Live from Regatta June 12-19, 2018--Vancouver to Seattle family cruise

Thanks for your post. Looking forward to hearing more. Could you find out if Dottie will still be CD on the Aug. 27th cruise?

Dottie confirmed for me last night that she will be onboard until October.

The 60s show last night was outstanding. The singers are as good as any we have encountered on any ship. We then went up to Horizons and danced for quite a while since we gained an hour.

Dottie confirmed for me last night that she will be onboard until October.

Thanks so much. Looking forward to seeing Dottie again. Is Tom on with her? Sandy and Peter

Thanks so much. Looking forward to seeing Dottie again. Is Tom on with her? Sandy and Peter

Not currently.

June 14, 2018–Ketchikan Alaska

After another smooth night of sailing, we awoke to a very overcast damp day. Low lying clouds obscured the tops of the mountains during the sail in to Ketchikan, but the shoreline was visible, dotted with houses lined on the road that hugs the coast with the evergreen covered slopes rising sharply behind them. Fishing boats were going out for the day as we arrived.

This is our 3rd visit to Ketchikan. Previously, we have gone to Misty Fjords NP, hiked, fished for salmon, and taken a seaplane trip. Today the plan was for a crab feast followed by a visit the Totem Bight State Park.

On our previous visits here, we have really lucked out with the weather, encountering almost hot weather and sunshine both times, so much that I had to go buy shorts. Not today. It was quite cool to start out, but eventually the sun came out and it warmed to about 60F. At least it didn’t rain.

We had to tender as there were 4 megaships in port. We were to meet on the dock at 8:45, and they told us to allow 20-25 minutes for the tender ride. Of course, there were 4 people who either weren’t paying attention or just can’t follow instructions and were still on the ship at 8:45, so we had to wait for them.

A bus ride down the main road hugging the coast brought us through the forest to George Inlet lodge, the crab place. We boarded a small comfortable boat to go out to pull up crab traps. On the way we saw eagles and some seals. My husband was selected to pull up the pot which was packed full of Dungeness crabs. Our guide shows us all about them then put them back in the sea, as they will not be eaten today. Ours have already been caught.

Back at the lodge, a huge feast of all we could eat crab awaited. It was oh so good, but messy. But get ready for this—our waitress asked us where we were from. We told her Oklahoma, and she said “oh, there is a girl who works here who is from Oklahoma. She usually doesn’t work as a waitress, but she is covering for someone today. I will send her over.”

So here comes this cute girl. She asks where in Oklahoma we are from. We tell her Tulsa. We ask her name and where she is from. She says ... from ... my husband gets this weird look on his face and says, “I know your dad. He is my client.” Turns out my husband is defending her dad in a huge lawsuit that is going on now. And as soon as my husband told her his name, she knew who he was. Anyway, big reunion. She seemed so happy to see someone from home.

After the feast, we returned to Ketchikan. The plan was to take the town bus out to totem bight state park, but we realized we would have a long wait. So we ubered out. Yes, they have Uber in Ketchikan.

The park is filled with real totems taken from all over the surrounding area. Very interesting and well presented, plus you get to hike through a beautiful rainforest at the same time. Then back to the ship by bus.

We barely made it for trivia, but won again.

Dinner in GDR was again outstanding as far as the food, but with a real disconnect as far as service. Huge gaps between courses, they got my husband’s main wrong, etc etc.

The entertainment was an elderly magician. He was entertaining as well as funny.

So glad you are having a wonderful time. Your descriptions are written beautifully. My husband and I were on the San Francisco to Vancouver cruise and we, too, had a delightful time. Thanks for taking the time to highlight the trip.

Tried to post these pics last night but could not get good enough connection

Ketchikan morning

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George pulling in the crab pot

Our catch

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Beautiful rainforest

Hard to get an entire totem in a picture and see the detail. These were really special.

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LHT28 & RachelG, thanks for the info. RachelG loving your pictures and reports on your daily activities. So much excellent info.

June 15, 2018–cruising Endicott Arm and Dawes Glacier

Last night during dinner, the captain announced we would not be able to get in to Tracy Arm. Too much ice. Very disappointing, but at least I saw it once.

We had very smooth sailing all night. The morning was very bright and sunny, with little wind, but what my mother would call “a nice crisp morning” which meant that it looks pleasant but is quite nippy. Lots of snow covered peaks in the distance as we cruise north.

We had a lazy sea day morning. I went to needlepoint, and we did a movie title trivia. We came in 3rd. At about one pm, we entered Endicott Arm. Sailing up the Fjord, we saw more and more icebergs, many with seals lounging on top. We arrived at the glacier which is 300 ft high and 0.6 mile wide. We got within 1 1/2 mile which is actually close enough to see pretty well,but there was very minimal calving. If you have never seen a glacier before, it is better than nothing, but we have seen huge glaciers up close in Greenland and Svalbard, in addition to in Tracy Arm, which were very actively calving, so this was a bit of a letdown.

The weather was good, not too cold and minimal wind, so being out on deck was comfortable. The captain did a good job of turning the boat around completely so everyone could get a good look.

Nice trivia after the sail out. We have tied for first every time now. We are wanting a decisive win. Afterward was bingo, which had a huge turnout. We did not win at that although my DIL won a t shirt in the raffle.

