Alaska Cruise Review
Alaska Cruise Day 1 - Departure and At Sea
Today, we formally began our Alaskan Cruise 2007 onboard the Celebrity Mercury. We arose early in the morning in our Vancouver hotel and met my Mother, my Aunt and my sister and her husband for breakfast. It wasn’t anything special - the food that is. The company was wonderful.
After a brief snafu of getting the hotel bills settled - they charged everything to me - we departed for the cruise ship about 11:00. Suzanne had arranged for a large van with a trailer to pick us up and take us to the ship. We arrived at the cruise terminal a bit before noon. Within fifteen minutes, we were aboard ship. The registration and check-in process at the Canada Place terminal went exceedingly smooth.
The rooms weren’t quite ready when we boarded, but we immediately began seeing familiar faces. As we had just sailed on the Mercury in November, we recognized many cruise members. To my surprise, many also remembered us. Since they called us by name from sight, they weren’t just making friendly conversation. We ran into Shiva, our wine sommellier from the last cruise, Raissa, who brought the kids many sodas, and several other waiters. At dinner, we ran into Fernando, the cellar master, who we knew from the Infinity Hawaii cruise a few years back. read more
Alaska Cruise Day 2 - A Day At Sea
Yesterday was day 2 of our Alaskan cruise onboard the Celebrity Mercury. Days at sea tend to be our favorite days of a cruise. They are peaceful, relaxing and regenerative. Yesterday was no different.
We began the day with a leisurely breakfast at 7:30 am. We met my mother, my aunt and my sister (Barb) and her husband (Walt) in the dining room. The eggs benedict were fabulous as usual. They tend to be a staple for me for breakfast.
After breakfast, Sean, Walt and myself entered the ping pong tournament. As fate would have it, Sean ended up eliminating Walt and I ended up having to play Sean in the final. We had a very close match needing four overtime points before I claimed the victory and spoils, a Celebrity Cruises lanyard. read more
Alaska Cruise Day 3 - Whales and Juneau
Yesterday was day 3 of our Alaskan cruise onboard the Celebrity Mercury. The cruise continues to be an excellent time. The Celebrity Mercury and crew continue to provide us with exemplary service and a good time. We are constantly reminded of why we choose Celebrity when we can.
One thing that has been odd for us on this cruise is the cruise director. Normally, by this time, we have spent hours talking with the cruise director. On this cruise, we haven’t even seen the cruise director except at the shows. It certainly hasn’t detracted from the cruise at all, it’s just different for us. Someone mentioned that this is his first cruise as cruise director. He seems to be working from behind the scenes. The rest of the activities staff has been wonderful. read more
Alaska Cruise Day 4 - Skagway
Today, day 4 of our Alaska cruise on board the Celebrity Mercury, we arrived into Skagway, Alaska at about 7:00 am. When we stepped out onto our balcony, we were greeted with a very cold, stiff wind - Alaska at it’s best.
We had a shore excursion planned for Skagway. Our entire party had booked a trip on the White Pass Railway. It’s a very old train that was used to link Skagway to the Yukon Territory in Canada. The train starts at sea level in Skagway and climbs to the top of the mountain.
The train ride was about 3 hours and was very enjoyable. We saw lots of good scenery and got a whole bunch of pictures. One of the highlights of the ride was seeing a black bear standing near the tracks on the way back down the mountain. Sean had really wanted to see a bear and kept saying he would. No one was very hopeful, since the train makes a lot of noise. However, he proved everyone wrong as the bear just sat there looking at the train. He almost appeared to have a grin on his face as if to say “There goes another load of those caged humans”. read more
Alaska Cruise Day 5 - Hubbard Glacier
Today, the itinerary of our Alaskan cruise onboard the Celebrity Mercury called for us to cruise Glacier Bay and visit the Hubbard Glacier. On our last cruise to Alaska, this was a highlight for us.
While Suzanne and the kids slept in late, I arose for an early breakfast at 7:30 with my mother, aunt and sister and her husband. I wanted to be able to get up on deck early for a prime spot to watch the icebergs and scenery on our approach to the glaciers.
