Go to Alaska, they said, It will be beautiful, they said, and they were right!!
The Alaska cruise on the Majestic Princess from Whittier to Vancouver was everything I hoped it would be and more! I was a little nervous leaving from our home in Fonthill, ON Canada wondering if all of the details in; dropping off our car, making our flight from Toronto to Vancouver and then to Alaska, meeting the shuttle to take us to Captain Cook hotel in Anchorage, and then in the morning from the hotel to the cruise ship in Whittier; would all work out. Would we make all the connections? But, of course, as the scriptures say, “what good is worrying about tomorrow?” Everything went smoothly!
The Captain Cook hotel was lovely! We had a nice supper in the restaurant, and the next morning breakfast as well. Due to the time difference we were up very early and were able to go for a walk to see a bit of Anchorage before the coach picked us up for the beautifully scenic drive to Whittier where we picked up our Medallions and were able to board the ship within a half hour of arriving.
The Majestic Princess was huge and beautiful. I think I just started to feel comfortable knowing my way around halfway through our cruise. We had booked an obstructed balcony room and as I suspected we were still able to have beautiful views, especially of the glaciers, mountains, and sea. In fact, our 2nd to last day was so beautiful that I arranged for a special birthday dinner on the balcony for Jeff who had turned 70 a couple of weeks before. We had our own waiter, with linens, china, champagne, appetizers, surf and turf, and amazing desserts. It was one of the highlights of the trip.
There were so many highlights though, it’s hard to pick our favourite. Here is a list but there were others.
Glacier Bay with the beautiful blue ice of the glaciers and the amazing bluey-green colour of the water showed us how amazingly beautiful untouched nature can be. We also saw a whale blowing, and many cute sea otters.
In Icy Strait Point we rode the sky tram to the top of the mountain and took the zipline down. I believe that was the most exhilarating 90 seconds of the trip!! Well worth the time and money.
In Juneau we went through and learned about a gold mine that is no longer in production although the miner who had worked there told us there is still a lot of gold in the mine. We panned for gold and found some but sadly not enough to pay for our trip. Lol. There was an old “building” with a sign “Tax Collector” outside which turned out to be just a front for the Jonny on the Spots. That gave me a good chuckle.
Ketchikan was our final stop and we spent the day walking through the city and old town. It was very picturesque with colourful buildings along both sides of Ketchikan Creek carrying the salmon for which Ketchikan became famous. We saw the falls, salmon ladders, and stopped at the Totem Heritage Centre. There we learned about the Tlingit and Haida peoples and saw many totem poles which have been preserved and tell the stories of their culture then and now.
We ate, drank, enjoyed shows, played games, sat in the hot tub, and oohed and awed over the amazing scenery all around us, every day of this wonderful trip. We would highly recommend it to everyone!
– Kendra Broadley, Alaska Cruise 2023
