The morning started to feel like another day at sea, but we were docking in the evening in Victoria. This was the morning where I started to get a sore throat and a cough. We had brought a rapid covid test with just in case, and it came back negative. (Phew!) I honestly felt fine, minus the symptoms. I just didn’t want to get anyone sick.
We had breakfast, and as we were sitting there we began to realize you could see a lot of whales in the distance. So we called my parent’s room and asked if they wanted to come watch. I think by the time dad made it up to us, there were only a few more whale sightings. Either way it was a beautiful day to be outside and enjoying ourselves.
The entertainment team put on one more show – naturally, this took place during the day since most people were going into Victoria that evening. They were playing a bunch of famous Broadway hits – we were excited when we heard both a song from In the Heights and Hamilton by Lin Manuel Miranda! Of course, the other big names were there too – like Rent, Les Miserables, Waitress, etc.
We had coordinated with our dining team an early dinner – they were able to get us in and out super quick as we were docking. After dinner, we made our way to another boat that would take us to view wildlife.
StunningThey estimate that his fin is at least 6 feet tall!A momma and her baby
It was a perfect evening. We loved that we got to watch the full moon rise – and there was even a lighthouse in the foreground. It was amazing to see the orcas up close. We had never seen orcas in the wild – and this was incredible. They came close to the boat and everything! It was extra fun because my parents got to see this too!
The boat we went out on – was really comfortable. You could be outside if you wanted to get closer or in the cozy interior.
That basically wrapped up the cruise. We got back around 9 or so and needed to finish packing. We had to get up early the next morning to grab breakfast before we headed to shore.
We had a pretty busy past few days so we were actually excited to have a more relaxing at sea day. We had breakfast in the morning and decided to watch a few talks. The first was a naturalist talk on the wildlife in Alaska, and the next activity was to attend a talk on “Living on a Cruise Ship.” This was a pretty interesting talk led by our cruise director, Giuseppe. He showed some pictures of the crew area – what the different rooms look like (depending on their rank) and what their mess hall looked like.
There are definitely more activities during days at sea – I also went to watch Deal or No Deal. One guy even won a cruise!
We attended another trivia session – this one was on TV and movies. Giuseppe was hosting this session and he made sure to drop plenty of hints so we all felt good about our guesses.
We had dinner – the last full night with our crew. The staff puts on a little parade to celebrate, which was pretty cute.
We went to an event called the Whisper Challenge – where one person on a team wears noise cancelling headphones and the rest of the team tries to mouth the phrase to them. It was hilarious to watch – and once that ended we went to a variety show – there were acrobats and musicians. It was called Amade.
My parents decided to part ways and go back to their room, but we had one final activity before turning in. There was a silent disco DJ challenge. There were three different DJs playing different styles of music. You would pick a station: red, green, or blue. And the DJs were trying to get more people to listen to their channel.
We had a lot of fun – and it was so ridiculous to watch from afar because a large group of people are dancing around singing…. Different songs! Some people were singing pop songs, while others were singing rock.
Our favorite part was when the pop station started playing the Backstreet Boys and we saw the guys from the Boy Band Project in the crowd. They actually gave them microphones so they could sing along to the song. Regardless of which station people were listening to, you could see people join in and watch them. It was a ton of fun!
We docked in Skagway early in the morning – we had to take a tender to shore because there had been a landslide in previous years that had damaged the port. The tenders (life boats) actually reminded me of a Star Wars like vehicle. I’ll let you be the judge of that!
Once we made it to shore we were on our way to the historic White Pass Railway. This tour took us along the mountain side. It was really stunning – lots of great views. It took us to the Canadian border where we turned around. It was a great way to see how the gold rush left its mark on Alaska.
Once we got back into Skagway we had a choice – the train could drop us off closer to the downtown area or near where we would take the tender to get back on the ship. My parents decided to head back to the ship, but Andy and I decided to get lunch in town.
We had lunch at The Skagway Brewing Company – the food and service were both great. I even tried their Rhubarbita – which was really tasty. We also found that Skagway was home to the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park. We didn’t have too much time to explore, but would have liked to if we had more time.
We were also incredibly excited because the entertainment that night was The Boy Band Project. It did not disappoint – the band took us through some of the early boy bands – think Jackson 5! All the way up to my favorite band, Backstreet Boys. It was a ton of fun. They were really interactive and encouraged the crowd to participate in the show and singing. It was definitely one of the highlights of our trip!
We had booked another cruise while on the ship – and had won a speciality dining experience from a drawing that we had been entered in. We booked this at the Tuscan Grille. We had to leave the Boy Band Project show a little early to get to our reservation. As soon as we showed up we realized that they had indeed given us one of the best seats in the house. Our waitress was incredible as well and made sure to provide a great experience for us.
What we loved about it was the fact that they offered half-entrees. That way we could try more food. We had already been eating pretty well on this trip, but this was over the top. We were so full by the time we were done with dinner.