Another delicious dinner in MDR. I used to think the MDR was not as good as the specialty restaurants, but this trip, it has been outstanding. The dark chocolate cake was SO yummy.

A few glacier pics

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Great pictures, looks some sunny days enjoy it while it lasts, thank you for all the info .

Thanks Rachel for the lovely photos and interesting posts. Although we live in NW have never made the Alaska trip. We're signed up the Tokyo to SF on RTW 2020 and look forward to the great stops in Alaska ports. What fun to do the cruise with your family!!

June 16, 2018–Sitka Alaska

Sailing so smooth that you could not even tell you were on a ship during the night. I awoke early and went upstairs to Horizons to avoid waking the hubby.

It was eerily beautiful outside, sort of bluish overcast as we sailed into Sitka, one of my favorite places in Alaska. Very quiet and calm with the cute town on one side and the tree covered islands on the other. The volcano (sleeping) was visible in the distance with its blown off top. It looked a bit damp outside, not raining but with a cool humidity.

Our excursion was one I had done before but love enough to repeat. Otters, raptors, and bears-OhMy! We started off by boarding the Allen Marine sightseeing vessel. Plenty of room onboard for everyone to spread out. It was one of the best wild life viewing cruises ever, even better than the last time. We saw a huge raft of otters as well as several solo, a bear on land, a Sitka deer mom and baby, a whole bunch of whales, seals, Eagles. There were animals everywhere.

We disembarked downtown and boarded a really beat up old bus and went to the raptor center, where they rehabilitate injured raptors as well as other birds for release back into the wild. We saw lots of eagles, hawks, owls, including a tiny little owl that was small enough to sit in my hand.

Then on to the fortress of the bear which takes care of bears that were orphaned as cubs. It is illegal to release these bears back into the wild in Alaska, so the alternative is to kill them. In fact, the guide told us that if a mother bear is killed in Alaska, the police are supposed to shoot the baby. This place works to prevent that from happening. They have several bears that have lived there most of their lives, including a female brown bear that has learned sign language.

Back to the ship, after a late lunch in the chaos of the Terrace when a bunch of tours arrive back all at the same time and it is 1:30, we went to bingo. Now anyone who knows me knows I never play bingo. But I was enticed by the possibility of winning a big jackpot. And guess what—I won $303!

We used up all our luck however, and did not win at trivia. After 3 wins in a row, we didn’t even place. But I would rather have $ than O points.

The weather had been cold and overcast all day, but it got significantly cooler, started raining. The seas really picked up, and they closed the outside decks. Suddenly, fog rolled in hard. There was literally no visibility. The foghorn started blowing every couple of minutes. I have only been in this dense of fog once on a ship, in the northern Atlantic on Silversea Explorer, and we almost hit a fishing boat.

Fortunately, this time, we didn’t hit anything. The fog dissipated after a couple of hour. We had dinner in Toscana. It was very delicious. Probably one of my favorite meals onboard. Afterward, we went to the comedy show which was very good. They offered karaoke, but i decided sleep was better.

Raft of otters

These guys were just chilling. Right behind them were a bunch of whales, but I was not fast enough to get a picture.

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Cute tiny owl

This guy was raised by humans who didn’t understand about raising wild birds. He is imprinted on humans and thinks his handler is his mom. Several years ago, his previous owners tried to release him into the wild, but he doesn’t know how to hunt and almost starved. So now he is the education bird at the raptor center.

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This guy severely broke his wing and can’t fly at all. So he lives outside in an big enclosure which is not covered, since he can’t fly off.

Eagles in the wild were everywhere.

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This is the girl who knows how to sign.

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Great pics! I've never seen so many otters together in one spot.

Great pics! I've never seen so many otters together in one spot.

Me either, and I have seen a lot of otters over the years.

June 17, 2018–Prince Rupert BC

With seas literally as smooth as glass, we slept like logs. I planned to attend church at 8:30, but didn’t wake up in time. We got up about 9 to bright sunshine, not a cloud in the sky, and temps in the 60s. The ship docked in Prince Rupert about 10:15.

Prince Rupert is a cute small town that went through some hard times previously, but is now on a resurgence due to the cruise economy. There is a nice terminal, with lots of shops nearby that sell stuff that is totally local, rather than the made in china junk sold in most Alaskan ports.

My husband and son had a father’s day fishing trip. They both love to fish, so very special for them. They were out as soon as we docked. They caught several big halibut as well as a salmon that had to be thrown back as salmon fishing is only catch and release right now. My husband declared it the best father’s day ever. We shipped about 35 lbs of halibut home.

Meanwhile the rest of us did a little city tour, very low key, then had an amazingly delicious lunch at an Italian place in town. Afterwards, we shopped, then my DIL and I walked to the sunken gardens which are beautiful, but we had a slightly scary encounter with a couple so high on some kind of drugs. I wasn’t too bothered as they were so high that I was sure we could outrun them if we needed to, but it was sad to see.

Back on the ship, we lost at trivia again. Our luck apparently is gone.

Dinner was again delicious in the GDR. And afterward was the show, Tuxedo, which was a Ratpack type show as well as the crew farewell. Outstanding. My DIL’s dad was picked to dance during part of the show, which is so great because he is actually an excellent dancer. So fun. The place was packed. And the after party was really rocking as well. Everyone was out and dancing.

Fishermen in Prince Rupert with part of their catch

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