Alaska - June 2017

North to Alaska -June 2017

Boarding at Seattle

We really liked Seattle. Many wooded areas and trees in abundance. Boarded the Ruby Princess in the afternoon and set sail at 4pm – north to Alaska!

Ruby Princess at Seattle

The ship is like a 5 star floating hotel. There are approximately 3200 passengers on board – 2900 Americans and about 300 from another 17 countries. We have met Canadians, English, Singaporeans, but as yet no other Kiwis or Australians. Our cabin is lovely. Bed wide and amazingly comfortable, a dressing area with wardrobe, and well equipped bathroom.

Explorers Lounge

The ship doesn’t seem crowded, as there are numerous themed lounges, bars and restaurants, three swimming pools, spa pools, fitness centre, mini golf course, etc etc. We have chosen “Anytime dining” which means that we can choose a formal restaurant or buffet one. We usually go to the buffet one for breakfast of cereals and fruit, followed by scrambled eggs. That sets us up until dinner in the evening, which we enjoy in one of the formal dining areas. We are usually placed at a 6 or 8 seat circular table, where we are joined by other passengers and have  interesting conversations with a wide variety of  people.

Waiting staff are numerous, attentive and usually delightful Filipinos or Malaysians. Approx 1000 crew members in total. The Italian Captain, Giuseppe Romano, is actually Commodore, the head of the entire fleet of 18 Princess cruise ships. The Cruise Director, Peter Tredgett, is English – he has boundless energy and a great sense of humour.

Sunday, the first day the weather was cool and rainy, so we were fortunate that we were at sea for the day, heading up the coasts of British Columbia and Alaska towards Juneau, the capital of Alaska. That day we enjoyed a great selection of the shows and activities which were on offer on the ship. In the morning we saw a riveting presentation by a fisherman, David, who had some amazing tales to tell and photos to show of the challenges involved in fishing in the Bering Sea, off the coast of Alaska. A little later, we listened to Michael Modzelewski, who lives on a remote island. His presentation was entitle Alaska: The Last Frontier: Life in the Wilderness of Alaska. He said that in a survey done by the local government a few years back, it was found that there were 10 men to every woman in outback Alaska. So, he quipped, the odds for women are good, but unfortunately for them, many of the goods are odd!!

                                                                                                                                                            That evening passengers dressed formally. The Captain did a Welcome Aboard speech and the crew created a 30 level tower of champagne glasses. Guests were then able to help pour champagne in to them, and share a glass of bubbles once the glasses were full. We met a lovely Canadian couple, Bev and Dave Coulsen, at our first dinner, and had several shared meals and drinks with them during the cruise.

Monday morning we attended another presentation by Michael, who talked about the bears, bald eagles, wolves, etc. and showed some amazing slides of animals, birds, and some spectacular sunsets and Northern Auroras. The rain and mist continued as we docked at Juneau, so we waited a couple of hours before we went ashore, by which time the rain had stopped, and the sun appeared a short time later, so we considered ourselves very fortunate as the forecast had been for the rain continuing. We did a self guided walking tour of the town, which is only accessible by sea or air. It has a really interesting gold mining and fishing history, and some well preserved old buildings still in use.

Bison keeping watch

You won’t be surprised to hear that Paul located the oldest pub, which was opened in 1930. Most of the wood panelling, leadlight windows and fixtures were original, and some stuffed animals added to the atmosphere! Many of the stores sold jewellery and Alaskan artefacts and souvenirs.

Alaskan artefacts

Wooden carved eagle

Tanzanite jewellery

Mural in Juneau

Late afternoon back on the ship we watched in wonder a magician doing some awesome tricks.
In the evening we happily attended a presentation by an amazing woman whom we had also seen on our original cruise about 12 years ago. Libby Riddles had come to Alaska as a 16 yr old, and at 26 yrs had become the first woman to win the gruelling 1000 miles Iditarod husky and sled race. She is now 57 years, a vivacious and fascinating woman who writes books for both adults and children, and gives motivational speeches. Although she no longer competes in the Iditotrod she still keeps a team of huskies and participates in the sport of running them.

We then sat in on a British Pub fun event, MCed by the cruise director joined by the ship’s dancing and singing troupe.

