Wayne and I finally went on a cruise...we have been wanting to do this for a long time so we bit the bullet and found a two week cruise to Alaska on the Celebrity Millenium.
It was perfect because it left from San Diego.This is at the dock while we were waiting to embark onto our ship.
This is our stateroom. It was not really roomy but it was okay for the amount of time that we spent in our room. We didn't have a window so we spent most of our time other places on the ship.
We left San Diego about 6:00 pm on April 30th, just about the time we were going to the dining room to eat. It got pretty rocky and I was not feeling so well, so I went to the stateroom to sleep while Wayne went to the evening entertainment.
We were at sea for two more days. I have always seen movies where you sit in the deck chairs and read. That was what I wanted to do but it was kind of cold doing that so I didn't stay there very long.
Wayne enjoyed exploring and watching the waves go by.
Our first port of call was Seattle. Wayne served part of his mission in Seattle so it was fun to be there. He finally got to go up in the Space Needle. It was a beautiful day with no rain.
After the space needle and a trip on the monorail to downtown Seattle we started walking to go to the Pike Street Market. We found a Nordstrom's Rack and Wayne found a pair of shoes that saved his feet for the rest of the trip. Pike Street Market was very interesting. If you don't like the smell of fish I would suggest not going there.
Next came Sitka, which is very small and did not have a dock big enough for a ship. We tendered out in the bay and got shuttled to shore in our lifeboats. It was nice to know that they are seaworthy.
It was cloudy and misted on us. I'm kind of glad because I got to use my umbrella that I bought for the trip. 
Not much to Sitka! 
The next day we cruised up to the Hubbard Glacier. We got pretty close to it.
But we had to go through a lot of floating ice. For some reason Titanic kept running through my mind. 
However, it was a beautiful day and the view was spectacular!
Enjoying the view and the ride. Being on the top deck was a little trippy for me since I don't like heights.
Skagway was the next port we came to.
It was a beautiful place with a lot to see.
Skagway is a national park and all the buildings are owned by the national park service and are rented out to the different businesses. The buildings are very quaint and unique. 
This building is the most photographed building and is made out of driftwood.
Wayne and I took a coach up to the summit and this is coming back into Alaska from Canada.
It was a beautiful drive.
Next stop was Juneau and a must visit was to the Mendenhall Glacier. We opted for the cheap route and caught a city bus and got a tour of Juneau as the citizens know it. The only draw back to the cheap route was a mile and a half hike to get to the glacier from where the city bus let us off. (We worked off our trip to the buffet this day.)
This is what it looked like along our hike.
Mendenhall Glacier was fantastic!
What a view of the glacier.
I love waterfalls and there just happened to be one not too far from the glacier.
It was a pretty huge waterfall with quite a bit of mist.
After walking back to where we needed to catch the bus we rode the bus to a place called Glacier Gardens. It was a beautiful rainforest garden that a man and his wife landscaped after buying land where a landslide had gone through. This is the heart pond.
The next stopping place was Icy Straight Point. Again it was not big enough for us to dock so we tendered in the bay and were shuttled. 
There was a beautiful walk through another rainforest.
The trees fascinated me because the soil doesn't go very deep so the roots spread out and the trees kind of support each other.
This is one side of the town...
and this is the other! 
Here I am in the rainforest on Mother's Day talking to my children.
We got to see a lot of bald eagles.
The next day we cruised into Tracy Arm Fjord. There was another glacier at the end but we did not get there.
It was beautiful!
With amazing waterfalls everywhere.
And big chunks of ice...the reason for not going up to the glacier. Titanic deja vu!
Lots of good photo ops!
This was our second Brunch in the main dining room! Oh my what a spread of food!
The ice sculptures were not bad either. This is the one by the dessert table!
Can you tell Wayne likes to take pictures of the ice sculptures.
He also likes to take pictures of himself in the glass.
This is his new best friend who sold him a new camera. Fortunately he decided to take it back.
Wayne also liked taking pictures of the pictures they took of us. Here is one of us at our second formal night at dinner.
In Ketchikan we decided to go on a treasure hunt for free items from our coupon book that we got as we boarded the ship.
So these are the only pictures we have of Ketchikan. And this one was taken from the room where the buffet is on the Deck 10.
We did not do much exploring here, just shopping.
This is the Midnight Chocolate Buffet. Oh, my goodness! Here we are smiling before we partook of the sweetness that was in great abundance.
