"Live from" ms Volendam to Alaska! My First HAL Experience

[monina01]

DO NOT GO INTO THE BUILDING. YOUR CRUISE IS NOT THERE.

 

 

*snort* hehehe.. :D

[lovely_serenity]

Ooo, what's this? *zooms in closer*

 

 

It's the flag of the Netherlands! c: Awesome!

 

After I finished with my picture taking, the three of us met back up inside with Mom & Dad and went back down to our rooms to gather our stuff for port time! We walked a couple meters away from our rooms and arrived at the gangway, where we beeped our cards (haha, Sis made alarms/sirens go off again ^^) and got off the ship.

 

I turned around and took a quick picture before heading off to explore Ketchikan .. even though we pretty much know the whole place already.

 

 

I turned back around and right in front of us was this sign (across the street):

 

 

To my left was this statue thing we always take a picture with:

 

 

and into the visitor's center (we were docked in front of one) we went. After that was done, we headed to cross the busy street. Mom didn't realize there was a crossing guard next to us, so she poked her head out to see if traffic was clear to cross yet. Obviously alarmed, the crossing guard said "Ma'am! :O don't cross yet please!" Mom turned and realized there was a guy that was supposed to help us cross, and jumped back into the sidewalk. We all started laughing at how funny that looked ^^

 

10 seconds later, the crossing guard went and put up his stop sign and we thanks him and crossed to where all the other stores were. We went into 2 of the Tongass Trading Co. s and many other little stores, not really finding much souvenirs to buy for family and friends back home. We proceeded farther down the road the Ketchikan sign hung above and walked a couple blocks after reaching a consensus that we'd go check out Creek Street first.

 

We passed a salmon shop that offered us samples, to which we politely declined. The funny salesman told Bro to ask Dad: "Why Papa? Why you buy me no fish? D:" Haha ^^

 

I turned around and noticed this! I could see our ships horn quite well from here :D

 

 

We walked a couple more blocks, poked around in a couple stores, but still couldn't find anything worth buying. We either had it, it was way more expensive than it was worth, or we just didn't see anything we liked. We actually didn't really buy much from the other ports, as experience show'd that Ketchikan was the port to buy things, not Juneau nor Skagway. I only bought a Rainbow Topaz for ~$10 in Juneau, so that was all I had so far. (I buy a lot of pendants, prices should always be $5 -$15 max)

 

We did redeem a couple of free jewel coupons at a few stores. Cute, sparkly little gem stones c: (Coupons from Alaskan Coupon Booklet)

 

We finally arrived at Creek Street! It took like.. 2 whole minutes for us to get the darn pictures of us with the sign because workers with large metal sheets kept having to pass under it.. o_o and everyone had to get out of the way. Finally, we got our pictures:

 

 

On our first trip here to Alaska 3 years ago, Bro/Dad/Sis came here and was lucky enough to witness the salmon run in progress. They said there were more fish than water in the streams o_o I saw pictures. It's true. At that time, I was pendant/jewel hunting with Mom. Collected ~$500 worth of gems for free LOL.

[lovely_serenity]

Anyways :p, here's a look to the right of Creek Street:

 

 

and to the left!

 

 

Ooo, look there! A little rapid area! :D *zoom*

 

 

We felt done (seen it all before) so we turned back around to head in the left direction from where we stood. Lo and behold, Ms. Julie Barr! Sitting on the bench talking on her phone. She saw me look at her, she realized I recognized her and we smiled at each other c: We'd see her a few times during the trip in the Lido ^^ talking with other acts (like live music players & magic Bob) from around the ship.

 

A few paces from Julie Barr (for those who forgot, the comedian lady from Day 2/3) there was this "well known" totem pole:

 

 

I'm sorry but to me, that doesn't look completed -_- Apparently it is, but I disagree.

 

We walked around aimlessly for a while, slowly getting cooked by the Sun. Passed by this cute, colorful fire house on the way :)

 

 

Ketchikan fire houses are so pretty ^^

 

Right now, we were (relative to the ship, like, if I were on the ship looking at the city), in the Upper part of Ketchikan. We were slowly going Right, to go to some Ketchikam Mining Co. Stores and other tourist souvenir shops to buy stuff. We were pretty sure all the stores located closer to the ship would be more expensive. We were.. I guess right. It actually really made a difference price wise! o_o regarding our interest in items AND the prices! I bought a little penguin for ~$4. At Tongass Trading Co. #1 (there are three all located in a clump near the ship), the same looking little penguin of inferior quality costed $19!! O_O Woah.

