Last summer, the summer of 1998, I went to Alaska with my dad, my mom, my brother, my aunt, my uncle, and my grandparents. We were on the Sun Princess Cruise Ship for one week, and we were on land for one week.
First we flew to Seattle, from there we flew to Vancouver, where we stayed for one night to repose. My brother, Dale's luggage got lost in Seattle, and we were afraid we would have to leave without it, but luckily it came about half an hour before we had to leave to board the ship.
We boarded the ship and we each got our own special cruise card that we could make any charges with while on board the ship. It also served as a room key. Then after luggage check and everything we went to our cabin. My brother's bed and my bed came out of the ceiling! It was so cool. Inside the cabin, there was a mini-refrigerator , a small tv, and a tiny counter. There was a lot of storage space where we could keep our luggage. There was a phone so we could call people that were aboard the ship or off the ship, but it cost more to call people who were off the ship. Before dinner we had to go to this safety drill where they explained what we should do in case of a sinking. They showed us all the gadgets on our lifejackets and what they were for and how to use them. Luckily we never did have to use them! That night we had two waiters who would be our waiters for the remainder of the cruise, well for dinners at least. Their names were Alonso and Calin. Every night there was a different menu. After dinner, I was tired and my mom took me to one of the twelve Jacuzzis aboard the ship. The next day we explored the ship and saw a bunch of whales. We made three stops on our way to our final destination. They were Ketchikan, Juneau,and then Skagway.
When we had to get off the ship for one week on land, I was really sad. I had loved it on the ship. I remember one stop in Ketchikan where we went to a totem pole museum and we got to see really cool things. There were original totem poles restored and conserved. I bought a totem pole necklace as a souvenir. Then we went on a floatplane and got flown over to an island, where there were cabins and you could stay and camp there. It was very pretty! There were three waterfalls, and lots of pretty plants and stones. Afterwards we got back in the plane and flew back to the harbor. Oh yeah, then of course there's the time where we went kayaking in Juneau. I'm not going to talk about that too much, but let me just say that that was not exactly my favorite! Oh, and there was another time where we got to take a helicopter ride to a glacier and land on it. We were given a short tour, then the helicopter came back and took us back to the landing site. It was very cold, but I liked it. We even saw ice falls! Back on the ship we got to see other glaciers at Glacier Bay and College Fjord! We saw lots of golden and bald eagles and saw pieces of glacier fall into the icy blue-green glacier water.
During the week on land we stayed at several different lodges. We stayed in Seward, Kenai, Anchorage and Denali. We took a six-hour tour and saw some great views of animals, but clouds shadowed Denali. We got to see a mother and baby grizzly bear playing! The Alaskan ground squirrels were so cute. They kept on peeking their little heads out and looking at us. Later that night we went back to Denali National Park, and got a great view of Mt Everest or Denali. The sun was just setting on it and we got a snapshot of it. When we got to a parking spot Dale and I were trying to sneak up on my mom, uncle, aunt, and grandparents. They saw us anyway, but an Arctic fox walked right in front of us!
We took a boat tour one day and we saw a humpback whale lungefeed twice! It was amazing! That was one of my favorites!
I knew that the lungefeeding and the whole trip was truly an unforgettable experience!