Day 3 ~ Ketchikan

Posted on May 31, 2013May 31, 2013 by Dusty Roads

Vancouver to Ketchikan 535 Nautical Miles Speed 14.4 Knots

If Vancouver was considered our first port of call then Ketchikan is our first Alaskan Port of Call.

It’s still raining. That’s not too surprising because Ketchikan, besides being the “Salmon Capital of the World” is also the Rainfall Capital of the U.S. Ketchikan is located in what is sometimes called the “Banana Belt” of Alaska for it’s mild summer climate if you can tolerate the rain. They even have a Liquid Sunshine Gauge to measure the average rainfall which can reach 152 inches per year.

Ketchikan is located in the Tongass National Forest, part of a temperate rain forest that extends from Northern California through Southeastern Alaska creating a climate that allows for such majesty as the California Redwoods. Tongass is the earth’s largest remaining temperate rainforest with over 17 million acres of forest and protected wildlife preserve.

Ketchikan sits on its own island, Revillagigedo Island. This is such a tiny town it would only take about an hour to explore it on foot. Most of the island is a steep, craggy wilderness with the town hugging the shore. Most of the streets are built over a complex array of trestles and boardwalks.

From the Southeast Alaska Discovery Center to Misty Fjords there is so much to see in such a little town and so little time. We will only be in port for about 6 hours.

Speaking of Misty Fjords, this is a national Monument named for the weather conditions you are likely to encounter but the areas profound beauty has earned it the nickname of “Yosemite of the North”. Accessible only by floatplane or boat put the cost of this excursion out of our range for this trip. According to the passengers that did go, it was well worth the money spent.

When in the Salmon capital it’s important to know that there are 5 different Species of wild pacific Salmon. To remember the 5 types of Salmon just raise your hand.

Your thumb rhymes with Chum-Chum Salmon…
Your pointer finger can “sock” someone in the “eye” – sockeye Salmon…
Your middle finger is the tallest – King Salmon…
Slip a silver ring on your ring finger – Silver Salmon…
And your pinky – well that’s easy – Pink Salmon…

Ketchikan is sometimes called Alaska’s “First City ” because it’s the first major community travelers come to as they journey north.

Ketchikan was originally a summer fishing camp for the Tlingit (pronounced Kling-it). In 1883 a man by the name of “Snow” opened the first salmon saltery and a fishing town was born. When gold and copper were found in the surrounding mountains a supply center was needed and Ketchikan flourished.

Creek St, Ketchikan’s downtown section, is said to be the most photographed street in in Alaska! Now lined with shops and art galleries Creek St was once the town’s red light district.

Ketchikan was the first chance we had to learn about the cost of living in Alaska. Fresh produce is scarce and pricey and milk can run as much as $6.00 / gal. As we rode in the tour bus along Creek street we spotted a “Burger Queen”. Ketchikan has a Family Dollar or should I say $1.29 store. It lasted as a dollar store about 30 days before the cost of shipping in goods forced a price increase. But the best example was the local Subway where you could enjoy the foot long special for only $9.00. (if you have a local Subway you know that’s a $5.00 ft. long in the lower 48)

Even souvenirs are not immune. If you are a plus size expect to pay a surcharge of $3.00 per T-Shirt!

Ketchikan is home to The Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show but we decided to explore the culture of the native Tlingit people with a visit to the Saxman Native Village.

Day 2 at Sea

Posted on May 30, 2013May 30, 2013 by Dusty Roads

Last night after leaving Vancouver the Island Princess turned to starboard at Point Atkinson passing into the Straight of Georgia. Had we been looking we might have seen Point Atkinson Lighthouse at the mouth of Burrard Inlet but we were either in the Princess theater or perhaps sleeping.

Once in the Strait of Georgia we are headed north to Alaska at last. Vancouver Island lies to the west along the port side while the mainland and off shore islands of British Columbia lie to the east or starboard. This is the beginning of the famous Inside Passage.

The Inside Passage stretches for over 1000 miles north providing an almost continuous protected route to Alaska. We are following the path of such notables as Captain Cook and naturalist John Muir.