 

So we eventually arrived at a bundle of stores we actually bought quite a bit from, we hung around there for a little while. As we were wrapping up our shopping, Sis & I noticed a funny book rack. They had odd Alaskanized(?) versions of classic children's story books. (ie. There was an Old Woman who Swallowed a Fly, I don't know why she swallowed a fly, I think she'll die became about this Native looking woman who swallowed seals, whales and salmon o_o)

 

I also saw this book: 0_0

 

 

LOL What?? ^^'

[lovely_serenity]

Yeah, so at the store we were at for a while, there was a nice open door that showed a nice view of the docks. (unfortunately for the store workers, this door made it possible for gusts of wind to knock all of their postcards and trinkets to get thrown about :/)

 

I stepped out once I had bought all my things and Bro was still browsing. This was the pretty ocean view I was met with. To the left:

 

 

right in front (I leaned shuffled forward to shoot over the railing) :

 

 

and to the right:

 

 

Hey look! :D it's our ship! ^^

 

We went into another nearby store that had more cute toys and Alaskan memorabilia and looked around. I came upon a few of these adorable little guys and SERIOUSLY considered buying them:

 

=^^= ahhh~ so cute!!

 

 

 

Except, it was $9 for one. :,( as much as I thought they were SO cute, that really is not worth it. Thrifty child I am.. D:

 

We left the store and slowly started making our way toward the ship.

 

 

(You can see Bro (black coat) all the way to the right, followed by Mom (black puffy coat), then Dad (with blue tote bag)).

[lovely_serenity]

We actually briefly popped into a jewelry store for me to buy a Morning Glory (Alaska's flower or something) pendant necklace. Mom haggled the price from $20 to $10. ^^ Thanks Mom~~ (I have to pay for it, every buck counts o_o LOL, II'm a kid, I don't have a lot of money).

 

We came out of the store happy and laughing with the salesmen and started to make our way toward the ship. I took more shot of the ship before that:

 

 

As we headed for the ship, I mentioned that we still hadn't gone to Tongass Trading Co. #1 yet! The big one to the left of the ship! Mom & Dad wearily agreed and we started making out way there.

 

 

Passed the visitor's center:

 

 

To the store!

 

 

Looking down, welcome to the store! :D

 

 

Then look up, lots of stuff! (expensive stuff o_o)

 

[lovely_serenity]

After looking around for a bit and finding like, one thing, we left the store.

 

We then headed back across the street to hit one more Tongass Trading Co. (#2 I think) that we had forgotten to visit.

 

This was a 3 story high one! Upper level is women's wear, lower one is men's wear and middle is souvenirs.

 

Downstairs, we saw a shirt design printed on a shirt we though was pretty funny ^^ :

 

 

Once we were done all our shopping and were carrying ~5 tote bags, we headed back to the gangway to see if we could still make it for Afternoon Tea. It was already 3:30pm :( It starts at 3pm!

 

After passing through security (This guy was being kind of stupid when he saw an Ulu in a tote bag and held on to it to check it out when it came out the machine. He just held it at the mouth of the machine and had the rest of our bags get jammed up. Mom's purse and more bags were now sliding off of the belt and heading toward the floor! Mom unsuccessfully tried to grab it, so I grabbed it and lifted the whole thing off the belt. :D Good job me!)

 

We went back into our rooms and saw this guy in our room, Sis would grow to love it and call it "her monkey" ^^

 

 

We quickly ran upstairs to the main dining room to see if Afternoon Tea was still open. (We were late before and it was closed). It was already 3:45pm but they still were open! :D Yay!

 

We quickly grabbed a seat and were served our tea as well as our snacks:

 

 

Here's Mom's plate of goodies:

 

 

The chocolate thing was really good, like a brownie or cake or something. The other beige coloured thing was some sort of almond cake. Mom really liked it. I thought it was alright.

