Alaskan Cruise: Day 7

If you would like to read my pre-cruise journal entries, please start here and if you would like to just start with the first day of the cruise, start here.

May 21st, 2011: Day 7
The last day :(

It's funny because like with any trip, you start to crave home life again, and the same is true for me right now. I miss my kitties and my home and eating normally! But, I really am going to miss this ship (I do to this day!). She was a GREAT home for 7 days!

But back to the start of the day. B and I "slept in" again till around 7am and decided to get up since breakfast was to be delivered to Mom and Dad's suite at 7:30am. B left to get our laundry started (I thought laundry was going to be a pain, but it was quite nice actually! I highly recommend it if you feel like you have to get some laundry done while on the ship. We were running out of socks and stuff like that, so that's why we decided to do laundry. It made packing nicer too.) as I was getting ready for the day. I had done pretty well the whole trip with seasickness. I really only had one real wave of seasickness on the morning of the 2nd day. But this morning, I felt another severe wave of seasickness and sadly (without getting too gross about it), I had to visit the bathroom this time. It was very weird because the seas yesterday were much worse than the seas today. I felt pretty good the rest of the day though so at least there was that.

After a lovely breakfast on Mom and Dad's balcony, B and I finished our laundry and started packing. We then headed down to Club Fusion for a little morning trivia. We found Mom and Dad there too so the four of us played some trivia and did pretty well actually! We got 14 our of 20 correct! There were no prizes to be won and someone actually got more points then us anyways.

There wasn't much that we were interested in doing after that point, so we went to watch C, Mom, and Dad play bingo. No one won this time either, but Mom got very close!

It was then time for lunch so B and I went up on deck for a Taste of Alaska buffet...and there was sushi! Sadly, the sushi wasn't that good, but the pan fried salmon and Alaskan seafood paella was excellent!

Again, there wasn't much that we were interested in doing, so we went back to the room and surprisingly took a nap! It was a nice and comfy nap though!

We woke up in time to go to elevator roulette! Basically, they number the elevators in the section of the ship that you're playing in. You then bet on which elevator will arrive first after you push the button! It was fun, but we didn't see much point in sticking around so we bet it all, and lost (we played with fake money). It was pretty funny though!

We then went to hang out in Mom and Dad's room till dinner. We had another great dinner, but sadly, we had to say good bye to the great guys who had served us so well.

It was as we were eating dinner that we pulled into Victoria. It looked like a cute little town/city, so we decided to go on shore to explore. The problem was that the shuttle to downtown was $7.50 and the line was huge! We checked other modes of transportation and they were just as expensive. We then considered walking to downtown, but it was a good 30 minute walk. So we decided to just walk along the waterfront for a little while.



I'm glad we did because it was a beautiful walk! I do wish we could've seen the downtown area, but it was just too expensive, busy, and we wouldn't have had much time to explore anyways. So we took a bunch of pictures and turned back to the ship.



We actually got a sunset tonight so we went to the top of the ship and got some great shots as well.





It was getting late and there an early wake up call to deal with tomorrow, we we headed back to our rooms to prepare our bags for our travels.

It's been an amazing trip and we look forward to our next cruise. Hopefully in the near future!



I should take the time here to mention disembarkation. This is another process that isn't the most fun part of the trip because they try to get thousands of people off of the ship in a relatively short amount of time, and because it's the very end of your vacation. However, I felt like disembarkation was very easy. We had a later disembarkation than most so it was a little hard trying to find a place to hang out before we disembarked because we couldn't be in our rooms. But once our group was called to disembark, we all left the ship in a orderly and painless manor. Finding our bags was a little interesting as well, but after looking a bit more, we did eventually find all of our bags. They then loaded us on a bus and it was off to the airport. So, like I mentioned before, it was relatively easy and painless.

If you ever find yourself cruising on the Sapphire Princess, I have no doubt that you will have a wonderful vacation!

Alaskan Cruise: Day 6

If you would like to read my pre-cruise journal entries, please start here and if you would like to just start with the first day of the cruise, start here.

May 20th, 2011: Day 6
I really could say this about every day, but this really was a great day!

