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We're
back from the Inside Passage Cruise on the Zaandam & we are ready to go again.
It was totally awesome, the best vacation I have ever been on even though we had
a few alterations to our plans.
First there was a medical emergency & we had to turn back and lost 6 hours, so
Tracy's Arm was out. Our first night out there was a 7.0 earthquake, right under
our ship, which we didn't feel. The ship behind us though felt it. Also, because
of the having to turn back we got to Juneau late and missed seeing much of the
town of Juneau because of our whale watching excursion, only one shop & the
saloon were open when we got back. My advice, skip the whale watching tour. We
saw so many whales on the ship and some of them closer than we saw on the
excursion. Same with the eagles. We saw no animal-based wildlife.
The ship was totally awesome. We had a mini-suite with a balcony. A balcony is
the way to go! It was my first time with one on a cruise, but on all the rest, I
will have one.
In Skagway we were scheduled to go on a float plane to the Brooklands, but
because of the fires in the Yukon the float plane couldn't come to get us. But
we had a nice ride up to BC, along the road the White Pass Railroad follows. It
was very beautiful, all the wildflowers were in bloom. When I got back to
Skagway I got an
excursion from Skagway Air on a plane to the glaciers and looking for wildlife.
This was a great thing to do. I saw no animal wildlife at all on the entire
trip.
When I got back from the plane ride I went to the Musher's Dog Sledding & Camp -
that was very cool. The weather was beautiful and the dogs were very sweet. It
was an experience, and next time I will go to the snow. All the helicopter/dog
sled trips were canceled also because of the smoke.
In Skagway it is very windy by the ships and I got very cold there, the next
morning we were cruising Glacier Bay and I stayed cold. The coldest I was the
entire trip. But this is an awesome place!
On the way down to Ketchikan we saw more whales, eagles, sea lions & otters.
This was so cool. But take binoculars, only one whale and a sea lion were really
close to our ship. Our table mates too the Float plane to the Misty Fijords,
they said it was well worth the $$$.
In Ketchikan you need a rain poncho. When we got there it was sunny, but it
started raining not long after. I spent a lot of money in Ketchikan & Skagway,
because in all my travels, Alaska supports its artists best and you can find so
many beautiful Alaskan made works of art. For lots of fun go the the Soho Coho
shop on Creek Street - awesome t-shirts!
I took way too many clothes. On cruising days I wore a pair of lined windbreaker
pants. On the ship I bought a fleece vest ($20) and wore that every day. I also
wore my wind breaker, a long sleeved shirt & a cami underneath. When we went to
the towns I wore jeans. In Ketchikan I got rid of the windbreaker. I never wore
the fleece jacket I took, I liked the vest much better. In Glacier Bay I wore
gloves too.
I took dressier casual clothes to eat dinner at night, but we only ate in the
dining room about 3 nights. 3 nights we were in town and ate at the buffet and
one night we at in the Pinnicale Room, it was our anniversary. The food there
was extraodinary. Didn't see but one show, the magician/comedian - awesome.
Alaska was such a beautiful place I can't wait to go back, but this time I will
go mid/end July/August & will also go to Denali. I came back with 400 pictures
(not counting the 30 or so I deleted for various reasons).
Karrel in Tampa
Have fun y'all!
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