 

Sis's plate (both of which I told her to get because they looked funny ^^:

 

 

The pink thing was a mousse of ridiculously sweet stuff. Since I have a sweet tooth, I have a tolerance for this stuff. Sis couldn't eat it because it was way too sweet for her, in wasn't edible in her opinion. To me, well.. o_o I didn't really like it, but I could tolerate it. Tongue power! >:D The tart was just.. alright.

 

My plate of snacks:

 

 

There's my chocolate thing! (: and a weird little sugar drenched wafer cookie weird cream filled thing. o_o It's texture was the stab-it-it-cracks-in-half type.

[lovely_serenity]

I then took my usual flower picture:

 

 

and then Bro's plate:

 

 

Meh, not my style, but he seemed to enjoy it. (Dad didn't get anything).

 

Here's my tea, I decided to try drinking the Apple Cranberry one that Mom always drinks. It's refreshing and yummy c:

 

 

All done! ^^

 

 

We all eventually went up to the Lido for snacks:

 

 

Pretend candles are out! :)

 

[lovely_serenity]

Nothing's really ready for meals yet though ..

 

 

Here's what tonight's casual dinner menu looked like:

 

 

 

I noticed that they were setting up something that looked special in the Lido:

 

 

I asked Dad what it meant, He said Selamat Datang meant: "Welcome", but he didn't know what the other meant. (He's from Malaysia, so he knows a few Indonesian words).

 

We headed toward to elevators to go down to deck 5 to play some chess. I took this random cupcake shot while we waited for the elevators:

 

 

We arrived in the game room and we all played chess for a little bit. I started to get bored and got interested in how much the back rests could lean (almost flat!). I decided to be a little dork and lean until I was upside down and take a picture (LOL) ^^'

 

 

That red-ish tuft of hair to the left is Mom's head :D

 

After chess, we all dispersed because Mom, Dad & Bro wanted to go watch some movie about a white fang or something and Sis & I didn't. We split up and agreed to meet up in our rooms for dinner.

 

Sis and I stuck together and decided to go explore the ship. (My family was actually not aware initially that I was taking so many random photos for this review ^^'). We first headed to deck 6 which we had never been to yet.

[lovely_serenity]

Thanks for your info list, very informative.

 

You're welcome! :) && great! That's what I had hoped! ^^

[Krazy Kruizers]

I love Ketchikan.

Sadly the last time we were there it was pouring rain and we were docked clear down at the new pier.

Pictures of Ketchikan and food are great.

[Tinknock50]

Okay, answering another question (correctly hopefully)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.

 

Sarah,

This is what I found in my research.....http://www.translink.ca/~/media/Documents/schedules_and_maps/elevator_maps/Waterfront_Station_Elevator_Map.ashx

 

There is a little note in the lower left corner describing the station depicted on your map called "Waterfront Station Northbound". This is just South of Hastings on Granville. I am planning on taking the elevator there to the street level, turning left (East) on Hastings and then right on Howe. As you know, Howe is a straight shot to the ramp to the terminal.

This will be much simpler because you it doesn't involve doing the twists and turns and backtracking East to the Old train station.

 

I will see if I can draw it in your map later because I have to go to work now.:)

 

After many, many cruises out of Vancouver, I remember fondly that steep ramp that takes me to the always much anticipated cruise!:)

 

By the way, I am just loving all your wonderful pictures!

[Tinknock50]

OK....I was able to trace my route in dark blue....

[Tinknock50]

I called and they said I could also board the train back to the airport at the Granville and Hastings Station. Makes sense because this is the actual terminus for the Canada Line.:)

(The tunnel to the rest of the train connections under the old train station starts here.)

[lovely_serenity]

*snort* hehehe.. :D

LOL it's true! :D

[lovely_serenity]

I love Ketchikan.

Sadly the last time we were there it was pouring rain and we were docked clear down at the new pier.

Pictures of Ketchikan and food are great.

I do too, it's one of my favourite ports (: I always buy the most stuff there!

 

Awh, what a shame! D:

 

Thank you c:

[lovely_serenity]

Sarah,

This is what I found in my research.....http://www.translink.ca/~/media/Documents/schedules_and_maps/elevator_maps/Waterfront_Station_Elevator_Map.ashx

 

There is a little note in the lower left corner describing the station depicted on your map called "Waterfront Station Northbound". This is just South of Hastings on Granville. I am planning on taking the elevator there to the street level, turning left (East) on Hastings and then right on Howe. As you know, Howe is a straight shot to the ramp to the terminal.

