Trip Journal - 7 day Alaskan Explorer on Westerdam

[NoobCruise]

The window reflections on this one make me sad.

 

956 by Rescue-Diver, on Flickr

 

966 by Rescue-Diver, on Flickr

 

A few of DHs photos with his fancy camera

 

Alaska Cruise_20120906_103222 by Rescue-Diver, on Flickr

 

Alaska Cruise_20120906_103238 by Rescue-Diver, on Flickr

 

Alaska Cruise_20120906_103504 by Rescue-Diver, on Flickr

 

Alaska Cruise_20120906_103752 by Rescue-Diver, on Flickr

[NoobCruise]

George Inlet Lodge, where we'll have the crab feed. Which, by the way, I don't like crab lol DH loves it though and had been looking forward to this.

 

Alaska Cruise_20120906_104049 by Rescue-Diver, on Flickr

 

Back to my shots

 

977 by Rescue-Diver, on Flickr

 

979 by Rescue-Diver, on Flickr

 

OK, this is where this excursion goes down hill. Not that it was a bad excursion, but they pretty much herded us through like cattle. It was a BEAUTIFUL sunny day and we wanted a little time to snap a few photos. The employees seemed quite annoyed with DH and I lagging behind. We managed a couple of shots, honestly no more then 5 minutes.

 

983 What an incredibly beautiful day! by Rescue-Diver, on Flickr

 

984 by Rescue-Diver, on Flickr

 

 

 

 

 

[Rebel54]

Wonderful as usual. How was the food? I had signed on for a food trip there and then changed my mind to do the Island Wings Misty Fjords trip. I'm so glad I did from what I'm reading.

 

On a side note, is there a way through this thing to PM you? I'm looking and can't find it. I wanted to ask you an off line question.

[NoobCruise]

Year round residents

 

986 by Rescue-Diver, on Flickr

 

999 by Rescue-Diver, on Flickr

 

When we got to the dining room, it was in a tiny room that felt very tight and cramped. Everyone else (maybe 20 in the group?) was already seated at one very long table, and were already served drinks and salad. Seriously, we hadn't been more then 5 or 10 minutes. I think maybe the salads were already placed on the table before our group even entered. Anyway, they were seated such that there were only 2 chairs left, at completely opposite ends of the table lol thankfully our group was great and even though they had already started eating, everyone on our side up and moved a chair over so I could sit with DH :) That was very nice of them :)

 

However, only half the people got a view out the window. The rest of us sat with our backs to the window facing a wall. There was so little room that I barely had room to squeeze by others and get into my chair, and I'm not that big of a person lol We didn't like the dining set up at all. We paid an awful lot of money to stare at the wall.

 

Anyway, DH said the crab was very good, but not anything special that you couldn't get at a fine restaurant. Although many people ate 3 whole crabs lol Some literally had butter running down their chins the entire meal as they shoveled the crab in lol I kind of felt like I was sitting at a pig trough, but they all seemed to be enjoying themselves immensely lol I had a lemon chicken that was VERY good..... I know, sacrilegious to go to a crab feed with a group of crab lovers and be the only one to eat chicken lol My order was met with stunned silence from the room lol like there was something wrong with me lol Then someone spoke out and said "can I have hers?" lol My lemon chicken was very tasty though. The blueberry cheesecake was honestly the best cheesecake I've ever had. Very yummy! DH didn't like hearing that though as he considers himself king of cheese cake making lol

 

Anyway, we thought that after dining we'd have time to enjoy a glass of wine/beer on the deck and enjoy the scenery. It is a beautiful setting, very remote and isolated feeling, and what a beautiful day! But no, we were almost immediately herded from the dining table onto a bus and sent back to the ship.

 

If we could do it over, we would have done the Misty Fjord Flight seeing.

[NoobCruise]

Wonderful as usual. How was the food? I had signed on for a food trip there and then changed my mind to do the Island Wings Misty Fjords trip. I'm so glad I did from what I'm reading.

 

On a side note, is there a way through this thing to PM you? I'm looking and can't find it. I wanted to ask you an off line question.

