Tim and Sarah's Alaskan Adventure! Below is a synopsis of an Alaskan Cruise aboard Princess. Enjoy!
Sarah and I wanted to
share a few notes from our trip. We also
want to thank you for a most wonderful vacation experience. Escape Travel & Cruises was a wonderful
way to plan our trip. Knowing that you
were keeping up with our itinerary and that you were back home watching over us
was reassuring. We really appreciate how
you coordinated our rooms with Beth and Andrew and helped with the
flights. The chocolate-covered
strawberries awaiting us in our room were a nice touch and meant a lot to
us. Thank you.
Friday 8/26/2016 –
Seattle, WA
This is the day we leave
the work behind and begin our adventure.
Having been at a week-long conference, we were ready for some down
time. We had a really easy Amtrak ride
from Portland to Seattle to get to our hotel.
One of the things you keep seeing, if you like to look behind the scenes,
is lots of luggage. We met our daughter
and son-in-law in Seattle and had plenty of time to sightsee. We loved the art and the International
Fountain at the Seattle Center was clearly inviting and enjoyed by many.
Saturday 8/27/2016 - At
Sea
Today’s the day! We board the ship to set sail for Juneau,
Alaska. Everything was very easy because
Kristina had taken such good care to make sure we were all lined up and ready
for each stage of the trip. I’ve seen
cruise ships before, but this one was huge.
There was lots of excitement from everyone as we worked our way through
the boarding process and then onto the ship.
Our family was able to move around pretty much as needed, but there were
some who needed an extra hand or a wheelchair.
Princess Cruises took care of everyone so that all had a great time.
Sarah getting
ready to get on board!
Bye Seattle. Headed to Juneau.
It can get a
little windy when you’re going fast out on the water.
We were in Skagway all day, giving us plenty of
time to do the excursion and see the town
Monday 8/29/2016 –
Juneau, Alaska
Today was a little windy
and misty as we pulled into Juneau. This
was also our first excursion day. We chose the Whale Watching and Wildlife
Quest. The water was a little rough
today on the whale watching excursion, but I had my patch on and everything
went just fine. We didn’t get to see too
many whales, as we had to cut the trip a little short due to the weather, but the
captain of the boat was focused on blending a good time with everyone’s
safety. We had no problem with that.
Juneau was a neat town and
had lots of places to shop and dine. It
turned out to be a great day.
We got to
experience a few whales. It wasn’t that
easy to capture them with my camera.
They’re very quiet and you don’t get a lot of warning to get ready. This photo is actually from the cruise ship,
not the whale watching tour.
The scenery was
magnificent even though it was windy and cold.
We got to experience the water, mountains, snow and glaciers. You can see the glacier in the background.
Juneau was quaint. Lots of shops and pretty busy, as you can
tell.
Tuesday 8/30/2016 –
Skagway, Alaska
Today we arrived in
Skagway and on to our second Princess Cruises Shared Excursion – White Pass
Scenic Railway. Today was another misty
day as we travelled the 3 ½ hours up to the White Pass Summit and back. It was a beautiful trip. There weren’t many wildlife sightings on this
trip, but still had a good time.
Skagway had many forested cliffs, making a beautiful backdrop to our adventure.
More glaciers in the
mountains. You could see the blue
glacial ice from the train.
An old abandoned Rail
Bridge. This was one of the interesting
sites along the White Pass trip.
Photo of Rock
Clock, a clock painted on the side of the cliff in the gold rush era. Seems to be in pretty good shape. There are also cruise ship signatures in
other locations on the cliffs in Skagway.
They told us that cruise ship employees get off the ships and paint
their ship logos on the sides of the cliff.
Wednesday 8/31/2016 –
Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska
This was one of the
highlights of the trip. The weather was
beautiful and you could not ask for calmer water. It was so quiet as we floated effortlessly
along the water en route to the top of Glacier Bay to view the Margerie
Glacier. It was cold in the morning but
warmed a little as the day progressed.
We spent almost the entire cruise in Glacier Bay on our balcony enjoying
the views and the weather.
Margerie Glacier
taken from our balcony. It doesn’t look
like it, but my research showed that the face of the glacier is about 350 feet
thick with about 100 feet of the ice below the water.
Ice
falling from the face of Margerie Glacier.
Tim and Sarah on
our balcony as we pass another glacier.
Hard not to take
a nap when cruising is this calm and serene.
Thursday 9/1/2016 -
Ketchikan, Alaska
Ketchikan was our day for
Totem Poles and Seaplanes. We had a
short layover in Ketchikan, but plenty of time to take a bus up to the Totem
Bight State Historical Park. The totem poles
were very interesting. We took the
self-guided tour and had plenty of time to wander around, as we needed,
throughout the park. Once we returned,
we sat out on the balcony and watched as seaplane after seaplane took off right
beside our ship. That was a fun activity
for Tim.
One of the many
seaplanes taking off next to the ship.
Tim and Sarah at
Totem Bight State Historical Park
Friday 9/2/2016 –
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Victoria was another short
stop, so we didn’t plan any excursions.
We arrived in the evening around 7:00 p.m. and had to be back on the
ship by midnight. It was another
beautiful night. We took a cab to a
local restaurant, and then strolled back to the ship after dinner.
The Capitol
Building lit at night.
There were many
beautiful sights along the walk back to the ship.
Saturday 9/3/2016 –
Seattle, Washington
Well, we’re back on
land. Our final Princess Cruises Shared
Excursion is the Space Needle, Pike Place Market and City Tour. The Cruise Lines did an awesome job
coordinating our luggage, the bus tour and stops, all leading back to the
airport in plenty of time for the flight home.
While the weather was off and on (mostly on) and the wildlife was a
little less than I had hoped for, Princess Cruise Lines did an amazing job of
coordinating everything, from beginning to end.
Kristina always knew where the ship was and whether our excursions were
on time or not. She even kept up with
our flights and kept in contact with us to let us know she was aware and
available for anything we may need. That
was very reassuring. Here are a few
final photos of our Seattle excursion.