Bev and Dave Coulsen

Our comfortable cabin

Tuesday we woke when the ship was berthing at Skagway. Cool windy day but the sun was shining so we set out to explore. Skagway was the starting point for gold miners hoping to strike it rich in the Yukon where gold was discovered in 1896. The Klondike Gold Rush lasted just a few short years, during which time Skaygway was a bustling boomtown with more than 80 bars! The National Historical Park covers a six block area where wooden sidewalks and faithfully restored storefronts paint a colourful picture of the town's illustrious past.

Driftwood fronted building in Skagway

In Downtown Skagway

                           Mock bar in Skagway

Tuesday evening we watched a production in the Princess Theatre, which holds several hundred passengers. Staged by the ship's singing and dancing troupe, Once Upon a Dream was based on Alice in Wonderland and was very well done. One of the features was the animated backdrops, projected on to three sides of the stage from five projectors directly above those walls. Great effects, and when we spoke with the projectionist the next day, he said that it had taken six weeks to set up and get right. It could revolutionize sets in plays and musicals and eliminate the need to build expensive sets.

Once Upon a Dream with animated set

Singer and lighting effects

Wednesday was to be the highlight of our cruise, as we cruised from Icy Strait in to Glacier Bay, about 90Km long. At 6am three park rangers boarded the ship by climbing up a rope ladder, and gave us the benefit of their wealth of knowledge for the coming hours. As we sailed up the sound we saw wild goats grazing on the hills, bald headed eagles circling, a whale in the distance, seals basking on rocks. At the far end of the bay were the shrinking remains of the Grand Pacific Glacier, which was the one which had carved out the entire bay, and filled it until 1780. It has receded way back since then. We then arrived at the magnificent Margerie Glacier, which was spectacular. At 1.6Km wide it extended in to the sea, is 250 feet high and extends back for 21 miles (approx. 30Km). The glacier is amazingly white and gleamed with the sun shining on it. A beautiful blue colour showed in places. We were fortunate to see a huge sliver of ice “calf” off the front of the glacier with a loud sound described as “white thunder”. It created ripples out to the ship, and pieces of ice floated by. Photos will show better than I can describe! The Lamplugh Glacier was also impressive, but not so pristine.

Lamplugh Glacieer

The ice I see...........

Snow covered Alaskan mountains

Rock formations in Glacier Bay

Nature's sculpture - Margerie Glacier

Amazing Margerie Glacier

On Thursday we arrived at Ketchikan. We went to a lumberjack show which was entertaining and fun. The commentator split the audience in to two camps – one supporting the Canadian Dawson Creek team, and the other cheering for the American team. The lumberjacks exhibited their skills – racing to be the first to cut through a big log of wood, showing how two men use a crosscut saw, and climbing to the top of a 30 metre trunk. Watched an interesting documentary at the Visitor Centre, and then went on a guided tour of the town on which we were shown some of the original buildings

and told about the fascinating history of the town.

Racing up tree trunks

Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show

Park ranger guide at Ketchikan

Examples of totem poles at Ketchikan

Ruby Princess in Ketchikan Harbour

That evening, as passengers who had previously sailed on a Princess cruise, we were invited to attend the Captain's Cocktail Party. On arrival all the ship's officers were lined up to greet the guests, and we were introduced to the Captain- photo here. He said that the Bay of Islands is one of his favourite destinations. Had some delicious cocktails and nibbles. Afterwards we viewed the final production show in the theatre - Magic To Do, which featured the magician, The Ruby Princess singing and dancing troupe, and the orchestra. A spectacular visual and auditory sensation.

Off to Captain's Cocktail Party

With Captain Guiseppe Rom

Friday was a beautiful sunny day at sea, but a cool wind, so not very warm. Some hardy souls braved the pool. We saw whales and pods and dolphins, so that was exciting. There were several musical groups on board, playing throughout the ship at various venues on all days - an eight piece orchestra which accompanied some of the shows, and also put on some of their own concerts, two girls who played their violins brilliantly, a four piece jazz group, two young men who played the grand piano very well. Heard all of them on that final day. A great note to end our cruise on!
That evening we arrived at beautiful Victoria on Vancouver Island, and were cleared through customs before getting a taxi to our inner city hotel.

But this can do for now. Shall continue on another day.