Following our breakfast buffet at the Horizon Court on the Lido Deck we retired to the Lotus Spa for our massages. I’d like to say it was pure heaven but only if you sprinkle in a bit of pain. It had been many years since I have enjoyed a deep tissue massage and I had the knotted muscles to prove it. It took my masseuse a good deal of effort to work the kinks out of my shoulders and upper back…Ouch! but in the end I was moving better than I had in years. I may have to consider doing this more often.

A sea day is either boring (if you don’t like cruising) or relaxing. In our case the rainy, raw weather followed us out of Vancouver. This is when the cruise director and his staff can really shine. It’s up to them to have enough activities to keep even the most restless of their passengers amused. On the Island Princess activities included a spinning class, yoga and zumba.

Shopping is also a big pastime. They even devote a channel to this subject on the ship’s TV lineup. Another big draw is gambling. The casino hosts a $500 Slot Tournament and later on a $60 Texas Hold’Em Tournament. There’s also bingo and a ballroom dance class. Today’s lesson the Cha Cha. Around 3pm, if the Cha Cha wasn’t for you, a line dance class was being offered in the Universe Lounge, one of the entertainment venues.

Round out the activities with a presentation about the Glaciers by the naturalist on board, an afternoon trivia game or an afternoon tea in the Bordeaux dining room.

Dinner tonight was one of the 2 formal nights planned for our 7 day cruise. This was the one time we saw the photographers in the dining room taking formal portraits.

Our night wrapped up with the evening show “Motor City” which as you have probably guessed was a salute to MoTown. It was a great show.

For the night owls the partying continued with a 2nd presentation of Motor City , more gambling tournaments, a dance party, a comedy show and movies under the stars. Never a dull minute.

Island Princess Revealed

Posted on May 29, 2013May 29, 2013 by Dusty Roads

Like all of the other cruise ships I have ever been on, the Island Princess was huge.

From Bow to stern the Island Princess measures 964.3 Ft. Walk the halls back and forth just 3 times and you’ll almost have a mile! The ship is 105.6 ft. wide. She can carry a maximum of 2368 passengers and 810 crew members. The Island Princess first set sail in June of 2003.

The Island Princess has swimming pools. One is covered but the other is in the open and eventually was drained as we cruised north and it got colder and colder.

There is a small casino.

A spa and beauty salon.

Multiple entertainment venues.

Movies under the stars (Even when it rain or so they claimed)

Restaurants

Open decks

An internet café…unfortunately because of the mountains the service was spotty and slow. I have an issue with paying for “minutes” when the service takes forever to connect. If the internet was fast I’d be the first to sign up. But I had to use it one day to answer just one work related email and it took 12 minutes of my 15 minute package to connect.

I remember my first cruise. I spent most of my cruise lost. The 2nd cruise was easier and I found this one easier still but Sandy was on her first cruise and the size of the ship and all it’s decks was like a maze to her. It all takes time. By the end of the cruise she’ll be an old hand at getting around.

All Aboard the Island Princess

Posted on May 27, 2013May 27, 2013 by Dusty Roads

We enjoyed a nice lunch before heading to the cruise terminal. I told Sandy that we had been able to have lunch on board when Joe and I went to Cozumel but that we almost missed it because it took so long to get through the lines and checked in. We thought we’d play it safe and eat a quick lunch before hand.

As expected there were lines but they moved fast. There were kiosks with vendors selling everything from luggage to binoculars to fleece vests. A sign said passengers could leave the line to shop. Wow! Two different ships were boarding but they had it down to a science. Princess employees stood at each turn directing passengers left or right.

We passed through customs and security within minutes. Then had our photo taken for ship security and were issued our room keys which double as our on board credit account. We filled out a declaration form for customs and then it was onto the ship. Much faster than in Miami! We made such good time that we could have had lunch on the ship!

We met the first of what I call the “Shipperazzi”, the ever-present ships photographers for our Embarkation Photo.

They had been terrible on Carnival, in your face everywhere! I was to find that they were much less visible on Princess. We only saw them in the dining room once and when we went to shore. That was so much nicer.

