We cruised the 7 night Alaska cruise on the Diamond Princess the first part of July. It started in Seward and ended in Vancouver. We flew into Anchorage the night before and stayed at a Fairfield Inn in Anchorage. We took the Alaskan Railroad to Seward. It was a beautiful 2 hour train ride. Definitely better than a tour bus! We were able to see Mountain goats, mountains, ocean, just breathtaking! I couldn't believe how many people had planes in their backyards to get around!
Comfy seats. It was really nice to be able to get up and walk around. There was a bar to purchase drinks. Bathrooms too.
We had an inside cabin. Somewhat small, but for just the 2 of us it was just fine! When we were tired, we could turn out the lights and it was pitch black, and take a nap. No kids to disturb us :)
One of the perks of being an Elite Member in the Captains Circle is the free mini bar set up. Of course, we left all the alcohol for the room steward after the cruise.
We purchased the Ultimate Kids Drink Package. It is unlimited soda and virgin specialty drinks for around $58 each. Totally worth it for us. We drink lots of soda and the virgin drinks were fun. I loved the Nojito, and Dave loves the Virgin Mary.
More drinks from our mini bar setup. Our steward was great and kept us stocked with ice the whole time.
Absolutely Breathtaking! It was colder than I thought it would be. I ended up buying a hoodie at one of our stops to wear under my jacket.
The blue in the glaciers is so beautiful!
The champagne tower they had on formal night. Really cool to watch them pour the champagne!
Calm seas. Not a lot of movement on this cruise. I don't know if it was our room, or just that we never really went that fast. I didn't get motion sickness on this on :)
One of the formal nights. No tuxes for us. We didn't feel out of place not wearing a jacket either.
Drinks by the pool.
Sitting in the hot tub when it is freezing out was very enjoyable! Not too crowded in the pools or hot tubs!
On one of the sea days, Princess has a Ranger come get on board (very fun to watch her climb up a rope ladder from her boat onto our huge ship) and tell us all about the wildlife and the glaciers. Very informative and I would say I learned a lot!
First stop was in Skagway. Cute little town. Most people took a train into Canada. Many just went shopping. We found a Forest Service office and got a map of local hikes, and went hiking.
Cute little town. Mostly just shopping in town. You know, when its 75% off Today Only. Everyday.
Just after walking off the ship and walking towards town.
Loved the town buildings and wood plank sidewalks.
Shopping with Sarah....
We hiked a little ways to this lake. Nice hike. We were able to walk back to the ship for lunch, then back to town to buy a hoodie. We were trying to burn off all our food we were eating :)
The next stop was Juneau, the capital of Alaska. We walked off the ship and found a tour guide who said we could see Mendenhall Glacier and take a city tour for not too much money, so we did. This was a church we saw on part of our city tour.
This is the Governors Mansion. The people we were with were fascinated by this, and really wanted to take LOTS of pics!
OK, so I really thought we would get to see Mendenhall Glacier up closer. That is it in the background. Very cool, but I thought I would get closer.
Then we went to this cool old Catholic church. We saw whales out in the water!
Beautiful scenery! Beautiful church!
Our ship in the distance.
On our way back we got stuck trying to get around their 4th of July Parade. Very eclectic parade. I don't know how else to describe it!
One of the many large yachts we would see by the cruise ships.
In Ketchikan we decided to rent a Harley and see the area on the motorcycle. I thought we would look cool on the bike, well, lets just not say how we look. They provided the jackets, gloves and helmets. She was super helpful and told us where to go to see bears. See below, hiding in the greenery are bears! A mama and her 2 cubs. We talked to some locals at this spot and they come out here every evening to look at the bears.
This was my favorite stop on the cruise. The motorcycle was a great way to see Ketchikan. It was so beautiful. The locals are very friendly and would stop and talk to us.
These are FORESTS! They looked like they do in the Hans Christian Anderson Fairy Tale Books.
We rode around this lake, and did some more hiking. More like casual stroll through the woods.
This picture of the plane on the ocean was taken in the Smiths Grocery Store parking lot. We stopped to get some drinks and snacks and watched the planes come and go. BEAUTIFUL!!!
Alaska is beautiful! I loved seeing it from the ship. Wildlife, glaciers and mountains all made this trip fantastic!
