as we sang and danced right along with them. The crew talent show is always good. Some of these people have such talent, I know that they'd have found a different calling if they'd been born in the U.S. We went to see the Second City comedy show, and it was pretty funny. The kids went to each and every game show and trivia contest, including Win, Lose or Draw and a scavenger hunt, which they won...in fact, they won so many times I kept thinking they'd be banned from playing any of the games! Jared and his friends also got to participate in the ships' version of "Dancing With The Stars". It does seem to me that the other cruise lines (besides DCL) have a lot more of these type of games during the day, for groups of all ages to play....and they're free. They did also have Bingo, but we only went on the last day, when the kids had won a bunch of raffle tickets for a free cruise. We didn't play Bingo, only stayed long enough to find out that none of us won the free cruise, and then left. Most of the shows onboard are not at all kid-friendly. We didn't see many people bring their kids...although we always went to a later show.....but I'm hoping that they had some really good programming for the kids in their clubs while the adults were at the shows. The ship was at full capacity, the clubs were full of kids, but we sure never saw them. They must have been happy with the programs.

It was during the 2nd night onboard that Jay and I made a big mistake. I'd been told over and over again about how light it stays outside in Alaska, and how it gets light out so early. Well, we forgot. We had left all of the curtains open. We'd gone to bed late, and in fact, I'm so dense, I'd even taken a picture of the mountains at midnight, with no flash....but at 4:00 am we were shocked to be awakened by sunlight streaming in! Exactly....on average, there was only 4 to 4½ hours of darkness every night!!
June 1, 2010: Juneau
Even though we were so excited to finally be reaching a port, we did manage to go back to sleep for a couple of hours, anyway. We had booked a tour for Juneau through Shore Trips, so luckily concierge had arranged for us to be able to disembark as soon as we docked. They lock off one elevator for concierge use only (thank goodness we didn't have to WALK down ten floors!) and led us right to the gangway.
We chose a combination tour where first we went out on a small boat for some whale watching. I seriously had my doubts about seeing any whales. I've done this type of tour before and was sadly disappointed. We DID see a playful group of sea otters...but for quite a while, no whales. Our boat captain finally got a call from another boat about a sighting, and off we went. FINALLY!! First we watched a pair of whales for the longest time....coming up for air, you'd hear them before you'd see them. Then, the mist would rise from their blow-holes. We'd watch and watch, and finally began a chant..."Tail Tail Tail!" We wanted so badly to see what we'd only seen in pictures, a diving whale with only the tail showing. We wandered around and found several other pairs of whales. Just about the time we really needed to head for shore to continue our tour it happened.....TAILS!!! And then LOTS OF TAILS. I can't believe we didn't scare the whales away with our cheers. And because it was what we'd all been waiting for, I think each of us probably has about 55 pictures of whale tails. LOL

One great thing about booking outside the cruise line, we only had about 12 people on our little tour. And of those, 7 of us were from my town of Cave Creek, as we were traveling with friends. Once the boat docked, we got onto a bus that took us to the "famous" Mendenhall Glacier. My first glimpse of the lake formed by the glacier melting, with giant beautiful blue ice chunks floating in it took my breath away. Most of the glaciers themselves have some disappointing brown patches, where they've melted, and dirt. In my mind, I thought they would be perfectly white snow, with beautiful blue ice....and for the most part, they were. But there were those spots....just me being a little picky.
I was amazed at how close we could walk to it. There was a waterfall, from the runoff, and my son chose to run all the way to the base of it. It was really cold there, strange since on the water, we'd been very warm...so I went up to the Visitor Center, with its walls of glass for viewing. The trail up there and back was awesome, but I made a lot of noise and stomped my feet, as we'd been warned at least 10 times of what to do in case we encountered a bear. I have no memory whatsoever of what to do in case you encounter a bear....once they said it, fear shut down my brain! So I stomped. Later, I remember being disappointed that I hadn't seen a bear.....yeah, RIGHT. Our tour ended with the bus dropping those of us who wished to shop back in town, and taking the rest (the men) back to the ship. Sharon and I headed straight for the Red Dog Saloon. We'd pre-ordered some very large coupon books that we'd heard about on Cruise Critic. I'm told that they used to hand them out for free at the ship terminal before boarding, but that now they had to be ordered for $5 apiece. We'd actually studied those coupon books, for each port, so that we knew which shops, restaurants and local sites we wanted to see. I had some coupons for items at the Red Dog, so we skipped the bar itself, and headed straight for their gift shop. We spent the rest of our time wandering the "main" street and taking in the beauty that surrounds Juneau. Granted, they have nasty winters to put up with, but in the summer months, each of these places are so surrounded by beauty, I can easily see why people would want to live there.