I woke up at one point early in the morning and was very tempted to get up and go for a swim, but I was so comfortable! I decided to try to fall back to sleep and before I knew it, it was around 7:45am! It was nice to finally "sleep in"!

It was a day at seas for us so there was a lot available for us to do today. They were giving a cooking demonstration so that was the first thing we did.



It was a lot of fun and the executive chef and head Maitre d were hilarious!



They offered a galley tour after the demonstration which we thought would be cool, but instead of telling us which each section of the galley was used for, they just let us walk through. Mom did get to talk to the executive chef and thanks him for taking care of me and my gluten free needs.

I went back to our room to find not only a Happy Anniversary sign, but balloons as well!



And then I stepped inside our stateroom and first smelled flowers and then saw a beautiful arrangement of flowers sitting on our desk!



It turns out that C and R bough the flowers for us for our anniversary! (Note: Because of customs rules, we were not allowed to take the flowers with us, so we sadly only got to enjoy these beautiful flowers for a couple of days. If you plan to do this for someone, have the delivered a few days ahead of their event so they can enjoy the flowers through the cruise.)

We then headed down to the International Dinning Room for lunch and had some great burgers! After lunch, I got a chance to play bingo!



It was a lot of fun, but none of us (Mom, C, and I played) won. I might play tomorrow since the jackpot is still out there!

After that, it was almost time for dinner! B was already dressed for dinner so he napped and I got myself all dressed up for our last formal night. Dinner was a great one tonight! We had escargot and lobster! It was so great! And of course there was baked Alaska! Then, they came back to our table with a small chocolate and cake dessert for B and me to celebrate our anniversary! It was all so sweet and wonderful!

We didn't know what to do next until Brandon saw that a Big Band was playing in the Wheelhouse Bar! We even got up and danced! (I sadly didn't get a good picture of the Wheelhouse Bar, but trust me, it was a wonderful spot that we should've spent every night in!) It was so nice to sit in a beautiful location with my wonderful husband on our 5th wedding anniversary! Now we're just relaxing and enjoying the rest of the time we're awake! We'll be at sea most of the day tomorrow before docking in Victoria and then it's back to Seattle and reality.

Alaskan Cruise: Day 5

If you would like to read my pre-cruise journal entries, please start here and if you would like to just start with the first day of the cruise, start here.

May 19th, 2011: Day 5
I had been looking forward to Skagway not only because I'd never been there before, but because of the little road trip we had planned. But I'm getting ahead of myself.



The day started out like all the others. I still can't seem to sleep past 5:30am. We were already docked in Skagway and had to pick up the van around 8am. Mom and Dad had already eaten, so we grabbed C and R and headed to the buffet. I tried to get my gluten free toast like usual, but no one seemed to know what I was talking about. Even when they do know what I'm talking about, it seems to take a while to get some gluten free toast. I may just skip it from this point on. (This was the only issue I every had with getting something gluten free. I did mention this incident when I filled out my Princess survey.)

We then headed downtown to get the van. I was happily surprised to see that the van was in relatively good condition. It was a bit on the old side, but it eased some of the fears I had about it breaking down.

The drive was absolutely beautiful!



The highest point of the drive was around 3200 feet! There was one portion of the drive where it felt like we were on top of the world! There was snow everywhere, but the temperature was very comfortable.



There were beautiful mountain peaks all around us with the most beautiful white snow I had ever seen! It was so amazing! I had never seen mountains like this before!



We eventually made out way to Carcross. I was a bit dissapointed by the town, but it was beautiful and cute none the less.



The real reason I was there was for the Carcross Desert!



Much like the section of the drive I mentioned above, I could've explored the Carcross Desert for hours and would've been a very happy girl! But I didn't want to make my family wait for me, so we only spent a couple of minutes there. The Carcross Desert isn't actually a desert at all, but it sure looks like one! This area was once covered by a glacial lake, but as the glaciers retreated, the water levels dropped leaving behind an area of sand. The way the area is shaped allows for the winds to keep the sand in the area they are in now.


(I have plenty more pictures of this drive in my Flickr Set)

The returned the van and walked around Skagway for a short time. It's a very cute little town, but there wasn't much to do in the downtown area besides shopping and eating.