The weather couldn’t have been better - clear skies and not too cold. The naturalist on board stated that todays conditions were a once or twice a season conditions with incredible visibility. He was actually giddy with excitement because of everything he could see and relay to us.
It was again neat to see icebergs close up as we approached the glaciers. Of course, some people were a bit nervous to be that close to icebergs and in some cases, pushing them aside with the vessel. Last cruise, we saw seals, sea lions, otters and other animals on the icebergs. Unfortunately, we didn’t see any creatures on the bergs this time. In fact, the icebergs were much smaller in size and fewer this time around too. I don’t know if it has anything to do with it being 2 or 3 weeks later in the season or not.
The glacier was busy with other cruise ships just like the port cities. read more
Alaska Cruise Day 6 - Ketchikan
Today, our port of call would be Ketchikan. It’s considered the first city of Alaska since its the first sign of civilization as you head North into Alaska from its Southern most tip.
Our scheduled arrival time was 1:00 pm. I think we were originally scheduled to dock in Ketchikan, but the port was overcrowded, as have been all the ports, and it was announced we would be tendering in at 1:00 pm with the ship later docking at 3:00 pm once another ship had left port.
Since our planned excursion, The Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show, had a planned 3:00 pm start, we planned to tender in. That actually works out well since the kids, and myself, like the tenders. They become mini boat rides. Most of the older folks don’t like tendering in because of getting in and out of the tender boats. read more
Alaska Cruise Day 7 - At Sea
Today is the final day of the cruise. Luckily, it is a day at sea. As I have mentioned before, it is our favorite part of cruising. We enjoy the ports, but we really enjoy just being at sea, relaxing on the ship.
We once again were cruising the Inside Passage back to Vancouver. I spent a large amount of the day at various places on the ship just enjoying the tremendous beauty of the country side. Cruising this portion of the Inside Passage is more like taking a river boat cruise. You are literally that close to shore. A lot of this shoreline has been mostly untouched by man too. It’s beauty cannot be expressed in words. Hopefully, when we upload some pictures, it will be somewhat evident though I doubt they will really do it justice either.
Fourteen years ago, when we cruised to Alaska, I don’t remember spending this much time just enjoying the landscape as we sailed by it. It probably had something to do with being younger and also being on our honeymoon doing anything and everything we could on the ship. This time, I really made a point to just sit back, relax and enjoy the views. It was easily my favorite thing we did on this cruise. read more
Alaska Cruise Day 8 - Back in Vancouver
Today was day 8 and the final day of our Alaskan cruise. The Celebrity Mercury docked back in Vancouver this morning about 7:00 am to conclude our wonderful Alaskan cruise family reunion.
After a quick breakfast in our cabin, we headed to our disembarkation station. We were scheduled for an 8:45 am disembarkation. We arrived there about 8:30 and our group was able to leave the ship about 8:40 am. As with the embarkation, the disembarkation process went super smoothly. Our luggage was waiting for us onshore segmented with the rest of our group. A bit to our surprise, our luggage, 7 pieces, was all together. It only took us about 2 minutes to get it together and head off to customs. Another 5 minutes and we were through customs and the cruise was officially over. read more
Alaska Cruise - Roundup
If you have been reading Mr Papa’s World the last week or so, then you have read my daily blog our my family reunion cruise to Alaska on board the Celebrity Mercury. Today, I thought I would just provide some wrap-up comments about the cruise.
Alaska
This was our second cruise to Alaska. The last one was 14 years ago on board the Holland America Rotterdam (the second one). Both cruises were absolutely wonderful. Alaska is indeed an very nice place to cruise and I would heartily recommend it to anyone.
That said, there was still a night and day difference between this cruise and the one 14 years ago. On the Rotterdam, I believe we were always the only ship in port on that Alaska cruise. One could easily roam the streets of the ports we visited with seeing a ton of people or feeling congested. That cruise was clearly before Alaska became the cruise destination it now is.
When you cruise Alaska today, be prepared for a mass of people. There was always at least 3 additional ships in port where ever we visited. If you are expecting to get of the ship and see quaint little Alaska towns, forget it. The areas near the docks are now cruise ship tourist areas. The shopping areas will feel like the mall on Christmas Eve. read more