We found that each of the ports were very well laid-out, and if you use the map/guide that you can get on the ship, you'll easily find your way all over the towns. And the towns were all well within walking distance of the docks for the cruise ships. And I do mean SHIPS. At times there would be four in port, and often there are more. In fact, coming into Juneau, we had to wait for the Norwegian Star (who we'd watch leave Seattle) to pull out of its berth do that we could dock. It's disappointing that our days in port were shortened because of needing to "trade places", but with good planning, we got to do what we wanted to do.

 

[justmestace]

June 2, 2010: Skagway

Originally for Skagway, we had booked what is probably THE tour for every first-time visitor to Skagway. The White Pass and Yukon Railway. We would board the train, right off the center of town, and ride it up the Yukon Trail, and then back down again. The more I thought about this, the less I really wanted to sit on a train for almost 4 hours, without any stops or being able to get off. Granted, each train car has its own potty...but still...... So we took a look again at what the ship had to offer, and found a tour that only did the train ride back down the trail. The one we chose was called The Red Light Train and Brothel tour. A bus came to the ship to pick us up...and again, there were 7 of us from Cave Creek, and only two other couples. Bonus! Our first stop was at an old saloon and brothel named The Red Onion. It had been in Skagway since the Gold Rush days, and little about the interior has changed, with a lot of original fixtures. Anyone, during the day, can stop in and have a drink or a bite to eat, and also pay extra for a tour of the upstairs, where the "brothel" portion was...also along with a lot of furniture and items left behind when the gold rush ended. Out tour included this, but it was before it opened to the public for the day, so it was private and not crowded or rushed. The "girls" sang to us, we had a free drink (choices were Irish Coffee, Mimosa and I think a Bloody Mary), I chose a plain coffee, and our son had a hot chocolate....so they can cater to the younger and/or non-drinking set, although I think the age limit was "over 16" for the tour. They had an old-time piano player who was really talented, too. We took our tour of the "upstairs"...and got to see pictures of some of the women who'd spent a lot of time there, many, many years ago. I gotta tell ya, they weren't much to look at! We got back onto our bus and headed out of town, the only road that goes out of town. One of the things I loved about these tours, was how much great information you can get from the tour bus drivers. If you pay attention, you'll learn all sorts of tid-bits. There is a Wal-Mart in Skagway. If you are moving away from Skagway, to the "Outside", as they call the Continental U.S.....you'd have to pay upwards of $3000 to have your car sent down. Most people's cars aren't worth $3000...so what they do, is leave the car in the Wal-Mart parking lot, keys and title in it, and whoever finds it first can have it, for the cost of transferring the title! So up, and up our bus went, with several picturesque stops along the way. We stopped at the Alaska/Canadian border, had our passports checked, and were back on our way. There are NO buildings, houses, and very few other vehicles all along the highway. Just beautiful mountains, trees, lakes and waterfalls. Across a huge divide, we caught glimpses of the railway tracks and bridges that we would soon be traveling down on. When you look at the terrain, it seems impossible that anyone could have managed to hike up and over the pass, with nothing but a horse or a mule to haul their belongings. Many didn't make it. One particular spot is called Dead Horse Gulch....probably about ¾ of the way to the top of the pass, many horses just couldn't go any further, so the hopeful miner would unload the pack, and down in the gulch would go the horse. All very fascinating. We arrived at the depot to discover that there really isn't much of a depot. Just one small little building, with potties...and that's it. Our group was assigned our own car to ride in, so again BONUS!...we only had 11 people, with the freedom to move from side to side for great pictures, and an outdoor platform, both in front of our car and behind. Narration is done the whole way, telling stories of how the railway was finally built, and the early pioneers who made their way. Be forewarned, if you take the train, and you're outside on the platform, there are a LOT of spots where there is absolutely NO ROOM TO STICK YOUR HEAD OUT TO LOOK FORWARD. Not even an arm or an elbow. That train is sometimes smack up against a solid granite wall. Keep an eye on the kids. We arrived back in town with plenty of time to look all around the town. Jay & I found the Skagway Museum (or one of them, anyway) which was really interesting to walk through. We visited an old homestead that has been maintained by the Forest Service, and also serves as a museum, with many of the original family's belongings still inside. We walked slowly in and out of a lot of the shops on the one main street, and also up and down several of the side streets. We stopped at a local cafe to have a cup of hot chocolate. Many of their signature dishes include reindeer meat. Yum...or not. We enjoyed not being rushed back onto the ship. And everywhere we looked there were beautiful flowers, even along the city streets.
I should mention the weather and the seas. We were really, really lucky with the weather. Our entire week had had a forecast of rain, all day, every day. We did have rain sometimes at night, and also some days early in the day, but generally by 9:00 or 10:00 a.m., the rain had quit, or would only slightly drizzle, and we had basically sunny days. The cooler temps...in the low 70's....made it all the nicer to be out hiking and walking. We always wore long pants into town, with a long sleeve top and carried a jacket, but rarely did we need the jacket, other than at Mendenhall Glacier, where we needed hats, scarves and gloves, and again in Canada at the top of the Yukon Pass. Early on in the cruise, we had one day/night where the ship was really rocking. I seem to recall it was the very first night, and perhaps there was some sort of channel we were passing across. Normally the movement of the ship lulls me to sleep, but that night it was annoying....I didn't get sick, it was just vibrating. And that probably had to do with the fact that I've never been on Deck 14 before...that high up, and basically to the aft. And on our last night between Ketchikan and Victoria, the Captain was really booking it....also during the day on the way to Victoria. I remember looking at the Notes From the Bridge on the TV, and seeing that we were traveling at 23 knots.