This was just one of the tables loaded with goodies of all kinds.
Thank heavens for fruit!
Another ice sculpture and more goodies!
Next stop...Victoria, British Columbia, Canada! This was a beautiful old posh hotel that has been renovated. We went inside to look around while we were waiting for our bus to take us to Butchart Gardens.
Butchart Gardens is a must if you ever make it to Victoria. This is called the Sunken Garden.
This is a fountain at the end of the Sunken Garden.
More beautiful gardens!
This is Butchart Cove.
This was in the Japanese Garden.
There were beautiful flowers everywhere!
And the shrubs weren't bad either!
Victoria is a beautiful place and I would love to go back and spend more time there.
These were some of our favorite people on board the ship.
These are our wonderful waiters who took such good care of us. They are Emrah and Irfan. We didn't always understand them nor did they always understand us, but we had a good time with them.
This is Egypsio who took such good care of our stateroom and turned down our bed each night and left us chocolates.
This is Hans and Mel from Germany. They sat at our table the first night and then a few other times. We sat with them at the evening entertainment. They were entertainment in and of themselves.
This is the Mortimer family from England. Andrew, Rhoda, Toby, and Jack. It was fun to listen to them talk, especially Toby, who is 10 and Jack, who is 4.
This is Sara and Dave who are from Phoenix and shared their happy news with us before they told their parents they are going to be grandparents.
It was a wonderful trip. I would recommend a cruise as a great vacation. The food was wonderful and never a shortage of it, the sights were wonderful, and the service was great. I would love to do it again! I wouldn't even mind going back to Alaska.
It was beautiful!
With amazing waterfalls everywhere.
And big chunks of ice...the reason for not going up to the glacier. Titanic deja vu!
Lots of good photo ops!
This was our second Brunch in the main dining room! Oh my what a spread of food!
The ice sculptures were not bad either. This is the one by the dessert table!
Can you tell Wayne likes to take pictures of the ice sculptures.
He also likes to take pictures of himself in the glass.
This is his new best friend who sold him a new camera. Fortunately he decided to take it back.
Wayne also liked taking pictures of the pictures they took of us. Here is one of us at our second formal night at dinner.
In Ketchikan we decided to go on a treasure hunt for free items from our coupon book that we got as we boarded the ship.
So these are the only pictures we have of Ketchikan. And this one was taken from the room where the buffet is on the Deck 10.
We did not do much exploring here, just shopping.
This is the Midnight Chocolate Buffet. Oh, my goodness! Here we are smiling before we partook of the sweetness that was in great abundance.
This was just one of the tables loaded with goodies of all kinds.
Thank heavens for fruit!
Another ice sculpture and more goodies!
Next stop...Victoria, British Columbia, Canada! This was a beautiful old posh hotel that has been renovated. We went inside to look around while we were waiting for our bus to take us to Butchart Gardens.
Butchart Gardens is a must if you ever make it to Victoria. This is called the Sunken Garden.
This is a fountain at the end of the Sunken Garden.
More beautiful gardens!
This is Butchart Cove. 
This was in the Japanese Garden.
There were beautiful flowers everywhere!
And the shrubs weren't bad either!
Victoria is a beautiful place and I would love to go back and spend more time there.
These were some of our favorite people on board the ship. This is our maitre d', Igor. He would always come by and ask if everything was good.
These are our wonderful waiters who took such good care of us. They are Emrah and Irfan. We didn't always understand them nor did they always understand us, but we had a good time with them. 
This is Egypsio who took such good care of our stateroom and turned down our bed each night and left us chocolates.
This is Hans and Mel from Germany. They sat at our table the first night and then a few other times. We sat with them at the evening entertainment. They were entertainment in and of themselves.
This is the Mortimer family from England. Andrew, Rhoda, Toby, and Jack. It was fun to listen to them talk, especially Toby, who is 10 and Jack, who is 4.
This is Sara and Dave who are from Phoenix and shared their happy news with us before they told their parents they are going to be grandparents.
It was a wonderful trip. I would recommend a cruise as a great vacation. The food was wonderful and never a shortage of it, the sights were wonderful, and the service was great. I would love to do it again! I wouldn't even mind going back to Alaska.
2 comments:
Wow, that did look like an amazing time! Im glad you guys got to go :)
Looks like a fantastic trip!!! What beautiful views you had!
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