We woke up early because we knew we would be cruising past the Dawes glacier. We were tired, but really wanted to see it. Our room had an obstructed view – so we bundled up and headed to a different deck. It was amazing to see the rugged landscape and the glacier in the distance.
It was also interesting to see the chunks of ice in the water. You couldn’t help but think about Titanic! Some of the chunks were rather big – you could actually hear them pinging off of the boat’s hull. You could also see the silt in the water – making everything cloudy. It was so surreal.
After we passed through the Endicott Arm – it was a few hours before we made it to the city of Juneau. I was excited to get to Juneau for a few reasons. First of all, on a previous trip to Alaska I had desperately wanted to go to Juneau to be able to visit Alaskan Brewing. It turns out there aren’t that many roads in Alaska – so we weren’t able to make it. Also, I had done a TON of research trying to figure out how to get to Glacier Bay National Park.
I had booked a flight seeing tour to Glacier Bay back in April – and was really looking forward to it. Prior to heading to the regional airport, we stopped at Alaskan Brewing to grab a beer with my dad. My mom stayed on the ship to relax – it turns out she didn’t want to take a small plane to see a national park. 😅
We called a taxi (Uber/Lyft don’t barely exist in Juneau!) and we were on our way! Our driver had just moved to Alaska the previous year. He was incredibly helpful – pointing out local landmarks and things to do. He even pointed out a bear! We could see that the weather was starting to turn and received a phone call when we were about 5 minutes away from the airport. It was the company that we chartered our flight seeing tour with.
They let us know that closer to the park the weather wasn’t safe to fly. I asked if there was anything closer to Juneau that they could bring us to, and she said no. I was feeling deflated. We have been working SO hard at our bucket list – to get to all of the US National Parks.
Honestly, I felt like crying. Who wouldn’t? I’ve mapped out the next 3 years so we can get to all of the national parks. Our taxi driver, with the kind heart, said, “Hey, I know you wanted to go to Glacier Bay… But, there’s another glacier!” Bless his heart. He brought us to a vista – we could have gone in to go to hiking, but we saw the storm clouds brewing. We hopped out with my dad and took a few pictures and then started to head back to the ship.
Mendenhall Glacier was our consolation prize
We hadn’t planned on being back in time for dinner, but we were able to eat with my mom. After that, we high tailed it to a MAGIC SHOW. Yes, you read that right. I’m sure many of you don’t know, but a few years ago I got to go on stage at a Las Vegas show to be part of an act. There was a levitating table – if you don’t know this story, feel free to ask. (It’s a fun one!)
There will never be a shortage of hand raising for volunteers if I’m in the crowd. Someone finally took mercy on me – and I was able to be part of the act. Honestly, didn’t feel THAT magical. Although, when he flipped over the card/number combo that I had picked… it was an AIRPLANE. Considering that we didn’t get to go on the small passenger plane to Glacier Bay – maybe it was magic? You can be the judge of that!
Disregard the fact he spelled my name wrong… I picked number “1”When he flipped over “1” you can see it was an airplane… and that’s what was written on the back of my card.
We came back to the room to find out that we had in fact won a speciality dining experience! We had booked a cruise while we were on this cruise, and we were able to pick a speciality restaurant/night to attend. It was super exciting for us – because we never win anything!
Up Next: Skagway White Pass Scenic Railway Boy Band Project Show Speciality dining at Tuscan Grille
We arrived in Ketchikan bright and early – by 8 am we were on solid ground. This was particularly exciting because this was the first time my dad was able to make it to Alaska! (One of his last of the 50 United States!)
We had booked a “Duck” tour – an amphibious vehicle that can both drive on land and in the water. It was a brief tour on the water, but gave a good overview of the history of the city. (Andy and I wanted to explore some of the locations after we got off of the Duck). Once we got off of the Duck, we dropped my parents back off at the ship. We continued on to walk around Ketchikan. The rain started to pick up, which wasn’t ideal.
We didn’t have to brave the elements for the tour – thankfully it was enclosed and had these “portholes” that we could open to take better pictures
Some of the landmarks that we went by on the Duck tour – we were able to walk to explore a little more closely. Ketchikan is known for its totems. (Supposedly, it is even the world’s record holder for totems!) We had wanted to look at them closer up, They were incredible.
We also were able to walk past the creek that runs through town. It was incredibly interesting to learn that as salmon spawn their bodies actually start to change color and degrade. After they spawn, they die. We were visiting at the end of spawning season – so there were a lot of dead salmon in the water.
You can see some of the dead salmon if you zoom in on the rocks
After walking past the creek, we wandered over to Miss Dolly’s House. Dolly’s House is in the Red Light District. This was the first brothel in Ketchikan. We didn’t have time to actually go into the museum, but the cost of admission is only $5 to get in. It’s bright green and hard to miss as you walk (or drive by!) through Ketchikan.