 

EXCELLENT choice! We both really wish we'd ignored the weather the night before and switched.

 

I don't think there is PM on here, but you can email me at

 

user123 at world-exploration dot org

[NoobCruise]

I had wanted to see Creek St. We did drive by it and it looked very cool, but once again, my back interfered (I've already had 1 spinal fusion and have been putting off a 2nd). Creek St looked like all touristy shops and neither of us is into shopping, so no big loss to us lol Back to the ship.

 

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The Golden Princess set sail just before us and we followed her out of port. The day was just stunning and we spent the entire rest of the day on our balcony. Do you like sunset pics? I hope so because the sunset was amazing and I'm going to post a bunch of them.

 

1053 (2) by Rescue-Diver, on Flickr

[NoobCruise]

Caught napping again lol

 

1059 by Rescue-Diver, on Flickr

 

OK, I admit I dozed off a time or 2 lol The sun was just so hypnotizing!

 

Alaska Cruise_20120906_182436 by Rescue-Diver, on Flickr

 

1064 by Rescue-Diver, on Flickr

 

 

 

 

[NoobCruise]

DH went inside and took a nice nap, but I stayed out on the balcony all day. and made a friend. He sat by me for about 15 minutes lol Look at how intricate his wings are

 

1077 by Rescue-Diver, on Flickr

 

Ready for the sunset?

 

1100 by Rescue-Diver, on Flickr

 

Napping again lol

 

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1109 (2) by Rescue-Diver, on Flickr

[NoobCruise]

If you recall, we were on the balcony on the back corner of the ship, directly below the Lido deck under the Sea View Pool/bar. I had been photographing the sun all day and we were JUST GETTING TO THE GOOD PART of the sunset when water started trickling down from above. At first, I thought someone had tossed their drink overboard and it had splashed down on our balcony. But the water kept coming and increased in volume, and we realized they were scubbing down the deck above us lol Oh no! DHs camera was set up on a tripod and I didn't want to miss my sunset lol So DH ran to the Neptune Lounge and talked to the concierge, who immediately called the crew and they stopped cleaning and allowed me to take an amazing series. We were thrilled and impressed with their response, but DH missed most of the sunset :(

 

These were all taken with my Powershot and tend to get grainy. I should have grabbed DHs camera. We decided this trip, I'm getting a new camera lol

 

1119 by Rescue-Diver, on Flickr

 

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1129 by Rescue-Diver, on Flickr

 

 

 

[NoobCruise]

Maybe I'm posting too many in this series, but oh well lol Indulge me

 

1133 by Rescue-Diver, on Flickr

 

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[NoobCruise]

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Thank you HAL for the great customer service and indulging me :)

[NoobCruise]

This is the Alaska board and our next 2 ports were Victoria BC and back to Seattle, BUT they were part of our Alaska cruise so I'm going to keep going.

 

We woke up to another beautiful day in the sun. I spent all day out on the balcony and even had to change into shorts it was so nice.

 

In the early afternoon, the concierge from the Neptune Lounge called us and asked if we would be in our room as they wanted to bring something by. They showed up with complimentary cocktails - our drinks of choice - as an apology for dousing us the night before lol We thought that was very ice. We had also picked up some tasty treats from the Neptune Lounge earlier.

 

Rebel54, if you have a chocolate craving, go to the Neptune! they always have chocolate candy and treats out and they're very good!

 

1166 Our last day relaxing on the balcony by Rescue-Diver, on Flickr

 

While we were relaxing, I spotted some whales following in our wake. We spotted whales from our balcony 4 different times on different days :)

 

1163 (2) by Rescue-Diver, on Flickr

 

Same shot, but cropped in

 

1163 by Rescue-Diver, on Flickr

 

Couldn't ask for better weather for our last day

 

1167 by Rescue-Diver, on Flickr

[NoobCruise]

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1180 by Rescue-Diver, on Flickr

 

I'm not sure which mountain this is, I think Mt Rainier, but it was clear enough we could see it as we sailed in to Victoria

 

1184 by Rescue-Diver, on Flickr

 