This will be much simpler because you it doesn't involve doing the twists and turns and backtracking East to the Old train station.

 

I will see if I can draw it in your map later because I have to go to work now.:)

 

After many, many cruises out of Vancouver, I remember fondly that steep ramp that takes me to the always much anticipated cruise!:)

 

By the way, I am just loving all your wonderful pictures!

 

OK....I was able to trace my route in dark blue....

 

I called and they said I could also board the train back to the airport at the Granville and Hastings Station. Makes sense because this is the actual terminus for the Canada Line.:)

(The tunnel to the rest of the train connections under the old train station starts here.)

 

 

Okay, first of all, thanks for loving my pictures (: LOL

 

&& So on my map, that is a Google map image:

 

 

The location of the "train stations" are not correct. I'm going by what I saw in real life, which is this one:

 

 

That giant red brick building there is the ONLY Waterfront Station there is. I haven't a clue why the cartoon Google map has it wrong. Because as you can see, Waterfront Station is not south of Hastings. It is north of Cordova St.

 

So as per my real life picture, there is no back tracking in my plans. (Thanks for taking your time with all this by the way) I saw your dark blue line drawing, and that drawing is off off the wack-a-doodle of a Google image. Waterfront Station is not south of Hastings, so where you will be exiting the building, will be probably out of that red brick building right? That's the yellow circle depicted above.

 

Here (thanks by the way) is a map of the INSIDE of that RED BRICK BUILDING. (Waterfront Station)

 

My shortcut looks like this:

 

 

You are staying WITHIN Waterfront Station and simply walking through the train area to resurface in front of Canada Place on HOWE St.

 

That opening as indicated below (On Howe St.)

 

 

Again, is where you will resurface.

 

&& your thing about being able to go to the airport, this is what I found online:

 

 

:D There ya go!

Edited June 3, 2013 by lovely_serenity

[Tinknock50]

Okay, first of all, thanks for loving my pictures (: LOL

 

&& So on my map, that is a Google map image:

 

 

The location of the "train stations" are not correct. I'm going by what I saw in real life, which is this one:

 

 

That giant red brick building there is the ONLY Waterfront Station there is. I haven't a clue why the cartoon Google map has it wrong. Because as you can see, Waterfront Station is not south of Hastings. It is north of Cordova St.

 

So as per my real life picture, there is no back tracking in my plans. (Thanks for taking your time with all this by the way) I saw your dark blue line drawing, and that drawing is off off the wack-a-doodle of a Google image. Waterfront Station is not south of Hastings, so where you will be exiting the building, will be probably out of that red brick building right? That's the yellow circle depicted above.

 

Here (thanks by the way) is a map of the INSIDE of that RED BRICK BUILDING. (Waterfront Station)

 

My shortcut looks like this:

 

 

You are staying WITHIN Waterfront Station and simply walking through the train area to resurface in front of Canada Place on HOWE St.

 

That opening as indicated below (On Howe St.)

 

 

Again, is where you will resurface.

 

&& your thing about being able to go to the airport, this is what I found online:

 

 

There ya go!

 

Sarah,

There is indeed a station at Hastings and Granville.

Here is direct quote from TransLink... I put the part in bold referring to where I will leave the station. (Click on the red link for an excellent representation of how the tunnel leads from the end of the Canada Line to the red brick building.)

 

 

Canada Line Waterfront Station

 

On West Cordova Street between Granville and Seymour in downtown Vancouver, this station links to SeaBus and West Coast Express. Enter from Cordova through the old railway station or from the dedicated Canada Line entrance on Granville just south of Hastings.

Canada Line Waterfront Station Map

 

The ironic thing is, you were actually there if you took the train from the airport. But instead of taking the elevator or stairs up to the street, you took the tunnel that leads to the red brick building. (check what it says in the blue box on the left side of the train station diagram you copied above.)

 

I am just skipping the tunnel and taking the streets to the terminal, that's all.

 

There ya go....:)

Edited June 4, 2013 by Tinknock50

[Tinknock50]

 

 

 

I quoted your copy of this map so you could read the blue box at the bottom left you overlooked..... "An elevator is also located at Canada Line entrance at West Hastings and Granville streets"

 

All information I posted is directly from the Trans Link site.