First up on our to-do list was to find our stateroom. We had reserved an ocean view room but a week before we were to leave we got an email with “changes”. The main change was that we moved from Baja Deck aft to Aloha Deck and our stateroom was listed as a balcony room. Gotta love free upgrades. Locating our deck and the hall we set off on the first of many long walks. Our stateroom was still near the rear of the ship, just on the port side instead of aft. Most of the restaurants and activities on the Island Princess were mid-ship. We would get our walking in on this trip. 🙂

Once we reached our room we found a welcome package waiting for us. It included a copy of the “Princess Patter “, a daily newsletter that lists activities, including times and locations. Every cruise I’ve taken has had some kind of daily newsletter and they are important to check in order not to miss anything and plan your day.

It includes interesting bits and pieces about the Island Princess and it’s staff. It also gave us the daily dress code for dinner in the dining rooms.

Our room did turn out to be a balcony room and our luggage was waiting for us by the door. That was quick service!

It’s the first time I’ve had a balcony on a cruise and I think I’m spoiled now. If I ever cruise again I will have to have a balcony.

It makes a world of difference and it will be a real blessing later on. But more on that when I tell you about Glacier Bay.

Also in the package was a scavenger hunt list. What a great way to introduce the ship. The scavenger hunt was a list of different places on the ship. When you found the location you got a stamp. The completed list was to be turned in at the Welcome Aboard Party for a prize. Off we went to collect our stamps.

A trip of a Lifetime

Posted on May 25, 2013May 25, 2013 by Dusty Roads

How does one start to tell a tale of a trip of a lifetime? Maybe I should just say that this was the 2nd trip of a lifetime for me. The first was The Big Island of Hawaii.

Now I can add a cruise tour to Alaska as my 2nd “Trip of a lifetime”.

This didn’t just happen overnight. This trip was in the planning and discussion and saving stages for over 2 years. We finally said lets just do it before the glacier’s melt!

A big part of it was the saving part.

This was, without a doubt, the most expensive venture I/we have undertaken yet but Alaska is so big the task of putting together a vacation there seemed overwhelming. So after my sister and I hammered out the basics of what we wanted to do and see I turned the problem over to the professionals at AAA.

The trip I am about to describe to you is the result.

The first decision was do we cruise to Alaska or fly in and vacation like we usually do on our own. Since this was my sister’s Dream Vacation I let her choose. She had only 2 requests; to see the glaciers and to spend 3 days in Denali National Park. A cruise tour would accomplish both goals.

We settled on a “shoulder season” because it’s less expensive and money was certainly a factor. In May the animals are just coming down out of their wintering grounds and having babies. In September they have the northern lights (aurora borealis). We chose to go for the animals. We also chose to go south to north to give the northern locations a chance to warm up a bit more. In Alaska a couple of days can make all the difference. As it turned out spring was about 2 weeks late this year so we had a lot more snow and cold weather than is usual for this time of the year.

I think by far the hardest decision was which cruise line to use. They all cruise to Alaska these days, even Disney, and they all offer some combination of land and sea. I was leaning toward Royal Caribbean but Sandy liked Holland America. In the end we went with the travel agent’s recommendation of Princess Cruise Lines.

I drove from my home in Massachusetts to my sister’s in New York on Saturday May 11. I left my 3 cats in the capable hands of my long time pet sitter, still this is the longest I have ever been away before. My fingers were crossed that there’d be no complications for Diane to deal with.

That Saturday night we took our mother out for Mother’s Day dinner and then headed back to my sisters for an early night. We had an early cross-country flight from Albany Airport into Vancouver in the morning. By arriving a day early we sacrificed the airport transfer but got a day in Vancouver before we had to board the ship on Monday.

Our flight was uneventful and we spotted a rainbow as we flew into a misty, wet Vancouver. Our hotel , The Best Western Sands, was a block from the waterfront and very nice.

I had been to Vancouver once before many years ago and I remember the residents being very friendly, warm and helpful. That hasn’t changed at all. I still think it is one of the most friendly cities I have ever been in. What I do think has changed is the fabric of the city. We saw a great melting pot of people of many different nationalities and ethnicities. This only serves to make an already lovely city more cosmopolitan. Vancouver has really come into its own.