The bright green house
After we got back – we had dinner with my parents. We decided that yet again, we needed to play trivia at the Sky Lounge. (Maybe eventually we would win?!) Off in the distance we were able to see another cruise ship as the sun went down. Pretty cool to see how lit up it was in an area that doesn’t have a lot of light pollution.
Up Next: Juneau Endicott Arm (cruise by) Alaskan Brewing Co. Fly to Glacier Bay National Park
We woke up to a very turbulent sea, which was unfortunate for everyone who was on their first cruise. (Me!) We got up and made our way to breakfast, everything was fine until this point. Andy started to feel sick and we needed to get him motion sickness medicine ASAP. As it turns out, the cruise ship was prepared for this. As was my mom! (She later gifted us a bottle of Meclizine).
I decided to attempt a work out – which was interesting. Can you imagine attempting a curtsy lunge with big waves? Maybe not my best idea 😂 When I returned, Andy still wasn’t feeling great. We hung out for a little bit – and then decided we were going to attempt Harry Potter trivia that afternoon.
Thankfully, we found friends – and even with them, we still didn’t win. We had a great time though and got to see the Sky Lounge.
After trivia, we returned to our room to start getting ready for dinner. Saturday’s dinner dress code was “Evening Chic” so naturally, I had to wear as many sparkles as possible. We were relieved to see that my parent’s were indeed at the same table as us.
This meant we all had new servers. We had Kenneth, Budhi, and Jayson as our dining team. They made sure that all of our requests were meant – big or SMALL.
We had a great dinner – and the fun didn’t stop there. We decided to check out the martini bar – which was full of tricks! And delicious drinks. You can see some of the antics below.
After the martini bar – we went to another round of trivia. Made even more new friends – still didn’t win, but had a ton of fun!
Writing to you… months later. Like 2.5 months later. However, I hope that one day I’m able to look back on these blog posts as reference points. (Hence, why I’m still writing them – even after the fact!)
The cruise was set to leave at 4 pm on Friday. I chose to work from the hotel room in the morning – and at lunch, when we had to check out we started to make our way to the cruise terminal. My mom has limited mobility so we wanted to make sure that we had extra time to get her on the boat.
It really is organized chaos – there were two ships leaving at the same time. So it was incredibly busy, but after asking a few helpful people we started to head in the right direction. What I will tell you, is that my mom reserved a wheelchair. It turns out this is different than reserving with a private company – as we walked up it was really confusing because there were some wheelchairs and scooters. We thought she didn’t have a chair for the whole trip.
Long story short, we realized that she had made the request with the actual cruise line and the wheelchair was waiting for her onboard.
We followed the ADA line and got through security – and we found the most helpful woman. She got us checked in and started the hunt for a wheelchair to help get mom on board. She wouldn’t rest until she found a wheelchair. At one point, while we were waiting for a wheelchair to return – she went and grabbed a chair so my mom could sit and wait.
Honestly, an angel. Once we got on board, we dropped my parent’s off at their room and went to find ours. We were surprised to see that we indeed had a veranda! When I booked, I thought I had just requested an ocean view. That was super exciting!
After finding our room – we went up to the roof. We thought it would be cool to watch us push away from Seattle from outside.
We headed down to dinner – and we had a great table. However, my parent’s were at a different table. They told us to request a table change and they would make it happen the following evening where we could all sit at the same table. We enjoyed dinner solo that night – and went back to the room to unpack.
Although, not our first time to the Last Frontier, it is our first time together on a cruise ship. We are on our way to Alaska!
My dad inspired my love of travel in a very backhanded way. He used to drive truck while I was growing up, and to be honest, I would spend a lot of time looking at his atlases. It was fascinating to me that I could go to all of these different places – and these maps helped show me the way.
I know how cheesy that sounds, but all of it is true. Now that I’ve caught you up to speed. I think you can see the direction that this is going. In 2017, Andy and I wrapped up all 50 states in the USA. I’ve chatted a few times with my dad and realized that he was only missing 5 states.
In 2021, we were able to take him and my mom to Hawaii (number 46) to celebrate Thanksgiving. During that trip, we were cooking up how we could help get him to Alaska. We realized that the easiest way was likely through a cruise – get to see a lot – and a lot of really remote areas. We booked it with Celebrity Cruises!
So now my dad is going to be able to check off number 47 with this trip. You might be wondering, what states are left? Maine, Vermont, and New Hampshire are all that he has to check off. (We are hoping to complete these three next fall – fingers crossed!)
That brings us to this week – both my parents and us flew into Seattle on Thursday, September 1st. My parents flew in a bit earlier than us, and we got checked into our hotel just before midnight.
Our cruise ship is leaving on Friday, at 4 pm from Seattle.
Scribbles and Snapshots 