Alaska Cruise May 31 to June 1. With pics.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Wonderful review and wonderful pictures.

[portofrome]

Thanks for posting your great photos and review.

[puppycanducruise]

Thanks for sharing.

:)

[VermeulT]

I'm so enjoying this. Thanks for sharing. I love the tip about feeding the bears. I'm adding to my must-do-list for 2015.

[gina06]

Looks like I skipped day. Told you guys I really enjoyed Sitka. So back to glacier bay.

 

I ordered room service early this day, hoping it would make me wake up. Unfortunately, room service delivered breakfast but I ended up laying back down and falling asleep. Make sure you get up early, going back to sleep caused me to miss orcas right next to the boat. Super mad and sad. After the captain came on the intercom to announce the orcas, we were up and on the lido deck. Even though we had a balcony, we mostly hung up out in the crows nest and lido, once next to the glacier we went to the front of the lido, thru the spa to the front.

 

It was rainy most of the day in glacier bay, we started in the crows nest listening to the park rangers, but the rain caused us to move to the lido because you cannot see out the window. But before leaving the crows nest the park ranger pointed out mountain goats and bear( my camera did not have a powerful lens so no photo) I do wish that you could hear the park rangers on the lido, as they had a lot of information and pointed out a lot of animals.It is available on the tv in your room.

 

Rainy beginning.

 

 

 

 

They called it Sea lion island, we could see them from our balcony they were very vocal. (This is at the very end, leaving glacier bay)

 

In the water you see tons of black dots in the water, they are sea lions, and sea otters. They are everywhere (hundreds) and it took me a while to figure out what they were. LOL.

This is the best picture I got of the sea otters.

 

Goodbye glacier bay.

[gina06]

Ketchikan was not that eventful. I wish I would scheduled an excursion here. We got off the boat again at 7am, no stores were open and not a lot of people. We decided to walk creek street. But being it was so early no stores were open, we then climbed a ton of stairs to married man trail. We continued to the raptor center and salmon hatchery but it was closed with no signs even saying it was closed. Alot of people walked here thinking it open at a later time, we had to walk to the totem museum to ask about it. We walked back to creek street all the stores were now open. But if want to do an excursion I highly recommend doing it at this port, you won't miss anything exciting (unlike sitka).

 

 

 

 

 

[gina06]

This town is very pretty, and we just walked it. There are many different routes you can take. We took the route to fisherman wharf.

 

 

 

We did not get to see the any local sea lions or sea otters that live here. (there are even signs saying not to feed them, but locals were there trying to lure the seal out)

 

Here he is although all he got was sea gulls. But despite not seeing a sea lion or sea otter we did see a mink.

 

We walked by parliament building.

And the empress.

 

One question I do see a lot of people ask is if food and drinks can be taken on and off the ship. We had no issues with this. We would take food on and off the ship in every port. We got beef jerky in seattle, that we would take everywhere with us to snack on. Then we got jelly and syrup in Alaska. And a ton of chocolate in Canada. Also we bought snacks and drink from local stores and had no issues with that either. I even brought open soda back on the ship. I just made sure to have it in a backpack, and not just in my hand. It made it easier to get thru security that way also.

Edited June 18, 2014 by gina06

[runnergirl71]

Did we jump to Victoria in that last one?

 

 

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[gina06]

Did we jump to Victoria in that last one?

 

 

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I only missed glacier bay. The route was:

Get on boat Seattle

Day at sea

Juneau

Glacier bay

Sitka

Victoria, British Columbia Canada

Seattle.

[runnergirl71]

I only missed glacier bay. The route was:

 

Get on boat Seattle

 

Day at sea

 

Juneau

 

Glacier bay

 

Sitka

 

Victoria, British Columbia Canada

 

Seattle.

 

 

Right, I know the itinerary. I was just confused because it jumped from Ketchikan pictures into "this town is very pretty, and we just walked it".

 

Oh...now I see. I never see people changing the title so I don't bother checking it. Sorry. :)

 

 

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[gina06]

Right, I know the itinerary. I was just confused because it jumped from Ketchikan pictures into "this town is very pretty, and we just walked it".

 

Oh...now I see. I never see people changing the title so I don't bother checking it. Sorry. :)

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

No problem, sorry for the confusion. This is my first time doing a review. I know it helped me to read reviews with picture before I left. So im hoping I help out some for other people.

[gina06]

So I have to go to work. I have one more day with photos. I will also post links so you guys can look at more photos that would not all fit on this review. :)

Edited June 18, 2014 by gina06

[runnergirl71]

No problem, sorry for the confusion. This is my first time doing a review. I know it helped me to read reviews with picture before I left. So im hoping I help out some for other people.

 

 

It did!! Thanks!! It was especially nice to see a cabin very similar to mine (I have 6011 so other side and more forward)! :)

 

 

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[wrigley80]

Very nice review. I'm a TA and I just booked a cruise today for a client to cruise in Alaska next summer on Holland Amerca

[slabeaume]

Thanks for the great pictures. They reminded me of some of the things we did on our Alaskan cruises.

[runnergirl71]

Quick question...

 

In another thread, there's been some discussion on when the International Dinner night is on this itinerary. On most, it's the last night, but some say they think on itineraries with Victoria overlapping with dinner it's the night before. Do you remember which night it was?

 

I know in looking at the menu there is really nothing on it that appeals to me, so I'll likely do room service for food and just go and hang out with my group while they eat whichever night it is (or more accurately, if it's the night before I'll do that while if it's Victoria night I'll plan to just get something ashore).

 

Thanks!

[Mytime2014]

Gina thanks for posting your review and awesome pictures. I checked out your FB albums. Wondering if you were comfortable for the weather in the jeans/sweatshirt combo? Planning my clothes for 7/5 cruise on the Westerdam.

