We just spent 7 days on board the Diamond Princess cruise ship – our first trip to the great state of Alaska and David’s first cruise. David’s parents, brother Eric and his girlfriend Robin were with us on the cruise. We had a great time and the scenery was out of this world!
Here are some photos to prove it!
Leaving Vancouver B.C.
We embarked from Vancouver B.C., where the two of us had been staying the previous week, and spent the first day at sea.
Ketchikan, Alaska
Our first stop was Ketchikan, AK, where we went on a Rain Forest Island Adventure tour in the morning and walked around town afterwards. On Creek Street was the famous Dolly’s House (we didn’t go inside though). We stared hard into the water and fish ladder but it appeared that we missed the salmon run by a couple of weeks (too early).
Juneau, Alaska
It was a cold and rainy morning when we arrived in Juneau, Alaska’s state capitol. Unfortunately our flight seeing was canceled due to poor visibility. We took a bus to the majestic Mendenhall Glacier and enjoyed our first close-up view of a glacier and icebergs. Eric and Robin got even closer on their helicopter tour in the afternoon (when the weather cleared up), where they flew over the glacier, walked on it and even tasted glacier water!
Skagway
In the morning, five of us went for the Adventure Park and Zip Lines and had a great time – Amber sat out on this one because she is not a big fan of heights. After a quick lunch, we all went on the Yukon Jeep Adventure, where we drove Jeeps into the Yukon Territory with a brief stop at Carcross. It took about 5 hours to get there and back, with some off-roading (but not enough for some of us). It was very warm and dusty, but we managed to have a good time.
Glacier Bay
The ship went into Glacier Bay National Park and we admired the Margerie Glacier from the comfort of our balconies. The air was crisp and cool, and you definitely feel a different sense of time and space when you’re confronted with such natural wonders. The only disappointment was not seeing the glacier “calving”.
College Fjord
Still at sea, we went into College Fjord and saw more glaciers, lots and lots of them. Whatever calving action we were missing in Glacier Bay, the Harvard Glacier in College Fjord made up for it! The air seemed even colder here than Glacier Bay as we watched in awe of the calving action causing more and more icebergs to be littered across the fjord. There were some seal and whale sightings but we never saw more than a tiny glimpse of the huge whales beneath the water.
Whittier and Anchorage
We reached Whittier, our final destination, on the 7th day and disembarked the ship. It was a fun-filled 7 days, with only minor sea sickness (Amber) and well-fed stomachs… maybe a little too well fed.
We then took a bus to Anchorage, where we met up with family friends Dan and Christin, who recently relocated there, for lunch. We walked around Anchorage a bit, rested a few hours, and took different flights to our homes.
Just when we were getting used to the 4am sunrise and 11pm sunset…
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