1201 by Rescue-Diver, on Flickr

 

As we pulled in to Victoria, we spotted the Golden Princess and NCLs Jewel already docked

 

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1215 by Rescue-Diver, on Flickr

[NoobCruise]

It amazes me how easily they managed to maneuver these big ships in port. I'm sure it takes some serious training lol They just make it look so easy! We're going to back right up in there next to the Golden Princess

 

1223 by Rescue-Diver, on Flickr

 

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1253 by Rescue-Diver, on Flickr

 

We did not have any excursions planned for Victoria. I had researched and had a map and we just planned to walk along the harbor path, check out shops and grab some dinner. We figured we would be pretty tired and just wanted a laid back evening. We had already packed before we went in to Victoria, so we didn't have any pressure there.

 

I'm so glad we did this. If you haven't noticed, I'm a nut for sun, sky and water shots, especially sunsets and reflections. Victoria was perfect. We were snapping pics every step of the way as the sun went down on the harbor.

 

This one isn't particularly pretty, but I love it. When I was growing up, we had a houseboat on a local lake. It was only one story, and my mom and her friend had painted 4 ft high purple and turquoise cartoon elephants with cocktails in hand all over it. They named the boat "the Souse boat", which is german for drunk lol I'm quite sure they were drinking when they did this lol Anyway, my best childhood memories were on that houseboat. I liked the reflections in the wate too.

 

1266 (2) by Rescue-Diver, on Flickr

 

1268 by Rescue-Diver, on Flickr

 

1270 by Rescue-Diver, on Flickr

[NoobCruise]

I kept trying to get good shots of the ducks swimming in the reflections, but they wouldn't cooperate and be still lol my camera didn't take great shots

 

1277 by Rescue-Diver, on Flickr

 

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[NoobCruise]

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[NoobCruise]

The Empress Hotel

 

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1347 by Rescue-Diver, on Flickr

 

The Government Building

 

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1351 by Rescue-Diver, on Flickr

 

The Empress Hotel again

 

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1361 by Rescue-Diver, on Flickr

[NoobCruise]

We walked all the way around to the Empress Hotel, which was a good little walk. by then we were worn out from our week and my back was done so we decided to just head back to the ship.

 

There were lots of water taxis and ferries running back and forth across the harbor, even after dark.

 

1385 by Rescue-Diver, on Flickr

 

We got back to the ship between 9:30 and 10.

 

1401 by Rescue-Diver, on Flickr

 

After dinner, we went out on our balacony, and I noticed the moon

 

1422 by Rescue-Diver, on Flickr

 

It was beautiful sailing out of Victoria on our last night.

 

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1468 by Rescue-Diver, on Flickr

 

 

1477 by Rescue-Diver, on Flickr

[NoobCruise]

Sadly, we woke up the next morning back in Seattle with the sun rising over the Golden Princess, who was docked right next to us again at Pier 91

 

1501 by Rescue-Diver, on Flickr

 

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My very last cup up coffee on our balcony. So sad :(

 

1508 by Rescue-Diver, on Flickr

 

1516 by Rescue-Diver, on Flickr

[NoobCruise]

BUT we still had a full day in Seattle planned. I'm going to include it because I think everyone should include a day of sight seeing in their home port - well unless you live there lol

 

We had great plans for Seattle. DH pretty much let me plan this one. When he was in the US Coast Guard, his ship used to make stops in Seattle a lot. He was interested in how his old stomping grounds had changed in the last 20 years. I had planned a full day of exploring. I wanted to ride the new ferris wheel on the waterfront, then explore Pioneer Square. DH used to hang out there a lot. I wanted to do the Underground Tour. And I wanted to go to the Chuhuly Glass Garden by the Space Needle. Neither of us had any interest in the Space Needle. My sister, who is about 20 years older then me, used to live in Seattle when I was growing up. I don't remember touring around down town much, but my dad would always take us to dinner in the Space Needle when we visited. It's very expensive for dinner though. If you've never been, you should at least go up to the observation platform to see the views. The entire floor revolves so if you stand still, you'll slowly get a 360d view of the city.