More tomorrow on the rest of the trip....I'm just glad my memory is serving me well, since I took so long to get to this!

 

[tink too]

Loving your TR so far. The Pearl sounds awesome.

I had a little chuckle to myself when you mentioned "the cooler temps. - low 70's" - that's Summer weather to us! Plus, the fact that Alaska doesn't get dark. We are in the North East of Scotland and also have very few darkness hours during the night, so we will feel "at home" on our trip next year.

 

[justmestace]

Loving your TR so far. The Pearl sounds awesome.

I had a little chuckle to myself when you mentioned "the cooler temps. - low 70's" - that's Summer weather to us! Plus, the fact that Alaska doesn't get dark. We are in the North East of Scotland and also have very few darkness hours during the night, so we will feel "at home" on our trip next year.

Since we've already hit 113°....the 70's feel wonderful!

 

["Got Disney"]

Thanks for the trip report....cant wait for more! Have thought about going on the Pearl from time to time but had not heard anything really about it from someone that has gone on DCL.

We even have a NCL agent that we keep on file just incase we decide to.

As for Alaska....we are on the July 19th 2011 cruise on DCL.

 

[justmestace]

June 3, 2010: Glacier Bay

Shame on me, because I slept in a little late on Glacier Bay day. By the time I woke up, my family and everyone else's were already up on the viewing deck, and we were just approaching Marjerie Glacier. I'd apparently missed us picking up the ranger who was already talking when I grabbed my coffee and headed out onto the balcony. I actually ended up being glad that I stayed on our balcony, because up on the deck, they couldn't hear the narration, so I was yelling up to my son when there were some photo ops I thought he'd miss....like the puffins on the ice bergs, or the eaglet. All I can really say about this massive glacier is "breathtaking". I was lucky to (barely) get a picture of the one time there was some major calving, and my son got a good picture of a smaller calving. Again, like with the whales, you can generally hear the ice breaking off before you see the slide and splash. I'm not sure I would have heard it, if I'd been on deck with people talking all around me. We were the only ship in the area at the time, I think it was the Star that eventually followed us in there. They only allow two ships at a time, and you get a note in your room, reminding you to not take any paper or plastic on the open decks at all. They are definitely serious about their conservation efforts. Just about the time I got bundled up to join the group above me on the viewing deck, the Captain turned the ship around so that the other side of the ship would have plenty of time to look and take pictures, and the gang came downstairs. It seemed to me as though we didn't spend as much time for the starboard side to view it as they did for the port side....we were on port side.
Once we exited Glacier Bay, and headed out of the Icy Strait, it seemed that the Captain really stepped up the pace. I looked at a map, and couldn't believe how far north we'd gone, and how much further south we needed to be, to get into Ketchikan in the morning. But at this time, we were still on the inside ....in Chatham Strait, east of Sitka. There was still land to be seen off both sides of the ship.