We got back to the ship (Another LONG walk!) and tried to figure out something to do. We (B, C, R, and I) decided to go to the golf simulator for a longest drive competition they were holding, but the simulator was closed! The sign said they would be closed in port, but the Princess Patter said it would be open for the competition. So we left, a bit confused, but decided to play some card games instead. After a few card games, we went up to play some ping-pong as well!

It was getting close to dinner time so we got dressed for dinner (and this is where I found out I only brought 6 outfits for dinner instead of 7! ::sigh::) and had a delicious dinner once again! After dinner, we headed to the casino and played our favorite slot machine, Mrs. Little Green Men! We put in $33 and eventually walked away with $101.50! We cashed out and headed to the theater to see the production show Piano Man.

We were waiting for the show to start and B started to fall asleep! So we went back to the room to sleep, or so I thought! He said he started to feel more awake as he headed back to the room so he decided to go back to the casino and played blackjack and basically lost what money I had just won! He's so much trouble!

The show was better than the first one and the costumes where amazing! There was outfit with balloons coming out of the back piece of each of the dancers and another that looked like over done southern bell dresses! It felt more like a Vegas show girl act, with more clothing of course!

We have a sea day tomorrow, but it's our anniversary so it should hopefully be a special one!

Alaskan Cruise: Day 4

If you would like to read my pre-cruise journal entries, please start here and if you would like to just start with the first day of the cruise, start here.

May 18th, 2011: Day 4

I can't seem to sleep in during this trip! It was another early morning, but we were heading through Tracy Arm this morning so it was good to be up early to see the sights!

B and I were still full after an amazing dinner the previous night so we headed down to get B some coffee. Dad just happened to show up to get his coffee as we were relaxing near the coffee shop! So, the three of us sat down and enjoyed the sights and coffee. Pretty soon, we started seeing whales!



So we decided to go back to Mom and Dad's room to "brag" about what we had seen. C and R joined us in the suite a little later as we continued to see more whales and porpoises! A little bit later, we saw our first iceberg! It was so beautiful and so blue!



We continued to see more and more icebergs and beautiful waterfalls, but the clouds and fog continued to increase as well.



We got pretty far into Tracy Arm, but the fog was so thick, the captain decided to turn around.



B and I took a little nap since we woke up so early as we continued to sail our way towards Juneau. Pretty soon, we were pulling into the beautiful Juneau and making our way into town.



I really wanted to take the local tram up the side of Mt. Roberts, not only for the beauty of it all, but to get some great shots of the ship! B decided to stay on lower ground and went shopping instead. The rest of us went up the tram which took us near the top of the mountain. We fist found a small raptor center at the top of the tram which hosed a bald eagle named Lady Baltimore.



She was so beautiful! She has a sad story though. They believe she was shot at twice and she is now blind in one eye. Therefore, she cannot be released into the wild. They've also tried to socialize her with other birds, but she ends up picking on them so that is another reason why she cannot be released into the wild.

Around the side of the raptor center was a trail leading up and around to the mountain top. So I took it! It led to some observation platforms that allowed you to see beautiful views of the city and the surrounding area!



It was funny to see the other people on the mountain as well! You could tell that most of them had never seen snow before. Oh yeah...there was still snow up there! One guy even took off his shirt and laid in the snow to pose for some pictures!

We then headed back down the mountain and met up with B. Turns out, he had been busy! He went around looking for the best deal on a tanzanite necklace for me! We headed back to the shop that had the best deal and after checking it out for a little bit, we bought it! It was a great five year anniversary gift!

We all then headed back to the ship very sore and full of gifts and souvenirs. We decided to have dinner on the ship again tonight even thought the ship was leaving pretty late from Juneau. I'm so glad we did!

Since most people seemed to eat on shore tonight, the dinner room was pretty empty! Rui was able to hang out with us a lot more then usual and told us some hilarious stories from his childhood. For example, his "experiences" with the animals on his grandparent's farm in Portugal!

