We recently celebrated our 1 year anniversary by taking a 7 day Alaska cruise. We had been planning the trip since January and were really looking forward to taking another cruise and seeing a new part of the country all while celebrating our very important 1st anniversary.
The cruise departed out of Seattle, WA on May 17th. We boarded the Norwegian Star around noon and were immediately surprised that our stateroom was already ready for us to move in for the week. The rooms aren't super fancy but quite comfortable considering the size (about 250 square feet). We had our own balcony which was a great place to relax and watch for whales.
We took over 600 digital pictures, but don't want to bore you with all of them. We've selected just a few of our favorites to add to this posting. If you'd like to see a few more, you can view the slideshow just to the right or click
here and you will be directed to our picasa album slideshow.
Day 1 - Leaving Seattle
The ship left Seattle about 4:00 p.m. We had already explored the ship for a few hours prior to that, so we took a few pictures as we left the city. When we got on board we took a tour of the spa facility and were entered into a raffle for a chance to win spa treatments. The drawing was at 6:00 p.m. that night, and as you may have already guessed....we both won treatments. We scheduled those for our anniversary day and then went to dinner at Cagney's steakhouse before going back to the room to relax.
Day 2 - Day at sea
We were out on our balcony looking for whales.
Enjoying the sunset from the front of the ship.
We didn't do much on our first day at sea besides sleep, eat, and walk around the ship. We also went to the NCL "U" margarita tasting and guacamole demonstration. Other than that, we just relaxed and enjoyed being on vacation. We also enjoyed the pretty sunset as we cruised the inside passage.
Day 3 - Ketchikan
We didn't have any excursions planned for this day so we headed off to go check out the town. We took a cable car up to the Cape Fox lodge to get a good view of the town and harbor below and snow capped mountains above. The weather was pleasant, a little cool at times with occasional sprinkles, but nothing we couldn't handle. The town was filled with quite a few jewelry stores and souvenir shops, but it was fun and we managed to spend a few hours just browsing. On our way back to ship we came across some people with an eagle and owl that you could take pictures with. That was fun! We headed back to the ship for our spa treatments and enjoyed the views from our balcony as we left Ketchikan and headed to Juneau.
We celebrated our anniversary at the tepanyaki restaurant and were treated to an anniversary cake and singing by the waiters. This was fun but also a little embarrassing.
Day 4 - Juneau
As you can probably tell from the pictures, we took a helicopter ride and landed on Mendenhall Glacier. This was truly an amazing experience and we would definitely recommend it to anyone heading to Juneau. When else do you get to land and walk on a glacier?
We learned quite a bit about glaciers and particularly the Mendenhall Glacier and the Juneau Icefield. The Mendenhall Glacier is about 12 miles long and is just part of the massive Juneau Icefield which covers about 1,500 square miles.
The glacial ice is so blue because it gets very dense after years of compression. When the ice becomes this dense, the ice absorbs all other colors in the spectrum and reflects primarily blue. 
A view of the Mendenhall Glacier from the helicopter.
Day 5 - Skagway
We boarded the White Pass & Yukon Route train in the morning and headed out on a 4 hour tour that took us through the very scenic pass to Canada. We passed some little creeks and waterfalls before passing Bridal Veil Falls. The weather went from fairly warm at sea level to freezing as we climbed up to 3,000 feet above sea level to Fraser, Canada. The scenery went from mostly greens and browns to white. We didn't see much wildlife except a couple mountain goats clinging to the side of the mountain and some birds enjoying the beautiful day. One woman on our train supposedly spotted 2 bear cubs in a tree, but we didn't see them so it's hard to confirm their existence. It wound up being a great excursion and one that we would highly recommend if you ever find yourself in Skagway.
Day 6 - Prince Rupert, British Columbia
We didn't have any excursions planned for this stop but wound up having a great time. We contemplated the "grizzly bear experience" but decided it was a bit too pricey ($200-450 per person depending on the tour). We'll be heading to one of the local zoos soon to see some bears there instead. We walked around the town and came across this tree where about 10 to 15 bald eagles called home. It was amazing to watch them fly about and then land back in the tree.
Day 7 - Day at Sea (heading back to Seattle)
We really didn't do much on the sea days. This is not to say that there was a lack of activities on the ship, we just preferred to sit back and relax and read a bit. We don't often spend our free time this way, so it was definitely a treat.
While we were eating dinner, a few of the waiters spotted some whales. As we looked out the windows, we saw them too. This was the first time on the trip that we saw whales - or at least the first time we knew we were seeing whales. The water was very calm and you could quickly spot the spouting whales. We went outside so we could get a better view and wound up seeing quite a few whales. One actually came out of the water closer to our ship than expected and we could hear the water spouting. The sunset this evening also happened to be the most beautiful one of the whole trip, making it a truly memorable evening.
Back in Seattle
We definitely played tourist while in Seattle. We disembarked the ship around 10:00 a.m., were able to check in to our hotel and then take off on foot. It was an amazing day in Seattle so we quickly made our way to the Space Needle to get a great view of the city, Puget Sound, and the surrounding mountains.
From the Space Needle we walked closer to the water before catching a bus towards the ball parks. We were too late for the Safeco Field tour that day, but decided to go back the next morning. We walked by Quest Field and took some pictures before heading towards Pioneer Square for the Underground tour. The tour was interesting, but we found the tour guide went a little over board on the "humorous" part of the tour. She kept telling jokes that really had nothing to do with the history of the city. Nonetheless, we did enjoy seeing the underground city. We then headed over to West Seattle to meet up with Nathan and Zanna (Shaun's cousins)for drinks an dinner. We had a great time seeing the area with Nathan as our tour guide. After dinner, we headed back to the Space Needle to get a view of the city in the evening (for just $4 more for the ticket we could go back that night) before heading back to the hotel to rest.
On Sunday morning we headed back over to Safeco Field for the 10:30 tour. It wound up being an awesome tour. We got to see the owner's suite, the Diamond Club, the visitor locker room, the press room, and we went on to the field and into the dugouts. For two baseball fans, this was a great experience.
After the tour we met up with Christie's friend from high school, Tiffany, and her sister, Amanda, for lunch. It was another beautiful day so we sat outside at the Fisherman's restaurant on one of the piers. From there we walked over to Pike Place Market to watch the guys throw the fish and see the fresh flowers and produce. The Market was quite busy so we didn't stay long. We decided to just take our time and walk back to the hotel. We found Top Pot Donuts which was on our list of things to do in Seattle. We had seen a tv show highlighting the country's top 10 donuts shops, so we were inspired to find it. Top Pot also makes the donuts sold at Starbucks (in case you were wondering). The donuts were good and provided a nice resting stop on our walk.
As you can probably tell from all the pictures, we had a great trip. And as most vacations go, we have already started thinking of where we will go next.
It was a little windy, but quite beautiful!
We sat on the grass and ate our dinner with the bunnies. At one point there were 10 bunnies on the grass near us. One was so comfortable with us being there, that he got within just a couple feet of where we were sitting. We thought he might want to share our dinner with us.
Laguna Beach Sunset.
