Alaska, Part II

Days 3, 4, and 5

Boarding the ship, NCL's Pearl, was a fairly quick and painless process. (I won't mention that when taking my picture for my ID, the computers locked up. Yes, apparently, you can break a camera with this face :) Before long, they allowed us to go aboard. The cabins weren't ready yet so we spent some time hanging out in the atrium, people watching, making dinner reservations, and taking our deposit for the week to the purser. One cool (and slightly dangerous) thing about cruising these days is that most ships don't use cash for your spending. Whether your ordering a margarita or buying something in the gift shop, etc, you use your ID. It's connected to a credit card (or in our case, a cash deposit). It makes it very convenient because you don't need to carry cash but also a bit dangerous if you use a credit card because you can easily lose track of your spending if you're not careful.

I had done lots of internet research for this trip and one of the tips I had found was to eat lunch in the Summer Palace, one of the main dining rooms onboard. This seems like a no brainer but on embarkation day they really push for you to eat at the buffets. We went against the grain and Pat, Olivia, Jeremy, my dad, my stepmom and I got to enjoy a great, peaceful, low key, yummy lunch in a restaurant where only maybe a dozen tables were taken. After hearing complaints from people about how crowded and insane the buffets were I was really glad we had chosen to ignore the flock.

After lunch we spent some time exploring the ship and enjoying the views of downtown Seattle. The weather was fantastic. The sun was bright and hot and there was a great breeze coming from the Sound.

We didn't do much else that first day. We were all really tired from our long flights and early mornings. Blue Ridge Travel did throw a cocktail party for our group that first night. Yay! Free drinks! We hung out for awhile and then Jeremy took Olivia off to the cabin to get some sleep. I stayed for karaoke and more margaritas with Heather, Kristi, and Erika and only left when I was worried I wouldn't remember where our room was :)

Day 4

Our first full day on the ship was an "at sea" day. We headed up the coast of Canada on our way to Alaska. The ship had lots of activities planned and, while we did participate in some, it seemed we spent most of our day looking for whales. Everyone kept seeing them but I missed them at every turn. I was always just a little late or on the wrong side. Terrible luck! Eventually, as the sun was beginning to set I saw several humpback whales and an orca. It was pretty awesome having them swim so close to the ship. The scenery on the way up the coast was beautiful. Random islands popped up every few minutes and we saw our first glacier nestled between two larger mountains. Olivia had a few moments of seasickness but it quickly passed and we all started really enjoying being on the ship.

Day 5

We arrived in Juneau on Tuesday afternoon. It was interesting to see a state capital that seemed so small. I don't know if I realized before this trip that there are no roads leading into Juneau. You can only arrive by boat or plane. Crazy!

Jeremy, the kids, and I decided to take the Mt. Roberts Tram and then hike a little bit once we got fairly high on the mountain. My friend, Kris, who works for Holland America and had recently been to Alaska, recommended this to us and it turned out to be a great idea. The tram runs up the mountain on a cable to about 1800 feet. Once up there, we found an observation deck that allowed us to look down on our ship.

We decided to hike on up to see what else we could spot. The trail was easy and allowed us to see some mountain goats on the mountains facing us. We hiked up into sub-alpine level where the tree line ends and it becomes mostly grasses and moss and heather. Once out of the treeline, the wind became ferocious. At times it was hard to stand against it. Luckily, the day was fairly warm (mid-50s) so we laughed more than cringed at the gusts. We hiked up until we got to a sign that warned against us going any farther. We took a couple of pictures of our windblown joy and headed back down. We walked a little bit in town, shopped for souvenirs, and hunted down a case of soda (it costs a couple bucks per glass on the ships) and got back on the ship in time for dinner!