Alaska Cruise Day 1—Seattle/Embarkation

We decided to celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary by taking a cruise to Alaska. We left on Saturday, July 11, from Seattle.

Lego man is ready for his cruise adventure. Looking out the window at the Phoenix airport.

We arrived in Seattle at about 11 am and rode the bus to the cruise terminal. Welcome to the Norwegian Jewel.

Eating lunch on the ship while waiting for our room to be ready and to set sail.

Seattle views from the back of the ship while in port.

Our room. We booked a guaranteed room but didn't know what kind of room we would have. We got a room with a nice picture window. The rooms are pretty small but they have made efficient use of the space and we had plenty of storage.

The Lego man sitting on our window sill while in port in Seattle.

Sailing away.

We ate dinner at O'Sheehan's restaurant. While eating dinner, we watched the pilot boat come up and pick up the pilot from our ship. The waitress explained that a pilot navigates the ships out of Seattle and then they let the captain of the ship take over.

On our first day we hung out, thoroughly confused ourselves, learned where some things were, and we ate.

Day 2—At Sea

Our first full day was spent at sea. We read, did crosswords, napped, and lounged. We also ate a lot since food was always available. It is crazy to look out and see nothing but ocean. You have no idea whether you are near land or which way the land might be. You can tune in to a TV channel that will show you the location of the ship.

This was one of our favorite spots, the back of the ship.

The “Bridge” where the captain sits.

This was only the second time we ate at one of the restaurants instead of the buffet. After this experience, we stuck with the buffet.

It was so nice to have an unobstructed picture window in our stateroom. If you look carefully, these two pictures are of whales. The first is a spout and the second is a tail. I saw a spout and tail right outside my window but of course I didn’t have my camera.

That night we sailed into fog and got to hear the fog horn on the ship.

Day 3—Ketchikan

The port in Ketchikan. Our first Alaska experience.

We went to the Great Alaskan Lumberjack show first thing in the morning.

The guy with his hand out is holding Lego man.

Flowers, green, and water everywhere!

The infamous Creek Street.

We took the Funicular (basically an elevator) to the top of the hill. We got coffee at the top, walked around, and then went back down the hill in the Funicular.

We followed a walking trail and found a beautiful city park.

On the way back from the park, we took Married Man’s Trail. The trail married men would take from the brothels on Creek Street.

We thought this sign was funny.

Lego man met a girlfriend in Ketchikan. We spotted a girl taking pictures of Smurfette and asked if we could get a picture of Smurfette with Lego man. Even though we didn’t speak the same language we both thought it was fun.

Downtown Ketchikan. We had abnormally good weather in Ketchikan from what I hear.

Eating at our favorite spot, the back of the ship.

Towel elephant.

More of downtown Ketchikan and the port.

As we were waiting to sail away, the lady next to me tapped me to tell me that there was a bald eagle. There actually were two and it was awesome to see them fly around. If you look closely in these pictures you will see the eagles.

As we were sailing away. It was so sunny that Paul needed cover from the sun.

Skyping with the kids from the ship as we sail away from Ketchikan.

It was so weird that it didn’t get dark until 10 or 10:30 pm. These pictures are at night.

We had a snack at O'Sheehan's at about 11pm unfortunately they had a limited menu that late. We ordered hot chocolate for drink and the waiter was confused. He finally decided that what we were ordering was “hot choco.” He brought us a squatty looking teapot and small cups and we wondered what he had brought us. It was hot cocoa, however, it was very watery.

Towel dog.