We all had a great time and a great meal, but we were all still sore and tired from our day in Juneau, so we mainly just went back to our rooms to relax. Tomorrow is Skagway and our rental van adventure! All I pray for right now is that the van doesn't break down!


Our beautiful ship as seen from the tram as it headed back down to street level.

Alaskan Cruise: Day 3

If you would like to read my pre-cruise journal entries, please start here and if you would like to just start with the first day of the cruise, start here.

May 17th, 2011: Day 3

It was another early morning for B and me with us waking up around 4:45am. But we gained an hours so it didn't feel too early. We had quite a change in scenery as we are now sailing through the Inside Passage.



Hills and mountains were visible on both sides of the ship. We started to notice more and more homes along the shores and figured we were close to Ketchikan.



We had a smallish breakfast at the buffet as we were pulling into the dock and then parted ways with the family as Mom, Dad, C, and R had a different excursion. B and I decided to head into town since we still had a few hours before our excursion left.

We were on a mission to find good hot chocolate (I had heard that the coffee on the ship was horrible, but I didn't expect the hot chocolate to be bad. In fact, everyone in my group who drank coffee said they liked the coffee provided.) and we found it at a little coffee show called Sweet Mermaids!



Not only was the hot chocolate good (it was great in fact!), but the ladies who where there (I think they were the owners) were very friendly and gave us some advice on what to see and do in the city. It looked like they had some great pastries on sale as well, but after just having breakfast, we didn't try any of them (and they didn't look gluten-free either). Their menu was full of unique items to eat and drink as well! So if you're in Ketchikan, I highly recommend a stop at Sweet Mermaids!

After looking around a few shops real quick, we headed back to the ship to catch our bus for our excursion!



The weather was rainy, overcast, foggy, and cool, but we knew they'd have rain gear for us, so it the weather really didn't bother us. The bus driver who drove us to our excursion was very good and informative telling us everything about the region Ketchikan to the skunk cabbage!

Once we got to the site of our excursion, we got into our provided rain gear, listened to our safety briefing, and got into our karts.



Our guides were very good and led us through some beautiful wilderness. We were even able to stop at a beautiful waterfall right on the boarder of the Tongass National Forest.




We all drove back to the start of our adventure and got out of our now cold and muddy rain gear (Note: the rain gear worked great, but if you're taking this excursion, it might be a good idea to bring gloves to keep your hands warm.). We were covered in mud splatters! It was so much fun and we really enjoyed it!

By the time we got back to the ship, it was close to 1pm. We were hungry since we hadn't had lunch. So we showered (so muddy!) and had a quick lunch at the buffet. The ship was leaving at 4pm so we didn't have much time to explore the town. We did get a chance to shop very quickly in town and got some great souvenirs (for a great price too!)!

Back on the ship, we prepared for what was about to be a great dinner experience!

We decided to try the specialty restaurant called Sabatini's tonight. It cost $20 extra per person, but we were soon to find out it was well worth it!

Our waiter (Alex was AMAZING by the way! He had us laughing all night long!) told us that all we needed to order was the main course. Alex then started coming out with our antipasti and there were probably six-ten different options. Most of them were just okay, but others were just amazing! We then had a soup and pasta dish which was also good, but not amazing. Then came the main course! I had stuffed supreme chicken and it was so amazing and beyond words! Everyone really enjoyed their meals too! And of course, there was dessert to be had! I had the espresso creme brule and again, it was so good it was beyond words! The meal was just such an experience! Oh yeah, did I mention we were in the restaurant for three hours (It sure didn't feel like three hours though!)? I still look back on this meal and smile!

We were all so full that we went back to our rooms to sleep. Tomorrow, we are sailing through Tracy Arm and then it's off to Juneau!

Oh! I wanted to reiterate again how awesome the service is on this ship! Sabatini's knew ahead of time that I was gluten-free and made me special antipastos and even gluten-free pasta! It wasn't the greatest pasta, but it's really the thought that counts for me! The could have told me that they just couldn't make certain dishes for me, but they didn't. Towards the end of our dinner, our maitre d from our main dinning room stopped by and took down my dinner order for tomorrow. It really does almost make me cry just knowing all the extra work these people are going through just to make me happy! It's a very humbling experience.