 

[justmestace]

[QUOTE="Got Disney";37160956]Thanks for the trip report....cant wait for more! Have thought about going on the Pearl from time to time but had not heard anything really about it from someone that has gone on DCL.

We even have a NCL agent that we keep on file just incase we decide to.

As for Alaska....we are on the July 19th 2011 cruise on DCL. [/QUOTE]


You guys may need to change your logo.....I got a GREAT tan in Alaska!

 

[justmestace]

One thing that I really want to mention now....there was some discussion on the main cruise boards a while back about whether or not DCL made a mistake in not taking the Inside Passage. There's a lot of time on this particular cruise when you are just sailing. Basically, the day you go to the glacier (DCL is doing Tracy Arm) is a day at sea. The first full day is a day at sea. Some days we didn't stay in port long, so there were long stretches at sea. Leaving Ketchikan so early (2:00 I think?) made for another half day at sea, and sailing to Victoria and not docking until 6 pm, was a day at sea. So a major part of the cruise was the scenery as we were sailing. After we left Ketchikan, we were out in the ocean, to the far west of land. Other than a few other ships, there was nothing to look at, and the water isn't the pretty blue as it is in the Caribbean. I was VERY grateful that we'd had as much "inside" time as we'd had. To me, that's a big part of what an Alaska cruise is all about. Would I love to go again, with Disney? YES. YES. YES. But I'm glad that I've already seen the Inside Passage first. Guaranteed, plenty of people took the time out on the ocean to take advantage of the activities onboard. But not very many people got in the pool, so that left the organized games, the bowling and the rock climbing wall...and the spa. Plus, the "other" cruise lines seem to have more activities geared toward the teens, twenty & thirty-somethings and the adults. I'm wondering if I might get a little bored on Disney. But I'd sure like the opportunity to see if I would! So in other words, I do think I would prefer the Inside Passage....but I'd also love to go to Alaska with Disney, so to me, there is no "right or wrong".

 

[justmestace]

June 4, 2010: Ketchikan
Ahhhh.....Ketchikan......I honestly think I could spend a lot of time here. I have no idea why, but this town was my absolute favorite, and what a huge disappointment to only be here for 5 or 6 hours. We originally had planned to take a tour with our son, The Bering Sea Crab Fisherman's Tour....on the Aleutian Ballad, a boat from the early days of the TV show "The Deadliest Catch". We all watch the show, and really thought this would be fun. But realizing that our time would be so limited, my husband and I canceled our tour, and our son went with the father of one of his friends, also Disney friends of ours.
I know that I'd studied maps of Ketchikan, and the tour maps suggest a certain route to walk for touring. They lead you to the right, as you approach Main street, which is just north of the pier. All of this, by the way, is easily walked. The idea is to visit some of the tourist shops on Main Street, and then make your way further northeast, via Mill Street and Stedman, to the famous Creek Street. All of the buildings on Creek Street were once brothels (we're seeing a pattern by now)....and the famous "Dolly's House" is still a bar on Creek Street. The popular logging show is just off of Main Street and Bawden, an easy walk, at the eastern (far right) end of the port area. They were taking walk-ups, and I'm sure the cost was cheaper than if booked through the ships. You can basically make a full-circle tour of town, and end up back down at the cruise ship. What isn't obvious on the maps, is that from the pier, everything is an UPHILL climb.
They can fit at least four ships, and ours was the furthest to the west....a bit longer walk, but not much at all. It actually was only a few steps from where my son got on his crab boat. So, depending on what you choose to do, no matter where your ship is docked, it isn't far to get to anything.
Anyway, totally disregarding that I'd studied a map, when we started out walking, we went directly up the first street that we came upon. Since our ship was docked at the far right hand (if looking at the pier from the ocean) side, the street we came to was Grant Street. I think I know why the maps tell people to go the other way....the incline would have been far less going the other way. But the good news was that once we climbed Grant Street, the rest was downhill! I'm not sure which street it was that we decided to turn to the right, and go down, but we'd reached an old trestle, took some pics, and then realized that the Salmon Ladder and Ketchikan Creek were below us, and I knew that this was where the "original walking tour" would have ended. There are signs on the street posts all along the way, pointing out sites of interest and locations along the walking tour....so we knew we wouldn't get lost. And we could also see clearly the ships below.
Once we reached the creek and the Salmon Ladder, I was glad that we'd gone the opposite way. There was no one else back there and it was so quiet and pretty. We took a trail marked "Married Man's Trail", which eventually led us to the famous Creek Street. We learned along the trail that this is the "sneaky" route the married men used to go to the brothels without being seen. We started walking along some of the shops on the northern end of Creek Street and came to the tramway that takes people up to a beautiful lodge, with some awesome views, also a small totem village and the location of the Ted Ferry Visitor's Center. It was worth the couple of dollars to take the tram up. Coming back down, we continued on along Creek Street, and then wandered in and out of some of the more interesting shops. We walked back downhill and found the Logging Show, although we didn't think we had time to go, we would have. We wandered along, checking out all of the old buildings, saw where the cannery was, and then made our way back onboard with about another half hour to spare. We were anxious to hear about our son's tour. They had a GREAT time. Along with learning how the boats operate, how the crab pots are tossed out and then brought back in, they got to see some HUGE crab brought onboard, along with a lot of other sea creatures....one that looked to be an octopus of some sort...but more likely the calamari that ended up at dinner that night. They saw tons and tons of eagles, right up next to the boat, and also whales. So they felt as though they'd had a great combo tour.
Some of the other popular tours in Ketchikan are the sea plane tours, we watched them take off and land. I'd prefer to stay on the ground myself. Another popular tour is a visit to Saxman Village...a native retreat with many original old totem poles. You're treated to the native culture via dancing and displays and a guide to explain about how these people lived, and still do. This is a tour that can be booked with the ship, but it's also easy to do on your own. A $2 shuttle bus runs every half hour between the cruise pier and the village.
I really hated leaving Ketchikan. This place would be one major reason for going back to Alaska. As the ship left the harbor, I was up on the viewing deck and got a good glimpse of Saxman Village and all of the totem poles there. Maybe next time.