 

Anyway, we gathered the last of our stuff and reluctantly left the ship. We had arranged for Go Shuttle Express to pick us up at the Pier and take us to the Crowne Plaza on 6th Ave. Our room wasn't ready yet (it was early!), but they upgraded us to a suite on the 34th floor with great views of the skyline with the Space Needle and Puget Sound. Nice! It pays to be a Platinum Priority Member lol a perk of all DHs travels for work.

 

1519 by Rescue-Diver, on Flickr

 

1522 by Rescue-Diver, on Flickr

 

Out the window, DH spotted where he wanted to go for lunch/early dinner. Not because of the dinner, but for CHEESECAKE! lol

 

Alaska Cruise_20120908_193917 by Rescue-Diver, on Flickr

 

I was more than happy to because, with the exception of a couple of desserts, I had been disappointed by HALs sweet offerings. So we walked down and had some fish 'n chips and a corona..........and dessert! Now here was a dessert worthy of its excessive calories lol

 

1531 by Rescue-Diver, on Flickr

[NoobCruise]

While we were walking around, we had seen these crazy tours go by called the "Duck Tours". I had seen people on here post about it and had wondered what it was. We had seen them in San Francisco as well, so I knew what a "duck" was - it's a vehicle that was used in WWII that can go on land and in water.

 

1534 by Rescue-Diver, on Flickr

 

Every time one would go by, they had LOUD music playing and everyone in the vehicle would yell and cheer. It looked like fun. We'd done so much walking all week, we were both pretty tired, and sitting down for a city tour sounded heavenly lol I asked ot our hotel and they said we could catch a tour at Westlake Center or at the Space Needle. We weren't far from Westlake Center so we walked down and booked a tour. They run every 30 minutes for a 1 1/2 hour tour, but they're so popular, we had to wait a couple of hours. So we walked around little and snapped a few more pics.

 

1535 by Rescue-Diver, on Flickr

 

1537 by Rescue-Diver, on Flickr

 

It was another amazing sunny day - shocker for Seattle lol I was wearing jeans and a short sleeved tshirt, but I would have been more comfortable in shorts.

[NoobCruise]

IT was finally time to board our tour. This was our tour guide. I'm going to post a BUNCH of photos of him. You'll figure out why.

 

1549 by Rescue-Diver, on Flickr

 

Get it?

 

1550 by Rescue-Diver, on Flickr

 

He turned some loud music on - Let's get this party started! by Black Eyed Peas

 

1552 by Rescue-Diver, on Flickr

 

First off, we headed down to Westlake for the water tour. As we approached the lake, he asked if anyone was nervous going in the water? He started playing the theme to Gilligan's Island lol

 

Just as we were about to enter the water, we passed another Duck tour and had a screaming match with them

 

1564 by Rescue-Diver, on Flickr

 

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[NoobCruise]

From Westlake, we got some great views of the city skyline and the bridges

 

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The houseboat from the Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan movie Sleepless in Seattle

 

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[NoobCruise]

You should be getting the picture of our tour guide lol He never said a WORD about all his hat changes, but every time we looked back at him, he looked different. It was pretty funny. He must have had 20 hats up there.

 

 

1621 by Rescue-Diver, on Flickr

 

Once we left the lake, we headed through town. He took us along the water front and blasted the theme song from the Love Boat as we passed Pier 61 where the NCL cruise ship was docked lol

 

As we drove through town, he tried to get the people walking along the street to dance. He was actually successful lol

 

1644 by Rescue-Diver, on Flickr

 

W drove all around downtown, through Pike Market Place and Pioneer Square before he returned us to Westlake Center. It was a very entertaining tour and I highly recommend it. Now that we're home, we're going to go do the Duck Tour in San Francisco lol

 

After all that, we were beat and decided to just head back to our room and watch the sun set on Puget Sound.

 

1648 by Rescue-Diver, on Flickr

[NoobCruise]

OK, these last couple of posts are all sunset, so if you're not into sunsets, you can move on to another thread. But you'll miss the best sunset of our week...... all photographed out the window of our hotel room

 

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