[Pipester]

Sarah, I've spent the last 2 evening reading all 24 pages of your trip report - it has been a pleasure! I taught high school for years, and this is the first year I'm not a classroom teacher (I'm a resource teacher now, and work with teachers instead of students). Reading your bright, amusing, cheerful entries makes me miss my kids!

 

I love your photography (I have the 50D - your camera's predecessor), and can't wait to take my own Alaskan cruise pictures very soon!

[Tinknock50]

"Sarah, I've spent the last 2 evening reading all 24 pages of your trip report - it has been a pleasure! I taught high school for years, and this is the first year I'm not a classroom teacher (I'm a resource teacher now, and work with teachers instead of students). Reading your bright, amusing, cheerful entries makes me miss my kids!

 

I love your photography (I have the 50D - your camera's predecessor), and can't wait to take my own Alaskan cruise pictures very soon!"

 

 

 

I agree! They are beautiful!

 

Sarah.....all I can do is post those dinky thumbnails on Cruise Critic. Can you show me how to put full size pictures here?:confused:

[lovely_serenity]

Sarah,

There is indeed a station at Hastings and Granville.

Here is direct quote from TransLink... I put the part in bold referring to where I will leave the station. (Click on the red link for an excellent representation of how the tunnel leads from the end of the Canada Line to the red brick building.)

 

 

Canada Line Waterfront Station

 

On West Cordova Street between Granville and Seymour in downtown Vancouver, this station links to SeaBus and West Coast Express. Enter from Cordova through the old railway station or from the dedicated Canada Line entrance on Granville just south of Hastings.

Canada Line Waterfront Station Map

 

The ironic thing is, you were actually there if you took the train from the airport. But instead of taking the elevator or stairs up to the street, you took the tunnel that leads to the red brick building. (check what it says in the blue box on the left side of the train station diagram you copied above.)

 

I am just skipping the tunnel and taking the streets to the terminal, that's all.

 

There ya go....:)

 

 

I quoted your copy of this map so you could read the blue box at the bottom left you overlooked..... "An elevator is also located at Canada Line entrance at West Hastings and Granville streets"

 

All information I posted is directly from the Trans Link site.

 

LOL So basically we do the same exact thing, except I'm running around indoors and you outdoors. (By the way, I go to the red brick building because that's where all the crowd goes LOL) I'm the indoorsy type so I don't enjoy being roasted by the Sun :p, that is why I choose running around underground as opposed to walking outside ^^

[lovely_serenity]

Sarah, I've spent the last 2 evening reading all 24 pages of your trip report - it has been a pleasure! I taught high school for years, and this is the first year I'm not a classroom teacher (I'm a resource teacher now, and work with teachers instead of students). Reading your bright, amusing, cheerful entries makes me miss my kids!

 

I love your photography (I have the 50D - your camera's predecessor), and can't wait to take my own Alaskan cruise pictures very soon!

 

Awwh, your comment is so sweet c: Thank you for taking all that time to read my report! It makes me happy to hear it! ^^

 

I'm glad that I can give you your daily dose of childishness then! :p

 

Oo thank you! :) I'm super proud of my pictures! ^^ (Oh I know that camera! I've seen it online!)

 

I do hope you take an Alàskan cruise soon so that you can share your trip with me! :D

[lovely_serenity]

 

I agree! They are beautiful!

 

Sarah.....all I can do is post those dinky thumbnails on Cruise Critic. Can you show me how to put full size pictures here?:confused:

 

Hehe thank you c:

 

Ohh, I have to use flickr and create a url to make the image appear right on the forum. Click a photo in flickr and click"show all sizes".

Then when you have your picture of your desired size, right click the image and hit "open in new tab". Here you will have a URL to paste in the insert image thing that should work. Preview your post to check if it worked. :D

[monina01]

your thread is actually rapidly on its way to the 33.000 views...wow...guess I'm not the only one checking the thread every day for new updates :)

[lovely_serenity]

your thread is actually rapidly on its way to the 33.000 views...wow...guess I'm not the only one checking the thread every day for new updates :)

 

Hehe I know right? I'm so proud of my amount of views because

 

1.) It's based off of my hard work :p

2.) It's my first time doing a trip report ^^

 

Haha, I'll work hard to produce more installations! :D