 

[justmestace]

When we got back onboard, I was worn out from all the hiking and decided to skip the high-end jewelry show that was being held for the "suite people" in the courtyard, and soak in the tub and watch the scenery go by. There was a rain storm, and after I'd gotten dressed, I went out on the balcony to watch the rain. I was SO glad I didn't go to that jewelry exhibition! We had one of the most spectacular rainbows...and a double....that I'd ever witnessed. Everyone that had gone in the courtyard missed it. I remember saying to myself "This truly is God's country". We have a cabin in the mountains in Prescott, AZ that we go to, and although there is sometimes snow on the mountains, and the pines smell terrific, I don't think I've ever been so overwhelmed by such beauty.

June 5, 2010: Our final day at sea and Victoria
It seemed kind of odd to be sailing almost all day and yet still have a port to look forward to. I really liked that. The last day onboard is usually filled with all the last minute things you'd been wanting to do, and with packing. It is always sad to know that after dinner, you have to set your bags out and prepare to say goodbye. It was really kind of exciting to know that we still had one more beautiful place to explore.
Our morning started with a wonderful surprise and an honor. Our friends had been invited by the Staff Captain, a huge bear of a Norwegian man whom we'd met at the Meet & Greet, and ran into often, to be his guests on the Bridge. We were delighted to be asked to join them. I was surprised at the amount of time they let us stay there, and the things that he explained to us in great detail. The radar screens that can pull up any nearby ship, list its name, its cargo, where it came from and where it was headed, was just amazing. I asked the crew up front with binoculars what they were watching for, and they answered "mostly small craft and whales".....but I was also a little shocked (and maybe scared) that they are also always on the lookout for submarines out there, that cannot be detected by the usual radar. Wow. I knew that our own submarines might possibly be out there, but also with Alaska being so close to Russia, it isn't a stretch to imagine that they are likely to be there, too. I'd been on the Bridge on Disney before, but this was the first time that we weren't basically rushed in and out, and that so many of the different navigational tools were not only explained to us, but demonstrated. Obviously, the Staff Captain knows his stuff, because he never accidentally hit the wrong button! And what a view from up there! An interesting note, there are Owner's Suites in the far forward of the ship. On a different Norwegian cruise, we were in one of them. On the Pearl, those rooms and their balconies are directly below the Bridge. There is absolutely NO privacy on those balconies! The crew related to us that they'd seen more than their share of interesting behaviors down there. Ooops!
After our tour ended, the kids went down to bowl for the afternoon, and then most likely to go clean some clocks with a few more of the trivia games. Jay decided to lounge for a while in the courtyard, so I began the awful process of packing. Jared came in at one point and managed to pack all of his things in under 10 minutes. A week after we got home, he handed me his bundle of wrinkled, dirty clothes. I did finish all of the rest of the packing, with time to grab a bite to eat before we docked in Victoria. Again, we were given priority disembarkation, even though we had no plans other than to walk around town. We got down to the gangway and it was discovered that Jay's key card had been de-magnetized, so he went back up to concierge, and they were able to quickly get him a new key, while the rest of us (my family and our DIS buddies) waited just off the ship. Our plan was to get a taxi van to take us to the Government Buildings and to Victoria's Empress Hotel and then just wander along the waterfront. There are only two taxi "vans" that