[happythoughts]

Great review. Where was the beach area where you walked before getting on the bus in Sitka? Was that right near where you got off the tender?

[I_r_a]

Thanks for sharing, gina

 

Ira

[Susie51]

Thank you for sharing your review and pics with us.

[gina06]

Quick question...

 

In another thread, there's been some discussion on when the International Dinner night is on this itinerary. On most, it's the last night, but some say they think on itineraries with Victoria overlapping with dinner it's the night before. Do you remember which night it was?

 

I know in looking at the menu there is really nothing on it that appeals to me, so I'll likely do room service for food and just go and hang out with my group while they eat whichever night it is (or more accurately, if it's the night before I'll do that while if it's Victoria night I'll plan to just get something ashore).

 

Thanks!

 

I'm not sure about the international dinner? I didn't see or hear anything about that. I know when in Victoria they do not have late dining, just early dining (we had 2125 on board which I thought was a lot to feed all at once, even if some went to the lido and the boat still had vacant rooms). I know that was the only time baked alaska was on the menu. But we were not impressed with the food that much throughout the trip. It was good, and plentiful but my last cruise on HAL it seemed to be much better. (we did enjoy the Filet mignon and lobster tail) So we skipped dinner that night, and decided to enjoy Victoria. And the show that night is dancing with the stars, so we didn't mind missing the show.

[runnergirl71]

I'm not sure about the international dinner? I didn't see or hear anything about that. I know when in Victoria they do not have late dining, just early dining (we had 2125 on board which I thought was a lot to feed all at once, even if some went to the lido and the boat still had vacant rooms). I know that was the only time baked alaska was on the menu. But we were not impressed with the food that much throughout the trip. It was good, and plentiful but my last cruise on HAL it seemed to be much better. (we did enjoy the Filet mignon and lobster tail) So we skipped dinner that night, and decided to enjoy Victoria. And the show that night is dancing with the stars, so we didn't mind missing the show.

 

Thanks.

 

Given that I am completely spoiled to ACTUAL Broadway entertainment (and Disney's Broadway calibre entertainment), I'm planning on staying as far away from the stage shows as possible, so I'll definitely be skipping ALL of those.

[gina06]

Gina thanks for posting your review and awesome pictures. I checked out your FB albums. Wondering if you were comfortable for the weather in the jeans/sweatshirt combo? Planning my clothes for 7/5 cruise on the Westerdam.

 

The weather was quite warm. I wore shorts the first day in seattle, and before the boat started moving.

The day at sea you will need jeans and shirt and maybe a jacket. Its pretty windy so I didn't go outside that much, and you can't see any wildlife or scenery.So you really wouldn't even need a jacket if you didn't go outside. Unless you get cold easily, some spots of the boat felt like the A/C was turned on full blast.

In Juneau it was raining where the ship was docked, but in Auke bay the sun was shining not a cloud in the sky. Im from Florida so my blood runs thin (not used to cold at all) so i purchased under armor cold gear from Dicks sporting goods. I got the leggings and an undershirt. (its that black thing my thumbs are poking thru in pictures) I just put this under my normal clothes I already had. They are amazing.

Glacier bay was raining when we arrived but started to clear up thru the day. You will definitely need to layer up here. I was wearing two layers of pants and 3 layers of shirts. And I took hand warmers and was still cold. But getting wet at the beginning kinda affected that. And once I missed the orcas I didn't want to go to the room to change cause I might miss something else on the other side of the boat.

In Sitka it was cold in the morning when you get off the boat, but then it warmed up and with walking around we were sweating(so i didn't need my hoodie ended up tying it around my waist).My boyfriend just wore jeans and shirts no hoodie the entire trip but glacier bay. But once out of the sun (in the tongass national forest) I got cold again. But by this time in the trip I was getting used to weather and loving it compared to 100 degrees every dang day with humidity. I loved not having to deal with humidity.

Ketchikan was quite warm after around 9, although I did not do an excursion, so it might be different for other people. I did not need a jacket, and probably would of been fine in shorts and a hoodie. But then again if there is no sun, it gets cold quickly.

Victoria it was late, so jeans and shirt were fine. Then hoodie when it got dark.

Once back in Seattle I wore shorts again with a long sleeve shirt.

So just remember layers. The cold gear under armor was the only purchase I made (beside formal) for the trip and I wore most days under normal stuff I already had. You will be there later than me, so it might be warmer.

Edited June 19, 2014 by gina06

[gina06]

Great review. Where was the beach area where you walked before getting on the bus in Sitka? Was that right near where you got off the tender?

 

No the tenders drop you off under a bridge.

I want to say it was around Lincoln street and Monastery street or maybe Harbor drive. It was behind a kayak place.

 

We got a coffee, then walked down the street ended up the Harbor with all fishing boats. it was around there. I spotted it when we were walking back to the boat to get on the bus. We are from Florida and have tons of seashells so I grabbed some from Alaska to add to our collection. I wrote sitka on the bottom of them first. A little different souvenir.

Hope this helps.

[gina06]

Thanks.

 

Given that I am completely spoiled to ACTUAL Broadway entertainment (and Disney's Broadway calibre entertainment), I'm planning on staying as far away from the stage shows as possible, so I'll definitely be skipping ALL of those.

 

Do not miss Recycled Percussion. They are from Las Vegas and I think america got talent. This was definitely the best show. I was expecting the shows not to be this great. But surprisingly I wasn't disappointed by any of them. Although I haven't done a disney cruise or carnaval in a long time. The shows were pretty on point for what they had to work with. But I strongly urge you to go to this show. I was not expecting this show on the boat, and it was nice surprise. I believe its the night your in sitka. They provided earplugs for the show( in case loud noises is not your thing) Must go, do not miss it.