Buckle up – this is another long post! In retrospect this cruise would have been better off as 4-5 separate posts (instead of two very long ones). Each day was action-packed and I didn’t prioritize the blogging, making it more daunting to tackle as time goes by… Anyways, here we go!
Day 4 – Juneau
Day 4’s port was Juneau, the capital of Alaska. Our planned excursion was to take a boat out whale watching. Transportation this time around was much more seamless than what we had in Sitka, with a bus waiting for us just off the dock. While we waited for the buses to show up, we saw some small seaplanes taking off with those that had booked the plane excursion.
The bus ride was about 25 minutes and took us straight to another dock. The boat we boarded was two levels and about 50 seats. We hurried to the top deck to get a seat next to the window, but ended up spending the majority of the time on the open deck behind the seating area.
The views from the boat were breathtaking as we sailed northwest through the “Favorite Channel”. Lots of large, snowcapped mountains, pine-covered islands, and small log cabins across the shoreline. The weather was also wonderful – partly sunny and around 50 degrees was not terribly uncomfortable despite the breeze from the ship.
We did end up seeing a few whales surface and spout, although from a ways away. We also went by an island with tons of bald eagles and a small seal pod. At one point I found Vivi back at our seats, sound asleep! All-in we spent a couple hours on the boat with an hour or so of transportation on either end.
After getting back to the boat, we headed back to our cabin. During the afternoon we sailed by Hoonah and saw several glaciers on the nearby mountains, as well as more whales from the ship!
Dinner was at “Q Texas Smokehouse”, which ended up being a BBQ joint with ribs, brisket, burgers, jalapeño sausage links, and more. I had the sampler platter, Meg had the sausage links, and the girls had burgers. This was easily the best service of any onboard restaurant and they even had some decent live music playing classic rock and country. Shoutout to our server “Hazel Love” for doing a great job.
After dinner we went back to the room to relax. After hearing that you could get food on the cruise ship 24 hours, the girls wanted to try getting food in the middle of the night. I told them if they set a 2am alarm and got themselves up, I would take them… they actually managed to do it! We went to “The Local” (only restaurant open) and got cheeseburgers, and then explored the quiet ship. The top pool deck was totally empty and very cool to see at night. We were out for about an hour before heading back in for the night.
Day 5 – Icy Strait Point
Icy Straight Point was the only day at port where we didn’t have any excursions booked. We originally had booked the zipline (originally the world’s largest!) but Vivi didn’t meet the weight requirements, so we decided to cancel. In retrospect this was probably a good choice – $250/pp for a 90 second ride! Based on what I read about the port, there wasn’t much to do outside the zipline and an old “Hoonah Cannery” so expectations were low.
We slept in (after the late night exploration), went to the gym, ate breakfast, and decided to exit the ship and go explore. Once off the boat, there were two gondolas – a red one to the zipline and a green one to another area of the island. There was also a half mile “nature trail”, which we opted to take. The path eventually had a side path, that took us down to the coast. We walked down to explore the beach, which was covered in kelp and mussels.
We continued down the beach, which opened up to a larger beach, a giant orca statue, a shopping area and some restaurants. We continued walking down the beach for another mile, exploring the wildlife, skipping rocks and taking in more breathtaking views. We also spotted more whales from the beach.
On the way back, we decided to stop by a restaurant for a light lunch. We ordered two plates to share, the halibut and chips (signature dish) and a plain cheeseburger. The halibut was great (everyone tried it, but I ended up eating most of it), but Meg and the girls all thought the cheeseburger was the best food they had on the trip. We also tried a local beer which was very good. Afterwards we headed back, walking almost four miles all in. This ended up being one of my favorite ports despite nothing booked!
Once we were back, we decided to take the girls up to the deck to get in the pool / hot tub. It was freezing, but didn’t seem to bother them! Meg and I sat on deck chairs and covered up with towels. Afterwards the girls got cleaned up from the pool, and I headed up to the observation deck to work on the photos/blog. Sage burnt her hair with the hair dryer – oops!
Dinner was at The Manhattan Room, the most “upscale” included restaurant on the ship. Service was reasonably good and we ended up eating several baskets of the bread. We ordered steaks which were supposed to be off of the Cagney’s menu from a couple nights prior, but were definitely not the same! After dinner we headed back to the room for movies and sleep after a long day.
Day 6 – Ketchikan
Our final port of the trip was in Ketchikan, where we had a “cultural tour” and lumberjack show scheduled. The lumberjack show was just off the ship, however the cultural tour activity was on the other side of Ketchikan. We boarded a the bus to take us across town.
While we didn’t stop in the town itself, there were a lot of neat small shops and restaurants – would likely be worth coming back to explore further. Apparently the “big thing” in town was a Wal-Mart that is the second smallest in the country, and apparently repeatedly sold out when it first opened.
When we arrived at the cultural center, they had several native artifacts laid out on the table, and talked us through the history and background of each. Afterwards, we went into a larger area where they served some food – fry bread, bison meat, local beers (or sodas!) and dessert. Overall it was very good, although had been a while since I’d had a beer flight at 9am! They also had an interesting video about how several local historic artifacts were taken and sent to museums across the US, but then later gathered and returned to their original tribes. Afterwards we caught the bus back to the port for the lumberjack show.
The “Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show” began with some background and history of logging in southeast Alaska, and then talked through the difference between loggers and competitive lumberjacks. The performance was made up of two teams – Spruce Mill (USA) vs. Dawson Creek (Canada). The competitions seemed real, although there was a lot of scripted dialogue in between each. There were ~10 events with things like axe throwing, sawing, chainsaws, etc. It was entertaining – the girls in particular seemed to like it. At one point Vivi won a postcard signed by all of the performers for being the loudest cheerer in our section!