would handle more than four people, so we split into our family groups of three and met downtown. What a gorgeous, clean city. Another place I could see myself living! We started out on Fort Street, at Bastion Square, past the original Customs House, and where the majority of the fur trading took place in the late 1800's. Along the waterfront were some street entertainers, and only a very few small booths selling mostly artwork and jewelry. Absent was much of anyplace to eat, and unfortunately by 7 pm or so, we were hungry. We decided to keep walking when we saw a sign that said "Victoria's Fisherman's Wharf". I really enjoyed the fact that it stayed light for so long, I'd thought beforehand that we would be seeing everything in the dark. Not so....it stayed light until at least 10:30 or 11 pm.
The wharf was a charming area. There was an ice cream shop, floating on its own dock, on the water. Jared and I got ice cream, when we found that the only other restaurant down there did serve hamburgers and chicken, but it was basically a fish place, and Jay can't take the chance on eating anywhere that serves fish, as he's deathly allergic. So the ice cream held us over until we got back onboard and hit the buffet. There was an old paddlewheel boat, and several houses floating there, too. Really interesting and very pretty. Again, yet another city that is very, very clean, and beautifully landscaped everywhere with flower gardens. We began to walk back to the ship just before 10:00 pm...and though we had until midnight to be back, we were beat and hungry. On the map, it looks to be a rather large area to have walked, but since we stopped so often to enjoy the scenery, it didn't seem so bad.

 

[justmestace]

But I was really glad that I was totally packed. By the time we ate, it was getting really close to midnight, and Jared and I watched as we pulled out of Victoria. By then, everything was all lit up, and I was a little sorry we hadn't seen the Government buildings lit up, in all their splendor. I did get a great picture of someone taking a ride in a horse-drawn carriage, just as it passed in front of the old buildings. You can almost imagine what it might have been like back in the 1800's.
Thus our cruise came to an end. We set the alarms for "up with the seagulls" and woke as we'd just docked. We had priority disembarkation, but the process of going through customs was the same for everyone. They basically barely glanced at our forms and we grabbed our bags and went to wait on the street for our driver. Other than Disney's terminal in Port Canaveral, I have to say this is the nicest I've been in. It would be better if there were more of a covered area to wait for your return pickup, as again, it was raining in Seattle....but all in all, not bad.

If anyone has any questions, I'll be happy to try to help.

 

[justmestace]

A link to our pictures. I hope it works! Just click on the picture with the red building.

 

[Caropooh]

Great report! I've made it through about half the pictures! Makes me even more excited for next year!

 

[PBader]

Great reporting Stace

 

[justmestace]

Sorry it's so long!

 

[dato63]

You're report is wonderful. Not long at all. It has me excited. Great pictures!!

We are booked on the Pearl for next summer, and are planning the Marriott Waterfront as well. When you say you walked up, up, up to the Space Needle - was it a rough walk? I can see it is a short distance on a map - however, can't tell that it is "up". Our DDs will be 7, just wondered if it would be too uphill.

I had not read about the underground tour - but will have to. That does sound very interesting.

When I read on cruise critic, there is a lot of opinions that sailing out of Seattle is bad due to rough waters the first couple of days. I picked going out of Seattle for a variety of reasons, so was concerned about this, did you encounter any rough water issues?

 

[seamour]

great report, thank you! The part about the cars in the Walmart parking lots really has me chuckling!