melting in Alaska

It's been a month since P and I travelled to Alaska spontaneously. You see, we never really travel spontaneously but since we had a little unexpected accident in July, we've had to cancel our August travelling plans as well. Yet, I really wanted P to be able to cruise since he couldn't fly to make up for his missing out on Europe altogether---hence, Alaska!

We embarked in Seattle on a beautiful, sunny day in August....in fact, it was P's birthday! As a result, there was also a mini-celebration held for him at dinner. He was happy and I was happy to see him happy.

We tried Celebrity Cruiselines this time around and we were happy with literally everything. I would choose Celebrity again anyday, especially after somewhat disappointing services through Royal Caribbean back in July...I can't understand the difference since they're sister companies. The cruise ship was luxurious though not the newest and even our window view room gave us plenty of light and scenery during the cruise.

Ketchikan was our first stop. I've been here many years ago with my family and it was pretty much the same...small. I think we walked through most of town in 30 minutes. P was even more funny...as we walked around, he claims, "oh shoot...I didn't bring any Canadian money, so I can't buy anything."

"But they use US dollars here, honey."

"Really?!? How's the exchange rate?"

"What exchange rate? Alaska is part of the US and they use American."

"Oh...we're in Alaska?!?"

"Yes, dear. It is an Alaska cruise..." (chuckle, chuckle)

We didn't end up buying anything...but we had a few good laughs wondering where P thought he was....

Since we returned to the ship early while others were busy buying jewelry and salmon, we decided to play this "shuffleboard" game on the cruise...I think that's what it's called...we both sucked at this game reallllly badly. The score was 0 vs. -2. Needless to say, I was the winner! Ha!

Our favourite place to hang out on the ship was Cova cafe...it brings us great memories of the prestigious Cova cafe in Hong Kong. We enjoyed free snacks here daily with varying live music. This was our favourite group of musicians in the photo, all from Ukraine and Russia. We felt so happy and peaceful here each evening.

We had to wake up early one morning to catch a 360 degree view of the Tracy Arm Fjord. It was pretty but it seemed that I recall Alaska to be more icy with much more glacier when I came over 10 years ago. So needless to say...it was also a bit surprising and almost sad to see the lack of ice and glacier. Would there still be ANY given another 10 years or so?

We also paid a bit extra when we arrived in Juneau, Alaska to travel to the well-known Mendenhall Glacier. We thought it was well worth the $14 US or so for each person vs. the $62 US you had to pay if you joined the tour on the ship. But again...not cold....and rapidly melting glacier. Our bus driver/tour guide also told us interesting stories about Juneau and Alaska in general and basically she said there are 3 favourite hobbies worshipped by Alaskans...do you know what they are? Find the answer below the following picture.

Answer: Reading, Drugs, Alcohol

Isn't it a bit sad? But when you think about it....if they only have the 30 or so nice weather days in the summer and the rest dismal...there isn't much to do.

Our last Alaska port was Skagway. We found it the most interesting, with lots of free mini-museums to go into just like shops. It was a very windy city here and we literally got blown away as we walked into town. It was so windy that it was funny! But we enjoyed it nonetheless. And, again, not a whole lot of change since I last visited over 10 years ago.

We also had some pleasurable sea days when we enjoyed some onboard celebrations, such as one of ice sculptures filled with midnight desserts and champagne to enjoy. The ship also stopped by Victoria, where we had a chance to visit P's dad before returning. Wonderful trip, great cruise line, enjoyable food and entertainment but a disappearing Alaska.