After the show, we swung through the gift shop area and re-boarded the ship. We grabbed lunch at the Garden Cafe. The rest of the day was pretty low-key: we headed back to the room and I took a nap while the girls watched a movie. Dinner was at Taste, another one of the included restaurants on the ship. After dinner we headed back to the cabin and went to bed early.
Day 7 – (not) Canada
On Day 7 we technically docked in Victoria, Canada, but it was at 11:30pm and we weren’t allowed to exit the ship. We got up and around, ate breakfast, and then decided to ride the go-karts located on the top deck.
The go-kart track is two-levels, with each lap lasting 40-50 seconds. They had both single and dual karts, and were only running the dual karts. Perfect for us, as Vivi wasn’t tall enough to ride solo so we did two shared karts with Sage and I driving. When we showed up there didn’t appear to be a line, but it turned out to be a LONG wait. They only had three karts running, and past the initial “check-in” there were ~12 or so groups waiting. With each ride taking ~10 minutes, we ended up waiting almost an hour and a half for the five minute ride. It was fun! Not worth the wait though.
After the kart ride, we went to “American Diner” for lunch. This was another included restaurant with a classic vibe, complete with paper hats and a special milkshake menu. Food was pretty standard – Sage got spaghetti and meatballs (meatballs apparently smelled like play-doh but noodles were good), and the rest of us got Cheeseburgeres.
After lunch, the girls wanted to go down and do more bowling while Meg and I went to The District Brew House, a bar just below our cabin. I really liked the vibe, felt like a laid back American sports bar and had great views – we managed to snag a table next to a window. There was a larger selection of beers vs. other restaurants. Sage and Vivi stopped by briefly to let us know they were going back to the room, and were promptly told to leave by the server. Oddly enough that was the only interaction we had with the drink server, he otherwise ignored our table.
Our final dinner was at La Cucina, the Italian restaurant on board. I had pizza (good!), Meg and Sage had lasagna (also good!) and Vivienne had.. yet another cheeseburger, her ~10th and final of the trip. While we enjoyed the food, the service here was particularly rough. We had to ask 3-4 times for bread service, food came out separate (and before drinks!), and we could hardly get attention to our table, despite this being one of their “upscale” restaurants and us being seated right in the middle of the floor. An overall frustrating experience and we were ready to leave.
We headed back to the room to pack. With disembarkation the following day, we had to pack and put our suitcases outside the room by 9pm for them to collect and prepare to move to the baggage pickup area. That meant we had to pack most everything but also keep some toiletries etc. to pack into the bags later. We ended up getting to sleep relatively early after packing.
Disembarkation / Back in Seattle / Travel Home
We woke up early, having to be ready to exit our room around 8am. We got up and around and prepared to exit. This went relatively smoothly – we went down to the sixth floor, waited in a line, walked to another line to pick up luggage, and exited the ship. Given the congestion at the dock, we walked a quarter mile down the boardwalk before calling an Uber.
We arrived at the airport early, around 8:45am for a 6:15pm flight. Bags can’t be checked until four hours before the flight, so we found a counter that would hold our bags for us until the afternoon. We decided to head to the nearby Southcenter Mall at the recommendation of our Uber driver to burn some time.
The mall ended up being a good stop. We saw a 9:55am showing of the new live action Moana (we all liked it!), ate at the food court (I had a weird but tasty salmon sushi burrito), and did some light shopping. Meg found a t-shirt at North Face, and Vivi was thrilled to find a Pop Mart store.
After the mall, we headed back to the airport. Despite the four hour wait, it was relatively smooth sailing as we hung out, boarded the three hour flight, and taxi’d home. We were all happy to be home after being away for almost ten days!
In conclusion: Do I find cruising a YAY or NAY?
After spending a week on my first cruise, I have a much better sense for why everyone says you’ll love it or hate it. There’s a lot of very polarizing experiences – some parts were amazing, with others downright frustrating.
What did I like? First off, I very much enjoy ocean vibes and the ability to relax and enjoy ocean views throughout the trip – whether on our balcony, during meals, or otherwise hanging out – was fantastic. I also can’t imagine a better way to experience several towns/islands across Alaska over the course of a week. I also appreciated the convenience and accessibility of beverages (water, caffeine, alcohol) throughout the week. I also liked the areas to “chill” across the ship – especially the Observation Deck, our hotel balcony, and the views from the various restaurants/bars. I also enjoyed the Icy Strait Point stop that was more exploratory than event based. Next time I’d shoot for a more even balance between planned excursions and just exploring. The on-ship activities we experienced were fun and there was a lot more here we could have tapped into.
What didn’t I like? The dining especially stood out here. The main buffet reminded me of an overcrowded version of a college dining hall. I found having to spend the first ~10 minutes battling others waiting for a table especially excruciating. The other restaurants had inconsistent service at best and mediocre food. If I ate at any of the cruise restaurants as a regular restaurant in AZ, I would not be back! Certain activity pricing was also ridiculous and not worth it – the $200 bingo game and $200 haircut stand out as lessons learned here.
So in conclusion – yes, I would definitely do another one! But I’d also a lot of things differently – planning, activities, packing, meals. I’d also enroll the kids in the kids area as an extra option for something to do – I didn’t realize this had to be done the first morning in order to use it for the entire cruise.
That’s all for now… til’ next time!
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